Entry Directions for the Faithful

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When the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they did two things at the same time: they escaped the cruel bondage to Pharaoh and they also obtained citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

Similarly, in crossing the Jordan, (in type at least) they also did two things at the same time. They escaped the travails of common religion's self-effort to please God -to obtain true harmony and peace with God in His abiding Presence.

In the former, Pharaoh was left behind, while in the latter the "old man" is left behind. Pharaoh was the brutish power of the world at that time, while the "old man" is the brutish established resident power of unredeemed selfism that still lurks in the shadows of your Christian heart even now.

The reward of salvation includes escape from (separation from) the guilt and condemnation of sin in His pardon. The reward of a completed sanctification in His Rest is escape from (separation from) the intensely disturbing contradictions found in all religion --since it is the wide way. The soul is taken to abide in the finished purity of Rest hidden in Him. This is the narrow way. All the anointing and intimacy you want. The enemy? Where did he go? Year after year after marvelous year of complete spiritual freedom...

With pardon, your past sins are overlooked. Purity is more to the point: those things and the tendencies toward them are simply removed forever.

But how, exactly is this accomplished? The following link should enlighten you abundantly after some preparation.

Inner Bondage

"When a person is converted his sins are forgiven and he is cleansed both from guilt and from that depravity which has been acquired through his own personal sins. By this further work of saving grace he is restored to that freedom from guilt and that purity of heart with which he was born. Thus the words of Jesus are literally fulfilled, and this newly converted soul “becomes as a little child.” It is like a child not only in innocence and purity, but also in that there still remains within that principle of (propensity to) evil which even the new-born child possesses." from page 20 of "The Carnal Mind" by the incisive H. A. Baldwin
Like Adam and Eve did, we gather our own private pile of trouble. Even though you are saved, this hidden pile still needs to be taken care of.

On this page I have bundled several famous works that study exactly this. Entering His Rest involves an essential cleansing, so you need to understand clearly what you need to be cleansed of.

This page is essential reading for you since Holiness teaching does not make sense without this understanding.

The work of Salvation.

A man buys a field. He loves and takes care of it, even though he knows there are quite a few landmines buried in it. He can see its potential, but cannot make much use of the field at present because the buried pride, anger etc. will explode leaving nothing behind but a deep smoking crater.

The work of Sanctification Finally, you agree to work together with Him so that the field can be made useful.
It takes a a while, but you find every dangerous land mine. You give them to Him when you find them so He can dispose of them.
The last explosive thing you find is yourself! After you get over the shock, you quietly go to Him in trust. He does the saving. People sure need the Lord!!!
Now His ownership can be made to be more than a legal transaction!! At last, the land can be improved to show forth what He can do!!!!

This is an idealized view. In fact there are no cookie cutter experiences. They vary according to faith and gifting.

Spiritual Baggage

Along with the vast moving throngs of the church come heaped wagons of precious baggage: histories, doctrines, beliefs, idols and traditions. These may be old and outmoded but this is not recognized as they are so tightly embraced.

It is about time our spiritual baggage was re-examined and sorted through. This page gives you an opportunity to obtain startling insights and re-evaluations of commonly accepted beliefs about the basic gospel and its approach to heart holiness. It is essential reading to prepare you for the in-depth guidance and serious application coming below.  A number of PDFs are enclosed here that will help you do just that. Virtually all doctrine that is taught these days omits the true way to obtain purity of heart. These articles include it.

You are looking at the main page of this website. It is an online library of inspirational excerpts from Holiness books written by post Wesleyan preachers that made the work of grace often called "entire sanctification" (His Rest in the O.T.) more widely known -despite the strong resistance of those who lacked enough faith to even think about it.

Always only a minority of the lost are concerned enough about religion to become believers. Similarly, it is always that only a minority of believers are serious enough to consider the quality of their inner life -their lack of harmony with God and His rule of righteousness. This is the way of the world. Entropy. Or call it spiritual gravity if you wish. Buddhists have the same problem. Most just burn their joss sticks before the statue without another thought... Everyday life always requires center stage.

This website provides two copyright-free paths to obtain the understanding that you need to enter His Rest. This page is mostly written by preachers, full of sober reason and Scripture -as well as their vividly colorful examples.

On the left hand there is also the Testimonies page written by folks who were faithful enough to have received this life-changing inner work. They convey their stories of success in tears and astonishment. You need the sober reason and faith as well as the joyful stories of those just set free.

See our page on Getting The Most Out of This Site for instructions on how to best view these articles. Your FREE Acrobat Reader is enclosed.

How to use this web page: All the documents are PDFs. Lately, I have prepared a few bare bones "Print-ready" PDFs that will cut paper and ink costs by half.
If you just click a document, it will open in a small window for you to preview, but if you want to read it seriously, press the shift key as you click to download your document. This will open a full-sized screen to read from. This and the Testimonies page are the main pages of the website for those who desire to actually obtain this better state of grace.

