"It was not because of any complaint against my Christian character. My last Conference passed my character, and the pastor of the Church where my name was identified testified:
" 'To Whom It May Concern: This is to certify that Rev. M. W. Knapp and family are acceptable members of the Freeman Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Cincinnati.
" 'Rev. M. W. Knapp's character as a minister is clear before God and man, and as he can not appear before his Conference brethren, I, as his pastor, cheerfully render this certificate as required by Discipline.'
"The presiding elder to whom I sent my withdrawal, referred to in last week's Revivalist, among other things writes:
" 'While I most sincerely regret to part with you, and believe that I express the feelings of a large majority of both ministers and laymen in our Conference when I also express their regrets at the separation, yet I recognize the consistency of your action, and hope that your work may glorify God and help in the establishment of His kingdom in the earth.'
"It was not because of any hard feelings toward the denomination or its ministers, to both of which I was deeply attached, and the facts which compel the separation pain me more deeply than I can express. My love especially to my brethren of the Michigan Conference doubtless has blinded me from seeing my duty in this regard sooner than I otherwise would. The following are some of the reasons which led to my decision:
"First of all, God has so filled my hands, heart, and life with providential, evangelical work outside of the Methodist Church that I have little time or means to invest directly in it, and I feel that it is inconsistent to be a member of a body, and not act with it, and not give it my support.
"Second. Because of the sinful complicity of the Church and many of its leading officials with the liquor-traffic.
"Third. Because of the awful conformity of the Church to the world and the union of its ministers and members with its fraternities, fairs, festivals, and fashions.
"Fourth. Because modern Methodism, with its unsaved membership, worldly officials, godless choirs, and complicity with the world, is but a travesty on original Methodism and primitive Christianity.
"Fifth. Because of her neglect and rejection of Bible holiness, claiming to be a society for its spread, when she is becoming largely a society for its suppression, tolerating a mere theoretical holiness and rejecting the true.
"Sixth. Because while in some places she elides or opposes sanctification, yet there is evidence that in others she seeks members under the pretense of being a genuine holiness Church. I can be no party to this.
"Seventh. Because she is largely substituting education for the baptism with the Holy Ghost, the cornerstone of her university at Washington being laid by Freemasons.
"Eighth. Because she welcomes an unsanctified officiary, instead of men 'baptized with the Holy Ghost and full of faith and of the Spirit,' as the Scripture demands.
"Ninth. Because, after repeated admonitory warnings from many of her sons and a recent call by her bishops, she absolutely refuses to repent, and is sailing faster than ever into the whirlpool which is ingulfing her.
"Tenth. Because I believe the time has come when I can serve her spiritual interests better upon some rescuing lifeboat than upon the sinking ship.
"Eleventh. Because the Bible forbids being unequally yoked together with unbelievers, while the Methodist Church yokes up with license voters and all kinds of sinners.
"Twelfth. Because for weeks the matter has come up in such a way as to have hindered my faith and prayers had I refused.
"Thirteenth. Because after months of earnest prayer and consideration I have a solid, sweet assurance that God so leads, and that He who has given me victory at every other crisis in my experience will be with me in this, and bring out of it the greatest good to man and the greatest glory to Himself.
"O Methodism! Methodism! how oft some of thy sons would have restored thee to thy former power and to primitive purity, but thou wouldst not! Behold thy commission is taken from thee and given to others (Holiness Churches), who are bringing forth fruit unto holiness. O that thou hadst been true to God and to the work of spreading Scriptural holiness which He committed unto thee!
Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
REMARKS
"Let all who feel that God is leading them keep in touch with Him, learn His will, and do it. If to remain and warn, continue; if otherwise, follow Him.
"'What are people to do when their mission in a dead or dying Church is done?' Unite with some branch of the true vine. God's Spirit and providence will make the way plain. The Holy Ghost adds those who are being saved to some visible congregation of believers. Holiness is antagonistic to anarchistical Come-outism, which believes in no Church assembly. We were not outside of a Church for one single moment. The same Spirit that led out of one led into another.
"Is not this 'Come-outism?" Far from it, unless it is 'Come-outism' to come out of Come-outism.
Modern Methodism largely has 'come out' from primitive Methodism and of God's real Church, and is simply a social club posing as a Church. To leave such a club is no more 'Come-outism,' in a bad sense, than to leave a worldly lodge. Many of her societies are worse than lodges, in that they add to their worldliness the sin of professing to be the Church of Christ.
"There is a pain connected with being no longer in denominational connection with many true children of God; but we have the sweet assurance that we are still one in the union of the invisible Church, and that the baptism with the Holy Ghost which God has given us binds us together just as closely as if old ties existed.
