THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL POWER by G. D. Watson

The late Dr. J. A. Huffman, Missionary Church historian, pointed to G.D. Watson as having greatly contributed to the understanding of the doctrine of holiness in the formative days of the denomination. "The Secret of Spiritual Power" was one of the writings of G. D. Watson that had wide distribution during those years.

A great deal has been said and written upon the subject of spiritual power, and perhaps I can add nothing original upon the subject, but may help to stir up some pure minds by way of remembrance.

While attending a holiness convention in Star Hall, Manchester, England, one day, there opened up to my mind a series of thoughts as to the secret of God's power in man. In the. first place, the secret of spiritual power consists in the union of the Holy Ghost with the purified faculties and natural energies of the human soul, and, on the human side, it consists in the utter abandonment of the soul to, and a hearty cooperation with, the Holy Spirit. It is not eloquence, nor style, nor personal magnetism, nor psychology, nor the natural energy of the human soul, not even the energy of a purified soul. The soul may be purified, and yet as a mere creature, the creature faculties and creature powers do not have the power of God in soul-saving, in aggressive spiritual work, in bringing sinners to repentance, or believers into holiness. It is true that a human soul free from sin, as a mere creature, has a marvelous power above other unsaved souls, but as a creature, though it be holy, yet in itself does not possess that secret energy which can communicate conviction and lead to salvation. So that, however holy a man is, there must be joined on to him a divine current, a supernatural energy which is emphatically divine, and of which he is the vehicle and conductor.

This divine power is a secret unknown to the world, uncomprehended by the most learned sinners, misunderstood by carnal professors, utterly beyond the grasp of philosophers or scientists. Let us notice some Scripture proofs. Jesus had a pure soul; from the very initial of His being He was perfectly free from the fallen nature of Adam, and, as a mere man, He was superior in moral strength to all the men of the world. And yet it was not by His holy creature-strength that He did the works of His father. The power that Jesus used in working miracles, in preaching sermons, in healing diseases, in casting out demons, in saving souls was not the power of His sinless soul, but it was the power flowing from the baptism of the Spirit upon His pure humanity. This is distinctly marked in the two periods of His life. From His infancy to His baptism in Jordan He was entirely holy, but wrought no miracles, but when the Holy Ghost descended on Him, from that time on, He was the Anointed One, and worked under the perpetual unction that flowed through Him from the Holy Spirit. So that in addition to His holy creature-faculties, God poured into Him the fullness of the Spirit. We are told that when Jesus had gotten through with the temptation of the wilderness, He "returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Ghost." This expression of returning in the "power of the Holy Ghost," implies that there was added unto Him a power which He did not possess as a mere pure man.

We sometimes hear it said that "holiness is power," and that all the power we need for the work of God is heart purity, but these remarks are not entirely correct according to the Word of God. It is true that heart purity is power in the creature sense of power, but it is not the power of the Holy Ghost in the Scripture sense of it. Jesus is our example, and we read that He received in addition to His pure humanity the power of the Holy Ghost, and that it was "through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot unto God," and that it was "through the Holy Ghost He gave commandment unto the apostles." And He so often affirms, "The words I speak unto you I speak not of Myself," that is, the words did not proceed from His merely pure humanity. Now, if Jesus needed the Holy Ghost united with His holy creature nature in order to give Him the peculiar secret of power in His mission, and if He is our example, how much more do we need that we should have our sanctified hearts and our mental faculties in vital union with the Holy Spirit, that by that union we may do the work of God. So that we cannot depend On the natural energies even of our saved souls. We cannot depend on ourselves in any form, nor on any creature, or number of creatures however holy they may be.

Another proof text is, Jesus says, "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you." The old version says, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." But it is more correct to take the marginal reading. According to the thought in the old version, the power is a something which is detached from the Holy Ghost, but according to the margin, the power is identified with the Holy Ghost, and is spoken of as a current or wave which gushes out from the conjunction of the Holy Spirit and the human soul. Just as the current of water in the wilderness did not gush from the rock of itself, nor did it gush from the rod, but when the rod touched the rock, from the union of the rod and the rock, the stream poured forth, so the current of divine power does not go forth from the Holy Ghost apart from the human soul, nor does it proceed from the merely purified soul, but when the sanctified soul and the Holy Ghost are united, from that ineffable union there goes forth what is scripturally called the power of God. Thus the secret of power is in having the Holy Ghost unite Himself to our souls, cleansing, filling, inspiring us, supplying us according to each emergency with supernatural light, energy, wisdom, courage, tact and zeal, to do the will and work of God. This power is something that God puts within the soul, which the soul itself does not comprehend, so that a person under its enduement does not break down with discouragement, does not break down under a thousand things that would break down the human soul if it were left by itself.

