From "Our Pioneer Nazarenes" by C. T. Corbett
PHINEAS FRANKLIN BRESEE -- MAN OF GOD'S GLORY
1838-1915

Circuit Rider, Pastor
District Superintendent, Founder
General Superintendent
Author, Editor, Educator

	"We are in the sunrise of the Nazarene movement and the sun never sets in the morning."

	"We are debtors to every man to give him the Gospel in the same measure as we have received it."

	"O Brethren, bring the Glory down, when we lose the Glory we are gone."

	"The first thing we prize is the royal atmosphere, full of intellectual and spiritual ozone."

	"Worship rises, high above all forms. If it attempts to find utterance through them, it will set them on fire, and glow and burn in their consuming flame and rise as incense to God."

	"Praying in the Holy Spirit and preaching in the power of the Spirit is God's way of doing His work."

	"We keep a red hot center of fire, and work the edges."

	"We must have unction: it is, the sword that pierces between soul and spirit, the hammer that breaks the hearts of men, and leads them to the cross."

	"O brothers and sisters everywhere, it is your enduement of power; you must receive it fresh by the breath of God, or you are nothing."

	"God calls us to the rank and file, to the forward march, to personal encounter, to wresting of victory out of the hands of the enemy."

	"If His people lack the Divine passion; if the fury does not burn in them, if the Divine arm does not bring salvation -- then the Conqueror has quit the field."

	"Position is nothing; reputation is little. True godliness is the only thing which has any value."

	"Don't count them; weigh them. Not quantity, but quality."

	"Press on! Jesus reigns; victory is still on your banners."

	"The Indwelling Personality" ... "The Inner Temple."

	"We went out under the stars to do His will."

	"We will not be ashamed of a few scars on the coronation day."

	"Meet me at the Eastern Gate."

	These and many more like expressions were the word pictures of the founder of the Church of the Nazarene. He was a challenger and a worthy organizer of the holiness people. Without question he believed with all his soul in the promotion and conservation of the blessed cause of Bible holiness. God sent him for his generation.

	Phineas Franklin Bresee -- "Man of God's, Glory" -- was born in a log house on December 31, 1838, at Franklin, Delaware County, New York. He was blessed with noble Christian parents who early implanted in him the basic elements of Christian faith, right ideas about God, integrity of character, and kindred elements which largely characterized his entire life.

	Bresee worked on a farm in his youth, growing into sturdy manhood that enabled him to carry with ease the burdens and responsibilities that would cause a lesser man to collapse. He learned early to work, throwing his whole heart into whatever he was doing, until work became a joy and never a cross. A worker himself, and not afraid to tackle a hard job, he inspired other men to work.

	Bresee had a keen, sharp mind, which he ever sought to develop and improve. His parents sent him to the district school at the early age of three. After grade school he went to the academy, where he readily grasped the contents of his subjects. He was a clear thinker and had the faculty of expressing his, thoughts forcibly in concise, forceful, and often picturesque language that was easily remembered. Many of the expressions forged in the fires of his soul became watchwords and slogans of the church and are often quoted today in both pulpit and printed page.

	At the age of seventeen Phineas Bresee was converted (February, 1856) in a Methodist revival. The fire of the experience never left his, soul. Immediately he responded to the divine call to preach, felt since childhood. He preached with all the natural energy and enthusiasm of dedicated youth plus that inner glow and passion of Holy Ghost fire. Both of these qualities -- the natural energy and the divine fire -- continued with ever-increasing force and vigor until he finished his ministry and surrendered his commission into his Master's nail-pierced hands.

	The Bresee family moved to the pioneer state of Iowa, and in those raw days on the open prairie young Bresee began his ministry as a junior circuit rider. The Methodist record reads: "Phineas Bresee held protracted meetings all over the circuit in 1857-58, and a great revival took place at Marengo, among the converts a judge, one of the most prominent men in the community." From the very start of his, preaching, Bresee was doing something and bringing things to pass. That was true of all his ministerial career.

	The Bresee family name was French, having come from the French-Dutch Huguenots. They were a people who dared to face Roman Catholic persecution to spread true Christianity throughout the world. The very name Bresee had a Huguenot meaning -- "Coals." With the fire of the French and the determination of the Dutch, God blended in this, man human traits, that were to prove useful in holy leadership.

	Bresee's second station, where he remained two years, was among a Holland colony at Pella, Iowa. Here God used him with blessed success. Returning to his, native New York, he was united in marriage to Miss Marie F. Hibbard in 1860. Coming from a devout family and being deeply spiritual, she was a great blessing to her husband and the people he served.

