Mielke, Gerry. “Christian Perfection, From Wesley to Phoebe Palmer.” April 29, 2021, Tyndale University, Toronto, Ontario: MPEG-3, 24:54 min. 1 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.140 Hello. My name is Gerhard Milkey. 2 00:00:04.170 --> 00:00:05.690 My friends call me Jerry. 3 00:00:05.720 --> 00:00:09.060 And my topic today is Christian perfection. 4 00:00:09.090 --> 00:00:12.420 From Wesley to Phoebe Palmer. 5 00:00:12.450 --> 00:00:17.660 Most of the denominations which come out of the Holiness movement were familiar 6 00:00:17.690 --> 00:00:23.220 with the term Christian perfection at the beginning of the 20th century. 7 00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:26.580 It was also referred to as Entire 8 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:32.620 Sanctification, the Second Blessing, the second work of grace, Perfect Love. 9 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.380 And at the beginning of the 20th century, 10 00:00:35.410 --> 00:00:40.760 some form of this doctrine was upheld not only by the Holiness denominations, but by 11 00:00:40.790 --> 00:00:44.420 many Christians belonging to other groups as well. 12 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:50.100 Today there is a wide spectrum of opinion, and this doctrine has been neglected by 13 00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:54.300 many of the churches that once zealously embraced it. 14 00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:58.260 And today we want to look at the development of the doctrine of Christian 15 00:00:58.290 --> 00:01:05.340 perfection, starting with Wesley and ending with Phoebe Palmer. 16 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:09.770 Those who teach entire Sanctification, or Christian perfection as it is sometimes 17 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:17.020 called, usually trace the modern roots of this doctrine back to John Wesley. 18 00:01:17.050 --> 00:01:22.060 Therefore, it's important to understand what Wesley taught regarding this concept. 19 00:01:22.090 --> 00:01:28.440 Now, John Fletcher was also vital in refining Wesley's understanding, and we 20 00:01:28.470 --> 00:01:36.160 are fortunate because both Wesley and Fletcher's writings are still extant. 21 00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:38.570 John Wesley noted that whoever preached 22 00:01:38.600 --> 00:01:43.930 about perfection or used the word perfect was unpopular. 23 00:01:43.960 --> 00:01:46.020 And yet he was convinced he could not 24 00:01:46.050 --> 00:01:50.340 avoid using such expressions because they were found in Scripture. 25 00:01:50.370 --> 00:01:52.740 John Wesley wrote that he and his brother 26 00:01:52.770 --> 00:01:57.840 Charles agreed on the following that Christian perfection is that love of 27 00:01:57.870 --> 00:02:03.260 God and our neighbor, which implies deliverance from all sin. 28 00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:06.780 That it is received merely by faith, 29 00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:11.020 that it is given instantaneously in one moment. 30 00:02:11.050 --> 00:02:15.730 That we are to expect that not a death, but every moment. 31 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:18.450 That now is the accepted time. 32 00:02:18.480 --> 00:02:21.540 Now is the day of salvation. 33 00:02:21.570 --> 00:02:26.360 When a Christian was so devoted to God that he or she always portrayed the 34 00:02:26.390 --> 00:02:32.170 attitude of Christ loving God above all else and one's neighbor as oneself, 35 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:36.020 that state of maturity was Christian perfection. 36 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:38.580 Charles Edwin Jones states that John 37 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:44.980 Wesley thought of salvation as a journey from willful rebellion to perfect love, 38 00:02:45.010 --> 00:02:47.980 which is the state of Christian perfection. 39 00:02:48.010 --> 00:02:52.540 Now, how did John Wesley come to his understanding of that doctrine? 