TRUE METHOD
.7,
OF
PROMOTING  PEFE-i X         L nT
fI __ _)   - _  JT
FROM DEBATES IN THE NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING
OF THE METHODIST-EPISC(OPAL CHURCH,
ON THE QUESTION,
WHAT ARE THE BEST METHODS OF PROMOTING THE
EXPERIENCE OF PERFECT LOVE?
THIRD EDITION.
NEW YORK:
FOSTER, & PALMER, JR., 1I4 BIBLE HOUSE.
1867. 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by
FOSTER, d& PALMER, JR.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
-B \,
63 q
.-,T 7
BOSTON: CORNHILL PRESS.
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY ORO. C. RAND & AVERT.
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
THIS book contains a part of the debate recently held in
the New-York Preachers' Meeting on the best methods of
pronlotinlg the experience of perfect love.  The question
was suggested to the meeting by the pastor of St. Paul's
Church, in this city, and eviently without any intention
of provoking the lengthy and pungent discussion which subsequently ensued; but the question was no sooner opened
than a veteran critic on the subject of Christian Perfection
gave the whole thing a controversial aspect, and the unwelcome gauntlet had to be taken up by the friends of this
glorious experience. The final result of the protracted discussion was highly satisfactory to those who believe, with
the venerable Wesley, that "the Methodists were a people
raised up to spread scriptural holiness over these lands." I
believe that it was at first intended to publish in one volume
all the addresses that were made in the debate; and I judge
that such an arrangement would' have added to the value of
the book, - it would, at least, have shown moi'e fully the appositeness and power of the speeches here published: but
the omission is to be less regretted, since two of the leadimg addresses, which are here antagonized, were very fully
iii
11
-I! 
*  INTRODUCTION.
reported in "The Christian Advocate."  The whole debate
was characterized with dignity and research, and was very
creditable to the brethren who participated in it.
The ministers whose addresses are here published are well
known in our church. They are all of them, with one excep tion, - Rev. Samuel Dunn, - now in the active and successful pastoral work; and Mr. Dunn brings to his address the
weight of an honored ministry, running through half a century of Methodism.  I presume that none of the addresses
were originally intended for publication: they were all the
immediate outgrowth of the occasion; but they were found
to embody so much experience and observation, that the
speakers have yielded to the opinions of their brethren, and
given them in this form to the lovers of holiness. This doctrine of perfect love, since its glorious revival in the Wesleyan reformation, has been obliged to stand the shock of
battle for a hundred years; but it has constantly deepened
its hold upon the conscience of the religious world, and
to-day gathers to its standard a great army of precious
souls, that out of much weakness are perfecting strength,
and, in all love and humility and teachableness, are determined to fight the battle through, "looking unto Jesus,"
until glory shall crown what grace has begun.
NEW YORK, July 1, 1867.
G. W. W.
iv
e
4,i. 
I.
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION.
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
— OW we may best promote the experience of perfect
__ love, is most undoubtedly a question of unusual importance. There has been no subject before this meeting of
greater interest, or more deserving our prayerful, candid, and
patient attention. The form in which the question is presented assumes the doctrine involved, and suggests for our
consideration the practical inquiry of how we may promote
the experience that it inculcates. This, at first glance,
seems to exclude the doctrinal discussion of the subject, and
to restrict our inquiries to those incidental and non-essential views in which we may widely differ.  It is presumed
we are all agreed in relation to certain general and fundamental features of the subject; but, as to the method of
teaching the doctrine, and the most successful plan of leading our people to its enjoyment, there is likely to be a great.
diversity of opinion. It may therefore be profitable for us
to speak out with great freedom upon the question under
consideration. Our views, to a certain extent, will be antagonistic; and yet, in all that is essential, we may be of
"one heart and one mind."   I apprehend, those of us who
are supposed to occupy opposite extremes, upon comparing
views, will be found to be much nearer to each other than
1I                            5
-tl 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
many imagine.  Should this prove to be the result, our discussion will be a decided benefit to all concerned. The
speeches already made have been so free from all offensive
personalities, and so obviously in the spirit of "brotherly
love," that we may confidently hope the cause of truth will
be advanced, and our own souls refreshed and edified bv
the discussion.
I cannot, however, sympathize with the idea that it is
profitable to freely discuss any and every doctrine belonging
to our creed.  I incline to the opinion that the church is
called to assert, rather than to argue, the truth. What truth
is we are taught in the written Word; and what that Word
teaches we have embodied in our creed, to which we all
have intelligently and voluntarily assented. Our business,
as ministers of Christ, therefore, is to proclaim the truth,
and urge the world to believe it and be saved. It must be
obvious to all, that, if we would attain the experience of
sanctification, it is highly important to have a correct understanding of the doctrine. There is a closer and more intimate relation between these than many imagine. The
tendency to mere dogmatism is a danger which we must
endeavor to avoid. Our people very much need instruction upon this subject. Yet I am persuaded they will hear
us to greater profit if we present this theme as a phase
of religious life to be enjoyed, rather than a creed to be defended. Hence I desire to be understood as not attempting so much to discuss as to state the doctrine, and to set
forth before you what, in my opinion, is the best method
of teaching Christian holiness to those who attend our ministry.
The doctrine, in some respects at least, has been peculiar
to Methodism. I do not mean by this that it has been taught
by no other denomination than our own; yet there has al
6 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
ways been such directness and perspicuity in the terms we
have used in presenting it to the mind, and such earnestness and fidelity in our endeavors to urge its attainment,
that it has generally been known as a prominent and distinguishing feature of our theology. Justification by faith,
and the witness of the Spirit, we have held in common with
other Orthodox churches. But the doctrine under consideration has ever been a peculiarity in our religious ideas.
Hehce, it may be found in our hymns, our rituals, our history and biography, and all our standard authorities. No
one who has studied either of them can have failed to perceive this. It will be observed I do not pretend to argue
that such a state of experience is attainable. It is too late
in the day to entertain that inquiry. It has been long settled among us that the Scriptures declare, "The blood of Jesus Christ our Lord cleanseth from all sin;" and that it is
the imperative duty and common privilege of all believers
to be holy. The question is not whether we can, but
rather how we may, be "perfect in love;" and how we
may lead others to the same enjoyment.
If we would lead our people to this experience, we most
certainly should give them a correct idea of its nature and
necessity. What sanctification is; and how it may be obtianed, are two very different questions; and yet they are
intimately connected.  In order that we may obtain this
great salvation, it is obviously very important we should
understand what it implies, and what it includes. For
want of this knowledge many have erred, and, turning aside
from the path of duty, have made "shipwreck of faith and
a good conscience." To successfully pursue an object of
moral and religious endeavor, it must be definitely in view.
It may not be necessary that it should be clearly understood in all its relations and bearings. Yet it must be dis
7 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
tinctly before the mind as an object of pursuit and possible
possession. However elaborately and learnedly we may
treat this subject, we will accomplish nothing if we do not
bring it to view as something specific, well-defined, and at tainable.
In the first place, we should present this as a state of grace
distinct from, and in addition to, regeneration. We are re generated at the time of our justification, but we are not
then "'sanctified wholly." This is a work that subsequent lyis wrought ill us. It is a work done for believers. It
was so taught by Wesley, Fletcher, Clarke, Watson, Benson, Coke, Asbury, Garrettson, Abbott, and others who
were associated with them in the early history of Methodism. A similar view has been taken by all our more recent
writers, -such  as  Merritt, Bangs,  Foster,  Peck,  etc.
So far as I know, no well-established Methodist writer has
ever held or taught otherwise. I- am aware that some,
without much hesitation, set aside the teaching of these
men. I am free to say to you, that I defer thereto with a
respect - and veneration which lead me to be very cautious,
when I presume to differ firom them.  I am well persuaded
they fully understood the subject, and their statement of it
was so clear and conclusive that we cannot do better than
to follow their teaching. All these deemed the point in
hand a fundamental idea. Mr. Wesley, in his sermon on
"Repentance in Believers," says,
"We  may learn the mischievousness of that opinion, that we are
wholly sanctified when we are justified; that our hearts are then
cleansed from all sin. It is true, we are then delivered from the dominion of outward sin; and, at the same time, the power of inward
sin is so broken that we need no longer follow, or be led by it: but it
is by no means true that inward sin is then totally destroyed; that the
root of pride, self-will, anger, love of the world, is then taken out of
8 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
the heart. At the very moment of justification we are born again: in
that instant we experience that inward chance from darkness into
marvellous light; from the image of the brute and the devil, into the
image of God; from the earthly, sensual, devilish mind, to the mind
which was in Christ Jesus. But are we then entirely changed? Are
we wholly transformed into the image of him that created us? Far
from it: we still retain a depth of sin; and it is the consciousness of
this which constrains us to groan for a full deliverance to him that is
mighty to save. Hence it is that those believers who are not convinced of the deep corruption of their hearts, or but slightly, and as it
were notionally, convinced, have little concern about entire sanctification."
Fletcher speaks of it as a blessing for "adult believers,"
as distinguished firom penitents seeking pardon. Dr. Foster, in his work on "Christian Purity," p. 69, says, " Regeneration is not sanctification: the merely regenerate are
not sanctified; they are not entirely freed from sin; they
are not perfect in love." Peck, in his " Christian Perfection," p. 353, makes this inquiry: "Who are those among
us who are concerned  for this blessing of perfect love?
Are they those who have never been justified? or those
who, having been justified, have fallen from that state?
Not these, surely; but those who retain their justification,
and do honor to the Christian name; those who are most
active and useful in the church.   These are the persons
who are the most athirst for the blessing of a clean heart
and entire consecration to God." Thile more clear and satisfactory our evidence and assurance of justification, the
'more earnestly do we cry out "Create in me a clean heart,
O God! and renew a right spirit within me." Our longing
desire for this is only intensified, as with fidelity and increasing zeal we pass onward in the path of duty. None
are so desirous of entire sanctification as those who are most
fully persuaded of their justification.
At the time we were inducted into the ministerial office,
9 
10      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
the question was propounded to each of us, " Have you
faith in Christ?"  We  all gave an affirmative response, by
which, in the most solemn manncr, we were understood to
declare the fact of ourjustification through the infinite merit
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then followed these searching
inquiries: "Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you
groaning after it?" Doubtless all of us well remember when,
with trembling yet hopeful interest, we answered to each.
The solemnity of that moment can never be forgotten.
The language of our hymns, the teaching of all our biographical presentations of this subject, and the uniform testimony of experience, is to the same effect. It is truly
wonderful how, in this particular, the experience of all who
have professed this great salvation harmonizes. Their declarations most certainly are entitled to credit. The facts
which they aver are a full and decisive answer to all opposing theories.
The distinction between regeneration and entire sanctification is more in degree than in kind,- more in quantity
than in quality. Indeed, when regenerated, men, in a certaim  sense, are sanctified; but they are not " sanctified
wholly;" they are not made "perfect in love."  In teaching the doctrine of holiness, this idea should be very prominent, if we desire our teaching may lead to the experience
contemplated. In stating this difference we must not,
however, undervalue justification. This should be ever
kept in view as a marvellous work, wrought for us and also
within us. All who are justified, and retain their justification, will undoubtedly be saved. It should, however, be
remembered, that justification can only be maintained by
going on to entire sanctification. No better motto for the
Christian life can be adopted than this, "Onward and upward." 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
In the second place, we should teach our people that
sanctification is the work of the Holy Ghost. There never
was a period in our history when it was more needful to insist upon this point. I have looked with profound concern
at the tendency among us to ascribe it to some other cause
or agency. It is the work of the Comforter in us and for
us. If sanctified at all, in the true sense of that term, the
work must be done by omnipotent grace. I have nowhere
seen a more lucid statement of this view than that given by
Foster in his " Christian Purity," p. 45. After giving
some views from which he dissents, the author goes on to
say that sanctification is "an immediate or instantaneous
work, to be attained by the agency of the Holy Spirit,
through faith, at any time when the requisite faith is exercised, and to be enjoyed during life; distinct, in opposition
to the idea that it is mere regeneration, holding it to be
something more and additional; instantaneous, in opposition
to the idea of growth gradually to maturity or ripeness,
holding that, although it is maturity of Christian character,
ripeness of the graces, and though there is progress toward
it, yet that its attainment is not a mere ripeness, ensuing
by gradual growth, but it is by the direct agency of the
Holy Ghost, and instantaneously wroughtn the soul, however long the soul may have been in progressing toward it."
The importance of this view cannot be exaggerated. There
can be no sanctification without the Holy Spirit, by whose
influence the heart must be purified, and filled with love.
It is the peculiar and exclusive work of the Comforter.
He accomplishes and attests it. By his almighty power
the "cleansing blood" is applied, and the soul is made
"pure and firee firom sin." Hence sanctification has frequently been designated the " baptism of fire," and " power from on high."
11 
12      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
In teaching our people, it is also important that we constantly keep before them the fact that this is a work that is
wrought in us in answer to our faith, and may be accomplished now and in an instant.  If by faith, of course it may
be now; and, if now, it may be ill an instant. The religious world seem to have become fully convinced of the
doctrine of justification by faith, but are not so clearly
persuaded of sanctification through the same medium.  We
need to be often reminded of this. Our minds readily fall
into the error of salvation by works.  It is necessary to
carefully guard against this.' Mr. Wesley's teaching on
this point was exceedingly clear and direct. In his sermon
on the Scripture Way of Salvation he says,
"I have continually testified (for these five and twenty years), in private and in public, that we are sanctified as well as justified by feith;
and, indeed, the one of those great truths does exceedingly illustrate
the other. Exactly as we are justified by faith, so are we sanctified
by faith. Faith is the condition, and the only condition, of sanctification, exactly as it is of justification. No man is sanctified till he believes; every man, when he believes, is sanctified.
Neither growth, experience, nor development may be
substituted for this.  It is by simnl)le faith, - faith  h the
"all-cleansing bled."  In saying we are sanctified through
faith, it is not meant that we must believe we are sanctified
in order to be sanctified. This is absurd. The fact of our
sanctification is in no sense an object of faith. That, when
it transpires, becomes to us a matter of knowledge. Thle
faith by which we are fully saved is based on the atonement.  It has been  well defined to be "looking unto
Jesus." There is most assuredly a certain state of facts of
which we Blecome conscious before we put forth that trust
which brings the promised grace. These are all included
in the term " consecration," by which is meant entire ded 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
ication to God,- a complete giving up of the soul, body,
time, talents, influence, and all to the service and glory of
God.  Having made this consecration, we  are, as it is
sometimes expressed, " on believing ground."   We  may
then claim the promise, not because we have made the consecration, but because of the all-sufficient mirits of the
atonement.  This is the method of salvation as inculcated
by experience and the word of God.
