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SANCTIFICATION

RIGHT VIEWS AND OTHER VIEWS

By S. MrMERRILL

OINOINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE
NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS

THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS,

Two Copied Received

AUG. 10 1901

Copyright entry

CLASS <^XXc. N».

COPY B,

COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY
THE WESTERN METH-
ODIST BOOK CONCERN.

PREFATORY NOTE.

This little booklet is not a treatise, but
a summary of views designed to give direc-
tion to inquirers wishing to pursue the sub-
ject in its doctrinal bearings as well as in
its practical features. It is sent out with
the hope that it may aid in removing the
reproach that has come to the doctrine
through partial, superficial, and extreme
teachings, and my prayer goes with it that

its mission may be successful.

S. M. M.
Chicago, June^ 1901.

3

SMCTIEICATION.

I.

In presenting the following thoughts on
sanctification I wish to say that it is not
my purpose to set forth views differing from
the current belief of the Church, but rather
to make that belief clear to the understand-
ing of ordinary inquirers, and to free it
somewhat from the mists that have gath-
ered about it by reason of partisan and
inadequate representations.

My persuasion is firm that the founders
of our Methodism apprehendbd and force-
fully presented the scope and spirit of the

6 Sanctification.

Gospel with ref ereince to the privileges of
believers in their wonderful experiences of
emerging from sin — death — ^into the full-
orbed life of righteousness. They did this
in the presence of difficulties which we can
not appreciate, since conditions have so
changed as to make things plain to us which
were seen but dimly, if at all, in their day.
The shifting grounds of opposition to the
doctrines of the Church necessarily affect
the expressions of the defenders of the
faith, giving the appearance of modifica-
tions of belief where no real change has
taken place. In this way it has occurred
that some of the pulpits of Methodism have
caused honest inquirers to have trouble in
distinguishing between accurate and inac-
curate representations of the most vital

Sanctifioation. 7

teachings of tlie fathers, and made it pos-
sible for intense zeal and bold assertion to
take the place of intelligent exposition, re^
suiting in the mystification and confusion of
patient hearers.

Instead of propounding a theory of sanc-
tification which will emphasize soniei par-
ticular feature or incident or manifesta-
tion of the work, to me it seems well to
avoid theorizing as far as possible, and to
confine attention to the facts of the Gospel,
and to the essential nature of the work of
grace designated by this word, and by kin-
dred and correlative terms. Sanctification
is at most only a part of the work of salva-
tion, and represents a feature which does
not exist except in conjunction with other
features bearing a similar relation to the

8 Sanctification.

whole. Salvation is the more compre-
hensive term, and in an impoi*tant sense
the work of salvation is a unit; that is, it
is one work or one deliverance, resulting,
it may be, from a variety of agencies, but,
nevertheless, it is a concrete experience,
which has a distinct beginning, and pro-
gresses and matures or culminates in the
complete renewal of the soul in the image
of God. This great work may be called, in
general terms, conversion, salvation, or
sanctification, as the desire may be to em-
phasize one particular feature of it, or to
express it comprehensively as a whole.

If I understand current thought on this
subject, the differences of opinion and the
discussions which arise with regard to it re-
late almost entirely to the analysis of the

Sanotification. 9

work, to the separation of it into different
parts or elements, and to descriptions of
these parts in their isolation and in their
relations to one another and to the whole.
Theorizing finds its purpose and sphere in
this work of differentiation, and the Scrip-
tures give little countenance or assistance
to it. So long as attention is kept upon the
work of salvation as a whole, or upon its
results in lifting the believer into a new
life and new relations to God, there is little
room for differences of opinion or for dis-
putations about modes and processes; for
in actual experience the work is so unique,
so complete in its results, so perfectly
adapted to the needs and longings of the
soul, and so manifestly the work of Grod^s
infinite wisdom and love, that it is gladly

10 Sanctificatiok.

accepted as the Divine healing^ as one who
lias been sick accepts restored bealtli and
rejoices in it withont waiting to compreliend
the functions and agencies employed in his
recovery.

There is, however^ a possible analysis of
this work, which, when rightly made, may
be edifying, and aid in the elucidation of
the subject as a whole, as well as in under-
standing the terms employed in the Scrip-
tures with reference to it. In point of fact,
there are different elements in the experi-
ence of salvation from sin — elements dis-
tinct and vital — which must be considered
separately and conjointly if a, comprehen-
sive and discriminating view is taken of the
subject.

The legal side of this work comes first

Sanctification. 1 1

in order, and deserves more thought than is
usually bestowed upon it. It comes first
because it precedes and provides for every
other part, and is so related to the whole
scheme of salvation that all else will be
darkness unless light shines here. To this
side or department belong all those terms
which speak of sin and of salvation as re^
lated to the law of God or as affected by
it. Sin, transgression, condemnation; par-
don, forgiveness, justification — these are
forensic terms, drawing their meaning from
the law and from the Divine dealing with
men under the law, or as related to it. It
is not possible to get hold of the mean-
ing of Christ's mission without studying it
in the light of the relation of God's law
to men and to tlie universe. The whole

12 Sanctification.

office of the Redeemer has primarily a rer
lation to the law, and especially to its in-
flexibility and universality. Redemption
from the curse of the law was his great
work, and underlies all experiences and all
gracious privileges. The expiation of hu-
man guilt by his sacrifice was the great
legal transaction. That was the atonement
— the redemption. Every gracious benefit
flows from that as a stream from its foun-
tain.

The making over to the individual sin-
ner of the merit of the sacrifice of Christ
is the first legal transaction with the peni-
tent who seeks salvation. This work ac-
complished is justification in the sense of
pardon or forgiveness. It is legal in its
relation to the law, but it is a comprehensive

Sanctification. 13

blessing, carrying with it the legal right
to every other element of the generic or
concrete salvation, securing the reversal of
the sentence of condemnation, the new birth
of the soul into the life of God, the wash-
ing away of legal and moral defilement con-
tracted by actual sin, and therefore a
gracious adoption into the family of God.
It is not an isolated blessing going before
other blessings, and leaving them to follow
or to fail. Its precedence is in the order
of thought and the order of its relation,
and not in the order of time and of fact.
The justified man is the converted man. It
must be, therefore, that the justified state
implies the presence of the concomitants of
justification, and means that every justified
believer is regenerated by the Holy Spirit,

1 4: S ANCTIFIC ATIOK.

and sanctified through the blood of the ever-
lasting covenant.

This view of the conversion of a sinner
indicates the tremendous significance of the
wonderful achievement. It also brings to
the believer the possibility of a just ap-
preciation of his present inheritance in
Ohristj and of the richness of that grace
which has abounded unto him through the
faith that brought pardon and peace and
personal acceptance. When the Spirit at-
tests the filial relation attained, it also
brings assurance of the fullness of the love
of Christ yet to be unfolded in the de-
veloping graces and experiences to be
wrought out in daily duties, self-denials,
temptations, victories, and consecrations, till
the incipient life implanted expands and

S ANCTIFIO ATION. 1 6

matures into the richer fruitage promised
in the gift of the Comforter.

As just indicated, there is a life-side or
a life-element in this work which calls for
special consideration. The necessity of this
element is found in the condition of the
sinner, and it is, therefore, neither specu-
lative, hypothetical, nor arbitrary, but a
fact. The sinner is dead — "dead in tres-
passes and sins'' — dead spiritually, and
tlierefore inactive and helpless. In the ex-
perience of the generic salvation, he passes
"from death into life." When guilt is can-
celed and condemnation removed, the quick-
ening Spirit imparts new life. This is re-
generation, the new birth, the beginning
to live again as a new creature. It is not
identical with pardon, but accompanies it.

16 Sanctificatioit.

The justified are not left in a state of deatli.
"He that hath the Son of God hath life/'
"The dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of Godj and they that hear shall live.''
They are made alive in Christ; they are
risen with Christ. Each one can say, "I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
To be born is to begin to live; to be born
again is to begin to live a new life, the
life of Him of whom we are born. Every
one bom of God has the life of God within
him. This is the vital fact in salvation.
A dead soul can not be a child of God.