PDF Search only works with files that are saved on your computer. Enclosed below are seven highly compressed 7-Zip files that hold all the current PDFs for kwik download. Now you can configure the excellent PDF search utility to be at your fingertips ready to look for your detailed and authoritative answers. Just navigate to your new folder and search!!! Zip Files

Do not be confused. The following resources use the word "sanctification" in two senses:

First, if you are saved, you are sanctified -unto pardon and separated from the world.

But second, while entering His Rest there is a second application of blood-bought saving grace that results in purity. This second application results in "complete (or entire) sanctification" and separation unto Him. It is called complete since He has now done all He can do for you along that line. Clean is clean!!! There is no more cleaning that can be done. Edifying? Sure! Plenty to do there.

However, since the term "sanctification" is used so often, the heritage authors often just simply use the word "sanctification" without qualification.

Also, the word "perfection" is almost always misunderstood since there are so many ways it can be applied. It is a word with many shades of meaning in the dictionary. Here is expert help:
1. Chapter 18 of The Inheritance Restored
2. Chapter 7 of   The Carnal Mind -on the above "Inner Bondage" sub-page
3. Chapter 7 of Eradication

Why do I use the term "His Rest" rather than the more common term of sanctification? Well, when it came time to name this website I discovered that if I used the word "sanctification" I would be lost among endless numbers of religious experts of the wide way. I selected this more obscure term referring to the Old Testament type for it was not competed for.

Kwik Preview

A fast foreword that gives you an overview of how to enter His Rest and obtain a supernaturally pure heart. 1 page by Earnest Seeker

A Better Perspective on Consecration and Repentance
Extensive repentance and consecration are unavoidable if one is to please Him. It is only natural that we have a myopic perspective that sees this only as hardship: the trouble is that that this makes us thoroughly miss the realities of our human condition. 2 pages by Earnest Seeker

Careful Use of the Term "Baptism of the Holy Spirit"

Everybody for generations have been eager to use this exciting term as much as possible. In fact, this is is creating a great deal of confusion, especially when on this website we are using very old pre-Asuza Street material that uses it quite differently than we do now.

I have done my best to edit out sources of this potential confusion, but it is often challenging to clarify the obsolete language for you because the older definition is concerned with your "conversation" and fruits, while the newer one concerns your anointing and gifts for service. The former is part of complete sanctification while the latter is part of basic salvation.

One of the ways I try to clarify this is to use the terms "Holy Spirit and Fire" to clarify that an actual cleansing Fire is involved as well His blessing. Earnest Seeker

Serious Steps of Preparation

The Gospel requires the total abandonment of our acts of sin before we can be be born again. Consequently, there is absolutely no place for the committing of sin in a regenerated believers life.
Similarly, being purified to enter His Rest requires the yielding up of our entire person in full surrender. And being kept in His Rest means complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit. In both cases, if the qualifying conditions are broken, the state of grace can be lost -and then regained if the conditions are again fulfilled.
But any such loss is so dangerous that it should be avoided at all costs. The enemy will work extra hard not to lose you again..... The Lord's precious saving grace should never be trifled with or taken for granted.
Do you lack hunger for holiness?? This too can be remedied!! It is up to you. 13 pages

Make no mistake: those in His rest made up everybody in the early church, except for newcomers, the uninformed and the backsliders. Purity of heart and everything discussed on this website was normative common sense at that time. Spiritual growth referred not to growing into purity itself, but to the continuing growth in Him afterwards when carnality is no longer there to stop you. This growth leads to states of gracious reward which are alluded to in the Scripture, but are beyond the scope of this website. All those who would venture onwards must first establish their bona fides (official credentials) in HIM here. Many do not. You can. Earnest Seeker

From My Heart to Yours
Guidance on how to use this web page -for those stalwart brave-hearts who purpose to enter His Rest. With the special song- "Come and Fill My Heart" ....        Earnest Seeker

The articles below contain exact instructions written by sanctified souls who were also seasoned spiritual midwives to many thousands of those entering His Rest. This is the BEEF of the website for Evangelicals, Catholics, Pentecostals, and Charismatics alike, regardless of being "Spirit-filled" or not. Here all mere earthly denominational and spiritual boasting is rendered mute since this "strong meat" will truly test what all are made of. (Heb. 5:14 AV)

You must read more than one author to get the full picture since the various authors complement one another. Some selections carefully compare the directions offered by a large number of revered saintly authors.

Note: The Holy Spirit is lowly of heart. So lowly in fact, that He is not ashamed to come and live within you despite your faults so that He can be there to help you. He is not high and lifted up, and He is not complicated. He is right there for you. While you are seeking His Rest, you will do better if you just stick with the lowly authors and purposeful gospel found on this website. They speak with one practical voice and reinforce each other to bring you through into His glorious Rest.

Entry Directions

How to Enter His Rest
This is a "Reader's Digest" condensed version of the best practical guidance in finding this finishing grace. It is loaded with examples, testimonies and proven effective teaching from the best Holiness authors together with my occasional comments.
by Tom Plumb 151 pages
Print Ready Version 111 pages

Note: I often refer inquirers to pages 133 to 136 of this. Both salvation and entire sanctification have parts that man must do, so that God can respond and do His Part. People often get confused about this. This clears up the question.

