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 SANCTIFICATION

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•YALE UNIVERSITY.
• LIBRARY . 0

Gift of the
Rev. Heber H. Beadle

WLF.HOPSON. POL
۱۹۱۶
 This book was digitized by Yale University Library 2009. You
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SANCTIFICATION .

BY REV. B. CARRADINE, D. D.

INTRODUCTION BY

REV. L. L. PICKETT.

A. W. HALL, PUBLISHER,
SYRACUSE, N. Y.
1896.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890,
BY L. L. PICKETT,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 PREFATORY INTRODUCTION.

THERE is a great revival on the doctrine, experience, and litera

ture of holiness. This great Bible doctrine is agitating the
Churches and people extensively. It is firing the pulpit, ener-
gizing the pew, awakening the thoughtless, resuscitating the class
and camp meeting, and harnessing the press to the car of a
more spiritual and unctuous religious experience than has pre-
vailed for many years. Books, papers, and tracts are opening
many eyes to the beauties of holiness, and feeding many hungry
souls with this " hidden manna " of the Lord .
And the revival comes none too soon. In many places world-
liness abounds, and the seed of the kingdom is being choked by
the deceitfulness of riches. Ambition, pride, self-love, and place-
seeking are, to say the least, too common. Full salvation is the
God-given remedy for these evils. Praise the Lord, the " fullness
of the blessing " is the divine antidote that effectually removes
these contagious diseases. But the sad truth is that many op-
pose the doctrine and deny the experience. It is no uncommon
thing for even Methodist papers to cast their innuendoes at the
great Wesleyan and Bible statement of this precious doctrine.
Some Methodist preachers have departed from the teachings of
the fathers and have written books to destroy the foundation
doctrine of the Church . But bless the Lord ! the work is reviv-
ing. This book will help forward the good cause-the cause
of Bible holiness.
When Brother Carradine entered the experience he at once
told the good news far and wide through the Church papers.
His rich experience and strong articles on the subject stirred
(3)
 PREFATORY INTRODUCTION.

many hearts. These and others will be glad to get this work, so
as to preserve in permanent form the parts of it they have read
before and to feed their souls on the truths so well and clearly
stated in the parts that are new to them.
I am glad to publish and circulate the book. Brother C.
knows nothing of these introductory words and will not see
them till the book is before the public.
Please circulate the book, and pray for its author, and
Your humble fellow-laborer,
L. L. PICKETT.
Columbia, S. C. , June 26, 1890.
 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE

My Reasons for Writing .. 7

CHAPTER II .
10
How I Obtained the Blessing of Sanctification
CHAPTER III .

Sanctification Is Not Regeneration, nor Regeneration Ex-

tended or Perfected.. .... 24

CHAPTER IV .

Sanctification Is Not a Recovery from Backsliding ........ 32

CHAPTER V,
Sanctification Is Not Simply a Great Blessing ............. 36
CHAPTER VI

Sanctification Is Not Growth in Grace ..... 42

CHAPTER VII .

Sanctification Is a Distinct Work ofGod........ 46

CHAPTER VIII .

Sanctification Is an Experience....... ..
54

CHAPTER IX .
Sanctification Is a Life ..... €7
CHAPTER X.

Sanctification Is an Instantaneous Work or Blessing ....... 71

CHAPTER XI.

Sanctification Is Obtained by Faith....... ....

78
CHAPTER XII .

Sanctification Is a State or Condition Witnessed To by the

82
Holy Ghost ...... .....

(5)
6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIII .
PAGE

Where Sanctification Is Symbolically Taught in the Bible.. 89

CHAPTER XIV .

Where Sanctification Is Specifically Taught in the Old Tes-

tament.......... .....
106

CHAPTER XV .

Where Sanctification Is Specifically Taught in the New

Testament ........ .... 116

CHAPTER XVI .

How to Obtain the Blessing of Sanctification.............. 136

CHAPTER XVII .

Certain Difficulties Explained . ........... 149

CHAPTER XVIII .

What Sanctification Has Shown Me, Done for Me, and Is

to Me Still after Many Days ... 164
...........

CHAPTER XIX .

Certain Objections to Sanctification Considered and An-

swered.... 179

CHAPTER XX .

Additional Objections to Sanctification Considered and An-

swered.. .....

194
CHAPTER XXI .

The Final Objection That Sanctification Is Not a Method-

ist Doctrine Considered and Triumphantly Answered ... 206
 SANCTIFICATION .
CHAPTER I.
MY REASONS FOR WRITING .

HE following are some of my reasons for writ-

ing upon the subject of entire sanctification :
First, I am trying to reach a class that, like my-
self, have lived in a kind of bondage all their
Christian lives ; have longed for perfect spiritual
rest, and knew not how to obtain it. I speak to
them .

Then there is such a thing as a rising genera-

tion. They need to be taught concerning this
doctrine . If we are not to declare openly that
which our elders and superiors have known be-
forehand , what is to become of this advancing
host of young people ? Such a policy would put
an end to the gospel itself .
Still again , there are occasional articles in our
papers striking at and ridiculing the doctrine of
entire sanctification . Some of them remind me
of Joab's interview with Abner. One hand is
stretched forth in seeming kindness, when sud-
denly the other drives a hidden sword to the heart
(7)
8 SANCTIFICATION.

of the doctrine. In all conscious personal weak-

ness and unworthiness I appear in this book plead-
ing for an experience that fills me and thrills me
at this writing, and as a defender and upholder
of a doctrine that I know now to be true , because
it has been transformed into an experience in my
soul , and become a blessed reality in my life .
It has been suggested that what I call facts in
my experience may be fancies . Glory be to God !
it is no fancy that Christ has kept me from sin for
months , and that my soul in all that time has been
filled with perfect peace and rest and love. It is
not a fancy that God has in a moment lifted me
into a state which I have been vainly trying to
reach for a number of years . These are facts
that stand out like Mont Blancs above the range
of ordinary experiences . " One thing I know,
that whereas I was blind, now I see . " One expe-
rience in the converted or sanctified life is worth
ten thousand theories .

Furthermore, it is proper to say that there is not

such general and accurate knowledge of sanctifi-
cation among the people as some think . The fact
of the blessing may be believed in, but the manner
of obtaining it be unknown, because unproclaimed .
Hundreds of Methodists in this city had never
heard, until a short while since, a sermon on sanc
 MY REASONS FOR WRITING.
9

tification, in which the blessing was held up as ob-

tained instantaneously through consecration and
faith . The Carondelet Street congregation, one
of the largest and noblest in the Connection , list-
ened with wonder ; not at the doctrine, but at the
method of obtaining the blessing. Some doubted
and drew back ; but others , to the number of
thirty, have entered into the sanctified life .
There are multiplied thousands in the land who
know not the way of entrance into the sanctified
life , and thousands more who are in ignorance of
sanctification itself. Ask them what it is, and nine
out of ten will reply that it is a growth in grace,
while the Scriptures plainly teach that growth in
grace is man's work , and sanctification is the work
of God. Because of these things I cannot but
write and speak of the things I have seen and felt.
 CHAPTER II .
HOW I OBTAINED THE BLESSING OF SANCTIFICATION .

ALWAYS believed in the doctrine in a general

way, but not in the way particular. That is.
I recognized it as being true in our standards and
religious biographies ; but was not so quick to see
it in the life and experience of persons claiming
the blessing. I was too loyal a Methodist to deny
what my Church taught me to believe ; but there
must have been beams and motes that kept me
from the enjoyment of a perfect vision of my
brother. Perhaps I was prejudiced ; or I had con-
founded ignorance and mental infirmity with sin ;
or, truer still, I was looking on a " hidden life, " as
the Bible calls it, and, of course , could not but
blunder in my judgments and conclusions , even as
I had formerly erred as a sinner in my estimation
of the converted man .

Several years since I remember being thrown in

the company of three ministers who were sancti-
fied men, and their frequent " praise the Lords "
was an offense to me . I saw nothing to justify
such demonstrativeness . The fact entirely es-
caped me that a heart could be in such a condi
(
10)
 OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 11

tion that praise and rejoicing would be as natural

as breathing ; that the cause of joy rested not in
any thing external, but in some fixed inward state
or possession ; that, therefore, perpetual praise
could not only be possible, but natural, and in
fact irrepressible. But at that time all this was
hidden from me , except in a theoretic way, or as
mistily beheld in distant lives of saints who walked
with God on earth fifty or a hundred years ago .
In my early ministry I was never thrown with a
sanctified preacher, nor have I ever heard a ser-
mon on entire sanctification until this year. I be-
held the promised life from a Pisgah distance , and
came back from the view with a fear and feeling
that I should never come into that goodly land.
So , when I was being ordained at Conference , it
was with considerable choking of voice and with
not a few inward misgivings and qualms of con-
science that I replied to the bishop's questions,
that I was " going on to perfection, " that I ‘“ ex-
pected to be made perfect in love in this life , " and
that I was groaning after it. " Perhaps the bish-
op himself was disturbed at the questions he asked.
Perhaps he thought it was strange for a minister of
God and father in Israel, whose life was almost
concluded, to be asking a young preacher if he
expected to obtain what he himself had never suc-
12 SANCTIFICATION.

ceeded in getting. Stranger still if he asked the

young prophet if he expected to attain what he
really felt was unattainable !
One thing I rejoice in being able to say : That
although about that time, while surprised and
grieved at the conduct of a man claiming the bless-
ing of sanctification, and although doubts dis-
turbed me then and even afterward, yet I thank
God that I have never, in my heart or openly, de-
nied an experience or warred against a doctrine
that is the cardinal doctrine of the Methodist
Church, and concerning which I solemnly de-
clared to the bishop that I was groaning to obtain .
God in his mercy has kept me from this inconsist-
ency-this peculiar denial of my Church and my
Lord . Let me further add that in spite of my in-
distinct views of sanctification all along, yet ever
and anon during my life I have encountered relig-
ious people in whose faces I traced spiritual marks
and lines-a divine handwriting not seen on every
Christian countenance . There was an indefinable

something about them, a gravity and yet sweetness

of manner , a containedness and quietness of spirit ,
a restfulness and unearthliness , a far-awayness
about them that made me feel and know that they
had a life and experience that I had not ; that
they knew God as I did not, and that a secret of
 ΟΒΤΑΙΝING THE BLESSING. 13

the Lord had been given to them which had not

been committed to me . These faces and lives , in
the absence of sanctified preachers and sermons
on the subject, kept my faith in the doctrine, in a
great degree I suppose , from utterly perishing .
Then there were convictions of my own heart all
along in regard to what a minister's life should be .
Only this year , a full month before my sanctifica-
tion, there was impressed upon me suddenly one
day such a sense of the holiness and awfulness of
the office and work that my soul fairly sickened
under the consciousness of its own short-comings
and failures , and was made to cry out to God.
Moreover, visions of an unbroken soul-rest, and a
constant abiding spiritual power, again and again
have come up before the mind as a condition pos-
sible and imperative . A remarkable thing about
it is that these impressions have steadily come to
one who has enjoyed the peace of God daily for
thirteen years .
At the Sea-shore Camp-ground, in 1888, after
having preached at II o'clock, the writer came
forward to the altar as a penitent convicted afresh
under his own sermon , that he was not what he
should be , nor what God wanted him to be and
was able to make him. Many will remember the
day and hour, and the outpouring of the Holy
14 SANCTIFICATION.

Spirit at the time. I see now that my soul was

reaching out even then, not for the hundredth or
thousandth blessing (for these I had before ob-
tained) , but what is properly called the second
blessing. I was even then convicted by the Holy
Ghost in regard to the presence of inbred sin in a
justified heart .
Several months since I instituted a series of re-
vival services in Carondelet Street Church, with
the Rev. W. W. Hopper as my helper. At all the
morning meetings the preacher presented the sub-
ject of entire sanctification. It was clearly and
powerfully held up as being obtained instantane-
ously through consecration and faith. Before I
received the blessing myself I could not but be
struck with the presence and power of the Holy
Ghost. While urging the doctrine one morning
the preacher received such a baptism of glory that
for minutes he was helpless ; and while we were
on our knees supplicating for this instantaneous
sanctification the Holy Spirit fell here and there
upon individuals in the assembly, and shouts of
joy and cries of rapture went up from the kneel-
ing congregation in a way never to be forgotten .
The presence of God was felt so overwhelmingly
and so remarkably that I could not but reason after
this manner : Here is being presented the doc-
 OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 15

trine of instantaneous sanctification by faith. If

it were a false doctrine, would God thus manifest
himself ? Would the Holy Ghost descend with ap-
proving power upon a lie ? Does he not invaria-
bly withdraw his presence from the preacher and
people when false doctrine is presented ! But
here he is manifesting himself in a most remark-
able manner . The meeting or hour that is devot-
ed to this one subject is the most wonderful meet-
ing and hour of all. The service fairly drips with
unction. Shining faces abound. Christ is seen
in every countenance . If entire sanctification ob-
tained instantaneously is a false doctrine , is not the
Holy Ghost actually misleading the people by
granting his presence and favor, and showering
his smiles at the time when this error or false doc-
trine is up for discussion and exposition ? But
would the Spirit thus deceive ? Irresistibly and
with growing certainty we were led to see that
the truth was being presented from the pulpit, and
that the Holy Ghost, who always honors the truth
when preached, was falling upon sermon, preacher,
and people , because it was the truth. And by the
marvelous and frequent display of his presence
and power at each and every sanctification meet-
ing he was plainly setting to it the seal of his ap-
proval and indorsement, and declaring unmistak-
16 SANCTIFICATION.

ably that the doctrine that engrossed us was of

heaven and was true .

One morning a visitor a man whom I admire

and tenderly love-made a speech against entire
sanctification, taking the ground that there was
nothing but a perfect consecration and growth
in grace to look for ; that there was no sec-
ond work or blessing to be experienced by the
child of God. This was about the spirit and bur-
den of his remarks . At once a chill fell upon the
service that was noticed then and commented on

afterward . The visitor was instantly replied to by

one who had just received the blessing, and as im-
mediately the presence of God was felt and mani-
fested. And to the proposition made that all who
believed in an instantaneous and entire sanctifica-
tion would please arise at once the whole audi-
ence, with the exception of five or six individuals ,
arose simultaneously. It was during this week
that the writer commenced seeking the blessing of
sanctification . According to direction, he laid ev-
ery thing on the altar-body, soul, reputation, sal-
ary ; indeed, every thing . Feeling at the time jus-
tified, having peace with God, he could not be
said to have laid his sins on the altar ; for, being
forgiven at that moment, no sin was in sight. But
he did this , however: he laid inbred sin upon the
 OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 17

altar ; a something that had troubled him all the

days of his converted life-a something that was
felt to be a disturbing element in his Christian ex-
perience and life. Who will name this something ?
It is called variously by the appellations of origi-
nal sin , depravity, remains of sin, roots of bitter-
ness and unbelief, and by Paul it is termed " the
old man ; " for, in writing to Christians , he ex-
horts them to put off " the old man, " which was
corrupt. Very probably there will be a disagree-
ment about the name , while there is perfect recog.
nition of the existence of the thing itself. For
lack of a title that will please all, I call the dark ,
disturbing, warring creature " that something . "
It gives every converted man certain measures of
inward disturbance and trouble. Mind you , I de
not say that it compels him to sin, for this " some-
thing " can be kept in subjection by the regener.
ated man . But it always brings disturbance , and
often leads to sin. It is a something that leads to
hasty speeches , quick tempers , feelings of bitter.
ness , doubts , suspicions , harsh judgments , love of
praise, and fear of men. At times there is a mo-
mentary response to certain temptations that brings
not merely a sense of discomfort, but a tinge and
twinge of condemnation. All these may be , anc
are , in turn , conquered by the regenerated man ;
2
18 SANCTIFICATION.

but there is battle, and wounds ; and often after

the battle a certain uncomfortable feeling with-
in that it was not a perfect victory. It is a
something that at times makes devotion a weari-
ness , the Bible to be hastily read instead of de-
voured , and prayer a formal approach instead of
a burning interview with God that closes with re-
luctance. It makes Church-going at times not to
be a delight, is felt to be a foe to secret and spon-
taneous giving, causes religious experience to be
spasmodic , and permits not within the soul a con-
stant , abiding, and unbroken rest. Rest there is ;
but it is not continuous, unchanging , and perma-
nent. It is a something that makes true and noble
men of God, when appearing in the columns of a
Christian newspaper in controversy, to make a
strange mistake, and use gall instead of ink, and
write with a sword instead of a pen. It is a some-
thing that makes religious assemblies sing with
great emphasis and feeling :
"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it."
It is an echo that is felt to be left in the heart,
in which linger sounds that ought to die away for-
ever . It is a thread or cord-like connection be-
tween the soul and the world, although the two
have drifted far apart. It is a middle ground, a
strange medium upon which Satan can and does
 OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 19

operate, to the inward distress of the child of God,

whose heart at the same time is loyal to his Sav-
iour, and who feels that if he died even then he
would be saved .
Now that something I wanted out of me. What
I desired was not the power of self-restraint (that
I had already), but a spirit naturally and uncon-
sciously meek . Not so much a power to keep
from all sin , but a deadness to sin. I wanted to be
able to turn upon sin and the world the eye and
ear and heart of a dead man . I wanted perfect
love to God and man, and a perfect rest in my soul
all the time . This dark " something, " that pre-
vented this life I laid on the altar, and asked God
to consume it as by fire . I never asked God once
at this time for pardon. That I had in my soul
already. But it was cleansing, sin eradication I
craved . My prayer was for sanctification .
After the battle of consecration came the battle of
faith . Both precede the perfect victory of sancti-
fication . Vain is consecration without faith to se-
cure the blessing. Hence men can be perfectly
consecrated all their lives , and never know the
blessing of sanctification. I must believe there is
such a work in order to realize the grace . Here
were the words of the Lord that proved a founda-
tion for my faith : " Every devoted thing is most
20 SANCTIFICATION.

holy unto the Lord . ” “ The blood of Jesus Christ,

his Son , cleanseth us from all sin. " Still again :
" The altar sanctifieth the gift. " In this last quo-
tation is a statement of a great fact. The altar is
greater than the gift ; and whatsoever is laid upon
the altar becomes sanctified or holy. It is the
altar that does the work. The question arises :
Who and what is the altar ? In Hebrews xiii .
10-12 we are told . Dr. Clarke, in commenting
upon the passage , says the altar here mentioned is
Jesus Christ. All who have studied attentively
the life of our Lord cannot but be impressed with
the fact that in his wondrous person is seen em-
braced the priest, the lamb , and the altar. He
did the whole thing ; there was no one to help.
As the victim he died ; as the priest he offered
himself, and his divine nature was the altar upon
which the sacrifice was made . The Saviour, then,
is the Christian's altar. Upon him I lay myself.
The altar sanctifies the gift. The blood cleanses
from all sin , personal and inbred. Can I believe
that ? Will I believe it ? My unbelief is certain
to shut me out of the blessing ; my belief as cer-
tainly shuts me in. The instant we add a perfect
faith to a perfect consecration the work is done
and the blessing descends . As Paul says : “ We
which have believed do enter into rest . "
 ΟΒΤΑΙΝΙNG THE BLESSING. 21

All this happened to the writer. For nearly

three days he lived in a constant state of faith and
prayer . He believed God ; he believed the work
was done before the witness was given .
On the morning of the third day-may God
help me to tell it as it occurred !-the witness was
given. It was about 9 o'clock in the morning.
That morning had been spent from daylight in
meditation and prayer. I was alone in my room
in the spirit of prayer, in profound peace and love ,
and in the full expectancy of faith, when suddenly
I felt that the blessing was coming . By some deli-
cate instinct or intuition of soul I recognized the
approach and descent of the Holy Ghost. My
faith arose to meet the blessing. In another min-
ute I was literally prostrated by the power of God.
I called out again and again : " O my God ! my
God ! and glory to God ! " while billows of fire
and glory rolled in upon my soul with steady, in-
creasing force. The experience was one of fire .
I recognized it all the while as the baptism of fire.
I felt that I was being consumed. For several
minutes I thought I would certainly die . I knew
it was sanctification . I knew it as though the
name was written across the face of the blessing
and upon every wave of glory that rolled in upon
my soul.
22 SANCTIFICATION.

Cannot God witness to purity of heart as he

does to pardon of sin ? Are not his blessings self-
interpreting ? He that impresses a man to preach ,
that moves him unerringly to the selection of texts
and subjects , that testifies to a man that he is con-
verted , can he not let a man know when he is
sanctified ?

I knew I was sanctified just as I knew fifteen

years before that I was converted. I knew it not
only because of the work itself in my soul, but
through the Worker . He, the Holy Ghost, bore
witness clearly, unmistakably and powerfully, to
his own work; and, although months have passed
away since that blessed morning, yet the witness
of the Holy Spirit to the work has never left me
for a moment, and is as clear to-day as it was then.
In succeeding chapters I desire humbly to show
that the blessing of sanctification may be clearly
distinguished from other blessings ; that it is an
instantaneous work ; that it is obtained by faith
alone ; that the Holy Ghost testifies distinctly and
peculiarly to the work and life ; that a man thus
sanctified is under special pressure and command
to declare the blessing , and that while thus testify-
ing on all proper occasions that he is sanctified,
may be humbler in spirit than a Christian who
claims not the blessing.
 OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 23

These things I desire, in all love and tenderness

and joy, to speak of as matters not of theory, but
of experience. Especially would I call attention
to the calm, undisturbed life ; the perfect, unbro-
ken rest of soul that follows the blessing of sancti-
fication .
 CHAPTER III .

SANCTIFICATION IS NOT REGENERATION , NOR RE-

GENERATION EXTENDED OR PERFECTED .

ANCTIFICATION is not regeneration . The

S very words teach us that. They are not the
same , do not mean the same thing, and are not
used synonymously in the Bible , Hymn Book ,
standards , religious biographies , and testimony of
Christians . They are felt to represent two differ-
ent things. Justification means pardon ; conver-
sion, a turning about ; regeneration means renova-
tion , reproduction , entering upon a new life , while
sanctification means the act of being made holy.
If regeneration and sanctification mean the same,
and include the same work , then 1 Corinthians i.
30 becomes senseless , and should read thus : " But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us regeneration and regeneration and regen-
eration and regeneration. " But the two words
are different, and refer to different works wrought
supernaturally in the soul, and so the passage
reads : " Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and re-
demption. " The word " righteousness " should
be translated " justification . "
(
24)
 SANCTIFICATION NOT REGENERATION. 25

Again, the two words, representing different

works , follow each other in point of time. To the
Thessalonians , who were Christians , and pos-
sessed joy in the Holy Ghost, Paul writes that
God wanted them to be sanctified. He said the
same thing , in substance, to the Romans , the Cor-
inthians , and to the Hebrews . Sanctification , or
Christian perfection , comes after regeneration .
The Saviour himself recognized this order , for
while in the fifteenth chapter of John he tells his
disciples that they are clean through his word , yet
a little while after he informs them that they must
yet be sanctified , which sanctification , we remem-
ber, took place on Pentecost .
The Hymn Book observes the same order.
Open it and read the subjects as divided. First is
the " Gospel Call , " then “ Penitential Exercises , "
then "Justification," and then " Sanctification . "
The same order is observed in our theological
works . Sanctification follows regeneration .
But clearer and more convincing than all is
one's own experience . On the twelfth day of
July, 1874 , God converted my soul, and fifteen
years afterward, at 9 o'clock in the morning of
June 1 , 1889, he sanctified my soul and body. It
was a different work from the first, and a differ-
ent experience. My consciousness testified to the
26 SANCTIFICATION.

fact of the difference, and so did the Holy Ghost.

The emphasized words above are full of signifi-
cance . A calm settles upon soul and body. The
inward battle and tumult have ended . The flesh
does not lust against the spirit as formerly, but is
led by the Spirit and restrained by the Spirit, calm-
ly and easily and without the fearful strugglings of
other days . This experience alone gives to sanc-
tification a peculiarity strikingly different from re-
generation .
Again, entire sanctification is not the deepening
or perfecting or extension of regeneration . Re-
generation is a perfect work in itself ; needs no
improvement, and is given none. Sanctification
has no quarrel with regeneration, either in the Bi-
ble or Christian experience, and is not in antago-
nism with it in any respect whatever, although
some would so persuade the people. It aims to
do another thing, and accomplishes another work
altogether. It removes something from the soul
that has been a constant trouble and hinderance to
the regenerated man . It kills inbred sin ; or, as
Dr. Whedon calls it, the " sinwardness " in us ; or,
as some would recognize it, the " prone-to-wan-
der feeling. " That is the work that sanctification
does: it removes or kills the " sinwardness " or
prone-to-wander movement of the heart. It is
 SANCTIFICATION NOT REGENERATION.
27

idle to say that regeneration does this, when Chris-

tians in their experience universally testify to the
fact that after conversion they still feel the stirrings
and movement of sin within them . The sanctified
man tells you that this is not the case with him .
That dark medium upon which Satan and the
world operated , to the inward disturbance and un-
rest of the child of God, is utterly removed or de-
stroyed. Entire sanctification did that work , and
can alone do it. My will may be rectified in re-
generation ; but what if sin be something more
than an act of the will? It certainly seems so
when we behold it transmitted from Adam down
to us without the consent of our wills , and exhibit-
ing itself in children too young to exercise their
judgment and moral powers. May not sin have
left part of its life in the tendencies of the body,
and exist also as a transmitted nature apart from
my personal sin and guilt ? Let Nos . 7 and 20 of
our Articles of Religion answer. When I am
born again I stand a regenerate creature in the
presence of wayward tendencies of the flesh , and
this dark element called original sin, that has been
indescribably but certainly sent down from Adam
to us, and interwoven in our natures. It is not
long before the young convert finds out its pres-
ence and power. Why is it there in a regenerated
28 SANCTIFICATION.

life ? Because there is no new birth or renovation

for original sin. " The carnal mind is enmity
against God: for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. " ( Rom . viii. 7. ) It
is hopelessly cursed of God now and forever . It
has to be removed or destroyed. Spiritual Agags
have to be hewed to pieces, not changed into
Israelites . Regeneration renews my soul, imparts
power to resist and conquer sin ; but does not
rid me of the presence of depravity in the heart.
This is done by another and distinct work of the
Holy Ghost ; and that work is entire sanctification .
This marvelous work is one of removal or destruc-
tion. Both ideas are taught in the Bible. It is
called a circumcision-i. e. , a cutting out and off
of something within our natures . And again, it is
called a baptism of fire . We all know what fire
does-that it consumes . Many difficulties may be
urged by the skeptical ; but the experience of the
sanctified , without exception, is that sin has been
removed from or destroyed in the heart. This is
one of the secrets of the deep rest and perfect
peace that constantly fills the soul of one who has
received the blessing .
Let us sum up the thought. We , as Methodists ,
believe in the existence within us of what we call
in Article VII . original and actual sin. “ Origi-
 SANCTIFICATION NOT REGENERATION. 29

nal sin " refers to the sin of Adam, and " actual
sin '' to our own personal transgressions . In jus-
tification, which means pardon, my own actual or
personal sins are forgiven, but not original sin .
How can I be pardoned for what I did not com-
mit ? How could I ask God to forgive me for what
I did not do ? And how could God, in truth and jus-
tice, grant me pardon for what I had not done ?
Justification evidently cannot reach original sin , and
the conclusion is that I stand a justified man, with
inherited depravity within me . In regeneration
the soul is born again, made new , entered upon a
spiritual life . That personal depravity which arises
from one's own actual sin is corrected by regener-
ation ; but original sin , or inherited depravity, re-
mains untouched. Can depravity be regenerated ,
the old man ' in us be converted and made holy ?
Paul, in writing to Christians , did not say make
the " old man " a new man , but " Put off the old
man, which is corrupt, " and put on the " new
man . " It is idle to say this was done in regener-
ation . Sound reasoning is against it, and a uni-
versal Christian experience . The fact to which
we are driven is that the regenerated soul is left
in the presence of an inherited sin or depravity...
We must also remember that in the spiritual life
we get what we ask for. We approach a throne
30 SANCTIFICATION.

of grace praying for pardon and deliverance from

personal sins and a personal sinful nature. What
Adam did for us and to us is no more in the mind
or prayer than something occurring in a distant
world billions of leagues away. In either case I
can see how God can regenerate my soul, save me
from the effects of a personal depravity, or that
evil I have brought upon myself by actual sin , and
yet original sin, or transmitted depravity, remains
intact within me . This latter sin remains for an-

other work . To say otherwise is to confound two

distinct works of the Holy Ghost, regeneration
and sanctification ; or it makes regeneration a par-
tial or imperfect work, which thought cannot be
entertained for a moment. Sanctification does not
go over the work of regeneration, deepening the
lines and making it more effectual. Sanctification
is not a second touch upon the same blind eyes ,
but it is a second touch of the Holy Ghost laid upon
something else altogether. The first touch, regen-
eration, alters the personal sinful life and nature ,
for which I am accountable ; the second touch ,
sanctification , removes the inherited sinful nature,
for which I am not accountable , but which bur-
dens and afflicts me not the less . We cannot af-
ford to throw the slightest imputation upon regen-
eration; it is a perfect work of God, and does all
 SANCTIFICATION NOT REGENERATION. 31

he intended it should do. The expression “ re-

mains of sin, " I am confident is misleading , and
we should discard it unless we are careful to have
it understood that by it we mean original sin .
Our hope for a perfect deliverance is in the
sanctifying grace of God. Not that our depravity
is sanctified any more than it was regenerated, but
we are sanctified by the removal or destruction of
depravity, and by the communication, at the same
instant, of " the fullness of the blessing of the gos-
pel of Christ."
When that sanctifying work occurs sin dies in
the heart . Various propensities of the body,
which regeneration subdued, but could not eradi-
cate, are instantly corrected, arrested , or extirpat-
ed. The craving of habit is ended, the root of
bitterness is extracted, pride is lifeless, self-will is
crucified, and anger and irritability are dead. In
a word, inward sin is dead. A sweet, holy calm
fills the breast, actually affects the body, steals
into the face, and rules the life. The millennium
has begun in the soul.
 CHAPTER IV .
SANCTIFICATION IS NOT A RECOVERY FROM BACK-

SLIDING .

