Be Ye Holy

"Be ye holy." … God requires that I should now be holy… Knowledge is conviction… “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things freely given to us of God."  On coming to this decision, the blessed Word, said to her heart, "Stand still, and see the salvation of God." she was led by a "way she knew not;" so simple, into the "way of holiness," where, with unutterable delight, she found the comprehensive desires of her soul blended and satisfied in the fulfillment of the command, "Be ye holy." ~ The Way of Holiness, Mrs. (Phoebe) Palmer.

“Christian perfection is the name given to various teachings within Christianity that describe spiritual maturity or perfection. The ultimate goal of this process is union with God characterized by pure love of God and other people as well as personal holiness or sanctification. Various terms have been used to describe the concept, such as "Christian holiness", "entire sanctification", "perfect love", the "baptism with the Holy Spirit", and the "second blessing". Certain traditions and denominations teach the possibility of Christian perfection, including the Catholic Church, where it is closely associated with consecrated life. It is also taught in Methodist churches and the holiness movement, in which it is sometimes termed Wesleyan perfectionism.” ~ Wikipedia

“Phoebe Palmer was born in New York City in 1807, into a family steeped in Methodist spirituality. Religiously inclined since childhood, she knelt with husband Walter C. Palmer, a homeopathic physician, during the Allen Street Methodist Church revival, pledging her life to the promotion of holiness. At some point in the year 1837 Phoebe Palmer experienced what she called “entire sanctification.” Her family experienced this "sanctification" soon thereafter. Phoebe testified to the sanctifying grace and afterward emerged as the leader of the prayer meeting, now known as the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness and held in the parlor of the Palmers’ home. In 1839, men were admitted to the Tuesday Meetings, and Mrs. Palmer’s circle widened to include Methodist bishops, theologians, and ministers, as well as lay men and women. Soon the cradle of renewal gently rocked all of American Methodism.

Phoebe and Walter Palmer began an itinerant ministry that took them from churches to camp meetings and conferences throughout the Northeast. Conventional and inordinately modest, Phoebe Palmer insisted that her talks were not “sermons”; she styled them, rather, as “exhortations.” Simply put, she preached. Drawn into his wife’s expanding network of activity, Walter Palmer periodically put aside his medical practice to travel and assist her ministry. In time, he also gained repute as a lay preacher, though his fame never exceeded that of his wife’s.

Phoebe Palmer played a major role in the holiness movement’s expansion to national and international scope. Her impact was increased by her writing and editing. Her articles appeared in Methodist organs such as the Christian Advocate and Journal. Among the leading books: The Way of Holiness, Faith and Its Effects, and Promise of the Father. Publications extended her influence into Southern as well as Northern states and into Canada, where the Palmers ministered personally. In 1859, the couple assumed a transatlantic role as the British Isles became the scene of their labors for the next four years. Upon their return to the United States, they purchased the Guide to Holiness, and during her tenure as editor greatly stimulated the rise of the broader Wesleyan-Holiness press.

Her broad influence was exerted in still other ways: through the New York Female Assistance Society for the Relief and Religious Instruction of the Sick Poor, of which she was the corresponding secretary; through the Methodist Ladies’ Home Missionary Society, in which she was active; and on a host of influential people. To her, more than any other personality of her century, the holiness movement owes its existence.” ~ Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy