The better way

Front matter

<ViWyX< AV,y

Chap. Copyright No.

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Chapter I. Opening Words

IN seeking a location for a house, a man properly desires the best location. In like manner we prefer the purest air rather than a malarial atmosphere. We want the best water, food that is not adulterated, and clothing that is not shoddy goods. In all this, one need not be selfish ; for there is abundance of pure air and water and everything else for us all. It would be a matter of astonishment to all if a man, having a choice between good and better, should prefer that which is inferior. The astonishment would arise from several reasons — one cause being found in the reversal of the universal practice of the race.

Now, it is certainly surprising that, while men practice the rule of securing the best in the physical realm, they should act in a contrary manner in spiritual things, and be satisfied with a lesser grace and blessing when something far superior is theirs for the asking and seeking.

When a young man once said to me, "I want all that God has for me," he might have added, "and the best that God has for me," and still spoken the truth and that which would have been pleasing to God.

That a child of God should hear of this superior grace, and live on contentedly without it, is a matter of amazement to the writer. The very rumor of such a grace should agitate the heart, inflame the soul with longings, and set one to traveling in that direction.

If the rumor of gold in California created a perfect exodus toward the West, if a star led the wise men from vast distances to seek the Savior, how is it that we, as God's children, can remain where we are in the spiritual life, when the word to-day is flying from lip to lip, that there is a deeper peace and joy than is realized in regeneration; that a sun has arisen instead of a star; that a pearl of great price instead of a box of treasure is to be possessed? In a word, that a " Better Way ?> is open for the believer to enter upon and walk Zionward w T ith joy upon the head, and sorrow and sighing fled away from the heart.

If there is such a better way, the Bible will

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have much to say about it. And this is just what we have discovered. Both the Old and New Testaments abound in allusions and direct teachings in regard to the grace. The Gospel prepares the soul for it, and closes with the exhortation to the disciples to "tarry" for it. The Book of Acts is a record of how Jews, Samaritans, Romans, and Greeks entered upon this better w&y. The epistles evidently regard regeneration as an initial and transitional grace; that we are not to abide there, but sweep on to something higher and holier and better.

With this thought in the mind, we ran our eyes through the Scriptures for expressions and statements which would confirm the fact.

We think we found enough to arouse any thinking mind, that is not steeped in prejudice and set in a predetermined opposition not to be convicted or convinced.

This little volume, carefully avoiding the crossing of the two other books we have written, will present the blessed truth of entire sanctification from repeated Bible statements to God's people, that there is a " Better Way." The word "better" is the key-note and idea of the book.

Chapter II. The Better Redemption

THE Savior speaks of one redemption in John iii, 16: " God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Paul speaks of another, deeper and profounder, in Ephesians v, 25-27: " Christ also love^ the Church, and gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. "

Here is evidently something distinct from the first, and unquestionably profounder and more radical in its nature. In the one, sinners are saved from perishing; in the other, the Church is sanctified and made without blemish.

The objection is made that the quotation from Ephesians reads, " That He might sanctify and cleanse it [the Church] with the washing of water

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by the word," and that the washing of the word stands for regeneration, and so knocks down our argument for another and deeper work of grace received after pardon.

To this we reply by referring the reader to the Revised Version, where the corrected translation reads: u That He might sanctify, having cleansed it with the washing of the water of the word."

It was after a number of years of study of the Word of God before the author saw this inner and deeper redemption. He had seen facts in the spiritual life that had vaguely suggested the thought ; but it was only one day, in putting the two passages of Scripture together that are quoted above, that he suddenly recognized the startling difference, and the two distinct works they plainly teach.

The writer has seen a Christmas present given to one in the shape of a box. To all appearance the handsome box itself was the gift; but on touching a spring the lid flew open, and lo! inside was another box, and in the second was the real present.

So we read that Christ died to save sinners; God gave Him to the world that men might not io The Better Way.

perish. Through His blood we may approach God and obtain pardon. For years we thought this was all of Christ's redemption, when a spring was touched, the lid of truth flew open, and we saw that He also died to make His people holy; that while God gave His Son to the world that sinners might not perish, yet He, the Son, at the same time gave Himself to the Church that he might sanctify it.