	Returning to Iowa, Bresee took up again the work of a circuit rider. He served at Grinnell and then later on the Galesburg circuit. Both proved hard fields, as he served them in the strenuous years of the Civil War. Yet in the midst of trying times, Bresee received 140 persons into church membership. Though he was willing to stay, his presiding elder said, "No, you earned your spurs and must wear them." With that he was placed in the capital city pulpit at Des Moines. He had a short term there, for another field called him.

	At the early age of twenty-six Bresee was appointed district superintendent of the Winterset District, covering the southwest section of Iowa. At this post he literally worked himself to exhaustion in revivals and all types of gospel promotion. So a change was asked and he was sent to pastor the Chariton church. One winter night at this, charge, Bresee went to his own altar and the Lord very definitely sanctified him. This became a turning point in his life. Following this glorious event he returned to the church at Des, Moines and subsequently took churches, at Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Clarinda, Creston, and again at Council Bluffs.

	In the year 1883, Bresee was, transferred to Los Angeles, California. The city at that time had a population of 20,000 and when Bresee took First Church they had 300 members. For the first time in his life he had a group of laymen that were sanctified. They asked for and received second blessing preaching. He planned the very best revival meetings of spiritual power and blessing. Among his evangelists were Drs. William McDonald and G. D. Watson for a three-week campaign. In the revival Bresee himself received a new touch of holy fire that penetrated his, ministry with holy unction. Laymen rallied to his, labors, and he doubled the membership in three years.

	"By the grace of God I am going to kindle a fire that will reach heaven," was the challenge he cried as he took up the pastorate in Pasadena in 1886. With renewed vigor Pastor Bresee pressed the claims, of the gospel on all who came within the sound of his voice. God blessed His servant all the more as he held street meetings. One is reminded of the New Testament incidents of the opposition from the forces of Satan resulting in furthering rather than hindering the spread of the gospel truth. The people gathered to hear him on the street and followed him to the "center of fire" and found Christ.

	As the liquor traffic was getting its hold on the young California city, Bresee blasted the evil forces, with all his zealous soul. The liquor leaders were so incensed against him that they burned Bresee in effigy. This only advertised him all the more, urging him to lift Christ to the souls of men, and men came to be lifted by his, message and evangelistic spirit. The fight was on and he made it the "good fight of faith." His next move was to the pulpit of the Asbury Church in Los Angeles. Here he employed such fervent evangelists as William McDonald, J. A. Wood, and the colored saint Amanda Smith, all clear-cut, holiness soul winners.

	Bishop W. F. Mallalieu appointed Bresee presiding elder of the Los Angeles, Conference. In this, leading position he ran a full tide of holiness, evangelism throughout the entire district and souls, found God by the hundreds. During this, period Dr. J. P. Widney labored together with Bresee in behalf of the interests of the University of Southern California, Dr. Widney as president of the institution and Bresee as chairman of the Board of Regents. Both were holiness men. It was during this period, in high recognition of his noble leadership, that the university conferred on P. F. Bresee the doctor of divinity degree. Shortly after, these two men were the leading personalities that brought into being the Church of the Nazarene.

	When the next bishop came to preside over the Los Angeles Conference, he proved to be deeply opposed to second blessing holiness, and Dr. Bresee was placed in a small church in Boyle Heights. The next year another bishop was of the same mind. So with two holiness fighting bishops in a row, Bresee was read out of the church he had labored in for thirty-seven years, and in which he had preached since he was, an eighteen-year-old lad.

	Although he was deprived of conference and church membership, and also his credentials as a preacher, he nevertheless refused to lower his colors or temper his ministry to fit his message to man-made specifications. God had called him to preach, had sanctified his soul, and had given him a fire-baptized message of second blessing holiness. He would continue to preach it even if he had no roof over his head and no credentials except those written on the table of his own heart. It was then he determined to go out "under the stars" to promote holiness of heart and life. God gave him a verse from Isaiah in comfort.

	"Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." [Isaiah 66:5]

	In resume we find that in those thirty-seven years Bresee had been a circuit rider on three circuits, pastored thirteen churches, and had been appointed twice as presiding elder -- in Iowa and in California. Also, he had developed into a strong camp meeting preacher and writer.

	These were divine preparations for other labors -- the founding of the Church of the Nazarene -- to spread and conserve organized holiness. This is Dr. Bresee's major contribution. The verdict of history confirms this fact. The following paragraphs are the first announcements of the grass-roots meeting out of which developed the Church of the Nazarene.

	"Dear Friends: Permit us to inform you that Rev. P. F. Bresee, D. D. will preach next Sabbath, October 6th, at 11 a.m. in the hall at 317 S. Main Street, Los Angeles. There will be a special holiness meeting at the same place at 3 p.m. conducted by Rev. J. A. Wood, D. D. Rev. J. P. Widney, LL. D. will preach at 7:30 p.m.

	"We are also very glad to be able to announce to you that Drs. Widney and Bresee have arranged to associate themselves, together with such Christian people as may desire to join them to carry on Christian work, especially evangelistic and city mission work, and the spreading of the doctrine and experience of Christian holiness.

	"We cordially invite you to the opening services of this work next Sabbath, October 6, 1895, at 317 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, California. -- Committee"

	On October 20, 1895, 86 people stood together and pledged to God and each other their fidelity in the organization and carrying on the work of the Church of the Nazarene, with the declared purpose of spreading holiness and carrying the gospel to the poor. With the charter left open a few days, the membership consummated with 135.

	The first home of the new church was a board structure, erected in 1896 on Los Angeles Street near Fifth. A cornerstone could not be laid, so a huge nail was placed in a proper place and each member with hammer in hand gave it a tap until it was driven in. This shows Dr. Bresee as a man of organization, inspiring the participation of all his members. For seven years the early Nazarenes held soul-stirring, anointed, evangelistic campaigns in this barn-like building, called the "glory-barn." Guides for tourists would include this hallowed spot in their sights of interest about the city. Dr. Bresee later wrote of it:

	"It was the fire that burned within that gilded its boards with glory and made them shimmer and shine with the light of heaven. When the multitude is gathered, and there are hundreds of one mind and heart, and the Holy Ghost descends in His plenitude and power, that place is garnished with a beauty and glory in comparison with which all the adornings of Solomon's temple would be barrenness. Every board shines with the jeweled beauty of the New Jerusalem. What are carved marble and overlaying of gold and trimmings of silver; what are arches and turrets and spires, in comparison with the beauty of the Lord and the Glory of the Divine presence? We do not ask for costly churches. We do ask for the power and glory of the Divine."

	Here Dr. Bresee -- the "Man of God's Glory" -- launched the new movement right in the heart of growing Los Angeles. To assist him he called the strongest evangelists of that day, such as Drs. William McDonald, G. D. Watson, Beverly Carradine, C. J. Fowler, H. C. Morrison, Rev. Joseph H. Smith, Rev. Bud Robinson, Rev. Will Huff, and others. God came in those holy gatherings and hundreds were swept into the gospel fountain. Bresee referred to the church as a "center of fire."

	To give a central location, a lot was purchased near the streetcar terminal and the second church, a brick building, was built on the corner of Sixth and Wall streets. A hallelujah march was arranged from the old location to the new midst much rejoicing. People gave freely to pay for the new church home, and heaven rested tenderly on the people who stood clearly for second blessing holiness.

	Dr. Bresee with his clear, unctionized preaching kept his church in a revival tide almost continuously. He called evangelists only to help raise the tide. Other evangelists who helped him were: Rev. C. E. Cornell, Rev. J. T. Hatfield, Rev. L. Milton Williams, Rev. Seth C. Rees, Rev. I. G. Martin, and Rev. C. W. Ruth. Mr. Ruth's comment on these revivals is found in the next chapter.

	Within five years the mother church had 846 members. Other cities called for a Nazarene organization and Dr. Bresee, with his unselfish spirit and world vision, shared his members; thus he organized East Los Angeles, Pasadena, Berkeley, and Oakland. Added to these, new churches were established in Seattle, Spokane, Boise, and Chicago. In Chicago he organized with 155 charter members in the year 1904.

	Other holiness bodies heard of the power of God on the Nazarene movement led by their dynamic founder and many felt their need of a union; and so in 1906 three men came from the East to attend the Nazarene assembly in Los Angeles. They were Rev. John N. Short, Rev. H. N. Brown, and Rev. A. B. Riggs, properly named "The Three Wise Men." These men were so pleased with what they felt and observed that they asked for further fellowship. Accordingly Dr. Bresee, Rev. C. W. Ruth, Rev. H. D. Brown, and Rev. E. A. Girvin as fraternal delegates, visited the Pentecostal Churches of America in their April general meeting of 1907. This movement was made up of a second blessing holiness people and was never affiliated with the group which spoke in unknown tongues. In the midst of their holy fellowship the brethren formulated plans of the union to take place in Chicago, October, 1907.

	As the delegates of the East and West met, they found there were four districts in each group. Listing the districts with their superintendents, respectively, the Nazarenes consisted of: Southern California with Rev. C. V. LaFountaine, Northwest with Rev. H. D. Brown, San Francisco with Rev. P. G. Linaweaver, and Chicago Central with Rev. T. H. Agnew. The eastern districts were made up of: New England with Rev. A. B. Riggs, New York with Rev. W. H. Hoople, Washington with Rev. H. B. Hosley, and Pittsburgh with Rev. J. H. Norris.