HE supposition of many who have not realized

this grace in the soul is that it is the recovery
of the first love , or return from a more or less back-
slidden course .

The idea is urged again and again, by different

writers who are opposed to sanctification, that the
professed possessors of the blessing had really
drifted through unfaithfulness into a condition of
darkness , fear, and even sin ; and in looking for a
second cleansing or sanctification have mistaken
their recovery , or restoration of religious joy, for
the blessing of sanctification ; and, thus deluded,
proclaim the fact that they have received the sec-
ond blessing, when they have only been recovered
from the life and course of a backslider .
This is certainly very different from the teaching
of a famous little volume , called " Christian Per-
fection, " written by one of the most eminently
pious men that ever lived, which says that entire
sanctification is preceded by a gradual mortifica-
tion of sin and ardent aspirations after holiness ;
(32
)
 NOT A RECOVERY FROM BACKSLIDING. 33

in a word, by conditions and experiences the op-

posite of backsliding .
According to this definition of sanctification , that
it is nothing but a recovery from backsliding , we
are necessarily led to infer that the Thessalonians ,
whom Paul so highly commended in his Epistle ,
saying that they were " ensamples " through their
labor of love , patience of hope, and joy in the
Holy Ghost, that they were really a set of back-
sliders . And when he wrote, " And the very God
of peace sanctify you wholly," he meant that he
hoped the God of peace would recover them from
their present backslidden condition. Truly this
definition and explanation of entire sanctification,
or the second blessing, as given by the doubters of
the work, is enough to make Wesley turn over in
his grave , and to cause the admirers of Fletcher
and Carvosso and Clarke and Benson and Mc-
Kendree to blush for those consecrated men of
God.
So , according to this explanation , these holy
men were backsliders . Who is ready to credit
this ? Who , after reading their lives and their
own statements and descriptions of the blessing
of sanctification , can believe such a thing of them ?
Read the " Life of Fletcher, " and see how the
definition fails to agree with the facts. Open the
3
34 SANCTIFICATION.

" Life of Carvosso," and see how, after his conver

sion , he pressed steadily on, living in prayer, and
never resting until he obtained the blessing of sanc-
tification. Now turn to Bishop McKendree-he is
giving his experience : " Not long after my conver-
sion Mr. Gibson preached a sermon on sanctifica-
tion, and I felt its weight. When Mr. Easter came
he enforced the same doctrine . This led me more
minutely to examine the emotions of my heart . I
found remaining corruption, embraced the doc-
trine of sanctification, and diligently sought the
blessing it holds forth . The more I sought it , the
more I felt the need of it, and the more important
did that blessing appear. In its pursuit my soul
grew in grace. " Then he goes on to describe
when and how the blessing of sanctification came
upon him . Where does the backsliding come in
here ? When did he lose God ? On the contrary,
he tells us that as he sought the blessing his soul
grew in grace .
Now let the reader turn to Mr. Wesley's vol-
ume on " Christian Perfection, " and read certain
paragraphs on pages 37, 61 , and 78, and he will
find that the author calls the blessing a total death
to sin and an entire renewal in the love and image
of God obtained instantaneously, received by faith,
and witnessed to by the Holy Ghost .
 NOT A RECOVERY FROM BACKSLIDING. 35

In none of these instances can you find any

thing favoring the idea of a recovery from back-
sliding . On the contrary, it is represented as a
sudden uplift and deliverance granted a soul that
had been previously growing in grace; that it is a
second and distinct work done in and for not a
backslidden , but a consecrated life .
With great shrinking I mention my own experi-
ence in the same breath with such superior and
holy men. But God calls upon me to witness
here, and by my tongue and pen to protest hum-
bly, but firmly, against this degrading definition of
sanctification . God knows that I have not been a
backslider . He knows that for over twelve years
the rule of my life, rarely broken, has been never
to lay my head upon my pillow until I felt a sense
of acceptance with him ; while every day I have
felt his peace and presence in my soul. Evidently
the blessing I received on June 1 , of last year, was
not a recovery from backsliding .
 CHAPTER V.
SANCTIFICATION IS NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING .

O call sanctification simply a great blessing is

to rob it of its distinctive qualities. It is
something more than a blessing. It is a blessing
after a different order . It is a second work
wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost .
Many people have grown merry over the words
" second blessing. " They say that they have gone
much further along in the spiritual numerals ; that
they have advanced into the hundreds and thou-
sands . So has the writer. But these blessings
were all in the regenerated life arising at moments
of repentance, prayer, submission, and Christian
work , and touching not the life of which we are
writing. There is another blessing so peculiar, so
distinct, that when a man experiences it, although
he had felt ten thousand blessings before, he would
ever after call this one the " second blessing. " I
am afraid that the laughter directed at the expres-
sion arises from the thoughtlessness of mirth or
the failure to recognize the real work and life cov-
ered by the words. It would be well for Method-
ist preachers , ere they laugh publicly over the ex
(36)
 NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING. 37

pression, to turn to the works of the founder of

our Church , Mr. Wesley, and see how frequently
and certainly he used it.
In writing to Mrs. Crosby in 1761 he says :
" Within five weeks five in our band received the
second blessing." In 1763 he writes : " This
morning one found peace and one the second
blessing . " To Miss Jane Hilton, in 1774, he
writes : " It is exceedingly certain that God did
give you the second blessing , properly so called.
He delivered you from the roots of bitterness , from
inbred sin as well as actual sin . "
Nor is this all. The expression is not simply
Wesleyan, but you might say scriptural ; for Paul
( in 2 Cor. i . 15) says to the Christians whom he
is addressing : " I was minded to come unto you
before, that ye might have a second benefit. " The
proper translation of the last word should not be
" benefit, " but " grace ; " and is so rendered in the
marginal reading. The Greek word is charis,
which is translated " grace " one hundred and fifty
times in the New Testament. Thus properly
translated the verse reads : " I was minded to
come unto you before, that ye might have a second
grace. "
The blessing of sanctification is evidently some-
thing more than a great blessing. As for great
38 SANCTIFICATION.

blessings , all of us have had them who are Chris-

tians ; but not all have had the second blessing,
for a great blessing is not necessarily the second
blessing . My beloved brethren in the ministry,
who differ with me, if you come to glorying in
great blessings, so will I. Let me become a fool
in such glorying. Have you had great blessings ?
So have I. Have you had a number ? So have I.
And yet not one of these was the second blessing .
Some of them I received in company with minis-
ters who read these lines ; some in the presence of
various congregations I have served ; and still oth-
ers alone . And yet not one of these was the sec-
ond blessing. Certainly it seems that the writer
might be able to speak intelligently and discrimi-
natingly when he humbly but firmly asserts that
there is a second blessing for the child of God, al-
together different from the multitude of gracious
experiences that fill and glorify the Christian life .
The expression " great blessing, " in connection
with the work of entire sanctification , is mislead
ing . The attention of the seeker is thereby di-
rected to an emotion instead of a work and final
state . The feeling may be more or less intense ,
according to temperament, condition, and other
things I might mention. It is not a necessary feat-
ure of sanctification that a person should be over-
 NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING. 39

whelmed. Some may be; but the majority are

not. It is a purifying and filling rather than an
overwhelming, a filling of the soul rather than the
falling of the body. I grant that some have been
perfectly prostrated for moments and minutes ; but
many have not this torrent-like baptism , and yet
are as soundly sanctified as the other class . Some
of whom I have read, and some whom I have
known, in receiving the blessing suddenly became
conscious of a profound, unearthly, immeasurable
calm and sweetness of soul. In the very core and
center and heart of the experience is heard the
testimony of the Holy Ghost bearing witness to the
fact that this is sanctification . Thus was it with
Dr. Clarke , Benson , Carvosso , Lovick Pierce ,
and others . Dr. Pierce said that for minutes he
felt that he could live without breathing, so unut-
terable was the calm in his soul . Dr. Thomas C.
Upham, writing about it, says : " I was then re-
deemed by a mighty power, and filled with the
blessing of perfect love . There was no intellect-
ual excitement, no marked joys when I reached
this great rock of practical salvation ; but I was
distinctly conscious when I reached it . "
This is the point I make : that to lay the empha-
sis upon the emotional feature is misleading. It is
as unwise here as it is in conversion to demand
40 SANCTIFICATION.

certain exalted states as the criterion in such a

case. The instant we make an overwhelming
rapture the standard experience, that instant we
grieve and discourage many, and make it difficult,
if not impossible, for them to secure the longed-
for blessing.
The writer cannot but insist that it is not the
great joy felt at the moment that should constitute
the after-rejoicing of the sanctified man, but the
great work that was done in him at that time . The
work is the wonderful thing ; the work is the di-
vine accomplishment to be rejoiced over . It may
have for its proclaimer a great joy or a great calm
or peace ; but that is a small matter compared to
the work itself. The joy will subside, in a meas-
ure ; the peace may have its variations ; but the
work done in sanctification remains . Glory to
God for the work !

Earthly conditions and experiences may beat

like waves upon you ; but, rock-like , the work it-
self abides , resisting every wave and outliving ev-
ery storm. People and surroundings may change ;
failure and disappointment and loss may crowd
into the life ; but there , enthroned in the heart, is
this perfect love to God and man that changes not,
an inward calm and rest that never departs , and a
faith in God that remains unshaken .
 NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING. 41

Yes , sanctification is a great blessing ; but the

greatness is not in the emotions which accompany
it, but in the work of sanctification itself. And
while the sanctified man cannot but rejoice in the
possession of a peace and rest that never leave him ,
yet his deepest joy is in the constant realization of
the work itself; that he is crucified with Christ ;
that he is dead to the world, and alive to God as
never before ; that inward sin is dead ; that love
reigns supreme in the heart, and that Christ abides
within in a fullness and with a constancy delight-
ful and amazing .
If God's people, instead of doubting and deny.
ing, would humbly and prayerfully seek for sanc-
tification as they did for conversion, then, in the
language of the pastoral address of the General
Conference of 1832 , " our class-meeting and love-
feasts would be cheered by the relation of the ex-
periences of the higher character, as they now are
with those which tell of justification and the new
birth."
 CHAPTER VI .
SANCTIFICATION IS NOT GROWTH IN GRACE .

ERE is where multiplied thousands fall into

error: they have confounded two separate
and distinct things. They have, in insisting that
holiness and growth in grace were the same, made
the work of man and the work of God identical.
It is a very grave error . It is more than grave
-it is calamitous . So long as the Church sup-
poses that sanctification is a gradual growth in
grace, so long will God's people be kept out of
the blessing of a holy heart. How Satan smiles
when he sees the Church seeking holiness in a di-
rection and on a plane where it can never be
found ! He is not the least alarmed so long as
God's people look to themselves or to time or to
growth, or to any thing but the blood of Christ,
for holiness . While Christians thus wander about,
he assumes a still easier attitude or position on his
throne , and continues to smile .
That entire sanctification is not growth in grace
appears from several facts or considerations .
First, the words themselves . They are entirely
different. One is agiasmos ; the other, auxanete
de en chariti. This fact alone should convince.
(42)
 NOT GROWTH IN GRACE. 43

Again, the meanings of the words are different.

If they meant the same, why should the Spirit use
different words . One means holiness ; the other
does not. One refers to a state ; the other to a
growth . One refers to a removal ; the other to an
addition . One signifies a death ; the other a life .
One is an impartation ; the other an expansion and
development. One takes away uncleanness and
impurity ; the other is the growth of purity. One
refers to a completed work ; and the other to an
indefinite progress .
And now, lest the last two expressions be mis-
understood , we amplify by saying that the com-
pleted work referred to is the death of inbred sin
or depravity, and that the indefinite progress is the
growing holier all the days of the sanctified life ;
that sanctification is purity, but growth in grace is
the maturing of purity .
Again, that they are not the same appears from
Christian testimony. Did you ever hear a Chris-
tian admit that he had grown into the possession
of a holy heart ? You, my reader, may have been
growing in grace for twenty, thirty, forty years .
Have you obtained the blessing of a holy heart yet ?
No ; nor will you ever obtain it that way. Many,
many times at experience-meetings you have tes-
tified to listening hundreds that you were grow
44 SANCTIFICATION.

ing in grace , and yet never have you come into the
possession of holiness . Has it not occurred to you
that it is a long road you are traveling ? You may
be gray-haired now, and still you do not possess
what you have been struggling for all your life.
Does it not occur to you that it would be wise to
try another route ? You certainly ought to be con-
vinced by this time that holiness of heart is neither
growth in grace nor is it to be found by growth in
grace.
The other striking fact in connection with the
thought of Christian testimony is that all the peo-
ple you have ever heard claim the blessing of holi-
ness testified that they obtained it instantaneously,
by faith in the blood of Christ.
The two testimonies agree. Both in different
ways affirm-the one negatively, the other posi-
tively that sanctification is not growth in grace,
nor is it obtained by growth in grace .
The crowning proof that holiness is not growth
in grace appears from the word of God. The Bi-
ble establishes the fact by teaching plainly that en-
tire sanctification is an instantaneous work. It
also confirms the thought and places it beyond all
peradventure by a distinct recognition of the two
works , and by specific commands relative to them .
No one can read them without being impressed.
 NOT GROWTH IN GRACE.
45

For when the Bible speaks of the duty of growth

it turns to man and says , " Grow in grace ; " but
when it speaks of sanctification it looks to God,
and says , " The very God of peace sanctify you
wholly. Faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it . ”

My beloved reader, why have you not this bless-

ing ? Have you sought it ? or have you spoken and
written against it ? Have you believed or doubted ?
Remember, it is obtained by earnest, humble
seeking, with consecration of self to God and faith
in Christ for the blessing . If you have not sought
for it, and if you do not believe in the attainment
of it, who wonders that you have not obtained it ?
Christ's words are as applicable to the converted
man as they are to the man of the world : " If any
man will do his will, he shall know of the doc-
trine."
 CHAPTER VII .
SANCTIFICATION IS A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD .

N this chapter some points will not appear that

would come properly under this head, because
anticipated , and in a measure discussed, in previ-
ous chapters.
Sanctification is a doctrine . It is as much so as
repentance , faith, and regeneration. The word is
a distinct word, has a distinct and peculiar mean-
ing, and refers to something that is not found in
repentance , faith, or regeneration , and that some-
thing is holiness. By its position in the Hymn
Book and theological standards , and by the clear
way in which it is urged in the Scriptures, we
cannot but see that sanctification is a doctrine in

itself , recognized as such by man and taught as

such by God .
Let us not fall into the mistake here that repent-
ance is a distinct thing, and conversion a distinct
thing, but that sanctification is a hazy, indefinable ,
indefinite, never-to- be-realized state, and thereby
lose sight of its individuality as a blessing, and
strip from the Bible one of its grandest doctrines .
But let us mark how Christians are urged to go on
(
46)
 A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 47

to it, and to possess it, and see in these repeated

commands the proof that it is a cardinal truth and
teaching of the Word of God .
Sanctification is the work of God . The Bible
says " the blood cleanses," " the altar [Christ]
makes holy," and still again " the God of peace
sanctify you wholly. " In another place Christ
prays the Father to " sanctify " his disciples . In
still other places the expressions used in descrip-
tion of the blessing of holiness are " the baptism
of the Holy Ghost, " " the anointing and sealing
of the Holy Ghost," and " the renewing of the
Holy Ghost."
There are many others , but these suffice to show
that while all the persons of the Trinity are cred-
ited with the work, yet no other being but God is
recognized as the Agent and Accomplisher .
Still again, by this constant recognition of God
in the Bible as the Sanctifier we are shown that
sanctification is not man's work and that as a
consequence it cannot be growth in grace, which
is always made incumbent as a duty upon man.
Conviction is a work of God in the soul of a sin-
ner. No man could produce such a result. Re-
generation is a work of God in the soul of a be-
lieving penitent. Redemption is the final work of
God upon the bodies of his slumbering saints ; at
48 SANCTIFICATION.

his voice and through his power they will come

forth from the grave in radiant resurrection forms .
Sanctification, or holiness , is the work of God in
the soul of a Christian believer. In full view of
these distinct and separate operations of the power
of God, Paul says : " Christ is made unto us wis-
dom, and righteousness , and sanctification , and re-
demption . "
The very position of these words show the sep-
arateness and distinctiveness of the work . Christ's
command also substantiates the idea. This com-
mand to the disciples was to tarry until they ob-
tained not simply a blessing that would disappear
in a day, but a work that would transform them
into totally different men . See Luke xxiv . 49 ;
Acts i . 8 .

We could say much on this point, but refrain .

You who read these lines have felt the convicting
power of God, and you have experienced the con-
verting power of God, and you are later on to feel
the resurrecting power of God ; but have you yet
felt the sanctifying power of the Almighty ?
If not, you are a stranger to him at that point.
And if you will not feel it, then you will pass into
eternity knowing certainly some of the marvelous
operations of grace, but not having felt the most
 A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD, 49

wonderful and blessed work of all that God per-

forms upon the soul in this earthly life .
What is this work, and in what respect does it
differ from regeneration ?
Let me say that many have been taught to be-
lieve that regeneration does every thing for the
soul . My reply to this is that the Bible calls re-
generation a new birth-says it makes us new
creatures , but never intimates that it makes us
holy. It never calls it a baptism of fire . A bap-
tism of fire would hardly be the proper swaddling-
clothes for a newborn babe . In striking confirma-
tion of this , I notice that I never heard a Christian
liken his conversion to an experience of fire .
That experience comes later, and belongs to a dif-
ferent work .
Some claim that regeneration has done every
thing for them. Christ's blood, they say, made
them perfectly pure and holy at conversion , and all
that is needed now is time for development. and a
steady growth in grace .
To this I offer several facts in reply :
One is that I never heard but one regenerated
person in my life claim that his heart was perfectly
pure and holy, and he did it then with a hesitation
and slowness that was remarkable and painful.
Another is that if there are a number who make
4
50 SANCTIFICATION.

this claim, they do it under the supposition that the

inbred sin of their hearts is only temptation. Great
is this mistake !

Still another fact is that they have evidently

mixed and confounded passages in the Bible bear-
ing on the two subjects of regeneration and sancti-
fication . They have taken verses of Scripture
that refer exclusively to the sanctified life and
used them to describe the life of the regenerated .
One that is often thus twisted is the famous pas-
sage in Ezekiel : " Then will I sprinkle clean wa-
ter upon you , and ye shall be clean : from all your
filthiness , and from all your idols , will I cleanse
you . " This was a promise made to believers , and
therefore could not be conversion !

Again, if regeneration saves from all filthiness

of flesh and spirit, and from all idols of heart and
life , then are regenerated men, like angel visits ,
few and far between !

Regeneration is a new birth, a change of mas-

ters, the implanting of a new life and love, the
cleansing away of personal sins, and the removal
of that depravity that results from personal trans-
gressions , so that the man is a new creature , and
can say: " Old things have passed away ; all things
have become new . "

But all has not yet been done. Something still

 A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 51

is left to be accomplished, as is evidenced by the

command of Scripture to seek it, tarry for it, go
on to it, and other like expressions . Moreover,
the prayers of regenerated people , who are always
asking for a clean heart, and the desires of regen-
erated people, who are living in the light and grow-
ing in grace-both alike point to a something in
the spiritual life that they have not. The origina-
tor of this prayer and desire is the Holy Ghost,
who is urging and drawing on to the higher bless-
ing to establishment in holiness .
To resume, then : sanctification is a work of
God in the soul, and this is the work :
First, it is the utter destruction of inbred sin, or
inherited depravity, in the heart. This sin is called
by various terms in the Bible and in religious no-
menclature . " The body of sin, " " the law of sin
”
and death, " the flesh, " " the carnal mind," the
" old man, " and " proneness to sin, " are some of the
names given to describe the dark principle of evil
that rules in an unconverted life and that strug-
gles for mastery in the heart of the regenerated
Christian . Call it by what name you will, this is
the thing that is destroyed in sanctification, and
that is not destroyed in regeneration. Regenera-
tion gives me power over it ; sanctification kills it.
Second, it is a cleansing and purification. The
52 SANCTIFICATION.

instrument is the baptism of fire. Nothing purifies

like fire . The baptism of water and all that it
symbolizes is not equal to the baptism of fire .
Ask a Christian , after he has felt this work of
God , if his heart is pure, and there will be no hes-
itation, no slowness, but with the rapidity of the
lightning's flash he will say : " Glory to God ! I
am pure . The blood has made me clean. "
Third, it is a filling or fullness of the Spirit, such
as was never realized before. Then, says the
Scripture , " were the disciples filled with the Holy
Ghost, " as if this experience had not been theirs
before . They had received the Holy Ghost, Christ
had breathed the Spirit upon them ; but at their
sanctification they were filled. Paul, writing to
the Romans , calls it " the fullness of the blessing."
God evidently descends in a manner and a meas-
ure upon the soul in sanctification that he does not
in any previous work or condition of grace . Christ
alluded to this in John xiv. 23 , when, speaking of
the blessing, he said: " We will come unto him ,
and make our abode with him . " God comes to
abide in the sanctified heart .

We cannot linger here, but call attention to the

order of the divine work-the destruction, the
purifying , and then the coming of the divine
Blesser to take complete and final possession ! It
 A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 53

is a proper and necessary order, and an order ob-

served in all cases, though for explainable causes
sometimes one may be felt with pre-eminent clear-
ness and force over the other .

In my own case I was peculiarly conscious of

the destruction , as by fire , and the fullness . After
the recognition of these consciousness took hold
of the feature of purity, saw and rejoiced that it
was there , and now after twelve months still sees
that it is there, and rejoices over it as an unchang-
ing possession.
 CHAPTER VIII .
SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE .

ERE we turn from God's work to consider its

effect upon man . This effect produces an
experience. If there were no such distinct work,
there would be no distinct experience, and the tes-
timonies of the regenerated man and the man who
claims sanctification would be the same . There
would be no sharp dividing line, no distinguishing
mark and trait by which one could be told from
another .

I thank God there is such an experience, and

thousands of people in the land, representing ev-
ery disposition and temperament and age and walk
in life, can and do attest the same fact that there is
such an experience .
The writer has known God as a Pardoner, and
sweet was that knowledge ; and God as his Saviour
and Comforter, and gracious and blessed have been
those experiences . But there is something better
still, and that is to know him as one's Sanctifier .
He that has not seen him in that light, and felt his
power in that direction, has come short of the
deepest and most gracious views and experiences
(54)
 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 55

of God, and continuing to live thus must undergo

a loss that, to the mind, seems irreparable .
Very briefly we sketch this experience :
It is an experience of deep spiritual content and
satisfaction . The old craving and yearning felt
for something better in the religious life has been
met and fulfilled in this blessing. The pearl of
greatest price has been found, the good for which
it had long sighed. The clean heart, the restful
heart, long prayed for, has come , and now there
is an inward spiritual satisfaction most precious and
indescribable .

It is an experience of fullness . There is no af-

flicting sense of barrenness or emptiness . Salva-
tion is felt within. The cup that was often half
empty, and sometimes seemed altogether empty, is
now a full cup . The loaves are always on the ta-
ble of the heart, and there seems to be twelve
loaves enough for self, and plenty to spare . A
delightful fullness pervades the experience .
It is an experience of peculiar joy. I refer not
to ecstasies . Great floods of joy come to the re-
generated and sanctified alike at times . But I
speak here of the joy of salvation-a sweet, quiet,
holy joy that nestles in the center of the soul, and
never leaves . " Woman," said Christ, " if you
had asked me I would have given you a blessing
56 SANCTIFICATION.

that would have been like a well of water, spring-

ing up continually within you. " He spoke of
sanctification . And the joy I refer to here and
the water Christ spoke of to the woman mean one
and the same thing. Truly you cannot better de-
scribe this joy than by likening it to a fountain or
well of water springing up within you .
An experience of joy is one thing; the joy of
salvation , another. The former comes and goes ;
the latter abides continually. It is this abiding
joy of salvation that enables the possessor to do
what seems impossible to many Christians , al-
though Paul exhorts to this end, and that is to
" rejoice always . " The frequent " praise the
Lord's " of the sanctified man may appear me-
chanical and parrot-like to many Christians ; but,
so far from that, these praises and verbal rejoic-
ings arise as naturally to the lips as the waters of
an inexhaustible spring gurgle up from its clear
depths and flow over its pebbly brim .
The writer praises God this morning for the
quiet, tender joy of salvation that, like a fountain
hidden away in the depths of his soul, has been
flowing for nearly a year. Morning, noon, and
night ; on the street, at home or in the study ; in
company or alone, the joy of salvation-a full sal-
vation is always there. The fountain was there
 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 57

before, but choked by the great stone of inbred

sin. This is now removed , and so , without an ob-
struction, the spiritual spring flows on and up into
the heart and voice and face and life . The bless-

ing promised the Samaritan woman has come . The

well of water, springing up, keeps the soul from
thirst, and imparts a freshness and gladness to the
experience and life that may well be described
even on earth as " everlasting life . "
It is an experience of constant and easy victory
over sin. There are temptations that beat on the
sanctified heart. Satan tries to come in . He stirs
up all kinds of adversaries against the soul, both
fleshly and spiritual. But, to the delight of the
man enjoying the blessing of sanctification, he
finds that the old-time painfulness and difficulty of
the struggle is gone. There is no inward convul-
sion ; no war within, while victory comes swiftly
and perfectly through the blood of the Lamb .
Sometimes the conflict is protracted for hours,
perhaps days ; but, glory to God ! during the en-
tire time of resistance there is a consciousness of
perfect ability to stand through Christ, a willing-
ness to wait patiently on the Lord, and a certainty
of triumph in the end that is blessed, and yet most
difficult to describe .