40 00:02:52.570 --> 00:02:57.940 There were many influences his early upbringing, the influence of his mother 41 00:02:57.970 --> 00:03:05.260 reading the Church fathers, Arminianism and classics such as The Imitation of 42 00:03:05.290 --> 00:03:11.960 Christ, written by Thomas A Campus Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and 43 00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:19.380 Dying by Jeremy Taylor and Treatise on Christian Perfection and 44 00:03:19.410 --> 00:03:23.700 Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law. 45 00:03:23.730 --> 00:03:26.500 Those all had significant impact. 46 00:03:26.530 --> 00:03:32.100 Yet the impact that the Moravians had on John Wesley must be highlighted. 47 00:03:32.130 --> 00:03:36.660 In particular, it was overwhelming and all encompassing. 48 00:03:36.690 --> 00:03:39.460 It was through the help of Meridian PETA 49 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:43.900 Bula that Wesley gained assurance of his faith. 50 00:03:43.930 --> 00:03:47.180 Now, after Wesley attained this so called 51 00:03:47.210 --> 00:03:53.500 conversion experience, he decided to visit the Meridian settlement at Ham Hoot. 52 00:03:53.530 --> 00:03:59.060 The visit of Wesley to Hannon Hoot was critical in the formation of his views 53 00:03:59.090 --> 00:04:04.020 that were later published as Christian Perfection. 54 00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:07.260 Although many scholars, including Harold 55 00:04:07.290 --> 00:04:13.580 Lindstrom, maintain that the notion that entire sanctification can be attained in 56 00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:21.140 this life is found to be peculiar to Wesley, this is not entirely correct. 57 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.940 At Ham Hoot, Wesley was greatly impressed 58 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:30.060 and influenced by sermons given by Moravian Christian David. 59 00:04:30.090 --> 00:04:32.060 They were critical. 60 00:04:32.090 --> 00:04:39.660 The following comments are from a journal entry from August 1738 that Wesley made 61 00:04:39.690 --> 00:04:43.900 with regards to these sermons that he heard at Ham Hood. 62 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.660 Wesley writes thrice he described a state 63 00:04:47.690 --> 00:04:52.940 of those who are weak in faith, who are justified but have not yet a new clean 64 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:57.940 heart, who have received forgiveness through the blood of Christ but have not 65 00:04:57.970 --> 00:05:02.200 received a constant indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 66 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:07.500 Then he yet again explained from the Scriptures which described the state the 67 00:05:07.530 --> 00:05:12.700 Apostles were in from our Lord's death and indeed for some time before till the 68 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.540 descent of the Holy Ghost at the day of Pentecost. 69 00:05:15.570 --> 00:05:21.280 They were then clean, as Christ himself was born of witness yet they had not in 70 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:28.680 the full sense new hearts neither had they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. 71 00:05:29.200 --> 00:05:32.940 Later in his journal for August 1738, 72 00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:36.980 wesley relates the testimony of Arvid Grabin. 73 00:05:37.010 --> 00:05:42.740 Grabben was led to petition God incessantly to give him the witness of the 74 00:05:42.770 --> 00:05:46.340 Spirit and God heard his prayer and he granted him. 75 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:52.380 Wesley writes repose in the blood of Christ, affirm confidence in God and the 76 00:05:52.410 --> 00:05:59.340 persuasion of his favor, serene peace and steadfast tranquillity of mind with a 77 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:03.820 deliverance from every fleshly desire, from every outward and inward sin. 78 00:06:03.850 --> 00:06:06.180 In a word, my heart, which was before 79 00:06:06.210 --> 00:06:12.060 tossed like a troubled sea, was still in quiet and in sweet calm. 80 00:06:12.090 --> 00:06:14.080 Now it's not difficult to see that 81 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:19.340 Wesley's mature understanding of Christian perfection and sanctification are not at 82 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:25.740 odds with his journal entries while he was among the Arabians at Halhoot. 