I have been impressed many times that
too little attention is given to this life ele-
ment. Regeneration always relates to it in
the Scriptures, and it is the source of light,
spiritual vision, activity, power over sin,

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 1 7

and of the aggressive forces brought out
in the conflicts with evil, as well as the
ground of all growth in grace and holiness.
There is another element in this salva-
tion which also has place because of the
condition of the subject of it. The sinner
is condemned, as we have seen, and must
be justified; he is dead, and must be made
alive; and he is also morally polluted or
filthy, and must be washed or cleansed.
This washing process is distinct from the
quickening process which gives life, but is
not separate from it. ITo converted soul
remains unwashed. Such a condition is
scarcely thinkable. This washing is sancti-
fication. The word means just this. It
relates to the act of cleansing, and thus
introduces the element of purity as regen-

18 Sanctification.

eration does the element of life. Hence,
every sinner is washed when he is saved —
converted. He is justified, regenerated,
sanctified; for salvation includes these three
elements or processes. As God has no dead
children, none not made alive in Christ, so
he never owns an unwashed or unsanctified
child. The experience of salvation includes
every needed process and element. The
Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinth-
ians, speaks of ^^babes in Christ,'' and de-
clares them sanctified in Christ. They were
sanctified as surely as they were born into
the kingdom. Mr. Wesley taught exactly
this, and Mr. Fletcher, Adam Clarke,
Richard Watson, Joseph Benson, and all
the old Methodist divines taught it with-
out exception. It can scarcely be called a

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 1 9

theory; it is not a theory, but a fact, for
it accepts the fact without attempting to
explain its modes.

From the beginning;, Methodism has held
that all believers are sanctified at conver-
sion— that salvation includes justification,
regeneration, and sanctification, making a
complete deliverance from the guilt, power,
and pollution of sin. There is nothing new,
dark, or misleading in this, and yet it is
not a full statement of the doctrine of the
Church, as the intelligent reader will at
once discover. It only claims to be cor-
rect as far as it goes. The fact must be
added, and stated with all distinctness,
that Methodism has always made a dis-
tinction between sanctification as a con-
comitant of justification, and "entire sancti-

20 Sanotificatioi^.

fication/' using the modifying word to dis-
tinguish the subsequent and fuller work
which comes after conversion, sometimes at
a much later date, and often reveals itself
in connection with some wonderful spiritual
uplift. The authorities in Methodism
above named not only taught the expedi-
ency of making the distinction between the
ordinary sanctification and ^ ^entire" sancti-
fication, but the necessity of it, holding it
to be impossible to convey the idea of the
higher state by the use of the word sancti-
fication without the use of an auxiliary,
such as ^^entire," ^VhoUy," or the like; so
that it is the phase of the subject brought
before us by these qualifying terms that
calls for particular attention.

It is worthy of remark at this point that

Sanctification. 21

nearly all the theorizings, speculations, and
disputations that have distracted and af-
flicted the Church in connection with the
subject of sanctification have occurred with
reference to this last feature of the general
doctrine, and a deplorable condition has en-
sued in many places. Sad indeed that the
most precious things of the Grospel should
be liable to such abuse!

II.

Then it is to the doctrine of entire sanc-
tification or complete holiness that we must
now direct our thoughts. What is it? What
does it involve, and what are its relations?
Definitions are abundant, and they are as
clear as can be made. They pervade our
literature, and I shall attempt nothing new
in this line. With the conception of sane-
tification already given, one can hardly go
astray in the application of the auxiliaries
mentioned. ^^Entire sanctification'' must
mean thorough cleansing, and to be "sanc-
tified wholly" must mean to be cleansed
in all parts and to the fullest degree pos-
sible. As cleansing results in being made
22

Sanctification. 23

clean, and as cleanness is purity, and purity
is holiness, the wholly sanctified person is
completely holy. There is no room for mis-
understanding at this point. The Scrip-
tural standard is thus brought out. It is
a "clean heart," a "pure heart," a heart
cleansed "from all sin," "from all unright-
eousness," "purified from all filthiness of
the flesh and of the spirit," and hence a
state of freedom from sin. Thus sanctifica-
tion, in all stages, relates to the washing
away of sin, the removal from the soul of
the pollution and the polluting power of
sin. So far as is discoverable from the
word, or from the nature of the work, or
the nature of the particular process it repre-
sents, there is nothing of a positive kind
brought into the soul in this cleansing act.

24 Sanctifioation.

If life is imparted or strengthened, as it
doubtless is, that work is not covered by
the word sanctification, unless in a few in-
stances where the name of a part is put for
the whole. The coincident act of imparting
life is specifically expressed by the word
"quickening/' or the word "regeneration/'
so that sanctification, whether particular or
general, whether partial or complete, in all
places and in all applications, retains its
significance, and points to cleanness or
purity as its resultant state.

This doctrine of entire sanctification is
not to be confounded with the evangelical
doctrine of Christian perfection, although
it is freely conceded that the two doctrines
are closely allied and bear important re-
lations to one another. Not a few con-

Sanctification. 25

found them and treat them as if they were
identical, using, interchangeably, the terms
expressing the different phases of the gen-
eric salvation they represent, leading to
misconceptions, inaccuracies, distractions,
and disputations. If I may be allowed the
intimation, and suggest it without undue
boldness, I will say that the most serious
lack of clearness in the treatment of this
subject by our revered founder is at this
point. Assuming the oneness of the con-
crete experience, where the presence of one
element implies the presence of all the
others, he so speaks as to carry the impres-
sion that entire sanctification and Christian
perfection are the same thing, and, in some
instances, uses one phrase to define the
other. For his day, and in view of the

2 6 S ANCTIFIC ATION.

state of tlie discussion as it came before
him and his coadjutors, when the state re-
sultant from the processes of this complex
experience was assailed and denied as im-
possible to the most evangelical faith, his
treatment was adequate, and its general
soundness to be acknowledged; but when
we study the subject in the light of later
investigations, when friends of the doctrine
have pushed their inquiries to a critical
analysis of the component properties and
methods of the experience and the induc-
tion into it, it is not presumptuous to re-
view the general definitions of the gracious
state in question, and seek for more exact
descriptions of the processes and elements
making up the exceedingly rich inheritance
of faith.

Sanctifioation". 27

Let us, then, attend to some distinctions
which will not all prove to be distinctions
without a difference. In view of errors
prevailing in many minds, it is necessary
to distinguish between sanctification and
growth. These are not identical. Sancti-
fication is a work, a process, a Divine cleans-
ing; it is a work wrought by the Holy
Spirit in answer to prayer and faith, and
is, therefore, a present privilege. It oc-
curs at conversion, but is not restricted to
the hour of conversion, being neither com-
pleted nor discontinued at the period of that
wonderful consummation. It goes on, as
necessity requires, after conversion, ^^cleans-
ing and keeping" the heart clean, for with-
out the continuous cleansing the once puri-
fied person would contract defilement in

28 SANCTIFICATTO]Sr.

daily contact with external life, as well as
througli the motions of the flegh or the
lingering forces of carnality within.

It is therefore evident that sanctification,
as it takes place in conversion, is instanta-
neous, wrought by a Divine agency, even
the same agency that regenerates and im-
parts life to the soul delivered from the
death of sin and raised up into the life
of righteousness; and yet that instantaneous
washing is not the whole of sanctification,
nor the only sanctification. There is be-
yond it a sanctification which is not in-
stantaneous, but continuous, a progressive
work, going on in harmony with gTacious
provisions for supplementary grace, such as
the exposures and temptations of life in this
world render necessary. While instanta-

SANCTIFICATIOlSr. 29

neous in its first manifestation, it is pro-
gressive in its continuous processes after
conversion, and progressive till the conquest
of sin is completed, and the resultant purity
warrants the employment of the auxiliaries
^^entire" and "wholly;'' but even this pro-
gressive sanctification is not growth. As it
is a cleansing, it can not be a growth. It
never means that, and can not be called
a growth except in an accommodated or
metaphorical use of the word. Growth is
a process or function of life. It is the
manifestation, the unfolding, the outreach-
ing, and developing of life. Growth per-
tains to the life element, and not to the
purifying element in the comprehensive sal-
vation. Sanctification aims at purity, tends

to purity, results in purity — holiness.
S

30 Sanctification.

Growth aims at maturity^ progresses towards
maturity, and culminates in maturity — ^per-
fection. Eacli has its work, its sphere, and
its goal, and each is distinct from the other
and should be so distinguished in all correct
reasoning.

Here arises a question that calls for an-
other distinction, and one not less impor-
tant than that between sanctification and
growth. It is, ^^Are not these differently-
named goals identical?" Some assume that
they are, but not many. Divines usually
distinguish widely between purity and ma-
turity. In this they do well. They are
not identical, nor are they necessarily co-
etaneous; but they are related, and in a
sense mutually dependent. Purity is not
maturity, but it is necessary to maturity,

S ANCTIFIC ATIOlSr. 3 1

although maturity is not necessary to pu-
rity. Purity and holiness are the same, the
result of sanctification, the outcome of the
spiritual cleansing^ and not the outcome of
growth in any proper sense, however that
may accompany the process and prove to
be coincident with it. Maturity is the out-
come, the culmination of growth, the state
resultant therefrom, and not the immediate
product of the cleansing.

Books have been written on purity and
maturity, showing the broad distinction be-
tween them — some of them good books.
Dr. Wood, late of the National Holiness
Association, has one which has many ex-
cellent features. Dr. McDonald approves
it, and in his own works writes in the same
strain. Dr. Inskip preached vigorously on

3 2 S ANCTIFIC ATIOT^.

this distinction, insisting upon it as neces-
sary to the proper understanding of the doc-
trine of holiness. Dr. Asbury Lowrey ably
maintained the same ground, and Dr.
Daniel Steele walks in the same path with
unfaltering step. Besides these, and before
their day, many able men, who never at-
tained the doctorate in divinity, grappled
the problem with eminent skill, and blazed
the way for others to follow. Among these
were John Wesley, John Fletcher, and
Richard Watson. These all saw the differ-
ence between purity and maturity, and all
recognized the impropriety of confounding
growth in grace with Christian purity.

An additional remark should be made
here in justice to our representative authors
who have sometimes spoken of purity and

Sanctification. 33

holiness, and matnrity and perfection, as if
all these terms were about synonymous, and
might be used interchangeably. Close ob-
servation reveals the fact that in such in-
stances they were not dealing with exact
definitions so much as with the state of
the persons fully sanctified, whose experi-
ence, in fact, included all the processes of
pardon, quickening, regeneration, sanctifi-
cation, growth, development, bearing fruit,
and ripening into maturity. As descriptive,
or rather as a comprehensive expression of
such a state of grace, it is quite allowable
to speak of it as a state of entire sancti-
fication, or as a state of maturity, or as
Christian perfection. This practice pre-
vailed with our founders and first defenders,
as also with later advocates, such as Hed-

34 Sanctification.

ding, Peck, and Foster. It is not neces-
sarily misleading wlien the general terms
are not taken as descriptive of tlio specific
elements, phases, or processes of the one
great salvation. As God purifies the heart
by faith, and does it at the birth of the
believer into the new life, and continues
it through all stages of growth, develop-
ment, enlightenment, and conquest, it is not
improper to afiirm that men grow into a
deeper and broader and purer and stronger
spiritual life, the life of faith in the Son
of God; for all the different elements in the
concrete experience are reciprocally com-
plementary and harmonious, and never an-
tagonistic. The mature Christian is cer-
tainly a holy man, and the man who is en-
tirely sanctified is almost as certainly so

Sanctification. 86

well advanced in the spiritual graces that
little if any mistake is made in speaking
of him as a mature or perfect Christian, as
has been the custom of writers on this sub-
ject from the beginning.

This brings us to consider another dis-
tinction between things that differ, and one
which has not received as much attention
as have some others. It is the distinction
between purity and perfection. In my
thought this is essential. Many of the doc-
tors whose activity in this discussion has
been marked and largely commendable,
have gone quite astray at this point, and,
as a consequence, have involved the whole
subject in confusion with sad results, such
as misleading inquirers, belittling the
holiest and grandest attainment possible in

36 Sanctification.

this life, as well as throwing the door wide
open for deception, extravagance, fanati-
cism, and all manner of evils. Of course,
so severe an arraignment requires justifica-
tion, and, being justified, in turn demands
the closest consideration.

As above remarked, they make a broad
and proper distinction between purity and
maturity, and do it well, proving beyond
all question that these diflPer widely in na-
ture, process, and' result, showing that pu-
rity comes from cleansing, and maturity
from growth and the development of the
graces of the Christian life. So far, well;
but now for the mistake. It is in the fact
that after making this distinction between
purity and maturity, they make no distinc-
tion between purity and perfection. This

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 3 7

omission leaves the impression tliat purity
and perfection are identical, and the writers
and preachers in qnestion habitually treat
them as one, applying the same Scriptures
to the one and the other indifferently, and
using the terms interchangeably. The prac-
tical result is deplorable beyond question.
Intensely zealous followers of such teaching
insist on purity of heart as a present privi-
lege, dwell rapturously on the power of the
cleansing blood, urge all to seek purity at
once, and indirectly, if not directly, dis-
parage the process of growth, or treat it
as something relating to a different con-
dition of things in life, and then call upon
all whose emotional experiences lead them
to believe that their hearts have been puri-
fied, to avow that attainment, and call it

3 8 S ANCTIFIC ATION,

Christian perfection. In response to sueli
appeals, many honest and earnest souls, in
the ardor of their good intentions, and in
the glow of their first love, following the
impulses of an enthusiasm bom of sincere
devotion, accept this teaching, and declare
their cleansing, and take upon themselves
the high profession of perfection in love.
They are not mature — do not claim to be;
they are quite immature, young men and
young women with little knowledge and
little experience in the ways of the world,
pure-minded, susceptible, teachable, ^^babes
in Christ," and yet they have been led to
make what is manifestly a premature pro-
fession of Christian perfection.

Such cases are not rare. They are found
in all sections, especially where professional

Sanctification. 39

revivalists have access to the congregations,
and cherish the belief that their success and
popularity will be measured by the num-
ber of their sanctifications. Indeed, they
are so numerous as to awaken anxiety in
many Churches; and yet, fortunately,
through the judicious treatment of pastors
and the godly help of experienced Chris-
tians, many are rescued from the imminent
peril to which they are exposed, and
brought to a wise and wholesome conse-
cration of their lives to the service of Christ.
But others there are to whom this hasty
profession proves disastrous. They run
well for a season, and then discover that
they are not perfect, but compassed about
with weaknesses, liable to temptations, fall
into darkness and doubt, and realize that

40 SANCTIFICATIOlSr.

they have been deceived in the matter of
Christian perfection, as they surely have
been; and then they too readily yield to
the persuasion that their whole experience
was a delusion, lose heart and lose faith,
fall into apostasy, and are lost.

This picture is not overdrawn, dark as
it is. With the teaching and practice de-
scribed one can scarcely see how a different
result could be expected. But let no one
imagine that such dire results must follow
the judicious teaching of Christian perfec-
tion, as found in the Scriptures and re-
ceived by Methodism. The evil deprecated!
comes from the abuse of the doctrine,
which is also an abuse of Methodism. The
broader and clearer view — the real Meth-
odistic view — escapes this danger and

SANCTIFICATIOlSr. 41

avoids tlie ruinous pervorsion of a most
precious truth, by distinguishing between
purity and perfection exactly as we distin-
guish between purity and maturity. For
this tbere is high authority. The fathers
defined perfection by using the word ma-
turity. In their thought these were one,
and one was equivalent to the other; they
represented the same result, the same grace.
The plainest common sense affirms that if
there be such a wide difference between
purity and maturity, and if there is no
difference between maturity and perfec-
tion, then there ought to be some distinc-
tion between purity and perfection. This
is a crucial point. Many excellent writers
have shown slight lameness here. As we
have seen, Mr. Wesley did not always give

42 Sanctification.

full significance to this distinction. He
mostly spoke of tlie concrete experience,
of the condition of the believer in that state,
and that in general terms, without noting
the distinctions which he undoubtedly
recognized. But Mr. Wesley made no dis-
tinction between maturity and perfection;
neither do our modern doctors attempt to
do this, for, indeed, they can not. It is
a question as to whether perfection shall
be identified with purity or with maturity.
It can not be identified with both, because
both are not the same, but widely different.
If it be identified or made identical with
purity, then it precedes maturity, and ma-
turity is not the proper word to use in de-
fining it; and Wesley, Fletcher, Clarke,
Watson, Peck, Hedding, Foster, and all the

Sanctification. 43

rest, made a mistake when they accepted as
a proper definition the saying: ^^We give
the name of Christian perfection to that
maturity of grace and holiness which es-
tablished adult believers attain to under the
Christian dispensation. . . . Hence it
appears that by Christian perfection we
mean nothing but the cluster and maturity
of the graces which compose the Christian
character in the Church militant.''

Then, assuming that the authorities have
made no mistake in thus defining Christian
perfection and treating it as identical with
maturity, it must follow that it is a serious,
far-reaching, and disastrous error to iden-
tify it with purity, unless all are mistaken
in distinguishing between purity and ma-
turity as they have done. We are tied up

44 SANCTIFICATIOlSr.

to tlie choice of identifying perfection with
purity or with maturity, and we follow the
highest authorities, as well as the dictates
of the highest reason, and the Scriptures
as well, in making it identical with matu-
rity, and hence in requiring that the same
distinction be made between purity and per-
fection that is made between purity and
maturity.

The doctrine of heart-purity through
sanctification is a most blessed truth, fully
attested in Holy Scripture, and in con-
nection with the new life bom into the
soul through regeneration, and leading on-
ward to the maturity of faith, love, and
all the graces of the Spirit, eventuating in
that perfection of Christian character which
is the privilege of established believers, is

Sanctification. 45

far too precious to be dragged down into
the dust and straw of confused emotional-
ism, as is done when the necessary distinc-
tions are not made.

While in a loose and general way it may
be true that Christian purity stands, in
Methodist thought, for Christian perfec-
tion, in accurate conception it stands only
as preparatory to the higher state, and as
a condition precedent to the grandest of all
attainments. To be made perfect in Christ
Jesus is something which "babes in Christ'^
are not expected to reach so long as they
are "babes," but which becomes their privi-
lege when they "put away childish things'^
and "grow up into him'' unto the measure
of the stature of a perfect manhood. There

is nothing so great in the realm of spiritual
4

46 Sanctifioation.

gifts to men as tlie perfectioii of the soul
in love to God and love to man — a per-
fection which means completeness, matu-
rity, ripeness, impossible of attainment ex-
cept through sanctification of the Spirit
unto purity of heart and obedience of life.

in.

It is not possible to -understand sanctifi-
cation as a distinct work of grace without
studying it in the light of its relation to
other aspects of the complete work of sal-
vation. This method has been pursued thus
far, and must be continued to the end.
Where three things are essential to a given
result, each indispensable, it is useless, as
well as difficult, to compare them with a
view to forming an estimate of their rela-
tive value. If each one is necessary, each
may be esteemed as important as the whole,
since the whole can not be in the absence
of any of its parts.

As has been shown, salvation is composed
47

48 Sanctification".

of three distinct elements, involving dis-
tinct processes, each looking to a distinct
result — distinct, but not separated. One
gives freedom from condemnation, and in
its nature and work is legal; one gives life
where death reigned, and in its nature and
work is vital; and the other removes filthi-
ness and gives purity, and therefore in its
nature and work it is purifying. These ele-
ments are distinct in themselves, yet they
work together as if one, all springing from
the same source or cause, and coming into
activity on the same condition. Hence, the
justified man is born again and purified
from the defilement of all forgiven sin. He
is a new creation. In his renewed nature
are the elements of a new character, with
all the embryotic graces of the Holy Spirit,

Sanctification. 49

with germinating power adequate, if nour-
ished and not repressed, to produce a com-
plete Christian life. This is a rich endow-
ment, worthy of the Divine Griver, and
equal to the necessities of any adopted child
of God'. It is the heritage of faith, com-
prising all the elements of salvation, and
these concurring and working together,
each in its place and appropriate sphere, so
that, as in the body, one member can not
say to another meonber, ^^I have no need
of thee,'' so in this gracious work of sal-
vation one element can not say that any
other element is needless. God has tem-
pered and adjusted them one to another, and
all of them to the development of his own
image in the soul. Believing this, and ap-
prehending it clearly, it is only important

60 Sanctification.

to add that one of these elements is not
the product of another. Each, in respect
of the others, is independent, as each comes
from the Divine source as an original en-
dowment, or as an active energy, leaving
no room for comparison or for superiority
or inferiority in the wonderful gifts of
grace. In the divers administrations there
is one Spirit.

An important, practical question arises
here which disturbs many anxious minds,
and furnishes occasion to give a practical
turn to this study. It is, ^^Shall the seeker
or the believer distinguish these several ele-
ments in his mind, and make one or another
the special object of his pursuit, without
at the same time concerning himself about
the other elements?'^ It is scarcely possible

Sanctification. 61

to do this intelligently, since one seldom
makes mental analysis of the concrete sal-
vation desired, and would find the effort
rather distracting than helpful in earnest
devotion, even if capable of the intellectual
exercise and predisposed to it. But it is a
task to which very many are not equal, and
therefore it can not be a duty in any such
sense as to condition success or to become
a law to the inexperienced and uncultured;
and since it can not be a law to all, it should
not be regarded as a law to any. If purity
of heart be singled out and e^mphasized as
the distinct blessing needed, it is because
of particular teaching on that point, and
may be because the life element, becomes
vigorous so as to stir the energies of the
soul to special sensitiveness and to activity

62 Sanctification.

in drawing near to God for the fullness of
his blessing. The heart's real anxiety in
its awakened condition is for more of God,
for his manifested presence in vivifying the
soul, and filling and assimilating it in his
own way. In its deepest struggles for
purity it cries out for God, for the living
God; and when he comes, as come he will,
it is without waiting for his needy child]
to accomplish the intellectual analysis of
the great salvation, so as to specify the ele-
ments composing it, and rightly distribute
them. He who seeks God seeks holiness,
and life, and power, and victory, and all
there is in salvation. As the object of
faith is the Son of God, risen and exalted,
and not merely the blessings he purchased
in severalty, so, in receiving him, the be-

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 5 3

liever receives whatever is in liim, with all
needed spiritual illumination, quickening,
cleansing, power, and helpfulness. Jesus
Christ is made unto him wisdom, righteous-
ness, sanctification, and redeimption.

The question is still pressed, ^^Must we
not be definite in our aim, fixing the mind
on a specific blessing, and ask for that par-
ticular thing?'' There is no doubt that
great explicitness in asking is permissible in
our daily devotions; that so far forth as we
can know the exact thing we need and de-
sire, we may ask for it in submission to
the Divine will ; but this does not carry with
it the implication that we must distinguish
in thought between pardon and purity, or
between the life-giving energy and the
purifying process, and ask for this and not

54 Sanctification.

for tliat. Particularizing can be carried too
far nnd'er the idea of definiteness in aim.
The attempt to map out the form and di-
mensions of eivery particular blessing, and
to name and number each in its order, is
a useless task, and unprofitable in the ex-
treme. If we put away sin, and lift up
our souls to God in holy consecration for
an increase of knowledge and love, ear-
nestly desiring the death unto sin and the
life unto righteousness, no disappointment
need be feared because of any failure to
designate the distinct elements in the sav-
ing process most urgently demanded by our
actual spiritual state. These elements,
however important in themselves, are not
so clearly marked that faith may appre-
hend them separately and with infallible .

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 5 5

discrimination. God may be trusted to take
care of his own part of the work, and to
distribute the elements and manage the
processes necessary to it, when, with our
needs and helplessness, we put ourselves
in his hands.

The question is sometimes asked, with
evident sincerity: ^^Is there any such thing
as growing into purity or holiness?'' This
must be answered because of the use that
has been made of it. Catchwords and
phrases are sometimes more successful in
gaining the attention of people not given
to close thinking than are substantial argu-
ments. In the interest of a given theory
of sanctification it is said', ^^You can grow
in grace, but not into grace.'' The applica-
tion is that there is no such thing as grow-

5 6 SaNCTIFIO ATION.

ing into sanctifioation or holiness. People
are admonislied not to await the process of
growth to obtain the great benefit of com-
plete redemption, with the result that
growth in the knowledge and love of God
is disparaged, and the teachings of all who
believe in a gradual or progressive sancti-
fication are set at naught without being
correctly applied or understood. The
answer to the question is both negative and
affirmative. In one respect we can not
grow into grace, and in another we can,
and do, and must. There is a slight dif-
ference, of course, between growing in
grace and growing into grace, as there is
also between growing in holiness and grow-
ing into holiness. I call it slight because
it is slight, relatively, and has not half the

Sanctification. 57

significance that is sometimes attached to it.
One who has no grace can neither grow
in grace nor into grace. Spiritual growth
is not predicable of such an one in any
sense. He must first come into a state of
grace by conversion or the renewing of the
Holy Spirit; then, being in grace, he can
grow in grace, and into morei and more of
it. He can laimch out into the deep water
of the boundless sea of God's love and
grace, and add to his store of spiritual
treasure till filled with all the fullness of
God. By daily acquisitions he grows in
and into grace, becoming more spiritual,
more devout, and approaches nearer the
summit of holiness with every accession of
grace to grace. Growth is more properly
predicated of spiritual life than of holiness

68 SANCTrFICATION.

or purity, as only sucli things as have the
element of life in them grow literally. But
the word used metaphorically denotes in-
crease, progress, advancement; for there is
growth by accretion as well as by the ex-
pansion of life. So there is growth in holi-
ness if there is progress or advancement.
As the life implanted in the soul in re-
generation expands and gathers strength,
there is a normal spiritual growth, with the
development of new powers and activities,
a veritable increase of spiritual vitality
which lifts the renewed man into nearer and
holier communion with Grod. Every acces-
sion of spiritual energy advances the Divine
life and indicates in the soul greater con-
formity to the law of love. In this sense
there is growth in grace and into grace, and

Sanctifioation. 69

growth in holiness and into higher degrees
of holiness.

Here this point might he concluded bnt
for the persistence of theorists who see more
in it than properly belongs to it. Then
suffer a little reiteration. A building
grows as it advances towards completion.
A city grows as it increases in population.
A man grows in knowledge as he accumu-
lates information; he grows in wealth as he
increases his possessions. The house grows
into a state nearer the ideal of the builder.
The city grows into greater power and
greater influence, and the man grows into
additional knowledge and into larger
wealth. In this sense the Christian who
advances in knowledge, wisdom, and purity,
grows into purity as well as in purity. The

60 Sanctificatiot^.

babe in Cbrist is in Christ, and tberefore
in grace, and if he abide in Christ and in-
crease in knowledge and strength, he grows
in grace and into grace; and if with his
steadfastness and increase of grace he be^
comes more and more holy, there is not the
least impropriety in saying that he grows
in holiness and into holiness — intO' a higher
state and degree of holiness. Thus it ap-
pears that the use intended to be made of
this distinction between growing ^^in'' and
^^into'' is a profitless play on word's without
doctrinal significance; for it can not be that
continued and persistent growth in holiness
will forever fail of reaching the standard
fixed by the apostle for growing believers,
"perfecting holiness in the fear of God/'
If by daily self-denial, and constant watch-

Sanotification". 61

fulness and prayer, and persistent devotion
to duty, one can increase in knowledge,
wisdom, purity, and strength, lie must be
approaching the goal of complete cleans-
ing and perfect love; and if the continuous
sanctification needed and promised is a fact
in actual experience, there is no doubt that
the result will be complete holiness, and
holiness wrought within by the Holy Spirit
as truly and effectively as if wrought in an
instant.

God is not limited to one method of deal-
ing with men, nor does he require of all
men a single type of experience. Variety
is stamped on all his works, and variety
abounds in the world of grace as in the
world of nature. While the essential prin-
ciples of redemption never change, and the
5

62 Sanctification.

terms of salvatioin abide without variable-
ness, the incidents and manifestations of
grace in the hearts of men reveal as much
diversity as can be found' in the temper-
aments, mental aptitudes, and outward con-
ditions of individual life. Variety marks
the beginnings of grace, and is found char-
acterizing its work in all stages and grades
of development, and it would be strange
indeed if in its highest and completest
revelation it should lose its wonderful free-
dom, and become bound to a single, inflex-
ible rule. While contending for the pos-
sibility of progressive sanctification, and in-
sisting that by continued advancement in
the best elements of Christian life and
character the state of entire sanctification
can be attained, it is not in my thought or

S ANCTTFIC ATION. 6 3

In my heart to deny that it may be sought
and found in sudden and poiwerful uplifts
sometimes vouchsafed to men. It were un-
Methodistic to hold otherwise. Grod can
cut short his work in righteousness, and
that he does and will when the conditions
which he imposes are met, is fact beyond
question. Many are sanctified with such
overwhelming suddenness that the word in-
stantaneous is not an inapt expression of it.
My contention is not against this, but
against making it the only possible sanc-
tification, the only way of holiness or to
holiness. Thousands of saints walk the
earth in the blessed light of holiness^ —
"righteousness and true holiness'' — who can
not date their entrance into the perfect rest
nor recall any startling manifestations in

64 Sai^ctification.

connection with it. I gladly hail these as
the beloved of the Lord, and recognize in
them the restored image of God, as I do
also those whose testimony points to a given
day of complete deliverance, and whoso
lives conform to their testimony and banish
all doubt of its truthfulness.

IV.

The vital doctrine of spiritual gro^vtli
is so intimately related both to sanctifica-
tion and Christian perfection that it must
be still further considered. It is neither
assumed nor presumed that any one in-
tentionally disparages growth in grace and
in Christian character in the interest of
some theory or phase of the work of sanc-
tification; but the fact can not be ignored
that this result is reached to the discourage-
ment and bewilderment of many good peo-
ple, by the habitual repetition of the say-
ing that one ^^can not grow into grace/' in
connection with the emphasis given to the

instantaneous feature of the work. In or-
65

66 SANCTIFICATIOlsr.

der to liave real force or significance for
the purpose for which this phrase is used,
it ought to be assumed' that the grace of
entire sanctification is a new grace to be
entered at the time of the consummation
of the workj having no kinship or relation
to the grace received or entered at con-
version, so that the incipient sanctification
coincident with regeneration can not by
any possibility grow or develop into the
higher grace. It may be that this mean-
ing has some obscure lodgment in the minds
of those who use the phrase; but if so, it has
not been avowed, and may not be assumed
as true; and yet it seems necessary to the
completeness of the doctrine in behalf of
which the favorite expression is employed.
If the grace of the higher attainment is

SANCTIFICATIOlSr. 67

tlie same in kind as that of the incipient
spiritual life and the beginning of sanctifi-
cation, there appears no good reason for
denying the possibility of the earlier grace
growing into that of the higher degree.

