MRS. E. S. DUFF

 

MRS. E. S. DUFF

…At twenty-five years of age, my hopes were about to be realized, but I wasn’t yet quite

ready to yield, and the Lord in His loving kindness and tender mercy laid the hand of affliction on
me in August of that year, and I was brought down to the very gates of death. I lay prostrate for
months, and I promised the Lord that if He would raise me up I would serve Him anyway, whether
I had any experience or not. I had been waiting all these years for a big Christian experience to
begin with.

I asked Him to raise me up before all the protracted meetings were over in the fall that I

might have another chance to attend a revival service. That was just what the Lord was getting me
ready for, but I didn’t know it. So by the first of October I was able to be up, and the last of the
protracted meetings of the season was announced to be held by the Cumberland Presbyterian
church of the town. They had engaged an evangelist to conduct the services; he was of the Moody
School, and knew God. He was the first evangelist I ever heard.

I was able to attend the third service that was held, and the Lord certainly gave him the

message for me that day. I kept crying “Yes” to God, as I sat quiet in my pew. I counted the cost
and accepted Jesus by faith. Hallelujah! I didn’t know anything about testimony meetings, but I
thought I should like to have the opportunity to make a public statement that would explain my
attitude so my worldly associates would know that I had given them up. I thought that taking this
stand would be a great help to me in the separation from the world that was to take place; but there
was no opportunity to testify.

The evangelist, however, was invited to hold a prayer meeting at my next door neighbor’s

that afternoon, and I went. He shook hands with everyone and asked them if they were saved. My
faith began to waver and I prayed silently, saying, “Now, Lord, help me to know what to say
before he comes to me, for I don’t want to deceive anybody, and most of all I don’t want to be
deceived myself.”

 

When he came to me, God enabled me to say, “Yes, by the grace of God I am His child,”

and with that confession He opened the windows of Heaven on my soul, and I didn’t have to wait
for an opportunity to tell it, for it just told itself, and everything else had to give place. From that
day I walked and talked with God. For six weeks I hardly knew how I lived. Heaven seemed more
real than this earth.

I need have had no fear of my worldly companions seeking my society. Redeeming love

was my theme from morning till night, and my friends became uneasy about me for fear my mind
might become unbalanced, and they sent me away to the country for a period of isolation; but I was
not alone. Hallelujah! He was teaching me the deep things of God. He separated me completely
from the world. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be
my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

He brought me out that He might bring me in. His plan was to lead me straight through to

Canaan by way of Kadesh-barnea, but I was too slow to understand. I thought that consecration
meant doing some great and impossible thing, so like the Israelites of old I entered not in on
account of unbelief. I did not understand spiritual things as I do now. So the Lord dealt with me
according to the light I then had. Now, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost I look back and
understand God’s dealings with me in a way that I could not then understand.

So, ten years later He again led me up to the crossing of the Jordan, and there was just one

thing that had to be left behind that I insisted on taking over to Canaan with me, and that kept me
out of the blessing; but ten years later on the last Thursday in May, 1898, about ten o’clock, A. M.,
I obeyed marching orders. Leaving everything behind and surrendering everything ahead, I
followed our Great High Priest, before Whom the waters parted, and I went over dry shod.
Hallelujah!

“Is not this the Land of Beulah,
Blessed, blessed land of light,
Where the flowers bloom forever,
And the sun is always bright?

“I can see far down the mountain,
Where I wandered weary years;
Often hindered in my journey,
By the ghosts of doubts and fears.

“Broken vows and disappointments
Thickly sprinkled all the way;
But the Spirit led unerring,
To the land I hold day.”

My wanderings were spent in the wilderness of affliction, and my prayer was, “Lord make

me whole in soul and body.” In some way I had a spiritual intuition that the soul-health must come
first and I wished it so, and when the affliction had wrought its work and the Lord saw that I had

 

come to a place of surrender He took me through the period of consecration, which lasted about a
week. When I was through everything, I was surrendered to God, and I could say with Job, “The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” I had given up will,
reputation, home, friends, time and the little means He had entrusted to me.

Hallelujah! I had the witness of the Spirit to my consecration. I knew that everything was

yielded up to God and the peace that passeth understanding came into my soul. The struggle was
over. I did not know enough to ask Him to baptize me with the Holy Ghost, or to sanctify me
wholly, or to give me a clean heart; but my prayer was that I might be wholly the Lord’s. He was
faithful and showed me what it meant to be wholly His, and what it would cost, and He enabled me
to meet the conditions and receive the blessing. Praise the Lord!

The following morning at about ten o’clock, while sitting alone in my room and meditating

on the wonderful dealing of God with my soul, lost in quiet spiritual communion with God, the
wonderful baptism of the Holy Ghost came upon me. Words cannot express it. He introduced
Himself. I had no doubt in regard to the identity of my Guest, and I was ready to exclaim with
Jacob, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” Like Moses in the presence of the
burning bush, I realized that I was on holy ground.

Instead of having been ushered suddenly into the presence of God, God came in the person

of the Holy Ghost to make my body His temple. “For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5). I hoped that no one would come
into the room to disturb the unbroken communion and the holy quietness of that heavenly
atmosphere. I thought I could never condescend to talk of common things again, and that I must
devote my whole time to the Bridegroom of my soul.

“Many beauteous names Thou bearest,
Brother, Shepherd, Friend, and King,
But they none into my spirit
Such Divine support can bring.
Wilt thou have this precious ‘Ishi,’
Bridegroom of thy soul to be?
He, the fairest of ten thousand,
Waits in love to welcome thee.”

He began to teach me from that hour. (John 14:26)…He showed me the condition of the

world and of the churches, and the burden was so great that I had to ask for relief. I couldn’t bear
it. I felt as if I were carrying the whole lost world on my heart. He taught me about Divine healing.
The power of God came on my body in the night, and I thought the Lord was about to take me home
to Heaven. The spiritual ecstasy was something beyond description, and I thought that condition of
soul attended the death of the sanctified; but He spoke to me again, and said, “This is not death. It
is Divine healing. Now, your body is healed.” And I was healed from that hour. Hallelujah! I have
been going for God ever since. At this time I had never come in touch with the holiness people, but
the Holy Spirit had been talking to me about my lifework, and I felt that I must have an opportunity
to study the Word.

 

Source: “Redeemed by the Blood” by Mrs. E. S. Duff

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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