"God's Revivalist, as heretofore, is His organ for believers of every name, and the fact that the New Testament principles involved has compelled my separation from my early relations does not change its policy nor effect its mission to readers of every name. Its aim shall continue to be to furnish New Testament wine and food and fire as God may lead.
MISTAKES CORRECTED
"We call attention to the following corrections of certain mistakes which are being widely circulated:
"It is a mistake that we advise people indiscriminately to leave their respective Churches, to unite with a new Church. We never have done this, and do not do it now. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, learn God's will, and do it, is our advice.
"It is a mistake that we indorse costly churches. On the other hand, we have been outspoken against them, and continue to be so, notwithstanding the fact that, through a mistake, the cut of one was published in the Revivalist in a recent issue.
"It is a mistake that hatred of carnal ecclesiasticism and resistance to it is inconsistent with perfect love; on the other hand, it is a fruitage of it, as is illustrated in the lives of Jesus, Paul, and in all who have the fullness of the Holy Ghost abiding.
"It is a mistake that we ever made an effort to get the 'Temple' enterprise 'entirely under the control of an Official Board in Cincinnati,' and something a great deal worse than a mistake to bring such a charge, and on the top of it accuse us of 'selfish motives in all this management.
"It is an awful awful mistake for a Holiness minister and editor to use his guns in the defense of a carnal ecclesiasticism that is cursing and blighting and damning multitudes of holiness people, and turn them upon a movement that is getting people saved and sanctified continually, and girdling the globe with salvation.
"It is an awful mistake to accuse Spirit-filled, Spirit-led men of being possessed of a spirit of hate because of fidelity to New Testament principles and exposure of humbuggery and sin and hypocrisy in the Church and to the Holiness movement.
"It is a mistake that the St. Louis movement was 'instigated and carried forward' by us. We have reported it the same is we have any other department of the Holiness movement, and have stood for the rights of the St. Louis people and all other people where God so led to form Independent Holiness Churches; but we are in no way responsible for any unscriptural attachments that may have caused its downfall.
"A Holiness 'federation,' the main object of which is to hold Holiness people in a denomination of tobacco-chewing preachers and unconverted members is a mistake that can but be fraught with the blood of souls.
"It is a mistake to charge true gospel ministers, who warn believers of the perils of compromising with godless ecclesiasticism, and champion their Scriptural rights to unite with any Holiness Church, as coveting the honor of being at the head of a new denomination.
"It is a mistake that Brother and Sister Hall, of St. Louis, have been 'dropped' from our work, as they have never been identified with it, except that Sister Hall visited our camp-meeting, participating in it the same as any other similar visitor, and has contributed a few articles to the Revivalist.
LIES FORGIVEN
"Satan has recently been circulating a number of lies against the editor of the Revivalist. We are pained that he has deceived some, who should know better, into believing and circulating them.
"1. The lie that we are ambitious to start a new denomination, and to be at the head of a new ecclesiasticism. This is untrue. In fact, we believe that the New Testament Church has little ecclesiasticism. Jesus Christ is the Head of it, the Holy Ghost the General Superintendent, sanctified officials its executors, and there is no law-making department. A trouble with most Churches has been in men usurping authority which belonged to the Supreme Head, and of making laws, instead of executing those already made. In God's Church this ceases, and there is no room for carnal officials.
"2. The lie that we have lost the sweetness and richness of our former religious experience.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The awful things which we are compelled to say we do in a spirit of tender love, and never enjoyed so much of the Divine presence and favor in our hearts and home and work as during the past few months.
"3. The lie that we not only have lost the spirit of perfect love, but that we have a spirit of hatred toward those that differ from us. This is also false. 'He that hateth his brother is a murderer.' God took that spirit away from us when He converted us, and has given us perfect love through the baptism with the Holy Ghost, so that there is not one single uprising of hard feeling toward even those who are so persistently circulating these evil reports. If we could not rebuke error in the Church and in the Holiness Movement, as well as outside, in the spirit of perfect love, we would fly to the altar.
"4. The lie that we are serving God, fighting error, and sending out missionaries and securing Mount of Blessings for purely selfish purposes. This is untrue, as black as night. We handle all moneys for missionary work and for the school without one cent of remuneration, except the joy of being the channel through which God is working, and we hold the Mount of Blessings property as a trustee, to be transferred to my spiritual successors and held in trust for God and His full gospel until Jesus comes.
"The lie that we are bordering on 'fanaticism.' If any one can quote one sentence in my sermons, or books, or paper unscriptural and fanatical, I will thank him to do so. In fact, my health has never been better, head more level, and heart warmer than today, for which I thank God, take courage, and continue to press the battle in a 'spirit of love, of faith, and of a sound mind.'
