I.IBRAHY 
 
 PRIl«CETO]¥, W. J. 
 
 DONATION OV 
 
 SAMUEL ACiNKW, 
 
 Letter 
 
 ru/e'sfnctification 
 
ENTIRE 
 
 SANCTIFICATION; 
 
 OR, 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 
 
 STATED AfJD DEFENDED BY 
 
 Rev. J. WESLEY, ! Rev. Dr. A. CLARKE, 
 
 " A. WATMOUGH, | " R. WATSON, 
 
 Rev. R. TREFFRY. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 ARMSTRONG & BERRY. 
 
 WOODS, PRINT. 
 
 1 838 . 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The subject of this book, is one of vital importance, one which 
 all the orthodox Protestant denominations profess to believe; is a 
 part of their creed; the constant theme of their public and private 
 ministrations, and the object of their unceasing supplications and 
 prayers. Holiness of heart, is believed by all, to be the privilege 
 of every follower of a crucified Saviour. "Without holiness, no 
 man shall seethe Lord," is on the banner of Methodists, Presby- 
 terians, Episcopalians, Baptists, &c. While this assumption is 
 freely made, there is no reason, why the whole truth should 
 not be told. These denominations harmoniously agreeing in the 
 imperative obligation upon all to possess it, as an indispensable 
 qualification to an entrance into heaven; do not all agree as to 
 the time when the work of entire holiness is to be accomplished. 
 
 The Methodists, as a body, profess to believe and distinctly 
 teach, that it is the privilege and duty of every child of God, to 
 seek for, to obtain, and to live in the possession and enjoyment of, 
 entire sanctification, as expressed by the apostle Paul, in his me- 
 morable prayer for his Ephesian brethren, who were then believ- 
 ers in Christ, and whom he had previously addressed as saints. 
 "I bow' my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that 
 he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be 
 strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that 
 Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted 
 and grounded in love, maybe able to comprehend, with all saints, 
 what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to 
 know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye 
 might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is 
 able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, 
 according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory 
 in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without 
 end. Amen." 
 
 To present a clear and various view by dilferent writers of the 
 evidences upon which the IMethodists found their belief in the 
 possibility ol obtaining Christian perfection, or entire sanctifica- 
 tion, in this life; in the language of one of their own hymns, 
 
 "To live wtien sin is all destroyed." 
 was the principal motive for putting this work into its present 
 form. It is the compiler's sincere and deliberate opinion, that 
 the dissenters from, and opposers of the doctrine, have not im- 
 
IV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 partially, and with minds opened to conviction, examined the 
 views of Methodist writers; in consequence, have formed vague 
 or erroneous opinions; from this cause prejudice against their 
 brethren have grown up in their minds, and against a doctrine 
 fully believed by thousands of fellow Christians; believed upon 
 scripture warrant, and with the concurrent testimony of numbers, 
 who have most blessedly realized in their own (to them) undoubted 
 heartfelt expei ience through days, and months, and years, that the 
 "blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness," 
 having been made holy in life, and "witnessed" before thousands 
 "a good confession," have gloriously triumphed in death. If it 
 be true, why should not Christians of every name, be ready to 
 examine with care and with impartiality, the arguments and 
 proofs furnished iu its support? If it be true, is it not a most 
 invaluable privilege to know that it is so? Is there one among 
 all the members of the family of the Redeemer, on earth, who 
 would not be willing to receive it as truth? If true, is there one who 
 would not rejoice with joy unspeakable, to be admitted into a state 
 of grace, that would enable him to cry out continually with the 
 Psalmist: "My heai-t is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed " Find- 
 ing it no longer necessary to hang his "harp on the willows;" 
 no longer to idopt the language of the poet, as the expression of 
 his daily expei ience: 
 
 "\n\y I ippent. and sill agiiin, 
 
 Sliiiii with the same unliappy dart, 
 Wliicli <J so often wounds my hi-arl;" 
 
 he is cleansed from all sin; saved from all inbred corrup- 
 tions; not that he may not sin, but that he can possess what 
 the apostle Paul desired most ardently for the Thessalonian Chris- 
 tians. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I 
 pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved 
 blameless unto the coining of our Lord Jesus Christ." And he 
 adds, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. What 
 is there in the condition of a professor of religion, who doubts the 
 possibility of his being sanctified wholly, before the moment of 
 departure from this life, that makes it desirable; why then contend 
 so vehemently for it, is not the opposite condition much to be 
 preferred; why misunderstand those who believe that they have 
 found the "king's high way of holiness," who dare not hide 
 their glorious discovery and be guiltless? "The love of Christ" 
 constraining them to declare "we speak that we do know, and 
 testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness." 
 
Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/entiresanctificaOOwesi 
 
 i 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 page 
 
 Entire Sanctification, by Rev. A. Watmough, ... 6 
 Entire Sanctification, by Dr. Adam Clarke, . . . 125 
 Christian Perfection, by Rev. J. Wesley, . 163 
 Entire Sanctification, by Rev. Richard Watson, . 191 
 
 Christian Perfection, by Rev. R. Treffry, . .205 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 ON ENTIRE S ANCTIFIC ATION, 
 
 By Rev. A. WATMOUGH. 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY ON SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRKLIMINARY OBSEEVATIOXS. 
 
 There is a certain order observable in all the opera- 
 tions of the Almighty. We can perceive it in the crea- 
 tion of the world, which rose, under the forming hand of 
 the Deity, from one condition to another, till at length, 
 after the labor of six successive days, it was finished, and 
 God pronounced it very good. It is visible also in the 
 opening flower, the ripening corn, the formation of am. 
 mals, and in the growth of the human species from child- 
 hood to man. VVe can often perceive the same thmg in 
 providence, particularly in those great events which an- 
 ciently had a connexion with the church, where one se- 
 ries of occurrences makes way for another series more 
 bright than the former, and the second for a third more 
 glorious still, till at length the divine purposes are fully 
 accomplished, and the day of Gospel glory, unsullied by 
 a speck of darkness, is seen opening on the world. 
 2 
 
6 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 The same kind of order is observable in the opera- 
 tions of grace. A measure of light is first given, shin- 
 ing dimly in the soul. This light, when improved by 
 us, leads to repentance; repentance, to faith in Christ; 
 faith, to justification, adoption, and regeneration. Re- 
 generation is the beginning of that great change called 
 sanctification, and is, in itself, a part of that work, and 
 differs from entire sanctification in no other way than as a 
 part must always diflfer from the whole, or as a work just 
 begun must necessarily differ from the same work when 
 brought to perfection. 
 
 From these remarks it will follow, that as the perfec- 
 tion of sanctification must succeed its commencement, or 
 regeneration, it must succeed adoption and justification 
 also, so that to seek it before these, or before we are as- 
 sured that God has done these things for us, is like at- 
 tempting to finish the fabric before the foundation is laid. 
 
 It is of infinite importance that this order of the divine 
 operation in our hearts should be clearly perceived, as un- 
 speakable evil and disappointment must arise from false 
 and erroneous views concerning it. For if God has es- 
 tablished this order in tiie work of saving man, and we 
 should seek his salvation in another order; if we should 
 seek to be sanctified wholly, or to be born again of the 
 Spirit, before we are justified, and adopted, the fruit of 
 all our labor and toil, though we should sow it with 
 tears, will end in an harvest of disappointment and grief. 
 For who can reverse the established order of the Heity? 
 or who can succeed, in his noblest efforts to please him, 
 unless those efforts be conducted according to his will? 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 7 
 
 "He is of one mind, and who can turn him?" Beside, llie 
 plans of the Deity must all be the result of infinite wisdom, 
 and therefore the best that can possibly be contrived, not 
 only as to their final consequences and end, but as to the man- 
 ner and order of their execution also. So that to suppose 
 he could reverse his own order of operation in man, and 
 renew and save him in some other way, is to suppose he 
 can be governed in his proceeditigs by ignorance and fol- 
 ly, in preference to the dictates of his own infinite mind, 
 — a supposition which nothing but vice can for a moment 
 entertain. 
 
 And hence will appear the necessity of care, that those 
 wiio are beginning to servo God may be right. Repent- 
 ance, faith, and pardon — these are the beginning of relig- 
 ion in man; these are the foundation stones on which the 
 fabric of piety must rest; and resting upon these, as these 
 themselves do upon Christ, the primary and only proper 
 or meritorious cause of every thing good, the building 
 will rise fair and in due proportion; we shall become tem- 
 ples of the Holy Ghost; for God himself will condescend 
 to dwell in us, and we shall be his people, and he will be 
 our God. 
 
 It will therefore be supposed, all along in this essay, 
 that those who are seeking entire sanctification are al- 
 ready justified by faith, and have the witness of the Spirit 
 that they are born of God. In these the work of sancti- 
 fication is begun, as observed above. And to unfold the 
 nature of that work more fully, and the way and man- 
 ner and means by which it is fully accomplished, will be 
 the end at which we shall aim through the whole of this 
 work. 
 
8 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAT ON 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE PRIKCII'AL TERMS USED IN THIf WORK. 
 
 The principal terms which will occur in this work will 
 be the terms sanctify, sanctification, and the like; and as 
 it will open our way, and render the discussion of this 
 subject much more agreeable, we will endeavor to state 
 and illustrate their meaning before we proceed. 
 
 On a careful perusal of the Bible, we shall find they 
 are not used, in every case of their occurrence, in exact- 
 ly the same sense, or with the same latitude or degree of 
 meaning, but sometimes comprehend more, sometimes 
 less; sometimes signifying the removal of all sin and pol- 
 lution of every kind from the person or thing said to be 
 sanctified, sometimes the removal of a part of it only, and 
 not the whole; while, on some other occasions, they con- 
 vey no idea to the mind whatsoever of the removal of 
 any kind or degree of impurity from the subject said to 
 be sanctified, but simply a dedication or employment of 
 that person or thing to the sole or exclusive service and 
 glory of God. A few passages of Scripture in which one 
 or other of the terms in question occurs may now be in- 
 troduced, to illustrate the principles we have just laid 
 down. 
 
 And first, we may notice Genesis ii. 3. where the term 
 "sanctified" occurs the first time we meet with it in the 
 
EiNTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 9 
 
 Bible. Its meaning in tiiis passage is limited. It con- 
 veys to the mind no idea of purilication; for the sabbath 
 had no defilement to be- purged away. It simply means 
 this, that the sabbath was to be dedicated or set apart 
 for the exclusive purposes of religion and the glory of 
 God, who had thereon rested from all his works, and that 
 on no pretences whatever was it to be used for the secu- 
 lar purposes of this present life. (See Exod. xx. 8 — 11; 
 Isai. Iviii. 13.) In the same sense also the term "sancti- 
 fy" appears to be used where God is said to "sanctify 
 himself," to "sanctify his great name,'' and the like. — 
 (Ezek. xxxvi. 23; xxxviii. vlt.) For although the name 
 of Jehovah may be said to be defiled by the heathen, and 
 by all who use it with any degree of irreverence, yet as 
 < this profanation of the name of God produces no change 
 in that name, which is always pure and holy in itself, 
 however men use it; so neither, on the other hand, does 
 its sanctification produce any change in that name, or 
 make it more pure or holy than it was. It simply signifies, 
 that God would cause it to be used with reverence and 
 awe by all who should take it into their sinful and pollu- 
 ted lips. 
 
 I may just further observe, that when the Lord Jesus 
 Christ speaks of "sanctifying himself," and of the Father 
 "sanctifying and sending him into the world," (John xvii. 
 19; X. 36,) the meaning can only be, that the Father had 
 set him apart, and that he had consecrated or set himself 
 apart, as God-Man or Mediator, for the accomplishment 
 of those great and holy purposes for which he was 
 sent into the world. For in the Savior was "no sin, 
 neither was guile found in his mouth;'' so that in his 
 2* 
 
10 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 sanctifiation neither sin nor guile, of any kind or degree 
 whatsoever, could be purged away. In all these cases 
 llie i)revious condition, or undefilable nature of the sub- 
 ject said to be sanctified, fixes the meaning of the terms in 
 question, and compels us to understand them as stated 
 above. 
 
 But, secondly, when the thing said to be sanctified 
 was previously, in its nature, unholy or impure, the re- 
 moval of that impurity, in whole or in part, must always 
 be understood; for the removal of that impurity is part, at 
 least, of their sanctification, and their consequent dedica- 
 tion to God is the rest. The sanctification of the Israel- 
 ites may be given as one illustration of this. "Washing 
 their clothes,'' which implies the removal of some de- 
 gree of impurity, was one part of the process of their 
 sanctification, (see Exod. xix. 10 — 14,) and "sprinkling 
 the people with blood and with water," (see Exod. xxiv. 
 H; Heb. ix. 19,) was part of the same transaction, and 
 also implies the removal of pollution. For St. Paul ex- 
 pressly styles this sprinkling of the people a "sprinkling 
 of the vnclean" and a sprinkling which sanctified,''^ the 
 unclean, to the- ^'■purifijing of the f eshy (Heb. ix. 13.) 
 So that in this case, and others of the same nature which 
 took place under the law, it is manifest the terms in ques- 
 tion are used to denote the removal of defilement or sin 
 from the person or things said to be sanctified, that they 
 might be consecrated to the honor and glory of God. 
 
 I find, also, that the terms in question are used in this 
 sense in the New Testament, when applied to the souls 
 and bodies of men, as in the following words of St. Paul. 
 
 •4' 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 11 
 
 "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a 
 heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying 
 of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ — 
 •purge (sanctify) your conscience from dead works to 
 serve the living God?" (Heb. ix. 13, 14.) The remo- 
 val of sin from the conscience is manifestly intended in 
 this place, or perhaps, from the whole soul and body also, 
 conscience being put for the whole man. In the follow- 
 ing passage the removal of sin from the body is intended. 
 "For tills is the will of God, even your sanctification, 
 that ye should abstain from fornication, &c. (1 Thess. 
 iv. 3, 4.) And the same thing may be said concerning 
 the word sanctify in the subjoined passage, which un- 
 doubtedly refers both to the body and soul. "Christ also 
 loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the 
 word," &-C. (Eph v. 25, 26.) So that it appears to be 
 beyond all doubt that the terms in question, when applied 
 to any person or thing unholy or unclean, whether in the 
 Old Testament or the New, signifying the purging or re- 
 moval of that dolilement away, and a dedication of that 
 person or thing to the service of God. 
 
 We must be careful, however, in the third place, to 
 observe, that these terms do not always, when evidently 
 implying the removal of sin, imply the removal of all sin 
 from man; for, whatever may be said of things, such as 
 the vessels of the temple, and the like, it is certain that 
 man may be partially sanctified and not completely so; 
 some portion of his natural corruption, both of flesh and 
 spirit may be removed, but not the whole; some remains 
 of the carnal mind may yet lurk within; so that the soul 
 
12 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAT ON 
 
 is not fully and completely restored to the image of Christ. 
 This was evidently the state of the church at Corinth 
 when St. Paul wrote his first epistle to it. The members 
 of that church were not perfectly renewed. There were 
 many things in them and among them of a very repre- 
 hensible nature, so that St. Paul says unto them, "And 
 I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, 
 but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For 
 ye are yet carnal: fc whereas there is among you envy- 
 ing, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk 
 as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, 
 I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" And yet these very 
 Corinthians are styled, in this epistle, "them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus;'' (chap. i. 2;) and again, in 
 another place of this same epistle, St. Paul says, "But ye 
 are washed; but ye are sanctified; but ye are justified;" 
 &c. (chap. vi. 11.) So that it is manifest the terms in 
 question, in these passages at least, denote only a partial, 
 not a complete and perfect removal of the depravity of 
 their nature: the leaven of grace was in them, and at 
 work; but it had not yet leavened the whole lump. I 
 think the term "sanctified" is used in this limited sense 
 in other passages also; as in Acts xxvi. 18, where it ap- 
 pears to be applied to the whole militant church. But 
 sufficient has already been stated fully to illustrate and 
 establish this point. 
 
 In the fourth and last place we may ask, after what 
 has been said, whether these terms, or any of them, be 
 ever so used in the Sacred Writings as to imply a full 
 and complete deliverance from sin, and a total dedication 
 of ourselves to God? And to this question, the answer 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 13 
 
 must be given in the affirmative; for, after all that has 
 been said, and, I hope, justly said, of the limited meaning 
 of the terms in question, in such passages as those refer- 
 red to above, there are others in which they occur with 
 a sense and meaning so large and comprehensive, that 
 nothing short of absolute deliverance from all moral de- 
 filement, and a full dedication of all our powers to God, 
 can reach it. Our Lord uses the term sanctify in this 
 sense (1 John xvii. 17) when praying the Father to "sanc- 
 tify his disciples through the truth;" and so also does St. 
 Paul, (1 Thess. v. 23,) where he says, "And the very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly:'' "implying,'' says Mr. 
 Benson, "that every faculty of their souls, and every 
 sense and member of their bodies, should be completely 
 purified, and devoted to the service of God." This, then, 
 being the sense and meaning of the terms in question, 
 when applied to man, and used in their full and abso- 
 lute sense, we need not enlarge upon them in this place, 
 but may now proceed to consider the thing itself signified 
 by them, and unfold it more fully unto the reader's mind. 
 
14 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 In considering the nature and extent of sanctification 
 in man, its extent, I mean, when he is sanctified wholly, 
 man, himself, the vessel or recipient of sanctifying grace, 
 must necessarily come before us, and all the cavities of 
 that vessel, the members and senses of the body of man, 
 and the powers and faculties of his mind, must pass un- 
 der calm and deliberate review. 
 
 The faculties of the mind or soul of man have been di- 
 vided into two classes, called the inferior and superior 
 faculties; the latter including the understanding, the me- 
 mory, the will, and the conscience; and the former the 
 passions in general, — such as wonder, love, desire, hope, 
 joy, hatred, aversion, fear, sorrow, and the like. To the 
 body of man belongs its members, that is, the hands and 
 feet, and the other fleshy parts which go to make up our 
 corporeal nature; and in these our wise Creator, when con- 
 stituting our nature, placed the senses as he saw good; 
 namely, the faculties of seeing, hearing, feeling, smell- 
 ing, tasting; and the body, including these members and 
 senses, and the soul, with all its faculties and powers, 
 constitute the whole of God's rational creature, man. 
 
 Man was created in the image of God. (Gen. i. 26.) 
 This image had respect to the whole of man, to the body 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 15 
 
 and to the soul, and every faculty, member, and sense 
 thereof, had as much of that image impressed upon it as it 
 was naturally capable of receiving. The understanding 
 was bright and comprehensive; the memory, tenacious 
 of good; the will in perfect rectitude; and the conscience, 
 faithful and right. The passions, and the senses also, were 
 all in perfect harmony with the divine will; moreover, the 
 body of man also, according to some, whose conjectures 
 concerning it appear to be supported by the Oracles of 
 truth, was, in its primitive state, clothed with light; and 
 to crown the whole, Adam was constituted Lord of this 
 lower world. (Gen. i. 28.) 
 
 In this state of perfection, Adam was placed in the 
 groves of Eden, and instructed of God. Those groves, 
 or the garden, was not the boundary of his dominion, or 
 extent of his liberty to walk and view the work of God. 
 It was a kind of temple, accordmg to the ingenious con- 
 jecture of Bp. Home, where Adam was favored with 
 special intercourse with his Maker, and performed the 
 sublimer acts of adoration and praise. The Bishop, 
 moreover, inclines to the opinion, that the ordinary labor 
 of Adam in the garden, his dressing and keeping it, was 
 not merely for the exercise of his body, but for that of 
 the mind also; the objects of the garden, like those of the 
 temple in after days, serving as examples of things more 
 sacred and divine, and intended by the Deity himself to 
 raise up the mind, and fix it on things in his presence 
 above. (See Bp. Home's Discourses, vol. i. p. 37.) 
 
 Be these things, however, as they may, one thing is 
 clear concerning the primitive state of our great progeni- 
 tor, which is, that he was perfectly happy, because he 
 
16 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAT ON 
 
 was perfectly holy, and just, and good. There was no 
 sin in him then, nor any natural tendency to evil, either 
 in the body or mind; and had he continued in allegiance 
 to God, as he certainly might, having strength from the 
 Deity sufficient for that purpose, there never would have 
 been. But the scene changed, and this state of things 
 fled away from our earth when Adam ate of the forbid- 
 den fruit. He was then stript of his royalty. The crown 
 was snatched away from his head, and his mantle of light, 
 the robe of his innocence and honor, departed from him, 
 and was received back to heaven. 
 
 Nor was this all the effect of his transgression. Satan 
 entered his very nature, and like a mighty conqueror, ran 
 through all his powers and faculties, despoiling the glo- 
 rious image of the Deity, and causing his own to be 
 erected in its place. Hence ignorance of God sat brood- 
 ing on his mind; yea, he hated him, for he fled from him, 
 and foolishly attempted to hide himself from God "be- 
 hind the trees of the garden,'' as if the trees could con- 
 ceal him from the eye of his Judge! 
 
 Now, let the reader observe, that, according to the 
 doctrine of the Scriptures, Adam, who was the head and 
 representative of us his posterity, entailed the conse- 
 quences of the fall, a depraved and corrupt nature, upon 
 all his descendants; so that all are, by nature, sinful, and 
 corrupt; that is, in consequence of having derived a pol- 
 luted and sinful nature from our great progenitor, all that 
 are born into the world are "children of wrath" and of 
 death. This is the only way in which we can at all ac- 
 count for the existence of so much sin in man, whose very 
 nature certainly is sinful, sinful throughout; there is no 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 17 
 
 part or faculty, of body or mind, in any degree, exempt. 
 "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." 
 So that Babylon in ruins affords but a faint idea of the 
 ruined state of man, who was once resplendent with the 
 image of God. I cannot, therefore, but think, with 
 Bishop Wilkins, strong as his language is, that "hell 
 itself, which is the proper place of sin, is not more full 
 of sin, for the kinds of it, than our nature is;" for, as 
 this very sensible and judicious prelate continues to ob- 
 serve, "If there be any particular sin which we have 
 not fallen into in our lives, it is not for want of corrupt 
 principles and dispositions in our natures which do in- 
 cline us to all, but by God's restraining or renewing 
 grace, which hath as yet withheld us from them; with- 
 out which we should break out into as great abomina- 
 tions as were ever committed by the vilest of men." A 
 little further on, recommending the practice of studying 
 our own nature in the glass of the vile practices of the 
 wicked, he says, "There is not any kind of evil, which 
 either man or devil hath committed, but there are 
 in our nature the principles and inclinations of it; the 
 best of us being, by nature, as bad as the worst of sin- 
 ners.'' All which, awful as is the condition in which it 
 exhibits our fallen nature, must be allowed to be just, 
 unless we believe, contrary to reason and to the Oracles 
 of God, that it is no longer a safe and sure maxim in 
 divinity, that "as face answereth to face in water, so the 
 heart of man to man." 
 
 But sanctification is intended to repair the ruins of 
 our nature, and restore us again to the image of God. 
 So far, at least, as we are capable of enjoying it again 
 
18 
 
 A PRACTICAL EfiSAV ON 
 
 on earth does this great blessing restore us to it; for by 
 it the Deity delivers us from sin, and from Satan also, 
 and he himself takes possession of our heart. He 
 creates us anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. He 
 purges out the old leaven of malice and wickedness, and 
 makes us a new lump. So that of the powers and fa- 
 culties of the Christian, both of body and mind, it may 
 be said, especially when this blessing is complete or 
 entire, "Where sin abounded, grace doth much more 
 abound; that as sin reigned unto death, even so might 
 grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." But that the reader may have 
 a better and more ample view of this important work, 
 we will now draw a little nearer, and consider some of 
 the powers and faculties of man separately, and see how 
 they are affected by this great work of God. 
 
 The understanding is entitled to the first consideration, 
 on various accounts. This faculty is to the soul what 
 the eye is to the body, and is therefore styled "the eye," 
 by St. Paul. (Eph. i, IS.) It is the inlet or entrance of 
 knowledge, as the eye of the body is of light; and it re- 
 sembles the eye in several other respects. The eye, for 
 example, cannot create light; nor can the understanding 
 create knowledge. The eye cannot create objects, nor 
 be conscious of the existence of objects, till they are 
 placed before it in the light; nor can the understanding 
 create any one truth, or be conscious of the existence 
 of any, till placed before it by instruction. Again, as 
 the best eyes are useless without light, and without ob- 
 jects of vision; just so it is with the understanding 
 faculty m men, which must forever lie dormant in the 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 19 
 
 soul, and be incapable of exertion, if no objects of any 
 kind were ever presented before it. We may yet further 
 observe, that as the eye may be destroyed, so as to be 
 void of all use in the blaze of the sun, even thus it may 
 be with the understanding of men. And thus, the Apostle 
 assures us, this faculty, in the unsanctified children 
 of Adam, is actually destroyed by Satan and sin. "The 
 God of this world," says he, "hath blinded the minds of 
 them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious 
 gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine 
 unto them." There is a peculiarity in the working of 
 Satan in regard to this. He destroys not this faculty in 
 regard to evil; he may even improve it in its perception 
 of wickedness, and cause those in whom he rules to be 
 "inventers of evil things." (Rom. i, 30.) But with re- 
 gard to those things which are really and truly good, 
 that is, things which be of God, he literally puts out 
 their eyes, so that they grope as the blind at noon day; 
 not through the absence of light, but for want of a spi- 
 ritual faculty to take in the light. "For the natural 
 man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for 
 they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know 
 them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
 
 Such is the unsanctified understanding of man, and 
 such it would ever remain, but for the sanctifying in- 
 fluences of the Holy Ghost. But in the process of this 
 great work in the soul, moral or spiritual perception is 
 restored, according to the prayer of David, "Open thou 
 mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy 
 law;" and according also to the language of St. John, 
 who says, "And we know that the Son of God is conne, 
 
20 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 and hath given us an understanding, that we may know 
 him that is true," and the hke. So that, by the power 
 of God, a faculty of spiritual perception is restored to 
 the soul, by means of which we are enabled to under- 
 stand the things which belong to our peace. 
 
 As to the time and manner when this is effected, no 
 doubt it commences, though in a very small degree, in 
 very early life, and perhaps at the moment we corne 
 into the world. This, at least, is supposed by some to 
 be the meaning of that text which considers the Saviour 
 as "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh 
 into the world." If this faculty lie dormant, or be feeble 
 in children, or if it be impaired, for want of religious 
 education, this will prove nothing against the thing it- 
 self. But should the faculty suffer in this way, God can 
 revisit and repair it again, which he certainly does at 
 our conversion to God, when all the faculties of the soul 
 undergo a change. This faculty of the soul may, after 
 our conversion also, undergo still further changes and 
 improvements, by fresh visits of the Saviour's power and 
 grace; and we have an instance of this kind in the case 
 of the disciples, when the Lord Jesus, after his resurrec- 
 tion from the dead, "opened their understanding" afresh, 
 "that they might understand the Scriptures" more fully 
 than they had hitherto done. (Luke xxiv, 45.) And 
 thus, by repeated acts of the same gracious power on 
 the mind of all true believers, does he enlarge the un- 
 derstanding to the utmost extent of his pleasure and 
 will. 
 
 Now, when the understanding is opened as above, it 
 must not lie dormant, or be destitute of light. Neither 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 21 
 
 must it be radiated with a few dim rays, occasionally 
 flitting through the gloom cf our spiritual night. It 
 must be filled with day — gloriously filled with sacred 
 and hallowing light. And it is very pleasing to observe 
 the terms which the Scriptures employ in reference to 
 this point. They assure us, that "light is sown for the 
 righteous;" that "the light of the moon shall be as the 
 light of the sun, and that the light of the sun shall be 
 sevenfold;" that the followers of Jesus "shall not walk 
 in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" and that 
 "if their eye be single," (if they are wholly sanctified,) 
 "their whole body shall be full of light." These are 
 great words, but certainly not greater than true. It 
 does not follow, however, that even those who are en- 
 tirely sanctified will have equal degrees of the know- 
 ledge of Christ: for no two on earth, and perhaps not 
 in heaven, will ever be equal in this respect, at least 
 they may never appear so to us. Nor should we avoid 
 the remark, that minds may differ, as the stars, in their 
 magnitude and capacity, so as to be naturally and for 
 ever incapable of containing the same multiplied thought 
 and extended conception, even in things which are holy, 
 sacred, and divine. So that the entire sanctification of 
 the understanding depends not on the degree of light it 
 may possess, but on its being fully and habitually occu- 
 pied by sacred and heavenly things. And from hence 
 it will follow, that the understanding of a child is as 
 capable of being sanctified as is that of a Newton, and 
 that of a Newton as that of an angel in heaven. In 
 every case, let the mind, be its capacity more or less, be 
 full of light; and long as it continues in that state, so 
 3* 
 
22 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 long the work we are speaking of is complete. We 
 come now to consider 
 
 THE MEMORY. 
 
 The memory is that faculty of the soul where she 
 lays up her stock of ideas. Ideas are the soul's treasure; 
 hence the memory may be called the treasury of the 
 soul, into which she can retire, as misers do to their 
 wealth, and dispose and arrange her ideas according to 
 her will. The memory may also be called the soul's 
 laboratory; for hereinto she often repairs, and of the 
 various materials she has in possession, projects her 
 designs both of evil and good. 
 
 There is a manifest and wonderful difference in the 
 memories of men, which has been thought to depend 
 exclusively on the texture of the brain. But if this 
 speculation were true with regard to recollection in 
 general, which there is reason to doubt, there are cer- 
 tain phenomena of memory which certainly depend on 
 invisible agency, diabolic, angelic, or divine. We forget 
 some things, but recollect others, which were told us 
 at the same lime. The things we remember are things 
 of no moment, perhaps even sinful and base; but those 
 we forget are of infinite moment, the vast and im- 
 portant concerns of the soul. Millions of occurrences 
 like these are daily transpiring, in every rank and every 
 station of life; but how are they to be accounted for, if 
 the memory depends on nothing but the brain? Can the 
 brain, in the saine moment of time, be tenacious of one 
 thing, and not equally so of another? If left to itself, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 23 
 
 must it not equally receive and retain, all manner of 
 ideas and impressions that come in its way? How then 
 comes it to pass that the memories of unsanctified men 
 are so singularly retentive of evil, while things of a con- 
 trary nature are as seldom retained? Beside, if our 
 memory solely depend on the brain, where does it go in 
 the day of one's death? Are we to suppose that till the 
 morning of tlie resurrection it slumbers in the clods of 
 the valley, raked up in the dust of death? or that it 
 ceases to burn when the lamp of life goes out, and that 
 its last feeble embers are entirely put out by the crawling 
 inhabitants of the dark and gloomy grave? or are we to 
 suppose that disembodied spirits in heaven have no mem- 
 ories? that they have no recollection of any thing? no 
 ideas, nor knowledge? Shall we suppose this, 1 repeat, 
 or come to the more rational and scriptural conclusion, 
 that the memory has its seat in the soul, in the hidden 
 recesses of the heart of man, and that it will bloom in 
 the skies when our flesh shall decay? 
 
 But wherever the memory may be seated, we know, 
 from the testimony of Christ concerning it, that, till 
 sanctified by grace, it is under the dominion of Satan 
 himself Let any one read the parable of the sower, 
 and doubt the truth of this if he can. "The sower 
 soweth the word," says Jesus; and then he proceeds to 
 assure us, concerning the "way-side" hearers, that, 
 soon as the word is sown, "Satan cometh immediately, 
 and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." 
 (Mark iv, 15.) Can those who profess to believe the 
 testimony of Jesus, require additional proof, that Satan 
 rules the memory of unsanctified man, and will not suffer 
 it to retain the doctrines of God? 
 
24 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 On the other hand we may observe, and it ought to 
 be observed, that he acts an equal part in causing the 
 memory to retain ideas of things which are ill. The 
 parable of the tares in the field is sufficient proof of 
 this. It is "the devil," as our Lord assures us, who 
 "soweth the tares among the wheat;" that is, who 
 putteth those false opinions and principles, and views of 
 things, into the souls of men, which make the tares, 
 or "children of the wicked one," just what they are. 
 And this he does with as much ease and facility as that 
 with which he picketh up the good seed of the kingdom 
 which may happen, on any occasion, to be sown in the 
 heart. So that nothing can well be clearer than this, 
 that the memories of unsanctified men, both in retaining 
 evil, and in forgetting that which is good, are greatly 
 and awiuily under the control of that wicked "Spirit 
 that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'' 
 
 But sanctification produces a change in the memory 
 of man. It destroys the working of Satan therein, and 
 teaches us, in some sense, the art of forgetting; for we 
 remember no longer our former ideas, or not for the 
 purposes we formerly did. It empties the chamber of 
 its furniture, and fills it with other furniture of a very 
 difl"erent kind. If the reader will allow me to retain 
 this figure for a moment, I would say, that in this 
 apartment of the soul of man may now be seen, even 
 on its walls and ceiling, the impress and images of holy 
 and heavenly things. It is even floored with a pure 
 mosaic of everlasting truth, more precious than rubies, 
 and brighter than the stars that bespangle the night; 
 while the cross of the Redeemer, resplendent in the 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 25 
 
 midst, diffuses unutterable glory through the whole, and 
 hallows and makes it the residence of God. This will 
 unfold the fact of the case, and give an idea of the state 
 of the memory, when wholly sanctified to God; and the 
 scriptural way of accounting for this may be seen by 
 attention to the following words: 
 
 "I will put my law into their mind," says Jehovah, 
 "and write it upon their hearts." Let the reader ob- 
 serve, that God himself engages to do this; the hand 
 which traced upon the two tables of stone the ten pre- 
 cepts of Moses, will write upon our memories the texts 
 and doctrines of his holy law, and make us acquainted 
 with all his gracious will. The same thing appears to 
 be contained in the following words: "Howbeit, when 
 he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into 
 all truth." And again, "But the Comforter, which is 
 the Holy Ghost, — he shall teach you all things, and 
 bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have 
 said unto you." So that if the memory, in our sancti- 
 fication, becomes apt to receive and strong to retain the 
 hallowing truths of the gospel, these passages go to 
 prove, that the change in it is produced by the special 
 operation of the Deity upon it, and that this happy sta.te 
 of the memory is kept up only by that self-same opera- 
 tion being perpetuated in the heart. But it is now time 
 to take into consideration the sanctification of 
 
 THE WILL. 
 
 The will of man is that faculty of our nature which 
 directs our voluntary actions, and, so far as we have light 
 
26 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 concerning it, appears, from its very nature, incapable 
 of constraint. The body may suffer compulsion, may 
 be carried, contrary to our inclination, this way or that; 
 but this can have no effect on the disposition or will. 
 The negro in chains, the captive in slavery and bondage, 
 can range as freely in thought as the tyrant that hum- 
 bles his body to the dust; while, on the contrary, we 
 may remark, that a rebel in heart and will, may render 
 external homage to legitimate rule and authority, only 
 for want of son)e safer opportunity of following the dis- 
 position of his will. But whatever men do or say, there 
 is one thing concerning the will which cannot admit of 
 the slightest doubt, namely, that while it remains in an 
 unsanctified stale, it spurns with disdain the easy yoke 
 of Christ. The will of man, indeed, in its natural state 
 is awfully rebellious against God. It rebels even when 
 there is no temptation to rebel; no pleasure, profit, or 
 honor, arising from the action, save the pleasure we 
 find in doing our own will in preference to that of our 
 Maker and Judge. Nay, we often rebel to our certain 
 loss, foreseen and foreknown; and for no other assignable 
 reason but because we will do it, because we choose to 
 act in that particular way; and all this not through 
 ignorance or mistake, but when we know in our con- 
 sciences and hearts that the deeds we are doing are 
 contrary to the mind and will of God. So that the 
 "carnal mind" is justly said to be "enmity against God; 
 for it is not," says the Apostle, "subject to the law of 
 God, neither indeed can it be." And this single text 
 contains the most consummately awful picture of the 
 state of the unsanctified will that human language can 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIPICATION. 
 
 27 
 
 paint, or human thought conceive. We shall feel all 
 the force of the remark now before us if we first con- 
 sider the Being against whom the enmity is maintained, 
 who is no other than God, — the best, the wisest, and 
 greatest of all beings; to whom we are indebted for life 
 and for all things, and then suffer our minds to rest upon 
 the words, enmity against Godf not subject to the law 
 of Godl neither indeed can be! 
 
 But sanctification removes this rebellion from the 
 will. It enters into the faculties of the soul, touches 
 the secret springs of action, and forms the will anew. 
 So that we refuse to do evil, and choose to do good, with 
 as much cordiality, freedom, and cheerfulness as we did 
 the contrary before; and we do it at the expense of our 
 worldly interest, ease, honor, liberty, and life itself; and 
 for no other reason, cause, or consideration, but because 
 it is the will and pleasure of God; choosing rather to 
 die than act contrary to his will. 
 
 Nor is this obedience of the will, in those who are 
 entirely sanctified, a partial or defective thing. It ex- 
 tends to every sacred injunction, whether great or small, 
 and whether agreeable to our natural predilections or 
 not. It acts a part which, in some respects at least, is 
 the very reverse of the conduct of Saul, when God 
 commanded him to destroy the Amalekites out of the 
 land. Saul went willingly to the war against Amalek. 
 He performed part of his duty, that which was most 
 agreeable to his will, with promptitude and pleasure; 
 yet he left a considerable portion of his duty undone, in 
 sparing Agag, the king, and the choicest of all the oxen 
 and sheep. How far this glass will exhibit the conduct 
 
28 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 of the reader, is not for me to determine. But is not every 
 professor of religion, save those who are entirely sancti- 
 fied, acting daily, in one thing or another, and to a 
 greater or less extent, precisely in the same way? doing 
 those things with cheerfulness which happen to be more 
 honorable, or more congenial to their natural disposition, 
 their families, their friends, or their interest, or which 
 expose them less to suffering, obloquy, scorn, peril, or 
 the sword, and the like; while duties of an opposite 
 character and complexion are suffered perpetually to 
 remain undone. These professors, when returning from 
 the performance of those duties which they love, are 
 ready to say to their frifinds, as Saul did to Samuel, 
 "Blessed be ye of the Lord; 1 have performed the will 
 of the Lord;" while, at the same time, perhaps, those 
 very friends, in regard to many neglected duties, might 
 say, "What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in 
 mine ears, and this lowing of the oxen which I hear?" 
 You act well your part in attending the house of God, 
 but your closet cries out against you. You reprove the 
 ungodly and instruct the ignorant abroad; but your wife, 
 children, and servants are neglected at home; or, you 
 do well at home, you care as you ought for your children 
 and domestics; but neglect the cries of the perishing 
 abroad. You are just, but not generous; or, generous, 
 but not just. You visit the affluent and the healthy; but 
 the poor, and especially the sick and the dying, are 
 daily neglected. The mansion, or even the cottage, 
 where health and happiness and hymns of praise are 
 united, is very agreeable, and visited occasionally with- 
 out any reluctance; but the chamber or garret of wretch- 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, 
 
 29 
 
 edness, the wards of hospitals and cells of prisons, where 
 human misery extreme takes up its abode amid sighs 
 and groans, and the harsh clinking of chains, are ne- 
 glected, as if God would have us neglect them, or as if 
 he had never expressed to us bis pleasure concerning 
 these things. We "pay tithes of mint, and rue, and 
 cummin, and anise; but neglect the weightier matters of 
 the law, such as judgment, mercy, and the love of God." 
 
 Now, the reader may rest assured, that while we in 
 this way prefer some of the duties of religion before 
 others, and, without any kind of necessity for so doing, 
 make choice of this, and refuse that, our will is not 
 right in the sight of the Almighty. If it be sanctified 
 in part, it is not wholly sanctified, it is not entirely sub- 
 dued. We are self-willed still, so far as we act, even 
 in religious matters, in a partial and selecting way, 
 without any regard to what is most needful and right, 
 and most in accordance with the mind and will of God. 
 A deep sense of this, and a fear least it should prove, 
 in any degree, to be our own case, should lead us to be 
 very importunate with the Deity, that we may be able 
 and willing, upon all occasions whatsoever, to under- 
 stand and do his righteous and perfect will. Because 
 "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than 
 the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witch- 
 craft, and stubbornness is as idolatry," even when it is 
 partial only, as in the case referred to in these words. 
 (1 Sam. XV.) 
 
 The conscience of man must next be considered, and 
 its entire sanctification must be clearly pointed out. Great 
 and swelling words of vanity have been used concerning 
 4 
 
30 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 the conscience of man, and a degree of dominion ascribed 
 to it that cannot be conceded by men of sound and sober 
 sense. It has been said, for example, that "conscience 
 is an interna] law of our nature, which enjoins nothing 
 at any time but that which is right, and which, there- 
 fore, it is not only lawful, but virtuous also, upon all 
 occasions, to obey." It is well for the world, however, 
 that this doctrine is confined within narrow circles, and 
 forms not the basis of any laws upon earth. For what 
 should we think if the laws of Great Britain were to 
 call an assassin "virtuous," and laud and reward his 
 deed, because he himself happened to think it his duty 
 to stab his neighbor to the heart? If it be said, that 
 the conscience of no man can ever approve of that 
 which is really and intrinsically wrong, we ask for the 
 proof — allowing, at the same time^ that if it appears 
 wrong to him, he certainly cannot. But the conscience 
 , of man, like all the other faculties of the mind, is liable 
 ! to awful deterioration. It may be blind, hard, or even 
 seared; in whicii cases it will not be governed by just 
 and righteous principles, or form its decisions by a clear 
 and sober perception of truth. It views every thing 
 through some deceitful medium, which, like the prismatic 
 glass, or convex mirror, gives an oblique and very dis- 
 torted appearance to things, or covers them with a 
 deceitful and quite unnatural light. The consciences of 
 those Jews whom the prophet charges with calling "evil 
 good, and good evil," and with putting "darkness for 
 light, and light for darkness," and the like, were pre- 
 cisely in the state we have now been supposing; and 
 some even of our own philosophers, such, for example. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 31 
 
 as Lord Kaime, are in no better state. This philosopher 
 endeavors to persuade his readers, that every man's 
 private opinion is, to himself, the only rule of right and 
 wrong; that his actions may be wrong in themselves, 
 or, according to the judgment of others, they may be 
 wrong, but he himself is right and innocent, if he 
 only happens to think so himself. Some of his Lord- 
 ship's words (see his Sketclies of the History of Man, 
 vol. ii, p. 252) are as follows: "To assassinate an atheist 
 for religion," says he, "is a wrong action; and yet the 
 enthusiast who commits the wrong may be'innocent: — 
 he is approved or disapproved, held to be innocent or 
 guilty, according to his own opinion." Had his Lord- 
 ship existed in earlier times, and been called to sit in 
 judgment on the murderers of King Charles, or on the 
 blind and bigoted Catholics, who thought it an act of 
 faith, and, consequently, not only innocent, but pleasing 
 to God, to burn Protestants at the stake, what would 
 consistency have led him to do? And yet in smaller 
 matters, matters at least which appear so to us, how 
 often professors of religion act on these principles, and 
 justify their proceedings in exactly the same way. A 
 ball, a play, the card table, profusion in furniture and 
 dress, and a thousand other things, though plainly for- 
 bidden in the Scriptures, are sinful only to them who 
 think them so, but to others perfectly harmless, inno- 
 cent as the food we eat, or as the slumber which re. 
 freshes our weariness at night. Persons who entertain 
 these kinds of notions concerning the consciences of men, 
 seem not to be av/are that they attribute to the conscience 
 a power beyond that of Omnipotence itself; a power 
 
32 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 which makes the same kind of action both right and 
 wrong, sinful and not sinful, at one and the same time! 
 But leaving these opinions, and all who embrace them, 
 to the mercy of Him whose authority over conscience 
 they so flagrantly impugn, we will turn to that light 
 which cannot lead us wrong, and inquire concerning the 
 conscience in the Oracles of God. 
 