	The Nazarenes had 52 churches with 3,827 members, while the Pentecostals numbered 47 churches with 2,371 members. The union made a combined list of 99 churches and 6,198 members. Dr. P. F. Bresee, of Los Angeles, and Rev. H. F. Reynolds, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, were easily elected general superintendents of the new Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. Seven fraternal delegates from the Southland were "looking on" and they fully agreed they too must join this holy movement. So in October, 1908, the three branches gathered at Pilot Point, Texas. Here the "three streams of life met in holy union" to spread and conserve the message and experience of holiness. The dominating character among all these men was Dr. Bresee, the "Man of God's Glory." He was the human center, the organizing hub around which the movement revolved. The minutes of their proceedings sparkle with holy blessing.

	With the uniting of the southern group (the Holiness Church of Christ) the movement was enlarged to 228 churches, making a total membership of 10,414 redeemed souls, scattered over most of the states in America. These bodies had 3 schools, located at North Scituate, Rhode Island; Pasadena, California; and Peniel, Texas. Also they had foreign missionary activities in 12 nations. The elected general superintendents were: Dr. P. F. Bresee, Los Angeles, California; Dr. H. F. Reynolds, Haverhill, Massachusetts,; and Dr. E. P. Ellyson, Peniel, Texas.

	But the most interesting part of these gatherings was the marked presence of the Lord. God came on the scene with an abundance of His glory and blessed these unions with the mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Without question God's hand was on Dr. Bresee and the founding of the Church of the Nazarene.

	The general superintendents alternated in their presiding over district assemblies. Thus every district enjoyed the ministry of each leader. So in time Dr. Bresee held all the district assemblies and he ordained many or granted elder's orders to those who were recognized from other denominations. Many of these ministers in turn became Nazarene leaders.

	The founder saw two more general assemblies. One was at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1911, where Dr. H. F. Reynolds and Dr. E. F. Walker were also elected general superintendents. The other was the 1915 assembly at Kansas City, Missouri, in which Dr. W. C. Wilson was, added to this, noble board. In the short years of the church's existence a publishing house had been established at Kansas City and a church paper had been launched, named the Herald of Holiness. Dr. Bresee had edited the Nazarene Messenger, which preceded the Herald; a missionary magazine, the Other Sheep; plus a large list of holiness books. Among them were the ones Dr. Bresee himself had written, entitled Sermons (1903), Sermons from Matthew's Gospel, Sermons from Isaiah, Soul Food for Today, and Emmanuel.

	As a staunch believer in Christian education along holiness lines, Dr. Bresee founded Pasadena College in 1902 and was its first president. His main objective was to train young preachers in the work of holiness promotion. He lectured these young messengers, pouring all the fire of his soul into the truth he gave forth in the classroom. He strongly impressed his students with the need for holy, anointed, spiritual preaching that moved men deeply toward God. A flaming, baptized ministry was his cry, one of his last burning desires.

	On November 13, 1915, the Heavenly Father called P. F. Bresee to his home in the skies. He lacked a few weeks of being seventy-seven years of age. Of his fifty-seven years in the ministry he had given twenty to the building of the Church of the Nazarene. He left a faithful wife, with whom he had enjoyed fifty-five years of happy fellowship. He also left four noble sons and two daughters, and a church that was organized for holiness into 35 districts and a membership in excess of 32,000 in America, Canada, Mexico, the British Isles, and many mission stations around the globe. Dr. Bresee's favorite songs were "We'll Girdle the Globe with Salvation" and "The Eastern Gate." He had played an important part in girdling the globe and he was now near the Eastern Gate.

	No man could achieve such success if it had not been that God was with him and the movement this "Man of God's Glory" founded, plus the hundreds -- yes, thousands -- that helped him. But to get a true picture of the man, let us look to his contemporaries.

	Dr. H. F. Reynolds -- "He always manifested great zeal and love for the spread and conservation of holiness in this and other lands. His many years of wide and varied experiences with men and his knowledge of civil and ecclesiastic law, combined with his great vision of God's creative, redemptive, and salvation plan, together with his wise and untiring efforts to perfect our present church movement, clearly demonstrated that he was also a great man."

	Dr. E. F. Walker -- "Certainly he was, physically, pleasant to look upon. Assuredly he was, intellectually illuminating and quickening. Always he was, socially sympathetic, entertaining, pleasant, inspiring, given to hospitality. Ever he was, morally staunch, serviceable, aggressive, a force to be depended on. Supreme he was, spiritually, a personality and power -- in private and in public, in pulpit and prayer -- regnant and triumphant."

