The Dove Descending and Abiding (Rewritten)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe, in her fine essay on “Primitive Christian Experience,” uses the following language:

“The advantages to the Christian Church in setting before it distinct points of attainment, are very nearly the same in result as the advantages of preaching immediate regeneration in preference to indefinite exhortation to men to lead sober, righteous, and godly lives. It has been found, in the course of New England preaching, that pressing men to an immediate and definite point of conversion, produced immediate and definite results; and so it has been found among Christians, that pressing them to an immediate and definite point of attainment will, in like manner, result in marked and decided progress. For this reason it is, that, among the Moravian Christians, where the experience by them denominated full assurance of faith was much insisted on, there were more instances of high religious faith than in almost any other denomination.”

That is a strikingly practical insight, grounded in real observation.

John Wesley confirms it from his own wide-ranging experience when he says, “Wherever the work of sanctification increased, the whole work of God increased in all its branches.” In 1765, Wesley noticed that in Bristol there were fifty fewer members than when he had last been there. He explained the decline simply: Christian perfection had not been insisted on. And wherever that emphasis was missing, no matter how gifted the preacher, there was little growth — either in numbers or in grace.

When believers are shown a clear, attainable spiritual goal — one they can enter into immediately — it gathers the whole strength of the soul. Prayer becomes focused instead of scattered. Faith stops drifting and becomes a deliberate act: a bold, willing venture on God’s promise. With a definite target in view, faith reaches its highest power and wins its greatest victories.

Still, this is where many people hesitate. They don’t deny the logic, but they question the facts. They ask whether the New Testament really presents such a clear line — something believers can step across in a single moment. They argue that in the apostolic church, spiritual growth after conversion was gradual, not instantaneous. According to them, the regenerated believer slowly matures, without the sudden spiritual breakthroughs insisted on by those who preach a “higher life.”

My purpose today is to show that the New Testament does, in fact, record numerous instances of an immediate rise into a deeper and richer spiritual experience — and more than that, that this kind of experience was normal among early Christians. We will show that what Scripture calls the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same thing as the blessing of perfect love. 

During one of his missionary journeys, the apostle Paul encountered Jewish teachers who insisted that Gentile Christians must also live as Jews and obey the Levitical law. The controversy was taken to Jerusalem, where the apostles and elders met to decide the matter. After much discussion, Peter stood and reminded them of his experience in preaching to the Gentiles. He said that God had chosen him to bring the gospel to them, and that God confirmed it by giving them the Holy Spirit in the same way he had given Him to the Jewish believers — “purifying their hearts by faith.”

Peter is referring to his visit to Cornelius and those gathered with him at Caesarea. On another occasion, he describes what happened there by saying, “As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning” — a clear reference to Pentecost. At that moment, the apostles themselves were filled — baptized — with the Holy Spirit, fulfilling Jesus’ promise: “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

From this, the conclusion is unavoidable. The baptism with the Holy Spirit includes, on the negative side, the cleansing of sin from the believer’s heart, and on the positive side, the filling of that heart with divine love. In other words, it includes entire sanctification and Christian perfection.

Let’s trace how we arrive at this conclusion.

Jesus promised His disciples that once He was glorified, they would receive something they could not receive while He was still physically with them (John 7:38–39). This blessing could not have been forgiveness, because Jesus was already granting pardon daily. Instead, it was a powerful, abiding gift — something that would turn believers into living fountains, from whom “rivers of living water” would flow.

This tells us two things clearly: there is a blessing beyond pardoning grace, and there is often an interval between them. What remains is to show that this second blessing is entire sanctification.

The evidence unfolds along several lines. First, there is the overwhelming fullness of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, ten days after Jesus ascended. Second, Peter explicitly states that the Spirit poured out on Cornelius and his household was the same in nature and effect as Pentecost. Third, Peter’s comment in Acts 15:9—“purifying their hearts by faith”—makes it unmistakable that the Spirit came in His role as Sanctifier.

This single phrase settles the matter. To be filled with the Spirit is to be freed from the rule of the flesh. Since only two forces contend for the soul — the flesh and the Spirit — being completely filled with one excludes the other. Partial filling leaves room for conflict; complete filling brings deliverance. As Paul says in Galatians 5:17, these forces are opposed to each other.

It must still be shown that Cornelius and his household were already justified before receiving this fullness of the Spirit. Scripture describes Cornelius as devout, God-fearing, generous, and constant in prayer. Peter himself declares that in every nation, anyone who fears God and does what is right is accepted by Him. To be accepted by God is to be justified by God.

There is no record of conviction of sin during Peter’s sermon at Caesarea — no piercing of hearts, no cry of “What shall we do?” Instead, they were ready at once to receive the Holy Spirit. That is why the Jerusalem church rightly concluded, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Their repentance had preceded the outpouring of the Spirit.

At Pentecost, the power of God was so great that believers were instantly filled without preaching, while unbelievers listening to Peter were swiftly transformed into repentant believers. The final crown of their conversion was “the gift of the Holy Ghost,” seen in unselfishness, unity, gladness, and simplicity of heart. Still, in most cases recorded in Acts, there is a short interval between conversion and the Spirit’s baptism.

