In fear and confusion she awoke, terrified but grateful that she still had the opportunity to make the Word of God her infallible Guide in all matters of experience and conduct. The resolution “to test every step as she passed onward, by a careful searching of the Bible, in order to prove the validity of each step as successively taken,” led Mrs. Phoebe Palmer into a life of holiness and usefulness beyond anything she could have imagined in her former state.

The fourth of a family of ten children, Phoebe was welcomed into the home of Henry and Dorothea Worrall in New York City in December, 1807. God was given first place in the home, the family always being summoned for prayer before engaging in the activities of the day. Punctuality in the performance of duty was stressed, and Christian discipline enforced. Most of their children were converted early in life, and several became noteworthy for their godliness and usefulness in God’s kingdom.

While young, Phoebe was born again after a severe conflict with the great enemy of souls, because her repentance was not so agonizing as that of some others in the church. “You should give up the matter of finding heart religion,” was the evil suggestion.

“That I will never do. No, never! I will continue to seek as long as I live, though it may be till I am threescore or a hundred years old.” Her earnestness was rewarded by the assurance that she was a child of God.

Dr. Walter Palmer wished to marry her when she was only nineteen. Mr.Worrall, realizing that the doctor was a Christian gentleman and in every way worthy of Phoebe, gave his consent to the union. Her attitude concerning the matter was recorded in her journal in August, 1827.

“The most eventful period of my life is approaching. During the past eleven months, friendship has been ripening into a mature affection between myself and a kindred spirit who, I have reason to believe, is in every respect worthy of my love. I have not approached this crisis without careful circumspection and prayer. I have ever felt that it was a step too momentous to be hastily taken, fixing, as it does, life’s destiny.

“It has therefore been a subject of prayerful solicitude with me, that the avenue to my heart’s sanctuary might be guarded. I have dared to present a definite request, which I trust has long stood answered that the Lord would not permit my feelings to flow out in a way bordering marriage toward anyone other than as ordered by Divine Providence. And now, after having been wary in the bestowal of my affections, I find them permanently and strongly fixed on one who I believe is, in the order of infinite Love, designed to be a helpmeet. In religious, moral and intellectual endowments, he stands approved. The best of all is that he is a servant of the Lord.”

Phoebe and her husband established a home founded upon obedience to the commands of Christ. They descended to the depths of sorrow when their two oldest children were taken from them by death, one at nine months of age, the other, at seven months. Mrs. Palmer wrote of these afflictions as giving:

“Two angel children in Heaven and leaving us childless on earth. After my loved ones were snatched away, I saw that I had concentrated my time and attentions far too exclusively on them, to the neglect of the religious activities demanded. From henceforth, Jesus must and shall have the uppermost seat in my heart.”

At this time, the Allen Street Methodist Church in New York, of which the Palmers were members, was the scene of a revival, the flame of which burned for a period of two years. Mrs. Palmer and her husband, both keenly desirous of something more in their religious experience, knelt at the penitent form. From a journal entry in November, 1827, we catch a glimpse of her soul struggles about this time.

“O what a lack in my religious experience! I am so fearful and unbelieving. I shrink from crosses and often bring condemnation upon my soul. I approve of things that are excellent but am wanting in faith, fervour and courage. If the flames that consumed the martyrs were before me, and the command given that I should pass through them, it seems to me that I would at once leap through the fire, and yet, strange to say, my timid nature too often shrinks when duty is presented.”

Shortly after their fourth child came into the home, Mrs. Palmer’s life was almost despaired of. Upon her return to health, she attended a camp meeting at which clear light was given upon the doctrine of holiness. The result was that her soul hungered and thirsted for the deeper work of grace so necessary to the success of the Christian life.

“The Lord has given me a desire for purity. I am sure I would not knowingly keep back anything from God. But, alas, there must be some hindrance.”

Soon after arriving home, the Palmers experienced what was probably the most heart-rending and poignant experience of the lives. The mother was caring for her eleven-month old daughter, when she was called from the room to receive a visitor. Laying the child down in her cradle, with its gauze curtains, she exclaimed, “O you little angel,” and left her in the care of a nurse.

About an hour later, hearing a scream, she ran to the baby’s room, aghast at what met her eyes. The curtains around the bed were aflame. She snatched the child from the inferno, just as the little one gave her mother a look of agony and passed into a state of unconsciousness. Within a few hours it was all over. The carelessness of the nurse in filling a paraffin lamp was responsible for the infant’s death.

God enabled the mother to cherish no feelings of resentment, but rather to accept the grief from the hands of a loving God, Who never errs in His dealings with the children of men. Those words of Jesus to Peter, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter,” fell upon her heart with sweetest comfort.

The bereavement elicited the following words from Mrs. Palmer as to its effect upon her spiritual life:

“Then began a weaning from the world wholly beyond any former experiences. Previous to this, I had some ambitions connected with this world. My husband was honoured in his profession, and the tide of worldly preferment and prosperity ran high. Some of my contemporaries, though religious, were ceasing to stem the tide of worldliness. I might perhaps have done the same. But, in infinite love and wisdom, this trial was permitted. And ever since I have been weaned from the world and have loved to walk in the lowly vale with my meek and lowly Saviour.

“Perhaps the light of eternity may reveal that the death of our lovely child has been subservient to the spiritual life of thousands. From the hour of her death, I resolved that the time I might have devoted to her, if living, should be spent in doing something which might be helpful toward the salvation of souls. In connection with the saving of souls, it was the beginning of days with me. And now shall I not to all eternity praise Him Whose judgments are unsearchable and ‘His ways past finding out’?”

In accordance with her decision to labour more ardently in Christian service, Mrs. Palmer accepted a Bible class for young women in the Allen Street Church. At its beginning, it numbered around fifty or sixty, but again and again so increased in number that larger rooms for the gathering had to be secured. She continued this activity over a period of years when her precarious state of health necessitated a trip abroad.

The need of complete consecration to God was made clear. “The first object presented to be given up was one with which every fibre of my being seemed interwoven.” She wondered what she would have to live for if she yielded up the dearest object of her heart’s affection. The she remembered Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his Isaac, and she was enabled from her very heart to say, “Take this object, if Thou dost require. Take life or friends away. I am wholly Thine. Every tie has been severed.”

The next obstacle to be surmounted was that of faith. Writing of this victory she said:
“I had always thought of the doctrine as difficult. Now I saw that it is only to believe heartily what, in fact, I had always professed to believe - that is, that the Bible is the Word of God, just as truly as though I could hear Him speaking in tones of thunder from Sinai’s Mount, and faith is to believe it.

“It was at this point that the covenant was consummated between God and my soul that I would live a life of faith; that however diversified life’s current might roll – though I might be called to endure more complicated and long continued trials of my faith than were ever before conceived of, or even brought to a climax where, as with the father of the faithful, commands and promises might seem to conflict - I would still believe, though I might die in the effort. I would hold on in the death struggle. In the strength of Omnipotence, I laid hold on the word, ‘I will receive you.’

“Faith apprehended the written word, not as a dead letter, but as the living voice of the living God. The Holy Scriptures were intensified to my mind as the lively or living oracles – the voice of God to me as truly as though I could every moment hear Him speaking in tones of thunder from Sinai. And now that, through the in workings of the Holy Spirit, I had presented all my redeemed powers to God, through Christ, how could I doubt His immutable word, ‘I will receive you’? Oh, with what light, clearness and power were the words invested, ‘Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth’!”

Her faith was immediately tested, for no wonderful divine manifestation followed. Then “shut up to faith - naked faith in a naked promise,” she advanced to the next step, that of confession. Her testimony to the fact was, “The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth unrivalled in my heart.”

It was the night of July 27, 1837, that Mrs. Palmer determined that she would shut herself in with God until the witness of the Spirit was hers that she was accepted of God. The tempter whispered that she might be there all night, and all the next day and even more. But the heart of the searcher was set to seek God with all her soul, mind and strength, and she was not disappointed as the entry in her journal for that date reveals:

“The Lord reigns unrivalled in my heart. He has my supreme affections. For some days paost I have experienced such a heartfelt want of the assurance of being cleansed from all unrighteousness, to know that the motives influencing every thought, word and action originate from a pure fountain, that I last evening resolved I could no longer do without it.
“Between the hours of eight and nine, while pleading at the throne of grace for a present fulfillment of the exceeding great and precious promises – pleading also the fullness and freeness of the Atonement, its unbounded efficacy, and making an entire surrender of body, soul and spirit, time, talents and influence, and also of the dearest ties of my nature, my beloved husband and child, in a word, my earthly all – I received the assurance that God the Father, through the atoning Lamb, accepted the sacrifice. My heart was emptied of self, and cleansed of all idols, from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and I realized that I dwelt in God, and felt that He had become the portion of my soul, my ALL in ALL.”

The life received must be maintained and, amid many duties, Mrs. Palmer learned to do this by observing regular seasons for communion with God.

“I will endeavour to rise at four; spend from four to six reading the Scriptures and other devotional exercises; half an hour for closet duties at mid-day. I will resolve, at this season, to bear in special remembrance those who have said, ‘Pray for me,’ not forgetting the exhortation in 1Tim.2:1. If practicable, I will get an hour to spend with God at the close of the day.

“I now saw that I had obtained this blessing, by laying all upon the altar. I had retained it, by still keeping all upon the altar, ‘a living sacrifice.’ So long as it remained there, I perceived that both the faithfulness and the justice of God stood pledged for its acceptance. While kept upon this altar, it must be cleansed from all unrighteousness; for the blood of Jesus cleanseth; not that it can or will at some future period, but cleanseth now, just when the offering is presented.

“By this I saw that I could no more believe for the future moment, than I could breathe for the future, and perceived that I must be contented to live by the moment, and rely upon God to sustain me in spiritual existence just as confidently as for sustainment in natural existence. So long as the offering was kept upon the altar, I saw it to be not only a privilege, but a duty, to believe.

“I also saw that just so soon as I should begin to lean to my own understanding, feeling that I cannot do this or the other duty, just in the degree in which this is indulged in, the offering would be taken from off the altar, and I should have no right to believe the offering ‘holy and acceptable’.”

For more than thirty-five years after her reception of this experience, she and her husband laboured incessantly to spread “Scriptural holiness”. Mrs. Palmer’s books on holiness have shed light upon the pathway of many a Christian pilgrim journeying to the Celestial City. Among these are “The Way of Holiness”, “The Promise of the Father” and “Faith and Its Effects”. The last named ran through twenty-two editions in the United States alone, and all of her writings were eagerly perused by hundreds of thousands, both in America and Britain.

She, with her sister, Mrs. Sarah Langford, published a religious paper entitled, “The Guide to Holiness”. For more more than half a century, it sent out light on the deeper life of God in the soul of man. Someone remarked of these sisters that “they were raised up of God as leaders of His people, when the doctrine and experience of sanctification had been toned down, till there was little left of them.”

But Mrs. Palmer was no dreamy mystic, and faithfulness to small duties in the home as wife and mother was never shirked because she had yielded all to God. A well-ordered household where the smallest details were given attention resulted. Her home was made to serve the interests of God’s kingdom. The large drawing room was thrown open for meetings for the promotion of a deeper apprehension of Christ’s atoning provisions. Here many ministers and servants of Christ came from varying denominational backgrounds with hungry hearts to seek and find a greater enduement for service.

Her labours also extended to the eastern States, Canada and Nova Scotia. In 1859 Dr. & Mrs. Palmer traveled extensively, but owing to the ill health of her husband, they cut short their more distant appointments for a longer stay in the British Isles. Many of the larger cities were visited and services were conducted.

While ministering in Newcastle, they became acquainted with the Booths who were just then stepping out by faith from the Methodist Connexion so that they might be free for wider evangelistic efforts. Mrs. Palmer, writing to Mrs. Booth regarding this step, said:

“Yours of several weeks since, announcing your decision to leave the New Connexion, was received. I do not doubt but the step that you and your husband have taken will result in your both having a much brighter crown to cast at the feet of the world’s Redeemer. There is a danger of permitting earthly position and the fear of grieving friends whom we love, and who we know love us, to keep us from following on in the narrowest part of the narrow way. Oh, may you ever be numbered with those who follow the Saviour closely! I need not say that if you do this, your path will sometimes lead through evil as well as good report. But it is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master.

