The shining way

Front matter

Chap. IditNo.-

Sliell

UNJTED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

Library of Cong re««l

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Copyright wiry

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2r\i C*py Delivtr«4 H

1HAVE been assured that my first book, " Solitary Places Made Glad," has done a great deal of good.

My second book, "Perfect Happiness," has also been helpful to many. I have received the heartfelt thanks of a great many for writing it.

I believe, therefore, that the pulpit may be supplemented by the pen.

I am sure the same Holy Spirit that led me to write my two former books, moved me to write the present volume.

I send this book forth with the earnest prayer that it may lead many into the light of pardon, and many into the experience of entire sanctification.

H. T. DAVIS.

IviKCOi^N, Nebraska, March 17, 1900.

Chapter I. Page

The Shining Way— What it Is, 7

CHAPTER 11.

Light Leading to the Shining Way, ii

CHAPTER in.

What the Shining Way is Not, . . . , • . 26

CPIAPTER IV.

Those On the Shining Way Seai^ed, 45

CHAPTER V.

The Rei^ation of the Ministry to The Shining Way, . 48

CHAPTER VI.

Those on the Shining Way Eree from The Carnai^ Mind, 56

CHAPTER VII.

Objections Answered, 68

CHAPTER VIIL

Those on the Shining Way Spirit-fii,i,ed, . . .72

6 Contents.

CHAPTER IX.

PAGE,

Those on the Shining Way Spirit-fii^IvEd. — Continued, . 8i

r

CHAPTER X.

Those on the Shining Way Power-Endued, . . .89

CHAPTER XI.

Those on the Shining Way Have the Satisfying Portion, 99

CHAPTER XII.

Those on the Shining Way Free erom The Trammei^S

OF Faith, 104

CHAPTER XIII.

Those on the Shining Way, and the Higher Criticism, 121

CHAPTER XIV.

The Shining Way an Experience, 131

CHAPTER XV.

The Shining Way a Life, 137

CHAPTER XVI.

The Shining Way a Way of Joy, 144

CHAPTER XVII.

The Shining Way a Way of Power, 163

THE SHINING WAY.

CHAPTER I.

THE SHINING WAY— WHAT IT IS.

THK most beautiful, splendid, useful, and permanent highway the world has ever known was the ''Appian Way," built by Appius Claudius Csecus, some three hundred years before the Christian era.

Traces of that magnificent thoroughfare are to be seen to-day in different parts of Italy. It was built of soHd blocks of hexagonal stone, fitted together so nicely with the finest cement that the seams could scarcely be seen, and, when finished, appeared like a smooth, solid rock. The finest boulevards of Paris and New York City are not to be compared with this wonderful highway. It was three hundred and fifty miles long, and thirty-four feet wide, and on each side there was room for foot-passengers. It exhausted the treasury of the empire to build it.

This magnificent highway united all Southern Italy with the capital of the Roman Empire. Over it news was borne by swift-fl^ang couriers from distant parts of the country to the capital. On its smooth pavement, in their gilded carriages, drawn by caparisoned horses, the flower of the Roman aristocracy took their pleasure-rides. The road itself was not only smooth and beautiful, but the scenery on either side was the most lovely and enchanting. For pleasure, nothing could equal a ride over this bewitching, high, and shining way. On it the pleasure seekers of Italy found the greatest delight.

*'It was over this broad, stone-paved highway that the thundering legions of Rome went forth to battle, and returned in triumph, laden with the spoils of the nations."

With the advance of civilization, and all the valuable improvements of twenty-two hundred years, that splendid road, built for pedestrians and vehicles, has never been surpassed. Over it the commerce of the empire was borne. That magnificent highway, one of the marvels of the centuries, but faintly typifies the beauty, the splendor, the glory, the undying charm of the Shining Way of which I am to speak in this book.

The prophet Isaiah describes it : "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over It ; but it shall be for those ; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon ; it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." (Isaiah XXXV, 8, 9.)

Job speaks of it: "There Is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's e3^e hath not seen. The lion's whelps have not trodden It; nor the fierce Hon passed by it." (Job xxviii, 7, 8.)

David tells of Its glory, and calls It "The beauty of holiness." (Psalm xxix^ 2.)

Christ refers to its bliss when He says, "B'lessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matt. v,8.) _

This Shining Way, then, Is the way of holiness.

