02.00. Out of Darkness into Light

Out of Darkness Into Light; or, The Hidden Life made Manifest through Facts of Observation and Experience: Facts Elucidated by the Word of God. by Rev. Asa Mahan, D.D.

Author of "The Baptism of the Holy Ghost," "The Promise of the Spirit," "Christian Perfection," etc.

London: Published for the Author at the Wesleyan Conference Office, 2 Castle Street, City Road, and 66 Paternoster Row.

1877.

[All rights reserved.] Ballantyne Press, Ballantyne, Hanson and Co. Edinburgh and London

CONTENTS.

Preface

Introduction PART I. Out of the Primal Light into Darkness I. The Office and Work of the Spirit in Conviction of Sin.

II. Character of the Convicting Illuminations of the Spirit, as Illustrated in my own experience.

III. A Great Temptation, A Final Victory, and Anointing.

IV. Assurance of Hope.

V. The Gift Of Grace VI. The True And Proper Food For The Lambs Of The Flock

VII. The Faith Of The Convert As Eclipsed, And Rendered Weak And Inoperative, By The Example And Testimony Of Old Disciples, And By False Teaching And False Interpretation Of Scripture VIII. Trial Of Faith And Triumph Of Principle IX. Light And Principles Retained Through The Entire Christian Life X. A Growing Dimness Of The Inner Light, And A Consequent Feeble And Sickly Development Of The Inner Life XI. Intense Struggles, Conflicts, Fightings, And Inglorious Defeats XII. Light Breaking In XIII. The Legal And The Christian Spirit XIV. Conscious Deficiencies Of Christian And Ministerial Qualification XV. Protracted Inquiries After The Mystery Of The Hidden Life PART II. OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT.

I. The Light Dawning II. The Light Come, Or The Brightness Of The Divine Rising III. Speaking To The People When Standing In The Light IV. The Renewing Of The Holy Ghost V. Free In Christ VI. Jesus Manifested To The Believer VII. The Promise Of The Spirit, Or The Doctrine Of The Baptism Of The Holy Ghost VIII. Results Of The Baptism Received IX. Trials Of Faith, And Victories By The Blood Of The Lamb And The Word Of His Testimony X. Sustaining And Anticipatory Grace XI. The Intercessory Functions Of The Spirit XII. Crucifixion And Sanctification Of The Propensities XIII. Parental Discipline Of The Sons Of God XIV. Everlasting Consolation, Or Our Highest Joys Welling Out Of Our Deepest Sorrows XV. Spiritual Discerning And Enlightenment XVI. The Letter And The Spirit, And The Flesh And The Spirit XVII. Christ In Us, And Christ For Us XVIII. Religious Joy XIX. Miscellaneous Topics And Suggestions--- Sect. I. Giving Testimony In Respect To Facts Of Personal Experience Sect. II. Proposed Remedies For Pride Of Heart Sect. III. Confessing Sin.

Sect. IV. Important Misapprehension.

Sect. V. Great And Little Faith.

Sect. VI. When The Gospel Will Exert Its Full Power Over Our Hearts And Character.

OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT.

PREFACE.

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BELIEVERS in Jesus, as we read in the Scriptures, are "all children of the light, and Children of the day," and are privileged to "walk in the light, as God is the light," God Himself being "their everlasting light, and their God their glory." Thus "walking in the light," they "have fellowship one with another;" and more than this, "with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Abiding in this light and in this fellowship, their "joy is full," "out of weakness they are made strong," in all Conditions of existence they find perfect content, and are "more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us," and "having all sufficiency for all things, are abundantly furnished for every good work." If all this is not true of any believer, it is because he is living below his revealed privileges, and is thus living because he does not "know the things which are freely given us of God." It contradicts every true idea of Christian character, to suppose that a true believer in Christ will "walk in darkness," knowing that he may "walk in the light;" will remain weak, knowing that he may be girded with "everlasting strength;" and will continue "carnal, sold under sin," knowing that he may enjoy "the glorious liberty of the sons of God." The specific and exclusive object of the following treatise is to make known to all who would know and understand their privileges as "the sons of God" and "believers in Jesus," the forms of divine knowledge above referred to. To the prayerful examination of all who are "walking in the light," or are inquiring after the light, the work is commended, with the fervent desire and prayer of the author, that "their joy may be full."

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INTRODUCTION.