 Now, according to the Scriptures, a conscience en- 
 tirely sanctified is governed, in all its decisions, by the 
 Oracles of God. Conscience itself is not, upon any 
 
 i occasion, the rule of right and wrong, much less the 
 only rule. It is not a law, but a judge, and must, there- 
 fore, determine the right and wrong of actions accord- 
 ing to some previously known and acknowledged rule 
 or law, which rule or law is the revealed will of God. 
 And in forming its opinions according to this rule, there 
 are three things which a conscience wholly sanctified 
 steadily surveys. The first is, the letter and spirit of 
 the law, or written word of God. The second is, our 
 own actions, words, and dispositions. The third is, the 
 agreement or disagreement of our actions, words, and 
 dispositions, with the letter and spirit of the written 
 word of God. These three circumstances go into every 
 thing which deserves to be considered as an act of a 
 conscience governed by grace; and the conscience is then 
 sanctified wholly when enabled, in this way, to pro- 
 nounce, that, in every thing we do, we are solely gov- 
 erned by the Oracles of Truth, and when we tremble at 
 the thought of acting contrary thereunto. 
 
 Before I bring this matter to a close, it may be proper 
 just to suggest, that from the preceding remarks, it will 
 
ENTIRE SAXCTIFICATIOX. 
 
 33 
 
 follow of course, that no Deist, as such, because he re- 
 jects revelation as a rule of his life; and that no Roman 
 Catholic, while denied the use of the Scriptures, and is 
 thereby rendered incapable of judging by their light of 
 the propriety or impropriety of his own conduct; and 
 that all Protestants themselves, in all those cases of con- 
 duct which they refuse or neglect to place in the bal- 
 ance of Scripture, must be incapable of a conscience 
 evangelically good; for the Gospel rule not being present 
 to the mind, in some of these cases, and not respected 
 in others, if it should happen to be present, can neither 
 be said to acquit nor condemn, nor does the conscience 
 acquit or condemn by its light. 
 
 Having considered the superior faculties of the mind, 
 and given some account of their entire sanctification, the 
 plan I proposed to pursue, and the method I have hith- 
 erto adopted in this essay, require me now to consider 
 
 THE PASSIONS. 
 
 The passions are a class of powers, emotions, or 
 faculties of the mind, which are called into action when 
 any particular object is presented to our view. The 
 first of the passions of the mind appears to be wonder: 
 wonder being the first emotion excited in the breast 
 when any thing new is presented before us. The next 
 to wonder appear to be love and hatred, as one or other 
 of these passions appears to be excited as the new ob- 
 ject presented before us is agreeable or disagreeable, 
 worthy of love, or entitled to our hate. After love and 
 hatred come the passions of desire and aversion, excited 
 
34 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 to action in our breast according as the object before us 
 seems adapted to our circumstances, and calculated to 
 afford us advantage or occasion us pain. Next to de- 
 sire and aversion, the passions of hope and of fear seem 
 to follow in the train; the former of these is sensibly 
 felt in the bosom when the object before us is good, and 
 likely to be ours; the latter, when the object seems evil 
 in itself, and likely to pour all its phials on our head. 
 Joy and sorrow next claim our attention. We are sen- 
 sible of sorrow when any calamity befalls us, and of 
 joy, when any thing befalls us in any sense good. These 
 seem the principal passions of our nature; to which, if 
 we add complacency and anger, both of which are often 
 excited, and sometimes properly excited, in us, we shall 
 have no occasion to enlarge, or attempt a more ample 
 development of these faculties of the mind. 
 
 Now, the passions, though styled the inferior faculties 
 of our nature, ai c essential to the perfection of our na- 
 ture, and to the moral accountability of man to his God; 
 for a pure intelligence, if by that term we may be 
 allowed to understand, for the sake of illustration, a 
 being of the brightest limited apprehension and know- 
 ledge, but destitute of the passions, would scarcely be 
 equal to the beasts of the earth. For what idea could 
 one form of even an angel, if unable to wonder, adore, 
 and love? Even the |)assions of fear, and sorrow, of the 
 uses of which in the regions of bliss we are not well 
 able to give any account, may, nevertheless, be necessary 
 there; — 1 say, these passions themselves may be neces- 
 sary there, though subject to modifications and laws very 
 different from those which they are subject to on earth, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 35 
 
 and excited perhaps in a very different way. Be this, 
 however, as it may, we know the passions to be as much 
 a part of our nature, as the understanding itself, or any 
 other power or faculty of the soul; but being disordered 
 by the fall of our great progenitOT, they need that tho- 
 rough improvement which nothing but sanctification can 
 give, A little attention to the following remarks may 
 make this both plain and familiar to the mind. 
 
 In consequence of the blindness of his mind, if the 
 wonder of the ungodly be excited at all by the works of 
 creation, it is something in the objects themselves, the 
 vast, the rare, or the unaccountable, which excites it, 
 and not their visible displays of the wisdom, power, or 
 goodness of God. Or, when surveying those great and 
 sublimcr events which happen in the world, such as the 
 overthrow of armies, loss of navies, burning of cities 
 and of temples, the rise and fall of empires, plagues, 
 pestilences, dearths, famines, and the like, he attributes 
 them to chance, to fate, to fortune, to heroes; to any 
 thing, or nothing, rather than to God; and thus a Han- 
 nibal or a Caesar, or the winds and waves, have received 
 that homage from our grovelling wonder which ought to 
 have been paid exclusively to God. As for the economy 
 of redemption, thougii a theme of speechless wonder to 
 angels, so that the knowing cherub tries to explore it in 
 vain, it excites no wonder in -the unsanctified bosom of 
 man, who hears, not listens to, the tale with apathy 
 when caused to assail his ears, and turns from its music 
 with antipathy and disgust. And as we thus wonder at 
 nothing but trifles, so are we pleased with nothing but 
 vanity and vice. The vain and foolish things of the 
 
36 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 world excite our warmest affections: and as we love 
 these supremely, we desire and hope for them ardently, 
 and if we obtain them, then we rejoice. Thus the pas- 
 sions follow each other in interminable circles, but void 
 of all peace, and happiness, and rest. Whereas reason 
 and tlie sacred Scriptures, declare it is wrong for the 
 passions of man to be excited thus. "Love not the 
 world," says St. John, "neither the things which are in 
 the world. If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him." 
 
 On the other hand, as the unsanctified man has very 
 erroneous and distorted views of God and divine tilings; 
 so he hates them, feels averse to them, fears them as 
 evils, and mourns if their influence prevails in the 
 world. Proofs of all this may be found in abundance, 
 in almost every portion of the sacred page. But it will 
 be quite sufficient, once for all, simply to advert to the 
 testimony of St. Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ: the 
 latter declares that he "hates" even 'Hhe light;'''' and 
 the former considers him as a '■'hater'''' even "0/ God" 
 himself, the Author and Giver of every thing good. 
 (John iii, 20. Rom. i, 30.) 
 
 All this may serve to convince us that the passions of 
 unsanctified men are in a state of the utmost disorder 
 and confusion, restless as the waves of the sea, turbid £is 
 the troubled ocean; and that, instead of producing that 
 lovely order of things which mistaken philosophers and 
 poets have thought them capable of producing, with 
 nothing but "wild nature's vigor working at their root," 
 the reverse has been the case in every nation and age of 
 the world. Did not the passion of love, wandering from 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 37 
 
 God, and fixing on the forbidden fruit, tarnish the groves 
 of Eden with sin? Did not hatred, misplaced, first 
 moisten the earth with human blood? Trace the his- 
 tory of the world, of ancient or modern times; reflect 
 on the crimes of Sodom, or of Egypt in days of old; 
 look on the passions of Greece in the conduct of her 
 heroes; mark the consequences of ambition, and other 
 sinful passions in the souls of the Romans, in the degra- 
 dation of kings whom their proud consuls led in chains, 
 in the imperial cities they destroyed in their intermi- 
 nable wars; in the rivers of human blood which they 
 shed, not only in war, but in times of peace, in the 
 shows of gladiatory combats, in which millions of human 
 beings lost their lives for no other reason but this, — 
 their tyrants would have it so; and would thereby afford 
 a worse than brutal satisfaction to the spectators, who, 
 on those awful occasions of deliberate and black murder, 
 flowed, like mighty waters, from the city into their vast 
 amphitheatres, built to afford them a greater facility in 
 feasting their eyes and ears with those scenes of blood 
 and death. The history of Rome is an aceldema 
 throughout. To those who are acquainted therewith, 
 the very names of her Tarquins, her Coriolanus, her 
 Scipios, her Cinna, her Sylla, her Marius, her Pompey, 
 and her long line of Caesars, carry awful ideas con- 
 cerning the passions of men. Heaven seems to have 
 suffered them to acquire their full stature, and to stand 
 like pyramids on the page of history, to show us what 
 the passions will actually bring forth, if their growth be 
 not greatly restrained by the power and mercy of God. 
 Nor is it in heroes alone that we see the passions of 
 
38 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 mankind in this disordered state. In every line of life 
 we see the same thing. Some vile passion or other, 
 not reason, nor religion, governs every man, and every 
 woman, in whom the Gospel has not had its desired 
 effect; filling our prisons with felons, our streets and 
 garrets and cellars with ruined females, and our hospi- 
 tals with incurable diseases. Even the passion of love 
 alone, when placed only on "money," is said to be "the 
 root of all evil;" for, "while some have coveted after 
 it, they have erred from the faith, and pierced them- 
 selves through with mauy sorrows." 
 
 While I am on the subject of the passions, which I 
 find a very important one, it will not be deemed a di- 
 gression if [ notice the love of novels, and books of that 
 class, which swells in many a human breast. Nor do I 
 know any thing which more fully exhibits the wildness, 
 excess, and misery, of the human passions, than this. 
 
 Some philosophers have taken notice of this taste for 
 fictitious history, as tlie love of novels has been called, 
 and considered it a proof of the greatness and dignity 
 of the human mind. "The objects of this world," it is 
 said, "and the common train of affairs which are seen 
 going on in it, do not fill the mind, nor give it entire 
 satisfaction. We seek for something that shall expand 
 the mind in a greater degree; we seek for more heroic 
 and illustrious deeds, for more diversified and surprising 
 events, for a more splendid order of things, a more re- 
 gular and just distribution of rewards, than what we find 
 here: and because we meet not these in true history, we 
 have recourse to fictitious. We create new worlds ac- 
 cording to our fancy, in order to gratify our capacious 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 39 
 
 desires." Such were the oj)inions of Lord Bacon, as 
 cited by Blair, who dignifies them with the epithet of 
 "eery ingenious." Allowing, however, the soundness 
 of some of his liordship's principles — that the soul 
 
 IS TOO VAST TO RECEIVE SATISFACTION FROM THE COM- 
 MON TRAIN OF AFFAIRS OCCURRING IN LIFE doCS it 
 
 follow from hence that we must of necessity fill it with 
 fictions? with wind? with a "splendid order of things" 
 less real, less substantial, than the shadow of a shade? 
 For what are all novels, according to Lord Bacon's 
 account, but nothingness in the abstract; mere creations 
 of the brain; above real life and manners, that they may 
 Jill the poor soul, which, it seems, cannot otherwise be 
 filled by any thing beneath the sun. But what sort of 
 philosophy is that which has recourse to such methods 
 as this, in order to fill and satisfy the mind? If the 
 theatre of life is too narrow, and its objects are found 
 too little, for the soul, so that the passions want more 
 room, and greater objects, to afford them more ample 
 entertainment and bliss, rather than speak of novels as 
 they do, would it not have been much more rational in 
 his Lordship as a philosopher, and more amiable and 
 consistent in Blair as a divine, to have come to the con- 
 clusion that the soul of man was made for God, for the 
 knowledge and enjoyment of the Deity himself, and that 
 vanity has been purposely written on all other things, 
 that the soul might sicken in their full enjoyment, and 
 be induced to seek her solace in God.' 
 
 After all, however, the question will still recur, 
 whether the soul, even with the aid of fiction, is satis- 
 fied, and at rest? and to this question ten thousand 
 
40 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 bosoms answer, No! The passions of man open to 
 the world, and the world sails in, and yet the harbor 
 is not full. We go to work, and create new worlds 
 out of nothing; and these too float at random in the 
 soul, and leave abundant room for more. These are 
 facts, and facts too which it would be vanity even to 
 attempt to deny. Philosophy sees them, but can fur- 
 nish no remedy. Divinity sees them, and brings the 
 remedy too. Philosophy and divinity go hand in hand 
 in such inquiries as these, up to a certain point, where 
 they part asunder, the one from the other, when phi- 
 losophy is left in the valley below amid fancied creations 
 and ever-varying visionary forms. In the mean while 
 divinity, in spotless robes of white, beckoning us to 
 follow, conducts us to the summit of Revelation, and 
 from that sacred eminence points out, not a "land of 
 apparitions," and "empty shades," but the empire of 
 the Deity, vast in wisdom, justice, mercy; vast in truth 
 and in love; in power, glory, and grace: so that adoring 
 angels are lost amidst the amazing variety and incon- 
 ceivable greatness of those themes of wonder which 
 rise in endless succession to their view. And while she 
 continues to point out these glorious realities, in lan- 
 guage mild as the breath of spring, and refreshing as 
 the gentlest rains, or early dews of the morning, she 
 continues and concludes her heavenly converse thus: — 
 "The soul of man was made for God, and nothing but 
 God can satisfy its vast immortal powers! — But 'he will 
 cause those that love him to inherit substance; yea 
 they shall be filled with his fulness,^ and conducted to 
 PEACE and everlasting rest." 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 41 
 
 Now, to attempt, with some ancient philosophers, to 
 root up the passions, is vain. They are deathless as the 
 spirit to which they belong; nor can their ardor be 
 diminished. Sanctification is not intended to quench 
 their native lustre or force, but to put out those unhal- 
 lowed fires with which they have been made to burn, 
 and then light them afresh at the altar of God. Ac- 
 cordingly, as sanctification proceeds in the soul, this 
 object is more and more attained. We have growing 
 discoveries of the mysteries of Christ. We have clearer 
 views of the riches of his grace, and of his ability and 
 willingness to save apostate man. The curtains of time 
 are more and more withdrawn, and we have widening 
 and brightening views both of the future and final state 
 of man, — the future and final state both of the wicked 
 and the just. And while these things are more and more 
 unfolded, all the passions — wonder, love, desire, hope, joy; 
 and their opposites — hatred, aversion, fear, sorrow, and 
 the like, are roused into holy activity, and acquire addi- 
 tional strength from day to day. Fix, then, these pas- 
 sions upon their proper objects, — fix love, desire, hope, 
 joy, and the like, on God and religion, and let hatred, 
 aversion, fear, anger, and the like, settle upon sin, of 
 every kind, and then raise these passions, by holy exer- 
 cises, by prayer, reading, meditation, and the like, to 
 their highest possible strength and vigor, and keep them 
 in this state, and you have a soul entirely sanctified to 
 God. The Deity requires nothing more than this, 
 (Matt, xxii, 87 — 40,) and will be satisfied with nothing 
 less. (1 Cor. xvi, 22.) 
 5 
 
42 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 Having considered the sanctification of the soul, I 
 come now to the bodj', which also requires the opera- 
 tion of grace. 
 
 It is melancholy to reflect how the whole man, body 
 as well as soul, has been brought under sin. So that 
 sin is said to reign in our bodies, and our members are 
 considered as the very slaves of sin! (Rom. vi.) Ac- 
 cordingly, if the passions, to borrow the words of Sir 
 Matthew Hale concerning them, "like the furies that 
 were let loose out of Pandora's box, do raise most of 
 the storms and tempests that are abroad in the world," 
 sensual indulgence, acting in concert with the passions, 
 supplies the rest. I say sensual indulgence, because all 
 the sins or "filthiness of the flesh" may be resolved 
 into the unlawful indulgence of one or other of the 
 bodily senses. Grand, gay, or beautiful objects, for 
 example, please the eye; music, the ear; perfumeries or 
 fragrance, the smell; food and liquor, the taste; and, in 
 like manner, the sense of feeling, which is extended, 
 more or less, through the whole animal frame, finds 
 pleasure in other objects, and is capable of being grati- 
 fied in a considerable variety of ways. Sins of the flesh, 
 or sensuality, we may repeat, consist, in the unlawful 
 gratification of any one of these senses; and gratification 
 may be unlawful absolutely, or by excess. Thus a man, 
 if unmarried, must not touch a woman; nor, when mar- 
 ried, take inordinate liberties with his wife. These 
 remarks, of course, are as applicable to the woman as to 
 the man. And they are applicable also to various other 
 things. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 43 
 
 The sins of eating and drinking, or the unlawful grati- 
 fication of the taste, and those also of the eye and the 
 ear, are, generally, by excess; for the excessive indulg- 
 ence of any of the senses, the eye, or the ear, for 
 example, in too great a fondness for music or fine sights, 
 must be placed upon a par with drunkenness, since it 
 differs tVom it in nothing but this, that it is the excessive 
 indulgence of a different bodily sense. So that the sot 
 in music, in fine paintings, and the like, is just as comely 
 a sight in the eyes of the Deity, and entitled to the 
 same honor, as the sot at the sumptuous table, or he who 
 struggles with delight in draining the midnight bowl. 
 It is sensual gratification, sensual indulgence, sensual 
 delight, in both cases; and whenever we indulge the 
 senses to excess, so far as we do it, we sin against Heaven. 
 
 But sanctification preserves us from this. It pro- 
 duces a change in the bodies of men, as well as in the ~ 
 soul; changing its sensual appetites and desires, and 
 keeping them within bounds; so that the epicurean zest 
 of the glutton gives place to a relish for homelier fare. 
 I say, a relish, because I suppose God produces a real 
 change in our bodily constitution in regard to these 
 things, and not that the practice of this temperance will 
 be irksome to nature after the change shall once be fully 
 accomplished in us, but, on the contrary, natural and 
 easy and pleasant as indulgence was before. So that if, 
 when in this state, we should occasionally have the 
 richer delicacies of food set before us, and should be 
 disposed to taste them, which God does not forbid, the 
 taste will be restricted and temperate, and God will be 
 glorified iu these his gifts to man. In like manner will 
 
44 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 the gratification of the other senses be regulated; the 
 eye in seeing, and the ear in hearing; so that none of 
 them will be indulged to excess, or for any other purpose 
 than that which would lead a pious and good man to 
 make prayer to God. And as these remarks, which are 
 now before the reader, will give an idea of what 1 am 
 led to consider a sanctified state of the body, to add to 
 them would be frivolous and vain. I shall, therefore, 
 conclude this chapter with this general observation, that 
 the sanctification of the body is entire, not when we 
 cease from actual indulgence, but when the propensity 
 to such indulgence is removed, and God by his Spirit 
 witnesses that sin is all destroyed. So much for the 
 nature an^ extent of this great work of God. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GOD VVILLETH OUR ENTIRE SANCTIFIC ATION. 
 
 That God willeth our entire sanctification, must ap- 
 pear from the nature of God, the doctrines, |)romises, 
 precepts, and prayers in the Bible, which relate to it, 
 and likewise from the design of the ministry of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 First. The nature of God is proof that he must desire 
 and will the entire sanctification of man. God is holy. 
 Sin is abhorrent to his nature and essence; he cannot 
 look thereon but with anger and disgust. It is in the 
 very nature of our earthly fathers to wish their offspring 
 to resemble themselves; and in God, the Great Parent 
 of all, to wish his children to be like their heavenly 
 Father in this respect, namely, a freedom from every spot 
 and wrinkle of sin, and full of goodness, righteousness, 
 and truth. 
 
 Secondly. The doctrines of the Bible proves the same 
 thing. The following passage is very express. "For 
 this is the will of God even your sanctification." It is 
 the will of God. And if we wish to know the extent 
 of that sanctification it is the will of God we should 
 possess, the following words will explain it. "Christ 
 also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he 
 might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water 
 by the word; that he might present it to himself a glo- 
 
46 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 rious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 - thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." 
 The design of Jesus, in giving himself up to death, is 
 so clearly and fully expressed in these words, as to render 
 it impossible for a candid, generous, and unprejudiced 
 mind not to perceive it. He bled, not only to pardon, 
 but to cleanse us; to open a fountain for all uncleanness; 
 to purge away every spot and stain and soil of sin, both 
 from the body and soul of his saints, so as not to leave 
 the slightest tarnish of it behind. The same doctrine 
 is contained in other portions of the Oracles of Truth; 
 in such texts, for example, as these, "Wherefore Jesus 
 also, that he might sanctify his people with his own 
 blood, suffered without the gate." "If we walk in the 
 light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
 another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
 us from all sin." The former of these texts shows the 
 design of the Redeemer's sufferings, and the latter the 
 extent of that design, in a very clear and satisfactory 
 way. It is their entire sanctification; the removal of all 
 sin from the body and from the soul too. 
 
 Perhaps it will be profitable to the reader, if I men- 
 tion one or two more passages which relate to this point. 
 The first is the language of Christ when praying for his 
 disciples. "And for their sakes," says he, "1 snnctify 
 myself, that they also might be sanctified through thy 
 truth." In the margin it is truly sanctified. So that 
 the design of Jesus in devoting himself to those unpar- 
 alleled sufferings which he endured in the garden and 
 on the cross for us, as spoken of here, appears to be 
 jiist the same as that spoken of above. To the same 
 effect also are those words of St. Paul in his epistle to 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 47 
 
 Titus. "The great God and our Saviour," says he, 
 "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, 
 zealous of good works." So that as far as these clear 
 and undoubted doctrines of the Bible go in this matter, 
 there is no uncertain sound of the trumpet but a loud 
 call to duty, arising from the clearness and strength of 
 proof which they contain, that it is the will of God we 
 should be fully and for ever saved from all sin. 
 
 Thirdly. Some of the promises of God may now be 
 examined, as they perfectly accord with his doctrines 
 concerning this point. The first promise I shall notice 
 is that great promise made by the Deity to the venerable 
 Abraham, which indeed seems more than a promise; it 
 is a covenant, confirmed by the oath of the Deity, "that 
 by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for 
 God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who 
 have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before 
 us." So that if this promise or covenant should be 
 found to contain a pledge, on the part of God, to deliver 
 us from sin, and sanctify us wholly and entirely, it will 
 be a firm foundation and hope to those who are ardently 
 longing for this blessing and grace. And that it does 
 contain such a pledge, nay, that such a pledge is the 
 very kernel, the core, the heart and soul of that promise, 
 the following remarks, it is hoped, will show. 
 
 In the whole of this covenant, God engages to do for 
 Abraham, at least, the following things: he engages to 
 give him the land of Canaan, a numerous posterity, to 
 raise up Christ from among his descendants, and wholly 
 to sanctify him and his spiritual seed; the first was be- 
 stowed for the sake of the second, the second for the 
 
4B A PHACTIOAL ESSAY ON 
 
 third, and the third, or Christ Jesus, for the sake of the 
 fourth, or entire sanctification. That this is the true 
 state of the case, will appear from a comparison of 
 Genesis (chap, xii.) with a statement we find in the 
 Gospel by St. Luke, (chap, i, 67 — 75.) This latter 
 passage I will give at full length, that the reader may 
 notice it at once, with suitable care. It is the language 
 of Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, who, being 
 full of the Holy Ghost, prophesied concerning Christ in 
 the following words: "Blessed be the Lord God of 
 Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people; and 
 hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house 
 of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his 
 holy prophets which have been since the world began; 
 that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the 
 hands of all that hate us; to perform the mercy pro- 
 mised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 
 the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he 
 would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the * 
 hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in 
 holiness and righteousness before him all the days of 
 our life." .Now, from this remarkable passage, it does 
 manifestly appear, 1. That such a deliverance from 
 all sin, and from Satan, the chief hater and enemy of 
 man, as will enable us to serve God without fear, in 
 holiness and righteousness before God, and that all the 
 days of our life, was promised to Abraham, and to all 
 his spiritual seed. 2. This deliverance from sin is, in 
 some sense, the principal and ultimate thing promised. 
 Even Christ, "the horn of salvation," was promised in 
 order to this; promised, that we should be saved, &c.; 
 and as for heaven itself, that will follow our entire sane- 
 
ENTinE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 49 
 
 tification as a natural and necessary consequence; as a 
 just and suitable appendage to the full image of God 
 restored to the soul of fallen apostate man. 3. This 
 covenant, or promise, is, in fact, the on'ly promise which 
 had been in the mouth of all the holy prophets since 
 the beginning of the world; all other promises, of what- 
 ever kind, and however made known or expressed, being 
 but parts or appendages of this, growing out of it as 
 branches out of the tree, or flowing into it as rivers into 
 their sea. So that, unless we have greatly mistaken the 
 whole of this aflair, entire holiness of heart is the spi- 
 ritual birthright of all the spiritual seed of Abraham, 
 and as freely to be enjoyed as the air they breathe from 
 day to day- 
 After what has been said, there scarcely appears any 
 need that more should be advanced on the subject of the 
 promises of the blessing in question. Nevertheless, if 
 more will be useful to the reader, more is at hand; the 
 branches of this blooming "tree of life" stretch them- 
 selves out through the length and breadth of the sacred 
 page, and oflTer their leaves, which are for the healing 
 of the nations, to all that stand beneath its ample shade. 
 Let the reader examine the following, and by faith re- 
 ceive their virtue into his needy, sin-sick soul. "And 
 he," Jehovah, "shall redeem Israel from all his iniqui- 
 ties." "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
 ye shall be clean: from all your fiithiness, and from all 
 your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I 
 give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I 
 will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
 will give you a heart of flesh. And I will also save 
 you from all your uncleannesses." From the New Testa- 
 
50 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 ment I will just mention the following: "And ye shall 
 know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 
 "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it." 
 "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.'' 
 "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness; for they shall be filled." These promises, 
 though but a very small portion of this class of promises, 
 and if we were to consider them as separate and inde- 
 pendent promises, having no connexion with that great 
 covenant promise which God made to Abraham and to 
 his seed, are quite sufficient to establisii the point in 
 question; namely, that God willeth our entire sanctifica- 
 tion; for, as long as words have meaning, these passages 
 must be understood of an entire deliverance from sin, 
 inward as well as outward, and of a fulness of righteous- 
 ness brought into the soul by the Spirit and grace of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Vourthly. The precepts of the Gospel also may very 
 properly be noticed, as containing proof of the same 
 thing; as where it is said, "I am the Lord your God: 
 ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be 
 holy." "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
 who is in heaven is perfect." "Make the tree good, 
 and his fruit good." "Put on charity, which is the bond 
 of perfectness." "Let patience have her perfect work, 
 that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 
 We need not add to the number of these precepts, nor 
 hold up a light to the sun by attempting to explain 
 them. And it avails nothing to say, in order to lessen 
 the force, and fritter away the meaning of these pre- 
 cepts, that man is a weak, frail creature, and surrounded 
 with temptations and snares on every hand; so that a 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIPICATION. 
 
 51 
 
 kind and compassionate Being, whose yoke is easy and 
 whose burden is light, must have given him these pre- 
 cepts rather with the hope and design that he should do 
 what he can towards fulfilling them, than with the ex- 
 pectation or wish that he should reach them in all their 
 dimensions: for God, wlio gave them, knew what 
 strength we should need, and what he would afford; and 
 one, having made the experiment, comes forward to 
 say in the face of these objectors, "I can do all things 
 through Christ who strengthetieth me." And it is no 
 very honorable reflection on the Deity to suppose that he 
 would, or could, give precepts to his creatures which he 
 knew they could not, and which he did not desire them 
 to perform. So that the existence of such precepts as 
 those we have mentioned above, carries with it a strong 
 and irresistible proof that the will of the Deity is, our 
 entire deliverance from sin, and our full and perpetual 
 dedication to God. 
 
 Fifthly. The prayers of the saints, and of Jesus 
 Christ, for this blessing, prove it is a blessing which the 
 saints should enjoy; for it would involve very perplexing 
 considerations to suppose they could pray, as they do, 
 for what none can enjoy during this present life. David 
 had no hope of converting sinners in the grave. Yet 
 he solicits this blessing, that he might the better he 
 able to teach them the truth, and convert and bring 
 them savingly to God. "Wash me thoroughly from 
 mine iniquity," says he, "and cleanse me from my sin. 
 Purge me with hyssup, and I shall be clean; wiish me, 
 and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean 
 heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 
 TTien shall I teach transgressors thy law, and sinners 
 
52 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 shall be converted unto thee." (Psal. U.) To the same 
 effect is the prayer of St. Paul for the church at Thes- 
 salonica, contained in these words: "And the very God 
 of peace sanctify you wholly;" (that is, says the Rev'd 
 Jos. Benson, ^every part of you, and every part per- 
 fectly. (See his Com. in loc.) The Apostle then pro- 
 ceeds, "And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
 body be preserved blameless" (after they have been 
 made so) "unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 (1 Thess. v, 2.3.) As tiiis passage is striking and clear 
 in marking the extent of sanctification, so it is likewise 
 in specifying the time when it ought to be enjoyed. 
 The Christian must have it in this present life; for to 
 talk of the spirit, soul, and body being "preserved blame- 
 less" after death, would involve absurdities too gross for 
 refutation. We may notice also the prayer of Epaphras 
 for the Colossians, who fervently desired and prayed 
 that they might "stand perfect and complete in all the 
 will of God." (Col. iv, 12.) 
 
 But while on this subject, I must not forget the prayer 
 of the Redeemer for his own immediate disciples while 
 on earth. It is evident, from John xv, .3, that they were 
 sanctified in part at the time the petition in question 
 was offered up; so that when the Redeemer (chap, xvii, 
 17) solemnly requested the Father to "sanctify them 
 through his truth," &c., it is clear their entire sanctifi- 
 cation was the subject of his request. But if this is not 
 sufficient to banish all doubt from the mind of the 
 reader concerning this point, the context must surely 
 produce the effect. "Neither pray I for these alone," 
 says he, "but for them also which shall believe on me 
 through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 53 
 
 Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
 one in us. — / in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
 made perfect in one," being filled with tlie fulness 
 of the Father and of Christ! Is it possible to con- 
 ceive an^ language more expressive of that full, abso* 
 lute, complete, or entire sanctification, described in a 
 former part of this work, than this language of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ? 
 
 Sixthly. Although enough has been said already to 
 establish the question before us, it must not be dismissed 
 entirely until a word or two have been said on the de- 
 sign of the Gospel ministry, as laid down in the Oracles 
 of God. By the Gospel ministry I mean, not preaching 
 only, but the administration of the sacraments also, and 
 the pastoral duties in general. Now, the great end or 
 design of this ministry cannot be better expressed than 
 in the language of the Apostle when writing to fhe 
 Ephesians. To these Christians he says, that when the 
 Saviour "ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, 
 and gave gifts to men. And he gave some, apostles, 
 and some, prophets, &c., for the perfecting of liie saints, 
 for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ." Here we perceive, that all the gifts and talents 
 of apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and the like> 
 are intended to accomplish the same thing in the church, 
 namely, such an increase of piety, or such a proper, 
 full, and just proportion of faith, hope, love, gentleness, 
 goodness, and all and every other grace of the Spirit, 
 in everv member of the body of Christ, as shall cause 
 6 
 
64 
 
 A PBACnCAL ESSAY ON 
 
 them to resemble a comely and well-proportioned human 
 frame; this being manifestly intended by the words per- 
 fect man, and the fulness of the measure of the stature 
 of Christ. For although the passage may take in the 
 increase of the church by an accession of members, till 
 it shall fill the boundaries of the world, and in that sense 
 come up to the fulness of the measure of the stature of 
 Christ, or to the fulness of his intention or design with 
 respect to the increase of the church on earth, yet this 
 cannot possibly be the full meaning of the Apostle, who 
 manifestly is speaking of such growth and improvement 
 in the church as "maketh increase of the body to the 
 edifying of itself in love" and a growing up "into Him 
 in all things, which is the head, even Christ;" so that 
 the meaning of the passage cannot be confined to any 
 mere numerical increase of the church, without mani- 
 fest impropriety, but must take in ail that personal piety 
 and grace which it is the design of my present under- 
 taking to recommend. 
 
 If then the nature of God is to be regarded in this 
 argument; if the doctrines of the Bible are to be be- 
 lieved; if the promises are to be respected and relied 
 upon, or the covenant and oath of God trusted in; if 
 the prayers of the saints, and of Jesus Christ himself, 
 do not lead us astray into the wilderness of error and 
 death; and if the gracious design of the gospel ministry, 
 as contained in the passage we have cited above, is to be 
 regarded at all, or expected to take place: if these things 
 are not all a fallacy, a dream, a mere nothing, and a lie; 
 then ought the saints to awake from their slumber, and 
 arise, for the great God of heaven and of earth willeth 
 them to be, even while passing through life, delivered 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 55 
 
 from the last remains of sin, and entirely devoted to the 
 glory of God. Reflect, reader, upon these things, and 
 may the Holy Spirit so apply them with power to thy 
 mind, as to cause thee to awake up to duty and dili- 
 gence, and never, never, rest again, till in the full and 
 happy enjoyment of purity of heart. 
 
56 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PROCESS OF ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, AND ON THE 
 TIME IT REQUIRES. 
 
 As a diversity of opinion exists concerning the pro- 
 cess of entire sanctification, some supposing it to be not 
 only gradual, but very slow and tedious, and others sup- 
 posing it to be effected more rapidly, if not in a moment 
 of time, it will be proper to turn our attention unto it, 
 and examine it with candor, diligence, and care. 
 
 In doing this, it is pleasing to find that our opinions 
 concerning it do not depend on the varying nature of 
 mere words and phrases, the meaning of which, by the 
 mere lapse of time, will often be rendered dull and ob- 
 scure, but on the fixed and unalterable nature of things; 
 for the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of wisdom and truth, has 
 thought fit, in explaining to our minds the nature of 
 the process in question, to employ such tilings as are 
 unchangeable in their nature, and which, therefore, 
 must furnish the same ideas concerning it to the latest 
 posterity. Want of room will not allow me to furnish 
 a multitude of examples of this mode of illustration. 
 But we may just notice a few, which will serve as a 
 specimen of the rest, and excite the reader, perhaps, to 
 investigate the subject as the greatness of its import- 
 ance appears to demand. 
 
ENTIRE 9ANCTIFICATI0N. 
 
 57 
 
 First. The process of entire sanctification is some- 
 times represented by the process of creation, as in the 
 following words of St. Paul: "We are his workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works," &c. "Put 
 on the new man, which after God is created in right- " 
 eousness and true holiness." "For ia Christ Jesus 
 neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- 
 cision, but a new creature." "If any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature: old things are passed away; be- 
 hold, all things are become new." That these texts of 
 Scripture, when taken in their full sense, comprehend 
 the entire work of sanctification, will admit of no doubt; 
 and it is equally clear they compare the process of that 
 work in man to the process of creation. The only 
 difficulty in the case appears to be this, whether the 
 creation of the world is alluded to, which was six days 
 in continuance from beginning to end, or the creation of 
 Adam only, which took up a much smaller portion of 
 time. But to whichever of these we suppose the Apostle 
 to refer, the consequence will be, that the whole pro- 
 cess of our entire renovation need not be long; six days 
 is the utmost that can be allowed for its necessary con- 
 tinuance; but if Adam's creation is referred to as a 
 sample of that which I am wisliful to explain, the time 
 to be allowed for its necessary continuance must not 
 exceed the limits of a day. 
 
 Secondly. The process of mortification in the mem- — 
 bers of the human body is likewise employed to illus- 
 trate the process of entire sanctification, as in the fol- 
 lowing, and other passages also, of a similar kind: — 
 "Mortify your members which are upon the earth." 
 "If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the 
 6* 
 
58 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 body, ye shall live." And, as in the foregoing exam- 
 ples, the process of entire sanctification appeared to be 
 gradual, but not long; so also in this: for, let the process 
 of mortification be fairly begun in any member or part 
 of the human system, and let it be suffered to go for- 
 ward without any attempt to arrest its career, and it will 
 soon lay its victim prostrate in the dust. The applica- 
 tion of these remarks is natural and easy. Let grace 
 have its course in our nature. Let its sanctifying pro- 
 cess go forward, and it will quickly "mortify the deeds 
 of the body," and kill every symptom of sin in the soul. 
 
 Thirdly. The process of death by crucifixion is some- 
 times alluded to just in the same way. "Our old man," 
 says St. Paul, "is crucified with Christ, that the body 
 of sin might be destroyed." Mr. Benson observes, in 
 his note upon this passage, that our old man is a strong 
 and beautiful expression for that entire depravity and 
 corruption, which by nature spreads itself over the whole 
 man, leaving no part uninfected. This, he proceeds to 
 observe, in a genuine believer, is crucijied toilh Christ, 
 being gradually killed by virtue of our union with him; 
 the remembrance and consideration of his cross co- 
 operating in a most powerful manner, with all the other 
 motives which the Gospel suggests, to destroy our cor- 
 rupt passions and former sinful habits — that, the body of 
 sin — the body belonging to sin, including sinful tempers, 
 words, and works — jnight be destroyed — utterly and for 
 ever. In the course of his remarks upon this passage, 
 Mr. Benson observes, that the Apostle "personifies sin 
 after the custom of animated writers, who, to make 
 their discourse lively and aflecting, speak of the virtues 
 and vices of which they treat as so many persons; and 
 
ENTIKE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 59 
 
 that our "corrupt passions and evil actions are the mem- 
 bers of the old man," who, it seems by crucifixion, is 
 to be so utterly and for ever destroyed. Now, what I 
 desire the reader more especially to notice is this, 
 namely, the time necessary for this utter destruction, 
 according to the representation of the text. And as 
 this must be drawn from the time which was occupied 
 by the crucifixion of Ciirist, a few hours for the whole 
 process is all we can concede, as being strictly necessary 
 for the accomplishment of the work. And surely God 
 can destroy sin in the soul of his saints as soon as sin 
 could inflict death on the soul and body of his Son. 
 
 Fourthly. The cleansing of lepers seems referred to 
 in the Scriptures for the purpose of illustrating the 
 same important point, as the reader will perceive in the 
 following words: — "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall 
 be clean." "And I will cleanse their blood which I 
 have not cleansed." "If we confess our sins, he ia 
 faithful and just to — cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness;" and the like. And probably also, when Christ 
 Jesus, in the days of his flesh, "cleansed the lepers," 
 those astonishing miracles were intended to be, not only 
 proofs of his ability to cleanse us from sin, but figures, 
 also, and visible representations of it, and likewise also 
 of the time and the manner in which it may be done. 
 So that we may properly detain the reader for a moment 
 on this interesting point. 
 
 Now, cv'jncerning the leper and his cleansing, we may 
 observe as follows: 1. The leprosy spoken of in the 
 Scriptures was a most foul and filthy disease, consti- 
 tuting him that had it unclean, and unfit to mingle with 
 society, and the like. (See Lev. xiii.) 2. It was quite 
 
60 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 incurable by any human means. 3. When, therefore, a 
 leper was cured, it was by a special interposition of 
 God; it was altogetlier a miracle; and it was generally, 
 if not always, eflected in a moment. All the cases 
 we read of in the Scriptures, as the case of Miriam, 
 (Num. xii,) of Naanian, (2 Kings v, 14,) and of the 
 leper cured by Christ, (\latt. viii, 3,) and the like, go 
 fully to prove the truth of the remark. 4. If, therefore, 
 the cases of leprosy were emblems of sin, and the 
 cleansing of lepers an emblem of the removal of sin, 
 the sudden removal of the one very naturally suggests 
 the removal of the other in as sudden and instantaneous 
 a way; otherwise the parallel is not good, and the illus- 
 tration, by this figure, not clear and bright. That which 
 is called "the cleansing of the leper" in the Old Testa- 
 ment, (Lev. xiv,) and wliich consisted in the perform- 
 ance of particular rites and ceremonies, was not, pro- 
 perly, the cleansing of the leper, or removal of his 
 leprosy away; fur the leprosy was removed before those 
 rites were so much as begun; it was the peculiar manner 
 or form in which the leper, after he was cleansed, was 
 restored to the society of the people, from which his 
 infectious disease had driven him away. And this may 
 correspond with that newness of life, or fresh dedica- 
 tion of body and soul to God, which must ever succeed 
 the total removal of indwelling sin. But if we should 
 also take this into our account, and consider it as part, 
 that is, the completion or finishing, of the entire pro- 
 cess, and as actually removing the lingering traces of 
 leprosy from the leper, even in this view of the case^ 
 the whole process was short, and furnishes no proof that 
 the process of entire sanctification must of necessity be 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 61 
 
 protracted, and extend through a considerable portion 
 of time. I am inclined, however, to think, that the 
 cleansing of the leper by Christ (Matt, viii, 3) ought to 
 be specially regarded in this discussion; and as the 
 leprosy, in that case, is said to have been Hmmediately'''' 
 cleansed; so also shall we be immediately delivered 
 from all the leprosy of sin, if we apply to the Redeemer 
 for that purpose, and hear him speak within us, "I will, 
 be thou clean." 
 
 Fifthly. The process of refining silver and gold is 
 employed in the Scriptures with the same end in view. 
 When gold or silver is mixed with alloy, and about to 
 be refined, it is put into a crucible and placed in the 
 fire. The intense heat of the furnace reduces it to a 
 fluid; and while in this state, the particles of gold pre- 
 cipitate, and the alloy or baser metal floats on the sur- 
 face; so that the refiner, with an instrument, can take it 
 all away. To this process of refining, the prophet 
 alludes in the following words: — "I will turn my hand 
 upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take 
 away all thy tin." So also does another prophet, who 
 speaks of our Lord in the following way: — "The Lord 
 whom ye seek — is like a refiner's fire, — and shall sit as 
 a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the 
 sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that 
 they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous- 
 ness." In such texts as these the process, not of a par- 
 tial, but entire, sanctification of our nature is evidently 
 pointed out. The language employed is incapable of 
 any other construction. And the period of time neces- 
 sary for the process is easily perceived in such texts as 
 the above, standing out, as those clauses of them do 
 
62 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 which relate to that point, in such broad and prominent 
 relief; so that we are under the necessity of believing, 
 that when the sanctifying process has once been begun 
 in the soul by regeneration, if it were suffered to go on, 
 and the fire not cooled by negligence in us, entire 
 sanctification would quickly take place; and the church 
 of the Redeemer would soon be filled with vessels of 
 honor, vessels of pure untarnished silver, and bright, 
 burnished, unmingled gold. 
 
