{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7016/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7016","id":"gutenberg_7016","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7016","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life"],"text":"Produced by Joel Erickson, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\nADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN\n\nBy Robert Lee Berry\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nThis book comes out of our heart. It is intended to go to the hearts of\nothers. Some of the things written here were learned by long and bitter\nexperiences. Our \"Adventures\" were very real, and it is our hope that\nsome of them our readers will never have. The real battles are fought\nwithin, and the struggle for mastery goes on in the soul, hidden in the\nmysterious depths of the spirit. Usually these battles are fought out\nalone, many times when others are not aware that anything of moment is\nhappening.\n\nSuper-critical minds may not find this book interesting; we do not know;\nwe wrote with no other intention than to bless the hearts and lives of\nthe great common man and woman.\n\nWe hope you will enjoy this book. We hope it will do you good. If it\ndoes, our purpose will be achieved, and we shall thank God, whose help\nwe gratefully acknowledge in the writing of this book.\n\nR. L. Berry.\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\nIntroductory: The Land of Canaan\n\n1. Getting Ready to Enter Canaan\n\n2. The Crossing of the Jordan\n\n3. The Jordan Memorial Stone\n\n4. Troubles of Lingering at the Crossing\n\n5. Exploring Canaan by Faith\n\n6. The Best Inheritance in Canaan\n\n7. In the Hands of Giant Accuser\n\n8. Conflicts with Giant Mistake\n\n9. In the Dungeon of Giant Discourager\n\n10. The Torments of Giant Bad Feelings\n\n11. The Routing of Giant Doubt\n\n12. The Wine of Prayer\n\n13. Pilgrims of the Victorious Life\n\n\n\nADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY CHAPTER\n\nTHE LAND OF CANAAN\n\nThe story of the Israelites from their being in bondage in Egypt to their\nconquering Canaan is a type of the experiences of a man from his bondage\nin sin to his entire sanctification.\n\nAs a Scriptural basis for these remarks, see Galatians 3:6-29, where\nPaul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, quotes a part of the Abrahamic\ncovenant and applies it to Gentile Christians, the complete fulfillment\nof the covenant being expressed in verse 14, where the promise of the\nSpirit is spoken of as the \"blessing of Abraham.\" It is also made plain\nin this chapter that salvation in Christ makes us \"Abraham's seed,\" and\ntherefore \"heirs according to the promise.\" Hence the promise to Abraham\nhas its complete fulfillment in New Testament salvation.\n\nIn Romans 4, Paul again dips deep into the promise of God to Abraham and\nbrings forth beautiful teaching which shows that, to him, God's promise\nto Abraham was spiritual as well as material, that there was to be a\nspiritual seed as well as literal seed, and that \"faith\" is as potent\nas natural birth in making men children of Abraham. Also in these verses\nAbraham is made the \"father of us all,\" even of Gentiles, which of course\ncould not be true except in a spiritual sense.\n\nThe same subject is treated again in chapter 4 of Hebrews. Here the\nfigure is \"rest.\" The rest of the Israelites was their settling in Canaan,\nand in verse 6, speaking of the fact that some did not enter rest because\nof unbelief, allusion is made to the failure to enter Canaan from\nKadesh-barnea. Then ten spies brought back such a bad report that the\nwhole camp wept, and would not go over. For forty years these rebels\nwandered in the wilderness, until all were dead except Caleb and Joshua,\nthe two faithful spies.\n\nThere is a beautiful analogy between the events of the Israelites in\ntheir journey out of Egypt into Canaan and the fundamental experiences\nof the Christian. Note these parallels--far too close not to have been\nplanned as type and antitype by the great Author of salvation:\n\n1. Abraham was promised two things: first, his seed should inherit the\nland of Canaan; second, in him should all families of the earth be blessed\n(Genesis 12:1-3).\n\n2. Abraham was the father of both a literal and a spiritual seed, the\nfirst inherited literal Canaan and the second inherited spiritual Canaan\n(Romans 4; Galatians 4).\n\n3. There was a rest promised both to the Israelite and to the Christian\nbeliever (Hebrews 4).\n\n4. Israel was in bondage to Pharaoh and his taskmasters in Egypt, and\nsinners are in bondage to the devil and sin.\n\n5. By a miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, Israel escaped from\nEgyptian bondage; and sinners are saved by the miraculous new birth.\n\n6. By another miracle of power, Israel entered Canaan through the bed\nof the Jordan River; and by a second work of grace, believers are wholly\nsanctified by the Spirit through the blood.\n\n7. By refusing to believe and obey, the Israelites wandered for forty\nyears in the wilderness, just as Christians fall away, grow lukewarm and\nbackslidden many times when they see their privilege of being made pure\nin heart and refuse to walk in the light.\n\n8. After the Israelites entered Canaan, they had to fight for their\npossessions; and so, too, do we have to fight for our spiritual possession\nin the state of holiness.\n\n9. The literal land of Canaan was a good land, \"flowing with milk and\nhoney,\" where the Israelites ate the old corn and wine of the land. Just\nso spiritual Canaan is the best place of grace under heaven; indeed it\nis heaven's border-land, where saints have sweet communion with God and\nChrist and are ready for the great crowning-day.\n\nIn several chapters of this book we shall treat the subject of entire\nsanctification allegorically, using the types as prefiguring Christian\nexperience. The battles of the soul against foes are real conflicts,\nwhich leave their scars and marks on many a Christian. Perhaps, out of\nthe experiences of others, the reader will gather something of profit\nto himself, and be enabled to fight more effectively and not merely beat\nthe air. There are spiritual powers in high places that challenge us to\nbattle; blessed is he who has the armor, the courage, and the skill to\nwin.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER ONE\n\nGETTING READY TO ENTER CANAAN\n\nCan you tell me, please, the first step to take in obtaining the experience\nof entire sanctification? I have heard much about it, have heard many\nsermons on it, too; but the way to proceed is not yet plain to me, not\nso plain as I wish it were. Can't you tell me the first step, the second,\nthird, and all the rest? My heart feels a hunger that seems unappeased,\nI have a longing that is unsatisfied; surely it is a deeper work I need!\nAnd so I plead, \"Tell me the way.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGladly will the endeavor be made to point out the way into the \"holiest\"\nof all (Hebrews 10:19). Probably the very first thing to know is that\nyou must understand whether or not you are sanctified. Are you, or are\nyou not? On which side of the Jordan are you, on the Canaan side or on\nthe wilderness side? A definite answer to this question is essential.\nSometimes there are doubts in your mind whether you are or are not\nsanctified. Well, let us first get rid of all doubts. The experiences\nof God in the soul are too definite to need their possession entertained\nwith a doubt; and to know where we are spiritually is unquestionably our\nprivilege.\n\nIf you find yourself on the wilderness side of Jordan, the next thing\nto find out is whether you are yet out of Egypt--whether you are justified\nbefore God, whether your sins are all washed away and you are a child\nof God.\n\nIf you are sure you are justified now, but have not by faith entered the\nCanaan experience--are not wholly sanctified--then you may know for\ncertain that the experience awaits you.\n\nThen there is one more very essential thing--you must believe with all\nyour heart that sanctification is unquestionably an experience which the\nBible holds out to all believers. Do you thus believe? If so, all is\nclear, and all you need to do is to go forward; or, in the words God\nused to Joshua, \"Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan\" (Joshua 1:2).\n\nDo you need your faith strengthened in this particular doctrine? Let it\nthen meditate and grow upon these promises and words of God:\n\n\"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own\nblood, suffered without the gate\" (Hebrews 13:12).\n\n\"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth\" (John 17:17).\n\n\"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole\nspirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our\nLord Jesus Christ\" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).\n\n\"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and\ngave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the\nwashing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a\nglorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but\nthat it should be holy and without blemish\" (Ephesians 5:25-27).\n\n\"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves\nfrom all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the\nfear of God\" (2 Corinthians 7:1).\n\nAfter you have meditated on each of these texts for ten or fifteen\nminutes, consider these further promises concerning the giving of the\nHoly Ghost:\n\n\"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,\nthat he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the\nworld can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:\nbut ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you\" (John\n14:16, 17).\n\n\"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send\nin my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your\nremembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you\" (John 14:26).\n\n\"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus\nChrist; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith\"\n(Galatians 3:14).\n\n\"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the\nHoly Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and\nthem, purifying their hearts by faith\" (Acts 15:8, 9).\n\nThis great experience which Peter speaks of came to the disciples on\nPentecost, when the Holy Ghost filled the whole company, and it changed\na band of common men into the most powerful gospel band the world has\never seen.\n\nNothing feeds the soul as does the Word of the Lord. Meditate on the\ntexts given, drink in the full meaning, comprehend what all of grace and\nlove and spiritual power they hold for you; yea, consider at what a cost\nthese blessings were purchased for you by the blood of the Lord Jesus\nChrist!\n\nThat you may see what your duty is in the matter, permit reference to\nthese things:\n\nOn the cross of Calvary Jesus gave all, all for you and your salvation.\nThere He cried, \"It is finished.\" There He paid the last debt of all of\nus. There He proved His love, perfect, fadeless, unfathomable, boundless.\n\nGo to the foot of that cross! See the Savior hanging there! Every motive\nthat can move a soul finds its fountain there. Can you, in the shadow\nof the cross, be anything less than a full Bible Christian? Can you do\nless than give all to Him? Does not any selfish feeling or thought of\nholding back the full surrender seem sinful, utterly displeasing to your\nsoul and to God?\n\nYour duty, then, is clear. From henceforth you can not be less than all\nfor Christ, you can not do less than go all the way for Him. Being a\nfaithful Christian, you can not do less than your duty, once duty is\nclear.\n\nSince conviction is a matter of knowledge, consider this: Christ's work\nhobbles along because there are so few whole-hearted, wholly consecrated\nsouls to work for Him, whereas Jesus expects all to be whole-hearted in\ntheir service to Him.\n\nWill you think also of the sin there is in the world, gnawing ugly wounds\nin the hearts and marring the lives of millions, and yet Jesus died to\nsave every mother's child of them.\n\nWhat is Jesus going to do if there are not a greater number of volunteers\nto carry on His work? For every sanctified soul is all the Lord's, ready\nfor anything.\n\nAfter Jesus died on the cross, He ascended to heaven. One day the angel\nGabriel met Jesus and said: \"Master, did you not suffer great pain on\nthe cross?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Jesus simply and quietly.\n\n\"And, Master, that suffering was to redeem men to God, was it not?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Jesus.\n\n\"Well, how many know of your death and your suffering to redeem men? How\nwill the world of sinners find it out? Have you made any plans?\" asked\nGabriel.\n\n\"I have told Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and John, and the\nrest of the twelve to go tell the people about it,\" said Jesus.\n\n\"Suppose they do not go?\" asked Gabriel. \"Have you made any other plans?\"\n\n\"No, I am counting on them,\" said Jesus.\n\nThis is only a story, but it illustrates the point of how necessary it\nis for us to be consecrated and ready for the Master's service. Jesus\nis counting on us!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo you conclude you are still on the wilderness side of the Jordan? Very\nwell, thank God you are out of the Egypt of sin, that the wilderness\njourney through justification is behind you, and that Canaan, that fair\nland where milk and honey flows, lies just before you. Only the Jordan\nintervenes. Of course the Jordan always is running strong and out of its\nbanks every time, it seems, when souls are to cross, just as it was for\nIsrael in Joshua's day. But this is only a necessary test to prove the\nsincerity and valor of the soul.\n\nThousands have made bold to strike their feet in Jordan's waters in the\nname of God and start across. You can see them over on the other side\nfrom where you are. Be encouraged; cross over the Jordan and enter the\nCanaan of soul-rest.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWO\n\nTHE CROSSING OF THE JORDAN\n\nJust how did you feel at the time you were sanctified? I have heard some\ntell of how the holy fire of the Spirit seemed to go all through them.\nOthers have told of a deeper, more complete peace. Some have shouted for\njoy. Others have wept for joy. And I am wondering how one ought to feel.\nCan you tell me? And how can I know that I am consecrated? Every teacher\nof entire sanctification that I ever heard says that the consecration\nmust be complete; but how am I to know when it is complete? I have\nconsecrated over and over, but I do not feel certain that all, really\nall, is given up. Might there not be some self-will left that I do not\nknow of? Please help me.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nProbably it might not be wise to tell you just how I felt when the Lord\nsanctified me and made me whole, because it might tempt you to want the\nexperience in the same way it came to me; and, besides, while the blessed\nexperience is, in its essential features, the same in each case, yet\neach person has his own feelings and personal experiences along with it.\nThese experiences are suited to each one's need; they follow the trend\nof one's natural disposition, and are a source of pleasure to us. The\nreally important thing is to be wholly sanctified.\n\nWhen Israel under Joshua arrived at the Jordan River, they were commanded\nby the Lord to \"sanctify\" themselves and prepare to cross over. This\ncommand to \"sanctify yourselves\" points to the perfect consecration that\nmust be made before the sanctifying power falls upon us. Crossing the\nJordan signified to them leaving the wilderness life forever behind them\nand entering upon a new life on the Canaan side. And in order properly\nto enter upon that new experience they were asked by God to set themselves\napart by a solemn purification and consecration of themselves.\n\nTo begin with, then, let us consider what a consecration is, and next\nwe shall consider the evidences of its being perfect and acceptable to\nGod.\n\nSeveral words and phrases cover what is meant by consecration, as\n\"abandonment,\" \"surrender,\" \"lay all on the altar,\" \"die,\" \"subject the\nwill to the will of God,\" \"let Christ have his way.\"\n\n\"Abandonment\" here expresses the idea that from now on your soul, your\nlife, your interests, your time, talents--your all--are no more your\nown, but are abandoned to the will of God. You know how some people\nabandon themselves to a life of vice; they know no limit, but give\nthemselves entirely over to it. Well, you are to abandon yourself to a\nlife of holiness and service to God.\n\nDid you ever see a potter at work on a piece of clay making a vessel of\nit? He gathers up a lump of clay and lays it on the wheel. As it turns\nand turns He builds up whatever it is that He wishes to make. The clay\nbeing inanimate, dead, yields absolutely to the potter, who makes of it\nwhatever He pleases. This illustrates the abandonment you are to make--\nthough with this difference: you have a will and reason, and your\nabandonment is to be the yielding of yourself to God because your clearest\nreason and most mature judgment tells you that such is best. From now\non, instead of willing to do your own will, you are going to submit to\nGod's will; for the most blessed thing in the world is the will of God.\n\nJust here is where you may be tempted to draw back; for something may\nwhisper, \"Why, if you abandon yourself what will become of you? Maybe\nGod would require of you something very hard for you to do. Is it not\ndangerous thus to yield?\"\n\nTo illustrate this, suppose you are the mother or father of a boy. Like\nall boys, yours has given you more or less trouble by wanting his own\nway. There has been more or less of a battle of wills, his will against\nyour will. You feel, and rightly, that your experience gives you a better\nidea of what is good for him than his experience gives. Suppose he were\nto come to you tomorrow and say: \"From now on, Mother, I will do anything\nyou want me to. I abandon my way and will for your way and will.\"\n\nWhat would you do in that case? Would you make up your mind that now is\na good time to put hardships upon him and make life as miserable as you\ncan for him? \"Indeed not,\" you would indignantly say.\n\nWell, then, can the great God, who is love, take advantage of His children\nand, when they give all to Him, lay heavy and grievous burdens on them\nbecause He can? Just as you, when your boy yielded, would love him all\nthe more and do all you could to make life pleasant even if there were\nsome hard things in it, so God seeks to lighten the load His consecrated\nchildren must bear. To abandon yourself to God is an act of highest\nintelligence and wisdom.