83 00:06:25.770 --> 00:06:29.780 Especially helpful for Wesley was Christian David's own testimony, in which 84 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:36.300 he said that once his sins had been forgiven, though sin still stirred in him, 85 00:06:36.330 --> 00:06:39.940 though it still remained, it did not reign. 86 00:06:39.970 --> 00:06:42.100 Wesley also had some unreasonable 87 00:06:42.130 --> 00:06:46.940 expectations for himself, but he now realized that even if he was tempted by 88 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:53.100 his desires, whereas before they reigned over him, now he reigned over them. 89 00:06:53.130 --> 00:06:57.340 Much of what Wesley later ascribed to entire sanctification he had previously 90 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:03.260 expected from justification and the new birth that ever accompanies it. 91 00:07:03.280 --> 00:07:05.100 So although the doctrine of Christian 92 00:07:05.130 --> 00:07:11.020 perfection was popularized and promoted by Wesley, his visit to the Moravians in 93 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:18.620 August 1738 was vital in solidifying and clarifying the subject for him. 94 00:07:18.650 --> 00:07:23.960 Whereas Moravian PETA Burla was instrumental in Wesley experiencing his so 95 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:29.100 called Aldergate conversion experience, the teaching that helped him understand 96 00:07:29.130 --> 00:07:35.140 the prosefus sanctification was that of Christian David. 97 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:38.980 Christian David had considerable influence at Hound Hoots. 98 00:07:39.010 --> 00:07:40.740 As one of its founding elders. 99 00:07:40.770 --> 00:07:42.940 He had persuaded the German Moravians to 100 00:07:42.970 --> 00:07:47.020 acknowledge that there's a difference between a babe in Christ 101 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:52.180 like the apostles during Jesus'earthly ministry and one who had received the full 102 00:07:52.210 --> 00:07:57.380 assurance of faith, a clean heart and the destruction of the body of sin through the 103 00:07:57.410 --> 00:08:02.260 indwelling of the Spirit, like the apostles after Pentecost. 104 00:08:02.290 --> 00:08:05.580 That was a quote from Wood in his essay The Origin. 105 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.720 Now, it's also important to note that this was not the official doctrine of the 106 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:16.340 Moravians because later Wesley warned his followers against the Moravian, claiming 107 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:19.220 six of their propositions to be utterly false. 108 00:08:19.250 --> 00:08:24.500 And the fifth of these propositions states that we are sanctified wholly the moment 109 00:08:24.530 --> 00:08:29.500 we are justified and are neither more nor less holy to the day of our death. 110 00:08:29.530 --> 00:08:34.500 At Hanhoot, Christian David repeatedly emphasized the distinction between 111 00:08:34.530 --> 00:08:41.900 justifying faith and full assurance which accompanies being cleansed from all sin. 112 00:08:41.930 --> 00:08:44.540 This is the view that Wesley agreed with. 113 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:49.020 He found Moravian practice and doctrine to be contrary at times. 114 00:08:49.050 --> 00:08:54.220 And although Wesley warned against the Moravian teaching, he noted that among 115 00:08:54.250 --> 00:08:58.580 them were some of the best Christians in the world. 116 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:00.880 Thus, Wesley understood justification to 117 00:09:00.910 --> 00:09:06.820 be wholly distinct from sanctification and necessarily antecedent to it. 118 00:09:06.850 --> 00:09:09.340 For Wesley justification, an entire 119 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:13.540 sanctification were counted as two instantaneous events. 120 00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:18.900 However, this did not rule out a progressive element in sanctification, 121 00:09:18.930 --> 00:09:25.580 since a person can grow in holiness as long as he or she lives. 