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

mind and heart, and the Holy Ghost descends in His plenitude and power, that place is garnished
with a beauty and glory in comparison with which all the adornings of Solomon's temple would be
barrenness. Every board shines with the jeweled beauty of the walls of the New Jerusalem. What are
carved marble, and overlayings of gold, and trimmings of silver; what are arches and turrets and
spires; what are the formations of art, and even the triumphs of human genius, in comparison with
the beauty of the Lord, and the glory of the Divine presence? This board tabernacle to us is far more
beautiful than the most costly marble temple that was ever reared. Here we have seen the Lord. Here
in a marvelous way He has been pleased to manifest His power to save. Here He has revealed His
glory. It has seemed as if this was the very place of which John wrote when he said: 'And I saw as
it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire; and they that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the
harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb, saying, Great
and marvelous are thy works, Lord God almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints.' We
do not ask for, we do not desire costly churches. We do desire the power and glory of the manifest
divine presence. We rejoice in Him. In this board tabernacle the poor are made rich, the sorrowing
to rejoice. Heaven greets and fills our souls."
Before taking up in detail the early years of the Church of the Nazarene, in Los Angeles, which
constituted a distinct and remarkable era in the Nazarene movement, I shall give Dr. Bresee's own
account of some of the most prominent of his coworkers, and some of the most notable events of that
glorious epoch.
He summed these up as "Great Events in the Old Tabernacle," and described them in the
following order.
Victory Day
"On the first Sunday in May, 1900, at one of the gatherings in the old tabernacle, God so opened
the windows of heaven and deluged our souls with unspeakable glory, that, when the waves had
passed by a little, and it was possible to say something, I said: 'This is Victory Day. This first Sunday
of May, we will henceforth celebrate as Victory Day. We will put 'Victory' up over our altar.' That
is the reason you see it there now. In some sense we have celebrated that day on the first Sabbath of
May in each of the intervening years.
The Christmas Love Feast
"In the beginning of the work, the First Church became the repository of certain streams of
blessing which had already started, among which was the Christmas love feast. The first of these
love feasts was held by me in the First Methodist Episcopal church, at Pasadena, in 1887. I felt
strangely impelled at that time to announce and hold a love feast. On Christmas morning, to the
surprise of everybody, the house was filled with people. Already in this church the holiness work had
become predominant, and this meeting was a gathering to some extent of the holiness forces of
Southern California. Among these were the Rev. J. N. Marsh and his wife, both of whom were most
saintly and marvelously anointed people. Brother Marsh used to be strongly overcome by the Spirit
of God. His presence and testimony were a great benediction. The Lord very particularly used him