Witnesses to Perfect Love Part 4

 More witnesses to Perfect Love:

22. Rev. B. W. Gorham: "All vain ambition, all distracting solicitude, all pride and self-will, and all fear, whether of future disgrace, or of poverty, or death, were gone and from that time my Spirit has constantly and consciously rested in the bosom of infinite love. It has been a heaven of purity and peace." -- Guide to Holiness.

B. W. Gorham has been a useful minister at the altars of Methodism for over forty years, and has led thousands into the sweetness of perfect love. He has written much on this subject, and all his writings are clear, searching, and helpful.

23. Lady Maxwell: "I rest in him; I dwell in him. Sinking into him, I lose myself, and prove a life of fellowship with Deity so divinely sweet I would not relinquish it for a thousand worlds. It is indeed a narrow path; but love levels every mountain, makes all easy.

'0 love divine, how sweet thou art!'

"When I look back, I rejoice to see what I am saved from; when I look forward, it is all pure expanse of unbounded love. Surely the heaven of heavens is love." -- life of Lady Maxwell.

Lady Maxwell enjoyed and professed perfect love for nearly thirty years. She was led to Christ by Mr. Wesley, and enjoyed his acquaintance during twenty-seven years.

24. Dr. E. M. Levy: "I seemed filled with all the fullness of God. I wept for joy. All night long I wept. All the next day, at the family altar, in the street, and in the sanctuary, tears continued to flow. The fountain of my being seemed broken up, and my heart was dissolved in gratitude and praise. My soul seemed filled with pulses, every one thrilling and throbbing with such waves of love and rapture that I thought I must die from excess of life." Advocate of Holiness, 1872.

Dr. Levy is pastor of the Berean Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and for years has been a witness of perfect love.

25. Dr. Francis Hodgson: January 1, 1874. The last year has been an eventful one to me. It has been a year of sanctified trials and of advanced and blessed attainments. It stands out prominent among the years of my Christian life. I bless God for it. It includes a day memorable among all other days of my ministry, Thursday, July 31st, when God most graciously and sweetly cleansed me from all unrighteousness, and baptized me with the holy Ghost as never before. To God be all the glory for ever." -- Letter to "Advocate of Holiness," February, 1874.

Dr. Hodgson was well known among American theologians as an able divine. He sought and obtained perfect love at the Landisville National Camp-meeting, at the time above stated, and walked in its clear light until his death.

26. Dr. George Peck: "An indescribable change passed through all the avenues of my spirit. God seemed to be there in the glory of his grace. I melted like wax in the presence of the Lord. I sank into nothing. Christ was all, elevated upon the throne of his holiness. In the fullness of my joy I wept aloud, and gave glory to God in the highest. I went on my way exulting in God, the holy and adorable God, whose glory I now saw as never before." -- Life and Times.

Dr. Peck was formerly editor of the "Advocate and Journal" and of the "Quarterly Review," and the author of several works, including "Christian Perfection," which for clearness of doctrinal statement and strength of argument has few, if any, superiors.

27. Mrs. President Edwards: "I can not find language to express how certain the everlasting love of God appeared; the everlasting mountains and hills were but shadows to it. My safety, and happiness, and eternal enjoyment of God's immutable love seemed as durable and unchangeable as God himself. Melted and overcome by the sweetness of this assurance, I fell into a great flow of tears, and could not forbear weeping aloud. The presence of God was so near and so real that I seemed scarcely conscious of anything else.

"In the house of God, so conscious was I of the joyful presence of the Holy Spirit, that I could scarcely refrain from leaping with transports of joy. My soul was fill and overwhelmed with light, and love, and joy in the holy Ghost, and seemed just ready to go away from the body -- This exaltation of soul was subsided into a heavenly calm and a rest of soul in God, which was even sweeter than what preceded it."

Mrs. Edwards was the wife of Jonathan Edwards and was a Presbyterian. In 1742 she sought and obtained what she called "the full assurance of faith," and what Methodists call "perfect love," or "entire sanctification." She gives her experience quite extendedly, and a stronger, clearer, and more glowing profession of' "perfect love " cannot be found on record.

28. Dr. F. G. Hibbard: "I was alone in the field one beautiful day in early spring. The sky clear, the sun glorious, the happy birds and all nature, quick and springing into life, were but the symbols of my soul's experience. It was a glorious day within and without. I can never forget that day. I shall never enjoy a happier until I walk the fields of paradise. 'What is it that you want?' seemed to be asked me. 'I want victory over all known sin' 'Have you not got it? 'Yes,' I replied. 'What else?' 'I want power to perform all the known will of God.' 'Have you not got it?' 'Yes, praise God!' 'What else do you want?' 'I want to love God with all my soul.' 'Do you not?' 'Yes; glory to God!'' Well, have you not, then, received the blessing you have asked for?' And my bursting heart answered, 'Yes, I have. Blessed be God, my prayers are answered I will not doubt!' And never from that hour have I doubted for one moment the reality of the work there attested. That was the 'beginning of years' to my soul." -- Guide to Holiness, April, 1867.

Dr. Hibbard is well known; he was formerly editor of the "N. C. Advocate," is the author of "Hibbard on the Psalms," and several other works. He is loved and honored, and regarded as one of the most accurate theologians in the Methodist Church.

29. Rev. J. Inskip: "I call heaven and earth to witness that I now declare I will be henceforth wholly and forever the Lord's. Seeing that I had thus given myself in an 'everlasting covenant ' to the Lord, and had, so far as I could, come out and separated myself unto God, my faith gathered strength, and 'looking unto Jesus,' I exclaimed with rapture perfectly unutterable, 'I am, O Lord, wholly and forever thine.' The bliss -- the peace -- the triumph of that hour will never be forgotten. Then, indeed, I felt the joy of the Lord was my strength. A new phase of spiritual life seemed revealed to me, and I went forward in the path of duty with alacrity and vigor such as I had never known before." -- Pioneer experience, p. 56.

Rev. J. S. Inskip is well known as a useful minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been the honored president of the "National Association for the Promotion of Holiness," from its organization.

30. President Charles G. Finney: "Here I lost that great struggle in which I had been engaged for so long a time, and began to preach to the congregation in accordance with this new and enlarged experience." ... "Of course my mind was too full of the subject to preach anything except a full and present salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. At this time it seemed as if my soul was wedded to Christ in a sense in which I had never had any thought or conception of before." -- Autobiography.

President Finney was long at the head of Oberlin College, and one of the most devoted and useful of men. He gave repeated and lengthy accounts of his experience, and wrote much on this subject.

31. Rev. David Stoner: "My heart was softened, and warmed, and filled; my prayer was turned into praises, and I could do nothing but shout, 'Glory be to God!' I feel nothing contrary to love. I want to be every moment filled with God. Whether I hold or not, I am sure that God took full possession of my heart on the 14th of July." -- Life of Stoner.

Glory to God! he held on, and his able biographers, Messrs. Hannah and Dawson, of the British Conference, state, "From this time the public labors of Mr. Stoner were crowned with more visible and extensive success."