One of the best illustrations of this secret power is a current of electricity, of which the sanctified faculties of man form the negative pole, and the Holy Ghost the positive. If these are separated there is no current, but united there goes forth a shock to startle the slumbering, to awaken sinners, to cause the hearers to break down in penitential weeping, to reveal to Christian people as by a flash of lightning the original impurity in their hearts, and to move congregations toward the Saviour with earnest cries for salvation. The scarcity of these celestial shocks is because professedly Christian workers trust to creature strength, or to the mere orthodoxy of their words. "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man," and especially cursed is he that trusteth in himself.

The Development of the Doctrine of Sanctification Within the Missionary Church

by Bill McPhail

How did the doctrine of entire sanctification develop in the early days of the Missionary Church?

In his Book The History of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church, Dr. J. A. Huffman writes: “ It is not easy to point out all the factors which entered into the development made in the church, in relation to this doctrine. A Free Methodist in one community, a United Brethren in another, and an Evangelical in still another, may be accredited with having been instrumental in bringing the doctrine of sanctification to the attention of the church. The writings of A. Sims, Geo. D. Watson, John S. Inskip, and others fell into the hands of these zealous Christians and exerted their influence. But the cause was more likely inherent than external or visible. People, truly converted and walking in the light, were led to see their privilege and duty in relation to being cleansed from all sin, and embraced the provision. God providentially permitted such human agencies as have been or may be pointed out to direct a willing and obedient people into the deeper things of the Christian experience.”

Though the writings of Albert Sims, G. D. Watson and John S. Inskip were a significant influence upon the early leaders of what would inevitably become the Missionary Church, it is probably safe to postulate that the names of these men are relatively unknown to the average pastor or layperson within the Missionary Church today.

It would serve us well then to do more than recite the names of Sims, Watson and Inskip. If we are serious about understanding our holiness heritage, it seems only logical that we would be well served in rediscovering what these men wrote that so significantly shaped our doctrine of sanctification and holiness.

With that in mind I will limit our investigation only to time period in which their writings would have influenced the formation of the doctrine of sanctification within the lives of our first leaders during the crucial time of our denomination’s infancy.

Not surprisingly, all three men: Sims, Watson and Inskip published books from 1878 till 1882 that received wide distribution among our Mennonite predecessors. Furthermore, while it is more likely that our Canadian brethren were more likely to occasionally sit under the actual preaching of the Canadian Sims, our American forefathers were likely to have attended one of the Camp Meetings for the proclamation of Christian Holiness headed by Inskip in either Pennsylvania or New York; and had even greater access to the preaching of Watson who preached a great deal in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

During that time period Albert Sims was the only one of the three who did not author a book dealing directly with the subject of holiness. His widely read book published in 1878 entitled: The Sin of Tobacco. Smoking and Chewing Together With An Effective Cure For These Habits clearly addressed the call to purity and holiness.

Sim’s began his very first chapter by writing: '' Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."—1. Cor. vii. 1.

" If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, whose temple ye are."—1. Cor. iii. 17.

“The central idea of the religion of Christ,” wrote Sims, “is purity, and it applies to the body as well as to the soul. Is it any wonder that God requires a pure temple to dwell in? Would we offer a dear friend, who came to see us, a filthy room to occupy? Nay, but we would provide for his reception with the greatest care. How much more careful should we be to furnish a pure temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in.”

Continuing, Sims would write: "One of the most eminent believers in, this kingdom, for example, gave us this account of an important fact in his experience. For more than twenty years he had been an abject slave to tobacco. He had often resolved to abandon the habit, and prayed for strength to keep his purpose; and as often without success. When he set his heart fully upon being 'sanctified wholly,' and being baptized with the Holy Ghost, 'I said to myself,' he remarked, 'the heart-purity which I seek is certainly not compatible with enslavement to this appetite. I accordingly, in specific terms, spread this promise before my Saviour: "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." With that promise distinctly in view, and with absolute faith in the trustworthiness of Him that had promised, I asked Him to take that appetite from me. In an instant the work was done, and from that moment to this I have never experienced the remotest stirrings of the appetite.' "

Later in his book Sims quotes English preacher George Warner: "In seeking to promote the work of holiness and teaching that the body, as well as the spirit and soul, is to be wholly sanctified and preserved blameless—that God's people are to be cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh as well as of the spirit— that he will cleanse his people from all their filthiness and from all their idols, and then possess the temple for Himself, many have come to see the necessity of abandoning the use of tobacco; and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ they have done it.”

While one hears little today from the pulpit that matches Sim’s polemic regarding the prohibition of tobacco, and other harmful products, it is equally true that we hear little as well regarding being ‘sanctified wholly’ and experiencing ‘heart-purity.” Perhaps if we did we would find, in the words of J. A. Huffman, more “people, truly converted and walking in the light, (who will be) led to see their privilege and duty in relation to being cleansed from all sin, and embrace(d) the provision (of sanctification).”

In our next Issue of We Were Frogs we will begin to look at the influence of John Inskip and the development of the doctrine of sanctification within the Missionary Church.