The difference of the spiritual conflicts in the

58 SANCTIFICATION.

regenerated and sanctified lives may be illustrated

by the difference seen in the battles of the Israel-
ites fought in the wilderness and those fought in
the land of Canaan. Their enemies fairly melted
away before them in the Holy Land. Songs,
shouts , praises to God and steady advances were
all that was needed in most cases in Canaan . And
so in the sanctified life , on account of the perpet-
ual sprinkling of the blood of Christ on the heart,
and the constant reliance on the blood by that
heart, there is a consequence of confidence, bold-
ness , gladness , songfulness , and aggressiveness
that is simply irresistible and all-conquering .
I press an additional feature as a distinguishing
characteristic of the victory ending the spiritual
conflicts of the sanctified. And that is , while
often in the regenerated life the battle ended with
an experience of inward discomfort and twinges
of condemnation, such is not the case with the
sanctified man . With him the conflict begins, con-
tinues , and ends with a happy consciousness of
purity and power, with the heart's approval and
with God's approval .
It is an experience of glad testifying. Does the
reader know what it is to wish for a spiritual lamp
that burns all the while, whose oil never gives out ;
but, being connected with the heavenly olive-trees ,
 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 59

would be fed continually, and therefore burn

steadily ? Has the reader ever sat still in an expe-
rience-meeting with a cold heart, and waited until
sufficiently warmed up by hymn or testimony of
other people before giving his experience ? If so ,
have you not wished for a deeper and more perma-
nent work of grace ; one that would enable you at
all times and at any time to arise and give a bright,
glad testimony about the Saviour's work in your
soul?

This , thank God ! is one of the peculiar marks

of the sanctified life-the power of a constant,
glad testifying . Hundreds of times the writer has
been impressed with this attribute , or character-
istic, of the sanctified. They don't wait to be
warmed up-don't have to wait for the full salva-
tion is in them . There is no harp-hanging on wil-
low-trees , no lamentation over inward sins and
corruptions, no deploring over or confessing to a
proneness to depart from God. There is a nota-
ble absence of all this in the testimony of a sanc-
tified man, but, instead , the gladness, the precious-
ness , and the blessedness of a full and present
salvation gives a ring to the voice, a freshness to
the experience, a light to the face , and a triumph to
the soul that is evident to all, and profoundly im-
presses all that hear.
60 SANCTIFICATION.

It is an experience of perfect submission to God .

After the full surrender of the will to God in the
act of consecration , and after the fall of the sanc-
tifying fire , that will becomes harmonized and
sweetly accordant with that of God. No reluc-
tance now to do God's will-no struggle to do it-
but an instant yielding and a quick flying to do
the divine behest the moment that the command of
desire is revealed

It is an experience of natural meekness . My

meaning is that the meekness of the sanctified man
is not the result of a strong restraint upon the feel-
ings, but is a genuine quietness and long-suffering
of spirit as natural as breathing. Sanctification
has taken out that spiritual gunpowder that ignited
and exploded under the spark of provocation, and
now there is both deliverance from sudden out-
bursts and from the smoldering fire of resentment
as well. The faculty or disposition that respond-
ed angrily to insult is dead. The swelling throat,
mounting color, shaking voice, choking speech ,
and prickly , nettled feeling , spreading up from the
spirit into the body itself, are things of the past.
A great meekness that can endure long and be
kind has settled upon the man and keeps him calm
and unresentful .

It is an experience of purity. Here is some-

 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 61

thing that has to be felt to be understood. Many

are skeptical in regard to it as a distinct experi-
ence . Happy in the sense of pardon, acceptance
with God, and cleansing from personal guilt, they
insist this is all. But it is not all, as the craving
of their hearts often declare, and as the convert-
ing Spirit of God endeavors to impress upon them .
There is an experience of purity as clearly distinct
from the experience of pardon as one individual
life is different from another . In all the fluctua-
tions of mere emotion this delightful sense and con-
sciousness of purity remains . The Holy Ghost
constantly bears witness to his own work, saying,
continuously and momentarily, " Child , you are
clean ; " while the soul, with a vision of its own,
and with cognitions peculiar to itself, recognizes
the work and the fact of purity as one would rec-
ognize the white-robed majesty of Mont Blanc
towering before him . " Blessed are the pure in
heart , " said the Saviour. So there must be such
a state . He that has it not will not claim it ; his
tongue will cleave to the roof of his mouth, he will
stammer and hesitate and commentate and circum-
navigate when asked : " Are you pure ? " O it is
hard to testify to a condition or possession to which
the Holy Ghost has never borne witness. But
when he speaks-then you can speak, and how
62 SANCTIFICATION.

gladly and exultantly you will testify even in the

midst of lowering and unbelieving faces that the
blood has made you pure !
It is an experience of faith. By this I mean
you find yourself believing, as it were, naturally .
Where you formerly doubted, you now trust.
Sanctification seems to place faith in the heart as
a fixed state , and in the hand as a never-idle weap-
on . Faith becomes not a fitful exertion, but the
attitude and movement of the soul. It becomes
an experience. You can walk in it, live in it, in
the midst of most trying circumstances, conscious-
ly sustained by it, as once in the regenerated life
you were upheld by delightful experiences .
It is an experience of perfect love. The love
that follows the blessing of sanctification is perfect
in that all anger and bitterness and unkindness of
spirit is ejected. You can now love your enemies ,
bless them that curse you , and not only do kindly,
but feel kindly to those that despise and injure
you . It is perfect in that no amount of opposition
or persecution can embitter you , and , still more
remarkable , that, no matter what may be the prov-
ocation , you are not conscious of an inward strug-
gle with a spirit of wrath or hate before arriving at
the point of pardon and love. Thank God that
sanctification brings a love that can suffer lon
 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 63

and still be kind ; that can look across the table

and see a man who is trying to injure you , and yet
even , as Christ did, reach over to him and hand
him a sop of kindness !
It is an experience of unbroken inward rest.
There is no feature of the sanctified life more
marked than this. As you first become conscious
of it, you hardly realize what a blessed treasure
you have. But as days and weeks and months
glide by, and it still remains, then the understand-
ing begins to take in with a deeper appreciation
the blessedness of the sanctified life .
To your surprise and delight you discover that
this rest goes with you as the pillar of fire did with
the Israelites . When you go forth, it is with you ;
when you stop, it is with you . In company, in
solitude, in the night, in the early morning, at the
desk, in the midst of a Babel of voices there is
this rest always abiding within. Like your shadow
it goes with you-only it is any thing but a shadow.
The reader will remember that one of Christ's
great promises to his people is rest. " I will give
you rest ! "
Often in the alternations and fluctuations of my
regenerated life I have wondered if this was what
Christ referred to, if this was all that he could do
and give.
64 SANCTIFICATION.

Thank God, I have found that I had done him

great wrong ; that he can give unbroken rest, and
that, when he gives it, he does not propose to take
the gift away . And to all who come as he directs
will he give , as a second blessing, a rest that noth-
ing can destroy !
But , asks one , are there no experiences of sor-
row ? Is no trouble felt ? Do temptations and be-
reavements cease to affect you ?
My reply is that sanctification does not destroy
a single susceptibility or sensibility of the human
nature God made. It only destroys sin. This be-
ing so, the sanctified man will weep as Christ wept,
and groan as Christ did over certain things . There
are times when he will say with his Lord, “ My
soul is exceeding sorrowful ; " and the kiss of the
betrayer will pierce like an arrow . And yet, mar-
velous and blessed to relate, the holy calm, that
unbroken rest, still abides in the heart.
Did you ever see it raining and the sun shining
at the same time ?

" Behold, I show you a mystery. " And yet not

a mystery unsolvable. For the Greek word " mys-
tery " means " a secret that is to be revealed. "
May you come into this secret speedily ! Christ
died to bring you within the veil, into the secret
place.
 SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE 65

You will remember that I likened the joy of sal-

vation to a fountain springing up within the heart.
Now, over this fountain bend the balmy atmos-
phere and tranquil light of a deep spiritual rest.
Then let a rain-fall of sorrow descend like a
shower through the light upon the face of the
fountain . Now, what is the result? I have seen
the answer in nature , and possess it daily in my
soul .

Here it is . The rain-fall does not stop the flow-

ing of the fountain, nor quench the light, nor de-
stroy the balminess of the air. Then after a little
the falling drops cease , the cloud passes away, but
the fountain and the light and the atmosphere re-
main, and remain , as they had been all along , un-
disturbed and unchanged .
There are two things in nature that, in a meas-
ure , describe the rest of sanctification . They
came to me in answer to the question of my mind :
How much will the unrest of this world affect
the rest of a sanctified soul ? There will be some
natural movement through and upon the sensibil-
ties ; but how deep will it go ?
At once I obtained the answer on the sight of a
tree caught in the grasp of the wind. I noticed
that the top waved, but the trunk and roots were
steady and still !
5
66 SANCTIFICATION.

Again, I thought of a body of water, whose sur-

face may be agitated by the winds, but whose
soundless depths are unmoved ! The quiet, the
stillness , the rest of untouched depths lay in un-
ruffled tranquillity far beneath .
There will be no gusty exhibition of grief, no
boisterous outflow of a natural sorrow in the life
of the sanctified. The unbroken calm and rest,
deep within, will steal into the face, affect the voice ,
tranquilize the life , and, even in the midst of fall-
ing tears , enable him to say, with the light of
heaven in the countenance : " It is the Lord ; let
him do whatsoever seemeth him good . "
The Christian world knows well the severe trials
that fell like a storm upon the Saviour the last
night of his life. The light of the next morning
revealed their effect upon flesh and blood in the
pale , haggard, suffering countenance ; but, blessed
be God, the calm and peace of an indwelling holi-
ness was still there ! Nothing could destroy the
soul-rest of Christ. It remained unbroken through
a life and death unparalleled for suffering.
This rest he offers Christian believers . It is the

rest of a heart made holy by his blood and kept

pure by his constant indwelling . He that obtains it
will find that he has Christ's own peace, the rest
of purity and holiness which nothing can destroy.
 CHAPTER IX .
SANCTIFICATION IS A LIFE .

NERTAINLY such experiences as those just

mentioned in the preceding chapter should
constitute a peculiar life ; and they do.
Some make the point that all these spiritual
fruits are beheld in the regenerated life, only there
is a conscious element of conflict or unrest and an
evident fluctuation of experience .
Here is seen the distinguishing mark and blessed
feature of sanctification, that the discordant, con-
flicting element is gone, and the fluctuating, alter-
nating experience gives way to the calm, even,
steady , restful life .
The sanctified life should be recognized by be-
ing a quieter, gentler, and more loving life ; by a
holy zeal and activity in the service of God, and
by a spirit of rejoicing, prayerfulness , and perfect
fearlessness of man .

Some , however, will fail to connect these signs

with a second work of God. They will call it a
regenerated life, manifesting itself in a man of ar-
dent temperament.
This leads us to say that the crowning joy and
(67)
68 SANCTIFICATION.

glory of sanctification is that it is an interior

life. It is not to be recognized by outward ecsta-
sies and miraculous attributes , but is best known
by its possessor by the perfect love and purity and
rest within, that nothing is able to destroy.
Christ remarkably describes this peculiar life of
sanctification that is doubted by those who have it
not, and yet rejoices and sustains its possessor, in
Revelation ii. 17 : " To him that overcometh will
I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give
him a white stone , and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that re-
ceiveth it . ”

The white stone is purity . Christ will have a

new name to you, the Sanctifier. The Sanctifier
will be in that pure heart of yours . " But no man
will know it saving he that received it " -viz . , the
sanctified . You will be doubted by all who have
not received this white stone and new name . But
you will know it, and those who have received it
will know it .

Now comes the crowning description in the

verse .
For while men who have not the blessing
do not recognize that you possess it, yet you have
it for all that, and go on " eating the hidden man-
na ! " That is, in spite of all doubt and remark,
you will find joy and nourishment, and support and
 SANCTIFICATION IS A LIFE. 69

life, in the hidden, recognized blessing which

you possess .
Many times has the writer beheld all this in act-
ual life .

Once at a certain Conference a brother possess-

ing this " secret of the Lord " was bitterly as-
sailed upon the floor for preaching heresy. One
member in his presence said that he would rather
have Satan preach to his congregation than this
sanctified brother . The attacked man made no
reply, but seemed the calmest person in the Con-
ference , and was . Long afterward he spoke of
the perfect peace that filled him at the time . He
was doubted, the white stone was unrecognized,
but nevertheless his soul was kept feasting on
hidden manna .
Several months ago the writer was accosted and
detained by a Church-member, who was in a high-
ly wrought-up condition of mind. The occasion
of the brother's excitement was the writer's advo-
cacy of the doctrine of sanctification . For an
hour he had to listen to a loud-toned tirade and
abuse of the doctrine and those who professed it,
coupled with severe personal criticism and con-
demnation, such as he never heard equaled on
any previous occasion .
And yet the hour in some respects was to the
70 SANCTIFICATION.

writer one of the most precious and blessed of his

religious life . For through the whole scene he was
kept in perfect peace. He was hid from the strife
of tongues in the secret of God's presence. There
was no movement of resentment in his heart, but
a constant praise to God ascended from the soul
for the sustaining power of the experience that
was being denied in his hearing. The truth of
sanctification was vindicated and proved to him
afresh through the instrumentality of a trying ex-
perience. In other words , although his possession
of the white stone and the new name was doubted,
yet, nevertheless , he had them, and his soul was
kept feasting on hidden manna before the very
eyes of the doubter and opposer .
" Thou preparest a table before me in the pres-
ence of mine enemies . "

Like Samson, the writer gathered sweetness out

of the carcass of a circumstance , and went along
the road eating honey.
Yes , blessed be God ! sanctification is an expe-
rience and a life . The Lord told the disciples to
tarry in Jerusalem until they obtained it. May we
all seek it ! God desires us to have it, for the
Scripture says : " This is the will of God, even
your sanctification . "
 CHAPTER X.
SANCTIFICATION IS AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR

BLESSING .

E are not simply led, but driven to this con-

clusion . Sanctification certainly does not
take place in eternity. Vain is the hope of purga-
torial fires . Here on earth is the time and place
of probation ; here the Spirit strives and purifies ,
and here is the blood applied. There remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin beyond the grave. The
writer stood once in the Mechanics ' Hall of the
World's Exposition. Hundreds of workmen were
busy in the midst of flying wheels and cutting
saws , and all manner of instruments , in making
and shaping different kinds of vessels . Suddenly
the 6 o'clock bell sounded, and at once every
wheel stopped, and saws became motionless , and
all instruments were laid aside . The workmen
put off their working garments and left the build-
ing. The hall was closed and given up to silence
and darkness ; and I noticed that whatever was
unfinished at the 6 o'clock bell remained unfin-
ished. The complete was left complete, but the
unfinished remained an uncompleted, imperfect
(71
)
72 SANCTIFICATION.

thing. It was a solemn illustration to me of spirit-

ual things . So , I thought, are we being operated
on by the instruments of God's grace. He is try-
ing in life to perfect us, to make us holy. But the
time is coming when life shall end, probation will
be over forever, and eternity begin. The knell of
death will be the signal ; and when that happens ,
the Spirit and the blood and the Word will be re-
moved, the divine Worker will withdraw, and the
door will be shut. Then it shall come to pass that
whatsoever is incomplete shall remain incomplete .
The imperfect shall abide in imperfection .
The Scripture settles this question in Revelation
xxii . 11. God is looking into the world of spirits
in eternity after the work of life is over, and here
is what he says : " He that is unjust, let him be un-
just still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
still . "

Again, sanctification cannot take place through

death . If we say that death makes the soul holy,
then do we ascribe a power to it that the Scripture
only attributes to the blood of Christ. This would
make death our Saviour, and so rob the Son of
God of his glory. Indeed, if we wait for death to
purify us, we make it even greater than the Sav-
iour ; for in that we have postponed the obtaining
of holiness until the hour of dissolution we have
 AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR BLESSING. 73

thereby declared that we looked to death to do

what Christ could not and had not done for us .

Let us bear in mind that there is nothing in

death to purify. It is not an entity, nor a creature ,
with intellect and force , but a simple dissolution of
soul and body; a mere ceasing to live is called
death. What is there in a negative state like this
to purify the soul ? The Bible settles this second
point by two unmistakable verses . The first is in
Ecclesiastes xi. 3 : " If the tree fall toward the
south , or toward the north, in the place where the
tree falleth , there it shall be. " Look out, my
brother; God says as you fall in death so shall
you lie forever. Death will simply crystallize
your character.
The other verse that teaches that holiness is to
come in life , and not in or through death, is found
in Luke i. 73-75 : " The oath that he swear to our
father Abraham, that we might serve him without
fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of
our life."
It is evident from reason and from the plain
word of God that we can look for sanctification or
holiness in this life. Now comes the question :
"At what time of life ? " Will any one say not till
old age ? Where in the Bible are the young ex-
cused from holiness ? Will any one say after a
7+ SANCTIFICATION.

number of years we may expect it ? Show me a

passage where God's word teaches such a thing !
Will any one postpone the blessing of a holy heart
even until to-morrow , or to any time in the imme-
diate future ? Show me a verse where God com-
mands us to be holy to-morrow
morrow ! Point out the
passage where he says next week or next year we
must be holy .
Does any one say we will come into it gradual-
ly ? My reply is : " Show me the verse in Script-
ure that we are sanctified or made holy gradually.
At once you quote the verses , " Grow in grace "
and " The path of the just is as the shining light
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. "
But neither of these passages refer to sanctifica-
tion. The expression " perfect day, " Dr. Clarke
says means the " endless felicity of heaven . " The
words " grow in grace " bear not the slightest al-
lusion to the work of sanctification . As we have

previously shown, the words are different, have

different meanings , and refer to different works .
Consecration and growth in grace are man's
work , but sanctification is the work of Almighty
God. Men consecrate gradually, and grow in
grace gradually ; but when God regenerates or
sanctifies the soul he does it instantaneously .
Let us sum up the foregoing points : If sancti
 AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR BLESSING. 75

fication cannot take place in eternity, nor at death,

nor is to be deferred to old age , or to a year hence,
or even until to-morrow, then are we driven to the
conclusion that it is to be had at any moment, and
that moment may be now. Several facts confirm
us in this conclusion .
First, the necessities of the case . The very un-
certainty of life teaches me that the work should
be quickly done. To-morrow I may be gone ; the
next hour may find me dead-nay , the next min-
ute may witness my soul flying from the body to
the God who gave it. If the blessing of sanctifi-
cation be a gradual work , then would we be un-
done.

Second , our knowledge of the power of God

prepares us for the instantaneous blessing. Is any
thing too hard for the Lord ? He speaks , and it is
done . He that converts a soul in a second , can
he not sanctify in a second ? Look at it, reader ;
if God can take a perfect giant of sin and make
him a babe in Christ in a moment, can he not take
a babe in Christ and make him a perfect man in
Christ Jesus in a moment ? If God can instanta-
neously make a spiritual man out of a sinner, he
can, with even greater ease , make a holy man out
of a Christian .

A third argument for the instantaneous nature of

76 SANCTIFICATION.

sanctification is found in the will of God . The

Scripture says : " This is the will of God, even
your sanctification. " Will any one dare to say
that God wills our sanctification or holiness some

time in the future, and not to-day ? The one con-

clusion to which the mind is irresistibly drawn
from this last thought is that the present moment
is the time for sanctification .
A fourth fact or argument for the instantaneous
nature of this blessing is found in the glory of
God. It is not to God's honor that the hearts of

his people should be defiled or unholy a single

second of time . But the sooner that soul purity
is obtained and lived naturally and necessarily
will God be that much more glorified in a man
who reflects the divine Spirit and image in every
thought, emotion, speech , and action of life .
Still another argument we urge to prove that
sanctification is the work of a moment is found in
the tense in which the commands for our sanctifi-
cation or holiness is presented. Study these
commands , and you will find they are all in the
present tense, or couched in forms to show an in-
stantaneous work, " Be ye holy " is an unmis-
takable injunction for a present state and life-
The passage in Hebrews , " Let us go on to per-
fection, " that at first seems to suggest a gradual
 AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR BLESSING. 77

work , teaches a definite and distinct state to be

obtained , while the verb conveys the idea of being
borne on immediately into the blessing .
The final proof is the statement of God's word.
Read Malachi iii . 1 : “ The Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to his temple. " Who is his
temple ? Paul answers : " Ye are his temple."
So has it ever been with those who received this
unspeakable blessing ; it came suddenly , not grad-
ually.
Now turn to 2 Corinthians vi . 2. God in this

passage forever settles the question by telling us

what is his time. The verse reads : " Now is the
accepted time ; behold , now is the day of salva-
tion."

This removes all doubt, for is it possible that

God is willing to pardon me now, and not willing
to make me holy now ? Does he desire a single
sin to remain in us a moment ? Is he not willing
to give his people a full salvation the instant they
will accept it ? The book answers : “ Behold , now
is God's accepted time ; behold, now is the day of
salvation ."
 CHAPTER XI .
SANCTIFICATION IS OBTAINED BY FAITH .

O man can create by any energy or power of

his own a " pure heart. " When David want-
ed that he looked up. No man can evolve out of
himself as beautiful and heavenly and blessed a
N
thing as holiness. If he could do so, he would
perform a greater work than Christ .
It is granted by all that Christ pardons . But
if a man can, by certain duties and religious per-
formances , produce holiness of heart, he has out-
stripped Christ, for a holy man must certainly take
rank over a simply pardoned man, both on earth
and in heaven .

This being so, you would be entitled to greater

praise and honor in heaven than the Son of God.
The song you would sing about the throne would
be: " He pardoned me, but I made myself holy.
Christ Jesus is made unto me wisdom and right-
eousness , but I am made unto myself sanctifica-
tion."

See to what an absurdity of conclusion we are

brought by starting out with the idea that holiness
is obtained by the works of the law. " O foolish
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 SANCTIFICATION OBTAINED BY FAITH. 79

Galatians, who hath bewitched you ? " " Having

begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by
the flesh ? "

The writer has just been informed of a still

more flagrant error. It was advanced from the
pulpit by one of the leading ministers in our
Church . He said that holiness was obtained by
meditation ! The verse he quoted to prove his
statement was Proverbs xxiii. 7 : " As he thinketh
in his heart, so is he." Let the reader turn to the
verse and read it in its connection, and then stand
amazed at such an exposition and application of
Scripture .
The brother's idea is not far from the East India
conception of holiness . The pagan devotee sits
down, crosses his feet, fixes his eyes upon them
until they get crossed, falls into a brown study, and
waits for holiness .
Certainly that man knows nothing of the Bible
and nothing of the truly religious life if he has
not discovered that all spiritual blessings come by
pure faith.
It is through faith we are converted. It is
through faith we have received ten thousand par-
dons and consolations and deliverances since that
day. And it is through faith we come into the
blessing and enjoyment of sanctification .
80 SANCTIFICATION.

In proof we quote only three passages from the

word of God. The first is Galatians iii . 2 , 3 , II ,
and 14 : " This only would I learn of you, Re-
ceived ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or
by the hearing of faith ? " "Are ye so foolish ?
having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh ? " " For the just shall
live by faith . " " That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith . " The whole passage is overwhelm-
ing . But I call attention mainly to the last line.
What is this promise of the Spirit that was to be
had through faith but the blessing of sanctification
which Christ told his disciples to tarry for at Jeru-
salem ? " Wait," he said, " for the promise of the
Father . " The second chapter of Acts tells us that
they obtained it ; and it came through faith .
Take another passage this time in Acts xv. 8 ,
9 : " 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 ." Now
mark you , these italicised words were spoken of
believers . This purification was a work subse-
quent to regeneration. It is identified with the
blessing of Pentecost, and it was obtained by faith !
 SANCTIFICATION OBTAINED BY FAITH. 8г

One more , and we conclude this point. Acts

xxvi . 17 , 18 : " Unto whom now I send thee, 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 inherit-
ance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me . "

Reader, do you realize that this is Christ speak-

ing to Paul ; that it is Christ who presents here
two classes in the spiritual life, the forgiven and
the sanctified, and that he divides them clearly,
not only by terms , but by the word " and," which
we have italicised. And do you notice that he
says that this second class had been sanctified by
faith in him ? This verse, to my mind, is unan-
swerable .

If, as I have shown by God's word, the blessing

of a holy heart can be secured instantaneously,
and is to be obtained through faith , why not have
the pearl of great price right now ? Why not be-
lieve and be filled now with all " the fullness of
the blessing of the gospel of Christ ? "
6
 CHAPTER XII .

SANCTIFICATION IS A STATE OR CONDITION WIT-

NESSED TO BY THE HOLY GHOST .

AD you thought that the Holy Ghost witnesses

H to every state in the spiritual life ? Every sin-
ner that lives has the witness of condemnation .
The Spirit bears witness with his spirit that he is a
child of sin and Satan , and on the road to everlast-
ing death .
Moreover , the Spirit bears witness to grades of
sinful life and character. The Holy Ghost has
long ago told the wicked man how corrupt and
perverse and abandoned he was , and how he was
surpassing others in iniquity.
Likewise the Holy Ghost bore witness to your
conversion. He declared to you , indescribably,
that you were a child of God, pardoned of your
sins and washed from your personal guilt and
transgressions .
Again, he brought from the Trinity your call to
preach , and bore witness to it. And on a certain
occasion of the past, after you had been agonizing
in prayer for days respecting the salvation of some
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)
 WITNESSED ΤΟ ΒY THE HOLY GHOST. 83
.

dear one, he bore witness to your spirit that the

prayer was heard, and that the answer would come
in due time . Do you remember how you arose in-
stantly from your knees without another doubt, and
how silly your confidence seemed to outsiders and
how precious to yourself?
Moreover, the Spirit has borne witness to your
spirit of inbred sin, convicting you afresh , as he
did Isaiah , of inward uncleanness . You have felt
it on sudden calls of responsible religious duty,
unexpected calls to preach or to pray with the dy-
ing or to direct a penitent sinner to Christ, or you
have been made powerfully to feel it under a ser-
mon on holiness , or when you were a very sick
man with little hope of recovery. These are the
favorite times of the Spirit to tell the Christian he
has something wrong in him .
Finally, when you fully and forever consecrated
yourself to God and trusted Christ for sanctifica-
tion the Holy Ghost bore witness to the blessed
work done in the soul .

The fact that you cannot grasp now or under-

stand this witness does not affect or alter the mat-
ter a particle . A man of the world cannot compre-
hend the Spirit's witness to conversion ; a Christian
layman cannot take in the Spirit's call to the min-
istry, and a regenerated man cannot realize how
$4 SANCTIFICATION.

the Holy Ghost can witness to any state or experi-

ence different from the one he enjoys .
I certainly cannot be expected to know how a
place looks until I see it . Do you remember your
disappointment and surprises on this line ? Nor
can I know a book until I read it, nor have a satis-
factory idea how certain fruit tastes until I eat it.
A blind man has no conception of colors , and,
though you may pile description upon description
of this world, he has a most confused and incorrect
notion of what nature is , and if his sight is restored
is amazed at what he beholds .

It is exactly so in the spiritual life : the things of

God have to be experienced in order to be under-
stood . And this law prevails in all the ascending
and successive steps of religious experience. The
higher experience yet to come is like an undiscov-
ered land to me until I go through. Of necessity
it is a mystery until my experience of the grace
solves and clears it up. I may even believe there is
such a grace and witness ; but until that grace has
become mine, and I have heard the Spirit saying
to my heart " Child , you are clean, " how can I
speak intelligently and explain the work and word
satisfactorily to others ? There may be a road
leading to a distant city; but until I have traveled
that road , and in a sense made it mine , it is bound
 WITNESSED TO BY THE HOLY GHOST. $5

to be an unknown thoroughfare to me. But, mark

you , although strange to me it may be thoroughly
known to others .

