Adventures in the Far West | Page 2

parallels--far too close not to have been planned as type and antitype by the great Author of salvation:
1. Abraham was promised two things: first, his seed should inherit the land of Canaan; second, in him should all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).
2. Abraham was the father of both a literal and a spiritual seed, the first inherited literal Canaan and the second inherited spiritual Canaan (Romans 4; Galatians 4).
3. There was a rest promised both to the Israelite and to the Christian believer (Hebrews 4).
4. Israel was in bondage to Pharaoh and his taskmasters in Egypt, and sinners are in bondage to the devil and sin.
5. By a miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, Israel escaped from Egyptian bondage; and sinners are saved by the miraculous new birth.
6. By another miracle of power, Israel entered Canaan through the bed of the Jordan River; and by a second work of grace, believers are wholly sanctified by the Spirit through the blood.
7. By refusing to believe and obey, the Israelites wandered for forty years in the wilderness, just as Christians fall away, grow lukewarm and backslidden many times when they see their privilege of being made pure in heart and refuse to walk in the light.
8. After the Israelites entered Canaan, they had to fight for their possessions; and so, too, do we have to fight for our spiritual possession in the state of holiness.
9. The literal land of Canaan was a good land, "flowing with milk and honey," where the Israelites ate the old corn and wine of the land. Just so spiritual Canaan is the best place of grace under heaven; indeed it is heaven's border-land, where saints have sweet communion with God and Christ and are ready for the great crowning-day.
In several chapters of this book we shall treat the subject of entire sanctification allegorically, using the types as prefiguring Christian experience. The battles of the soul against foes are real conflicts, which leave their scars and marks on many a Christian. Perhaps, out of the experiences of others, the reader will gather something of profit to himself, and be enabled to fight more effectively and not merely beat the air. There are spiritual powers in high places that challenge us to battle; blessed is he who has the armor, the courage, and the skill to win.

CHAPTER ONE
GETTING READY TO ENTER CANAAN
Can you tell me, please, the first step to take in obtaining the experience of entire sanctification? I have heard much about it, have heard many sermons on it, too; but the way to proceed is not yet plain to me, not so plain as I wish it were. Can't you tell me the first step, the second, third, and all the rest? My heart feels a hunger that seems unappeased, I have a longing that is unsatisfied; surely it is a deeper work I need! And so I plead, "Tell me the way."
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Gladly will the endeavor be made to point out the way into the "holiest" of all (Hebrews 10:19). Probably the very first thing to know is that you must understand whether or not you are sanctified. Are you, or are you not? On which side of the Jordan are you, on the Canaan side or on the wilderness side? A definite answer to this question is essential. Sometimes there are doubts in your mind whether you are or are not sanctified. Well, let us first get rid of all doubts. The experiences of God in the soul are too definite to need their possession entertained with a doubt; and to know where we are spiritually is unquestionably our privilege.
If you find yourself on the wilderness side of Jordan, the next thing to find out is whether you are yet out of Egypt--whether you are justified before God, whether your sins are all washed away and you are a child of God.
If you are sure you are justified now, but have not by faith entered the Canaan experience--are not wholly sanctified--then you may know for certain that the experience awaits you.
Then there is one more very essential thing--you must believe with all your heart that sanctification is unquestionably an experience which the Bible holds out to all believers. Do you thus believe? If so, all is clear, and all you need to do is to go forward; or, in the words God used to Joshua, "Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan" (Joshua 1:2).
Do you need your faith strengthened in this particular doctrine? Let it then meditate and grow upon these promises and words of God:
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12).
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).
"And the very God of peace