122 00:09:25.610 --> 00:09:28.460 Now, where does John Fletcher come in? 123 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:30.960 John Fletcher helped Wesley clarify his 124 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:36.060 views both on salvation and on sanctification. 125 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:40.780 At one time, Wesley equated his aldersgate experience with his conversion. 126 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:44.620 Through Fletcher's influence, Wesley agreed that he had the faith of a servant. 127 00:09:44.650 --> 00:09:48.900 Prior to that, although he did not have the assurance of salvation. 128 00:09:48.930 --> 00:09:51.860 It was Fletcher who came to identify 129 00:09:51.890 --> 00:09:56.420 entire sanctification with the experience of pentecost. 130 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:58.420 He equated Christian perfection with 131 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:03.700 receiving the Holy Spirit or being baptized by the Holy Ghost and fire. 132 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:10.420 As Wesley was correcting fletcher's major treatise on Christian perfection 133 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:16.820 when it was still in manuscript form in 1775, he reported to Fletcher only one 134 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.460 correction that needed to be made, noting that their respective views were a little 135 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:25.100 different on the meaning of the phrase receiving the Spirit. 136 00:10:25.130 --> 00:10:27.580 Wesley interpreted this phrase to apply to 137 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:32.300 justified believers as well as fully sanctified believers, whereas Fletcher 138 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:36.340 interpreted the phrase to mean receiving the fullness of the Spirit. 139 00:10:36.370 --> 00:10:41.220 Fletcher made this adjustment and he resent the manuscript to Wesley. 140 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:43.240 And then Wesley wrote to him again and he 141 00:10:43.270 --> 00:10:47.940 said now there's no difference between them. 142 00:10:47.970 --> 00:10:50.460 Now, how did Fletcher reconcile the 143 00:10:50.490 --> 00:10:55.060 difference in emphasis between himself and John Wesley? 144 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.460 He explained that while receiving the Holy 145 00:10:57.490 --> 00:11:02.260 Spirit is what justifies a Christian, another glorious baptism or capital 146 00:11:02.290 --> 00:11:06.060 outpouring of the Spirit is what sanctifies the believer. 147 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.220 With this modification, Wesley affirmed 148 00:11:08.250 --> 00:11:12.940 that there is now no difference between him and Fletcher's view. 149 00:11:12.970 --> 00:11:18.180 Fletcher did not think that he was merely describing Wesley's idea of holiness. 150 00:11:18.210 --> 00:11:24.620 He understood that the Wesleyan theology of holiness need to be made consistent. 151 00:11:24.650 --> 00:11:27.140 Like Wesley, John Fletcher understood the 152 00:11:27.170 --> 00:11:32.500 nature of Christian perfection to be a cleansing, a cleansing from all sin, from 153 00:11:32.530 --> 00:11:36.740 the guilt and defilement of both actual and original corruption. 154 00:11:36.770 --> 00:11:38.780 Fletcher was convinced that this entire 155 00:11:38.810 --> 00:11:43.940 sanctification, this renewal, could be instantaneously received, and his 156 00:11:43.970 --> 00:11:50.580 testimony verifies that this is the way his own experience was as well. 157 00:11:50.610 --> 00:11:54.460 Yet in his writings, the idea of maturity 158 00:11:54.490 --> 00:11:58.220 rather than crisis is what is most often stressed. 159 00:11:58.250 --> 00:12:00.060 Fletcher believed that a strictly 160 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.720 categorical answer could not be given as to whether Christian perfection is to be 161 00:12:04.750 --> 00:12:08.460 regarded as attained instantaneously or gradually. 