Hence it is that the scoff and denial of the expe-

rience and witness of sanctification comes with a
poor grace from one who confesses that he has
never sought or obtained the blessing. This is
tantamount to saying that he does not believe in the
existence of London because he has never been
there, or he doubts that Jenny Lind had a voice
because he never heard her sing ; or, closer still,
that he heard her sing one song, but does not be-
lieve that she ever sung another song in a different
key.
The denial of the witness of sanctification when
sifted down merely means that the brother who de-
nies it has simply never had the witness himself.
He thinks that the Spirit has but one song for the
soul, and speaks in one key, and testifies to but one
fact.
Such a man denies the existence of a sensation
or emotion or experience because he has never had
his intellect or sensibilities stirred in that direction .
He demands to understand a thing before comply-
ing with conditions the observance of which alone
can bring one into the knowledge and experience
of the thing itself.
36 SANCTIFICATION.

Such a principle adopted and applied in life

would stop every wheel, revolutionize and reverse
the working of the greatest laws in the kingdom of
nature and grace.
Suppose an unconverted man should say to a
Christian : " I do not believe that the Spirit of God
witnesses to your pardon ; I can't understand it,
have never felt it myself, and don't believe a word of
it . " What, think you, would be the feeling of that
regenerated man ? Would there not be a half-sad,
half- amused stirring of the heart ? Do you think
he would agree with the unconverted man, and
give up his experience because of the ignorance of
the other ? And what would he reply ? He would
unquestionably say that he doubted not that his
unbelieving friend was sincere , and that to him
there was no witness of pardon ; but that neverthe-
less there was such an experience , and it would
come to all who complied with the conditions laid
down in the Bible of repentance and faith .
So , the skeptical smile and word turned on the
man enjoying the blessing of sanctification does
not in the leastwise disconcert him or cause him to
doubt the experience of purity and the voice of the
Spirit declaring the fact to him continually. Nor
is he puzzled to understand the secret of the unbe-
lief of his brother in regard to the witness and the
 WITNESSED TO BY THE HOLY GHOST. 87

life of sanctification. He knows that the blessing

simply has not come to him ; that the voice of the
Holy Ghost that has said many blessed things to
him has not yet uttered the thrilling words, “ Child ,
you are clean ; I have made your heart pure ; I
have sanctified you wholly ; " and he knows that
when the conditions of a perfect consecration and
a perfect faith are complied with then will the ex-
perience be set up , and the witness come, and not
till then .

My beloved reader, let me ask : Shall the Holy

Spirit be kept to one string on the golden harp of
redemption, confined and kept down to one note ,
made to testify to just a single fact all through the
changing life of a Christian, and that fact his par-
don? Is there no such thing as purity and holiness
in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost ? Can't he
produce these conditions ? And if he does, will he
not witness to his work , and let a man know that
he has a pure heart and is now sanctified ?
Your reply is that you can see in the Bible where
the witness to pardon and conversion is taught,
but not where the witness to sanctification ap-
pears .

Suppose you turn to 1 Corinthians ii . 12 : “ Now

we have received, not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God ; that we might know the
38 SANCTIFICATION.

things that are freely given to us of God. " Is not

purity, or holiness , one of the works of God ? If
we obtain it, this verse says that the Spirit will let
us know .
Now turn to Acts xv. 8 , and read : "And God,
which knoweth the hearts , bare them witness , giv-
ing them the Holy Ghost." The verse that follows
tells what had happened that God had purified
their hearts by faith , and now he sends the Holy
Ghost to bear witness to the purity imparted .
Now let the reader turn to Hebrews x. 14 , and
see the fact stated clearly and unanswerably: " For
by one offering he hath forever perfected them
that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a
witness to us. "
 CHAPTER XIII .
WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT
IN THE BIBLE .

IRST , it is notably seen in the arrangement

P and division of the tabernacle and temple into
the holy and most holy places. Why this division ?
What did God design to teach, if not the two ex-
periences of regeneration and sanctification ? Sev-
eral things at once arrest our attention: one is that
a veil separated the two places , just as a veil hides
the sanctified life from the regenerated man to-
day.
Again, it required a fresh application of blood
to enter into the most holy place. The fact of
a second faith in, or applying of, the blood of
Christ, in order for the soul to enter into the sanc-
tified life, is here powerfully taught .
Still again, the rarity with which the inner sanc-
tuary was entered is deeply significant.
Furthermore , that which was found in the most
holy place is equally suggestive and confirmatory
as well . There was the ever present law, the
manna that never corrupted, and the perpetual
manifestation of the glory of God. These things ,
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 90 SANCTIFICATION.

looked at from the sanctified experience, mean the

law written on the mind, the continual feeding of
the soul on Christ, the hidden manna, and the per-
petual presence of God in the heart and life .
The rending of the veil , at the death of Christ,
declared that the blessing, known to but few be-
fore, could now be entered upon and enjoyed by
all . As Peter, explaining sanctification on the day
of Pentecost, said : " The promise is unto you , and
to your children , and to all that are afar off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. "
Second, the second blessing, or sanctification ,
is seen in the second cleansing of the temple . If
any man should ask why a second purifying of the
heart is needed, the reply might properly be given :
Why should the temple require a second cleans-
ing ? Was not one sufficient? Does Christ do
things imperfectly ?
The writer firmly believes that the double work
was done not only to show how pure and sacred
the temple of God should be, but also to shadow
and typify the two distinct blessings of Christian-
ity.
When we remember that the word of God says
that we are the temple of God that twofold puri-
fication becomes all the more significant.
Third , the second blessing, or sanctification , is
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 91

seen in the second touch laid upon the eyes of the

blind man . It actually seems that this miracle was
wrought by the Lord to refute all gainsaying and
doubting directed against the reasonableness and
necessity of a second work in the soul.
Fourth , the second blessing, or sanctification, is
seen in the two baptisms of the Bible ; the one of
water, and the other of fire and the Holy Ghost.
Commentators agree that the baptism of fire and
the Holy Ghost are one .
It is idle to say that men had not received for-
giveness of sin before Christ came . All through
the ages men have known the joys of pardon . In
John the Baptist's time there was remission of sins
granted to multitudes . They were baptized at or
near the time of this remission of transgressions ,
so that the baptism became a synonym of, or rep-
resented, the greater work of pardon or regenera-
tion. The expression " born of water, " we are
firmly convinced, had no other meaning .
The distinguishing feature of Christ's coming
was that he should " baptize with fire and the Holy
Ghost. " If only pardon and conversion were
meant by these words , in what respect were we
advantaged of his coming ? and what great distin-
guishing mark of his work and kingdom do we
have ? If, when the Baptist said of him, " he shall
92 SANCTIFICATION.

baptize you with fire, " he meant only that he would

forgive and convert the people, then he is convict-
ed of uttering a foolish and needless thing ! It is
equivalent to saying that you will bring a man
something that he already has. And, in this in-
stance, John is seen holding up as a distinguishing
mark of the Messiah that which really was no dis-
tinguishing or peculiar mark at all.
By a resistless logic, then , we are driven to see
the second blessing, or the experience of sanctifi-
cation, in the words of John the Baptist : “ I bap-
tize you with water for the remission of sins , but
he who cometh after me , he shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire . "
This blessing had been rarely enjoyed before
Christ came . But after his coming it should be
the privilege of all. It should become a gen-
eral blessing. The Most Holy Place, typifying
the blessing, was entered rarely; but the Son of
God would rend the veil, and now all the people
could enter in, and all become holy. So read
the prophecies. And this was to be the crown-
ing, declarative, distinguishing mark of the Mes-
siah .

The Saviour recognized and alluded to the two

blessings or works in his words to Nicodemus ,
when he said : " Except a man be born of water
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 93

and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of

God."

Fifth , the second blessing , or sanctification , is

seen in two washings mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment . The first is in Isaiah i . 18 : " Come ..

though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as

white as snow . " Here is regeneration. The in-
vitation is clearly given to the sinner ; the chapter
and verse quoted point plainly to that fact. As a
pardoned man, he is as white as snow .
Now turn to Psalm li. 7 , and read how a child of
God prays who has discovered remaining corrup-
tion in his heart : " Wash me , and I shall be whiter
than snow . " Here is sanctification . The regen-
erated soul is white as snow, but snow is not per-
fectly pure . As it comes through our atmosphere
of dust , smoke, soot, and gases, it becomes , in a
measure , defiled. The skeptical, by the use of a
microscope , will be convinced of this fact. See
the beautiful agreement between figure and fact.
Snow is not perfectly pure ; neither is the regen-
erated soul. Defilement is there a dark, disturb-
ing something which, for want of a better name ,
we call inbred sin, or depravity. Sanctification
takes that one defilement out . The first baptism
makes you " white as snow ; " the second baptism ,
or washing of fire , makes you " whiter than snow."
94 SANCTIFICATION.

Isaiah was inviting to regeneration ; David was

praying for sanctification.
Sixth , the second blessing, or sanctification, is
seen in the highway and way mentioned by Isaiah ,
in chapter xxxv. verse 8 : “ And a highway shall be
there , and a way, and it shall be called the way of
holiness . " No one can read the verse without see-
ing that two ways are spoken of here . One is a
highway, and the other a way. And the striking
fact is that the way is in the highway. It is in a
measure hidden, just as sanctification is a hidden
life. Another striking fact is that the verse says
that " the way " (not the highway) shall be called
theway of holiness .
Why is it that two ways should be spoken of here
in reference to the kingdom of Christ ? From the
simple fact that there are two ways in the kingdom
of Christ along which his people walk. The high-
way is known to all. The regenerated life , for
certain reasons, is a highway ; it is seen by all and
known to all. But there is another way, called a
way-one that is not so evident at first as the other,
from the fact, perhaps , that in a sense it is in the
highway, but mainly for reasons that we have no
time to mention and dwell upon at this moment.
7.

But it is deeply significant that it is " the way

that is in a measure hidden-so hidden that I
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 95

thought for years that this glorious affirmation of

the text was predicated of the highway; that it is
this obscure way that is called the way of holincss.
The three distinguishing features of this way are
the perpetual companionship of God, the absence
of the animal in appetite and ferocity, and the con-
stant joy and triumph of the soul. All these ap-
pear in the ninth and tenth verses . This state any
one who has received the second blessing will tell
you is the glad and holy experience of the sancti-
fied heart .

Seventh , the second blessing, or sanctification ,

is seen in the home of Bethany in the lives of the
two sisters .
No one can doubt that both of them loved the
Lord . To love Christ requires regeneration. The
household of Bethany was a Christian home , where
Christ always found affection , rest, and welcome.
But it is not less evident that, while both sisters
were Christ's followers , yet Mary possessed some-
thing that Martha did not. That quiet restfulness ;
that absorbed sitting at the Master's feet ; that si-
lent way of giving; the very richness of the gift,
are all unmistakable marks of the holy heart .
Moreover, Christ settled the fact by his own
words : " Mary hath chosen that better part, which
shall never be taken away from her. " Let the
96 SANCTIFICATION.

reader turn to 1 Corinthians xii. 31 , and read :

" Covet earnestly the best gifts ; and yet show I
unto you a more excellent way. " The light in this
verse throws light on the other. The " better part "
and the " more excellent way " are one and the
same . It was not temperament in Mary that made
her different from her sister Martha. Christ shows
this by the words : " She hath chosen that better
part. " You can't choose your temperament. In
a word , she had entered by a volitional act of her
own into the more excellent way-the way in the
highway, the way that Paul describes in the thir-
teenth chapter of 1 Corinthians , and which chapter.
is nothing but a description of the sanctified life .
Eighth , the second blessing, or sanctification,
is seen in the two parables of the hidden treasure
and the purchased pearl of great price. The find-
ing of the treasure stands for conversion, and the
obtainment of the pearl for sanctification. The
two parables stand in marked contrast to each
other , and bear the distinct features of the two ex-
periences.
The finding of the treasure was a surprise-the
man stumbled on it ; whilst the pearl of great price
was sought after. In almost every instance con-
version comes upon the soul with the unexpect-
ed suddenness of revealed buried treasure , while
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 97

sanctification is obtained with a full recognition of

what is to come . It is never sought and found
with the despair of a sinner, but with the intelli-
gent purpose and desire of a child of God, who is
convinced that there is this blessed experience
awaiting him . There is a vast difference between
a wayfarer who stumbles upon treasure and a mer-
chantman who seeks discriminatingly a certain rare
form of wealth . The sinner finding pardon is the
wayfarer; the Christian obtaining sanctification is
the merchantman .

Another difference seen is in the evidently dissimi-

lar circumstances of the two men . The merchant-

man stands out clearly revealed as greater in his

possessions than the wayfarer. This appears in
his business character and in the things he pur-
chased , which were not little fields or strips of
land, but pearls of great price .
So is the difference seen in the sinner seeking
pardon and the Christian seeking holiness . The
Christian comes more richly endowed than the sin-
ner. He comes with a clear conscience , with the
fruits of the Spirit, with growth in grace, with a
devoted Christian life, and pays them down ; lays
them all on the altar, perfumed with the blood of
Christ, as he pleads for the blessing of holiness ,
the pearl of great price.
7
98 SANCTIFICATION.

Then there is a difference manifest in the con-

sciousness of different values . The buried treas-
ure might be much or little, but a pearl of great
price is lifted immediately into the highest grade
of riches . There is no doubt but that he who ob-

tains pardon feels and knows that he has a treas-

ure in his soul. He calls it such, and rejoices ac-
cordingly. But all the time there is a peculiar
feeling that the value could be increased, that
something could be added, that he could be spirit-
ually richer .
In the possession of the second blessing the
feeling is different. The soul is thrilled with a
sense of satisfaction . The man knows that he has
" the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ, " that he has the " better part, " that he
now possesses and enjoys the pearl of great price .
Ninth , the second blessing, or sanctification, is
in the two anointings of the leper.
Let the reader turn to Leviticus, chapter xiv.
and verses 14-17 , and he cannot but be impressed
with its symbolic teaching as he compares it with
other utterances and events mentioned in the Bi-
ble.

Leprosy stands invariably for sin, the leper for

the sinner. When he was to be made clean, it is
remarkable that the cleansing was effected not by
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 99

one, but by two anointings . And the two anoint-

ings were made all the more distinct by the use of
two different things .
The leper was first anointed with blood, and then
after that he was anointed with the holy oil of the
sanctuary . The blood was taken from the slain
lamb, which typified Christ, while the oil always
stood for the Holy Ghost. The oil was put upon
the blood, not instantaneously, but afterward.
The passage referred to says that, after the sec-
ond anointing, the leper was clean .
Take this symbolic scene with you to the day of
Pentecost, and what a new light falls upon that
occasion ! We notice, with profound emotion,
that the two scenes are one ; that upon the blood-
washed assembly is poured the unction or anoint-
ing of the Holy Ghost.
Further on we see that upon the blood-washed
Cornelius falls the Holy Ghost ; that on the blood-
washed disciples of Ephesus came the same bap-
tism or anointing. It is always the oil on the
blood. That is the second blessing. In the
Scripture oil is the instrument of healing.
Malachi refers to all this when he says : “ Unto
them that fear my name shall the Sun of righteous-
ness arise with healing in his wings . "
Tenth, the second blessing, or the blessing of
100 SANCTIFICATION.

sanctification, is seen in the two crossings made

by the children of Israel-one over the Red Sea,
the other the river Jordan. For portions of this
striking thought I am indebted to Rev. George D.
Watson, author of " White Robes . "
As the two crossings took place under the spe-
cial direction of God, and as they were so mark-
edly different, it stands to reason that they were
typical of two different spiritual truths and expe-
riences .

He that educated and prepared us for the sacri-

fice and death of Christ by the lamb, taken from
the fold , slain in the afternoon , eaten with bitter
herbs , with no bones broken, and resting on a spit
the shape of the cross ; he that taught the resur-
rection by the miracle of Jonah's life ; and his
own descent from heaven , and satisfying and sus-
taining power by the manna that fell from the
skies , would surely in as remarkable a way typify
and symbolize so wonderful a blessing as sanctifi-
cation in some striking and forcible way. The
two crossings are thus intended of God. The
passage of the Red Sea teaches all that occurs at
conversion , and the passage of the river Jordan
illustrates sanctification .
The contrast between the two is marked. At
the Red Sea the Israelites were fleeing from an
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. IOI

enemy, and were delivered. At the Jordan they

were not in flight; but were drawn by the good-
ness and beauty of the land of Canaan, and en-
tered into rest. How beautifully this describes the
two experiences !
Again, at the Red Sea the children of Israel
were in great haste, while at the Jordan you see
evidence of calm and deliberate action . This ,
again, strikingly brings out the two blessings .
Conversion is found in a hurry ; but the blessing
of sanctification comes invariably after deep re-
flection , and full deliberation and conclusion of
mind .

Again, at the Red Sea the Israelites went down

into the sea a multitude of empty-handed and un-
armed fugitives ; but at the Jordan they went in
fully armed . How clearly appears here the state
of the flying penitent seeking safety, and the con-
secrated Christian coming with all his powers to
God, seeking a life of perfect rest and holiness !
Again, at the Red Sea the children of Israel
stepped into a dry and open path between the
waters-not a wave or pool was left in their
course; but at the Jordan they had to place their
feet in the water before the waves receded, and
the path became open .
This most strikingly illustrates the entrance into
102 SANCTIFICATION.

and upon the two lives of regeneration and sancti-

fication. In the way of pardon the path is clear ;
we flee through prayer into the experience. At
such a time we are weak , and could not stand any
difficulty flung before us ; but, in obtaining the
blessing of sanctification, our faith is naturally
much stronger, and so the way is not open at first ;
we actually have to put our feet into the waves be-
fore they recede-in other words , we claim the
blessing by a strong faith before there is an indi-
cation or assurance of the great salvation. In a
very special manner here the faith precedes the
work and the witness .

Still again , there is seen a very great difference

in the emotional life after the two crossings. At
the Red Sea the Israelites were in perfect trans-
ports . They sung, they danced, they struck the
timbrel, and the burden of the song was their de-
liverance from the Egyptians . At the Jordan, in-
stead of ecstasy, there seems to have been an un-
utterable sense of peace , a calm and holy joy and
triumph . As you read the description you cannot
but feel the intense but voiceless emotion of the
multitudes . It was an hour too blessed and holy
for noisy cymbals . The memories of the past, the
recollection of the mistakes and wandering of
forty years , the remembrance that triumph had
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE, 103

been offered them long before, the tender mind-

fulness of the pity and long-suffering of God
meanwhile , together with the overpowering thought
that " Canaan, sweet Canaan, " so long wished for
and sought after, was at last theirs-contributed
an experience so tender, so melting, and so power-
ful that the desire was rather to sit or stand in the
presence of God in a holy joy and triumph too deep
for earthly language to express .
Who that remembers the experience of conver-
sion but will recall the fact that the song sung then
was over a present and personal deliverance . It
was the joy of pardon and escape ; and in count-
less instances manifested itself in an exuberant
and overflowing gratitude to God.
In the blessing of sanctification, while there are
frequent instances of rapture, yet the rule is that
the entrance upon the Canaan , or rest-life , is
marked by a profound and unutterable peace .
It is a curious fact that the strongest winds do
not produce the highest waves . On the contrary ,
by their tremendous force they level them . So in
the spiritual life I have discovered that the deep-
est experience of joy is oftentimes accompanied
with the least demonstration of a noisy kind . The
people that shout loudest are not always the happi-
est. I have seen people absolutely too full to
104 SANCTIFICATION.

speak . The eye, the voice, the face declared a

fullness that no language could have conveyed as
powerfully .
Sanctification is a deeper experience than con-
version . It involves a perfect surrender, an abso-
lute and final consecration , and the utter extermi-
nation of sin in the heart. Naturally we would
look for great demonstrations . And so it is in
the case of some ardent temperaments , and also
when God is pleased to call attention to the doc-
trine in certain skeptical communities. But the rule
is , in the majority of cases , the bestowal of a peace
-a peace that often enters gradually, spreading ,
deepening, and sweetening as it goes , until the en-
tire nature is thrilled and filled with it. A sense
of unmistakable fullness is realized . The con-
sciousness fills you that every part of the soul and
body has been reached. A sense of being in-
wardly healed, an exquisite experience of purity is
felt , while the soul fairly melts with a baptism of
perfect love. And through it all and in it all the
Spirit of God whispers to the soul : " This is sanc-
tification ! '"

All this frequently takes place with little outward

emotion or demonstration. The wind has leveled
the wave. It is not Arabia, but Canaan that has
been entered, and Joshua is happier than Miriam .
 SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE. 105

It is not a life of hard-fought battles that is en-

tered upon, but a constant experience of easy
victories . Not a desert wandering has been in-
augurated, but a blessed entrance upon rest, while
the soul is rejoicing in a land flowing with milk
and honey, " where the flowers bloom forever, and
the sun is always bright. "
And so the peace of God-not peace with God
(for that stands for the experience of pardon as
shown in Romans v. 1 ), but the peace of God-
bathes the soul like the light falls continually and
eternally upon the hills of heaven .
It is a peculiar peace. It is the peace of sanc-
tification . You will recognize it by the features I
have mentioned. But aside from that, you will
recognize it by the voice of the Sanctifier, who is
enshrined within it, saying : " Child, you are
clean ."
 CHAPTER XIV .
WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SPECIFICALLY TAUGHT
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .

N this chapter and the next we present for the

reader's consideration about twenty passages
from the word of God . Instead of twenty we
could easily give ten times as many. The meth-
od-pursued in these chapters will be to quote the
scripture , and under each passage make a few re-
marks .

As a proper starting thought, we call the read-

er's attention to the fact that you cannot read the
Bible without perceiving that there is a " higher
life " constantly recognized and brought forward
in its pages . It is held up as an attainment ; we
are expected to come unto it; we are commanded
to possess it, and are presented with characters
who enjoyed and lived this life. An equally strik-
ing fact beheld in Christian life is confirmatory of
the Bible fact ; and that is that we again and again
meet with people of God who declare , and whom
we evidently see are in possession of, a religious
experience and life not enjoyed by the great ma-
jority of Christians . The two facts agree ; like the
(106)
 TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 107

two angels in the most holy place, they bend over

and look upon the same blessed truth .
Sanctification is the precious treasure and bless-
ing kept for the Church ; the Bible and Christian
experience are the cherubim that, with extended
wings , cover and protect and preserve the expe-
rience .

And now let us turn to the word of God . The

first passage is :
Numbers xvi. 3-5 : " And they gathered them-
selves together against Moses and against Aaron ,
and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you,
seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of
them , and the Lord is among them : wherefore
then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation
of the Lord ? And when Moses heard it, he fell
upon his face : and he spoke unto Korah and unto
all his company, saying, Even to-morrow the Lord
will show who are his , and who is holy. "
So it seems that the doubt of God's people be
ing holy is an old one, and the dispute in regard to
it and the attack made upon those who profess the
blessing are of ancient standing. It is noticeable,
also , that the argument used now was the one used
then against Moses-viz . , that all of the congrega-
tion was holy, every one of them; that every thing
had been done in regeneration. The same slur is
108 SANCTIFICATION.

heard, " You take too much upon you in say-

ing that God has made you holy ; " wherefore do
ye lift yourselves above the congregation ? " How
familiarly all this sounds ! Some of us have heard
this many times . And let any one receive and pro-
fess the blessing of holiness , and the words direct-
ed to Moses will be leveled at him .
No one can read this passage or study the life
of Moses without seeing that he was in an experi-
ence that his questioners and doubters did not en-
joy. Either at the burning bush or on the mount
with God the man Moses obtained the blessing
that obtained for him the privilege of unbroken
companionship with God, and a meekness that was
above that of all surrounding men . God grant us ,
when doubted and assailed, to do as this man ! He
fell on his face before God ; he committed the
whole matter to the Almighty, who had sanctified
him; his only reply was : " The Lord will show
who are his , and who is holy." And so he will.
Let no person possessing this blessing be the least
uneasy. God will bear witness to his own work ; he
will show who has the blessing, and who has it not.
Deuteronomy xxx. 6: " And the Lord thy God
will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy
seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul. "
 TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 109

That here is a work and experience subsequent

to regeneration is seen from three facts . One is
that the promise here made is addressed to believ-
ers ; another, that regeneration is never likened to
circumcision ; and third , that the result stated of
loving God with all the heart is the feature ascribed
all through the Bible to the higher life held up for
our attainment. In confirmation study the regen-
erated life , and see if it impresses you as being
such a life of perfect love and devotion to God as
appears in this verse . This love is to arise not
from growth, but from the circumcision of the
heart of the believing child of God .
Psalms xxv . 14 : " The secret of the Lord is
with them that fear him . "

What is this secret? Not the divine presence

on earth ; the world admits God's omnipresence .
Nor is it regeneration , for the Christian world be-
lieves in that and teaches it. There is but one ex-

perience covered by that expression-" the secret

of the Lord "-and that is the blessing of sanctifi-
cation. The great type and symbol of it-the most
holy place was a secret place, while the experi-
ence and life is still to-day hidden from multiplied
millions in the Church . It is so hidden that even
God's people deny it, although Paul prepares them
to believe by describing it as being " hid in Christ,"
110 SANCTIFICATION.

and David declares that by it we are " hid from

the strife of tongues," and in one of the Psalms
calls the possessors of the blessing God's " hidden
ones ."

Regeneration is no secret. But there are certain

things about sanctification, in that it is peculiarly
an interior life , and requires a second faith to come
within the veil that entitles it to the description
given in the verse .
The " fear " mentioned in this connection, by
which we obtain the secret, is no ordinary emotion
or exercise of the mind. It is such a fear of God
that casts out all fear of man and all efforts after

his favor, and that leads to perfect consecration

and obedience to God .
Isaiah vi . 5-7 : " Then said I, Woe is me ! for I
am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips :
for mine eyes have seen the King , the Lord
of hosts . Then flew one of the seraphim unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, and he laid it

upon my mouth , and said, Lo , this hath touched thy

lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
purged."
The question at once arises : What is this pro-
found spiritual exercise before us ? Evidently not
the conviction and pardon of a sinner ; for Isaiah
was one of God's prophets , and one so deeply
 TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. III

pious as to be called the evangelical prophet. Nor

was he recovering from a course of backsliding.
This appears , first, from his being in the discharge
of duty. The fervent chapters preceding spiritually
locate him .

Again , his agony of contrition arose not from the

commission of sins , but from a vision he had just
obtained of the Lord in the temple. This is what
comes to every man who is brought into the bless-
ing of the sanctified life ; the Lord is revealed to
the soul " high and lifted up. " Let the reader
turn to the first four verses of this chapter, and see
for himself .