WORKSHOP on Consecration
To Enter His Rest, firsr you must get "Hot for GOD" by any means that you know.
Second, you must consecrate all your life and goods to HIM. This is no small task. This workshop will lead you through the lengthy process in excruciating detail so you can get the idea. Most people would use more general and inclusive language.
The Final step is to ask for Him to do all that He needs to do in your heart. Keep on asking until you receive. by Dirk Schnarr

The Inheritance Restored
This very special selection has everything you want: clear doctrinal explanations, as well as personal descriptions of how various souls applied these truths to successfully enter His Rest.
"The state of entire sanctification is variously set forth in the Holy Scriptures. A greater variety of words is used by inspiration to describe this precious experience than any other. There are a greater number of scriptures by way of commandment, of promise, of precept, and of provision relating to this distinct state of grace, than to any or all other states of grace either on earth or in heaven. But there are a few chosen words used with great frequency, which more directly and perfectly describe it. These are: holiness, sanctification, purity, cleansing, perfection, perfect love, fullness of God, rest, etc. A knowledge of the meaning of these words, and their relation to each other in this experience, is quite important to earnest souls." 49 pages    by M. L. Haney (1897)
Print Ready Version old-fashioned expressions clarified 29 pages
full version disc sampler includes all the omitted portions in 175 unedited pages

So Great Salvation
"It is above all things the promised land -the Promise of the Father -the Gift of God -an experience which He bestows. Our duty, then, is to possess. No fewer than sixty-three times does the word “possess” or “possession” occur in the book of Deuteronomy alone. “I have begun to give,” saith the Lord: “begin ye to possess.” It is by faith -- “the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Nothing is more humbling to our pride and self-righteousness, nothing more glorifying to God than this.
It is the experience of all who have crossed the Jordan, that the entrance into the experience of full salvation by faith and faith alone, humbles to the dust and fills us with praise and thanksgiving to God. One writes: "With me it was thus. I was humbled and self emptied and Jesus became my all in all. I felt myself all weakness (yea, as I never did before) and He all my strength. I all nothingness. He all fullness. I all helplessness. He omnipotence. I flew from myself and escaped to Jesus. He received me graciously, freely, without money and without price, without worthiness or faithfulness, and became all my salvation and all my desire: humbled in lowest abasement at His boundless condescension and filled with love, I felt that I was one with God." Another masterpiece by the masterful A. Paget Wilkes on the theme of “God’s so great salvation” (Heb. 2:3).
What it is. How to experience it. The hindrances in our road; the way in and the way thereafter. 25 pages (Language and idiom has been carefully enhanced for modern readers by Earnest Seeker. )
Print Ready Version 13 pages
full version disc sampler 35 unedited pages

The Carnal Mind And The Cure For it

Our theme is presented briefly and concisely. What's not to like?
by H A Erdmann

Sanctification
Rev. Wilkes has some ideas and emphases that are not found in the older works. For example he says this under the topic of Humility: "But yet in other cases I have noticed that it has been far harder to come thus to the Lord in humble and broken confession than in consecration. They love to give and offer and present their all to God; but alas! the proud, unbroken spirit will never let them seek for the blessing as a poor leper, a blind beggar—or a helpless paralytic; and so they have gone empty away.
Yes! the “repentance of believers” as John Wesley called it long ago, is a sine qua non for the effective operation of a living faith.
( I identify with this unusual approach because for a season before I entered into His Rest, I specialized in radical (loud or tearful) abject repentance for my all too obvious impurities. I had been fully consecrated as far as I knew for some time, but did not know what else to do!!! -Earnest Seeker -you may read my testimonial on the "Testimonies" page.)
This more recent classic work will bless you with its grace and balanced approach to the Most Holy. (Language and idiom has been carefully enhanced for modern readers by Earnest Seeker.) 24 pages by A. Paget Wilkes 1931. indexed PDF
Print Ready Version 13 pages ready for the printer

The Double Cure
The absolute cure for sin is in two portions. This aggressive author provides lists of irresistible hammer-blows of scriptural logic to convince the doubter that this is the case. A highly concentrated clarion call for faith is delivered to the solar plexus. An astounding feast for faithful Bereans!!      See Chapter 12 for explicit directions. Much of this has been quoted in "How to Enter His Rest" above. 15 pages by Martin Wells Knapp (1853 - 1901)
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The Old Man - Part 2