What It Is. 9

And what is holiness? This is a great question; the most important of all questions; a question that rises in weight above every other question.

Holiness is that state of man's spiritual nature in this life after actual sin has been pardoned and inborn depravity has been removed.

This wonderful work, wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, checks the earthly and downward drift, and gives to all the afifections and desires an upward and heavenly trend.

Paul calls depravity ^'the carnal mind.^' The carnal mind is the source of envy, jealousy, revenge, hatred, self-will, worldliness, and all other perverse dispositions.

Holiness eliminates all these. When all these are gone, and perfect love fills the soul, the purified nature drifts, by its own affinities, towards the holy and the heavenly. On this Shining Way millions of the past have traveled to the skies. On it to-day millions are walking, breathing the pure atmosphere of heaven and the fragrance that comes wafted from the flowery plains of glory.

On this beautiful, high, and Shining Way every child of God may walk. Strange that a way so beautiful is not traveled by a larger number. Get on this way, and the world will seem different. Everything will appear bright, beautiful, and cheerful.

Some time ago I went out to one of my appointments on the district to marry a couple. In the morning, when leaving the place where I had been entertained, a young lady, the most consistent and faithful member of the Church in the community, said to me, in a low voice, "Pray for me, that I may be sanctified. I want to be sanctified."

She had been passing through a fiery ordeal. So lo The Shining Way.

great were her trials that she had even wished herself dead. When she made the above request, I said, in reply, "I will."

Five weeks afterwards I went out to hold quarterly-meeting at that appointment. When that young lady met me at the door, and I looked into her smiling face, I knew well that the desire of her heart had been realized. The great change had come. Her countenance was radiant with light. Every lineament of her face beamed with unearthly brightness. She received the blessing at the hour of midnight, and so great was her joy that she felt she must arise, go downstairs, and tell her brother and sister. She waited, however, till morning, and then rushed downstairs and out into the kitchen, and, in exultations of joy, told them of her new-found treasure. In relating her experience to me, she said: ''It seemed that a stream of pure water ran through my soul, washing it perfectly clean, and now I feel all clean within." Before this change came she was not happy, and not satisfied at all with her condition in life, and wondered why God allowed her to suffer so much. But now all was changed. It seemed that she had entered a new world. Her friends looked different, her home looked different; everything was changed. There had been a marvelous transformation. The change, however, was not in her friends, nor in her environments, but in herself. Said she, "I am the happiest woman on earth; I have the most beautiful home in the world; I have everything that heart can wish." She had reached the Shining Way.

Chapter II. Light Leading To The Shining Way

THK measure of light is the measure of responsibility. So much light, so much responsibility; no more, no less. The heathen, who have never had the gospel, have a law written upon their own hearts by the Spirit of God. As Paul says, "Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing one another." (Rom. ii, 15.)

God has given a measure of light to all men. The heathen will be judged by the law written upon their own hearts. Those living in a Christian land will be judged by the Word of God. "As many as have sinned without law," says Paul, "shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." (Rom. II, 12.)

If the heathen refuses to obey the law written upon his own heart by the Divine Spirit, he will be lost. If, on the other hand, he scrupulously lives up to all the light he has, he will be saved. If we who live in a Christian land refuse to follow the light given us in the gospel, we shall be lost. But If we live up to this light, we shall be saved. If we would be saved, therefore, we must walk in the light given us.

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." (i John

II

God has not left us in moral darkness. He has given us sufficient light to guide us safely through the mazes of this dark and dangerous world, and to lead us to a world of eternal light and glory beyond.

God guides us by His Word and by His Spirit. David says, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." (Psalm Ixxiii, 24.) Again says the Almighty, "I will guide thee with mine eye." (Psalm xxxii, 8.)

And again, *'The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way" (Psalm xxv, 9) ; but God guides especially by His Spirit. The Holy Ghost is the Enlightener — the Revealer of light and truth.

Christ says, "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth." (John xvi, 13.)

Again says Christ: "When Pie," that is, the Holy Ghost, "is come. He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The marginal has it "convince." "He will convince the world of sin."

The first office of the Holy Ghost is to produce in the heart of the sinner, conviction. "'He will convince the world of sin." The Holy Ghost unconditionally convicts every man of sin, and of the need of pardon, and right living. When the light of conviction shines upon the heart of the sinner, and that light is followed, it leads immediately to repentance. True repentance includes sorrow for sin, renunciation of all sin, and a determination to sin no more.

Now, when a person is deeply convicted of sin, heartily repents of all sin, has deep, heartfelt sorrow for having sinned against God and high heaven, renounces all sin, resolves, by God's grace, never to sin again, and unconditionaily surrenders himself to God, then he is on believing ground, and it is very easy for him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon, and believing the Holy Ghost will attest to his heart the great fact of pardon. He now has shining into his heart a new light — a light he never had before — the light of salvation. ''The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Rom. viii, 16.) So Paul says, ''Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

That is a most wonderful event. I never shall forget that wonderful event in my own life. It stands out before me, in the history of the past, like a great mountain peak towering far above all the plains below.

The carnal mind is that which was with us when we were born, and for which we are not accountable. It is inherited depravity. This inherited depravity is seen in the little child long before actual sin has been committed. Every child is born in a justified relation to God, but enters the world with inbred sin. If the child dies in infancy, the Holy Ghost unconditionally cleanses away inherited depravity, sanctifies the little soul, and fits it for heaven ; for the "free gift which came upon all men unto justification of life" reaches the child, and so, through the atoning merits of Christ, the child goes straight to heaven. No child Is ever lost. Our children that have died in Infancy are all safely housed /in glory.

If the child lives to the years of accountability, and commits sin, then there Is added to Inherited depravity 'actual sin and g-uilt.

In the work of pardon and regeneration we receive the forgiveness of these personal sins, and the washing away of personal guilt, and the Divine life is planted in the soul. But that "dark, unpleasant, troublesome thing" that Paul calls the carnal mind^ is left. Regeneration does not change the carnal mind. It is there after conversion. It is overshadowed and overpowered, and may not be felt for days or months after regeneration, and young Christians feel at first that they will not know war an}- more.

But sooner or later they feel the uprisings of the carnal mind — anger, hatred, revenge, jealousy, pride, etc. — and feeling these, they are greatly troubled, and often conclude that they have never been converted. The fact is, they are converted and saved; but that which was with them when they were born, and for w^hich they are not accountable, is still with them.

The Christian is brought to see at length, by the light of the Holy Ghost, that there is something more for him that he has not received, and often there comes into the heart a longing for that which he does not possess.

The Holy Ghost unconditionally convinces every Christian of the need of heart-purity, and if he walks in the light given him by the Spirit, he will step right over, as many do, into the land of perfect love.

The first thing included in entire sanctificatlon is conviction. Mr. Wesley says they are ''fully convinced of inbred sin by a far deeper and clearer conviction than they experienced before justification." (Plain Account, page 80.)

As In justification, so in sanctificatlon, conviction is the first step. It is not a conviction of g'uilt; it is not a conviction that brings condemnation. This we had before we were converted, when we felt the wrath of

God hanging over us. But this conviction in the heart of the behever that precedes entire sanctification is a conviction of want, a conviction that there are things in the heart that ought not to be there, and that should be removed. It is a deep hunger for something we have not, and for w^hich there is an earnest, longing desire.

Amanda Smith, the colored evangelist, is one of the noblest saints of God on the earth. Bishop Mallalieu received one of the greatest inspirations of his life under her teachings. Bishop Newman, and other great men (in our Church) have sat with delight at her feet, and drank in from her the deep things of God. Her conversion was wonderful, so clear and powerful. In seeking religion she had a hard struggle. She was about to give up, and never pray again. Just then a voice whispered in her ear, and said, 'Tray once more." And in an instant, she said, "I will."

Then another voice said to her, "Do n't do it."

She replied, "Yes ; I will."

"It seemed to me," said she, "the emphasis was on the 'will ;* and I felt it from the crown of my head clear through me, *I will.' And I got on my feet and said, 'I will pray once more, and if there is any such thing as salvation, I am determined to have it this afternoon or die.' I put the kettle on^ set the table, and went into the cellar, and got on my knees to pray and die, and I did not care. I was so miserable ! I went into the cellar, and I was going to die; and O, hallelujah! what a dying it was ! I got on my knees, and O, what a conflict! How the darkness seemed to gather round me, and in my desperation I looked up and said, 'O Lord, I have come down here to die, and I must have salvation this afternoon or death. If You send me to hell, I will go, but convert my soul !' I prayed three times, using the same words. Then, in my desperation, I looked up and said, 'O Lord, if Thou wilt help me^ I will believe Thee !' and in the act of telling God I would, I did. O, the peace and joy that flooded my soul! The burden rolled away. I felt it when it left me; and a flood of light and joy swept through my soul such as I had never known before. Then I sprang to my feet. All around was light. I was new.