Still again, the sin or iniquity that was taken

from Isaiah is here placed in the singular number.
This shows that it was not pardon of transgressions
he received, but the removal of the principle , or
body, of sin ; or, as it is called, inbred sin .
A view of the holiness of God brings this inbred
sin to light in the heart, and ushers in that profound
agony seen in Isaiah and countless thousands of
other devoted followers of God . The coal of fire
represents the blessing of holiness . Fire stands for
holiness in God's word , and never for regeneration.
The altar of the temple was made holy by fire .
Notice also that this blessing of holiness was
brought, came from God, and was not developed
112 SANCTIFICATION.

within by a long growth in grace. And, further-

more , notice the alacrity, the gladness, and the
fearlessness of sanctification, as shown in the ex-
perience of Isaiah . " Then said I, here am I ;
send me . "

Ezekiel xxxvi. 25 : " 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 . "
This has been often quoted as referring to the
work of regeneration. But the fact that it is a
promise made to God's people, and that the bless-
ing is one of purity, and not pardon, ought to be
enough to convince the most skeptical that the
blessing before us in the verse is sanctification .
Another thing will show it. Let every regenerated
man who reads these lines ask himself if regener-
ation has taken all idols out of his heart and life .
What about his ambition and love of place and
power ? what about the fear and favor of man ?
What about love of money and love of praise , and
the love of some creature that is so powerful as to
draw you away from duty, and interferes in cer-
tain measures with the commands of God ? Are
these things gone ? or do they remain ? If they are
still in the heart, then the second blessing is need-
ed, in which all idols shall be removed.
 TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
113

Joel ii . 28, 29: "And it shall come to pass after-

ward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ;.
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ;
and also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my
Spirit ."
Here is undoubtedly a peculiar blessing promised
in the last days to the Church. Certainly no one
can think it is conversion that is here held forth .
Are we to suppose that up to the time of Pente-
cost, when this prophecy was fulfilled , that there
had been no conversions , and that Joel was in-
spired to say : " In the last days , saith God, I will
pour out my Spirit in converting power , and peo-
ple shall then be regenerated for the first
time ?"
What was David and Moses and Abraham and
the prophets of whom the world was not worthy ?
In what state was God's people through the past
ages ? Had he no people ? Were everybody
damned before Pentecost ? For if not regenerated
they were compelled to be lost, according to
Christ's statement to Nicodemus . Whatever this
blessing or pouring out of the Spirit was, it could
not be regeneration ; for that experience was not
new , while the promise in this verse is for some-
thing remarkable, unusual, and new. When it
8
114 SANCTIFICATION.

finally came to pass on the day of Pentecost, the

reader will remember that this long-promised bless-
ing fell upon Christian men and women .
So the promised pouring out, or baptism of the
Spirit, was not conversion. Nor was it a simple
qualification of one hundred and twenty disciples
to spread Christianity. What a narrow view to
take of this promise to confine an unspeakable
blessing to sixscore people , and make it a mere
temporary endowment to meet the emergencies of
a few days or years ! What a belittling of proph-
ecy to assert that God inspired the prophets nearly
a thousand years before to solemnly hold up a
great blessing that, after all, was only for a hun-
dred and twenty people , and was to pass away and
die with them ! Common sense, as well as Script-
ure , is against such an interpretation .
Moreover , the language of the verse itself con-
tradicts such a view. It plainly says the Spirit in
this peculiar baptism was for " all flesh . " It fur-
thermore adds that it was a blessing that should be
enjoyed by our servants, while at Pentecost we see
not a single slave or servant present.
Inasmuch, then, as the work of grace prophesied
here by Joel was not conversion, nor a mere qual-
ification for work, we are irresistibly driven to the
conclusion that it is one of the many promises of
 TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 115

the Old Testament of the gift of the blessing of

sanctification .
Remember that sanctification , or holiness, is
represented in the Bible by fire, and bear in mind
that at Pentecost with the descending Spirit came
tongues of fire upon every head. One hundred
and twenty symbols, or banners of holiness , were
waving over as many persons . And remember that
at this juncture Peter, a Christian minister, with one
of these celestial plumes of holiness floating over
his head, arose from the midst of one hundred and
nineteen similarly becrowned Christians , and said :
" This is that which was spoken by the prophet
Joel."
Malachi iv . 2 : " Unto you that fear my name
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing
in his wings ."
Those that fear the name of God are his peo-
ple. In regard to the wicked, the Bible says there
is no fear of God before his eyes . So the fact es-
tablished in this verse is that here are God's peo-
ple before us, and to them shall come a second
blessing in the future . This blessing is called
healing-just what sanctification is felt to be. The
remaining sentence of the verse declares the activ-
ity of life and rapid growth in grace peculiar to
the sanctified soul.
 CHAPTER XV .
WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SPECIFICALLY TAUGHT
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT .

ATTHEW i. 21 : "And she shall bring forth

M a son , and thou shalt call his name Jesus :
for he shall save his people from their sins . "
The reader will notice that Christ is here prom-
ised to save his people from their sins , not sinners .
Let the person who insists that the regenerated are
made holy in conversion read this verse and be
convinced to the contrary. All through the Script-
ures there is attributed to Christ at his coming a
peculiar work in behalf of and in his people . He
will thoroughly purge his floor and cleanse his
wheat ; he will sit as a refiner, will purify the sons
of Levi, and will save his people from their sins .
It refers to a work subsequent to regeneration, and
that work is sanctification . Sanctification purifies
the sons of Levi and saves Christians from all sin .
John vii . 38 : " He that believeth on me , as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow riv-
ers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spir-
it, which they that believe on him should receive :
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given.) "
(116)
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 117

This passage cannot be read without perceiving

that it holds up for the believer a second blessing .
The Holy Ghost had been given as a Pardoner
and Comforter long before. David had prayed :
" Take not thy Holy Spirit from me . " Paul says
that holy men wrote the word as they were “ moved
by the Holy Ghost. " Evidently, then, the prom-
ise in the passage above is for the gift of the Holy
Ghost in a new form or office-viz . , as the sancti-
fier. This , then, is the second blessing : " They
that believe [that are already believers ] shall re-
ceive the Holy Ghost. " After this living waters
shall rise up and flow uninterruptedly from the
heart and life .
John xiv. 23 : " Jesus answered, 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 is unquestionably something of a wonder-

ful nature done some time after conversion . The

promise is to a regenerated man, for the heart can-

not love Christ unless it has been born again . Now
read : " If a man loves me, keeps my words "-all
this is in the present. Now comes the assurance
of something in the future : " We "-that is , the
Father and the Son " will come unto him and
take up our abode with him . "
118 SANCTIFICATION.

This constant abiding of the Father and the Son

in the soul is one of the wonderful and gracious
features of sanctification . This is also the fulfill-
ment of what was shadowed in the most holy place ,
in the perpetual shekinah, the glorious indwelling
ofGod .

John xv . 2 : “ Every branch that beareth fruit,

he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. "
Here the Christian is represented as a branch on
the vine , Christ, and as bearing fruit. After this ,
and while bearing fruit, it is suddenly cleansed.
The Greek word kathairei, translated " purgeth"
in the verse above , has for its main meaning, ac-
cording to the lexicon, “ cleanseth and purifieth."
Take it any way, this verse is a death-blow to
those who insist that we are made holy in regener-
ation, and need only time for development. It
plainly teaches that there is a cleansing after con-
version, and that this purification, done by Christ
himself, comes not to a backslider, but to a branch
on the vine-to a Christian bearing fruit.
John xvii . 16 , 17 : " They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them
through thy truth."
Christ is speaking of the disciples . He declares
that they are not of the world are spiritual and
unworldly, even as he is. In other verses he says
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
119

that they had received his word, that they were his ,
that he was glorified in them, and that they had
kept his word. All this settles the fact of their
regenerate and spiritual state ; and yet he immedi-
ately adds , in prayer to his Father : " Sanctify
them. " Notice that something else is to be done
to them, and they (the disciples) are not to do it.
Here is not an exhortation to grow in grace , but
the prayer is to God to " sanctify them . " In plain
language, here is a second work of God.
Acts i . 4, 5 : " And, being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem , but waitfor the promise of
the Father, which, saith he , ye have heard of me .
For John truly baptized with water ; but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence ."

This is Christ speaking. He is telling his disci-

ples about a blessing that is soon to come upon
them . He calls it the promise of the Father . He
affirms that he had spoken to them about it before
-" which , saith he , ye have heard of me . " It
was so great and gracious a blessing , so distinctive
and important as a divine work, that he had re-
peatedly before spoken of it, and in a measure pre-
pared them for its reception .
It was not pardon ; for he long before had said
 120 SANCTIFICATION.

their names were in the Book of Life , and that

they were branches in the true vine. It was not
the enjoyment of his peace ; that he had before
breathed upon them. It was not the receiving of
the Holy Ghost for the first time ; for several
weeks before this he had breathed upon them ,
and said : " Receive ye the Holy Ghost. "
The blessing he told them to wait in Jerusalem
for was " the promise of the Father, " uttered a
long time before , and through many lips . It was
the baptism of the Holy Ghost, prophesied by
Joel; the circumcision of the heart, predicted by
Moses ; the cleansing from all filthiness and idols ,
promised by Ezekiel ; the holiness , mentioned by
Isaiah ; the healing, alluded to by Malachi ; the
serving God without fear, declared by Zechariah ;
the enduement of power from on high, mentioned
by the Saviour ; and the sanctification, spoken of
by Paul and the Lord himself.
" Wait for it, " said the Saviour. " Depart not
from Jerusalem until you obtain it. " So here was
a blessing that had not come with regeneration.
What a death-blow are the words of Christ to that
teaching which affirms that we are made holy in
conversion, and that nothing more is needed but
development, or growth in grace !
The promise here is not growth in grace. The
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 121

disciples are not told to wait until developed into

holiness and spiritual power. It was not for man's
work they are exhorted to linger, but for an addi-
tional work of God done subsequent to regenera-
tion.

The reader, by perusing the second chapter of

Acts , will see how and when that work was ac-
complished. And he will notice what changed
men the disciples became from that time. Cour-
age, fearlessness , devotion , love, compassion, and
holiness are now the marked features of their
lives . They did not grow into this state, but were
suddenly translated into it by the baptism of the
Holy Ghost-by sanctification, which is the prom-
ise of the Father .

Does any one think that this gracious second

blessing was simply for a band of Galilean peas-
ants , tradesmen, and fishermen ? Perhaps some of
the observers on the day of Pentecost thought so .
Perhaps , with sad hearts , they said so. Perhaps
the reader , with equal blindness and ignorance of
his high privilege in Christ, may have said so many
times .

Because of this very possibility of doubt and fear

the Lord inspired Peter to stand upon his feet
and say, with a joyous , exultant voice to the crowds
that looked on: " The promise is unto you, and to
122
SANCTIFICATION.

your children , and to all that are afar off, even as

many as the Lord our God shall call . "
Acts ii . 38 : " Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the re-
mission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. "
How wonderfully clear the second blessing, or
sanctification , appears in this verse ! The remis-
sion of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which
is one of the names of sanctification, are both
mentioned , and that, too, in different parts of the
verse . If they meant the same thing, the Holy
Ghost would not have used both expressions . If
they meant the same, the verse becomes a silly
repetition , and would read : " Ye shall receive
the remission of sins and remission of sins . " In

confirmation of the fact that the expression re-

ferred to two different acts of grace we notice
that the remission of sins had been received , and
now to that the promise is given in the future
tense : " Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost."

The instances of the believers in Samaria, and

of Cornelius , who evidently received the blessing
of sanctification, inasmuch as the Bible says that
he was before that a devout man, I have to pass
over because the scripture necessary to be quoted
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 123

would be more than the limits of this chapter would

allow . Let the reader turn to Acts xiii. 5-17 and
Acts x . , and be satisfied for himself .
Acts xix. 1 , 2, 6: " Paul having passed through
the upper coasts came to Ephesus ; and finding
certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye re-
ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed? " "And
when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues,
and prophesied."
We fail to see how the second blessing, or sanc-
tification, could be presented in a plainer and more
forcible manner than is done here .

Of the men mentioned above it is said they were

disciples , and that they had believed. This settles.
the fact of their regeneration . A man cannot be-
lieve and be a disciple without being regenerated .
To these disciples Paul comes , and informs them
of another and higher blessing. They replied that
they had not heard of it. Under his preaching and
instruction they seek for and obtain the blessing.
The sixth verse shows us that it was not conversion,
but the identical blessing received by the disciples
on the day of Pentecost.
Acts xxvi . 18 : " That they may receive forgive-
ness of sins , and inheritance among them which
are sanctified byfaith that is in me . "
124 SANCTIFICATION.

This verse is so convincing in itself that it needs

no extended remark to call attention to the two
classifications of Christians presented so unmistak-
ably. The comma after the word " sins ," the
force of the italicized word " and, " the separation
of the two blessings by punctuation, and their rec-
ognition by actual phraseology, are sufficient to
convince any one but the man who is determined
not to believe .
Romans i. II : " For I long to see you , that I may
impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye
may be established. "
Paul is writing to Roman Christians. That they
were regenerated men appears from his statement
that " their faith was spoken of throughout the
whole world. " And yet he writes to them that he
desires to impart unto them another gift.
Let the reader mark the force of the different
words of this verse . It is a gift he wants them to
have , not growth in grace. And the verse says " a
spiritual gift. " So there was something else to be
added to regenerated people ; not a development,
but another gift.
The Greek word charisma, translated " gift, "
has also " grace " for its meaning, and a third
meaning is a " work or gift of the Holy Ghost ."
A truer translation will drop the word " some . "
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
125

So that the sentence reads : " I long to impart unto

you a spiritual gift or grace . ”
The concluding expression is striking and sig-
nificant : " To the end ye may be established . "
The purpose of the grace or gift was to establish
them. Now the question is : What gift or grace
establishes the believer ?
Not a passing emotion. Not one of the bless-
ings we obtain daily at a throne of grace. Nor
could Paul have referred to growth in grace as the
establishing blessing, for he said he wanted to
come and impart the blessing to them, and how
could he impart growth in grace ? For growth in
grace time is needed, and not Paul.
I press the question : What grace or gift estab-
lishes the believer ? and I reply from the word of
God, as found in the first and second chapters of
Acts , and in I Thessalonians iii. 13 , where we
hear Paul praying that " God may stablish your
hearts unblamable in holiness . "

Reader , remember the word translated " holi-

”
ness here has for its twin meaning " sanctifica-
tion. " So it reads : " May God stablish your
hearts unblamable in sanctification . " Now turn
back to Romans i. 11 , and you are prepared to
read it intelligently .
Thank God that there is a gift or grace that es
126 SANCTIFICATION.

tablishes the believer, and that spiritual gift ( not

growth ) is sanctification !
It was this blessing that Paul wanted the Roman
Christians to possess. And it is this blessing that
the writer would be willing to lay down his life in
order to impart or bring to the people of God .
Romans v . 1 , 2 : " Therefore being justified by
faith , we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand. "
Who is it that can read this passage and not see
two works of grace distinctly and clearly men-
tioned? In the first verse appears the peace of the
pardoned and regenerated man, a peace that comes
by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now read
the second verse : " By whom also . " There is
something else , you see . We have access byfaith
(not growth) , by faith into this grace wherein we
stand. So there is another grace ; and it comes by
faith.

This was the gift or grace that Paul wrote about

to the Romans ; and in a little while you will find
him writing to the Corinthians about it, and to the
Thessalonians and to the Hebrews .
You notice that he says that by it he is able to
" stand. " There again is the idea of being estab-
lished. O how the Scripture harmonizes in all its
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 127

doctrinal statements and presentations of Christian

experience !
Let the reader testify as he will to what is the
falling experience. Thank God there is a " stand-
ing " grace, an establishing grace, and that gift or
grace is sanctification .
Romans xv. 29 : "And I am sure that, when I
come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the
blessing of the gospel of Christ. "
Here Paul, under a slight change of phraseology ,
is speaking again of the grace and blessings he
wrote of in the first and fifth chapters . In the
opening chapter he said he longed to come to them,
in order to impart the gift that establishes ; and
here he says , in concluding the Epistle : " I am
sure, when I come, I will bring the blessing. " The
gospel of Christ brings a blessing, but it has also
" the fullness of blessing. "
There is a great difference between the two .
There is such a thing as a vessel's containing a
liquid, and a vessel's being filled with the liquid.
At the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were
sanctified , the Bible says " they were filled with
the Holy Ghost. " When a man to-day obtains the
same blessing he realizes the same " fullness " in
his experience . The old half-empty, yearning, un-
satisfied feeling is taken away or disappears in a
128 SANCTIFICATION.

blessing that permanently fills him with the Holy

Ghost. The experience that Paul calls " the full-
ness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ " has
come .

1 Corinthians i. 30: " But of him are ye in Christ

Jesus , who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness , and sanctification, and redemption. "
The words " wisdom, " " righteousness, ” “ sanc-
tification, " and " redemption, " in this verse , are
all from different Greek words, and signify differ-
ent works done in us and for us by Christ. Wisdom,
from the Greek word sophia, refers to the convict-
ing and illuminating work of the Saviour. Right-
eousness , from the word dikaiosune, has the same
meaning as justification. Sanctification, from the
word hagiasmos, is properly translated, although ho-
liness and purity are additional definitions . Re-
demption is from the word opolutrosis, and refers
evidently to the final release and deliverance from
the grave . Here are four words referring to four
distinct works of Christ, and they are all instanta-
neous works, and done at different times . These
works are “ conviction, " " conversion, ” “ sancti-
fication, " and the " resurrection . "
2 Corinthians i. 15 : "And in this confidence I
was minded to come unto you before, that ye
might have a second benefit. "
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
129

The word translated " benefit " is from the word

charis in the Greek . The following are the three
prominent meanings or definitions of the word :
free gift, grace, and divine grace. Thus translat-
ed, the sentence reads : " That ye might have a
second grace. " This is exactly what sanctifica-
tion is a second free gift or divine grace imparted
to the soul .

Certainly no one supposes that these Corinth-

ians had not had another experience of peace and
joy since their conversion. Doubtless they had
enjoyed a thousand blessings in their souls . The
second benefit, or grace, Paul wanted them to have
was not a second transitory religious emotion, for
this idea degrades or belittles the whole matter .
Think of the apostle coming over sea and land to
Corinth , just to get a few Christians happy for a
few minutes !

The second benefit, or grace, he spoke of was

the second blessing, or the blessing of entire sanc-
tification .

Ephesians i. 13 : " In whom ] i. e. , Christ] ye

also trusted , after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation : in whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise ."
The two blessings and lives are so manifest in
9
130 SANCTIFICATION.

this scripture that they hardly need to be pointed

out. I simply call attention to the fact of how dis-
tinctly they are separated by their position in the
verse, and by the verbiage in which they are de-
scribed . The two italicised words are full of
force .

Ephesians v. 26 : " That he might sanctify and

cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."
The apostle is speaking of the Church. Let the
reader take up the Revised Version, and the verse
qouted above will be found to read as follows :
" That he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by
the washing of water with the word . "
Here is sanctification promised to those cleansed
by regeneration. And that it is a momentary act
is seen from the aorist tense in which the verb ap-
pears .

I Thessalonians v. 23 : "And the very God of

peace sanctify you wholly. "
The following facts appear in this verse . First,
that regenerated people are only partially sancti-
fied. Second, that they can be wholly sanctified.
Third, that this entire sanctification is the work of
God, and therefore not growth in grace, which
is man's work and duty. Fourth, the passage
teaches not a future, but a present and instantane-
ous work .
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 131

Titus iii . 5 : " He saved us, by the washing of

regeneration , and renewing of the Holy Ghost. "
Here both experiences are again mentioned . If
the two terms here used mean the same thing, then
does the verse become a senseless repetition. Try
it and see-" He saved us by regeneration and re-
generation ! "
Common sense tells us that washing is one thing
and renewing is another. So does our religious
experience. Lange has a striking passage on the
different meaning and reference of the two ex-
pressions .
He that has had both blessings can say : “ He
has saved me by the washing of regeneration and
by the renewing of the Holy Ghost in sanctifica-
tion."

Hebrews vi. 1 : " Therefore leaving the princi-

ples of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto
perfection."
We content ourselves with four simple state-
ments in regard to this passage , that teaches so
powerfully the fact of the second blessing.
First, the perfection referred to is not a divine
or angelic state, but a condition of perfect love
and purity and rest brought to and set up in the
soul by the Holy Ghost .
Again, it is made clear that regeneration does
132 SANCTIFICATION.

not do all for us in the spiritual life, for we are

here exhorted to come into possession of another
and higher blessing, called perfection .
Again, there is no indefinite and endless growth
in grace taught by this passage ; but, on the con-
trary, the words point plainly to a distinct and
definite experience to which we may come , and to
which we are urged and pressed to go .
If there be no such place as New York or Wash-
ington, what folly to ask me go there ! And if
there be no such experience or blessing subsequent
to regeneration called perfection, why should I be
urged to go on to it ?
Still again , the passage does not convey the
thought of a long lapse of time being consumed
necessarily before our entrance upon this blessing .
Instead of that, Dr. Clarke says the verb teaches
the idea of our being borne on immediately into the
experience .
Hebrews ix . 28 : “ So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin
unto salvation . "
I know that some will insist that this verse has
reference to the day of judgment, and should not
be applied to sanctification .
In reply, I would lessen the reader's confidence
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 133

in the fact that this verse refers to the appearance

of Christ on the judgment-day by directing him
to the second sentence, where it says : " To them
that look for him shall he appear. " Will he not
appear to all on that day ? And does not the Bi-
ble teach that many will not be looking for him ,
and yet he will suddenly appear to all ?
But leaving this point, which I do not stress , I
direct the reader to the double meaning found in
1
many passages of Scripture. Often we find in a
verse a near and, back of that, a remote meaning ,
a narrow and a wider meaning, a close by and
a far off thought. It is like seeing the blue, wavy
outline of a distant range of mountains just ap-
pearing over a nearer line of hills .
In Matthew xxiv. 27 and 28 we see, first , the
destruction of Jerusalem, and, far away beyond
that, the end of the world . The first point of vis-
ion is forty years off ; the second outline of time is
so distant that no one can measure it, and yet it is
there plainly beheld. A meaning, and another
deeper meaning !
In I John, first chapter, and the latter part of
the seventh verse we read: " The blood of Jesus
Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin . "
Two meanings are buried here . To the regen-
erated man it represents one thing; but O how
134 SANCTIFICATION.

much more it means to the sanctified man ! Το

the first it is the cleansing away of all sins, guilt,
and depravity that is personal and that pertains to
the individual ; to the second it means all this , and
the utter removal besides of inherited depravity or
inbred sin. The soul made to rejoice constantly
in the delightful and blessed possession of the ex-
perience of a positive indwelling purity !
Two meanings , both blessed, but one so much
deeper than the other !
And so with the verse under examination . To
some , and doubtless to many, it only refers to the
coming of Christ at the judgment. But, I bless
God, to others , and those not a few, it has another
and more spiritual meaning . It teaches-glory be
to God ! the second coming of Christ to the soul.
This time not as the Pardoner, but as the Sancti-
fier ; this time not dealing with personal sin, but
coming without sin unto salvation. We admit that
it means the second coming at judgment to save
his people , but pushing aside the veil of the first
evident thought, climbing up on the range of the
first teaching, lo ! we see the second and deeper
doctrine of the verse , and that is, Christ coming
to the soul of the believer the second time, and
this time with a salvation from all sin, personal
and inherited .
 TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 135

" To them that look for him," shall this occur.

If I do not believe in the doctrine of sanctification,
I will not look for Christ to come in the office of
Sanctifier, and so the verse will remain sealed , and
th experience it presents be unknown.
But to them that look for him, that seek the
b'essing of holiness , to them will Christ appear the
' cond time !
 CHAPTER XVI .
HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING OF SANCTIFICATION .

OTHING seems simpler to the man who has

received the blessing than the way of holiness ,
while to the person not yet in the experience noth-
ing is darker. One of the reasons that it is called
" the secret of the Lord " is that it is a hidden ex-
perience to begin with, and it takes the Lord to re-
veal the blessing. It is the Lord's secret .
After he has revealed it to us we tell it to others,
show the way we trod, and wonder that they do
not at once enter in. We forget that once we were
as profoundly mystified, and the whole matter
wrapped in darkness .
Letters have been written to me, anxious ques-
tionings have been propounded : " How may I en-
ter in ? " The reply I would make to all is :
First , you must believe that there is such a bless-
ing. More depends upon this than one would at
first imagine . The fact of doubt shuts me not only
out of the blessing, but will prevent all effort to ob-
tain it. Christ says : " According to your faith , so
shall it be unto you. " If I do not believe that
Christ can justify, it will not be done ; and if I do
(156)
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING.
137

not believe that he can sanctify, I will never realize

that blessed experience .
Second, you must realize your need of this bless-
ing. Here let me say that if the regenerated man
who reads these lines has never felt convicted , at
some time or times , of the necessity of having a
perfectly pure and holy heart, then his case is
anomalous . These convictions which are wrought
in us by the Holy Spirit, if not acted upon, will dis-
appear, and the Christian settles back upon a com-
paratively low plane again. To obtain the blessing
of a holy heart the conviction must be aroused
again. This will be effected by a humble, prayer-
ful waiting upon God. He that adopts Psalm
cxxxix. 23, 24 as his petition will be amazed at
what follows . Just as conviction preceded pardon
and conversion, so a second and far deeper con-
viction precedes purity, or the blessing of sanctifi-
cation. Certainly he who is satisfied with present
attainment, content with a life of fallings and ris-
ings, alternate defeats and victories, states of cold-
ness and gloom, and, above all, the presence of
sinful tendencies in the heart, such a one will
never come into the great blessing .
Third, you must desire the blessing. God must
see that you long for it supremely. This time you
are not to enter upon service, but upon marriage .
138 SANCTIFICATION.

Christ is going to establish the most tender and de-

lightful and permanent relationship. He, on this
occasion, is going to make the heart holy, and then
forever abide in it. In the regenerated life he was
a wayfarer that turned in for a night, but in sanc-
tification he is going to dwell in you, consciously,
forever. ( John xiv. 23. ) He is going to give him-
self to you in his fullness. Such a gift demands
that your heart cry out with burning desires and
quenchless longings .
Fourth , you must seek for the blessing . There
must be no idle, indolent waiting. The tarrying
at Jerusalem was any thing but an idle one . The
hours and days were filled with the most ardent
seeking and importunate supplication .
You must seek for it . Conscience must bear
witness that you are seeking ; people must see it ;
nature in the lonely grove and watchful stars must
know it ; above all, God must see that you are
seeking the greatest blessing he has for us on
earth .

It must be a seeking that will not be diverted by

any thing . The frowns and smiles of men, the
ridicule and opposition certain to come must not
be regarded-no , not for one moment. You must
desire it like the man of the parable, who parted
with all he had for the treasure in the field ; and
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 139

like another , who gave up all his gems for the pearl
of great grice.
Fifth, you must not be discouraged. A thou-
sand things will arise to create despondency and
despair . You will see other people pass in before
you . Satan will be busy with you here, but keep
your eyes on Christ, and not the people . You
may be troubled with fluctuations of feeling . Ex-
perience of deadness and heaviness may possibly
creep over you. Pay no attention to them. You
are not sanctified by your feelings . Satan will en-
deavor , in various ways, to darken your mind and
sadden your heart. The dark birds of gloom ,
doubt, and despair will swoop down upon your al-
tar ; but, like Abraham, stand and keep them off,
and wait till God sends the fire. The fire will come,
and likewise the burning lamp . That is , the work
will be done , and the witness given ; the baptism
and the illumination is to see and recognize . The
fire and the lamp will both be sent. Only deter-
mine that nothing shall discourage you, and all
will be well .

Sixth , consecrate yourself entirely to God . This

is called the first step. Put every thing on the al-
tar. Make an Appomattox surrender of yourself.
Become God's man by solemn covenant. Turn
over every thing to Christ that you are and have,
140 SANCTIFICATION.

and ever expect to be and have. Give him your

whole self. He will not accept a lesser gift.
Christ intends giving himself in his fullness to you ,
and he demands the same thing at your hands .
Put every faculty on the altar; place your money
there, and your reputation and ambition. Place
your tongue there, and your time and your influ-
ence. If you have wronged any one, promise God
to right that wrong, and do it. If you are at en-
mity, first be reconciled with thy brother, then
come with thy gift unto the altar .
Is every thing upon the altar? If so, who is the
altar ? Paul tells you in Hebrews that it is Christ .
What does the altar do ? Glory be to God, it sanc-
tifies the gift ! See Matthew xxiii. 19. When the
gift was laid upon the Jewish altar, it became as
holy as the altar. Thus it is we become holy, if
we are on our altar, Christ ; if, in a word , we are
perfectly consecrated. The word of God says
that every devoted thing is most holy unto the
66

Lord. " Will you believe that ? Will you take

God at his word ?