\n\n\"Surrender\" implies the cessation of rebellion. Of course the sinner,\nto be converted, must surrender, and does surrender. And you have already\nsurrendered in that way. Yet there is a self-life or a self-will that\nshrinks more or less from the will of God until we enter the Canaan of\nentire sanctification. This rebellion takes on the form of refusing or\nobjecting to some of the Lord's ways with us. For instance, we may feel\na call to special service--to the ministry, or to the missionary service,\nor to personal work--and we may have mapped out an entirely different\nlife for ourselves and ate to submit to God's leadings.\n\nSurrender of the will is a part of the consecration. There can be no\ninner soul-rest so long as our wills pull us one way and God's will pulls\nus another. When Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden light He\nmeant it is easy if we pull with Him, not against Him. How can two walk\ntogether except they be agreed? Then lay your will down; or, rather,\nactively, enthusiastically, delightedly will that God's will be done in\nand with you.\n\n\"Lay all on the altar\" is a favorite expression with many teachers of\nfull salvation and the victorious life. The figure comes from the\nsacrifices made under Moses' law. Every Israelite had to offer sacrifices.\nThe main thing about the sacrifice was, whether sheep, goat, lamb, dove,\nor something else, it had to be a perfect, unblemished sacrifice. God\nwould not accept any lame, maimed, blemished, or otherwise marred\nsacrifice. It had to be the best of its kind. After it was brought to\nthe priest and dedicated to the Lord, it was laid on the altar and\nconsumed. It was the Lord's. The one offering it had no more to say about\nit whatever.\n\nThen on God's altar you should lay all--time, talents, earthly goods,\nsoul, body, and will. Once when Abraham had made a sacrifice, birds came\nto steal it. Abraham was careful to drive away the birds. A beautiful\nfigure is found in Abraham's action. We might say that after you have\nlaid all on God's altar you may need to guard the offering; for the birds\nof self-will, pride, unbelief, and evil desire may carry off your\nsacrifice.\n\n\"Die\" is a favorite expression with other teachers of perfect holiness--\ndie to self; die out to God; die to all but Jesus. The figure is full\nof vital meaning. Mrs. Cleaveland, in her delightful poem on the river\nof death, pictures the clergymen of various denominations as losing all\ntheir distinguishing marks as they cross the river, and over on the other\nshore not one can be told from another so far as sectarian peculiarities\nare concerned. This is even true of entire consecration, or crossing the\nJordan into Canaan; for in Canaan there is a delightful absence of\nsectarian conflict; every one is too busy doing the will of God.\n\nDying is used to express consecration because some felt that the\nconsecration was so acute that it seemed they had to suffer the pains\nof death. Others have not so felt. Whatever the feeling, there must be\nthe dying.\n\nTwo women, one a widow and the other her daughter, lived together. They\nwere both devout. The younger woman became sick, and grew worse and\nworse. At last all hope of life was gone, and mother and daughter began\npraying that the dying girl might have \"dying grace.\"\n\nThe condition for obtaining this grace consisted in an absolute submission\nto die, a yielding of all to God's will; as she met the condition, so\nshe received \"dying grace.\" But the sequel was unexpected. While one\nreceiving dying grace was supposed to die, this young woman lived and\ngot well. But her \"dying grace,\" as they termed it, was still hers. One\nday she spoke of it to her mother and said: \"Mother, I am coming to\nbelieve that 'dying grace' is the grace we need to live by.\" And it is.\n\nThis young woman had made the deathbed consecration. God had accepted\nthe sacrifice, had poured out His grace, and the young woman was sanctified\nwholly; and that was exactly what she needed to live by. She had died\nto self.\n\nNow, how shall you know that all is given up and the sacrifice acceptable\nto God? This may well engage our attention.\n\nFirst of all, remember that your will is your own, and that you yourself\nknow what your intentions are. Whenever you decide to go to town to buy\na hat or coat, you have no trouble in knowing your mind, do you? Of\ncourse not! And you can be just as sure of your mind or will in the\nmatter of consecration to God.\n\nYou might begin this way: I desire to be wholly the Lord's: my will I\ndesire to surrender; and my life I wish to be lived for God. Since the\nLord in His Word has said, \"By the mercies of God ... present your bodies\na living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable\nservice\" (Romans 12:1), you may rest assured that God only awaits this\nsurrender, and will be glad to accept it.\n\nNow, do not only desire to be consecrated, but at once begin to count\nyourself the Lord's, permanently, irrevocably, for time, for eternity.\nSome, in the earnestness and intensity of their souls, in the solemn\nhour of their complete and definite surrender or consecration have written\nit out on paper, in the form of a will, and, signing it, have called on\nangels and God to witness the solemn act of their souls. But whether it\nis written out on paper or be simply the unchangeable determination\nwithin the heart, the point must be come to when all is yielded. There\nmust be a final \"yes\" to God; the gift must be deposited on the altar,\nand from henceforth you are to consider yourself wholly the Lord's no\nmatter how you feel about it. It must amount to a transaction, like the\nsigning of a deed, or a contract, and when it has come to this point\nwhere you do actually hand yourself over to the Lord, body, soul, and\nall to be His forever, then you are to count the offering complete and\nthe die cast forever.\n\nShould you be tempted to investigate whether you \"feel\" that you are all\nconsecrated, remember that your feelings have nothing to do with it.\nYour will is master here. As your will goes, you go.\n\n  \"When thy soul is on the altar laid,\n  Guard it from each vain desire;\n  When thy soul the perfect price hath paid,\n  God will send the holy fire.\"\n\nDo you lay all on the altar? \"Whether is greater, the gift, or the altar\nthat sanctifieth the gift?\" (Matthew 23:19). If you have everything on\nthe altar, your feet, like the priest's in Joshua's day, are dipping\ninto the brim of the Jordan. You are ready to pass over. Just pass on\nover! Call the transaction closed. Your heart feels a deep security in\nhanding all over to God, and there is the witness of your own soul that\nyou have, now, given up all and God accepts the offering.\n\nWhat next? Ask God to purge your soul until He is satisfied concerning\nits purity. Ask Him to kill all the things which displease Him, and\ndestroy the last remains of inbred sin. Ask Him to restore the image of\nGod in your soul, to come in and possess His temple. Ask God to fill you\nwith the Holy Spirit, to let the Comforter take up His abode in you and\nabide with you forever. Swing wide open your heart's door to the Spirit.\nBelieve that God does what He promised to do; believe He sanctifies you\nwholly. Since you are His, you are to trust Him to carry on this work\nin His own way. It is yours to yield and to believe. And we are \"sanctified\nby faith\" (Acts 26:18). Our hearts are purified by faith (Acts 15:8, 9).\nLet your faith wrap its arms around God's promise, and the work is done.\nOh, marvelous grace of God!\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THREE\n\nTHE JORDAN MEMORIAL STONE\n\nOne thing has always troubled me, and that is the witness of entire\nsanctification. How may one know all the time that He is sanctified?\nWhat is the witness to sanctification? Is it a feeling? an assurance? a\npeace? or what is it? Is it equally strong at all times, or does it come\nand go? If you can give me any information on this line, I shall greatly\nappreciate it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne of the things that Joshua commanded the Israelites to do at the\ncrossing of the Jordan has always been intensely interesting and\nsuggestive. It was not a miracle, and there was nothing marvelous about\nit; it was just a thing that any man could do. When the crossing was\nbeing made, Joshua selected twelve men, one from each tribe, to do a\nspecial service. After all the people had passed over and the twelve\npriests were standing still in the River's bed, with the ark of God,\nJoshua commanded the twelve men to go to the middle of the Jordan and\neach take up a stone, place it on his shoulder, and carry it across to\nthe camp in Canaan. Here the stones were to constitute a memorial: \"And\nthese stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever\"\n(Joshua 4:7). Joshua also set up twelve stones where the priests' feet\nhad stood in the River; but it is these stones on the bank in Canaan\nthat are of most interest to us.\n\nWe shall call these stones the \"stones of testimony.\" They testified to\na great fact, a great miracle, a great crossing, to the beginning of a\nnew era in the lives of those hundreds of thousands of Israelites.\nWhenever an Israelite saw those stones, he was reminded of this fact.\n\nNow, dear, seeking soul, as you cross the Jordan of entire consecration,\nthe line between the place where you are not wholly consecrated and where\nyou are wholly consecrated, the line between the time when you hope to\nbe sanctified and the time when you shall know you are, as you cross\nthis, carry out your stone of testimony. You have never passed this way\nbefore, and you need not pass it again; so get your stone of testimony\nnow.\n\nFirst note that this memorial was stone. It was not wood, that would\nrot, burn up, or float away to the Dead Sea. It was not gold or some\nprecious metal that would be needed for other uses. It was not a piece\nof parchment or paper upon which was written an account of the crossing.\nIt was common, solid, enduring stone. So, too, the testimony of your\nsanctification is solid and enduring--as solid and enduring as the Word\nof God, the directions of which you have followed.\n\nNotice also that this memorial was rather large, too large to carry\naround all the time, but was dropped and left as a reminder. There is\nof course an inner witness that is yours forever; but the crossing of\nthe Jordan, that is, the obtaining of entire sanctification, is an event\nthat will forever stand out as a time when you really received the\nexperience of entire sanctification. There should be those witnessing\nspiritual realizations that differentiate it from all the other of your\nspiritual experiences. In short, it should mark your entrance into Canaan,\nthe land of rest, of milk and honey.\n\nWhat are these realizations? First, that you have been brought to a\nknowledge of God's will to sanctify you wholly. Next, you have definitely\nand solemnly dedicated yourself to God to be His and His alone forever.\nThen you have asked God to sanctify you according to His Word. You have\nbelieved that the work is done. All these steps are in direct harmony\nwith what God said for you to do, and they, being carried out with the\nhelp of the Spirit, constitute the charter or receipt or evidence of\nyour entire sanctification. You have met all conditions, and the grace\nis yours. You are sanctified wholly, filled with the Spirit, and you\ndrop your memorial stone on the Canaan side of the Jordan.\n\nAs long as you remain true to your vows, to your covenant and consecration,\nyou will continue in possession of your experience. You have no need of\never going back into the wilderness, much less to the Egypt of sin, but\nthe fair land is before you--launch out and explore it. Enjoy for yourself\nthe boundless riches of the grace of God and eat honey out of the rock.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FOUR\n\nTROUBLES OF LINGERING AT THE CROSSING\n\nSome time ago I consecrated to God for entire sanctification and thought\nI was sanctified. Then I began to doubting whether I was wholly sanctified;\nso I consecrated again. This I have done a number of times; in fact, so\nmany times that I don't know what to do. Can you help me any in this\ndifficulty? I am in doubts about my consecration. I am as consecrated\nas I know how to be, yet there is a feeling of unreality and uncertainty\nabout it that is distressing, and I have found no way to end my distress.\nI am almost ashamed to tell how many times I have consecrated, and I am\nashamed to tell the Lord that I am; for I have doubted so much that I\nam not sure of myself. My faith is weak also. If you can help me, I shall\nbe very thankful.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe story of Pilgrim Exactly will probably be interesting, as well as\nhelpful, to you. He told me the story. I will tell it to you as well as\nI can remember it.\n\nPilgrim Exactly crossed the Jordan for Canaan the first time twenty-two\nyears ago, and he had never got away from the place where people cross\nover. Every now and then you could have seen him examining his memorial\nstone; and by and by he would pick it up, wade out as far as possible,\ndrop his stone with a pathetic sigh, and then go on back to the wilderness\nside the best way he could. However, he did not stay over there long, but\nsoon started for Canaan again. He always aimed to and vowed that he would\nselect another memorial stone; but, mind you, he always came out with the\nsame one he first brought over.\n\nDo you ask why he did such a thing? The reason is simply this, brother:\nPilgrim Exactly wanted to be so sure that he was in Canaan that he was\nnever quite sure that he was there. He was not satisfied with the best\nof evidence. No one was brighter in the wholly-sanctified experience\nthan he, nor did any one cross over into Canaan with any better evidence\nof his crossing than did he. But there is a bad, little, dwarfed giant\nnamed Doubtful, who lives close about the crossing-place, a half-brother\nto old Giant Doubt. Doubtful kept company with this pilgrim. More than\nlikely that was one source of his trouble. The strongest pilgrims warned\nExactly of the pernicious plots of this little, hard old dwarf, but he\nseemed not to heed their warnings.\n\nExactly would plant his memorial stone with a look that says, \"It is\ndone for the last time!\" Then Doubtful would slip up to him, and this\nis practically what one present would have seen and heard:\n\nPilgrim Exactly: \"By the grace of God, I solemnly promise never to doubt\nmy experience of sanctification again, no never. Lord, hear my vow,\nnever, never to doubt again! I have staid by the crossing too long now.\nI must explore Canaan.\"\n\nGiant Doubtful: \"Good morning, dear Pilgrim. Are you sure you got this\nstone out of the right place this time? Seems to me, too, it is the same\nold stone you have brought over ever so often. You know you have never\nbeen satisfied with that memorial, and I do not see how you can be,\neither. Isn't it doubtful whether you really crossed the Jordan? Your\nconsecration is likely faulty, and you know your faith is weak. Better\nbe careful. You do not want to be deceived, do you?\"\n\nExactly, wiping the sweat from his face: \"That is a fact. This is the\nsame old stone. My God, can't I get a better experience than this? O\nLord, help!\" And the poor Pilgrim would seem the very embodiment of\ndistress.\n\nDoubtful: \"It is my opinion that something is wrong somewhere. Probably\nyou crossed too soon. Maybe you have left something out of your\nconsecration. By the way, were you not neglectful of duty yesterday? And\nthen, you know, you promised God you never would doubt. Now just see, you\nare doubting somewhat at this minute. It is to be seen that you have\nfailed somewhere. I believe you had better try it again. Something is\nwrong! you had better try it over.\" And dwarf Doubtful would rattle on\nmuch more in the same strain.\n\nJust then Pilgrim Exactly would feel of his side, and his hand would\ntouch the handle of the sword of the Spirit. Just when he would about\ndraw it to deal Giant Doubtful a blow, Doubtful would say, \"There can\nbe no harm in being sure. If you cross over Jordan properly you will be\nsatisfied, and it will not take long to go back and do a really thorough\nwork of it.\"\n\nAt this Exactly wilted, dropped the sword, staggered toward his memorial\nstone, and, lifting it to his shoulders, limped back toward the Jordan\nto cross and recross again.\n\nBut the next day when Pilgrim Exactly got over into Canaan with the same\nstone, because there was no other stone in there when he crossed, as\nevery man has his own stone, he would plant it as before.\n\nOne day, however, after planting the stone, he said, \"By the grace of\nGod, I am done with doubting.\"\n\nWhen the little old dwarf Giant Doubtful came out that day, Pilgrim\nExactly swung a terrific cut with the sword straight at the dwarf's neck.\nDoubtful never before ran so fast as he did getting away from that trusty\nsword. Since then Exactly has advanced into the land, overcome several\nother giants, and won a home for himself in Canaan.\n\nThe feeling of unreality which you have in regard to your consecration\nmay be the result of your vacillation. No one can feel sure of his\ncondition if he consecrates and then deserts his word, consecrates again\nand then doubts that. All of this should and must be cut off shortly by\nyour honoring your own word and refusing to be confused about it. It can\nbe ended by gathering yourself in hand in coming to a real, final\nconclusion in favor of your sanctification. If you are as consecrated\nas you know how to consecrate, then that should be sufficient. In that\ncase, all you lack is to bring the affair to a point, a conclusion, and\ngive it all over to God, and let that be the end of it.\n\nNow that you are ready to make this final decision, it will be worth\nwhile for you to examine your consecration. Are there any idols to which\nyour affections fondly cling? Is it a delight to do something for Christ\nin behalf of others? Does it seem hard for you to give of your money to\nthe blessed cause? Is prayer a burden? Are you really all the Lord's?\nDo not make the mistake of thinking a good disposition toward Jesus is\nconsecration. To consecrate means to come definitely to the point of\nyielding all up to Christ once forever.\n\nPossibly one reason for your feeling of unreality is because you can not\nsee God and can not hear Him say, \"I receive you.\" If God could be right\nbefore you as a visible person while you knelt and gave yourself to Him,\nyou might think your experience more real. But it would not be. His word\nhas been given, and it is \"him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast\nout\" (John 6:37), and He asks us to \"bring ... all the tithes into the\nstorehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now\nherewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows\nof heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room\nenough to receive it\" (Malachi 3:10). Faith comes in all our dealings\nwith God. He may appear not to notice us; but rest assured that He does.