"All who have any part in circulating these reports are deceived. Our readers are warned against 'false witnesses,' which God has declared 'shall perish.' 'Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. (Ex. xxiii, i.)
"While we forgive all these things from the bottom of our hearts, yet at the same time we feel that we should warn our readers that they be on their guard, and not hindered in their prayers for us and their cooperation in this work.
VICTORY ASSURED
"Early in my ministry the Lord gave me the first chapter of Jeremiah in a special manner. Many of its promises have already been verified; others are finding their fulfillment. Verses 17, 18, and 19 just at this time are being brought to pass. I am determined to fulfill the commission in that chapter, proving the virtue of the eighteenth verse and claiming the victory of the nineteenth.
" 'Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them. For behold, I have made thee this day a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight
against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.'
"
PROMISES PROVED
"The false reports which are being circulated against us give us an occasion to prove the preciousness of the promise:
" 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.' (Matt. v, 10-12.)
"We have the consciousness that we are right in God's sight. He commands us to proclaim His full gospel, and never accepts any substitutes for it. Woe unto us if we do not teach Bible holiness and its application, not only to heart, but to the life, and to business, and to the Church. It is a source of great comfort to know that when 'falsely accused,' Bible sanctification enables its possessor 'to rejoice and be exceeding glad.' Our prayer is that God will bless those who curse us, and do good to them who hate, despitefully use, and persecute us.' "
THE IMPROVED NAME
"When God leads in little things, as well as great, He delights to comfort and assure those who follow by revealing reasons. The following are among the reasons for substituting 'God' for 'The' in the heading of the Revivalist:
"It gives Him the pre-eminence due Him as proprietor of the paper.
"It is in harmony with the teaching of the Word, which declares that God's ministers are ambassadors of Christ, preaching in His stead.
"The aim of the Revivalist is to help God's interests, and feed, protect, and edify God's people of every name. We design that nothing shall enter into the paper but what meets with His approval. 'In His name' we are commissioned to do the work of a gospel minister, and we rejoice that through His grace we have been enabled to become a member of His family, share His unpopularity here on earth, confess Him boldly before men, with His promise of sustenance and protection here and of eternal reward hereafter.
"This name does not imply that it is the only paper which is God's, no more than the fact that you, reader, claim to be God's man or God's woman indicates that no other person is. Nor does its name indicate that we claim for it infallibility any more than the fact that God's Church bearing His name indicates that it is infallible, or that God's people bearing His name indicates that they are free from infirmities.
"Under this improved name the Revivalist aims to be God's paper, by God's servants, for God's people. We feel assured that the Proprietor of the paper whispered this change to us. If it strikes you a little strange at first, talk the matter over with Him."
REVIVAL FAITHFULNESS
"In order to have Scriptural revivals, there must be fidelity to Scripture truth. It is impossible to have a Holy Ghost revival without obedience to the Holy Ghost as Supreme Leader. If we change His plans and specifications, we become responsible for the wreckage that follows. The Revivalist head which appeared in the first issue of this year is an illustration of this. The artist had been instructed just what kind of a head to make. He thought he could improve upon original instructions by making a number of changes, some of which appeared in that week's head, but which were not accepted nor in keeping with the original plan, which appears in this week's issue; hence that work all had to be done over again, and the plan as given followed. The reason for so much revival work that is useless, and which the Holy Ghost is compelled to condemn and have done over again by others, is because they are not following original Bible instructions. Moses followed fully the pattern given him upon the Mount, or he would have lost his position or wrecked God's work. The awful condition of Churches on every hand is caused largely by ignoring the instructions of the Supreme Head of the Church in regard to separation from the world, regenerated membership, and sanctified leadership. Men, wise in their own conceits, have ignored these instructions, and hence their work is vain, and must be done over again by others. Follow fully the Word of God, and whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD'S CHURCH
"The following are some of the characteristics of God's Church as clearly revealed in the New Testament:
"It is a visible body, composed of regenerated believers.
"Its Head is invisible, Jesus Christ in heaven.
"Its General Superintendent is invisible, the Holy Ghost.
"Its Constitution is visible, the Word of God, as interpreted by Spirit-baptized, Spirit-illuminated teachers.
"Its Executive is visible, a sanctified officiary.
"It is only to such a Church as above described that the Holy Ghost adds daily those being saved.
Worldly Churches are built up of unconverted Church-joiners, instead of accessions of truly-converted people by the Holy Ghost.
"God's Church guards jealously its doors, and only those meeting the Bible conditions of regeneration are welcomed. All truly converted people may be known by the following marks: