The Sanctification of Samuel Brengle

The following is courtesy of Rev. Duane Maxey and Holiness Data Ministries:

SAMUEL LOGAN BRENGLE
(Salvation Army Commissioner)

In seeking to be sanctified wholly, Samuel Logan Brengle saw the contrast between himself in his carnal condition and the Lord in His immaculate purity:

"I saw the humility of Jesus, and my pride; the meekness of Jesus, and my temper; the lowliness of Jesus, and my ambition; the purity of Jesus, and my unclean heart; the faithfulness of Jesus, and the deceitfulness of my heart; the unselfishness of Jesus, and my selfishness; the trust and faith of Jesus, and my doubts and unbelief; the holiness of Jesus, and my unholiness. I got my eyes off every body but Jesus and myself, and I came to loathe myself."

Brengle had to die to his carnal ambition to be a great, eloquent preacher, a powerful orator. He was Divinely humbled before he was Divinely empowered: "I was willing to appear a big blunder and a complete failure if only He would cleanse me and dwell in me!"

When the humbling process was complete, the Spirit applied First John 1:9 to his heart: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He became personally conscious of being cleansed from all unrighteousness, and the Divinely wrought change registered noticeably on his countenance. Twenty minutes after this personal experience, a fellow student looked upon him and remarked: ""Sam what is the matter? You look so different!" Two mornings later, the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ filled and flooded his soul:

"I awoke that morning hungering and thirsting just to live this life of fellowship with God, never again to sin in thought or word or deed against Him, with an unmeasurable desire to be a holy man, acceptable unto God. Getting out of bed about six o'clock with that desire, I opened my Bible and, while reading some of the words of Jesus, He gave me such a blessing as I never had dreamed a man could have this side of heaven. It was an unutterable revelation. It was a heaven of love that came into my heart. My soul melted like wax before fire. I sobbed and sobbed. I loathed myself that I had ever sinned against Him or doubted Him or lived for myself and not for His glory. Every ambition for self was now gone. The pure flame of love burned it like a blazing fire would burn a moth."

Believers today need an experience of personal holiness. I am involved with several churches and Bible studies. Excuses for sin abounds in some of these groups. People try to justify their sin by diminishing it in the eyes of God. They cry, "Grace, grace, and more grace." Yes, we are saved by grace; however, we need an appropriate response to grace. That response is obedience and living a life of personal holiness. A phrase to remember: "Where death leaves you, judgment will find you and eternity will hold you." Where will death leave you if you died today?

The Need for Holiness

The following is from Martin Wells Knapp's "The Double Cure" and courtesy of Rev. Duane Maxey and Holiness Data Ministries:

THE DOUBLE WORK

Sin is a double disease. It pollutes the soul and also poisons the outer life. It converts the heart into a den of vile passions and the exterior life into a panorama of dark deeds. It's twofold nature is clearly declared in God's word. (See Ps. 51; Zech. 13:1; 1 John 1:9, and kindred Scriptures.)

On these and like texts we base the following diagram which shows the light of the Word on the subject at a glance:

THE DOUBLE DISEASE --
I. Actual transgressions. Rom. 3:23. Wrong deeds. Rom. 3:10-18. Wrong life. Gal. 6:8. Bad fruits. Rom. 7:5; Gal. 5:19-21. Evil waters. Jas. 3:10, 11. Guilt. Rom. 3:19. Death. Rom. 5:12. Eternal punishment. Matt. 25:46.

II. Inbred sin. Rom. 6:6, and 7:19-24. Wrong tempers. 1 Cor. 3:1- 4. Wrong state. 1 Cor. 2:14. Bad tree. Matt. 3:10; 7:18. Evil fountain. James 3:12; Matt. 5:19. Pollution. Ps. 51:5; 2 Cor. 7:1. Sickness. Isa. 1:5; Luke 5:31. Debars from heaven. Heb. 12:14; Rev. 21:27.

THE DOUBLE CURE. --
I. Conversion. Matt. 18:3. Pardon. Isa. 55:7. Adoption. 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. Life. John 3:36. Witness. Rom. 8:16.

II. Entire sanctification. 1 Thess. 5:23. Complete cleansing. 1 John 1:9. Perfect love. 1 John 4:18. Witness. Heb. 10:14, 15.

THE DOUBLE CONDITIONS:--
I. Repentance. Luke 13:3. Sorrow for sin. Matt. 5:4. Giving up sin. Isa. 1:16. Confession. Prov. 28:13. Appropriating faith. John 3:16.

II. Consecration. Rom. 12:1. Death to sin. Rom. 6:6. Yielding to God. Rom. 6:13. Appropriating faith. Heb. 4 3.

In the above and like Scriptures actual transgressions and soul defilement are treated as two distinct phases of man's fall.

The first refers to what men do, the second to what they are.

The first to outward acts, the second to an inner state. The first life defilement, the second heart defilement. The first a result of the second, the second the cause of the first.

The first is like eruptions on the outside, the second the scrofulous soul disease, deeper than muscles, bones, marrow, or nerves, in the very center of the soul life.

The cure and conditions are mentioned here in connection with the disease, and will be more fully noticed in future chapters.

The twofold nature of the disease makes the Double Cure an imperative necessity.
The sinner is like a drowning leper. The leper needs a double work:

(1) To be rescued from a Watery grave;
(2) To be cured of his disease. When a life preserver will cure the leprosy it will be time to discard the double disease, the double conditions, and the Double Cure.

The sinner is like a diseased criminal about to be hung for his crime -- he needs the Double Cure of pardon and healing.

When a governor's reprieve will cure the consumption, or doctor's prescription secure a pardon, it will be time to overlook this double work of grace. Until then with the sacred bard shall we not continue to sing:

"Be of sin the Double Cure,
Save from guilt and make us pure."