"There is a blessed experience of coming to Christ, finding everything, living in His service while He looks on us and loves us; there is another and higher experience in which one sells out in the deepest sense of the word, leaves everything, and follows Christ. We are called to it by the Saviour.
But many turn away sorrowful. They have great possessions -reputation, influence, earthly hopes and prospects, and other things that they are unwilling to sacrifice. Moses chose affliction -preferred the reproach of Christ -but they do not.
They fail to realize that the reproaches of Christ are greater riches than the treasures of Egypt or the entire world. Such a life may look like a carcass, but it is a carcass full of honey. We may appear like deluded or demented people to the Michals laughing at us from the window; but the ark of God is with us; we know we have the truth; our own mouth is filled with holy laughter, our heart with praises; and so we can stand with perfect resignation the amusement of an unbelieving world."
This second part is finished with the baleful old man, and goes on to discuss in practical terms, how we may enter His Rest. The common roadblocks to this are carefully removed and every requirement for entering His glorious rest is very clearly spelled out. Two chapters deal with how to actually enter His Rest, while three excellent chapters deal with problems commonly encountered in this. 31 pages by "the prince of preachers" Rev. B. Carradine (1848-1931)    (Language and idiom has been carefully enhanced for modern readers by Earnest Seeker.) (Plain disc sampler version is on the "Two Views" page above with Parts 1 and 2 together)
Print Ready Version 15 pages

The Sanctified Life
Rev. Carradine masterfully gathers together all the various theories of full sanctification and clarifies their positions in the light of day. He then goes on to describe the true theory of sanctification, and how this culminating grace may be obtained. (Chapter 3) "Happy is the man who will not allow himself to be diverted and distracted, but having emptied and cleansed his heart, will stand waiting with ardent prayer and expectation for Christ to descend." This beauteous and masterful treatment has ushered many into His Rest.     11 page excerpt by Rev. B. Carradine (1848-1931) ( Enhanced)
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New Testament Holiness
With magnificently quiet reason this author carefully explains every step and the reasons for it in detail. If you are the kind of person who is analytical and wants to know the reason for everything, this is the one written just for you. Contains in depth insights into the interplay between light and dark that must be navigated to find and then successfully live upon the narrow way of the pure in heart. Exceptional. by Rev. Thomas Cook    (enhanced)
Print Ready Version 31 pages ready for the printer
disc sampler unedited full version 102 pages

Address to Seekers of Full Salvation
A top quality point-by-point map for seekers by the famed 1890’s Theological College President and author Daniel Steele.    Here he shares with us all his secrets that he used to help souls enter His Rest.

"In confidence that there will be, after the crucifixion, a glorious resurrection to spiritual life and blessedness, the believer yields his hand to the nail, and his head to the thorn crown. That flinty center of the personality, the will, which has up to this hour stood forth in resistance to the complete will of God, suddenly flows down, a molten stream under the furnace blast of Divine love, melted into oneness with the “sweet will of God.” After such a death there is always a resurrection unto life. An interval of hours, or even of days, may take place before the angel shall descend and roll away the stone from the sepulcher of the crucified soul, and the pulsations of a new and blissful life be felt through every fiber and atom of the being. It is not the old life that rises, but a new life is breathed forth by the Holy Ghost. The believer can then truly say that he is “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.” 8 pages by Daniel Steele (10/5/1824 - 1924)
Print Ready Version 4 pages

The Beauty of Holiness

A precious complete small book by the author of "Amazing Grace" that teaches on Holiness, Purity, Divine Union, Humility, Christlikeness, Consecration, Love, and Perfection as ingredients of the "Beauty of Holiness". It is just loaded with examples that will touch your soul. The author also successfully gives rare descriptions of the effulgence of His Rest at length.

"Holiness is a participation of the divine nature, a seed of divinity." “His seed remaineth in him.” It partakes of the divine nature in the sense the iron partakes of the fire; the rough, rude iron put into the fire becomes radiant, brilliant and the fire may say to it: “I have imparted that to thee.” So God may say to the soul, “I impart to thee the glow and beauty and heat of my nature” — the soul is bathed in God."   23 heavy duty pages by George Whitefield Ridout (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 10 pages

How to Obtain a Clean Heart
Reckon yourself dead to sin! It is as easy as this; and as hard as this! A very concise summary. See Chapter 10 for entry directions. By its very nature, our hearts have sneaky defenses against being made pure. This author makes them gloriously plain. 22 Pages by George Asbury Mclaughlin (1899) (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 10 pages ready for the printer
disc sampler full version 34 unedited pages

A Living Sacrifice
Do you have the courage to read this? 16 clear, concise and very extraordinary pages on consecration by G. A. McLaughlin (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 9 pages

Christian Purity

This blessed author carefully lays out how to obtain His Rest (Chapter 7) along with evidence to determine when you have it, hindrances that are often faced, and reasons to seek His Rest. He makes use of many excellent illustrations from his long experience. The points are made with a remarkable precision and clarity almost like the much later A. Paget Wilkes. 14 selected pages by Randolph Sinks Foster (2/22/1820 - 5/1/1903) The full work can be found on the "Wisdom for Ministers" page. (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 8 pages

