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Phoebe Palmer
Phoebe Palmer (1807–1874) was an American preacher, evangelist, and writer whose dynamic ministry was instrumental in shaping the 19th-century Holiness movement within Methodism. Born Phoebe Worrall on December 18, 1807, in New York City, she was the fourth of sixteen children of Henry Worrall, a Methodist convert from England’s Wesleyan Revival, and Dorothea Wade Worrall. Raised in a devout household with twice-daily family worship, she married Walter Clarke Palmer, a homeopathic physician and fellow Methodist, in 1827. The couple endured profound personal tragedy, losing three of their four children in infancy—Alexander at nine months, Samuel at seven weeks, and Eliza in a crib fire at eleven months—events that deepened Phoebe’s spiritual quest. On July 26, 1837, she experienced what she called “entire sanctification,” a pivotal moment that fueled her ministry. Palmer’s preaching career took off as she became a leading voice in the Holiness movement, promoting a simplified path to Christian perfection based on John Wesley’s teachings. In 1837, she assumed leadership of the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, a women’s prayer group started by her sister Sarah Lankford in 1835, which she later opened to men, including Methodist bishops and theologians, growing it into a significant revivalist platform. Alongside Walter, she preached at over 300 camp meetings, churches, and conferences across the United States, Canada (1857), and the United Kingdom (1859–1863), converting an estimated 25,000 people. She authored influential works like The Way of Holiness (1843) and The Promise of the Father (1859), the latter defending women’s right to preach, and edited The Guide to Holiness magazine from 1864 until her death. Palmer died on November 2, 1874, in New York City, leaving a legacy as a trailblazing female evangelist whose altar theology and social activism—including founding the Five Points Mission in 1850—reshaped evangelical faith and women’s roles in ministry. She was survived by her husband and daughter Phoebe Knapp, a hymn composer.
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Phoebe Palmer preaches about the journey of consecration and surrender to God, emphasizing the importance of counting the cost and entering into an everlasting covenant with the Lord. Through deliberate resolve and a hallowed sense of consecration, one can experience a deep conviction of being wholly the Lord's and a divine assurance of being recognized in heaven. This journey leads to a state of being 'wholly thine,' where every tie to earth is severed, and the heart is fully surrendered to God, realizing that true holiness is found in complete devotion and conformity to the will of God.
Thou Message From the Skies! Ray for the Rayless Heart!
Thou message from the skies! Ray for the rayless heart! Thou fount of wisdom for the wise! A balm for all thou art. Man of my counsel, thou! Blessings untold rejoice The heart of those who meekly bow, To listen to thy voice. It was on this wise that the word of the Lord, the "Book of books," as a "mighty counselor," urged her onward, and by unerring precept directed every step of the way. And as each progressive step by which she was ushered into the enjoyment of this blessed state of experience was as distinctly marked, by its holy teachings, as those already given, may it not be presumed, that some heretofore wavering one may be induced to rest more confidently in the assurance that "the word of the Lord is tried," and is the same in its immutable nature as the Faithful and True, by stating, as nearly as will comport with the brevity required, the steps as successively taken by which this disciple of Jesus entered? Over and again, previous to the time mentioned, had she endeavored to give herself away in covenant to God. But she had never till this hour, deliberately resolved on counting the cost, with the solemn intention to "reckon herself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord;" to account herself permanently the Lord's, and in verity no more at her own disposal, but irrevocably the Lord's property, for time and eternity. Now, in the name of the Lord Jehovah, after having deliberately "counted the cost," she resolved to enter into the bonds of an everlasting covenant, with the fixed purpose to count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus, that she might know him and the power of his resurrection, by being made conformable to his death, and raised to an entire newness of life. Apart from any excitement of feeling, other than the sacred awe inspired by the solemnity of the act, she now, in experimental verity, did lay hold upon the terms of the covenant, by which God has condescended to bind himself to his people, being willing, yea, even desirous, to bring down the responsibility of a perpetual engagement upon herself, even in the sight of heaven. So