That pattern appears clearly in Samaria. Under Philip’s preaching, the people believed, rejoiced, and were baptized with water. Later, Peter and John came specifically to lead these converts into a deeper experience. They prayed, laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit — not merely in miraculous gifts, but as a lasting spiritual endowment. As Dr. Daniel Whedon explains in his commentary, these believers were already regenerated by the Spirit’s quiet work; now they received His fuller, more powerful presence. He says: 

"They received the Holy Ghost in his miraculous and extraordinary manifestation, not merely sanctifying but charismatic. They had doubtless been regenerated by that Spirit before their baptism, in his secret and ordinary power and operation."

At Ephesus, Paul found certain disciples and immediately asked them, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2). Whether one emphasizes time or means in the wording, the implication is unavoidable: being a disciple is not, by itself, proof of having received the Spirit in fullness. Otherwise, Paul’s question would have been meaningless.

This question was likely Paul’s standard inquiry when meeting believers converted under another’s ministry. Not knowing their spiritual state — and fearing they had missed “the greatest gift Heaven can send” — he asked directly whether they had received the Holy Spirit. If he visited our churches today, we have little doubt that this would still be his first question — and perhaps no small surprise at how many would answer, “We have not so much as heard” of the Spirit as a constant indwelling presence.

The baptism, anointing, fullness, indwelling, sealing, and communion of the Holy Spirit are simply different names for the same reality: the state of Christian perfection. Wherever Scripture uses these terms, it points to a life of settled peace, steady trust, freedom from fleshly desire, and deliverance from inbred sin — a life “filled with all the fullness of God.”

This theme dominates Paul’s later letters. He urges believers to be filled with the Spirit and prays that they may know Christ’s love beyond knowledge. And Paul was nothing if not practical. He never pressed people toward what could not be attained.

John Fletcher

As Meyer outlines, the usual order is hearing, faith, baptism, and then the communication of the Holy Spirit — though some exceptions in Acts show that when believers are urged to seek the blessing immediately, they often attain it quickly. Such was the case with John Fletcher, and with many in Wesley’s revivals, where young converts entered into perfect love within days — or even hours — of justification.

Wesley carefully examined every case, questioning each person closely. His journals show astonishing thoroughness and honesty. In one instance alone, he interviewed fifty-one individuals who testified to being sanctified within days of conversion. No scientist ever gathered evidence more carefully.

Some object that Jesus Himself had no sin to be cleansed from, yet He was baptized with the Holy Spirit. The answer is simple. Sanctification has a negative side — destroying sin — but its larger work is positive: filling every faculty with divine life and power. Even a sinless soul needs that fullness. Spirit-baptism is the normal path to full development for every soul.

Jesus’ human nature grew, learned, prayed, fasted, worshiped, and depended fully on God. Though equal with the Spirit as the Son of God, He received the Spirit as the Son of Man — in the same way all believers do: by faith in the Father’s promise. In this, as in prayer and obedience, He is our perfect example.

What a transformation would take place in the Church if preachers pressed this truth as clearly as the early apostles did — if the first question again became, “Have ye received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”
Then I would gladly lay down my pen and say with Simeon, “Now let your servant depart in peace.”

 

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This is a revision of the first part of Chapter 7 of Love Enthroned: Essays on Evangelical Perfection (1875) by Daniel Steele, completely rewritten with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original chapter can be found here: METAPHORICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF PERFECT LOVE.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This argument is for the standard view in the Holiness Movement that Baptism with the Holy Spirit is to be identified with Entire Sanctification. This is certainly the view I learned in my youth, and it has been defended by some, including notably Dr. Laurence W. Wood, in his many writings. See, for example: The Baptism with the Spirit: Wesley's Caution. A major objection, in modern scholarship, to this understanding is found in James D. G. Dunn's book (now considered a classic) Baptism in the Holy Spirit (1970). Dunn identifies Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the event of conversion and initiation into the Christian faith. His argument has been very influential. 

But, actually, during Daniel Steele's lifetime the identification of Baptism with the Spirit with Entire Sanctification was challenged by Dr. James Mudge in his book Growth in Holiness Toward Perfection (1895), chapter 6 "Baptism with the Holy Ghost." Dr. Mudge was uncomfortable with the Holiness Movement in general and the idea of Entire Sanctification in particular. Daniel Steele was alarmed by Mudge's book and wrote a response: A Defense of Christian Perfection (1898). Mudge objects to the idea that The Baptism with the Holy Spirit should be identified with any experience subsequent to conversion / justification. Steele's reply is brief. But, in Steele's response to Mudge, he seems to me to surrender the whole point! His reply is here: Baptism with the Holy Ghost. 

 He says: 

[this terminology] "may have relevancy to some modern advocates of Christian Perfection, but is not relevant to the doctrine as taught by Wesley and Wesleyan standard theologians. For rhetorical reasons, Wesley used at least twenty-five phrases to indicate this state of grace. But among these, "the baptism of the Spirit," "the fullness of the Spirit," "the coming of the Comforter," are not found. In speaking of "a second change," of being "saved from all sin and perfected in love," he says: "If they like to call this 'receiving the Holy Ghost,' they may; only the phrase, in that sense, is not scriptural, and not quite proper; for they all 'received the Holy Ghost' when they were justified. God then ‘sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" 

He closes out his brief rejoinder with this:

"Our author's chapter on the baptism of the Spirit might have been included in his discussion of irrelevant texts, on none of which do our standard theologians ground the doctrine of Christian perfection. It is to be regretted that he did not take more space for his explanation of the texts considered as relevant."

This seems to me to be a retraction.