Although sanctification is a work
wrought by the Holy Spirit, and not a
growth in the strict sense of the .word, it
nevertheless advances with the development
of spiritual life, which is a growth, and
therefore it is neither erroneous nor mis-
leading to designate all spiritual advance-
ment as growth in grace. The Word of
God grew as its power and influence over
men extended; the Church grew as dis-
ciples were multiplied; the believer grows
up into Christ as he takes on more and
more of the life and Spirit of Christ; so

68 Sanctifioation.

there can be no impropriety in affirming
that whatever element or aspect of Chris-
tian attainment exhibits increase or prog-
ress, is growth in the knowledge and love
of God. The work of sanctification ad-
vances on the same conditions that secure
growth in grace, or in life, or in holiness.
It is indeed impossible to find a believer
who complies with the conditions of
growth, who does not develop a deeper and
broader experience in all that is vital in
the Christian life and character, and, there-
fore, who does not correspondingly increase
in holiness; and it is useless to contend that
a life which continually increases in holi-
ness and in all spiritual graces is not in
the highway to the best attainment pos-
sible to men on earth. While, in accurate

Sanctification. 69

conception, there is a distinction between
growth in the sense of the expansion and
unfolding of the life within, and the active
work of the Spirit in sanctification, the dis-
tinction is in the mind's conception, and is
not so palpably important as to have prac-
tical bearing on the progress of religion
in the heart. The cleansing and the growth
go hand in hand, the result of the same
agency, the same faith, the same consecra-
tion, tending to the same consummation,
the perfecting of the soul in purity and in
righteousness before God. Sanctification
removes obstructions to growth, and the
Spirit that purges out the old leaven also
quickens and intensifies the activities and
energies of ^^the new man."

The point here insisted upon is the con-

70 Sanctification.

tinued or continuoiis sanctification. It be-
gins with regeneration, and yet it is only
in a loose or general way that we can speak
of regeneration as sanctification begun. Re-
generation is not sanctification at all, and
is not the beginning of sanctification; but
sanctification begins at the time regenera-
tion takes place. When the renewal and
the quickening occur, thc' washing is not
absent. It is unfair to our standlard writers
who clearly distinguish between regenera-
tion and sanctification, and then tell us that
regeneration is sanctification begun, to at-
tribute to them any meaning other than
that the two aspects of the work had a
simultaneous beginning, and that the work
of cleansing goes right along, and was not
completed when regeneration became a

SANCTIFICATIOJSr. 71

fact. It is quite correct to speak of re^
generation as a past eyent. It is as the day
of one's birth, an epoch, or historical fact.
We look back to it and date from it. Not
so with sanctification. It had a beginning,
but not an ending. Indeed, so continuous
is its work that it is never safe to assume
that it is finished, or that it has become
an historical event to be dated and labeled
as belonging to the past. The sanctification
of yesterday will not do for to-day. We
might as well expect the sunlight of yes-
terday to supply our needs for to-day as
to expect the work of cleansing wrought
in us in times past to meet our necessities
for the future. Sanctification, like the
mercies of God, must be new every morn-
ing. New battles with the world and the

72 Sanotifioation.

flesh call for new victories, and new ex-
posures to the corruptions that are in the
world require new appropriations of the
cleansing blood day by day. There must
be an ^^abiding in Christ/' a continuous
drawing from him of life and purity, as
the branch abiding in the vine draws
nourishment from the vine unceasingly.
Then there must be great inaccuracy and
great impropriety in designating a day
when sanctification took place. The lan-
guage making it a past event always affects
my sensibilities unpleasantly; exciting, not
derision, but commiseration. The broader
and better view accepts all that is instanta-
neous in the work as its beginning, and as
in extraordinary and exceptional upliftings,
and all that is continuous, likewise, as in

Sanctification. 73

the regular and normal advancement in
knowledge, love, power over sin, and
efficiency in tlie work of God, and con-
sistently holds that growth in the divine
life is also growth in holiness.

As sanctification means cleansing, to be
sanctified wholly is to be cleansed through-
out, in every faculty and power of the soul,
and to be cleansed thoroughly. The mind,
will, affections, conscience, imagination, de-
sires— all are made clean. Evil tempers,
such as anger, pride, envy, jealousy, petu-
lance, censoriousness, are slain and cast out,
giving large room for the development of
love, meekness, gentleness, kindness, for-
bearance, patience, and sweetness. The
germ of these new graces and virtues is
implanted in regeneration, but their growth

74 Sanctifioation.

is retarded so long as sanctification is in-
complete. When the cleansing reaches its
ultimate purpose and victory, not only is
the old leaven of carnality purged by the
action of the Holy Spirit, to the destruc-
tion of the evil passions which are of the
spiritual nature, but even such as have a
physical basis and give tone to all the
others, are so subjugated and purified that
they lose their dominating power for evil,
and readily yield themselves as instruments
of righteousness unto holiness. In this con-
dition the ^^expulsive power of the new af-
fection,'' together with the ^^inward graft-
ing of the truth," works with marvelous
effectiveness in advancing the graces of the
new life towards maturity or perfection.
The mind that was in Christ takes the

Sanctificatioi^. 75

place of the mind of selfishness. The love
of Christ triumphs over the love of the
world. The gentleness of Christ makes the
sanctified strong, clothing him with what-
soever is lovely and of good report, making
it impossible for him to be morose or
sour. There is beauty in the sanctified life
which is always attractive. It never repels
by assumed sanctimoniousness. It puts on
no airs of superior sanctity, and ^S^aunteth
not itself.'^ It never treats contemptu-
ously the attainments of others. When
every thought is brought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ, envy and strife
expire, and faultfinding with the Church,
and with the times, and especially with
those of smaller attainments, becomes too
obnoxious to be cherished or tolerated. The

76 Sanctificatiotst.

life of sucli a one becomes a song of praise
and proves itself a benediction. It is broad,
generous, noble; it is a life of faith, steady,
■unfluctuating, ever rising to wider horizons,
and leading onward to new experiences
in the knowledge and love of God. He
who is thus sanctified is surely nearing the
state of Christian perfectness; nay, may we
not assume that ordinarily he is perfect in
love and filled with the Spirit? He is ^^in-
deed dead unto sin and alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord/'

Having distinguished between entire
sanctification as a work wrought by the
Holy Spirit in cleansing, and the perfec-
tion that follows the cleansing, it is not im-
proper to recognize the fact that the re-
sultant state of complete hoiliness means

Sanctification. 77

more than is expressed by tlie terms de-
scriptive of the cleansing. There is not
only an emptying of the heart of sin, but
the additional work of filling it with love;
there is not only the ^^putting off of the
old man/' wrought in the cleansing, but
the ^^putting on of the new man, which,
after God, is created in righteousness and
true holiness.'^ The double process is larger
than the single process. It looks well to
the Godward side, to the affiliation and the
fellowship with the Father, the filling
bringing into the soul more than was cast
out by the emptying.

While in a true sense the first conditions
the second, the entire sanctification prepar-
ing for the fullness of God, it is not neces-
sary to assume that in all cases the fuU-

6

78 Sanctification.

ness ensues at tlie moment of the cleansing.
The latter may be as gradual as the
former, and yet it will not be serious error
if we accept it as the rule to expect Grod
to come in as fast as sin goes out; that the
new man is put on as rapidly as the old
man is put off; that the rising with Christ
takes place at the instant of the death unto
sin. Taking this as the rule, it still re-
mains in the realm of possibility that there
may be exceptions, and that in some ex-
periences where the heart is clean the love
of God is not perfected, as all the active
graces have not come to maturity. Chris-
tian perfection means so much, and in-
cludes such a wide range of spiritual graces,
that there must be variety in its attain-
ment as well as in its manifestation. All

Sanctification. T9

the frnit of tlie Spirit may not ripen at
onoe; but this is not to hinder our faith
in the possibility of complete salvation for
every child of God. The babe in Christ
will grow to the fullness of the stature of
a perfect man, and the Holy Grhost will
dwell within as an abiding Guest — nay, as
the Lord of the mansion — the life and li^ht
and glory of the living temple.