How to Go on Unto Perfection
This renowned classic by the early and very saintly John Fletcher warmly invites seekers of His Holy perfection to listen to some wise directions to help them on their blessed way: "Get tolerably clear ideas of this perfection. This is absolutely necessary. If you will hit a mark, you must know where it is. Some people aim at Christian perfection; but mistaking it for angelical perfection, they shoot above the mark, miss it, and then peevishly give up their hopes. Others place the mark much too low; hence it is that you hear them profess to have attained Christian perfection, when they have not so much as attained the mental serenity of a philosopher, or the candor of a good-natured, conscientious heathen." Be aware- distinct language, ideas, and idiom from Wesley's time.    26 pages by John Fletcher (9/12/1729 - 8/14/1785) (Enhanced)

Heart Talks on Holiness

"The glorious experience here described and enforced is the true secret of a life of happiness and usefulness on earth as it is the highest preparation for the life and service of Heaven. This experience is for you." Exact instructions are found in the latter half of Chapter 3. Contains unusual word by word dialogues with seekers that turned their long quests into instant success. 51 pages by the globally famed S. L. Brengle (6/1/1860 - 5/19/1936) of the early Salvation Army (This is the famed sequel to "Helps to Holiness" on the "Wisdom for Ministers" page) which is more concerned with helping those already in His Rest.)    (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 18 pages ready for the printer
disc sampler full version 84 unedited pages

The Hidden Manna

"Some of the chapters of this book were originally written for a little monthly which was devoted to the advocacy of Christian holiness, and which had quite a limited circulation and a very short life. By securing a file of this extinct publication, the author has been enabled to collect what he had written for it, and by revising some of the articles, and writing others that were needed in as fully discussing the subject as he wished, he has been supplied with means to send forth, for the Master's use, a regular, though compendious and unpretending, treatise on the subject of entire sanctification.
This would not have been done, however, had he continued able for his itinerant work in spreading holiness in the churches, but disabled for active service at present, the next best thing he could do on this line was to prepare and publish this book.
He has made an effort to present his thoughts upon this greatest of all themes, in an easy, flowing style of writing, so that common readers, and seekers of the grace of perfect love, will read the book with ease and pleasure. "All technical language and critical exegesis have been studiously avoided; and while he has attempted to logically defend positions which he deemed important to support, he has shunned all scholasticism that might please the few but tire the many." Baker succeeds. His is a winning easy-going style that makes you feel like he is at your elbow gently guiding you by reason and life, more than by Scripture.
25 pages by Sheridan Baker (1824 - 1890) assembled with great care when Sheridan was weakened with age after a long and extremely fruitful career: it is his fairest flower. I just love the clarity of this most worthy work. It is one of my very favorites and I am sure it will be one of yours also. (Enhanced)
Print Ready Version 11 pages ready for the printer

Directions for Obtaining

This extract from J. A. Wood's famous classic "Perfect Love" is formatted in a question and answer style. Enclosed are 65 wonderful answers on how to enter His Rest, such as: "The idea that faith for entire sanctification, and faith for pardon, differ in degree, has no foundation in either Scripture or reason. The question of faith, for full salvation, is not how strongly you believe, but in what you believe and do you believe, or, have you real faith for the object desired? The important item being real faith, for entire sanctification, rather than any particular degree of faith for it." ( from P. 17)     32 pages by J. A. Wood (6/24/1828 - 7/7/1905) (B*3)
Print Ready Version 17 pages

But you really should read the full length original of 228 questions and answers based on personal experience that deal astonishingly well with every topic of our concern. Enjoy this powerful and beloved classic complete catechism of holiness! Most of the other works above are written more recently, and cite this work as essential equipment for the earnest seeker. Perfect Love    137 pages by J. A. Wood (1,076 KB)

Print Ready Version 81 pages of paper. Obscure heritage terms have been translated. (Enhanced)

Do you like J. A. Wood's work? He wrote a 90 page sequel when he was full of years and wisdom....   Purity and Maturity

Possibilities of Grace

"Consecrated persons or things, regenerate believers, and wholly saved men are indiscriminately and interchangeably denominated "sanctified" or "holy". Such latitude of expression is not looseness in doctrine, but the freedom that belongs to general instruction and a style adapted to all classes. The Bible is not a body of systematic divinity, nor a code of dogmatic statements. It is a miscellany of moral teaching; a collection of fragmentary lessons, all divinely inspired, and containing every principle and precept necessary to salvation.
A great variety of terms, including sometimes the words sanctification and holiness, are used to indicate spirituality; such as crucified, born again, free from sin, justified, washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. These phrases denote holiness, but not necessarily, nor generally, entire holiness. Usually they signify initial, unfinished sanctification. We think the position is supportable on Scripture grounds that true believers, born of the Spirit, and loving God, may be, and ordinarily are, the subjects of a residuum of inherent sin.
Let us group together the evidence on which the proposition rests. First. It is a fact of which every Christian is conscious, and of which every Christian gives evidence, that regeneration is a mixed state. It is penitence mixed with obduracy (hardheartedness or stubbornness), faith mixed with unbelief, humility mixed with pride, goodwill mixed with envy, meekness mixed with anger, the love of God mixed with the love of the world, the love of our neighbor mixed with haughtiness and the spirit of oppression; it is consecration mixed with selfishness, reservation, and a divided service; it is purity mixed with many excessive appetites and unclean practices. Nor are these evil affections traceable to external causation. They sprout from within. They are a natural product indigenous to the soul; a spontaneous growth of noxious weeds from living roots and seeds yet deeply imbedded in the heart.
If this be so, we are restricted to a single alternative. Either we must disallow the religious pretensions of all professing Christians who are not wholly sanctified, stripping from them every shred of holy attire, or we must concede that a man may acquire a true Christian character, and yet be the subject of no inconsiderable sin.
Now which horn of the dilemma shall we take? Shall we invalidate the professions of all Evangelical Churches, and excommunicate the whole body of believers with one cruel stroke of uncharitably, or shall we admit that sin exists in accredited Christians?"    (an excerpt from P.72 ) 151 page two-column PDF by Rev. Asbury Lowery. disc sampler   238 pages