In regard to the nature of the faith necessary to obtain
perfect purity, it will be found to be essentially the same
as that which we exercised when we sought and found pardon. It is not a mere opinion, embracing the truth of any
particular doctrine or promise; but a confiding trust in God,
through the infinite merit of the atonement, that hlie now
saves, and saves to the uttermost. Some are perplexed at
this point as to what they must believe. Mr. Wesley, in
reply to the inquiry, " What is that faith whereby we are
sanctified?" says,
"It is a divine evidence and conviction, first, that God hath promised it in the Holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this,
there is no moving one step further. Secondly, that what God hath
promised he is able to perform. Thlirdly, that he is able and willing to
do it now.  To this confidence, that God is both able and willing, to
sanctify us now, there needs to be added one thing more, - a divine evidence and conviction that he doeth it.  In that hour it is done.  God
says to the inmost soul,'According to thy faith, be it unto thee!'
Then the soul is pure from every spot of sin; it is clean' from all
unrighteousness.' "-Vol. i. p. 390.
The.faith of the well-instructed believer is not based
upon his experience, however clear and bright that mnay be.
His experience is the fruit of his faith.. Hle does not believe because he feels, but he feels because he believes.
Our faith in God miust ever go before, and rest, not upon
our emotions, but upon the infallible word of God, which
2
13 
14      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
will endure when heaven and earth have passed away. In
nothing connected with this subject do our people more
need instruction: they are so much inclined to trust in
their feelings. Hence their faith is often feeble and unsteady. To be vigorous and enduring, our faith must fix
its eye on tte atonement and promises, leaning on the one,
and accrediting the other. Nothing can be more safe than
to believe that God for Christ's sake fulfils his gracious
word.'
Another point which we should urge in teaching this
doctrine is, that this work may be wrought now.  We  are
generally inclined to the opinion, that between our justification and sanctification there must necessarily be an extended period of many months or years, or wellnigh a
whole lifetime. This is a most grievous error, and a fruitful source of much embarrassment and delay to those aspiring to the higher life of the soul.  Many very sincere and
devout believers have continued much longer in the "wilderness of sin" than they would have done, had they been
taughlt to look for the "great salvation" every moment.
Mr. Wesley is very definite and earnest on this point. He
says,
"Every one, though born of God in an instant, yea, and sanctified
in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows, by slow degrees, both after the
former and the latter change. But it does not follow from thence that
there must be a considerable tract of time between the one and the
other.  A year or a month is the same with God as a thousand.   It is
therefore our duty to pray and look for full salvation every day, every
hour, every moment, without waiting till we have either done or suffered more.  Why should not this be the accepted time? " -  Vol. vi.
p. 764.  In the "Journal" we read, "Many  (at Macclesfield)  believed that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from all sin. I spoke
to these (forty in all) one by one. Sofime of them said they received
that blessing ten days, some seven, some four, some three days, after
they found peace with God; and two of them the next day." - Vol. 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
iv. p. 135.   A  remarkable instance is that of Grace Paddy,  who
was "convinced of sin, converted to God, and renewed in love within
twelve hours."- Vol. iv. p. 219.  Once more: "With God one day
is as a thousand years.  It plainly follows ttat the quantity of time
is nothing to him. Centuries, years, months, days, hours, and moments are exactly the same. Consequently, he can as well sanctify in
a day after we are justified as a hundred years. There is no difference at all, unless we suppose him to be such a one as ourselves.
Accordingly we see, in fact, that some of the most unquestionable witnesses of sanctifying grace were sanctified within a few days after they
were justified." - Vol. vii. p. 14.  No wonder  that he exclaims,
"Oh! why do we not encourage all to expect this blessing every hour,
from the moment they are justified!" - Vol. iv. p. 451.
A present salvation has ever been a prominent Methodistic idea.  We cry out with holy confidence and triumph,
"Behold, now is the accepted time! behold, now is the day
of salvation!"  Perhaps to no feature of our peculiar method
of public teaching are we so much indebted for success as
this.  Of course, the primary cause of all our success has
ever been the all-powerful influence of the Holy Ghost.
Yet our persistent reiteration of the doctrine of a present,
immediate salvation has been wonderfully owned of God.
It is, however, occasion of regret that we do not so generally apply it to the sanctification of believers as we do to
the justification of the ungodly. Had we as earnestly and
constantly pressed the church on this point as we have the
impenitent world, the results of our toil would have been
vastly greater.   Assuredly, believers should place before
the world an example in this matter.   We  may not with
any consistency chide them for their unbelief and procrastination, so long as these evils are so widely prevalent
among us.  Dr. Clarke says,  "' Every penitent is exhorted to believe on the Lord Jesus, that he
may receive remission of sins. He does not, he cannot, understand
that the blessing thus promised is not to be received to-day, but at
15 
16       NEW-YORK RELIGIOUS MEETING.
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 be received. For, as the work of cleansing and renewing the heart is the worl of God, his almighty power can perform it
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And, as it is this moment our
d(luty 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 hlie wills that we should in this moment love him. Therefore
we may justly say,' Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.' He who in the beginning 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 face of Jesus Christ. This moment
therefore we may be emptied of sin, filled with holiness, and become
truly happy."- Theology, p. 208.
Its instantaneous character should also be pressed upon
the people. They are unhappily influenced by the gradlualism sometimes taught.  If we would induce them to attain the experience, we will find it useful to urge tl-hemn to
look for it every moment. They will be tardy enouglh, notwvithstanding all our efforts to urge them onward.  There
is not necessarily any issue between the gradual and instantaneous character of this work. Up to a certain point, in
some cases, it may be gradual; but at that point, in all cases,
it becomes instantaneous.  So I think the " fathers'; among
us taught.  Clarke, in his " Theology," is very decided in
his support of the doctrine of instantaneous sanctification.
On page 208, he says, "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 puriification
fiomin all sin as for an instantaneous pardon. Neither the
seriatim pardon  nor gjradatin  purification exists in the
Bible." It must be kept in mind, however, that the questionI we are discussing is not whether or not entire sanctification is gradual, or whether it is both gradual and instantaneous. Our inquiry is, What is the best method of 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
presenting this subject to the people? Are we so likely to
lead them into the enjoyment contemplated by keeping the
idea of gradualism before their ainds as if we continually
admonish them it may be done in an instant?  I apprelihnd, in all cases wlere any special success hlas been given
to the teaching of this doctrine, it has been whlere the
instantaneous character of the work has been made very
prominent.
Mr. Fletcher, in speaking on this subject, uses the follow-.
in(g eloquent and earnest language: -
"If a momentary display of Christ's bodily glory could in an instant
turn Saul the blaspheming, bloody persecutor into Paul the praying,
gentle apostle; if a sudden sight of Christ's hands could in a moment
root up from Thomas's heart that detestable resolution,' I will not be lieve,' and produce that deep confession of faith,'My Lord and my
God!' what cannot the display of Christ's spiritual glory operate in a
believing soul, to which he manifests himself' according to that power
whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself'?  Again: if
Christ's body could, in an instant, become so glorious on the mount
that his very garments partook of the sudden irradiation, became not
only free from every spot, but also' white as the light, shining exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on the earth could whiten them;'
and if our bodies shall be changed, if this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and if this mortal shall put on immortality,'in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye,'- why may not our believing souls, when
they fully submit to God's terms, be fully changed, fully turned from
the power of Satan unto God? When the Holy Ghost says,' Now is
the day of salvation,' does he exclude salvation from heart iniquity?
If Christ now deserves fully the name of JESUS, because he fully
saves his people from their sins; and if now the gospel trumpet sounds,
and sinners arise from the dead, - why should we not, upon the performance of the condition, be changed in a moment from indwelling sin
to indwelling holiness? Why should we not pass in the twinkling of an
eye, or in a short time, from indwelling death to indwelling life? "Vol. ii. p. 63 7.
Mr. Wesley also held this view.   He  iced repeatedly
2*
17 
18      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
insisted upon it. Speaking of the large numbers who entered into " the rest of perfect love," about 1760, he says,
"Not trusting to the testimony of others, I carefully examined most
of these myself; and every one (after the most careful inquiry, I have
not found one exception either in Great Britain or Ireland) hasdeclared that his deliverance from sin was instantaneous; that the change
was wrought in a moment." - Vol. ii. p. 223.   But "be the change
instantaneous or gradual, see that you never rest till it is wrought in
your owvn soul, if you desire to dwell with God in glory." -lb.  "As
to the manner, I believe this perfection is always wrought in the soul
by a simple act of faith, - consequently, in an instant."- Vol. vi. p.
532 (in 1767).  At another time ]e says," Perhaps it may be gradually wrought in some; I mean in this sense, they do not advert to the
particular moment wherein sin ceases to be. But it is infinitely desirable, were it the will of God, that it should be done instantaneously;
that the Lord should destroy sin by the breath of his mouth, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And so he generally does,- a
plain fact, of which there is evidence enough to satisfy any unprejudiced person. Thou, therefore, look for it every moment! Look for
it in the way above described, - in all those good works whereunto thou
art created anew in Christ Jesus. Look for it every day, every hour,
every moment. Why not this hour, this moment? Certainly you
may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token
you may surely know whether you seek it by faith or by works  If by
works, you want something to be done ftrst, before you are sanctified.
You think, I must first be or do thus or thus. Then you are seeking
it by works unto. this day.  If you seek it by faith, you may expect it
as you are; and if as you are, then expect it now. It is of importance
to observe that there is an inseparable connection between these three
points, - expect it by faith, expect it as you are, and expect it now!
To deny one of them is to deny them all." - Way of Salvation, vol. i.
p. 391.
It would also promote the experience of this blessing, if
we taught and encouraged those who enjoy to profess it.
We have always been a witnessing church.   Having instituted class-meetings, love-feasts, and various other methods
of giving testtny for God, we may not now consistently 
0
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
doubt the propriety of a clear and definite profession of
our faith. We have thoroughly proven the utility of these
institutions.  They provide an opportunity for giving testimony, and are an integral, an essential feature of our
economy. We have ever held it to be a duty and a benefit
to speak one to another of the deep things of God. Mr.
Fletcher speaks of having several times lost the blessing
of "perfect love," because he was induced to decline bearing' testimony. After the painful teaching thus received,
he resolved to bear witness of the mighty grace on all
suitable occasions. This "purpose he faithfully adhered to,
the balance of his life, and retained a clear evidence of
inward purity until he passed from earth away. Can we
do better than to follow his teaching and imitate his
example?  We shall have no difficulty in determining this
point.
Mr. Wesley's opinions and practice may be learned from
the following quotations from his writings. In a letter to
Mrs. Bennis, he says,
"One reason why those who are saved from sin should freely declare
it to believers is because nothing is a stronger incitement to them to
seek after the same blessing. And we ought, by every possible means,
to press every serious believer to forget the things which are behind,
and with all earnestness go on to perfection. Indeed, if they are not
thirsting after this, it is scarcely possible to keep what they have: they
can hardly retain any power of faith, if they are not panting after
holiness. Now, certainly, if God has given you this light, he did not
intend that you should hide it under a bushel. It is good to conceal
the secrets of a king, but it is good to tell the loving kindness of the
Lord. Every one ought to declare what God has done for his soul,
and that with all simplicity." - Vol. vii. p. 50.
In writing to a friend with reference to the exercises of
his own mind, he uses the following language: -
" Many years since, I saw that'without holiness no man shall 8co
19 
20      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
the Lord.' I began following after it, and inciting all with whom I
had an)y intercourse to do the same. Ten years after, God gave mze a
clearer view than I had before of the way how to attain this, -namely,
by faith in the Son of God. And immediately I declared to all, We are
saved from sin, we are made holy by faith!  This I testifed in private,
in public, in print; and God confirmed it by a thousand witnesses. I
have continued to declare this for above thirty years; and God hath
continued to confirm the word of his grace." - Vol. vii. p. 38.
Elsewhere he says, -
"It requires a great degree of watchfulness to retain the perfect love
of God; and one great means of -retaining it is frankly to declare what
God has given you, and earnestly to exhort all the believers you meet
wvith to follow after full salvation." - Vol. vii. p. 13. At a love-feast,
SMr. C. "related the manner how God perfected him in love, - a testimony which is always attended with a peculiar blessing." -Vol. iv.
p. 458.  To Miss Briggs, who was " but a little child, just a babe in
the pure love of Christ," he writes,  "Undoubtedly it would be a
cross to declare what God has done for your soul; nay, and afterwards
Satan would accuse you on the account, telling you,' You did it out
of pride.' Yea, and some of your sisters would blame you, and perhaps put the same construction upon it. Nevertheless, if you do it
with a single eye, it will be well-pleasing to God." - Vol. vii. p. 103.
In the "Plain Account" he states it thus: "It would be advisable
not to speak of it to them that know not God (it is most likely it
would only provoke them to contradict and blaspheme), nor to others,
without some particular reason, without some good in view. And then
he should have especial care to avoid all appearance of boasting; to
speak with the deepest humility and reverence, giving all the glory to
God.   By silence he might avoid many crosses which will naturally
and necessarily ensue, if he simply declare, even  among believers,
what God has wrought in his soul. If, therefore, such a one were to
confer with flesh and blood, he would be entirely silent. But this could
not be done with a clear conscience, for undoubtedly he ought to speak.
Men do not light a candle to put it under a bushel; much less does the
All-wise God. He does not raise such a monument of his power and
love to hide it from all mankind. Rather, he intends it as a general
blessing to those who are simple of heart. He designs thereby, not
barely the happiness of that individual person, but the animating and
a
I 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. S. INSKIP.
encouraging others to follow after the same  blessing.  His will is,
'that many shall see it' and rejoice,' and put their trust in the Lord.'
Nor does any thing under heaven more quicken the desires of those
who are justified than to converse with those whom they believe to
have experienced a still higher salvation. This places that salvation
full in their view, and increases their hunger and thirst after it,- an
advantage which must have been entirely lost, had the person so saved
buried himself in silence." - Vol. vi. p. 502.
These quotations are ample to show the opinions, and
indicate the practice, of Mr. Wesley. Of course the teach ingr of this eminent man is authoritative only so far as it
may be sustained by the Word of God. I confess, however, that upon this subject I cannot but hesitate to differ in judgment from men of such profound wisdom and
eminent piety. I do not defer to them as infallible guides.
Yet it requires more boldness of thought than I can claim,
to make issue with them upon a theme they so well understood and so definitely declared.
*  This great blessing is the peculiar want of our church at
this time. Many have talked much of improving our system.  In its general characteristics, that is all we  can
desire.  Being, however, of human origin and device, it is
unquestionably susceptible of improvement. Some things
may be modified, and others may be set aside. Yet in all
its fundamental fbatures it is just what we need; and, properly operated, it always gives the most ample proof of its
adaptation and efficiency. The reform we need is not in
the system, but in the manner of working it.  We  have
money, men, and influence, - social, political, and religious.