intensely was she desirous that earth should usurp a claim no more, she asked: that the solemn act might be recorded before the eternal throne, that the "host of the Lord that encamp round about them that fear him" might bear witness, and also the innumerable company of the redeemed, blood-washed spirits, should behold yet another added to their choir in spirit, and also in song; and though still a resident of earth, they should witness the ceaseless return of all her redeemed powers, through Christ, ascending as an acceptable sacrifice. The obligation to take the service of God as the absorbing business of life, and to regard heaven as her native home, and the accumulation of treasure in heaven the chief object of ambition, was at this solemn moment entered upon. On doing this, a hallowed sense of consecration took possession of her soul; a divine conviction that the covenant was recognized in heaven, accompanied with the assurance that the seal, proclaiming, her wholly the Lord's, was set: while a consciousness, deep and abiding, that she had been but a co-worker with God in this matter, added still greater confirmation to her conceptions of the extent and permanency of those heaven-inspired exercises, by which a mighty work had been wrought in and for her soul, which she felt assured would tell on her eternal destiny, even after myriads of ages had been spent in the eternal world. But she did not at the moment regard the state into which she had been brought as the "way of holiness," neither had the word holiness been the most prominent topic during this solemn transaction. Conformity to the will of God in all things was the absorbing desire of her heart. Yet after having passed through these exercises she began to give expression to her full soul thus: "I am wholly thine! -- Thou dost reign unrivaled in my heart! There is not a tie that binds me to earth; every tie has been severed, and now I am wholly, wholly thine!" While lingering on the last words, the Holy Spirit appealingly repeated the confident expressions to her heart, thus: What! wholly the Lord's? Is not this the holiness that God requires? What have you more to render? Does God require more than all? Hath he issued the command, "Be ye holy," and not given the ability, with the command, for the performance of it? Is he hard master, unreasonable in his requirements? She now saw, in a convincing light, her error in regarding holiness as an attainment beyond her reach, and stood reproved, though consciously shielded by the atonement from condemnation, and enjoying the blessedness of that soul "to whom the Lord will not impute sin." And now the eyes of her understanding were more fully opened, and founded on eternal faithfulness did she find the words of the Savior, "If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine."
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Phoebe Palmer (1807–1874) was an American preacher, evangelist, and writer whose dynamic ministry was instrumental in shaping the 19th-century Holiness movement within Methodism. Born Phoebe Worrall on December 18, 1807, in New York City, she was the fourth of sixteen children of Henry Worrall, a Methodist convert from England’s Wesleyan Revival, and Dorothea Wade Worrall. Raised in a devout household with twice-daily family worship, she married Walter Clarke Palmer, a homeopathic physician and fellow Methodist, in 1827. The couple endured profound personal tragedy, losing three of their four children in infancy—Alexander at nine months, Samuel at seven weeks, and Eliza in a crib fire at eleven months—events that deepened Phoebe’s spiritual quest. On July 26, 1837, she experienced what she called “entire sanctification,” a pivotal moment that fueled her ministry. Palmer’s preaching career took off as she became a leading voice in the Holiness movement, promoting a simplified path to Christian perfection based on John Wesley’s teachings. In 1837, she assumed leadership of the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, a women’s prayer group started by her sister Sarah Lankford in 1835, which she later opened to men, including Methodist bishops and theologians, growing it into a significant revivalist platform. Alongside Walter, she preached at over 300 camp meetings, churches, and conferences across the United States, Canada (1857), and the United Kingdom (1859–1863), converting an estimated 25,000 people. She authored influential works like The Way of Holiness (1843) and The Promise of the Father (1859), the latter defending women’s right to preach, and edited The Guide to Holiness magazine from 1864 until her death. Palmer died on November 2, 1874, in New York City, leaving a legacy as a trailblazing female evangelist whose altar theology and social activism—including founding the Five Points Mission in 1850—reshaped evangelical faith and women’s roles in ministry. She was survived by her husband and daughter Phoebe Knapp, a hymn composer.