The world is one thing, the Church is another. While the world obtains one benefit, the Church also receives another of deeper character. While the shedding of Christ's blood saves the sinner, that same blood applied sanctifies the Christian.

It seems that when He came on earth to do His Father's will, He also brought in His hand a love-gift for His Church.

The angel recognizes this fact in His words to the Virgin: " Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."

The same thought appears in the passage : " Who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe."

We know the explanation given of this verse by commentators. We know also that it can not be twisted into teaching Universalism ; that " all

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men" means here just what is meant in other places where the expression is used. Take, for instance, two quotations: " Then Herod . . . sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem. " Again: "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." We know that all the children in Bethlehem were not destroyed, from the statement of history; and we know from life that all men are not drawn to Christ. This figure is an Oriental one, and one, for that matter, used to-day, and means simply a vast number. " Behold, all men have gone after Him." So it looked, but not all did. It is not intended nor received as a violation of truth.

Here, then, is the word, " He is the Savior of all men;" that is, vast numbers. Revelation says they can not be counted, that they constitute an "innumerable multitude." But upon the top of this is the other striking expression, "Specially of those that believe." There are some men to whom Christ has never been and never will be a Savior. There is a certain number to whom He will only be a Judge. But to a great multitude He is a Savior, and, farther still, a special Savior to them that believe. The sanctified understand this special salvation.

Going back now to the two passages in question, we see two things that must affect the thoughtful. The first contrast is "God gave His Son," over against the other statement, "Christ gave Himself." The second contrast is seen in that the Father's gift was to the "world," but Christ's was to the " Church." The third contrast is that this world "might not perish," over against the profounder spiritual thought that the Church might be "sanctified."

In a word, there is an inner redemption. There is, in the great plan of salvation, pardon and purity provided for the human race. The first is offered to the sinner ; and if he accepts and becomes the child of God, then the second becomes at once his privilege and also his duty to possess.

Well do we sing of our Savior —

" Be of sin the double cure : Save from wrath, and make me pure."

Chapter III. The Better Prayer

THE first prayer we call attention to is in Luke xxiii, 34: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," This is the Savior's prayer for His murderers. There is not a word about sanctification in it. The supplication is for pardon, and pardon alone. We bless God for such a prayer; that it ever ascended in behalf of sinners, and is still ascending. But there is a better prayer, and it is to be found in John xvii, 17, where our Lord is praying to the Father for His disciples, and says, " Sanctify them."

This prayer is the contrast of the other. The first was for His murderers ; this is for His friends and disciples. The first was for pardon ; this is for sanctification. Just as there was not a word about sanctification in the prayer for those that were crucifying Him, so there is not a word about pardon in the prayer for His disciples.

It was a prayer for a distinct grace and blessing. The Bible always keeps them apart, and common sense ought to keep them separate.

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Some endeavor to evade the force of Christ's prayer for His disciples by saying that the prayer was for their being "set apart " to preach the gospel. But St. Mark tells us that this had been done three years before. In the third Chapter and fourteenth verse we have His inspired statement: "And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach."

Others affirm that this prayer for the disciples' sanctification was that they might be empowered to heal and to cast out devils. But here we are met again \>y Mark's statement in the fifteenth verse of the same chapter, where we see that three years before the time of His prayer He had imparted to them " power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils."

A third objection has been made that this prayer was only for the disciples for a special time and occasion, and is not to be appropriated by us.

To this Christ Himself replies in John xvii, 20: " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." In these words He states that His prayer to " sanctify " is not alone for His disciples, but for others that were to come into the light through their word.

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Observe, also, that it was for those which shall " believe on Me."

So the fact stands out that what He prayed for the " twelve " is for the great multitude of believers who have sprung up everywhere over the world and in all ages, under their words, preached or written.

Yes, it is a Better Prayer. It is better to be holy than simply pardoned; and while we must have the first, let us not stop there, but sweep on at once from forgiveness, which is good, to sanctification, which is manifestly better for the soul.

