General Conference Bulletin, vol. 4

TALK ON CONSECRATION

W. W. PRESCOTT

April 8, 7 P. M.

I would like very much to have a personal talk with everyone here in the house. I think there are times when a little personal talk is a good deal better than a big sermon. There is an opportunity right here now for a personal blessing. I mean right here in this meeting, and yet there is great danger of missing the most important thing. GCB April 11, 1901, page 193.17

I presume there are scores, perhaps hundreds, before me who do not dare say that they know that they are saved in Jesus Christ. There are doubts and fears about this matter, and yet God wants us to know it. If we could have, by God’s own Spirit, these things brought vividly before us, so that they may act upon us, I am sure this meeting would be a blessing to us all. GCB April 11, 1901, page 193.18

Now, let us rouse up in God, and take hold of what he offers us to-night. The GCB April 11, 1901, page 193.19

Lord has been spreading the table before us. If we have not taken hold to eat of the bread of life before, now is the time. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.1

The seventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews deals with the priesthood of Christ. It speaks of the typical priesthood, of the Melchisedec priesthood, and the priesthood of Christ. Now let us read, beginning with the 23rd verse: “And they [that is, the priests in the typical service] truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.2

Now note what the meaning of this is. Although those priests were men, subject to death, and likely to fall out by death at any time, the priesthood was always there. No one could come and not find the priesthood,—not necessarily the same priest; but there was this continuous priesthood in the type, in spite of the death of the priests, in order to set forth this truth that is brought out in the scripture we have read. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.3

So let us read further: “They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this man [Christ], because he continueth ever [is not hindered by reason of death] hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.4

What is the main thing to get hold of in this scripture? It is the same simple thing that is all through the Scriptures; namely, the fact that Christ himself is life, and that eternal life in us, as has been set forth in this epistle, from the very nature of Christ is the blessed hope of our salvation. That is what he is, in the very eternity of his existence, in the very nature of his being, that he has brought right in touch with us. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.5

Some one asked me since I have been at this Conference: “Suppose a man should come to you and say, ‘I want to find the Lord; but I do not know how’—what would you say?” I said, “My brother, tell every such one the Lord has already found you.” Think of it. A man is lost in darkness; he does not know the way. And suppose he should hear a voice off somewhere in the darkness, saying, “Find me, and I will save you.” Then think of the man groping around in answer to that voice, and the first thing stepping over a precipice, or falling into the pit, or going into a snare. Then he is lost, and is in darkness; but he hears a voice offering help, somewhere, and in hunting around for that voice, down he goes. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.6

The blessed truth is that although we were lost, and in darkness, he has sought and found us. That is a fact. He has sought and found us. He is right with us now, and wants us to recognize the simple truth of what he has done. That is personal salvation to every one of us right now. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.7

It is not necessary to wait and doubt, and question, and wish, and long. Accept. That is all. Accept; surrender. Think of it. That is what we do, and yet we do not quite recognize it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.8

You remember a few months ago in the progress of the battle in South Africa, the English general had a good-sized army of the Dutch nearly surrounded in a place from which they could not extricate themselves, and were bombarding them from every vantage point. It was simply a question of time when the Dutch would all be blown to pieces. What was then the thing to do? The general saw that the only thing to do was to surrender. Now suppose he had got his leading advisers together, and said: “I wish we could surrender; don’t you? Don’t you think we ought to surrender and get out of this condition?” and they had replied, “Yes, I wish we could surrender.” Meantime the guns are pouring in upon them, and they are bemoaning their condition, and wishing they could surrender. What in the world is to hinder them from surrendering?—Nothing, only they do not like to surrender; and yet they talk about surrendering as the only way. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.9

Let some of these wills that rise up against God’s way, go down; let them go all to pieces; let us learn what it is to fall on the Rock, and be broken. The Lord will gather us up. He will then heal us. Do not let us be afraid of getting all broken to pieces, but may we let the Lord make us over again. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.10

What, then, is the thing to do?—Just that simple thing of surrendering to the life that Christ himself has brought to us. Now see what it means about Christ’s taking flesh. In taking flesh he united divinity with humanity; he united eternal life with our poor flesh,—not simply in Him who walked up and down in Judea,—but he made an actual union between divinity and humanity in our flesh. He has joined them together. Now, “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder;” because, unless we do, by some real act of our will, separate Jesus Christ from us, put him away from us, refuse what he has done, he will save us; he does save us. He has done something for us; let us recognize it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.11

We are not to put him away. When he has found us, we are not to go on hunting for him, and so go directly away from him. The word is nigh thee, even in thy heart, and in thy mouth; the word of faith which we preach, that thou mightest do it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.12

Now the reason that he is able to save to the uttermost is the simple fact of what his life is. Just look at it. The whole question is, Shall we live? or shall we die? How to live is the whole question. We have had it, “The just shall live by faith.” That means now, and now, and now, and eternally now. Just simply accepting his life, the gift of himself, by our faith, taking hold upon what he has done, and not upon what we do. The power, the salvation, is wholly in him; “and because I live,” he says, “ye shall live also.” Now let us begin to take hold of it. I tell you by the word of the Lord, every one here, that Christ is holding out and offering to every one, here and now, a fullness of his life such as we have not yet received GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.13

This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; this is receiving the Holy Ghost; this is the gift of himself to us. He wants us to believe that fact, and act upon it. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” How many here have sincerely and honestly confessed, and do now confess, their sins to God? How many, acting simply on that promise, believe and accept the fact this very minute? [Many hands in the audience were raised.] Now hold it: hold it. Thank the Lord. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.14

There are some, perhaps, who do not yet dare do this. But why should they not? Could any living soul in this audience stand up here, and give me one reason why he should not be saved from sin this very blessed night? Why not confess your sins, and act upon the promise like men and women, and be no more children, tossed to and fro? Take hold definitely, actually, of the fullness of the salvation of God? Let met ask you: If you believe the message, you believe that the time is soon coming when the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven, and he will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” and you expect to start right up from the earth, and go up there to meet him, according to the creed. Now what in the world is going to be the power that will lift you right up off the earth, to take you up, and hold you there?—Just the very power that is in his own being when he says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.” It is the very salvation of God, by which he is able to do that. So long as we are afraid to trust ourselves in the hands of that power, we never shall be lifted up from this earth. If we felt ourselves going, we should jump to grasp the first thing in reach, to keep ourselves from going up. We should do like the man in the balloon or on the trapeze, who hangs on for fear he will fall to the ground. It is better to trust implicitly in that power now than to realize its force when too late to be benefited. It is not too late to-night. GCB April 11, 1901, page 194.15

It is not a question of position that any man occupies; it is not a question of how long he has been connected with this message; it is not a question of any other thing than just this: Do you know personally the definite message that the Lord is able to save to the uttermost? I tell you this is the advent message. If this message can come,—if it starts with out a half dozen,—God will sweep the world with it. He will do it, and he is going to do it in this generation. There will be delay no longer. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.1

Who is going to stand off, and say, “I would like to see how that works”? What God wants to do at this very Conference is to transform, make over, and fit up channels for the fullness and blessing of the world. That is the message and the work we are here to face. If we never heard a thing about territorial organization, or resolutions of any sort; if every soul here was fired with the living truth of this message, and would go out, he would not ask what territory to go to; but he would find an unsaved soul, and by God’s help save him; then find another, and carry the same message to him, and let it spread like a prairie fire to all parts of the world. When that is accomplished, the Lord will come. Then let us be men in God. We shall miss our life opportunity if we do not improve it here and now. Therefore the whole thing centers in just this one thing—the taking hold of Christ’s life. It is to learn how to take hold of his life, and how to go on taking hold of it; how to receive his life in every way that he gives it, and to know the ways that he gives it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.2

