Reasons Why We Should Be Holy
George Asbury McLaughlin
Chapter 7: Holiness Brings Prosperity to the Church
The enemy of all souls is a wily strategist. He knows how to plan the defeat of the cause of
God, by the most insidious and crafty plans and schemes. No general conducting a military
campaign was ever more skillful in devices to hinder his foe.
One of his favorite methods is to make it appear that the strongest defenses of the army of
God are the weakest. He attempts ever to bring ridicule to bear upon the strongest bulwarks of the
armies of the living God. His object is to make the good appear bad; to make men believe that
white is black; to make his attacks on the strong points of Christianity. In harmony with this policy,
he attacked, through his emissaries, the character of the immaculate Son of God, and tried to make
it appear that He was possessed with a devil. The character of the Son of God is the great center of
the Christian faith. It is the irrefutable evidence of the divinity of our holy religion. This is the
reason that some of the evil spirits in the time of Christ said, "I know thee whom thou art, the Son
of God." Jesus understood the plot and rebuked it. He did not propose to have it appear that He
was in league with or possessed by evil spirits.
Since this is the policy of Satan, it need not be wondered at, that he should try to make it
appear that holiness, which is "the central idea of Christianity," is a fanaticism and an
impossibility in this life. It could hardly be expected that truth could have a fair chance.
Consequently we find all sorts of misrepresentation. Satan has had great success in frightening
people from holiness by misrepresenting it. It is safe to say that the majority of church members
today have listened so much to these misrepresentations that they have scarcely any idea at all of
the real nature of this-the central doctrine of the Bible. There are thousands of honest people who
would accept it; if they knew its real nature. Their hearts are hungry for this bread, but they are
kept away because they have been told that the witnesses to entire sanctification claim to have
reached the state where they cannot sin, nor make mistakes, nor be tempted.
In this same propagandism of Satan is found the assertion that holiness is a narrow minded
specialty, a side track that leaves the greater part of the doctrines and experiences of Christianity
and holds entirely aloof from them, and that to embrace it makes one narrow and unfitted for the
practical duties of Christianity. The fact of it is, that this is the central doctrine around which all
the other doctrines of Christianity revolve, like the planets around the sun. Jesus said the all
embracing commandment was, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and soul and
mind and strength." This is perfect love. This is holiness. Paul says "the end of the commandment
is love out of a pure heart" All the claims of the advocates of holiness are found in these two
utterances of Jesus and Paul.
In the divine economy it is intended that holiness and holiness only is the divine essential
to the prosperity of the cause of God in all its branches. Strange that an unbelieving church does
not grasp the fact! That keen observer of spiritual things, John Wesley, says again and again that
"where holiness is preached constantly and explicitly the work of God prospers in all its
branches." He says, "I examined the society at Bristol, and was surprised to find fifty members
fewer than I left in last October. One reason is Christian perfection has been little insisted on; and
wherever this is not done, be the preachers ever so eloquent, there is little increase, either in the
number or grace of the hearers." (Wesley's Works, Vol. IV, page 220.) "I preached at Bradford
where the people are all alive. Many have lately experienced the great salvation, and their zeal has
been a great blessing. Indeed, this I always observe wherever a work of sanctification breaks out,
the whole work of God prospers." (Vol. IV. page 437.)
"I found the plain reason why the work of God had gained no ground in this (Lavenston)
circuit in all the year. The preachers had given up the Methodist testimony. Either they did not
speak of perfection at all (the peculiar doctrine committed to our trust), or they spoke of it only in
general terms, without urging believers to go on unto perfection, and to expect it every moment.
And wherever this is not done the work of God does not prosper." (Vol. IV, page 459.) We could
fill a chapter with similar quotations from Wesley. This is just as true in this day as in his day.
Individual churches are still among us where holiness has the right of way and prosperity is the
result. The only handicap is that they are almost isolated. Holiness does not have a fair chance. If
those isolated churches had the sympathy of all the other churches greater success would follow.
But they succeed in the face of the lack of sympathy, if not opposition.
We can locate on the map to our actual knowledge such churches that have succeeded and
are succeeding because holiness has the right of way. Let us note the points of their successes.
l) Success in soul saving. There is a vast difference between the old-fashioned protracted
meeting and the modern "revival." The former was prayed down from heaven. The latter is "got
up." The former depended upon the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The latter is brought to pass by
human methods and appliances. In the former the fathers prayed until they prayed through and the
revival came and whole communities of sinners were put under conviction. Men could not sleep
nights. Hardened sinners made restitution, gave up their wicked ways, confessed their sins and
went forth to lead new, changed lives. In the modern revival, reliance is put mostly on
organization: committees, union meetings, great chorus choirs, extensive, adroit, advertising,
signing of cards, shaking hands with the preacher and joining the church. Very little or nothing is
said concerning repentance or restitution or the witness of the Spirit.
