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diff --git a/6657-0.txt b/6657-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b10f26 --- /dev/null +++ b/6657-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4100 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Theology of Holiness, by Dougan Clark + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Theology of Holiness + +Author: Dougan Clark + +Posting Date: October 2, 2014 [EBook #6657] +Release Date: October, 2004 +First Posted: January 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THEOLOGY OF HOLINESS *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: DOUGAN CLARK, M.D.] + + + +THE + +THEOLOGY OF HOLINESS. + +BY + +DOUGAN CLARK, M. D. + +PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AND CHURCH +HISTORY IN EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, INDIANA. + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF +MY FATHER AND MOTHER, +DOUGAN AND ASENATH CLARK, +BOTH FOR MANY YEARS APPROVED +MINISTERS IN THE FRIENDS' CHURCH, +AND BOTH LONG SINCE DEPARTED +TO BE WITH CHRIST, THIS +BOOK IS LOVINGLY +Dedicated. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A NECESSITY + II. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION OBTAINABLE + III. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PATRIARCHAL TIMES + IV. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN TYPE + V. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PROPHECY + VI. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST + VII. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PAUL +VIII. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PETER + IX. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JOHN + X. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JAMES AND JUDE + XI. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE FATHER + XII. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE SON +XIII. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE HOLY GHOST + XIV. SANCTIFIED BY THE TRUTH + XV. SANCTIFIED BY FAITH + XVI. CONCLUSION + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A NECESSITY. + + + +Science is a systematic presentation of truth. Theology is the most +important of all sciences. It is the science that treats of God and of +man in his relation to God. It is a systematic presentation of revealed +truth. As the basis of Astronomy is the universe of worlds revealed by +the telescope, and as the basis of Geology is the crust of the earth, +so the basis of Theology is the Divine revelation found in the Holy +Scriptures. The Theology of Entire Sanctification, therefore, is a +systematic presentation of the doctrine of entire sanctification as +derived from the written word of God. Such a presentation we hope--with +the help of the Holy Spirit, which we here and now earnestly invoke--to +attempt to give in this book. May God bless the endeavor, and overrule +our human weakness, to the glory of His Name. Amen. + +It is a lamentable fact that there is a large class of Christians to +whom the subject of entire sanctification is a matter of indifference. +They hope, with or without sufficient reason, that their sins are +forgiven. They propose to live moral and useful lives, and trust, again +with or without sufficient reason, that they will go to heaven when +they die. The subject of holiness does not interest them. They suppose +themselves to be doing well enough without it. + +There are others claiming to be Christians, to whom the subject is even +positively distasteful. It is an offence to them. They do not want to +hear it preached. They regard those who claim it as cranks. They look +upon holiness meetings as being hotbeds of delusion and spiritual +pride. They turn away from the whole subject not only with +indifference, but with disdain. + +There are still others, and these God's children, as we may charitably +believe, who do not even regard holiness as a desirable thing. They +assert that it is needful and salutary to retain some sin in the heart +as long as we live, in order to keep us humble. It is true that they +are never able to tell how much sin it takes to have this beneficial +effect, but a certain amount they are bent on having. + +Another class takes the opposite view. They regard holiness as very +desirable, and a very lovely thing to gaze upon and think upon, but +they also regard it as quite impossible of attainment. They hope to +grow towards it all the days of their lives, and to get it at the +moment of death. Not sooner than the dying hour, do they believe any +human being can be made holy. Not till death is separating the soul +from the body can even God Himself separate sin from the soul. The +whole doctrine of entire sanctification, therefore, they regard as a +beautiful theory, but wholly impossible as an experience, and wholly +impracticable as a life. + +In general terms, we may say that carnal Christians, as described by +Paul in I. Corinthians 3:1-4, are opposed to the doctrine of entire +sanctification. "The carnal mind is enmity against God," and the +carnal mind is irreconcilably opposed to holiness. This opposition may +take one of the forms already described, or, possibly, some other forms +which have been overlooked, but the root of the hostility is the same +in all. Wherever "our old man" has his home in a Christian's heart, +there entire sanctification will be rejected. + +But we must not forget that there are many exceptions. There are +thousands of sincere, believing hearts in all Christian denominations, +in whom inbred sin still exists, but not with the consent of the will. +They are tired--very tired of the tyrant that rules them, or of the +ceaseless struggles by which, with God's added and assisting grace, +they are enabled to keep him under. They long for deliverance. They are +hungering for full salvation, and rejoice to hear the message of entire +sanctification through the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. The +Lord bless all these hungering multitudes, and give them the desire of +their hearts by saving them to the uttermost, and may their numbers be +vastly increased, so that the banner of Christ's church may everywhere +be unfurled--the banner on which is inscribed the glorious motto of +Holiness to the Lord. + +Now we meet all objections to the doctrine of entire +sanctification--whether in the form of indifference, or dislike, or +undesirableness, or impossibility--with the simple proposition, It is +necessary. If this proposition can be established, all objections, of +whatever character, must fall to the ground, and the eager cry of every +Christian heart must be, How can I obtain that priceless blessing which +is essential to my eternal bliss, which is indispensable, and without +which I shall never see the Lord? + +For this is the language of the Holy Ghost in Heb. 12:14, "Follow peace +with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord," +and in the Revised Version, "Follow after peace with all men, and the +sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." This can mean +nothing short of entire sanctification, or the removal of inbred sin. +And, surely, it is hardly necessary to argue the question as to the +indispensableness of this blessed experience, in order to gain an +entrance into heaven. Everyone will admit that God Himself is a +perfectly and absolutely holy Being, and He has ever told His followers +in all ages, "Be ye holy for I am holy"--making His own perfect and +entire holiness the sufficient reason for requiring the same quality +in His people. And, although the holiness of the highest created being +will always fall infinitely short of that of the Infinite God, as +regards quantity, it will be the same _in quality_, for Jesus +tells us, "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect," +not, of course, with the unmeasurable amount of perfection which +appertains to Him, but with the same kind of perfection so far as it +goes. And again in Rev. 21:27, we are told that "There shall in no wise +enter into it" (the heavenly city) "anything that defileth, neither +whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." Heaven is a holy +place, and occupied with none but holy inhabitants. + +But if holiness of heart is a necessity in order that we may reach the +blissful abode of the glory land, when is this stupendous blessing to +be obtained? It is by no means, thoughtlessly, that I write obtained +and not attained. It is very generally spoken of as an attainment, and +this form of expression has a tendency to discourage the seeker by +magnifying the difficulty of receiving this blessing. The thought +contained in the word attainment is that of something earnestly striven +for, struggled after, persistently pursued with much labor and toil and +effort, until, at last, the coveted prize is attained. A very few of +the multitudes who went to California, soon after gold was discovered +there, attained fortune; but it was after years of hard labor and +privation and hardship. The majority died on the way, or while mining +for the precious metal, or returned as poor as they went. + +On the other hand, the idea of an obtainment is simply that of a gift. +And entire sanctification is precisely a gift, "merely this and nothing +more." It is not received by struggle, nor effort, nor merit of our +own; it is not a great and laborious enterprise to be undertaken; not +the fruit of a long journey or a perilous voyage; not by doing, nor +trying, nor suffering, nor resolving, nor achieving, but by stretching +out the hand of faith and taking. Praise the Lord. + +And, therefore, we ask again when is this indispensable gift to be +obtained? The Roman Catholic and the Restorationist answer, in +purgatorial fire, or in some kind of a second probation after death. +But the Holy Scriptures tell us absolutely nothing either of a +purgatory or a post-mortem probation. On the contrary, they clearly +teach us that our destiny for all eternity is to be determined in one +probation, which is allotted to us in the present life. Let no one +suppose, for a moment, that he can be made fit for heaven at any time, +nor in any place, nor by any means, after he has left this mundane +sphere. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of +salvation." + +But all the Calvinistic churches by their creeds, and also a large +portion of the membership of Arminian denominations, without regard to +their creeds, if asked when are we to obtain entire sanctification as +an essential meetness for heaven, would answer, at death. The +prevailing idea on this subject, among Christian believers, seems to be +as follows: First, through repentance toward God and faith toward our +Lord Jesus Christ, we are converted. Our past sins are pardoned, and we +are born again. After that, our sole business is to grow in grace, and +by this growth to approach nearer and nearer to the standard of entire +sanctification, but never even suppose that we can reach that standard +until the moment of death. + +Now, grace is the gift of God, and we cannot, possibly, grow in grace +until we receive it. And we can never grow into grace, but grow in it +after we get it. We can grow, it is true, in the grace of justification +to a limited degree and for a limited time. The degree is limited +because of the presence of inbred sin, which is the great, if indeed, +not the only hindrance of growth. The time is limited in most cases, at +least, because if the justified Christian is brought to see the need +and the possibility of entire sanctification, and yet fails, as so many +do, to enter into the blessing, because of unbelief, he is very prone +either to backslide, in which case, of course, there will be a +cessation of growth, or, like the Galatians, he will submit to the +bondage of legalism, and after having begun in the Spirit, he will seek +to be perfected in the flesh; in which case Paul's verdict to that +beloved church was not ye are growing in grace, but, "ye are fallen +from grace." + +It is plain, therefore, that we can never grow into the blessing of +entire sanctification. That blessing is to be received by faith, as the +gift of God in Christ Jesus and through the Holy Spirit; and when the +grace has once been obtained in this manner, then we can grow in it +indefinitely and for a lifetime, possibly even for an eternity. Growth +in grace is a most blessed thing in its right place, and when rightly +understood and experienced, but it can never bring us to the death of +the old man, nor to the experience of entire sanctification. + +And as growth cannot do this, neither can death. Death is nowhere +mentioned in Scripture as a sanctifier. Death can separate the soul +from the body, but to separate sin from the soul is a work which God +can only do. Jesus Christ is our sanctification, and the Holy Spirit is +our sanctifier, and even if the work is performed in the article of +death, it is still the Holy Spirit and not death that performs it. And +if He can perform it in the hour and article of death, where is the +hindrance to His performing it a week, a month, a year, or forty years +before death--if only the conditions are fulfilled on our part. Do we +say that He cannot perform it before death; then where is His +omnipotence? Do we say that He will not do it before death; then where +is His own holiness? In either case, we dishonor God and rob ourselves +of an inestimable and indispensable blessing. God save us from such +folly. + +Scripture, reason and experience, therefore, all unite in the sentiment +that entire sanctification is to be sought and obtained now, and if +now, then it is to be obtained instantaneously, and if instantaneously +and now, it follows, also, that it is to be obtained by faith, and from +these premises the further conclusion is logically deducible, that we +cannot make ourselves any better in order to receive it, but that we +must take it as we are. And so we arrive at and adopt the pithy precept +of John Wesley, "Expect it by faith--expect it as you are--expect it +now." + +In these remarks we have necessarily anticipated some things which +belong more accurately to the next chapter; but we are not seeking so +much for a perfectly methodical arrangement, as for a clear and +Scriptural presentation of the subject. And we proceed to affirm now +that entire sanctification is not only essential as the condition of +entering heaven, but that it is also necessary for the highest results +of the Christian life on earth. It is not only an indispensable +blessing to die by, but, if we would fulfill our Father's will in this +world, it is indispensable to live by. + +But before leaving entirely the subject of growth in grace, having +demonstrated, as we trust, that we can never grow into entire +sanctification, we ought, perhaps, to explain what we mean by the +statement that we can grow indefinitely in that precious grace after, +and not before, we receive it. Entire sanctification has two sides or +aspects. It has a positive side and a negative side. Its negative side +is the removal of inbred sin, and is, therefore, a matter of +subtraction. And herein, we may remark in passing, is a characteristic +difference between entire sanctification and regeneration. The latter +is a matter of addition, because it implies the impartation of a new +life to the soul which has hitherto been "dead in trespasses and sins." +Now in this negative aspect of entire sanctification there can be no +growth. If a heart is pure it cannot be more pure. If it is free from +sin it cannot be more free from sin. An empty vessel, as some one has +said, cannot be more empty. There can be no increase in purity. + +But the positive side of entire sanctification is perfect love, and +this is a relative expression. It does not mean that all who possess it +must have an equal amount of love. Perfect love to each individual is +just his own heart--not some one else's heart--being filled with love. +One individual may have a greater capacity of loving than another, just +as he may have a greater capacity of seeing or of working. Perfect love +in a child would not be perfect love in a man; and perfect love in a +man would not be perfect love in an angel. And perfect love may +increase in the same individual so that what is perfect love today may +not be perfect love to-morrow. As we commune with God and work with +Him, as we get more and more acquainted with Christ and With the Holy +Spirit, and see more of the infinite attractions of the Triune God, how +is it possible that we should not love Him more and more? "There will +never be a time in earth nor in Heaven," says the late Dr. Upham, "when +there may not be an increase of holy love." On the positive side of +entire sanctification, then, there may be and will be growth +indefinitely and everlastingly. And this is the true growth in grace, +about which much more could be said, but we leave it for the present, +to resume our main theme of the necessity of entire sanctification in +this life as well as the life to come. + +We make a definite statement as follows, viz: No Christian can do all +that God would have him do, nor enjoy all that God would have him enjoy +in this world, without the grace of entire sanctification. In the +beautiful language of metaphor the Saviour says, "I am the true Vine +and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not +fruit He taketh away, and every branch in Me that beareth fruit He +purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit." And again, "Herein is +My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be My +disciples." Now the abundant fruit requires for its production the +abundant life, and these are both found in the Lord Jesus Christ. "I am +come," says He, "that ye might have life (in regeneration) and that ye +might have it more abundantly" (in entire sanctification). The abundant +life and the abundant fruit, therefore, can only be found in connection +with purity of heart. + +It is doubtless _true_ that every living branch, that is to say, +every justified and regenerated believer, may and should and must, if +he would retain his religion, bring forth some fruit. And it is +precisely these branches that are bearing fruit, whom the Great +Husbandman "purges"--sanctifies--that they may bring forth the more +abundant fruit by which He Himself shall be glorified. And here we +might rest our case with a Q. E. D., but another remark or two will be +in place. + +The late Lord Tennyson could perceive, with the genius of a poet, the +intimate connection between purity and power. He puts into the mouth of +Sir Galahad, one of his heroes, these beautiful words, viz: + + "My strength is as the strength of ten, + Because my heart is pure." + +Now one of the most common complaints among Christians of all +denominations, is because of their weakness and their leanness. And yet +nothing is clearer than that God has promised to make His people +strong, that He has commanded them to be strong in the Lord, and that +not to be strong is even blameworthy, not to say criminal in His sight. +The reason, then, of our weakness and our leanness and the meagreness +of our fruitage, can be nothing else than because we do not fulfill the +conditions on which He promises to make us strong. One of these +conditions, and an indispensable one, is that we be entirely +sanctified. It is they that know their God, both in conversion and +entire sanctification, both in pardon and purity, that shall "be strong +and do exploits." Beloved, if you would accomplish the work that God +has given you to do, and not have to regret its non-accomplishment in +eternity, even if you are saved so as by fire, seek and find that which +is the essential condition, and ask at once to be wholly sanctified. + +And if you would have the fullness of joy, even the joy of an uttermost +salvation, the peace that passeth understanding, the fellowship with +the Father and with His son, Jesus Christ, the sealing and anointing of +the Spirit, the white stone and the new name, the abiding presence of +the indwelling Comforter, then pray that the very God of Peace may here +and now sanctify you wholly. Amen. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION OBTAINABLE. + + + +This would seem to follow as a necessary corollary from what has been +said in the preceding chapter. If entire sanctification has been proved +to be not a matter of option but a matter of necessity; if we cannot +attain to the highest results in Christian privilege, nor in Christian +enjoyment, nor in Christian service without this blessed experience, +and if, at the end, we cannot be admitted into the celestial city +unless we possess it, surely we cannot doubt for a moment that our +gracious Heavenly Father has provided a way by which this indispensable +requisite both for time and for eternity may be received. + +But before discussing this proposition in detail let us have a clear +understanding of what is meant by entire sanctification, and, as a +preliminary, let us study a few simple theological definitions. + +In the first place, my reader will have no difficulty in believing that +I fully accept the Arminian doctrine of the universality of the +atonement. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the salvation of +all mankind, and its benefits are offered to all. "He tasted death for +every man." But it does not follow that all men will be saved, and this +for the reason that the atonement is not unconditional but conditional. +It is offered to all, and all are invited and entreated to accept it. +But it is available only in the case of those who believe. "He that +believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be +condemned." A universal atonement, therefore, does not by any means +imply a universal salvation. + +Redemption is a term of broad and varied application. It is either +general or special. In one sense it is as broad as atonement. Atonement +is for sin; redemption is from sin and from all the sad results of sin. +In its more special meaning it is applicable only to those who accept +the atonement. For these it implies release from the bondage of the +will under the law of sin and death, or justification and regeneration. +It brings also release from the power and existence of depravity or +entire sanctification. It promises, in the future, the complete +glorification of the saints in body, soul and spirit at God's right +hand, and the deliverance of the creation itself from the "bondage of +corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." + +The first condition on which the benefits of the atonement are offered +to the sinner is repentance. Both the Saviour Himself and His +forerunner began their public ministry with words of like import, viz: +"Repent ye and believe the gospel." Repentance does not mean penance--not +a voluntary sacrifice in our own will for an expiation of sin--nor +is it merely sorrow for our past sins, although "godly sorrow" is one +of the elements of true repentance. The sorrow of the world may produce +remorse, that continual biting which tortures the soul of the lost; but +remorse is not repentance, and the sorrow of the world worketh not life +but death. True repentance involves a change of mind, a change of +purpose, a change of will, and implies not only a godly sorrow for +sin--sorrow not only because the sin has resulted in physical or mental or +financial or reputational disaster--but because it has grieved the +Spirit of our God; and it implies not only sorrow for our sin but the +determination to forsake it as well. It is the afterthought, and +involves both regret for what we have done and the purpose to do so no +more. + +The next, and specially indispensable, condition for receiving the +benefits of the atonement is faith. This means nothing more nor less +than taking God at His word. We are assured that without faith it is +impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe "that +He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." +"Faith is the substance of things hoped for," because it makes them +real. It is "the evidence of things not seen" because it convinces the +mind of their actual existence. It is true that all men believe +something, and, therefore, that all men have faith. It is not true that +all men believe God, and, therefore, not true that all men have saving +faith. + +And here we must make a distinction. Faith is often said to be the gift +of God, and in the sense of the grace of faith, or the power of +believing, this is true. But the act of faith is the actual exercise of +the power of believing, which God has given us. It involves the putting +forth of the choosing power of the human will, that we may accept the +salvation which is offered us. God has given to us all the faith +faculty, just as He has given to us the seeing faculty. In the one +case, as in the other, we are responsible for the exercise of the +faculty thus given. The proper object of the seeing faculty is the +world around us, with all its multiplicity of existences. We may open +our eyes and see or we may close them and fail to see. The proper +object of the faith faculty is truth, and especially gospel truth, the +truth of salvation through a crucified and risen Lord. We may exercise +our believing power and accept this great salvation or we may close our +faith-eyes, and fail to see and believe, and this to our eternal loss. + +For God commands us to believe and holds us responsible for obedience +to that as to all other of His commands. The fact of the command +involves the power to obey. Our will, therefore, our choosing power, +must be put on the believing side, and not on the side of unbelief. It +is not that we are required to believe without evidence. It is that our +depraved hearts are not willing to believe when the evidence is ample. +And, therefore, our eternal destiny is made to hinge on our obedience +to the positive command, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." The great +and crying sin of our fallen humanity is unbelief. It is this that has +sundered us, as a race, from our union with God, and it is faith which +is to be the bond by which we may again be reunited to Him. "He that +believeth not the Son is condemned already." + +Repentance and faith are the conditions on which God promises to give +us the grace of justification. This is pardon for all our past sins. +God, for Christ's sake, looks upon us as though we had not sinned. He +accounts us just, for Jesus' sake, although we are not just in reality. +And herein it is that gospel justification differs from legal +justification. The individual who is accused of crime and who is +brought into court and determined, by a jury of his peers, not to be +guilty, is at once acquitted and released from all penalty. He is +justified solely on the ground of his innocence. But no man ever has +been or ever will be justified in the court of heaven on the ground of +his innocence. Every responsible human being has broken the law of God. +"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." And none of those +who have broken the law can be justified by the law, that is to say, +not one. The law justifies those, and those only, who keep it. None of +us have kept it, not one of the race of men save only the man Christ +Jesus. The law condemns all those who break it. All the race of men +have broken it save only the man Christ Jesus. Therefore, all are under +condemnation. But condemnation is incompatible with justification. +Therefore, again, "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be +justified." + +Are we not, then, in an absolutely hopeless condition? We should be so +but for Christ. But, blessed be God, "He hath found a ransom." "All we +like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, +and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Jesus Christ +"Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree." And so it comes to +pass that we can be freely justified by His grace, not because of our +innocency but because He bore the penalty in our stead. He took the +place which was rightfully ours and that is on the cross. He procured +for us the place which was and is rightfully His, and that is at God's +right hand. He suffered what we deserved, and by that very suffering He +made us partakers of what He deserves. Glory forever to His Holy Name! + +By the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, therefore, justice is +satisfied, and the penalty of the broken law is removed. God is +infinitely merciful, but He is also infinitely just. He loves the +sinner with a boundless love, but He hates the sin with a boundless +hate. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and will not look +upon sin with the smallest degree of allowance. His mercy and His love +may compassionate the sinner, but this will be of no avail so long as +His justice is against him. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do +right?" + +But in the marvelous plan of salvation by a crucified and risen Lord, +both the attributes of mercy and justice are enlisted on behalf of the +sinner. The mercy of God pardons Him, the justice of God justifies Him, +and all for Jesus' sake. "Mercy and truth have met together, +righteousness and peace have kissed each other." "God can be just and +the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." "If we confess our sins +He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." And in accordance with +the way of salvation which He Himself has devised, we can now plead +with Him that He would be unjust not to forgive us when we have +complied with these conditions. And so we arrive at the conclusion that +justification is an act of God's grace by which our sins are pardoned +for the sake of Jesus Christ. And this act is instantaneous. God does +not pardon sins gradually, nor one at a time, nor by piecemeal, but to +every one who repents and believes, He utters the gracious language, +"Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee." As if by a single +stroke of the recording angel's pen, the whole dark record is blotted +out forever. "As far as the east is from the west so far hath He +removed our transgressions from us." Glory. + +Regeneration is a work of grace which always accompanies justification. +God does not justify a sinner without, at the same time, giving him a +new life. This new life is a spiritual life imparted to the soul, which +before was dead in trespasses and sins, by the Divine energy of the +Holy Ghost. If a sinner should be pardoned, without, at the same time, +receiving a new nature, he would inevitably fall into sin again. His +lifetime on earth would be spent in sinning and repenting. But our +merciful Father having for Christ's sake looked upon him as just and +righteous, when he was not so in reality, now bestows upon him a new +nature which is just and righteous. He makes him a partaker, indeed, of +the Divine nature, and that is a nature which is holy and just and +good. And this is the new birth. Men may be full of physical life and +of intellectual life, but until they are born from above they are +totally destitute of spiritual life. Regeneration, therefore, is that +act of God's grace by which we are born again. + +Adoption is the reception of the newly justified and regenerated +believer into the family of God. No longer enemies, nor even strangers +and foreigners, those who have accepted Christ as their Saviour, now +receive the adoption of sons. They become the children of God by faith +in Jesus Christ. This is their pedigree and they rejoice to declare it. +A human governor or ruler may pardon a guilty criminal, and grant him a +reprieve, but he never takes him into his own family. He may forgive +the guilty one, but he cannot bestow upon him a new nature, nor can he +consent to recognize him as a brother or a son. But God not only +remits the sins of those whom He saves, He not only delivers them from +wrath and from punishment, but He gives them a new nature by which they +can respond to His love, and He takes them into His own household as +children and heirs, yea, as joint heirs with Jesus Christ. "Ye are all +the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ." + +The witness of the Spirit is something not easily defined, but it is +well known by those who experience it. It is an impression or +consciousness wrought into the mind of the believer by the Holy Ghost, +which gives him the satisfactory assurance that he is a child of God. +Before this, he believes, now he knows. This witness, therefore, +expels doubt and infuses into the heart of the new-born child of God, a +calm, definite and indisputable persuasion that all is now right +between himself and his Heavenly Father. "The Spirit Himself beareth +witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." "Ye have +received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." "And +because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into +your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." + +Now the graces that have been mentioned, namely, justification, +regeneration, adoption and the witness of the Spirit, are all received +co-instantaneously. They always accompany each other, and whoever has +one of them has them all. The witness of the Spirit, it is true, is not +always a constant experience. It may be intermittent, but, +nevertheless, whenever it is present, it accompanies or attends the +other experiences to which we have alluded. And we may add that all +these graces are but different aspects of the same salvation and are +properly and conveniently designated, in common language, by the single +term conversion, which term, therefore, must be understood to include +and imply justification, regeneration, adoption and the witness of the +Spirit. It is proper, also, in this connection to remark that +conversion is always a definite and instantaneous event, and never a +prolonged process. Just so certainly as every human being that comes +into this world has a definite, natural birthday, so every one that +comes into the kingdom of God has a definite, spiritual birthday. Some +people do not know when their natural birthday occurs, nevertheless, +they know that they have been born. Some Christians do not know when +their spiritual birthday occurs. Nevertheless, they know that they +have been born again. Conversion is the crossing of a definite line +out of Satan's kingdom into God's kingdom. There is no half-way ground, +there is no neutral territory, there is no place where a man can +truthfully say, I am neither converted nor unconverted. One moment he +is out of the ark of safety, the next moment he is in it. + +Entire sanctification is an act of God's grace by which inbred sin is +removed and the heart made holy. Inbred sin or inherited depravity is +the inward cause of which our outward sins are the effects. It is the +bitter root of which actual sins are the bitter fruits. It is the +natural evil tendency of the human heart in our fallen condition. It is +the being of sin which lies back of the doing of sin. It is that within +us which says No, to God, and Yes, to Satan. It exists in every human +being that comes into the world as a bias or proclivity to evil. It is +called in the New Testament, the flesh, the body of sin, our old man, +sin that dwelleth in me, and the simple term sin in the singular +number. In the Old Testament it is called sin and iniquity. "Behold," +says David, "I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive +me." And when the Seraph brought the live coal and laid it upon the +mouth of Isaiah, the prophet, his words were, "Lo, this hath touched +thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged." + +Now all Christian denominations are agreed as to the real existence of +this inbred sin and also as to the fact that it is not removed at +conversion. "This infection of nature doth remain," says the Anglican +Confession, "yea, even in them that have been regenerated." Most church +creeds, indeed, give no reason to expect, and most Christian believers +do not expect to be rid of sin till near or in the hour of death. And +it is regarded as serious heresy in some quarters for a man to either +preach or claim that the blood of Jesus Christ does really cleanse from +all sin. + +But God has in every age and in every dispensation required His +children to be holy. And to be holy signifies the destruction or +removal of inbred sin, nothing more and nothing less and nothing else +than that. How this is accomplished will be discussed further on, but +here we say that the removal of innate depravity is entire +sanctification, and that God has most surely made provision in the +atonement of Jesus Christ for the removal of innate depravity. +Therefore, He has made provision for entire sanctification, and, +therefore again, this wondrous grace is obtainable. Inbred sin goes +back to the fall of man in the garden of Eden. If not as old as the +human race, it is at least as old as the fall. Since sin entered +through the beguiling of our mother, Eve, by the serpent, inbred sin +has existed as a unit of evil in every child of Adam and Eve. The only +exception is the man, Christ Jesus, the God man, the Divine man, the +promised seed that should bruise the serpent's head. But as He, the +Lord Jesus Christ, was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, +and as inbred sin is one of the works of the devil, therefore its +destruction is provided for in the atonement, and, therefore, still +again, entire sanctification is obtainable. + +The simplest meaning of the word sanctify is to separate or to devote +to sacred uses. It has this signification nearly always in the Old +Testament and in a few passages in the New. In other words, whatever is +consecrated is sanctified in this limited sense. But from the primary +meaning is easily derived its secondary and prominent meaning, of +separation from all sin, inward as well as outward, and this is what +Paul calls being sanctified wholly. It is entire sanctification as +distinguished from partial sanctification. This latter appertains to +all Christians, and is technically so used in the New Testament. The +former is the experience of those, and those only, from whom inbred sin +has been removed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PATRIARCHAL TIMES. + + + +For the first twenty-five centuries after the creation of man, he was +without a written law. So far, at least, as the descendants of Seth are +concerned, the government, during those early times, seems to have been +patriarchal. The father of a family retained his authority over his +children and his children's children so long as he lived, and when he +died, the branch families did not separate, but continued their +allegiance to some other patriarch, usually the eldest son of the +former. A number of families under their respective patriarchs +constituted a tribe, and from the family patriarchs was selected a +prince for the whole tribe. Among the antediluvian patriarchs were +Adam, Seth, Enoch and Noah. Those after the flood were Noah, Abraham, +Isaac, Jacob and each of the twelve sons of Jacob. After Jacob's death, +it is most likely that Joseph acted, in some sense, as the prince of +the tribe during his lifetime. Then came slavery and oppression and +deliverance through Moses, and the giving of the law. + +As God's revelation to man has been progressive, first just a few +faint streaks of light that usher in the dawn, then broad daylight and +sunrise, and finally the meridian splendor of the noontide, we are not +to expect, in these early times, the full and distinct teaching on the +subject of holiness, which we find in the Mosaic law, in the writings +of the prophets, and especially and super-eminently in the New +Testament. The word holy does not occur in the book of Genesis, and the +word sanctify is found only once, where Jehovah blessed the seventh day +and sanctified it. + +And yet there are, even in these patriarchal times, several narratives +of extreme interest, which give us glimpses, at least, of the purpose +of God that His people should be holy, and we even find intimations of +His method of sanctification, by conferring it as a second experience +upon His already saved children, as is so clearly revealed in the New +Testament. + +"And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." Such is +the record in Genesis, but when we turn to the eleventh of Hebrews, the +faith chapter, we find that "by faith Enoch was translated that he +should not see death; and was not found because God had translated him, +for; before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased +God." Now, if Enoch, even amid the wickedness of antediluvian ages, +walked with God and pleased God, and was translated that he should not +see death, there surely can be no reasonable doubt that he was a holy +man, an entirely sanctified man, and hence one whose sins had been +washed away in the blood of the lamb, that was "slain from the +foundation of the world." + +"Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations; and Noah walked +with God." The prophet Amos exclaims most pertinently, "Can two walk +together unless they be agreed?" It is certain, therefore, that God and +Noah were agreed, but God, who is infinitely pure and holy, can never +be agreed with any person or anything that is unholy. Hence, whatever +may be the proper signification of the word perfect, as applied to +God's children in Old Testament times, we can scarcely avoid the +conclusion that Noah was a holy man, an entirely sanctified man, and +this notwithstanding his subsequent error in regard to drinking too +much wine, of whose ill effects we may, charitably, suppose he may have +been, up to the time of this sad experience, ignorant. + +Abraham dwelt with his father, Terah, who was an idolater, in Ur of the +Chaldees, when he received the call of God to go entirely away from +his kindred and his father's house, and depart into a land of +separation, a land which the Lord would show him. He obeyed the call, +and this typifies conversion. He went out not knowing whither he went, +but only knowing that the Lord was leading him. At his first move, he +was accompanied by his father. And he came out of his native land, it +is true, but not yet into the promised land. "He came to Haran and +dwelt there," or to give the record in full, "And Terah took Abraham, +his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his +daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them +from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came +unto Haran and dwelt there." + +Continuing the account in his dying oration, the martyr Stephen says, +"And from thence when his father was dead, he removed him into this +land, wherein ye now dwell," but in Genesis the statement is, "And +Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their +substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in +Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the +land of Canaan they came." The last tie of nature was sundered when the +old man died, and then Abram took the second step, which brought him +into the promised land. There are two distinct stages in his experience +before he reached the place, which God designed him to occupy. And +these we may as well regard as typical, if nothing more, of the first +experience under the gospel--that of regeneration--and of the second +experience as well, which is entire sanctification. + +In the history of Abraham, a very beautiful and mysterious episode +occurs, and that is the story of his transient but highly important +meeting with Melchizedek, after his successful expedition against the +kings, who had despoiled Sodom and carried away his nephew, Lot. The +sacred narrative is as follows, viz.: "And Melchizedek, king of Salem, +brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High +God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High +God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God, +which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he gave him +tithes of all." No other mention is made of Melchizedek until David +writes the 110th Psalm, and this was nearly one thousand years after +Abraham. The Psalmist writing by inspiration, and alluding beyond all +reasonable doubt to the Messiah, says, "The Lord hath sworn and will +not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." +And then, again, the inspired record drops Melchizedek out of sight, +as it were, for another thousand years, and then once more brings him +to the front in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he is described in +glowing language as "first being by interpretation King of +righteousness, and after that, also, King of Salem, which is king of +peace; without father, without mother, without genealogy (R. V.) having +neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son +of God, abideth a priest continually." + +Comparing, then, the different allusions to this most remarkable +personage, the following inferences seem fairly deducible therefrom: +(1) Melchizedek, being made like unto the Son of God, is preeminently +the Old Testament type of the Lord Jesus Christ in his kingly and +priestly offices. Both Melchizedek and Christ are priests, and yet the +former is not of the chosen family. He is a Canaanite. He is, +unquestionably, greater than Abraham. Of his origin, his ancestry and +his descendants, we have no account. He brought forth bread and wine. +So did his antitype at the Last Supper. The priesthood of Melchizedek +was before that of Aaron. Aaron was a Levite, and Levi paid tithes to +Melchizedek in Abraham, his ancestor. And the author of the Epistle to +the Hebrews argues most conclusively that since Melchizedek was without +beginning or end, and greater than Abraham, and with a priesthood that +existed centuries before the Levitical priesthood was instituted, +therefore Christ, his great antitype, who is from everlasting to +everlasting, and who hath an unchangeable priesthood, is to abolish the +Aaronic priesthood, whose institution was for a temporary purpose, and +was fulfilled when Christ came, who was a priest not after the order of +Aaron because He belonged to another tribe, but a priest forever after +the order of Melchizedek. + +But Melchizedek was not only a priest, he was also a king. And it was +not only in his everlasting priesthood, but in his regal office also, +that he was a type of the Messiah. David was a prophet and a king, +Ezekiel was a prophet and a priest, Jesus, only, combined in His own +person the three offices of prophet, priest and king. + +Now, if Melchizedek was priest of the Most High God, if he was greater +than Abraham, if he was a type of Jesus Christ in His kingly and +priestly offices, it is impossible not to regard him as a holy man. He +was cleansed from all sin. He was sanctified wholly. He was made like +unto the Son of God, and the Son of God is eternally holy. Praise His +name. It is, surely, cause of devout thankfulness, that even in those +primitive and patriarchal times, when the earth was full of wickedness +and violence, that even then God had His witnesses to experimental and +practical holiness. + +Before leaving this point of the eternal priesthood of Christ, let me +remark that it was a sad day for His Church when the idea became +prevalent, that ministers of the gospel are in any official sense to be +regarded as priests. This serious error may have been derived, in part, +from Judaism and, in part, from paganism. It has become incorporated in +the creed of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Greek Church as well, +and has been productive of the most disastrous results. Among the +deliverances of the Council of Trent, held at intervals from 1545 to +1564, and the last Council, which Romish authorities regard as of +binding authority, are the following sentences, quoted by the late A. +A. Hodge, in his Outlines of Theology: "Whereas, therefore, in the New +Testament, the Catholic Church has received, from the institution of +Christ, the holy, visible sacrifice of the Eucharist; it must needs, +also, be confessed that there is, in that church, a new, visible and +external priesthood, into which the old has been translated. And the +sacred Scriptures show, and the traditions of the Catholic Church have +always taught, that this priesthood was instituted by the same Lord, +our Saviour, and that to the apostles, and their successors in the +priesthood, was the power delivered of consecrating, offering and +administering his body and blood, as, also, of forgiving and retaining +sins." + +It is to be feared that not all Protestants are entirely clear of this +same idea of the priesthood of the ministry, and that, in thought, at +least, many substitute this for the true priesthood, which appertains +to all believers. Now, the office of a priest is to stand between God +and man. He mediates, and this Jesus did both by propitiation and +continues to do, forever, by intercession. "He ever liveth to make +intercession for us." He "offered one sacrifice for sins forever." If +He has an unchangeable priesthood, and has already offered Himself as a +sacrifice, sufficient for the sins of all mankind, the benefits of +which each and every one may obtain on the simple condition of +repentance and faith, what possible need can there be of any human +priesthood to come between God and the sinner? Says George Fox, +"Friends, let nothing come between your souls and God, but Christ," and +we say Amen. + +To sum up on this particular point, we may say that the ancient +priesthood, both of Melchizedek, the Gentile, and of Aaron, the Jew, +with his descendants, were nothing more than types; and a type can have +no real existence after the antitype has come. Therefore, there is no +place for a human priesthood under the Christian dispensation. We are +taught in Holy Scripture that no one can come to God except through +Christ, but we are also taught that all are invited, and all may come +directly to Him. All the officers belonging to the New Testament +Church, whether ministers, deacons, presbyters, bishops, elders, or +even apostles, are described not as priests but "messengers, watchmen, +heralds of salvation, teachers, rulers, overseers and shepherds." Their +function is to preach the word, to teach, to rule, but never to +mediate. It is clear, therefore, that ministers as such are not +priests. + +But we must not forget that, in a very important sense, all Christians +are priests. But this is through Christ and in Christ, the one great +and eternal High Priest. They are priests because they are in Christ. +And not only priests, but kings as well. And not only kings and +priests, but prophets as well. All these blessed privileges are theirs, +solely by virtue of their union and fellowship with Christ, who, in a +mystical and spiritual sense, makes them to be partakers of His own +priesthood, His own royalty, and His own prophetic office. + +Thus we hear Peter exclaiming, under the inspiration of the Spirit, +"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a +peculiar people." + +And again: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up, a spiritual house, +an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God +by Jesus Christ." Precisely. If we are priests, we must perform the +functions of a priest, and one of these functions is the offering of +sacrifice. What, then, are the sacrifices which are to be offered by +the Christian Priest? Certainly, not any expiatory or meritorious +sacrifices. These are, forever, precluded by the fact that Christ hath +offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Nothing can be added to, and +nothing can be subtracted from, that infinite and all-sufficient +offering. + +The first sacrifice to be made by the Christian priest is the surrender +of his own body, with all its appetites, organs and capabilities, to +God. Listen to Paul. + +"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye +present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, +which is your reasonable service." Your bodies, because if you are +Christians, you have already presented your hearts; your bodies, +because through the body, too often temptation enters into the soul and +leads it to actual sin. Your bodies, because of their wonderful +mechanism and their equally wonderful activities. If surrendered to the +Lord, He makes them the very thing they were originally designed to +be, namely, the obedient servants of the soul, and the soul is already +His own obedient servant, so that when the soul commands and the body +obeys, both are working for God, and when the soul says Go, and the +body runs hither and thither, both are going upon God's errands. + +It will be observed that the body is to be presented a living +sacrifice, not a dead one. All its boundless activities are to be given +up to God. The expression, no doubt, implies that the whole man, +described by the apostle, with his inspired trichotomy, as spirit, soul +and body are to be consecrated unto God, to be His, and His forever, +and henceforth to be ready to be, to do, and to suffer all His blessed +will. + +The command is yield yourselves, not a certain portion of your time, +nor a certain portion of your money, nor a certain portion of your +effort, nor your sins, nor your depraved appetites, nor your forbidden +indulgences. You cannot consecrate your alcohol, nor your tobacco, nor +your opium, nor your card-playing, nor your dancing, nor your +theatre-going to God. He wants none of these things. All actual and known +sins must be abandoned at conversion. Consecration is for a subsequent +and a deeper work. None but a Christian believer can thus present his body +unto the Lord. Sinners may repent, but Christians are enjoined to +"yield themselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead;" not +as those who are "dead in trespasses and sins." Whatever surrender the +sinner may and must make in order to be saved, the believer must make a +deeper, fuller, more complete surrender, of a different character and +for a different purpose. That purpose is that he may be wholly +sanctified, filled with the Spirit, and used to the utmost extent of +his capacity for the glory of God. Consecration means yielding +yourselves unto God. When you yield yourself you yield everything else. +All the details are included in the one surrender of yourself. + +And remember, also, that your consecration is not to God's service, not +to His work, not to a life of obedience and sacrifice, not to the +church, not to the Christian Endeavor, not to the Epworth League, not +to any organization, not to the cause of God; it is to God Himself. +"Yield yourselves unto God." It is, therefore, a personal transaction +between a personal human being and a personal God. Your work, your +obedience, your sacrifice, your right place and your allotted duty, +will all follow in due time. The next sacrifice to be made by the +Christian priest, is that of testimony and thanksgiving. "By Him, +therefore," says the author of the Hebrews, "let us offer the sacrifice +of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving +thanks to His Name." + +And the next priestly offering of the Christian is a holy life, for the +inspired author goes on in the next verse, "But to do good, and to +communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." +Offer, then, beloved, the body, with the soul and spirit; offer the +fruit of the lips and offer the fruit of the life, and you will walk +worthily of your priesthood. Glory! + +The patriarch Jacob had two distinct and well-defined experiences about +twenty years apart. The first of these was at Bethel, when, in +loneliness and anguish of mind, he was plodding on his way toward +Mesopotamia to escape the vengeance of his brother Esau. This vengeance +was not causeless, and Jacob lay down upon the ground with a stone for +a pillow, not only distressed in mind from fear and anxiety, but also, +we may well suppose, not altogether free from the condemnation of a +guilty conscience. But Jacob was a man who had faith in God's promises, +even if he did not always obey His commands. And when he lay down to +sleep under the open sky, in a state of mind, sad, forlorn, fearful and +contrite, God was watching over him, and when he awoke from the +wondrous vision there vouchsafed to him, he perceived that God was in +the place, and he found that he himself, also, was a new man. Now he +could not only believe intellectually what God had said, but he could +and did enter into covenant with Him, taking Jehovah for his God, and +vowing the tenth or his income to be given to Him. This was such a +change of mind and heart as constituted a real conversion. + +When, after the many mercies and many trials that fell to his portion +whilst dwelling with his uncle Laban, and after the lapse of two score +years, he was returning to his father's house, no longer poor and +lonely, but with flocks and herds and wives and children, again he was +encountered by the fear of his brother Esau who was approaching him +with four hundred men. Then it was that there "wrestled a man with him +until the breaking of the day." Note it was the man wrestling with +Jacob--and the man was the angel,--Jehovah, the pre-existent Christ--and +the object of his wrestling was to get the Jacob nature, the old +man, the body of sin, out of Jacob. But Jacob resisted, until by a +touch the Divine wrestler made it impossible for him to resist any +longer. Now he had to cease his wrestling but he could still cling, and +he could still cry, "I will not let thee go until thou bless me." +Jacob's will was now firmly set upon the blessing; he could ho longer +resist the will of the Blesser, but one thing more he had to do, and +that was to tell his name. I am Jacob--supplanter, sinner, and then He +blessed him there; Jabbok means extinguishment, and Jacob's self-life +was extinguished there. He told his name, and in the telling lost it. +No longer the supplanter--but Israel, the prince, the prevailer, the +overcomer, and Israel was now a wholly sanctified man. Beloved, tell +God your name--sinner--seek with fixed determination for the blessing +of holiness, fulfill the conditions, and you also shall prevail, and +your name will be changed from sinner to saint, priest, prophet, king, +having the blessing of entire sanctification, and the Blesser Himself +in the person of the Indwelling Comforter. Praise the Lord! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN TYPE. + + + +The Mosaic dispensation was legal, ceremonial and typical. "The law +having a shadow of the good things to come," says the author of the +Hebrews. But a shadow always points to a substance; and so far as +holiness is commanded, and so far as it is shadowed forth in the +ceremonial law, we shall find that there is a corresponding substance +and reality in the gospel of Christ. + +In the first place, if we study carefully the provisions of the Mosaic +law, we shall be struck with the many forms of ceremonial uncleanness +described therein, and with the "divers washings," not only of the +"hands oft," but of the whole body, and of "cups and pots, brazen +vessels and of tables." All these point to the fact that God will have +a clean people, and a clean people is a holy people. The same thing is +vividly exhibited in the distinction between clean and unclean animals, +the one kind to be used as food, and the other to be disused. Of land +animals, only such as both chew the end and divide the hoof, might then +be eaten. And of aquatic, only such as have both fins and scales were +to be accounted clean. There can be no doubt that this restriction in +regard to food is full of meaning. God help us all as Christian +believers to distinguish between the clean and the unclean in a +spiritual sense, and not to forget that God will have His people now +pure in heart, clean in soul, holy both within and without. + +The seal of the covenant with Abraham was circumcision, and this became +the perpetual rite by which his descendants were admitted to the rights +and privileges of that covenant. "Every male child shall be +circumcised." But this rite was an outward symbol of "a circumcision +not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in +the circumcision of Christ" (Col. 2: II. R.V.) And in Romans 2: 28-29, +we are told that "He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is +that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which +is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, +and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God." Beloved +reader, may you and I know what it is to experience the inward +circumcision, made without hands, even the putting off of the body of +the flesh. And this is entire sanctification. In the consecration of +Aaron and his sons to the priests' office, not only were they to be +adorned with holy garments for glory and for beauty, not only was the +breast-plate to be set with twelve kinds of precious stones, but the +plate for the mitre was to be made of pure gold, and engraved with the +motto "Holiness to the Lord." This was to be always upon the forehead +of the High Priest, and must signify that Aaron was to be the holy +priest of a Holy God, and that the law required a continuous holiness, +as most assuredly the gospel does also. + +Now, in the most important sense both the priesthood and the sacrifices +were typical of Christ. In the mediatorial work of redemption, he was +both the priest and the victim. He offered Himself. And no one will +deny that He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. +The holy priest, under the law typified the holy priest, who is a +priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. But under the gospel +dispensation all Christians are priests. "But ye are a chosen +generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." And +we are priests, not for the purpose of expiation, for expiation was +completed by the Lord Jesus Christ, when He "bore our sins in His own +body on the tree," but priests to offer up "spiritual sacrifices +acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." And every such priest must +needs be continuously holy. + +The "spiritual sacrifices" which the Christian priest must offer are, +as previously stated, (1) his body, with all its members and +capacities. The heart was given to Christ at conversion. It is, +however, largely through the body that the soul is led into sin, and it +is through the body, also, that the soul must perform its work for +Christ, so long as soul and body are united in probation. Hence, the +Apostle exclaims in the twelfth of Romans, "I beseech you, therefore, +brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living +sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable +service." The Christian must offer (2) also his continual testimony. He +must "hold fast the confession of his faith without wavering." "By him, +therefore, let us offer the sacrifices of praise to God continually, +that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." And, finally +(3), the Christian priest must offer the sacrifice of a holy life. "But +to do good, and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God +is well pleased." Beloved, let us ask ourselves if we are constantly +offering as a holy priesthood, a consecrated body, a confessing tongue +and a godly life. Amen. + +This subject has already been alluded to under a different head, but +it will bear repetition. + +In the ceremonial used under the law for the cleansing of the leper, we +find an impressive type or symbol of holiness. Leprosy is most clearly +and strikingly a type of inbred sin. It is loathsome, unclean, +incurable, fatal and hereditary. The leper was driven from society; he +could not dwell in the camp nor in the city. He was an outcast. None +must be permitted to approach him. They must be warned off by the +despairing cry "unclean, unclean." Nothing can be conceived more +desolate or more hopeless than the condition of the leper, unless it +be, indeed, the sinner who is an "alien from the commonwealth of +Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise, having no hope and +without God in the world." + +But to the leper, in many instances, came the glad "day of cleansing." +He might not come into the camp, until the priest went forth to him. +The priest and no one else could pronounce him clean. And none but +Christ has any authority to tell the sinner that he is converted, or +the believer that he is sanctified. A clean bird must be slain over +living water, another bird dipped into this water flies away toward +heaven with bloody wing; the leper is sprinkled seven times, to denote +the completeness or perfection of his cleansing, with blood by means of +hyssop and scarlet wool bound to a stick of cedar; he must wash his +clothes; he must pass a razor over his whole body, and bathe the whole +body likewise in water. Certainly, all this needs no explanation. +Surely, here is atonement by blood, and cleansing by the washing of +water through the word, as plainly described as symbolic language can +utter it. + +All the bloody sacrifices of the Jewish law, the daily sacrifice both +morning and evening, the paschal lamb, the Day of Atonement, the +offerings at the various feasts, and innumerable sacrifices offered for +individuals or for the whole people, the guilt offering, the sin +offering, one for what we have done, the other for what we are, the +peace offering, the burnt offering, these, also, all point to the Lamb +that was slain from the foundation of the world. In all the sacrifices +which we have named, a life was taken and blood was shed. "Almost all +things are, by the law, purged with blood, and without shedding of +blood is no remission." + +But turn now to the New Testament, and read that "It is not possible +for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Read again, "If +the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the +unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall +the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself +without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the +living God." Read again, "In Him we have redemption through His +blood"--"Having made peace through the blood of His cross"--"Ye who are +far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ"--"Being now justified by +His blood"--"That He might sanctify the people with His own blood"--and +especially "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all +sin." + +Here, I insert a quotation from that saintly man, Dr. Edgar M. Levy. +"When an oblation for sin was offered up under the old dispensation, +the priest was commanded to dip his finger in blood, and to sprinkle it +seven times before the Lord. This denoted the perfection of the +offering. Nor would the blessed antitype come short of the type. Seven +times, at least, did our Lord pour forth His precious blood. He was +circumcised and there, of necessity, was blood. He was buffeted on the +mouth, and by such brutal hands, that this must needs have been +attended with blood. He was scourged, and from Roman scouring there +was, of course, blood. The crown of thorns was driven into His precious +temples and, surely, this was not without blood. The sharp nails +penetrated into His hands and feet, and again there was blood. And one +of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced His side, and forthwith came +thereout blood and water." + +The blood of Jesus, then, is the procuring cause of our sanctification +as it is of our justification. Glory be to His Name forever for the +precious, cleansing blood. And every Christian can heartily join in the +immortal hymn of Toplady on the "Rock of Ages," and especially with the +rendering now frequently given to the conclusion of the first stanza, +viz.: + + "Let the water and the blood + From Thy wounded side which flowed, + Be of sin the double cure + Save from wrath--and make me pure." + +The pure olive oil is mentioned many times in Scripture, and was used +for a great variety of purposes. In typology, however, it has special +reference to the office work of the Holy Spirit. He is distinctively +the Sanctifier, and to be filled with the Spirit is designated by the +Apostle John as "the unction" or "the anointing." The holy anointing +oil was to be sprinkled upon the tabernacle and all its sacred +vessels. It was also poured upon the heads of prophets, priests and +kings, as a necessary qualification for the discharge of their +respective offices. There can be no doubt but that this use of the +anointing oil and the sweet perfume, which none were permitted to +imitate or counterfeit, has a direct typical reference to holiness. +The sacred writer, indeed, says as much. "That they may be most holy; +whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy." And as all Christians are +kings and priests unto God, it is necessary that they also be anointed +with the Holy Spirit, as their types in the Old Testament dispensation +were anointed with the outward oil. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels +of the Lord." A priest must be holy. + +We have already spoken of leprosy as a type of inbred sin, and of the +requirement of blood-shedding in the cleansing of the leper. But before +that cleansing was complete, the anointing oil, also, was to be applied +to the leper, who was healed of his malady. As the priest had already +touched his ear, his thumb and his toe with the blood of the sacrifice, +so now he touched the same parts also with the oil. First, the blood; +afterwards, the oil. And thus it is in the wondrous plan of salvation +through the Lord Jesus Christ. First, atonement for guilt and to secure +pardon; afterwards, the Holy Ghost baptism for complete cleansing. +First, justification through the blood; then entire sanctification +through the Spirit. + +The anointing oil was also to be applied to the ear, the thumb and the +toe of Aaron and his sons in their consecration to the priesthood and, +finally, poured upon their mitred heads that it might reach the beard +and the skirts of the garments, but by no means touch the flesh. And +so, beloved, we must be touched with blood and oil as to our spiritual +ears, that we may take heed how we hear and what we hear; and as to our +hands that they may do the work of God in all righteousness, and +goodness and truth; and as to our feet, that they may run swiftly and +beautifully upon the errands of redeeming love; and, at last, upon our +heads and running down overall the person to purify and energize the +whole man, that we may be "ever, only, all for Him." Praise the Lord. +And this can never happen while the flesh, the carnal mind, is still +alive. + +Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God and the Son of Man, He who was +holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, was, +nevertheless, anointed with the Holy Ghost as a needful qualification +for His mediatorial work. + +In the synagogue at Nazareth, He read part of the sixty-first chapter +of Isaiah. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord +hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He had sent Me +to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and +the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the +acceptable year of the Lord"--and here He ceased His quotation +abruptly, without saying a word about "the day of vengeance of our +God." It was now a day of grace, not a day of vengeance. But to those +who will not accept this grace, that terrible day of vengeance will +surely come. Jesus was anointed, and He was holy. His anointed +followers must also be holy. They must seek and find the baptism with +the Holy Ghost and fire, they must be sanctified wholly. To be +baptized, and filled and anointed with the Holy Ghost is the privilege +and duty of all God's children. If we would belong to the royal +priesthood, we must be cleansed from the defilement of sin. + +Finally, we will allude to the fire symbol. Gold is spoken of in +Scripture as tried in the fire. So of silver. "He" (Christ) "shall sit +as a refiner and purifier of silver." The precious metals will endure +the fire, but "dross and tin," as well as reprobate silver, will and +must be consumed. The baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire is a +sin-consuming baptism. Fire is a great purifier. It makes the substance +which is subjected to it pure through and through, and not like +anything cleansed by water, pure as to its surface only. "Our God is a +consuming fire." Oh, beloved, let us give up to the fire all that is +for the fire. Let all depravity, all inbred sin, all tendency to depart +from God and yield to Satan, be burned up in this fiery baptism. May +God put upon all His pardoned children not the blood-mark only, but +the fire-mark also. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PROPHECY. + + + +The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve +prophetic books in the Old Testament following the book of Daniel are +called the Minor Prophets. In the writings of both classes we find many +allusions and predictions as to the entire sanctification of believers +in the gospel dispensation and under the reign of Messiah or Christ. + +The sixth chapter of Isaiah is usually regarded as his call to the +prophetic office. Whether this be so or not, it records a very +wonderful experience of that grand man, and a remarkable type of the +baptism with the Holy Ghost as described in the book of Acts. + +It is quite evident that Isaiah was a converted man before he wrote his +first chapter. In that he laments the sins of the Israelites and the +Jews, all of them God's chosen people, though now divided into the two +kingdoms and these often at variance, shows the utter futility of their +own efforts to regain the favor of God, by observances and sacrifices +and ceremonies, and then tells them how to be converted as plainly as +any gospel minister in our own day would be able to do. He shows them +that the way of salvation is by repentance and faith, and by trusting +to the unmerited mercy of God. Hear him: "Wash you, make you clean; put +away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; +learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge the +fatherless; plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, +saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white +as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + +Here are repentance and amendment of life and pardon, the washing away +of guilt and committed sins, symbolical of the New Testament washing of +regeneration, symbolical also of John's baptism of repentance unto the +remission of sins. + +But now in the sixth chapter, and "in the year that king Uzziah died," +a wondrous vision of the pre-existent Christ, "sitting upon a throne +high and lifted up" and the seraphim crying one to another "Holy, holy, +holy is the Lord of hosts," was vouchsafed to the prophet. And the +first effect of the glorious things which he saw and heard was not to +exalt him and minister to his pride, but to fill him with despair at +his own depravity. He felt just as Peter did at the first miraculous +draught of fishes on the Sea of Galilee, when he exclaimed "Depart from +me for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Ah! beloved, it never fosters +spiritual pride, nor any other kind of pride to get a nearer and +clearer view of Christ than we ever had before. Quite the contrary. +Such a vision turns us towards our inner selves, and enables us to +behold by contrast the darkness and sinfulness and pollution of our own +souls, and in such a view we shall find food for the deepest +humiliation, but nothing to nourish pride. + +Accordingly, Isaiah exclaimed in agony of soul "Woe is me! for I am +undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of +a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of +hosts." If we may credit Jewish tradition, it was for the offence of +saying that he had seen the King, the Lord of hosts, that the prophet +was afterwards sawn asunder. But the record of the glorious vision is +still preserved and will, no doubt, be blessed to millions of readers +in the future, as in the past, and until the end of the age. + +But the seraph was sent to touch the "unclean lips" of Isaiah--unclean +because of innate depravity, and unclean notwithstanding he had +probably been preaching repentance and amendment of life and +forgiveness for two or three years before this wondrous experience--to +touch them with holy fire. And then he was assured not that his sins of +commission and omission were forgiven--that had been done before--but +that his iniquity was taken away, and his (inbred) sin purged. This was +a second and a definite experience, and strikingly emblematic of the +baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire under the gospel dispensation, +which is also accompanied by "the purifying of the heart by faith," or +entire sanctification. + +How wondrous are the prophecies of Isaiah after this experience. He +seems to look down the centuries for seven hundred years and to see the +glorious blessings of the gospel dispensation almost as clearly as if +they were already present. Hear him in the thirty-fifth chapter: "And +an highway shall be there and a way; and it shall be called the way of +holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for +those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." And in +the fifty-first chapter: "Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! +put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for +henceforth, there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and +the unclean," and in the sixtieth chapter: "Thy sun shall no more go +down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be +thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." + +To Jeremiah the Lord said, "I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a +prophet unto the nations," which must mean not only that he was set +apart for the office of a prophet, but also that he was cleansed from +inbred sin, as a necessary preparation for the office itself. + +In the thirty-sixth chapter of Ezekiel we have some striking passages +on the theme before us. These were, no doubt, addressed primarily to +the outward Israel, but they may very justly be appropriated by the +Israel of God, the Church of Christ, since as Augustine says, "The New +Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New." + +In the twenty-fifth verse we have the promise of pardon or +justification with cleansing from the pollution of their past sins: +"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean, from +all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." +Committed sin implies both guilt and pollution. And the pollution that +is thus acquired by the practice of sinning is removed in regeneration. +Thus the new convert is brought back again to the state of the little +child. "Except ye be converted," said the blessed Saviour, "and become +as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The +little child has neither the guilt nor the pollution of committed sin; +whilst he does have within him the inherited or inbred sin of his +nature. + +Now in the promise quoted above, allusion is made to the clean water +made from the ashes of a red heifer and sprinkled, under the Mosaic +law, upon those who had incurred ceremonial uncleanness. The thing +signified, however, is the precious blood of Christ which cleanseth +from all sin, or possibly the cleansing operation of the Holy Spirit, +typified by water, may here be meant. At any rate the twenty-fifth +verse points to nothing less than a full and free justification. + +But the prophet continues: "A new heart also will I give you and a new +spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out +of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh." Here we have +described certainly the experience of regeneration, if indeed not the +still fuller experience of entire sanctification. But let us admit that +it means only the new heart which is given to the penitent sinner at +his new birth. Regeneration implies the impartation of a new life by +the Divine energy of the Holy Ghost. And this new life is comparable to +the "heart of flesh," not, of course, a carnal heart, but a heart +tender and teachable, and impressible to heavenly influences, such a +heart as we always find in the new-born babe in Christ. + +But listen still further: "And I will put My Spirit within you, and +cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do +them." In this verse we have a pre-figuring of the Holy Ghost baptism, +by which the heart is cleansed from all sin and sanctified wholly, and +also of the subsequent "walking in the Spirit," to which Paul alludes +in one of his epistles. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who +was also seized with prophetic fire at the birth of his son, exclaims, +"That He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand +of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and +righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." Surely the gospel +of Christ has something better for its recipients than a constant daily +sinning and repenting, which is too often the experience of Christian +people. The twenty-seventh verse, therefore, signifies holiness of +heart and life through the power of the indwelling Spirit. + +How blessed it is thus to be assured that what we cannot do by our own +strength, the Holy Spirit will cause us to do. This doctrine of +spiritual causation is indeed glorious. Like the mainspring of the +watch which supplies the power within, by which the hands are moved +without, and thus the fleeting minutes and hours are correctly +measured, so the Holy Spirit within supplies the energy by which the +sanctified believer is enabled or caused to adorn the doctrine of +Christ, his Saviour, in all things, and to bring forth the fruit of the +Spirit in all righteousness and goodness and truth. + +In the minor prophets, we find numerous allusions to the subject of +holiness, though their language is often highly figurative. In Hosea +2:16, after reproving Israel for her unfaithfulness in the past, the +Almighty, through His prophet, employs the following language, viz: +"And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me +Ishi, and shalt call Me no more Baali," and again in the nineteenth +verse, "I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea I will betroth thee in +righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies; I +will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the +Lord." Now the word Ishi means my husband; while the word Baali means +my Lord, and the language, therefore, points to an experience or a +relation of marriage. The bride is exalted immeasurably above the +servant. While the position of the servant points to a legal +justification and a service for wages and reward, that of the bride +must signify entire sanctification, and the closest possible union with +the Heavenly Bridegroom. Again, the word betrothed points legitimately +to a marriage which is always justly expected to follow if both parties +are faithful to the engagement. Beloved, let us get so near to Christ +that we shall not address Him as my Lord, in the spirit of a servant, +but as my husband, in the spirit of a loving and faithful wife. At your +conversion, you are, as it were, betrothed to Him, or in ordinary +language engaged to Him. At your entire sanctification, your engagement +is consummated by the marriage union. Engagement must precede marriage, +it is true, but, as a rule, engagements should not be long. Do not +needlessly defer your nuptials, but rather hasten to the embraces of +Everlasting Love. Like Rebecca, appreciate your high and holy calling, +and like her say promptly and decidedly, "I will go." + +In the book of Joel we find the prophecy which Peter quoted on the day +of Pentecost, and assured the multitude of Jews, out of every nation +under heaven, that what they beheld on that day was the fulfillment of +the same. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My +Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, +your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And +also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will I +pour out My Spirit." + +Now, these words are clearly a foreshadowing of the baptism with the +Holy Ghost and fire, designed for all of God's children without +distinction of nation or sex, and intended, first, to purify their +hearts by faith (see Acts 15:9) and, secondly, to endue them with power +for whatever line of service God may call them to. And we may add that +this text, as well as many others, shows that in these gospel days +women as well as men may be, as we find in the facts of our daily +experience that they are both called and qualified for the work of the +ministry, as well as other labors in the vineyard of the Lord. But both +men and women need the Holy Ghost baptism which consumes inbred sin, +as an indispensable qualification for the highest efficiency and most +marked success in the work to which they may individually be called. +Every Christian may and should do something for the Lord, but none can +do all for Him which he makes it his privilege and his duty to do, +without the grace of entire sanctification and the fulness of the +Spirit. + +In the prayer of Habakkuk we have some sentences which point +unmistakably to the experience of perfect trust in God and perfect love +for Him. "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit +be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields +shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and +there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I +will joy in the God of my salvation." Compare this with John Wesley's +description of a holy man after Paul. One who is enabled to rejoice +evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. +Does not Habakkuk answer beautifully to this description? + +The prophecy of Zechariah contains a number of visions, which are, no +doubt, full of instruction to those who have eyes to see. We can only +mention one or two of these. In the third chapter, verses one to seven, +we are introduced to Joshua, the high priest, representing the Jewish +people, and typifying Christ Jesus with His eternal and unchangeable +priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. But the Angel Jehovah also +represents Jesus in His capacity of Judge. And Satan, the adversary, is +present as the accuser of the brethren, resisting them in the person of +their representative, the high priest. + +And surely it would seem, at first, as if there was ground for his +accusations, for Joshua, the high priest, is clothed in filthy +garments, and these can signify nothing else than sins, aye, the sins +of His people imputed to Him as their representative and priest, and +not their actual sins only but their inbred sin also, for, "The Lord +hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," and "He hath made Him to be +sin for us who knew no sin." "His visage was so marred more than any +man, and His form more than the sons of men." "He hath no form nor +comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we +should desire Him." + +"Many were astonished at thee," says Isaiah. "Behold the man," said +Pilate, as he brought forth Jesus scourged, tortured, bleeding, but +uncomplaining, and the only answer was "Crucify Him!" Thus, beloved, +was He clothed in very truth with the filthy garments not of His own +vileness but of ours. + +But Joshua was "a brand plucked from the burning," and, therefore, in +Him all His people have found pardon. And now comes the order "Take +away the filthy garments from him, and unto him he said, Behold, I have +caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with +change of raiment." Surely, beloved, we here have nothing less than +entire sanctification, not in ourselves but in Him, and not only simply +imputatively and representatively, but actually and experimentally. +Praise the Lord. + +The prophet Malachi assures us that "He shall sit as a refiner and +purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi" (that is, the +"royal priesthood" which constitutes the true church) "and purge them +as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in +righteousness." Surely no one will deny that there is holiness in +prophecy. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST. + + + +Gabriel said to Mary in the annunciation, "Therefore, that holy thing +that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Or in the +Revised Version, "Wherefore, also, that which is to be born shall be +called holy, the Son of God." The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews +speaks of Him as "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," +and Peter says that "He did no sin, neither was guile found in His +mouth." He is called "Thy holy child Jesus." Jesus Christ, therefore, +was wholly free both from sin committed and sin indwelling. He was +absolutely holy in heart and holy in life, holy in word and holy in +act, holy in His birth, holy in His death, holy in His resurrection, +holy in His ascension, holy in His eternity. Glory be to His Holy +Name. + +And if the Divine Founder of the Christian Church was thus a holy man, +it would, naturally, be expected that He should desire to have a holy +people; and if He desire it, that He should also make provision for it; +and if He both desire it and hath made provision for it, that we should +find allusions to it in His teachings. In this, we are not +disappointed, as we shall proceed to show. + +The Sermon on the Mount contains an epitome of the public preaching of +the Lord Jesus, and every sentence is pregnant with meaning. From +beginning to end, it inculcates holiness as the privilege and duty of +believers. Many things are enjoined which would only be possible to +those who are sanctified wholly, such as, "Bless them that curse you, +do good to them that hate you, love your enemies, resist not evil," and +many others. + +The teachings of our Lord are like the headings of chapters, which are +filled out and developed in the writings of the apostles. This is +remarkably true of the Sermon on the Mount, which, without going +largely into details, sets forth the principles which are to govern His +kingdom on earth. The application and interpretation of these +principles, He leaves to the inspired apostles and evangelists, who +continued to teach and preach after His departure, and to the Holy +Spirit who is promised to the believing church as its guide, teacher +and comforter until Christ Himself shall come again. + +But besides many precepts and injunctions which imply holiness, there +are several, also, which expressly require it. Among the beatitudes at +the beginning of the Sermon, we find this striking statement: "Blessed +are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Now, heart purity +cannot exist while there is any sin in the heart. Wherever there is sin +in the heart, whether actual or indwelling, there is also defilement; +and purity and defilement are incompatible terms. + +Heart purity, therefore, is identical with entire sanctification, and +heart purity is not only a great energizer, so that a man is powerful +for good in proportion to the purity of his heart and life, but it is +also a great illuminator, so that it enables its possessor to see God. +This, of course, does not imply an open or an outward vision, but a +spiritual apprehension of God, whereby we are brought into fellowship +and communion with Him, and in a spiritual sense, we maybe truly +regarded as seeing Him who is forever invisible to outward sense. + +This inward purity, as distinguished from a blameless outward walk, was +by no means unknown to the Old Testament writers. In the Twenty-fourth +Psalm, David asks the question "Who shall ascend into the hill of the +Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place?" And He immediately answers +it by saying, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." The clean +hands imply that his works are in accordance with God's law; in other +words, that his outward life is free from condemnation. But the "pure +heart" means more than this, and suggests what the same royal Psalmist +remarks again in the Fifty-first Psalm. "Behold, thou desirest truth in +the inward parts, in the hidden part, Thou shalt make me to know +wisdom." It is also noticeable in the Twenty-fourth Psalm, as already +quoted, that the clean hands or justification comes before the pure +heart or entire sanctification. So accurate is the blessed spiritual +logic of the Holy Ghost. + +Returning to the Sermon on the Mount, we find at the end of Matthew +fifth the direct command, "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your +Father which is in heaven is perfect," or if we take the Revised +Version, which is more accurate in translation, the command becomes a +positive assertion, which is equally forcible. "Ye, therefore, shall be +perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." + +But whether command or declaration, it is at first sight simply +astounding. It is overwhelming. So much so, indeed, that our poor +human spirits shrink back in amazement, and we are ready to say, This +is wholly impossible. Surely, Jesus cannot mean what He says. Or if He +does, then my case is hopeless. But let us examine the words a little +more carefully. + +In the first place, we are to notice that He does not say that we are +to be equal in perfection to our Father in Heaven. That would, indeed, +be too absurd for the wildest fancy to conceive. God is infinite in all +His attributes and, therefore, infinite in perfection, and this in all +directions. We are poor, finite, sinful human beings, and can never +even approach the boundless perfection of Him who is wholly without +limit, either as to power, space or duration, or righteousness, justice +and holiness. + +But the command is not, Be ye equal to your Heavenly Father in +perfection, but, Be ye perfect with the same kind of perfection which +appertains to Him. It may be similar in kind whilst falling infinitely +short of His perfection in degree. Now, God is infinite and perfect in +all His attributes, but apart from His attributes is His essence. And +what is the perfection which is predicated of the essence of God? Or, +rather, what is His essence itself? It is love. "God is love," says the +apostle. "Thy nature and Thy name is love," says the great +hymnologist, Charles Wesley. The essential perfection of the Godhead, +therefore, is a perfection of love. And we are assured by the beloved +John that it is possible for us, also, to be made perfect in love, and +to possess the perfect love which casteth out fear. Hence, if we are +perfect in love we are perfect even as our Father who is in heaven is +perfect. Behold the blessed simplicity of the gospel. + +The context of the command referred to proves the same thing. Jesus had +just been telling His disciples that it is not sufficient for them to +love their friends, and do good to those that do good to them. All +these things and more are done even by worldly minded people and open +sinners. Unsaved people love those who love them. But Jesus continues, +"I say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good +to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and +persecute you." Why? "That ye may be the children of your Father who is +in heaven," for that is just the way He does. He does not wait for a +man to be His friend before He loves him and shows kindness to him. "He +maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on +the just and on the unjust." And, if we are to be the children of such +a Father, we must adopt His sentiments and love in our measure as He +loves. His essence being love, all His infinite activities are +controlled and regulated and directed by love, and when there is +nothing contrary to love in our hearts, so that all our finite +activities are in like manner impelled and swayed and directed by love, +then we are perfect in love, and perfect even as our Heavenly Father is +perfect. Glory to His Name. + +I believe that if we search carefully and prayerfully we shall find the +doctrine of entire sanctification in many of the parables of our +Saviour. Take, for instance, the parable of the sower. Here we are +expressly told that the seed is the word of God, and, of course, the +sowers are all ministers and Christian workers who are trying in any +right way, to diffuse a knowledge and acceptance of gospel truth. They +are devoting themselves to the salvation of human souls. Now, mark the +difference as to the ground upon which the good seed falls. (1) The +wayside hearers are not concerted at all. (2) The stony ground hearers +are converted but not established. Their shallowness is such as to +prevent them from withstanding trial and temptation and hence they fall +into backsliding. (3) The thorny ground hearers are converted, but +inbred sin remains in their hearts in form of the love of riches, +whether these riches are possessed or only desired, or too much care +and cumber, having so much regard to the secular as to neglect the +spiritual, or in the form of unsanctified desire, "the lusts of other +things," and so by sin that dwelleth in them the word is "choked," and +though they may bring forth a little meagre fruit of inferior quality, +yet they bring "no fruit to perfection." They are justified but not +sanctified wholly. + +Now, our Heavenly Father desires not a little fruit but much fruit. +"Every branch that bringeth forth fruit, he purgeth it that it may +bring forth more fruit." To purge is to purify or, in a spiritual +sense, to sanctify, and this is the condition of abundant fruitage. +When the thorns are removed the good seed will grow and flourish. When +inbred sin is taken out of the heart the Christian believer will bring +forth fruit to perfection, even the perfection of love, and this will +be the "much fruit" whereby God is glorified. + +On one occasion we are told that a lawyer asked Jesus "What shall I do +to inherit eternal life?" and when asked in reply what were the words +of the Mosaic law he answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with +all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind; and thy +neighbor as thyself." Jesus commended his answer and added "This do and +thou shalt live." Hence, our Saviour teaches that holiness consists of +nothing more nor less nor else than perfect love to God and man. What +constitutes this love has been already explained. + +Martha was a good Christian, but she was "careful and troubled about +many things." Mary was a good Christian and still earnestly seeking the +one thing needful, which is full salvation, or holiness of heart and +life. Even good Christians may be "cumbered about much serving," and so +miss this one thing needful. We cannot doubt that both the sisters, who +vividly typify the two experiences, obtained the blessing of holiness +when the pentecostal baptism was poured out upon the church of the +hundred and twenty, if not before. In the marvelous intercessory prayer +of the Lord Jesus, given in the seventeenth of John, we find these +expressions, "Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth." And +again, "For their sakes I sanctify Myself that they also may be +sanctified through the truth." Here we discover the two senses of the +word sanctify. Jesus sets Himself apart or consecrates Himself to the +work of human redemption in order that His followers, in all ages, may +be not only set apart or consecrated, but also sanctified wholly, or +made holy in heart and life. He gave Himself for the world of sinners +lost, that they might be forgiven and saved. He gave Himself for the +church, on the other hand, that He might "sanctify and cleanse it with +the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a +glorious church, not having spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, but +that it should be holy and without blemish." Thus, the atoning +sacrifice of Christ procured pardon and acceptance for the penitent +sinner. It procured not less, certainly, entire sanctification for the +consecrated believer. And it is only by accepting Him as a perfect +Saviour that He "is made of God unto us, wisdom and righteousness and +sanctification and redemption." + +For the blessed Saviour does not leave us in doubt as to the method of +obtaining this great blessing of holiness, nor as to the price, which +must be paid for it. Entire sanctification is "one pearl of great +price," and he who would possess it must go and sell all that he has. +The rich young ruler had a first-class record as to morality and the +outward observance of the law of God, yet Jesus said to him, "One thing +thou lackest," and that one thing was perfect love, for He added, "If +thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor," +and then interjecting a promise, "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven, +and come take up the cross and follow Me." The price was too great, and +the young man went away sorrowful. Alas! Myriads of souls since have +found the price too great, and by refusing to pay it, have deprived +themselves of unspeakable blessing. Christ would not have us become His +followers without counting the cost, and the cost is all that we have +and all that we are. "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath, he +cannot be My disciple." + +First, we are to forsake, with full purpose of heart, all known sin. It +may be the sin which "easily besets," our own bosom sin, near as a +right eye or a right hand, but if it causes us to stumble, it must be +relentlessly sacrificed. And even if the sacrifice seems like crippling +and maiming us, yet Jesus assures us that it is better to enter into +eternal life with one eye or one hand, than to be consigned to +everlasting death with two eyes or two hands. In the first place, +therefore, we are to "reckon ourselves dead, indeed, unto sin, but +alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord." + +But we are to become dead, indeed, not only to all sin, but we must be +dead, also, even to lawful things, except as God in His mercy may grant +them to us, to have and enjoy in moderation and to His glory. Jesus +teaches us that our highest affection, our deepest love must be +fastened upon Him alone, and that if any individual love, father or +mother, son or daughter, wife or husband more than Him, such a one is +not worthy of Him. We are to love His gifts and thank Him for them, but +still more are we to love the Giver Himself. + +And when we love Him supremely, we shall learn to be satisfied with +Himself, and what He in His love and mercy chooses to give us. If He +permits us to have an abundance of earthly goods, we shall thank Him +and use them as stewards of His for His glory. If He allows our family +circle to be invaded by death, and one dear one after another is +carried away to the tomb, or if He permits our wealth to be taken from +us and consign us to poverty and desolation, if His gifts one by one or +altogether are withdrawn from us, why, praise the Lord, we still have +the Giver, and can still say with Job "The Lord gave and the Lord hath +taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." + +It thus appears that the teachings of our Lord require us to be dead to +sin, and dead to self, yea, even to lawful self, in order that we may +possess this inestimable blessing of entire sanctification. Let us not +hesitate, then, beloved, to lay down our lives. "Whosoever will save +his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, +the same shall save it." + +"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; +but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PAUL. + + + +The apostleship of the Gentiles was committed specially to Paul. And as +the Gospel of Christ is intended for the salvation not of the Jews +only, but of all mankind who are willing to accept the conditions, we +find in the writings of this apostle, perhaps, a more complete +exposition and expansion of the teachings of the Lord Jesus than in any +other inspired author. Jesus gave the concise germinal principles of +all gospel truth; and Paul deduces from these principles their logical +consequences and develops them, under the inspiration of the Holy +Spirit, into those wonderful epistles to the churches, which, though as +Peter well observes containing some things hard to be understood, are +no doubt destined, nevertheless, in the future as in the past, to form +a large part both of the foundation and framework of every system of +theological doctrine. How wondrous, for instance, is the scheme of +redemption as unfolded to us in the Epistle to the Romans! How profound +and how exalted is the spirituality of the Ephesians and Colossians! +How pure and how practical are the directions to the Corinthians! What +a counter-blast to all legality in the church do we have in Galatians! +What a marvelous unfolding of Old Testament typology in the Hebrews! +What a guidebook of unequalled excellency for ministers of all times in +the pastoral epistles! + +In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul regards mankind under the two +divisions of the Gentile and the Jew, and proceeds to show that both +classes alike had failed in their efforts to attain to righteousness +and salvation. + +The Gentile, it is true, had not been favored with an outward +revelation, but he had been permitted to behold the outward universe, +and to know that it had a Creator "of eternal power and divinity." He +had also had a conscience within him, and so much light as rendered him +an accountable being, with a sense of obligation to a supreme power, +and furnishing another proof of the existence of a personal God. But +the Apostle tells us that they, the Gentiles, did not like to retain +God in their knowledge. They wickedly extinguished the light which He +had given them, because they were not willing to give up their +immoralities. And as their hearts became more corrupt, their intellects +also were darkened, and in their senselessness they changed the glory +of the incorruptible God into the baser image of "birds and four-footed +beasts and creeping things." They sank into the grossest idolatry and +licentiousness and all wickedness. This picture drawn in colors which +shock our sensibilities, in the first chapter of Romans, is confirmed +by the authentic writings of heathen historians, and this in all +particulars, Paul says, "They are without excuse, because they did not +live up to the light which they had received, obscure and imperfect as +it was." + +And how was it with the Jews? The advantage was, indeed, to them much +every way, but chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of +God. They had an outward revelation, and with it a knowledge of that +law of God, which is holy and just and good. + +But they had failed, if possible, more grievously than the Gentiles +themselves. They had received the law by the disposition of angels, as +Stephen told them and had not kept it. They had had far more light than +the Gentiles, but they had fallen into the same sins as they. They +prided themselves on the law, and looked with contempt upon the +Gentiles, and condemned them for their immoralities, and yet were +guilty of similar immoralities themselves. They talked loudly about the +words of the law. "Do not steal." "Do not commit adultery," and yet +violated these very commands themselves. Jesus in His scathing +denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, compared them to whited +sepulchres, looking well outwardly, but within full of dead men's bones +and all uncleanness: and He warned His disciples to beware of the +leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, and the leaven of the +Sadduces, which is infidelity, and the leaven of the Herodians, which +is worldly mindedness. + +The cause of failure was the