Chapter IV. The Better Hope

IN Hebrews vii, 19, the apostle says that the law made nothing perfect, but "the bringing in of a better hope did." This better hope, he tells us, has been brought us in the person and achievement of Christ. It certainly stands to reason that if a "better hope" has been ushered in, then there must have been once a good hope. The very expression "better" declares something to have existed before good in its line, but not equal to what is now mentioned. All this is true to facts. The world lived under a good hope for four thousand years. Men by faith in the Christ to come were justified, served God, and went home to glory. The patriarchs and prophets lived, labored, and died sustained by this good hope. They were told, and then told others, that something better was to come with the appearance of the Messiah ; but died without the sight of the world's Redeemer, and without the enjoyment of the peculiar blessing He had for His people.

For years of his early life the writer supposed there was no pardon of sin until the Savior came.

What He did with the patriarchs, prophets, and J6

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other good people, he does not remember. According to his idea, there was no pardon or salvation until Jesus appeared. The thought that men were saved by a prospective faith in Christ, as they now are by a retrospective faith, did not occur to him. Observing that the Bible taught something very wonderful and gracious was to be enjoyed in the last days, that a better hope was to be ushered in, he, in ignorance of the profounder work of grace, stumbled on in the dark.

The very expression " better hope " should have aroused thought ; but it did not at the time.

What, then, is this "better hope ?" What does it do? The apostle answers in the nineteenth verse just quoted.

It brings in perfection ; not pardon, but perfection. Pardon, according to the writings of David, the prophets, and John the Baptist, had been known before. But a blessing called " perfection," a completing, perfecting work of grace in the soul, is brought to the Church by. the Savior. What this perfection is we will speak of again in the next chapter; will simply add here that the Methodist Church has much to say about it, calling it by the various terms of "perfection," "perfect love," "made perfect," etc.

These terms are not synonyms of pardon, but represent something to be possessed and enjoyed after justification. This fact is sounded forth in the words of the pastor of every Methodist Church with all new accessions to the membership, in the exhortation in the Ritual: " Brethren, do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love ;" while in the Conference the bishop asks every preacher who seeks admission into the traveling connection, and into the local ranks as an ordained minister, the questions: "Are you going on to perfection?" " Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?" "Are you groaning after it?"

A second result of the better hope, we are told in the nineteenth verse, is, that "we draw nigh unto God."

There is such a thing as serving God at a distance ; as feeling Him near one day, and afar another. But the blessing that the Savior brings to us in the better hope is that we draw nigh to God. What is more, we feel nigh, and stay nigh all the time. Christ is no longer a visitor, but comes in as an in dweller. Abiding thus in the heart always, the sweet, delightful experience is that we are nigh to God.

Chapter V. The More Excellent Sacrifice

CT T. PAUL, in Hebrews xi, 4, tells us that "Abel ^-^ offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."

If there is any dependence to be placed in grammar and the laws of language, there must be a good sacrifice, if there be such a thing as a more excellent one.

Most of us have passed a hasty judgment upon Cain; and because we find him the first murderer, we conclude there was never any good in him. A little charity and sober reflection would greatly help the inquirer after truth.

Let it be first remembered that both Cain and Abel appear as worshipers of God. Both bring an offering. Cain came with the fruits of the ground — something that was allowed in the Levitical worship ages afterward ; but Abel, with a profounder view of the atonement, comes with the lamb and with blood !

Now let the reader mark that while God said

that sin lay at the door of a man whose gift was not accepted, and whose worship was not received, He did not say that the offering of Cain was a sinful one.

There was sin at the door of Cain ; it may have been in his not apprehending and emphasizing the blood as he should, and as Abel did. Anyhow, God, in view of what redemption was, and how it was to come, was compelled to pay peculiar respect to AbePs offering.

In His own Word He says it was a " more excellent sacrifice, " just as Paul, after describing a certain kind of spiritual life, tells us there is a more excellent way.

The thought is wonderfully impressive, that there is a more excellent way of approaching God, and a better sacrifice.

Cain is a type of a large body of worshipers of God to-day, who come with the fruits of Christian living. Busy lives, religious activities, great performances in and for the Church, seem at times so stressed that the " blood " is almost, if not altogether, lost sight of. A preacher making his report on the floor of a Church assembly, and telling of the many conversions he had witnessed, was brought up sharply with the words : " How much money did you collect ?"