\n\nOf course, after consecrating and doubting you have lost confidence in\nyourself; but this, too, should end quickly, and it will if you pursue\na right course. To recover your self-reliance, self-balance, dismiss all\nthe discouraging and doubtful thoughts about yourself. Take a real\ninventory of yourself. What are you, anyway? Are you honest? Does your\nword mean anything? Can you carry out a resolution? a decision? Very\nwell then, refuse to be bothered about the past. Quit thinking of the\npast; utterly dismiss it from mind, and calmly and deliberately consecrate,\nand mean it.\n\nAnother difficulty in regard to consecration is that you may think you\nhave lost yours when it is a trial sometimes to live up to it. You may\nthink that to be consecrated means that every duty will seem delightful.\nIn this you are mistaken. Did not Jesus, at one with the Father in will\nand mind, pray three times, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this\ncup pass from me. Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done'? Some of\nthe things God may lay on you or allow to be laid upon you are hard\nthings, things which you will have to ask God for grace to do or bear.\nThe crucial test, however, is will you do or bear them? If, in spite of\nthe temptation to evade or go around God's will, you do obey, then your\nconsecration is perfect.\n\nThen, soul, end all this uncertainty, end all this unreality by coming\nnow to the altar of God and placing thereon your whole self-life, body,\nsoul, spirit, heart, talents, time, goods and gold, will, and all else.\nTie it securely by one strong indomitable, irrevocable decision of your\nwill. Count yourself all the Lord's. Begin to reckon and consider every\nevent of your life in this light.\n\nAllow nothing to come between you and God; let Him be first and be all\nto you.\n\nPlease do not think of this dedication as in any wise meritorious, or\ncapable of purchasing any blessing. It is nothing on these points.\nConsecration is placing yourself in an attitude or position where God\ncan have His way with you. And this He asks you to do for your good. As\nlong as any of your will stands in His way, He can not pour out the Holy\nGhost upon you, and neither could you enjoy the fullness of salvation.\n\nNothing is quite so good as the will of God, nothing so adorable. In\nthat will is bound up for you the noblest life, the fullest and freest\nexpression of your individuality, the best adaptation and use of your\ntalents, the greatest joy, the sweetest pleasures, the quietest rest,\nthe purest delights in this world and pleasures forever at God's right\nhand.\n\nOh, embrace that will of God! Seek it, hide in it, revel in it, be\nenthusiastic about it, run to it. Oh, never evade it, fight shy of it,\nneglect it, nor refuse it! Dropping into God's will means dropping into\nour own niche in life and being happy in fulfilling our destiny as God\nhas marked out by His infinite wisdom.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FIVE\n\nEXPLORING CANAAN BY FAITH\n\nI can not understand faith. What is faith, anyway? I try to believe;\nsometimes I feel that my faith is strong, but at other times I feel that\nmy faith is giving way. Can you help me in this matter? Faith seems such\na hazy, intangible, elusive thing; now I think I have it, now it seems\ncertain I have it not. I feel at times that my faith is so strong I could\nbelieve anything, then again I feel that every bit of faith I had is\ngone. Can you give me any instructions that will help me?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuppose we imagine we have an invitation to visit Caleb today (Numbers\n13:30; Joshua 14:6-14), and we embrace the opportunity.\n\nWe should expect to find the old warrior at home on such a day because\nit is bright and fair; he did the most of his fighting in bad weather.\nIt is not far to Hebron, where he makes his home. See, we are there now!\nIsn't the prospect from here beautiful and inspiring! To the north along\nthe ridge is Bethlehem and Jerusalem; to the east the silvery waters of\nthe Dead Sea glitter in the sun; westward is Gath, where Goliath the\ngiant came from; and to the south is Beersheba.\n\nTell us, Caleb, some of your experiences in Canaan.\n\n\"Forty and five years ago I first saw Hebron. It was when Moses had sent\ntwelve spies, of whom I was one, to determine the character of the people\nand land of Canaan. Long ago our father Abraham trod this soil, and God\nAlmighty promised to give it to him and his seed for an everlasting\ninheritance. When I first heard of Canaan, down in Egypt, my faith was\nstrong that it was a good land, flowing with milk and honey, as God said,\nand I longed to set foot upon it.\n\n\"When we twelve first left Kadesh-barnea for Canaan [Numbers 13:1-3,\n17-33], I noticed that ten of the spies kept close together; but Joshua\nand I were eager to see all that we could of the land, and we ranged as\nfar and wide as we could. Not far from where your feet rest now we got\nour first sight of the Anakims, giants of Canaan. They were giants indeed.\nTheir legs looked like tree-trunks, and covering their faces was a dense\ngrowth of beard out of which their eyes gleamed like crystals in a\nhaystack. The sight of them set my heart all aflutter, because I knew\nat once that they were very dangerous foes, not easily reckoned with.\nWe were very cautious that they should not see us, and I must say that\npart of our company trembled violently with fear and, as soon as we got\naway a little distance, they ran with all their might.\n\n\"But something in my heart said that if God gave this land to Israel,\nthen God would give us power over the Anakims, no matter how many or how\nstrong they were.\n\n\"By and by we came to the walled cities. Joshua and I talked over the\nmatter of taking them. While we could not see just how we were to do it,\nwe decided that, since God had unmistakably promised the land to Abraham,\nand since He had already marvelously delivered us from the hand of\nPharaoh, king of Egypt, and his dark bondage, and since He had helped\nus along through the wilderness and now had brought us to the very borders\nof the land, surely He expected us to have Canaan. And this I told to\nthe others.\n\n\"'We can never take it,' they said, 'never in the world. Let us get out\nof here and back into Egypt as quickly as we can. We feel so faint. We\ncan not conquer such a country. Why, see those giants, we are no bigger\nthan grasshoppers by the side of them! And look at those walls, reaching\nalmost to the sky! Let us get back.'\n\n\"'But if God said we should inherit this land, shall He not help us?'\nsaid Joshua and I.\n\n\"'We thought surely God promised us the land,' the ten replied. 'But we\ndid not expect to have to fight for it. We supposed God would just give\nit to us without any fighting or trouble on our part.'\n\n\"'Oh, no, God never promised Canaan without a battle,' we replied. 'But\nHe will help us fight, then we shall properly appreciate both God and\nCanaan and the fighting will make us stronger.'\n\n\"Well, we could not convince them, and our arguments fell upon very\nimpervious minds, hardened as they were by unbelief and doubting [Numbers\n14].\n\n\"Then for forty years we wandered in the black wilderness.\n\n\"Five years ago we crossed the Jordan, blessed be God. Those were great\ndays in Canaan! God was very near us, and our foes trembled. Jericho\nfell down, Ai was taken, kings of darkness and giants of iniquity melted\nbefore the army of the Lord, until the land was in our possession.\n\n\"Then I went to Joshua and made known my request for Hebron, my home in\nCanaan. There were several giants making Hebron their home, and I was\neager to dispossess them; for I liked the situation. Joshua gave me\npermission, and I marched toward it fully confident that our God would\nhelp me.\n\n\"There is no use to tell you the rest. Here am I, by God's help, at home\nin my possession. The giants are dead, and I hold peaceable possession\nby right of divine promise, the oath that God swore to our father Abraham\nthat we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him\nwithout fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of\nour life [Luke 1:74, 75]. Thanks be to God for His great gift!\"\n\nWe may visit Caleb again, since the recital of his conflicts and victories\nhas uplifted our souls so greatly.\n\nYou say you can not understand faith. Let me ask you if you can understand\njoy? or sorrow? or a heartache? or rapturous rejoicing? Can you find the\ncubic contents of anger? or measure love in bushels or weigh it on scales?\nAnd because these things are intangible and elusive, do you think they\nare not real? Indeed not! You love someone, and while you can not cube\nyour love, nor weigh it, the reality of it you never question. So also\nwith acts or decisions of your will. Who ever saw a will in action? And\nyet the outer life, in all its forms, is proof enough that a will has\nbeen functioning all the while.\n\nNow faith is the same kind of thing as joy and love. It belongs to that\nfamily of intangible, unseen realities of life. They have to do with the\nspiritual part of our nature, and through them we rise higher or sink\nlower than we can through any mere physical feelings or actions. Faith,\njoy, love, are spiritual qualities, spiritual things, things of the soul,\naffecting it favorably or adversely according as they themselves are\naffected by causes good or bad. Doubt, unbelief, anger, wrong ambition,\npride, and such are as intangible as are faith and love, but they are\nat the opposite pole.\n\nFaith is no harder to understand than is doubt. Faith is believing, and\ndoubt is not believing. One is the opposite of the other, just as heaven\nand hell are opposites. Considering doubters more closely, we find that\ndoubters believe; but they believe the opposite of what they should\nbelieve. Doubters believe the wrong thing. A doubter is one who could\nand ought to believe facts, but for some reason or other can not bring\nhimself to do it. Instead, he believes another set of things, which\nappear to be facts but are not.\n\nLet us illustrate faith and doubt. You pick up a newspaper this morning\nand read that a fire destroyed a hotel in Chicago and four persons were\nburned, that a train ran off the track in Iowa and no one was hurt, and\nthat a Congressman from Florida died. Do you doubt these facts or believe\nthem! If you believe them, that is proof that you have faith. You look\nat the almanac and find it says that tomorrow there will be an eclipse.\nIf you prepare to look at the sun through smoked glass, it is proof that\nyou have faith. If you receive a letter stating that your uncle John\ndied and feel sad at the thought of his leaving his family in destitute\ncircumstances, it is proof that you have faith. If someone in your place\nof business brings you a report that fire has destroyed your warehouse\nand you feel at once the loss, it is proof that you have faith.\n\nThen, of course, there are things which you doubt. You are told that\nsome one has discovered perpetual motion. You smile, and do not believe\nit. You doubt. Doubt is simply the opposite of faith.\n\nNow to show or illustrate how faith works instantaneously always, let\nus suppose you are a parent and one of your children is lost. It is your\nyoungest child but one. You have hunted until you are exhausted, and\nfind no trace of the child. Your heart is sick; a load as heavy as lead\nbears down upon you. You can think of a dozen different things that could\nhave happened to the child; he may have been kidnapped, may have been\nrun over and killed, may have fallen into the water and drowned, may be\nweeping his heart out somewhere. At last the whole neighborhood gets out\nto search, and you, exhausted, sit impatiently waiting. By and by you\nhear some one halloo. Then you hear another. And then some one runs up\nexcitedly and says, \"The child is found, safe.\" The very moment you\nbelieve that news the load lifts, the heart is light, the soul is happy.\nTears of joy flow freely.\n\nBut suppose it proves a premature report, and by and by another comes\nand says it is a mistake, that the child was found dead. Then all your\njoy is turned immediately to sadness. Faith always works instantaneously.\n\nThe quickness with which faith works has been illustrated by this: Suppose\nsome one rushes into an office of philosophical, higher-critical\nprofessors, and cries, \"Fire!\" You would see those hard-boiled skeptics,\nif they believed the cry, rush unceremoniously and indecorously out of\nthat building with all speed. People may scoff at faith working with\nlightning speed; but every exhibition of it only proves that it does.\n\nNow you mentioned that at times you feel as though you believe strongly,\nand at other times you feel as though your faith is leaving you. You are\nmaking a great mistake mixing up your faith with your feelings. They\nnever did mix; and all who try to mix them only get into trouble; for\nfaith is one thing and feelings are another.\n\nThe only way for you to know that you have faith is to believe something.\nDo you believe anything? If so, then you have faith. Do you believe in\nGod? Then you have faith in God. Faith is believing, just as seeing is\nseeing and hearing is hearing. If you see something, you know you have\nsight; if you hear something, you know you have your hearing; and if you\nbelieve, you have faith.\n\nFaith in God is just like faith in anything else. God has said He will\ndo or has done something for you. Do you believe He has done something\nfor you? Do you believe He has done or will do that thing? If so, that\nis faith.\n\nFor instance, you have repented of all your sins and have asked God to\nforgive them. He has said that \"if we confess our sins, he is faithful\nand just to forgive us our sins\" (1 John 1:9). Do you believe this? You\nsay, \"Yes.\" Well, then, you have faith, and \"by grace are ye saved through\nfaith\" (Ephesians 2:8), and, \"therefore, being justified by faith, we\nhave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ\" (Romans 5:1). And,\nmoreover, \"he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in\nhimself\" (1 John 5:10); or, in other words, when you believe you know\nit, and God does for you what He promises to do.\n\nThe same reasoning holds good in entire sanctification. The conditions\nare consecration and faith. You are to put all on the altar, and ask and\ntrust God to do the cleansing and give you the filling of the Spirit.\nHave you thus consecrated? Have you given all? If you say yes, then do\nyou believe that God sanctifies you wholly? If you do, you have faith,\nand you are sanctified wholly, because God can not lie nor fail.\n\nFaith in God, then, is believing God's Word, the Bible. Whenever you\nobey the Bible and meet the conditions laid down therein for any blessing\npromised, you may then believe that God does or is doing for you whatever\nHe has there promised. And when you believe, you will have all joy and\npeace in believing, you will enjoy the riches of God's grace, and He\nwill work in you mightily, as He does in all those who believe (Ephesians\n1:19).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SIX\n\nTHE BEST INHERITANCE IN CANAAN\n\nI am troubled about my sanctification. My conversion was so bright and\nthere was such a change that I never could doubt it. But when I was\nsanctified, there was not so great a change. And it was not so great as\nthat of some I have heard testify. Neither do I feel as bold as some I\nhave heard speak, neither did I taste such a death as others have testified\ntoo. In fact, when I compare my sanctification with what others say\ntheirs is, mine suffers in the comparison. I have often repudiated my\nsanctification and endeavored to obtain an experience just like others';\nbut it seems I cannot. Must I try to obtain another, or be satisfied\nwith the one I have? Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuppose we go over to Bethlehem this morning; there is a Brother Faithful\nthere whose acquaintance you positively will appreciate. He has been in\nCanaan a number of years and doubtless can tell us some interesting\nreminiscences of his life.\n\nThis is a famous place. Somewhere about here David killed a lion and a\nbear and composed some of those inimitable psalms of praise to God. In\nthat field right over there Ruth gleaned for Boaz, and her maidenly\npurity won the hearts of all.\n\nHere is Brother Faithful's house. Let us knock and go in.\n\n\"Brother Faithful, how did you happen to get such a beautiful home in\nCanaan!\"\n\n\"Well, pilgrims, I did not just 'happen' to get it. The truth is, I did\nall possible to gain a home at Bethel, or on Moriah; either place seemed\nbetter than this; at least it did for some time, until I learned that\nhere was where Jehovah wished me to settle. Bethel is close to where the\ntent of the Lord was pitched, and it has sacred memories of a ladder\nreaching up to heaven and holy angels ascending and descending on\nministrations of mercy to man below. To me it, of all places, seemed\nnearest heaven; but, if I may reveal a secret, I have found that Bethel\nis not the only place that has associations of a ladder planted on it\nand reaching heaven.\n\n\"The reason I wanted to stop at Moriah was because I heard Brother\nDreamgood who lives there tell of the remarkable experiences he had\nthere. I began thinking there was no place in Canaan like that, and I\ndid not stop to consider that all of us could not abide in one place.\nBrother Dreamgood told the wonderful story of angels and holy\nmanifestations and heavenly illuminations constantly occurring on that\nsacred spot till I forgot all about asking where the Lord would have me\nbe, and forthwith started for Moriah. But I was baffled at every turn.\nEspecially was I chagrined to find there was no place for me on Moriah\nat that time. Brother Dreamgood had a dreadful battle with the giants\nbefore he won a home for himself, and I am not certain that I could have\nfought them successfully.\n\n\"Then after that I fell in with Brother Worshipful who lived at Bethel.\nAfter he told of the good things there, I concluded Bethel was the place\nfor me. But I made no headway in that direction.\n\n\"Having been in Canaan for some time and still unsettled, I began to\ninquire of Jehovah where He would have me be. It was made fully plain\nto me that God had the place for me that was best for me. A glad yielding\nto this truth brought great boldness to my soul. I girded on the armor,\nadjusted the shield of faith, grasped the sword of truth [Ephesians\n6:10-17], and went where I was directed--toward Bethlehem, a place which\nI had regarded as palpably inferior. After severe fighting, I won. And\nI am satisfied.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSanctification is a work wrought by God through the blood and Spirit.\nIt is both a cleansing from sin and an infilling of righteousness. It\nhas negative and positive aspects. It takes away from and adds to. Not\nthat sin is a sort of root or germ. It is an evil that affects our nature.