By Samuel Logan Brengle
'And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ' (Rev. xii. 11).
A lieutenant got the blessing of a clean heart in one of my meetings the other day, and then told us that he had had the blessing once before but had lost it because he failed to testify to it. The devil suggested that it was a great thing to testify to cleansing from all sin; that people would not understand it; that they would criticize him; that he would do better to live it and say nothing about it; and so on. He heeded these suggestions, kept quiet, and so lost the blessing.
That is an old trick of the devil's, by which he has cheated many a soul out of this pearl of greatest price.
Paul says: 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' (Rom. x. 10). The confession is as necessary as the believing. We insist upon this in the matter of justification and it is equally important in the matter of sanctification. If we do not testify definitely, humbly and constantly to the blessed experience, we put our light under a bushel and it goes out.
The late Miss Frances E. Willard received the blessing definitely, was filled with joy and the sweet peace of Heaven and gave a burning testimony of the fulness of the Spirit. Soon afterwards she became a teacher in a ladies' school in a section of the country where there was much controversy over the doctrine of holiness. She was advised by her mistaken friends to keep still about sanctification, which she did. Years afterwards she sorrowfully wrote: 'I kept still until I soon found I had nothing in particular to keep still about. The experience left me. That sweet persuasiveness, that heaven in the soul of which I came to know in Mrs. Palmer's meeting, I do not now feel.'
Fletcher of Madeley, whom John Wesley believed to be the holiest man that had lived since the days of the Apostle John, made this confession to his people: 'My dear brethren and sisters, God is here, I feel Him in this place; but I would hide my face in the dust, because I have been ashamed to declare what He has done for me. For many years I have grieved His Spirit, but I am deeply humbled and He has again restored my soul. Last Wednesday evening He spoke to me by these words: "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. vi. 11). I obeyed the voice of God; I now obey it, and tell you all to the praise of His love, I am freed from sin, dead unto sin and alive unto God. I received this blessing four or five times before, but I lost it by not obeying the order of God, who has told us, "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." But the enemy offered his bait under various colors to keep me from a public declaration of what God had wrought. When I first received the grace, Satan made me wait awhile till I saw more of the fruits. I resolved to do so, but I soon began to doubt the witness which before I had felt in my heart, and I was in a little while sensible that I had lost both.
'A second time after receiving this salvation (with shame I confess it) I was kept from being a witness for my Lord by the suggestion, "Thou art a public character; the eyes of all are upon thee; and if; as before, by any means thou lose the blessing, it will be a dishonor to the doctrine of heart holiness." I held my peace, and again forfeited the gift of God.
'At another time I was prevailed upon to hide it by reasoning thus: "How few even of the children of God will receive this testimony! Many of them suppose that every transgression of the Adamic law is sin, and therefore, if I profess myself to be free from sin, all these will give my profession the lie. Because I am not free in their sense, I am not free from ignorance, mistakes and infirmities. I will therefore enjoy what God hath wrought in me, but I will not say I am perfect in love." Alas! I soon found again: "He that hideth his Lord's talent, and improveth it not, from that unprofitable servant shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have."
'Now, my brethren, you see my folly. I have confessed it in your presence, and now I am resolved before you all to confess my Master. I will confess Him to all the world. And I declare unto you in the presence of God the Holy Trinity, I am now dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God, through Jesus Christ, who is my indwelling holiness.'
This confession put Mr. Fletcher on record, and was the beginning of a life of holiness that has but few parallels for beauty and power. It is only at this point of glad, definite testimony that Christian life and experience become irresistibly catching, like fire when it bursts into flame.
Those who profess this blessing are often accused of boasting. But this is not true. They are simply declaring that Jesus has done for them what He died to do -- that is, to save them from sin, and they do it in the spirit of a man who, healed of a deadly disease, declares what the doctor has done for him. It is done to bring honour to the doctor, and to encourage other poor sufferers to apply to him; and to withhold such testimony in the presence of multitudes of needy ones would be a crime.
David said: 'My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof; and be glad' (Ps. xxxiv. 2). Hallelujah!
As for me, I feel I am under a solemn obligation to let everybody know that Jesus is alive and that He can save to the uttermost.