If the modern revival is the divine method then we confess that holiness preaching and
experience is not a success in this connection. But if the old time revival is the divine method
which laid the foundation of the Christian church in these lands, then it is greatly helped and
brought to pass by holiness preaching and holy living.
We have shown in a previous chapter that the New Testament method of putting sinners
under conviction is to have the church filled with the Holy Spirit and that under its prophetic
utterances men are moved to acknowledge the truth. (See I Cor. 14:24-25.) We do not believe God
has ever authorized any other method for saving the world, except through a holy church, for the
great hindrance to the spread of the gospel is because the professed church is not holy. This is
what the world demands and before such a church it will ever bow, for, as Mark Guy Pearse well
says, "Whatever theories the churches may hold, the world has for the Christian but one standard,
and that is entire sanctification. It trips and stumbles over the defects of Christian people and
makes no allowance for them. The world's conviction and conversion depend upon the holy lives
of religious people."
But the old time revival depended also on the intercession of God's people. It began with
preparation on the part of the church; heart searching, confession and mighty soul travail. They
prayed and prayed until their consecration and unity were complete and then down came the fire
from heaven and sinners were saved. Complete consecration made their prayers effective.
The modern holiness movement has made the consecration permanent. The fathers seemed
to think entire consecration was enough just for the time of the protracted meeting. Then gradually
they relaxed back to the old life. The modern holiness movement teaches that consecration is to be
eternal; never to be relaxed and that the church should be in a revival state all the time. There
should be a full tide all the time, without any ebbing and flowing. This we believe is the divine
plan. A really entirely sanctified church is always on the alert to get men saved. It is not a revival
limited to "the week of prayer" or the "annual revival." It sees newborn souls constantly at its
altars. A careful, candid investigation will prove this to be the fact even in these modern days.
What a pity that ecclesiastics seem ignorant of this fact to such an alarming extent.
2) Liberality in giving. Holiness promotes liberality in giving. It kills covetousness. How
pitiful the modern expedients to raise money to support the gospel. It looks to the world as if the
cause of our God were on the verge of bankruptcy a good deal of the time. There is no cause that
does so much for man, that is so poorly supported. More than that, the modern methods of
supporting the gospel develop covetousness and stinginess, whereas the Scriptural method
enlarges the heart and brings blessing to the giver. The great Head of the Church said, "It is more
blessed to give than to receive." Modern methods of supporting the gospel give the lie to his
assertion. They have practically made it appear that it is more blessed to receive than to give. The
mercantile idea has crowded out the gospel method of direct giving. Fairs, festivals, feasting prove
that people want something back in return when they give to the cause of God. They seek not
enlargement of heart, but fun, frolic and entertainment. And the worst of it is the financial returns
are not what they should be even then. More money comes out of the spontaneous heart than can be
squeezed out of the unwilling. A fountain is more profitable than a sponge.
The holy people are liberal givers. If anyone feels disposed to deny this let him see how
easily and promptly finances are raised by the Scriptural method. Paul speaks of the churches of
Macedonia who "first gave their own selves to the Lord." (II Cor. 8:5.) No wonder he boasts of
their great liberality. Holy people have had the old man crucified and covetousness is gone. They
delight to give to God in gratitude for His great gift of salvation.
This has been disputed. We call attention to the facts, which can easily be pointed out and
verified, in many churches.
3) Missionary effort. Jesus Christ linked holiness to foreign missions, when the lawyer said
that the great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." This is perfect
love to God and man. This is the fruit of holiness. He told the lawyer, in explaining what the term
neighbor meant, that it included foreigners, even as the hated Samaritan cared for the unfortunate
Jew. There has been no class of people so willing to go to the ends of the earth to carry the gospel,
as the holy people. Entire consecration has created thousands of foreign missionaries. And none
have the success that they have as a class. A company of missionaries in Japan got together one
night to pray. They consecrated themselves to God and were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and a
great revival broke out in Japan as the result. A modest, retiring young lady is puzzled as to some
of the possibilities of holiness as an experience. Her pastor explains the doctrine. She consecrates
herself entirely to God, and receives the blessing of a pure heart. A holy ambition fills her heart, to
go to tell the story of salvation to the heathen. She takes special training and is the first deaconess
consecrated by the Methodist Episcopal Church. She goes to Western China and gives more than
twenty-five years to the foreign mission work. The great school at Cheng Tu is the result of her
labors.
