Phineas F. Bresee



This portrait of Bresee hangs at the Nazarene
Global Ministries Center.  A copy of it hangs
 at the World Methodist Museum.

As a ("sanctified proud," as some have termed it!) Nazarene, I am happy to celebrate today's commemoration of The Rev'd. Dr. Phineas F. Bresee.  I am especially pleased that, thanks to For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations (Second Edition), those in the larger Wesleyan/Methodist tradition are also observing this commemoration.  (It was my privilege to have had the opportunity of writing the hagiography for Bresee in For All the Saints.) 

Below is the hagiography, followed by the prayer for the occasion (the prayer was written by Daniel Taylor Benedict, Jr):

Phineas Franklin Bresee was born to Phineas and Susan Brown Bresee in Franklin, NY, on December 31, 1838.  At 16, Bresee experienced his own "warmed heart" through a personal faith in Christ.  Soon thereafter, he sensed a call to ministry and was granted a Methodist exhorter's license.  He was ordained a deacon in 1859 and an elder two years later.(301)

In 1867, in Chariton, Iowa, Bresee "entered into the blessing of entire sanctification."(302)  Bresee had been struggling with doubt.  The altar call after his sermon that night produced only one seeker; Bresee, himself.  ". . . [A]s I cried to [the Lord] that night, he seemed to open heaven on me, and gave me . . . the baptism with the Holy Ghost . . . it not only took away my tendencies to worldliness, anger and pride, but it also removed the doubt."(303)  That experience of Christian Perfection would have a huge impact on Breese's ministry.

Bresee served rural charges, and then large, urban churches in Iowa(304) and, after 1883, Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA.  He was appointed presiding elder in West Des Moines (1864)(305) and in Los Angeles.(306)  Further, Bresee served as a delegate to multiple General Conferences.(307)

Education was important to Bresee, as was seen by his serving on the board of Simpson College(308) and the University of Southern California.(309)  Later, Bresee became the president of Pacific Bible College (now Point Loma Nazarene University).(310)

By the mid-1890's, Bresee's commitment to the message of holiness led to his role as vice president of the National Holiness Association (NHA).  The experience of holiness also brought a passion for the poor.  The Church's first miracle after baptism with the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was upon a beggar, and so, Bresee reasoned, the priority of a Holy Ghost-baptized church ought to be the poor.(311)  This passion led him to withdraw from the MEC's appointive system in 1894 to serve with the Peniel Mission.  However, while away, preaching for the NHA, Bresee was ousted from the Mission.  he was now left without the Mission or a MEC appointment.(312)

Thus, at the request of a number of southern California's Holiness people, the Church of the Nazarene was organized on October 20, 1895 as a "Christian work, especially evangelistic and city mission work, and the spreading of the doctrine and experience of Christian holiness."(313)  Bresee was the general superintendent of a growing holiness denomination.  A series of mergers with other regional holiness groups established the church as a national denomination in 1908 at Pilot Point, TX.(314)

Bresee served as the denomination's senior general superintendent until his death on November 13, 1915.  He left behind his wife, Maria, six children, and what would become the largest denomination in the Wesleyan-Holiness wing of Methodism.

Common Prayer for Pastors, Bishops and Abbatial Leaders

Gracious God, our Shepherd, we thank you for raising up Phineas Bresee as bishop and pastor in your church.  Remembering his faithfulness and care, fill all shepherds of your church with truth in doctrine, fidelity in Word and Sacrament, and boldness and vision in leading the people, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever.  Amen.
__________________________________________________________
301 Ingersol, Stan. Nazarene Roots: Pastors, Prophets, Revivalists & Reformers. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. 2009. p. 87-88.

302 Bangs, Carl. Phineas F. Bresee: His Life in Methodism, the Holiness Movement, and the Church of the Nazarene. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. 1995. p. 71-73, 77.

303 Girvin, E.A. Phineas F. Bresee: A Prince in Israel. Kansas City, MO. Nazarene Publishing House. 1916. p. 50-52.

304 Ingersol. p. 88.

305 Kostlevy, William C., Ed. Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement. Lanham, Maryland, and London. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 28-29.

306 Bangs. p. 286.

307 Ingersol. p. 88-89.

308 Ibid. p. 88.

309 Kostlevy. p. 29.

310 Ingersol. p. 91

311 Ibid. p. 88-89.

312 Kostlevy. p. 29.

313 Bangs. p. 195-196.

314 Kostlevy. p. 29.

*(This is a copy of my blogpost from previous years)

Look What Just Arrived . . .

I recently discovered Drinklings on the web.  They sell fair trade coffee and (more importantly) tea.  They also sell some really cool mugs!  For example these two that I just received.

 

 

Check out Drinklings!

