March 18

Read: Acts 2:38-39

The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as

the Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:39). The Witness Of Christians Today

We base our belief in entire sanctification as a second work of grace firmly upon the Word of God. But we rejoice to find that belief confirmed by the testimony of devout souls across the years. Some time after 1725, in answer to the question, “Does the Lord ever entirely sanctify the soul at justification?” John Wesley wrote: “But we do not know a single instance, in any place, of a person’s receiving in one and the same moment remission of sins, the abiding witness of the Spirit, and a new and a clean heart.”

Has God changed His timing in the twentieth century? Dr. S. S. White, former editor of the Herald of Holiness, writes: “There are hundreds whom I have heard testify that they received this blessing after they were converted… Over against this great number I have only one to present who openly and aboveboard testified to the fact that he was sanctified at the same time that he was saved… this one man… was thought by some not to be too careful in his living. Even his friends were not inclined to think of him as manifesting a high state of grace.”

Those who enjoy this blessing testify that they came into the experience after they were converted. In response to their faith, God gave them this added grace. Can I today testify to the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit in my life? If not, have I tried the way of those radiant Christians who have sought and received this gift from God?

On the cross He bought this blessing; He will never say us nay. He is waiting now to give it. Why not claim it, friend, today?

— L. L. Pickett