 Perhaps the preceding cases are more than are strictly 
 necessary to illustrate and confirm the point underhand. 
 Yet, nevertheless, I will take the liberty to mention, at 
 least, another portion of Scripture, in which our adora- 
 ble Redeemer has endeavored to familiarize to our mind, 
 and bring down to the humblest capacity, the same 
 important thing. I now allude, 
 
 Sixthly. To the process of leaven. One of the para- 
 bles of our Lord reads thus: — "The kingdom of heaven 
 is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in 
 three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." 
 The following remarks may serve to set this parable in 
 a clear and proper light. We see, 1. Our unsanctified 
 nature in the unleavened measures of meal. 2. The 
 mysterious grace of God in the mysterious lump of 
 leaven. 3. The communication of grace to our heart, 
 in the hiding the leaven in the meal. 4. The leaven works 
 mysteriously in the meal, and so does the grace of God 
 in our souls. 5. The process of leaven in the meal is 
 gradual; so also is the grace of God in the soul. 6. 
 Though the process of leaven in the meal is gradual, it 
 is not long, about twelve hours being quite suflicient for 
 the whole process; and wherefore then must we suppose 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATIOW. 
 
 63 
 
 it needful for the whole process of entire sanctification 
 to occupy a longer period of time? Why must we not 
 suppose the Deity can diffuse his own nature through 
 alt the powers and faculties of our nature quite as easily, 
 and in as small a portion of time, as a small portion of 
 leaven can diffuse its own nature through three measures 
 of meal, till it has thoroughly leavened the whole of the 
 lump? Certainly we must allow he is able to do this, 
 or we shall greatly dishonor our Maker and Judge, and 
 plunge into ruin by strange unbelief. This parable, 
 therefore, contains a fine illustration of the power and 
 influence of sanctifying grace. And it is the more val- 
 uable, because it is plain and easy, and lies on a level 
 with the capacity of a child. 
 
 It would be as easy to enlarge as it is pleasing to 
 dwell on such a theme as this. The sacred page is as 
 boundless in its treasures, as it is rich and glowing in 
 its representations of this great work of God. Never- 
 theless, I must forego the pleasure which a protracted 
 discussion of this subject would afford until some future 
 occasion, and ofler some general remarks in this depart- 
 ment of my work. 
 
 My first observation shall be this; that from what has 
 been said, as well as from the nature of the thing, it 
 appears that there must be a moment when the sancti- 
 fying process has its commencement in the soul; and 
 that moment is the moment in which we are justified, 
 and born again of God. Then it is that the leaven of 
 grace begins to operate, that the old man of sin becomes 
 nailed to the cross, and that the body of sin begins to 
 be destroyed. My second remark is this, that from the 
 commencement to the termination of this process, two 
 
64 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 J principles, contrary to each, exist in our nature; namely, 
 the remains of the carnal mind, and the hallowing grace 
 
 ' of God. This is an important fact, and demands the 
 most serious consideration of believers, as much of their 
 peace of mind, till they are wholly sanctified to God, 
 will often depend upon right conceptions of this very 
 point. If they have clear views of it, they will attri- 
 bute the coldness and langor, and evil desires^and 
 thoughts, which they sometimes find witiiin them, to the 
 stirrings and emotions of sin that dvvelleth in them, even 
 the remains of a carnal mind, and will not surrender 
 their justifying confidence in Christ, when the tempter 
 tempts them to do so on that very account. Thirdly. 
 The celerity of the sanctifying process depends upon 
 man. He may hinder it by unfaithfulness, or forward it 
 by diligence directed aright. Fourthly. If the Chris- 
 tian be faithful, the process goes on. The body of sin 
 is more and more destroyed, and grace gains the ascend- 
 ant. Thus the moment arrives at last when sin is 
 entirely done away, and the whole soul of the believer 
 filled with grace. This is that entire sanctification for 
 which I contend through the whole of this work. 
 Fifthly. In this way the reader will perceive what is 
 usually intended by the term "instantaneous," when 
 applied to the work in question. It simply means, that 
 the work which purifies the understanding, memory, 
 will, conscience, and the passions in general, as described 
 in a former part of this work, together with the members 
 and senses of the body, and fills and subjects them all to 
 the dominion of grace, is finished! and this finishing or 
 termination of the process, from the very nature of the 
 thing, must take place in a moment, or be instantaneous, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 65 
 
 if ever it take place at all. So that the greatest advo- 
 cates for the gradual, and even protracted process of 
 this work, can have no just ground of exception to a so- 
 ber and chastened use of the term. Sixthly. Let us be 
 careful, however, not to limit the Holy one of Israel, as 
 to time, in the performance of this work. Time, indeed, 
 can be nothing to Him, who can do in a moment as much 
 as in an age. Had he seen fit, he could have formed the 
 world in the twinkling of an eye, just as well as in the 
 space of six days. And if, in the process of that work 
 we are discussing, we allow a regular order to take place, 
 a beginning, a subsequent progression and increase, and 
 then a completion or finishing of the work; if we allow 
 all this, as we certainly ought, if we would think and 
 speak aright; is not the Deity able to attend to it all in 
 a moment of time? So that, whatever may be the case 
 or experience of some individuals, there can be no ne- 
 cessity of supposing that God must be either years, or 
 months, or days in accomplishing this work. The thief 
 on the cross was both justified and sanctified in less than 
 a day. And it is greatly to be feared that those who 
 contend for a long and tedious process of this work, 
 form their opinions on false and fallacious principles, 
 and not on the doctrines of God. They look at the 
 experience of men; and because some good men have 
 been years in the ways of the Lord, and never enjoyed 
 this blessing, hastily infer that others must be so too. 
 They never appear to think that these men, though 
 faithful, perhaps, in all other respects, have not been 
 faithful in this; or that they have erred in their views 
 concerning it; and have not sought it, because, throuo-h 
 some unhappy circumstance or other, they have not 
 7 
 
68 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 of its maturity and perfection in themselves; not by 
 these only, (which cannot afford indubitable certainty,) 
 but by these in connexion with a very different thing, 
 namely, the direct witness of the Holy Spirit of God, 
 that they are wholly sanctified; concerning which I must 
 now subjoin a few words. 
 
 I confess I write upon this point with diffidence, the 
 subject being weighty, and liable to abuse. But as I 
 dare not altogether waive it, I will speak with deference 
 to those who may think differently from me, if any 
 should think differently, on this interesting point, and 
 shall stand open to correction, especially from my fathers 
 and brethren in the kingdom and patience of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. And having said this, I may now be per- 
 mitted to add, that, according to the views I have formed 
 on this point, we cannot be sure we are free from all 
 sin, and perfectly sanctified by the Spirit of God, but 
 by the Spirit of God himself, who accomplishes the 
 work. We cannot, for example, be absolutely sure that 
 no lingering traces of pride, desire, concupiscence, 
 covetousness, love of the world, vanity, and the like, 
 have no more place within us, by this circumstance 
 alone, namely, that we do not feel any emotions of them, 
 or any one of them, upon any occasion whatsoever, 
 remaining in our breast; by feeling nothing of this kind, 
 I repeat, we cannot be absolutely certain that nothing 
 at all of this nature is remaining in the soul; for 
 we do not know, nor is it possible to know, the depth of 
 inbred corruption in our nature, unless we could sound 
 the depth of the human heart, which we know to be 
 impossible to any but God. (Jer. xvii, 10.) So that 
 there may be roots of bitterness, and remains and seeds 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 69 
 
 of sin within us, too deeply concealed in our nature to 
 be easily, or at all, discovered by us. And a conscious- 
 ness of this might be that which led David to pray, 
 that Jehovah would "search his heart," and know and 
 try his "thoughts," and see if there were remaining 
 any "wicked way in him," and the like. (Ps. cxxxix, 
 23, 24.) For the principles of vice are so insidious and 
 deep rooted in our nature, that, even from the hearts of 
 the ungodly, where they are not so restrained and borne 
 down by grace as in the hearts of those who are justi- 
 fied and born of God, there are many enormities which 
 leave not their lurking places so as at any time to be 
 very apparent in their life; the consequence is, that it 
 is only by reasons drawn from analogy, and the testi- 
 mony of the Scriptures, that we know they are there. 
 And thus I conceive it may be with the righteous also, 
 in regard to the remains of the carnal mind, which are 
 kept down in the soul by the superior power of regen- 
 erating and preserving grace. So that, although we 
 may be very sensible of growth in grace, from our own 
 experience and inward consciousness that we feel more 
 and more meekness, humility, gentleness, goodness, 
 fidelity, and the like, and from a corresponding con- 
 sciousness of a decay and weakening of the opposite 
 vices in the heart, and the like; yet the total removal of 
 the principles and seeds of those vices, as it can only be 
 known to God in the first instance, so must it, in the 
 second instance, be witnessed to the heart of him who 
 obtains it by the direct testimony of the Spirit of God; 
 nor can he be sure he enjoys it in any other way. But 
 I shall have occasion perhaps, to advert to this matter 
 again in the course of this essay, and shall therefore say 
 
70 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 nothing further upon it in this department of my work, 
 save that I would recommend to the candid reader, who 
 may not have thoroughly examined this subject, a close 
 consideration of those brief hints concerning it which 
 have just been put down, as, by the blessing of God 
 upon them, a course of profitable thoughts respecting 
 it may thereby be happily excited in the mind. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENTIRE SAXCTIFICATION THE WORK OF GOD. 
 
 As it is important that the reader should know the 
 immediate power or agency by which this great change 
 is wrought in our nature, I proceed to furnish the best 
 information I can concerning that point. 
 
 And, first, we must remark, that whatever means it 
 may be needful for man to use in seeking the blessing 
 in question, the work itself, that is", the entire removal 
 of all sinful propensions and dispositions, is not the 
 work of man, but of God. Man, indeed, is uniformly 
 represented as unable to do any portion whatever of 
 this great and important work. "Can the Ethiopian 
 change his skin?" says the prophet, "or the leopard his 
 spots? Then may ye who have been accustomed to do 
 evil learn to do well." The same total inability of man 
 to effect an alteration in his own nature is likewise very 
 forcibly represented in such scriptural declarations as 
 the following: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
 unclean?" "Which of you, by taking thought, can add 
 one cubit to his stature?" and the like, many of which 
 are to be found in the Oracles of God. And in no part 
 of the Bible is it so much as intimated that man is at 
 all an agent in this work, any further than in the use of 
 certain means, which shall be sufficiently noticed in the 
 ensuing chapter. 
 
72 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 Secondly. It is ascribed in the Scriptures to the 
 adorable Trinity, — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the 
 fountain and source of every thing good. It is attri- 
 buted to the Father by St. Jude, who speaks of the 
 saints as "sanctified by God the Father." (ver. 1.) Our 
 Lord also attributes it to the Father, where he prays 
 the Father to "sanctify his disciples through the truth," 
 &.C. (John xvii, 17.) It is likewise attributed to the 
 Son, where it is said by St. Paul, that "Christ also 
 loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it," and the like; and where the 
 same Apostle, in another place, says that "Jesus also, 
 that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, 
 suffered without the gate." (Eph. v, 26; Heb. xiii, 12.) 
 And it is also attributed to the Holy Ghost in numerous 
 portions of the sacred and unerring page. It will be 
 sufficient for the reader to notice the following, if he 
 examine them with suitable attention and care. "God 
 hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through 
 sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 
 (2 Thess. ii, 13.) "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 
 to the strangers — elect — through sanctification of the 
 Spirit," &c. (I Pt. i, 1, 2.) "Not by works of righteous- 
 ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he 
 hath saved us, by the — renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
 (Tit. iii, 5.) Now, all these passages, if taken collect- 
 ively, as they ought to be, demonstrate the process of 
 sanctification, from beginning to end, to be carried on 
 by the united counsel and operation of the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost; — the same who in the beginning said, 
 "Let Tjs make man in our image, after our likeness;' 
 and who created him, accordingly, in "the image of 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 73 
 
 God." (Gen. i, 26, 27.) And this stamps a dignity and 
 importance upon the work which nothing else could 
 possibly do. 
 
 It is usual, indeed, to attribute the entire sanctifica- 
 tion of man to the Boly Spirit alone; not so as to ex- 
 clude the Father or Son from any share in it, but with- 
 out particularly naming them; perhaps because the 
 Spirit is more especially the agent of God in the church, 
 having been sent by the Father and Son to abide with 
 the church for ever. Hence Bishop Pearson, in his in- 
 valuable Exposition of the Creed, not only considers 
 sanctification as consisting in 'Hhe divine illumination of 
 the understanding," and "the renewing of all the parts 
 and faculties of the soul," but attributes the entire work 
 to the agency of tiie Holy Ghost. (See his Exp. Ar- 
 ticle 8.) And in like manner does the Liturgy of the 
 Church, directing us to pray that "the thoughts of our 
 hearts may be cleansed by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, 
 that we may perfectly love God, and worthily magnify 
 his holy name." (Communion Service.) Nor is there 
 any thing at all wrong in all this, provided we always 
 recollect, that, although the Spirit, by virtue of his pe- 
 culiar office in the church, may be more especially the 
 agent in this great and glorious work in us, it belongs 
 also to the Father and to the Son. 
 
 We may now, in the third place, remark, that in his 
 vast operation, both of providence and grace, the Deity 
 employs a variety of means and instruments through 
 which he puts forth his own glorious power, in order to 
 accomplish the purposes of his will. He employs, for 
 example, the rain and the sun to produce vegetation, and 
 corn, to support the existence of man. The Deity, we 
 
74 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 say, employs these instruments to produce corn, and to 
 support human life; but the power which actually ac- 
 complishes these things is the power and energy of God, 
 which lies hid under the mantle of second causes from 
 the eyes of the ungodly, and produces and feeds and 
 supports the effect. And thus also it is in the kingdom 
 of grace. God is the first cause, and the great artificer 
 of every thing good in the nature of man. But in effect- 
 ing a change in our nature, and in feeding and support- 
 ing that change when once it is accomplished within us, 
 a variety of means are employed by himself, of which 
 we must now produce some account. 
 
 Now, in wholly renewing the nature of man, the 
 Deity employs the Gospel of his Son. And here let the 
 reader be careful to observe, that a very peculiar mode 
 of expression is often employed concerning the Gospel, 
 to denote a peculiar power which the Gospel contains. 
 It is said, for example, to be "the power of God to sal- 
 vation;" to be both '^quick and powerful;" and "sharper 
 than a two-edged sword." It is, moreover, said to "live 
 and to abide for ever;" and the sacred Scriptures are 
 said to be, "the lively oracles:" from all which it is 
 very manifest that a vitality, of a very extraordinary 
 nature, and a power, of a very uncommon description, 
 belong to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now, this vitality and power, on particular occasions, 
 when the Gospel is read or expounded, is peculiarly 
 felt, though, on other occasions, when the Gospel is 
 read or expounded, as before, it is either not felt at all, 
 or not to the same extent; and, on the very same occa- 
 sions, also, when some individuals feel it, others may not. 
 And hence it evidently appears, an enlightening and 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 75 
 
 saving influence is not necessarily emanent from the 
 Gospel, nor does it proceed from the written word as a 
 matter of course, as moisture from rain, or light from 
 the sun; but depends on the will and pleasure of the 
 great God himself, who is ever with his word, and puts 
 forth his power through it, according to his will. 
 
 The Gospel, however, can never be read by an indi- 
 vidual, or preached to a congregation, desiring to get 
 good, but the power of the Deity in it will awaken and 
 come forth; it will enlighten, sanctify and bless, as their 
 circumstances require, or according to their earnest 
 desire to get good. And hence that remarkable passage 
 in St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians, who seem, at 
 the time to which it relates, to have been willing to be 
 taught by the apostles, and uncommonly anxious to get 
 good to their souls. "For our Gospel," says the Apostle, 
 came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in 
 the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." To the Thes- 
 salonians, we may repeat, the Gospel had come in that 
 remarkable way which is described in this text. But to 
 others, the Apostle intimates, it had come in tcord only. 
 No particular unction had attended its administration. 
 The divine power had lain quiescent in the truth, and 
 had not been felt in the hearts of the hearers, owing, of 
 course, to some fault or failing in them in regard to the 
 Gospel, and, perhaps, to some kind or degree of unbe- 
 lief, as it is "the power of God to salvation to every one 
 that believeth.'''' 
 
 All this will enable us to see in what light those pas- 
 sages of Scripture are to be understood which speak of 
 believers being "begotten by the Gospel," or "born 
 again by the word of God," when they first enter upon 
 
76 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 the Christian life; especially if we compare them with 
 other texts, in which we are said to be "born of the 
 Spirit," "born of God," and the like; as it will prove 
 the vitality and power which attend the Gospel to be, 
 not the mere abstract energy of truth, no; but Gs>d 
 himself, with and in his own glorious truth, raising the 
 dead to life, purifying our fallen and degenerate nature, 
 and gloriously uniting our souls to himself. 
 
 The same thing must be acknowledged concerning 
 the Gospel, in all our subsequent improvements in grace. 
 If we grow up into Christ our living head in all things; 
 if we add to our faith, virtue; to our virtue, knowledge; 
 to our knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, and 
 the like; if the body of sin is entirely destroyed, and 
 the divine nature brought in; if the Christian is at any 
 time whatsoever emptied of self and of Satan, of pride, 
 sin, and unbelief, and filled with the Holy Ghost, or, as 
 the same thing is elsewhere expressed, filled with all the 
 fulness of God; if this event, so great and glorious in 
 its nature, ever does take place in man, whether it be 
 accomplished in a long or short portion of time, it is 
 certain the Deity communicates himself; and the only 
 question is, whether he does this by means of the Gospel, 
 making its doctrines and promises the channel of com- 
 munication, or whether he does it without any such 
 means. And no doubt, 1 think, can be entertained, by 
 those who examine the subject, that, whatever the Deity 
 may be able to do, he does not, ordinarily at least, com- 
 municate his power to our nature, and sanctify us wholly 
 to himself, but by means of his written and ever- 
 glorious word. So that if the understanding of man is 
 enlightened, it is said to be by the truth; if the will and 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 77 
 
 affections are changed, God is said to have put his law 
 into our hearts, and written it upon our minds; if we 
 are made partakers of the divine nature, it is said to be 
 by the exceeding great and precious promises given to 
 us of God for that very purpose; if we are entirely 
 sanctified, Christ prayed that we might be so sanctified 
 through the truth; and in another place he says, "Ye 
 shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 
 Yet all this enlightening, renewing, and sanctifying 
 power must be understood of the God of power and 
 grace himself, who puts forth his power through the 
 medium of the truth, and so sanctifies our nature entirely 
 to himself. 
 
 We may now proceed to notice, that the means of 
 grace in general are used by the Father of mercies 
 precisely in the same way. God himself makes use 
 of the Christian's closet, his hour of retirement from 
 the world, his self-examination, his family devotion, and 
 the like, to do him both great and everlasting good. 
 The same thing may be said of the public assemblies of 
 the saints, when Christians meet together to pray and 
 hear the word at solemn and stated times. "God is in 
 the midst" of those solemn and stated assemblies of the 
 saints, as in no other places of this spacious earth. 
 Hence, in days of old, even in the time of Moses, he 
 made promise to his saints, saying, "In all places where 
 I record my name, I will come unto thee, and will bless 
 thee." (Ex. xx, 24.) Considerations of this sort, con- 
 cerning the means of grace in general, must lead us to 
 see that God has been pleased to stamp them with 
 honor, and put to confusion the men who lightly esteem 
 
78 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 them, under the false and wicked pretence that, because 
 God fills immensity, it is needless to seek him in his 
 holy temples; a sentiment as contrary to reason, as to 
 the Oracles of God. I will not, however, attempt to 
 refute this profligate and infidel idea; those who will 
 read this volume will scarcely need putting on their 
 guard against it. They know that there is a sense in 
 which wicked men are far off from God, and in which 
 good men, and such as are seeking to be good, are said 
 to draw nigh to God, and a sense in which God is said 
 to draw nigh to them; but nothing of this could possi- 
 bly take place on the supposition of those men we have 
 referred to above. 
 
 The bounties of Providence seem employed by the 
 Deity with the same end in view. "The goodness of 
 God," according to St. Paul, "leadeth" even the wicked 
 "to repentance." Such is the tendency of providential 
 goodness on the wicked. And if it hath this tendency 
 on them, what must be its tendency on minds already 
 under the influence of the Spirit and grace of God, and 
 desiring to rise into all the mind of Christ? To a mind 
 already in this happy state, both food, and clothing, and 
 shelter, and friends, and health, and strength, and riches, 
 and honor, and every other thing, will be fraught with 
 an hallowing influence from God, and breathe on those 
 who possess them the odors of his grace from day to 
 day. For, while it is in the nature of sin to blacken 
 and blast, and to turn even our blessings into a curse, it 
 is just the reverse with the grace of the Redeemer in 
 the heart. Let the sinner be converted to God. Let 
 him forsake his evil ways, and seek mercy and salva- 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 79 
 
 tion; let him be born from above, born again of the 
 spirit, and united to him who repeals tlie curse, and see 
 what the happy effect will be: — 
 
 "Earth then a scale to heaven shall be; 
 
 Sense shall point out the road; 
 The creatures all shall lead to thee: 
 
 And ail we taste be God." 
 
 So much for the bounties of Providence. And hav- 
 inof said this concerning its bounties, we may now con- 
 sider the character of its afflictions: for Providence, 
 like that mysterious cloud which attended the Hebrews 
 of old, has not only a bright and shining aspect, which 
 we have just been considering, but sometimes a dark 
 and gloomy one also, the real character of which we 
 must now for a moment unfold. And if it shall appear, 
 on examination, that the dark side of the cloud is also 
 "big with mercy," and that "behind a frowning provi- 
 dence" the abundance of his mercy is only hid from our 
 darkling eyes, not kept from streaming into our souls, 
 then shall we have reason to rejoice indeed, and to be- 
 lieve that all things work together for our good. 
 
 Now, that God uses afflictions in general for the same 
 purpose as the Gospel and the means of grace, namely, 
 for the purpose of sanctifying our nature, and making 
 us wholly free from sin, the sacred Scriptures of truth 
 will abundantly prove. This doctrine is generally con- 
 tained in the following words, "Cursed is the ground 
 for thy sake;'''' but more particularly in such passages 
 as this, "And thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as 
 a father chastiseth his children, so thy God chastiseth 
 
80 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 thee;" chastiseth thee for thy good. To the same 
 effect the reader will meet with a very beautiful passage 
 in Isaiah, (chap, xxvii, 6 — 9,) in which the design of 
 God in our affliction is expressly declared to be "to 
 take away our sin." In the New Testament the same 
 subject is spoken of by St. Paul in the following terms: 
 "Moreover," says he, "we have had fathers of our flesh 
 which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall 
 we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of 
 spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chast- 
 ened us for their own pleasure; but he for our profit, 
 that we might be partakers of his holiness." According 
 to these passages of the Scriptures, which are quite 
 sufficient for my purpose, the design of God, in all our 
 afflictions, is the same; it is to make us holy in life and 
 in heart, while here on earth, that we may be nigh unto 
 God in the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 It appears then, upon the whole, from what has been 
 said in this chapter, that the entire sanctification of our 
 nature is effected by the Almighty, and that it is truly 
 and properly his work, to the exclusion of all others; 
 that, in effecting it, he employs a variety of means, 
 which, when we also, on our part, are willing, and do 
 not oppose his gracious designs, he keeps up in perpetual 
 and active operation, and puts forth his saving power 
 and grace through all of them generally, and through 
 each individually, till he has fully accomplished the 
 work of redemption in our nature, and gloriously filled 
 our souls with himself. The principal of those means 
 which the Deity is pleased to employ for this great pur- 
 pose, arc the word of God, the ordinances of religion 
 in general, and the bounties of his providence. The 
 
EyTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 81 
 
 Spirit visits us in all these, and graciously strives to 
 unite us to God; and, if the gentler methods of the 
 Deity, implied in the use of these means, would answer 
 the end intended, the rougher methods of affliction 
 would be sparingly employed. But when milder methods 
 fail, and the diseases of our hearts are become too in- 
 veterate to give way to those portions of redeeming 
 mercy usually administered therein, then God makes 
 his last great effort to save us, adding afflictions, more 
 or less severe, to all the former efforts of his mercy; and 
 
 "When ills can't bless, Heaven quits us in despair." 
 
 But when this is not the case, when man listens to the 
 Gospel, and yields to be saved from sin, the restoring 
 remedies implied in the various means we have men- 
 tioned are wisely proportioned and administered; to 
 some, more of one thing; to some, more of another, 
 according as the various circumstances of our souls re- 
 quire; so that whatever proportion of each we receive, 
 for us it is the best, and the most likely to do us both 
 present and everlasting good. "All things" that God 
 ordains to be the lot of man, shall "work together for 
 good to them that love God." 
 
 8* 
 
82 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY OH 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MAN MUST USE MEANS IN ORDER TO BE ENTIRELY 
 SANCTIFIED. 
 
 It is one of the wise arrangements of divine Provi- 
 dence in the affairs of this life, that certain means shall 
 be used in order to obtain such blessings as we need 
 from the great and munificent God. If we are sick, for 
 example, we must have recourse to certain medicines> 
 or to some particular kind of regimen, or to both, in 
 order to the restoration of our health; and we must 
 plough and sow, in order to reap plentiful harvests from 
 God. The time also, and the manner of using these 
 means, were fixed by the Deity when planning and set- 
 tling the afl!airs of this world; so that not only he who 
 neglects them wholly, but he also who does not attend 
 to them at the time, and likewise in the manner that he 
 ought, must be content to forego the blessing he would 
 otherwise enjoy. If "the sluggard will not plough" 
 (in winter, when he ought) "by reason of the cold, he 
 shall therefore beg in harvest," says Solomon, "and 
 have nothing." 
 
 In like manner hath the Lord ordained, in the glo- 
 rious economy of grace, that certain means shall be 
 used in order to obtain salvation from God. Repent- 
 ance, prayer, and faith, for example, are needfiil to 
 obtain forgiveness of sins: and if the Christian, having 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 83 
 
 obtained this blessing, would never fail, he must add to 
 his faith virtue, to his virtue knowledge, and the like, 
 because his standing in peace and fixvor with God is 
 made, by the Deity, to depend on this thing. (2 Pet. i, 
 5 — 8.) The time also and the manner of seeking the 
 divine favor and goodness, and of adding virtue, and the 
 like, to our faith, have been ordained of God, who bids 
 us "seek the Lord ivhile he may be found, and call upon 
 him rvhile he is near." So that the analogy between 
 nature and grace, in all these respects, is beautiful and 
 striking, and constitutes, to such as can fully pursue it, 
 one of the most striking proofs that the religion of the 
 Bible must certainly be the wise and gracious contriv- 
 ance of that great and glorious Being who is the Author 
 and Governor of this lower world. 
 
 Having, therefore, considered, in the preceding chap- 
 ter, some of those means which the Deity himself is 
 pleased to employ in accomplishing the entire renewal 
 of man, we will now proceed to consider, at least, some 
 of the means which we also ourselves are under the 
 necessity of using, in order that the object in question 
 may be attained. These will be found to be various in 
 their kinds, and different also, in some respects at least, 
 in their relative importance and necessity; but those I 
 shall more especially point out which are more espe- 
 cially important, and none shall be named in this place 
 but such as, to those who have time and opportunity to 
 attend to them, the Deity himself has made needful, in 
 order to obtain the blessing of purity of heart. 
 
 Now the principal means to be used, and that which 
 implies every other, is a right or suitable faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. For if all our salvation, from be- 
 
84 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 ginning to end, is by faith in Christ Jesus, which I shall 
 here take for granted is the doctrine of the Scriptures, 
 and if every particular branch or degree of salvation is 
 by a particular faith in the Redeemer, a faith suited to 
 the kind or degree of salvation it brings into the soul, 
 which also I shall assume in this place; then it will 
 follow of course, that the great blessing in question, en- 
 tire sanctification, cannot be obtained by a faith in Christ 
 which would produce repentance, obtain pardon, or even 
 remove mountains, but requires a faith peculiar and 
 proper to itself, and which it is needful in this place I 
 should clearly and fully endeavor to point out. 
 
 What, then, is that faith by which one who is justified 
 freely, may be sanctified wholly? I will give the answer 
 to this vital question as briefly as possible, that the faith 
 I am wishful to hold prominently forth to the reader's 
 inspection may not be concealed in the exuberance of 
 words, but made visible to the eye, and gain a more 
 easy access to the heart. 
 
 Now, in all kinds and degrees of saving faith, there 
 are found to be three things, none of which can be 
 spared or separated from the rest without rendering our 
 faith inefl^ectual and dead. The first is, a perception of 
 the promise of the salvation we need. The second is, a 
 conviction of its vital importance and truth. And the 
 third is, embracing that promise with the affections or 
 heart. Each of these particulars we find in the faith of 
 the patriarchs. (Heb. xi, 13.) And the last particular 
 is so important to faith, that the Apostle to the Romans 
 has so spoken of faith as if it consisted alone in this 
 very thing. "With the heart," says he, "man believeth 
 unto righteousness." "If thou shall believe in thine 
 
ENTIRfi SAJfCTIFICATION. 
 
 85 
 
 heart that God hath raised him from the dead," &c. 
 (Rom. X, 9, 10.) 
 
 From these observations, concerning the nature of 
 faith in general, the transition is easy to that by which 
 we are wholly sanctified to God. The promises of en- 
 tire sanctification must be clearly seen. The judgment 
 must be convinced of their truth and importance. The 
 heart must embrace them. If we perceive not the pro- 
 mises of entire, sanctification, we are, on that point, 
 blind as the heathen. If we perceive them, but are 
 not convinced of their truth and importance, infidelity, 
 on the same point, prevails in the heart. If we believe 
 their truth and importance, but do not embrace them, 
 our faith is still defective in a very capital point: — as far 
 as speculation and judgment can go, it is genuine and 
 scriptural; but there wants the work of the heart, a go- 
 ing out of the soul, in all its noblest affections, to repose 
 on the promises for immediate and entire salvation, for 
 their full and glorious accomplishment, throughout all 
 the parts and faculties of the soul; for the moment we 
 thus rely upon God, honoring the word of his promise 
 by faith, and do not doubt in our hearts, nor stagger at 
 the promise of God through unbelief, as if the thing 
 which is promised by God could not be effected at all, 
 or, at least, could not just now, even this moment, take 
 place; the moment, I say, we rely on him thus, in that 
 very moment our sins shall all depart, and our nature be 
 filled with all the fulness of God. 
 
 From hence it will follow of course, that if we are 
 justified freely, but not sanctified wholly, there must be 
 some flaw in our faith, in regard to this work; either we 
 see not the promises in question, or, if we see, we dis- 
 
86 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 credit them; or, if we discredit them not, we do not em- 
 brace them. So that this will be a very proper time and 
 place for examination concerning this point. And, if it 
 will help the reader to place himself fairly in the scales 
 of the Gospel, which are daily dependent from heaven 
 for purposes like this, such questions as the following 
 may be proposed, and such answers returned as the pre- 
 ponderating scale of the balance shall be found to supply. 
 Am I persuaded in my judgment that God can entirely 
 sanctify my whole nature to himself? That he can purge 
 away the last remains of sin, and make me holy as he is 
 holy? Do 1 believe he is willing to do this? Has he 
 promised it in his word? And do 1 believe the promise 
 is for me, even for me? and do I believe he is able to do 
 this thing for me now? Do I believe ail this fvlly? or 
 do there still remain in me some lingering traces of un- 
 belief? If there be nothing wrong thus far, we may pro- 
 ceed to the affections or heart, and see how the heart 
 stands affected in regard to this point. And here, per- 
 haps, the tumor will be found. We see the blessing, but 
 shrink from it; we are not willing to receive it now, not 
 to-day, but at some future time, in a month, a year, or 
 so. For now we discover, perhaps, more fully and more 
 painfully than ever, the innate depravity of our nature; 
 and what, in all likelihood, we least of all thought of, 
 namely, that we love that depravity; love it, and hate it 
 too: we are a mystery to ourselves, and our inward feel- 
 ings confuse and confound us; for we find ourselves under 
 the strange necessity of saying, in reference to some in- 
 bred corruption or other still lurking within us, 
 
 "When wilt thou my whole plague remove? 
 " I hate it, Lord, and yet I love;" 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 87 
 
 and of continuing tlie same melancholy mournings and 
 complaints in some such language as this, 
 
 "Make me willing to be free, 
 Eestless to be saved by thee." 
 
 For although we see the necessity of entire holiness of 
 heart, we find, very often, that we are not willing as 
 God is willing, and that we can rest, and do rest, in our 
 present religious attainments, and feel too little anxiety 
 for purity of heart. The "secret voice" of heaven 
 daily invites us to prove the sweetness of this yoke of 
 the blessed Redeemer, and, at times, the will seems 
 fixed upon it, yet far and wide our passions rove after 
 other objects; and the painful reflections excited by 
 these mingled feelings and emotions of soul are at 
 length, perhaps, concluded in some such words as these, 
 concerning this blessing: — 
 
 " Yet hindrances strew all the way; 
 1 AIM at this; yet from it stray." 
 
 This, then, being the case, our faith is manifestly 
 defective, not perhaps in regard to light nor conviction, 
 but in regard to the embracing circumstance; so that 
 we need to have recourse to such means of grace as 
 God has ordained for "perfecting that which concerneth 
 our faith." Among these we may briefly take notice of 
 such as the following: 
 
 First. A closer attention to the oracles of God. 
 That "faith cometh by hearing," is attested by St. 
 Paul. The same thing may be inferred from the words 
 of St. Peter, "As new-born babes, desire the sincere 
 
88 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." The 
 whole Christian, it seems, that is, the whole of the inner 
 or new man, grows, by the milk of the word; and if the 
 whole man grows then faith must grow; so that in this 
 way, that is, by desiring or using freely the milk of the 
 Gospel, the faith of the babe may become the faith of a 
 young man; while that of the young man becomes the 
 faith of a father in Christ Jesus. Hence the necessity 
 of a closer attention to the word of God, of a more 
 pious and devout application to the sacred page. Its 
 doctrines must be better understood; those especially 
 which belong to entire holiness. The soul must be 
 filled with light, not satisfied with sounds and with 
 words, the meaning of which is not understood. And 
 we should be especially careful to know the design for 
 which Jesus came into the world, which was, to "re- 
 deem us from all iniquity," to "save us from our sins." 
 The evidences of this should be sought after with dili- 
 gence in every department of the inspired page, and the 
 terms and the phraseology of those passages which 
 directly refer to it, or at all bear upon it, fully explored; 
 and if this plan were adopted, the stream of evidence, 
 like the waters of Ezekiel, would so widen and deepen 
 at every step, as very soon to become "waters to swim 
 in, — a river that could not be passed over." In the 
 mean time, our faith and hope would grow apace, and 
 the loveliness of the blessing so gain our affections as to 
 lead us to embrace it with all our heart. But in order 
 to attain to this very desirable state of mind, other 
 means, besides that of increased attention to the word, 
 must be used by us. Hence I proceed to notice. 
 Secondly. Prayer to God for the gift of the Holy 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATIOX. 
 
 Ghost. The showers of spring are needful to the ger- 
 mination of seed and ripening of corn in the field; yet 
 not more so than the influences of the Spirit to the 
 growth of the gospel-seed, and the ripening of faith in 
 the souls of men. And hence the necessity of prayer, 
 that those influences of the Spirit may be richly ob- 
 tained. And to encourage us in this duty, the Re- 
 deemer declares, that "our heavenly Father will give 
 the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." (Luke xi, 13.) 
 So that we may confidently ask this blessing from God. 
 
 But then our prayers, to be successful, must be sin- 
 cere. Care must be taken lest our hearts should not 
 desire what our flnent lips request. They must be 
 urgent also; the desire should be strong, glowing, fer- 
 vent; like the pleadings of Israel, when Esau was coming 
 to meet him with four hundred armed men. They must 
 possess another property also, I mean that of persever- 
 ance. For truly, in matters of such infinite importance, 
 it is not enough to pray once, or twice, or thrice; we 
 should ask again and again, till the blessing be received. 
 And to encourage ourselves in this duty, we may re- 
 member how God has honored prayer by remarkable 
 outpourings of his blessings and grace, and by enriching 
 the suppliants at his throne with every thing good. I 
 wonld refer the reader, in proof of this assertion, to the 
 cases of Moses in the wilderness, (Num. xiv, 20,) Elijah 
 during the famine in Israel, (1 Kings, xvii, 1; xviii, 42; 
 James v, 17, 18,) and Daniel in Babylon, (Dan. ii, 18 — 
 23; ix, 3, 20, ult.;) besides various others in the Old 
 Testament, as well as in the New. All which show the 
 wonderful efficacy of prayer, when sincerely and earn- 
 estly presented to God. And if more examples than 
 9 
 
90 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 these would be necessary to encourage our hope, and 
 strengthen our faith, in the power and efficacy of prayer, 
 there are various incidents in the life of our blessed 
 Redeemer that might have the effect; his transfiguration 
 upon mount Tabor may be mentioned as one. 
 
 St. Luke's account of this surprising incident, though 
 he relates not all the circumstances of the case, is re- 
 markably interesting. But the substance, at least, of 
 the whole case, as given by the four Evangelists, may 
 be related thus: "Jesus took Peter and John and 
 James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And, as 
 he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, 
 for he was transfigured before them, and his face shone 
 as the sun: also his raiment, by the excessive glory of 
 his person, became efllilgent, exceeding luminous, and 
 white as the snow, or even as the light. And while he 
 contmued in this state, lo, Moses and Elias appeared 
 with him, and they also were in a state of splendor and 
 glory; and both Moses and Elias talked with Jesus con- 
 cerning the death he should die at Jerusalem. In the 
 mean while a bright cloud descended on the top of the 
 mountain, overshadowing them all; and a voice out of 
 the cloud, from the excellent glory, was distinctly heard, 
 which said. This is my beloved Son, hear him." A 
 scene more grand, sublime, or interesting to the head or 
 heart of a Christian, than this is, cannot be conceived, 
 nor one which stamps honor and importance more visibly 
 on prayer; for it was while Jesus prayed that the fashion 
 of his countenance was altered, and the glorious trans- 
 figuration of his person took place. But leaving the 
 reader to make such other observations upon this case 
 as he may think proper, I will only add this, that if God 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 91 
 
 honored the prayers of his Son, in this remarkable way, 
 it was partly, if not solely, on our account, and intended 
 especially to show, that if we wish for that faith which 
 transforms and renews the immortal spirit within us, and 
 add prayer to our attention to the Scriptures, sincere 
 and fervent prayer, we may confidently hope to succeed, 
 and shall finally attain all the fulness of grace. Let us 
 now proceed to observe, 
 
 Thirdly. That in seeking to strengthen and perfect 
 our faith, family devotion must not be neglected, nor 
 the sacrifices presented on the domestic altar carelessly 
 or indifll-rently presented to God. The like may be 
 said of the various exercises of the closet, such as secret 
 prayer, reflection, and self-examination; all which are of 
 infinite importance to the growth and perfection of our 
 faith, and consequently to our entire deliverance from 
 indwelling sin. Nor ought we to say less concerning 
 the devout and serious attendance on that sacred ordi- 
 nance of Christ, usually styled. The Lord's Supper; an 
 ordinance this which the happy experience of thousands, 
 of the most pious and sensible Christians on earth, might 
 easily be brought to prove, can never be celebrated in 
 a serious, devout, and prayerful state of mind, but faith 
 must increase apace; so that if this ordinance be duly 
 attended to, both as to the frequency and manner of its 
 celebration, it contributes materially towards the per- 
 fection of our faith. Although, therefore, it is very 
 surprising that some professors of religion, who are not 
 inattentive to other means of grace, should have ac- 
 quired the habit of inattention to this; it is not surpris- 
 ing to find them weak in faith, subject to doubts and 
 fears, and making but slender progress in holiness of 
 
92 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 heart. Nor can it be likely at all that they should 
 mend their condition, unless they improve their prac- 
 tice in reference to this thing, nor suffer the consecrated 
 bread and the cup, those sacred memorials of the body 
 and blood of Christ to cry out against them to heaven 
 of shameful neglect. Let the Christian, then, carefully 
 examine himself concerning this point; and if he find 
 cause to reproach his own acts, and to accuse his own 
 soul of deliberate or careless neglect, let him attribute 
 the low stature of his faith unto this very thing. 
 
 Fourthly. Another tiling needful to the growth of our 
 faith, and which merits considerable attention in this 
 place, is the too much neglected duty of fasting or absti- 
 nence. I have ventured to speak of this duty as too 
 much neglected; for if a practice, that has had the 
 sanction of the best, the wisest, and greatest of men, in 
 every age and nation of the world, be wilfully neglected 
 at all, we may venture to affirm, it is neglected too 
 much; and that fasting or abstinence is a practice of this 
 dignified nature, the history of all ages and nations 
 would probably show. Concerning the conduct of the 
 ancient pagans in regard to the duty of fasting, the fol- 
 lowing testimonies, taken from vol. iv, p. 188, of the 
 Roman History, by Catrou and Rouille, translated by 
 Bundy into English, may be deemed sufficient. "That 
 tiisting," say these reverend historians, "was used by 
 the pagans at such times as they were laboring to avert 
 the anger of the gods, is a fact attested by the ancients. 
 The pagans, says Terfullian, in a year of drought, fl)' 
 to their divinities, to obtain of them plentiful harvests, 
 and often pray to them for rain. Then they order 
 public processions, in which all who assist at them walk 
 
EXTIRE SAXCTIFICATION. 
 
 93 
 
 barefoot. The magistrates appear in a state of humilia- 
 tion, without any attendants or regalia. They make 
 vows to procure fruitfulness to their fields, and sacrifice 
 victims. In some cities, the people appear every year 
 before their idols in sackcloth and ashes, and these ex- 
 treme actions of repentance are accompanied with severe 
 lasts. Porphyry tells us, that the Egyptians used to 
 prepare for their chief feasts, sometimes by fasting con- 
 tinually for six weeks together. The Athenians were 
 obliged to be flisting when they sacrificed to the muses. 
 The Italians had their fasts as well as the Greeks. 
 According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the inhabit- 
 ants of Alba fasted for a great while together after the 
 famous combat of the Horatii, and the Curiatii." If 
 the reader be disposed to consult the historians from 
 whom I have taken these abridged accounts, he will 
 meet with much more of the same kind of information, 
 concerning the fasting of the ancients. And to the pre- 
 ceding cases, that of the Ninevites may properly be 
 appended, as we find it recorded in the oracles of God. 
 (Jonah iii, 5, idt.) 
 
 As for the ancient Jews, and the Christians also, all 
 who are acquainted with the Bible must be acquainted 
 with their fasts, which, on some public occasions, were 
 solemn and severe. It would be foreign to my purpose 
 to swell out these pages with citations, even from the 
 Holy Scriptures, concerning the necessity and import- 
 ance of fasting. But if the reader will examine the 
 following texts for himself, — 1 Sam. viii, 6; Dan. ix, 3; 
 Esther iv, 16; Joel ii, 12—20; Matt, ix, 15; and Acts 
 xiv, 21 — 23, — he will see the vast importance which 
 not only men of God, but God also himself, attaches to 
 9* 
 
94 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY OK 
 
 this great and necessary means of grace. So that he 
 naust be infinitely proud and conceited who ventures to 
 breathe odium on the practice, or who views it with any 
 other feelings but such as it becomes us to cherish for 
 the ordinances of God. It is beyond the admission of a 
 doubt, that the Deity has a right to prescribe to his 
 creatures the way they should serve him, and the means 
 through which they shall seek his forfeited grace; and 
 having been pleased to ordain that fasting shall be one, 
 and engaged to meet us herein, and to favor us with his 
 love in the practice of this duty, it would ill become us, 
 and be attended with danger unspeakably extreme, to 
 contemn it in the least; for, by so doing, we should 
 quarrel with the means of our full salvation, and contemn 
 even the great Jehovah himself. 
 