Entire Sanctification -The Second Blessing

Do you still have questions? The famous evangelist Rev. C.W. Ruth has laid out quality answers for serious questions you probably had not thought of (under 68 headings). This includes a comparison chart between the first and the second blessings, a list of relevant scriptures and sermon outlines.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 28 on "Darkness and Heaviness"
"These two terms are used by many believers as synonymous, but the Scriptures never use them interchangeably. While “heaviness” is compatible with holiness and fellowship with God, darkness is not. In 1 John 1:5, 6 we read, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not speak the truth.” It is sin that brings darkness. Hence acts of sin are spoken of as “the unfruitful works of darkness;” the soul redeemed by grace is said to have been called “out of darkness into His marvelous light.”   And it goes on from here to demonstrate why heaviness is a blessing and darkness is not. 76 page PDF
disc sampler 141 pages

Objections to Entire Sanctification
With all the reading you have done on this page, you may still have some remaining questions and doubts. This should be no surprise since it is a lot to believe for!

Here many of the common objections are carefully and logically addressed. 31 page PDF by H. A. Baldwin

Exhortation, Hunger and Groaning

A tearless people are powerless and without advocacy, for only those who importune and persevere are the recipients of divine intervention. “God shall avenge His elect who cry day and night unto him” (SEE Luke 18:7). In the times of Wesley, hunger and groaning were widely seen as the way to obtain....and it worked   ....though exhortation sure helped keep things on track. Obtaining His Rest is all about qualifying for divine intervention. This is not kwik or easy.

Some authors mark the decline of success in entering His Rest by the decline in this early groaning. Ten somewhat dry pages by W. L. Boone

(Note: Despite the dryness this is especially important to read. The teachings of Phoebe Palmer had a pervasive influence upon many of our good heritage authors above. It was her aim to make sanctification easier and so more common. Some of that occurred, but more often her outlandish ideas just confused people. "Name it and claim it" started with her, but that idea of faith cannot omit the fact that God grants as He wills, not as we deign to pray.* (deign = stoop or condescend reluctantly and with a strong sense of the affront to one's superiority.) Sometimes we need a better attitude to be worked in our hearts so that we can then pray lowly whole-hearted prayers that God can accept. This by its very nature can't help but take time. I used to have a document that analyzed her ideas, but I decided it was just too curly and removed it.)

One good view is to regard this "old man" as a terrible creeping lethal disease. God must reach down and rescue you from it. The doctors cannot help.

So what do you do? You either accept an early demise or you pray and do not quit no matter what. You even keep on praying when all hope seems to be gone. This is called "prevailing prayer", which means you pray until God grants your request -even in the face of "terminal" cancer or an unyielding and unsaved spouse. Until. When others joined in, it was called "siege prayer".

For more on this pivotal issue of groaning that is not dry to read -see page 47 of "The Better Way":    http://www.enterhisrest.org/testimonies/better_way.pdf

*Don't laugh. I remember a time when I was a pretty new Christian and the Lord was leading me to pray on an issue. Somehow, I just couldn't bring myself (yeuk!) to do it, so I asked the assistant pastor to do it, so I wouldn't have to!!! He wisely refused and told me to do my own praying. I was trapped. That's the carnal man for you. While he loves blessing, he hates God. And he hates praying.

Wesleyan Perfection
John Wesley pulled this work of finishing grace from age-old obscurity to the attention of all.

"Wesley was thorough and exhaustive in his treatment of whatever was the subject of his investigations. For many long and weary years he groped in the thick darkness of the times in which he lived, seeking for the simplest experience of salvation. He abounded in all manner of self-denials and self sacrifices; his morality was the most exalted character; he was diligent in prayer and in the study of God's word; he was most strict in all the outward forms and services of religion; but until he reached his thirty-fifth year he had not attained the consciousness of pardon in his own soul; he could not testify that God for Christ's sake had forgiven him his sins. From that auspicious and ever-memorable, as well as glorious hour, when, listening to the reading of Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, he felt his heart strangely warmed with the love of God, and knew himself to be a pardoned sinner, he went straight forward as the Spirit of God directed his steps, till he came to the experience of perfect love in his own soul.