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Cain is still at the altar. The fruits are still brought up in abundance. We do not condemn it ; we simply affirm there is a better sacrifice.

There are Abels in the Church who have gone to the heart of the atonement, and seen its glory. They exalt the blood every time, and at all times; the blood at the beginning and at the ending ; the blood now, always, and forever; the blood for justification, and the blood for sanctification.

No wonder God accepts them, and peculiarly blesses them. Cain, who still lives, notices these things. He sees a more excellent sacrifice has been offered, gets irritated and angr^ over the shining face and glowing experience of the Abels of to-day, and again raises his hand and strikes at, or strikes down in some way, the more spiritual worshiper, the man who has been more blessed than himself,

If, as a worshiper to-day, one is disturbed and angered over the deeper experience of another, that very irritation declares the existence of something that ought not to be, and that God wishes and is willing to remove.

" Sin lieth [or croucheth] at the door," was the word of God to Cain. Something, indeed, of a dark nature is crouching in the heart of a follower of God who would strike or in any way hurt a man whose main fault is, that he is in the enjoyment of a profounder knowledge of God, has a more intimate union with Christ, and has a secret that all have not, who name the name of the Lord.

Chapter VI. The Better Covenant

IN Hebrews, chapter viii, verse 6, we have the statement that Christ is "the mediator of a better covenant. " In the seventh verse mention is made of a first covenant that in time is made to give way to a second, which in the sixth verse is called " a better covenant."

The world lived under the first covenant for four thousand years. Under it men and women served God, and went to heaven. Under it flourished the patriarchs and prophets. Such men as Samuel and David, and such women as Deborah and Anna, glorified God, and left the world better for their being in it, through the grace that came in this dispensation.

John the Baptist lived under the first covenant, preaching and warning, and so preparing the way of the Lord by " giving knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins."

The Savior Himself lived and died under the first covenant, but prepared His followers for the 44 better covenant," which was set up on the morning of Pentecost, and in descending flames of fire established in the hearts of the praying, waiting, expectant Christian Chnrch.

Christ brought to "His people'' the " better covenant," about which Paul enlarges in the eighth chapter of Hebrews.

Against the first covenant several objections are filed by the apostle. He does not say that it could not save. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that it did. Elijah was translated under it, and Elisha worked*wonders and went to glory through its power. But listen to the objections.

One was that it could not make " the comer [worshiper] perfect." Second, the "old sin" was not "purged away." Third, there was a "constant remembrance of sins." All of which is well understood by the regenerated man, who feels that, child of God as he is, yet regeneration is not the blessing of Christian perfection ; that the "old man" is not yet purged or burned out with the baptism of fire ; and that he has, day after day and night after night, a constant remembrance of having done wrong, so that the bedside at night is a kind of altar at which he, a penitent, lingers, until he receives pardon and peace.

The second covenant which was brought by

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Christ, and is called by Paul the " better covenant, " has the following features, according to the eighth chapter of Hebrews. It is seen to be better, because —

It brings purity instead of pardon. L,et it be understood that, for Christ's sake, pardon was given under the first covenant and continued in the second. He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Men were saved by a prospective faith in Him in the old dispensation, as they now are saved by a retrospective faith. But w r hen He came he brought a new covenant, the excellence of which is seen in the additional blessing of purity. The "old sin," called variously the "old man," "carnal mind," "the sin that dwelleth in me," etc., is removed by sanctifying fire and grace.

The worshiper is made perfect. Not the perfection of Christ, or of angels ; but God perfects His work in the heart by the removal of inbred sin. With the conscious grace wrought in his heart, the man feels that he loves God with a perfect heart.

There is no remembrance of sins every year, or week, or day, or moment. But the "old sin" being purged away, which occasioned the witting or unwitting slips and falls, behold, the worshiper now goes on a joyful way, and, kept cleansed moment by moment, ends the day, as he began it, with joy, and transforms his bedside from a mourner's bench of sighs, tears, confessions, and lamentations, into an altar of glad thanksgivings and praises to God for His constant delivering, cleansing, and keeping power of the day.