All the varied elements of denominational strength and
prosperity are at our commnand. That we may use them
vigorously, however, we must have this "baptism of fire,"
and remember that our mission is to'spread scriptural
holiness through these lands." Dr. Stevens, the popular
21
0 
22      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
and learned historian of our church, says, "The  doctrine
of personal sanctification was, in fine, the great potential
idea of Methodism. It not only gave it life and energy,
by inspiring its congregations with devout and transforming aspirations, but it was the precise sentiment needed as
the basis of its ministry. Nothing short of entire self-sacrifice could consist with the duties and privations of that
ministry; and, according to their doctrine of perfection,
entire consecration was the preliminary of entire sanctification. These holy men, then, in making an entire public
sacrifice of themselves, did so as a part of an entire consecration to God, for the purpose of their own entire personal sanctification, as well as their usefulness to others."
If the ministrv and laity of this day be thus consecrated,
we shall be prepared to act well our part in the coming
struggle between true Christianity and the allied forces of
Romanism, Ritualism, and Rationalism. In this mighty
conflict, which is even now upon us, we shall need the
"whole armor" of light.  To keep our proper position
in the army of the King of saints, we must be endowed
with this "power from on  high."  It can  be attained.
We may, and therefore we ought, to receive it now. Let
us earnestly and constantly pray that the great outpouring
may speedily come. Then, with a clear and steady testiminony of the cleansing power of his blood, and inspired by
its glorious experience, we shall go forth as a triumphant
hlost, shouting aloud our battle-cry, "The  sword of the
Lord and of Gideon!"
0 
II.
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AN INSTANTANEOUS
BLESSING.
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
r  HE  text of the question conveys a presumption.   It
reads "What are the best methods of promoting the
experience of perfect love," not best methods of establishing the doctrine. It presumes the establishment of the
doctrine in our belief, and hearty indorsement of it in our
preaching.  This presumption is well-grounded; for that
which is the corner-stone doctrine of Methodism cannot be
a loose and doubtful dogma, hanging as a drag-weight on
the minds of her ministers and prophets. That which,
before many witnesses, we all once professed to be " groaninmg after" cannot be to us "a cunningly devised fable,"
but an established doctrine of the gospel. We stand
committed, therefore, before the church above and the
church below, to preserve the doctrine, and "earnestly
contend for (this) faith once delivered to the saints."
In my conviction, one of the best methods of promoting
the experience of perfect love is, THAT MINISTERS AND
TEACHERS INSTRUCT THE PEOPLE CORRECTILY IN THIS
DOCTRINE, AND  ESPECIALLY SHOW  ITS RELATION TO OUR
JUSTIFICATION, AND THE HOW AND WHEN OF ITS
ATTAINMENT. It was well and truly said here, that it
does greatly matter what a Christian believes on this sub
23
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24      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
ject. How can he find the blessing, if he knows not the
way to it? Will lle seek if he does not understand what
he may find?  He must know it is for him, and the when
and how.
To find a desired point, one must know that it exists,
that its possession is attainable, and be rightly directed towards it. New Orleans and St. Louis, I believe exist; but
were I to start from this house for either place, on foot,
I would be at a loss which way to direct my steps. To
gain it, I must put myself ip the care of those, who, with
unerring glass and line, have surveyed the entirroute, and
cast up a highway over which  I may be carried with
certainty to the place of my desire. Now, if this doctrine
and experience be of God, it has its point of locality somewhere int the gospel, and the way to it is there cast up for all
the people. How necessary, therefore, it is, that we instruct
the people, who hlang upon the words of our lips, in " the
righlt way and the old paths," lest we become blind leaders
of the blind.
There are three sources from whence we gather all necessary instructions on this subject,- three authorities
whose statutes, statements, and precedents confirm the
whole  truth.   These are, THE  BIBLE, THE STANDARD
WRITERS OF OUR CHURCH, AND CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.
An(l these all must agree. We must be able to show their
agreement; otherwise we shall fail to produce the convictionI that this is an attainable experience. Any noticeable
discrepancy among them would make a breach wide enough
tllrouill  which the doctrine would  fall, and leave the
church contending for a doubtful dogma. On the other
hand, if, like the Federal Constitution, the statutes of the
State, and the practice of the courts, these three are
found to agree, their decision is infallible; there is no ap 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
peal fi'om them; the case is closed. On this point, we
thank God we have no doubt.   No  article of faith has
been established from the Word of God with more power
of logic, mental acumen, and consummate wisdom of statement, by profound theologians, than this doctrine. I shall
now examine these authorities, and try to show what they
teach in agreement. I am not concerned so much to show
they teach the doctrine, as how they teach it, - the condition
anc time.  The ground is all gained that they do teach it
the church confesses that: but the condition and time are
the important points in thif discussion.
First, then, WHAT  DOES THE BIBLE  TEACH  ON  THIS
SUBJECT?  My conviction is, it teaches the doctrine of entire sanctification, its conditions and time, as specifically as
justification. The text of the Bible is not a systematic
body of divinity: it has neither index nor analysis. Its
teachings and proofs on any subject or doctrine of revelation are not found methodically arranged in continuous
order, but in disorder, scattered along from first to last
pag(e. Their collection and systematic arrangement, God
has graciously left to man, to exercise his ingenuity and industry, and perhlaps to try and test his faith. Nevertheless,
the Scriptures are plain enough to reach practical conclusions.  And, as Richard Watson  remarks,  "happily we
are not left in doubt on so important a doctrine as entire
sanctification."
I find in the Scriptures two different classes of promises,
made to two entirely distinct and different classes of human
characters,- penitent unregenerate men, and justified
regenerate believers. If there be any others, it matters
nothing to the argument to bring them out. To the first
it is pronounced, "Let the wicked man forsake his way,
... and turn unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon
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25 
26      NEW-YOPRK PREACHERS' MEETING.
him," &c.  "He  that confesseth and forsaketh his sins
shall find mercy."-" Though your sins be as scarlet, they
they shall be as white as snow."-" Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." These, with
many more of like character, plainly teach forgiveness of
sins, and the impartation of a new nature. And what I
desire to have particularly noticed is, that these promises
respond to a felt want in every convicted unregenerate
man. Convictions of the Holy Spirit are always in harmony with commands and promises of the Holy Word; and
the felt want of the convicted sinner is pardon for sin, -the
blotting out of past offences, and a new spirit. But it is
important to know when and how this salvation is obtained.
To this the Scriptures give a ready answer, "By faith,"
and " Now." A great multitude, under conviction for sin,
cried out, "What shall we do to be saved?"   Now, if men,
moved by the Holy Ghost, were ever led to declare the
whole will of God as to the conditions of salvation, as shortly
and comprehensively as possible, it would be under such
circumstances. And what answer did the apostles give?
"Believe  on the Lord Jesus Christ."  When?   How
long?  "And the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls."   They had  sinned a lifetime: it did not take the time of a birth to save them.
The second class of promises are exclusively to justified
believers.   I  say  exclusively to  them, because  God's
promises are not to "bearer," but to "order."   He is no
respecter of persons; yet he is a respecter of character, - as,
"he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will lihe
withhold from them that walk?prightly." And the promises I refer to are, many of them, to believers by designation; while all of them present such a salvation as corresponds only to the felt want of the justified, regenerate 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
heart, and differs in quality, quantity, and somewhat in
kind, from that.  Let us now examine whether these prom ises offer a salvation so specific we can give it a name.
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be cLEAN; from all your filthiness and all your idols will I
cleanse you,... and I will put my  spirit within you,
and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep
my judgments and do them. I will also save you from ALL
YOUR UNCLEANNESSES." - Ezek. xxxvi. 25, &c. Zacharias,
filled with the Holy Ghost, prophesied of Christ, "Blessed be the Lord God of Isiael, who hath raised up a horn
of salvation for us in the house of his servant David....
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the
hand of all that hate us; that we might serve him without
fear, in holiness and righteousness, ALL THE DAYS OF OUR
LIFE."-  Luke ii. 68.  " I beseech you therefore, BRETHREN, by the tmercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, whichi is your
reasonable service." -  Rom.  xii. 1, 2.  "For the law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh; that the righteotusness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the
Spirit."- Rom. viii. 2-4.  " Having therefore these promises, DEARLY BELOVED, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God."-  2 Cor. vii. 1.  "1And  the  very God of peace
sanctify you WHOLLY; and I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved BLAMELESS unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is he that calleth you,
wlo also will do it."- 1 Thess. vi. 23.  "Wherefore hlie is
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28      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
able also to save them to the UTTERMOST that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them."- Hleb. vii. 25. " If we walk in the light, as hlie is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN."
-1 John i. 7.
Now, I think it is clear, first, that these promises offer
for our acceptance a salvation far exceeding the blessing
obtained in pardoni or conversion. Second, these promises
are to justified believers, and therefore must embrace more
than regeneration. Third, they respond to what is the felt
want of the truly justified soul. On this last point I need
not stop at Methodists, but may call on the whole body of
true believers to bear witness that when the newly pardoned soul has recovered its equilibrium from the joy of its
first faith, and entered earnestly on the work of a holy life,
it begins to feel new wants, - want of power, want of
purity: it is not entirely clean, not filled with pure love.,
And these are hungerings and thirstings which will not be
satisfied with promises of future supplies.   He groans for
present redemption, feels he ought to have the sufficient
power now, yet cannot find it in his justification. And no
argument for the attainableness of entire sanctification could
be  much  stronger than this:  the clearer one's sense of
pardon, and fuller his enjoyment of justifying grace, the
more deep and penetrating his sense of inbred sin, and
yearning for purity.
Now, in the promises and provisions quoted, we find an
uttermost salvation urged upolt the believer, to satisfy those
very wants his panting soul so keenly feels. Surely this is
entire sanctification, or perfect love.
I wish, however, to dissect this subject a little more, just
at this point. Christian experience accords with the Bible, 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. II. BOOLE.
which teaches that salvation is twofold, negative and positive. To be cleansed from sin, whether part or all, outward or inward, is negative; grace received, in whatever
degree, is positive.  In conversion, past sins are pardoned,
the power of our sinful nature broken (in Scripture language, " crucified "), and the " new man," of divine nature and power, is imparted. This has dominion over the
"crucified old man," as over a captured and disarmed foe,
but does not kill the body of sin.  Now, it is the motions of
this body of " indwelling sin" which makes the heart-plague
of the Christian; and the'salvation of the gospel contemplates and promises the destruction of this body of sin.
This is done in entire sanctification; and the work of negative salvation is thus rounded into a completeness which
admits of no increase.  The growth of the soul thus made
pure from sin, and all increase of divine power obtained in
repeated baptisms of the Holy Spirit, is the positive work,
and knows no end.  The Scriptures express this phase of
our salvation thus: " But we all, with open face belholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." If this distinction is not kept up we shall fail in
the main object of this discussion. The negative phase of
the gospel salvation is boldly set forth in the sixth chapter
of Romans. There, four prominent features of the crutcifixion of Christ are used as illustrative of four steps in the
Chlristian's experience in dying to sin, - the crucifixion,
death, burial, and resurrection.  Tle pturpose of crucifixion is death, -" knowing this that our old man is crucified
with him, that THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED;
for he that is dead is freed from sin."  WVe " die" to sin
as we are " crucified " to it, -  by faith.  " Now, if we be
dead with Christ [not crucified only], we believe that we
3*
29 
30      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
shall also live with him. For, in that he died, he died unto
sin once; but, in that he liveth, he livethl unto God."   And
the application of all this is, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord."   How  long  we shall
linger in the pains of crucifixion can only be answered by
stating how long we propose to live in unbelief.
Do any ask," WTVho shall deliver me from the body of
sin and death?" Paul answers, " For the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death."
The death of the body of sin in the believer is the grand
central idea of salvation by Jesus Christ.  And  how it is
possible for any Christian to escape from this conviction after a careful reading of the positive, radical language of
the New Testament is, to me, strange indeed. It is put
forthl in the boldest terms, such as, " Thlou  shalt call his
name Jesus; for hle shall save his people from their sins."  -
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth firom all sin."   " If
we confess our sins, hlie is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Professor Mattison insists sarongly on the "gradual" in
grace; the being strengthened to overcome and subjugate
indwelling sin.  He would have us "go on"  overcoming
sin. But there is a vast difference between growth in grace,
and baptisms' of the Holy Spirit for such object, and growth
in grace whilst a soul is earnestly looking and striving for
the speedy destructioit of the body of sin. They pursue
two different objects: one seeks to subdue the rebel only;
the other seeks to reach, as quickly as possible, a point
where he may slay at once the man of sin. I believe in
both-; but entire sanctification is the latter, and is the privilege of all saints. I may illustrate the difference of these 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
two states thus: The rebel prisoners confined on David's Islandt and in other prisons during, the war, were thus prevented from doing further harm to our Government.  But, to
keep them harmless, we were compelled to draw off our soldiers by thousands from the front of battle to guard them,
and we also paid the immense cost of their subsistence;
while every rebel dead and buried on the field was no further expense, and saved a soldier to the ranks of our
armies.  The subjugation and binding of rebel.passions is
niot the ultimate design of conversion and growth in grace,
BUT THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF THEM.  That state of things
involves a weakening of our spiritual forces, and much outlay of grace in guarding the enemy. Bear it in mind, that
growth in grace by a faith which contemplates the subjugation only of indwelling sin is no definite approach to -entire
sanctification.  Faith for purity is of another stamp,- asks
a different thing, even the death of sin now. And from
this point you may still believe in, and preach, growth in
grace as rapid and high, and as many and frequent baptisms
ot the Holy Spirit, as you will: you cannot exceed the
greatness of the salvation of Christ, for " he is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think."
Having considered the character of the promises made to
God's people, and discovered the nature of this salvation,
we inquire, What do the Scriptures teach as to the how and
ivhen of its attainment?
The brief answer is, There is one law for the attainment
of justification and entire sanctification, - the law of faith,
"that, if we willbelieve on tle Lord Jesus Christ, we shall
be saved" even "to thle uttermost."  Conviction for in   dwelling sin, confession of our need, faith in the blood of
Jesus to cleanse now, and clinging to an appropriate prom
31 
32      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
ise, -and the work is done. The salvation of the gospel
is one salvation; the whole is obtained just as any degree of
it is obtained.   Remission of sins is instantaneofus; the
death of sin is also, for it is all by faith.  A sing(le text fixes the point: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
.. for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith tofaith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith."