 Fifthly. I mention, in the last place, the constant 
 performance of scriptural good works, as calculated and 
 appointed by God to improve and perfect our faith, and 
 so lead us to the full enjoyment of sanctity of heart. 
 One of the doctrines of the Bible concerning good works 
 is, that they are "good and profitable to men." (Titus 
 iii, S.) Now if good works are profitable, which in 
 company with St. Paul it were arrogance to doubt, they 
 must be so in one of the following ways; — by meriting 
 grace and favor from God, which cannot be allowed to 
 be the meaning of St. Paul; or just in the sense in which 
 prayer, reading, hearing the word, receiving the Supper 
 of the Lord, and the like, are profitable; and this I con- 
 ceive to be the meaning of the text, and agreeable to 
 the will of our Lord concerning good works. If any 
 believe they are not profitable in this sense, they may 
 never have thought on the subject aright, and a calm 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 95 
 
 dispassionate view of the case may dissipate those clouds 
 which darken and obscure it, and render it perceptible 
 and clear to the mind. The origin of works evangeli- 
 caliy good, and of works of this character alone do 1 
 speak, may, without hesitation, be called divine; they 
 spring not from nature, but grace in the heart; they are 
 the fruit of the Spirit; the planting of the Lord in our 
 nature; the pleasing growth of that holy and living seed 
 of the word, which, by the Gospel of Jesus, has been 
 sown in our heart. Or, if we may change the figure 
 for a moment, and look on good works in another, but 
 Dot less amiable and pleasing light, we may consider the 
 Christian as the branch of an olive-tree, wild by nature, 
 but broken from the tree whereon he originally grew, 
 and grafted into the true olive-tree, even into Christ: the 
 foliage and the fruit which bloom and ripen upon him, 
 even all the good works he is able to perform, are from 
 the root and the fatness of the olive-tree upon which he 
 now grows. So that every good work may in this way 
 be ascribed to the power and influence of grace in the 
 heart. And, as genuine good works spring from grace 
 in the soul, and cannot be justly attributed to any other 
 caase; so, like the fruit and foliage of trees, which con- 
 tribute to their own growth and that of the stems that 
 bear them by absorbing the moisture of rains and dews, 
 and the warming and genial rays of the sun, do they 
 powerfully tend to increase that faith and holiness of 
 soul from the which they are found invariably to spring; 
 nor can these be ripened to perfection in any other way. 
 They are a high and important medium of communica- 
 tion between God and his people; between the great 
 Head of the church and the members of his mystical 
 
96 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 body, through which the spirit of grace flows down- 
 ward, until life and vigor, vitality and perfection, swell 
 out every member into beautiful proportion, and the 
 image of Messiah appears in the whole. 
 
 But as the view we are taking of good works is im- 
 portant to the subject in hand, we must enlarge upon it 
 a little, and solicit the attention of the reader to two or 
 three things. First. It is confirmed by the experience 
 of the truly pious and good, who find their faith to 
 strengthen the most when most in the steady perform- 
 ance of good works; proving the truth of that scriptural 
 declaration, "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of 
 liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful 
 hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed 
 IN his deed?'' Secondly. The case of professors who 
 neglect the performance of good works will undeniably 
 appear to prove the same thing. Do these not always 
 complain of barrenness of soul? lose the savor of grace? 
 the evidence of their acceptance? their peace? and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost? So that while they retain the pro- 
 fession of religion, it is but the 'semblance of worth, not 
 substance,' the mere shadow of life and grace; for the 
 flower is faded away, and dropped from the stem on 
 which it formerly grew. Thirdly. The necessity that 
 such persons as we have last been mentioning are under 
 of returning to their former good works, in order to 
 regain their forfeited piety and peace, and to prevent 
 the little good which remains from being taken entirely 
 away, (Rev. ii, 5,) is proof of the same thing; and so 
 likewise is that remarkable saying, "Blessed are they 
 which do his commandrnents, that they may have right 
 to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, 
 
 97 
 
 into the city." (Rev. xxii, 14.) Right, by virtue of the 
 Divine appointment; that those who perform evangelical 
 good worlis shall thereby find, even now, while on earth, 
 access to the tree of life, and prove that its very leaves 
 are "for the healing of the nations," — for the ripening 
 and perfecting of that faith which worketh by love and 
 purifies the heart. 
 
 I cannct dismiss the subject of good works tending 
 to ripen to maturity our faith, and so leading us on to 
 the full and perpetual possession of purity of heart, till 
 I have noticed the case of "the friend of God." Doubt- 
 less that venerable man had great faith in Jehovah before 
 he was called to offer up his son. But however noble 
 and perfect, in some respects, the faith of that venerable 
 man might have been before the transaction in question 
 took place, there was one sense, at least, in which it 
 was manifestly imperfect, until the day and the hour 
 that he ofl^jred up his son. But while actually engaged 
 in the performance of that work, and yielding to God 
 the most stupendous obedience to his will, let the reader 
 observe how the Deity condescends to meet him in the 
 very act of obedience, and bless him in his deed! "By 
 myself have I sworn," said Jehovah, "that in blessing 
 I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy 
 seed," and the like, of which the reader will find, in the 
 twenty-second chapter of Genesis, a full and remarkably 
 interesting account. But what I have to notice con- 
 cerning it is this, that although the blessing particularly 
 specified there contained a number of interesting things, 
 it was certainly personal in regard to the venerable 
 patriarch himself: — in blessing I will bless thee, said the 
 Lord, and I will also greatly multiply thy seed; and that 
 
98 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 the personal blessing of Abraham had respect to his 
 faith, to the increase and perfection of it, and also, 
 through the perfection of his faith, to the increase and 
 perfection of his holiness of heart and lite, appears 
 highly probable, if not absolutely certain, from what the 
 apostle St. James advances on the subject. "Seest 
 thou," says he, when calling the attention of his readers 
 to this very act, and to the etTect which it produced on 
 the patriarch's faith, "seest thou how faith wrought 
 with his works, and bij works was Jaith made perfect.'" 
 The faith which he previously had, gave birth to this 
 noblest act of obedience, and that act, in return, gave 
 so noble a spring, so divine and elevating impulse to 
 his faith, that what it still needed was instantly attained 
 by a most copious descent of grace to his soul. And 
 hence one cannot but observe two things. First. That, 
 after this period of his life, we hear no more of those 
 doubts and misgivings, which had marked some fore- 
 going steps of this venerable man. Secondly. That 
 great personal sacrifices and acts of obedience to God 
 are special occasions of the increase of faith in those 
 who love God; and not unfrequently, perhaps, the very 
 means which, above all others, we need, to perfect our 
 faith, and fully sanctify us to God. 
 
 Having dwelt thus long on the means to be employed 
 in order to obtain tlie blessing in question; having no- 
 ticed faith as the first and principal, and reading, prayer, 
 fasting, and the like, together with good works, as ne- 
 cessary to increase and perfect our faith, that it may 
 wholly sanctify our nature, and lead to entire holiness 
 of life and of heart; there are two ot three additional 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 99 
 
 remarks which it seems needful to make in this depart- 
 ment of my work. 
 
 The first is, we must not prescribe to the Almighty 
 the time, manner, place, or means of grace, in which 
 our souls shall be filled with spotless purity and love. 
 In the foregoing chapter we have seen, that God is in 
 his word, in his providence, and every means of grace; 
 that he visits us in them all, and puts forth his power 
 through them all, and makes all of them the mediums 
 of his bounty, the almoners of his Holy Spirit, and of 
 the richer energies of his sanctifying grace; so that we 
 ought to expect these richer benefits in every means of 
 grace and occurrence of Providence, and rise on the 
 wing of desire and hope till they enter fully into our 
 souls, and our entire nature becomes sanctified to God. 
 
 Another remark I would offer is this, that as God 
 can visit and does visit us in all those means of grace 
 which he requires us to use, and as none of us can tell 
 in which of these means it may please him to visit and 
 bless us the most; so we should use them all, as we 
 have time and opportunity, without preferring one before 
 another; resting assured of this, that God will certainly 
 visit us, sooner or later, and so 
 
 "Scatter the last remains ot sin," 
 
 as to make both our souls and bodies the glorious and 
 holy temples of the ever blessed God. 
 
 The last remark 1 would offer in this place is this, 
 that if the reader has read and prayed much for this 
 blessinw, used the Lord's Supper, and the like, in order 
 to obtain it, and after all finds not the Spirit bearing 
 
100 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 witness with his spirit that he is cleansed from all sin, 
 let hitn pause and inquire whether he has, or has not, 
 Ijeen "partial in the law," slighting some of the means 
 of grace, while constantly and zealously attending to all 
 the rest,- whether he has not, for example, neglected the 
 manifest duties so stiikingly brought under our notice 
 in the following remarkable words: "If ye loose the 
 bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the 
 oppressed go free, and break every yoke; if ye deal 
 your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are 
 cast out to your house; if ye cover the naked when ye 
 see him, and hide not yourselves from your own flesh: 
 <Aen," says the prophet, shall ye be sanctified wholly, 
 "i/ie?)," when ye do these things which God commands 
 you to do, and are no more partial in the la\y, 
 shall your light break forth as the morning, and your 
 health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteous- 
 ness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord 
 shall be your reward; then shall ye call, and the Lord 
 will answer, and ye shall cry, and he shall say. Here I 
 am;" — yea, "your light," the prophet proceeds, "shall 
 rise in obscurity, and your darkness shall be as the noon- 
 day: and the Lord shall guide you continually, and 
 satisfy your souls in drought, and make fat your bones: 
 and ye shall be like a well-watered garden, like a spring 
 of water, whose waters fail not." (Isai. Iviii, 6 — 11.) 
 Let him pause and inquire, I repeat, whether he has 
 been practically attentive to this language as he ought. 
 For it is impossible to doubt, without questioning the 
 Divine veracity, that any person can long, and properly, 
 do all these things, and not obtain the choicest blessings 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 101 
 
 of grace. "Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my 
 words," says Jesus, "shall not pass away." 
 
 Before I bring this chapter to a close, a word or two 
 may be added, by way of further inducement to the 
 reader to seek, with diligence, this blessing from God; 
 and as my remarks upon the inducements about to be 
 mentioned will be very concise, the reader, I hope, will 
 do himself the justice not to hurry them over, but suffer 
 his thoughts to dwell upon them, and allow them to 
 swell and enlarge his whole mind. And having said 
 this, 1 proceed to observe, 
 
 First. That the glory of God the Father is involved 
 in this subject. "Herein is my Father glorified," says 
 Jesus, "that ye bear much fruit." Entire sanctificatiou 
 is the only thing by which the Christian can "let his 
 light so shine before men," as thereby to "glorify his 
 Father who is in heaven," as he ought always to do. 
 And can the reader be willing to withhold from so kind, 
 so merciful, so good a father, as is our heavenly Father, 
 any part of that just revenue of glory which we should 
 ever be most anxious to pay unto him! 
 
 Secondly. The manifestation of the glory of Christ 
 is involved in this subject. Where sanctification is not, 
 the virtue of his blood is not, and there, of course, it 
 cannot be seen; but where sanctification exists in any 
 degree, to the same degree is the virtue of the atone- 
 ment visible, and it is most visible where sanctification 
 is complete. Thus the completely sanctified reflect most 
 of the honor and glory of Christ. 
 
 Thirdly. The glory of the Holy Spirit is involved in 
 this subject. The beauty or glory of an edifice re- 
 dounds to the honor of the builder; and in this sense 
 10 
 
102 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 "the heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and the 
 firmament showeth his handy-work." In the same kind 
 of way is the glory of the Holy Spirit seen in the 
 pleasing spring, when he "renews the face of nature," 
 (Ps. civ, 30, 31,) and causes his beauty, tenderness, and 
 love, to walk smiling through the earth, and to pour life 
 and felicity on all that live below. But more than in 
 the face of the earth, when dressed in vernal glory, and 
 more than in the spacious heavens, though bespangled 
 with orient gold, does the glory of tiie Spirit of God 
 appear in man, when, by his mighty energy, he is 
 changed, and restored to that holy and happy condition 
 in which entire sanctification appears to consist. 
 
 Fourthly. The glory of the church is involved in this 
 subject. Sublime or splendid edifices, pompous and 
 imposing ceremoniesj vast treasures and wealth, the 
 talents of the priesthood, the elevated condition of the 
 members of the church; the antiquity, unity, or univer- 
 sality of the church, nor its connexion with diadems or 
 thrones; these things, I say, form no part of the real 
 essential glory of the Church of God; it consisteth in 
 quite another thing, in that which is imperishable as the 
 throne of God itself, even in the resemblance or image 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence St. Paul speaks of 
 the transformation of the Christian into this image of 
 Christ as a change into glory, and of every increase of 
 that image in the soul as a change "from glory to glory, 
 by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii, 18.) And agree- 
 able to this is what the same Apostle advances in another 
 place, where he speaks of the church of Christ being 
 a '^glorious church,'''' when so sanctified and cleansed as 
 not to have "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," being 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 103 
 
 made "holy and without blemish." (Eph. v, 27.) 1 
 have had occasion to mention this last passage before in 
 tlie course of this work, and introduce it again merely 
 to show, that the true glory of the church consists in 
 entire sanciificalion, and that in proportion as this is 
 wanting, the glory of the church is nothing but a name. 
 
 Fifthly. The degree of pleasure which the Deity 
 takes in iiis saints is regulated by the degree of sancti- 
 fying grace which they severally possess. That in the 
 whiter robes of his saints the Deity should take a more 
 than ordmary pleasure, is reasonable to be believed, 
 because in thern he sees most of the blood of his Son. 
 If John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved" above the 
 rest, it was because he had been oftener at the fountain 
 of "water and blood" than the rest; so that looking on 
 him, the Redeemer saw more of the "travail of his soul" 
 than in Andrew or Simon, and was better "satisfied" on 
 that account, according to the language of the prophet^ 
 (Is. liii, 11.) This is a good and rational, as well as a 
 scriptural, account of the cause of the superior love of 
 the Redeemer toward John, and unfolds to us the true 
 and the only way of finding nearness of access to the 
 Redeemer, and of lying in his bosom from day to day. 
 
 Sixthly. Our present felicity is in proportion to the 
 degree of sanctification we enjoy, as appears from the 
 words of Christ concerning the joy of his disciples. 
 They were partially sanctified at the time to which 1 
 am now referring, and their joy was partial accordingly. 
 Jesus, therefore, bids them "ask and receive, that their 
 joy might be /mZZ." Reader, is thy joy not full? Per- 
 haps not, perhaps not half full, nor a fiftieth part. O 
 then be wise, and know that even grace itself can never 
 
104 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 fill thee with happiness till it entirely fill and rule thy 
 heart. 
 
 In the last place I would observe, that not only the 
 measure of our future felicity, but our entering it at all, 
 depends on our gaining this fulness of grace. "Without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord." But what then 
 will become of one who is justified, if he die before the 
 process of sanctification is complete! As this question 
 has occasionally been proposed, we may just in passing 
 observe, that it is grounded on the supposition of a fact 
 that cannot take place. One who is justified, must 
 either go on to perfection, or lose his justification; the 
 divine favor cannot be retained till death, save by those 
 who are looking for purity of heart. So that if those 
 who are truly seeking it should suddenly die, a sudden 
 preparation for death shall take place; God will remem- 
 ber his promise, and "cut short his work in righteous- 
 ness, and make a speedy end of sin in the soul." The 
 remains of the leprosy shall be cleansed with a word, 
 and stains of crimson made whiter than wool. But 
 what will all this avail those who are living in the 
 habitual neglect of sanctifying grace? If, indeed, the 
 Almighty, of his abundant mercy, will continue to these 
 his favor, it would be arrogance in me to deny them the 
 comfort of it. But if the salt may "lose its savor," 
 such persons, certainly, expose their future felicity to 
 danger, and may have cause to repent of their conduct 
 when contrition and tears can answer no end. 
 
 But should they be wholly sanctified at last, and so 
 be admitted to glory at death, their lustre will be less 
 than the lustre of those who exceeded them in piety 
 and grace while on earth. "As one star difiereth from 
 
ENTIHE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 105 
 
 another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the 
 dead." This is spoken by St. Paul of the body. But 
 if there shall be so vast a difference in the glory of the 
 bodies of the children of God in eternity, lor the same 
 reason there must be a difference, equally great, in the 
 degrees of glory possessed by the immortal spirits to 
 which those bodies respectively belong; and the princi- 
 pal reason of this vast difference will probably be the 
 different degrees of grace which they sought after and 
 enjoyed, while wandering as strangers and pilgrims on 
 earth. And to what amazing heights of glory it is 
 possible to rise at last, by vast communion with the 
 Deity while on earth; or how dim and feeble our lustre 
 may be, in consequence of the littleness of our piety 
 on earth, it is not possible at present for man to con- 
 ceive. The light of a glow-worm, which can only be 
 seen on a dark night, is feeble indeed, compared with 
 that of the sun, whose glory quenches the stars, and 
 streams to inconceivable lengths in the iznmensity of 
 space; and so feeble, compared with what it might have 
 been, and compared with that of others, may be the 
 everlasting glory of some of the followers of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. But I will now pause, and let the reader 
 reflect for himself, as enough has already been advanced, 
 not only to mark out the way of seeking the blessing in 
 question, but to induce the reader, if any thing can in- 
 duce him, to be in earnest with God to obtain it, and to 
 rest not, day or night, till he shall crown him with mercy, 
 and fill him with the mind which was also in Christ. 
 
 10* 
 
106 
 
 A FRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THH DOCTRINE OF ENTIRE SA NOTIFICATION EXEM- 
 PLIFIED. 
 
 Having proceeded thus far in the discussion of this 
 interesting subject, it will be proper now to introduce 
 to the notice of the reader a few cases of persons who 
 appear to the author to have Hved in the possession of 
 this great and inestimable blessing, and to have shown 
 in their lives its fruit to the world. 
 
 I must, however, premise one thing which is this, 
 that I do not introduce the following cases as proofs of 
 the doctrine in question, or as the measure of all pos- 
 sible attainments in grace; for the privileges of the 
 saints are not to be measured by the actual attainments 
 of Peter, James, or John, or any one else of the chil- 
 dren of God, but by the doctrines and promises of the 
 Bible concerning this point; so that if the reader should 
 happen to think that any, or all, of the persons about to 
 be named, should not be cases in point, and should even 
 be able to prove, with the utmost clearness and truth, 
 that they never enjoyed, at any period of life, entire 
 purity of heart, it will not affect the doctrine at all, or 
 move it from its sure foundation — the promises of God. 
 Requesting the reader will keep this in mind, I will in- 
 troduce to his notice a few of those honorable names 
 that stand written in illuminated characters in the pages 
 of imperishable truth. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 107 
 
 Abel and Enoch deservedly come first. The former 
 is honored by Christ with the appellation of "righteous;" 
 and God "bore witness that he was righteous by testi- 
 fying of his gifts." And this righteousness was not 
 merely imputed, for, St. John assures us, "his works 
 were righteous," which could not have been, had his 
 heart been polluted with indwelling sin. As for the 
 venerable Enoch, "He was not only sincerely obedient 
 to God," says Bishop Patrick, "but of an extraordinary 
 sanctity, beyond the rate of other holy men; and held 
 0!i also in a long course of such singular piety, notwith- 
 standing the wickedness of the age in which he lived." 
 He was then "translated that he should not see death. 
 But before his translation, he had this testimony, that he 
 pleased God." If any thing be wanting to finish this 
 picture of consummate piety, it is fully supplied in this 
 saying, that "Enoch walked with God." 
 
 Noah comes next to our view, "Just" and "perfect 
 in his generations;" and Noah also "walked with God." 
 Noah, it is true, was once, during a life of nearly a 
 thousand years, in a state of intoxication, having drunk 
 too freely of the wine which the bounty of heaven so 
 kindly supplied. Nor can we, as some pretend, ex- 
 tenuate this fault by the improbable supposition, that 
 he knew not the strength of the juice of the grape. 
 Yet, can malice itself weave this fault into a web, that 
 shall hide from our vision the whole of his life, and prove 
 that he never was "perfect" through grace, "walking" 
 in intimate union "with God?" 
 
 The amiable Joseph stands charged with vice, and 
 so did the blessed Redeemer himself; but was it not 
 virtue, in both of these cases, which malice and igno- 
 
108 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 ranee supposed was vice? The evil alleged against 
 Joseph is this. During the famine in Egypt he was 
 favorable, it is said, to the Egyptian priesthood, (sup- 
 posed to have been idolaters,) and even formed an 
 alliance with them, by marrying the daughter of the 
 priest of On. But shall the fragrance of his piety be 
 dissipated thus? or the mantle of his purity trampled 
 in the dust, by such rash and unthinking conclusions as 
 this? Ought it not to be proved, rather than presumed, 
 that the priests or princes in question (for it seems they 
 were both) were idolatrous priests? And must it ik>{ be 
 proved that the lady whom Joseph took for his wife, was 
 an idolater at the time they were married, before it can 
 be proved that the marriage was wrong? But who will 
 be able to establish these things? For if the land of 
 Canaan itself, the most wicked of nations in those 
 ancient times, retained in its bosom a "priest of the most 
 high God" in the days of Abraham, (Gen. xiv, 18; 
 Heb. vii, 1,) why might not the priest of On be a priest 
 of the same kind? Dr. Delany, whose authority is great 
 in matters of this kind, supposes idolatry was not the 
 religion of the priesthood of Egypt while Joseph had 
 any authority in that land. The Doctor's own words 
 (Revelation Examined, vol. iii, p. 190) are as follows: 
 "That idolatry," says he, "prevailed in the world amaz- 
 ingly early, is beyond a doubt; and that it reached 
 Egypt, before the days of Joseph, there is too much 
 reason to believe; but that it continued with the Egyp- 
 tian priesthood after his alliance with them, is altogether 
 incredible." The Doctor very justly supposes, that so 
 good a man as Joseph would certainly use his influence 
 in support of the true religion, wherever he found it, and 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 109 
 
 in suppressing idolatry of every kind; and it is not diffi- 
 cult to gather, from the Holy Scriptures of truth, that 
 this great and enlightened statesman actually employed 
 his authority in this very way. 
 
 It has already been hinted, that the princes or sena- 
 tors of Egypt, and the priests, were the same order of 
 men — a supposition which the general practice of anti- 
 quity, in regard to religion, will readily support; and 
 we may now remark concerning the term "wisdom," 
 which will immediately be perceived to bear upon this 
 point, that, as it is used in the Scriptures, and especially 
 in the Psalms of David, it comprehends the knowledge 
 and worship of God. When, therefore, it is said (Ps. cv,) 
 that Joseph "bound the princes of Pliaraoh at pleasure, 
 and taught his senators wisdom," and the like, the con- 
 clusion, in favor of Joseph is clear as the light. If he 
 found the senators or priesthood of Egypt idolaters, 
 (which must not be conceded to any thing but proof,) 
 his wisdom and authority were employed to make them 
 adorers of the living and true God — a circumstance this 
 of the highest importance to the character of Joseph, a 
 pedestal of honor, which lifts him to the summit of piety 
 and religion, far beyond the reach of his accusers among 
 men. Those who think little concerning the character 
 of Joseph may have narrow conceptions of his piety and 
 grace; but those who examine it throughout, never can. 
 When we first find him in Egypt, though young and in 
 chains, even his master could see that "Jehovah was 
 with him." His whole conduct in the house of his 
 master, and particularly the afliiir of hi^i mistress, was 
 proof of amazir.g piety of heart. And when wrong- 
 fully accused by the rage of disappointed passion, and 
 
110 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 sent to the dungeon in fetters and chains, still his "God 
 was with him" indeed, and he, in return, confesses and 
 cleaves to his God. I need not refer to the chapters in 
 Genesis, where the reader will meet with proofs of all 
 this; nor yet to those places where Joseph appears in 
 the presence of Pharaoh, teaching even Pharaoh him- 
 self the knowledge of Jehovah, with a mixture of the 
 mdst amiable courage and humility which nothing but 
 purity of heart could inspire. "The dream of Pharaoh," 
 says he, "is one. God hath shown Pharaoh what he 
 is about to do:" — "it is because the thing is established 
 by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." But, I 
 find, I am going too far into these pleasing meditations, 
 and must not proceed. But if boundless benevolence 
 of heart, tender mercy, justice, the strictest chastity, 
 fraternal and filial kindness, faith, hope, love, both to 
 God and man; if these singular excellencies and graces, 
 and others of a kindred description, all meeting in the 
 same individual, not only at one period of life, but in all 
 periods, and in almost every possible condition, at home 
 and abroad; in freedom and in chains; when deep in the 
 recesses of poverty and desertion, and when next to the 
 monarch on the throne; when he had not a friend who 
 would listen to his sorrows, and when lying on the 
 neck of his fond father in tears, and almost worshipped 
 by his kindred and train; if these singular excellencies 
 and graces, I say, opening in the morning of his days, 
 ripening with his years, and blooming round his pillow 
 in the day of his death, are any proof of a soul entirely 
 sanctified by grace, let justice be done to the memory 
 of Joseph, and the honors of the holiest bloom round 
 his grave. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFIOATION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 I pass over a cloud of Old Testament worthies, and 
 hasten to make some selections from the New. The 
 case of St. Stephen may be separately noticed, as a 
 sample of numbers more, whose names or whose state 
 is conspicuous in the Oracles of God. St. Stephen was 
 a good man, "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." 
 Brief, but important, is the character of this saint, as 
 drawn in these words, and full, though not wordy, is this 
 glowing account of the manifold grace of God which 
 resided in his heart; for, what can man have on this side 
 the grave, or in heaven itself, in addition to this? I 
 have no higher views of sanctitication, in its best, high- 
 est, and sublimest state, than that those who enjoy it are 
 filled with faith and the Spirit of God; for more than 
 full they certainly cannot be. It is true, at death the 
 capacity of the soul may be considerably enlarged, and 
 may undergo a similar kind of expansion, gradually or 
 at stated periods, to all eternity, just as the mind of the 
 Christian is enlarged, by an influx of knowledge and 
 grace, during this present life; yet we can but be full 
 after all, and Stephen, it seems, was full while on earth; 
 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 To avoid the conclusion I have drawn from the terms 
 just repeated, it is sometimes alleged, that they mean 
 quite a different thing, and ought to be understood of 
 the power of working miracles. But had this been the 
 case, the power to work miracles would have been 
 equally possessed by every member, whether male or 
 female, of the pentecostal church; for the whole "mul- 
 titude of them that believed were of one heart and one 
 sotil;" there was no difference among them in this re- 
 spect, all being "filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts iv, 
 
112 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 31, 32.) Beside, the end for which miracles were 
 wrought, required not every member of the church to 
 be able to perform them; and to bestow such a power 
 without any necessity for the gift, is an action we must 
 not attribute to God, who does nothing in vain; but to 
 be sanctified wholly, in every part and faculty of the 
 body and mind, requires a diffusion of grace through the 
 whole, which nothing but a fulness of the Spirit can 
 effect, and, as all the members of the church needed 
 this, so, in reference to this, we find he was equally 
 given to all, all being full of the Spirit of God. So 
 that here is a goodly company, five thousand at least, all 
 in the same glorious condition; cleansed from all un- 
 righteousness in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 But as the mystery of iniquity was early at work, 
 there are few entire churches to be found who retained 
 this holy estate for any considerable portion of time; 
 that in the city of Smyrna was probably the only one in 
 the days of St. John, whose members all walked in primi- 
 tive white. But that these did retain the unwrinkled 
 sanctity of the Gospel of Christ, seems more than prob- 
 able, from the following things. (1.) The Searcher of 
 hearts finds no manner of fault with them, when writing 
 unto them by means of St. John. (2.) He pronounces 
 them "rich," — rich in grace; for, in other respects, they 
 were "poor," — and gives no special direction to them, as 
 he does to the churches which were fallen and luke- 
 warm, but only bids them "be faithful unto death." 
 (3.) Either, therefore, this church was perfect and en- 
 tire, wanting nothing, or he was partial in not reproving 
 them as he did the others, and unmindful of those their 
 wants and necessities, which he himself alone could 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 113 
 
 point out and supply. The only conclusion to be drawn 
 from these premises is this, that this poor suffering 
 church of the Redeemer stood firm in its primitive 
 purity and perfection, and was wholly sanctified by the 
 grace of God. 
 
 Among the members of the churches of Thyatira and 
 Sardis, we perceive a considerable difference in their 
 spiritual state: some are sanctified wholly, others but in 
 part; and the language of Jesus concerning them varies 
 in the same way. Some are reproved and threatened; 
 some, neither the one nor the other; and some, highly 
 commended. "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis 
 which have not def ied their garments; and they shall 
 walk with me in white: for tliey are worthy." 
 
 On taking our leave of the sacred page, the church 
 indeed widens and spreads in its outward appearance, 
 but the faithful are minished and brought low, or hid 
 from our sight by the clouds of error that rose on every 
 hand, and spread like a thickening veil upon all the 
 moral world. Before "the fathers" fell asleep, super- 
 stition, in many places, usurped the place of piety, and 
 rites and ceremonies, as senseless in themselves as they 
 were unknown in tiie days of St. Paul, were imported 
 into the church, and multiplied and grew, without mea- 
 sure or end. But it would not comport with my pre- 
 sent design to attempt to supply an account of these 
 things. And it will be much more pleasing to the 
 reader to observe, that when the darkness of ages began 
 to roll away, and the light of Gospel truth, by means of 
 the Reformation, and subsequent revivals of religion, re- 
 visited the church, the true glory of the church returned 
 with it; so that for half a century, or more, the great 
 11 
 
114 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 and glorious doctrine of entire sanctification has been 
 gradually rising into light, and, by the pleasing records 
 of the eminently consecrated lives and triumphant deaths 
 of many of the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, 
 has thrown a peculiar halo of glory into the annals of 
 the church of the Redeemer on earth. From numerous 
 cases of the kind, which might easily be collected, a 
 few may be given in this department of my work; and 
 with them we may properly bring this volume to an end. 
 
 The first case I shall mention is that of a man who 
 had sought the blessing of entire holiness for some 
 years, but without any effect, save that his soul had 
 often been blessed in the pursuit, and revived and cheered 
 with the hope of one day enjoying it. But for some 
 months prior to the time when he obtained the blessing, 
 having been so repeatedly baffled and disappoined, owing, 
 of course, to some error in the manner in which he had 
 sought it, his hope of ultimate success lost the strength 
 of her wings, and lay fluttering in grief and distress on 
 the ground. While in this state, a few words concerning 
 it dropped from the lips of a minister of the Gospel, 
 revived him again, and led hiiu to believe that his 
 prayer would be heard, and that God would graciously 
 give him the desire of his heart. With this view of 
 the case, and desiring and panting to be blessed with 
 this blessing, he went into his chamber, sunk into the 
 dust at the footstool of Christ, and earnestly groaned 
 for purity of heart. "My whole soul," says he, "was 
 fixed upon this, and upon Him who alone could give it; 
 not upon ease, peace, joy, happiness; no, nor yet upon 
 heaven; but tliat my heart might be chan in the sight 
 of my God. At the same time I felt stripped of all 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 115 
 
 merit: and O what consolation I found in this unfeigned 
 poverty, in having nothing to bring; and in feeling that 
 if ever I should be altogether holy, it would be utterly 
 for the sake of Him after whom my soul panted: nor 
 can language describe the patience, resignation, and 
 self-abasement which I felt during the whole of this 
 time." 
 
 He then proceeds to inform us, that while he was 
 wrestling in prayer for the blessing, "God answered for 
 himself!" The room, it seems, was filled with the divine 
 glory, and his soul overflowed with love to God. He 
 had experienced nothing betbre to be compared with 
 this; and, at the same time, God spoke to his heart as 
 with an audible voice, "From all thy idols will I cleanse 
 thee: a new heart also will I give thee; and thou shall 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy 
 mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." 
 
 Such was the manner in which this individual found 
 this pearl of great price. And here we may observe 
 how the Spirit of God attested to his heart that the 
 sanctifying process was brought to an end. A voice, an 
 inward voice, spoke, when the work was accomplished, 
 and said, "A new heart also will I give thee, &c.; and 
 without this inward testimony of the Spirit he could not 
 have been sure that the work was accomplished within 
 him, because such is the depth of the heart, and, con- 
 sequently, of the depravity of the heart, of all the 
 children of men, that none but God can know it, or 
 when it is purged and made clean, save those to whom 
 God shall attest it by the Spirit of his Son. But of 
 these things 1 have already spoken in a former chapter 
 of this work, and shall only add in this place, that al- 
 
116 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 though it is possible to be mistaken, and to suppose we 
 are sanctified wholly when in reality we are not; yet the 
 case now before us, preceded as it was by genuine con- 
 version, by a deep inward consciousness of its necessity, 
 earnest groaning to obtain it, and the like, and followed, 
 as will be seen immediately, by suitable corroborating 
 effects, has every credential of a genuine work which 
 the nature of the case will admit; and we are justified 
 in believing the overwhelming consciousness of the glo- 
 rious presence of God in his soul which he felt, and 
 especially the inward voice, whispering in his heart that 
 he was that moment cleansed, was the work of the Holy 
 (ihost, and no other than His indubitable attestation to 
 the heart that he had now completed the work of his 
 entire sanctification. Accordingly, the effect of the 
 blessing in question upon this individual he proceeds to 
 describe in the following way. "The cheering presence 
 of God," says he, "and the light of his countenance 
 have shined upon me ever since that time; nor has one 
 solitary cloud been suflored to interpose; and it now 
 seems natural to me to watch in all things, that no idle 
 word may proceed from my lips, to grieve the good 
 Spirit of the Lord, or damp the pure flame of love 
 which is on the altar of my heart." A little further on 
 in his narrative he proceeds thus: "I have felt," says 
 he, "no evil arise in my heart since that time, but such 
 a perpetual love to God as cannot well be expressed; and 
 1 am so carried away with desire for the welfare of 
 others, that at times the flame seems almost too power- 
 ful for nature." 
 
 The next is the case of one Thomas Basker, who re- 
 sided at Ashby, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire, and died in 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 117 
 
 the year 1784. About three years prior to his decease, 
 while living an account of his conversion and Christian 
 experience, he speaks of obtaining entire sanctification 
 in the following way: "Still something," says he, "was 
 wanting more fully to relieve my anxieties, and satisfy 
 and give rest and quiet to my mind. I often felt the 
 risings of corrupt nature, which 1 could not prevent, 
 though sin had lost its dominion over my soul. 1 saw 
 the land of promise at a distance, and longed to enter 
 into that perfect rest." "About this time," he adds, 
 "Mr. Westell preached at my house, and clearly de- 
 scribed the entire holiness which I had long sought, and 
 proved also, to my entire satisfaction, it was a present 
 salvation, a blessing that might be had that day by simple 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; so that I fully received 
 his testimony concerning it. 1 had experienced many 
 temptations and trials, and the enemy had thrust sore at 
 roe to make me fall; but God had been my helper, 
 leading me in paths which I had not known, and pre- 
 paring me for the reception of this great and glorious 
 blessing; and having obtained it, I rejoiced in its light 
 and liberty for the space of a year." 
 
 This person, however, though he lost the divine wit- 
 ness of the entire sanctification of his nature, and felt 
 himself open again to the "incursions of the enemy" 
 for a season, was again excited to seek the blessing; nor 
 was he permitted to seek it in vain. The Lord applied 
 his word with power to his heart, so that he had no rest 
 in his bones till the happy hour of his great and glorious 
 deliverance arrived. "This was," he says, "if I re- 
 member right, in 1780," four years before his death. 
 He was, at the time, it seems, employed in his regular 
 11* 
 
118 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 calling, musing on the goodness of God; and the change 
 was instantly succeeded by the Holy Spirit's testimony 
 of its accomplishment, who bore witness to the fact by 
 applying that passage with power to his mind. "Arise, 
 my love, my fair one, and come away," — while the cor- 
 roborating evidence of the reality of this great change, 
 and of the truth of the Spirit's testimony concerning it, 
 are discernible in what followed them in his experience 
 and life, namely, "peace uninterrupted, confirmation in 
 love by many and precious promises perpetually kept up 
 in his mind, continual openings of heaven in his soul, 
 his being fed with the delights of paradise, and by a 
 meek, humble, patient, loving spirit, and modest deport- 
 ment, till death, both in the sight of God and man." 
 He was not indeed freed from temptations, as he con- 
 tinues to inform us, not even from strong and powerful 
 ones, which occasionally assailed him. But in the 
 midst of these powerful assaults of the enemy, the Re- 
 deemer appeared as his protector and shield, saying, 
 Hitherto shall ye go, but no further; nor shall ye be 
 siirtered to injure my servant and friend. The Lord 
 lanijht him daily the lessons of his grace. "And though," 
 to use his own expressions, "he was so poor a disciple 
 of so kind and indulgent a Master," yet this important 
 lesson he had learnt, "That without Christ he was 
 nothing, and could do nothing; and that the nearer we 
 advance to God, our centre of life and felicity, the more 
 clearly we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the 
 absolute need of self-emptiness and deep poverty of 
 spirit, in order to the true enjoyment of the riches of 
 his grace." 
 
 The next case which I shall mention is the case of 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 119 
 
 Christiana Malenoire, wlio was born, it seems, in 1738. 
 She was the subject of the strivings of the Spirit when 
 young, but yielded to temptations, and was not truly 
 converted till about thirty-two years of age, when she 
 had been for some time married and settled in life. 
 
 Soon after her conversion, she was convinced of the 
 necessity of a further work of grace in her heart, where 
 she felt strong emotions of her besetting sin. The 
 enemy took occasion from this to suggest, that she was 
 not in a state of justification, which occasioned her 
 often to weep and lament. She knew it was a bitter 
 thing to sin against God, felt her own weakness and in- 
 firmities, and trembled through fear of falling in the 
 dark and cloudy day. Yet the testimony of the Spirit 
 that she was pardoned and accepted of God was gene- 
 rally bright and clear; and she seemed settled in the 
 thought that she must struggle with inbred corruption 
 till the day of her death. 
 
 Being one day unusually tried, she discovered that 
 her will was not wholly resigned to the will of her God, 
 which gave her considerable perplexity and distress. 
 A minister of the Gospel having breakfasted at her 
 house, perceived she was dejected, and ventured to pro- 
 pose some inquiries concerning the cause of her distress, 
 and having listened to her reply, proceeded to state, 
 that, as a follower of Christ, it was no less her privi- 
 lege than her duty to have those evils removed of which 
 she complained, and to be altogether pure in mind and 
 in heart. This was glad tidings of great joy to her 
 soul. The minister explained the nature of entire sanc- 
 tification, showed it was attainable by simple faith in 
 the Lord Jesus, and pointed out some of the promises 
 
120 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 which relate to this work. Her band-leader also, who 
 enjoyed this blessing, afforded her some considerable 
 help; so that, seeing it to be her privilege, she resolved 
 to seek it with all her heart. 
 
 While she did this, the evidence of her pardon grew 
 brighter, and her views of the doctrines of the gospel 
 became clearer, while her conviction that she needed 
 the blessing, sunk deeper and deeper into her soul; so 
 that the process of the work was going on in her na- 
 ture; and, in about nine days from the time of her dis- 
 course with the minister, she was fully delivered from 
 the plague of her own heart. Previous, however, to 
 this change taking place, she had a sore conflict in her 
 mind; the enemy came in like a flood upon her; but, 
 her convictions being keen and deep, she continued to 
 wrestle for the blessing, and determined never to rest 
 till she obtained it from God. With this end in view, 
 she threw herself upon her knees before the Lord, and 
 was led in contemplation to follow her suffering Saviour 
 from the manger to the cross, and to plead with him her 
 title, through his blood, to all the blessings he has pur- 
 chased for sinners. "There I saw him," says she, "by 
 the eye of faith, tortured, groaning, bleeding, expiring, 
 for me! — and my heart was melted within me like wax 
 before the fire. How did I weep beneath the cross! 
 With the same eye of faith," she proceeds, "I saw my 
 adorable Saviour taken down from the cross; I saw his 
 veins emptied; his sinews stretched out; and his sacred 
 body all over disordered with death! O the spectacle 
 to behold, sufficient to rend my heart in twain! My 
 thoughts still pursued him, rolled in linen clothes, and 
 laid in the sepulchre. Here 1 stood weeping and crying, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 121 
 
 For me! for me! when, on a sudden, as if an audible 
 voice had spoken, these words were applied with power 
 to my heart, ^ Woman, why weepcst thou? lohom, seekest 
 thou?'' to which my heart answered, '/ seek Jesus.^ '■He 
 is not here; he is risen,'' said the same inward voice. 
 At these words," she continues, "I felt a sudden change, 
 as if my spirit was wafted after the blessed Redeemer, 
 and caught up into heaven. I was lost to myself for a 
 time; I cannot tell how long; but when my spirit re- 
 sumed its place again, I cried out, Lord Jesus, what art 
 thou now about to do with me?" And the answer to 
 this was by a powerful application of this passage to her 
 mind, ^'■Behold noto is the accepted time, behold now is 
 the day of salvationT "And to this," says she, "my 
 heart replied, 'Be it unto me even as thou wilt.' " 
 
 Thus was this person fully delivered from the remains 
 of the carnal mind, and gloriously sanctified by the 
 Spirit and grace of God. She knew she was a new 
 creature in Christ Jesus, yea, that all things were be- 
 come new; and by happy experience she began to find 
 the superior excellency of this exalted state of grace, 
 for her soul was made like a well-watered garden, or as 
 trees planted by the rivers of waters. She grew more 
 in one day in knowledge, righteousness, and peace, than 
 in all the preceding days of her life; and her willing feet 
 ran in swift obedience to perform the perfect will of her 
 God, and find her happy way to the felicities above. 
 
 The last case I shall notice is that of a Mr. John 
 Boothby, who was born near Macclesfield, in 1739, and 
 soundly converted to God when about twenty-three or 
 twenty-four years of age, having a wife and three chil- 
 dren at the time. From the period of his conversion 
 
122 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON 
 
 he was made sensible of the remains of the carnal mind 
 in his soul, and being also fully convinced of the neces- 
 sity and possibility of obtaining entire holiness of heart, 
 he determined not to rest till he obtained it from God. 
 
 For three full weeks he hungered and thirsted for 
 this inestimable grace. At the end of that period, going 
 to his class as usual, "he found himself," he says, "in a 
 sweet and peaceful state of mind, and felt fully resolved 
 
 "To love's habitual sense by acts to aspire, 
 And kindle till he caught the Gospel fire." 
 
 Nor did he find himself in any error by seeking to ob- 
 tain entire sanctification in this scriptural and practical 
 way; for, while at that meeting, his soul was drawn out 
 into an agony of prayer for the blessing, and in his 
 breast was a mighty struggle between sanctifying faith 
 and the remains of opposing, but expiring, unbelief. 
 One of the members of the class perceiving the struggle 
 of his mind, asked, what particular blessing he was 
 anxious to possess; and when he had named it, he was 
 exhorted to believe, in order that he might then receive 
 it from God. But to this he demurred, through a fear 
 he should lose it to-morrow if he did. He was told, he 
 had nothing to do with to-morrow, and exhorted again 
 to believe for it now. He then very properly reflected, 
 that, certainly, to-morrow was nothing to him, and that 
 his business must be, without any delay whatsoever, to 
 cast his whole soul upon Christ, in order to be cleansed 
 at once from his indwelling sin. And while he was en- 
 gaged in these meditations, the infinite love of Jesus 
 prevented him, for the powerful presence of God de- 
 scended upon him, and his soul was filled with unutter- 
 
ENTIRE SAXCTIFICATION. 
 