.....Wesley never quarreled about names. Sanctification, holiness, perfection, were often used by him to express the experience in the Divine life, attainable by all Christians previous to the hour of death; but he was more inclined to speak of the experience as the perfection of love, including love to God and love to man, and involving, at the same time, deliverance from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin. .....it was to be reached by meditation, study, conviction of need, desire, consecration and faith".....

Keeping such rest and purity in such a dark world as this is no small accomplishment. Many advices are mercifully tendered by Wesley. Staying HOT for God and keeping your gift stirred up in forward motion seems to be the key.... 75 pages by Rev. J. A. Wood

Despair

What to do when you have done it all, and still you are the same old way.

In worshipful wonder the worldling casts his lost soul
with pure saving faith into the care of the Master

Bringing PARDON to the needy soul

Now in worshipful wonder the believer casts his redeemed life
with that same pure saving faith into the care of the Master

Bringing blameless PURITY to the pardoned soul

So do Beulah's lowly gates open evermore
So enters the soul into the secure hush of His own Rest

Earnest Seeker

Just as you once came apart from the dust and confusion of the world into the fellowship of the redeemed, now it is your time to come apart again:

       "Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach*." Hebrews 13:13 (* "abuse" or "scornful insult")

You have had enough of toils and contradictions: of hymns of faith sung out of a troubled heart: the perennial hypocrisy of a heart that cries for His peerless promises of complete spiritual freedom and yet continues to trudge along with far less. The common elementary (introductory level) faith that seems to be enough for so many is no longer enough for you -so now you come apart to seek His face.

When you met the Lord, your heart cried out to Him in saving faith, He touched you and your sins were forever pardoned in that instant. The guilt is gone, but sometimes the allure is not, so now you find that pardon alone is not enough for you. You need your heart to be made wholly pure so that you can be fully acceptable by Him. And with that same saving faith in that same miraculous instant. Growth is one thing while the peerless miracle of the cross is another. It is by His Blood that we are saved, not by our years of piety -no matter how diligent, anointed, packed with miracles or successful they may be!

We must leave behind our doubts and fears for they would turn us aside. A sober time of heart-stopping decision is upon us. The exceeding great promises of the gospel fill our hearts with hope and yet we face doubt and lack within. We are saved but now we need to be FULLY SAVED. We are set free from sin but now we are daily more consumed with the need to be made free from ALL that is out of harmony with Him. We know Him, but now we find that we MUST know Him in a far greater way -beyond anything we could have before asked or imagined!

There is a race to be run!!!

It is a race that is simple and starkly pure for it deals frankly with the fundamental created elements of your being. Cast aside the clinging limitations of the common churchy crowd! Others may enjoy serving their time in the status quo, but here our uncommon task is clear. We must have Him; and ALL of Him -lest we die!

A time of sharp decision has come upon us as it came upon Abraham, the father of Faith in Genesis 15: 4-12

Abraham did not shrink back, but manfully apprehended the unbelievably bountiful earthly promise the Lord laid out before him. Our promise of full sanctification in His blood is not earthly as Abraham's promise was: instead it is a distinct heavenward blessing that first removes everything out of harmony with God and Heaven so that it can then robe you in pure white to meet and abide with the King in His boundless beauty.

You were faithful in the things of your former life of elementary Christian faith. When the vultures of temptation and doubt came down upon your life laid out unto Him, you drove them away. And now you find that your former believing life has become dim to you for the sake of the greater promise now held out before you....

So, here are the steps to take:

One: Hunger for His Rest. But you cannot do that until you know that it is there for you. So read the material on the "Testimonials" page so that you can believe that it exists, and that it exists for you. Once you believe that, keep reading the material on the website until the Spirit gives you a real hunger for this work of grace to be done for you too!!

Two: Consecrate your life to Him. Place every hope and every dream and every ambition into His hand -and leave it there in His care together with every fault and weakness. Take your hands and mind off them. Abandon them to Him. If you are whole-hearted this does not have to take more than a few minutes. If not, it takes as long as it takes. But in the weeks and days that follow He will almost certainly show you things that you have missed. Place those in His Hand as well. Just keep going. This step gives Him permission to take charge of your life -in His way.

Three: Ask. Ask specifically for Him to reach down from above to give you the miracle you need. Ask Him to give you this new pure heart that you now are hungering for. Do this with your whole heart. Note: to do anything with a whole heart at his point is problematic since unsanctified people are seldom aware of or in control of what is hidden within their hearts. So ask and keep on asking -even though most of the asking may be in vain because it is not with your whole heart. One old-fashioned approach at this point was to "groan for it"....

At this point it is advisable to live your life in a prayerful fever of desire because giving up your former way of living and knowing Him is no small thing. Looking back, many call this transitional time "the sanctification crisis" experience.

Four: Wait. Wait while you keep the fever up, because although you may think that you have done the above, and now He should just get on with His part and just reach down -He may disagree. Or He may be waiting for all you have given over to come to some sort of ripeness. In other words, He does things for you when He sees that all is ready. His vision is better than yours. Trust Him!!! You need a miracle, just as if you needed urgent healing from a deadly cancer. This takes faith and prayer, without giving up. This is called "prevailing faith".

