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Samuel Brengle and Phoebe Palmer
by Major Young Sung Kim

Samuel Logan Brengle (1860-1936), known as ‘the teacher of holiness,’ wrote nine books on holiness in his life time as gifts for the people’s spiritual life. Reading Brengle’s books should be an experience of blessing not only for nurturing one’s soul for holy living, but also for learning about many spiritual giants as Brengle saw them. The list of the names mentioned in Brengle’s books are as follows: Augustine, Martin Luther, John Knox, Baxter, George Fox, St. Francis, John Bunyan, William and Catherine Booth, Bramwell Booth, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, John Fletcher, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Livingston, Charles Finney, Asa Mahan, Hannah Whittal Smith, Daniel Steele, Dwight L. Moody and more.  

In addition to those names, there is one great female feature that we don’t want to miss in our reading of Brengle’s books. She is Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874)! She is the one who has been called “the mother of the holiness movement.” Palmer is one of the most influential thinkers and writers in building Brengle’s own Wesleyan understanding of holiness in the context of the19th century holiness movement. 

Those who enjoy reading Brengle’s books may wonder where we can actually find her name in Brengle’s books considering her significant place in Brengle’s theological and spiritual journey. Ironically, we will not see her exact name in Brengle’s books as much as we are expecting to see it. However, it is important to acknowledge that Brengle emphasizes Christ as the altar for receiving sanctifying grace through consecrating ourselves to God by professing the simple faith which is the condition of salvation and sanctification. I believe that Brengle’s theological emphasis of Christ as the divine altar in his writings is clearly related to the linage of Palmer’s distinctive teaching on holiness, known as Palmer’s “Altar theology. In my reading, the influence of Palmer’s “Altar theology” echoes in many places in Brengle’s books.

 

It is not surprising to find some books that Palmer wrote in Brengle’s personal library. Especially, we can see Palmer’s two books, Entire Sanctification to God and Faith and Its Effects or Fragments From My Portfolio on his book shelf. These books are considered as two of the major writings for understanding Palmer’s distinctive teaching of “Altar theology.” It is also thrilling to find Brengle’s own signature on both books and his notes on the margins in many pages. In fact, The Salvation Army reprinted Palmer’s Entire Sanctification to God and used it as “a primer for the teaching of entire sanctification within the movement.”[1]  

Having said that, let us briefly discuss Palmer’s “Altar theology” in light of its influence upon the development of Brengle’s theology of holiness. As a metaphor and theological method, the “Altar theology” is a cornerstone of Palmer’s holiness theology. First, it shows the pragmatic implication of Palmer’s holiness theology by synthesizing the ethos of 19th century American revivalism which emphasizes the instantaneousness and immediacy of the work of the Holy Spirit during the experience of sanctification. Second, it shows Palmer’s Christocentric attention in her principle of interpretation of the Bible. Arguably, as a key concept of Palmer’s “Altar theology,” the “shorter way”[2] demonstrates the originality and creativity of Palmer’s holiness theology in modifying and popularizing John Wesley’s teaching of entire sanctification. 

In her book Entire Devotion to God, we see Palmer’s definition of holiness in relation to her idea of “Altar theology.” She explains that: “Holiness is a state of soul in which all the powers of the body and mind are consciously given up to God; and the witness of holiness is that testimony which the Holy Spirit bears with our spirit that the offering is accepted through Christ. The work is accomplished the moment we lay our all upon the Altar.”[3] For her, Christ is “the Christian altar” that “sanctified the gift.”[4] Because of that reason, “the only way to retain the grace of entire sanctification is by keeping all upon the altar.”[5] Now we see how Palmer’s “Altar theology” is implicated into her core understanding of holiness by introducing the concept of the “shorter way.” In teaching of the “shorter way,” Palmer formulated a three stage process - entire consecration, faith, and testimony - as the way of attaining the way of holiness. She explains it as follows: 

There are distinctive steps in the attainment of the great salvation! In that of ENTIRE CONSECRATION, I had so carefully pondered the path of my feet, that the way back again to self, or the world in any degree, was returnless. The next step, FAITH, in regard to Divine acceptance of all, had also been distinctly taken. And now, as I plainly saw the third step clearly defined in the Word, I took the advance ground – CONFESSION.[6] 

The main idea of Palmer’s teaching of the “shorter way” can be characterized as follows: “A Christian must be conscious of utterly complete consecration, of being ‘on the altar,’ before he may exercise such trust. Moreover, the faith was placed not in his own experience but in ‘Christ the altar’ and the word of God.”[7] Palmer’s concept of the “shorter way” is represented as the most optimistic implication of the Wesleyan teaching of holiness. She affirmed the urgent possibility of experiencing entire sanctification now, in the present moment, based on the believers’ total consecration to Christ in faith, by believing that Christ is the divine altar for those who surrender their lives to God who purifies and empowers them. 

Truly, we thank God for Samuel Brengle; his personal example of a sanctified life as well as his holiness teaching as a treasure for the mission of The Salvation Army. At the same time, we also thank God for Phoebe Palmer, her distinctive influence in the history of the holiness movement and beyond. There are many good reasons to continually study their teachings on holiness and to imitate their sanctified lives as models for ourselves to become true followers of Christ.  



[1] R. David Rightmire, Sanctified Sanity (Alexandria, Virginia: Crest Books, 2003), p. 202.

[2] Under the tenet of  her “Altar theology,” in the first four part of her book The Way of Holiness, Palmer teaches her doctrine of “the shorter way,” by asking the question, “Is There Not a Shorter Way?.” In that book, she answers that “There is a shorter way.” Phoebe Palmer, The Way of Holiness with Notes by the Way: Being a narrative of Religious Experience, Resulting from a Determination to Be a Bible Christian. 50th ed. 1867. (Reprinted edition: Salem, Ohio: Schmul Publishing Co., Inc., 1988).

[3] Phoebe Palmer, Entire Devotion to God. 14th ed. Originally published as Present to My Christian Friend on Entire Devotion to God (New York: n. p., 1853. Reprinted edition: Salem, Ohio: Schmul Publishers, n. d.), p. 21.

[4] Ibid., p. 76.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Richard Wheatly, The Life and Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer (New York: W. C. Palmer, Publisher,1881; New York  and London, Garland Publishing, Inc, 1984), p. 43.

[7] Timothy L. Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War (Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), p. 127.

 

  

 

 

   

 

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