Aftee wliat lias been said, some will
possibly receive tbe impression that, wbile
discouraging tbeorizing on tbe subject of
sanctification, I am indulging to some ex-
tent in that whicli I disapprove in others.
This inconsistency may appear on the face
of what is written, but will disappear on
closer thought. The exploiting of a theory
with a view to elucidate the whole process
of the cleansing, with its method and mode,
and holding it as complete and exclusive.,
so as to set aside as untrue all that is- not
contained in it, is exceedingly objection-
able. A theory which says that Grod does

or must do his work in this way, and not
80

Sanctification. 81

in ttat way, prodiucing this type of ex-
perience, and no otber, assumes too much,
induces bigotry in its votaries, and repels
by its positiveness; but to recognize all the
varied and essential features of personal ex-
perience as developed in the consciousness
of advanced Christians, and .attested by the
Spirit, is necessary to the best apprehension
of the subject. Such is the purpose of
this writing. It aims, not to advance a
theory, but to ascertain knowable truth —
to bring out as much of the hidden mys-
tery of salvation as our minds can grasp,
and be content with that, without trying
to penetrate the darkness which conceals
the mode of the Divine procedlure. We
stand in awe before the incomprehensible
love of God, accepting gladly what is re-

82 Sanctifioation.

vealed, and with equal gladness adore the
wisdom which reserves so much for the
revelations of the future. Instead of set-
ting theory against theory, or of belittling
the experience of any, it seems wiser in
every way to search for a doctrine of Di-
vine cleansing which is great enough to
provide for every want of every soul, to
furnish room for every phase of God's
work, and broad enough to comprise every
type and every degree of progress made
in any one's advancement from spiritual
death unto the life of righteousness. It
must be that a gospel which does not pro-
vide for all the types and grades of ex-
perience possible to eiamest men seeking
God, is in itself imperfect, and inadequate
as a remedy for human needs. Theories

S AIsTCTIFIC ATION. 8 3

devised by men fall short of this standard,
but the glorious gospel of Christ knows no
limitations. We want no theory that re-
stricts God's work to a given type, or that
becomes an iron rule to measurei all attain-
ments as to method and form. Indeed,
any theory is useless that is less than the
gospel, or that fails to account for any and
every possible manifestation of grace in
any genuine experience.

In studying different types of experience
the various temperaments of people must
be taken into the account, as well as their
training and habits; for all these play im-
portant parts in determining what they will
do and how they will proceed in seeking
God, and coming into the Christian life,
as well as in advancing to the higher states

84 Sanctification*.

of grace. ^^Many men of many minds/'
and men of extremely different environ-
ments, are to be met and rescued and trans-
formed— cleansed and built up in the like-
ness of God. The gospel, if Divine, must
have provisions and be sufficiently flexible
to meet every condition, and to fit the
peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of every in-
dividual. It is therefore unwise to expect
that all will receive the grace of God in
the same way, while there is great folly
in supposing that by any possible con-
straint every one can be brought to jneas-
ure up to one given type of Christian
experience, either in its earlier or later
stages. Diversity jnarks the work of God
from incipiency to consummation.

Let it not be forgotten, as remarked here-

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 8 5

tofore, that the foundation principles of
redemption and the essential terms of sal-
vation are always the same; but that in
the revelations of saving power in the soul,
and in all the steps of progress following
the induction into Christ, there are in-
numerable varieties, giving to each man
an experience that is personal and unique.
From all this the fact is readily deducible
that it is improper to make any man's
experience a standard or a model for the
experience of other people. There is no
model experience. Christ is the model
man. His active life as a man was per-
fect, and to. be imitated; but he never ex-
perienced the cleansing or washing from
sin which our sanctification implies. He
was not regenerated or sanctified as sin-

8 6 S ANCTIFIC ATioisr.

ners must be; and therefore lie never il-
lustrated in anytMng lie did or suffered
the process of passing from sin to holiness.
He declared and lived up to the standard
of moral purity necessary for our complete
union with himself, and made the way pos-
sible, so that every one, each with his per-
sonal characteristics and his individual en-
vironments, may come up to the full meas-
ure of duty and privilege without in the
least ceasing to be himself. The quiet man
of phlegmatic temperament can reach the
high standard, and continue quiet; while
the man of impulsive nature will rise, per-
haps more rapidly, to the same standard,
but with almost superhuman emotions and
marvelous demonstrations.

But what of these universally acknowl-

Sanctification. 87

edged facts? Whj mention tbem here?
They bear on the question of mode or
method in sanctificationj and in all spirit-
ual attainments. They are particularly sug-
gestive in connection with what sometimes
appears to be a conflict between the doc-
trine of continuous sanctification and what
is known as the ^^second blessing" theory.
In view of the amount of stress laid on
this theory in many places, it seems im-
proper to pass it over without mention^ al-
though to analyze or discuss it as a theory
transcends my design. Both these ^^theo-
ries" look to the same result. They con-
template the perfect cleansing. They are
not in conflict except when one is made
to exclude the other, and is held as the
only possible form of sanctification. When

88 Sanctification.

each is kept in its place they are not ex-
clusive. Hence, without inconsistency,
one may accept both these theories, and it
seems necessary to do this in order to take
in the whole gospel, and to include all
types of personal experience and testimony.
As theories they appear antagonistic, but
as affirmations of different phases or types
of genuine experience, they are harmo-
nious, and one is the complement of the
other. But in fairness it must be said, in
order to a good understanding, that in my
thought, the continuous sanctification
which accompanies the regular unfolding
and expansion of the life element in the
quickened soul, is rightly accounted the
ordinary and orderly process; while the
mighty upheaval in the emotional nature,

Sanctification. 89

which results in the spiritual uplift known
as the second blessing, is an extraordinary
manifestation vouchsafed under unusual
conditions. That it is many times a most
blessed reality is not to be questioned.
God's wonderful love is equal to all emer-
gencies, and extraordinary revealings of
power respond to vehement calls from the
depths of penitence. The great thing is the
purified heart, whether it come like the
rush of the tornado, or with the gentle-
ness of the refreshing breeze. It is not the
manner of the process, but the result that
abides — the purity which leads onward
with the progress of spiritual life to that
maturity which is perfection. The heart
purified, whether suddenly or gradually,
becomes the banqueting-house of the King.

90 Sanctification.

It is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The
Son comes to abide, and brings the Father,
and fills the temple with love. Who that
enjoys this will contend about the mode of
the incoming, or the process?

The effect of the cleansing, the sancti-
fication, is holiness, that holiness which
conditions maturity and perfection. Holi-
ness in men is relative. In God' it is abso-
lute and underived. With him it is not
an attainment, but one of the perfections
of his being, and has no process, and can
not have degrees. With us it is an attain-
ment, having a process and existing in de^
grees. It is an effect, the product of an
agency working within, and working in
harmony with the law of our being, the
invincible nature with which we aire en-

Sanctificatiot^^ 91

dowed. It is possible, therefore, that holi-
ness in us may be more or less complete^
and exist in degrees, even after the cleans-
ing, so that those sanctified need to go on
habitnally practicing self-denial, and ^^per-
fecting holiness in the fear of Grod.'^

It was dionbtless such a view as this that
induced the fathers to be so guarded in de-
fining the highest attainable experience,
restricting it to "established adult believ-
ers.'^ They included in it more than the
process of washing — more than incipient
holiness — even the fullness of love, ma-
tured and ripened into the image of God.
In their high conception there was not only
the indwelling Spirit, but the fruit of the
Spirit in full cluster. It is well to urge
young Christians to seek purity of heart,

92 Sanctification.

to induce them to aspire after it witli all
earnestness, as a present privilege secured
by faitli in Christ without delay, but not
to mislead them to the assumption that
heart-purity is the whole of Christian per-
fection. Those thoroughly sanctified need
time to test their attainments, ^Ho prove
their own selves,'' and to reach intelligent
conclusions. Then they may become wit-
nesses indeed, and their testimony will
mean something. Much in our day passes
for testimony which i^ not. The mere re-
cital of a sentiment is not testimony. That
only is testimony which springs from the
heart, which declares a truth known and
tested, which alleges a fact discerned and
apprehended in the consciousness, and made
palpable to the understanding. The wit-

SATSTCTIFTCATTOTSr. 93

ness knows what lie affirms. What he has
felt andl seen he tells with confidence.
Much more such testimony is needed in
the Chnrch. Holiness is promoted by it,
and every virtue of the Christian life is
made stronger and advanced toward ma-
turity under its inspiring influence.

