Holiness Must Be Preached Part 1

BLJ: I would stay away from a preacher who doesn't preach holiness. Something is very wrong.

HOLINESS MUST BE PREACHED

148. Should the doctrine, experience, and practice of Christian Holiness be preached frequently?

This subject should receive (as it demands) great prominence in all our ministerial labors. While it should not be the only topic in our pulpit ministrations, it should be a prominent one. The apostle Paul states the great object of an established Christian ministry to be "for the perfecting of the saints." In regard to his own labors, he says: "We warn every man, and teach every man, ... that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." The minister of Christ should give the doctrine and practice of holiness the same prominence the Bible gives it.

1. Bishop Foster says: "It breathes in the prophecy, thunders in the law, murmurs in the narrative, whispers in the promises, supplicates in the prayers, sparkles in the poetry, resounds in the songs, speaks in the types, glows in the imagery, voices in the language, and burns in the spirit of the whole scheme, from the alpha to the omega, from its beginning to its end. Holiness holiness needed, holiness required, holiness offered, holiness attainable, holiness a present duty, a present privilege, a present enjoyment -- is the progress and completeness of its wondrous theme!" -- Christian Purity, p. 80.

2. The Discipline, on the matter and manner of preaching, is very explicit. It reads: "Let us strongly and closely insist upon inward and outward holiness in all its branches."

This insisting upon "inward and outward holiness in all its branches" is to be constant -- "TO DO THIS, IN SOME MEASURE, IN EVERY SERMON." -- Dis., p. 86.

3. Rev. John Wesley says: "Therefore let all our preachers make a point to preach of perfection to believers constantly, strongly explicitly." ... "I doubt not we are not explicit enough in speaking on full sanctification, either in public or private." Vol. vi. p. 529.

"I am afraid Christian perfection will be forgotten. Encourage Richard Blackwell and Mr. Colley to speak plainly. A general faintness in this respect has fallen on the whole kingdom. Sometimes I seem almost weary of striving against the stream of both preacher and people."

"I hope he is not ashamed to preach full salvation, receivable now, by faith. This is the word which God will always bless, and which the devil peculiarly hates therefore, he is constantly stirring up both his own children and the weak children of God, against it." -- Letter to Mrs. Bennis, 1771.

"I wish, when opportunity serves, yon would encourage him (Isaac Brown) 1. To preach Christian perfection constantly, strongly, and explicitly. 2. Explicitly to assert and prove that it may be received now: and 3. (which indeed is implied therein) That it is to be received by simple faith." -- Letter to Miss. Ritchie, 1782.

4. Dr. Adam Clarke says: "If the Methodists give up preaching entire sanctification they will soon lose their glory."....."This fitness, then, to appear before God, and thorough preparation for eternal glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and heartily recommend to all true believers, under the name of Christian perfection."

"Let all those who retain the apostolic doctrine, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin in this life, press every believer to go on to perfection, and expect to be saved, while here below, into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." Theology, p. 201.

5. Bishop Peck says: "The duty of ministers is plain: to set the whole work of grace upon the heart, constantly and plainly, before the people ... to hold out, with the clearness of light, to the Israel of God, everywhere, the glorious privilege of perfect love, and urge it; not as all the gospel, but the grand result sought in the gospel; not merely as a privilege and a probability, but as a duty, as an attainment, which we are in danger of missing, and which is indispensable to our ultimate preservation in the favor of God, and our introduction into heaven?" -- Central Idea, p. 66.

6. Bishop Foster says: "Let the pulpit experience and teach this glorious privilege as it deserves to be taught, and great evil will be obviated." -- Christian Purity, p. 277.

7. Dr. Stephen Olin writes: "I trust the day is near when our church will bear a clearer testimony on this subject. It was the peculiarity of early Methodism. ... I do not for a moment allow myself to doubt that the great plan of redemption provides for a perfect work here below. I can take no view of the gospel which tolerates lower views. I can not PREACH the gospel in any other light."

8. Bishop Asbury wrote to the Rev. Henry Smith, and closed his letter as follows: "Night comes on, and I will close with saying, 'Preach sanctification, directly and indirectly, in every sermon.' " He wrote to another, "O purity! O Christian perfection! O sanctification! It is heaven below to feel all sin removed. Preach it, whether they will hear or forbear. PREACH IT."

9. Bishop McKendree wrote the following to the eloquent Summerfield: "But superior to all these, I trust you will ever keep in view, in all your ministrations, the great design which we believe God intended to accomplish in the world, in making us a 'people that were not a people,' -- I mean the knowledge, not only of a free and a present, but also a full salvation in other words, a salvation from all sin unto all holiness."

"INSIST MUCH ON THIS; build up the churches herein, and proclaim aloud, that 'without holiness no man shall see the Lord;' under the guidance of the Spirit of holiness, this doctrine will be acknowledged of God: 'signs will follow them that believe' and press after this uttermost salvation, and our people will bear the mark of their high calling -- become a holy nation, a peculiar people."

10. "The only really effective method of preaching it," says Dr. L. R. Dunn, "is from the standpoint of experience, and with the spirit of the gentle and loving Jesus. Methodist preachers, to be consistent, must preach it." -- Address at Holiness Conference.

11. The Rev. George Pickering, after fifty years in the ministry, in his semi-centennial sermon, exhorts brethren to "preach to the people the blessed doctrine of holiness;" adding, "This is the only thing that will hold the Methodist church together." When on his dying-bed, being visited by all the ministers of Boston, grasping the hand of the brother who was acting as spokesman for the whole, he exclaimed, "Tell -- oh, tell the brethren to preach Christ and him crucified, an all-able, all-powerful, all-willing, all-ready Saviour, a present Saviour, saving now. Preach, 'Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.' Oh, tell them to preach holiness. Holiness is the principal thing. Preach holiness, HOLINESS, HOLINESS! God help you to preach holiness." Thus ended the dying charge of that holy man, George Pickering, of the New England Conference. -- Stevens: "Eminent Dead," p. 328.