ERNEST CORYELL
(Nazarene)

 

ERNEST CORYELL
(Nazarene)

One evening about three months after the Lord had so generously pardoned my sins, I went

to the pump to get a drink. (I always call this my “Pump Handle Experience,” for it was here that I
first realized that there was still an old root of bitterness left in the heart I had thought so perfectly
cleansed.) As I lifted the handle of the pump it slipped, pinching my hand quite severely. I did not
swear, or curse, as I once would have done. In fact, I do not remember that I said anything. But
there rose in my heart a bitterness, and anger that seemed almost to smother me. I went to the house
with my heart broken and my eyes streaming with tears; for I had lost that sweet peace that had
characterized my life the past three months.

“Wife,” I cried, as I entered the kitchen where she was at work, “I guess I’ve backslidden.”

And I poured out the whole miserable experience.

She looked up with alarm in her face; and as I proceeded to unfold the story of my break

with God, she answered: “I guess those times come to all of us, dear. Just keep holding on, and try
to suppress that feeling when you feel it coming.” You see, we had never any of us heard that there
is an experience blessed of God, that will remove that old root of bitterness and give us constant
victory over Satan.

Her reply eased the hurt somewhat for I thought: “If Wife is troubled that way, and she has

been a Christian for so long, surely there is yet hope for me.” But I found that every time I tried to
pray that incident would flash between me and the Throne; and I could not seem to get victory in
my prayers. For three weeks I struggled along. I had sought out the young preacher at once, but he
was unable to help me for he had never heard of heart purity either. I could not be satisfied; for I
kept remembering that three month’s walk of unbroken fellowship with the Master. Surely if the
Lord could forgive my sins and give me such peace as I had known the past few months: he could
also take out the thing that caused me to feel anger, passion. jealousy, envy, and similar emotions. I
was satisfied that He was not pleased with such things.

 

One day a good man stopped in to talk to me. He asked me if I had been having any trouble

in my walk with God. I told him my experience. He gave me a gentle smile, such as I think the
Saviour must have given His disciples when he explained something that seemed beyond their
grasp: and began to explain the meaning of “Inbred sin”, or the thing that had caused me all my
trouble. He made it so plain to me, telling me that regeneration, or “Generating again”. the new
birth, had only forgiven the sins I had actually committed in my lifetime. He explained that when
Adam and Eve had been created they were in the image of the Father, pure, holy, without sin. But
when they were tempted and fell, sin entered their hearts and they were banished from the presence
of God. Then he said that in order to again enter the presence of the Holy One we must be without
sin, holy, pure, as had been this first pair. Not, he explained, holy in mind, not entirely perfect in
judgment, but pure in heart. In heart like unto God. He showed me in the scriptures where God
required holiness of heart to enter into the New Jerusalem. Since my heart had been so hungry for
something that would foster an unbroken communion with Him, I eagerly accepted the truth, and
sought the Lord in His cleansing power. I placed myself upon the altar, that is, I placed my life, my
possessions, my loved ones, my past, my future, everything I knew of, and everything that I would
know in the future, in the hands of God to do with as He pleased. The altar sanctified the gift, and I
felt again the peace and joy that I felt when the Lord forgave all my past. The joy that flooded my
soul! I have never been the same man since. This Canaan experience is truly wonderful!

Oh dear Christian if you are having trouble with that inner enemy and you find that your

peaceful walk with God is interrupted frequently by a feeling of anger, jealousy, hatred, or any of
the various ways in which the enemy tries unsanctified Christians, I beg of you, let the Lord come
in and cleanse your heart. Just take Him by faith, as you did for your salvation, and you will find
such joy, such peace from these things which make you unhappy that you will regret that you did
not long ago have this “Satisfying Portion” which is the Holy Ghost.

This “desperado” in the human breast is turning thousands from the faith; for Paul says in

Romans 8:7: “It is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can be.”

Sooner, or later. if you refuse to walk in the light which God has shed in your pathway, you

will find that you have lost connection with Him; for again Paul says: “The carnal mind is enmity
against God.”

Source: Ernest Coryell’s Autobiography

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THE END

 

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HOW THEY ENTERED CANAAN
(A Collection of Holiness Experience Accounts)
Compiled by Duane V. Maxey

Vol. I — Named Accounts