\nThis evil is destroyed, and its effects banished. The Holy Spirit comes\nin, filling the nature of man with righteousness and purity. You must\nget your mind on the real work of sanctification, not on some of its\nspecial manifestations in some people's experiences. The manifestations\nof sanctification may be more specific for some people than others,\nbecause they may need such.\n\nIt is possible, too, that your conversion made a greater perceptible\nchange in your soul and life than did your sanctification. This matter\nof change depends largely on circumstances. If you were very deeply\nconvicted of sin and were very happily converted, your conversion may\nhave been greater apparently than your sanctification. But these\nappearances are not essential considerations.\n\nStill another point you must bear in mind, and that is that sanctification,\nwhile a separate and distinct thing of itself, is only the second step\nin a work already begun. Justification is essential to sanctification\nand is the beginning of those things that work full salvation.\n\nDuring a camp-meeting one time a minister related a glowing experience\nhe had when he was sanctified. He spoke particularly of boldness. He was\nmade very bold.\n\nWhen the altar-call was made, an old mother in Israel came to the altar.\nA minister asked her what she was seeking. She replied, with tears in\nher eyes, \"I thought I was sanctified; but since Brother A---- testified\nto the boldness he received, I doubt whether I ever was sanctified. I\ndid not feel that way.\"\n\nThe instructor carefully led her away from any comparison between her\nexperience and others, and asked her if she were consecrated now.\n\n\"Oh, yes, just as consecrated as I know how to be!\" she replied, weeping.\n\n\"Well, if you are all consecrated, what does the Lord do for those who\nare all given up?\"\n\n\"He sanctifies them wholly,\" she had to say.\n\n\"And if you do not have as much boldness as Brother A---- said he has,\nprobably you do not need as much. Or, if you really need more, would it\nnot be better to ask God for more rather than to give up your experience\nof sanctification in a vain effort to feel as some one else feels?\"\n\nShe saw the point, and her tears disappeared beneath happy smiles of\njoy.\n\nThere is yet another item you should consider. Many times those who\ntestify so beautifully and graphically in describing their sanctification\nare under an inspiration, and the blessing is set forth in glowing colors.\nFor the time being their trials and discouragements are forgotten, their\nstruggles to keep the victory are out of mind, and they speak in the\nhighest praise of the work God has done. In the exhilaration of the\nmoment they magnify the work. We do not say they overdraw their experience;\nfor really no tongue can tell it; but while they are all aflame with\nardor and praise, you may be going through a trial. So, of course, their\nexperience seems to outshine yours so far that yours suffers. But remember\nthis--the time may come when you will be testifying as they now are, and\nthey may be the ones going through a trial; then they may compare their\nexperience with yours, and they may feel that they are the ones, who are\nbehind. So compare no more. Be all for Jesus. If He gives some one\nseemingly a better experience, let Him have His way. What is that to\nyou? Follow Jesus.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SEVEN\n\nIN THE HANDS OF GIANT ACCUSER\n\nI am having such dreadful battles! I have to fight, and fight, and there\nseems to be no end to it. Surely I am not sanctified; if I were, I should\nnot be so tried. What shall I do? The desire to be all the Lord's is\nuppermost; but can I truly be all for Him with so many thoughts of all\nkinds running through my mind? Could I find rest from these battles\nprobably I could feel that all is well; but with this constant battle I\nfear something is wrong. Isn't sanctification a grace where one will not\nbe tried or tempted very much, at least not with such things as I am\ntried and tempted with? Why, the most terrible things ever heard of are\nsuggested to me to do! Can you help me any?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuppose we should visit a citizen of the land of Canaan and ask him if\nhe had any battles with the giants of the land. No doubt the twinkle of\nhis eye and the animated expression on his face would show that memory\nwas at work, and we should wait in all expectation. Ah! here's one; let\nus hear him!\n\n\"Indeed, indeed. Many, many times did I battle with the giants of Canaan.\nMany people suppose Canaan is the home for soldiers to rest, while in\ntruth it is the great battleground of the world. I recall one battle I\nhad with Giant Accuser [Matthew 4:1-11].\n\n\"Look right over the top of that olive tree due east, down toward the\nDead Sea. Do you see that shaded valley deep down between those two\nmountains? That is the Valley of Sorrows. In that valley I had one of\nthe greatest battles of my life.\n\n\"It was before I possessed my home. I had been helping my brethren fight\noff the inhabitants of the land and was out at this time looking over\nthe country. I entered that valley. The sun was sinking into the western\nsea, and my thoughts grew gloomy and foreboding. All at once right before\nme loomed the big form of one of the worst giants in all Canaan, Giant\nAccuser. I could not run back, the cliffs were too steep on either side\nto climb out, and the fierce old Giant blocked the way in front.\n\n\"'I rebuke you in the name of the Lord,' I said to him.\n\n\"'Ah, the Lord! Ha! ha! The Lord does not care for you. Steal that sheep\nyou see yonder; no one will see you. If any one sees you with it, you\ncan tell him a lie about it,' he said to me.\n\n\"I stood aghast at the suggestion. Never before had I had any evil\nsuggestion like that, and I felt sick at heart that any such thought\nshould enter my mind. The old Giant strode closer, and I trembled.\n\n\"'Curse and swear,' he roared at me, scowling down into my very face. And\nfrom his coarse mouth there rolled a volume of blasphemy such as I never\nhad heard. The curses had a peculiar effect of sticking on my mind, until\nthey seemed to be within me.\n\n\"I fell on my knees, while the old Giant dealt me a blow over the head\nwith his club. 'You have cursed,' he shouted. 'See, your mind is full\nof evil words. And you would steal; for the suggestion lodged in your\nmind to steal that sheep. You are a sinner, that's what you are. Christians\nnever have such thoughts as you are having.' And again he struck me with\nhis club.\n\n\"I was too weak to fight. Finally I felt as if I really had sinned.\n\n\"The Old Giant then fell to beating me, and after half killing me and\nlaughing right in my face and telling me he was going to drive me out\nof Canaan before he was through with me, he walked off.\n\n\"I lay there a long time thinking over the situation. Not an angel\nappeared, and God seemed to have forsaken me. My mind was all confused\nover the battle.\n\n\"While I was lying there, the old Giant came again. I was terribly\nfrightened, because it seemed I had no weapon that he feared; if I had,\nI did not know how to use it. I tried to resist, and felt indignant\nwithin that he should treat me thus; but how to overcome him I did not\nknow. I prayed, 'O God, help me! Help me!' But no voice answered, and\nno help came. The Giant strode right up and, without saying a word, again\nstruck me with his club. The blow seemed to fall right on my heart, and\na sickening feeling of utter discouragement and helplessness filled me.\nI groaned in complete confusion and bewilderment.\n\n\"'See how discouraged you are! You are not happy as are others in Canaan.\nEvidently something is wrong. People in Canaan ought not have such\ndiscouragements as you are having.'\n\n\"Then from some cause or other (it may be the Giant insinuated these\nthings into my mind), a whole variety of slimy thoughts, vulgar words,\nbad imaginings surged through my mind and, together with a feeling that\nall was lost, seemed to dig down into the depths of my soul. There I\nlay, alone, forsaken, while the towering bulk of the Giant hovered over\nme ready to club me back into utter helplessness any minute. Finally I\nattempted to rise; but down came that dreadful club. Once more I struggled\nto my knees, determined to arise; but a terrific blow just at my heart\nfelled me again.\n\n\"'You have sinned,' he hissed. 'You can not stay in Canaan. God has cast\nyou off. See, He has abandoned you. He loves you no more. Die and be\ndone with it. You are a sinner, anyway; you might as well do something\ndesperate and end all.'\n\n\"I was so confused, I hardly knew what to do. The Giant dealt me one\nmore blow, then left me to nurse my wounds.\n\n\"Finding myself alone, I began to endeavor to collect my thoughts and\nfind the significance of the encounter. But my mind was so confused that\nthe more I tried to reason out the why of the affair, the more confused\nI became.\n\n\"And then, to my consternation, the Giant came in sight again. I knew\ninstinctively that he would once more beat and wound me. I made a feeble\nattempt at resistance; but it seemed to avail nothing. He repeated the\nbeating I had before, and there I lay utterly baffled. The same thing\noccurred for many days.\n\n\"Then one day my attention was called to the shield of faith [Ephesians\n6:16] with which the Lord had equipped me. I had used it slightly, and\nthere it lay at my feet. And my sword of truth lay unused by my side.\nWhy I had not used it was a mystery to me. No giant can stand before it.\nI then and there determined that if Giant Accuser came again to beat me,\nI should use these holy weapons.\n\n\"Not long after this decision was made, the Giant came again. He came\nup confidently, expecting to make short work of me and laugh at my\ncalamity. I did not shout at him, nor utter any sigh of despair as before,\nneither was I trembling; for I now knew that all I had to do was to use\nmy weapons. When the Giant got close enough, he bawled out again, 'You\nhave sinned. Your thoughts have been on things that are wrong. You have\ndoubted. You must begin over. You are lost.'\n\n\"'You are wrong,' I declared. 'I am a full citizen of Canaan, with a\nclear title to a home in this land of Beulah,' and with that I kept\nbefore me my shield of faith, and drew the sword [Ephesians 6:17] and\nstruck at him with all my might. He winced, but immediately again braced\nhimself. He was not sure but that I might yield; so he began telling me\nthe wrongs and sins he was accusing me of.\n\n\"'I am not a rebel,' I declared emphatically, 'and these ugly things\ncoming to my mind are from you, old Giant Accuser,' I added. Then I\nstruck at him again with all my might. He gave way a little at that, and\nI saw it, and it gave me immense encouragement. Then I rained blows on\nhim as fast and hard as I possibly could. Soon he started to run. Summoning\nall the strength I had, I ran after him, giving him blow upon blow, until\nhe jumped into a deep place and disappeared. Then I dropped on my knees\nand praised the Lord God Almighty for helping me win so signal a victory.\n\n\"I have fought with Giant Tempter, Giant Discourager, Giant Covetousness,\nGiant Liar, Giant Lust, Giant Pride, Giant Doubt, Giant Fear, Giant\nWorldliness, and many others. Thank our God for the weapons of warfare,\nthe shield and the sword, the breastplate and the girdle, which give us\npower over them. I have not seen a giant for some time; but if any of\nthem should attempt an encounter, by God's help I am ready.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSanctification does not deliver from temptations; but it does make us more\nsure of winning over them. It is even probable that you will have more\nbattles to fight, have more temptations to overcome, after you are\nsanctified than before. The spiritual foes are by no means confined to the\njustified state; there are a host of them to meet in the Canaan experience.\n\nMany newly sanctified people have been overwhelmed, just as you have,\nwith dreadful inner battles. Either the mind is harassed with constantly\nrecurring evil thoughts, or evil words keep popping into it till they\napparently spring from within. Or perhaps the suggestion to commit some\nsinful act keeps persistently coming to mind. Maybe feelings one considers\nforeign to the sanctified experience possess one. Possibly some diabolical\ntemptation keeps whirling one about. All of these are sent with the\navowed object of overthrowing the soul.\n\nIt is a favorite method of Satan's to suggest a sin or bring something\nbad to the mind and then accuse you of being guilty of the evil. It is\nas if a thief should turn around suddenly and accuse the owner of the\nstolen property of being the thief. Satan may fill your mind with bad\nthings and then try to throw the blame for having them all on you. His\nobject is so to trouble you that you will give up your faith, after which\nhe will make short work of you.\n\nFight on! No one can grow strong without fighting. And the battles give\nproficiency in the use of the spiritual weapons. When your faith is\nassailed, you learn how to use the shield of faith. Then in the next\nassault you can use it more familiarly. The same reasoning applies to\nthe using of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. These\nvery battles which seem to be more than you can bear are only developing\nthat which will make you a strong and valiant soldier in God's army.\n\nThen, too, these violent spiritual battles are proof of your ability to\nresist, else you would not have them (1 Corinthians 10:13). They are\nproof of your trueness. So, instead of looking upon them as something\nto be frightened or troubled over, see in them a signal proof of your\nstrength and of God's confidence in you. So, then, dear soul, be encouraged\nconcerning them; rejoice that God counts you able to fight for Him and\ncounts you able to win. By looking at them in this light you will make\nof them a source of encouragement. That being the case, let the battles\ncome--they will do you good (2 Timothy 2:3; 1 Peter 1:7).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER EIGHT\n\nCONFLICTS WITH GIANT MISTAKE\n\nI make so many mistakes, it seems I am just a bundle of contradictions.\nI try to do good; but at times my efforts are so crude that I seem to\ndo more harm than good. What shall I do? And though all the time I try\nhard not to make mistakes, yet I still make them. It seems to me that\nsurely I am not sanctified, or else I should be more perfect. Do not the\nScriptures command us to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is\nperfect? I am not perfect; far from it. Really I must be very imperfect.\nIs it right for me to claim to be sanctified? Can you help me?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet us visit some of the pioneers of Canaan today and ask them to tell\nus some of their experiences. Let us see if Faithful is at home. He has\na possession in one of the most charming vales of Beulah, and the beautiful\nflowers blooming there and the luscious fruit growing there tend to make\nhim one of the happiest citizens of the country. I am just certain that\nhe will be glad to tell us a story.\n\nHere we are close to his home now. Oh, see the garden! Just like the\nGarden of the Lord.\n\nSee, it is just a little longer than it is wide, and is fenced with a\nrow of protecting flowers called Grace. The central feature of the garden\nis that beautiful white lily called Love. It looks as though unusual\ncare has been bestowed on this plant; see how it towers above the rest\nso grandly and yet is so majestically humble. Its fragrance spreads far\nand wide. Doesn't it make you want to sit down under its magnificent\nfoliage and drink in of its glorious essence? Over there on the left of\nLove is a group of flowers of different species. That large cream-colored\nflower is called Patience. That crimson one is called Joy, and that with\nbroad, drooping white petals is Humility. The sweet perfume you notice\nin any part of the garden is from Humility. That pink blossom on the\nright is Peace, and a very pleasant odor it has. Next to it is Faith.\nSee it? It is a remarkably robust plant. Notice its blossom of pure gold\ncolor. It has no perceptible odor. This flower here, with all the colors\nmixed most intricately and beautifully together, is called Goodness. No\nwonder Faithful is so happy and cheerful, with such a garden! [Galatians\n5:22, 23].\n\nOh, hush! There is Faithful on his knees now, at prayer to the Almighty!\nHow sublime he looks! Come; he rises.\n\n\"Good morning Faithful.\"\n\n\"Good morning to you, pilgrims. Blessings upon you in the name of Immanuel.\nWhat may I do for you?\"\n\n\"We are pilgrims in Canaan and have only lately crossed the Jordan. We\nseek a home. But we have heard of the giants and we saw one afar off,\ntoo. We are a little afraid. We thought probably you would tell us how\nto overcome these giants. Will you!\"\n\n\"With the greatest of pleasure. One of my greatest joys is to teach\npilgrims the strategy of spiritual warfare and tell them how to overcome\nthe Anakims of Canaan [2 Corinthians 10:4].\n\n\"About the first giant I met in Canaan was one Mistake, a large,\nloose-jointed fellow, who, I found, made a tremendous bluster but was as\nweak as a pygmy. Really he is not a true Anakim, but a Gibeonite, who are\nfoes until they are conquered, and then they become hewers of wood and\ndrawers of water for us--they become our servants betimes [Joshua 9:21].\nBut at first Mistake assumes all the characteristics of a true giant.\n\n\"Not long after I crossed the Jordan, I met him. He came lumbering down\nupon me, and I thought my days in Canaan were numbered. It was only after\nI made some blunder or said some tactless thing that Mistake bothered\nme, but at such times he gave me untold trouble. One time a pilgrim named\nSlow was standing by the way. As I was passing him, I, not being as\ncareful as I should be, bumped into him and nearly knocked him off the\nroad. Poor fellow, he began to cry, and said he was ruined and believed\nthat if such was the way pilgrims treated each other, he would go back\ninto Egypt. This, of course, caused me to feel very sorry. I went back\nand apologized the best I could, but it hardly consoled him. I started\non. And, do you know, up came Giant Mistake! He caught hold of me and\ngave me a sound thrashing for what I had done [1 Peter 2:20].\n\n\"But really, Mistake did not cause me so much trouble as did Giant\nDiscourager. This Giant Discourager is a true giant, of pure Anakim\nblood, and he is in the habit of accompanying Mistake. And so it was\nthat every time I met Mistake, old Giant Discourager was with him. Giant\nDiscourager beat me unmercifully nearly every time I met Mistake. He\nwould flog me within an inch of my life and throw me down so bruised and\nbleeding that I almost wished I was dead [1 Kings 19:9-18]. It was only\nwhen I made a blunder that Mistake and Discourager beat me; but as I\nmade these nearly every day, my life grew very miserable. I was about\nto conclude that Canaan-land had lost all its milk and honey; for I had\nnot found very much of either yet.