The law of God is written in heart and mind. (Verse 10.) It would be hard to describe this to one not having the second covenant experience. The Bible becomes a new book, an illustrated one at that, and seems to be imbedded in the mind. There seems to be a Bible within. The preached or read Word of God finds a sweet echo within. There is delightful agreement with the soul of such a man and all that is written in the printed Word of God. Truly, the Word is now hidden in his heart, and he finds it sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb.

All in this experience know God from the least to the greatest. (Verse n.) The writer has been often struck with the ignorance of God\s truth, and dealings, among those who live under the first covenant. Such a veil seems to be in the Bible, and such hardness and cruelty is attrib-

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uted to the providence of God. On the other hand, when believers come into the better covenant they at once seem to know God. They so thoroughly know Him that they believe in Him when they can not understand His dealings, nor decipher the whole sentence of His providential writing.

"From the least to the greatest" this knowledge of the Lord is recognized. It is truly wonderful how the very young will come into a spiritual wisdom and knowledge beyond their years when they receive this blessed experience. It is the peculiarity and glory of the better covenant; all, from the least to the greatest, know God.

It does not decay nor wax old. The other did. And all that live to-day in the first covenant experience, find a decaying experience, and their spiritual life getting old and feeble. Many are the journeys made to camp-meetings, many the ministerial prescriptions taken, in order to rally the energies and restore the health and protract the life.

In the better covenant of sanctification, the principle of decay is taken out; the balm of Gilead is placed in the soul; there is a constant, conscious stream of life, strength, and health in the spirit; a welling-up joy in the heart; freshness in the experience; hallelujahs in the soul and on the lip; and Christ and heaven everywhere.

Chapter VII. A Better Experience

7V GOOD experience is taught in Rom. v, i : (T^ " Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

A better experience is spoken of in Philippians iv, 7, where the apostle says: u And the peace of God t which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. "

The contrasted experiences are " peace with God," and " the peace of God." The prepositions are different; their meaning is not the same; and the latter expression is so much profounder than the other.

Peace with God is the result of a changed relation. Being justified or pardoned through faith, we are turned from enemies into the friends of God, and have peace with Him. It is a very blessed change, and the peace is very sweet. But we do not possess it long before we discover how easily it is affected by circumstance — by change of weather, departure of health, and loss of friends and property.

Sometimes, without any explainable cause, it is gone, and the heart is left restless and the soul burdened. In vain we seek the reason; clouds are round about the throne, and darkness is in us. Truly there should be a sweeter, steadier, and more abiding experience than this; and, thank God, there is such a grace and blessing.

The peace tf/God is not the result of a changed relation, but is a bestowment. It is God's own peace given to us. Let the reader think a moment of this peace of God! Let him brood a moment on the calm that dwells in the Divine breast. Nothing can disturb it. It is there in spite of all that is thought, said, and done against Him. In spite of wrath of enemy and betrayal of friend, the holy calm, which is the peace of God, abides.

This peace God is willing to bestow upon believers who will comply with certain conditions. The instant that it is received by the regenerated soul the man stands amazed at its blessedness.

Paul gives three features of this better experience:

It " passeth all understanding." No brain can compass it, no intellect understand it, no tongue explain it. It is there, a heavenly gift or deposit in the soul — a profound mystery, but also a profounder reality, filling one with wonder, love, and

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praise. How often the writer has heard people in the enjoyment of this higher grace say, "I can not understand it !" The constant sweetness, freshness, and restfulness it brings to the soul causes the possessor to be filled with gratitude and adoring wonder. It abides in and through all conditions. Friends leave, love grows cold, losses befall; but the peace of God which passeth all understanding, still remains.

It " keeps the heart."

The heart is the seat of the desires and affections. A perfect world of sensibility and sensitiveness is the heart. The regenerated man finds great difficulty in restraining and controlling it. Many tears have been shed over these failures, and many sighs heard at the recognition of its perverse inclinations and manifold wanderings.

But there is a blessing that keeps the heart. The peace of God can and does do so. As Christians receive this grace they are made to marvel at the trust, the quiet, the self-control, and selfcontainedness within. We are in the same world, with its allurements, bewilderments, and sapping influence and power ; but something has been given to the soul that keeps it unmoved and sweetly triumphant through all.