same, both with Jew and Gentile. It was +something that had occurred long before the division into Jew and +Gentile had an existence. It had occurred, in short, when man fell. +From fallen parents our entire race had inherited a fallen nature, that +is to say, a natural proclivity towards sin. There is a disposition in +all mankind to yield to temptation, some in one direction, some in +another, and thus to say yes to Satan, while they also say no to God. +This bias towards evil is sometimes called depravity or original sin. +It is called by Paul "Our old man," "the flesh," "the carnal mind," +"the body of sin," and "sin that dwelleth in me." A good and convenient +name for it is inbred sin. It is sin in the heart as distinguished from +sin in the act. It is the inward cause of which our outward sins are +the effects. It is the evil root of which our outward sins are the +bitter fruits. + +Now, it was the inbred sin in the hearts of the Gentiles which caused +them to quench the light of the knowledge of God, which they must have +had for, at least, a generation or two after Noah came out of the ark, +and which made them blind to the light even of natural religion, +notwithstanding before their eyes the heavens were declaring the glory +of God and the firmament was showing His handiwork, day unto day was +uttering speech, and night unto night was showing knowledge. They +forsook the knowledge of God, and He left them to their own reprobate +minds, the result being that they sank into the grossest idolatry and +the most beastly sensuality. + +The Jew had the unspeakable advantage of an outward revelation. He +received through Moses the law of God, which showed him what God +desired him to be and do, and what he ought to be and do, but which +conferred upon him no power for being or doing what it required. It is +like a looking-glass placed before a child to show him that his face is +soiled, but having no power to cleanse that face. It was like a plumb-line +applied to a leaning wall, which shows how far it deviates from +the perpendicular, but which has no power to make it upright. Nay, it +even comes to pass that in consequence of inbred sin, the law +multiplies offences. It causes sin to abound. We find even in most +children a disposition that impels them to do and to have just what +they are told they must not do and have. That is to say, when the law +comes in, inbred sin rises in rebellion against it. + +The workings of the sin that dwelleth in us is most vividly described +by Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans. Over the real meaning of this +chapter, there has been much discussion and wide differences of +opinion. Some writers think that this is the best experience of the +great apostle of the Gentiles, and they draw consolation from this +fact, as well as argument, in favor of continuing to sin in thought and +word and deed as long as they live. Others think that the apostle is +not here describing a Christian experience at all, but the struggles of +a Jew who is seeking the favor of God by keeping His law, but finds his +attempts to keep it all in vain, the hindrance being inbred sin. I +freely admit that it is not what even a justified experience ought to +be, for God has assured us through His apostle, John, that He that is +born of God doth not commit sin, and, therefore, notwithstanding the +presence of inbred sin in the heart of the justified and regenerated +believer, yet such a one, by watchfulness and prayer, may be kept from +acts of sin and from becoming a backslider. But in point of fact, the +seventh of Romans does describe what, in many cases, is the experience +of the converted Christian. + +For there are many who even after a clear conversion and a joyful +sense of God's favor, with the witness of the Spirit to their adoption, +yet do yield to temptation under the pressure of inbred sin, and so +pass weeks, or months or weary years in what is called an up-and-down +experience, not becoming confirmed backsliders, but sinning and +repenting, delighting in the law of God after the inward man, but often +yielding to the demands of the law of sin, which is in their members, +not losing their sonship, but losing their communion and their joy, +often like Peter weeping bitterly over their transgressions, but +finding that while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. + +I said that such a process, unsatisfactory as it is, might go on for +years. It ends either in complete religious declension amounting, +sometimes, to apostacy on the one hand, or infinitely better, in the +entire sanctification of the heart and complete deliverance from inbred +sin. And in these days of enlightenment, when the doctrine and +experience of holiness are so plainly taught, and so generally diffused +among the children of God, it is, at least, doubtful whether a soul can +continue long in a state of justification, which means that it will +either go forward to the experience of entire sanctification, or else +it will fall into back-sliding as did some of the Corinthians, or into +legality as did the Galatians. + +Now, legality is nothing more nor less than Judaism. It is seeking +salvation after the pattern of the Old Testament, and not after that of +the New. It is a matter of works, and not a matter of faith. It +inquires "What good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" +It is the child of the bondwoman and not that of the free. It is +Ishmael and not Isaac. It is Sinai and not Calvary. + +And so it happens that many Christians are simply good Jews. They may +even possess circumcised hearts, and may yet serve the Lord in the +spirit of bondage, as did good Jews of old. They fail to realize that +they have been called unto liberty, which liberty does not, by any +means, signify license; it does not signify the liberty of making our +own choices, but the liberty of accepting gladly and submissively God's +choices; it does not mean the liberty of doing either right or wrong as +we may prefer, but the liberty of always preferring to do right and +never wrong, and so to spend our years on earth, doing right in all +directions, and doing wrong in none. This, beloved, is the glorious +liberty of the children of God. + +After the birth of Ishmael, we may well suppose that Hagar's chief +employment in Abraham's house was to look after the said Ishmael, to +care for him and to restrain him. Mark, it was never her business to +care for or to restrain Isaac. He was the child of promise, the child +of faith, the son of the lawful wife and the free woman, and when +Ishmael's persecuting spirit broke forth at the weaning of Isaac, then +the command was "Cast out the bond woman and her son." Both must go +together or stay together. Ah! beloved, when inbred sin is cast out, +there is no more need of the law either to restrain or constrain. +Perfect love casts out fear; it also casts out sin, and becomes the +motive power of the whole spiritual man. "The love of Christ +constraineth us." + +So Paul shows us that both Gentiles and Jews had failed to attain unto +the law of righteousness, because of inbred sin, which caused the +former to put out the light which they had, and the latter to fall +short of keeping the law, which was their only hope of salvation, but +which was never intended by its Divine Author to save men, but to show +them how utterly incapable they were of saving themselves. + +But Paul does not leave them there. After putting both classes of the +human family into the same position of failure and condemnation, and +declaring that there is no difference, "for all have sinned and come +short of the glory of God," he adds, "Being justified fully by His +grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." When man's +helplessness and inability have been sufficiently demonstrated, then +God comes to his rescue. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, +that He might have mercy upon all." + +Thus in the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle teaches the great +doctrine of justification by faith and the consequent peace of +reconciliation, the "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." But +he goes farther than justification, and shows us that sanctification, +also, is by faith and not by works. He will not be satisfied with +anything less than the death of our old man, and the death of inbred +sin is precisely the experience of entire sanctification. "Knowing this +that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be +destroyed, that, henceforth, we should not serve him." + +But we are wholly unable to destroy or do away with the body of sin by +any resolution or will-power or effort of our own. Sin will not go +dead at our bidding, nor can we become dead to sin by wishing or +striving to be so. Again, we are brought face to face with our +helplessness, but the apostle solves the problem for us by directing us +to resort to the process of reckoning. "Likewise reckon ye, also, +yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God, through +Jesus Christ, our Lord." Ah! now, our help is laid upon one that is +mighty. "The things that are impossible with men are possible with +God." What we reckon, with the sublime reckoning of faith, Christ can +make real and true. We have only, therefore, to reckon ourselves to be +dead, indeed, unto sin, and leave to Him to make the reckoning good. +But we must not fail to reckon ourselves alive as well as dead. And to +be alive to God means, in this connection, to be responsive to every +intimation of His will, to love Him perfectly, to be, to do and to +suffer joyfully all that He may determine concerning us, in short, to +be sanctified wholly. Oh, beloved, what a blessed reckoning is the +reckoning of faith! How vastly does it transcend all the reckonings of +logic or mathematics. For, by it, we experience a continual deadness +to sin, and a continual holiness of heart and life. + +For it must be clearly understood that Paul is not asking us to fancy, +or imagine, or hypothecate. He is not telling us that if we believe a +thing to be true, the believing will make it true. He is not persuading +us to reckon without factors and with no result. The factors in his +direction are God's promises and commands, alike in the Old Testament +and in the New, urging His people to be holy, and promising to make +them so, and our acceptance of the provision He has made for our +cleansing, by faith, and then by the reckoning alluded to, the result +is secured. + +In foggy or cloudy weather, mariners at sea are often compelled to +resort to what they term dead-reckoning. Sometimes for days together, +the sun is hidden by clouds, and no observation can be taken with the +usual instruments for determining latitude and longitude. Then the +captain ascertains by the compass what direction he is pursuing, and +by the log, the rate at which the ship is sailing, and thus by marking +out his daily advance on a chart, he is enabled, with astonishing +accuracy, to determine when and at what point he will sight the shore +toward which the voyage is directed. What he reckons becomes real, when +he tells the passengers, "Within five minutes, we ought to see the +Irish coast," followed within the specified time by the cry from the +lookout, "Land, ho!" + +To the Christian believer, the Bible is both compass and log and chart. +Sometimes, he enjoys the witness of the Spirit clear as the sunshine, +assuring him that he is going in the right direction, and informing +him as to his whereabouts in Christian experience, but when not thus +favored, he can still move on by faith, he still has his compass and +his chart, and he can still employ the dead-reckoning, and go forward +with a holy trust that in due time he shall land in the heavenly port. +Praise the Lord. + +To comment in detail upon all that the great apostle of the Gentiles +has written in reference to entire sanctification would require a +volume instead of a single chapter. I must, therefore, content myself +with a few selections, and leave the reader to pursue the subject for +himself in the inexhaustible mine of the Pauline Epistles. + +In Romans 6:13, we have the best description of consecration that is to +be found anywhere. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of +unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that +are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of +righteousness unto God." And, again, in the 19th verse, "For as ye +have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto +iniquity; even so, now, yield your members servants to righteousness, +unto holiness." + +Here, the apostle clearly teaches us that consecration is not the same +thing as entire sanctification. The one is an act proceeding from man +to God, the other is an act proceeding from God to man. It is man who +consecrates; it is God who sanctifies. + +Perfect consecration is an entire surrender of a personal human being +to a personal God. The term members may well be understood to include +all bodily organs and powers, all mental faculties and sensibilities, +and all appurtenances, such as time, money, influence, culture, health, +and, in short, the whole personal, individual man, with all his +belongings. The surrender must be complete, absolute, unreserved and +forever. Body, soul, spirit, time, talents, possessions, all that we +have and all that we are must be His, wholly His, and His to all +eternity. + +Such a consecration cannot be made by any one who is not already a +Christian believer. Paul informs us, explicitly, that he is not calling +upon sinners "dead in trespasses and sins," to consecrate themselves, +but upon converted persons, "those who are alive from the dead." How +thankful we ought to be that he has settled that point forever. Sinners +may repent, but only Christians can consecrate. Whatever surrender the +sinner may and must make in order to be saved, the believer must make a +broader, deeper, fuller, more complete surrender of a different +character and for a different purpose. In repentance, the sinner gives +himself away as a dead sacrifice, and his purpose is to receive pardon +and life. In consecration, the Christian yields to God his living and +regenerated faculties and powers, and his purpose is that he may be +sanctified wholly, filled with the Spirit, and used to the utmost +extent of his capacity for the glory of God. + +Consecration does not mean the giving up of our sins, or vices, or +depraved appetites, or forbidden indulgences. We cannot consecrate our +alcohol, or our tobacco, or our opium, or our card-playing, or +dancing, or theater-going to God. He wants none of these things. All +actual and known sins must be abandoned at conversion. Our consecration +is for a deeper work, that is to say, for the removal of inbred sin, +which, after all, is not accomplished by our consecration, though that +is an essential preliminary, but by the baptism with the Holy Ghost +and fire. + +The essence of consecration is in the sentence, "Yield yourselves unto +God." When you yield yourselves, you yield everything else. All the +details are included in the one surrender of yourself. Changing the +emphasis, we may read again, "Yield yourselves unto God." Consecration +is not to God's service, not to His work, not to a life of obedience +and sacrifice, not to the church, not to the Christian Endeavor, not to +the missionary cause, nor even to the cause of God; it is to God +Himself. "Yield yourselves unto God." Your work, your service, your +obedience, your sacrifice, your right place and your allotted duty will +all follow in good time. + +Consecration is the willingness, and the resolution and the purpose to +be, to do, and to suffer all God's will. Its essence, already given in +the words of Paul, is given also in the words of the Saviour. "Not My +will but Thine be, done," which is beautifully versified by Frances +Ridley Havergal, in the couplet, + + "Take my will and make it thine, + It shall be no longer mine." + +Consecration being a definite transaction, and made once for all, does +not need to be repeated unless we have failed to keep it. To consecrate +over and over again is like a husband and wife marrying over and over +again. We are consecrated just as we are married. The vow is upon us, +and in the force of that vow, we walk all our days. All we have to do is +to remember day by day that we are wholly the Lord's, and see to it that +nothing is taken from the altar. Those who have kept their consecration +complete should testify to its maintenance upon all suitable occasions, +and never deny it by word, deed or silence. + +Many years ago, I saw a form of consecration in an English periodical, +which is here given very slightly modified, and which has been adopted +by many. Let all my readers unite with the author in entering into this +personal yielding to God. + + I am willing + To receive what Thou givest, + To lack what Thou withholdest, + To relinquish what Thou takest, + To suffer what Thou inflictest, + To be what Thou requirest, + To do what Thou commandest. + Amen. + +In this connection, we may add that when the consecration is complete, +it becomes, comparatively, an easy matter to believe. Entire +sanctification like justification, and, indeed, all other gospel +blessings and experiences, is to be received by faith. But so long as +the surrender to God is not complete, faith refuses to act. + +When all obstructions are removed by an act of heartfelt and sincere +consecration, then it becomes as natural and as easy to believe as it +is to breathe, after everything that hinders breathing is removed from +the air passages. We hear much complaint among Christians of a want of +faith. If they only had more faith, they imagine that all would be +well. When the disciples of old asked Jesus to increase their faith, He +told them, in effect, to use what they had. If it were only a mustard-seed +faith, He assured them that it would remove mountains. And we may +justly conclude that the difficulty with most seekers after entire +sanctification is not in a want of faith so much as in an incomplete +surrender. The carnal mind dies very hard. It attaches itself to one +worldly thing or another, and refuses to be sundered from what it +loves, and while this is the case, the individual cannot believe that +God gives him the unspeakable blessing of heart purity. But when all +the preliminaries have been attended to, and there is nothing else +needed but to trust in Jesus, then faith can appropriate His promises, +and in so doing realize their fulfillment. + +Another class of seekers is very much concerned about the witness of +the Spirit to assure them that the blessing has been received. Probably +in these cases the very point that has not yet been consecrated to God +is the feeling, or the witness, which they so much desire. "It often +happens," says Dr. G. D. Watson, "that a patient, who has been cured of +some contagious disease, has to have a certificate on leaving the +hospital. In such a case the certificate does not cure him, but +certifies that he is cured. How absurd for a patient just entering the +hospital to clamor for his health certificate before receiving the +doctor and taking the remedies. In like manner, it is useless for a +seeking soul to be clamoring for the witness and waiting for the +feeling before receiving Jesus and fully trusting Him for the cure. We +are not to trust in the experience, but the Saviour who imparts the +experience." + +Let us now return to Paul. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, +second and third chapters, he tells us of three classes of persons: the +natural man, the spiritual man, and the babe in Christ. The natural +man, he tells us, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they +are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are +spiritually discerned. Such is a description of the unregenerate +wherever and whenever they are found. Their standard of judgment is not +that of the Holy Spirit. They are blind to the truth of God and deaf to +the story of salvation. Being without spiritual life they are, of +course, without spiritual judgment. And yet, just such persons are in +all our churches, and the number is by no means small. And often it +strangely happens that these are the very individuals who are +noticeably forward in expressing their opinions on the right way of +managing a church. Fine and costly edifices, artistic music, +entertainments and theatricals, eloquent preaching or lecturing, +something to be proud of and to draw the crowd--these are the things +which in their view make the church of their choice a success; but as +for the conversion of sinners, as for the spread of the gospel at home +and abroad, as for the sanctifying of believers, as for the things of +the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto them. What they need is a +deep and pungent conviction, a true repentance, a living faith and a +sound conversion. May God hasten it in His time. + +"He that is spiritual," says our apostle, "judgeth or discerneth all +things, yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man." The spiritual +man is the man who has been baptized with the Spirit and filled with +the Spirit, and in whom the Spirit abides as an ever-present Guide, +Comforter and Friend. In short, he is the man who is wholly sanctified +and saved to the uttermost. I should not, of course, affirm that such a +one is always remarkable for depth or soundness of judgment, for, as +his religion is in his heart rather than in his head, the heart may be +perfect while the head may be weak. And yet holiness, or rather the +Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart, does have a wonderfully illuminating +influence upon the understanding. And the spiritual man, however many +things he may be ignorant of, does understand the condition of the +natural man, because he has been there, while he is not understood by +the natural man because the latter has not been where he is. And the +same is true of the relation of the spiritual man to the carnal +Christian or babe in Christ. He, also, is understood by one who has the +Spirit, while he is himself incapable of judging or discerning the +position of the latter. + +Paul assures the Corinthians that they are "yet carnal," and still he +asserts that they are "babes in Christ." Such persons, and their name +is legion in all denominations of Christians, are not wholly natural, +neither are they wholly spiritual. They are babes in Christ, and, +therefore, they may thank God that they are in Christ. They are +converted, they are believers, they are disciples, they are justified; +but they are not wholly sanctified, and not wholly delivered from the +carnal mind. Their state is a mixed one, partly spiritual, partly +carnal. + +Oh, let such as these make an immediate and complete and irrevocable +consecration to God, and let them ask for the baptism with the Holy +Ghost and receive Him by faith in His sanctifying and empowering +offices, that so they may become, not partly, but wholly spiritual. Oh, +that spiritual men and women may increase and abound in all our +churches. Amen. + +In 2 Corinthians, 7:1, the apostle of the Gentiles bases the +experience of entire sanctification on the glorious promises of God. +"Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse +ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting +holiness in the fear of God." To cleanse ourselves is shown by the +Greek tense to be an act done definitely and once for all. It means, +therefore, to put ourselves under the conditions of cleansing by a +definite act of consecration to God. It means to place ourselves in +co-operation with the Holy Spirit, who is distinctively the Sanctifier +and Cleanser. It means, also, that we are to seek and find the baptism +with the Holy Ghost and with fire, in order that our hearts may be +purified by faith, and then to continually avoid all sources of +temptation and all incentives to evil, so far as we may; and +continuously realize and experience the holiness which Christ has +instantaneously wrought in our souls through His Holy Spirit. +Filthiness of the flesh signifies undue indulgence of sensual +appetites, as in gluttony, drunkenness and licentiousness, which was +probably very prevalent at Corinth. Filthiness of the spirit is +illustrated by idolatry and pride, nor must we forget that the spirit +is often polluted also through pampering the body. + +Paul's wonderful prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, has been so admirably +treated of by Dr. Daniel Steele, that I shall content myself with +referring the reader to his book on "Love Enthroned," page 123, and +pass on. A single remark, however, may properly be made. That prayer, +undoubtedly, embodies all that we mean by entire sanctification and the +filling of the Spirit and more. + +In 1 Thess. 5:23, we have another prayer of the great apostle in which +entire sanctification is expressly petitioned for. "And the very God of +peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul +and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus +Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." The very +form of the expression in the first clause indicates that it is +possible to be sanctified wholly and possible to be sanctified +partially. All Christians are cleansed from the pollution of sins +committed, that is to say, from the pollution they have acquired by +actually sinning. And thus the Corinthians are addressed by Paul as +sanctified, although, manifestly, many of them were not holy in heart +and life. On the other hand, the apostle prays that the Thessalonians +may be sanctified wholly, although as a church they were already in a +healthy and prosperous condition, the only exception being a few +members who were too neglectful of their outward business and too much +disposed to be busy-bodies. So we may conclude, without hesitation, +that all Christians are partially sanctified, while many good +Christians are not wholly sanctified. + +But provision was made in the gospel for the entire sanctification of +all believers, otherwise Paul would not have prayed for it. And not +only for their entire sanctification as a definite, instantaneous act +of God, as shown by the Greek tense, but, also, for their continual +preservation in blamelessness, though not in faultlessness, until the +coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And lest they should stagger through +unbelief he adds, "Faithful is He that calleth you. You are not to do +it. He will do it for He is able." + +And this experience extends to the whole man, the spirit which takes +hold of and communes with God, the soul with its emotions, affections, +desires and volitions; the body with its appetites and its powers all +made holy and preserved holy. Glory! + +One more citation only and I will leave the reader to his own +researches in the rich storehouse of the Pauline writings. Taking it +for granted that Paul is the author of the Hebrews, let us read chapter +7:25 of that profound epistle. "Wherefore, he is able, also, to save +them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth +to make intercession for them." To the uttermost refers, undoubtedly, +not only to time but to quantity. It means entirely, perfectly, +altogether, through and through. And if he is able he is also willing. +Oh, that all my readers, with the writer, may praise God now and +evermore for salvation from the uttermost to the uttermost. Amen. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PETER. + + + +In the first place, Peter sanctioned all the writings of his beloved +brother, Paul, and this probably at a period when Paul was either dead +or separated from his ministerial work by imprisonment. There is a +tradition that both the apostles were put to death on the same day at +Rome, the one by crucifixion, choosing himself to have his head +downward because unworthy to die just like his Master--the other by +beheading, because he was a Roman citizen, which was deemed, at Rome, +too honorable a position to be subjected to the ignominious death of +the cross. Even if this should be true, yet Peter's second epistle, in +which he endorses Paul's teachings, and gives to his writings the same +authority as to the rest of the Bible, seems to have been written but a +short time previous to his own martyrdom. The mature judgment of +Peter, therefore, was that Paul was an inspired writer of Scripture, +and that what he had given to the churches through his epistles, and +left as a permanent legacy for the church universal, is to be received +as gospel truth. And this will apply to his copious and frequent +allusions to entire sanctification, as well as to the various other +subjects treated of by his inspired pen. On the subject of holiness, +therefore, Peter and Paul are as one; and we need not be surprised that +in the very first sentence of his first epistle, he addresses the +Christians of the Jewish dispersion in Asia Minor--though by no means +excluding the Gentile converts--as elect according to the fore-knowledge +(not predestination) of God the Father through sanctification +of the Spirit, which must include entire as well as partial +sanctification, unto (not unconditional happiness or misery,) but unto +obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus, in one +grand outburst of salutation from his glowing heart, he associates +sanctification of the Spirit, the blood of sprinkling, and the +obedience of faith. Neither Peter nor Paul stops in the midst of his +earnest appeals to men's hearts, in order to give a lecture on +Systematic Theology, but both scatter seed-thoughts all over their +inspired pages, which are abundant in fruitage to the candid and +reflecting mind. And right here we remark that Paul to the +Thessalonians employs the same expression, sanctification of the +spirit, in connection with belief of the truth, and thus putting the +apostle of the circumcision by the side of the apostle of the +uncircumcision we have sanctification by the blood of Jesus, +sanctification by faith, sanctification by the Holy Ghost, and even in +a subordinate sense, sanctification by obedience, and all this without +the slightest inconsistency or contradiction. + +And as Peter starts out by calling God's people to holiness, he +continues by reminding them that their hope is to be fixed upon "an +inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, +reserved in heaven for you." What more natural than that those who are +expecting to inherit a holy heaven, should themselves seek while here +to become a holy people? Surely we should desire a meetness for our +inheritance as well as a title to it. + +After speaking of the "trial of their faith being much more precious +than of gold which perisheth," the apostle utters forth an imperious +call to entire sanctification. "But as He which hath called you is +holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is +written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." Thus he quotes from the words of +the great lawgiver in Leviticus--that Moses, whom all Jews have +delighted to honor, and shows at a glance that the Old Testament, as +well as the New, bears witness to the holiness of God, and makes that +fact a sufficient reason for the command and requirement that His +people should be holy, also. + +Our Heavenly Father, then, is a holy God and dwells in a holy heaven. +Is it not most reasonable and most fit that He should require all who +are to dwell with Him forever in that holy place, to be holy also? And +in order to find an abundant entrance into that everlasting kingdom, +we must be made holy while still clothed in flesh and sojourning upon +earth. Nothing that is not already pure and holy can pass through the +gates of pearl into the eternal city, the New Jerusalem. + +Holiness is what constitutes the family likeness between our Father in +heaven and His children both on earth and in heaven. A lady was +accosted in the streets of a western city by a stranger, who asked her +if she was not the daughter of such a one, naming him. She replied, +with some surprise at the question, in the affirmative. "I knew you," +said the gentleman, "by your resemblance to your father who was my +particular friend twenty-five years ago, away back in the State of +Maine." And the lady was delighted that the lineaments of her father's +countenance were so impressed upon her own that she should thus be +recognized even by one who had never seen her before as her father's +child. + +Ah! beloved, have we the likeness of our Heavenly Father so imprinted +upon our faces and upon our walk and upon our conversation that all who +know Him shall recognize His features in us? Oh, for more of the family +likeness which shall stamp us as sons of God wherever we are and +whatever we do. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." + +In comparison with the precious "blood of Christ" Peter characterizes +silver and gold, which men call precious metals, as "corruptible +things," and then gives the striking exhortation, "Seeing ye have +purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto +unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a +pure heart fervently," and all this on the basis of the new birth which +they had already received "of the incorruptible seed by the word of +God." + +Why, Peter, although a fisherman and an unlearned and ignorant man, yet +when thou writest under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, it is almost +as hard to keep up with thee as with thy beloved brother, Paul! + +See how holiness is, as it were, piled up and repeated in various ways +in the sentence quoted above. (1), "Ye have purified your souls." Yes, +and it was Peter who spoke before the council at Jerusalem in reference +to Cornelius and his household, and said that God "put no difference +between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." The word +"purify" is derived from a Greek root which means "fire." Souls are +purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the result is a continual +"obeying the truth," and (2), the positive side of this purification +is "unfeigned love of the brethren," and this is love with a pure heart +and fervent, the same love which John calls perfect love, and the +standard of which is in the words of the Lord Jesus, "As I have loved +you that ye also love one another." + +Was ever more holiness crowded into a single verse? Peter had never +been to a Theological Seminary, but he had listened through three +eventful years to the blessed teachings of the Lord Jesus, and he had +been filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and without +aiming at system or explanation, he has compressed more sound theology +into a single verse than we find in many a voluminous treatise and many +a lengthy commentary and many an eloquent sermon. + +And then in the rapturous eloquence of inspiration he tells us how to +grow in grace. "Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile, and +hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes +desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby," and his +last exhortation at the end of the second epistle is, "But grow in +grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." + +Peter, by no means, teaches us that we grow into grace, or that we grow +into entire sanctification. We first become receivers, and get grace +before we can grow in it, and we must first receive entire +sanctification before we can grow in it. Like all other gospel +blessings, this is the gift of God, and is forever, therefore, +unobtainable by any process of growth. But Peter says in effect, in +order to grow in grace you must do two things. (1), Lay aside +everything that hinders growth, specifying malice, guile, hypocrisies, +envies, evil speakings. Now it is plain as the sun at noon-day that all +these things are the fruits of the carnal mind. And so in a single +thought the exhortation is to lay aside, or put off, or give up to +destruction, the depravity of our nature, the inbred sin which doth so +easily beset, and which so long as it exists, will be an insuperable +hindrance to all rapid and symmetrical growth, and (2) desire, and of +course, partake of the sincere milk of the word. Ah, here is wisdom, +the secret of successful growth, in the spiritual as in the natural +world, is first to become healthy, and then to take plenty of +nourishment. Holiness is spiritual health, and implies the absence of +inbred sin which is always spiritual disease. The child that is healthy +and gets plenty of pure milk will grow and develop rapidly. The time +will soon come when he can eat and digest meat and still strengthen and +expand his physical organism on this richer diet, and thus he will +finally become a large and strong man. But the child may be healthy and +still not grow because it is starving for want of food. Or, it may have +plenty of the most wholesome food and still not grow because disease +prevents it from assimilating the nourishment. Sound health and plenty +of food, with proper exercise, are the essentials of the right kind of +growth. Now the Holy Bible contains not only milk for babes, but strong +meat for strong men. It has been remarked by another that if Christians +would be giants they must eat giants' food. And the essential requisite +for appropriating either the milk or the meat is to have a sound +spiritual constitution and that means simply entire sanctification. +Peter is right again. We grow by the sincere milk of the word after we +have gotten rid of that which always and everywhere obstructs true +growth. + +Of course my reader will not understand me to say, any more than Peter +himself says, that we experience growth in grace simply by a head +knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. I do not forget that it is not the +written word but the Eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who +is the bread of life. Nor do I forget that we feed upon His broken body +and His shed blood, not by intellect, not by reason, not by culture, +not by learning, but by faith. + +But after all it is the Bible, or rather it is Bible truth, whether +presented on the pages of inspiration or in the preached word, which is +the great instrumentality employed by the Holy Spirit, in bringing men +to Christ, and in feeding and nourishing and strengthening and edifying +the church which has thus been gathered to Him. And so both Peter in +speaking about the "sincere milk of the word," and Paul in referring to +the "strong meat," by which term he characterizes the deeper spiritual +truths of revelation, are leading us to Jesus, the true bread, the +living bread, the bread of life. + +Our apostle passes next to a most glowing description of the Christian +priesthood, and again the leading idea of holiness flashes from his +pen, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an +holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by +Jesus Christ." Again, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, +an holy nation, a peculiar people." Here is our title of nobility, +beloved, and who of us would exchange it for an earldom, or a dukedom +or a kingdom? Not I at least. + +The Jews of old received spiritual blessing very largely, and even +temporal blessing also, through the mediation of an outward priesthood. +And the family of priests were chosen and ordained of God Himself. "No +man taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of God, as was +Aaron." + +But under the Christian dispensation all God's saved people are priests +as well as kings, and the sacrifices which they offer are spiritual +sacrifices, the body as a living sacrifice to be consumed like a whole +burnt offering in His service, "the fruit of the lips giving thanks to +His name," and the doing good and communicating, that is to say, a life +rich in faith and good works, such are the sacrifices with which God is +well pleased. But to be a Christian priest in the sense here described +must involve and does involve the idea of entire sanctification. +Peter's words will not allow us to doubt that the priesthood of +believers is a "holy priesthood." + +Afterwards, the chief of the apostles exhorts his readers to take ill +treatment patiently when they have to suffer, not for doing wrong but +for doing well, and reminds us of the example of Christ, "Who did no +sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who when He was reviled, +reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed +Himself to Him that judgeth righteously; who His own self bare our sins +in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live +unto righteousness," winding up with a terse expression of the great +doctrine of the atonement "by whose stripes ye were healed." + +Paul would have us "dead to sin" by reckoning. Peter would have us +"dead to sins" by making no response to the suggestions of Satan or the +temptations which he may present to us. To be dead either to sin within +us or to sins without us, implies holiness of heart, that is, entire +sanctification. Praise the Lord for the perfect agreement of His two +great apostles in regard to this glorious doctrine. + +Still further, Peter speaks of the "holy women" of old, and exhorts +Christian women to be like them, particularly in adorning themselves +not with gay attire, but with inward and spiritual graces. And in his +second epistle, he alludes to "holy men of God," speaking through the +Old Testament as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And here we have +the best possible definition of inspiration, in regard to which volumes +have been written, and very different views expressed by equally +learned and candid men. But what can be more satisfactory to the +humble, Christian mind than just to feel that when he reads his Bible, +he is perusing the words of "holy men of God who spake as they were +moved by the Holy Ghost." Such a mind will find no difficulty about +inspiration. + +In the last chapter of his second epistle, Peter rebukes the unbelief +of the scoffers, who then believed, and whose successors still believe +that the present order of the material universe will continue for an +indefinite period, if not, indeed, forever. He assures us that the Lord +has not forgotten, that He is not slack concerning His promises, but +that the very reason why the sinful world has been spared so long is +because of God's long suffering and mercy, "not willing that any should +perish, but that all should come to repentance." And, then, having +declared that the heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved +unto fire, that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, +that the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the +works that are therein shall be burned up, he exclaims with most +appropriate words, "Seeing then, that all these things shall be +dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy +conversation and godliness," and this in order "that ye may be found of +Him in peace, without spot and blameless." + +Praise the Lord for the doctrine of entire sanctification as taught by +the apostle of the circumcision. Amen. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JOHN. + + + +John, before Pentecost, was emphatically a Son of Thunder. He could +forbid a man to cast out devils in the name of Jesus, because the man +was not of his own particular fold. He was ready to imitate Elijah by +calling down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans who would not +extend the rites of hospitality to his Master. He was eager to have the +highest possible place in the coming kingdom of his Lord, and this at +whatever cost. But after Pentecost, John was _par excellence_ the +apostle of love. Not that his character became anything like putty. He +could still rebuke evil and denounce Diotrephes, and forbid the elect +lady to receive or countenance any who did not uphold the true, sound +doctrines of the gospel. He was still a son of thunder against heresy +and immorality, but he was preeminently, after his baptism with the +Holy Ghost, a son of consolation. His soul seems absolutely absorbed in +the love of God, and his exhortations to the churches, seemed all to +concentrate in two special points, love God and love one another. His +heart was made perfect in love on the day of Pentecost, and he never +lost the blessed experience. He retained the blessing because he +retained the Blesser. The Holy Comforter was his abiding guest and +keeper. + +The gospel of John contains many of the most profound and spiritual +truths that ever fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus. And the only +distinction which John accords to himself, and that always with the +greatest modesty and humility, is "the disciple whom Jesus loved." + +He begins his gospel with a sublime assertion of the Deity and +preëxistence of Christ as the Eternal Word, then tells of the +incarnation, how the Word became flesh, and we beheld His glory, how +although He was the Light of the world, yet the world knew Him not, and +though He came unto His own (the Jews) yet His own received Him not, +but as many as did receive Him, whether Jews or Gentiles, to them gave +He power to become the children of God, and this through a new birth, +not of human blood, or title, or pedigree, not of man in any way +whatever, but of God. It is not sufficient, therefore, to be a child of +God by creation, which, indeed, all men are, but by adoption, by the +reception of the Divine nature by birth. And this new birth is more +fully unfolded to the Jewish Sanhedrist, Nicodemus, both as to its +necessity and its nature. "Ye must be born again." "The Son of man must +be lifted up." The new birth is of water and the Spirit. The water is +the water of life, the gospel offered freely to all, with its cleansing +and refreshing and vivifying properties so well symbolized by water, +and the Holy Spirit is the effective personal agent by whom the +regeneration is wrought in the heart of the penitent sinner, though His +operations may be as inexplicable as the wind, which bloweth where it +listeth, and is known only by its results. Then we have the hinge-text +of salvation, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten +Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal +life." Thus, in this marvelous discourse with Nicodemus, we have God's +love or God's grace as the source of our salvation, Christ crucified as +the ground of it, and the Holy Spirit as the Divine Agent of its +accomplishment. Glory be to the Triune God. + +Not only the discourse of our Lord with Nicodemus on the new birth, but +His discourse, also, with the woman of Samaria on true worship is given +by John alone. It is remarkable that not to a Jewish Rabbi, not to the +Scribes and Pharisees, not to a Jew at all, but to a heathen or +semi-heathen woman, Jesus made the first recorded, positive declaration +of His Messiahship, and showed her that as God is a Spirit, so they that +worship Him must do so, not in any specific locality, such as Jerusalem +or Mount Gerizim, and not by any prescribed form or any outward ritual, +but in spirit and in truth. No wonder that her heart was immediately +and completely captivated by so grand and glorious a revelation, and +that, at once, she left her waterpot and went her way to become a +preacher of righteousness to her fellow-townsmen. + +Passing over the fifth chapter, with the appeal to the Jews to search +the Scriptures and the assurance that they testified of Him; and the +sixth chapter, with its story of complete self-abnegation, when after a +stupendous miracle, the people were disposed to take Him by force and +make Him a king, but He departed into a mountain Himself alone, and the +next day, the wonderful discourse upon the bread of life, which sifted +away from Him a large proportion of those who had been so ready to +proclaim Him King, and brought out of the core of His heart those +pathetic words to the twelve, "Will ye also go away?", we come to the +seventh chapter and the feast of Tabernacles, at which, on the occasion +of the priest pouring water from the pool of Siloam, out of a golden +pitcher into a trumpet-shaped receptacle above the altar, amid the +rejoicings of the people, Jesus stood and cried, "If any man thirst let +him come unto Me and drink." "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture +hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water." The +Scripture referred to is, probably, Isaiah 58:11, and, perhaps, other +similar passages. "And the Lord shalt guide thee continually, and +satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be +like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters fail +not." + +But the beloved disciple himself gives us an extremely valuable +inspired commentary on these words of the Lord Jesus, in order that +readers in all ages might make the true spiritual application which is +intended by them. "But this spake He of the Spirit which they that +believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, +because that Jesus was not yet glorified." These remarkable words seem +to clearly imply that notwithstanding the presence and operation of the +Spirit in the former dispensations of God's grace, yet He was to be +poured out on all God's children under the gospel in a sense and to an +extent, which so far transcends the highest manifestation of His power +in Old Testament times that in comparison it is said the Holy Ghost was +not yet given, or, literally, the Holy Ghost was not yet. And this +wondrous outpouring was to be after the glorification of Jesus and as a +consequence of that glorification. So that Pentecost, with its untold +wealth of privilege, could not be realized till after the death, +resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. + +And we are clearly informed that what the church of the hundred and +twenty received on the day of Pentecost, namely, the purifying of their +hearts by faith and the enduement of power, that is to say, entire +sanctification, with all its blessed accompaniments, was not a +privilege confined to apostolic times, and to the opening of the Holy +Ghost dispensation; for Peter boldly assured the wondering multitude +that the promise of the same blessed experience "is to you and to your +children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God +shall call." And thus it is for the church and for every individual +believer, until Christ Himself shall come again. God help all +Christians everywhere to see and to believe and to realize it. Amen. + +In the eighth chapter, we are told how Jesus showed the slavery of sin. +"Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin," and coupled +with this the glorious announcement that, "If the Son, therefore, shall +make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Yes, Jesus came to free us not +simply from the guilt and the condemnation and the penalty of sin, but +from that which brings guilt and condemnation and penalty, even from +sin itself. + +Here is true Christian liberty, and it does not mean license, it does +not mean do as you please, it does not mean the liberty of making your +own choices, but it does mean be pleased with what pleases God, and in +this manner after all you will do as you please, it means the glad +acceptance of God's choices. And so, after all, you do have your own +way because it is God's way, it means liberty and choice to do +everything right and nothing wrong, or to do right in all directions +and wrong in none. May God bring all His children out of slavery and +into freedom for Jesus' sake. + +In the memorable discourse of the Lord Jesus with His disciples at the +last supper, as given by John in the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of +his gospel, He told them of the blessed Comforter, "which is the Holy +Ghost," whom the Father would send in His name, and as to the method of +His coming He says, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My +Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with +him." Here, I think, beyond a doubt, that the "We" refers to the Father +and the Son, and the manner of Their coming and indwelling in the heart +of the believer is through Their representative, the Holy Spirit. And +if this be true, how is it possible that such a heart in which Father, +Son and Holy Ghost abide, should not be sanctified wholly? + +In his first Epistle, the beloved apostle develops beautifully the +doctrine of perfect love. He declares that God's children must not walk +in darkness or sin, and that those who do so cannot, truthfully, claim +to have fellowship with Him. "But if we walk in the light, as He is in +the light, we have fellowship one with another," (which implies +fellowship with God) "and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth +from all sin." + +This is a very striking and all-important statement. The verb is in +the present tense, and denotes a present and a continuous action. It +cleanseth persistently and continuously. You trust in Jesus this +moment, and the blood cleanseth now, another moment and it cleanseth, +and thus on, without intermission or cessation. And the cleansing is +from all sin, sin committed and sin inbred, sin in act, word or +thought, sin outward and sin inward, sin open and sin secret, sin of +knowledge and sin of ignorance, literally and truly all sin. If this +does not mean entire sanctification, what use is there in language as +an expression of thought? Surely none. + +But the objection is strongly urged by some that the next verse assures +us that "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the +truth is not in us." But why sunder this verse from its appropriate +connections? Were there not Pharisees in the time of Christ who would +not admit that they were sinners, and would not accept the baptism of +repentance from John the Baptist? And did not the Apostle John live to +see the germs of incipient gnosticism showing themselves in the church, +assuming, like modern Christian