\n\n\"It got so that I anticipated the approach of these giants, and they\nnever disappointed my anticipations. Giant Discourager would call me all\nkinds of names, such as a sinner, a perfect failure, a no-good, a weakling,\na coward. And he would tell me, 'You have no faith,' 'You never will get\na home in Canaan,' 'You will be cast out at last,' and many such like\nthings would he say to me.\n\n\"When in my very worst battle with Mistake and Discourager, old Giant\nDespair came around to see me [1 Kings 19:4]. He claimed that by my\nrepeated failures he had the right to possession of my soul, and he said\nhe was going to carry me to his dungeon and club me to death, just as\nhe almost did Bunyan's pilgrim, Christian. This frightened me nearly to\ndeath.\n\n\"In the very extremity of this bitter battle, an angel of Immanuel, named\nSolicitude, came to my side one day and said, 'I will teach you how to\ntame Giant Mistake and how to put Giant Discourager to flight.'\n\n\"'Oh, do tell me!' I cried.\n\n\"'Well, here is your shield of faith. Take it and hold it up. Quit\ndragging it around in the dust behind you. Here is your sword of the\nSpirit, get it in your right hand and use it. That is what it is for.\nIt is not for a mere ornament, nor a mere appendage, as you have made\nit. Use it. Pull the girdle of truth up a notch or two, tie your gospel\nshoes on tighter. Press the helmet of salvation upon your brow. And when\nthe giants come, fight [Ephesians 6:10-17; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, 7:5-7].\n\n\"'And, really, so far as Giant Mistake is concerned,' the angel Solicitude\nwent on to say, 'he is not a true giant. There is no Anakim blood in\nhim. He is a Gibeonite; all you need to do to him is to conquer him, and\nhe will be your servant. You can never get entirely rid of him even in\nCanaan; but by tactful management he can be of some service to you\n[Hebrews 12:5-11]. But Giant Discourager--you must win over him; for\nhe has slain many a poor pilgrim, and waits to slay you.'\n\n\"I thanked Immanuel for sending Solicitude to tell me the secret of\nwarfare and how to handle Mistake and Discourager. And it was even so.\nI made my blunders as usual, and Mistake and Discourager came falling\ndown upon me. I ignored Mistake. But I gripped my sword, held up the\nshield, and made for Discourager, giving him a terrible blow over the\nhead. He challenged me there, and broke forth at me in awful epithets;\nbut I let the sword fall as fast as I could wield it. Pretty soon he ran\nin a disgraceful riot of retreat and plunged down a dark canyon which\nthey say is his home. When I looked around, Mistake had shrunk up to\nabout half his former size.\n\n\"'You come with me,' I said to him, 'I can't get along without you; but\nyou must behave yourself from now on.'\n\n\"'I will,' he said. And he always has since.\"\n\nThe story of Faithful makes us feel better, doesn't it?\n\nSanctification purifies the motives, and makes the spring of impulse and\naction pure; but it does not give maturity of judgment nor perfection\nof reason. If an ignorant person is sanctified, he will find keenness\nof perception as regards right and wrong, but he will still be ignorant.\n\nSanctification does not imply that a sanctified person shall not need\nto study and advance in knowledge (2 Peter 1:5-9). Though sanctified we\nare still human beings, and we must utilize the common means to knowledge\njust as others do. Sanctification affects the heart, and its work is to\ntake out evil, the sin in the nature, and make it holy and pure. Also\nit means an infilling of God's Spirit, which pervades our nature after\nsanctification just as sin pervaded it before. But sanctification does\nnot eliminate humanity from our nature.\n\nMistakes, therefore, are the common lot of all--sinners, believers, and\nsanctified ones.\n\nNot only are we liable to mistakes, we are inseparable from them in our\nearthly existence. As one grows in experience, knowledge, and maturity\nof judgment, one's mistakes may become fewer in number; but no one on\nearth can ever expect to get entirely beyond making them.\n\nLet us take a look at some illustrations: A young Christian had a father\nwho drank. One day another Christian saw this Christian young man go\ninto a saloon. He reported it around that he saw this brother go into a\nsaloon. Well, the young brother must have backslidden, was the instant\nconclusion, and so it was reported. But the young man had gone into the\nsaloon to get his father to go home. A very noble act; but the story\nthat was told was very detrimental to the young man. It was a mistake\nto tell that he was backslidden without first knowing the facts of the\ncase.\n\nA mother has three children. One of them comes running in crying almost\nas hard as it can, and says, \"John hit me with a stick.\" Mother calls\nJohn and punishes him for hitting Sister with his stick. By and by Mother\nfinds that John did not do it, but that a playmate did. A mistake was\nmade.\n\nSometimes one hears something detrimental to the character of another.\nOn the strength of this, one may pursue a certain course of action. By\nand by it may be found that this first report is not entirely true to\nfacts, and one regrets the course of action taken. A mistake has been\nmade.\n\nMistakes are made in every department of life, mental, spiritual, physical;\nin the home, in school, in the laboratory; in mechanics, in business,\nand in government. It is simply impossible to know always what to do or\nto say. Mistakes, more or less, are occurring all the time. Many of the\nthings we know we have learned by our mistakes. A farmer becomes successful\nby eliminating the mistakes of the past, by ceasing to do the things\nthat proved to be inefficient. A manufacturer becomes successful by\neliminating the weaknesses of his product, by eliminating his mistakes.\nSo with every department of life.\n\nMaturity is gained only by experience covering a period of time, hence\nsanctified people will have to learn by their mistakes just as others\ndo, and by observing closely they are able to eliminate many mistakes\nand live more happy lives.\n\nOur Father knows our limitations, and he will not cast us off for our\nmistakes. Do not count mistakes as sins. For some of your mistakes you\nmay ask pardon, of both God and men; but do not allow discouragement to\ncome in. Be happy along with your mistakes.\n\nThere is a strange but natural law of the mind that works in this way:\nIf you make a mistake and worry and brood over it and live in the fear\nthat you will make a similar mistake again, you are liable to make the\nsame mistake--over and over, as often as you fear making it. Someway or\nother the agitation over it invites it to return. There is a certain\nattraction your fear and agitation creates toward it, which, even though\nyou abhor it, draws you in it again and again. On the other hand, if one\nmakes a mistake, and, after promptly asking forgiveness, if necessary,\npromptly forgets it and goes on as if nothing unusual whatever had\noccurred, he will find that he will hardly make that mistake again.\n\nHere is a secret for the newly sanctified ones; you will make mistakes,\nbut learn to confess them fully and broadly and completely, and, after\ndoing that, then to refuse to think any more whatever about them. Let\nGod take care of you and also of the mistake.\n\nImperfection of human disposition and character is a fruitful source\nfrom which mistakes arise. Here is a person so slow as to be a trial to\nnearly every one about him, while here is another who, because he is so\nfast, is continually injuring the feelings of others. Here is a person\nnaturally so impatient that at times he wounds and hurts others. The\nintentions of these persons are often misunderstood, and mistakes arise\nfrom the misunderstanding. We, thinking that certain things were done\nor said for certain purposes, may do and say certain things. Later we\ndiscover some other course would have been wiser and better.\n\nSo, dear anxious soul, do not expect to get beyond making mistakes.\nProfit by those you make. Use them as stepping-stones to a better\nexperience. Keep consecrated, keep your faith clear, and commit yourself\nto God, mistakes and all. Sanctification makes us pure; but it takes\ntime and experience to make us mature.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER NINE\n\nIN THE DUNGEON OF GIANT DISCOURAGER\n\nI feel very discouraged at times, and sometimes the spells of\ndiscouragement hang on for a long while. I wonder if I am sanctified.\nFrom unaccountable sources, bad feelings of every description depress\nmy soul, and along with these bad feelings come doubts that cast gloom\nover me. I have prayed and prayed that these feelings of discouragement\nmight leave me; but they have not done so. I despair of prayer bringing\nme the help I need. Really, I know not what to do. I earnestly desire\nto be all the Lord's and have His will done in my life, and it is painful\nto believe that these discouragements hinder God's will in my heart. How\ndo sanctified people feel, anyway? I should think they ought to feel\necstatic joy all the time, being so consecrated and near the Lord as\nthey are. I need help on this line, and will appreciate any advice you\ngive me.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Wilderness of Canaan is a wild, rough district bordering on the\nJordan Valley, through which every pilgrim and home-seeker must pass\nbefore he finds his home site and settles down. Some pilgrims are fortunate\nin passing through it quickly, while others, coming under the spell of\ntwo old giants who live there, have a very hard time passing through.\nThese giants are Discourager and Despair, said to be twin brothers, sons\nof a bad mighty couple, Unbelief and Doubt, who live in the same wilderness\nand are, they say, the grandfather and grandmother of one of the worst\nfamilies of giants in all Canaan. It is in this Wilderness that pilgrims\nencounter Giant Accuser, a cousin of Giants Discourager and Despair.\n\nIt is said that Pilgrim Victory had a long and hard battle with these\ntwo giants, Discourager and Despair. We shall have time this evening,\nso why not visit Victory? Probably he will tell us of this battle. We\nshould like to know how he overcame them. We hear these two giants are\nreally afraid of him since he has become so proficient in the use of the\nsword.\n\nVery well, let us visit Pilgrim Victory.\n\nWhere does he live? He lives on Mount Moriah, and we shall find him at\nhome, no doubt.\n\nOh see, here is a monument by the roadside! Let us stop and read the\ninscription. Oh! Listen!\n\n\"It was on this spot that a desperate battle was fought between Pilgrim\nVictory and two of the worst giants in Canaan, Giants Discourager and\nDespair. Victory won after a long fight. The castle of Giant Despair is\nsituated in one of the dark ravines to the right. In clear weather it\ncan be seen from this spot. Pilgrims are warned to be prepared to meet\nthese giants, for they have slain their thousands.\"\n\nCome! Let us hurry away from this place! But look! See! There is the\ncastle of Giant Despair! It looks more like a jail, or prison, than a\ncastle. Maybe there is some poor pilgrim in there now. O Immanuel, if\nthere is, send an angel to tell him to use the key of Promise so he may\nget out!\n\nWhy, here comes a pilgrim from that direction now. And there comes old\nGiant Despair after him. O Immanuel, help!\n\nWill the pilgrim escape? The old Giant is coming so fast! But it is clear\ntoday. Yes! now the sun bursts full on the old Giant! Ah! he seems to\nmelt in his tracks. Oh, yes! now we know why--he can not run in clear\nweather. Here is the pilgrim on the main road again.\n\n\"Pilgrim, we are so happy to see you get away. You look so worn, so\nweary. And there, what can that be, poor fellow? There is blood and\nwounds all over your back. That is where the old giant beat you, isn't\nit? How did you escape?\"\n\n\"Blessed be Immanuel forever! For a long time old Despair has had me in\nhis dungeon. I've been nearly killed. Giant Discourager encountered me\nfirst and got me off into that ravine over there toward the castle. Then\nold Despair caught me and put me in his dungeon. He beat me regularly\nmorning, noon, and night. He has killed a number of pilgrims. He killed\none while I was there; and there is a large heap of the bones of other\npoor pilgrims out of whom he drove the spark of hope. But this morning\nI thought of a key called Promise [1 Kings 8:56] that Bunyan's pilgrim\ntold of, and to my surprise it fitted every lock I had to open. The old\nGiant ran after me. I do not know what happened to him; I did not look\nback to see. But I am safe, anyway.\"\n\n\"Come on with us, we are going to visit Pilgrim Victory. What is your\nname!\"\n\n\"My name is Honest.\"\n\n\"Well, here we are on Moriah. And yonder is Pilgrim Victory! He seems\nto be polishing or sharpening his sword. Why, it shines like silver now!\"\n\n\"Blessings on you, pilgrims, and what can I do for you?\"\n\n\"Oh, Pilgrim Victory, tell us of your battle with Giants Discourager and\nDespair, will you!\"\n\n\"To the glory of Immanuel, yes. And I shall begin with an early experience,\nand this is the way it came about: No sooner had I crossed the Jordan\nthan Giant Mistake began to keep me company. Not long after that, Giant\nDiscourager joined us, much to my detriment. I should have fought him\nthen; but he said he had a right to travel with pilgrims, and I did not\nknow any better; so I let him stay in my company. When we got farther\ninto the Wilderness of Canaan, Giant Discourager began to torment me\nawfully. Every day he beat me, till I had no strength left. I did nothing\nbut sit and nurse my wounds for many days. According to Giant Discourager,\nI was a failure; and it did appear that way. I was not good for anything,\nhe said, and there was much truth, apparently, in that saying, too. He\nsaid Immanuel did not care the least bit for me; and it did look that\nway. 'You will never get out of this wilderness. You will never be able\nto do any good. You will always feel miserable,' said Giant Discourager\nto me. In fact, he saw nothing ahead for me but woe, failure, misery,\nand despair. And it appeared certain that he was right.\n\n\"Just at that place where you saw the monument, I fought the battle\nthrough, and won. But I was in Giant Despair's dungeon two weeks at that.\nIt was after I escaped that I fought the fight I won. I had got out of\nthe dungeon by using the key of Promise; but the weather was foul, and\nthe giants caught me at that spot.\n\n\"The battle was a long one. With all the subtlety of his lengthy career,\nGiant Discourager threw out every idea and insinuation to get me to give\nup. But while these insidious attacks were very hard to ward off, I had\ndefinitely promised Immanuel down in the dungeon that if he would get\nme out I would never be caught in company with Giant Discourager again.\nI saw while there that it was my keeping company with him that got me\ninto Despair's hands. So I had to keep my promise.\n\n\"But Discourager would not leave; so I swung at him with my sword, and\nsaid, 'Get thee hence, Discourager, I am Immanuel's. I am a citizen of\nCanaan, I am across the Jordan, this is my home; here my rest shall be.\nGet thee hence' [Luke 4:1-13]. His foul breath blew over me, and his\nawful concoctions of unbelief and despair almost overthrew me. At that,\nGiant Despair grabbed me, and was in the act of lifting me bodily and\ncarrying me away, when a fierce desire to fight to victory possessed me.\nI made another stroke at Giant Discourager and then aimed one at Despair.\nThis freed me. Then, gathering myself, I rushed at one, then the other,\nuntil I chased them back into their haunts. Oh, victory, how sweet! And\nhow blessed it was after that not to have that old Discourager's heartless\nand despairing conversation poisoning my thoughts! Oh, what a relief!\n\n\"On thinking of it, I then and there purposed to build the monument you\nsaw on your way here. Many a pilgrim has taken warning and escaped an\nawful death.\n\n\"Pilgrim Honest, I know those are tears of gratitude flowing down your\npoor face; but dry them, and come with me. I will bathe those wounds of\nyours and give you food that will relieve all your distress [Isaiah\n66:10-13; Matthew 12:38-21]. And to you, pilgrims, we say farewell.\"\n\n\"Good-by, Pilgrims Victory and Honest. May it be well with you.\"\n\nNow let us talk between ourselves.\n\nIt is no sin to feel discouraged. The only place where sin can enter in\nconnection with discouragement is in entirely surrendering faith and\nletting actual transgressions follow. When the soul is tormented to the\npoint where it appears impossible for it to claim the victory any farther,\nthat is no evidence that that soul has sinned and is lost. In this case\nGod sees the soul as it really is; He does not look at the soul's own\nestimate of itself. Many a sanctified soul has given up faith for\nsanctification, and even for justification, merely on the strength of\nsome argument the devil has presented. For instance, a person may\nconsecrate all, have perfect faith, and receive the experience of entire\nsanctification. In a week or two this person may make a mistake, or for\nsome reason or other he may begin to have bad feelings in himself. Satan\nnow sends his tempter to accuse the soul and cause it to doubt its having\nthe experience of entire sanctification. After a painful struggle, the\nsoul feels, that, on the evidence presented, it must give up its profession\nof a sanctified state, and does so. But God, looking down, sees that\nthat soul is just as consecrated as ever, and loves God as much as ever.\nHe can not hold that soul as it holds itself. So while the soul despairs,\nGod holds it as all right. The only reason the soul does not get God's\nview is because these doubts and accusations obscure God's will and\npromise, and the devil's doubts are admitted instead of God's word.\n\nThat more souls are done to death by discouragement than by any other\none thing is probably a true saying.\n\nYou say you are discouraged. Over what? Is it because you do not have\nthe pleasant feelings you would like to have? This is no cause for\ndiscouragement. You may be better than you feel, just as many are not\nso good as they feel they are. Feelings are no standard to go by. Is it\nbecause you can not accomplish more? Do the best you can and be satisfied\nwith that. Is it because you make many blunders and mistakes? Care not\nfor it, for all make them. Profit by them and go on.\n\nDiscouragement is deadly to the soul. It is a destroyer of hope, faith,\nconfidence, joy, service, and victory. Look at the discouraged man! There\nhe sits. Nothing seems good to him; and he hesitates to do anything.