 1J3 
 
 able love. "I knew not," says he, "either where I was 
 or what I was doing; but when these sensations were 
 over, and my mind resumed its balance again, 1 was quite 
 another man. The light of the moon was as the light 
 of the sun, and the light of the sun, was sevenfold, as 
 seven days in one; and when I came down from the mount, 
 I was like a little child.'' 
 
 I have taken the substance of these four cases from 
 the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth volumes of the 
 Wcsleyan- Methodist Magazine, (pp. 531, 643, 482, and 
 32S,) and have taken no other liberties with them than 
 that of altering the language a little, and abridging the 
 accounts, without purposely altering their substance in 
 the least; and having done this, and discussed the whole 
 subject which is now before the reader in the best 
 manner I have been able within the compass of this 
 small volume, I may now, with one additional remark, 
 proceed to conduct it to an end. 
 
 It appears, then, upon the whole, from what has been 
 said in this volume, that the doctrine of entire sanctifi- 
 cation is not to be considered as a subject of mere specu- 
 lation, with which the experience and practice of men 
 can have little or nothing to do. No, by no means. It 
 is a great and important experimental and practical 
 question. It has entered deeply into the hearts of the 
 choicest sons of grace, and been richly interwoven into 
 the web of their life. It has raised them to more than 
 ordinary intercourse with God, brightened the glory of 
 their illustrious example, made death appear unto them 
 not only stingless, but even desirable, and widened and 
 extended their prospects into the eternal world. It has 
 enabled, not only those whose names have been intro- 
 
124 ESSAY ON ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 duced to our notice in the course of this work, but 
 thousands more, in all ages and in all nations, where 
 Christianity has flourished, with unmingled emotions of 
 joy and rapture, to say, with the beloved disciple St. 
 John, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may 
 have boldness at the day of judgment; because as he is, 
 so are we in the world." Reader, if this language is 
 not thine, up at once, without any delay, and speed thy- 
 self to God; yea, give thyself no rest till thy nature is 
 whiter than snow, and gloriously filled with all the 
 fulness of God. A thousand considerations are at 
 hand to urge thee forward. But, above all, the dying 
 love of Jesus should prevail on thee, since he himself 
 opened in his own bleeding heart that only fountain 
 which can remove the impurities of our fallen and cor- 
 rupt nature, and make us meet to reside in his presence 
 above. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 BY DR. ADAM CLARKE, LL. D., F. A. S. 
 
 The word "sanctify" has two meanings. 1. It signi 
 fies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common 
 use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service. 
 2. It signifies to make holy or pure. 
 
 Many talk much, and indeed well, of what Christ has 
 done for us: but how little is spoken of what he is to do 
 in us! and yet all that he has done for us is in referesice 
 to what he is to do in us. He was incarnated, suilered, 
 died, and rose again from the dead; ascended to heaven, 
 and there appears in the presence of God for us. These 
 were all saving, atoning, and mediating acts for us; that 
 he might reconcile us to God; that he might blot out our 
 sin; that he might purge our consciences from dead 
 works; that he might bind the strong man armed — take 
 away the armor in which he trusted, wash the polluted 
 heart, destroy every foul and abominable desire, all tor- 
 menting and unholy tempers; that he might make the 
 • heart his throne, fill the soul with his light, power, and 
 life; and, in a word, "destroy- the works of the devil." 
 These are done in us; without which we cannot be sav- 
 ed unto eternal life. But these acts done in us are con- 
 sequent on the acts done for us: for had he not been in- 
 carnated, suffered, and died in our stead, we could not 
 12 
 
126 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 receive either pardon or holiness; and did he not cleanse 
 and purify our hearts, we could not enter into the place 
 where all is purity: for the beatific vision is given to 
 them only who are purified from all unrighteousness: for 
 it is written, "Blessed are the pure in heart, tor they 
 shall see God.'' Nothing is purified by death; — nothing 
 in the grave; nothing in heaven. The living stones of 
 the temple, like those of that at Jerusalem, are hewn, 
 squared, and cut here, in the church militant, to pre- 
 pare them to enter into the composition of the church 
 triumphiint. 
 
 This perfection is the restoration of man to the state 
 of holiness from which he fell, by creating him anew in 
 Christ Jesus, and restoring to him that image and like- 
 ness of God which he has lost. A higher meaning than 
 this it cannot have; a lower meaning it must not have. 
 God made man in that degree of perfection which was 
 pleasing to hi.s own infinite wisdom and goodness. Sin 
 defaced this divine image; Jesus came to restore it. Sin 
 must have no triuiii|)h; and the Redeemer of mankind 
 must have his glory. But if man be not perfectly saved 
 from all sin, sin does triumph, and Satan exult, because 
 they have done a mischief that Christ either cannot or 
 will not remove. To say he cannot, would be shocking 
 blasphemy against the infinite power and dignity of the 
 great Creator; to say he will not, would be equally such 
 against the infinite benevolence and hoiinessof his nature. 
 All sin, whether in power, guilt, or defilement, is the 
 work of the devil; and he, Jesus, came to destroy the 
 work of the devil; and as all unrighteousness is sin, so 
 his blood cleanseth from all sin, because it cleanseth 
 from all unrighteousness. 
 
EJJTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 127 
 
 Many stagger at the term ■perfection in Christianity; 
 because they think that what is impUed in it is inconsist- 
 ent with a state of probation, and savors of pride and 
 presumption: but we must take good heed how we stag- 
 ger at any word of God; and much more how we deny 
 or fritter away the meaning of any of his sayings, lest 
 he reprove us, and we be found liars before him. But 
 it may be that the term is rejected because it is not un- 
 derstood. Let us examine its import. 
 
 The word "perfection," in reference to any person or 
 thing, signifies that such person or thing is complete or 
 finished; that it has nothing redundant, and is in nothing 
 defective. And hence that observation of a learned 
 civilian is at once both correct and illustrative, namely, 
 "We count those things perfect which want nothing re- 
 quisite for the end whereto they were instituted.'' And 
 to be perfect often signifies "to be blameless, clear, irre- 
 proachable;" and, according to the above definition of 
 Hooker, a man may be said to be perfect who answers 
 the end for which God made him; and as God requires 
 every man to love him with all his heart, soul, mind, and 
 strength, and his neighbor as himself; then he is a per- 
 fect man that does so; he answers the end for which 
 God made him; and this is more evident from the na- 
 ture of that love which fills his heart: for as love is the 
 principle of obedience, so he that loves his God with all 
 his powers will obey him with all his powers; and he who 
 loves his neighbor as himself will not only do no injury 
 to him, but, on the contrary, labor to promote his best 
 interests. Why the doctrine which enjoins such a state 
 of perfection as this, should be dreaded, ridiculed, or de- 
 spised, is a most strange thing; and the opposition to it 
 
128 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 can only be from that carnal mind that is enmity to God; 
 "That is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be." And had I no other proof that man is fallen 
 from God, his opposition to Christian holiness would be 
 to me sufficient. 
 
 The whole design of God was to restore man to his 
 image, and raise him from the ruins of his fall; in a 
 word, to make him perfect; to h\t>t out all his sins, purify 
 his soul, and fill him with holiness; so that no unholy 
 temper, evil desire, or impure affection or passion shall 
 either lodge or have any being within him; this and this 
 only is true religion, or Christian perfection; and a less 
 salvation than this would be dishonorable to the sacrifice 
 of Christ, and the operation of the Holy Ghost; and 
 would be as unworthy of the appellation of "Christian- 
 ity," as it would be of that of "holiness of perfection." 
 They who ridicule this are scoffers at the word of God; 
 many of them totally irreligious men, sitting in the seat 
 of the scornful. They who deny it, deny the whole 
 scope and design of divine revelation and the mission of 
 Jesus Ciirist. And they who preach the opposite doc- 
 trine are either speculative Antinomians, or pleaders 
 for Baal. 
 
 When St. Paul says he "warns every man, and teaches 
 every man in all wisdom, that he may present every man 
 PERFECT in Christ Jesus," he must mean something. 
 What then is this somefhingl It must mean "that holi- 
 ness without which none shall see the Lord." Call it by 
 what name we please, it must imply the pardon of all 
 transgression, and the removal of the whole body of sin 
 and death; for this must take place before we can be like 
 him, and see him as he is, in the effulgence of his own 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 129 
 
 glory. This fitness, then, to appear before God, and 
 thorough preparation for eternal glory, is what I plead 
 for, pray for, and heartily recommend to all true be- 
 lievers, under the name of Christian perfection. Had I 
 a better name, one more energetic, one with a greater 
 plenitude of meaning, one more worthy of the efficacy 
 of the blood that bought our peace, and cleanseth from 
 all unrighteousness, I would gladly adopt and use it. Even 
 the word "perfection" has, in some relations, so many 
 qualifications and abatements that cannot comport with 
 that full and glorious salvation recommended in the gos- 
 pel, and bought and sealed by the blood of the cross, that 
 I would glady lay it by, and employ a word more posi- 
 tive and unequivocal in its meaning, and more worthy 
 of the merit of the infinite atonement of Christ, and of 
 the energy of his almighty Spirit; but there is none in 
 our language; which I deplore as an inconvenience and 
 a loss. 
 
 Why then are there so many, even among sincere and 
 godly ministers and people, who are so much opposed to 
 the term, and so much alarmed at the profession? I 
 answer. Because they think no man can be fully saved 
 from sin in this life. I ask, where is this, in unequivo- 
 cal words, written in the New Testament? Where, in 
 that book is it intimated that sin is not wholly destroyed 
 till death takes place, and the soul and the body are sep- 
 arated? Nowhere. In the popish baseless doctrine of 
 purgatory, this doctrine, not with more rational conse- 
 quences, is held: this doctrine allows that, so inveterate 
 is sin, it cannot be wholly destroyed even in death; and 
 that a penal fire, in a middle state between heaven and 
 hell, is necessary to atone for that which the blood of 
 12* 
 
130 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 Christ had not cancelled; and to purge from that which 
 the energy of the almighty Spirit had not cleansed be- 
 fore death. 
 
 Even papists could not see that a moral evil was de- 
 tained in the soul through its physical connection with 
 the body; and that it required the dissolution of this 
 physical connection before the moral contagion could be 
 removed. Protestants, who profess, and most certainly 
 possess, a better faith, are they alone that maintain the 
 deathbed purgatory; and how positively do they hold out 
 death as the complete deliverer from all corruption, and 
 the final destroyer of sin, as if it were revealed in every 
 page of the Bible! Whereas, there is not one passage 
 in the sacred volume that says any such thing. Were 
 this true, then death, far from being the last enemy, 
 would be the last and best friend, and the greatest of all 
 deliverers: for if the last remains of all the indwelling 
 sin of all believers is to be destroyed by death, (and a 
 fearful mass this will make,) then death, that removes 
 it, must be the highest benefactor of mankind. The 
 truth is, he is neither the cause nor the means of its de- 
 struction. It is the blood of Jesus alone that cleanseth 
 from all unrighteousness. 
 
 It is supposed that indwelling sin is useful even to 
 true believers, because it humbles them and keeps them 
 low in their own estimation. A little examination will 
 show that this is contrary to the fact. It is generally, 
 if not universally allowed, that pride is of the essence 
 of sin, if not its very essence; and the root whence all 
 moral obliquity flows. How then can pride humble us? 
 Is not this absurd? Where is there a sincere Christian, 
 be his creed what it may, that does not deplore his 
 
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 131 
 
 proud, rebellious, and unsubdued heart and will, as the 
 
 cause of all his wretchedness; the thing that mars his 
 best sacrifices, and prevents his communion with Godi 
 How often do such people say or sing, both in their pub- 
 lic and private devotions, — 
 
 "But pride, that busy sin, 
 
 Spoils all that I perform!" 
 
 Were there no pride, there would be no sin; and the 
 heart from which it is cast out has the humility, meek- 
 ness, and gentleness of Christ implanted in its stead. 
 
 But still it is alleged, as an indubitable fact, that "a 
 man is humbled under a sense of indwelling sin." I 
 grant that they who see, and feel, and deplore their in- 
 dwelling sin, are humbled: but is it the sin that humbles? 
 No. It is the grace of God, that shows and condemns 
 the sin that humbles us. Neither tlie devil nor his work 
 will ever show themselves. Pride works frequently 
 under a dense mask, and will often assume the garb of 
 humility. How true is that saying, and of how many is 
 it the language! 
 
 "Proud I am my wants to see, 
 Proud of my humility." 
 
 And, to conceal his working, even Satan himself is trans- 
 formed into an angel of ligiit! It appears then that we 
 attribute this boasted humiliation to a wrong cause. We 
 never are humbled under a sense of indwelling sin till the 
 Spirit of God drags it to the light, and shows us, not 
 only its horrid deformity, but its hostility to God; and 
 he manifests it, that he may take it away: but a false 
 opinion causes man to hug the monster, and to contem- 
 plate their chains with complacency! 
 
132 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 It has been objected to this perfection, this perfect 
 work of God in the soul, that "the greater sense we 
 have of our own sinfulness, the more will Christ be ex- 
 alted in the eye of the soul: for, if the thing were possi- 
 ble that a man might be cleansed from all sin in this life, 
 he would feel no need of a Saviour; Christ would be 
 undervalued by him as no longer needing his saving 
 power." This objection mistakes the whole state of 
 the case. How is Christ exalted in the view of the soul? 
 How is it that he becomes precious to us? Is it not 
 from a sense of what he has done for us; and what he 
 has done in us? Did any man ever love God till he had 
 felt that God loved him? Do we not "love him because 
 he first loved us?" Is it the name Jesus that is precious 
 to us? or Jesus the Saviour saving us from our sins? Is 
 all our confidence placed in him because of some one 
 saving act? or, because of his continual operation as the 
 Saviour? Can any effect subsist without its cause? 
 Must not the cause continue to operate in order to main- 
 tain the effect? Do we value a good cause more for the 
 instantaneous production of a good and important effect, 
 than we do for its continual energy, exerted to main- 
 tain that good and important effect? All these ques- 
 tions can be answered by a child. What is it that 
 cleanseth the soul and destroys sin? Is it not the mighty 
 power of the grace of God? What is it that keeps the 
 soul clean? Is it not the same power dwelling in us? 
 No more can an effect subsist without its cause, than a 
 sanctified soul abide in holiness without the indwelling 
 Sanctifier. When Christ casts out the strong-armed 
 man, he takes away that armor in which he trusted, he 
 spoils his goods, he cleanses and enters into the house, 
 
ENTIRK SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 133 
 
 so that the heart becomes the habitation of God through 
 the Spirit. Can then a man undervalue that Christ who 
 not only blotted out his iniquity, but cleansed his soul 
 from all sin; and whose presence and inward mighty 
 working constitute all his holiness and all his happiness? 
 Impossible! Jesus was never so highly valued, so in- 
 tensely loved, so afTectionately obeyed, as now. The 
 great Saviour has not his liigliest glory from his aton- 
 ing and redeeming acts, but from the manifestation of 
 his saving power. 
 
 "But the persons who profess to have been made thus 
 perfect are proud and supercilious, and their whole con- 
 duct says to their neighbor, 'Stand by, I am holier than 
 thou.' " No person that acts so has ever received this 
 grace. He is either a hypocrite or a self-deceiver. 
 Those who have received it are full of meekness, gentle- 
 ness, and long suffering: they love God with all their 
 hearts, they love even their enemies; love the whole 
 human family, and are servants of all. They know they 
 have nothing but what they have received. In the 
 splendor of God's holiness they feel themselves ab- 
 sorbed. They have neither light, power, love, nor 
 happiness, but from their indwelling Saviour. Their 
 holiness, though it fills the soul, yet is only a drop from 
 the infinite ocean. The flame of their love, though it 
 penetrate their whole being, is only a spark from the 
 incomprehensible Son of righteousness. In a spirit and 
 in a way which none but themselves can fully compre- 
 hend and feel, they can say or sing, — 
 
 "I loathe myself when God I see. 
 
 And into nothing fall: 
 Content that Christ exalted be; 
 
 And God is all in all." 
 
134 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 It has been no small mercy to me, that, in the course 
 of my religious life, I have met with many persons who 
 professed that the blood of Christ had saved them from 
 all sin, and whose profession was maintained by an im- 
 maculate life; but I never knew one of them that was 
 not of the spirit above described. They were men of 
 the strongest faith, the purest love, the holiest affec- 
 tions, the most obedient lives, and the most useful in 
 society. I have seen such walking with God for many 
 years: and as 1 had the privilege of observing their 
 walk in life, so have I been privileged with their testi- 
 mony at death, when their sun appeared to grow 
 broader and brighter at its setting; and, though they 
 came through great tribulation, they found that their 
 robes were washed and made white through the blood 
 of the Lamb. They fully witnessed the grand eflects 
 which in this life flow from justification, adoption, and 
 sanctification; namely, assurance of God's love, peace 
 of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, 
 and perseverance in the same to the end of their lives. 
 O God! let my death be like that of these righteous! 
 and let my end be like theirs! Amen. 
 
 It is scarcely worth mentioning another objection that 
 has been started by the ignorant, the worthless, and 
 the wicked. "The people that profess this, leave Christ 
 out of the question; they either think that they have 
 purified their own hearts, or that they have gained their 
 pretended perfection by their own merits." Nothing 
 can be more false than this calumny. I know that 
 people well in whose creed the doctrine of "salvation 
 from all sin in this life" is a prominent article. But 
 that people hold most conscientiously that all our salva- 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 135 
 
 tion, from the first dawa of light in the soul to its entry 
 into the kingdom of glory, is all by and through Christ. 
 He alone convinces the soul of sin, justifies the ungodly, 
 sanctifies the unholy, preserves in this state of salvation, 
 and brings to everlasting blessedness. No soul ever 
 was or can be saved but through his agony and bloody 
 sweat, iiis cross and passion, his death and burial, his 
 glorious resurrection and ascension, and continued 
 intercession at the right hand of God. 
 
 If men would but spend as much time in fervently 
 calling upon God to cleanse the blood that he has not 
 cleansed, as ihey spend in decrying this doctrine, what 
 a glorious state of the church should we soon witness! 
 Instead of compounding with iniquity, ,and tormenting 
 their minds to find out with how little grace they may 
 be saved, they would renounce the devil and all his 
 works; and be determined never to rest till they had 
 found that He had bruised him under their feet, and 
 that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from all 
 unrighteousness. Why is it that men will not try how 
 far God will save them? nor leave off praying and 
 believing for more and more, till they find that God has 
 held his hand? When they find that their agonizing 
 faith and prayer receive no farther answer, then, and 
 not till then, they may conclude that God will be no 
 farther gracious, and that he will not save to the utter- 
 most them who come to him through Christ Jesus. 
 
 But it is farther objected, that even St. Paul himself 
 denies this doctrine of perfection, disclaiming it in 
 reference to himself: "Not as though I had already 
 attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after," 
 Phil, iii, 12. This place is mistaken: the apostle is not 
 
136 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIPICATION, 
 
 speaking of his restoration to the image of God; but to 
 completing his ministerial course, and receiving the 
 crown of martyrdom; as I have fully shown in my notes 
 on this place, and to which I must beg to refer the 
 reader. There is another point that has been produced, 
 at least indirectly, in the form of an objection to this 
 doctrine: "Where are those adult, those perfect Chris- 
 tians? We know none such; but we have heard that 
 some persons professing those extraordinary degrees of 
 holiness have become scandalous in their lives." When 
 a question of this kind is asked by one who fears God, 
 and earnestly desires his salvation, and only wishes to 
 have full evidence that the thing is attainable, that he 
 may shake himself from the dust, and arise and go out, 
 and possess the good land — it deserves to be seriously 
 answered. To such I would say. There may be several, 
 even in the circle of your own religious acquaintance, 
 whose evil tempers and unholy affections God has de- 
 stroyed; and having filled them with his own holiness, 
 they are enabled to love him with all their heart, soul, 
 mind, and strength; and their neighbor as themselves. 
 But such make no public professions: their conduct, 
 their spirit, the whole tenor of their life, is their testi- 
 mony. Again: there may be none such among your re- 
 ligious acquaintance, because they do not know their 
 privilege, or they unfortunately sit under a ministry 
 where the doctrine is decried; and in such congrega- 
 tions and churches holiness never abounds; men are too 
 apt to be slothful, and unfi\ithful to the grace they have 
 received; they need not their minister's exhortations to 
 beware of looking for or expecting a heart purified from 
 all unrighteousness; striving or agonizing to "enter in 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. l<i' 
 
 at the strait gate" is not pleasant work to flesh and 
 blood; and they are glad to have any thing to counte- 
 nance their spiritual indolence; and such ministers have 
 always a powerful coadjutor; the father of lies, and the 
 spirit of error will work in the unrenewed heart, filling 
 it with darkness, and prejudice, and unbelief. No 
 wonder, then, that in such places, and under such a 
 ministry, there is no man that can be "presented per- 
 fect in Christ Jesus." But wherever the trumpet gives 
 a certain sound, and the people go forth to battle, headed 
 by the Captain of their salvation, there the foe is routed, 
 and genuine believers brought into the liberty of the 
 children of God. 
 
 As to some having professed to have received this 
 salvation, and afterward become scandalous in their lives, 
 (though in all my long ministerial labors, and extensive 
 religious acquaintance, 1 never found but one example,) 
 I would just observe that they might possibly have been 
 deceived; thought they had what they had not; or they 
 might have become unfaithful to that grace and lost it; 
 and this is possible through the whole range of a state 
 of probation. There have been angels who kept not 
 their first estate; and we all know, to our cost, that he 
 who was the head and fountain of the whole human 
 family, who was made in the image and likeness of God, 
 sinned against God, and fell from that state. And so 
 may any of his descendants fall from any degree of the 
 grace of God while in their state of probation; and any 
 man and every man must fall, whenever he or they 
 cease to watch unto prayer, and ccaso to be "workers 
 together with God." Faith must ever be kept in lively 
 exercise, working by love; and that love is only safe 
 13 
 
138 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 when found exerting its energies in the path of obedi- 
 ence. An objection of this kind against tlie doctrine of 
 Christian perfection will apply as forcibly against the 
 whole revelation of God as it can do against one of the 
 doctrines; because that revelation brings the account of 
 the defection of angels and of the fall of man. The 
 truth is, no doctrine of God stands upon the knowledge, 
 experience, faithfulness, or unfaithfulness of man; it 
 stands on the veracity of God who gave it. If there 
 were not a man to be found who was justified freely 
 through the redemption that is by Jesus; yet the doc- 
 trine of "justification by faith" is true; for it is a 
 doctrine that slands on the truth of God. And suppose 
 not one could be ihund in all the churches of Christ 
 whose heart was purified from all unrighteousness, and 
 who loved God and man with all his regenerated powers, 
 yet the doctrine of Christian perfection would still be 
 true; for Christ was manifested that he might destroy 
 the work of the devil; and his blood cleanseth from all 
 unrighteousness. And suppose every man be a liar, God 
 is true. 
 
 It is not the profession of a doctrine that establishes 
 its truth; it is the truth of God, from which it has pro- 
 ceeded. Man's experience may illustrate it; but it is 
 God's truth that confirms it. 
 
 In all cases of this nature, we must forever cease 
 from man, implicitly credit God's testimony, and look 
 to Him in and through whom all the promises of God 
 are yea and luiien. 
 
 To be fiilt'd with God is a great thing; to be filled 
 with the fulness of God is still greater; to be filled 
 with all the fulness of God is greatest of all. This 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 139 
 
 utterly bewilders the sense and confounds the under- 
 standincr, by leading at once to consider the immensity 
 of God, the infinitude of his attributes, and the absolute 
 perfection of each! But there must be a sense in which 
 even this wonderful petition was understood by the 
 apostle, and may be comprehended by us. Most peo- 
 ple, in quoting these words, endeavor to correct or 
 explain the apostle by adding the word communicable. 
 But this is as idle as it is useless atid impertinent. Rea- 
 son surely tells us that St. Paul would not pray that 
 they should be filled with what could not be commu- 
 nicated. The apostle certainly meant what he said, and 
 would be understood in his own meaning; and we may 
 soon see what this meaning is. 
 
 By the "fulness of God," we are to understand all 
 the gifts and graces which he has promised to bestow 
 on man in order to his full salvation here, and his being 
 fully prepared for the enjoyment of glory hereafter. 
 To be filled with all the fulness of God is to have the 
 heart emptied of and cleansed from all sin and defile- 
 ment, and filled with humility, meekness, gentleness, 
 goodness, justice, holiness, mercy, and truth, and love 
 to God and man. And that this implies a thorough 
 emptying of the soul of every thing that is not of God, 
 and leads not to him, is evident from this, that whatGod 
 fills neither sin nor Satan can fill, nor in any wise oc- 
 cupy; for, if a vessel be filled with one fluid or substance, 
 not a drop or particle of any other kind can enter it, 
 without displacing the same quantum of the original 
 matter as that which is afterward introduced. God can- 
 not be said to fill the whole soul while any place, part, 
 passion, or faculty is filled, or less or more occupied, by 
 
140 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 sin or Satan: and as neither sin nor Satan can be where 
 God fills and occupies the whole, so the terms of the 
 prayer state that Satan shall neither have any dominion 
 over that soul nor being in it. A fulness of humility 
 precludes all pride; of meekness, precludes anger; of 
 gentleness, all ferocity; of goodness, all evil; of justice, 
 all injustice; of holiness, all sin; of mercy, all unkind- 
 ness and revenge; of truth, all falsity and dissimulation; 
 and where God is loved with all the heart, soul, mind, 
 and strength, there is no room for enmity or hatred to 
 him, or to any thing connected with him; so, where a 
 man loves his neighbor as himself, no ill shall be worked 
 to that neighbor; but, on the contrary, every kind alTec- 
 tion will exist toward him; and every kind action, so far 
 as power and circumstances can permit, will be done to 
 him. Thus the being filled with God's fulness will pro- 
 duce constant, pious, and afTsctionate obedience to him, 
 and unvarying benevolence towards one's neighbor; that 
 is, any man, any and every human being. Such a man 
 is saved from all sin; the law is fulfilled in liim; and he 
 ever possesses and acts under (he influence of that love 
 to God and man which is the fulfilling of the law. It is 
 impossible, with any Scriptural or rational consistency, 
 to understand these words in any lower sense; but how 
 much more they imply, (and more they do imply,) who 
 can tell? 
 
 Many preachers, and multitudes of professing people, 
 are studious to find out how many imperfections and 
 infidelities, and how much inward sinfulness, are con- 
 sistent with a safe state in religion; but how few, very 
 few, are bringing out the fair gospel standard to try the 
 height of the members of the church; whether they be 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 141 
 
 lit for the heavenly army; whether their stature be 
 such as qualifies them for the ranks of the church mili- 
 tant! "the measure of the stature of the fulness" is 
 seldom seen; the measure of the stature of littleness, 
 dwarfishness, and emptiness, is often exhibited. 
 
 Some say "The body of sin in believers is, indeed, 
 an enfeebled, conquered, and deposed tyrant, and the 
 stroke of death finishes its destruction." So, then, the 
 death of Christ and the influences of the Holy Spirit 
 were only sufficient to depose and enfeeble the tyrant sin; 
 but our death must come in to effect his total destruc- 
 tion! Thus our death is, at least partially, our Saviour, 
 and thus that which was an effect of sin, ("for sin en- 
 tered into the world, and death by sin,") becomes the 
 means of finally destroying it: that is, the effect of a 
 cause can become so powerful as to re-act upon that 
 cause and produce its annihilation! The divinity and 
 philosophy of tliis sentiment are equally absurd. It is 
 the blood of Christ alone that cleanses from all unright- 
 eousness; and the sanctification of a believer is no more 
 dependant on death than his justification. If it be said 
 that "believers do not cease from sin till they die," 
 I have only to say they are such believers as do not 
 make a proper use of their faith: and what can be said 
 more of the whole herd of transgressors and infidels? 
 They cease to sin when they cease to breathe. If the 
 Christian religion bring no other privileges than this to 
 its upright followers, well may we ask, "Wherein doth 
 the wise man differ from the fool, for they have both 
 one end!" But the whole gospel teaches a contrary 
 doctrine. 
 
 It is strange there should be found a person believing 
 
142 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 the whole gospel system and yet living in sin! "Salva- 
 tion from sin" is the long continued sound, as it is the 
 spirit and design, of the gospel. Our Christian name, 
 our baptismal covenant, our profession of faith in Christ, 
 and avowed belief in his word, all call us to this: can it 
 be said that we have any louder calls than they? Our 
 self-interest, as it respects the happiness of a godly life, 
 and the glories of eternal blessedness; the pains and 
 wretchedness of a life of sin, leading to the worm that 
 never dies, and the fire that is not quenched; second, 
 most powerfully, the above calls. Reader, lay these 
 things to heart, and answer this question to God: "How 
 shall I escape if I neglect so great salvation?" And 
 then, as thy conscience shall answer, let thy mind and 
 thy hand begin to act. 
 
 As there is no end to the merits of Christ incarnated 
 and crucified; no bounds to the mercy and love of God; 
 no let or hinderance to the almighty energy and sancti- 
 fying influence of the Holy Spirit; no limits to the 
 improvability of the human soul; so there can be no 
 bounds to the saving influence which God will dispense 
 to the heart of every genuine believer. We may ask 
 and receive, and our joy shall be full! Well may we 
 bless and praise God, "who has called us into such a 
 state of salvation;" a state in which we may be thus 
 saved; and, by the grace of that state, continue in the 
 same to the end of our lives! 
 
 As sin is the cause of the ruin of mankind, the gospel 
 system, which exhibits its cure, is fitly called "good 
 news, or glad tidings;" and it is good news, because it 
 proclaims Him who saves his people from their sins; 
 and it would indeed be dishonorable to that grace, and 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 143 
 
 the infinite merit of Him who procured it, to suppose, 
 much more to assert, that sin had made wounds which 
 grace would not heal. Of such a triumph Satan shall 
 ever be deprived. 
 
 "He that committeth sin is of the devil." Hear this, 
 ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of 
 that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from 
 all sin in this life! He who committeth sin is a child 
 of the devil, and shows that he has still the nature of the 
 devil in hitn; "for the devil sinneth from the beginning:" 
 he was the father of sin, — brought sin into the world, 
 and maintains sin into the world by living in the hearts 
 of his own children, and thus leading them to transgres- 
 sion; and persuading others that they cannot be saved 
 from their sins in this life, that he may secure a continual 
 residence in their heart. He also knows that if he has 
 a place throughout life, he will probably have it at death; 
 and, if so, throughout eternity. 
 
 "That is," say some, "he does not sin habitually as 
 he formerly did." This is bringing the influence and 
 privileges of the heavenly birth very low indeed. We 
 have the most indubitable evidence that many of the 
 heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental discipline 
 and cultivation, an entire ascendancy over all their 
 wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will recol- 
 lect the story of the physiognomist, who, coming into 
 the place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his 
 pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man's science 
 to proof, desired him to examine the face of their master, 
 and say what his moral character was. After a full 
 contemplation of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced 
 him "the most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous 
 
144 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, 
 
 old man that he ever met." As the character of So- 
 crates was the reverse of all this, his disciples began to 
 insult the physiognomist. Socrates interfered, and said, 
 "The princijjles of his science may be very correct; for 
 such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosophy." 
 O ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended gospel min- 
 isters! will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ 
 a sway not even so extensive as that of the philosophy 
 of a heathen who never heard of the true God? 
 
 Many tell us that "no man can be saved from sin in 
 this life." Will these persons permit us to ask. How 
 much sin may we be saved from in this life? Some- 
 thing must be ascertained on this subject: 1. That the 
 soul may have some determinate object in view. 2. That 
 it may not lose its time, or employ its faith and energy, 
 in praying for what is impossible to be attained. Now, 
 as Christ was manifested to take away our sins, to de- 
 stroy the works of the devil; and as his blood cleanseth 
 from all sin and unrighteousness, is it not evident that 
 God means that believers in Christ shall be saved from 
 all sin? For if his blood cleanses from all sin, if he 
 destroys the works of the devil, (and sin is the work of 
 the devil,) and if he who is born of God does not com- 
 mit sin, then he must be cleansed from all sin; and while 
 he continues in that state, he lives without sinning against 
 God, for the seed of God remaineth in him, and he 
 cannot sin, because he is born, or begotten of God. 
 
 How strangely warped and blinded by prejudice and 
 system must men be who, in the face of such evidence 
 as this, will still dare to maintain that no man can be 
 saved from his sin in this life; but must daily commit 
 sin in thought, word, and deed, as the Westminster 
 
KNTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 145 
 
 divines have asserted! that is, every man is laid under 
 the fatal necessity of sinning as many ways against God 
 as the devil does through his natural wickedness and 
 malice; for even the devil himself can have no other 
 way of sinning against God, except by thought, word, 
 and deed. And yet, according to these and others of 
 the same creed, "even the most regenerate sin against 
 God as long as they live." It is a miserable salvo to 
 say "they do not sin so much as they used to do; and 
 they do not sin habitually, only occasionally. Alas 
 for this system! Could not the grace that saved them 
 partially save them perfectly? Could not that power 
 of God that saved them from habitual sin save them 
 from occasional or accidental sin? Shall we suppose 
 that sin, how potent soever it may be, is as potent as 
 the Spirit and grace of Christ.? And may we not ask, 
 If it was for God's glory and their good that they 
 were partially saved, would it not have been more for 
 God's glory and their good if they had been perfectly 
 saved? Bu.t the letter and spirit of God's word, and the 
 design and end of Christ's coming, is to save his people 
 from their sins. 
 
 The perfection of the gospel system is not that it 
 makes allowances for sin, but that it makes an atone- 
 ment for it; not that it tolerates sin, but that it de- 
 stroys it. 
 
 However inveterate the disease of sin may be, the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus can fully cure it. 
 
 God sets no bounds to the communications of his 
 grace and Spirit to them that are faithful. And as 
 there are no bounds to the graces, so there should be 
 none to the exercise of those graces. No man can ever 
 
146 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 feel that he loves God too much, or that he loves maa 
 too much for God's sake. 
 
 Be so purified and refined in your souls, by the in- 
 dwelling Spirit, that even the light of God shining into 
 your hearts shall not be able to discover a fault that the 
 love of God has not purged away. 
 
 "Be thou perfect, and thou shalt be perfection," that 
 is, altogether perfect: be just such as the holy God 
 would have thee to be, as the Almighty God can make 
 thee, and live as the all-sufficient God shall support thee; 
 for He alone who makes the soul holy can preserve it in 
 holiness. Our blessed Lord appears to have these 
 words pointedly in view, "Ye shall be perfect, as your 
 Father who is in heaven is perfect," Matt, v, 48. But 
 what does this imply? Why, to be saved from all the 
 power, the guilt, and the contamination of sin. This is 
 only the negative part of salvation, but it has also a 
 positive part; to be made perfect — to be perfect as our 
 Father who is in heaven is perfect, to be filled with the 
 fulness of God, to have Christ dwelling continually in 
 the heart by faith, and to be rooted and grounded in love. 
 This is the state in which man was created; for he was 
 made in the image and likeness of God. This is the 
 state from which man fell; for he broke the command of 
 God. And this is the state into which every human 
 soul must be raised who would dwell with God in glory; 
 for Christ was incarnated and died to put away sin by 
 the sacrifice of himself. What a glorious privilege! 
 And who can doubt the possibility of its attainment who 
 believes in the omnipotent love of God, the infinite 
 merit of the blood of atonement, and the all-pervading 
 and all-purifying energy of the Holy Ghost? How many 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 147 
 
 miserable souls employ that time to dispute and cavil 
 against the possibility of being saved from their sins, 
 which they should devote to praying and believing that 
 they might be saved out of the hands of their enemies! 
 But some may say, "You overstrain the meaning of the 
 term; it signifies only, Be sincere; for, as perfect obe- 
 dience is impossible, God accepts of sincere obedience." 
 If by siiici'rili/ the objection means "good desires, and 
 generally good purposes, with an impure heart and 
 spotted life," then I assert that no such thing is implied 
 in the text, nor in the original word. But if the word 
 sincerity be taken in its proper and literal sense, I have 
 no objection to it. Sincere is compounded of sine cera, 
 "without wax;" and, applied to moral subjects, is a 
 metaphor taken from clarified honey, from which every 
 atom of the comb or wax is separated. Then let it be 
 proclaimed from heaven, "Walk before me, and be sin- 
 cere! Purge out the old leEven, that ye may be a new 
 lump unto God; and thus ye shall be perfect, as your 
 Father who is in heaven is perfect." This is sincerity. 
 Reader, remember that the blood of Christ cleanseth 
 from all sin. Ten thousand quibbles on insulated texts 
 can never lessen, much less destroy, the merit and efficacy 
 of the great atonement. 
 
 God never gives a precept but he ofiers sufficient 
 grace to enable thee to perform it. Believe as he 
 would have thee, and act as he shall strengthen thee, 
 and thou wilt believe all things savingly, and do all 
 things well. 
 
 God is holy; and this is the eternal reason why all 
 his people should be holy — should be purified from all 
 filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
 
148 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 the fear of God. No faith in any particular creed, no 
 religious observance, no acts of benevolence and charity, 
 no mortification, attrition, or contrition can be a substi- 
 tute for this. We must be made partakers of the divine 
 nature. We must be saved from our sins — from the 
 corruption that is in the world, and be holy within and 
 righteous without, or never see God. For this very 
 purpose Jesus Christ lived, died, and revived, that he 
 might purify us unto himself; that through faith in his 
 blood our sins might be blotted out, and our souls 
 restored to the image of God. Reader, art thou hun- 
 gering and thirsting after righteousness? Then, blessed 
 art thou, for thou shalt be filled. 
 
 God is ever ready, by the power of his Spirit, to carry 
 us forward to every degree of life, light, and love, neces- 
 sary to prepare us for an eternal weiglit of glory. There 
 can be little difticulty in attaining the end of our faith, 
 the salvation of our souls from all sin, if God carry us 
 forward to it; and this he will do, if we submit to be 
 saved in his own way, and on his own terms. Many 
 make a violent outcry against the doctrine of per- 
 fection; that is, against the heart being cleansed from 
 all sin in this life, and filled with love to God and man; 
 because they judge it to be impossible! Is it too much 
 to say of these, that they know neither the Scripture 
 nor the power of God! Surely, the Scripture promises 
 the thing, and the power of God can carry us on to the 
 possession of it. 
 
 The object of all God's promises and dispensations 
 was to bring fallen man back to the image of God, 
 which he had lost. This, indeed, is the sum and sub- 
 stance of the religion of Christ. We have partaken of 
 
EOTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 149 
 
 an earthly, sensual, and devilish nature; the design of 
 God, by Christ, is to remove this, and to make us par- 
 takers of the divine nature, and save us from all the 
 corruption, in principle and fact, which is in the world. 
 
 It is said that Enoch not only "walked with God," 
 setting him always before his eyes — beginninjr, contiiiu- 
 ing, and ending every work to his glory — but also that 
 "he pleased God," and had "the testimony that he did 
 please God." Hence we learn that it was then possible 
 to live so as not to offend God: consequently, so as not 
 to commit sin against him, and to have the continual 
 evidence or testimony tiiat all that a man did and pur- 
 posed was pleasing in the sight of Him who searches 
 the heart, and by whom devices are weighed: and if it 
 was possible then, it is surely, through the same grace, 
 possible now; for God, and Christ, and faith are still the 
 same. 
 
 The petition, "Thy will be done in earth; as it is in 
 heaven," certainly points out a deliverance from all sin; 
 for nothing that is unholy can consist with the divine 
 will; and, if this be fulfilled in man, surely sin shall be 
 banished from his soul. Again: the iioly angels never 
 mingle iniquity with their loving obedience; and, as 
 our Lord teaches us to pray that we do his will here 
 as they do it in lieaven, can it l)e thought he would put 
 a peti'ion into our mouths the fulfilment of which was 
 impossible? 
 
 The reader is probably amazed at the paucity of large 
 stars in the whole finiiament of heaven. Will he permit 
 me to carry his mind a little farther, and either stand 
 astonished at, or deplore with me the fact that, out of 
 the millions of Christians in the vicinity and splendor 
 14 
 
150 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 of the eternal Sun of righteousness, how very few are 
 found of the first order! How very few can stand ex- 
 amination by the test hud down in 1 Cor. xiii! How 
 very few love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and 
 strength, and their neighbors as themselves! How few 
 mature Christians are found in the cliurch! How few 
 are, in ail things, living for eternity! How little light, 
 how little heat, and how little influence and activity, 
 are to be found among them that bear the name of 
 Christ! How few stars of the first magnitude will the 
 Son of God have to deck the crown of his glory! Few 
 are striving to excel in righteousness; and it seems to 
 be a principal concern with many, to find out how little 
 grace they may have, and yet escape hell; how little 
 conformity to the will of God they may have, and yet 
 get to heaven. In the fear of God I register this testi- 
 mony, that I have perceived it to be the labor of many 
 to lower the standard of Christianity, and to soften 
 down, or explain away, those projnises of God that 
 himself has linked with duties; ami, because they know 
 they cannot be saved by their good works, they are 
 contented to have no good works at all; and thus the 
 necessity of Christian obedience, and Christian holi- 
 ness, makes no prominent part of some modern creeds. 
 Let all those who retain tiie apostolic doctrine, that the 
 blood of Christ cleansetli from all sin in this life, press 
 every believer to go on to perfection, and expect to be 
 saved, while here below, into the fulness of the blessing 
 of the gospel of Jesus. To all such my soul says. La- 
 bor to show yourselves approved unto God; workmen 
 that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 
 truth; and may the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your 
 hands! Amen. 
 
ENTIRE SAKCTIFICATION. 
 
 151 
 
 Many employ that time in brooding and mourning 
 over their impure hearts, wliich should be spent in 
 prayer and faith before God, that their impurities might 
 be washed away. In what a stale of nonage are many 
 members of the Christian church! 
 
 I ain afraid that what some persons call their infirmi- 
 ties may rather be called their strengths; the prevailing 
 and frequently ruling power of pride, anger, ill vvill,&c.; 
 for how few think evil tempers to be sins! The gentle 
 term "infirnjity" softens down the iniquity; and as St. 
 Paul, so great and so holy a man, say they, had his 
 infirmities, how can they expect to be without theirs? 
 Tliese should know that they are in a dangerous error; 
 that St. Paul means nothing of the kind; for he speaks 
 of his sufferings, and of these alone. One word more: 
 would not the grace and power of Christ appear more 
 conspicuous in slaying the lion than in keeping him 
 chained? in destroying sin, root and branch, and filling 
 the soul with his own holiness, with love to God and 
 man, with the mind, all the holy, heavenly tempers that 
 were in himself, than in leaving these impure and unholy 
 tempers ever to live, and often to reign, in the heart? 
 The doctrine is discreditable to the gospel, and wholly 
 antichristian. 
 
