IS SIN A NECESSITY? CHAPTER I. THE OFFER OF £100 AND WHAT CAME OF IT. N one of his addresses at the Keswick Convention IN of 1895, the Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe stated that sin must indwell all believers to the last moment of their lives, and that this was the teaching of the Keswick platform, or any other platform where Keswick speakers were truly represented. MR. WEBB-PEPLOE ADDED: "When I read such words as dear John Wesley's, 'The evil root, the carnal mind, is destroyed in me; sin subsists no longer,' I can only marvel that any human being, with the teaching of the Holy Ghost upon the Word of God, can thus deceive himself, or attempt to deceive others. It is, I think, a miracle of blindness" that we can study God's Word, and imagine that any man can be free from sin experimentally while here in the mortal body." This remarkable statement, and attack on John Wesley's teaching, was published in the official record of the Keswick Convention, and widely circulated. Believing that Mr. Webb-Peploe's statement did not meet with the approval of THE VAST MAJORITY of those attending the Keswick Convention, or of many on the platform, I hesitated to publicly denounce the error. My hands, however, were soon forced. I found that the published reports of Mr. Webb - Peploe's statement were being used by different opponents of Scriptural Holiness to frustrate the grace of God, and undermine the labours of the Pentecostal League in the Churches. It was confidently asserted that the statement would not have been made, or published by the Keswick authorities, without plenty of Scripture to support it. So serious became the position of affairs that I decided to meet it in the MOST PUBLIC MANNER by offering £100 (for the benefit of the Keswick Mission Fund) to the first Keswick speaker who should forward me a passage of Scripture which, read with the context, positively affirms the necessity of sin in the Spirit-filled believer. The following is an exact copy of the offer which was published in the November issue of Tongues of Fire: "AN OFFER TO THE KESWICK PLATFORM. "In consequence of the public statement made by the Rev. Prebendary Webb - Peploe at the recent Keswick Convention, and published in The Keswick Week (the official report of that Convention, edited by the Rev. Evan H. Hopkins), that sin must remain in the cleansed and Spirit-filled believer until death, and that all who truly represent themselves as Keswick speakers so teach, we make the following offer : "The Editor of Tongues of Fire will pay the sum of £100 (for the benefit of the Keswick Mission Fund) to the first Keswick speaker who forwards him a passage of Scripture which, read with the context, positively affirms the necessity of sin in the Spirit-filled believer. "We are sure that Mr. Webb- Peploe's statement did not meet with the approval of the vast majority of those attending the Keswick Convention. It was made. It has not been withdrawn. Hence our offer. "We will publish in our next number the response (if any) which we may receive to this offer." I little thought, when I published the above, what a stir it would create, and how much would be written about it in both the secular and religious. press. This résumé of the discussion must be confined to |