Five: Watch.   One of the big pitfalls here is presumption. Many well-meaning folks at this point convince themselves that their hearts are now made new when it has not been. Consecration alone will put you in noticeably better harmony with your God, but you just wait until He reaches down. You have seen nothing yet until He does what you cannot do. If you find that you are getting ahead of events, go back to number two and place your unclean spiritual ambition in His Hand. This is very serious. Remember Ananius and Sapphira? They said that they had given all when they had not. They were attempting to buy a privileged place among the redeemed. Instead their attempt to lie to God earned them a quick passage to perdition.........

So in His own time He will reach down and do the purifying work in a "moment of time". Your life and faith will be made anew. All things being equal, the younger you are the easier all this will be. But all of the above summary will be confirmed for you in many different ways by many different authors in this online library. All of this is thoroughly confirmed by scripture.

Has your heart been stirred in hope to obtain His Rest? Good! It is yours if only you will seek it. God loves and helps those who seek Him.

Have Fear!! Work with the Lord, Not Against Him!

" Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." Numbers 20:11-12

So Moses saw the land of Canaan from afar, but was not allowed to enter it! This is the severity of God.

The Gift of Conviction

This gift works to help our seeking in two ways:
1. The Holy Spirit supernaturally provides certainty -for doing or believing something positive. This confirmation adds solidity.
2. The Holy Spirit provides proper hatred of your status quo so you can be driven to obtain a better place in the spirit -eg: getting saved or completing your sanctification. This is power to hate your own uncleanness enough to lose it.

Quite often the Lord uses both of these ways to get you saved or later, to get you sanctified. He uses the first to wake you up to the need. He uses the second to help steel your resolve to pay the price and obtain -no matter the cost. For the sake of obtaining the glory almost within reach, all distractions become hated. (Luke 14:26)

You are more likely to get this gift if you position yourself to get it -by living at a fever-pitch of maximum faithful seeking. And if you get this conviction, do not neglect it and let that special time of conviction pass without using it. It's worth is above that of diamonds and rubies. If you willfully turn aside from strong conviction, it has been known for the Lord to not send the gift again, no matter how much you pray. The same can occur after a certain finite number of times resisting mild conviction. Entering and abiding in His Rest is a rare and precious privilege, not a right. If you scorn a privilege, you can easily lose it. When God is dealing with applicants to come and dwell close to Himself in His Most Holy, He does not shilly, neither does He shally.

If the gift of conviction comes at an inconvenient time, consider this: He might be testing your devotion. Also, as you have well noticed, it seems that there seldom is a convenient time for spiritual things in this O so earthly world. The world (and then your family!) always crowds in with more urgent needs that just "cannot" be denied.... This is par for the course. But this is not a test you can afford to fail -if you care about remaining in good standing with the Lord.

With this diligent preparation each earnest seeker of His Rest will be made ready to be lovingly but carefully tested and made supernaturally whole in every point by the Lord's healing Fire. It is not that the seeker has to be doctrinally perfect to be successfully scrubbed by His Fire to enter His Rest, but he or she certainly is required to come with a completed consecration and faith to Him through His help. You may be certain that many of the most stubborn barriers to this today are often found in inadequate preparation to be supernaturally accepted by Him as lowly stewards of His Word and His Spirit.

Be readied to pass the examination by Fire He will administer to your soul! The Lord, your Most Righteous examiner hears your every thought and sees every secret of your heart... Be ready to meet your "Waterloo". Lay down your whole life here. No half measures can possibly succeed. Beyond this line, there is great reward both here and hereafter. But it costs your all to cross...

Earnest Seeker

Sooth-sayers.

Please be aware that religion is a very big business, and a very importantt activity is soothing the soul discomfort caused by sin and temptation. The Calvinists are fatalistic over it. The Catholics confess it. Radicals wax radical over it or are too high to give it the attention it needs. Every group has their own way. The Lord's way is to totally remove the carnality underneath it all.
In order to survive in office, a politian needs your vote in the ballot box. Similarly, a churchman needs your vote in the offering plate. So they both need to do and say things that will please you.
This free website is free to speak the truth -whether is hurts or not.

We Give Honor and Thanks

For the years of faith, labor, vision and that have made the priceless treasure on this website available to us all. Virtually all of the documents on this website are brief authorized samplers of the "Wesleyan Heritage Library CD" which contains 500 Holiness works, (both old and new) in an easy to read and share PDF format. The full source documents are on the CD. The resources on this CD have made this website possible.

CD Author's Preface - by the late Sulu D. Kelley of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing, producer of the “Wesleyan Heritage Library CD. 1 page

Wesleyan Heritage Library CD Contents List -an orderly full sized list of the contents by title and by author. 24 pages.

Wesleyan Heritage Library CD Cover - 2 pages of very tiny print and graphics. You will need to use the PDF page magnifier. Press your shift key when opening to obtain the full page format.

www.enterhisrest.org