“We rejoice in what the Lord is doing by you. Glory be to the Triune Deity! My faith grasps great blessings for you. I do not doubt but the Captain of the armies of Israel will go out before you and permit you to see multitudes saved.

“My dear Mr. Palmer was taken so ill with a severe cold which threatened to settle permanently on his lungs that we had written to disengage ourselves from numerous places, and came here in view of being at the nearest point to America, or some more congenial climate. We, of course, did not intend to commence work here. My object in writing to you now is to ask whether your devoted husband and yourself will be able to come and take our place. I have though sometimes that we might in some way be permitted to work into each other’s hands, and thus increase the revenue of praise to our Lord and make our union in Heaven the sweeter. I have been deeply interested to hear how you have borne the consecrated Cross, as a co-laborer with your excellent husband.”
Mrs. Palmer faced considerable opposition while in Britain. The subject of “female ministry” was brought to the fore by a pamphlet issued by a Rev. A. Rees a Church clergyman, in which the right of a woman to preach was violently attacked on Scriptural grounds. Mrs. Booth labored from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. for a week in preparing an answer in which she most ably defended woman’s right to minister, opening the door for the many who were to dispense the Word of Life so effectually through Salvation Army channels.

Commissioner Booth-Tucker in his biography of Mrs. Booth throws light upon the contest and also gives us an insight into Mrs. Palmer’s ministry:

“The occasion for this onslaught was the visit of the American evangelists, Dr. & Mrs. Palmer, who were holding services at the time in Newcastle. The Doctor himself was an earnest, good-natured, easy-going personage. But the principal figure in the meeting was his wife. Mrs. Palmer was a remarkable woman, intellectual, original and devoted. As a speaker, her chief attraction laY in her simplicity, and in the striking illustrations with which her addresses were interspersed. Aiming directly at the hearts of her hearers, and relying evidently upon the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, she became a rallying point for all that was best and most earnest in the churches. Mrs. Booth had been unable to attend the meetings, but reports of them had from time to time reached her, and the fact that a woman was the prominent agent in this movement had deeply interested her. Hence, she had so sooner heard of the pamphlet published by Mr. Rees than her soul was stirred to its deepest center.”

On June 13, 1872, the last year of Mrs. Palmer’s life, she wrote:

“Oh, yes, this body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Whence this absence of all desire to live for self? Whence these ceaseless inworkings, to live, think, speak and work for God? Whence this absorbing, controlling love for God and His cause? Conscious, deeply conscious that I have received the sentence of death in myself. Whence this realization of reliance, momentary reliance on Him that raiseth the dead? Is it not because the Holy Spirit as a living actuating principle, has taken full possession of, and is now working in me to will and do of His good pleasure?”

Another entry in September of the same year:

“My wedding day. This evening, forty-five years ago, I was united in holy wedlock to my beloved W.C.P/. Six dear children have been given us. Three are waiting to welcome us on the shores of immortality, and three are with us amid the scenes of probation. May all make their calling and election sure, and at last appear an unbroken family in Heaven. Husband and I feel that we have been wedded forever. We are most blessedly one in the Lord. What a life of love and labor for Jesus we have had!”

Among Mrs. Palmer’s last written testimonies, before the setting of her earthly sun, were the words:

“I want to say that my teachings have been correct, and I am now testing them in this hour of extreme suffering and find that I am fully saved, with not a shadow of a doubt. The altar is a beautiful type; it is a Scriptural figure, and I am resting upon it. And the altar, which is Christ, sanctifies the gift. The blood of Jesus cleanseth me from all unrighteousness.”

“Thy soul, thy body, and thy every power,
Were purchased unto Him, and Him alone;
And not one day, no, not one passing hour,
Canst thou by virtual right use as thine own.
The Lord’s free servant, thy Redeemer’s claim,
Seal’d with His blood’s deep traceless signature.
Then go forth in His might - work in His Name
Prove faithful until death; thy crown is sure.”