As I leave the record of the Scriptures, allow me to sav,
that, if they do not teach specifically the death of sin, and
subsequent filling of the heart with pure and perfect love
through faith, by the power of the Holy Ghost, regardless
of time,- whether one day from conversion or any number
of years, without works, - save consecration only, if that
be works, -  then there is no doctrine of " entire sanctification:" it is merely a name without an idea; and there
remains nothing more to the Christkan than growth in
justification under difficulties, - partial reyeneration to all
eternity. In one regard, the experiences of regeneration
and entire sanctification stand prominently apart, and run
in parallels. The low-water mark of justification is pardon,
the washing away of the guilt of sins; the low-water Inark
of entire sanctification is the destruction of all indwelling
sin.  In these respects, the experiences are not one, but
different and distinct; and therefore I said, they (liffer
somewliat in fired.
I now advance to the second source of information, the
standardl writers of our church.   What is their teaching?
We shall here find a remarkable agreement among themselves, and  an exact correspondence with  the word and
spirit of the gospel.
Especially is this noticeable in their discrimination of
the two-fold nature of entire sanctification, - speaking
I 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
plainly of the death of the body of sin, and subsequent filling of the soul with pure and perfect love, in contradistinction to the subjection of indwelling sill and growth in grace,
as belonging to the experience of regeneration.
I will first show their agreement withl the Bible as to the
nature of the blessing; and, secondly, their agreement as
to the how and when of its attainment.
As to its nature, Mr. Wesley says, -
"It is pure love, reigning alone in the heart and life,- this is the
whole of Christian perfection.... Scripture perfection is pure love,
filling the heart, and governing all the words and actions.... In one
view, it is purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God."
MIr. Wesley says again, -
"Both my brother (Charles Wesley) and I maintain, that Christian
perfection is the love of God and our neighbor, which implies DELIVERANCE FRO!N ALL SIN.
Rev. Johln Fletcher says,
"It is the depth of evangelical repentance; the full assurance of
faith; and the pure love of God and man shed abroad in a faithful
believer's heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him to cleanse him and
to keep him clean from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to
enable him to'fulfil the law of Christ' according to the talents he is
intrusted with, and the-circumstances in which he is placed in this
world."
Bishop Hedding says,
"Regeneration is the beginning ofpuriication; entire sanctification
is the finishinig of the work."
Dr. George Peck says,
"By being saved from all sin in the present life, we mean being
saved, first, from all outward sin,- all violations of the requirements
of the law of love which relate to our outward conduct; and, secondly,
from all inward sin,- all violations of the law of love which relate to
the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will."
33 
34      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
Rev. Luther Lee says, -
"Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy
Ghost,- received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement has power to cleanse from all sin, - whereby we are not only
delivered from the guilt of sin which is justification, but are washed
entirely from its pollution, forced from its power, and are enabled
through grace to love God with all our hearts, and to walk in his holy
commandments blameless."
Dr. Dempster says,  " Do you, then, ask an exact expression of the difference? It is this:
The one admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other extirpates those
tendencies; that is, the merely regenerate has remaining IMPURITY,
the fully sanctified has NONE."
, Dr. Foster says, -
"Though in regeneration all the elements of holiness are imparted,
all the rudiments of inbred sin are not destroyed; and hence, again,
the absence of complete sanctification, which, when it occurs, expels
all sin."
Mr. Wesley says,  "There does still remain, even in them that are justified, a mind
which is in some measure carnal."-" At the very moment of justification, we are born again; in that instant, we experience that inward
change from darkness into marvellous light. But are we then entirely
changed? Are we wcholly transformed into the image of him that
created us? Far from it: we still retain a depth of sin, and it is
the consciousness of this which constrains us to groan for a full deliverance to Him that is mighty to save." -   The new birth is not the same
with sanctification. I believe justification to be wholly distinct from
sanctification, and necessarily antecedent to it."
Richard Watson says, -
"That a distinction exists between a regenerate state and a state
of entire and perfect holiness will be generally allowed. Regeneration, we have seen, is concomitant with justification; but the apostles,
in addressing the body of believers in the churches to whom they
wrote their epistles, set before them, both in the prayers they offer in 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
their behalf and in the exhortations they administer, a still higher degree of deliverance from sin, as well as a higher growth in Christian
virtues."
Mr. John Fletcher says, -
"We do not deny that the remains of the carnal mind still cleave to
imperfect Christians." - " The same spirit of faith which initially purifies our hearts, when we cordially believe the pardoning love of God,
conlmpletely cleanses them when we fully believe his sanctifying love."
Dr. Adam Clark says to a friend who had been misinformed in regard to his views of entire sanctification,
"As  to the words you qudoe as mine, I totally disclaim them.   I
never said, I never intended to say them. I believe justification and
sanctification to be widely distinct works." He used the term justification as including regeneration.
Bishop Hedding says,
"Regeneration also, being the same as the new birth, is the beginning of sanctification, though not the completion of it, or not entire
sanctification.  Regeneration is the beginning of purification; entire
sanctification is the finishing of that work."
Bishop Hamline says,  "That this perfect love, or entire sanctification, is specifcally a new
state, and not the mere improvement of a former state, or of regeneration, is plainly inferred from the Bible."
Dr. R. S. Foster says,
"Regeneration is not entire sanctification: the merely regenerated
are not sanctified; they are not entirely free from sin; they are not
perfect in love."
Dr. George Peck says,  "The doctrine of entire sanctification, as a DISTINCT WORK wrought
in the soul by the HOLY GHOST, is the GREAT DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINE OF METHODISM.   This given up, and we have little left which
we do not hold in common with other evangelical denominations."'The position that justification and entire sanctification take place
35 
36      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
at one and  the same time, and that regeneration and entire sanct-f
cation are IDENTICAL, is clearly contrary to the position taken by
our standard theologians."
One other writer of our church must not be omitted,
though I have not room for his testimony.  However, I
do not so much regret this, seeing he is so familiarly known
to us, -I mean Charles Wesley and his hymns. Under
the head  of "Sanctification," in  our hymn-book is the
best thleology on the subject the church is possessed of.
These are sufficient, especially as there is nothing
contrary to them in the w'itings of any man now accepted among us as a Wesleyan authority. Now I shlall
offer their testimony as to the condition and time of entire
sanctification.
On this point we shall find that the grand characteristic and  power of their preaching, their watchword
to the church, their battle-cry on every field of spiritual
conflict, was the instantaneousness of this blessing by faith,
as opposed to all " gradualism," - save only what is
necessary as a preparation to receive the blessing.  They
believed, experienced, preached, wrote, and pressed the
saints of God into, a present, complete, insta,ntaneous redemption fiom all sin. On this subject they knew no two
ideas; every second idea was an impertinence: with them
it was " Believe and be saved." The battle for the doctrine
was fought on this line,-  foulght and won.   Its establishment as a cardinal doctrine of our church is due to this,
that its experience is an instantaneous grace, and witnessed
to the believer by the Holy Ghost. Root out this idea,
and the doctrine is as a balloon slipped from its moorings,
compelled to drift without control in the contrary currents
of a hundred bottomless theories.
And, sir, this idea of now, by faith, for any grace of the 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
gospel, is no new thing; but the radical idea of the Scriptures.  Luther triumphed by this.  And always and everywhere, where the church has victory, it is by faith.
Please note carefully the following, from the pen of
John Wesley:- -
"Indeed, this is so evident a truth that wellnigh all the children
of God, scattered abroad, however they differ in other points, yet
generally agree in this, that, although we may'by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body,' resist and conquer both outward and
inward sin; although we-may weaken our enemies day by day,
yet we cannot drive them our. By all the grace which is given at
justification we cannot extirpate them. Though we watch and pray
ever so much, we cannot wholly cleanse either our hearts or-hands.
M-ost sure we cannot till it please our Lord to speak to our hearts
again, - to speak the SECOND time, Be clean, - and then only the
leprosy is cleansed. Then only the EVIL ROOT, the CARNAL MIND,
is destroyed; inbred sin subsists no more.   But if there be no such
SECOND CHANGE, if there be no INSTANTANEOUS deliverance AFTER
justification, if there be NONE but a GRADUAL work of God (that
there is a gradual work none denies),- then we must be content, as
well as we can, TO REMAIN FULL OF SIN TItL DEATH."
This is clear and to the point.
Mr. Wesley says again,
Inquiring how it was that in all these parts we had so few
witnesses of full salvation, I constantly receive one and the same
answer,' We see now we sought it by our wo7ks: we thlought it was
to come gradually; we never expected it to come in a moment, by
simple faith, in the very same manner as we received justification.'
What wonder is it, then, that you have been fighting all these years
as one that beateth the air!"
Again he says,
"You may obtain a growing victory over sin from the moment  you
are justified. But this is not enough. The body of sin, the carnal
mind, must be destroyed: the old man must be slain, or we cannot
put on the new man, which is created after God (or which is the
4
37 
38      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
image of God) in righteousness and true holiness; and this is done in
a moment.   To talk of this work as being gradual would be nonsense,
as much as if we talked of gradual justification."
Again he says,
"As to manner, I believe this perfection is always wrought in the
soul by a simple act offaith, - consequently, in an instant."
He further says,
"Look for it every day, every hour, every moment.  Why not this
hour,- this moment? Certainly you may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token you may surely know whether
you seek it by faith or by works.  Ih by works, you want something to
be done first before you are sanctified.  You think I must be or do
thus or thus.  Then you are seeking it by works unto this day.  If you
seek it by faith, you expect it as you are; and, if as you are, then expect it now. It is important that there is an inseparable connection
between these three points, - expect it by faith, expect it as you are,
expect it now. To deny one is to deny all."
Thle "Pastoral Address" of the Geferal Conference of
1832  presents the.following upon  the subject of holiness: -
"W Vhen we speak of holiness, we mean that state in which God is
loved with all the heart, and served with all the power. This, as
Methodists, we have said, is the privilege of the Christian in this life;
and we have farther said, that this privilege may be secured instantanteously by an act of faith, as justification was.
"Why, then, have we so few living witnesses that'the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin'? Among primitive Methodists,
the experience of this high attainment in religion may justly be said
to have been coMMoN; now a PROFESSION of it is rarely to be met
with among us.
"Is it not time for us, in this matter at least, to return to first principles? Is it not time that we throw off the reproach of inconsistency
with which we are charged in regard to this matter? Only let all
who have been born of the Spirit, and have tasted of the good word
of God, seek with the same ardor to be made perfect in love as they 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
sought for pardon of their sins, and soon will our class-meetings and
love-feasts be cheered by the RFLATION of EXPEnIENCES of this high
character, as they now are with those which tell of justifcation and the
new  birth. And when this shall come to be the case, we may expect
a co rresponding increase."
Dr. Adam Clark says,
"Every penitent is exhorted to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he may receive remission of sins: he does not, he cannot, understand
that 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 be received. For, asp the work of cleansing and renewing
the heart is the work of God, almighty power can perform it in a
moment, in the twinkling 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 this moment perfectly love him...
This moment, therefore, we may be emptied of sin, filled with hloliness, and become truly happy."
Again he says,
"We are to come to God for an instantaneous and complete purification from all sin, as for instantaneous pardon. In no part of the
Scriptures are we directed to seek the remission of sins seriatim,- one
now and another then, and so on. Neither in any part are we
directed to seek holiness by gradation. Neither a gradation pardon nor
a gradation PURIFICATION exists in the Bible."
Mr. Fletcher says,
"It is, I think, allowed on all sides, that' we are saved'- that is,
sanctified, as well as justified -' by faith.' Now, that particular height
of sanctification, that full' circumcision of the heart,' which centrally
purifies the soul, springs from a peculiar degree of saving faith, and
from a particular operation of the' spirit of burning,'- a quick operation this, which is compared to baptism of fire, and proves sometimes
so sharp and searching that it is as much as a healthy, strong man can
do to bear up under it."
39 
40        NEW YORK PREACITIERS' MREETING.
Dr. Foster says sanctification is
,,distinct, in opposition to the idea that it is a mere regeneration,
holding it to be something more and additional; instantaneous, in
opposition to the idea of GROWTH GRADUALLY  TO MATURITY, OR
P.IPENESS, - holding, that though it is maturity of Christian character,
ripeness of the graces, and though there is progress toward it, yet
that its attainment is not a mere ripeness ensuting by gradual growth,
but is by the direct agency of the Holy Ghost; and instantaneously
crought in the-soul, however long the soul may have been progressing
toward -it."
Dr. George Peck well observes,  "The destruction of sin in the soul, and the growth of holiness, are
two distinct things....  The one is instantaneous, the other gradual;
and hence it is that we sometimes say, with propriety, that the work
of entire sanctification is both gradual and instantaneous."
In harmony with this, Dr. Bangs says,
"Those who teach that we are gradually to grow into a state of
sanctification, without ever experiencing an instantaneous changefiomn
inbred sin to inward holiness,- which change will show itself by its
fruits, - are to be repudiated as unsound, ANTI-SCRIPTURAL, and
ANTI-METIIODISTIC."
Rev. F. G. Hibbard says, -.
"It has long appeared to us, that many who  are seeking after
entire holiness mistake the duty of a gradual growth in grace, and the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for a gradual growing out of sin.
They seem to think that the two mutually involve each other, and
that, as they must always grow up into Christ in all things, so that they
must by degrees grow out of the bonldage, guilt, and pollution of sin.
...Now, to all such we would say one word of admonition.   There
is no gradual growing out of sin. All that partakes of the proper
nature of sin in you must be forg,iven and washed away through faith
in the blood of the Lamnb.  WHEN THIS IS DONE, IT IS AN INSTANTANEOUS WORtK.... Sin is not a thing to be grown out of, but a
thing to be forgiven and to be cleaned away....  In this view of
perfection, (the improvement and maturity of the graces of the Spirit),
there are degrees and progressive stages; but in the work of simply 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE:
cleansing from all sin,' both of flesh and spirit,' - inbred and secret sin,
-  there aje no degrees, no progressive stage; but the work is completed at
the first, and instantaneous as to time, - performed by the Holy Ghost
just at the moment when the burdened soul has faith to be made every
whit whole."
Nothing could be clearer, and more in harmony with the
gospel, than these writers.  And to teach the instantaneousness of the blessing is one of the best methods of promoting the experience  of perfect love.  "Gradutlism"
hlas no more place in seeking this blessing than in seeking
justification..
Again, does the experience of  the church agree with
these standards? Let us hear the witnesses:
Rev. Johln Fletchler says, -
"I will confess him to all the world; and I will declare unto you, in
the presence of God, the holy trinity, I am now' dead indeed unto sin.'
I do not say, I am crucified with Christ, because some of our wellmeaning brethren say,' By this can only be meant a gradual dying;
but I profess unto you, I am dead unto sin, and alive unto God. lHe
is my Prophet, Priest, and King; my indwelling, holiness; my all and
in all!"