	Dr. J. W. Goodwin -- "He was a prince among men. There were combined in his great personality all the essentials of a great preacher, the orator, the prophet, the poet, and the philosopher; with all the characteristics of a great general. He needed no position or special occasion to make him great, for he was greater than all position, great enough to make the occasion and mold surrounding circumstances."

	Dr. R. T. Williams -- "The work accomplished by this mighty man can never die. He put into motion mighty forces that will aid in the preservation of Christianity and in shaping the destiny of coming generations. The secret of his greatness is found in one fact -- he was a man -- a man full of the Holy Ghost and faith. In his opposition to wrong, he was like a cyclone; in his heaven-born convictions he was immovable as the eternal hills; in his thinking he was as brilliant as a philosopher; in his executive ability he was like a Wesley, and withal sweet and tender in spirit and as patient and meek as a lamb. Dr. Bresee sleeps, but he can never die."

	Dr. H. Orton Wiley -- "As a scholar, his mind was furnished with the richest treasures of all the ages. He frequently exhorted the students to read widely, and, as far as, possible, to make all history, and all literature their own. Above all he was noted for his activity. This was his chief characteristic. He was dominated by a holy purpose and gave himself unreservedly to the work of proclaiming the blessing of Christ -- the blessing which destroys carnality in and through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was his, activity and intensity that has given this peculiar characteristic to the Church of the Nazarene, a characteristic which accounts for its remarkable success."

	Dr. G. J. Franklin, who sat in Dr. Bresee's classes and was ordained by his hand in 1910, states: "Dr. Bresee had dark brown piercing eyes that seemed to look right through one. Yet he was a very human man, anyone felt free to approach him, as he readily shook hands, showing himself cordial and responsive. In his appointments, he was very prompt, mostly ahead of time. It was his joy to be early to church, meeting the worshippers at the door as they came in. When out calling, and he did a lot of it with his gray horse, if he would miss a place he'd go around the block rather than turn around. Thus he always went forward. As one saw him in the pulpit, he stood about medium height, was strongly built, and most always wore a Prince Albert coat. He lived out his sermons, using gestures that sometimes made him dramatic. As one reads his vivid sermons, they lose much of the personality of the man."

	Evangelist Bud Robinson -- "He had the face of a saint and the heart of a martyr, the courage of a hero and the endurance of a soldier. He had the fire of an Isaiah, the tears of a Jeremiah, and the vision of an Ezekiel. He had the charity of the Good Samaritan, the purity of a white dove, and the unselfishness of sunshine. His equal could not be found on earth; no man can take his place. His chair will be empty. God alone can comfort us."

	Rev. C. E. Cornell, his pastor -- "Dr. Bresee was surely the John Wesley of the modern holiness movement. He bore many of the features of Wesley. The thin nose, smooth cheek, a similar contour of mouth, splendid head, and penetrating eyes. Like Wesley, too, his hands were slim and youthful. Characteristically, he was kind and gentle except when the fire broke out in his soul, then he was a tornado. He was a friend of the unfortunate, literally thousands of them. He gave away all that he had earned so that the home he bought years ago had never quite been paid for.

	"Like Wesley, he was an original thinker. He was a remarkable student of the Word, and spent nearly forty years in the special study of Isaiah. His sermons were homiletic, logical, and always deeply spiritual. He always took time to lay a sure foundation, and then he built the noble superstructure, and usually reached a mighty climax. His central theme was holiness, and he wanted the glory of God to fill the temple. Divine personality in human hearts was his constant thought. Get the glory down upon the people until rivers of liquid glory run everywhere, this was his cry. He suffered like Wesley, and in his last hours gave minute directions to each, urging loyalty to the church and especially the Nazarene University, which he founded. He died in holy triumph like Wesley, sweeping through the gates washed in the blood of the Lamb."

	Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace (Ps. 37:37).

	Dr. P. F. Bresee's permanent contribution to the cause of holiness is the Church of the Nazarene. He is her acknowledged founder. His zeal brought her into being. His wisdom charted her course. His challenge made her a church of ever-expanding horizons. His passion for God and the souls of men brought the glory down and set the temper of her worship and her program. His example is her abiding heritage and inspiration. He is now in the "more excellent glory" with the Saviour, whom he loved and served so well. "The wise shall inherit glory" (Prov. 3:35). He is now enjoying his, inheritance.

	"I shall set glory in the land of the living." (Ezek. 26:20).

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