\nWhat army ever won a victory if it was discouraged? What merchant ever\nsucceeded in business when discouraged? Who ever accomplished anything\nwhen discouraged?\n\nVow never to give way to discouragement. Sign the pledge against indulgence\nin it. Why not? Discouragement is the effect of the devil's work. Will\nyou engage in helping the devil at his work?\n\nThere is no sound argument in favor of becoming discouraged; there is\nno reason or logic on its side. If you have obstacles to overcome,\ndiscouragement will make them only that much harder to overcome. Do you\nmake mistakes? Discouragement will only make it harder to overcome them.\nNo matter what may be your trouble, or failure, or other problem,\ndiscouragement is a positive hindrance. And if it is given way to, it\nmust ultimately be overcome, in addition to overcoming the obstacle which\noccasions the discouragement, before one has the victory.\n\nThere is one thing you will do well always to remember, and that is God's\npromise in John 3:16. No matter where you are, no matter how hopeless\neverything seems, no matter how far down you may get, even into sin--\nremember that God loves you and has this promise, exactly suited to your\nneed. All you have to do to begin to get out is to step upon that promise.\n\nYes, sanctified people feel discouraged at times. But since they are all\nthe Lord's they must not give way to it, but must pray and trust Him to\ncarry them through. This sooner or later brings them through the trial\n(1 Peter 5:10). Jesus Christ never gets discouraged. Let us be like Him\nin the eternal hope of the triumph of the grace of God (Romans 8:37-39).\nIn which triumph we may have a share both while we live here and again\nin the heaven of heavens.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TEN\n\nTHE TORMENTS OF GIANT BAD FEELINGS\n\nI am just a bundle of feelings. I never imagined one could have such a\nvariety of them as I am now experiencing. Most of them are bad ones and\nI am greatly disturbed by them. Really, I doubt whether I am sanctified,\non account of the feelings I have. Do sanctified people always feel\njoyful? I have heard that they do, and if it is true that they do, then\nI am not sanctified. Big doubts take up company with me every morning,\nand so long as I feel as I do I do not see how to dismiss them. My heart\nis heavy, very heavy, over these questions. Can you tell me how sanctified\npeople feel? Please do, I am so anxious to know.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNearly every pilgrim in Canaan has met Giant Bad Feelings, a doughty old\ngiant with a long bad record for troubling pilgrims. He is not, they\nsay, so dangerous to life as are some of the other giants, as he rarely\nslays a pilgrim; but for inflicting torment on them and as a helper to\nGiant Discourager no one can equal him. He is a most pestiferous giant,\nwith a numerous family.\n\nThis is going to be a fair day, the sun came up clear this morning; shall\nwe visit Pilgrim Sunshine? She lives in one of the sunniest, most pleasant\nvales in all Canaan, so I hear. You think it will be profitable to go\nover to her home? Very well, let us go.\n\nBy the way, did you ever hear the story of Pilgrim Sunshine? It is said\nshe used to be sad, broken-hearted, fearful, and despondent, and that\nshe lived long in the Valley of Sighs. Of course, we want to hear the\nstory from her own lips. She has had a great deal of trouble, has pilgrim\nSunshine; enough to make one despair, almost. Her people persecuted her,\nher husband deserted her, her sons reproached her; but, nevertheless,\nshe is one of the happiest inhabitants of Canaan.\n\nI believe we are nearing her home now, see how clear the air is up here,\nand the flora is getting more bountiful and beautiful, isn't it! There\nis her place! What a lovely garden she has! And it is growing out of\nsuch rocky soil! There she is, the dear old mother in Israel! When we\nget to her, note the marks of care that line her saintly face; but notice\nalso the sweet smile that graces her kind countenance. Oh, that we could\nbear up under life's cares and burdens as she does!\n\n\"The Lord's blessings be yours, Pilgrim Sunshine.\"\n\n\"Aye, and the riches of His great goodness attend you, pilgrims. Sit\ndown under this amaranthine bower and rest yourselves.\"\n\n\"We are new pilgrims in Canaan and we want to settle somewhere in the\nland. Some one said the Vale of Hidden Delights is a good place to live\nin. Seems to us it is. Could we find a home here? And we should be glad\nto hear you tell us some of your adventures in Canaan. Coming along, we\nsaw some giants. Do any giants live in this vicinity? We are hoping that\nwe can gain our inheritance without meeting any of them. Can we?\"\n\n\"Pilgrims, I could wish you might settle into your inheritance without\na battle; but I have never yet heard of a case where a pilgrim did so.\nIt is true some more sturdy and valiant pilgrims have little trouble\nwith the giants and soon win, but many have hard battles to fight [Luke\n12:28; 1 John 5:4]. As to your settling here in the Valley of Hidden\nDelights, remember that it is only by the greatest toil and care we are\nable to bring loveliness and beauty out of this rocky soil. But if\nImmanuel allots you a home here, do not fear; some of the sweetest fruits\nand flowers of Canaan grow right here.\n\n\"My hardest battle was with Giant Bad Feelings. Beware of him! I had a\npensive soul, a sensitive nature, and was conscientious to a scruple\n[Romans 14:1-6]. Bad Feelings took advantage of this fact and caused me\ntrouble untold.\n\n\"I was very happy when I crossed the Jordan into Canaan, and set up my\nmemorial stone with a shout. I advanced into the land to explore it at\nonce. The old corn and wine of Canaan delighted me [Joshua 5:11, 12].\nMy weapons of warfare were bright, and I felt able to meet any foe. But\ninadvertently I got into the Valley of Sighs, and lived there far too\nlong. I blame Giant Bad Feelings for it, yet I should not have allowed\nmyself to be influenced by him.\n\n\"It was not long after I had passed Jericho that Giant Bad Feelings\naccosted me.\n\n\"'Good morning, pilgrim,' he said, 'how do you feel this morning. Seems\nto me your feelings are not what they should be. Pilgrims in Canaan ought\nto be happy all the time. You are not happy. There is a little load on\nyour soul. See, you are carrying burdens!' and at that he laid something\nheavy upon my shoulders. 'It is true,' he chattered on, 'that pilgrims\nshould be always happy, and you are not. That is plain to be seen. Now,\nbe honest about it, aren't you sad?'\n\n\"Well, I had to confess I felt bad.\n\n\"'Certainly you feel bad. Are you sure you are all consecrated to Immanuel?\nAre you certain you left all the love of Egypt behind, on the farther\nside of the Jordan? Something must be wrong with you since you feel as\nyou do.'\n\n\"At that he blew something into my face that sickened me with feelings\nof discouragement and dejection. Really, I felt worse than I did before\never I crossed the Jordan. I felt faint and sad.\n\n\"'Probably you have failed somewhere! More than likely Immanuel has cast\nyou off, and some giant will carry you out of the land. You are a failure.\nThat is all there is to it.' And with this he struck me a hard blow that\nseemed to land right on my heart. I fainted and fell.\n\n\"After this, Giant Bad Feelings visited me every day. He had the power,\nit seemed, to make me feel just as he desired. At times he would throw\nover me feelings that imitated envy, anger, and such like. When Bad\nFeelings would shroud me with ingratitude to Immanuel, then he would\nturn around and beat me for the ingratitude just as though the feelings\nwere my own. And really it was here that Giant Bad Feelings deceived me.\nHe had manufactured these feelings himself and, on encountering me, would\nlay them upon me, all the while insinuating that they were my very own.\nHe would bring bad words to my mind, bad thoughts, ugly pictures and\nideas that my soul and mind revolted against. He would deftly cause it all\nto seem as though it came from my heart. And then he would lay the most\nmiserable and heart-deadening feelings upon me possible.\n\n\"Finally some pilgrims found out that Giant Bad Feelings was causing me\nmuch trouble and they visited me. 'Pilgrim,' they said, 'pay no attention\nto Giant Bad Feelings. He is a big blusterer, anyway. Ignore him. Next\ntime he comes tell him plainly that you belong to Immanuel, and that\nyour feelings are consecrated to Jehovah. Tell him that if Immanuel\nallows you to have feelings you do not understand, that is Immanuel's\nbusiness, and must be a blessing to you in some way or other.'\n\n\"Giant Bad Feelings came around as usual after this visit of the pilgrims.\n\n\"'Good morning, Pilgrim Sunshine. Not much sunshine in your soul today,\nis there?' he bawled out.\n\n\"'Perhaps not,' I said. 'But I belong to Immanuel, and the state of my\nsoul is in His keeping.'\n\n\"'Oh, pshaw! you feel miserable, and you know it. Be honest! And be sure!\nyou might be deceived if you do not investigate very closely the state\nof your feelings. Remember, as a man feels so he is, according to\nBeelzebub.'\n\n\"'I am Immanuel's,' I declared vehemently. 'How I feel is His concern.\nWhatever the feeling He allows, there must be good for me in the\nexperience. Anyway, I am His and He is mine.'\n\n\"'Come now,' said the Giant. 'Do you mean to say that you believe you\nare all right when you feel as you do! Be careful!'\n\n\"'Yes, sir, I mean to say that very thing. I believe I am all right, no\nmatter how I feel. You have been lying to me. Get thee hence' [Matthew\n4:1-11; 1 John 5:4, 2:12-14].\n\n\"At this I swung at Bad Feelings with the trusty sword of the Spirit.\nIt was a hard struggle, but at last I chased him away. Then I moved out\nof the Vale of Sighs to this Vale of Hidden Delights.\"\n\n\"Oh, we feel so animated over this recital of your battle and victory\nover old Giant Bad Feelings, Pilgrim Sunshine! If he attacks us we believe\nwe shall know what to do. Our armor and weapons are proof against him,\nthis one thing we know. Oh, Immanuel, help us use the weapons thou hast\nso graciously put in our hands!\n\n\"Farewell Pilgrim Sunshine.\"\n\nNow let us do some considering. Probably seventy-five per cent of the\npeople who consecrate all to God for the grace to live the victorious\nlife are troubled over the state of their feelings. It is so natural to\nthink that if one wholly abandons all to Christ, that one thereafter\nshould at all times feel joyful, close to Jesus, be conscious of His\npresence, feel the love and peace the Christian has. In general, _feel_\nat all times that all is well. And when one's feelings are opposite from\nthis, a serious question and doubt usually arises as to whether the soul\nis really in Canaan-land or not. The fact is, one's feelings are no\nstandard to go by; for they are subject to a variety of conditions,\nspiritual, mental, and physical, and change and fluctuate in a very swift\nand unaccountable manner many times. The ups and downs of the Christian\nlife would indeed be violent and serious if they followed our feelings;\nbut our faith tells the real story, not our feelings (Ephesians 2:8,\n3:17; Romans 8:28, 37-39).\n\nWhen you are tempted to regard your feelings, ignore the matter altogether.\nLook in another place for evidence of your standing. How is your\nconsecration? (Romans 12:1-3). How is your faith? (1 John 5:4, 10). Are\nyou all the Lord's? Do you still believe His promise? If you can say yes\nto these questions, you are still on victory's side, though you may not\nfeel it.\n\nThe will, not the feelings, is the controlling factor in life. The\nfeelings are like a family of children who may, if allowed to grow up\ndisobedient and unruly, cause one much trouble, but if controlled and\nmade obedient, contribute to one's happiness. Feelings are a part of us.\nChristian experiences are felt; that is, they affect the emotions as\nwell as the will. Feelings fluctuate, and, in fact, in many cases become\nvery unruly, like spoiled children, and want everything their own way.\nBad news will produce sad feelings. If you receive a letter today\nannouncing the wedding of a friend, you rejoice; if it announces a death,\nyou sorrow. If you are sick in body your feelings may partake of the\nquality of your physical condition. It is well that our feelings enter\ninto our lives in this way, else we should lack the sympathy, love, and\nother emotions that are essential to social happiness. So let us thank\nGod we have feelings; they connect us with the joys and sorrows of others.\nBut let us not gage our Christian experience by the way we feel.\n\nSanctified people have feelings that are natural. Man was created with\nall the social instincts before the fall. Before sin came in, he was\ntold to multiply and replenish the earth. Out of the two natures, male\nand female, arise all the social instincts that produce families, homes,\nlaws, and governments.\n\nMan, however, is twofold in being, with soul and body in union. Soul and\nbody function together and each affects the other. By steadily thinking\nyou are sick, you can become sick; by overexerting the body, the mind\ncan be deranged; etc.\n\nSanctification restores man morally to where he was in Eden. Sanctification\ncleanses away the nature of sin and leaves all the God-given instincts\nintact.\n\nWithout trying to be technical, we may set down man's natural instincts\nand feelings as follows:\n\nMan's nature as created by God had capacity for love, joy, sorrow,\njustice, fear. These may be called basic instincts. There are phases of\nthese we may profitably mention and discuss in connection with how or\nwhat a sanctified person may feel.\n\nA sanctified person may feel: (1) The working of the law of self-\npreservation. (2) Sorrow at the death of loved ones. (3) Pleased when\nreceiving words of appreciation. (4) Rising of righteous indignation at\ntimes. (5) Impatience at the slowness of justice or the wrong actions of\nothers. (6) Pleasure in social life. (7) Craving of sex impulses and\ndesires. (8) Hurt when illy spoken of or to. (9) Heavy through many\ntemptations.\n\nTaking these in order, let us explain them more fully. And we shall give\nhere the results of over twenty years experience in the sanctified life,\nand many of these facts have been learned by bitter experience.\n\n1. Self-preservation is a natural law. Fear is a part of it. Perfect\nlove casts out fear, the fear that is slavish and results from sin; but\nperfect love does not destroy all timidity nor the sense of the need of\nprotecting one's life. A sanctified person has just as good a right to\nrun to a storm-cellar when a cyclone comes as has any one else. One form\nof fear is timidity. A newly sanctified person may feel somewhat timid\nin performing some duty. If, however, God's will calls to duties that\nmean even death, the fully consecrated soul goes on. So in such cases\nthe law of self-preservation gives way to the higher law of self-sacrifice\nfor Christ's sake.\n\n2. Sorrow at the death of loved ones is compatible with sanctification.\nMany other things cause sorrow, such as disaster, disease, and sin, and\nthese affect the wholly sanctified. The sanctified, however, have the\nComforter to help support them and assuage their griefs.\n\n3. If a sanctified person receives words of appreciation, he feels\npleasure; not that they exalt him, but that they create in him a natural\njoy at being so appreciated. It is said by some that sanctified persons\nare \"dead,\" and the point is illustrated by saying that pins might be\nthrust into a dead man and he will not wince. If sanctification destroyed\nthe natural feelings, it would be a disaster rather than a blessing. It\npurifies them, but does not destroy them.\n\n4. God planted in man the sense of justice. God made man in His own\nimage. What we find in God, we find in man. God is just; so the principle\nof justice abides in man. Sanctification destroys the selfish\nvindictiveness of anger, but it does not destroy the sense of justice,\nand a sanctified person will feel the rise of a righteous indignation\nat evil. This is illustrated in Jesus, when He \"looked round about on\nthem with anger\" (Mark 3:5), and also when He made the whip of cords and\ndrove the robbers out of the temple (Matthew 21:12, 13). If the righteous\nman can not feel indignant at evil, how can God judge the world? Justice\nimplies anger at evil. If righteous anger is wrong in man, it is wrong\nin God. Because God is God does not mean that He can do a moral wrong\nand it be right because God did it. His acts must be intrinsically right\nof themselves. Therefore, on the fact that He will judge the world we\npredicate the righteousness of sanctified indignation. And this is not\ncarnal anger, which raves and slays and destroys unmercifully and wickedly.\n\n5. It is rather hard to divide impatience into a just impatience and an\nunjust impatience. The point may be too fine for definition, but Scripture\nand experience both prove that sanctification does not make one perfectly\npatient. In fact, who should judge as to what perfect patience is if it\nwere a possible attainment? Sanctification does make us patient. The\nconstant ruffling of soul over untoward events stops. We grow patient. We\ntrust God. We wait and hope. But we read that \"tribulation worketh\npatience\" (Romans 5:3); so hard experiences make us patient, that is, if\nwe bear them. James says, \"The trying of your faith worketh patience\"\n(James 1:3). So what tribulations and trials work is not completely done\nby the Spirit when we are sanctified.\n\n6. It used to be said by some that sanctification destroyed social\ninstincts to the point of making social diversions distasteful. It seems\nvery hard to disentangle the true state of holiness from asceticism.\nOnce, holy men were supposed to be dead to social enjoyments--they would\nnot marry, they would not wear ordinary clothing, they would not associate\non a common plane with their fellows. But Jesus did not live that way.\nHe made wine for a marriage feast; He ate dinner at a rich Pharisee's\nhouse; He enjoyed being at Martha's home. John leaned on His bosom at\nthe last supper. Jesus was no ascetic.\n\nSanctification lifts social contact to its highest level. Brilliant\nconversation on a plane of purity is as enjoyable to holy people as to\nothers. Figures of speech, puns, and riddles may mark the conversation\nof holy people as well as others. Yet their talk does not descend to the\nvulgar, frivolous, giddy, jay chatter of the wicked. As is said of\nconversation, so may be said of parties and picnics, which are names for\noutings or gatherings of various kinds at which refreshments may or may\nnot be served. Should God's children be debarred from these pleasurable\nassociations because the world goes too far in them?\n\n7. Sanctification does not destroy sex impulses, but it does ennoble\nthem and bring them under control. Hence the drawing of natures to each\nother is common to all, and courtship and marriage are honorable, as\nPaul said.