 "If they sin against thee, for there is no man that 
 sinneth not," I Kings viii, 46. On this verse we may 
 observe that the second clause, as it is here translated, 
 renders the su|)position in the first clause entirely nu- 
 gatory; for if there be no man that sinneth not, it is 
 "useless to say, "If they sin;" but this contradiction is 
 taken away by reference to the original, which should 
 be translated, "If they shall sin against thee;" or, 
 
152 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 "Should they sin against thee; for there is no man that 
 may not sin;" that is, There is no man impeccable; 
 none infallible; none that is not liable to transgress. 
 This is the true meaning of the phrase in various parts 
 of the Bible, and so our translators have understood the 
 original; for, even in the thirty-first verse of this chap- 
 ter, they have translated yecheta, "If a man trespass;" 
 wiiich certainly implies he might or might not do it; and 
 III this way they have translated the same word, "If a 
 soul sin,'" in Lev. v, 1; vi, 2; I Sam. ii, 25; 2 Chron. 
 vi, 22: and in several other places. The truth is, the 
 Hebrew has no mood to express words in the permis- 
 sive or optative way; but to express this sense, it uses 
 the future tense of the conjugation leal. This text has 
 been a wonderful stronghold for all who believe that 
 there is no redemption from sin in this life; that no 
 man can live without committing sin; and that we can- 
 not be entirely freed from it till we die. 1. The text 
 speaks no such doctrine; it only speaks of the possibility 
 of every man sinning; and this must be true of a state 
 of probation. 2. There is not another text in the divine 
 records that is more to the purpose than this. 3. The 
 doctrine is flatly in opposition to the design of the gos- 
 pel; for Jesus came to save his people froii? their sins, 
 and to destroy the works of the devil. 4. It is a dan- 
 gerous and destructive doctrine, and should be blotted 
 out of every Christian's creed. There are too many 
 who are seeking to e.xcuse their crimes by all means in 
 their power; and we need not imbody their excuses in a 
 creed, to complete their deception, by stating that their 
 sins are unavoidable. 
 
 The soul was made for God, and can never be united 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 153 
 
 to him, nor be happy, till saved from sin. He who is 
 saved from his sin, and united to God, possesses the 
 utmost felicity that the human soul can enjoy, either in 
 this or the coming world. 
 
 Where a soul is saved from all sin, it is capable of 
 being fully employed in the work of the Lord: it is then, 
 and not till then, fully fitted for the Master's use. 
 
 All who are taught of Christ are not only saved, but 
 their understandings are much improved. True religion, 
 civilization, mental improvement, common sense, and 
 orderly behavior, go hand in hand. 
 
 When the light of Christ dwells fully in the heart, it 
 extends its influence to every thought, word, and action; 
 and directs its possessor how he is to act in all places 
 and circumstances. 
 
 Our souls can never be truly happy till our wills be 
 entirely subjected to, and become one with, the will 
 of God. 
 
 While there is an empty, longing heart, there is a con- 
 tinual overflowing fountain of salvation. If we find, in 
 any place, or at any time, that the oil ceases to flow, it 
 is because there are no empty vessels there; no souls 
 hungering and thirsting tor righteousness. We find fault 
 with the dispensations of God's mercy, and ask, "Why 
 were the former days better than these?" Were we as 
 much in earnest for our salvation as our forefathers were 
 for theirs, we should have equal supplies, and as much 
 reason to sing aloud of divine mercy. 
 
 "Be ye holy," saith the Lord, "for I am holy.'' He 
 who can give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness 
 is one who loves holiness; who hates sin; who longs to 
 be saved from it, and takes encouragement at the recol- 
 14* 
 
154 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 lection of God's holiness, as he seeth in this the holy 
 nature which he is to share; and the perfection which he 
 is here to attain. But most who call themselves Chris- 
 tians hate the doctrine of holiness; never hear it incul- 
 cated without pain; and the principal part of their studies 
 and those of their pastors, is to find out with how little 
 holiness they can rationully expect to enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven. O fatal and soul-destroying delusion! 
 How long will a holy God suffer such abominable doc- 
 trnies to pollute his church, and destroy the souls of men. 
 
 Increase in the image and favor of God. Every grace 
 and divine influence which ye have received is a seed, 
 a heavenly seed, which, if it be watered with the dew of 
 heaven from above, will endlessly increase and multiply 
 Itself. He who continues to believe, love, and obey, will 
 grow m grace, and continually increase in the knowledge 
 or Jesus Christ, as his Sacrifice, Sanctifier, Counsellor, 
 Preserver, and final Saviour, The life of a Christian is 
 a growth: he is at first born of God, and is a little child: 
 becomes a young man and a father in Christ. Every 
 father was once an infant; and had he not grown, he 
 would never have been a man. Tiinse who content them- 
 selves with the grace they received when converted to 
 God, are, at best, in a continual state of infancy; but we 
 find, in the order of nature, that the infant that does not 
 grow, and grow daily too, is sickly, and soon dies: so, 
 in the order of grace, those who do not grow up into 
 Jesus Christ are sickly and will soon die — die to all sense 
 and mfluence of heavenly things. There are many who 
 boast of the grace of their conversion; persons who were 
 never more than babes, and have long since lost even 
 that grace, because they did not grow in it. Let him 
 that readeth understand. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATIOJT. 
 
 155 
 
 In order to get a clean heart, a man must know and 
 feel its depravity, acknowledge and deplore it before 
 God, in order to be fully sanctified. Few are pardoned, 
 because they do not feel and confess their sins; and few 
 are sanctified and cleansed from all sin, because they do 
 not feel and confess their own sore and the plague of 
 tlieir hearts. As the blood of Jesus Christ, the merit of 
 his passion and death, applied by faith, purges the con- 
 science from all dead works, so the same cleanses the 
 heart from all unrighteousness. As all unrighteousness 
 is sin, so he that is cleansed from all unrighteousness is 
 cleansed from all sin. To attempt to evade this, and 
 plead for the continuance of sin in the heart through life, 
 is ungrateful, wicked, and blasphemous; for, as he who 
 says he has not sinned, makes God a liar, who has de- 
 clared the contrary through every part of his revelation, 
 so he that says the blood of Christ either cannot or will 
 not cleanse us from all sin in this life gives also the lie 
 to his Maker, who has declared the contrary, and thus 
 shows that tiie word, the doctrine of God, is not in him. 
 Reader it is the birthright of every child of God to be 
 cleansed from all sin, to keep himself unspotted from 
 the world, and so to live as never more to offend his 
 Maker. All things are possible to him that believeth, 
 because all tilings are possible to the infinitely merito- 
 rious blood and energetic Spirit of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 Every man whose heart is full of the love of God is 
 full of humility; for there is no man so humble as he 
 whose heart is cleansed from all sin. It has been said 
 that indwelling sin humbles us; never was there a great- 
 er falsity: pride is the very essence of sin; he who has 
 sin has pride; and pride, too, in proportion to his sin: this 
 
156 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 is a mere popish doctrine; and, strange to tell, the doc- 
 trine on which their doctrine of merit is founded! They 
 say, God leaves concupiscence in the heart of every 
 Christian, that, in striving with and overco;ning it from 
 time to time, he may have an accumulation of meritori- 
 ous acts. Certain Protestants say, "It is a true sign of 
 a very gracious state when a man feels and deplores his 
 ^ inbred corruption." How near do these come to the 
 Papists, whoso doctrine they profess to detest and abhor! 
 The truth is, it is no sign of grace whatever; it only ar- 
 gues, as they use it that the man has got light to show 
 him his corruptions, but he has not yet got grace to de- 
 stroy them. He is convinced that he should have the 
 mind of Christ, but he feels that he has the mind of 
 Satan; he deplores it; and, if his bad doctrine do not pre- 
 vent him, he will not rest till he feels the blood of Clirist 
 cleansing him from all sin. 
 
 Can any man expect to be saved from his inward sin 
 in the other worKI? None, except such as hold the 
 popish, antiscriptural doctrine of purgatory. "But this 
 deliverance is expected at death." Where is the prom- 
 ise that it shall then be given? There is not one such 
 in the whole Bible! And to believe for a thing essen- 
 tial to our glorification, without any promise to support 
 that faith in reference to the point on which it is exer- 
 cised, is a desperation that argues as well the absence 
 of true faith as it does of right reason. Multitudes of 
 such persons are continually deploring their want of 
 faith, even where they have the clearest and most ex- 
 plicit promises; and yet, strange to tell, risk their sal- 
 vation at the hour of death on a deliverance that is no- 
 where promised in the sacred oracles! "But who has 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 157 
 
 got this blessing?" Every one who has come to God 
 in the right way for it. "Where is such a one?" Seek 
 the blessing as you should do, and you will soon be 
 able to answer the question. "But it is too great a 
 blessing to be expected.'' Nothing is too great for a 
 believer to expect, which God has promised, and Christ 
 has purchased with his blood. "If I hud such a bless- 
 sing, 1 should not be able to retain it." All things are 
 possible to him that beiieveth. Besides, like all other 
 gifts of God, it comes with a principle of preservation 
 with it; "and upon all thy glory there shall be a de- 
 fence.'' "Still such an unfaithful person as I cannot 
 expect it." Perhaps the infidelity you deplore came 
 through the want of this blessing: and as to worthless- 
 ness, no soul under heaven deserves the least of God's 
 mercies. It is not for thy worthiness that he has given 
 thee any thing, but for the sake of his Son. You can 
 say, "When I felt myself a sinner, sinking into perdi- 
 tion, I did then flee to the atoning blood, and found par- 
 don: but this sanctification is a far greater work." — 
 No; speaking after the manner of men, justification is 
 far greater than sanctification. When thou wert a sin- 
 ner, ungodly, an enemy in thy mind, by wicked works, 
 a child of the devil, an heir of hell, God pardoned thee 
 on thy casting thy soul on the merit of the great sacri- 
 ficial Oflfering: thy sentence was reversed, thy state was 
 changed, thou wert put among the children, and God's 
 Spirit witnessed with thine that thou wert his child. 
 What a change! and what a blessinji! What then is 
 this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing of the 
 blood that has not been cleansed; it is washing the 
 soul of a true believer from the remains of sin; it is the 
 
158 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 making one, who is already a child of God, more holy, 
 that he may be more happy, more useful in the world, 
 and bring more glory to his heavenly Father. Great as 
 this work is, how litlle, humanly speaking, is it when 
 compared with what God has already done for thee! 
 But suppose it were ten thousand times greater, is any 
 thing too hard fir God? Are not all things possible to 
 him that believes? And does not the blood of Christ 
 cleanse from all unrighteousness? Arise, then, and be 
 baptized with a greater eOusion of the Holy Ghost, and 
 wash away thy sin, calling on the naiise tif llio Lord. 
 
 Art thou wf^ary of that carnal iiiind which is enmity 
 to God? Canst tluni b- happy while thou art unholy? 
 Dost thou know any thing of God's love to thee? Dost 
 thou not know that he has given his Son to die for thee? 
 Dost thou love him in return for his love? Hast thou 
 even a little love to him.' And canst thou love him a 
 little, without desiring to love him more? Dost thou not 
 feel that thy happiness grows in proportion to thy love 
 and subjection to him? Dost thou not wish to be happy? 
 And dost thou not know that holiness and happiness are 
 as inseparable as sin and misery? Canst thou have too 
 much happiness or too much holiness? Canst thou be 
 made holy and happy too soon? Art thou not weary of 
 a sinful heart? Are not thy bad tempers, pride, anger, 
 peevishness, fretfulness, covetousness, and the various 
 unholy passions that too often agitate thy soul, a source 
 of misery and wo to thee? And canst thou be unwilling 
 to have them destroyed? Arise, then, and shake thy- 
 self from the dust, and call upon thy God! His ear is 
 not heavy that it cannot hear: his hand is not shortened 
 that it cannot save. Behold, now is the accepted time! 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 159 
 
 Now, is the day of salvation! It was necessary that Jesus 
 Christ sliould die for thee, that thou mi^htest be saved; 
 but he gave up his life for thee eighteen hundred years 
 ago! and himself invites thee to come, for all things are 
 now ready. Such is the natuj-e of God that he cannot 
 be more willing to save thee in any future time than he 
 is now. He wills that thou shouldst love him now with 
 all th} heart; but he knows that thou canst not thus love 
 him till the enmity of the carnal mind is removed; and 
 this he is willing this moment to destroy. The power of 
 the Lord is therefore present to heal. Turn from every 
 sin; give up every idol; cut off every right hand; pluck 
 out every right eye. Re willing to part with thy enemies 
 that thou mayest receive thy chief friend. Thy day is far 
 spent, the night is at hand, the graves are ready for thee, 
 and here thou hast no abiding city. A month, a week, a 
 day, an hour, yea, even a moment, may send thee into 
 eternity. And if thou die in thy sins, where God is thou 
 shah never come. Do not expect redemption in death: it 
 can do nothing for thee even under the best consideration: 
 it is thy last enemy. Remember then that nothing but the 
 blood of Jesus can cleanse thee from all unrighteousness. 
 Lay hold, therefore, on the hope, that is set before thee. 
 The gate may appear strait; but strive, and thou shalt 
 pass through! "Come unto me,'' says Jesus. Hear his 
 voice, believe at all risks, and struggle into God. Amen 
 and Amen! 
 
 In no part of the Scriptures are we directed to seek 
 holiness gradatim. We are to come to God as well for 
 an instantaneous and complete purification from all sin, 
 as for an instantaneous pardon. Neither the seriatim 
 pardon, nor the gradatim purification, exists in the Bible. 
 
160 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIPICATION. 
 
 It is when the soul is purified from all sin that it can 
 properly grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Clirist: — as the field may be expected to pro- 
 duce a good crop, and all the seed vegetate, when the 
 thorns, thistles, briers, and noxious weeds of every kind 
 are grubbed out of it. 
 
 From every view of the subject, it appears that the 
 blesshig of a clean heart, and the happiness consequent 
 on it, may be obtained in this life; because here, not in 
 the future world are we to be saved. Whenever, there- 
 fore, such blessings are offered, they may be received; 
 but all the graces and blessings of the gospel are offered 
 at all times; and when they are offered, they may be re- 
 ceived. Every sinner is exhorted to turn from the evd of 
 his way, to repent of sin, and supplicate the throne of 
 grace for pardon. In tlic same moment in which he is 
 commanded to turn, in that moment he may and should 
 return. He does not receive the exhortation to repent- 
 ance to-day that he may become a penitent at some future 
 time. Every penitent is exhorted to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus, that he may receive remission of sins: — he does 
 not, he cannot understand thut the blessing thus promised 
 is not to be received to-day, but at some future time. In 
 like manner, to every believer the new heart and the 
 right spirit are offered in the present moment; that they 
 may in that moment, bo received. For as the work of 
 cleansing and renewing the iieart is the work of God, his 
 almighty povvercan pertbrm it in a moment, in the twink- 
 ling of an eye. And as it is this moment our duty to love 
 God with all our heart, and we cannot do this till he 
 cleanse our hearts, consequently he is ready to do it 
 this moment, because he wills that we should in this 
 
KNTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 161 
 
 moment love him. Therefore we may justly say, "Now 
 is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." He 
 who in the beginiiiing caused light in a moment to shine 
 out of darkness, can in a moment shine into our hearts, 
 and give us to see the light of his glory in the fece of 
 Jesus Christ. This moment, therefore, we may be 
 emptied of sin, filled with holiness, and become truly 
 happy. 
 
 ► Such cleansed people never forget the horrible pit 
 * and miry clay out of which they have been brought. And 
 • can they then be proud? No! they loathe themselves in 
 their own sight. They can never forgive themselves 
 for having sinned against so good a God and so loving a 
 Saviour. And can they undervalue Him by whose blood 
 they were bought, and by whose blood they were cleansed? 
 No! That is impossible: they now see Jesus as they 
 ought to see him; they see him in his splendor, because 
 they fee! him in his victory and triumph over sin. To 
 ^ them that thus believe he is precious; and he was never 
 so precious as now. As to their not needing him when 
 thus saved from their sins, we may as well say, as soon 
 may the creation not need the sustaining hand of God, 
 because the works are finished! Learn this, that as it 
 requires the same power to sustain creation as to produce 
 it; so it requires the same Jesus who cleansed to keep 
 clean. They feel that it is only through his continued 
 indwelling that they are kept holy, and happy, and useful 
 Were he to leave them, the original darkness and king- 
 dom of death would soon be restored. 
 
 15 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 
 
 BY REV. J. WESLEY, A. M. 
 
 Not as ihouifh 1 ha i already atlaiiieil, either were already perlecl. 
 
 Phil. Hi, 12. 
 
 1. There is scarcely any expression in holy writ, 
 which has given more oflence than this. The word per- 
 fect is what many cannot bear. The very sound of it is 
 an abomination to them. And whosoever preaches ^er- 
 fection, (as the phrase is,) i. e. asserts that it is attain- 
 able in this life, runs great hazard of being accounted by 
 them, worse than a heathen man or a publican. 
 
 2. And, hence, some have advised, wholly to lay aside 
 the use of those expressions; because they have given so 
 great offence. But are they not found in the oracles of 
 God? If so, by what authority, can any messenger of 
 God lay them aside, even though all men should be 
 offended? We have not so learned Christ; neither may 
 -we thus give place to the devil. Whatsoever God hath 
 spoken, that will we speak, whether men will hear, or 
 whether they will forbear: knowing that, then alone can 
 any minister of Christ be, "pure from the blood of all 
 men,'' when he hath "not shunned to declare unto them 
 all the counsel of God.'' 
 
 8. We may not therefore, lay these expressions aside, 
 seeing they are the words of God, and not of man. But 
 we may and ought to explain the meaning of them; that 
 
164 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 
 
 those who are sincere of heart, may not err to the right 
 hand or left from the mark of the prize of their high 
 calling. And this is the more needful to be done, be- 
 cause in the verse, already repeated, the apostle speaks of 
 himself as not perfect: "Not," saith he, "as though I were 
 already perfect,'' And yet immediately after, in the 
 fifteenth verse, he speaks of himself, yea and many ethers? 
 as perfect. "Let us,'' saith he, "as many as be perfect, 
 be thus minded." 
 
 4. In order, therefore, to remove the difficulty arising 
 irom this seeming contradiction, as well as to give light 
 to them who are pressing forward to the mark, and that 
 those who are lame be not turned out of the way, I shall 
 endeavor to show. 
 
 First, In what sense Christians are not: and, 
 
 Secondly, In what sense they are, perfect. 
 
 I. 1. In the first place, 1 shall endeavor to show, In 
 •r- what sense Christians are not pcTfect. And both from 
 experience and scripture it appears, first, that they are 
 not perfect in knowledge: they are not so perfect in this 
 life; as to be free from ignorance. They know, it may 
 be in common with other men, many things relating to 
 the present world: and they know, with regard to the 
 world to come, the general truths which God hath reveal- 
 ed. They know, likewise, (what the natural man receiv. 
 eth not; for these things are spiritually discerned,) "what 
 manner of love it is, wherewith the Father hath loved 
 them, that tliey should be called the sons of God;'' they 
 know the mighty working of his spirit in their heartsi 
 and the wisdom of his providence, directing all their 
 paths, and causing all things to work together for their 
 good. Yea, they know in every circumstance of life, 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 165 
 
 what the Lord requireth of them, and how to keep a con- 
 science void of offence both toward God and toward man. 
 
 2. But innumerable are the things which they know 
 not. "Touching the Almighty himself, they cannot 
 search him out to perfection. Lo, these are but a part 
 of his ways; but the thunder of his power, who can un- 
 derstand?" They cannot understand, I will not say, how 
 "there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one;" or 
 how the eternal Son of God "took upon himself the form 
 of a servant: but not any one attribute, not any one cir- 
 cumstance of the divine nature. Neither is it for them 
 to know the times and seasons, when God will work his 
 great works upon the earth; no, not even those which he 
 hath in part revealed, by his servants and prophets, since 
 the world began. Much less do they know, when God, 
 having "accomplished the number of his elect, will hasten 
 his kingdom:'' when "the heavens shall pass away with a 
 great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." 
 
 3. Th«y know not the reasons even of many of his 
 present dispensations with the sons of men: but are con- 
 strained to rest here, though "clouds ami darkness are 
 round about him, righteousness and judgment are the 
 habitation of his seat." Yea, often with regard to his 
 dealings with themselves, doth their Lord say unto them, 
 "what I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know 
 hereatter.'' And how little do they know, of what is 
 ever before them, of even the visible works of his hands? 
 How, "he spreadeth the north over the eiiipty place, and 
 hangeth the earth upon nothing?" How he unites all the 
 parts of this vast machine by a secret chain, which can- 
 
 15* 
 
166 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 not be broken? So great is the ignorance, so very little 
 the knowledge of even the best of men! 
 
 4. No one, then, is so perfect in this life, as to be free 
 from ignorance. Nor, secondly, from mistake, which 
 indeed is almost an unavoidable consequence of it; seeing 
 those who know but in part, are ever liable to err, touch- 
 ing the things which they know not. It is true, the 
 children of God do not mistake, as to the things essential 
 to salvation. They do not "put darkness for light, or 
 light for darkness, neither seek death in the error of their 
 life.'' For they are taught of God, and the way which 
 he teaches them, the woy of holiness, is so plain, that 
 "the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." 
 But in things unessential to salvation, they do err, and 
 that frequently. The best and wisest of men are frequent- 
 ly misiakea, even with regard to facts; believing those 
 thing.s not to have been, which really were, or those to 
 have been done, which were not. Or, suppose they are 
 not mistaken as to the fact itself, they may be, with re- 
 gard to its circumstances; believing them, or many of 
 them, to have been quite different, from what, in truth, 
 they were. And hence cannot but arise many farther 
 mistakes. Hence they may believe either past or present 
 actions, which were, or are evil, to be good; and such 
 as were, or are good, to be evil. Hence also they may 
 judge, not according to truth, with regard to the charac- 
 ters of men: and that, not only by supposing good men 
 to be better, or wicked men to be worse than they are; 
 but by believing them to have been, or to be good men, 
 who were, or are very wicked: or perhaps, those to have 
 been, or to be wicked men, who were, or are holy and 
 unrcprovablo. 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 167 
 
 5. Nay, with regard to the holy scriptures themselves, 
 as careful as they are to avoid it, the best of men are 
 liable to mistake, and do mistake day by day: especially 
 with respect to those parts thereof, which less immediate- 
 ly relate to practice. Hence even the children of God 
 are not agreed as to the interpretation of many places in 
 holy writ: nor is their difference of opinion any proof 
 that they are not the children of God on eitherside. But 
 it is a proof, that we are no more to expect any living 
 man to be infallible than to be omniscient. 
 
 6. If it ba objected to what has been observed under 
 this and the preceding head, that St. John, speaking to 
 his brethren in the faith, says, "Ye have an unction from 
 the holy one, and know all things," 1 John ii, 20. The 
 answer is plain, "Ye know all things that are needful for 
 your soul's liealth." That the apostle never designed to 
 extend this farther, that he could not speak it in an abso- 
 lute sense, is clear, first, from hence, that otherwise he 
 .vould describe the disciple as above his blaster; seeing 
 Christ himself, as man, knew not all tilings: — "Of that 
 hour," saith he, "knoweth no man, no, not the Son, but 
 the Father only." It is clear, secondly, from the Apostle's 
 own words that follow, "These things have f written unto 
 you concerning them that deceive you:" as well as from 
 his frequently repeated cautions, "let no man deceive 
 you:" which had been altogether needless, had not those 
 very persons, who had that unction from the Holy One 
 been liable not to ignorance only, but to mistake also. 
 
 7. Even Christians, therefore, are not so perfect, as to'' 
 be free either from ignorance or error. We may, third-*' 
 ly, add, nor from infirmities. Only let us take care to 
 understand this word aright. Only let us not give that 
 
168 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 soft title to known sins, as the manner of some is. So, 
 one man tells us, "every man has his infirmity, and mine 
 is drunkenness:" another has the infirmity of unclean- 
 ness; another of taking God's holy name in vain. And 
 yet another h^s the infirmity of calling his brother, thou 
 fool, or returning railing for railing. It is plain, that 
 all you who thus speak, if ye repent not, shall, with your 
 infirmities, go quick into hell. But I mean hereby, not 
 only those which are properly termed bodily infirmities, 
 but all those inward or outward imperfections, which are 
 not of a moral nature. Such are weakness or slowness 
 of understanding, dulness or confusedness of apprehen- 
 sion, incoherency of thought, irregular quickness or 
 heaviness of imagination. Such (to mention no more of 
 this kind) is the want of a ready or retentive memory. 
 Such in another kind are, those which are commonly, in 
 some measure, consequent upon these: namely, slowness 
 of speech, impropriety of language, ungracefuJness of 
 pronunciation; to which one might add a thousand name- 
 less defacts, either in conversation or behavior. These 
 are the infirmities which are found in the best of men, in 
 a larger or smaller portion. And from these none can 
 hope to be perfectly freed, till the spirit return to God 
 that gave it. 
 
 8. N»r can we expect till then, lo be wholly free from 
 temptation. Such perfection beiongcth not to this life 
 It is true, there are those who being given up to work all 
 uncleanness with greediness, scarce perceive the tempta- 
 tions which they resist not, and so seem to be without 
 temptation. There are also many whom the wise enemy 
 of souls seeing to be fast a8le(;p in the dead form of god- 
 liness, will not tempt to gross sin, lest they should awake, 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 169 
 
 before they drop into everlasting burnings. I know, 
 there are also children of God, who being now justified 
 freely, having found redemption in the blood of Christ, 
 for the present feel no temptation, God hath said to 
 their enemies, "touch not mine anointed, and do my chil- 
 dren no harm." And for this season, it may be for weeks 
 or months, he causes them to ride on high places, he 
 beareth them as on eagle's wings, above all the fiery 
 darts of the wicked one. But this stale will not last al- 
 ways; as we may learn from that single consideration, 
 that the Son of God himself, in the days of his flesh, was 
 tempted even to the end of his life. Tlierefore, so let his 
 servant expect to be; for "it is enough that he be as his 
 Master." 
 
 9. Christian perfection, therefore, does not imply (as 
 some men seem to have imagined) an exemption either 
 from ignorance, or mistake, or infirmities, or temptations." 
 Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are 
 two names for the same thing. Thus, every one that is 
 holy, is, in the scripture sense, perfect. Yet we may, 
 lastly, observe, that neither in this respect is there any 
 absolute perfection on earth. There is no perfection of \ 
 degrees, as it is termed; none which does not admit of a j 
 continual increase. So that how much soever any man \ 
 has attained, or in how high a degree soever he is perfect, ' ' 
 be hath still need to grow in grace, and daily to advance 
 in the knowledge and love of God. 
 
 II. 1. In what sense, then, are Christians perfect? 
 This is what 1 shall endeavor, in the second place to show. 
 But it should be premised, that there are several stages 
 in the Christian life as in the natural: some of the chil- 
 dren of God being but new-born babes; others having at- 
 
170 
 
 CHEISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 tained to more maturity. And accordingly St. John, in 
 his first Epistle, (chap, ii, 12, &c.) applies himself seve- 
 rally, to those he terms little children, those he styles 
 young men, and those whom he entitles fathers. "I 
 write unto you, little children,'' saith the apostle, 
 "because your sins are forgiven you:" because 
 thus far you have attained, being "■justified freely," you 
 "have peace with God, through Jesus Christ." "I write 
 unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the 
 wicked one;" or (as he afterwards addeth) "because ye 
 are sirong, and the word of God abideth in you." Ye 
 have quenched the fiery darts of the wicked one, the 
 doubts and fears, wherewith he disturbed your first peace; 
 and the witness of God that your sins are forgiven, now 
 abideth in your heart. "I write unto you, fathers, be- 
 cause ye have known him that is from the beginning." 
 Ye have known both the Father, and the Son, and the 
 Spirit of Christ in your inmost soul. Ye are "perfect 
 men, being grown up to the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ." 
 
 2. It is of these chiefly I speak in the latter part of 
 this discourse. For these only are perfect Christians. 
 But even babes in Christ are in such a sense perfect, or 
 born of God, (an expression taken also in divers senses,) 
 as first, not to commit sin. If any doubt of this privi- 
 lege of the sons of God, the question is not to be decided 
 by abstract reasonings, which may be drawn out into 
 an endless length, and leave the point just as it was 
 before. Neither is it to be determined by the experience 
 of this or that particular person. Many may suppose 
 they do not commit sin, when they do; but this proves 
 nothing either way. To the law and to the testimony we 
 
CHRISTIAN PEHFECTION. 
 
 171 
 
 appeal. "Let God be true, and every man a liar.'' By 
 his word will we abide and that alone. Hereby we ought 
 to be judged. 
 
 3. Now the word of God plainly declares, that even 
 those who are only justified, who are born again in the 
 lowest sense, do not continue in sin; that they cannot live 
 any longer therein, Rom vi, 1, 2, that they are "planted 
 together in the likeness of the death of Christ," verse 5. 
 That their "old man is crucified with him,'' the body of 
 sin being destroyed, so that henceforth they do not serve 
 sin; that being dead with Christ, they are freed from sin, 
 ver. 6, 7. That they are "dead unto sin, and alive unto 
 God," ver. 11. That "sin hath no more dominion over 
 them,'' who are "not under the law but under grace;" 
 but that these "being freed from sin, are become the 
 servants of righteousness;" verses 14, 18. 
 
 4. The very least which can be implied in these words, 
 is that the person spoken of therein, viz. all real Chris- 
 tians or believers in Christ, are made free from outward 
 sin. And the same freedom which St. Paul here express- 
 es in such variety of phrases, St. Peter expresses in that 
 one. 1 Peter iv, 1, 2, "He that hath suffered in the flesh, 
 hath ceased from sin, — that he no longer should live to 
 the desires of men, but to the will of God." For this 
 ceasing from sin, if it be interpreted in the lowest sense, 
 as regarding only the outward behavior, must denote the 
 ceasings from the outward act, from any outward trans- 
 gression of the law. 
 
 5. But most express are the well known words of St. 
 John, in his first epistle, chap, iii, 8, &c. "He that 
 committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from 
 the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was 
 
172 CHHISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 
 Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin. For his 
 seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is 
 born of God." And those in the fifth, verse 18, "We 
 know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But he 
 that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked 
 one toucheth him not.'' 
 
 6. Indeed, it is said, this means only, he sinneth not 
 wilfully; or, he doth not commit sin habitually: or, not as 
 other men do; or, not as he did before. But by whom is 
 this said? By St. John? No. There is no such word in 
 the text; nor in the whole chapter; nor in all this epistle; 
 nor in any part of his writings whatsoever. Why then, 
 the best answer to deny a bold assertion is, simply to 
 deny it. And if any man can prove it from the word of 
 God, let him bring forth his strong reasons. 
 
 7, And a sort of reason there is, which has been fre- 
 quently brought to support these strange assertions, drawn 
 from the examples recorded in the word of God, "what, 
 say they, did not Abraham himself commit sin, prevari- 
 cating and denying his wife? Did not Moses commit sin, 
 when he provoked God at the waters of strife? Nay, to 
 produce one for all, did not even David, 'the man after 
 God's own heart,' commit sin, in the matter of Uriah 
 the Hittite, even murder and adultery?'' It is most sure 
 he did. All this is true. But what is it you would infer 
 from hence? It may be granted, first, that David, in the 
 general course of his life, was one of the holiest men 
 among the Jews. And, secondly, that the holiest men 
 among the Jews "did sometimes commit sin." But if 
 you would hence infer, that "all Christians do, and must 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 173 
 
 commit sin, as long as they live: this consequence we 
 utterly deny. It will never follow from those premises. 
 
 H. Those who argue thus, seem never to have con- 
 sidered that declaration of our Lord, (Matt, xi, 11,) 
 "Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of 
 women, there hath not risen a greater than John the 
 Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the king- 
 dom of heaven is greater than he." I fear, indeed, there 
 are some who have imagined the kingdom of heaven 
 here, to mean the kingdom of glory: as if the Son of 
 God had just discovered to us, that the least glorified 
 saint in heaven is greater than any man upon earth! To 
 mention this is sufficient to refute it. There can, there- 
 fore, no doubt be made but the kingdom of heaven here, 
 (as in the following verse, where it is said to be taken by 
 force) or, the kingdom of God^ as St. Luke expresses it, 
 is that kingdom of God on earth, wliereunto all true be- 
 lievers in Christ, all real Christians belong. In these 
 words, then, our Lord declares two things. First, that 
 before his coming in the tlesh, among all the children of 
 men, there had not been one greater than John the Bap- 
 tist: whence it evidently follows, that neither Abraham, 
 David, nor any Jew, was greater than John. Our Lord, 
 secondly, declares, that he who is least in the kingdom 
 of God (in that kingdom which he came to set up on 
 earth, and which the violent now began to take by force) 
 is greater than he. Not a greater prophet, as some 
 have interpreted the word, for this is palpably false in 
 fact. But greater in the grace of God, and the know- 
 ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we cannot 
 measure the privileges of real Christians by those for- 
 16 
 
174 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 merly givea to the Jews. Their ministration (or dis- 
 pensation) we allow was glorious; but ours exceeds in 
 glory. So that whosoever would bring down the Chris- 
 tian dispensation to the Jewish standard, whosoever 
 gleans up the examples of weakness, recorded in the law 
 and the prophets, and thence infers, that they who have 
 put on Christ are endued with no greater strength, doth 
 greatly err, "neither knowing the Scriptures nor the 
 power of God." 
 
 9. "But are there not assertions in Scripture which 
 prove the same thing, if it cannot be inferred from those 
 examples? Does not the Scripture say expressly, 'even 
 a just man sinneth seven times a day?' '' 1 answer, no. 
 The Scripture says no such thing. There is no such 
 text in the Bible. That which seems to be intended is 
 the sixteenth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of the 
 Proverbs: the words of which are these, "a just man 
 falleth seven limes, and riseth up again." But this is 
 quite another thing. For, first, tlic words a day are not 
 in the text. So that if a just man falls seven tim.es in 
 his life, it is as much as is affirmed here. Secondly, 
 here is no mention of f filling into sin at all; what is 
 here mentioned \s falling into temporal affliction. This 
 plainly appears from the verse before, the words of which 
 are these: "lay not wait, O wicked man, against the 
 dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place.'' 
 It follows, ''for a just man falleth seven times, and riseth 
 up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." As if 
 he had said, "God will deliver him out of his trouble. 
 But when thou fallest, there shall be none to deliver 
 thee." 
 
 10. "But, however, in other places," continue the ob- 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 175 
 
 jectors, "Solomon does assert plainly, 'there is no man 
 that sinneth not,' (1 Kings viii, 46; 2 Chron. vi, 36,) 
 yea, 'there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, 
 and sinneth not,' '' (Eccles. vii, 20.) 1 answer, without 
 doubt, thus it was in the days of Solomon. Yea, thus it 
 was from Adam to Moses, from jMoses to Solomon, and 
 from Solomon to Christ. There was then no man that 
 sinned not. Even from the day that sin entered into the 
 world, there was not a just man upon earth that did good 
 and siwied not, until the Son of God was manifested to 
 take away our sins. It is unquestionably true, that 
 "the heir, as long as he is a child, differelh nothing from 
 a servant.'' And that even so they (all the holy men of 
 old, who were under the Jewish dispensation) were, dur- 
 ing that infant state of the Church, in bondage under the 
 elements of the world. "But when the fulness of the 
 time was come, God sent forth his Son, made under the 
 law, to redeem them that were under the law, that they 
 might receive the adoption of sons;" that they might re- 
 ceive that "grace which is now made manifest by the 
 appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolish- 
 ed death, and brought life and immortality to light 
 through the gospel," (2 Tim. i, 10.) Now, therefore, 
 they "are no more servants, but sons." So that whatso- 
 ever was the case of those under the law, we may safe- 
 ly affirm with St. John, that since the gospel was given, 
 "he that is born of God sinneth not." 
 
 11. It is of great importance to observe, and that 
 more carefully than is commonly done, the wide differ- 
 ence that is between the Jewish and the Christian dis- 
 pensation: and that ground of it which the same apostle 
 assigns in the seventh chapter of his gospel, ver. 38, «Scc. 
 
176 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 After he had there related those words of our blessed 
 Lord, "he that believeth on me, as the Scripture had 
 said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water," 
 he immediately subjoins, "this spake he of the Spirit, 
 ov t/xeXKov Xa/ji.l3xniv oi 'jii^tvovTer £<r avroy, which they 
 who should believe on him were afterwards to receive. 
 For the [Inly Ghost was not yet given, because that 
 .Jesus was not yet glorified.'' Now the apostle cannot 
 meiin here, (as some have taught,) that the miracle- 
 working power of the Holy Ghost was not yet given. 
 For tiiis was given; our Lord had given it to all his 
 apostles, when he first sent them forth to preach the gos- 
 pel. He then gave them power over unclean spirits to 
 cast them out; power to heal the sick, yea, to raise the 
 dead. But the Holy Ghost was not yet given in his 
 sanctifying graces, as he was after Jesus was glorified. 
 It was then when "he ascended up on high, and led cap- 
 tivity captive,'' that he "received those gifts for men, 
 yea, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might 
 dwell among them.'' And when the day of Pentecost 
 was fully come, then first it was, that they who "waited 
 for the promise of the Father," were made more than 
 conquerors over sin by the Holy Ghost given unto them. 
 
 12. That this great salvation from sin was not given 
 till Jesus was glorified, St. Peter also plainly testifies; 
 where, speaking of his brethren in the flesh, as now "re- 
 ceivuio the end of their faith, the salvation of their 
 souls," he adds, (1 Pet. i, 9, 10, &c.) "Of which salva- 
 tion the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, 
 who prophesied of the grace (i. e. the gracious dispensa- 
 tion) that should come unto you: searching what, or 
 what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFKCTION. 
 
 177 
 
 them did signify, when it testified beforehand the suffer- 
 ings of Christ, and the glory (the glorious salvation) that 
 should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not 
 unto themselves, but unto us they did minister, the things 
 which are now reported unto you by them that have 
 preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sen' 
 down from heaven," (viz. at the day of Pentecost, and so 
 unto all generations, into the hearts of all true believers.) 
 On this ground, even "the grace which was brought 
 unto them by the revelation of Jesus Christ," the apostle 
 might well build that strong exhortation, ''wherefore 
 girding up the loins of your mind — as he which hath 
 culled you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver- 
 sation." 
 
 Hi. Those who have duly considered these things 
 must allow, that the privileges of Christians are in no- 
 wise to be measured by what the Old Testament records 
 concerning those who were under the Jewish dispensa- 
 tion: seeing the fulness of time is now come; the Holy 
 Ghost is now given: the great salvation of God is brought 
 unto men by the revelation of Jesus Christ. The king- 
 dom of heaven is now set up on earth: concerning 
 which the Spirit of God declared of old, (so far is David 
 from being the pattern or standard of Christian perfec- 
 tion,) "He that is feeble among them at that day, shall 
 be as David: and the house of David shall be as God, as 
 the angel of the Lord before them,'' Zech. xii, 8. 
 
 14. If, therefore, you would prove that the apostle's 
 words, "he that is born of God sinneth not,'' are not to 
 be understood according to their plain, natural, obvious 
 meaning, it is from the New Testament you are to bring 
 your proofs: else you will fight as one that beateth the 
 16* 
 
178 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 air. And the first of these which is usually brought, is 
 taken from the examples recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment. "The apostles themselves (it is said) committed 
 sin: nay the greatest of them, Peter and Paul: St. Paul 
 by his sharp contention with Barnabas; and St. Peter by 
 his dissimulation at Antioch." Well, suppose both Peter 
 and Paul did then commit sin: what is it you would infer 
 from hence? That all the other apostles committed sin 
 sometimes? There is no shadow of proof of this. Or, 
 would you thence infer, that all the other Christians of 
 the apostolic age committed sin? Worse and worse; 
 this is such an inference as one would imagine a man in 
 his senses could never have thought of. Or, will you 
 argue thus: "If two of the apostles did once commit 
 sin, then all other Christians, in all ages, do, and will 
 commit sin as long as they live?" Alas, my brother! a 
 child of common understanding would be ashamed of 
 such reasoning as this. Least of all can you with any 
 color of argument infer, "that any man must commit sin 
 at all!" No; God forbid we should thus speak. No 
 - necessity of sinning was laid upon them. The grace of 
 God was surely sufficient for them. And it is sufficient 
 for us at this day. With the temptation which fell on 
 them, there was a way to escape; as there is to every 
 soul of man in every temptation. So that whosoever 
 is tempted to any sin, need not yield; for no man is 
 tempted above that he is able to bear, 
 
 15. "But St. Paul besought the Lord thrice, and yet 
 he could not escape from his temptation." Let us con- 
 sider his own words literally translated. "There was 
 given to me a thorn in the flesh, an angel, or messenger 
 of Satan to buffet me. Touching this I besought the 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 179 
 
 Lord thrice, that it (or he) might depart from me. And 
 he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, 
 therefore, will I rather glory in these my weaknesses, 
 that the strength of Christ may rest upon me. There- 
 fore 1 take pleasure in weaknesses; — for when I am 
 weak, then am I strong." 
 
 16. As this Scripture is one of the strong-holds of 
 the patrons of sin, it may be proper to weigh it tho- 
 roughly. Let it be observed, then, first, it does by no 
 means appear, that this thorn, whatsoever it was, occa- 
 sioned St. Paul to commit sin: much less laid him under 
 any necessity of doing so. Therefore, from hence it 
 can never be proved that any Christian must commit 
 sin. Secondly, the ancient fathers inform us, it was 
 bodily pain: a violent headache, saith Tertullian, (de 
 pudic.) to which both Chrysostom and St. Jerom agree. 
 St. Cyprian* expresses it a little more generally in those 
 terms, "many and grievous torments of the flesh and of 
 the body."t Thirdly, to this exactly agree the apostle's 
 own words, "a thorn to the flesh, to smite, beat, or buflljt 
 me. My strength is made perfect in weakness." Which 
 same word occurs no less than four times in these two 
 verses only. But fourthly, whatsoever it was, it could 
 not be either inward or outward sin. It could no more 
 be inward stirrings, than outward expressions, of pride, 
 anger, or lust. This is manifest beyond all possible ex- 
 ception, from the words that immediately follow: "most 
 gladly will I glory in these niy weaknesses, that the 
 strength of Christ may rest upon me.'' What? Did he 
 
 *De mortalitate. 
 
 tCarois et Corporis multa ac gravia tormenta. 
 
180 
 
 CIIKISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 glory in pride, in anger, in lust? Was it through these 
 weaknesses that the strength of Christ rested upon him? 
 He goes on: "therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses: 
 for when 1 am weak then am I strong;'' i. e. when I am 
 weak in body then am I strong in spirit. But will any 
 man dare to say, when 1 am weak by pride or lust, then 
 am I strong in spirit? I call you all to record this day, 
 who find the strength of Christ resting upon you, can 
 you glory in anger, or pride, or lust? Can you take 
 pleasure in these infirmities? Do these weaknesses make 
 you strong? Would you not leap into hell, were it pos- 
 sible, to escape them? Even by yourselves, then, judge 
 whether the apostle could glory, and take pleasure in 
 them? Let it bo, lastly, observed, that this thorn was 
 given to St. Paul above fourteen years before he wrote 
 this Epistle: which itself was wrote several years before 
 he finished his course. So that he had after this a long 
 course to run, many battles to fight, many victories to 
 gain, and great increase to receive in all the gifts of 
 God, and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore, 
 from any spiritual weakness (if such had been) which he 
 at that time felt, we could by no means infer, that he was 
 never made strong, that Paul the aged, the father in 
 Christ, still labored under the same weaknesses: that he 
 was m no higher state till the day of his death. From 
 all which it appears, that this instance of St. Paul is 
 quite foreign to the question, and does in nowise clash 
 with the assertion of St. John, "he that is born of God, 
 sinneth not.'' 
 