Rev. Wm.  Bramwell says,
" The Lord, for whom I had waited, came suddenly to the temple of
my heart, and I had an immediate evidence that this was the blessing
for which I had been sometime seeking. My soul was all wonder, love,
and praise. It is nqw about twenty-six years ago: I have walked in
this liberty ever since. Glory be to Godl! I have been kept by his
power.  By faith I stand....  I then declared to the people what
God had done for my soul; and I have done so on every proper occasion since that tine, believing it to be a duty."
Dr. Adam Clark.  This great and good man soug,lt and
obtained a clean heart in the twenty-second year of his
life, and writes as follows to Mr. Wesley: -
"I regarded nothing, not even life itself, in comparison of having my
4*
41 
42      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
heart cleansed from all sin, and began to seek it with full purpose of
heart. Thus I continued looking for it, and frequently in great distress, till December, 1782, when I opened my mind to a local preacher,
who, I had heard, was a partaker of this precious privilege. From him
I received some encouragement and direction, and so set out afresh in
quest of it, endeavoring, with all my strength, to believe in the ability
and willingness of my God to accomplish the great work. Soon
after this, while earnestly wrestling with the Lord in prayer, and endeavoring, self desperately to believe, Ifound a change wrought in my
soul, which I endeavored, through grace, to maintain amid the grievous temptations and accusations of the subtle foe."
William Carvosso says, -
"Just at that moment a heavenly influence filled the room; and no
sooner had I uttered or spoken the words from my heart,' I shall have
the blessing now,' than refining fire went through my heart, illuminating my soul, scattered its life through every part, and sanctified the
-vhole. I then received the full witness of the Spirit that the blood of
Jesus had cleansed mefrom all sin.  I cried out,' This is what I wanted.  I have now got a new heart!'  I was emptied of myself and
sin, and filled with God."
Bishiop Hamline says, -
All at once he felt as though a hand, not feeble but omnipotent,
not of wrath but of love, were laid on his brow.   He felt it not only
outwardly, but inwardly. It seemed to press upon his whole body, and
to diffuse all through and through it a holy, sin-consuming energy.
As it passed downward, his heart, as well as his head, was conscious of
the presence of this soul-cleansing energy, under the influence of
which he fell to the floor, and, in the joyful surprise of the moment,
cried out in a loud voice.... In a few minutes the deep of God's
love swallowed him up; all its waves and billows rolled over him."
Father Reeves says,
"For several weeks past, my soul has been longing fbr a clearer testimony from the Spirit of my entire sanctification. I pleaded hard
with the Lord for it; and, glory be to my heavenly Father! he very
soon granted me the desire of my heart, though so unworthy, and filled
my soul with perfect love." 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
Dr. Olin says, -
"I have never felt my evidence more clear. Indeed, my religious
experience for the last two years has been full of consolation, and free
from doubts. I am not sure that I ever wrote to you my whole mind
on this subject, though a marked change has occurred in my feelings
and views. I am at least a full believer in our higher doctrine in regard to Christian attainments; and I sometimes say to my intimate
friends that I have a great comfort in believing that I have been made a
partaker of this grace. Doubtless God's will is ever our sanctification;
and we offend no less against our highest interests than against his
most gracious designs, when we rest below the best attainable position
in religion."
Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers:
"After Mr. Fletcher (the saintly John Fletcher) ceased to speak,
about thi'ty WITNESSED for Jesus that they, through grace, were dead
indeed unto sin.... I rose early to collect the members of the select
band; and in relating to them the testimony of God's dear servant, Mr.
Fletcher, and that of the witness of full salvation I heard at Leeds,
the)y felt fresh desires to be all the Lord's.... While you enjoyed
and professed Christian holiness you lived by simple faith, and Christ
lived in you.... In the band, thirty witnessed that they were'dead
indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ."'
Mr. Wesley says,
"In London alone, I found six hundred and fifty-two members  of
our society who were exceedingly clear in their experience, and whose
testimony I could see no reason to doubt....  And  every one of
these (after the most careful inquiry I have found no exception) has
declared that his deliverance from sin was instantaneous."
Many quotations might be given fiom Mr. Wesley's
journal, showing that a multitude of persons professed
sanctification under his labors, in all parts of England and
Ireland.
Bishop Asbury says, -
"I think we ought modestly to tell what we feel to the fullest.   For
43 
44      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
two years past, amidst innumerable trials, I have enjoyed almost inexpressible sensations.  Our Pentecost is come, in some places, for sanctifcation. I have good reason to believe that upon the Eastern Shlores
four thousand have been converted since the first of May last, and one
thousand sanctified."
Bishop Asbury  professed perfect love, as follows:  "I
live in patience, in purity, and in the perfect love of  God."
Here, then, we have an agreement of our three great
standards of authority. These witnesses might easily be
multiplied, but it is not necessary.   There are none on the
contrary side.?
Another method of promoting the experience of perfect
love is TO PREACH IT AS IT IS, - as we do justification,
squarely, definitely, distinctively.
If it be the truth of God, speak it boldly; if it be a lie,
speak it not at all.  At one has said, "The truth of God
need not be prefaced with' Excuse me, sir;' the reputation
of the minister is to be merged in the mission and claims of
his Master." Why do we preach justification more explicitly than entire sanctification? Is it not because the first is
received by our hearers with less offence than the other,
aInd we receive less reproach, and bear a liIghter cross?
That many of our people do not believe thlis'doctrine, should
furnish a strong motive to preach it.  When Luther was
persecuted for preaching the doctrine of justification by
fiith, he nobly said, "Here I take my stand: I cannot (to
otherwise.  God help me!"  Oh for a like spirit! Oh for
this cannot-do-otherwise consecration to our highler work
and mission!
We must preach it expecting results.-  We must expect
believers to be convicted, and fully saved. PFe(w indeed
and small would be our revivals, did we not preach be 
ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. BOOLE.
lievingly. WVe look in faith for the Holy Spirit to cooperate when we preach repentance, faith, pardon.   Why
not in preaching this also? Conviction for inbred sin is
tile work of the Spirit through preachling, of the truth.  The
church needs purity, as the world needs conversion; and to
seek it, Christians must first be convicted. Preach the
truth, - the whole truth.
Invite to our altars the seekers of purity.-  If it be
proper and helpful to invite penitents to the altar, it is
equally helpful to seekers of purity.  It stimulates and
quickens the church to see her members in earnest pursuit
of full salvation.
We need not fear that any confusion will arise therefrom;
no one will mistake what he comes to seek, if he be properly instructed and is convicted.
Another method of promoting the experience of   perfect
love among our people is, call down the baptism on the
ministry. Here is power. If I would be a leader of
others, I must myself know the way.  It is asked, "How
shall we have another Pentecost? how set the Metho(listEpiscopal Church a,fire?"   Here are the brands, - her
ministry. These are the chosen vessels of Christ; these are
the Lord's anointed. A flaming, burnished ministry shall
shake the nations. Oh for the baptism of fire to fall on
us!  Oh that we might now be filled!  Then w'ould the
people catch the flame; the experience of perfect lover become the common heritage of the church; and " holiness to
the Lord" be written on the bells of the horses, and on
the vessels of every house!
45 
IlL.
WHAT ARE THlE BEST METHODS OF PROMOTING
THE EXPERIENCE OF PERFECT LOVE?
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
— E  should guard against the depressing influence of
magnifying perfect love, - involving the subject in
darkness or doubt, or of allowing an undue influence from
the example of any who profess it.
As in treating some disorders of the human system, and
promoting the highest health, the judicious physician finds
moral means more efficient than the most potent medicines,
so in helping the soul to a more exalted state we are not to
be indifferent to any fact that will either aid or embarrass it.
If we deaden the forces of the mind and heart, we render
any method unsuccessful. Depression enervates. To dispirit is next to defeat; but hope quickens, and confidence
is inspiration. A cheerful anticipation of the experience
of perfect love is no inconsiderable help to its early attainment. It is a remark of Mr. Wesley (vol. ii. p. 239),
"Although there are many that are destroyed by presumption, there are still more that perish by despair."   If our
preaching and labors on the subject of perfect love are to
have any practical effect, we must not make it an impossibility of the probationary state.  Mr. Wesley says, "In
this case particularly, to overdo is to undo; and that to set
perfection too high, so high as no man that we ever heard
46 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
or read of attained, is the most effectual because unsuspected
way of driving it out of the world." -Vol. vi. pp. 717, 718.
Dr. Mattison, opposed to shooting at random, as he justly
might be, desired, in conformity with Mr. Fletcher's wish,
to "set the mark," Christian perfection.   But  the first
arrow that he discharged was at some of the unskilful
archers that were wide of the mark  and he hit them (on
the 519th page of the 6th volume), when he quoted Mr.
Wesley's judgment of some who professed perfect love, but
lacked the fruits. It might have abated the seeming rigor
of Mr. Wesley's decision,'had the case been fully stated as
it is found in the narrative, and begins on page 518. The
fact is, he had been asked, " What do you think of those
in London who seem to have been lately'renewed in
love'?"
After stating what was peculiar in the experience of the
greater part of them, he adds, " Let any man call this what
he will, it is what I call perfection. But," he says, " some
are manifestly wanting in the fruit. Perhaps one in ten;
perhaps more orefewer. But some are undeniably wanting,
-some in gentleness, some in goodness, some in meekness,
some in temperance."  And concludes, "You have not what
I call perfection." Thus nine-tenths in London satisfied Mr.
Wesley.  These are not lluded to by Dr. M.   One-tenthl
did not satisfy him.  These are quoted by the doctor to show
the men who miss the mark. If this is fair for Dr. Mattison's
purpose, it is hardly so for the profession of holiness. Not
that we could assume that those who now profess it hold
so hiqh an average; still, when so many are within sight, it
may be well enough to look at them, especially if the view
is grateful. Let me say, if, at any altar, as large a proportion of those professing pardon bear the scrutiny of a John
Wesley, we could hope no one will select the one-tenthl to
47 
48      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
represent the work and the subjects.  Had Dr. Mattison
lacked sympathy for the teaching of Methodism on the subject of entire holiness, and sought support from Mr. Wesley, I know not that in all his writings hle could lhave
segregated a passage better calculated to give plausibility to
his reasoning, or weight to his words; and thus the entire
narrative would be perverted.
It'wvill now be pertinent to our purpose to state what is
the holiness we inculcate, when we speak of the best methods
of promnoting it.
Mr. Wesley, desiring accuracy of thought on that subject (vol. vi. p. 502), asked, " How shall we avoid setting
perfection too high or too low?"  Answer.  "By keepincg to the Bible, and setting it just as high as the Scripture
does."  He adds, "It is nothing higher, and nothing lower,
than this, - the pure love of God and man; the loving God
with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves.
It is love governing the heart and life, and running through
all our tempers, motives, and actions."
Holiness, as we understand it, is perfect love. It is not
perfect knowledge, nor perfect practice, nor perfect experience. It is compatible with mental error and mistakes in
conduct, while body, soul, and sirit are brought under is
power and show its sway.   Let me quote from Wesley
(vol. ii. p. 168), "The highest perfection which man can
attain, while the soul dwells in the body, does not exclude
ignorance and error, and a thousand other infirmities.
Now, fi'om wrong judgments wrong words  and  actions
will often necessarily flow; and, in some cases, wrong affections also may spring, from the same source.   I may
judge wrong of you; I may think more or less highly of
you than I ought to think; and this mistake in my judg 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
ment may not only occasion something wrong in my
behavior, but it may have a still deeper.effect,- it may
occasion something wrong in my affection. From a wrong
apprehension, I  may love and esteem you either more or
less than I ought. Nor can I be freed from a liableness to
such a mistake while I remain in a corruptible body. A
thousand infirmities, in consequence of this, will attend my
spirit till it returns to God who gave it. And, in numberless instances, it comes short of doing the will of God, as
Adam did in Paradise. Hence, the best men may say
from          the heart,-  t
'Every moment, Lord! I need
The merit of thy death."'
Wesley (Works, vol. ii. p. 215), again speaking of some
of those now really perfect in love, says, "They may be
dull of apprehension; they may have a natural heedless
ness or a treacherous memory; they may have too lively an
imagination; and any of these may cause little improprieties, either in speech or behavior, which, though not sinful
in themselves, may try all the grace you have, especially
if you impute to perverseness of will (as it is very natural
to do) what is really owing to defect of memory or
weakness of understanding; if those appear to you to be
voluntary mistakes which  are really involuntary.   So
proper was the answer which a saint of God (now in Abraham's bosom) gave me some years ago, when I said,
"Jenny, surely now your mistress and you can neither of
you be a trial to the other, as God has saved you both from
sin! "-" Oh, sir!" said she, " if we" are saved from sin,
we still have infirmities enough to try all the grace that
God has given us."
He meets an objection: "Nay, but all transgressions of
5
49 
50      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
the law of God, whether voluntary or involuntary, are sin.
For it. John says,' All sin is a transgression of the law.'
True, but he does not say, All transgression of the law is
sin. This I deny: let him prove it that can." - Wesley,
vol. ii. p. 172.
When John Fletcher (vol. i. p. 14) would state Mr.
Wesley's view on this subject, he says, " What he calls
perfection is nothing but the rich cluster of all the spiritual
blessings promised to believers in the gospel; and, among
tile rest, a continual sense of the virtue of Chlrist's atoning
and purifing blood, preventing both old guilt from returning,   and new guilt from fastening upon the conscience; together with the deepest consciousness of our helplessness and
nothingness in our best estate, the most endearing discoveries     of the Redeemer's love, and the most humbling and yet
ravishing views of his glorious fulness."  Witness one of
his favorite hymns: -
"Confound, o'erpower me with thy grace;
I would be by myself abhorred;
All might, all majesty, and all praise,
All glory, be to Christ my Lord.
Now let me gain perfection's height;
Now let me into nothing fall,Be less than nothing in my sight,
And feel that Christ is all in all."
But Fletcher says (vol. ii. p. 493), " With respect to the
Christless law of paradisiacal obedience, we entirely disclaimn sinless perfection, and, improperly speaking, say with
Luther,' In every good work, the just man  sinnetli  that
is, he more or less transgresses the law of paradisiacal innocence, by not thinking so deeply, nor obeying, so viyorously,
as he would do if he were still endued with original perfection and paradisiacal powers.'" 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
In a conversation with Dr. Gibson, then Bishop of Lon doni, Mr. Wesley remarks, "He asked me what I meant
by perfection.   I told him, without disguise or reserve.