Seventh , you must believe that Christ makes you

holy right now. Faith is the second step to sanc-
tification. Will you take that step and receive full
salvation ? If you can and will believe that the
blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies you now, the work
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 141

of sanctification will be done, and the glory ofGod

will come upon you. " Said I not unto thee that,
if thou believest, thou shouldst see the glory of
God?"
Plant yourself on God's own word ; he says that
the altar sanctifies you , that the blood cleanses and
makes you holy. You do not say this ; the preach-
er did not originate the speech ; it is the word of
the Lord ! Then believe that word; receive it in
your heart ; say, " I am sanctified by the blood,
because Christ says so ; " and hold on with un-
moved confidence until the witness comes . The

witness will come and will not tarry where the

soul is consecrated and the heart exercises a pres-
ent appropriating faith. It will rush to and settle
upon your faith like the dove- like Spirit swept
down upon the Saviour. It is bound to come be-
cause of the divine faithfulness and in fulfillment of
the divine promise .
But have I a right to say that Christ sanctifies me
before the witness is given ? Can I dare to say,
will I be able to say that the blood makes me holy
before the experience is set up in my soul ?
To this I reply that if you are conscious of a per-
fect consecration (and your own spirit will always
witness to that fact), then you can say that the
blood cleanses , and believe it, because God gives
142 SANCTIFICATION.

the perfectly consecrated man the right to say it.

" Every devoted thing is most holy. " " The altar
sanctifies the gift. "
The instant I believe it and say it, that instant
the work is done. The Bible says : " With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness , and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation . " I
must so believe that I will be willing to confess
and proclaim , and then salvation in its fullness
comes . This is the order : heart and mouth .

Many have failed here. Many have had the belief,

but refused to speak. Felt powerfully moved to
do so, but from a sudden timorousness , a sudden
false humility , a swift temptation from Satan, they
shrunk back into silence and missed the salvation

that was ready to be poured, in all its richness, full-

ness , and blessedness , into the soul.
I can recall two cases of recent date when the
consecration had been made and the faith was
born in the heart, and the Spirit of God with
mighty pressure urged them to arise and claim and
own the blessing. They could with difficulty keep
silence, so great was the inward movement and im-
pulse of the Holy Ghost upon them to speak. In
both cases they shrunk back, and in both cases
have I witnessed since a rapidly weakening faith
and an unmistakable lapse in the spiritual life .
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING.
143

It is no presumption to believe what God asserts ,

and to proclaim what God declares. But it is pre-
sumption and sin besides to refuse to believe God's
word, and be afraid to repeat what he affirms .
He that is conscious that he is not a perfectly
consecrated man should not dare to say that he is
made holy; but he who knows in the depths of
his soul, and thrilling along every fiber of his be-
ing, that he is on the altar-bound, handed over,
and devoted to the Lord-cannot only say, " The
blood sanctifies me now, " but should say so with-
out a moment's delay.
A lady in Alabama very recently, in obedience
to the instruction of a minister, placed every thing
on the altar. When she had done so the preach-
er, standing over her, said : " My sister, do you
know who the altar is ? " She replied : " Yes , it
is the Lord Jesus Christ ! " The minister re-
joined : " The word of God says that the altar
sanctifies the gift. Will you believe this ? Do you
believe that Christ makes you holy right now ? "
She answered, after the pause of a moment, “ I
do ! " and instantly the refining fire of God did its
work , and her soul was sanctified.
I read once this story of the first Napoleon: His
horse had become affrighted and was dashing
down the lines beyond the control of the rider,
144 SANCTIFICATION.

when suddenly a common soldier darted from the

ranks , and , flinging himself on the horse's neck ,
caught the reins , checked the animal, and placed
the bridle in the emperor's hand. With a smile of
appreciation , Napoleon said : " Thank you , cap-
tain ? " As instantly did the soldier reply : " Of
what regiment, sire ? " And the emperor's re-
ply, as he swept on, was : " The Old Guard. "
What a wonderful appropriating faith the man
had!

Do you know what many people who read these

lines would have replied when the emperor said :
" Thank you , captain ? " They would have said :
" You make a great mistake, sire ! I am no cap-
tain ; I am nothing but a poor soldier-a wretched,
obscure private marching in the rear ranks , and
will doubtless die in the rear ranks . "
This is the way many do in the spiritual life,
and is the explanation of their never coming into
the higher life .
God says to them : " The blood cleanses you ;
Christ makes you holy." " O no ! " they reply,
" not me ; I cannot be holy; the blood cannot
purify me ; I can never be but what I am a poor,
halting, repining, imperfect follower of the Lord ."
And they never do ; because they will not believe
the word of the Lord. In the rear ranks they
 HOW TO ΟΒΤΑΙN THE BLESSING. 145

stay, when they could be a power in the cohorts

of heaven if they would take God at his word.
Would that the faith of this soldier in the word
of a man might shame or inspire us into at least
an equal faith in the word of God !
" Thank you , captain ! " " Of what regiment,
sire ? " is the lightning-like response of the soldier.
And immediately, the story runs , he walked to the
Old Guard and took his position as an officer ; and
in reply to the indignant protest of the colonel, as
to what he did there , said : " I am a captain . "
" Who said so ? " was the colonel's inquiry. And
the triumphat rejoinder of the promoted soldier, as
he pointed to the emperor, was : “ He said so ! "
My brother, if you are on the altar, God says
you are a holy man .
As he says so, believe it, and immediately take
your position in the " inheritance of them that are
sanctified . "

In reply to all gainsayers and fault-finders who

rise against your profession and life, saying there
is no such thing as a holy heart and life , and that
they doubt your experience and deny your claim,
simply point to the Saviour and reply calmly, but
triumphantly: " He said so ! "
But why is it that we see cases of individuals
who affirm that they possess this faith, and yet do
10
146 SANCTIFICATION.

not obtain the witness of the blessing ? In many

instances the failure arises because of a defective
consecration . All is not given up to God. There
has not been a total surrender of life and property
and family and reputation and will. There is
mental reservation somewhere. The tongue is not
on the altar, some one is hated in the heart, some
wrong has not been righted, some confession has
not been made , some duty remains undischarged.
Of course, if the heart be wrong in all these mat-
ters , the heavenly fire will not fall. The dove will
not alight on a carcass . The Holy Spirit will not
descend upon and make as his home and resting-
place a disobedient and impure heart. A perfect
consecration is the mother of a beautiful child-
viz . , a perfect faith. At the end of the rod of
consecration faith buds , blooms , and bears fruit.
While I will not say that consecration can evolve
faith , inasmuch as faith is a distinct exercise of the
soul, yet I firmly believe they never are and never
can be long separated. Indeed, so near are they
at times as to seem almost one act of the soul .
In other instances we see people who say they
are walking by faith, and yet never receive the
witness , and sadder still, gradually get farther and
farther from the blessing .
The explanation in this case is that what they
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 147

regard as faith is nothing but a spirit of listless-

ness and apathy. Instead of believing, they have
really ceased to believe. The ceasing to seek for
and to expect possession of the pearl of great price,
shows the decay of faith . Theirs is not the rest of
faith, but the slumber of indolence, and a virtual
giving up of the struggle .
They are easily recognized. The face grows
cloudy, the fervor of prayer departs, the attitude
of pressing forward is gone; they have evidently
paused in the race .
A real faith pants with the desire for holiness .
While it rests on the word of God, it does not rest
from its striving to enter in through the strait gate .
It continues to knock . Like Esther , it stands be-
fore the throne ; and, though mute of lip at times ,
yet is it full of wistful pleadings of heart, and
never so beautiful in the eyes of the King of
heaven .

It rests on the word of God; but its eyes are

fixed upon the skies, awaiting the second coming
of the Lord Jesus to the soul; this time the com-
ingwithout sin unto salvation.
There are other cases where all are puzzled to
account for the failure . The parties say that the
consecration is perfect, that they are steadily seek-
ing the blessing by faith, that they claim it now by
148 SANCTIFICATION.

faith, and yet they have not the gospel treasure ,

the holy secret of the Lord .
This much we must say : that God is faithful .
If we receive not that which God has promised,
the explanation is to be found in some failure on
our part to comply with divine requirements and
conditions .

The general cause is known to all under the

words defective faith and consecration ; the par-
ticular reason for failure is known to the man only
and to his God. But at the judgment-day all will
know the unbelief, or the secret sin, that kept a
child of God from coming into the possession of a
holy heart, and living a holy life.
 CHAPTER XVII .
CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED .

MINISTER , a gentleman of culture and

A piety, who had been moved by the writer's
experience, but who was still unsatisfied and per-
plexed in mind about the mode of obtaining the
blessing, wrote, asking the following questions :
" Your experience has renewed my aspirations
for the attainment of what John Wesley called
the grand depositum of Methodism . ' There
is , however, one point in your narrative at which
I stumble. Perhaps you can remove the stum-
bling-block , and in helping me help others also .
You say : ' I believed the work was done before
the witness was given. ' This you did for three
days , and then the baptism of fire came upon your
soul. Now with me it is impossible to distinguish
the fact of sanctification from the witness . Both
sanctification and the witness of sanctification are
matters of consciousness . Does God count me
sanctified before I am sanctified ? Can I believe
that he sanctified me before I am conscious of the
fact that I am sanctified ? Can I really be sancti-
fied before the baptism of fire, which you call the
149)
(
150 SANCTIFICATION.

witness , goes through my nature and destroys the

' body of sin ? ' If I believe I am sanctified be-
fore I am conscious of the fact, do I not make be-
lief in a falsehood the condition of obtaining the
great blessing ? Here I stumble. "
To this I replied as follows : " If I tell you that
I suffered intensely where you are now being tried,
and that I have found light where at first there was
profound darkness , and where you to-day only see
darkness , I trust you will not think that I am arro-
gating to myself any thing whatever. Indeed, as
you read on you will discover that I place myself
properly in a lowly place in the kingdom of grace.
Indeed, it was because of my conscious weakness
and helplessness that I found what some have not
yet discovered. For if a diamond be lost in the
dust, it is not the man whose eyes are on the stars
that will see it, but the man who has bowed body
and face close to the ground. I thank God that
salvation is not placed high above us , and beyond
reach , but very nigh to us, and low down, so that
a little child , and indeed a fool may lay hand upon
it and be enriched. It is so with pardon and re-
generation, and it is so with entire sanctification .
" The doors of the sweet experiences of regen-
eration and entire sanctification do not fly back at
the touch of the hand of the metaphysician, for
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 151

several reasons . One is that the great mass of

people on earth are not learned or trained in the
laws of mental life ; and if the reception of bless-
ings were dependent upon the apprehension of syl-
logisms and recognition of certain great principles
of mental science, the race would be lost. An-
other reason that occurs to me why the door of
grace opens not to the touch of the reasoner is
that salvation is above reason . It was not con-
ceived by man, nor is it understood by lordly in-
tellects to-day. I have often been struck with two
expressions in the Bible . One is that the wisdom
of God is foolishness to men , and the other that
the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. It
is noteworthy that the gospel came down to us
through the air to Bethlehem, and not through the
brains of the scribes and learned members of the
Sanhedrim .

" The point I would humbly make is that what

may appear irreconcilable in the realm of meta-
physics may be perfectly harmonized in the realm
of grace . For instance : Mathematics would say
that it is impossible for three to be one , and one to
be three, and yet this impossible thing is the glory
of heaven in the fact of the Trinity .
" May not, my dear brother, the difficulties you
mention in your letter, and which appear in the
152 SANCTIFICATION.

clipping above, exist only in your mind ? May not

God's thoughts be higher than our thoughts , and
his ways not as our ways ?
" Here I am to-day thrilled with this ' secret of
the Lord, ' the declaration or confession of which
has brought upon me attacks from many directions ,
saving your kindly and courteous pen. As I read
the arguments turned against my experience from
high quarters, there are three things that sustain
me and keep me perfectly calm and assured
through it all. One is the perpetual witness of the
Holy Ghost to the fact of my sanctification ( Heb .
x. 14, 15 ) ; another, the work itself done by him,
( 1 Thess . v. 23, 24) ; and the third is the recollec-
tion of a verse uttered by the Saviour : ' I thank
thee , O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru-
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' ( Luke
x. 21. ) This verse explains why I have obtained
that which nobler , better , wiser men have not re-
ceived. I came to God as a little child in seeking
the blessing of sanctification. I reasoned not,
even as a child does not reason . I created no
mental difficulties . I never went near Sir Will-
iam Hamilton nor any like him. I knew the work
was above his and all other human intellects . It
was a part of the mystery the angels studied and
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 153

could not fathom. I went not to books written by

ancient or modern authors on the subject. I went
to God! The Bible said he could do it, and would
do it, and, better than either, that if I believed, he
did it then ! I simply believed God-I took him
at his word !

" Now for the suggested difficulty : ' How, ' I

am asked in substance , ' can I believe that the
work of sanctification is accomplished until I re-
ceive the witness that it is done ? And if I believe
I am sanctified before I am made conscious of the

fact, do I not make belief in a falsehood the con-

dition of obtaining the great blessing ? ' These
questions at first seem to possess great weight.
They have troubled many, and will agitate many
more . They gather about the real heart and cen-
ter of the whole question. He that tarries here to
settle this will never go farther. He that ap-
proaches the difficulty as a little child will find
that there is no difficulty ; that there is no problem
of Methodism for him to solve : that the Father
has given the solution to the humble, child-like
man of unquestioning faith .
" But let me first say that the question cannot but
surprise me . Just a glance reveals the fact that it
reverses the order God observes in the work of
salvation . God's order is first faith, then the
154 SANCTIFICATION.

work, and last the feeling. In your question you

ask how can you believe that you are sanctified
until you are made conscious of the fact. Look
at the question closely, and you will observe that
your order is , first, feeling ; second, the work ; and
last, the faith , which is the direct reverse of God's
method of doing. Virtually, you say that if God
sends you a certain feeling or consciousness , that
he has done a certain work in you , that then you
will believe .

" My dear brother, is it not evident that, what-

ever may be the procuring cause of the blessing
to you , according to your plan it cannot be faith ?
for faith with you is put last. You will believe
if you feel that the work is done. Let me ask
you : Who could not stand on such an easy plat-
form as this ? Surely anybody could admit the
fact of a work done by the Saviour when great
tokens of emotion are given at the moment. A
great multitude, I fancy, stand ready to be saved
on such terms . Millions are ready to say : ' If
God gives certain emotions or experiences de-
claring his work, then will we believe . ' But
where appears the faith in such a salvation ?
Don't we see that it is no longer faith, but
knowledge ? Don't we see that the demand here
to God is , Let me know, and I will believe,'
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED.
155

while God says : ' Believe , and ye shall know ? '

If any thing, my dear brother, thrills you through
and through, it is when a man believes your quiet
statement of a fact, and asks for no proof, while
at the same time many things are operating to
produce doubt in the mind . And so I believe if
God ever stands thrilled in heaven it is when a
man takes him at his word, and goes on believing
it in spite of an emotionless heart, and in spite of
contradicting men and devils , and in face of the
fact that there is no sign or witness from heaven
that the life is observed or the faith accepted.
" This is faith worthy of the name . No sight
or feeling about this . This is what I call dry faith ;
though, I bless God, it does not stay dry long .
It fairly drips with grace, if cherished and kept
in the heart a few hours or days . Such a faith
Abraham had when he went out not knowing
whither he went. Some one says about him that
' he walked out into empty space on the naked
promise of Almighty God ! ' Such a faith the
centurion had when he asked Christ to heal his
servant. Christ replied : ' I will. On this word
the Roman soldier rested; even said there was no
need for Christ to come to his house ; that his
word was sufficient to heal the servant at a dis-
tance . This was one of the times that Christ was
156 SANCTIFICATION.

thrilled. The Bible says : ' He marveled, and said

to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I
have not found so great faith , no , not in Israel.'
The centurion held on by dry faith ; the servant
was distant ; the healing took place out of_sight ;
and yet, without a single sign from heaven, with
nothing but the word of Christ, he went home , be-
lieving the servant was well ; and when he arrived
found that he was restored . That he had this

faith appears in Matthew viii . 13 .

" Now, God says in his word that if I perfectly,
unreservedly, and forever consecrate myself to
him I shall be made holy by the altar on which I
have placed myself. He says that the altar sancti-
fies , that the blood cleanses, and right now ; that
the instant I believe it the work is done ! Will I
believe it ? Will I take God's word, and rise up
after a perfect consecration and say it is done.
The battle rages right at this point ; defeat or vic-
tory must come right here. Let no man say there
is no such thing as a second work or cleansing by
the Holy Ghost, unless he has thoroughly tested
the virtue of the faith that is here presented . Have
you cast yourself upon this faith as Peter flung
himself upon the waves ? If not, you have failed
to do what others of us have done , and, as a con-
sequence , are without an experience that is to-day
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 157

thrilling us as the greatest fact of our lives . It

won't do to question here . The instant a mental
debate starts , the instant the words ' why ' and
' how ' appear, the instant the psychology of sanc-
tification is dwelt upon that instant the glory is
lifted, the mysterious Being whom I felt to be in
my arms is gone, and my hands are left grasping
at empty air. Such debate and questionings of
mind come with a poor grace from us who believe
that even in conversion regeneration is one thing,
and the witness of the Spirit another ; that not in-
frequently the divine testimony is withheld for
weeks and months. Just as clearly do I recognize
that the work of sanctification is one thing, and the
witness to the work another. The two may be
separated, as in the case of regeneration. But you
ask the question : ‘ If I believe I am sanctified be-
fore I am conscious of the fact, do I not make be-
lief in a falsehood the condition of obtaining the
great blessing ? '
" Your trouble here was once my trouble ; my
soul was in an agony over it. As a difficulty it is
insuperable until you discover that God does not
condition the bestowal of a blessing on us by a pre-
ceding or accompanying act of consciousness upon
our part. I fail to see in his word where he states
that my consciousness of the fact affects in any
158 SANCTIFICATION.

way the work of sanctification . Instead of this I

am simply required, after a perfect consecration
of myself, to believe that the work is done.
The servant is distant ; no messenger has as yet
reached me ; but I believe he is healed, because
Christ says so . My faith rests not upon any men-
tal condition of my own, or any play of emotion,
but upon the simple statement of God that I am
sanctified . There can be no falsehood about the
matter. The man casts the whole thing on God,
and it is the divine faithfulness and honor and

truth that are involved. It is idle to say that the

man may be deceived in regard to his exercise of
faith . Every man knows when he really believes .
Peter knew the moment when he flung himself
upon the water, and just as clearly does the soul
recognize the critical instant when, forsaking all
other help, turning from every other hope and con-
fidence , it lets go every earthly hold , and leaps or
drops in the arms of Christ. Blessed be God ! no
one ever did this in vain . Even here I am not re-
quired to look to my consciousness, or to any con-
ceivable experience, but quietly to go on believing
that God has done the work . But must we not
pray for the witness to our sanctification ? Un-
doubtedly; but we must not forget that the work
is one thing, and the witness another ; so we walk
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 159

in faith until God is pleased to send the testimony.

I do not know how it strikes you, but to me it
seems that there could be no more acceptable faith
to God than this, which takes God at his word,
and goes on without a disturbing doubt.
" I cannot but claim for God, on the part of his
children, the same unhesitating, unquestioning be-
lief and obedience that I have seen rendered by
sons and daughters to an earthly parent. God
says a thing ; I believe God! It was this, and
nothing but this, that caused the Lord to say of
Abraham: ' He is my friend. '
" I am confident that some sharp-eyed reader will
point out an apparent discrepancy in my experi-
ence . For instance : I said that I believed the

work was done in my soul before I received the

witness ; that in this faith I walked two days ; and
yet that on the morning of the third day I felt the
work of sanctification .

" This is only an apparent difficulty. It is not a

real contradiction, unless some one can show that
God cannot do a work in us apart from our con-
sciousness , or that he is under necessity to reveal
himself simultaneously with his performance . I
believed with all my heart for two days that God
had sanctified me, because he said so . In this
faith I walked unwaveringly until the morning
160 SANCTIFICATION.

spoken of in my experience, when suddenly and

powerfully God gave me the witness of his work , or
the proof that the blood had cleansed me from all
sin, and that my heart was pure . •

" In a recent visit to Georgia I was informed of

a case strikingly illustrative. It was that of a
young man who, after having made the perfect con-
secration demanded by the Bible , believed that the
blood of Christ did then and there cleanse him
from all sin . He was without feeling ; but he re-
membered that we are not saved by feeling, but by
faith ; and so lived on the first day, clinging to God's
word about the matter , as a man in mid- ocean
would cling to a spar. Some one saw him shake
his head in a peculiar, positive way in church . One
sitting near him heard him say at the same mo-
ment : ' The blood does sanctify me .' Later in
the day he was approached by a friend, who
asked : ' Brother — , how are you feeling ? '
His reply was : ' I have no feeling ; but I know
that Jesus sanctifies my soul , because he said so ."
Next day he saw an unfriendly critic observing
him in the congregation ; again came the positive
movement of the head, with the murmured words :
' He does cleanse me from all sin. ' To sympa-
thetic and anxious Christian friends his constant
statement was: ' No feeling ; but perfect faith that
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 165

the blood cleanses me now . ' Thus he walked for

several days by ' dry faith,' when one morning, as
a friend started to put the usual question, suddenly
he cried out in tones that thrilled beyond all de-
scription : O glory ! glory ! my soul cannot con-
tain the joy and blessedness it feels ! ' The witness
had come ; as , indeed, it will always come to the
man who takes God at his word .
" Why is it that so many seek this blessing for
months without obtaining it? Because they put
the work in the future ; they place the fulfillment
of the promise to some remote time, when God
says now ! and demands that our faith shall say
now!

" My brother, are you a perfectly consecrated

man ! If so, then in the name of Jesus of Naza-
reth rise up and say : ' His blood cleanseth me now
from all sin ,' and walk in that faith. Let it be a
dry faith . I tell you that it will not remain dry
long . The balm of Gilead the very dews of heav-
en-and the anointing of the Holy Ghost will de-
scend, and cannot but descend , upon a faith that
takes God at his word. The disciples held on ten
days ; cannot you wait in prayer and dry faith that
long ? Don't read books opposed to the doctrine ;
they will chill your faith and divert you from the
blessing ? Would you advise a penitent to read
11
 162 SANCTIFICATION.

skeptical books before coming to Christ ? The

principle is identical. Some godly men are skep-
tical in regard to instantaneous sanctification .
Don't read their works until you are sanctified ;
then you can read with a smile, in calmness of
spirit , and without hurt to yourself. We can then
peruse the ninth chapter of John with an apprecia-
tion never felt before . Instead of the books re-
ferred to , search a famous old Book which , ad-
dressing converted men and women , says : ' This
is the will of God, even your sanctification, and
adds : Faithful is he that calleth you , who also
will do it .'

" Don't listen to men who deny and oppose in

various ways this experience. How can they speak
advisedly and correctly of what they have never
felt ? Their confessed ignorance of the experience
disqualifies them here as instructors and leaders , no
matter how wise and good and excellent they may
be as Christian men and ministers . How can a
man lead in a way which he has never trod ?
"And now I leave these words with you and with
other readers to whom I have mainly addressed them
through you . Would that they were clearer, strong-
er, and worthier words for your sake and the sake
of God's people, for whom I wwould gladly lay down
my life to bring them into this blessing, this deliv-
 CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 163

erance and rest, this tender and yet steadfast grace

that Paul speaks of so frequently and assuredly,
and with such an accent of rejoicing and triumph .
See Romas v. 2 ; 2 Corinthians i . 15 .
" Let me call your attention to the fact that when
Carvosso received the blessing he was saying : ' I
,

shall have the blessing now ! If he had said ' to-

morrow, ' he would not have entered into rest . Be
assured that we can never err by believing too
much in God's word, especially when that word is
a promise coming directly to us . To doubt is to
dishonor God; to believe is to honor and glorify
him.
6
" Let us hear the Saviour : Therefore I say
unto you, what things soever ye desire , when ye
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall
have them . ' ' Lord , increase our faith . ' "
 CHAPTER XVIII .

WHAT SANCTIFICATION HAS SHOWN ME , DONE FOR

ME , AND IS TO ME STILL AFTER MANY DAYS .

YEAR ago the writer received the blessing of

A entire sanctification. He at once proclaimed
it publicly with tongue and pen, as he formerly
had declared his conversion . The same motives

prompted him in both instances: First, to glorify

God; second, to bring others into the same blessed
experience . The new-found blessing was prompt-
ly denied by a number of ministers living at a dis-
tance from the home of the writer .

In recalling the two great spiritual events , or ex-

periences , of his life-viz . , his conversion and his
sanctification-the writer has been led to notice a
strange resemblance, and yet dissimilarity, in con-
nection with these great spiritual epochs . His con-
version was doubted by the worldly, but believed
in by the Church ; while his sanctification was
doubted by the Church, but believed in by the
world.
It has struck him as a curious fact that the atti-

tude of the Church and the world is identical, as

they stand confronting these two great works of
(164)
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 165
God in the human soul . The unbelief of the world

reveals itself toward regeneration , and the unbeliet

of the Church manifests itself toward sanctification,
The world doubts an instantaneous conversion,
and the Church to-day denies instantaneous sanc-
tification .

The one doubts the power of the blood to par-

don; the other, its ability to make holy. Both stag-
ger at the promise of God; both limit the efficacy
of the blood . The world looks to reformation , the
Church to growth in grace , or the purifying power
of time. Both look away from the blood to some-
thing connected with the flight of years , or a fight
with self. Forgotten is the earnest warning of
Paul: " Having begun in the Spirit, are ye made
perfect by the flesh ? " How happy is Satan to see
the attention of men directed away from the only
thing that can cleanse from all sin, and bring holi-
ness to the heart and life ! How perfectly willing
he is to see us emphasize morals and spiritual man-
ners and development and growth and the effect of
time, provided we will not proclaim and believe
and test the blood that makes whiter than snow .
This fact of unbelief existing where you would
least expect it constitutes one of the first experi-
ences of a sanctified man . As he stands in the
midst of his brethren with his heart all aglow and
166 SANCTIFICATION.

his spirit aflame with this greatest of blessings ; as

he testifies to the new- found treasure ; as he looks
into the wondering , doubting , half- amused counte-
nances of the brethren , he passes into and through
an experience never to be forgotten. He sees that,
while they regard him as a sincere man, yet they
evidently suppose that he is laboring under a delu-
sion ; that he has mistaken some sudden emotion
for a great distinctive work of God ; and that,
therefore , his words are as idle tales. As he takes
this in he is forcibly reminded of the same mental
attitude , the same expression of countenance, the
same unbelief that greeted him when he proclaimed
his conversion to men and women of the world .
The writer will never forget the look of an un-
converted man when he declared to him the fact of
his conversion ; nor is he likely to forget the look
of some Christians when he told them that God had
sanctified him . The vision was the same .
Here , ther , is the first thing shown or revealed
by sanctification-viz . , the unbelief of the Church
in regard to the blood of the Son of God.
Another fact revealed by sanctification , and that
soon forces itself upon the consciousness, is that
there is a gulf between those that enjoy this bless-
ing and those that possess it not and believe not in
it. Neither one dug the chasm. They both find
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 167

themselves wondering at its sudden revealment .

