"God works in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform." When God determined to break the chains of slavery he revealed to no man the time or methods of its accomplishment. In like manner, in the holiness movement, his faithful servants have gone "out, not knowing whither they went." The way has been so rugged at times that many have turned aside; but God has put two in the place of each faltering one, and the ranks of the holiness army are steadily increasing.
We call attention to the remarkable fact that the holiness work has sprung up simultaneously in different parts of the earth; in the east, in the west, in the north, and the south; in the old world, and in the new; among Arminians, and among Calvinists; in cities, in towns, and in country places; indicating an unseen hand and guiding power.
A mechanic, in Pennsylvania, receives a call from the chaplain of King William's court to come to Germany and teach the church of Martin Luther the way of holiness, and four hundred learned ministers sit at the feet of a Presbyterian layman to learn of holiness in the city of Berlin. A young minister, whom God hath baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, completely girds the earth with holy song, as he travels to regain his failing health.
One of Wesley's mightiest sons, is sent to the other side of the globe to receive this blessed experience, under the instruction of a Presbyterian minister. Suddenly an organized army springs up in Europe to spread holiness, and the power of Satan is broken by its advancing legions.
A number of holy men and women are compelled by their convictions to make the circuit of the earth, and are invited to preach, and sing, and testify to holiness in the shadow of the Vatican. Reader, who do you think has planned, and whose hand is guiding, this movement?
The truth is, the holiness movement was a movement prophetically due at this time as the introduction to the great reformation (restoration) that now succeeds it, in which God's people are not only embracing holiness, but are taking their stand free and complete in Christ, distinct from all humanly organized bodies called churches. The reader of church history will observe that the progress of Christianity has not been by gradual, steady increase of light and truth, but by reformation after reformation in which some special truth is emphasized and men's hearts are stirred.
Among the early leaders of the movement in this country were Dr. W. C. and Phoebe Palmer, of New York. Mrs. Palmer, especially, was prominent in this respect. She wrote a number of books on holiness and with her husband held meetings in various openings in the East and was otherwise very active in the cause. William Macdonald, John S. Inskip, Daniel Steele, and J. A. Wood were others who, both by preaching and the press, gave prominence to the doctrine of entire sanctification as a second, distinct work of grace. Holiness societies sprung up, books were written on the subject, periodicals were started, and holiness bands began to canvass the country. Well does the writer remember of seeing when a boy these holiness bands travel about the country in covered wagons. They carried a spiritual fire that caught in the hearts of the more fervent ones who, on the barren plains of sect religion, were seeking for a higher and better Christian experience. The activity on this line was not on the part of the various denominations, as such, but on the part of earnest Christians within the denominations.
Leaders, authors and editors, prominent in the holiness movement forty to fifty years ago, contemporaries of D. S. Warner. (1) W. C. Palmer; (2) J. S. Inskip; (3) Wm. Macdonald; (4) Daniel Steele; (5) Geo. Hughes, of the Guide to Holiness; (6) Isaiah Reid, of The Highway; (7) T. K. Doty, of the Christian Harvester; (8) L. B. Kent, of the Banner of Holiness