Phineas F. Bresee - A Prince In Israel - Media Sabda Org

sin. Many times I have heard him exclaim, with a smile: "They say that I am the friend of every
scallawag." Truly, his great heart was overflowing with love and sympathy for all who were in
especial need. His hand was never raised against the backslider and the fallen, but, on the contrary,
it was held out to succor them. He hated sin, but he loved the sinner. He recognized modern
phariseeism, and realized the ravages which it has wrought in the holiness movement; and yet he had
great charity for those servants of God who fell into that awful delusion of Satan, who, instead of
tenderly loving the backslider, and doing their utmost to win him back to Jesus, held themselves
aloof from him, or, worse still, pushed him further into the mire of sin. He knew that they, too, were
backslidden, and needed to be restored.
The general trend of his conversation was serious. He knew the world, and how cruel, hollow, and
superficial it was. He realized the condition of the great body of the professing church. But, while
he was usually serious, he was invariably cheerful of course, always his chief interest was in the deep
things of God, and in the prosperity of the kingdom of Christ on earth. During the last years of his
life, he came to have an extremely vivid apprehension of the paramount importance of the
manifestation of God in men; and he insisted more and more that, in order to live up to our highest
possibilities, and do the work that God had given us, we must have frequent and mighty revelations
and demonstrations of the Holy Spirit. This was the keynote and undercurrent of nearly all the great
sermons of his later years. In this connection I will relate an incident which occurred about three
months before his death.
An Impressive Incident
It was Sunday afternoon, shortly after his return from the morning service in the First Church. He
was in the sitting-room, engaged in conversation with Mrs. Ella Palmer and myself. She asked him
what he thought of the second coming of Christ. He replied that, while he devoutly believed in it,
yet since God had shown him his exalted privileges here and now, as a regnant soul, dwelling in the
heavenlies in Christ, and filled with all the fulness of God, he had not given the subject much
thought. Knowing as I did, what was back of these few simple words, and how much they signified,
I was profoundly moved, and a tide of holy rapture thrilled my being, and suffused my eyes with
tears.
Soul Life
He laid constantly growing emphasis upon soul life, the spiritual progress of the Christian after
he was sanctified, and the vital necessity of a constant walk with God. He felt that with nearly all of
the holiness people, the standard of spiritual life and victory and fellowship with God, was too low.
Let me quote from his wonderful sermon called "The Lifting of the Veil ;"
"The great thing is Christian life--soul life. There is some Christian experience in this earth. We
thank God for what there is. But I am more and more convinced that anything like a creditable article
of Christian experience is now, and always has been, a scarce commodity. Men and women who
have passed the first and second stations of initiatory work, in whom carnality is destroyed, who are
crucified to the world, in whom Jesus Christ lives His life on earth, who go on with steady victory
through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, are not numerous.