science, that all evil is in matter, +the soul is immaculate, and some Gnostics even believing that it was +possible to have fellowship with God while living in all kinds of +sensual indulgence and licentiousness, and moreover denying the reality +of the incarnation of Christ, as also of the crucifixion and +resurrection? These were the Docetists or Phantasiasts, so well +described by Longfellow: + + "Ah, to how many faith has been + No evidence of things unseen, + But a dim shadow, which recasts + The creed of the Phantasiasts, + For whom no man of sorrows died: + For whom the tragedy divine + Was but a symbol and a sign, + And Christ a phantom crucified." + +Now John in the passage referred to, tells us that on certain +conditions it is possible to experience through the blood of Christ, +which means simply the merits of His atoning and vicarious sacrifice, a +complete cleansing from all sin, and then turning to those who deny +that they are sinners, he exclaims, and if we say that we have no sin, +and therefore do not need this cleansing, and can do without this +atonement, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. How +much more rational is such an interpretation than the exposition which +makes one verse contradict the other, and represents the apostle as +first assuring us that we may be cleansed from all sin, and then +declaring in effect. "But be sure to remember that this cleansing is +never really affected, and you are never really without sin." + +There are so many rich and blessed teachings in this epistle that we +must needs make selection and leave many passages to be carefully and +prayerfully pondered by the reader, with the assurance that there is +very much gold to be found for the digging; but we would call attention +in a special manner to John's description of perfect love. "There is no +fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath +torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." + +It is clearly to be inferred from these expressions that whilst all +Christians do and must love God, yet there is a stage denominated +perfect love, which many Christians have not yet reached. And this +stage of religious experience is marked distinctly by the absence of +fear. Most certainly our apostle does not mean for us to understand +that we shall ever get beyond that reverential and filial fear, which +is the right and proper accompaniment of our childlike relation to our +Heavenly Father. But he specially describes the fear that will be +gotten rid of as tormenting fear, and this fear he declares that +"perfect love casteth out." Now we can readily see the reasonableness +of this statement. Fear about the future, whether as to temporal or +spiritual things, fear of evil tidings, fear of man, fear of death, in +short, all tormenting fear is caused by the presence of inbred sin. As +a matter of course, therefore, when sin is cast out, fear is cast out +with it. Now perfect love is the positive side of entire +sanctification; it implies the absence of inbred sin and the unmixed +love of God occupying the soul. Such love, therefore, most truly must +cast out fear. + +The impenitent sinner neither fears nor loves God. The awakened sinner +fears him, but does not love Him. The justified believer both fears and +loves. Sometimes the fear is in the ascendant and sometimes the love. +The entirely sanctified believer loves with all his heart, and has no +tormenting fear. Praise the Lord. + +And the beloved apostle instructs us also as to the method of obtaining +the blessing of perfect love. It is by the prayer of faith, and the +prayer of faith involves the idea of a preceding entire consecration. +"For," says John, "if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our +heart," which probably signifies that He also will condemn us, and, +therefore, we cannot utter a believing prayer for such a blessing as +entire sanctification while we are not wholly given up to the Lord, for +while that is our case, our heart will continue to condemn us. + +But he continues, "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence +towards God." And again, "This is the confidence that we have in Him, +that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we +know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the +petitions that we desired of Him." + +Nowhere is the philosophy of the plan of full salvation more +beautifully portrayed than in these precious words. We are shown here +that (1), the seeker of entire sanctification must be wholly +consecrated to God. (2), That he must pray in faith. (3), That he must +pray according to God's will. (4), That then he may know that he has +the very thing he asks for. Here is wisdom. Let every seeker act upon +it. Amen. + +Nor does John leave us in doubt as to the witness of the Spirit to our +conscious cleansing. "If we love one another" (i.e. with a true and +pure and unselfish and self-sacrificing Christian love) "God dwelleth +in us and His love is perfected in us." "Hereby know we that we dwell +in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." Now to +have God's love perfected in us, and to have Him to dwell in us, can +mean nothing less than entire sanctification, and we know this, as John +tells us, by His Spirit. We have, therefore, the witness of the Spirit +to perfect love as well as to adoption. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JAMES AND JUDE. + + + +James and Jude were brothers. They were also "brethren of the Lord." +Whether this expression means actual brothers, namely, children of +Joseph and Mary, or whether it means only cousins, also whether these +two men were apostles or not, are questions which I leave to the +Biblical critics. Receiving without argument their respective epistles +as belonging to the inspired canon, I am to inquire what their teaching +is in reference to the one theme of this book, that is, entire +sanctification. + +James, as a writer, is intensely practical. As Bishop of Jerusalem he +presided specially over the Jewish Christian Church, and his epistle is +addressed "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad," i.e., to +the Jews of the Dispersion, primarily, no doubt, to the Christian Jews, +but also secondarily and by way of warning to the unconverted Jews. +James was "zealous of the law." He fully agreed with Paul and with +Peter that the yoke of circumcision and the Mosaic law was not to be +imposed upon the Gentile Churches, but he, no doubt, strongly insisted +that Jewish converts should be still very careful to observe the +outward law. His epistle is like Matthew's gospel, and savors strongly +of the Sermon on the Mount. As a bishop and overseer of a Jewish flock +of Christians, while he fully assented to Paul's teaching on +justification by faith, he, nevertheless, urged upon the people with +vehemence that they should show their faith by their works and that +they should be "doers of the word and not hearers only." As Paul +completely demolishes the doctrine of salvation by the works of the +law, so James in his epistle offers us an inspired and a vigorous +protest against every form of Antinomianism. Thus the two writers, both +moved by the Holy Ghost, present the two aspects of gospel truth so +plainly that he may run that readeth. "We are saved by faith, not by +works," says Paul. "Aye," says James, "but we are saved in good works, +not out of them," and we must be careful to maintain good works, not in +order to be saved, but because we are saved. Good works are necessary, +not as the ground or the cause of salvation, but as the fruit and +resultant and test of the salvation which we have received by faith. +James, therefore, is not antagonistic to, but only complementary of the +great apostle of the Gentiles. + +And mark how he strikes or aims right at the mark of Christian +perfection in the very beginning of his epistle. He assures us that if +we let patience have her perfect work, we shall be perfect and entire, +wanting nothing. + +Christian perfection, then, according to James, is perfect patience. +Christian perfection according to John, is perfect love. Christian +perfection, according to Paul, is maturity or being "thoroughly +furnished unto all good works." Christian perfection, according to +Peter, is in being established, strengthened, settled. Surely none but +a caviller will find any want of harmony between these different modes +of expression. They all imply deliverance from sin, which is always +instantaneous, and some of them imply a mature Christian character, +which is always gradual. + +James gives a vivid description of inbred sin under the name of lust. +"Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and +enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth (actual) sin; +and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." + +We cannot doubt that James, like the other writers of the Bible, +believed in a personal devil, for he speaks of a wisdom which is +"devilish" and if a man is enticed to sin by the natural depravity of +his heart, we must not overlook the fact that the enticement implies an +enticer, and that the wicked spiritual adversary of our race knows how +to adapt his baits to the peculiar form in which inbred sin is +strongest in each individual, and thus, if possible, to entrap and +destroy him. Depravity exists by nature in all, but in one man it is +particularly felt in the direction of covetousness, in another, of +pride, in another, of ambition, in another, of sensuality. Satan's +temptations in the first of these would most likely be something which +holds out the prospect of getting gain by sinning; in the second, it +would be something to feed his intense admiration of self, to cherish +his pride; in the third, it would be the hope of political or some +other kind of power on the condition of sacrificing principle; in the +fourth, it would be the gratification of bodily appetites as in +drunkenness, gluttony, or licentiousness. Thus the trap is set for +every man, and the trapper is wary. God save us from his wiles. + +And as Peter tells us to lay aside inbred sin, as it exists in the form +of malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and shows itself in +evil speakings, so James tells us to lay apart "all filthiness and +superfluity of naughtiness," or "overflowing of wickedness." Ah, +beloved, most truly did Jesus say that the heart of man is a fountain +of wickedness, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts and all +actual sins; yes, there is by nature in each one of us a superfluity of +naughtiness, an overflowing of wickedness, a natural depravity, an +inbred sin, and this must be "laid apart," it must be gotten rid of by +bringing and subjecting the heart where it dwells to the fiery baptism +with the Holy Ghost, and then shall we be in a position to receive, +with meekness, the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls. + +St. James speaks of the "law of liberty," and of the "royal law," the +latter being, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and both mean, +I apprehend, just what we have already alluded to as the law of love. +"Love," says Paul, "is the fulfilling of the law," and this is liberty, +and this is royalty, the freedom to do God's will because we love it, +and to have all the antagonisms to that blessed will expelled from our +hearts, and all lawful affections and passions subdued and subjected to +Him who is our King, and who reigns without a rival in our hearts. + + "I worship Thee, sweet will of God, + And all Thy ways adore; + And every day I live, I seem + To love Thee more and more." + +If this is not the true liberty and the true royalty, where shall we find +them? Not on earth, at least. + +James does not spend words in exhorting us to seek more religion, but +he tersely defines pure religion. And that is what we want. It does not +depend upon age, nor size, nor growth. A stalk of corn may be pure as +soon as it raises itself above the surface of the ground. Another stalk +may be impure and diseased when it is many feet in height. A Christian +may seek and find pure religion and undefiled, very soon after he is +born again. Another Christian may spend years and years in seeking more +religion, and yet not become the possessor of purity of heart. + +This pure religion, according to our author, consists in works of +beneficence and love as to its outward manifestations, but its true +inward principle is in keeping one's self "unspotted from the world." +Oh, that all my readers with myself, may thus keep themselves unspotted +from the world, which involves the idea of being sanctified wholly, and +in the end "may be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless." + +But an objector here interposes with a quotation from James which is +supposed to preclude the possibility of living without sin. "In many +things we offend all." But this expression is not to be thus +interpreted. To make it mean that all Christians must continue in the +commission of sin to the end of their lives, would not only be doing +violence to that which is the very trend of our author's teaching, +namely, a spotless morality and a pure and holy life, but it would also +prove too much. For a little further on we read, in reference to that +unruly evil, the tongue, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and +therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God," +and again, "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may +obey us, and we turn about their whole body." Surely no expositor would +maintain from such language that James was a tamer of horses and a +profane swearer. The truth is, that James, out of kindness and +courtesy, includes himself among his hearers or readers, and means to +show us how liable we are to give offence through rash and ill-advised +words, and then, on the other hand, he does not fail to mention the man +who does not offend in word, and who is able, by the grace of God, to +bridle the whole body, that is, to live without sin, and whom, again, +he styles a "perfect man." + +Our author further informs us that heavenly, divine wisdom is first +pure, then peaceable. The carnal Christian, or babe in Christ, would +often reverse this arrangement. He is clamorous for peace, often to the +extent that he would have a wisdom that is first peaceable and then +pure, but the Holy Ghost puts purity first, and He is always right. No +compromise must be made with error in doctrine, or evil in practice, +even for the sake of peace. But when we become possessors of a wisdom +which is first pure, then, also, the other qualities follow in proper +succession, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated and the rest. + +Listen, again, to the stern moralist and preacher of holiness, "Cleanse +your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded." Here, +again, we can but thankfully admire the perfect accuracy of the Holy +Ghost, as regards the method of full salvation. To cleanse the hands is +to obtain pardon and absolution for what we have done, and it is always +the first work of the unsaved man to repent and seek the forgiveness of +his sins. When this forgiveness has been obtained, then his hands are +cleansed, but he may still be double-minded. He may still be unstable +in all his ways. His spiritual course may still be zig-zag. His life +may still be a series of sinning and repenting, and sinning again and +repenting again, till he cries out in his misery, "O wretched man that +I am, who (not what) shall deliver me from this body of death?" And +then James's prescription comes home to him, "Purify your hearts, ye +double-minded." Seek and obtain the blessing of entire sanctification, +and, henceforth, with one mind and one purpose, run joyfully in the way +of Christ's commandments. Justification first and entire sanctification +afterwards. First cleanse your hands, then purify your hearts. And with +this agree the words of the Psalmist, "Who shall ascend into the hill +of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place?" "He that hath clean +hands," that is, whose sins have been pardoned, "and a pure heart," +that is, who has been sanctified wholly. The teachings of the Holy +Ghost are marvelously harmonious in the Old Testament and the New. + +Finally, James assures us that the "prayer of faith shall save the +sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." And not only physical but +spiritual blessing may be received in the same way for "If he have +committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." His conclusion is that +"The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working," +R.V., but I prefer to regard the Greek participle in the original as in +the passive voice, and then the meaning would be, as suggested by Dr. +S.A. Keen in his Faith papers, "The prayer of a righteous man being +energized" (by the Holy Ghost) "availeth much." + +I should understand the "prayer of faith," therefore, to be a prayer +begotten in the heart of the believer by the Holy Ghost, and with the +prayer is communicated also the corresponding faith, and when this is +the case, the answer is sure. Faith, in this use of the word, is a +special gift, and may be given to some and withheld from others, also +given at one time and withheld at another, just as God in His infinite +and unerring wisdom may decide. This kind of faith is one of the +special gifts of which we have an account in the 12th of 1st +Corinthians, and differs, therefore, from the grace of faith or the +power of believing the gospel unto salvation when it is presented, +which is given to all men, and for the exercise of which, by actually +believing, all are held responsible. "He that believeth shall be saved, +and he that believeth not shall be condemned." + +And it is Jude, the brother of James, who exhorts his readers to pray +in the Holy Ghost, the very same kind of praying which James calls the +prayer of faith, and about which Paul also declares that "the Spirit +Himself also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should +pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for +with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the +hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh +intercession for the saints according to the will of God." + +A Holy Ghost prayer, therefore, such as Jude alludes to, is a prayer +that is energized by the Holy Ghost. It is not the Holy Ghost who does +the groaning, but He causes the heart of the consecrated believer to +groan, by kindling those intense desires after some specific blessing, +which often are, indeed, too deep for clear expression by utterance, +and with the groanings, also, the faith is given, which takes hold of +God's Almightiness for the answer. Such prayers do, indeed, move the +hand that moves the world, and whether it be for the healing of the +sick, or the conversion of sinners, or the entire sanctification of +believers, or the supply of temporal needs, or anything else which the +Holy Spirit may suggest, the blessing is sure to come. + +I am not forgetting that the assistance of the Holy Spirit is needed, +and that it is obtainable in all true prayer, but ordinary prayer must +be founded upon the promises of God and an exercise of will power to +believe those promises, and therefore, it must be accompanied, in order +to be effectual, by ordinary faith, the act of believing. Extraordinary +prayer must be inspired directly by the Holy Spirit, and the gift of +faith must come directly from Him. So that we have ordinary prayer, +ordinary faith and ordinary results in the one case, while in the +other, we have extraordinary prayer, extraordinary faith and +extraordinary results. Praise the Lord. + +Jude tells us that as Christian believers we are to "hate even the +garment spotted by the flesh," that is, to keep entirely clear of all +the pollutions of sin, symbolized by the garment of the leper which was +regarded as unclean, and which passage, when spiritually interpreted, +must mean the unspotted holiness of the true Christian. And as to the +question of one's ability to live without sin, he commits us to the +care of Him who is "able to keep us from falling," the very thing we +need and which we cannot do for ourselves, and "to present us faultless +before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." First, then, we +are to be sanctified wholly, then kept from falling by the power of +Christ through the indwelling Spirit. Finally, presented without spot, +blameless and faultless in the presence of God's glory in heaven. And +this is the gospel according to Jude. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE FATHER. + + + +There is one expression in the epistle of Jude, which I purposely +omitted in the preceding chapter, that it might have a more prominent +place in the present one. + +Nowhere else in the Bible are we expressly declared to be "sanctified +by God the Father." It is cause of rejoicing, however, that every +person of the Godhead, every member of the adorable Trinity, is +concerned in the sanctification of a human soul. And this fact, like +many others, points to the extreme importance of the subject on which +we are treating; for if the working of God the Father, God the Son and +God the Holy Spirit is required, and is brought into active operation +in order to cleanse our hearts from the pollution of sin, and fit us +for heaven, then it must be in the estimation of the triune God, a +matter of prime necessity that we should be thus cleansed. If God, +therefore, regards it as an essential that we be sanctified wholly, let +us beware of the thought that it is only optional, that it is possible, +if possible at all, only for the few and not for the many, and that it +can be done without, or what is practically too nearly the same thing, +postponed until we see, or think we see, the near approach of death. +What every person of the Godhead is urging upon our acceptance now, +let us not dare either to reject or postpone. "Behold, now is the +accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." + +Paul said to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, "And now, brethren, I +commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to +build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are +sanctified." + +Ah, beloved reader, we can never estimate the debt we owe to the +unbounded grace of God. Grace means unmerited favor. Grace is God's +infinite love in active working for the salvation of man. And, the +source of our sanctification, just as of our justification, and indeed +of every gospel blessing provided for us, is the grace of God. And when +our souls are stirred up to ecstatic gratitude and love, by the thought +of the "unspeakable gift" of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the +unspeakable blessings derived from and through Him, let us not forget +that behind it all and over it all, is the broad and incomprehensible +declaration, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten +Son." + +Absolute sovereignty, authority, supremacy and paternity belong to God +the Father. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the +Holy Spirit. Neither the Son nor the Spirit, nor both together, ever +send the Father. The Father "created all things by Jesus Christ." Jesus +Christ cast out devils "by the Spirit of God." The Son reveals the +Father, for "no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to +whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." And the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus, +for "no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost." "He +shall testify of Me." "He shall take of Mine and show it unto you." "He +shall not speak of Himself; but what He shall hear" (from the Father +and the Son) "that shall He speak." + +Thus the greatest gift that God the Father has given or could give to +His creature man is the gift of His Son. The greatest gift that God the +Son has given to man after He gave Himself for us is the gift of the +Holy Ghost, for it is not only said, "I will pray the Father and He +shall give you another Comforter," and "whom the Father will send in My +name," but also, "If I depart I will send Him unto you," so we may say +in general terms, that the Holy Ghost as a personal sanctifier, +energizer and Comforter, is the promise of the Father and the gift of +the Son. And it may be added that the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit +to man is the gift of entire sanctification or perfect love. Glory be +to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. + +And thus when Jude tells us that we are sanctified by God the Father, +He means not only that we are separated unto the gospel of life and +salvation, set apart to God and His service, but, also, that God the +Father has made ample provision in the death of His Son for all +Christian believers to be cleansed from every stain of moral +defilement, delivered from inbred sin, sanctified wholly, made perfect +in love, and filled with the Spirit. We repeat, therefore, that it will +be a matter of eternal thankfulness and gratitude to the redeemed soul, +that the source of all these unspeakable blessings is in the infinite +grace and love of God. + +Everywhere throughout the Old Testament, the holiness of God is brought +prominently forward and insisted upon. And His own holiness is +presented as a sufficient reason why His people should be holy also. +"Be ye holy, for I am holy," which command and declaration are repeated +and endorsed by the Apostle Peter in his first epistle, "But as He +which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of +conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." + +As God the Father, therefore, is Himself infinitely holy, and He +requires all His children to be holy even in the present life, it goes +without saying, as already shown, that He makes provision in His gospel +for them to be made and kept holy. And it is precisely the standard of +God's holiness which is set before us by the Saviour as the mark at +which we also are to aim, and aim not vainly nor unsuccessfully. "Be ye +perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Not that our +perfection or our holiness can be equal to His in degree. That would +make the finite equal to the infinite, and would be an impossibility +and absurdity, but that we are to be perfect in our sphere as He is +perfect in His, that we are to be holy with the same kind of holiness +that appertains to Him, in a word, that we are to be perfect in love as +He is perfect love, and that we are to be delivered from all sin, not +by any effort or any merit of our own but by His unmerited grace in +Christ Jesus. Let us rejoice and praise His name that we are sanctified +by God the Father. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE SON. + + + +As the source of our entire sanctification is in the unmerited love and +grace of God the Father, so the ground of it is in the blood of Christ +the Son. Justification and Sanctification are by no means identical, +but as regards the origin, the ground, and the means, they are +precisely parallel. We are told that justification is by grace, and, +again, that it is by the blood of Jesus, and, still again, that it is +by faith. It is, therefore, God's grace, it is Christ's blood, it is +man's faith by which we are justified. The originating cause of our +justification is the grace of God. The procuring cause is the blood of +Jesus Christ. The instrumental cause is our own faith. + +And all this is equally true of our entire sanctification. We are not +justified in one way and sanctified in another. We are sanctified as +well as justified by the grace of God. We are sanctified as well as +justified by the blood of Christ. We are sanctified as well as +justified by our own faith. + +All gospel blessings are founded upon the vicarious sacrifice of the +Lord Jesus Christ. He "of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, +(justification) and sanctification and redemption." + +And sanctification, no more than justification, releases us from our +dependence upon the atonement. If we are either justified or sanctified +today it is not because we deserve it, but because Christ died for us. +If we shall be either justified or sanctified at any future period of +our eternity, it will not be because we deserve it but because Christ +died for us. And so forever and forever we shall need the merit of His +death, and we shall rejoice to join in the song of redemption "unto Him +that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath +made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and +dominion forever and ever. Amen." We are everlastingly linked to the +atonement of Jesus Christ, and this both for the pardon of past sins, +and the entire cleansing of the heart. + +"Thou shalt call His name Jesus because He shall save His people from +their sins," which signifies, I apprehend, both the forgiveness of +sins already committed and saving them from the commission of sins in +the future. Here, then, we have justification and regeneration. "Behold +the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." This must mean +the sin of our nature, the sin that dwelleth in us, the sin that doth +so easily beset us, in a word, inbred sin. And to have the inbred sin +taken away means nothing more and nothing less and nothing else, than +entire sanctification. Yes, beloved, we are sanctified by God the Son. + +"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Here +we have a positive statement that upon certain conditions to be +fulfilled by us, we shall experience a cleansing from outward sin, and +inward sin, and sin of ignorance, and conscious sin, and open sin and +secret sin, and all sin. There is no mistaking the length and breadth +and all comprehensiveness of this glorious promise. Beloved, let us +walk in the light as He is in the light, and so know, for ourselves, +that this wondrous declaration is divinely true. + +And this is a result of His atoning sacrifice, which result He had in +view, no less than the removal of our guilt when He laid down His life +for us. "Wherefore, Jesus, also, that He might sanctify the people with +His own blood, suffered without the gate." Glory to His Name. + +He died, therefore, not alone that we might be saved from guilt and +condemnation and penalty, but that we might be saved from sin, or +sanctified wholly. And I would that every one of my Christian readers +might unite in the hymn. + + "The cleansing stream I see, I see, + I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me. + It cleanseth me. Yes, cleanseth me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE HOLY GHOST. + + + +As already intimated all the persons of the adorable Trinity are +concerned in the work of entirely sanctifying a human soul. And this is +naturally to be expected, because God is one Trinitarianism is not +Tritheism. In essence one, in personality three, such is the revelation +of Holy Scripture in regard to the eternal Godhead. The Bible reveals +the fact, but does not reveal the how. We bow in adoring gratitude and +love before an incomprehensible mystery, and rejoice in believing even +without understanding. + +Now the Holy Spirit is regarded by nearly all Christians as +distinctively and specially the Sanctifier, "The renewing of the Holy +Ghost which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our +Saviour," is spoken of in the epistle to Titus in direct connection +with the "washing of regeneration," and seems intended to be +experienced just after it. Possibly the renewing here spoken of, may +signify only the change of heart wrought by the Holy Ghost at the new +birth, but possibly, also, the apostle had in mind the entire cleansing +of the heart from sin. And in that case the renewing need not be any +more gradual or progressive than the washing, which all admit to be +instantaneous. + +Peter, in describing, to the Church at Jerusalem, the occurrences which +he had witnessed at the house of Cornelius in Cesarea, used this +language: "And God which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving +them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us, and put no difference +between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Evidently here +the chief of the apostles gives us to understand that the giving of +the Holy Ghost, and the purifying of the heart by faith, are +co-instantaneous and identical experiences. And if this be so, the Holy +Ghost, who is a Divine person, and not a mere influence, must be the +effective agent in purifying the heart, that is to say, it is He who by +His Divine energy sanctifies us wholly. + +And with this agree the words of John the Baptist: "I indeed baptize +you with water, unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is +mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize +you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." For what purpose is this fiery +baptism with the Holy Ghost? Most certainly that it may consume the +inbred sin of our nature, as fire consumes the chaff, or destroys the +alloy that the gold may be left pure. + +Paul in his epistle to the Romans uses the following language, viz: +"That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, +ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles +might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." This great +apostle was the first to clearly understand the perfect equality +between Jew and Gentile in the gospel of salvation, and as he made +hundreds of Gentile converts in His extensive missionary journeys, and +offered them up with their own consent and co-operation in entire +consecration to God, they were sanctified by the Holy Ghost. + +The same apostle says to the Thessalonians, "We are bound to give +thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because +God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through +sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." This is the true +election and the true salvation, a salvation from sin, through +sanctification of the Spirit and this is to be obtained by faith. + +And the apostle of the circumcision uses language very similar in +addressing the Jewish Christians who are scattered abroad, and whom he +addresses as "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, +through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of +the blood of Jesus Christ." Comparing these two citations we observe +again, that the blood of Jesus Christ is the ground of our +sanctification, and by a continuous sprinkling we may have a +continuous cleansing, and also that the Holy Spirit is the effective +agent in applying that precious blood, and in sanctifying our souls, on +condition that we believe the truth. God help all Christians to be not +faithless, but believing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SANCTIFIED BY THE TRUTH. + + + +We have just seen that the Spirit operates in the work of +sanctification in connection with belief of the truth on our part. And +with this agree the words of our Lord in His intercessory prayer. +"Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth." The word here is +not the eternal Logos, but God's revealed truth as given in Holy writ. +And it is a statement of the highest importance, made by Him who is the +truth, that the medium or means of our sanctification is in the truth +of God as made known to us in the gospel of His Son. Here, again, the +Apostle Peter gives expression to the same sentiment when he says: +"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that +by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature having escaped the +corruption that is in the world through lust." If we are favored to +escape the corruption that is in the world, we are sanctified wholly, +and this is effected, Peter says, not by works of righteousness, not by +resolutions or penances, not by striving to do holiness, before we seek +to be holy, but by faith in the promises of God. These promises are +very numerous, and varied in character on the pages of the Bible. By +seizing upon them as written specially for us, we make them our own, +and they become in and by Jesus Christ yea and amen, that is to say, we +realize them in our own experience to be the truth, and thus when we +read "This is the will of God even your sanctification," or, "The very +God of peace sanctify you wholly," or, "I will circumcise your heart," +or "I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my +statutes," immediately the truth is impressed upon our hearts as a +glorious reality, and we are enabled to reckon ourselves dead, indeed, +unto sin, and alive unto God, and to realize that the Saviour's prayer +is answered and we are in His own blessed words, sanctified "by the +truth." If any reader will take a concordance and look for the word +truth, and search out the passages containing it, he will be convinced +that, however men may look at it, we have to do with the Lord God of +truth, and that His estimate of truth is so high that He will by no +means countenance any person or anything that liveth or maketh a lie. +And if we would honor Him, we must honor His truth, the truth that is +to make us free from the bondage of inbred sin, the truth which we are +commanded to buy, whatever may be the price, and sell it not, the truth +which the Lord desires in the inward parts as well as upon the lips, +the truth of God, the truth of holiness, the truth by which we are +sanctified, the truth of the word. + +And then we shall find in our own experience that "A God of truth and +without iniquity, just and right is He," that He will send out His +light and His truth that they may bring us to His holy hill and to His +tabernacle, that He has given us a banner, even the banner of holiness +to the Lord, to be displayed because of the truth, and we must never +let it trail in the dust, that His truth shall be our shield and +buckler, and that while the law was given by Moses, grace and truth +came by Jesus Christ. + +Glory be to His precious name forever, who is the truth. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SANCTIFIED BY FAITH. + + + +The faith-faculty was given to man at His first creation. Adam believed +God and was obedient and happy, and the first thing that the wily +tempter attacked, and, alas, with too much success, was man's faith. +"Yea," hath God said, and "Ye shall not surely die." First, a question. +Then, a doubt of God's truth; then, a doubt of His love, and the rest +was easy. Man stood so long as he did stand by faith. He fell when he +did fall by unbelief. + +God could not be God if He did not have faith in Himself. Man could not +be the child of God if he did not have faith in God. Faith binds us in +the closest spiritual union with our Father in heaven. Unbelief severs +this bond of union and separates us from our Creator and Redeemer. +Beloved, let us have faith in God. + +"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ." This is the +Christian's pedigree. It is true that in a broad and subordinate sense +all men are the children of God since He created them all. And this was +known even to a Greek poet, as quoted by Paul at Athens, "For we are +also His offspring." But we must not fail to remember that in John's +gospel we have this statement, viz: "As many as received Him, to them +gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on +His name." So that it is through faith that we become the children of +God, not only by creation, not only by adoption, but by birth, "Ye must +be born again." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be +saved." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he +that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God +abideth on him." Now, the faith-faculty, or the grace of faith, or the +power of believing God's truth, when it is presented, is given to all +mankind. But the exercise of that power which is actual and saving +faith, often requires the coöperation of the human will. And, +therefore, God commands us to believe, and holds us responsible for +obedience to that command. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be +saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned." R.V. + +Thus, it is that we are saved by faith. And this is true not only in +religion, but in science as well, and not in science only, but in daily +life and daily business as well. Many of the well-established truths +of science are matters of faith, and not of demonstration. All +intelligent people believe that there is a hidden force which they +call the attraction of gravitation. Nobody can tell what it is, nobody +can prove its existence. It is received and adopted by faith, and +serves as an excellent working hypothesis. That is all. Those who +accept the undulatory theory of light are necessitated to believe that +all space is pervaded by an exceedingly tenuous fluid which is called +ether, and that it is in this medium that the waves of light from +self-luminous bodies are produced. Nobody has demonstrated the existence +of this ether. It is, for the present, accepted by faith, and explains the +phenomena of light better than any other hypothesis propounded. Science +is saved by faith. The home is saved by faith. If want of confidence +comes between the husband and wife, or between parents and children, +farewell to all the enjoyment of home life. + +Finance, commerce, trade are all saved by faith. When business men, +manufacturers or merchants lose faith in one another, or in their +government, investments cease, machinery stops, panics occur, and hard +times are complained of. As faith is the bond that binds men to God, so +it is the bond that binds men one to another. When confidence is lost, +all is lost. Even a solvent bank may be broken, from a sudden run upon +it, caused by want of faith. Now, as faith is the substance of things +hoped for, because it makes them real, as it is the evidence of things +not seen, because it convinces the mind of the actual existence of the +invisible, let us apply this thought to the matter in hand that, +namely, of entire sanctification. + +Paul in his valedictory to the Ephesian elders said to them, "And now, +brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is +able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which +are sanctified," and in the commission to Paul himself the Saviour +says, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and +from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of +sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is +in me." And as mentioned elsewhere, sanctification of the Spirit is +used by the apostle in direct connection with belief of the truth. +There can be no doubt, therefore, that the instrumental means of entire +sanctification is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "This is the +confidence," says the beloved John, "that we have in Him, that if we +ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and if we know that +He hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that +we desired of Him." + +Let the consecrated believer, then, ask for a clean heart, ask for +perfect love, ask for entire sanctification, ask for the baptism with +the Holy Ghost, and he knows he is asking according to the will of God. +Then, according to John, he knows that he is heard, and knows also by +faith, because it is God's promise that he has the petitions he desired +of Him. That is to say, when he thus prays, he is to put forth the act +of faith, by an actual volition and will to believe that he has the +clean heart, the perfect love, the entire sanctification, the Holy +Ghost baptism, which he asked for. And this will be honoring God by +taking Him at His word. It will be the first evidence that he is +sanctified wholly, the evidence of faith, and the other evidence, the +witness of the Spirit may be prayed for and waited for, but, in the +meantime, he can and must rely with unwavering confidence upon the +evidence or witness of faith alone. God never sends the witness of the +Spirit till we honor Him by accepting the witness of faith. + +I said we must believe by an act of the will. And some reader may +object to this statement by asserting that faith or belief is not a +matter of volition, but a matter of evidence. But I am not asking any +one to believe without evidence. I am asking him simply to give its +rightful force to the evidence. It is not for want of evidence that any +earnest, consecrated seeker is failing to believe that Christ is able +and willing to sanctify him wholly, and to do it now. He asserts it in +many forms and repeats it again and again as His Divine will that His +people should be holy, and if He is not able to make them holy here and +now, His omnipotence is impugned, and if He is not willing to make them +holy here and now, He must desire them to continue longer in sin, which +thought would impugn His own holiness. + +No, it is not for want of evidence, but because the faith-faculty has +become weakened and paralyzed by sin, and now we must determine to +believe, by putting our will on to the side of faith, and allowing it, +no longer, to remain on the side of unbelief. Many a seeking soul has +come out into the fullness of salvation by singing the hymn: + + "I can, I will, I do believe + That Jesus saves me now." + +The man who came to Jesus with his right hand withered, was told to +stretch it forth. He might have said where is my evidence that it will +do any good to try? But he put his will into the obedient attitude. He +willed to stretch it forth, and made the effort, and with the obedient +will the power came from Jesus, and he stretched it forth and was +restored. To every one of weak and paralyzed faith, I say, nay, Jesus +says, "Stretch forth thy hand of faith, I am here to be responsible +for the result." Believe and receive and confess and rejoice. Beloved, +we are sanctified by faith. Glory to the Lamb. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + + + +I trust it has been sufficiently demonstrated that the doctrine and +experience of entire sanctification are fully and clearly taught in +Holy Scripture. All the way from the patriarchs to the apostles in the +law, in the types, in the Psalms, in the prophets, in the history, in +the gospels, in the epistles, we find that God requires His people to +be holy and to be holy now, that He makes it, therefore, their +privilege to be holy, and that He has made ample provision, in the +sacrificial offering of Christ, for them to be made holy. + +"For their sakes," says the blessed Saviour, "I sanctify Myself that +they also might be sanctified through the truth," or as the margin, +"truly sanctified," or as the Revised Version, "that they themselves +also may be sanctified in truth." The Lord Jesus Christ most assuredly +did not need to be made holy, but all His redeemed children being +subjects of inbred sin do need it. As for Him, He was the "holy thing" +that was to be born of the Virgin Mary. "He knew no sin," He "did no +sin," He was "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners," +and, therefore, when He says "I sanctify Myself," He means nothing more +nor less than I consecrate Myself, or I set Myself apart, but in the +other clause where the term sanctify is used in reference to His +people, it must mean that they may be cleansed from all sin entirely +sanctified, made holy or pure in heart. He sets Himself apart, +therefore, to the work of redemption and salvation that He may have a +holy people on earth, as without controversy He must and will have a +holy people in heaven. + +We have shown that entire sanctification is coetaneous with the baptism +with the Holy Ghost, in fact, that the two experiences are in an +important sense identical, or, at least, so related to each other that +whoever has one has the other. It is Christ and none other who baptizes +with the Holy. Ghost. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and +fire," not as some imagine, I think erroneously, that there are to be +two baptisms, first that of the Holy Ghost, and afterwards that of fire +in the way of affliction or persecution, though plenty of these are +promised and experienced by those who would live godly in Christ +Jesus, but simply that He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost under +the similitude of fire, that is, that dross and tin and reprobate +silver, or, in a word, all inbred sin may be consumed. + +Nor is it correct to say that there are "many baptisms" of the Spirit. +The Holy Ghost baptism is received by the consecrated believer once +for all, and is never repeated unless by unfaithfulness or backsliding +he falls from the precious grace which this baptism confers upon him, +from Christ through the Spirit, and again comes in repentance and +confession to do his first works, and again to be filled with the +Spirit and cleansed from all sin. And even in that case the Holy Ghost +seldom or never repeats Himself, by giving the same emotional +experience as at first, but may and must be received and retained by +faith, and the amount of feeling and the kind of feeling which He will +arouse must be left to Himself entirely, I mean to say that the +experience may be lost and may be regained, but seldom with the same +phenomena of consciousness as at the first. Do not speak, then, of +having had many baptisms of the Spirit, but seek and find the one +baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. Do not say that you are desiring +or that you have had a fresh baptism with the Holy Ghost, but let your +thoughts and prayers be directed to the one baptism which cleanseth +and endueth and anointeth. + +But I would not be misunderstood on this point. The Psalmist says, "I +shall be anointed with fresh oil," and to every sanctified child of +God, there may and do come seasons of refreshing, also of girding and +filling, and fresh anointing for particular services, which are +sometimes called fresh baptisms, but which are not to be confounded +with the one true abiding Pentecostal experience. These blessings are +not to be undervalued or lightly esteemed, but they come because we +already have the Blesser Himself as a personal indwelling Presence and +Power. + +Many teachers of holiness inculcate the doctrine that we are first +sanctified by the blood of Jesus, and afterwards filled or baptized +with the Holy Ghost. This opinion would necessitate three separate +experiences, where, I think, the Scripture only speaks of two. We +should have (1) pardon, (2) entire sanctification by the blood, and (3) +the filling of the Spirit. There would thus be a separation between the +removing of inbred sin from the heart, and the baptism with the Holy +Ghost. This baptism would, then, be only a qualification for service. +It is regarded by these teachers, as only given for an enduement of +power, to do the work to which we are called. And the practical result +of this error, for such with due deference I must regard it, is that +some will be very anxious to obtain the baptism with the Holy Ghost to +make them strong or powerful in their work, but will ignore, or even +deny, the doctrine of entire sanctification. Dr. S. A. Keen tells us of +a minister who wrote to him that he did not take much stock in +sanctification, but that he was very desirous of the Holy Ghost +baptism, in order that he might have increased power in the ministry of +the word. And, indeed, this seems to be a very prevalent idea, that we +are to be baptized for service, but not for cleansing. + +I trust that no reader who has followed me through the different +chapters of this book will imagine, for a moment, that I under-value, +in the slightest degree, the precious blood of Christ, nor do I forget +that it is that blood which, as we walk in the light, cleanseth us from +all sin. I think I have sufficiently stated elsewhere that the blood of +Jesus is the procuring cause of our sanctification, as well as of our +justification, and that we are forever dependent upon the atonement +for the one blessing as well as the other. The blood of the Son of God +is the ground of our sanctification, but it is the Holy Spirit who is +the effective agent in destroying the depravity of our hearts. + +It is true that our Saviour received the Holy Ghost, and that God +anointed Him for the great work of redemption. And in His case, the +word used is anointed or descended, and not in any place baptized. He +needed not the work of entire sanctification, and, therefore, He is not +said to have been baptized with the Holy Ghost. As a man, He did need +the energizing for His work, and, therefore, He is said to have been +anointed. Beloved, let us not separate what God has joined together. +The entire sanctification of the heart and the Holy Ghost baptism are +coetaneous experiences, and must not be divorced. + +And now, beloved reader, I have accomplished my task. I have shown that +like a golden thread the doctrine of entire sanctification runs through +the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. It is found in patriarchal +times, it is in the law and the prophets, the types and the ceremonies, +the gospels and epistles, everywhere showing us that we have to do with +a Holy God, and that we as His children are required to be holy men +and women. + +To all who shall read this book, I testify that by the grace of God, +and the blood of Christ, and the sin-consuming baptism with the Holy +Ghost, this poor man, the chief of sinners, is saved to the uttermost. +Glory to His name. + +And to you, my readers, I bid farewell, and say, May He "make you +perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." Amen. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Theology of Holiness, by Dougan Clark + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THEOLOGY OF HOLINESS *** + +***** This file should be named 6657-0.txt or 6657-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/6/5/6657/ + +Produced by Curtis A. 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