Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp, 31

In a previous excerpt, Knapp stated that there are four features of "impressions" from God. These are Scriptural; Right (consistent with good morals); Providential (in harmony with God's will); and Reasonable. His discussion continues:

3. Inspired Experiences. In addition to the inspired examples recorded in the Word, mention of which has just been made, there is also the experiences of all of God's children who "abide under the shadow of the Almighty," attesting the same truth.

Among the many remarkable instances of guidance recorded in the Life of Madam Guyon, who shone amid the darkness of papal superstition like the sun through a thunder cloud, we quote the following. It relates to a complex business matter, which unaided, she could not have handled. She says:

"The day when the trial was to come on, after prayer I felt myself strongly pressed to go to the judges. I was wonderfully assisted therein, even so as to discover and unravel all the turns and artifices of this affair, without knowing how I could have been able to do it. . . . . God enabled me to manifest the truth in so clear a light, and give me such power to my words that the intendant thanked me for having so seasonably come to undeceive, and set him right in the affair. Had I not have done this he assured me the cause had been lost."

Through prayer and faith God thus gave wisdom to this illustrious saint, and it was this wisdom which made her illustrious. She followed the divine voice so fully that she could say:

"It seemed to me that my soul became like the New Jerusalem spoken of in the Apocalypse, prepared as a bride for her husband, and where there is no woe, sorrow or sighing.

"I had a union so great with the good will of God that my own will seemed entirely lost. My soul could not incline itself on one side or the other, since another will had taken the place of its own, but only nourished itself with the daily providences of God."

Thus led by the Word, the Spirit and daily providences, she continued to glow with increasing splendor until she passed to her celestial home.

Excerpted from Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp. Original publication date, 1892. Public domain. My source is here. The previous post in the series is here.