By and by some cease to wonder as they perceive
that it exists because of spiritual conditions ; that
just as a valley will always be found between two
mountains, so will two great, separate , distinct
works of grace create between them a chasm , hard
to describe, but none the less forcibly recognized .
The Christian with the blessing of sanctification
knows that he has seen Christ in a light and felt
Christ's power in a way that the other has not.
The doubter of the blessing views the sanctified
brother with a variety of emotions and opinions .
Among them we discover suspicion, pity, disap-
proval-even aversion and the strong conviction
that the brother is deluded, misled by excitement,
and is bordering upon fanaticism, if not rapidly ap-
proaching insanity .
The gulf is there. The parties are conscious of
it, and observers notice it. How can there help be-
ing one when the solemn asseveration of an instan-
taneous purification of the soul by faith in the blood
of Christ is looked upon by the Church either as a
fond delusion or, worse still, as a piece of boastful
arrogance ?
This itself is sufficient to create the gulf, and
does , sad as it is to say. And yet never did the
sanctified man love his regenerated brother as ten
168 SANCTIFICATION.

derly as now when, under the light of the new

blessing, he takes note of the strange separation
between them . The lips of this gulf can only be
closed by the Church coming into possession of the
blessing. The sanctified man who endeavors to
bridge over this gulf by coming down to a former
religious plane, by eliminating the characteristics
of a life of holiness from his own life , or by silence
in regard to the blessing itself, will do so at his peril.
God only can annihilate this chasm by bringing
us all into the same blessed experience of perfect
love. May the Pentecost of the Church, even
sanctification, be restored to Zion ! and then will it
be said of us , as once of the disciples : " They were
all of one mind and one heart ."
The experience of sanctification has revealed a
third fact . This time we discover that the Church
will listen with great placidity of mind to the doc-
trine of holiness when presented as a distant at-
tainment through growth , but when held as a pres-
ent obtainment by faith there is both confusion
and indignation in Israel . It is all well for the
preacher to urge his people to pray for and strive
after a pure heart and a state of holiness ; but the
instant he announces that he has the blessing so
long prayed, wished, and striven for, that Christ
has purified the heart, that " the God of peace has
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 169

sanctified him wholly," then there is heard on all

sides , both in private and public, disapprovals and
condemnations of such a claim and assumption .
We read in the book of Acts that the Church

prayed day and night for the release of Peter from

prison ; and when, in answer to prayer, God set
him at liberty, and he stood knocking at the door
where and when this very prayer-meeting was be-
ing held, that the Church refused to believe it was
Peter.

So the Church of to-day has been supplicating

for holiness , and crying out from every pulpit and
pew : " Create within us clean hearts , O God ; "
but lo ! when God answers , and the man delivered
from all indwelling sin stands before the congre-
gation, testifying that " the Son hath made him free
indeed, " that the clean heart so long prayed for
by the Church has been given, the Church refuses
positively to believe it. Peter is left knocking at
the door. They refuse to believe in him , and
quietly pay no attention to his knock. And no
matter what bright-faced Rhoda fervently declares
that it is so, and that the brother is free and blessed
as he says , it fails to affect and change their judg-
ment .

As the case stands to-day, it does seem to the

writer that certain congregations in the land should
170 SANCTIFICATION.

either change their prayer, " Create in us clean

hearts , O God," or alter their faith , and so be
ready to recognize the blessing they pray for when
it comes .
So much for what sanctification has shown .
Now for what it has done and is still doing for the
writer.

First, it has quenched an un- Christ-like ambi-

tion. It makes one willing to be overlooked and
unknown . The fever for place and prominence is
taken out. The eye is not fixed on certain honors
and promotions and appointments to high places .
A light stealing in has either revealed the unsatis-
factoriness of these things , or a life filling the nat-
ure gives the soul something better to think of and
strive after .

All dreamings in this direction are ended. The

prayer now and the hope is not for the " right
hand and the left hand " of power, but to be where
Mary sat-at the feet of Jesus .
1
Second , it has reconciled the soul, with scarcely
a struggle , to the growing coldness and falling
away of friends . Losses that would have over-
powered in the regenerated life fail to move the
sanctified soul .
The experience is incredible until entered upon .
But no inconsolable agony finds entrance in this
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE . 171

life . There is an ever-present balm that, instant-

ly applied , heals and reconciles the heart to the
loss before the tears have had time to fall upon the
cheek .

As Christ saw great numbers leave him when he

preached his most spiritual doctrines , and beheld
it with calmness of mind and without a word , so is
it with the sanctified man . No matter who leaves ,
he is calm, and can say : " None of these things
move me . "
The writer has often been struck with the itch and
fever of some people for company. They cannot
bear to be alone . Solitude is an affliction to them .
Certainly all will agree that where three are pres-
ent there will not be a sense of solitude and lone-
liness . But does the reader realize that there is a
promised relief from all loneliness in the blessing
of sanctification ? and that the constant presence
of three persons is the explanation ?
In John xiv. 23 the promise is : " We [ i. e. ,
the Father and Son] will come unto you, and will
take up our abode with you . " This , as shown
in Chapter VIII . , is one of the peculiar promises
of sanctification. With that constant abiding in
the soul of the Father and the Son, and with their
unbroken and delightful communion, how can there
be weariness and loneliness ?
172 SANCTIFICATION.

Blessed be God ! the crowning work of sanctifi-

cation is its undying freshness of experience, born
of the presence of this heavenly company in the
soul.

It matters not who goes out of the life, if they re-

main there is bound to be joy. And so Madame
Guyon in prison, and St. John in Patmos , and all
others in the deep enjoyment of this blessing,
scarcely knew the pain of loneliness , and lived on
unmoved in the face of a thousand estrangements
and desertions .

Third, it has saved him from all irritability of

temper and disposition. Regeneration saved him
from giving vent to it in speech and act, but did
not eliminate the dark, disturbing spirit from the
heart. Sanctification , glory be to God ! has done
this blessed interior work. The hot, impatient
flush , the quick-nettled feeling, the hasty impulse
to angry speech , the gun-powdery expression of
thought and word all have been taken away in a
moment of time by the blessed Son of God . The
man in the enjoyment of such a deliverance will
read John viii. 36 with a gladness and apprecia-
tion that he never did before : " If the Son therefore
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
This was a promise made not to sinners, but to
Christians .
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 173

The writer hears many pleas put in for nervous-

ness ; but he is deeply suspicious of the word
vousness. " It looks like it is made to spell
" irritability '"-it looks like a synonym of bad
temper. It is used sometimes as a cloak for an-
ger. A number of people have approached the
writer, and, with a deprecatory voice, said: “ May
I not be allowed to be nervous if I am sanctified ? "
It actually looks like they were pleading for the
privilege of being under the thralldom of disease .
The writer saw deeper, and beheld the door open
for retreat, or, to change the figure , saw in the
word " nervousness " the fig-leaf that was to cover
moral nakedness and spiritual deformity .
The reply to all such is that nervousness is one
thing and irritability another ; that one has its root
in the body, the other in the soul; that all nerv-
ousness that manifests itself in a cross , impatient,
and angry spirit is to be suspected, arrested, con-
demned, and transported as a forger and impostor,
into the penitentiary domains of actual sin .
Nor must this fact be overlooked that pure
nervousness itself is graciously affected by the
sanctified life . The quiet spirit imparts a restful-
ness even to the body .
Every regenerated man knows the sets of circum-
stances that conspire to produce irritability. The
174 SANCTIFICATION .

coming home wearied and hungry, the aching head,

the noisy children , the absent servant, the delayed
meal , the fireless grate , the general influence of a
cold, cloudy, rainy day, or a day of sweltering pow-
er. Here is a battle-field indeed. And here many
a regenerated man goes down in temporary defeat .
And here is the easy victory of the sanctified.
What a state is that in which a man is kept sweet-
spirited , calm , and gentle in heart and voice in the
midst of multiplied annoyances !
Fourth , the blessing has hidden the soul from
the strife of tongues. In Psalms xxxi. 20 such
an experience is promised. Often has the eye
read the word while we wondered what it meant.

Experience has revealed the mystery. Sanctifica-

tion places the soul where it is kept undisturbed .
It is housed in a pavilion of peculiar grace . The
murmur of fault-finding , detracting, ridiculing
tongues is heard , but the curtains of that pavilion,
the atmosphere of that hiding-place, have strangely
taken from the tongues the power to afflict or
make miserable. You can be perfectly aware of
the circulation of unkind statements , even slan-
ders , and yet be kept full of quiet and peace all the
while.

Fifth, the blessing puts an end to uneasiness and

apprehension about the future , especially that un
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 175

easiness in regard to the appointments of Con-

..ference . The writer has always had his opinion
of a preacher who would manipulate his own ap-
pointment . Verily, he will have his reward. As a
regenerated man he was true to his own ordination
vows here , and left all with the bishop . But,
while doing nothing to affect his appointment, oft-
entime there would be moments of great anxiety
and fear .

At the last Annual Conference the writer went up

with the blessing of sanctification keeping his soul
in a restfulness that literally amazed him. All fear
was cast out. The conviction of God's overruling
power in the appointments stood up like an Alpine
range in the soul, while a peace abided in him
during the whole session of this Conference , under
peculiarly trying circumstances, that was like a
sea whose borders could not be reached and whose

depths defied measurement.

Sixth , the blessing brings an ability to cast all
care immediately upon Christ. There is such a
thing as casting your burden upon God and after-
ward resuming it. There is also such a thing as
placing one's load of trouble upon the Saviour,
but not until having first borne it a great while .
One of the blessed features of sanctification is
that it teaches the lesson and imparts the power of
176 SANCTIFICATION.

instantaneously casting every thing like trouble

upon the Lord. The man, to his delight, finds a
new impulse or a new law at work within him , and
one whose working saves him every moment from
being heavy-laden .
The writer once saw a man receiving brick .
Several fellow-laborers were tossing two and three
at a time to him. With an adroitness and expe-
dition admirable to behold, this man caught the
brick tossed toward him , and in a flash cast them
from him in another direction on a neighboring
pile. If he had paused long enough, he would
have been covered up and walled in with brick ;
but the transferring movement saved him .
The case aptly illustrates the point on hand.
Cares are coming to and threatening to fall upon
all . If we allow them they would soon bury us
alive . As it is , many Christians are covered up or
borne down or heavy-laden by them for a greater or
less length of time. Sanctification is the only life
I know of that refuses to allow trouble to rest upon
the soul ; but with a faith movement, instantane-
ous as a flash of lightning, the man throws the
mistake , trouble , besetment, annoyance , or disap-
pointment at once upon the altar and leaves it
there , and forever. No matter how they come
and when and where, no matter how swiftly and
 ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 177

multitudinously they fall, the sanctified soul, re-

fusing to bear their sad weight a moment, places
them upon his Lord and goes free .
Glory be to God for this heaven-sent power !
There are many other points that the writer would
like to mention, but cannot at this time . He calls
attention to but a single additional feature , and
concludes the chapter .
Sanctification has brought a permanent and
abiding blessing to the soul. The writer can re-
call in his religious life, before he received this
blessing , when he has languished under days of
spiritual emptiness and experience of dryness , bar-
renness , and deadness , when the heart could not
praise God , and the tongue seemed to cleave to
the roof of the mouth .

Reader, listen while I tell you what God has

done for my soul in sanctification. I tell it in
humble , thankful joy. For nearly a year the writ-
er has had an abiding joy in his soul. There
has not been a moment in all that time, day or
night, alone or in company, but he could praise
God from his heart. We hear of blessings lasting
for hours and days ; but think of a blessing that
has reigned unbroken for twelve months ! And
yet his is short-lived compared to others he could
mention who are in this experience. One tells me
12
 178 SANCTIFICATION.

that for twenty-five years the blessing has never

for an instant left her .

This is sanctification. It has no settled despond-

ences , knows no despairs, is lifted above the old-
time fluctuation and variations of feeling and
faith . Instead , it is marked by evenness of spirit,
fixedness of faith, a rest that abides , a love that
nothing can embitter, a peace that flows like a
river and that nothing can destroy , and a joy that
no man can take away.
Blessed be God for sanctification ! May all
Christians hear the Spirit saying : " To-day, if ye
will hear my voice, ye may enter by faith into the
/
rest that remaineth for the people of God ! ' "
 CHAPTER XIX .
CERTAIN OBJECTIONS TO SANCTIFICATION CONSID-
ERED AND ANSWERED .

HEN St. Paul was in Rome the Jews resid-

W
W ing there said to him, in regard to the Chris-
tianity he believed in and confessed : " We desire
to hear of thee what thou thinkest : for as con-
cerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is
spoken against. "
The expression " this sect " meant Christianity.
In spite of its greatness , fullness , and divinity it
was , they said , everywhere spoken against. Cer-
tainly , if the system itself be attacked , we may ex-
pect one of its doctrines to be roughly handled .
That sanctification is everywhere spoken against
is patent to all who listen and read. Indeed, as
far as I can judge, it is now the most offensive of
all the doctrines of our religion to the people .
Many of us are familiar with the expression
" offense of the cross . " Can any one tell me
where that offense resides to-day? You cannot
have your attention directed to the matter without
perceiving that the offense of the cross shifts as
time moves on . It goes from doctrine to doctrine ;
505
(
179)
 180 SANCTIFICATION.

it is now in one part of the cross and now in an-

other. In the first century the offense consisted
in the being and acknowledging one's self to be a
Christian. But who sees any offense in that to-
day ? Is it not felt generally that it is a credit to
be a Christian ? In the time of Luther the offense
of the cross moved again and settled in the doc-
trine of justification. The Church of that day
arose and protested against such teaching. He
that embraced it was made to feel his position
keenly and bitterly. But who imagines for a mo-
ment that the offense of the cross is still to be
found in the claim of pardon by faith ? Who is
made to suffer to-day by arising in the experience-
meetings of the Church and saying that through
faith in Christ he enjoys peace with God. The
offense has gone from that doctrine. Like a star
it travels , and the next time it becomes stationary
we find it abiding in the doctrine of the witness of
the Spirit, as taught by our fathers .
The reader knows well what reproach and con-
tempt were heaped upon those who professed to
enjoy the assurance of salvation. Those that af-
firmed that truth had to pay dearly for its posses-
sion. It was to the world and many in the Church
a most objectionable doctrine. It was, in a word,
the offense of the cross !
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 181

But is the offense of the cross in that doctrine

to-day ? Who believes it for a moment ? Accus-
tomed as we are to hear it on all sides and at all
times, in song, prayer, testimony, and sermon, it
scarcely awakens a comment.
The offense of the cross has moved once more .
Where is it to-day, and in which truth or doctrine
has it settled? Look where you will, and as long
as you will, and you will be compelled to admit
that it is to-day resident in the doctrine of entire
sanctification. Fifty years from now it may be
abiding in another part of the Christian field, but
to-day it is to be found in the doctrine of holiness
as obtained instantaneously by faith in the blood
of the Son of God .

Let a man arise and proclaim by tongue or pen

that he is a Christian , that he is pardoned, that he
enjoys the witness of the Spirit, and not a ripple
of disturbance is created . But let him declare in
assembly or in the columns of a religious news-
paper that Christ has sanctified his soul, and then
comes the storm .

For making such a claim Madam Guyon was

imprisoned. For asserting that we could be sanc-
tified instantaneously by faith Mr. Wesley was as-
sailed on every side . There is something about
the doctrine that seems to arouse antagonism .
182 SANCTIFICATION.

Satan cannot endure it, nor does he propose

that the Church shall come into the possession of
the lost blessing of Pentecost .
It is a sweet, loving, blessed doctrine-one , it
seems , that should delight and gladden every
Christian heart-viz .: a doctrine that teaches the

death of sin in the heart, and a perfect love to God

and man indwelling and reigning there supreme .
And yet its introduction and proclamation in
Church and community is the signal of commo-
tion. The reason is that the offense of the cross
abides therein .
Such are the separations, misunderstandings , and
ecclesiastical ostracism that it produces that but
one thing can account for a man's openly testify-
ing to its enjoyment, and that is the fact of its
possession. In the face of the opposition and death
that came to the disciples but one thing upheld
them in preaching the resurrection of Jesus , and
that thing was that they knew he had risen from
the dead !

And so most truly can this writer affirm that in

view of what will surely come in the future to him
who claims the blessing of sanctification but one
fact on earth will enable him to go on preaching
the doctrine and experience, and that fact is the
enjoyment of the blessing itself.
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 183

As the Jews said to Paul : " It is everywhere

spoken against. " Many are the objections urged
against it. And yet not one but is easily met and
explained . Let us notice a few of them.
First, men object to the psychology of the doc-
trine.

The argument against us is that, if we claim

that depravity is utterly taken out of the soul by
sanctification, this blessing, being enjoyed by
parents , will deliver their children from the curse
of inbred sin. This deduction, we suppose, in the
objector's mind is that a pure nature is transmitted
from father to son ; that conversion would there-
after be unnecessary, and all subsequent sin would
be like the fall of Adam .

In reply we say, if this holds good against sanc-

tification, it will also be valid against regeneration ;
and especially if the objector claims that in regen-
eration the heart is made holy. And if he admits
that depravity is not taken out at the time of con-
version, then does he grant what we contend for,
the need of a second work of grace. Which horn
of the dilemma will he take ?
The argument at first sight formidable-goes
to pieces under this simple statement : that deprav-
ity is general, coming upon the race judicially, but
that salvation is an individual and personal matter.
184 SANCTIFICATION.

A man may reach up by faith out of this flood of

universal evil and obtain the blessings of regenera-
tion and sanctification ; but he has done this only
for himself-he cannot do it for his son. No one
can inherit a holy heart. An individual, accepting
deliverance from the curse of depravity, does not
stop that dark flood-tide as it rolls down the ages
upon and through the human race . A bird has
escaped the storm. An individual has come forth
from his fellows and obtained what each one must
separately and distinctively find for himself. De-
pravity will doubtless be coeval with the race of
man on earth ; it has come upon all by birth ; but
we escape from it not through our fathers , not as
a race , but one by one, through faith in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Chirst .
Second, that sanctification is not scriptural .
In reply to this I direct the reader to turn to
Chapters XIII . , XIV. , and XV. of this work, and
see whether we have not a Biblical basis for the
doctrine .

Let him also turn to the prophets in the Old

Testament and the Epistles in the New, and see if
he does not discover there descriptions of, and
facts stated about, a higher life to which we are
urged to come .
Let him turn to the fourth chapter of Hebrews ,
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 185

and after reading carefully and prayerfully ask

himself what is this " rest " that Paul is there urg .
ing Christians to enter upon. It is not pardon or
conversion , for he calls them brethren and ad-
dresses them as God's people already. It is not
heaven, for he tells them to enter in to-day; and
adds : " We , which have believed, do enter in . "
What is it but sanctification ? the blessing whose
marked and most blessed feature is a rest of soul
that nothing can destroy.
The writer heard a prominent evangelist say in
the pulpit this year that regeneration was men-
tioned in the Bible about twenty-five times , but
that sanctification was mentioned one hundred and
twenty-five . He then added (and he was not a
sanctified man) that if we believed in the first, we
ought to believe in the second five times more than
we did in the first, because it was taught five times
as much .

Third, that it is an unnecessary work ; that re-

generation has done all for us that is needed .
According to the Scriptures the objector has
made a great mistake. If regeneration is all God
does to the soul, why is it that regenerated people
are urged in the word of God to become sanctified ?
Mind you that to be sanctified is not to grow in
grace. " The very God of peace sanctify you
186 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

wholly, " says Paul. Here is no development, no

growth in grace, but a work of God solicited for
the soul.

The Bible plainly teaches in this and many other

passages that there is another work to be done in
the soul by divine power.
According to Christian experience the objector
has made a mistake. The writer has yet to hear
a regenerated person say that he felt that his heart
was holy. If the reader doubts, let him institute a
series of questions . He will find that the universal
experience is that something is still lacking in the
soul-a something to be done by grace, a some-
thing to be taken away, a something to fill the nat-
ure, that finds descriptive expression in the words,
a " clean heart, " a " holy heart. "

In a visit to a neighboring State , at a meeting for

holiness , a venerable minister arose, whom every-
body in the town knew, loved, and esteemed. His
had been a blameless life, and he had enjoyed re-
ligion for years . For the past three years he had
quietly, yet firmly, opposed the holiness movement.
Yet suddenly and unexpectedly he gave testimony
in the meeting to which allusion has been made.
Among a number of things he said he admitted
this: " You all know me to be a Christian man,
and so I am . I walk with God, and yet I feel
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 187

that there is something here in my heart that

needs to be taken away, a something that is not
right."
The writer will never forget the solemnity of the
face and attitude, and especially the way in which
the old man of God placed his long bony finger
over his breast, working it as he spoke, as if he
would penetrate his heart and extract that dark,
disturbing, worrying something within .
Verily, let a man study the Bible and listen to
Christian testimony, and look deep into his own
soul, and he will never say that sanctification is an
unnecessary work .
Fourth, that our best people do not profess it .
This objection sweeps us back more than eight-
een hundred years into the city of Jerusalem. We
find ourselves in the temple. There is a babel of
voices around us . The people are discussing
Christ, and they are saying the identical thing
that appears in the objection: " Have any of the
rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him ?" In
other words , do the best people, the prominent
people, take to Christ and follow him ? That
they did not was sufficient with them to condemn
the Son of God , unheard and untried.
We grant that there are many most excellent
people in the Church who do not believe in the
188 SANCTIFICATION.

doctrine of sanctification, but that is no argument

against it . If you insist that it is, then with that
same argument we can overturn the doctrine of
regeneration . The writer knows some most excel-
lent people in this city, people high-toned and mor-
al, who do not believe in conversion ; therefore ,
according to the objection above, there is no such
thing as regeneration .
The blessing of sanctification is received by a
perfect consecration, and by a special and perfect
faith in the blood of Christ to make holy. But sup-
pose an excellent Christian will not thus consecrate ,
and will not thus believe, what will be the result ?
Simply this : that, although I may be the highest
in the land, I will not obtain that blessing. It is not
your excellence that obtains the precious gift of
God, but your faith . On the other hand, one may
be the weakest, the obscurest member of the
Church, and yet, if he complies with the conditions
mentioned, he will obtain the great blessing .
The writer has known an elegant woman of the
world to be unconverted, while her cook was a de-
vout Christian. And he has also known prominent
lady members of the Church knowing only the ex-
perience of regeneration, while their white serv-
ant girls were enjoying the blessings of sanctifica-
tion .
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 189

Peter said at Pentecost that it was for any and

all, to them that were afar off and all that God
called. Joel said that the blessing of sanctification
would come upon the servants in the last days .
The writer has seen this prophecy fulfilled repeat-
edly. Very humble people are obtaining this high
blessing of God , even as once before the common
people heard and followed Christ gladly .
It deeply offended many then ; it offends many
now. But in the midst of all Christ was glad .
The Bible said he rejoiced in spirit, and said : “ I
thank thee, O Father , that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes . "
" Ye see your calling, brethren," said Paul ;
" how that not many wise, nor mighty, nor noble
are called ; but God hath chosen the weak , the
base , the despised, and things which are not to
bring to naught things that are . "
Fifth , it leads to fanaticism .
This is what many assert and are confident in
the assertion . Even where they have not seen the
fanatics made by sanctification, yet have they heard
of them . They saw a man who saw another man
who saw the fanatics . We are told of the " Come-
outers , " in Mississippi ; the " Body Healers , " *
*As to the doctrine of divine healing, we think the beloved
190 SANCTIFICATION.

in Kentucky, and the " Infallibility People, " in

Texas .

The argument is that this crankiness, practiced

by a few people claiming holiness , proves the doc-
trine to be false . This argument, if accepted ,
proves too much, as we say in logic. If the fanat-
icism of a certain number of sanctified people
proves sanctification to be false , then the fanaticism
of certain converted people proves the doctrine of
regeneration to be wrong .
Does the reader know any " Come-outers " among
regenerated people ? I knew a good old converted
brother who left the Church for ten years because
an organ had been introduced in the public wor-
ship . Did that action of his prove that there was
no such thing as conversion ? Since the writer has
been in New Orleans he has seen a dozen promi-
nent members of the Church who were converted

people get in a huff over a little matter and quit

coming to church for years . They said they could
worship God at home . The evangelist of Georgia
has evidently met with some of these people, and
writer should not class it with " Come-outism," " Infallibility Peo-
ple," etc.; since many very able, earnest Christians believe heart-
ily in it, both professors and non-professors of sanctification. They
refer us to Exodus xv. 26, xxiii. 25 ; Deuteronomy vii. 15 ; 2 Chron-
icles xvi. 12 ; Psalm ciii. 3 ; Jeremiah xvii. 14 ; Matthew viii. 16, 17.
- L. L. P.
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 191

he has named them " Old Brother Quitter " and

" Old Sister Quitter. " Did any one assail the doc-
trine of regeneration because of the crankiness of
these individuals ?

In a certain neighboring State, in a community

where the doctrine of sanctification was never
preached, where only regeneration was taught and
believed in, the writer met a man who fancied he
was God, and therefore infallible . Who for a mo-
ment regarded this as a fruit of regeneration ?
As for " Body Healers , " there is a certain phy-
sician in Louisiana- a converted man who has no
patience with the doctrine of the second blessing ,
who solemnly affirms that he healed a paralytic man
by the power of his own will. If a man professing
the experience of sanctification should say this , he
would be assailed on all sides and dubbed a fanat-
ic, and the doctrine of sanctification would be made
to suffer. And yet this Christian physician states
that he performed a case of healing by an exertion
of his will, and nothing is said in ridicule , he re-
mains highly honored, and the doctrine of regen-
eration is not assailed .
The fact is that every religious movement and
revival (we might add, every doctrine) is afflicted
with some extremists , who are generally weak-
minded, unbalanced, and ignorant people . To
 192 SANCTIFICATION.

hold Christianity or any of its doctrines accounta-

ble for the erratic course of this class of people is a
manifest and gross injustice. Nor is it always done .
All recognize the folly of the " Millerites ; " but,
while we condemn their course , we do not the less
believe in the second coming of Christ to judge
the world .

Simon Stylites , perched on a pillar for years ,

has excited the contemptuous smile of multitudes ;
but none the less did the smiling throng believe in
the doctrine of self-denial and mortification of the
body. Stylites was a fanatic, but the doctrine was
divine . It was not the doctrine that made the man
fanatical . The weakness was in himself, and
would have as readily manifested itself in some
other line .

So , when people enter upon the experience of

sanctification, and not clearly understanding it,
and being uninstructed or unbalanced in some re-
spects , wander into lines of error, the whole occur-
rence proves but one thing, and that is that the err-
ing brother or sister is simply ignorant, weak-
minded, or misguided .
When a steam-boat boiler explodes on the Missis-
sippi River no one dreams of saying that the steam
was at fault, but that something was the matter with
the boiler.
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 193.

As truly there is no fault to be found with the

doctrines of regeneration and sanctification , but
there is oftentimes something serious the matter
with people who profess them . For the sake of
common sense and justice let us distinguish be-
tween steam and a weak boiler, between a doctrine
and a weak human vessel .

It is certainly significant that the objectors to the

doctrine of sanctification, in leveling their shafts of
ridicule, invariably call attention to the fanatical
exponents of the doctrine. Why is it that in op-
posing and denouncing it they point only to the
cranks , and not to the grand men and women who ,
by countless thousands , are enjoying and adorning
this doctrine of God our Saviour ?
With equal justice a guide might direct the at-
tention of the traveler to the lepers of Palestine as
the type of the Asiatic, or the dwarfs of Tyrol as a
sample of the manhood of Europe .
It is something more than significant it is suspi-
cious-that the objector only mentions the fanatic ,
and withholds the names of Wesley, Clark, Car-
vosso , Asbury, McKendree, Fletcher , Peck , Fos-
ter, Lovick Pierce, the saintly Inskip, the holy
Finney, and thousands of others who have en-
joyed and professed the blessing of sanctification.
13
 CHAPTER XX .

ADDITIONAL OBJECTIONS TO SANCTIFICATION CON-

SIDERED AND ANSWERED .

[ OTHING is easier than fault-finding, and no

N movement of the tongue or pen is less de-
pendent for its exercise upon intellectuality and
correctness of information. Indeed, the writer has
observed through life that the less knowledge peo-
ple have of the subject criticised the more do they
indulge in fault-finding .
The name of one of our sacred songs is “ We
shall know each other better when the mists have
cleared away. " This is true ; but it is also true
that if we knew each other better the mists would

be cleared away now, and indeed never would have

formed .

Alas for the objections , grounded in ignorance ,

that are hurled at the holy doctrine of sanctifica-
tion and the people who profess it !
A sixth objection is that it is nothing but a piece
of Pharisaism .