Life is the question, life, not creed, not church, but life! The very best creed in this world never saved a single soul; but “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” It cleanseth all who will believe, from all sin. Now let us have the life, the life! I tell you the life will make the creed, and it will be a living creed, too. Now we need not fear that God’s own life will destroy his truth. It will not do it, because the life is the truth, and the truth is the life. Now when we know the truth that makes free, it will not be to know that certain things are true, and to be able to prove that they are true; but it will be to know him who is the truth. See how the disciples did. When he was making up his disciples, one went to another, and said, “We found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.” He did not say, “We have found some new idea in Moses and the prophets about the Messiah; but we have found him,”—that is the personal Christ, the life. When that life fills every nerve and fiber of our being, it will be the rule of the brain; will think through the brain. It will speak through the tongue; it will use every member of the being. When that eternal life, that personal Christ, rules in that way, we shall simply be the body, and he will be the One who thinks, speaks, acts; and our lives will be the revelation of himself in us. What a blessed experience that would be! That is the actual provision for salvation from sin. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.3

To sin is to be different from what God is. God himself, in Christ, has made provision to impart his eternal life to this mortal flesh, so that the life we now live in the flesh, we may live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. That is not a theory; it is not a creed, but a fact; and it means that we are to lay hold by virtue of the gift that has been made. We are to lay hold of that eternal life, and it is to live in us, right here and now, day by day. What is my part to do?—I am to stop hindering it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.4

Instead of our agonizing to do what Jesus Christ has already done, and what we can not do, let us agonize a little the other way. “Behold,” Christ says, “I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in.” Suppose that when you heard a familiar footstep at the door, and a familiar knock, you should rush forward, and slide the bolt in the door, then say, “Come in; come in.” He tries to come in, but the door is bolted. “Come in,” you say; “I want so much to see you, and have been looking, waiting, anxiously longing for you; do come in.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.5

Then unbolt the door! Open it, and there will be no trouble. It is this shutting the door, bolting and barring it, and then agonizing that makes the trouble. Stop bolting the door, and the Lord will come in. Let the things which we have built up, and are holding up of our own pride and self-will, our imaginings and determination to try to save ourselves, or to do something for our own salvation,—let all these go, and let us fall at his feet. Then he will come in and save. Why, it is good! We do not need to be afraid of it. It is salvation, truth, and strength. It is all that a good God can do for his children, if we will only accept it and enjoy it in him. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.6

Look again at the priesthood for a moment. If you would get the right understanding of it, you would know that when you sit down to the table to eat the food that God himself provides, and that he intended man should eat, the priest is ministering his life to you. When we breathe the pure air that has the real life-giving power in it, he is ministering his life to us by virtue of his priesthood. When we drink the pure water just as he intended we should, he is ministering his life to us. GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.7

That is all true; but there is more life than can be in food, air, and water, and he wants us to receive more than can come that way. It is here now. “He ever liveth to make intercession” for us. That making intercession is not simply to stand there and pray to the Lord. Just think how real it is. He has joined himself to us. With his divine arm he takes hold upon the throne of God, while with his human arm he encircles humanity. That is his intercession. He stands there between the Father and us, not to separate us from God, but to unite us to God; to be in himself the union, having power over all flesh, that he should minister eternal life, so that he that believeth on the Son hath even everlasting life. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his GCB April 11, 1901, page 195.8

Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Notice the next verse (1 John 5:13): “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.1

Do you know it? I want to ask this to everyone in this house. Do you know that you have eternal life? These very things that I have read, he says he has written that we may know it. Everyone here, then, may know it by believing those words. He wants every one to know it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.2

Some think that to say so would be presumptive boasting. But let me ask, How many of you have sinned, and know it? “O,” you say, “there is no trouble about knowing that.” Everybody is perfectly positive, and willing to bear testimony straight off, as to what the devil has done in the flesh. I want to know if it is presumption, on the authority of the word of God, to be exactly as positive as to what Jesus Christ has done. [Congregation: Amen!] What is the use to be afraid of Christ, and not of the devil? When we rest in confidence upon the word of God, it is not presumption to know that it is true. When I come up to stand face to face with the judgment, I want some things positive; and inasmuch as we stand today face to face with the judgment. I want them positive now. [Congregation: Amen!] I bless God they are positive. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.3

“The hour of his judgment is come.” That does not mean that we have come to a certain date simply. Read with me in the third chapter of the gospel by John. If we follow the rendering of the Revised Version, we shall, I think, see the meaning more clearly. Beginning with the sixteenth verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge [instead of condemn] the world: but that the world should be saved through him. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For everyone that doeth ill [evil] hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his work should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.4

What, then, is the judgment?—That light is come into the world, and the attitude that persons take toward that light settles the matter. Light is come into the world. Some men love the darkness rather than the light, and they will not come to the light. Why?—Because if they come out into the light, they fear that their deeds will be reproved, therefore they keep hidden in the darkness. That judges them. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.5

What is the judgment work and the judgment hour of this generation?—It is this advent message. How?—There is much light to come, and is coming, and from this day will come in more fullness than ever before. Here is light that is to come to the earth to lighten the earth more fully. How?—To lighten each individual. “Ye are the light of the world.” In all parts of the world there will be persons raised up whose light will shine forth, which light will be a condemnation of others. There will constantly be a judgment coming all the time, and the light will shine forth all the time. The full light of salvation and life is to shine forth from persons in every part of the world, under all circumstances, among every nationality, every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. That light shining out from consecrated hearts will be the judging of the world. The investigative judgment is the searching out of people everywhere, letting the light shine upon their lives, that it may be revealed who and what they are. We are in the hour of his judgment, and the very light that he has let shine here upon this people since we have been together, is the progress of the investigative judgment in our hearts. Shall we be afraid of the light because it may reprove our past course? Shall we be afraid of the fullness of the light, lest it should have to make some change in us? Walk in the light “while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” That is the very advent message. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.6

This is enough. Now let us act. If you have not got suggestion and help enough from our talk here, do not go away until you settle this matter. If we could have here now, not a lot of surface work, but some rock-bottom work from the heart, God himself only knows what would come to-morrow. Why not? Why keep back these things so long? Why delay? Let us settle the matter to-night. I would that every single soul here might, once for all and forever, settle this matter of personal salvation in God. Settle this matter for time and eternity, so far as we are concerned, and keep it settled. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.7

Then light would shine forth from his word, as to the message that he would have us go out to give, and no man could measure the experience we would have in this message. I am talking facts. I am not imagining, or trying to stir somebody, only as God’s truth will stir them; but it is time we should be stirred with this truth. We have gone to sleep over it. We are in lethargy over it. We do not realize the time, and what this work is. Unsaved souls everywhere are waiting for the light of truth that God has given us, which we have not ourselves accepted! God forgive and help us, is my prayer. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.8

Now, let us change this thing. Brethren, ministers, laymen, young, old, let it be recorded in the books of heaven that on this very night, in this very place, angels of God were here and engaged in God’s work, and that meant success from this time forward. Why not? No living soul can give an answer. Let us not argue against God and his Spirit. Let us act upon his word. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.9

If it should take this whole night to do this, I invite every soul in this house who does not know where he stands now, to wait here and settle it with us before going. We could not spend time better than in doing so. Isn’t it so? Why, brethren, my soul is longing that this work should be done among us. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.10

Let us have straightforward work. I would not give anything for a flight of revival feeling. Let us see where we stand. Let us think more about the solidity of our foundation and the certainty of our work than how we feel. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.11

I believe in present salvation. That is the only kind I know about, and that is present just as long as I believe. My faith takes hold upon that. I believe Jesus Christ died for me. I know he did. I believe this very minute that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from sin; and I have confessed my sins with the belief that God will take them away. And I testify to you, brethren, that it is a blessed thing to be free in Jesus Christ. I want everyone here to have that experience, and that will settle a thousand questions that trouble our hearts. So do not let one soul go away from this house to-night who is not sure, in this hour of God’s judgment, that he stands clear and free in Jesus Christ. GCB April 11, 1901, page 196.12