VI.

The attitude of the Churcli towards this
theme at the present time is important, for
that alone will sway the minds of many
people. Does the Methodist Episcopal
Church stand to-day where she stood in the
years that have gone? Does she hold fast
the standards? Does she revere the testi-
mony of the fathers? Does she, as of old,
make holiness the objective point in all her
teaching? At least in profession she cer-
tainly does. There has been no modifica-
tion of her doctrine in this respect, and
no serious dissatisfaction with it, so far as
appears in her pulpits or literature. Then,

ha^ there come over her spirit such apathy
94

S ANCTIFICATIOlSr. 9 5

as to create the necessity for extraordinary
measures to awaken her to a proper sense
of her duty and calling? It is proper that
this question be propounded, and that it
be answered, not according to one's feel-
ings or preferences, but by the facts exist-
ing and open to the observation of all men.
It must be admitted that there is occasion
for anxiety and earnest solicitude. Shall
we faithfully consider the situation and the
best method of improvement?

The ministry must be held to large re-
sponsibility for the spiritual state of the
Church. Has there been deterioration?
One must think closely before pronouncing
a positive conclusion.

Large numbers have come into the pul-
pits of Methodism with little knowledge of

96 Sanctification.

the early straggles of our founders, or of
the doctrinal contests through which they
passed in reaching the conclusions which
have become our inheritance. These young
men com© with theological opinions molded
in schools where Methodist standards are
not the text-books, and where there is large
desire to keep abreast of the times in mod-
ern exegesis and' criticism. With com-
mendable zeal they enter the pastorate as
Methodist preachers, with slight apprecia-
tion of the symbols of our faith and of the
peculiarities which distinguish us from the
Churches around us. It is not strange,
therefore, that now and then new shadings
of thought appear in the interpretations
of the faith given to our people. With-
out intent to depart from our doctrines,

Sanctification. 97

some of our youngerly men take on the
tone and terminology of others not in ac-
cord with, our traditions, and tinge their
preacliing with colorings out of harmony
with what many of us deem regular. So
much we must concede to those who ex-
press fears that our distinguishing tenets
are being forgotten; and, conceding this,
we would' not ignore the danger of drifting
in the winds of popular thought after
loosening from the moorings of the past.
We therefore earnestly ask whether we
have safeguarded the treasure committed
to our care.

So far as this could be done by Church
action, we have secured the future most
thoroughly. The primary design of Meth-
odism is set f oi*th conspicuously in our Dis-

9 8 SaNCTIFIC ATION.

cipline. No one can read our connectional
proclamation to the world withont learn-
ing that we recognize ours as a providential
mission ^^to spread Scriptural holiness over
these lands/' At their induction intO' the
office our ministers avow their faith in our
doctrines, pledge themselves to preach and
maintain them, and declare that they ^^ex-
pect to be made perfect in love in this
life/' and that they ^We earnestly striving
after it." Every one is therefore com-
mitted to this doctrine, and pledged to its
promulgation, and therefore there can not
be an enemy to holiness in our ministry.
Incidental deviations from our standards,
as above indicated, are exceptional, and to
be regretted. The Church stands upon
foundations which have not been shaken.

S ANCTIFIC ATION. 9 9

But that the spirit of apathy too often pre-
vails is not to be dbnied. In spite of good
intentions, lethargy creeps into the
Churches and benumbs the energies of
preachers and people, resulting in much
loss of power. Whither shall we turn for
the remedy? Shall we look outside of the
Church to find it?

In other lines of human activity, as in
the sciences, the arts, and in the profes-
sions, as well as in business, much of the
best work is done by specialists — by those
who devote time, learning, talents, and their
best energies to a particular topic or method
of investigation, so as to secure all the
advantages of concentration. Is it not well
to encourage specialists in the Church? A
division of work is necessary in all great

LofO.

100 Sanotification.

enterprises. In this great field some must
be pastors, some teachers, some editors,
some publishers, and some given to the
superintendency. Each does more effective
service in his place than he could do by
trying to work in all departments. Some
have special gifts for revival work, and
some for expository work, and some for
teaching. Let each exercise his best gifts
and work according to his best aptitudes.
This is the Providential order. Surely,
then, there is work for specialists in the
Church of God.

But this is not the kind of specialism
in mind when the work of promoting holi-
ness is in question. The selection of a par-
ticular doctrine, or some phase of a doc-
trine, and giving it undue prominence, and

Sanctification. 101

magnifying it so as to make more of it
than belongs to it — that is a different thing.
'No matter how important the dioctrine in
itself and in its proper relation, there is
unwisdom in making a hobby of it. By
making too much of sanctification some
other doctrine is inevitably disparaged.
The harmony of things is broken. Ex-
tremes beget extremes. The specialist al-
ways becomes an extremist. By pushing
his specialty he provokes opposition or in-
duces indifference in others. Besides, the
lifting of any single doctrine out of its
place distorts the truth to the disparage-
ment of the gospel itself, and the weaken-
ing of its power over the unsaved. In
every aspect of the case it seems unfortu-
nate that the subject of holiness should be

102 S ANCTIFIC ATION.

turned over to specialists. Good men they
may be, but they can not be wise, and their
methods are never well adapted' to build-
ing up symmetrical Christian character.
There is need that the whole Church awake
to the importance of her position as the
Divinely appointed instrumentality for
promoting and spreading Scriptural holi-
ness. The preachers must lead. Much can
be done in our theological schools, and
much in our Conferences, while our ex-
amining boards can be exceedingly help-
ful in repressing factional and morbid de-
velopments and arresting unwholesome
tendencies in the ministry. There is need
for vigilance in all the lines of our Church
activities.

All the Lord's people ought to be a holy

Sanctificatio]^. 1 03

people. Tlie Church is a chosen genera-
tion, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. In their baptismal cov-
enant they are every one consecrated
and set apart to a sacred service. In re-
cent years there has come into use a de-
scriptive phrase — ^^holiness people" —
which strikes the sensibilities of conscien-
tious men and women unpleasantly be-
cause of its discriminating implications. In
a good sense, all Methodists are ^^holines^
people," and yet such a designation under
existing conditions would be regarded as
unfortunate, if not offensive. Such is the
power of association! In connection with
this appears also a habit which good peo-
ple ought to deprecate — that of looking
upon all who do not identify themselves

1 04 Sanctification.

with the so-called' ^^holiness people" as
enemies of holiness. This is sad. The
great body of Church members are intelli-
gent enough to dissent from the peculiar
methods of these specialists without reject-
ing the doctrine of holiness as taught by
the Church, or becoming alien to its spirit.
O how we need to widen out!

After all, the best people in the world
are sanctified people. They fear God, and
walk humbly before him. In their hearts
there is neither bigotry nor bitterness.
They find good in Christians of all grades
of experience, and lament what they can
not commend. They are magnanimous as
well as humble, and grateful as well as
charitable. Their measure is found in the
thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, in

S ATTCTIFIC ATION. 105

the apostle's description of love. Whatever
is there said' of love may be said of him
who loves God supremely and his neighbor
as himself. In such an one there is not
an element of self-righteousness, pride, or
vainglory — nothing forced or artificial —
nothing that repels. For him or his pro-
fession no apology is requisite. His holi-
ness needs no vocal proclamation. The
light of it shines forth with steady and in-
creasing ray. His faith excludes boastful-
ness and censoriousness, while his love de-
lights in goodness, and leads him to rejoice
in every observable token of prosperity in
the Church of God.

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