 17, "But does not St. James directly contradict this? 
 His words are, 'In many things we offend all,' ch. iii, 
 ver. 2. And is not offending the same as committing 
 
CHRISTIAN TERFECTION. 181 
 
 sin?" In this place, I allow it is. I allow the persons 
 here spoken of did commit sin, yea, that they all com- 
 mitted many sins. But who are the persons here spoken 
 of? Why, those many masters or teachers, whom God 
 had not sent; (probably the same vain men who taught 
 that faith without works, which is so sharply reproved in 
 the preceding chapter.) Not the apostle himself nor 
 any real Christian. That in the word we (used by a 
 figure of speech, common in all other, as well as the in- 
 spired writings) the apostle couki not possibly include 
 himself, or any other true believer, appears evidently, 
 first, from the same word, in the ninth verse; "There- 
 with (saith he) bless we God, and therewith curse we 
 men. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and 
 cursing.'' True; but not out of the apostle, nor of 
 any one who is in Christ a new creature. Secondly, 
 from the verse immediately preceding the text, and 
 manifestly connected with it: "my brethren, be not many 
 masters (or teachers) knowing that we shall receive the 
 greater condemnation. For in many things we offend 
 all:" we! who? Not the apostles, nor true believers; 
 but they who knew they should receive the greater con- 
 demnation, because of those many offences. But this 
 could not be spoken of the apostle himself, or of any 
 who trod in his steps: seeing ''there is no condemnation 
 for them who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
 spirit." Nay, thirdly, the very verse itself proves, that 
 we offend all, cannot be spoken, either of all men, or of 
 all Christians; for in it there immediately follows the 
 mention of a man who offends not, as the we first men- 
 tioned did: from whom therefore he is professedly con- 
 tradistinguished, and pronounced a perfect man. 
 
182 
 
 CHRISTIAN TEIIFECTION. 
 
 18. So clearly does St. James explain himself, and 
 fix the meaning of his own words. Yet, lest any one 
 should still remain in doubt, St. John, writing many years 
 after St. James, puts the matter entirely out of dispute, 
 by the express declarations above recited. But here a 
 fresh difficulty may arise. How shall we reconcile St. 
 John with himself. In one place he declares, "Who- 
 soever is born of God, doth not commit sin." And again, 
 "We know that he which is born of God, sinneth not." 
 And yet in another, ho salth, "If we say that we have 
 no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 
 And again, "if wo say that we have not sinned, we 
 make him a liar, and liis word is not in us." 
 
 19. As great a difliculty as this may, at first, appear, 
 it vanishes away, if we observe. First, That the tenth 
 verse fixes the sense of the eighth: "If we say we have 
 no sin," in the former, being explained by, "If we say 
 we have not sinned," in the latter verse. Secondly, 
 That the point under present consideration is not, 
 whether we have or have not sinned heretofore; and 
 neither of these verses asserts, that we do sin, or commit 
 sin now. Thirdly, That the ninth verse explains both 
 the eighth and tenth: "If we confess our sins, he is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness:" as if he had said, "1 have 
 before affirmed, the 'blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us 
 from all sin,' But let no man say, 'I need it not: I have 
 no sin to be cleansed from.' If we say, 'that we have 
 no sin, that we have not sinned,' we deceive ourselves 
 and make God a liar. But if we confess our sins, he 
 is faithful and just, not only to forgive our sins, but also 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 183 
 
 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," that we "go 
 and sin no more." 
 
 20. St. John, ther-efore, is well consistent with him- 
 self, as well as with the other holy writers; as will yet 
 more evidently appear, if we place all his assertions 
 touching this matter in otie view. He declares, first, 
 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. 
 Secondly, No man can say, I have not sinned, I have no 
 sin to be cleansed from. Thirdly, But God is ready 
 both to forgive our past sins, and to save us from them 
 for the time to come. Fourthly, "These things I write 
 unto you," saith the apostle, "that you may not sin,'' 
 or have sinned, (as the word might be rendered,) he 
 need not continue in sin, seeing "we have an Advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.'' Thus far, 
 all is clear. But lest any doubt should remain, in a 
 point of so vast importance, the apostle resumes this 
 subject in the third chapter, and largely explains his 
 own meaning: "Little children," saith he, "let no man 
 deceive you;" [as though I had given any encourage- 
 ment to those that continue in sin.] "He that doth 
 righteousness, is righteous; even as he is righteous. 
 He that comniitteth sin is of the devil; for the devil 
 sinneth from. the beginning. For this purpose the Son 
 of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works 
 of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not com- 
 mit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot 
 sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of 
 God are manifest, and the children of the devil," 
 (verse 7 — 10.) Here the point, which till then might 
 possibly have admitted of some doubt in weak minds, is 
 purposely settled by the last of the inspired writers, and 
 
184 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 decided in the clearest manner. In conformity, there- 
 fore, both to the doctrine of St. John, and to the whole 
 tenor of the New Testament, we fix this conclusion, A 
 ''Christian is so far perfect as not to commit sin. 
 
 21. This is the glorious privilege of every Christian, 
 yea, though he be but a babe in Christ. But it is only 
 of those who are strong in the Lord, "and have over- 
 come the wicked one," or rather of those who "have 
 known him that is from the beginning," that it can be 
 affirmed they are in such a sense perfect: as, secondly, 
 to be freed from evil thoughts, and evil tempers. First, 
 from evil or sinful thoughts. But here let it be observed, 
 that thoughts concerning evil, are not always evil 
 thoughts; that a thought concerning sin, and a sinful 
 thought, are widely diflerent. A man, for instance, may 
 think of a murder whicli another has committed, and 
 yet this is no evil or sinful tliought. So our blessed 
 Lord himself, doubtless thought of, or understood the 
 thing spoken by the devil, when he said, "All this will 
 I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
 Yet had he no evil or sinful thought, nor indeed was 
 capable nf having any. And even hence it follows, that 
 neither have any real Christians. For "every one that is 
 perfect is as his Master," Luke vi, 40. Therefore, if 
 he were free from evil or sinful thoughts, so are they 
 likewise. 
 
 22. And indeed, whence should evil thoughts proceed, 
 in the servant who is as his Master? "Out of the heart 
 of man \if at all] proceed evil thoughts," Mark vii, 21. 
 If, therefore, his heart be no longer evil, then evil 
 thoughts can no longer proceed out of it. If the tree 
 were corrupt, so would be the fruit; but the tree is good. 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 185 
 
 The fruit, therefore, is good also, Malt, xii, 33. Our 
 Lord himself bearing wituess, "Every good tree bring- 
 eth forth good fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth 
 evil fruit, as a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good 
 fruit," Matt, vii, 17, 18. 
 
 23. The same happy privilege of real Christians, St. 
 Paul asserts from his own experience. "The weapons 
 of our warfare," saith he, "are not carnal, but mighty, 
 through God, to the pulling down of strong holds; 
 casting down imaginations," [or reasonings rather, for 
 so the word Xoyirfj-ar signifies; all the reasonings of 
 pride and unbelief against the declarations, promises, or 
 gifts of God;] and every high thing that exalteth itself 
 against the knowledge of God; and bringing into cap- 
 tivity every thougiit to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. 
 X, 4. dic, 
 
 24. And as Christians indeed, are freed from evil 
 thoughts, so are they, secondly, from evil tempers. 
 This is evident from the above-mentioned declaration of 
 our Lord himself: "The disciple is not above his Master: 
 but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.'' 
 He hiid been delivering, just before, some of the sub- 
 limest doctrines of Christianity, and some of the most 
 grievous to flesh and blood. "I say unto you, love your 
 enemies, do good to them which hate you: and unto him 
 that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the 
 other." Now these he well knew the world would not 
 receive; and therefore, immediately adds, "Can the 
 blind lead the blind.' Will they not both fall into 
 the ditch?" .\s if he had said, "Do not confer with 
 flesh and blood touching these things, with men void of 
 spiritual discernment, the eyes of whose understanding 
 
 17 
 
ItjS CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 God hath not opened, lest they and you perish together." 
 In the next verse he removes the two grand objections, 
 with which these wise fools meet us at every turn, 
 ''These things are ton grievous to be borne," or, "They 
 are too high to be attained:" Saying, "The disciple is 
 not above his Master;" therefore, if I have suffered, be 
 content to tread in my steps. And doubt ye not then, 
 but I will fulfil my word: "For every one that is perfect 
 shall be as his Master." But his Master was free from 
 all sinful tempers. So, therefore, is his disciple, even 
 every real Christian. 
 
 25. Every one of these can say with St. Paul, "I am 
 crucified with Ciirist. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me:" words that manifestly describe 
 a deliverance f"rom inward as well as outward sin. This 
 is expressed both negatively, I live not; (my evil nature, 
 
 * the body of sin is destroyed:) and positively, Christ 
 liveth in vie, and, therefore, all that is holy, and just, and 
 good. Indeed, both these, Christ liveth in me, and I live 
 not, are inseparably connected. For "what communica- 
 tion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial?" 
 
 26. He, therefore, who liveth in true believers, hath 
 "purified their hearts by faith:" insomuch that "every 
 one that hath Christ in him, the hope of glory, purifieth 
 himself, even as he is pure,'' (1 John iii, 3.) He is puri- 
 fied from pride; for Ciirist was lowly of heart. He is 
 pure from self-will, or desire; for Christ desired only to 
 do the will of his Father, and to finish his work. And 
 he is pure from anger, in the common sense of the word; 
 for Christ was meek and gentle, patient and long-suffer- 
 mg. I say, in the common sense of the word; for all 
 auger is not evil. We read of our Lord himself, (Mark 
 
CHRISTIAN PEBFECTION. 
 
 187 
 
 iii, 5,) that he once "looked round with anger." But with 
 what kind of anger? The next word shows, av>.Xvmvfji.syos, 
 being, "at the same time grieved for the hardness of 
 their hearts." So, then he was angry at the sin, and, in 
 the same moment, grieved for the sinners. Angry or 
 displeased at the nffence; but sorry for the offenders. 
 With anger, yea, hatred, he looked upon the thing, w ith 
 grief and love upon the persons. Go, thou that art per- 
 fect, and do likewise. Be fhvs angry, and thou sinnest 
 not: feeling a displaceiicy at every offence against God; 
 but only love and tender compassion to the offender. 
 
 27. Thus doth Jesus ''save his people from their sins:'' 
 and not only from outward sins, but also from the sins of 
 their hearts; from evil thoughts, and from evil tempers. 
 ''True," say some, "we shall thus be saved from our sins; 
 but not till death, not in this world." But how are we to 
 reconcile this with the express words of St. John? "Here- 
 in is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness 
 in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in 
 this world." The apostle here, beyond all contradiction, 
 speaks of himselt and other living Christians, of whom 
 (as though he had foreseen this veryevasion, and set him- 
 self to overturn fit from the foundation,) he flatly affirms, 
 that not only at, or after death, but in this world, they 
 are as their Master, 1 John iv, 17. 
 
 28. Exactly agreeable to this are his words in the first 
 chapter of this epistle, (verse 6, &;c.) "God is light, and 
 in him there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the 
 light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.'' And 
 again, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
 forgive us eur sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighte- 
 
188 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 ousness." Now it is evident, the apostle here also speaks 
 of a deliverance wrought in this world. For he saith, 
 not, the blood of Christ will cleanse, (at the hour of death, 
 or in the day of judgment) but it cleanseth (at the time 
 present) us [living Christians] from all sin. And it is 
 equally evident, that if any sin remain, we are not 
 cleansed from all sin: if any unrighteousness remain in 
 the soul, it is not cleansed from all unrighteousness. 
 Neither let any sinner against his own soul say that this 
 relates to justification only, or the cleansing us from the 
 guilt of sin; first, because this is confounding together 
 what the apostle clearly distinguishes; who mentions first, 
 o forgive us our sins, and then to cleanse us from all un- 
 righteousness. Secondly, because this is asserting justi- 
 fication by works in the strongest sense possible: it is 
 making all inward, as well as outward holiness necessarily 
 previous to justification. For, if the cleansing here 
 spoken of, is no other than the cleansing us from the 
 guilt of sin, then we are not cleansed from guilt: i. e 
 are not justified, unless on condition of walking in the 
 light, as he is in the light. It remains, then, that Chris- 
 tians are saved in this world from all sin, from all un- 
 righteousness: that they are now, in such a sense, perfect, 
 as not to commit sin, and to be freed from evil thoughts 
 and evil tempers. 
 
 29. Thus hath the Lord fulfilled the things he spake 
 by his holy prophets, which have been since the world 
 began: by Moses in particular, saying, (Deut. xxx, 6,) 
 *'I will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy 
 seed, to love the Lord tiiy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul:" by David crying out, "Create in me 
 a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me:'' and 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 189 
 
 most remarkably by Ezekiel, in those words, "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. A new heart also will I give you, 
 and a new spirit will I put within you, and cause you 
 to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments 
 and do them. — Ye shall be my people, and I will be 
 your God. I will also save you from all your unclean- 
 nesses. Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I 
 shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities — the 
 heathen shall know, that I, the Lord, build the ruined * 
 places, — 1, the Lord, liave spoken it, — and I will do it," 
 Ezek. xxxvi, 25, &c. 
 
 30. "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly belov- 
 ed," both in the law and in the prophets, and having the 
 prophetic word confirmed unto us in the gospel, by our 
 blessed Lord and his apostles: "let us cleanse ourselves 
 from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness 
 in the fear of God.'' "Let us fear lest so many promi- 
 ses being made us of entering into his rest (which he 
 that hath entered into, has ceased from his own works) 
 any of us should come short of it." "This one thing 
 let us do: forgetting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before, let 
 us press towards the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus;'' crying unto him day 
 and night, till we also are "delivered from the bondage r 
 of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God." 
 
 17* 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, 
 
 OB THE PERFECTED HOLINESS OF BELIEVERS. 
 
 BY RICHARD WATSON. 
 
 We have already spoken of justification, adoption, 
 regeneration, and the icitness of the Holy Spirit, and we 
 proceed to another as distinctly marked, and as gracious- 
 ly promised in the Holy Scriptures: this is the entire 
 SANCTIFICATION, or the perfected holiness of beUevers; 
 and as this doctrine, in some of its respects, has been the 
 subject of controversy, the scriptural evidence of it must 
 be appealed to and examined. Happily for us, a subject 
 of so great importance is not involved in obscurity. 
 
 That a distinction exists between a regenerate state 
 and a state of entire and perfect holiness will be gene- 
 rally allowed. Regeneration, we have seen, is concomi- 
 tant with justification-, but the apostles, in addressing the 
 body of believers in llie churches to whom they wrote 
 their epistles, set before them, both in the prayers they 
 offer in their behalf, and in the exhortations they adminis- 
 ter, a still higher degree of deliverance from sin, as well 
 as a higher growth in Christian virtues. Two passages 
 only need be quoted to prove this: — 1 Thess. v, 23, "And 
 the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and 1 pray 
 
192 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 
 blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 2 Cor. vii, 1, "Having these promises, dearly beloved, 
 let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." In both 
 these passages deliverance from sin is the subject spoken 
 of; and the prayer in one instance, and the exhortation 
 in the other, goes to the extent of the entire sanctification 
 of "the soul'' and "•spirit," as well as of the "flesh'' or 
 "body," from all sin; by which can only be meant our 
 complete deliverance from all spiritual pollution, all in- 
 ward depravation of the heart, as well as that which, 
 expressing itself outwardly by the indulgence of the 
 senses, is called "filthiness of the flesh." 
 
 The attainableness of such a state is not so much a 
 matter of debate among Christians as the time when we are 
 authorized to expect it. For as it is an axiom of Chris- 
 tian doctrine, that "without holiness no man can see the 
 Lord;" and is equally clear that if we would "be found 
 of him in peace" we must be found "without spot and 
 blameless;'''' and that the Church will be presented by 
 Christ to the Father without "fault;'' so it must be con- 
 cluded, unless on the one hand, we greatly pervert the 
 sense of these passages, or, on the other, admit the doc- 
 trine of purgatory or some intermediate purifying institu- 
 tion, that the entire sanctification of the soul, and its 
 complete renewal in holiness, must take place in this 
 world. 
 
 While this is generally acknowledged, however, among 
 spiritual Christians, it has been warmly contended by 
 many, that the final stroke which destroys our natural 
 corruption, is only given at death; and that the soul, when 
 
ENTIRE SA NOTIFICATION. 193 
 
 separated from the body, and not before, is capable of 
 that immaculate purity which these passages, doubtless, 
 exhibit to our hope. 
 
 If this view can be refuted, then it must follow, unless 
 a purgatory of some description be allowed after death, 
 that the entire sanctification of believers, at any time 
 previous to their dissolution, and in the full sense of these 
 evangelic promises, is attainable. 
 
 To the opinion in question, then, there appear to be 
 the following fatal objections: — 
 
 1. That we nowhere find the promises of entire sancti- 
 fication restricted to the article of death, either expressly, 
 or in fair inference from any passage of Holy Scripture. 
 
 2. That we nowhere find the circumstance of the soul's 
 union with the body represented as a necessary obstacle 
 to its entire sanctification. 
 
 The prmcipal passage which has been urged in proof 
 of this from the New Testament, is that part of the 
 seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, in which 
 St. Paul, speaking in the first person of the bondage of 
 the flesh, has been supposed to describe his state, as a 
 believer in Christ. But whether he speaks of himself, or 
 describes the state of others in a supposed case, given for 
 the sake of more vivid representation in the first person, 
 which is much more probable, he is clearly speaking of a 
 person who had once sought justification by the works of 
 the law, but who was then convinced, by the force of a 
 spiritual apprehension of the extent of the requirements 
 of that law, and by constant failures in his attempts to 
 keep it perfectly, that he was in bondage to his corrupt 
 nature, and could only be delivered from this thraldom by 
 the interposition of another. For, not to urge that his 
 
194 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 Strong expressions of being "carnal," "sold under sin," 
 and doing ahvays "tiie things whicii he would not," are 
 utterly inconsistent with that moral state of believers in 
 Christ which he describes in the next chapter; and, es- 
 pecially, that he there declares that such as are in Christ 
 Jesus "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;'' the 
 seventh chapter itself contains decisive evidence against 
 the inference which the advocates of the necessary con- 
 tinuance of sin till death have drawn from it. The 
 apostle declares the person whose case he describes, to 
 be under the law, and not in a state of deliverance by 
 Christ; and then he represents him not only as despair- 
 ing of self-deliverance, and as praying for the interposi- 
 tion of a sufficiently powerful deliverer, but as thanking 
 God that the very deliverance for which he groans is 
 appointed to be administered to him by Jesus Christ. 
 "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I 
 thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.'' 
 
 This is, also, so fully confirmed by what the apostle 
 had said in the preceding chapter, where he unquestion- 
 ably describes the moral state of true believers, that no- 
 thing is more surprising than that so perverted a comment 
 upon the seventh chapter, as that to which we have ad- 
 verted, should have been adopted or persevered in. "What 
 shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace 
 may abound? God forbid! How shall we who are dead 
 to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so 
 many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were 
 baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with 
 him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised 
 up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so 
 we also should walk in newness of life. For if we 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 195 
 
 have been planted together in the likeness of his death, 
 we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; know- 
 iog this, that our old man is crucified with him, that 
 THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTKovKD, that hence- 
 forth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead is 
 FREED FROM SIN." So clcarly does the apostle show 
 that he who is bound to the "body of death," as men- 
 tioned in the seventh chapter, is not in the state of a be- 
 liever; and that he who has a true faith in Clirist, "is 
 FREED from sin." 
 
 It is somewhat singular, that the divines of the Calvin- 
 istic school should be almost uniformly the zealous ad- 
 vocates of the doctrine of the continuance of indwelling 
 sin till death; but it is but justice to say, that several of 
 them have as zealously denied that the apostle, in the 
 seventh chapter of the Romans, describes the state of one 
 who is justified by faith in Christ, and very properly con- 
 sider the case there spoken of as that of one struggling 
 in LEGAL bondage, and brought to that point of self-despair 
 and of conviction of sin and helplessness which must al- 
 ways precede an entire trust in the merits of Christ's 
 death, and the power of his salvation. 
 
 3. The doctrine before us is disproved by those pas- 
 sages of Scripture which connect our entire sanctification 
 with subsequent habits and acts, to be exhibited in the 
 conduct of believers before death. So in tiie quotation 
 from Rom. vi, just given, — "knowing this, that the body 
 of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
 serve sin.'' So the exhortation in 2 Cor. vii,l, also given 
 above, refers to the present life, and not to the future hour 
 of our dissolution; and in 1 Thess. v, 2.3, the apostle first 
 prays for the entire sanctification of the Thcssalonians, 
 
196 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 and then for their preservation in that hallowed state, 
 "unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.'' 
 
 4. It is disproved, also, by all those passages which 
 require us to bring forth those graces and virtues which 
 are usually called the fruits of the Spirit. That these 
 are to be produced during our life, and to be displ^ed in 
 our spirit and conduct, cannot be doubted; and we may 
 then ask whether they are required of us in perfection 
 and maturity? If so, in this degree of maturity and per- 
 fection, they necessarily suppose the entire sanctification 
 of the soul from the opposite and antagonist evils. Meek- 
 ness in its perfection supposes the extinction of all sinful 
 anger; perfect love to God, supposes that no affection 
 remains contrary to it; and so of every other perfect in- 
 ternal virtue. The inquiry, then, is reduced to this, 
 whether these graces, in such perfection as to exclude 
 the opposite corruptions of the heart, are of possible at- 
 tainment, if they are not, then we cannot love God 
 with our whole hearts; then we must be sometimes sin- 
 fully angry; and how, in that case, are we to interpret 
 that perfecfiiess in these graces which God hath required 
 of us, and promised to us in the gospel? For if the per- 
 fection meant (and let it be observed that this is a Sc7-ip- 
 tural term, and must mean something) be so compara- 
 tive as that we may be sometimes sinfully angry, and may 
 sometimes divide our hearts between God and the 
 creature, we may apply the same comparative sense of 
 the term to good words and to good works, as well as to 
 good affections. Tims when the apostle prays for the 
 Hebrews, "Now the God of peace that brought again 
 from the dead our liord Jesus, that great Shepherd of 
 the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 197 
 
 make you perfect in every good work, to do his will," 
 we must understand this perfection of evangelical good 
 works so that it shall sometimes give place to opposite 
 evil works, just as good atiections must necessarily some- 
 times give place to the opposite bad aflections. This 
 view can scarcely be soberly entertained by any enlight- 
 ened Christian; and it must, tlierefore, be concluded, that 
 the standard of our attainable Christian perfection, as to 
 the affections, is a love of God so perfect as to "rule the 
 heart, and exclude all rivalry, and a meekness so perfect 
 as to cast out all sinful anger, and prevent its return; and 
 that as to good works, the rule is, that we shall be so 
 "perfect in every good work," as to "do the will of God" 
 habitually, fijlly, and constantly. If we fix the standard 
 lower, we let in a license totally inconsistent with that 
 Christian purity which is allowed by all to be attainable, 
 and we make every man himself his own interpreter of 
 that comparative perfection which is often contended for 
 as that only which is attainable. 
 
 Some, it is true, admit the extent of the promises and 
 the requirements of the Gospel as we have stated them; 
 but they contend, that this is the mark at which we are 
 to aim, the standard toward which we are to aspire, 
 though neither is attainable fully till death. But this 
 view cannot be true as applied to sanciijication, or de- 
 liverance from all inward and outward sin. That the 
 degree of every virtue implanted by grace is not limited, 
 but advances and grows in the living Christian throughout 
 life, may be granted; and through eternity also: but to say 
 that these virtues are not attainable, through the work 
 of the Spirit, in that degree which shall destroy all oppo- 
 site vice, is to say, that God, under the gospel, requires 
 
198 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFIOATION. 
 
 US to be what we cannot be, either through want of 
 efficacy in his grace, or from some defect in its adminis- 
 tration; neither of which has any countenance from 
 Scripture, nor is at all consistent with the terms in which 
 the promises and exhortations of the gospel are express- 
 ed. It is also contradicted by our own consciousness, 
 which charges our criminal neglects and failures upon 
 ourselves, and not upon the grace of God, as though it 
 were insufficient. Either the consciences of good men 
 have in all ages been delusive and over scrupulous; or 
 this doctrine of the necessary, though occasional, do- 
 minion of sin over us is false. 
 
 5. The doctrine of the necessary indwelling of sin in 
 the soul till death involves other antiscriptural conse- 
 quences. It supposes that the seat of sin is in the flesh, 
 and thus harmonizes with the pagan philosophy, which 
 attributed all evil to matter. The doctrine of the Bible, 
 on the contrary, is, that the seat of sin is in the soul; 
 and it makes it one of the proofs of the fall and corrup- 
 tion of our spiritual nature, that we are in bondage to the 
 appetites and motions of the flesh. Nor does the theory 
 which places the necessity of sinning, in the connection 
 of the soul with the body, account for the whole moral 
 case of man. There are sins, as jnide, covetousness, 
 malice, and others, which are wholly spiritual; and yet 
 no exception is made in this doctrine of the necessary 
 continuance of sin till death as to them. There is, surely 
 no need to wait for the separation of the soul from the 
 body in order to be saved from evils which are the sole 
 offspring of the spirit; and yet these are made as inevita- 
 ble as the sins which more immediately connect them- 
 selves with the excitements of the animal nature. 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION, 199 
 
 This doctrine supposes, too, th.it the flesh must neces- 
 sarily not only lust against the Spirit, but in no small de- 
 gree, and on many occasions, be the conqueror: whereas, 
 we are commanded, to '^mortify the deeds of the body;" 
 to "crucify," that is, to put to death, "the flesh;" to put 
 off the old man," which, in its full meaning, must import 
 separation from sin in fact, as well as the renunciation of 
 it in will; and "to put on the new man.'' Finally, the 
 apostle expressly states, that though the flesh stands 
 victoriously opposed to legal sanctification, it is not in 
 superable by evangelical holiness. — '^For what the law 
 could not do in that it was weak through thef esh, God 
 sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and 
 for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness 
 of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. viii, 3, 4. So incon- 
 sistent with the declarations and promises of the Gospel 
 is the notion that, so long as we are in the body, "the 
 flesh" must of necessity have at least the occasional do- 
 minion. 
 
 We conclude, therefore, as to the time our complete 
 sanctification, or, to use the phrase of the apostle Paul, 
 "the destruction of the body of sin;" that it can neither 
 be referred to the hour of death, nor placed subsequently 
 to this present life. The attainment of perfect freedom 
 from sin is one to which believers are called during the 
 present life; and is necessary to that completeness of 
 "holiness,'' and of those active and passive graces of 
 Christianity by which they are called to glorify God in 
 this world, and to edify mankind. 
 
 Not only the time, but the manner also, of our sanctifi- 
 cation has been matter of controversy: some contending 
 
200 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFXCATION. 
 
 that all attainable degrees of it are acquired by the 
 process of gradual mortification and the acquisition of 
 holy habits; others alleging it to be instantaneous, and 
 the fruit of an act of failh in the divine promises. 
 
 That the regeneration which accompanies justification 
 is a large approach to this state of perfected holiness; and 
 that all dying to sin, and all growth in grace, advances us 
 nearer to this point of entire sanctity, is so obvious, that on 
 these points there can be no reasonable dispute. But they 
 are not at all inconsistent with a more instantaneous work, 
 when, the depth of our natural depravity being more 
 painfully ieit, we plead in iaitii the accomplishment of the 
 promises of God. The great question to be settled is, 
 whether the deliverance sighed after be held out to us in 
 these promises as a present blessing? And from what has 
 been already said, there a|)pears no ground to doubt this; 
 since no small violence would be offered to the passages 
 of Scripture already quoted, as well as to many others, 
 by the opposite opinion. All the promises of God which 
 are not expressly, or from their order, referred to future 
 time, are objects of prescjit trust; and their fulfilment 
 noxo is made conditional only upon our faith. They can- 
 not, therefore, be pleaded in our prayers, with an entire 
 reliance upon the truth of God, in vain. The general 
 promise that we shall receive "all things whatsoever we 
 ask in prayer, believing,'' comprehends, of course, "all 
 things" suited to our case which God has engaged to 
 bestow; and if the entire renewal of our nature be in- 
 cluded in the number, without any limitation of time, 
 except that in which we ask it in faith, then to this faith 
 shall the promises of entire sanctification be given; which 
 in the nature of the case, supposes an instantaneous work 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 201 
 
 immediately following upon our entire and unwavering 
 faith. 
 
 The only plausible objections made to this doctrine 
 may be answered in few words. 
 
 It has been urged, that this state of entire sanctifica- 
 tion supposes future impeccability. Certainly not; for if * ^ 
 angels and our first parents fell when in a state of im- 
 maculate sanctity, the renovated man cannot be placed, 
 by his entire deliverance from inward sin, out of the 
 reach of danger. This remark, also, answers the alle- 
 gation, that we should thus be removed out of the 
 reach of temptation; for the example of angels, and of 
 thb first man, who fell by temptation when in a state of 
 native purity, proves that the absence of inward evil is 
 not inconsistent with a state of probation; and that this, 
 in itself, is no guard against the attempts and solicitations 
 of evil. 
 
 It has been objected, too, that this supposed state ren- 
 ders the atonement and intercession of Christ superfluous * 
 in future. But the very contrary of this is manifest 
 when the case of an evangelical renewal of the soul in 
 righteousness is understood. This proceeds from the 
 grace of God in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, as the 
 efficient cause; it is received by faith as the instrumental 
 cause; and the state itself into which we are raised is 
 maintained, not by inherent native power, but by the con- 
 tinual presence and sanctifying influence of the Holy- 
 Spirit himself, received and retained in answer to cease- 
 less prayer; which prayer has respect solely to the merits 
 of the death and intercession of Christ. 
 
 It has been farther alleged, that a person delivered 
 from all inward and outward sin has no longer need to 
 18* 
 
200 
 
 ENTIRE SANCTIFXCATION. 
 
 that all attainable degrees of it are acquired by the 
 process of gradual mortification and the acquisition of 
 holy habits; others alleging it to be instantaneous, and 
 the fruit of an act of failh in the divine promises. 
 
 That the regeneration which accompanies justification 
 is a large approach to this state of perfected holiness; and 
 that all dying to sin, and all growth in grace, advances us 
 nearer to this point of entire sanctity, is so obvious, that on 
 these points there can be no reasonable dispute. But they 
 are not at all inconsistent with a more instantaneous work, 
 when, the depth of our natural depravity being more 
 painfully felt, we plead in tailh the accomplishment of the 
 promises of God. The great question to be settled is, 
 whether the deliverance sighed after be held out to us in 
 these promises as a present blessing? And from what has 
 been already said, there appears no ground to doubt this; 
 since no small violence would be oflered to the passages 
 of Scripture already quoted, as well as to many others, 
 by the opposite opinion. All the promises of God which 
 are not expressly, or from their order, referred to future 
 time, are objects of present trust; and their fulfilment 
 noto is made conditional only upon our faith. They can- 
 not, therefore, be pleaded in our prayers, with an entire 
 reliance upon the truth of God, in vain. The general 
 promise that we shall receive "all things whatsoever we 
 ask in prayer, believing,'' comprehends, of course, "all 
 things" suited to our case which God has engaged to 
 bestow; and if the entire renewal of our nature be in- 
 cluded in the number, without any limitation of time, 
 except that in which we ask it in faith, then to this faith 
 shall the promises of entire sanctification be given; which 
 in the nature of the case, supposes an instantaneous work 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 201 
 
 immediately following upon our entire and unwavering 
 faith. 
 
 The only plausible objections made to this doctrine 
 may be answered in few words. 
 
 It has been urged, that this state of entire sanctifica- 
 tion supposes future impeccability. Certainly not; for if 
 angels and our first parents fell when in a state of im- 
 maculate sanctity, the renovated man cannot be placed, 
 by his entire deliverance from inward sin, out of the 
 reach of danger. This remark, also, answers the alle- 
 gation, that we should thus be removed out of the 
 reach of temptation; for the example of angels, and of 
 thb first man, who fell by temptation when in a state of 
 native purity, proves that the absence of inward evil is 
 not inconsistent with a state of probation; and that this, 
 in itself, is no guard against the attempts and solicitations 
 of evil. 
 
 It has been objected, too, that this supposed state ren- 
 ders the atonement and intercession of Christ superfluous 
 in future. But the very contrary of this is manifest 
 when the case of an evangelical renewal of the soul in 
 righteousness is understood. This proceeds from the 
 grace of God in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, as the 
 efficient cause; it is received by faith as the instrumental 
 cause; and the state itself into vvliicli we are raised is 
 maintained, not by inherent native power, but by the con- 
 tinual presence and sanctifying influence of the Holy 
 Spirit himself, received and retained in answer to cease- 
 less prayer; which prayer has respect solely to the merits 
 of the death and intercession of Christ. 
 
 It has been farther alleged, that a person delivered 
 from all inward and outward sin has no longer need to 
 18* ^ 
 
'^"'^ ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 use the petition of the Lord's prayer, — "and forgive us 
 our trespasses;'' because he has no longer need of pardon. 
 To this we reply, 1. That it would be absurd to suppose 
 that any person is placed under the necessity of "tres- 
 passing,'' in order that a general prayer designed for 
 men in a mixed condition might retain its aptness to 
 every particular case. 2. That trespassing of every 
 kind and degree is not supposed by this prayer to be 
 continued, iu order that it might be used always in 
 the same import, or otherwise it might be pleaded 
 against the renunciation of any trespass or transgres- 
 sion whatever. 3. That this petition is still relevant 
 to the case of the entirely sanctified and the evangeli- 
 cally perfect, since neither the perfection of the first 
 man nor that of angels is in question; that is a perfec- 
 tion measured by the perfect law, which, in its obliga- 
 tions, contemplates all creatures as having sustained no 
 injury by moral lapse, and admits therefore, of no excuse 
 from infirmities and mistakes of judgment; nor of any 
 degree of obedience below that which beings created 
 naturally perfect, were capable of rendering. There may, 
 however, be an entire sanctification of a being rendered 
 naturally weak and imperfect, and so liable to mistake 
 and infirmity, as well as to defect in the degree of that 
 absolute obedience and service which the law of God, 
 never bent or lowered to human weakness, demands from 
 all. These defects, and mistakes, and infirmities, may 
 be quite consistent with the entire sanctification of the 
 soul and the moral maturity of a being still naturally in- 
 firm and imperfect. Still, farther, if this were not a 
 sufficient answer, it may be remarked, that we are not 
 the ultimate judges of our own case as to our ''trespass- 
 
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 203 
 
 es," or our exemption from them; and we are not, there- 
 fore, to put ourselves into the place of God, "who is 
 greater than our hearts," So, although St. Paul says, 
 "I know nothing by myself,'' that is, I am conscious of 
 no offence, he adds, "yet am I not hereby justified; but 
 he that judgeth me is the Lord:" to whom, therefore, 
 the appeal is every moment to be made through Christ 
 the Mediator, and who, by the renewed testimony of his 
 Spirit, assures every true believer of his acceptance in 
 his sight. 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 BY R. TREFFRY. 
 
 Let us go on unto perkction. Hibrcws vi, 1. 
 
 Is every scheme of religion there is one principal 
 position, which, like the foundation of an edifice, sup- 
 ports the whole system; and there is generally some 
 doctrine, which, like the top-stone, gives a finish to the 
 fabric. In Christianity, the former of these is the doc- 
 trine of human depravity, or the total degeneracy of 
 mankind; and the latter, the perfection of the soul in 
 divine love; or the being filled with all the fulness of 
 God. I am well aware that this doctrine of perfection 
 has been totally denied by some, and warmly contro- 
 verted by others; and subjects of controversy it is said 
 should never be introduced into the pulpit; but I know 
 of no truth within the whole compass of Christianity 
 which some have not controverted; and if you were to 
 hear nothing from the pulpit but what is self-evident, or 
 indisputably certain, the various topics of our ministry 
 must be abandoned, and the ambassadors of Christ be 
 left without an embassy. Atheists deny the existence 
 of God; Deists the authenticity of the Scriptures; Pe- 
 lagians the degeneracy of man; Socinians the atone- 
 
206 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 ment of Christ; Fatalists the free agency of human 
 beings; Materialists the immortality of the soul; Uni- 
 versalists the eternity of hell's torments; and so on, in 
 reference to all the doctrines that compose the Christian 
 system. But the pure gold of truth can sustain no in- 
 jury by the fires of controversy, through which it is 
 made to pass; its value can be appreciated only in pro- 
 portion as it is known, and its lustre best discovered 
 by exposure. The subject before us is highly impor- 
 tant in its nature, and most interesting in its results; 
 and though I cannot indulge the expectation that the 
 mode which may be adopted to unfold its beauties, will 
 meet the approbation of all my hearers, yet I must 
 crave their serious attention, and fervent prayers, while 
 I endeavor to state, 
 
 I. The nature of perfection. 
 II, The way to go on unto it. 
 
 III. The motives that should urge us to attend to 
 the apostolic advice; "let us go on," &c. 
 
 1st. The nature of perfection, — that such a state ne- 
 cessarily exists, is a truth that I am persuaded cannot 
 be successfully controverted; names are the signs of 
 things, and wherever there is a name, there is a thing 
 signified by that name; when you hear of bondage, or 
 liberty, sickness, or health, pain, or ease, you naturally 
 understand that there are certain states, which these 
 names are intended to describe; and although you may 
 not be able to ascertain by experience, what these states 
 are; yet it would be absurd to deny their existence, as 
 you must know that things give birth to names, as sub- 
 stances do to shadows; and you can as easily imagine 
 the appearance of a shadow, without an intervening 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 207 
 
 substance to form it, as the existence of a name, with- 
 out a thing to wliich it is apphed; and to say there is no 
 such state as perfection, is not only to give the lie to the 
 apostle, wlio urges us to go on unto it, but to pour con- 
 tempt upon the Holy Ghost, by whose immediate inspi- 
 ration the text was dictated. 
 
 Every thing in existence has its state of perfection. 
 Look at the works of art, and you will perceive that 
 there is a certain species of perfection that belongs to 
 every piece of mechanism; and altiiough there may be 
 various defects attached to human compositions, yet per- 
 fection is uniformly aimed at, and not unfrequently 
 attained. Hence we say, ''the fine arts have recently 
 been brought to great perfection.'' When a picture 
 bears a strong resemblance to its original, we call it a 
 "perfect likeness." And when a man becomes an adept 
 in music, we say, "he plays to pertection.'' 
 
 Look through the vegetable kingdom, from "the 
 cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop 
 that springeth out of the wall," and you will find that 
 there is a degree of perfection essential to the several 
 orders of plants, and although the barrenness of the 
 soil, the inclemency of the climate, or the obstructed 
 circulation of the juices, may cause some to be sickly 
 and unfruittul, yet even these defects serve more strongly 
 to confirm the idea, that there is general perfection in 
 the species. 
 
 Look through the animal tribes, from the huge le- 
 viathan, and unwieldly elephant, down to the smallest 
 mite and animalcule; and you will perceive that they 
 have all their distinct states of perfection: you may oc- 
 casionally indeed, see a monster in nature, having a 
 
208 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 deficiency or redundancy of parts, yet even this serves 
 to show that there must be a standard of perfection be- 
 longing to animal nature, as certainly as the deviations 
 of error prove that there must be lines of truth. And 
 shall we deny to religion what we grant to almost every 
 thing besides? Have the different orders of beings in 
 nature, and the various works of art, their several 
 degrees of perfection? And has religion, which is 
 the soul of happiness and the noblest ornament of human 
 nature, no perfection? Indeed, the man who undertakes 
 to prove this, must necessarily involve himself in inex- 
 tricable difiicuUies. 
 
 To do it effectually he should know the precise and 
 full import of every text in the Scriptures; for if theite 
 be one passage in all the oracles of God, whose meaning 
 he does not understand, or concerning which there is a 
 possibility of his hf'.'mg deceived: that text may for 
 aught he knows, inculcate the doctrine of perfection. 
 He must also possess a complete knowledge of the 
 Christian expcrirnco of all the professors of religion 
 throughout the whole world, for if there be one man in 
 existence, whose experience he does not know, that man 
 may enjoy the blessing of perfection. 
 
 He must be able fully to comprehend, the utmost acts 
 of divine power, the utmost efficacy of the blood of the 
 covenant, and the utmost influence of the Holy Ghost, 
 in the salvation of mankind: for if there be any opera- 
 tion of Gdd, any efficacy in the blood of Christ, any 
 influence of the Holy Ghost, with which he is unac- 
 quainted, that operation, efficacy or influence, may pro- 
 duce perfection in the human soul, and could you ima- 
 gine it possible to find a man endowed with these super- 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 209 
 
 human qualifications: and invested with these divine 
 prerogatives; yet the point would be so far from being 
 settled by his decision, that he himself would stand a 
 living testimony to confront his own thesis; as nothing 
 short of absolute perfection, could render him compe- 
 tent ti) set the controversy at rest. 
 
 Should the advocates for religious imperfection reply, 
 "we are under no obligation to prove that perfection 
 does not exist, you must prove that it r/oes." To this I 
 answer, there is not only as much evidence for this doc- 
 trine as any candid and unprejudiced mind can require, 
 but as much as the subject can possibly admit. 
 
 1st. This perfection is a doctrine of the Bible, not 
 indicated by obscure hints, or indirect inferences, but 
 established by plain and circumstantial statements, and 
 if there be no such thing as perfection, the. book that 
 makes such frequent mention of it, "is no bf^tfer than a 
 popish legend, which recommends imaginary things as 
 if they were indubitable realities." 
 
 2d. Multitudes of living characters have borne wit- 
 ness to its truth, and testified its reality: and is it not 
 the excess of uncharitableness to question the genuine- 
 ness of their experience, when there is nothing in their 
 tempers or dispositions, inconsistent with their profes- 
 sion? Indeed should we positively reject the testimony 
 of all modern Christians: and brand with deception or 
 hypocrisy, the most pious of our brethren, still we 
 should recollect that there is a Bible, to which, as Chris- 
 tians, we must subscribe, and there we read that "Noah 
 was a just man and perfect in his generation.'' "Job 
 was a man perfect and upright." David said, "mark 
 the perfect man," and St. Paul declared, "we speak wis- 
 
210 
 
 CHRISTIAjV perfectioiv. 
 
 dom among them that are perfect," and if there were 
 those in the primitive church who were perfect, they at 
 least, must have enjoyed the blessings of perfection, for 
 to suppose a perfect man without perfection, is equally 
 as absurd as to imagine a wise man without wisdom, 
 a strong man without strength, or a healthy nian with- 
 out health: and even if it were admitted as a fact, that 
 among all the advocates for this perfection, not one pos- 
 sesses it; yet, it could not militate against the truth of 
 the doctrine, unless it could be proved that the privi- 
 leges of Christians have been curtailed since the apos- 
 tolic age, and "the everlasting covenant disannulled." 
 