Methodist Unscripted

Many of you who follow conservative / orthodox Anglican news watch a podcast known as "Anglican Unscripted."  You can actually get to it through my sidebar (which desperately needs to be cleaned up!).  -  Well, it seems that, following the special United Methodist General Conference 2019, Anglican Unscripted has done two presentation, unofficially called "Methodist Unscripted," where they have discussed the results of the General Conference.  Readers of this blog may well be interested in these.

The second of the two videos includes a fellow "Wesleyan/Anglican," the Rev'd. Dr. Ryan Danker.  That is to say, he is a member of the Wesleyan/Anglican group on Facebook, though he is not currently a member of the Wesleyan-Anglican Society. (Contact me, Ryan, if you want to become a member!)  -  Dr. Danker is also a fellow member of the  Wesleyan Theological Society (sorry I not make it to this year's meeting, and at your own school!) and the Charles Wesley Society.  He teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary in D.C. (not to be confused with Wesley Biblical Seminary or Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University, the latter of which I teach for in their online program).  Dr. Danker is also the author of Wesley and the Anglicans: Political Division in Early Evangelicalism.  (I encourage the purchase of the book!) 

A quick note, in connection to the debates and arguments surrounding the United Methodist General Conference.  I have attempted to keep the Wesleyan/Anglican Facebook page free from comments that might lead to debate.  Though I have control over the Facebook page, it is designed as a group page.  There are people there who hold various positions.  This blog, however, is my own blog, and so the content of the blog reflects my own views.

With that in mind, I encourage you to take a look at the following two videos for "Methodist Unscripted"!



Another Denial Concerning Erasmus

Occasionally, someone will bring up the myth that John Wesley was consecrated a bishop by the Orthodox bishop Erasmus.  There is, of course, no factual support for this assertion.  Further, it flies in the face of everything that Wesley says about ordination.  Nevertheless, there are those who look for some way of placing Wesley within an historical, apostolic succession of bishops so as to shore up their own ordination.

What this attempt actually does is deny Wesley's own claimed authority to ordain as an elder given God's providential placement of him as an overseer of the people called Methodist.  In other words, by their very attempt, they are denying the validity of their own orders and hanging their hopes on this supposed myth.

Wesley, of course, denies these assertions of seeking consecration by Bishop Erasmus.  His right to ordain is on wholly other grounds.

Today, I was reading a passage where Wesley specifically addresses this issue.

In Wesley's "An Answer to Mr. Rowland Hill's Tract, Entitled, 'Imposture Detected,'" printed in volume 10 of Wesley's Works (Jackson ed.), on page 450, Wesley says:

I never entreated anything of Bishop Erasmus, who had abundant unexceptionable credentials as to his episcopal character. Nor did he "ever reject any overture" made by me. (Page 14) Herein Mr. Hill has been misinformed. I deny the fact; let him produce his evidence.

 

That sounds pretty clear, to me.  -  So, please, let's put an end to the spreading of this unfounded myth.  ☺  

Christian Perfection - The Doctrine of the Church of England

I was reading, today, in the 10th Volume of Wesley's Works (Jackson edition), and I came across a passage that says it so well!  -  It is found on page 450, in Wesley's "An Answer to Mr. Rowland Hill's Tract, Entitled, 'Imposture Detected.'"  -  It is a position that has long been held, but it was really nice to find it so explicitly stated by John Wesley, himself.

The quote is as follows:

The perfection I hold is so far from being contrary to the doctrine of our Church, that it is exactly the same which every Clergyman prays for every Sunday: "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name."  I mean neither more nor less than this.  In doctrine, therefore, I do not dissent from the Church of England.

There is a further story about Phineas Bresee (primary founder of the Church of the Nazarene) and this very thing.  It seems that an Episcopal priest was criticizing the Nazarenes for their claim of Entire Sanctification.  Bresee responded by asking why he thought it so amazing that God would answer the very prayer that the Episcopalians prayed every Sunday.

Yes, indeed, the Collect of Purity encapsulates the essence of Christian Perfection.  May it be that Almighty God would cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we might perfectly love God, and worthily magnify God's holy name, through Christ our Lord!  Amen!

O Jesus, Full of Truth and Grace

I sang this powerful Charles Wesley hymn during Morning Prayer, today.  Just wanted to share.

 

1. O Jesus, full of truth and grace,

More full of grace than I of sin,

Yet once again I seek Thy face;

Open Thine arms and take me in,

And freely my backslidings heal,

And love the faithless sinner still.

 

2.  Thou know'st the way to bring me back,

My fallen spirit to restore;

O for Thy truth and mercy's sake,

Forgive, and bid me sin no more.

The ruins of my soul repair,

And make my heart a house of prayer.

 

3.  The stone to flesh again convert,

The veil of sin again remove;

Sprinkle Thy blood upon my heart

And melt it by Thy dying love.

This rebel heart by love subdue

And make it soft, and make it new.

 

4.  O give me, Lord, the tender heart

That trembles at th'approach of sin.

A godly fear of sin impart,

Implant, and root it deep within,

That I may dread Thy gracious pow'r

And never dare to offend Thee more.