162 00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:13.100 Since Wesley affirmed that his view agreed with Fletcher's view of sanctification, 163 00:12:13.130 --> 00:12:18.460 many in the holiness tradition assume that the two views are identical. 164 00:12:18.490 --> 00:12:21.980 However, there's a subtle yet important difference. 165 00:12:22.010 --> 00:12:25.940 Wesley's emphasis was crystaentric. 166 00:12:25.970 --> 00:12:30.380 It was Fletcher that set the foundation for a pneumatological emphasis for 167 00:12:30.410 --> 00:12:36.100 holiness, which was later further developed in America. 168 00:12:36.130 --> 00:12:41.580 In England, even among the Methodists, it was at times difficult for Wesley to 169 00:12:41.610 --> 00:12:46.300 convince people to fully embrace the doctrine of Christian perfection. 170 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:52.300 One reason was that preachers like Thomas Maxfield and George Bell brought this 171 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:57.580 doctrine into disrepute by taking the teaching to such extremes that even John 172 00:12:57.610 --> 00:13:02.300 Wesley needed to disassociate himself from them. 173 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:09.380 Another reason was that Wesley himself was sometimes unclear and needed time to come 174 00:13:09.410 --> 00:13:14.180 to an understanding of exactly what this doctrine entailed. 175 00:13:14.210 --> 00:13:18.820 In America, the doctrine of Christian perfection fared better. 176 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:21.580 Early leaders of Methodism in America not 177 00:13:21.610 --> 00:13:27.140 only preached the doctrine, but claimed to have experienced entire sanctification. 178 00:13:27.170 --> 00:13:32.060 For example, William Waters, the first American born Methodist. 179 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:33.780 Itinerant preacher. 180 00:13:33.810 --> 00:13:38.380 He reported his own attainment of the experience and his success in getting 181 00:13:38.410 --> 00:13:42.540 others to embrace the doctrine within his circus. 182 00:13:42.570 --> 00:13:48.820 In a letter to Thomas Rankin in America, john Wesley counseled that when believers 183 00:13:48.850 --> 00:13:54.540 were newly converted, it was advisable to teach them to go on to perfection, because 184 00:13:54.570 --> 00:14:01.380 at that stage they could attain it more easily, being fervent for God. 185 00:14:01.410 --> 00:14:06.740 So here Wesley stressed the instantaneous over the gradual. 186 00:14:06.770 --> 00:14:09.780 Francis, Asbury, one of the first bishops 187 00:14:09.810 --> 00:14:15.340 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who had a monumental influence on American 188 00:14:15.370 --> 00:14:20.180 methodism, was also a strong advocate of entire sanctification. 189 00:14:20.210 --> 00:14:23.020 Thus, the theology of holiness in America 190 00:14:23.050 --> 00:14:28.700 was consistent with what Wesley taught, but also evolved beyond it. 191 00:14:28.730 --> 00:14:30.720 Because of the controversy Wesley had 192 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:36.580 encountered in England, he acknowledged allowances to his normative view. 193 00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:41.900 These exceptions that Wesley allowed did not need to be dealt with in America 194 00:14:41.930 --> 00:14:45.900 because the opposition and the challenges were different. 195 00:14:45.930 --> 00:14:50.940 Now, after 1812, for various reasons, the teaching of the doctrine of perfection 196 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:55.380 declined in importance among the Methodists in America. 197 00:14:55.410 --> 00:14:59.460 In 1845, Ll Hamlin feared that the 198 00:14:59.490 --> 00:15:06.100 doctrine of perfect love had become mere speculation to 49 out of 50 Methodists. 199 00:15:06.130 --> 00:15:08.820 Yet, despite being widely neglected, the 200 00:15:08.850 --> 00:15:14.220 theology and practice of Wesleyan holiness did not die out in America. 201 00:15:14.250 --> 00:15:18.700 Before I highlight Phoebe Palmer's role in the furtherance of holiness, the 202 00:15:18.730 --> 00:15:23.100 contribution of Timothy Merritt, her predecessor needs to be told. 203 00:15:23.130 --> 00:15:25.980 In 1825, Merritt produced a booklet called 204 00:15:26.010 --> 00:15:31.660 the Christian's Manual, a treatise on Christian perfection. 205 00:15:31.690 --> 00:15:37.900 Sarah Lankford, the sister of Phoebe Palmer, read Timothy Merritt's writing, as 206 00:15:37.930 --> 00:15:42.460 well as Wesley's a plain account of Christian perfection. 207 00:15:42.490 --> 00:15:45.940 In 1835, while she read The Life of Hester 208 00:15:45.970 --> 00:15:52.900 and Rogers, sarah fell on her knees and consecrated her life fully to God. 209 00:15:52.930 --> 00:15:58.180 From that moment on, she trusted that God had cleansed her and made her holy. 210 00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:03.920 During a conversation with Timothy Merritt seven days later, she testified, I have 211 00:16:03.950 --> 00:16:07.500 dared to reckon myself dead indeed to all sin. 212 00:16:07.530 --> 00:16:12.540 And then she felt the fullness of the Spirit come upon her. 213 00:16:12.570 --> 00:16:17.620 In 1837, Merritt started publishing the Guide to Christian Perfection, a journal 214 00:16:17.650 --> 00:16:21.780 that later changed its name to the Guide to Holiness. 215 00:16:21.810 --> 00:16:25.820 Now, according to Melbourne editor, 216 00:16:25.850 --> 00:16:30.540 merit's publishing venture represented a particular sense of purpose and logical 217 00:16:30.570 --> 00:16:34.020 procedure in the pursuit of Christian holiness. 218 00:16:34.050 --> 00:16:38.260 Unparalleled in the history of the tradition which preceded it, 219 00:16:38.290 --> 00:16:42.840 it marked the wedding of the American mind prevailing revivalism and Wesley 220 00:16:42.870 --> 00:16:46.980 imperfectionism in his widespread a popular quest for this vision. 221 00:16:47.010 --> 00:16:49.540 As the world had known 222 00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:54.540 in the tradition of Jonathan Edwards, the immediacy of repentance became the revival 223 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:58.740 appeal that was a trademark of evangelism in America. 224 00:16:58.770 --> 00:17:04.050 Dider claimed that this call to repent now was not limited to repentance alone, but 225 00:17:04.080 --> 00:17:08.700 also applied to entire sanctification by the holiness advocates. 226 00:17:08.730 --> 00:17:11.090 Entire sanctification was seen as vital 227 00:17:11.120 --> 00:17:16.380 for the spiritual well being of those who had responded to salvation. 228 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:18.920 Now, Phoebe Palmer, a key figure of the 229 00:17:18.950 --> 00:17:23.530 American holiness movement, was significantly influenced by Merit. 230 00:17:23.560 --> 00:17:28.250 It was through the promotion and example of her sister Sarah Langford that Phoebe 231 00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:32.810 Palmer sought and found entire sanctification. 232 00:17:32.840 --> 00:17:35.010 Palmer is called the most powerful and 233 00:17:35.040 --> 00:17:40.660 influential Christian woman of the 19th century in New York City. 234 00:17:40.690 --> 00:17:45.500 She led a Tuesday meeting for the promotion of holiness for 35 years. 235 00:17:45.530 --> 00:17:47.680 Not only laypeople, but a great number of 236 00:17:47.710 --> 00:17:52.380 clergymen from various denominations attended her meetings over the years. 237 00:17:52.410 --> 00:17:54.700 In addition, Palmer spoke at camp meetings 238 00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:59.980 and traveled widely to promote holiness in the United States, Canada and Britain. 239 00:18:00.010 --> 00:18:02.420 She also wrote numerous books. 240 00:18:02.450 --> 00:18:08.250 Due to her efforts, the doctrine of entire sanctification influenced a large spectrum 241 00:18:08.280 --> 00:18:14.570 of Christians, both outside of and within the Methodist circles. 242 00:18:14.600 --> 00:18:17.530 In 1858, Phoebe Palmer became the editor 243 00:18:17.560 --> 00:18:24.180 to the Guide to Holiness, a periodical that at one time had 30,000 subscribers, 244 00:18:24.210 --> 00:18:29.140 and it served as a unifying publication for those dedicated to holiness. 245 00:18:29.170 --> 00:18:34.220 Phoebe Palmer taught sanctification as a three step process. 246 00:18:34.250 --> 00:18:36.660 The three steps can be called entire 247 00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:42.460 sanctification, faith and confession, although the third step can be considered 248 00:18:42.490 --> 00:18:46.620 to be a means of retaining holiness, not acquiring it. 249 00:18:46.650 --> 00:18:49.500 In her book Entire Devotion to God, she 250 00:18:49.530 --> 00:18:52.770 explains how she attained a second blessing. 251 00:18:52.800 --> 00:18:58.090 Notice how all three steps are present in her testimony. 252 00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:01.050 This is what Phoebe Palmer writes 253 00:19:01.080 --> 00:19:05.560 at last I ventured to call upon a dear sister who, by her writings, prayer and 254 00:19:05.590 --> 00:19:09.980 effort had been the instrument of leading many into the way of holiness. 255 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:11.700 She showed me that the blessing was 256 00:19:11.730 --> 00:19:16.460 received through faith that after I had made an entire consecration of myself for 257 00:19:16.490 --> 00:19:21.460 the Lord, I was bound to believe that he, faithful to his promise, accepted the 258 00:19:21.490 --> 00:19:24.420 sacrifice and sanctified it for his service. 259 00:19:24.450 --> 00:19:27.180 Praise the Lord. I was enabled to believe with the heart 260 00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:31.530 unto righteousness and with the mouth to make confession unto salvation. 261 00:19:31.560 --> 00:19:36.460 I received the blessing on the condition that I would profess it, and I dare not 262 00:19:36.490 --> 00:19:41.380 withhold my testimony to the power of Jesus to save his people from their sins. 263 00:19:41.410 --> 00:19:43.620 Bless the Lord o my soul. 264 00:19:43.650 --> 00:19:45.800 End of quote. 265 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.440 Phoebe Palmer struggled a long time to 266 00:19:48.470 --> 00:19:51.700 attain the experience of entire sanctification. 267 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:54.010 Finally, she realized that since she had 268 00:19:54.040 --> 00:19:59.290 consecrated all to God, she could now receive this blessing simply by faith. 269 00:19:59.320 --> 00:20:03.500 In order to help others to obtain entire sanctification and not struggle as long as 270 00:20:03.530 --> 00:20:07.530 she did, she wrote a book called The Way to Holiness. 271 00:20:07.560 --> 00:20:10.250 She shared her experience with others. 272 00:20:10.280 --> 00:20:12.900 She maintained that the insurance need not 273 00:20:12.930 --> 00:20:17.940 come in the form of overwhelming emotions, but could be claimed simply by believing 274 00:20:17.970 --> 00:20:21.500 God and the evidence would show itself in the works that follow. 275 00:20:21.530 --> 00:20:26.500 She resolved no longer to expect signs and wonders attending the work of divine grace 276 00:20:26.530 --> 00:20:32.530 within her, but exercised faith by taking God as his word. 277 00:20:32.560 --> 00:20:39.180 While it is true that in the same way as John Wesley, phoebe Palmer taught that 278 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:42.400 sanctification of the second work of grace, in which God cleanses the 279 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:47.770 believer's heart of sin and fills it holy with his love, she is criticized 280 00:20:47.800 --> 00:20:52.570 for stressing the instantaneous attainment exclusively. 281 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:57.280 But stressing the instantaneous aspect of sanctification 282 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:03.810 is not an innovation of Phoebe Palmers, because it's significant that John Wesley 283 00:21:03.840 --> 00:21:09.810 advised Thomas Rankin in America that newly converted believers should be taught 284 00:21:09.840 --> 00:21:15.420 to go on to perfection, because at that stage they can most easily attain it. 285 00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:20.810 Also, Adam Clark, the famous Methodist Bible commentator, a 286 00:21:20.840 --> 00:21:24.380 man for whom John Wesley had great admiration, he stressed the 287 00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:29.480 instantaneously exclusively, claiming that if Christians had not experienced his 288 00:21:29.510 --> 00:21:33.570 blessing, it was because they had not sought it in the right way. 289 00:21:33.600 --> 00:21:36.700 Now, there's a broad range of opinions 290 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:41.080 regarding the way that Phoebe Palmer taught entire sanctification. 291 00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:43.010 While Phoebe Palmer thought that she 292 00:21:43.040 --> 00:21:48.770 taught the doctrine in the way that John Wesley and John Fletcher did, some accuse 293 00:21:48.800 --> 00:21:54.780 her of a supposed lack of fidelity to the theology of John Wesley. 294 00:21:54.810 --> 00:21:56.900 There's various opinions. 295 00:21:56.930 --> 00:22:01.570 Harold Razzer argues that Palmer created 296 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:06.540 something new by her specific interpretations of Wesley's teaching. 297 00:22:06.570 --> 00:22:13.050 Likewise, Ivan Howard says that Palmer's teaching was obviously contrary to Wesley, 298 00:22:13.080 --> 00:22:16.980 because though Wesley held that the experience was obtainable immediately on 299 00:22:17.010 --> 00:22:21.780 the condition of complete concentration, he never said that one should claim its 300 00:22:21.810 --> 00:22:26.420 possession on the basis of faith in the Word alone. 301 00:22:26.450 --> 00:22:32.380 According to Charles Edward White, palmer's main theological contribution was 302 00:22:32.410 --> 00:22:38.500 to modify and popularize Wesley's doctrine of entire sanctification. 303 00:22:38.530 --> 00:22:43.380 Yet White does not consider her to have created anything new, but he rather 304 00:22:43.410 --> 00:22:49.570 insists that she only took John Wesley's doctrine to their natural conclusion. 305 00:22:49.600 --> 00:22:53.020 Contrary to Razor, and in agreement with 306 00:22:53.050 --> 00:22:58.380 White, Kevin Lowry contends that Palmer's teaching is best described as a variation 307 00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:02.090 of the doctrine, rather than a different doctrine. 308 00:23:02.120 --> 00:23:04.460 Yet, contrary to White, Lowry also insists 309 00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:10.570 that Palmer introduced a theological shift which altered Wesley's doctrine. 310 00:23:10.600 --> 00:23:16.740 It is the opinion of Melvin Editor, and I quote, that although each of Mrs. 311 00:23:16.770 --> 00:23:18.920 Palmer's assumptions and statements can be 312 00:23:18.950 --> 00:23:23.540 documented with almost identical statements to Wesley himself, 313 00:23:23.570 --> 00:23:27.360 at the very least, there has been a shifting of the focus for understanding 314 00:23:27.390 --> 00:23:31.700 the tension between the Wesley and polarities of growth and crisis in 315 00:23:31.730 --> 00:23:35.620 relation to the coming to perfection and love. 316 00:23:35.650 --> 00:23:42.290 So whether or not TV Palmer's teaching was something new, according to Razor, or just 317 00:23:42.320 --> 00:23:47.260 a natural culmination of Wesley's teaching, according to White, or whether 318 00:23:47.290 --> 00:23:53.290 it was a variance according to Lowry, or whether it was a shift in focus according 319 00:23:53.320 --> 00:24:00.090 to Dieter, the fact is that something has changed, something was different. 320 00:24:00.120 --> 00:24:01.460 Now our time is up. 321 00:24:01.490 --> 00:24:08.090 So we cannot investigate to see what the difference was, or if the difference was 322 00:24:08.120 --> 00:24:11.940 subtle, or if the difference was significant. 323 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:14.980 That will have to be left to another occasion. 324 00:24:15.010 --> 00:24:20.290 But it was the aim of both John Wesley and Phoebe Palmer to lead their listeners or 325 00:24:20.320 --> 00:24:23.460 readers into a deeper relationship with God. 326 00:24:23.490 --> 00:24:25.540 So whether or not we agree with their 327 00:24:25.570 --> 00:24:29.460 respective understanding of the doctrine of Christian perfection, 328 00:24:29.490 --> 00:24:35.330 our goal as followers of Christ should nevertheless remain consistent with their 329 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:41.570 goals, which was to love God above all else, and our neighbors and ourselves. 330 00:24:41.600 --> 00:24:45.480 We should and we must strive for holiness.