''I looked at my hands; they looked new. I took hold of myself, and said, 'Why, I am new; I am new all over !' I ran up out of the cellar, and walked up and down the kitchen-floor. Praise the Lord ! There seemed to be a halo of light all over me. The change was so real and so thorough that I have often said that if I had been as black as ink, or as green as grass, or as w^hite as snow, I would not have been frightened. I went into the drawing-room. We had a large mirror that went from the floor to the ceiling, and I went and looked in to see if anything had transpired in my color, because something wonderful had taken place inside of me, and it really seemed to me it was outside too ; and as I looked in the glass, I cried out, 'Hallelujah! I have got reHgion ! Glory to God! I have got religion!' I was wild with delight and joy."

I have given this account of her conversion to show that Amanda Smith's conversion was genuine, clear, and thorough. The evidence of her conversion was as bright as the noonday sun.

Now, after this, while living in the clear light of pardon, and with the full consciousness that she was a child of God, she was just as clearly and powerfully convicted for sanctification as she had been for pardon and regeneration, I give her own language:

"One morning I was over my wash-tub. My heart was sore. O what a night I had had! I felt I could not bear any more, and I said, 'O L^ord, is there no way out of this?' And as I wept and prayed, the Lord sent Mother Jones. I did not want her to catch me crying. I did not believe In telling all my little troubles; but there she was, and I was so full and had suppressed so long that I could hold in no longer.

"*Well, Smith,' she said, 'how do you do?'

" 'O Mother Jones ! I am nearly heartbroken. James is so unkind;' — and I began to tell all my good works: how I did this, and how I did that, and all I could to make things pleasant, and yet he was so unkind.'

" 'Well,' she said, 'that is just the way Jon'es used to do me; but when God sanctified my soul. He gave me enduring grace, and that is what you need. Get sanctified, and then you will have enduring grace.'

" 'Why/ I thought, 'is that what sanctification means? Enduring grace? That is just what I need? I have always been planning to get out of trials instead of asking God for grace to endure.'

"O how I did want her to go ! After a while she went. The minute she shut the door I turned the key, and ran into the bedroom, and got on my knees and prayed: 'O Lord, santtify my soul, and give me enduring grace ! O Lord, sanctify my soul, and give me enduring grace !'

"Sometime after this I was reading the fifth

HE Shining

'AY.

chapter of Matthew; and when I got to the eleventh and twelfth verses, I said, 'My experience does not come up to this/ 'Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.' I can not rejoice when any one lies on me; it 's no use, I can't do it.

''One day one of the dearest friends I had, as I thought, told a real lie on me. It made quite a stir. I wondered where all the coolness came about in different directions, but did not know the real cause. So I made up my mind I would go and ask the parties what the matter was. I got down and prayed that the Lord vrould give me the right spirit, and not let me get vexed, and not let the parties get vexed. So off I started a little after nine o'clock in the morning. I walked until about tw^o o'clock in the afternoon, and found myself about as near the truth when I stopped as when I started. The first place I called, I said to the friend, calling her b}^ nam.e : 'I hear so and so. I came to ask you what about it.'

" 'All I know,' she replied, 'is what John B. said, that Mary S. said that you said that I said that she said,' — and so on.

"Well, I w^ent to the next parties. They said the same thing. 'Well, all I know about it Is, Ann Soand-so said that you said that she said that I said that they said,' etc. I went the round, then started home, so ashamed and disgusted.

"As soon as I got home, I took off my wraps, went down into the cellar, and got down on my knees^ where I always went to settle hard difficulties, and I said, *0 Lord, if You will help me, I will never, while I live, go after another lie.' "

Where is the converted man or woman that has not felt, as Amanda Smith did, the need of enduring grace — grace to endure persecution, misrepresentation, lies, slander, abuse of every kind, and at the same time keep perfectly sweet ? Enduring grace — that 's an excellent definition of sanctification. Well, Amanda Smith was just as clearly and powerfully sanctified as she had been converted. Then God sent her out as a flaming evangel, and thousands have been saved through her instrumentality.