 3d. The precepts of God lead us not only to believe 
 it possible to attain perfection as our privilege, but they 
 press it upon us as our duty, and the following texts, 
 which must be familiar to many of my hearers, stands 
 recorded in the book of God. "Walk before me, and 
 be thou perfect.'' "Be ye therefore perfect, as your 
 . Father which is in heaven is perfect." "Be perfect, be 
 ^ of good comfort, he of one mind," &c. "This also we 
 '(J wish, even your perfection:" and "let us go on unto 
 ll perfection.'' But on this point I will not enlarge: I 
 S take it for granted that my hearers believe in the exist- 
 ence of the thing, and therefore proceed to unfold 
 its nature. 
 
 Perfection has a two-fold character, there is a perfec- 
 tion of parts, and a perfection of degrees. A thing is 
 perfect in the former sense, when it possesses all the 
 properties or qualities which are essential to its nature, 
 without any deficiency, or redundancy; thus a machine 
 is perfect, when it has all its parts, and these parts so 
 admirably disposed, as completely to answer the purpose 
 
CIIRISTIAX PERFKCTIOX. 211 
 
 for which it is formed. Thus a human body is perfect, 
 when it has ail the limbs, muscles, arteries, veins, &c. 
 that belong to a human body, and thus I conceive every 
 Christian believer is perfect, as he is endowed with all 
 the graces of the spirit, and the "fruits of righteous- 
 ness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise 
 of God." And this ki.id of perfection admits of no 
 increase, any addition would def;\ce the beauty and 
 destroy the harmony of the whole: add another wheel 
 to your watches, and the purpose would be defeated for 
 which they are formed, imagine another limb joined to 
 a human body, and it would disfigure, rather than beau- 
 tify it, and retard, rather than accelerate its motion. 
 In religion indeed the imagination cannot picture any 
 additional virtue, nor the mind conceive of any new 
 grace to be joined to the Christian character, the fee- 
 blest saint is as perfect in this sense as the most estab- 
 lished Christian, and the babe as complete as the man. 
 And I greatly question whether the glorified spirits in 
 heaven, are more perfect in this view than the saints 
 upon earth, for if old things pass away, and all things 
 become new, when the soul is vitally united to Christ, 
 may we not suppose that the most consummate state of 
 blessedness in the kingdom of God consists in the end- 
 less accessions, which those graces will receive that 
 adorn the soul in this world. 
 
 Do the spirits of just men made perfect, love God 
 with an intense ardor and growing attachment? And 
 is not "the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by 
 the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us?'' Do not we 
 "love him because he first loved us?" Do they possess 
 "a fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore?'' And 
 
212 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 do not "we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of 
 glory?"' "And return to Zion with singing, and ever- 
 lasting joy upon our heads?'' 
 
 Do they see Christ as he is, and participate his like- 
 ness? "And 4o not we behold as in a glass the glory of 
 the Lord, till changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord?" 
 
 Do they say with a loud voice, "worthy is tlie Lamb 
 that was slain, to receive power and riches, and wisdom 
 and strength, and honor and ^lory, and blessing?" And 
 do not "we sing and make melody in our hearts unto 
 the Lord?" 
 
 "Thee they sing with glory crown'd, 
 
 We extol the slaughter'd Lamb, 
 Lower if our voices sound, 
 
 Our subject is the same." 
 
 Far be it from me to assert any thing positively on 
 this subject, it is possible there may be latent powers in 
 the human soul, which never can be developed in this 
 world, but which may in a future state of existence, 
 give birth to new and endless enjoyments; for if this 
 life be only "the bud of being," what finite mind can 
 conceive the glories that will await us, when we blos- 
 som with unfading beauty, in the garden of Paradise? 
 
 2d. Perfection may be considered in reference to its 
 degrees. I do not like this term, as J am conscious it 
 may be abused, but it is the best I can find to express 
 my meaning, it implies the having all the "fruits of the 
 spirit" brought to such maturity, as to exclude every 
 opposing principle, and every contrary temper. A man 
 may be perfect in the former sense, and imperfect in 
 the latter; just as a child may be perfect in parts, and 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 213 
 
 imperfect in degrees, he may have all the limbs, and so 
 on, of a human being; but not the strength, the vigor, 
 nor the intellectual endowments of a man. And thus a 
 Christian, who has been recently "born of God,'' and 
 just introduced into the glorious liberty of the gospel, 
 may have all the graces of Cliristianity, and yet these 
 may exist in imperfect degrees: for instance, every 
 Christian possesses a confidence in God, a trust in his 
 promises, and a reliance upon his veracity, not the con- 
 fidence of ignorance, nor of presumption, but the genu- 
 ine offspring of experimental knowledge, for "they that 
 know thy name, (saith David,) will put their trust in 
 thee." But this confidence, though perfect in its prin- 
 ciple, is imperfect in its degree, it is sometimes disturbed 
 by doubts, molested by fears, or harrassed by anxious 
 cares, but when the soul has attained to maturity in 
 Christian holiness, this confidence is perfect, and doubt, 
 distrust, and fear, cease to exist. And though in refer- 
 ence to worldly things the Christian may walk "in 
 darkness, and have no light," the fig-tree may not blos- 
 som, nor fruit be in the vine, friends may desert him, 
 and foes meditate his ruin, yet ''he shall not be afraid of 
 evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord," 
 hence he can say with Job, "though he slay me, yet 
 will I trust in him," or with the poet, 
 
 "Tho' waves and storms go o'er my head, 
 Tho' health and strength, and friends be gone, 
 
 Tho' joys be withered all, and dead, 
 Tho' every comfort be withdrawn; 
 
 On this my steadfast soul relies, 
 
 Father thy mercy never dies." 
 
 Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ loves God, 
 19* 
 
214 
 
 CHRISTIAN TEKFECTION. 
 
 and gives the most indubitable evidence of that love, by 
 keeping God's commandments: and doing the things 
 that please him. But this love although perfect in its 
 nature, is not in its degree, there may be an undue at- 
 tachment to ,the world, an improper fondness for the 
 creature, or an inordinate degree of self-love, but when 
 the Christian has gone on "unto perfection," then he 
 "loves God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and 
 with all his mind, and with all his strength, and his 
 neighbor as himself." This love knows no rival, nei- 
 ther the seductions of sin, nor the lures of the world, 
 nor the charms of the creature, can alienate the affec- 
 tions from the sole object that has engrossed them, for 
 such a man, wealth has no value, pleasure no attraction, 
 honor no brilliance, and dignities no splendor: hence he 
 adopts the language of the poet, 
 
 All my treasure is above, 
 All my riches is thy love, 
 Whom have I in heaven but thee? 
 Thou art all ia all to me. 
 
 This love admits of no comparison, the sacrifices 
 which lovers have made, to gratify the darling objects 
 of their affections, have sometimes exceeded credibility. 
 Vows have been pledged, — riches lavished, — and health 
 sacrificed, at the shrine of sensual love, but the perfect 
 Christian, under the influence of divine love, ofl^ers up 
 all to his God; his understanding to contemplate his in- 
 finite excellencies; his will to submit to his wise dispen- 
 sations: his affections to adore his matchless goodness; 
 his talents to extend tiie glory of his name, and his very 
 life, if necessary, to advance the honor of his cause. 
 And this love knows no intermission; it is not a spark 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 215 
 
 emitted from the blaze of prosperity, and fanned with 
 the soft breezes of carnal pleasure, but a flame eokin- 
 dled by the sun of righteousness, which many waters 
 cannot quench, nor the floods drown. Witti the poet, 
 the subject of it can say: 
 
 "Thee will I love my joy my crown, 
 
 Thee will I love my Lord my God: 
 Thee will I love beneath thy frown 
 
 Or smile, thy sceptre or thy rod. 
 What tho' my flesh and heart decay. 
 Thee shall I love in endless day." 
 
 Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ possesses 
 peace, "peace with God'' by the justification of his per- 
 son, and peace of conscience by the renewal of his 
 heart, the fierce passions, and violent tempers which 
 once raged within have subsided, and the storm has 
 been hushed to peace: but this peace though perfect in 
 its kind, is yet imperfect in degree, it is subject to fre- 
 quent interruptions, sometimes by strong temptations, 
 which come in upon the Christian like a flood, and at 
 others by the roots of bitterness which spring up and 
 trouble him, but when the sou! has attained to maturity 
 in holiness, then there is a perfection of this peace, and 
 God's promise is graciously accomplislied, "thou wilt 
 keep him in perfect peace, wliose mind is stayed upon 
 tliee.'' How descriptive is the prophetic language ou 
 this subject. "O that thou hadst hearkened to my com- e 
 mandments! then had thy peace been as a river." A 
 river, not a torrent, rough and boisterous, rushing down 
 from the neighboring steep, and forcing every thing be- 
 fore it with desolating roar, this is a just emblem of 
 passionate people, whose tempers are roused by every 
 
216 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 trifle; a river,— not a pool, whose waters fail when the 
 heavens cease to pour down their liquid treasures, but 
 ''a river'' smooth and tranquil, flowing on without inter- 
 ruption, widening and deepening as it flows, till it loses 
 itself in the ocean. And this peace not only "keeps the 
 heart and mind through Christ Jesus, but it passeth all 
 understanding,'' hence the soul can realize the truth of 
 the following sentiments. 
 
 Careful without care I am, 
 
 Nor feel my liappy toil; 
 Kept in peace by Jesus' name, 
 
 Supported by his smile; 
 Joyful thus my faith to show, 
 
 I find iiis service my reward, 
 Every worlc I do below, 
 
 I do it to the Lord. 
 
 Thou, O Lord, in tender love, 
 
 Dost all my burdens bear; 
 Lift my heai t to things above. 
 
 And keep it ever there: 
 Calm on tumult's wheels I sit, 
 
 Midst busy multitudes alone; 
 Sweetly waiting at thy feet, 
 
 'Till all thy will be done. 
 
 Every Christian believer possesses patience, it is one 
 of the fruits whicli the Holy Ghost produceth in the re- 
 generate mind. In a world like this, trials will happen, 
 provocations will arise, and afflictions will occur, and 
 nothing is more necesssary to the believer than patience; 
 but alas, too frequently, he feels when reproached un- 
 justly, the risings of resentment, or when afflicted 
 deeply and chastened with sore pain, the remains of im- 
 patience, or when his expectations are cut off", the sallies 
 
CHRISTIAN PEKFECTION. 
 
 217 
 
 of discontent: but when the soul is fully renewed in 
 righteousness, then patience has "its perfect work,'' 
 and the man is "perfect and entire, lacking nothing," 
 then "he glories in tribulations, knowing that tribula- 
 tion worketii patience, and patience experience, and ex- 
 perience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because 
 the love of God is siied abroad in his heart by the Holy 
 Ghost, which is given unto him." In persecution, he 
 rejoices and is "exceeding glad," believing that "great is 
 his reward in heaven,'' and in affliction he patiently sub- 
 mits, knowing that it "worketh out for him a far more 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Hence he can 
 sing, 
 
 Welcome alike, the crown or cross, 
 Trouble I cannot ask, nor peace. 
 
 Nor toil, nor rest, nor gain, nor loss, 
 Nor joy, nor giief, nor pain, nor ease. 
 
 Nor life, nor death, but ever groan. 
 
 Father, thy only will be done. 
 And in proportion as a Christian's confidence, love, 
 peace, and patience, are made perfect, so all the other 
 graces of religion, are matured with them. 
 
 But here perhaps a question may be agitated. "Does 
 this perfection admit of any increase, if it is capable of 
 receiving additions, how can it be perfection, and if not 
 why are we exhorted to grow in grace," &c. To this I 
 would reply, things that belong merely to this world, 
 have their rise, progress, perfection, declension and ruin. 
 In vegetation we see first the bud, next the blossom, then 
 the fruit, which ripens by degrees till it attains perfec- 
 tion, but here its progress terminates; it can rise no high- 
 er; the sun may continue to shine, — the breezes to blow 
 — the dews to descend; but their salutary influences are 
 
218 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 lost, the fruit decays, falls to the ground, and mingles 
 with the earth, from whence it had its origin. So the 
 human body rises from a shapeless embryo to a certam 
 point of perfection, beyond which it cannot pass; but re- 
 ligion, considered as a divine principle, emanating from 
 an infinitely perfect being, has no bounds, limits, nor di- 
 mensions. It is a sea without a shore, a hemisphere 
 without a cloud, and the mind of man which is the seat 
 of this religion, is endowed with powers and faculties, 
 capable of endless improvement; so that our souls may 
 not only rise high in the scale of excellence in this world, 
 but dart forward to the perfection of their nature, and 
 shine witli new accessions of glory forever and ever. 
 Hence to use the language of Mr. Fletcher, "a babe in 
 Christ, is called to grow, till he becomes a perfect Chris- 
 tian — a perfect Christian, till he becomes a disembodied 
 spirit — a disembodied spirit, till he reaches the perfection 
 of a saint, glorified in body and soul. And such a saint, 
 till he has fathomed the infinite depths of divine perfec- 
 tion, that is to all eternity." 
 
 But another will probably inquire, "does this Chris- 
 tian perfection imply the total extinction of every evil 
 principle, and the complete destruction of sin?" If by sin 
 you mean what divines have called peccability, that is, a 
 state liable to sin; or even a violation of that absolutely 
 perfect rule of right, which was engraven upon the souls 
 of our first parents in their primitive innocency; then, 
 we disclaim all "sinless perfection:" but if by sin you 
 understand that principle of corruption, which the church 
 of England calls "original, or birth sin, which is the fault, 
 or corruption of the nature of every man which is natural- 
 ly engendered of the ofl'spring of Adam, whereby he is 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTIO>% 
 
 219 
 
 very far gone from original rigiiteousness," &,c. then we 
 believe that the grace of God totally destroys its nature: 
 where there is a perfection of faith, unbelief can have no 
 being: — where there is a perfection of divine love, the 
 love of the world, or of sin, can never dwell: — where 
 there is a perfection of humility, pride must be extinct: — 
 and where there is a perfection of patience, wrath, and 
 impatience can never come. But let us appeal to the 
 New Testament. St. Paul writing to the Romans as- 
 sures them that "where sin abounded, grace did much 
 more abound;" but if grace does not destroy sin, sin 
 abounds more than grace; if the remedy abounds much 
 more than the disorder, will it not restore the subject 
 to perfect health? Again, "reckon ye yourselves to be 
 dead mdeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." And what is this death unto sin but ^ 
 the destruction of its nature? For "he that is (thus) dead 
 is freed from sin, for sin shall not hav e dominion over you, 
 for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Observe 
 also what St. John saith, "If we coniess our sins, he 
 (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness;" and as "all unright- 
 eousness is sin,'' the being cleansed from this, must neces- 
 sarily imply the being cleansed from all sin, ''For if we 
 walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellow- 
 ship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his 
 Son cleanseth us from all sin. For hosoever is born 
 of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in 
 him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." It 
 is useless to enlarge here, those who are not convinced 
 of the possibility of being saved from all sin, by such 
 declarations as these, must necessarily remain unconvinc- 
 
220 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 ed, by any thing that God can say, since no language 
 can be more plain, nor truths more authentic than the 
 above passages. But another will probably object and 
 say, "this doctrine tends to set aside the atonement of 
 Christ, and the necessity of his continued influence; for 
 if a man can live without sin, what need of Christ as a 
 Saviour?" But may I not reply to this by a similar argu- 
 ment, if a man can live without disorder, what need of 
 food to preserve him in health? If this room can be 
 purged from darkness, what necessity for the sun to shine 
 into it? The most matured Christians need as much the 
 blood of Christ to preserve them from sin, and thus keep 
 them pure; as imperfect Christians do to purify them, 
 and ''it is not enough that the blood of the true paschal 
 Lamb, has been sprinkled upon our souls to keep off the 
 destroyer;" it must still remain there, to hinder his coming 
 back, "with seven other spirits more wicked than him- 
 self." The holiest saint upon earth, is as much depend- 
 ant upon Christ, for (hat holiness, as the branch is de- 
 pendant on the tree for its life, or the building on the 
 foundation for its support. Hence the perfect Christian 
 can sing, 
 
 "Jesus my all in all thou art, 
 
 My rest in toil, my ease in pain, 
 The medicine of my broken heart, 
 
 In war ray peace, in loss my gain; 
 My smile beneath the tyrant's frown, ' 
 In shame my glory, and my crown." 
 But you will probably admit the truth of this state- 
 ment, as to the existence of the thing; but not as to the 
 period of its attainment, as you think that such a state 
 of perfect holiness, can never be enjoyed till the article 
 of death. But is there such an intimate and essential 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, 
 
 221 
 
 connection between the body of flesh and blood, and the 
 body of sin, that the latter cannot die w ithout the former? 
 If sin were a natural disorder, and had its seat in the 
 body, there would be some plausibility in the objection; 
 but as it is a disease that has its sole dominion in the 
 mind, no reason can be assigned why the body must be 
 destroyed in order to its extinction. Nor can we conceive 
 that death has any tendency to alter our moral habits. 
 
 It may indeed end "the heart-ache, and a thousand 
 natural shocks that flesh is heir to," but to say that it 
 will end sin and give a finishing stroke to our moral 
 maladies, is not only an outrage on common sense, but a 
 vile insult on the Redeemer, who claims the sole merit 
 of "washing us from our sin in his own blood.'' But I 
 have detained you too long I fear on the first part of my 
 subject, let us proceed. 
 
 II. To consider how we are to "go on unto perfection.'' 
 The language of the text leads us to suppose that some- 
 thing had been previously done: whether the phrase of 
 "going on,'' refers to the advancement of a human body, 
 from infancy to manhood, — or the erection of a building, 
 from the foundation to the topstone, — or the progress of 
 a traveller from the commencement of his journey to its 
 close, it is not necessary to inquire, whatever the figure 
 imports, the sense is plain, and the interpretation certain. 
 Something had been done, something had been left un- 
 done. The Hebrews had begun their religious course, 
 this is sufficiently clear from the context. "Therefore 
 leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ;" that is, 
 the first principles of that doctrine, which Jesus Christ 
 taught "let us goon unto perfection, not laying again the 
 foundation of repentance, from dead works; and of faith 
 20 
 
222 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying 
 on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of 
 eternal judgment." Thus you see what the Hebrews had 
 done, they had laid the foundation, where Jesus Christ 
 had laid it, in "repentance from dead works, and faith 
 towards God,'' for one of the first messages which the 
 Lord Jesus announced to the world, was, "repent ye and 
 believe the gospel." How important it is to make a good 
 beginning, to begin where we ougnt, as well as when we 
 ought. To enter in at the right door, to be perfectly 
 initiated into first principles, and thoroughly instructed 
 in the rudiments of the science, wiiich we intend to learn. 
 O what multitudes have unfortunately miscarried for want 
 of laying ihe foundation of their personal piety in repent- 
 ance. They have had a fair outside, a specious morality, 
 and a scrupuluus atiachment to what some have termed 
 "the small duties of religion," but alas, the load of sin 
 they never born, the pangs of guilt they never felt, the 
 clamors of conscience they never heard, and the tears of 
 penitence they never shed, hence their religion was no 
 better than a baseless fabric, or a house erected on the 
 sand, which was swept away in the day of trial. But 
 remember a good begirming alone will not do, you must 
 not only enter in at the strait gate, but walk in the narrow 
 way, — not only start for the prize, but press towards the 
 mark, — the piety of youth can never sanction the 
 apostacy of age, nor "the love of thine espousals,'' com- 
 pensate for the absence of zeal in declining life. The 
 Hebrews had begun, but unfortunately like too many of 
 us, they had not gone on, they had laid the foundation, 
 but they had not reared up the superstructure, the build- 
 ing was left in an unfinished state. They had com- 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 223 
 
 menced their religious course, and had endured a "great 
 fight of afflictions, and even taken joyfully the spoiling 
 of their goods, knowing that in heaven they had a better, 
 and an enduring substance," but they were yet in datiger 
 of wavering in their faith, and even of casting away 
 their confidence. They were grown old in the profes- 
 sion of religion, and might have been teachers of Chris- 
 tianity, but, says tlie apostle, "ye have need that one teach 
 you again, which be tiie first principles of the oracles of 
 God." They might have been strong men "grown up 
 to full age: so as to have their senses exercised, to dis- 
 cern both good and evil, but they were mere babes, and 
 needed milk, and not strong meat. O how many exact 
 counterparts to this description modern times present, of 
 men in years, but children in understanding, cedars in 
 profession, but shrubs in reality, and had we inspired 
 epistles addressed to our present churches and societies, 
 I greatly fear that we should read of many, who had not 
 only neglected to build themselves up on their most holy 
 faith, but who had even demolished what they once built> 
 and torn up the foundation which they once laid: alas! 
 where we lately surveyed with pleasure, many a goodly 
 fabric rising fair, we now see only piles of ruin, or heaps 
 of rubbish. These considerations, however painful to 
 indulge, may yet serve to prepare our minds, for attend- 
 ing to the necessary advice in the text: "Let us go on 
 unto perfection.'' This we should do by the exercise of 
 faith, diligence, and expectation. 
 
 1st. Faith, this grace is of distinguished importance 
 in religion, and every fruit of the spirit is formed, and 
 perfected in proportion to the energy and operation of a 
 man's faith; would you "go on unto perfection," believe 
 
224 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 heartily in the existence of such a state — are you pre- 
 judiced against the term — then substitute some other, 1 
 contend not for the name but the thing. Call it what you 
 please, though I dare not discard even the "words of this 
 book," lest God should "take away my part of the book 
 of life.'' Believe heartily in the ability of God to in- 
 troduce you into this state. What cannot God do for 
 you? His grace can illuminate the most palpable dark- 
 ness, pardon the deepest guilt, wash out the foulest 
 stains, and cleanse "from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit." In the accomplishment of man's purposes we 
 frequently perceive impediments, and obstacles thrown in 
 the way, which no human ability can surmount. But 
 what can impede the progress of theditine power, or ob- 
 struct the energies of his grace. When God speaks, it 
 is done, when he commands, it stands fast. And let your 
 faith be exercised also in the willingness of God, to 
 "sanctify you wholly,'' and to preserve your "whole 
 spirit, and soul and body blameless, unto the coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 2d. Go on unto perfection by a diligent attention to all 
 the means of grace. Faith does not destroy diligence, 
 but quickens and excites the mind to it. Because the 
 husbandman believes that his lands will produce a good 
 crop, he therefore ploughs up the soil, breaks the clods, 
 casts in the precious seed, and exercises long patience in 
 waiting for the harvest. To suppose the end will be se- 
 cured without the means, is presumption, and not faith; 
 faith as naturally and necessarily produces diligence, as 
 the cause produces the effect.. Therefore "give diligence 
 to make your calling and election sure." Be diligent in 
 the practice of self-examination; "search and try your- 
 
CHRISTIAN PKHFECTION. 
 
 225 
 
 selves,'' not by the standard of human opinions, nor 
 worldly maxims; but by the test of divine revelation; 
 weigh yourselves in the balance of the sanctuary; find 
 out all that is wrong within you; leave no latent evil un- 
 discovered, no secret sin undetected; "commune with your 
 own heart in your chamber and be still." Say with 
 David, "search me, O God, and know my heart, try me 
 and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked 
 way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Be 
 diligent in the practice of self-denial and mortification; 
 except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily 
 he cannot be a disciple of Christ; we have propensities 
 that must be checked, desires that must be denied, and 
 passions that must be controlled; and though the con- 
 trolment of an enemy may not ensure his destruction, yet 
 it will curb his will, circumscribe his reign and counter- 
 act his influence. Therefore strive to keep the body 
 under, "crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts.'' 
 Nothing tends more to increase your holy and heavenly 
 tempers, than the mortifying of your carnal propensities. 
 O say in the language of the poet, 
 
 "Yes my Redeemer they shall die, 
 
 My heart hath so decreed, 
 Nor will I spare those guilty things, 
 
 That made my Saviour bleed. 
 
 Be diligent in the practice of watchfulness; guard your 
 hearts against temptations; watch your thoughts that no 
 high minded, irascible or impure desires may lodge with- 
 in you; watch your words, that "no corrupt communica- 
 tion may proceed out of your mouth;'' and watch over 
 your actions, that you may incur no fresh guilt, nor in- 
 20* 
 
226 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 volve yourselves in any new condemnation. But above 
 all be diligent in prayer; every other duty is inefficacious 
 without this, and in the proper and constant practice of 
 this, every blessing is secured, essential to human hap- 
 piness, in time and eternity. 
 
 "Prayer makes tlie darken'd clouds withdraw, 
 Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw. 
 Gives exercise to faith and love, 
 Brings every blessing from above." 
 
 The office of sanctifying the soul, or perfecting it in 
 divine love, is attributed to the Spirit of God, who is 
 called a Holy Spirit; not only as he is essentially holy 
 in himself, but as he produceth in us all the works and 
 fruits of holiness, hence we "are washed, sanctified, and 
 justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
 Spirit of our God." And we are saved "by the wash- 
 ing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost;'' and the prayer of faith secures the assistance 
 of this spirit. "For if ye being evil, know how to give 
 good gifts to your children, how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that 
 ask him." How encouraging and consolatory is this 
 truth. O! what a motive for prayer! Then beseech the 
 Lord to give you this spirit, to sanctify your souls, to cut 
 off the entail of sin, to destroy the empire of the devil, 
 and to cleanse the thoughts of your hearts, that you may 
 perfectly love God, and worthily magnify his holy name. 
 And do it fervently; be deeply impressed with tlie im- 
 portance and necessity of securing the object you seek; 
 do not let devotion languish on your tongues, and your 
 prayers freeze on their passage; but rouse all your ener- 
 gies, awaken all your desires, and direct all your wishes 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 227 
 
 to the throne of grace, for it is the effectual fervent prayer 
 of a righteous man that availeth much. Do it importu- 
 nately, strive, agonize, and wrestle with God in all the 
 ardor of mighty prayer; cry out with Jacob, "I will not 
 let thee go unless thou bless me." Or with the poet, 
 
 "In vain thou strugglest to get free, 
 
 I never will unloose my hold. 
 Art thou the man that died for me? 
 
 The secret of thy love unfold. 
 Wrestling I will not let thee go, 
 Till I thy name thy nature know." 
 
 And do it constantly; be found in the practice of pray- 
 er, not only in the chapel or in the closet, but when you 
 go out and come in, when you lie down and rise up, for 
 the ears of God are always open to your prayers, and 
 the compassions of God always ready to answer your re- 
 quest. 
 
 3d. "Go on unfo perfection," under the influence of 
 expectation: not only believe for it, and pray for it, but 
 expect it, and expect it this hour, this moment. O! 
 look up to heaven and say, 
 
 "Why not now my God, my God, 
 
 Ready if thou always art, 
 Make in me thy mean abode. 
 
 Take possession of my heart; 
 If thou canst so greatly bow, 
 Friend of sinners why not now?" 
 
 By some unaccountable propensity in human nature, 
 we are disposed to expect promised blessings, at a dis- 
 tant period rather than the present time. The sinner 
 
228 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFKCTION. 
 
 who knows that inevitable ruin awaits his course of con- 
 duct, yet hesitates to turn now. The penitent, who 
 feels the necessity of obtaining pardon for all his sins, 
 instead of realizing the present blessings, looks forward 
 to some future^ and happier period for its reception. 
 And the believer who is conscious that God can make 
 him holy, and who desires holiness above every other 
 thing; yet, almost despairs of gaining it now; but why 
 is this? Can God be more willing to bestow this blessing 
 upon you to-morrow, than he is to day? Impossible! 
 "The Lord our God is one Lord.'' "He is one mind;" 
 he changeth not, and his will is as immutable as himself. 
 Do you defer the hope of receiving it now, under the im- 
 pression that you must strive more, and watch and pray 
 more, and then you may venture to expect to receive it? 
 Remember it is not by works of righteousness, lest any 
 man should boast; but grace, through faith that we are 
 saved. Mr. Fletcher observes, "that believers go on 
 unto perfection, as the disciples went to the other side 
 of the sea of Gallilee; they toiled some time very hard, 
 and with little success, but after they had rowed about 
 twenty-five, or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking 
 on the sea. He said to them it is I, be not afraid; then 
 they willingly received him into the ship, and immedi- 
 ately the ship was at the land whither they went; just 
 so we toil, till our faith discovers Christ in the promise, 
 and welcomes him into our hearts. '' O! that God may 
 raise our languid expectations, and revive our drooping 
 hopes, and give us to feel that now is the accepted time; 
 that now is the day of salvation; that all things are now 
 ready, and may we come to the marriage; "to a feast of 
 fat things, full of marrow, and of wines from the lees well 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 229 
 
 refined; and all without money and without price.'' To 
 those of you who ask whether you are to expect the 
 blessing of perfection, gradually or instantaneously: I 
 answer, the mind is prepared for its reception by a grad- 
 ual process, but there is a precise moment when the 
 work is completed; by hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness; following hard after God; and panting for 
 him, as the heart panteth for the water brooks, "we go 
 on towards perfection," but it remains for God to intro- 
 duce us into this state, by filling us with righteousness; 
 and sealing us by his spirit unto the day of redemption- 
 So the process of recovery goes gradually forward in a 
 disordered man, till a certain moment arrives when the 
 seeds of disease, are perfectly eradicated from the con- 
 stitution: and thus in the progress of vegetation there is 
 first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, 
 'till it is ripe for the harvest. Should any inquire, 
 "How are we to know when God has done this work 
 for us? I would reply to this by asking, how does a blind 
 man know when he gets his sight? — Or, a deaf man 
 when he gains his hearing? Or a slave when he obtains 
 his liberty? You will say, by the certain evidence which 
 these changes necessarily bring to his senses. And 
 when conviction for sin seized you, when "the sorrows 
 of death compassed you about, and the pains of hell took 
 hold upon you;" or when God justified you freely, burst 
 your chains asunder, and brought your souls out of pri- 
 son, how did you know it, but by the indubitable testimo- 
 ny which these important changes brought to the mind. 
 And if the spirit of God sets his seal upon the conscience, 
 and bears witness with our spirits, when we first become 
 his children, is it not reasonable to suppose, that this 
 
230 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 witness will be proportionably stronger, and brighter, as 
 we grow up into Christ our living head? "The path of 
 the just is as the shining light;" and will not that light 
 shine with more direct and refulgent brilliance, as it ap- 
 proaches towards the meridian than when it first dawned 
 upon the earth? I make no question but many deceive 
 themselves, and imagine that they have in possession, 
 what their tempers, words, and works declare they have 
 i not. But this no more proves that all are deceived who 
 profess it, than a poor man's professing to have great 
 wealth, proves that there is no such thing as wealth in 
 the world. 
 
 III. Let me call your attention to the motives, that 
 should urge you to go on unto perfection. 
 
 1st. This course of conduct perfectly harmonizes 
 with the divine will, and precisely in the same propor- 
 tion as you are obligated to accomplish the will of God, 
 so far you ought to be induced to go on unto perfection. 
 We may infer this from God's nature. He is an abso- 
 lutely perfect Being; his natural and moral attributes, 
 such as eternity, immensity, infinity, — holiness, right- 
 eousness, and truth, are all infinitely perfect. It was 
 God's will to create man in his own image, after his like- 
 ness, and while he stood in that state, he perfectly per- 
 formed the divine will concerning him. Sin entered in- 
 to the world, and defaced that image; man revolted from 
 his Maker and turned to his own way; but by "repent- 
 ance from dead works, and faith towards God," he turns 
 about and retraces his steps, and gets into God's way 
 again, and by going on unto perfection, he approximates 
 towards that primitive state of perfect holiness, which 
 man forfeited by his original oflience: and to imagine 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 231 
 
 that Christian believers can fully accomplish the divine 
 will without this, is not less preposterous, than to ima- 
 gine that Adam did the will of God, when he lost his 
 original perfection. But you need not decide this point 
 by mere inference; you have God's positive precepts 
 which direct you to this object, and more especially his 
 inviolable promises, and declarations, to ensure his wil- 
 lingness, to confer this ine:^;timable blessing upon you. 
 "Tiien (saith God by the prophet Ezekiel) will I sprinkle 
 clean wa'er upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all 
 your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. 
 A new heart also will 1 give you, and a new spirit will 
 I put within you," &c. "The Lord thy God (saith 
 Moses) will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy 
 seed, to love the Lord thy God, will all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul." "Christ loved the church, (saith St 
 Paul) and gave himself for it, that he might present it to 
 himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, 
 or any such thing, but that it might be holy and without 
 blemish. — Indeed while you credit the Bible, you cannot 
 but believe that it is the will of God, you should go on 
 unto perfection. And shall not this motive excite you to 
 do it? You owe your all to God; you live in his world, 
 you breath his air, you feed upon his bounty, and are 
 protected by his arm. It was his Son that redeemed 
 you from hell. His spirit that awakened you from sin. 
 It is his gospel that promises you forgiveness; and his 
 glory you expect to share to all eternity. O what vast 
 and extensive obligations are you under to God; obliga- 
 tions increasing every hour; whose number can never be 
 told, whose value can never be estimated, and whose 
 
232 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 debt never discharged, which of you that may not ex- 
 claim. 
 
 "O to grace how great a debtor, 
 Daily I'm constrained to be." 
 
 Are you asking "what shall I render to the Lord for 
 all his benefits towards me?" Lord what wouldst thou 
 have me to do? The answer is, "Go on unto perfection: 
 give to Cod tliy whole heart, and do his will in earth, 
 as it is done in heaven." 
 
 2d. You should be induced to comply with the advice 
 in the text, "and go on unto perfection,'' from the desira- 
 bleness of the object; even in the works of art, the nearer 
 a thing approaches to perfection, the more it is valued, 
 and applauded; and if religion be an inestimable trea- 
 sure, is it not highly desirable to possess this treasure in 
 perfection? Many of you have read Bunyan's inimita- 
 ble description of this state, termed by him, the land of 
 Beulah, into whicli his Pilgrims had happily entered, 
 and through which their path lay. "Here the air was 
 serene and pleasant, and here they heard continually 
 the singing of birds, saw every day the flowers appear 
 on the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the 
 land: in this country the sun shone night and day, where- 
 fore it was beyond tlie valley of the shadow of death, out 
 of the reach of giant Despair, neither could they so much 
 as see Doubting castle. Here they were within sight 
 of the city that tliey were going to, also, here met them 
 eomeof the inliabiianis tiiereof, for in this land the Shin- 
 ing Ones commonly walked, because it was on the bor- 
 der of heaven, here t lie contract was renewed between 
 the bride, and the bridegroom, and here they met with 
 
CHRISTIAN PEEFECTION. 
 
 abundance of what they had sought for in all their pil- 
 grimage; here they heard voices from out of the city, 
 loud voices, saying, "say ye to the daughter of Zion, 
 behold thy salvation cometh! Behold his reward is with 
 him; here all the inhabitants of the country called them 
 the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord." O! what 
 a desirable country is this to dwell in! 
 
 "A land of corn, and wine, and oil, 
 Favor'd with God's peculiar smile. 
 With every blessing blest." 
 
 Which of my hearers does not languish and sigh to be 
 there? Have you never stood like Moses, on the top of 
 Pisgah, and beheld by faith the promised land? A land 
 where you shall eat bread without scarceness, and not 
 lack any thing; a land which the Lord your God careth 
 for; where 
 
 "Rivers of milk and honey rise, 
 And all the fruits of paradise, 
 In endless plenty grow." 
 
 Will you not then go on to possess it.? Will you listen 
 to the suggestions of those who tell you there is no such 
 country, or of those who act the part of the dispirited 
 spies, and bring an evil report concerning the good land, 
 by representing the insuperable difliculties that lie in 
 the way? No! you should rather confidently say, "let 
 us go up at once and possess it." The eternal God is 
 thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; 
 and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and 
 shall say, destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety 
 21 
 
234 CHRISTIAN rERFECTION. 
 
 alone, the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of 
 corn and wine, also his heavens shall drop down dew. 
 
 3d. You should be induced to go on unto perfection 
 from a consciousness that this is the only certain preven- 
 tive of final apostacy. Apostacy from God is a crime 
 that has no parallel; its malignity rises in proportion to 
 the light we extinguish — the mercies we abuse — the 
 obligations we violate — and the heaven we (brfeit. The 
 inspired writers paint it in the darkest colors, and 
 brand it with the most odious epithets; it is "forsak- 
 ing the fountain of living waters, and hewing out cisterns, 
 broken cisterns, that hold no water.'' "Doing despite to 
 the spirit of grace.'' — "Counting the blood of the co 
 venant an unholy tiling." — "Turning from the holy com- 
 mandment delivered unto us." — "Making the light that 
 is in us become darkness, and drawing back to perdi- 
 tion.'' And do you ask who are guilty of this crime? 
 Why those described by tiie apostle in the verses suc- 
 ceeding the text, "who were once enlightened, and had 
 tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of 
 the Holy Ghost,'' but who by neglecting to goon unto 
 pcrfeciion, had fallen away, and crucified to themselves, 
 the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame; 
 and who instead of being like a fruitful field which the 
 Lord had blessed, were like the earth that beareth briars 
 and thorns, who were nigh unto cursing, whose end was 
 to be burned. And do you hope to escape this abomina- 
 ble crime of apostacy, and to obtain eternal salvation 
 without going forward to maturity in Christian holiness? 
 Alas! can the traveller reach the end of his journey, with- 
 out advancing in the way? Can the mariner make a 
 prosperous voyage, without steering his vessel to the 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 235 
 
 destined port? Can the warrior escape defeat and se- 
 cure victory who ceases to oppose the foe? Christiani- 
 ty is described in the New Testament as a contest, and 
 Christians as soldiers; they are enhsted under the cap- 
 tain of their salvation, invested with the armor of right- 
 eousness, and clad in the panoply of God. While they 
 <ro on unto perfection, the world is conquered, the devil 
 bruised under their feet, the enemies of their salvation 
 put to flight; victory, eternal victory awaits them, and 
 applauding angels are ready to bind the laurels round 
 their brow. But when they neglect to comply with the 
 advice in the text, the case is reversed; then their foes 
 triumph, the world resumes its seat in their heart, the 
 strong holds of sin, which were almost demolished, are 
 reared up again, the enemy intrenches himself within 
 their walls, resumes his armor, recovers his spoils, re- 
 establishes his dominion, and the last state of that man 
 is worse than the first. O! how intolerable is the hell 
 of apostates! for if "he that despised Moses's law, died 
 without merry, under two or three witnesses, of how 
 much sorer punishment, shall he be thought worthy, 
 who hath trodden under foot the Son of God." And can 
 vou wilfully and deliberately incur this punishment? 
 Can you bear "to dwell with devouring fire, and to lie 
 down in everlasting burnings?" Are you determined on 
 your own ruin? No! if you hope to escape the hideous 
 wreck of souls, then "give your mind sea-room, keep it 
 wide of earth, call every wind, eye the great pole star, 
 and make the land of life." 
 
 4th. "Let us go on unto perfection," as this alone 
 will secure permanent and satisfactory enjoyments. 
 Man was formed for enjoyment, and naturally and neces- 
 
236 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 sarily loves it; in all the climes of the earth, and among 
 all the gradations of society, from the monarch to the 
 beggar, enjoyment is universally esteemed, and invaria- 
 bly sought: but alas! how rarely found. Can the votaries 
 of wealth find it in hoarded heaps of glittering treasures, 
 perhaps unjustly wrested from the hand of industry, the 
 rust of which shall eat their flesh like fire? Can the com- 
 petitors for fame find it in vain and transitory titles which 
 time effaces, and death destroys? Can the dupes of 
 pleasure find it in "the midnight dances, or the public 
 show?'' Enjoyment, springing from worldly sources, is 
 in the language of scripture, a feeding "on ashes;'' which 
 not only shows a depraved appetite, but marks the 
 wretched shifts, to which those are reduced who spend 
 their money for that which is not bread. But in the 
 possession of the perfect love of God the enjoyment is 
 rational, such as the understanding approves, and such 
 as eternal reason will justify. It is pure, not arising 
 from a heart overcharged with surfeiting and drunken- 
 ness, and evinced by foolish talking and jesting, but 
 sprmging from a pure heart, a good conscience, and 
 faith unfeigned. It is inexpressible, eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
 man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
 love him. What language can describe the enjoyment 
 that flows from a heart filled with the fulness of God; 
 a temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in — where sin has 
 no part — the devil no dominion — the strong man cast 
 out — his goods spoiled, and his empire overthrown. 
 How pleasingly is this expressed by the poet, which 
 those who are only seeking this state may venture to 
 sing: 
 
CHRISTIAN PEHFECTION 
 
 237 
 
 "O glorious hope of perfect love. 
 It lifts me up to things above, 
 
 It bears on eagle's wings; 
 It gives my ravished soul a taste, 
 And makes me for some moments feast, 
 
 With Jesus' priests and kings." 
 
 5th. Let us cro on unto perfection, as this is the only 
 way to secure a qualification for eternal glory. Does 
 the Bible describe heaven as a place? Then it is called a 
 holy place, a holy hill, and a holy city, into which no- 
 thing can enter that defileth. Does it describe its inhab- 
 itants? They are the holy angels, holy prophets, holy 
 apostles, and the spirits ofjust men made perfect. Does 
 it describe their employment? They rest not, day nor 
 night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 
 which was, and is, and is to come. Does it describe 
 the qualification or meetness for this employment? It is 
 holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. And 
 as the perfection we preach, is a perfection of holiness; 
 how important is the advice in the text, and how much 
 does it behove us to put it into practice and do it promptly. 
 Life "is even as a vapor," our days are swifter than a 
 post; we are going with impetuous steps to eternity, and 
 shall we not with equal pace go on unto perfection? Shall 
 time hasten forward while the sole end for which it is 
 given is totally forgotten, or lightly esteemed? While the 
 outward man dies daily, shall not the inward man be re- 
 newed day by daj? May I not indulge a hope that some 
 of you are going on; you are "leaving the things which 
 are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are 
 before." O be encouraged! the good of the land is before 
 you, and much of it yet remains to be possessed. Stagger 
 
'^'''5 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 not at the promises through unbelief, the darkness shall 
 be light before you, the rough places smooth, and the 
 mountain become a plain. According to your faith, so 
 shall it be done unto you. Have any of my hearers en- 
 tered into this Vest? Then suffer the word of exhortation, 
 "Whereto you have already attained, walk by the same 
 rule, mind the same thmg;" your warfare is not yet ac- 
 complished: you are still in an enemy's country, where 
 "your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh 
 about, seeking whom he may devour." By his influence 
 Adam lost even his original perfection; yours may also 
 be forfeited. You have bodies that love ease and court 
 indulgence: you have senses that may become avenues 
 to temptation; and you are the subjects of much ignorance 
 through which the enemy may take advantage of you. 
 "Therefore, keep your hearts with all diligence," you 
 know how you were brought into liberty, walk still by the 
 same rule, mind the same thing; to suppose that you 
 may now be less frequent in prayer, less watchful over 
 yourselves or less zealous in the cause of God; is an 
 error against which you should guard with all possible 
 circumspection. Remember your security and comfort 
 still depend on your going forward; you may be now 
 perfect in love, but your race of Christian duties, is not 
 yet perfected; you have more to do, more to suffer, and 
 more to enjoy. O! that you may be emulous to stand 
 perfect, and complete in all the will of God; and finally, 
 may you be presented faultless before the presence of 
 his glory with exceeding joy, and join the blood-bought, 
 blood-washed bands, who triumphantly ascribe to the 
 only wise God our Saviour, glory and majesty, dominion 
 and power, forever and ever. — Amen. 
 
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