經文:「願賜平安的神,親自使你們全然成聖。又願你們的靈、與魂、與身子,得蒙保守,在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候,完全無可指責。那召你們的本是信實的,祂必成就這事。」(帖前5:23-24) 過去我曾竭力追求聖潔,並且鼓勵所有我接觸的人都追求聖潔。十年以後,神讓我清楚看見一個我從未見過的維持聖潔的方法;那就是相信祂的兒子。於是我就立刻傳揚這個真理: 「信,能將我們從罪惡中拯救出來;信,能使我們成為聖潔。」 我將這個真理在私人生活中見證出來,在公開場合時見證出來,在印刷刊物上見證出來;神也藉著許多的見證人證實。我繼續傳揚這個真理,到如今將近三十年,神持續給了我無數證實。--約翰衛斯理 John Wesley 主耶穌,對於我是非常寶貴的;但是在我裡面有一件事物,使我不能溫柔,不能忍耐,不能仁愛。我盡力把它壓制下去,但是它仍然在那裡。直到我把自己的意志完全讓位給主,祂就替我拿去一切使我不能溫柔,不能仁愛,不能忍耐的。--福克斯 George Fox 如今我不再需求人的稱讚,因為神填滿我內在的所有空虛;除祂以外,我不再有甚麼意圖、意志、欲望。我自己也覺得非常奇異;神竟然用愛征服了我的一切。--亨丁登 Lady Hungron 聖潔是美麗、平靜、爽朗、可愛的;它帶給我們難以形容的光明、平安和喜樂;換言之,聖潔使我們的心變成神的花園;裡面充滿了佳美的果實與花卉,享受著暖和與活潑的陽光。--愛德華思 Jonathan Edwards 新譯|荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:23, 24). Many years since I saw that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." I began by following after it and inciting all with whom I had intercourse to do the same. Ten years after, God gave me a clearer view than I ever had before of the way to obtain it; namely, by faith in the Son of God. And immediately I declared to all, "We are saved from sin, we are made holy by faith." This I testified in private, in public, and in print, and God confirmed it by a thousand witnesses. I have continued to declare this for above thirty years, and God has continued to confirm my work. --John Wesley in 1771 "I knew Jesus, and He was very precious to my soul; but I found something in me that would not keep sweet and patient and kind. I did what I could to keep it down, but it was there. I besought Jesus to do something for me, and, when I gave Him my will, He came to my heart, and took out all that would not be sweet, all that would not be kind, all that would not be patient, and then HE shut the door." --George Fox My whole heart has not one single grain, this moment, of thirst after approbation. I feel alone with God; He fills the void; I have not one wish, one will, one desire, but in Him; He hath set my feet in a large room. I have wondered and stood amazed that God should make a conquest of all within me by love. --Lady Huntington "All at once I felt as though a hand--not feeble, but omnipotent; not of wrath, but of love--was laid on my brow. I felt it not outwardly but inwardly. It seemed to press upon my whole being, and to diffuse all through me a holy, sin-consuming energy. As it passed downward, my heart as well as my head was conscious of the presence of this soul-cleansing energy, under the influence of which I fell to the floor, and in the joyful surprise of the moment, cried out in a loud voice. Still the hand of power wrought without and within; and wherever it moved, it seemed to leave the glorious influence of the Saviour's image. For a few minutes the deep ocean of God's love swallowed me up; all its waves and billows rolled over me." --Bishop Hamline Holiness--as I then wrote down some of my contemplations on it--appeared to me to be of a sweet, calm, pleasant, charming, serene nature, which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, ravishment to the soul; in other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant fruits and flowers, all delightful and undisturbed, enjoying a sweet calm and the gentle vivifying beams of the sun. --Jonathan Edwards | Mrs. Charles Cowman
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