The idea is that a sanctified man is constantly

parading his own goodness and holiness . Before
you believe that, listen carefully to what the sanc
(194)
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 195

tified man says. His invariable testimony is that

through faith in the blood of Christ God killed
the principle of sin within him. Compare his ex-
perience with that of a regenerated man, and see
where abides the most spiritual pride.
The regenerated man, as a rule, looks for holi-
ness to come through growth in grace, and growth
in grace we know to be the work of man. The
sanctified man has obtained the blessing of holiness
not by work , but by faith in the blood of the Sav-
iour. He himself did nothing but surrender to God
and believe that the blood made holy. The Holy
Ghost did the work . Where is the Pharisaism in
this ?

The constant testifying on all occasions to the

possession of a pure heart arises from several facts :
First, the joy of such a possession ; second , the
desire that others might obtain what now gladdens
him ; and third, there is a divine pressure upon the
soul to witness continually to the blessing . More-
over, the man knows that if he ceases to testify to
its reality and presence he will lose the blessing.
The condition of retaining it is to declare it. It is
not given for the selfish enjoyment of the man , but
that the Church might know of it and enter in
again upon the love and glory and power of Pen-
۱
tecost.
196 SANCTIFICATION

This explanation should certainly remove from

the mind of the objector the suspicion of the pres-
ence of the Pharisee in the testimony and life of
the brother claiming sanctification .
Seventh , it depreciates regeneration .
Not so . Sanctification has no quarrel with re-
generation . They move in different spheres , aim
at different things , and accomplish different works .
Regeneration breaks the power of sin by the im-
partation of spiritual life ; sanctification destroys
sin . Regeneration cleanses the nature from all
personal sin ; sanctification destroys inherited sin
or depravity. Regeneration makes one a child of
God ; sanctification makes the heart holy. There
is no clash or collision between the two , save only
in the fancies of misinformed and mistaken men .
Eighth, that men claiming this blessing isolate
themselves from their brethren in holiness associa-
tions and meetings .
Again here is a mistake. Did Wesley and the
other young men seeking holiness of heart isolate
themselves from the world by their " holy club ? "
Did they not do more work for humanity ? Were
they not overflowing with love and good deeds to
all men ?

I notice that we have missionary societies in our

Churches and Sunday-schools . Is it considered
 OBJECTIC VS ANSWERED. 197

an isolation ? Are not all welcome ? and is it not

done merely to simplify and expedite missionary
matters ?

The Sunday-school and the ladies' aid societies

and parsonage societies are not formed with a view
to isolation ; but their special meetings apart from
other services are felt to be best calculated to
achieve the particular end in view. So there is no
exclusive and excluding spirit in the holiness asso-
ciations and meetings now held all over the land.
They are held in that name because the men at-
tending have but one object in view at the time ,
and that is the obtainment of a special blessing .
Instead of being an exclusive, self-admiring socie-
ty, the notice of the meeting is published and
everybody invited to come . As for an organiza-
tion, there is none such . There are several offi-
cers , but their only duty is to see about the time
and place of meeting. As for Constitution and By-
laws, there exists nothing of the kind; there is not
the stroke of a pen in that direction .
Methodism has not truer and more devoted sons
and daughters anywhere than in the people in her
midst who enjoy the blessing of sanctification .
Ninth , it teaches that there is no more growth in
grace.
On the contrary it declares that we never grow
198 SANCTIFICATION.

so rapidly in grace as when we have received the

purifying blessing. The great hinderance to growth
in grace in the regenerated man is inbred sin or de-
pravity. He grows in grace , but with difficulty
and with much inward fighting. Sanctification re-
moves this obstructing and disturbing principle ,
and now a swift and uninterrupted development of
the Christian graces may be had. When we dig
weeds out of a garden that does not hinder or end,
but really helps , the growth of the flowers .
Let the reader remember that growth is develop-
ment, while sanctification is an elimination ; that
growth is life, while sanctification is the death of an
evil principle ; and, remembering this distinction,
the ninth objection will fall into nothing .
Tenth , the doctrine teaches that we cannot sin ,
and are absolutely perfect.
It does nothing of the kind. As long as a man
is a free moral agent, and on probation as well, he
may sin. If the angels sinned in heaven and Adam
fell in Eden, then a sanctified man may fall from
holiness on earth .

" What , then, is the advantage of being sancti-

fied ? " one would ask. Much every way, but
mainly this : that the inward inclination and tend-
ency to sin, the proneness to wander movement
of the soul , is utterly removed.
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 199

The only perfection that the sanctified man

teaches and claims is a perfect love, that does not
sour ; a perfect purity of heart, that is constantly
realized ; and a perfect rest of faith in Christ, that
nothing is able to destroy .
Eleventh, it teaches that we cannot be tempted
any more .

It does nothing of the kind. So far from this

being the case, the holders of this doctrine believe
that a man is never more violently tempted than
after being sanctified. There is, however, this
distinguishing mark in his experience under temp-
tation ; and that is a marvelous calmness , a poise ,
and steadiness of the spirit through it all. The
struggle is not within, as formerly, but the delight-
ful consciousness is that the pressure and onset is
from without. There is a great difference between
having an enemy in the room with you, and having
him locked outside the door. Sanctification puts
the tempter on the outside .
Twelfth , that it leads to oddness and eccentric-
ity.
Not necessarily, although in some respects a
sanctified man will appear peculiar. Felix thought
Paul was crazy, but the world sees to-day that
Paul was the wise man , and Felix the insane one
of the two. Even the Saviour appeared to be be
200 SANCTIFICATION.

side himself to his own brethren and family, and

they so expressed themselves .
The world has its ways and customs, its pleasures
and pursuits . They are all condemned by the Al-
mighty. Now, when a sanctified man comes out
altogether from these questionable and prohibited
things , he, beyond all peradventure , appears odd
and eccentric .

Thus Elijah was very odd in the estimation of

Ahab and his courtiers , and John the Baptist was
very peculiar in the judgment of Herod and those
that lived in kings' houses. " Why, only think, "
said the shallow, laughing throng, " what he eats
and how he dresses , and how dreadful he is in his
denunciations of nice, respectable people ! " So
they thought and talked , and yet Christ said :
" There has not risen a greater man than John the
Baptist . "
Moreover , the two Wesleys and Whitefield and
the other two young men who formed a Holiness
Club at Oxford were thought to be very odd.
They were even nicknamed. They were so pe-
culiar that they were called " Methodists . " I can
hear the young people of the town laughing about
66

them. " O have you met those odd young men

at college ? They are so very pious that Sunday
service is not enough for them. They believe in
 201
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

being perfectly holy ! And, would you believe it ?

they will not attend our dances and plays, and
won't even throw a card in innocent games . You
just ought to see them; they are so odd ! ”
The longer we brood on the subject, the more
evident it is that " oddness " is a term with a vari-
able quantity and when sifted down really means
that the possessor is different in his spirit, princi-
ples , and practices from the people of the world .
If an American citizen went to Africa, and there
still retained the dress and language of his coun-
try, he would be odd in the estimation of the dark-
skinned population ; and if a child of God moves
through the world in holiness of heart and life, in
perfect Christ-likeness , he will unquestionably ap-
pear to be odd .
Thirteenth , that it makes hobbyists and specia)
ists out of Christians .
This again is an unfounded charge. A few in-
dividuals may run the doctrine into extremes , but
this is not the history of the body of those enjoy-
ing this blessing. One of the most active general
workers the writer knows of is a sanctified man .
He is foremost in his State on the Sabbath ques-
tion, the temperance question, and every other
question that affects the glory of Christ and the
good of man. And what is true of him is true of
202 SANCTIFICATION.

the great body of ministers claiming this blessing.

They are active in every good work , they declare
the whole counsel of God, and bring up each year
to Conference the record of scores of conver-
sions .

At a certain famous Holiness camp-ground ev-

ery doctrine is presented from the pulpit, and last
year, among the different subjects handled, a most
masterly sermon on Church finances was preached
by Bishop Key.
The thirteenth objection, like the rest, is unjust
and incorrect . But we cannot but call the read-
er's attention to the consideration of a certain fact
which is placed in the form of a question . Sup-
pose you had the blessing of sanctification, sup-
pose you saw that it was the crowning experience
of the Christian life, that it brought a rest to the
soul and power to the life, that it was a full salvation
from not only outward but inward sin, would you
not want to proclaim it at all times and every-
where ? As you saw your brethren full of inward
fears , pain , and unrest, could you keep from call-
ing upon them again and again to come into this
great blessing ? Could you pray or preach with-
out making some kind of an allusion to it as you
swept on ?
Mr. Wesley, in a letter, says : " Let all our
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 203

preachers make a point of preaching perfection to

believers , constantly, strongly, explicitly. "
Bishop Asbury made this entry in his journal
during a season of sickness : " I have found, by
strict search, that I have not preached sanctifica-
tion as I should have done . If I am restored, this
shall be my theme more pointedly than ever, God
being my helper. "
In the judgment of some of our people, Mr.
Wesley and Asbury were specialists and hobby-
ists . Certain it is that if we, who now enjoy the
blessing, should give it considerable prominence,
we are in most excellent company.
The writer is no prophet, but this he can safely
predict, and that is that the objectors to sermons
and conversations on the subject of holiness will
become specialists and hobbyists themselves on
the subject at the hour of death . Every man will
believe in holiness when the soul is about to take
its flight into the presence of a holy God. We
will remember then the solemn statement of the
Bible that " without holiness no man can see the
Lord. " The main purpose of life and the main
duty of the soul will be felt then, and the admis-
sion will be made in the heart, even though it.
struggles not to the lip, that holiness is the time-
liest, the most appropriate, and most important of
204 SANCTIFICATION.

all themes . O for a man then who can talk about

and lead one on to holiness !
Since his reception of the blessing of sanctifica-
tion the writer had to deal, among others , with a
lady full of opposition to the doctrine. So it was
in her life ; but when she was dying the pastor was
sent for , and the first expression that fell from her
lips was : " I am so glad to have you with me ! "
Looking out to-day at the opposition, I find my-
self saying : " You will object to sanctification in
your life , but you will believe in it when you come
to die ."

Fourteenth , that it is such a high and exalted

life that it cannot be retained .

In reply, we say that the beauty and blessedness

of sanctification is that it keeps the man . " Kept "
is one of the titles given to the life. It is peculiar-
ly a life of faith, and so long as this special faith
in the sanctifying blood of Christ is exercised so
long are we kept in the experience of purity.
There is no agony of protracted strain and effort ;
fear that hath torment is cast out, and , of conse-
quence, the experience is one of constant inward
rest.

There is no feeling of high rope-walking , nor

the trepidation of skirting the edge of great preci-
pices . It is a life of broad, green pastures and
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 205

still waters , and the Shepherd always by the sheep .

There is a calm flow in the life , and a deep rest in
the soul , arising from the consciousness of being
momentarily kept by the power of God.
Glory to the blood that bought me !
Glory to its cleansing power !
Glory to the blood that keeps me !
Glory, glory evermore !
-Louise M. Rouse.
 CHAPTER XXI .

The Final OBJECTION THAT SANCTIFICATION IS

NOT A METHODIST DOCTRINE CONSIDERED AND
TRIUMPHANTLY ANSWERED .

N many sides we have heard the objection

gravely urged that sanctification is not a
Methodist doctrine . As the Church becomes
more worldly we may expect to hear this strange
utterance more frequently. In one sense , how-
ever, it is true .
I thank God that sanctification is longer and
broader and older than Methodism . It is Biblical,
celestial, and eternal. Moreover, all denomina-
tions have recognized it, and Christians in all
Churches have enjoyed and taught the doctrine.
Cardinal Fenelon, of the Catholic Church, had
this blessing and preached it, and wrote book after
book on the subject .
Dr. Upham, of the Presbyterian Church , en-
joyed the blessing, and wrote concerning it : " I
was then redeemed by a mighty power and filled
with the blessing of perfect love. There was no
intellectual excitement, no marked joys when I
reached this great rock of practical salvation , but
I was distinctly conscious when I reached it . "
(
206)
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 207

Time would fail to give the experiences of indi-

viduals outside of our denomination who have re-
joiced in this blessing, showing thereby it is broad-
er and older than Methodism .

And yet, viewing the matter in a certain light ,

the doctrine is peculiarly Methodistic. It is ours
from the reason that, as a Church , we were called
forth providentially to proclaim the truth ; and have ,
as a people , advocated and lived the experience as
no other branch of Christ's Church has done .

It shows an ignorance , dense and amazing, on

the part of a Methodist preacher or layman to say
that the doctrine and experience of sanctification
is un-Methodistic. And when Methodist congre-
gations , on the presentation of the subject, affect
surprise , and affirm that we are introducing some
strange or new doctrine, it is equal to a young girl
who has been absent a few months at a fashionable

boarding-school requiring an introduction to her

mother. In either case we are puzzled for diag-
nostic words . Here, we say, is a marvelous case
of unnaturalness , or one of remarkably short
memory .
Let us take a swift glance at history, and see if
this doctrine of instantaneous sanctification by
faith belongs to the Methodist Church or not.
In the Conference of 1765 Mr. Wesley asked
208 SANCTIFICATION.

the question : " What was the rise of Methodism ? "

The following is the answer given : " In 1729
my brother Charles and I , reading the Bible , saw
we could not be saved without holiness ; followed
after it, and incited others so to do . In 1737 we
saw that this holiness comes by faith. In 1738 we
saw likewise that men are justified before they are
sanctified ; but still holiness was our object, inward
and outward holiness . God then thrust us out to
raise up a holy people. "
Let me ask the reader here what he thinks of
this statement given by the founder of the Method-
ist Church . Ought not the father of our Church
know the essential features of Methodism better

than some of its sons born over one hundred years

later ? Look at the italicized words above, and see
that the very two things now being denied by
Methodist people were solemnly affirmed by Mr.
Wesley.
Turn now to Stevens's " History of Method-
ism " ( page 270), and read as follows : " The Holy
Club was formed at Oxford in 1729, for the sancti-
fication of its members . The Wesleys there sought
purification, and Whitefield joined them for that
purpose . " So we see that Methodism was born in
a Holiness Association .

We turn next to Bangs's " History of the Meth-

 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 209

odist Episcopal Church " (page 195 ) : " The doc-

trine more especially urged upon believers in early
Methodism was that of sanctification, or holiness of
heart and life, and this was pressed upon them as
their present privilege, depending for its accom-
plishment now on the faithfulness of God , who
had promised to do it. It was the baptism of the
Holy Ghost which fired and filled the hearts of
God's ministers at that time . "

In 1766 Mr. Wesley wrote to his brother Charles :

" Insist everywhere on full salvation received now
by faith . Press the instantaneous blessing . "
In 1768 he wrote to the same : " I am at my
wit's end with regard to two things-the Church
and Christian perfection. Unless both you and I
stand in the gap in good earnest, the Methodists
will drop them both. " Some people have affected
to believe that Mr. Wesley was at his wit's end be-
cause of the doctrine being preached; but read the
letter, and see that his trouble arose from the fact
that he feared the truth would be lost.
Again , other people have asserted that Mr. Wes-
ley himself never claimed the blessing . In reply
we quote a letter written by him in 1771 : " Many
years since I saw that without holiness no man
shall see the Lord. I began by following after it.
Ten years after God gave me a clearer view than
14
210 SANCTIFICATION.

I had had before how to obtain it-namely, by

faith in the Son of God-and immediately I de-
clared to all : ' We are saved from sin, we are
made holy byfaith.' This I testified in private, in
public, in print, and God confirmed it by a thou-
sand witnesses ."

In 1761-63 he wrote to two of his preachers :

" You have over and over denied instantaneous sanc-

tification, but I have known and taught it above these

twenty years . I have continually testified for these
five and twenty years, in private and public, that
we are sanctified, as well as justified, byfaith. It
is the doctrine of St. Paul, St. James , St. Peter,
and St. John, and no otherwise Mr. Wesley's than
it is the doctrine of every one who preaches the
pure and whole gospel. I tell you as plain as I can
speak where and when I found this. I found it in
the oracles of God, in the Old and New Testaments ,
when I read them with no other view or desire
than to save my own soul. "
More than once the writer has heard Methodist
people say that Mr. Wesley believed in sanctifica-
tion in the beginning of his ministry, but changed
his mind toward the conclusion of his life .
In utter refutation of this I direct the reader to
" Wesley's Works " (Vol . VII. , pages 376-384 ) ;
also to a letter written by him in 1790, only two
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 211

years before his death, where he says : “ This

doctrine is the grand depositum which God has
lodged with the people called Methodists ; and for
the sake of propagating this chiefly he appears to
have raised us up."
Does this look like he had changed his views ?
Let the reader turn to Wesley's " Christian Per-
fection," and on page 61 see how the matter is
summed up under four or five points that sancti-
fication is deliverance from all sin, is received
merely by faith, is given instantaneously, and is to
be expected not at death , but every moment. This
book was never recalled by Mr. Wesley ; but,
on the contrary, in a late edition he solemnly re-
affirmed its statements .
Now we turn to the Fathers . We mention only
a few:
‫دو‬

Dr. Adam Clarke says in his " Theology : " If

the Methodists give up preaching entire sanctifica-
tion, they will soon lose their glory. Let all those
who retain the apostolic doctrine that the blood of
Christ cleanseth from all sin in this life pray every
believer to go on to perfection and expect to be
saved while here below, unto fullness of the bless-
ing of the gospel of Christ. "
"

Again, in his " Commentary we find these

words on Hebrews vi. I : " Many make a violent
212 SANCTIFICATION.

outcry against the doctrine of perfection. Is it too

much to say of these that they neither know the
Scripture nor the power of God ? "
Dr. Watson, the great Methodist theologian,
says in his " Institutes " (Vol. II . , page 450 ) : " We
have already spoken of justification, adoption, re-
generation, and witness of the Spirit, and we pro-
ceed to another as distinctly marked and as gra-
ciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is
the entire sanctification of believers . This ," he
goes on to say, " is a still higher degree of deliver-
ance from sin . "

Carvosso, as widely known as either of the

above , writes in his autobiography that several
months after his conversion he began to crave in-
ward holiness . " For these I prayed and searched
the Scriptures . At length one evening, while en-
gaged in a prayer-meeting, the great deliverance
came ! I began to exercise faith by believing : I
shall have the blessing now. Just that moment a
heavenly influence filled the room, and no sooner
had I uttered the words from my heart, ' I shall
have the blessing now,' than refining fire went
through my heart, illuminated my soul, scattered
its life through every part, and sanctified the whole .
I then received the full witness of the Spirit that
the blood of Jesus had cleansed me from all sin ."
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 213

Bishop Asbury wrote thus to a minister : " Preach

sanctification, directly and indirectly, in every ser-
66
mon. " He wrote to another : " O purity ! O
Christian perfection ! O sanctification ! It is
heaven below to feel all sin removed. Preach it,
whether they will hear or forbear. Preach it ! "
Bishop McKendree, in a letter to Bishop Asbury,
describes his conversion ; then adds : " Not long
after Mr. Gibson preached a sermon on sanctifica-
tion, and I felt its weight. This led me more mi-
nutely to examine my heart. I found remaining
corruption, embraced the doctrine of sanctifica-
tion, and diligently sought the blessing it holds
forth. " Farther on he tells how, while walking in
a field, he received in an overwhelming way the
grace he sought .
Here are the five leading names in early Meth-
odism. We could give many more, but cannot for
ack of space. Does it not look as if the Method-
ist Church believed in the doctrine of sanctifica-
tion?

We turn now to the Conferences . In 1824 the

bishops of our Church, in their quadrennial address
to the General Conference , said : " Do we come
to the people in the fullness of the blessing of the
gospel of peace ? Do we insist on the witness of
the Spirit and entire sanctification through faith in
 214 SANCTIFICATION.

Christ. Are we contented to have the doctrine of

Christian holiness an article of our creed only,
without becoming experimentally and practically
acquainted with it ? If Methodists give up the doc-
` trine of entire sanctification, or suffer it to become
a dead letter , we are a fallen people. Holiness is
the main cord that binds us together ; relax this ,
and you loosen the whole system. This will ap-
pear more evident if we call to mind the original
design of Methodism . It was to raise up and pre-
serve a holy people. This was the principal ob
ject which Mr. Wesley had in view. To this end
all the doctrines believed and preached by the
Methodists tend. " To this address are attacher!
the names of Bishops McKendree , Hedding, Soule,
George, and Roberts .
In 1832 the General Conference issued a pastor-
al address to the Church , in which we find these
words : " When we speak of holiness we mean
that state in which God is loved with all the heart
and served with all the power. This , as Method-
ists , we have said, is the privilege of the Christian
in this life . And we have further said that this
privilege may be secured instantaneously by an act
of faith , as is justification. Why, then, have we so
few living witnesses that the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin ? Among primitive Method-
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 215

ists the experience of this high attainment in relig-

ion may justly be said to have been common.
Now a profession of it is rarely to be met with
among us . Is it not time to return to first princi-
ples ? Is it not time that we throw off the incon-
sistency with which we are charged in regard to
this matter ? Only let all who have been born of
the Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God,
seek with the same ardor to be made perfect in
love as they sought for the pardon of their sins ,
and soon will our class meetings and love-feasts be
cheered by the relation of experiences of this char-
acter, as they now are with those which tell of jus-
tification and the new birth . "
In 1874 the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South , thus concluded their address to the
General Conference : " Extensive revivals of relig-
ion have crowned the labors of our preachers ; and
the life-giving energy of the gospel, in the conver-
sion of sinners and in the sanctification ofbelievers,
has been seldom more apparent amongst us. The
boon ofWesleyan Methodism, as we received itfrom
our fathers, has not been forfeited in our hands ."
To this document is affixed the signatures of Bish-
ops Robert Paine , George F. Pierce , H. H. Kava-
naugh , W. M. Wightman , E. M. Marvin , D. S.
Doggett, H. N. McTyeire , and J. C. Keener .
216 SANCTIFICATION.

In 1884 the Centennial Conference of American

Methodism, which met in Baltimore, re-affirmed
the faith of the entire Church in all its separate
branches : " We remind you, brethren, that the
mission of Methodism is to promote holiness . It
is not a sentiment or emotion, but a principle in-
wrought in the heart, the culmination of God's
work in us followed by a consecrated life. In all
the borders of Methodism this doctrine is preached
and the experience of sanctification is urged. We
beseech you , brethren, stand by your standards
on this subject. "
Turn now to the " Wesleyan Catechism No. 2. "
After asking and answering the question , " What
is regeneration ? " farther on we find the following :
" Question.-What is entire sanctification ?
" Answer. The state of being entirely cleansed
from sin so as to love God with all our heart and
mind and soul and strength, and our neighbor as
ourselves ."

Turn now to the Hymn Book. If we glance at

the edition preceding the last, in the second verse
of hymn 542 we read these words of Charles Wes-
ley:
Speak the second time : " Be clean ! "
Take away my inbred sin :
Every stumbling-block remove ;
Cast it out by perfect love.
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 217

This hymn has been left out of the new Hymn

Book. * Let the Hymn Book Committee answer
to their conscience now and to God at the day of
judgment why they did this .
To purge the Hymn Book of the doctrine of
the second blessing, the iconoclasts would have
been under the necessity of eliminating hundreds
of stanzas instead of one .
The expression: " Speak the second time , ' Be
clean ! ' '" seems to be obnoxious to many. What
a pity it is for them that the same thought crops
out in the grand old hymn, " Rock of Ages ! "
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Let the reader take up the attenuated last edition

of our hymns and find still forty-four left that
teach plainly the doctrine of sanctification . Espe-

* Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit

Into every troubled breast ;
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find that second rest :
Take away our bent to sinning,
Alpha and Omega be,
End of faith , as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

[This clear verse is retained in the new Hymn Book.-L.

L. P.]
218 SANCTIFICATION.

cially do we call attention to hymns 422, 425, 429,

440,445,447, and 449, and to 411 , familiar to
thousands , but never losing its sweetness and
blessedness :
Lord, I believe a rest remains
To all thy people known ;
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And thou art loved alone :

A rest where all our soul's desire

Is fixed on things above ;
Where fear and sin and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.
O that I now the rest might know,
Believe, and enter in !
Now, Saviour, now the power bestow,
And let me cease from sin .

Remove this hardness from my heart,

This unbelief remove ;
To me the rest offaith impart,
The Sabbath of thy love.

And now turn to the Discipline .

In the baptismal service, and in the collect said
at the Lord's Supper, and in Article XX. , found
in the first chapter which contains the Articles of
our religion, the doctrine is both implied and
taught.
In the ordination or reception of ministers into
the Conference it is unmistakably apparent.
Paragraph 66, Question 2 : " What method do
 FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 219

we use in admitting a preacher into full connec-

tion ? "

The answer is, that after solemn fasting and

prayer upon the part of the candidates , the bishop
shall ask them the following questions :
" Have you faith in Christ ? " "Are you going
on to perfection? " " Do you expect to be made
perfect in love in this life? " " Are you groaning
after it? "
Is it not marvelous that a Methodist preacher,
after having answered these questions affirmatively,
should ever deny the doctrine of sanctification, or,
worse still, take a stand against it ? He once sol-
emnly vowed that he believed in the experience,
was going on to it, expected to obtain it in this life,
and was groaning after it ; and now, pitiful to re-
late, he pens articles , preaches sermons , or writes
a book against a doctrine that he swore in the
presence of God and a hundred preachers that he
firmly believed.
It was on condition of his avowed belief in that
doctrine, and in view of his promise to seek and
obtain the experience, that the Methodist Church
admitted him into her pulpits as an ordained
preacher. And yet here he is denying the faith,
giving up the struggle, and surrendering the dis-
tinguishing doctrine of our Church, which Mr.
220 SANCTIFICATION.

Wesley called " the grand depositum of Method-

ism."

And now I submit it to the reader, who has fol-

lowed me in my quotations from Methodist Con-
ferences , standards, bishops, and fathers, the ques-
tion: Who is most truly a Methodist he that
believes in, or he that denies, the doctrine of sanc-
tification ? And who has left in creed and life the
Methodist Church-the person who denies the
doctrine and experience of holiness received by
faith , or the individual who enjoys and testifies to
that most precious blessing ?
Verily, as the writer takes note of those who op-
pose, and contrasts them with the spiritual giants
of our Church, who enjoyed and lived and advo-
cated the doctrine of sanctification , and who were
the founders and deliverers of Methodism in the
past, he cannot but cry out : " Let me live the life
of these men, believe what they believed, do as
they did, and may my last end be like theirs ! "
It is a blessed thought, however , that the truth of
sanctification comes from a higher source than
Methodism . The doctrine is not of man, but of
God. And so it will live and flourish in spite of
all opposition and unbelief. Church after Church
may refuse to proclaim it, denomination after de-
nomination may lose this great blessing of Pente
 221
FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED.

cost; the Methodist Church itself, that was raised

up of God for the main purpose of restoring this
blessing to the people of God and " spreading
scriptural holiness over the land, " may prove rec-
reant to her trust and surrender the doctrine
which was once her glory and joy and strength .
Nevertheless the doctrine will live and the experi-
ence will be enjoyed by countless multitudes until
the end of time .
If necessary God will raise up other Churches
and stir up distant peoples, in order that his chil-
dren may hear of and possess by faith a full salva-
tion from all sin, inward as well as outward .
The experience that Christ promised his disci-
ples , and his Church after them, in the words " If
the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in-
deed " shall not perish, but shall abide as the
priceless legacy of the Church forever .
May God grant our beloved Church to stand
with lips purified by the coal of fire from the altar,
with heart aflame with love, with soul burning with
holiness, with spirit and body ready to spring away
with the messages of God, with wing of faith and
wing of consecration in constant, tireless move-
ment, and with this cry of the soul ascending con-
tinually: " Here am I, Lord ; send me ! "
May sanctification, the lost blessing of the
222 SANCTIFICATION.

Church, be poured out upon the people far and

near ! Then will the Church arise and shine ; then
will a nation be born in a day; one man chase a
thousand, two put ten thousand to flight, and the
kingdom of God will come.

THE END .
 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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