VWhen I ceased speaking, hle sai'd,' Mr. Wesley, if this is
all you mean, publishl it to all the world. If any one then
can confute what you say, he may have free leave.' "
-  Vol. vi. p. 489.  "I answered,' My Lord, I will;' and
accordingly wrote and published the sermon on' Christian
Perfection.' " Such was the expression of the Bishop of
London, when he heard from Mr. Wesley what he meant
by perfection.  But, on hearing Dr.  M.'s definition of
Christian perfection, a Methodist minister, whom we may
not suspect of either ignorance or prejudice, made the remark, "If that is perfection, I never saw any one that had
it, and never expect to see such person."   We  have
thought, that the profession of holiness, as taught by Wesley, is compatible with profound humility.  But the profession of it, as given by Dr. M., would, in our estimate,
be an ostentation, not to say arrogance, that precludes belief of its possession.  I had almost said, One of the best
evidences that he had it not, is that he said he had it.
Where is the individual, of meekness, that would stand up
in the sight of God and mall, and say, or allow the construction of his profession to be, "All the Christian virtues have their perfection in me." Let this, without any
other word, be uttered, and there would be awakened a
feeling of disgust.   Would our religion win confidence?
Virtue is moral goodness," - is " the practice of moral
duties, as well as abstaining, from all vice;" or it is " the
conformity of life and conversation to' the moral law,"and will I say my  obedience is perfect?  What  is the
meaning of " Forgive us our trespasses "?   Have we
none,- of no law that God recognizes?  Then why this
51 
52      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
prayer? To say a man has humility without pride, temperance without dissipation, faith without doubt, is one
thing; but to speak of the perfection of all the Christian
virtues is quite another. Besides, I hold a man of Christian holiness is not called to testify of his virtues, but of
his love, -pure love to God.   It is by their virtues, as
fruits, that others shall know them. Who shall say Dr.
M.'s perfection in virtues is not a "perfection of degrees,"
or " sinless perfection"?
Why did Wesley and Fletcher so guard their expressions? Who claims, under the divine dispensation, to be
the final judge of his own  actions?   Such a profession
would be a blot on the page of "a living epistle, known
and read of all men." Of what saint in the Bible could
we say, "All the virtues were perfect in him "?  Without
death to sanctify, the living Elijah went to heaven, and
the spotless Enoch saw no dissolution before his translation.
God said of Job, a "perfect man."   But could we say,
All the Christian virtues were there in their perfection?
Shall I, on earth, ever say it of myself? I am not certain I would assert my possession of such perfection, if I
were in heaven, - particularly if I could get near enough
to Abraham to see him, or to John Fletcher to recognize
him.   But may not a child of God say, "I live; yet not
I, but Christ in me "? But the man who would profess
the perfection of all the Christian virtues would lack a
most important one, -that is humility. A female unfortunately said in class-meeting, "she  was a burning and
shining light."  A lady visitor remarked, "This is enough
class-meeting for me." To the stranger, the professor's
"light" at once went out in darkness.   To use Mr. Wesley's words, "I ask, Is not this the most effectual, because
unsuspected, way of driving it out of the world?"   But 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
there is a "perfect love that casteth out all fear."  There
is a "love that is the fulfilling of the law."
But Dr. Curry pursues a different course fromn Dr. Mat tison. If Dr. M. has raised the mark so high that none
may hope to reach it, Dr. C., to follow the figure of the
mark, has wiped it out (or first so obscured it as to make
it invisible).  As  to the magnitude of the work contem plated: he calls regeneration a change of tase, and
denies that there is any second work of grace in the
heart "analogous" to the new birth.  Regeneration is at
least as much as a change bf base.  I think it more.  It is
a change of the battle of life.   Dr. C. claims, in this
teaching, to be sustained by our authorities on this subject.
Does not sin in the heart and life alike show the principle
of depravity? Is there not, according to Mr. Wesley,
"repentance in the believer" as truly as repentance in the
sinner?-Vol. i. p. 108.  Wesley says (vol. ii. p. 170),
"He saves his people from their sins,-  the root as well as
the branches." Job (xiv. 7) says, "There is hope of a
tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again;
through the scent of water, it will bud, and bring forth
boughs like a plant." From the root comes the tree. Is
there any thing analogous in this?  Regeneration removes
the branches; and entire holiness, the root of sin. The
new birth introduces us into the kingdom of grace. Perfeet love makes us meet for the kingdom of glory.-  Wesley, vol. v. p. 264.  "Sanctification is the last and highest
state of perfection in this life; for then are the faithful born
again in the full and perfect sense." Is there any resemblance between two births.? Wesley continues, "Then is
given unto them a new and clean heart." Now a word for
Brother Buckley, as well as Dr. C. He represented some
professors of perfect love as saying," There are such en             5*
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54       NEWV-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
joyments in entire holiness as the justified soul had no conception of." Wesley says (vol. ii. p. 222), " It is not easy
to coniceive."  "What  a difference between  that which he
experiences now, and that which hlie experienced before!"
Will Dr. C. accept it as Wesley's view, that there is in
entire holiness something analogous to regeneration? — Wesley, vol. ii. p. 222. He adds, Till this universal change
was wrought  in the soul, all his holiness was mixed."
Agaili (vol. ii. p. 222), i In what manner does God work
this entire and universal change in the soul of a believer?"
Vol.  vii. p. 384, "Many'persons  have  experienced  so
deep and universal a change as it had not entered into their
hearts to conceive. After deep conviction of inbred sin,
they have been in an instant filled with faith and love."
And as the change undergone when the body dies is of
a different kind and infinitely greater than any we had
known before, yea, such as till then it is impossible to concerve, so the change wrought when the soul dies to sin is
of a different kind, and infinitely greater than any before,.
and than any can conceive till he experiences it." -Vol.
vi. p. 505.
Having tried to show that Dr. C. does not agree with Mr.
Wesley with regard to the magnitude of entire holiness, I
wish to see whether he is in harmony with his own aryuments on the condition of a regenerated soul.
I ask, then, Is there in us, after conversion, according to
Dr. C.'s own showing, any moral necessity, which, being
mnet, is worthl to be called, by way of Fpre-eminence, the
second blessin,?
He thinks we may not assert that we are cleansed from
sin, because, when we believe we are free, " the devil niav
be playing opossum."   Then  lie does  not  agree  with
Count Zinzendorf, that regeneration cleanses. 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
That was an instructive allusion to John Foster's notice
of "some of the causes by which evangelical religion has
been rendered less acceptable to persons of cultivated
taste."  Cant may be condemned.  Can  the "vulgarities
of common  minds become  the  sublimities of genius?"
The  Great Teacher  said,  " The  prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me." -John xiv. 30. ButL
where is that adversary, that Dr. C. represents as slee)ping?  Why, in the Christian's heart.
And then we may be deceived. The doctor has stated,
"There may be a wooden horse, full of enemies."' Call it
fable, or what you will. At the siege of Troy, the wooden
horse alluded to contained in it some of the direst foes in
the Trojani strife. In that horse was Ulysses, the wily and
crafty; and there was Menelaus, who for his Helen began
the war. And that wooden horse was the means of opening
the gates of the city; and Troy, that had wiithstood the ten
years' siege, fell.  If there is any thing like either or both
these enemies, is not there expulsion of sufficient magnitude
to form a second epoch in the spiritual history of a human
intelligence?
Ras not this mark been wiped out, as to the evidence of
the accomplishment of this work.? There was here preseilted a kind of metaphysical  argument to show that
human consciousness cannot be cocrgnzant of such a change
as we are now contemplating. Time would not allow, if
disposition suggested, that I argue this on Dr. Cuilrly's own
principle. I choose to give him Wesley. Mr. Wesley (vol. vi.
pp. 515, 516) presents the question, "But how do you know
that you are sanctified,- saved from your inbred corruptions?  Answer. I can know it no otherwise than I know
I am justified; hereby know we that we are of God,
in either sense, by the spirit flat he hath given us. We
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56      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
know it by the witness and by the fruit of the spirit. And
first, by the witness. As when we are justified, the Spirit
bore witness with our spirit that our sins were forgiven,
so when we were sanctified he bore witness that they were
taken away.  Indeed, the witness of sanctification is not
always clear at first, as neither is that of justification;
neither is it afterwards always the same, but, like that of
justification, sometimes stronger and sometimes fainter,
yea, and sometimes it is withdrawn; yet, in general, the
latter testimony of the Spirit is both as clear and as steady
as the former." 
In the hour of temptation, when Satan clouds the work
of God, says Wesley (vol. vi. p. 516), "there is an absolute
need of that witness, without which the work of sanctification
not only could not be discerned, but could no longer subsist.
Were it not for this, the soul could not then abide in the
love of God, much less in'every thing give thanks.'
But one says,'I have no witness that I am saved from
sin. And yet I have no doubt of it.' -' Very well,' is
the reply,'as long as you have no doubt, it is enough;
when  you have, you will need that witness.'  For'we
have received not the spirit that is of the world, but
the spirit which is of God: that we may know the things
which are freely given us of God.'- 1 Cor. ii. 12."
" Now,  surely," says Wesley, "sanctification  is one of
the things which are freely given us of God. And no possible reason can be assigned why this should be excepted,
when the apostle says,'We  receive the Spirit, for that
very end that we may know the things that are thus freely
given us.' " -  Vol. vi. p. 516.
All that testify of its possession assert, in that very
fact, their consciousness of its presence, and declare they
have received the witness of the Spirit. 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. Ai. ROCHE.
If in general we may say,  "Pardon  unfelt supposes
guilt," so, in most cases, not to have the witness is to be
accounted for because we have not the thing.
I shall now try to show that in the use of his figure,
"change of base," Dr. C. has, as far as the sentiment uttered can effect it, so narrowed and weakened the base
of Methodism that she could no longer command the posi tion that was given to her by her founder.
What was the origin of Methodism? What -thevideal
Christian with which Wesley began?  The "Book of Discipline" speaks, "'In 172~, two young men in England,
reading the Bible, saw they could not be saved without
holiness, followed after it, and incited others so to do. In
1737, they saw likewise that men are justified before they
are sanctified; but still holiness was the object.  God then
thrust them out to raise a holy people." It is added in
that same "Address," of their "Discipline," "We believe
that God's design in raising up the preachers called Methodists in America was to reform the continent, and spread
scriptural holiness over these lands. - Discipline, p. 3.
The association of Mr. Wesley was called the Holy
Club. " The first tract," says Wesley, "I ever wrote
expressly on this subject has the indifferent title of' The
Character of a Methodist.' In this I described a perfect
Christian thus,  " A  Methodist- is one  who  loves  the
Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soul, with
all his mind aid with all his strength. God is the joy of
his heart and the desire of his soul....  He  is therefore
happy  in  God,  yea, always happy....  Perfect love
having now cast out all feal, he rejoices evermore....
His heart is lifted up to God at all times and in all places.
In this he is never hindered, much less interrupted, by any
person or thing. In retirement or company; in leisure,
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58      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
business, or conversation,-his heart is ever with the Lord.
Whether he lie down or rise up, God is in all his
thoughts. He walks with God continually, having the
loving eye of his soul fixt on him, and everywhere seeing
him that is invisible.... For hlie is pure in heart: love
has purified his heart from envy, malice, wrath, and every
unkind temper.... God reigns alone: all that is in the
soul is holiness to the Lord. There is not a motion in his
hearpbut is according to his will." I mighlicrlt ask, See you
in this airy "wooden horse or sleeping opossum?"
Every Methodist preache'r, at his admission into Conference, is expected to meet and answer the questions, " Do
you expect to be made perfect in this life? Are you
groaning after it?
But, as far as the remarks alluded to go, they destroy the
work of entire sanctification in its magnitude, distinctness,
and testimony; and in my judgment, and according to the
reasoning of Wesley, if there is any force in his argument
against the witness of the Spirit, as assuring us of entire sanctification, it has equal application to regeneration.
Tlhey are the teachlling of the same school, and we are back
with Dr. Dwight of New England.  If the testimony of the
Spirit is the privilege of any, they are the exceptional
cases.  Then we indeed have a change of" wnomenclature;"
and for the clear, sitnple, direct, joyful statement, "I live;
yet not I, but Chlrist livethl in me," we have the depressed
spirit, prompting the expressions, " O  wretlched man that
I am!' "-" At lengthli I have hope," or, " I trust I lhave
hope."- " I did not klnow that I was converted till six
mionths after the cliange took place; and should not have
known it then, had not Brother F. told ime." Sir, it is not
for such conversions that our altar is the place of our holy
struggles.  Let no one thinkli we would break the "bruised
Z, 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
reed," but I have never yet seen one that was satisfied
with that state.   I would  have  it as the palin-tree, or
grow like the cedar of Lebanon,- as those that be'planted
in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of
our God.-  Ps. xcii. 12, 13.
Methodism had at the beginning her individuality,- her
strong and palpable peculiarities.  They were not only in
the intensely earnest spirit that she possessed, but  iii the
special trutlis she inculcated.  Take away these, and  vwe
see no cause for her rise; and let the man who can, defend
her against the charge of schism.
But it is asserted by Dr. C. that there are great blessings
for Christians, -" yea, a series... yea, crisis after criss,
... and stage after stage;" rising higher and  higher -
and these will justify the language,
"M6re of thy life, and more, I have,
As the old Adam dies."
Though we cannot know we are cleansed, we can get a
great deal more; and we should " reach after,... stretch
up to attain.... Yet it is not possible to know you have
it."  Having been brought into the region 6f the fabulous
by the illustration alluded to, you may pardon me if I say,
there was another fable filling for the moment the vision
of my mind.  It was that Lydian king, who was condemned
to be plunged into water with choice fruits han(rincg over
him, without the power of reachling " either, to satisfy his
hunger or his thlirst."  The fabled Tantalus stood before
me.
Such, sir, is not the case with the waters of life and the
vine of God. We take, eat, and live; for'.' blessed are they
who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled."-" Eat and drink, O beloved!"
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60      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
That strange but glorious thing that we call faith cannot, according to the argument of Dr. C., realize its
functions. It cannot make us know the mind of the
Spirit; it cannot so bring the unseen before us that we see
him that is invisible, and rejoice in the testimony of purity
of heart. 
Mr. Wesley meets the question, " Is there any example
in Scripture of persons who had attained to this? " - that
is, Christian perfection as he taught it.  He answers,
"Yes: St. John, and all those of whom he says, " Herein 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."1 John iv. 17.  "Can you show us one such example
now? Where is he that is thus perfect? "- that is, in love.
He replies, "To some that make this inquiry, one might
answer, If I knew'one here, I would not tell you; for you
do not inquire out of love. You are like Herod: you only
seek the young child to slay it. But more directly we
answer, There are many reasons why there should be few,
if  any,  indisputable  examples.   What  inconveniences
would that bring on the person himself, set as a mark for all
to shoot at! And how unprofitable it would be to gainsayers! For, if they hear not Moses and the prophets,
Christ and his apostles, neither would they be persuaded
though one rose from the dead."-Vol. vi. p. 498.
