William Bramwell and the Blessing of Holiness

"To the end of his life, wherever he went, his first inquiry was about those who experienced sanctification, and it would be to entirely miss the lesson of his life if we did not thoroughly examine his teaching and testimony on this part of Christian doctrine," so said C. W. Andrews, in his short biography of William Bramwell, the old time Methodist revivalist.

He came of godly Church of England stock, and was at first a little biased against the disciples of John Wesley. But he came under their influence and arising from a personal in­terview with Wesley himself, threw his lot in with them, and became one of their first class leaders, local preachers, and then ministers.

Coldness, dullness and spiritual in­difference had crept into British Methodist circles within ten years of its founder's death. In such an atmosphere as this Bramwell took the platform, and declared not only that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, but that the Spirit of God could also sanctify each of them. In proclaiming the message William Bramwell was well in keeping with Wesley's instructions. But what if the life lived does not tally with the doctrine proclaimed?

No one could ever make such a claim against Bramwell. One who was closely connected with him said: "I knew him intimately for 20 years. I lived in the same house with him in his seasons of relaxation as well as occupation, but never saw him in such a temper that I could reprove. His soul was like a spring, continually overflowing with the most amiable and benevolent emotion!" William Bramwell trod consistently the pathway of the holy. Like Enoch before him he "walked with God," and in his death had the testimony that his way of life "pleased God." He could wish for no other epitaph.

With a conviction that his way of life was not all that the Lord willed for His redeemed people, came the realization that God had "something better for him."I was for some time deeply convinced of my need of purity," he wrote. "I sought it carefully with tears, entreaties, and sacrifices; thinking nothing too much to give up, nothing too much to do or suffer, if I might but attain this pearl of great price. Yet I found it not, nor knew the reason why, till the Lord showed me I had erred in the way of seeking it. I did not seek it by faith alone. Still it tarried a little, but I waited for it in the way of faith."

He went to see a friend in Liverpool, Lancashire County. As he was medi­tating in spiritual things "heaven came down to earth." "It came to my soul," he said.

"The Lord, for whom I had waited, came suddenly to the temple of my heart. I had an immediate evidence that this was the blessing I had for some time been seeking. My soul was then all wonder, love, and praise."

Bramwell wrote that 26 years after he had entered the actual experience. "I have walked in that liberty ever since," he added. "Glory be to God. I have been kept by His power. By faith I stand."

Bramwell was to be deeply taught in the school of the Spirit, and had to learn that the closer he walked with the Lord, the greater would be the frustrations and oppositions of the powers of evil. Only a few moments after he had stepped out on the highway of holiness (Isa. 35:8) Satan came to him and whispered in his ear that he'd better not testify to having re­ceived the blessing. To reach his preaching appointment that evening he had a journey of fifteen miles, and every inch of it, as he walked along, he felt that Satanic temptation repeated. "Do not profess sanctification, for thou wilt lose it."

In all such situations the Lord has promised victory. No temptation is allowed to come our way that cannot be conquered in the power of God's grace. Paul’s testimony each earnest seeker after God’s fullness can make, that “He maketh my life a constant pageant of triumph in Christ.” Bramwell rebuked the Aggressor, and true to the Bible’s teaching, Satan fled from him. He arrived at his preaching appointment, took the platform and right there and then testified to having crossed the Jordan and having entered into the abiding experience of heart holiness.

“My soul was again filled with glory and with God,” he said later. I declared to the people what God had done for my soul: and this I have done on every proper occasion since that time, believing it to be a duty incumbent upon me…. I think such a blessing cannot be retained without professing it at every fit opportunity, for it is thus we glorify God, and ‘with the mouth make confession unto salvation.’”

By E.W. Lawrence