I AM this day seventy-five years of age. Fifty-eight of these years have been professedly spent in the service of Christ. During this period, I have had varied forms of inward experience, and have observed important facts pertaining to the religious life -- experiences and facts, a presentation of some of which may be a matter of interest and profit to all believers, to those especially who are now inquiring after, or are walking in, "the glorious liberty of the sons of God." Especially will this be the case when such experiences and facts shall be placed in the clear light of those teachings of inspiration which bear upon such subjects. The period has arrived in the history of the Church, when, in a sense not common in preceding ages, God, by His Spirit, is "revealing His Son in believers," and causing Him to "be formed within them," and to be "in them the hope of glory." Christ, through the Spirit, is "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, and expounding unto us in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" and is "opening our understanding, that we may understand the Scriptures." This He is doing not merely in reference "to what is written in Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, Concerning Himself" but more especially amid the higher revelations of the New Testament concerning "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory." Everywhere the question is being raised, namely, what are our revealed privileges and immunities as believers in Jesus, and as inheritors, through Him, of "the promise of the Spirit?" When these inquiries shall have been fully answered, "the light of the Church will have come, and the glory of the Lord will have risen upon her," and "the Gentiles will come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising." Having sojourned for about eighteen years in the dim twilight of that semi-faith which pertains to Christ almost exclusively in the sphere of our justification; and having, during all these years, "inquired and searched diligently," but vainly, for the revealed and promised "liberty of the SONS of God;" and having, during about forty years, dwelt and walked in the cloudless sunlight of "assurance of faith" in the same "Jesus, who is of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," and who "baptizes with the Holy Ghost," I have thought that a short account of some of the struggles and defeats experienced in the former state, and of "the spoils won in battle" in the latter, might be profitably "dedicated to maintain the house of God." The fixed habit of my life having been naturally a self-reflective one, has, in a special manner, I judge, qualified me in a good measure for the work before me. As a teacher of mental science, I have constantly habituated myself to a careful analysis of my own mental states, for the purpose of a clear understanding of the faculties, susceptibilities, and laws of my own intellectual, sensitive, moral, and spiritual nature, and that for the purpose of knowing universal mind as it is. I have also been in the equally fixed habit of contemplating my own religious states, emotions, sentiments, purposes, and acts, all my inward and outward experiences, in the clear light of the corresponding truths of the Word of God, and this for the purpose of knowing myself as God knows me. I hear much said in condemnation of the habit of scrutinising our feelings and religious states -- utterances which I by no means approve. If we look within, and nowhere else, we shall, of course, gain very little self or divine knowledge. When we look without to Christ, however, the distinctness of our vision of His grace and glory is by no means obscured, but rather brightened, by a distinct consciousness of the results of the vision in our internal experiences. We trust in Christ for the fulfilment of some specific promise in our inner life. The conscious experience of the fulfilment of that promise in that inner life becomes to us a new revelation of His trustworthiness, tends to confirm our faith and love, and qualifies us to testify of His faithfulness before the Church and the world. In the absence of this consciousness the chief benefits of our faith would be lost to us. When, on the other hand, we suppose ourselves to be in the exercise of faith, and the promised result does not arise, we should conclude that a re-adjustment of our relations to Christ should occur. "We believe, and therefore speak." We must be conscious of the believing, on the one hand, and of the speaking, on the other; that is, of the fact of faith and its corresponding results, or we can give no such testimony as this. The same holds true in all departments of the Christian life. Self-reflective circumspection is one of the immutable conditions of a genuine Christian life and experience. We must "ponder the paths of our feet," or "our ways will not be established," and "commit our ways unto the Lord," or "He will not direct our steps."

How absolute is the command of the Sacred Word that we shall "examine ourselves whether we be in the faith," "prove our own selves," "prove every man his own work," and "be ready always," "with meekness and fear," "to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us." In knowing Christ as He is, and ourselves as in Him, and in knowing Him and ourselves as He is and we are, we are in the only proper conditions for being and becoming all that is required of us. The plan of Christ is that we shall not only "know that we have eternal life," and that "that life is in the Son," but that we shall be as distinctly conscious of the nature and source of that life. In short, that we shall "know whom we have believed," what we have believed, and what is the consequence of our faith. Without further preliminaries, I now proceed to the accomplishment of the work proposed.

LONDON, Nov. 9, 1874.