\n\n8. Since sanctified persons can appropriately feel pleasure at words of\nappreciation, so can they feel hurt at slights and impositions heaped\non them by others. Perhaps the dividing line between what is right and\nwhat is wrong in this matter is this: so long as one feels hurt but does\nnot feel like hurting in return, he may be safe; but when one is hurt\nand then feels the retaliating spirit which boils over in anger, that\none feels the mark of an unsanctified soul. We may be hurt, but we also\ncommit and trust it to God.\n\n9. Joy is not always overflowing in the hearts of the sanctified. Heavy\ntrials will produce a heaviness of spirit (1 Peter 1:6-9).\n\nThese trials are profitable, really indispensable.\n\nSanctification restores the soul. It purifies the affections and motives\nof the life, it lifts all of life up to a plane of holiness and love,\nbut it leaves us men and women. Do not expect impossibilities of it, but\nexpect it to cleanse out sin and carnal wicked elements.\n\nGod's plan for the earth is for salvation to extend to all men until\nthis world shall be ruled by divine principles and love instead of lust\nand selfishness.\n\nGive yourself wholly to God, then, dear soul; fully yield all up to the\ndivine will and care not how you feel. Let God care for your feelings\nas well as for everything else. He will \"keep him in perfect peace whose\nmind is stayed on\" Him. Glorious peace, precious rest, delightful\nconfidence!\n\nA certain woman lived a precarious existence, but she was so happy in\nher life with Jesus that she was the marvel of her town.\n\nYou have given all to God, let Him keep all of you and for you.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER ELEVEN\n\nTHE ROUTING OF GIANT DOUBT\n\nDoubts! doubts! doubts! Just a company of them around me all the time\nworse than Job's miserable comforters. What can I do with them? I should\nlike to dismiss them, but it seems I can not. They make me much trouble,\nbut it seems I can not get them to leave me. Especially are the doubts\nconcerning my entire consecration aggravating, and those, too, concerning\nmy entire cleansing. I fear to come out boldly and declare that I believe\nthat Christ fully saves me now. I believe He can and will, but the words\ndie on my lips when I attempt to bring it down to the present moment.\nYet I know these doubts are dishonoring to God, who has made such great\nand glorious promises. Can you give me some instructions on what to do\nwith doubts? How did you overcome yours? Please help me, in Christ's\nname.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPilgrim Sincere lives in what I hear is one of the best parts of Canaan.\nHe had a great encounter with old Giant Doubt; so let us pay him a visit.\nWe have met the old Giant already, and we have no hesitation in saying\nthat if there is a worse giant than he in Canaan, we are not eager to\nmeet him. Pilgrim Sincere may tell us something about him that it will\nbe of profit to us to know.\n\nHere! We are at Sincere's place already. There is no question of his\nvictory over Giant Doubt. Such a shield of faith as his is I never saw\nbefore!\n\n\"Pilgrim Sincere, we have been talking with pilgrims and residents of\nCanaan, and now we have come to see you. Will you tell us something that\nwill enable us to gain a freehold in Canaan? We have met many poor\npilgrims who say they have never yet gained a clear title to a home here.\nThey have been driven here and there by this or that old giant. We are\neager not to be defeated in this great adventure in Canaan.\"\n\n\"If you will give all honor to Immanuel and none to me, I will relate my\nexperiences--a few at least. There are many giants in Canaan, very many of\nthem. There is Giant Lust, who has slain thousands. Poor souls! Giant\nPuff-up, who causes pilgrims to act as foolish as did the toad that saw an\nelephant and burst itself trying to be as large; Giant Lethargy, who\noperates an opiate factory in a hollow that runs directly down into Egypt;\nGiant Covetousness, who decoys pilgrims to the silver-mine run by Balaam\nand Demas; Giant Pride, an evil giant who has troubled pilgrims for time\nout of mind; Giant Liar, who uses an abundance of camouflage; and others\n[Galatians 5:19-21].\"\n\n\"My, you almost scare us naming them! Can it be we must fight all of\nthem? Is not this that rest-land!\"\n\n\"My dear pilgrims, this is Beulah-land, and Sabbath-land. Here is the\ntrue rest. But remember, Canaan has its giants, more so than the\nwilderness; the true rest is found in overcoming them. Do not be\nfrightened. Look at the armor with which you are equipped.\"\n\n\"Sincere, the armor is all right, but it is ourselves that we are doubtful\nof. Can we use the sword and the shield as they should be used?\"\n\n\"Indeed you can, pilgrims, no doubt of it. Why, when I got into Canaan\nI was so weak I nearly lost my life fighting.\"\n\n\"Tell us about it.\"\n\n\"About twenty-five years ago I entered Canaan. It was a great day for\nme! At last the long journey through the wilderness was over, the deep,\nwide waters of Jordan passed! Canaan was my own! I praised Immanuel and\nbegan to possess the land [Joshua 1:2, 3].\n\n\"Not long after that I met a lean, white-whiskered man named Legality.\nHe said he was my friend. He looked venerable and sincere, even if he\ndid appear rather stern and immovable! 'Now friend Sincere,' he said,\n'I have something here that will help you walk safely and straight,' and\nwith that he slipped a peculiar jacket over my head and buckled it up\npretty tight around my waist [Galatians 5:1].\n\n\"'There,' he said, 'that jacket just fits you. You are in Canaan now,\nand must walk, oh, so straight and carefully! Why, if you make even ever\nso little a mistake, you will be punished, I fear, dreadfully. But that\njacket will help you and keep you from doing anything far out of the\nway.' And with that he left me.\n\n\"Well, I wanted anything that would help me, so I kept the jacket on.\nIt bothered me considerably. It was made of stiff, iron stays, woven in\nwith rough haircloth, both of which were made, so Mr. Legality said, by\none Mr. Over-Conscientious Scruple who lives in the town of Sensitive.\n\n\"Every move I made was retarded by that jacket. By and by sore places\nappeared where the end of the stays engaged my flesh. I met Mr. Legality\nonce and told him how bad the jacket was treating me, but he said the\ncure was to buckle it on tighter. Oh, my, how it did hurt! But he said\nit would be dangerous to take it off. So I continued to suffer. I could\nnot act freely in any matter.\n\n\"Just about this time old Giant Doubt met me. He carried a book and a\nbig pencil. 'Sit down here while I give you an examination; that is my\nbusiness,' he said. 'My lord has commissioned me to do this work.'\nSomething inside me told me that here was an enemy; but he spoke with\nsuch a show of authority that I passively sat down. And he began.\n\n\"'How do you feel?'\n\n\"'I do not feel very good, just now.' I said.\n\n\"'I thought so. No doubt there is something wrong with you. Have you\ngained an established home in Canaan yet?'\n\n\"'No, I haven't,' I replied.\n\n\"'Well, you never will; at least there are serious doubts about it. It\nis my business to make sure that pilgrims possess the land. Did you put\nup your memorial stone!'\n\n\"'Yes, I carried a stone out of the middle of Jordan and set it up. I\nsuppose it is there yet.'\n\n\"'That stone was no good, a little rough rock it was. Why didn't you\nselect a nice large stone such as Pilgrim Joyful carried out?'\n\n\"'I did the best I could; that was the only stone I saw in passing\nthrough. I noticed it was not like Pilgrim Joyful's, and not like Pilgrim\nHonest's, either.'\n\n\"'No good, no good! Too small! I doubt if it is really stone at all. Did\nyou leave all the wilderness luggage on yonder side Jordan?'\n\n\"'I intended to. I dropped the whole bundle as I stepped into the Jordan.'\n\n\"'I doubt it. I believe you have considerable wilderness trappings in\nyour possession. More than that, I doubt whether you left all your load\nwhen you crossed the Red Sea. Did you?'\n\n\"'I thought I did,' I replied.\n\n\"'I doubt it. How do you feel now?' said old Giant Doubt.\n\n\"'I feel bad, worse than before the examination began.' I replied.\n\n\"'I see you do. Something is wrong with you. You have passed a poor\nexamination. It is my business to carry you out of Canaan as unworthy\nto be in this good land. Come on,' and with that he arose and advanced\ntoward me with both hands extended. I trembled violently, but seemed\npowerless to resist. He picked me up and started off with me. Just then\nI spotted a sturdy post with a sign-board nailed to the top. I eagerly\nsought to read the legend. 'Beware!' it began. 'At this place a certain\nold giant, named Doubt, has a habit of stopping pilgrims and taking them\nthrough a pretended examination. He claims to hold a commission from his\nlord to do this work. His commission is true; but his lord is Beelzebub.\nAfter the examination, he usually carries off the pilgrim who allows him\nto question him. Many have fallen to his devices. He is a cruel, old\ngiant, and he carries his victims to'--and here I could read no more.\n\n\"We soon left the main road and entered a dark valley called Vale of\nDestruction.\n\n\"'Let me go,' I shouted.\n\n\"'I will not, you are not fit to be in Canaan,' he replied.\n\n\"I struggled and shouted for help with all my might. He held me close,\nhowever, and the vale grew darker and darker.\n\n\"'O Immanuel, do send me help! Oh, deliver me from this cruel giant!' I\ncried. Just then there appeared ahead a stream of light, which came in\nfrom one side of the valley. When we reached the light, I saw a beautiful\nmansion built high up on the sides of a valley that broadened out in a\nbeautiful vale named Hope. Some people were singing on the lawn of the\nmansion. Either they caught a glimpse of the old giant carrying me, or\nmy loud shouts for help reached them. At any rate, I saw two of them\nstart toward us [Galatians 6:2].\n\n\"Old Giant Doubt attempted to run faster, as he also caught sight of them;\nbut a periodic rheumatism attacked him, and he made little progress. The\ntwo pilgrims, who I found were Valiant and Faithful, rushed to my rescue.\n\n\"'You wicked old Giant Doubt,' they shouted, 'let go of Pilgrim Sincere.'\nAnd they attacked him with their swords.\n\n\"'Sincere,' they cried, 'take your sword and use it!'\n\n\"By this time my arm was free enough to grasp the sword, and I gave the\ngiant a close thrust. At this he dropped me and ran as fast as he could.\n\n\"'Poor pilgrim,' said Valiant. 'How fortunate for you that you shouted!\nWe heard the call. Praise and honor to Immanuel.' And Valiant reverently\nlifted his hands and eyes heavenward.\n\n\"'Where did the old, evil giant overcome you?' asked Faithful.\n\n\"'Back at a place where there is a sign warning pilgrims against Giant\nDoubt. But I did not see the sign till he started off with me.'\n\n\"'I wonder if we can not mark that spot more plainly, so that no pilgrim\nwill ever allow Giant Doubt to hold his false examination there?' asked\nValiant.\n\n\"'No,' said Faithful. 'It has been tried over and over. No sign except\nthe one that is there ever remains even if it is put up.'\n\n\"'What kind of garment is that you are wearing around your waist?' asked\nFaithful.\n\n\"'This is a jacket that Mr. Legality gave me to wear.' I answered.\n\n\"'The crafty villain,' exclaimed Faithful. 'Put it away from you!'\n\n\"But I was afraid to do this, and told them so. They related how that\nsame jacket had caused them much trouble. They further said that no one\ncould unbuckle it but me, as there was a secret lock on each jacket that\nno one but the wearer could work.\n\n\"After this I got back to the main highway again. But the first thing I\nknew was that old Giant Doubt was with me again [Matthew 14:28-31]. And\nhe began to talk to me just as if he had never said anything to me before.\nI wondered what I should do if he attempted to carry me away. And then\nI remembered what I read on a monument just after crossing the Jordan:\n'Every pilgrim must overcome the giants for himself.' But just how to\ndo this I did not know. So I had another encounter with him.\n\n\"'Do you still think you are a pilgrim in Canaan?' he said. 'More than\nlikely you will never find rest. I doubt it very much. See how bad you\nfeel. And you are always saying or doing something that hurts you.\nPilgrims should live better than you do.' And with that he grabbed me in\nhis big, burly arms and nearly squeezed the life out of me. I couldn't\nfight at all. The jacket held me so rigid that I could not even use the\nsword or hold up the shield. In fact, Mr. Legality told me his\nstraight-jacket was a better protection than any sword or shield; and I\nhad gradually grown into dependency on it.\n\n\"Next day Giant Doubt assailed me again. This time he unmercifully beat\nme with his wormwood club. And after cuffing me about until I was nearly\ndead, he again left me. Then he came every day. It is peculiar how long\nhe kept my company. Or, rather, it is strange how long I allowed him to\nbe with me. And every day I found myself weaker; and when the old giant\nthreatened to throw me into the sea of the dead, I had very little\nresistance in me--just enough to keep him from his purpose.\n\n\"I found that every time I used the sword ever so little it scared the\nold giant; and when he shot hot darts, I found that the shield would\nstop them if I held it up. But that old jacket was very much in my way.\n\n\"At last I said to myself, 'I believe this jacket is a nuisance. Off\nwith it!' and I pulled it off and threw it as far as I could down into\nthe crevasse of Worn Out Laws [James 1:25].\n\n\"After this, I met Giant Doubt again. But my wounds had become well, and\nI determined to fight for my life and my liberty. I told the giant that,\nImmanuel helping me, I should not let him travel with me another step of\nthe way.\n\n\"'Oh, yes I will!' he said. 'You can not travel without me. I'm your\nfriend.'\n\n\"'You are no friend,' I cried, 'but an enemy. You have made my journey\nmiserable. You have driven away my peace; you have killed my joy; you\nhave beaten me, deceived me, and threatened me with death, and have\nindeed nearly killed me. Go! Get behind me! you enemy of my soul' [Matthew\n4:1-11].\n\n\"And at this I smote him with the sword of truth. He ran away and got\nout his arrows to shoot at me as before; but I simply held up the shield,\nand not one hurt me [Romans 16:20]. Then I ran after him with all my\nmight and chased him away--and I haven't had a real encounter with him\nsince.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe cure for doubts is faith; not prayer, nor fasting, nor working--\njust faith. Faith is believing God, believing just what God says. God\nhas said many things and made many promises. Faith expects God to fulfill\nHis word. Trust is faith holding on and waiting.\n\nWe are sanctified by faith; we enter into complete soul-rest by faith.\nThere is no other way. We must come to God and simply ask Him to work\nHis complete redemption in our hearts and fill us with the Spirit. After\nwe give ourselves wholly to Him, after we lay all on the altar, there\nis nothing more that we can do except trust and obey. It is God's part\nto complete in us the work for salvation; our business is to trust Him\nto do it. We trust carpenters and builders to build our houses, we trust\nbankers with our money, we trust men every day and hour of our lives;\nshall we not trust God?\n\nIn all battles with doubt, go back to basic facts. Allow no confusion\nof mind, no agitation of spirit; calm every fear and find out just where\nand how you are. First, ask yourself if you are all the Lord's. Do you\nnow lay on His altar your all? Do you now choose His will? Do you intend\nto serve Him? Do you answer, \"Yes\"? Put that down then as a settled fact.\nNever allow yourself to doubt a point that has been settled. Let it stay\nsettled. Next ask yourself if you believe God is true to His word, if\nyou believe He will do what He promised. If you say, \"Yes,\" let that\npoint be settled also. Stand by it. If you have met the conditions upon\nwhich God promised to cleanse and fill you, you must believe that God\ndoes these things for you.\n\nDoubts have a way of coming in early in the morning. They are like bad\nneighbors, they come when they are not wanted. Doubts may arise because\nyou do not \"feel\" as you should like to, or because you have made mistakes;\nor simply because you have been sorely tempted. You must learn that\nfeeling is no true gage of your spiritual experience.\n\nAn encounter with doubts may be something like this: You awake in the\nmorning and are possessed of a feeling that is utterly non-religious.\nYou do not feel one whit as though you are fully saved and trusting, but\njust the opposite. Not having learned to pay no attention to this, but\ninstead to jump up and praise and thank God for all His goodness, you\nbegin to question, \"Am I really and truly consecrated? Where are all my\njoyful feelings? Why do I feel this way? Surely something is wrong.\"\n\nThe longer you think, the more doubtful you become, and at last\ndiscouragement takes charge of your whole soul.\n\nThere is no harm, but good, in examining ourselves; it is all right to\nput hard and searching questions to our hearts as to our standing with\nGod. But when doubts lead to such an examination, the result is usually\ndisastrous.\n\nDoubting gets to be a bad habit; one very hard to break. It is a sort\nof self-depreciating, self-deprecating, self-condemning habit. Doubting\nbecomes easy and natural after the habit is formed. A chronic state of\ndiscouragement follows. You are as miserable as you can be. And yet the\nidea of abruptly cutting off the whole bad thing fills you with dismay.\nYou are afraid to do it. A sort of up-and-down life seems preferable to\na bold, upstanding victorious life. A sort of weakness or spiritual\ncowardice follows, too; and one habitually doubting prefers to be a\npygmy, a dwarf, for Christ, rather than a real man, a warrior in Him.\n\nDoubt has a dreadful reaction on the soul and mind. Its influence is\ndeadening and damning. It shrivels and dries up the joy and spontaneity\nof service. It makes one feel inferior and weak. Instead of causing one\nto fight, doubts lead one to give up the fight; instead of prompting\nresistance, doubts make one lie down and get wounded and bruised. Doubts\nmake us failures. They blight, mar, and drag down. They are the devil's\nown poison to kill off God's people.\n\nThere is only one thing to do to overcome doubts: have faith in God.\nKill the doubts, or they will kill you. \"This is the victory that\novercometh the world, even our faith\" (1 John 5:4).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWELVE\n\nTHE WINE OF PRAYER\n\nI am troubled with listlessness in prayer. When I kneel to pray, my mind\nwanders here and there out over the world--to my business, or probably\nto some trifling thing that amounts to nothing. I feel chagrined and\ndisappointed. Jesus is so loyal to me, so worthy of praise and prayer,\nthat to feel thus in prayer is mortifying. I have confessed it, but have\nnot obtained a satisfactory deliverance, nor a solution of the matter.