Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
This is a testimony given by Ophelia Wiley, that she wrote to Azusa Street Mission. It was published by William J. Seymour in 1906, in his Azusa Street Mission newsletter.
The Lord makes his Truth so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein. You have all seen a dirty dress washed. But you never saw a person take a dirty dress and iron it. And he never saw them take a dress and wash and iron it all at once. And he never saw a person put on a dress and iron it. The dirty dress represents a person in sin. You're righteousness is filthy rags. "Though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow." When you get the dress washed, that represents a justified experience. When the dress is washed and on the line, you rejoice because the washing is through.
But the clothes need something else before they are ready to wear. What do they need? Why, They need to be ironed. You would be ashamed to take your clothes off the line and wear them without ironing. Jesus would be ashamed to present you before the father if you are not sanctified, but when you are sanctified he is not ashamed to call you brethren. Christ gave Himself for His church that He might wash it and present it without spot or wrinkle. So we must let Him iron out all the wrinkles.
What next? You take the ironed garment and there's nothing lacking yet. What is it? Why you need to put it on and wear it. But that is no work. The work was done when you washed and ironed it. So the Holy Ghost is a free gift. It is the promise of the Father to the soul that is sanctified. You do not have to repent to get the Holy Ghost, but you must be washed clean and wider than snow. Now you have nothing to mourn over, but something to rejoice over. You can know you are baptized. The Holy Ghost will cut your tongue loose and let you praise him in an unknown language. God will not iron a dirty piece. He will take out the spots and then the wrinkles, And after these two works, He will baptize you with his free gift-the Holy Ghost.
William James Roop, M.A.B.S.
Roop-Crappell Ministries
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