And as it was with Amanda Smith, so it usually is with all who are sanctified. Of course, there are exceptions ; but the general rule is, those who have been sanctified had this deep conviction of the need and want of sanctification — a conviction, deeper, more pungent, more powerful, more biting, than that which they had before conversion.

I never shall forget my conviction when a sinner, when I felt the wrath of God hanging over my head. And I never shall forget my conviction of the need and want of holiness. I shall praise God forever that I at length yielded to that conviction, sought and found the priceless boon of perfect love.

Thousands all along the ages have been convicted of sin and the need of pardon. They had the light, showing 'them their need and duty; but they refused to walk in the light given them. Consequently they lived in sin and died in sin, and went out of the world in sin.

King Agrippa was convicted — deeply and powerfully convicted — so much so that he cried out, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." He had the light, but he refused to walk in the light. Our Savior said, *'If, therefore, the Hght that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness !" (Matt, vi, 23.) He also said: "Yet a little while is the Hght with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. . . . While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." Qohn

When the light of conviction shines into the heart of the sinner, showing him the necessity of pardon, if he follows that light he will at once step right into the kingdom of light and become a child of God. But if he refuses to yield to his convictions, turns away from the light, the light which Is in him will become darkness. Conviction may leave him, indifference take possession of his soul, and the desire for religion may never return ; or If It does, he ma}^ only have time to say, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul Is not saved."

It Is a dangerous thing to refuse to walk In the light God gives us. It Is dangerous beyond the power of human language to describe to trifle with the Holy Ghost. The keenest pang that pierces the heart of King Agrlppa, the scorplon-sting that sinks deepest into his soul, methlnks, Is the thought that 'T was almost a Christian." "Almost, but lost." "As Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, "Go thy way fo-r this time ; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." (Acts xxiv, 25.)

Felix had the light. He refused to w^alk In the light, and the light w^hich was In him became darkness, and he went down amid the gathering gloom, to join Agrippa in the night that shall know no morning.

In the early history of Nebraska, during a great revival at Nebraska City, a distinguished lawyer was powerfully convicted. He borrowed of the pastor Wesley's sermons, and read them with avidity. He saw his duty, admitted that he ought to be a Christian. But he turned away from the light, refused to do what the Holy Spirit told him he should do, and from that time on grew worse and worse, and finally died cursing the God who had created, and the Savior who had redeemed him.

God gives every man a chance to be saved. He enlightens every man that cometh into the world. If he walks in the light given him, he may be an angel. If he turns away from the light, he may become a demon.

The choice is given to every one, either to live with God and Christ and the angels, or wail with the lost where hope is a stranger and where mercy never can come.

Now, as God awakens every sinner sometime during his life, showing him the need of pardon and salvation, and as the sinner may either walk in the light given or reject it — if he follows the light, pardon and salvation will be the result; If he turns from the light, darkness and death will follow.

So the Holy Ghost shows to every Christian, sooner or later, the necessity and desirableness of holiness. As the Holy Ghost unconditionally convicts every sinner of the need of pardon, so the Holy Ghost unconditionally convicts every believer of the need of holiness. ^'Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

When the Holy Spirit convicts the beUever of the need of hoHness, the believer may either reject the light or walk in the light. If he walks in the Hght given, as many do, holiness will be the result. He will step at once right over into the land of perfect love. Then he will be a greater power than ever for good in the world. He will be a Hving epistle, known and read of all men. But if he refuses to walk in the light that clearly shines upon his pathway, turns aside, or fixes up for himself a way in which he is determined to walk, regardless of the teachings of the Holy Ghost and the Word of God, he will lapse into formalism, having the form only, without the power of godliness.

I believe there are thousands in the Churches to-day who have met the issue : the light has shined into their hearts, but they refused to walk in the light given, they would have nothing to do with the subject of holiness, and the consequence is, they are simply nominal Christians, and know nothing at all of the joy, the power, the sweetness, the richness, the unfading charm of a holy life.

When the light shines in the heart of the believer, showing him that it is his high privilege to be pure in heart and Hfe, then he sees that if he walks in the hght given, some things will have to be done, and some things will have to be given up, that perhaps he never dreamed of before. The issue is before him. The testing-time has come. And right at this point many fail. They are not wilHng to pay the price. But the price must be paid if the rich boon would be ours.