\nCan you give me any help? It will be much appreciated if you can teach\nme how to feel unction in prayer, and how to pray the fervent prayer of\nthe righteous. Oh, do help me! My heart longs, yea yearns, for that\nnearness to God in prayer that will draw out my soul in mighty petitions\nfor others, especially for the suffering and the lost.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe heard of the fruits of Canaan long before we arrived. There were\ngrapes of Eschol, pomegranates, milk and honey, and the old corn and\nwine of the land. Back in the Wilderness we were told of fruits so\nwonderful that they made the pilgrims strong and valiant for Immanuel,\nand of course we were eager to pluck them for ourselves. But we found\nthat every one must grow or gather his own fruit, and also that the\nfinest food is obtained from the most unlikely places, on hard, stony\nsoil, and in rather inaccessible spots.\n\nFor instance, the honey. Hardly any of this delightful food was obtainable\nexcept in the crags of Hard Trials Mountains. And the Wine of Prayer was\npressed from grapes that grew best in the Valley of Sore Temptation.\n\nDo you suppose Caleb could tell us how to obtain these fruits? We are\nspecially interested in the Wine of Prayer, suppose we go and see Caleb\ntoday. He received us so graciously on our former visit, he probably\nwould be glad to see us again. Let us go!\n\nYes, he is at home today. See, there he is now. Oh, he is on his knees!\nDear old saint of Canaan! And what is that he is doing? Oh, see, he seems\nto be drawing something from a cask in the shades of his beautiful garden!\nYes, indeed, that must be Wine of Prayer he is drawing! What a blessed\nfavor to call upon Him on such an occasion. He does not see us. Let us\nwait here, apart from his sanctuary.\n\nCaleb seems lost in earnest communion with Immanuel. Note the heavenly\nsmile that lights up his weather-beaten old face! He seems animated by\nthe draughts he takes from his wine-cask. When his devotions and communions\nare over, we shall greet him. See, he rises! What a glory emanates from\nhis face! It causes me to feel eager to slake my thirst at the same holy\nplace! My life seems so earthly, so lacking in heavenliness and\nsaintliness!\n\n\"Pilgrim Caleb, do tell us what you were drinking and how we may obtain\nsome of the same wine.\"\n\n\"Most gladly. First, I must tell you a secret. The grapes from which the\nbest Wine of Prayer is made come from the Valley of Sore Temptation.\nThat is not a pleasant place, by any means. Several bad giants\nrendezvous there. Old Giants Lust, Pride, Persecution, Worldliness,\nCovetousness, and others make it a sort of headquarters. They never\nbother the grape-vines; it is only the pilgrims that they annoy. The\nsoil is rocky and hard to subdue and cultivate. I wanted the very best\nfruits the land had; so I, too, was obliged to take a plot of ground in\nthe Valley of Sore Temptation and make a beginning.\n\n\"No sooner had I marked off my little plot than the giants haunted me.\nThey buffeted me about rather rudely. Old Giant Pride tried to make me\nthink I was one of the greatest men who ever came into Canaan. Old Giant\nCovetousness told me all about a silver-mine which Balaam opened and\nDemas worked in. I could easily get rich, he said, if I would abandon\nthe cultivation of grapes and follow him to the mine. He certainly told\na plausible story, and tried hard to influence me to go. Giant Lust\npointed out ways and means to capture silly souls, and tried hard to\nattract my attention toward a valley that leads down into Egypt; I had\nhad enough of Egypt, and resisted him with all my might. But no matter\nhow hard I resisted or rebuked these giants, they stayed in that valley.\nNo one, it seems, can rout them completely from it. Their presence there\ngoes with the cultivation of grapes.\n\n\"Well, I grew a small crop the first season. Then I made a wine-press\nout of pieces of faith, patience, and obedience, and placed a heavy\nweight on top made of perseverance. I got a little wine, and, oh, it was\ndelicious and refreshing! Since then I have learned more about raising\nthe fruit and making wine. I can get more wine out of the grapes, too,\nthan formerly, by getting a heavier weight and using larger pieces of\nmaterial in the press.\n\n\"Nothing is so refreshing as the Wine of Prayer. The whole soul is caught\nup, invigorated, revitalized, inspired. It gives mighty strength. Giants\ntremble and quake and run for their lives when they see a pilgrim fresh\nfrom his wine-cask move upon them. Blessed be Immanuel! Glory, praise,\nand honor, hallelujah to His high name, forever and ever! Oh, He provides\nsuch power and unction and sweetness! Never rest, pilgrims, till you get\nyour vineyard started. And may Immanuel bless you!\"\n\nThanks to Caleb for his words!\n\nListlessness in prayer is the result of a lack of interest; no one is\nlistless about things he is vitally interested in. The thing to do is,\nnot work against listlessness, for listlessness is only a symptom, but\nwork up a real interest in the object of prayer. Find something to pray\nfor, and pray for it with all your might.\n\nMind-wandering during secret prayer can also be attributed to lack of\ninterest in the right thing. If your mind wanders, it is no sin, but a\nsign that you have nothing very pressing to pray for. If you were wanting\nsomething which you needed very much--if you were sorely and severely\ntempted, or were sick and suffering, or if you were persecuted and needed\nhelp--you would pray earnestly enough. Or, if you had in mind a friend\nor relative who was in need of help, then you could pray earnestly.\n\nThe cure for listlessness and mind-wandering, therefore, is in feeling\nand knowing the need, either of ourselves or of others, for which we\nengage in prayer. There is too much need for any listlessness in prayer.\nTo be sure, no one can always feel the same degree of fervor and unction\nin prayer; but there may always be enough to make prayer a really\nrefreshing season to the soul.\n\nPrayer is more than asking; it is praise, thanksgiving, communion. We\nare exhorted \"to be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and\nsupplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God\"\n(Philippians 4:6). Prayer, then, is partly thanksgiving.\n\nBegin with thanksgiving. If the Lord has done anything for you, thank\nHim for it. Count your blessings as you kneel. Remember the pit of sin\nyou were taken out of; consider how often you have been helped and\nprotected. Exercising the soul in this way produces the most favorable\nstate of mind for further prayer, for making requests.\n\nGive God a chance to talk to you while you are in prayer. Ask for a\nconversation. Be still and listen for God's voice; expect Him to speak.\n\nIn making requests, be willing for God to have His way. Ask, and you\nshall receive; but not always as soon as you ask.\n\nImportunity in prayer is needed as well as perseverance and patience.\n\nIt is a blessed thing, this life of trust, the life of prayer. In daily\ncommunion with Christ we may travel life's road and enjoy a fellowship\ntoo rich, too deep, too holy to describe adequately. Enter in and see\nand taste for yourself.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\nPILGRIMS OF THE VICTORIOUS LIFE\n\nPlease tell me, will you, if a really victorious life is possible to me;\nI mean a day-by-day, year-in-and-year-out experience? I have so much of\nstruggle and battle in my life that a life of constant victory seems a\nvague, faraway dream. It seems to me that the only ones capable of\nobtaining and retaining this blissful state are those living very sheltered\nlives and with few obstacles in their way. These may live victoriously;\nbut as for me, with my toils and troubles of various kinds, how can it\nbe possible? I have met many victorious Christians. Of course I do not\nknow how it is with them; but I believe their sweet temper pointed plainly\nto the fact that their lives had fallen in very pleasant places. Can you\ngive me any clue to this matter? If a victorious life is possible for\nme, I want it. Will you help me? Thank you!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWell, upon my word! There goes Pilgrim Serene, who lives in Poverty Vale,\nclose by Caleb's fair Hebron home! Shall we engage her in conversation?\nThey say she is one of the sweetest-tempered pilgrims in Canaan, and yet\nwe are told that her home is in one of the poorest spots in the land.\nAnd who is that walking by her side! She seems to be very happy. Oh,\nyes, that is Pilgrim Joyful! And where does she live? They say she lives\nin Trouble Hollow, close by Offense Mountain. My, those names sound\nominous, don't they! Do let us engage them in conversation; for it seems\nsweeter faced pilgrims we never have seen.\n\n\"May we walk with you in the way? And may we inquire about your home in\nCanaan, and why it is you seem so happy and calm? We are only a few days\nover the Jordan, and are trying to learn all we can of the land. Where\ndid you get those beautiful flowers in your hands? Tell us your\nexperiences! Please do!\"\n\n\"You are welcome to our company, gladly. I am Pilgrim Serene; my companion\nis Pilgrim Joyful. These flowers came from the garden of Patient Endurance,\nwhich is situated on Mount Calm. The flowers are free to all pilgrims;\nbut the road to the garden is a very rough road, and thorn-bushes fringe\nit for a considerable distance. Some pilgrims once organized a band to\nclear out the thorns; but the bushes have such a tough bark that no knife\nwas able to cut through them. So they stand there still. Another band\ngathered out all the stones; but new stones fall from the cliffs above\nall the time, and some of the new stones are worse to cut the feet of\npilgrims than the old ones were. So it is thought best to let the path\nalone. Just smell how sweet these are!\"\n\n\"Where do you live, Pilgrim Serene?\"\n\n\"I live in Poverty Vale. The floor of the valley is very hard and poor.\nBut Immanuel walks and talks with me. Every day He comes and helps me;\nevery day He lifts burdens off my back. Showers of blessing fall every\nday or two.\"\n\n\"You never have any trouble do you, Pilgrim Serene? I am sure you do\nnot; for you look so free from care and worry.\"\n\n\"My dear pilgrim, I have a struggle all the time. I never know what it\nis to be free from pain or poverty. If it were not for Honey Rock, I\ncertainly should have famished long ago.\"\n\n\"Where is Honey Rock?\"\n\n\"Oh, it borders the Vale, high up in the mountains. Only a faint path\nleads to it; for it seems only a few pilgrims know where it is. And\nbesides, it is the roughest path I ever tried to follow. But once one\nis at the Rock, all one has to do to feast on the nectar is to smite the\nRock in the name of Immanuel, and forthwith there comes out the most\ndelicious honey in all the world.\"\n\n\"Oh, we wish to eat of it! But, there is that rough foot-path. I don't\nknow whether we can walk it or not!\"\n\n\"Have you been to Honey Rock too, Pilgrim Joyful?\"\n\n\"Yes, pilgrims, I have. I was there yesterday.\"\n\n\"Is it that which caused the scratches and blood stains on your feet and\nhands and which tore your garments?\"\n\n\"Yes, pilgrims. As to my home, it is in Trouble Hollow. Offense Mountain\nrises high on two sides of it. Not many pilgrims like my home; but\nImmanuel gave it to me, and any home in Canaan is preferable to the best\nspot in the Wilderness, better than the grandest mansion in Egypt. It\nis true my home is in a dark valley, and old Offense Mountain has continual\nlandslides that I have to help clear away; but, glory and praises to\nImmanuel! a bare existence in Canaan surpasses anything I ever enjoyed\nbefore. Hallelujah! Angels in bands visit me often. Heaven seems in\nsight!\"\n\n\"Thank you Serene and Joyful. We shall be glad to meet you again.\"\n\nThese two pilgrims whose lives are spent in Canaan's most troubled spots\nhave a holy serenity that shames us when we think of how we complain at\na few hard things that we have met. Thank God for such pilgrims!\n\nHere is a true story. Mrs. B---- is a cripple woman who walks with a\ncrutch. Years ago she was converted and later was wholly sanctified. Her\nhusband was a wicked man who gave her a great deal of trouble and at\nlast died and left her with several children. They were miserably poor.\nShe took her family overland for a hundred miles to another place, walking\nand carrying their effects as best they could. She is still poor, though\nher children have now become self-supporting. No one could think of\nanything harder to go through with than this woman had. Her physical\nhandicap prevented her doing many things she could otherwise have done,\nshe was compelled to work at the hardest jobs, and had to see her children\ngrow up without schooling. All was hard; just plain, hard living. If the\nfamily had enough to eat, it was a thing to be thankful for. And yet,\nin those years this woman has always been cheerful, and gives a brilliant\ntestimony to the grace of God to keep her sweet and joyful.\n\nAnother case is that of \"Brother H,\" we shall call him. Brother H was\nafflicted with tuberculosis. He was called to the ministry, was a splendid\nsinger, mightily gifted in prayer, and was used of God in working several\nremarkable miracles of healing. His family was numerous, much more so\nthan his afflicted condition made possible for him to support. He lived\nin a small three-room house, with eight or nine children and an\noverburdened wife. He could do no work. His neighbors frowned on him and\npersecuted him mildly for not working. His home was the very picture of\npoverty; nothing could be worse in that line, scarcely. Yet he was a man\nof the highest Christian integrity and faith, and was one of the happiest\nChristians one could meet. And his happiness was not that of the careless\nman, not the happiness of a callous, uneducated person; for he felt\nkeenly the poverty to which he was subjected and was always embarrassed\nat his state and the condition of his home. He had that fine intuition\nand grace of a gentleman of the highest order; and yet he was happy in\nthe Lord. His happiness was the genuine joy of full salvation in his\nheart, born of a faith that believed all things were working together\nfor his good.\n\nEntire sanctification is not something that takes troubles out of the\nlife, neither does it change one's outward circumstances; but it does\nlift the soul above all earthly troubles and let it soar in God's free\nair of victory.\n\nTo the fully consecrated soul there are no \"second causes\"; that is, no\none is between him and God who can harm him or affect him in any way\napart from God's will. It may be that others will mistreat us grievously,\nand their acts be wrong and utterly opposed to God's will; but those\nacts have had to pass God's will in getting to us. By this they become\nthe will of God to us. For instance, some one may persecute us. The\nspirit of persecution is wicked and God has nothing to do with it; but\nbefore that persecution reaches us it must pass God's will; so the\npersecution becomes God's will to us, and we bear it for His sake. God\nmay put some bad medicine in human bottles and cause us to drink of them\nfor our good.\n\nThis victorious life is a life on wings. We are to mount up with wings\nas eagles. The wings are faith and consecration. When troubles come, we\nflap our wings and fly over them. Since we are God's, it is His place\nto bring us out and help us over, hence the fully consecrated soul trusts,\nand lets God work matters out. Of course, this does not mean that we\nshall not help ourselves. In fact, little trust can be exercised until\nwe have done all we can do to help ourselves; but if we can not avail\nor prevail, we carry it to the Lord and leave it with Him to work out.\n\nDavid speaks of the Lord's hiding him in His secret place, in His pavilion,\nunder His wings. Jesus has said that not a hair of our head shall fall\nwithout our Father's notice. Peter says we are to cast all our care upon\nGod, for God careth for us. And Paul exhorts us to be careful for nothing,\nbut with prayer and thanksgiving let our requests be known to God.\n\nThe greatest of all comforts is this, \"We know that all things work\ntogether for good to them that love God\" (Romans 8:28). \"All things\"\nmeans _all things_. The Christian who gives up all is certain of God's\ncontinual care and protection. He can not expect to escape trouble or\ntrial or temptation; but he is kept in these things. \"Thou wilt keep him\nin perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.\" \"Great peace have they\nwhich love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.\" That is, nothing\nshall cause them to fall. They may be hurt, and be wounded by the\ninconsiderate or deliberate acts or words of others; but they will sail\non in peace in God.\n\nThe will of God surrounds us like a wall, and nothing can penetrate that\nwall and touch our consecrated souls unless God so wills, or permits.\n\nOf all lives, the victorious life is the richest and best. There is joy\nin serving, giving, sacrificing. If we are persecuted for Christ's sake,\nthere is great joy. Life's problems are met with faith. A colored woman\nwho had to wash for a living was very happy all the time. Rich women\nwould marvel at her peace of mind, and one time one of them chided her\nfor her optimism, which to the rich woman seemed based on nothing. \"Why,\nsuppose you should get sick, or suppose something should happen,\" said\nher rich friend. \"Oh, I never supposes,\" said the poor woman. \"That is\nwhat is the matter with you, you supposes and supposes and imagines all\nlands of ill coming on you. The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not\nwant. So I never supposes, I know everything will come out all right.\"\nShe just flapped her wings, so to speak, and flew over her troubles.\n\nThe victorious life is free from worry, fretting, overanxious solicitude,\nburdensome care. It is free from malice, ill will, retaliation. It is\nfree from bad temper, sees the bright side of things, and wears its\nclouds inside out. The sanctified life is a life of faith, and it is a\nlife of obedience. To trust has to it become a habit, to obey a second\nnature. The victorious life looks not behind, but ahead; it ignores past\nfailures and goes forward in faith.\n\nAnd this victorious life is for all. Instead of being for favored folk,\nit is for the weak, the burdened, the poor, the sick, the troubled, the\npersecuted. Enter in by consecration and faith. Yield all just now. Lay\nall on God's altar. Be His alone. Then by faith enter into this life\nwhich will be yours every day as you live by faith and trust and obey.","title":"Adventures in the Land of Canaan","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":27697}