]Sow, having shown the Christian perfection that Wesley
taught, let us consider it as proven by many witnesses as a
positive and conscious experience, - not so high that any
may not reach it, not so obscure that none may see it, not so
great that humanity forbids us to profess it.
Again, vol. vii.p. 381, "I spoke to those at Manchester who
believed God had cleansed their hearts. They were six 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
ty-three in number, to about sixty of whom I could not find
there was any reasonable objection." This was more than
nine out of ten.
Again, vii. p. 380  "Upon examination I found three or
four and forty in Dublin who enjoyed the pure love of God;
at least forty of these had attained it in four months."'
Here he makes no discount.
Again, vii. p. 384, "I met those of Sheffield who believed
God  had redeemed them from  all their  sins.   They
were about sixty in number. I could not learn that any
among them walked unworthy of their profession; many
watched over them for evil, but they overcome evil with
good.  I found nothing of self-conceit, stubbornness, impatience of contradiction, or enthusiasm, among them. They
had learned of him that is meek and lowly of heart, and
adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour." He says
not a word against one of them.
Again, vii. p. 380, " There are now [in Limerick] ten
women and thirteen men who witness the same confession,
and their lives agree thereto."
May I add but one more out of many?  Vol. ii. p. 247,
he says, "We have known a large number of persons of
every age and sex, from early childhood to extreme old age,
who have given all the proofs which the nature of the thing
admits, that they were sanctified throughout, cleansed from
all pollution both of the flesh and spirit; that they love the
Lord their God with all their heart; and that they CONTINUALLY presented their souls and bodies a living sacrifice,
in consequence of which they rejoice evermore."
I can hardly forbear saying, this is as if we had come
unto the Brook or Valley Eshcol, and cut down from
thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, that any two
of us might be glad to bear between us.- Numb. xiii. 23.
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.62     NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
But, I am more happy to assert, in the Canaan of perfect
love there is much such fruit. I did but purpose giving
a specimen, that no one might make the heart faint; for
we are well able to go up and possess it."
But have these professors of religion done well? Have
they not harmed the cause? It is quite possible some of
them have harmed the profession.  For "the best of men are
but men at best." If they have not harmed holiness itself, it is
because it is, like its divine Author, incapable of harm. Done
it harm with whom?  Those who are groaning after it, and,
despite the bad deeds of its advocates, expect to be  "made
perfect in this life "? Does God leave his cause at our mercy, or to our wrath? Is the custody of holiness with the
person who professes it?  Probably no man felt more about
the honor of this profession than John Wesley. Vol. vii. p.
378, " I met as usual those who believe they were saved
from sin, and warned them of the enthusiasm that was breaking in, by means of two or three weak, though good, men who,
through a misconstrued text in'Revelation,' inferred teat
they should not die. This gave great occasion of triumph
to those who sought occasion,-   who rejoiced as though they
had found great spoil.  Bitt it was a glorious year.  Some
failed of the grace of God." What did he say (vol. vii. p.
181), "I incline to think all the persons you mention were
fully sanctified. He knew tlhat human nature is not less real,
because di7vine grace should be the nmore powerful."  Again
(vol. ii. p. 173), "I allow that there are false witnesses who
either deceive their ownl souls, and lie in hypocrisy, or
of things they know not.... "But," lie adds, "I
have frequently wondered that we have not more of both
sorts...   Many do the same withl regard to justification....    But though many imagine it'falsely, yet
there are some that are truly justified; and thus though 
4
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
many ilnargine they are sanctified and are not, yet there are
some that are really sanctified." - Vol. ii. p. 1.73.  "But
understand me right.- I do not build any doctrine on this
or that person. This, or any other, man may be deceived;
and I am not moved. But, if there are none made perfect yet,
God has not sent me to preach perfection." - Vol. vi. p.
507. Have we no vindication when regeneration is attacked by those who see the lapses of its professors?  Offer
we no defence when God's ministers are said to cast
stumbling-blocks before the people? Thle professors of
holiness have done harif! -  oh! what have they not done?
Suppose another to say, The ministers of Methodism have
done harm!-oh! what have they not done?  It is natural for close observers to see the faults of Christians, and, if
averse to their defects, show regret for their existence and
concern for their removal. Nor am I of opinion that we
are forbidden criticism upon conduct; but He that condemned adultery in the eye never connived at it in the
act. Yet there is a point where he may say,' Let him that
is without sin cast the first stone.' The sight of myself
may spare the person of another.  To the object of my love,
I will not do as he who saw his father's nakedness, and
went and told it. Let me rather resemble those brothers
who took a garment, and laid it upon their shoulders, and
went backward, and covered their fathler's shame." - Gen.
ix. 23.
I have sometimes thought that such is the criticism we hear
on ministerial character, that the preacher must resemnble
statuary, -to be seen at a great height. It should be much
larger than life, if it appear of the human size.   We must
be more than men to appear as men. It may be so in jud,ging of the professors of holiness.  But who will abandon a
noble cause for the failings of its advocates? Adopt that
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64       NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
principle, and there is sweeping work. Then art ends, sci ence ceases, literature is abandoned, and even religion is
among the things that were. In art there are empirics,
in science smatterers, in literature charlatans, and religion
has had its mere pretenders. Nay, our holy vocation is at
an end.  Shall sciolism and hypocrisy palsy the powers of
the intellect and heart? I have great consideration for
others.  In nothing do I actualize my ideal - the student,
preacher, pastor, Christian.   I would be; I amn not.  But,
next to the certainty of many failures, with me is the
principle and the practice of " tRY, TRY again." Ihold, that
next to the NOBLENESS of being equal to a NOBLE cause
is the nobleness of the effort to reach it next time.  And
this I believe to be compatible with loving God with all
the heart.
Wesley says, "What a grievous error to thlinkl those
saved from sin cannot lose what they have gained! It is
a marvel, if they do not, seeing all earth and hell are so
enraged against them; while, meantime, so very few even
of the children of God skilfully endeavor to strengthen
their hands." - Vol. iv. p. 419.
Speaking of several that had been moved from their
steadfastness, he says, " I am nothing surprised at this
it is no more than was to be expected; I rather wonder
that more were not moved.   Nor does it in any degree
alter my judgment concerning the great work which  God
then wrought, - the greatest, I believe, that has been
wrought  in Europe since the Reformation." -Vol. vii.
p. 380.
It will now be apposite to my aim to show that Mr.
Fletcher, whom Dr. Mattison quoted as setting the mark,
did in his own judgment reach it.
His soul was awake to its wants. His nature was in 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
agony for God. He longed for the divine fulness. The
ardor of his desire caused the bow to be well bent; the
arrow was on the string; it was drawn to the very barb
the utmost tension was attained; it forced itself from the
hand that held it, and did wing its way to the mark. By
John Fletcher, holiness was experienced, professed, exemplified.
Now hear him say to Hester Ann  Rogers, "Come,
sister, will you covenant with me to pray for the fulness of
the Spirit?  Will you be a witness for Jesus?"  And
when  she answered him, with flowing tears, "In the
strength  of Jesus, I will,"  he  cried,  "Glory, glory,
glory be to God!"... He then said, "God is here; I
feel him in this place. But' I would hide my face in the
dust, because I have been ashamed to declare what he hath
done for me. For many years I have grieved his Spirit;
but I am deeply humbled, and he has again restored my
soul." Hear his public declaration, " Now, my brethren,
you see my folly. I have confessed it intyour presence.
... And I declare unto you, in the presence of God the
Holy Trinity, I am now dead indeed unto sin.  I do not
say'I am crucified with Christ,' because some of our wellmeaning brethren say, By this can only be meant a grad
ual dying; but I profess unto you I am dead unto sin
and alive unto God, through Our Lord Jesus Christ." In
view of Mr. Wesley's estimate of him, may we say, as one
said of Longinus, -
"Whose own example strengthens all his laws,
And is himself the great sublime he draws."
We SAW Chri.stian perfection in THAT MAN. ( Grace
will raise us to any STANDARD that God sets.)
I have said we should guard against the depressing influ
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66      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
ence of magnifying perfect love, or of allowing our minds
to be embarrassed upon the subject. If thile speech of Dr.
M. had any thing of hope in it, except the "hope deferred
that maketh the heart sick" (Prov. xiii. 12), I failed to
feel it, and certainly caught no inspiration.
Having set his mark, and taken deliberate aim, it would
not have been improper for Dr. M. to have shown us some
arrow that pierced it. Indeed, it might have aided his
argument for gradualism, had he supplied examples of
individuals who professed and PROVED that they were
"perfect in all the Christiar virtues."  We  should then
have seen, at least, that it is attainable some time before
we die.
What mark did Dr. Curry-leave? He constrained the
thioughit, -
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man never is, but always to be, blest."
II. Entire hbliness is attainable, as an instantaneous exfperience, by any who are fully justified. As I would not
magnify sanctification, so would  I not  minify regeneration: each is a great work of God.   "In the new birth,"
says Watson, "the dominion of sin is...  broken
and abolished; so that, with a free choice of will and
energy of right affections, we serve God freely, and run
in the way of his commandments."   Wesley (vol. i. p.
124) declares, "We  are delivered from the dominion of
outward sin... the power of inward sin is broken."
In regeneration, besides the pardon of sin and the renewal
of the soul in righiteousness, there is produced an outward
holiness. In entire sanctification, besides the outward holiness, there is experienced an inward purity.
I would urye the instantaneous.
r 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
Dr. Mattison thinks we pay too little attention to the gradual. He deprecates the terminology he hears on this subject,
" obtain" for " attain."   I know nopeople who do more
insist oir " growing in grace" than they who inculcate the
possibility and desirableness of entire and instantaneous purity.  To the word "attain," I have no objection; I have
as little to "obtain." They were both used by our fathers,
and are scriptural terms.  But if Dr. Mattison prefers "attarn," because it conveys more accurately the idea of an unrecognized experience of perfect love, - that is reached by
such imperceptible degrees that it is not known when found, -
then the ground of his choice of" attain" furnishes the reason
of my selection of" obtain." Nature compasses her own ends.
By the law of growth, he who is now feeble and under age
may, by the lapse of time, pass from weakness to strength,
and from his minority attain his majority. But religion
has no progression from nature, and time offers no laver
for moral cleansing.  Ours is a state obtained, retained,
improved, only as we struggle for our life. Precision of
language would say "obtain."   "And  we so run as to
obtain."- -1 Cor. ix. 24.  "The kingdom of heaven sufferetli violence, and the violent take it by force." -" We
come to a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy."
Heb. iv. 16.  " To them who have obtained like precious
faith."-  2 Pet. i. 1.
Dr. MIatlison thinks hle would not advise those falling into
sin to seek entire holiness; and Brother Buckley, who blames
professors of holiness for representing the justified as being
in so horrible a state, yet himself quotes the Epistle to
the Seven Churches to show that justified souls may live in
outward sin consistently with regeneration, - whereas such
a course is not compatible with regeneration. If it is, why
are these churches rebuked? Wesley says (vol. i. p. 109),
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68      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
"He has power over both outward and inward sin, from the
moment he is justified." Again (vol. i. p. 113), "They are
delivered from the- guilt and power, though not from the
being, of sin." Again (vol. i. p. 155), " Power over every
evil word and work." Again, when some one says, "sinneth
not habitually," he reminds him God will add the plague
written in the book, as habitually quite swallows up the
text (vol. i. p. 156). I do not allow that he that is born of
God can consistently with the spirit of his new nature indulge
outward sin.  "He  that is born of God doth not commit
sin, and he that committeth siid is of the devil;" and Wesley
so quotes both these passages.
I call THIS disparaging regeneration. In the depth of
their devotion, in the ardor of their zeal, in the cheerfulness of their resignation, in the benignity of their spirit,
in the perfection of their love, and in the completeness of
their moral character, the entirelv sanctified are justly expected to excel. But, in their outward morality, I hold
they should be the same. The divine law is not a variable standard. I say the fully justified may be entirely
sanctified. If professors of religion are living in sin, then,
in being restored to grace, they are not raised to holiness.
We have heard of the abuses of profefsion of entire
sanctification-: we may say under this word, "gradualism,"
there is much to startle the soul.  Is there not, in most
churches, a kind of- I know not how better to express it -
a kind of perfunctory religiousness, - a sort of moral fossilization?  Old Herbert said, "The people who sit under the
pulpit are often as dead as the seats they occupy." It is as
if there were  something petrific in the place.   There
is too much of the gradualism of regression, instead of progression, that finds us after five, nay twenty, years in less
favorable posture for purity than five weeks after conversion. 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
I well know, the path of the just is as the shining light
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. But,
I am sorry to say, many resemble not the shining light
of the sun, but the reflected light of the moon when she
wanes, rather than when she waxes.
I would say to.any who are fully justified, If sensible
of your want, if you feel the sin in the believer ( Wesley,
vol. i. p. 108), and have the repentance that is in the
believer (Wesley, vol. i. p. 115), if you will exercise faith
in God, you may now be cleansed. (Brother Buckley, who
believes in this instantaneous purity, denies that any have
a right to say, You may have it nov.  Why not?)  Is my
present state my fault or my fate?  If my  fate, I cannot
alter it. Why, then, am I blamed for it? If my fault, it is because I might have it otherwise. We obtain it by faith.  But,
says Wesley (I)is. 17, 92,121)," God will not give that faith,
unless we seek it with all diligence."   Again (17, 92, 121)
"Your ask amiss,-  that you may receive it before you die.
Before you die! Nay: but ask that it may be done now,
- to-day. Do not call this setting God a time. To-day is
his time as well as to-morrow."   Watson says, "All the
promises which are not expressly, or from the order, referred
to future time are objects of present trust."   Walmauqh
says, "The celerity of the sanctifying process depends upon
man." Dr. Clarke says, "' Whenever such blessings are offered, they may be had" (p. 160). Wesley again (vol. ii. p.
645), "Do you believe we are sanctified by faith? Then
be true to your principle, and look for this blessing just as
you are, neither better nor worse."
There is nothing I more fully believe in religion
than the divine sovereignty; but there is oneother truth
that I as fully accept, - that is, human responsibility.
The sovereign of all worlds has a moral economy. More
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70      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
fixed is this than the laws of the material universe; for even
these have been suspended or controlled to secure its ends,
and miracles have yielded their testimony for its establish ment under this economy of grace. Salvation is made a
present possibility, and men are condemned because they do
not so experience it. But, if our condition be unavoidable,
it is time we stop upbraiding sinners.
If, then, after what I have quoted from Wesley against
those Wvho do not now receive it, there be found in some
letter or letters an expression not in harmony with this sentiment, how shall I use it?  I am  bound by the canons
of interpretation that must be observed with any author,
not to give the highest consideration to the incidental, but to
the designed, the deliberate, the mature.