Phoebe Palmer, the pioneer holiness evangelist of America, whose name was a household
word in America and England a generation ago, and under whose labors thousands were
converted, suggests to her husband that they give sufficient money to found a mission in China. As
the result Methodist Episcopal Missions are founded in China, which have become a great
enterprise.
Bishop Taylor is providentially appointed missionary bishop to Africa. He calls for
volunteers to go with him, without salary or promise of any home support. The holiness people
rally to the call. A large company of men and women meet in a holiness convention in Brooklyn,
N. Y, in an M. E. Church, and at its close sail one stormy day for Africa. The holy people at home
contribute to their support and today regularly organized missions are flourishing in Africa as the
result.
And what shall we say more, for time and space would fail us to tell of the hundreds in
foreign fields (scores of whom we personally know) who became missionaries, as the result of the
experience of entire sanctification. Are their names not recorded in the book of life!
4) Gifts. "God has His plan for every man." He made no two of us just alike. This shows
that He has a special mission for each of us, and if we fail, His plan as regards us is defeated. This
is shown in the parable of the talents. To one man He gave five, to another two and to another one
talent. He divided them to each one "according to his several ability." The man who had one talent
failed to improve it. In the modern church, it is not merely the man with one talent that fails to
improve it, but there seem to be many who have five talents who are doing nothing. We have seen
in our American forests noble fallen trees, rotting and going to decay, when there is a great demand
for such timber. It has made us think of the talent lying idle in the American church. It is a great pity
when so much is to be done, and the cause of Christ languishes for helpers. The average church
member cannot be relied upon for spiritual exercises-such as prayer or testimony. This is relegated
to the pastor and a few of the faithful. It is very difficult to get Sunday school teachers, too. The
family altar has almost disappeared. Lay preaching is almost unknown. The old time class meeting
has gone forever and one reason of it is, the lack of material for leadership.
But when the Holy Spirit is poured out on a church in sanctifying power, it develops the
latent gifts as at Pentecost. Then every one has a testimony, and many like Peter become preachers
at once. There is no lack in gifts. Preachers, missionaries, class leaders, teachers spring up like
magic. And we have seen it thus in our short lifetime.
5) Holy people are the spiritual nucleus of the church. God has made them the custodians of
the interests of His spiritual kingdom. They can be depended upon to keep up the prayer and social
means of grace. They stand by the revival meetings. They are ready to point sinners to the Saviour.
They have compassion for the lost. If all the professors of entire sanctification should be suddenly
caught away to heaven, the cause of God on earth would go limping and halting. The church would
never know their value until they were gone. Suppose every church member were truly sanctified,
what a difference it would make in Christendom. Our prayer meetings would be crowded.
Testimonies and praises would fill the air. The pulpit would fire up and great conviction would be
on sinners and revival fires would constantly blaze and the millennium would be upon us.
6) Holy people give no trouble as to the enforcement of discipline. They keep the rules.
You never hear them requesting that the laws of the church against worldly amusements be
amended. They have no lusting after the fleshpots of Egypt. They have something better-a daily
feast of salvation in the soul. The easiest way to discipline a church is to preach full salvation
from all sin. The humble will seek the blessing and if the preaching be really aggressive
Ishmaelites in the church will pack up their baggage and go.
7) Holy people are engaged in good works. This is their specialty. So said Paul: "Who
gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a people
zealous of good works." They love to give, realizing that it is "more blessed to give than to
receive." They can be reckoned on in the cause of prohibition, temperance, charity, the uplifting of
the fallen, the Red Cross, etc. Their sympathies and love go out to all mankind. In short holiness
makes us all round in our development. When we were young we worked in a cotton factory. Great
bales of cotton were brought from the South. They were opened in the picker room and thrown into
the picker and torn all to pieces. Then the cotton went through the breaker carding machines, which
removed much of the dirt and straightened its fibers; then through the "finishing" carding machines,
and it came out pure white. Then it was ready for the spinning machines and was made into the
"warp and woof," which were put together into fabric in the looms; then in the cloth room it was
piled up, stamped and boxed for market. And one big water wheel did the whole business. As it
turned, all the machinery was busy. The pickers tore the cotton into pieces. The first and second
carding machines removed all the dirt, the spinning machine twisted the fiber and the looms wove
the cloth and it was prepared for market-all going on at once as the big wheel revolved. And so
have we seen it in a church where holiness had right of way. The picker of conviction, the first set
of carding machines of justification, the finishing carding machines of entire sanctification that
removed all defilement and the spinning and weaving of holy character through trial and testing
were all going on at once and God was taking them one by one to the heavenly market-all done by
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Thank God! There have been and there are such churches. May
their number increase.
Continue to Chapter 8: Holiness Brings Happiness