Wesley must be reconciled with his principles, and plain
statements of doctrine: if this is not enough, without wishng to judge him myself, I let him speak.  You will find the
question in the old" Discipline," and also in his " Works,"
(vol. v. p. 196, 238), "Have  we not, unawares, leaned
too much toward Calvinism?" Answer. "We  are afraid
we have." And, sir, if he taught as Brother Buckley
quotes, I think he had. To all tlis we add, His principles
are sustained by the other authorities quoted, and by the
word of God. But I come to Dr. Curry's regeneration as a
base, and gradualism as a process, of entire holiness. He
asserts his determination to "fight it out on this line."  He
may " fight it out on this line," if there be but one Richm)iond to be taken,- if all trouble is over when that stronghold of rebellion falls. Let me add, the man who uttered
these prophetic words made short work of it; and there
was then ohe at the metropolis who was quite tired of the
tardy, and wanted speed. Four years saw Richmond fall;
but how many years have some of us been "fighting upon 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
this line"? and we are more like another general, - so
longr, and to so little effect, in the swamps. In settling the
trouble of this nation, there has been a good deal of fighting, not on " this line."  The American Congress, with
nmultiplied embarrassments, have been fighting  it out, not
with the sword, but with  legislation; and  has not the
work of reconstruction been in magnitude and merit like a
second regeneration?
B3ut it will be just for me now to show that there was
once a commander amono us, and he not a subaltern, who
differed from Dr. Curry in regard to the management of
this great conflict. He was no mere theorist; he had long
been on the ground, and had well surveyed it; he was not
inapt in the arts of spiritual warfare; he was a fine disciplinarian, - was always strengthening his base, extending, his lines, and securing re-enforcements, improving the
condition of his troops, infusing unmixed devotion to the
cause, maintaining the mobility that increases might, and
keeping up the esprit de corps of the army.
How did Wesley think about tlhat which is now called
" fighting it out on this line"? Hear him (vol. i. p. 121-2).
He asserts, there is remaining in the pardoned that which
must be removed before they are fit for heaven; and this we
cannot remove by all the grace we have,- to say nothing of
our natural powers. We cannot remove either the pride,
self-will, love of the world, anger, and general proneness
to depart firom God, which we experimentally know to re;,iiain in the heart, even of them that are regenerate; or
the evil which, in spite of all our endeavors, cleaves to all our
words and actions.... If any man is not satisfied of this,
if any believes that whoever is justified is able to remove
these sins out of his heart and life, let him make the experiment; let him try whether, by the grace he has already re
71 
72      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
ceived, he can expel pride, self-will, or inbred sin in general.
Indeed, this is so evident a truth that well-nigh all the
children of God... agree in this, that although we may
by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, resist and conquer both outward and inward sin; although we may
weaken our enemies day by day, -yet we cannot drive
them out, by all the grace that is given at justification, - we
cannot extirpate them. Then only the evil root, the carnal
mind, is destroyed, and inbred sin subsists no'nore. But if
there be no such instantaneous work, none but the gradual
work  of God,... then we  nust be content, as well as we
can, to remain full of sin till death."-Vol. ii. p. 121-2.
Thus spake
"That warrior in the Christian field,
Who never saw a sword he could not wield."
We say, then, to the forgiven, Your pardon is a great advance towards entire holiness.  IThen the work of sanctification began: all growth in grace since that time is progress
towards it. Every day-you live, you should be conforming
more and more to the mind of the Spirit; and now, even in
this moment, you may be cleansed from all sin. Can
there be a better time than when the new convert wakes
to this want, andis drawn to seek its supply?
When the fully justified soul first feels what Dr. Chalmers
calls, "The  expulsive power of a new affection; " when
love of the world is driven out by the love of Christ; when
celestial pleasures take the place of those that are terrestrial;
when Christian principle exerts -if I may so say - its pristine
power; when the moral impulse that regeneration imparts drives us forward with such force and celerity, and is
not in any way spent or imnpaired by time, or friction with
the world; when old habits of almost a lifetime are broken 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
ill a day, and the soul, renewed in the likeness and endowed
witl  the strength of the Omnipotent, rises from the sordid
to the spiritual; when strong resolution makes us superior
to evils that we had long deplored and vainly attempted
to overcome; when faith, thoughl new, is such a facile ex  ercise,- then, if properly taught, the new convert will find
this is the best period for the successful effort after holi ness? The tide of thought and current of feeling are in
a n'ew channel, and sweep right on to the bosom of God.
Then, if the regenerated looks round, and sees any of its
territory partially under the influence that will present
snares and traps unto them, will be scourges in their sides,
and thorns in their eyes" (Joshl. xxiii. 13), - then is
the time to get rid of them. God is able!
Not time, but the state of mind, gives  eligibleness for
this blessing. Though, as in the new birth, the struggle
may be loing and hard, yet as in that change a moment
relieved you from all the weight of guilt and grief and
doubt, so in an instant all the remains of impurity may
be washed out; and God may cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by "the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, that we per fectly love and worthily magnify his Holy name."   If in a
moment  a work  of such  magnitude  as regeneration is
wrouijht, that of entire holiness may be expected in  as
short a period.
It is the work of the same Spirit; it is upon the same
subject; it is by the same faith. It is, alike with conver sion, accomplished for the honor of God and the good of
the individual.  And faith, reaching up to the holy promise,
from crying,             "Oh! let me gain perfection's light!"
in ecstasy exclaims,           "'Tis done, -thou dost this moment save."
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74      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETIN'G.
We come now to an argument for the instantaneous, that
must have weight with those who talk much about the gradual work of holiness.
We urge the instantaneous, as the surest way of promoting
the gradual.  Dr. Curry thought, if we conclude that we
have attained entire holiness, we cease making effort after
it. Certainly we cease the effort for that which we have.
"For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? " -
Rom. viii. 24.   But  does  the fact that the penitent is
pardoned, and therefore no longer has need to seek forgiveness, keep him from giving all his heart to God, that
he may be filled with his fulness? And as the best-trained
minds most rapidly, and with less difficulty, increase the
stores of knowledge, so a soul never grows in grace so fast
as when not hindered by inward foes or feeble faith.
Hence says our old " Discipline" (pp. 17, 92, 70)," Gonstant experience shows, the more earnestly they expect
this, the more swiftly and steadily does the gradual work
go on in their soul, the more careful are they to grow ins
grace, the more zealous of good works, and the more punctual in their attendance on the ordinances of God. Whereas just the contrary effects are observed whenever this expectation ceases. They are saved by hope,- by this hope
of a total change, with a gradually increasing salvation.
Destroy this hope, and that salvation stands still, or rather
decreases daily. Therefore whoever would advance the
gradual change in believers should strongly insist on the
instantaneous."
Dr. Clarke says, "It is when the soul is purified firom
all sin that it can properly grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;  as the field may
be expected to produce a good crop,..   when  thorns,
thistles, briers, and noxious weeds of every kind, are grubbed
out of it." 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
Thus the instantaneous more certainly carries the gradual
than the gradual without it maintains itself.  By our conifidence in, and commendation of,'a constant and speedy
"growth in grace," we urge upon all prepared to appreciate the exhortation, " Go on to perfection;" and know
that you reach it.
We would caution, as circumstances might seem to demand, against resting in any gradualism that does not bring
us tot) the experience of perfect love, and enable us to
assert its possession and enjoyment.
Of such we would say, v
Gradualism is not sustained by the teaching of the highest authorities of Methodism. The instantaneous is.
Gradualism is not according to the analogy of the great
work of God in spiritual regeneration. The instantane
oils Is.
Gradualism does not accord with the experience of those
who profess perfect love. The instantaneous does.
The earnest spirit, that vital religion constrains, will not
be satisfied with the gradual, if the instantaneous is possi
ble.
Gradualism brings no testimony of the Spirit as having
wrought the desired work in the individual; furnishes no
witnesses for the encouragement of the seeker of purity;
confirms the truth of none of God's promises to "cleanse
us from filthiness of flesh and spirit;" and gives the world
no declaration of the experience of " the perfect love that
casteth out all fear." No corroboration of the divine ability to purify comes to us from the living, in time; and
eternity sends us back no echo from the dead.
III. But Dr. Curry has indulged in criticism on the
mneans of promoting the experience of perfect love. He
would not advise preaching on this subject specifically,
75 
76      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
and he believes there is a great deal of unskilful teaching.   This  I shall not doubt, as I think there is on
all subjects of public discourse. I sympathize with the
wish, - while I will turn -censor on none, - that our
leading ministers take up  the theme, provided  always
that they do not put down Wesley.   The doctor heard one
sermon from 1 Thless. iv. 3: " This is the will of God,
even your sanctification." The impression on his mind,
from'the report he gave of it, must have been very bad.
But where shall we find orthodoxy? All preachers are not
searching philologists or profound divines, and perfect love
does not give a complete education. And a man goes to
"I Wesley's Notes; " and on this same text he reads, "Sanctification, -  entire holiness of heart and  life; " and he
thinks he can preach from it.  He makes the attempt; but
the exposition is said to be all wrong. Dr. Clarke on this
text is the same in effect. Yet Wesley does over and
over speak thus: (vol. i. p. 115), "Babes in Christ are
sanctified but in part;"  (vol. v. p. 264), "Sanctification,
the last and highest state of perfection in this life," -  thus
employing sanctification to express entire holiness.
But Dr. Curry asserts, sanctification is not to be so
used.   The themes of our ministry, says the doctor, are
to be such as God and Sin and Hell and Trinity.  "The
strength of Samson, unlike that of other men, was in his
hair," -  his peculiarity.  "So the success of preaching is
in presenting that which is peculiar to the gospel." Truth
has symmetry, and it is so to be exhibited.   Saint and
sinner should have their portion in due season.
In the history of the American pulpit there were,
about the time Methodism rose, three men, known among
Calvinists as "The American Triumtnvirate." They were
Jonathan Edwards, Joseph Bellamy, and Samuel Hopkins.
0 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
With them God and hell and sin were a triple truth of
amazing power. Nor did they fail to preach the Trinity
in Unity. They were good and great men. Bellamy so
asserted the character and claims of the Almighty, that,
when a colored man who sat under his ministry and that
of Dr. Backus, his successor, was requested to give his
opinion of the two men, he could not so well convey
his idea as by saying, "Massa  Bellamy make  God  so
JYreat!" By Hopkins the pit of perdition was so uncov ered that men  seemed  to see  its smoke  and  feel its
flame.  Jonathan Edwards, besides showing the grandeur
of God, and the evil of sin, and the glory of the Trinity,
preached from "In due time their feet shall slide," till
his hearers in very terror caught hold of their pews.
They thought they saw themselves sliding into hell. Yet
in New England arose the evils of infidelity and the
corruptions of the Christian creed. The great universi ties of Harvard and Yale soon felt the moral deterioration;
and Dwight, at the head of one of them, spent much of
his ministry in seeking the cure of the scepticism that he so
greatly deplored. Jeremiah Seed, in England, using the
text, "The light of the body is the eye, if the eye be evil,
the whole body is full of darkness,"' declared the universities
are the eye of the nation, -  thence came the light that was
to bless the people; but added, "If the eye be. evil," the
universities corrupt, the whole body of the nation must
be full of darkness, and then "how great that darkness!"
But such was the condition into which our highest institutions of learning had fallen.  Infidelity was rife, and
orthodoxy was in sackcloth. I do not blame these godly
ministers; none would have mourned it more than they.
But I may be allowed to say, in England there was
another triumvirate in John and Charles Wesley and
7*
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78      NEW-YOPRK PREACHERS' MEETING.
the holy Fletcher.  They  preached  the witness of the
Spirit to our conversion; the possibility and evidences
of the instantaneous experience of Christian perfection.
Men heard, believed, and experienced the radical and
universal change.  So preached the pioneers of Methodism in New England, and multiplied were the moral
marvels that followed.   This was  their great peculiarity,-  this, the secret of their strength.   Of our fathers
in the Old and New World, we may assert, holiness to
the Lord was their motto, their mission, and their ministry! If perfect love war such a specialty and power
at the commencement, why may it not be in the progress, of our history?  What  were  Wesley's views  of
the prominence we should give it? Vol. vii. p. 154,
"This is the grand depositum which God has lodged with
the people called Methodists; and, for the sake of propagating this chiefly, he appears to have raised us up."
Again (vol. v. p 208), "It behooves us to speak in public
almost continually, of the state of justification, but more
rarely, in full and explicit terms, concerning entire sanctifcation."  Again (vol. vii. p. 61), "At  this Conference,"
1767, he says,  "it will be determined whether all our
preachers or none shall continually insist upon Christian
perfection."  Again (vol. vii. p. 195,) "In the success of
Mr. Leec's preaching, we have one proof of a thousand,
that the blessing of God always attends the publishing of
full salvation as attainable now, by simple faith." It was
objected to Wesley and his fellow-laborers, that they did
"instil into the people a few favorite tenets of their own."
Vol. v. p. 49, he says, "I plead guilty to this charge.  I
do make it my principal, nay, my whole employ, and that
wherever I go, to instil into the people a few favorite
tenets, - only, be it obsewrved, they are not mine, but His 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
that sent me. And it is undoubtedly true that this I do
(though deeply conscious of my want both of zeal and
diligence), as if the whole of Christianity depended upon
themn, and all efforts without them were void and vain. I
frequently sum them up in one.' In Christ Jesus (that
is, according to his gospel) neither circumcision availeth, nor uncircumcision; but faith, which worketh by love.'
But many times I instil them one by one, in these and the
like expressions,'Thou  shalt love  the Lord thy God
with all thy heart.' "- Vol. v. p. 49.
Speaking of the preachers, he  says (vol. vi. p. 673),
"They say they believe it; but they never preach it, or but
once a quarter.   What is to be done?  Shall we let it
drop, or make a point of it?" That is the question of
MIr. Wesley.  What is the answer that has been given in
this Preachers' Meeting?  Dr. Curry thinks we must not
make a point of it; that preaching on the subject is to be
the exception. What a specialty Mr. Wesley made of
it, we see by the printed sermnons that he has left to the
church. How often does he present the theme! how
v\ariously does he evolve it!
But it is thoulght, if the subject is presented unwisely,
some will be satisfied with the first, rather than consent to
take the second, degree of this masonry. - Probably they
will, if sick of the first.  I know little of that ancient and
hlonored fraternity; but, if they have ally second degree
that is such an advance upon the first, that yields so
many advantages, and may be obtained in so short a time
and by so simple a process, we could hope no one, who
has had spirit enough to be initiated, will be so indifferent
to his own welfare as to remain another day as a novitiate. I know not the ground of this allusion. I am not
zaware that the professors of entire holiness, as such, have
79 
80      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
any secret, except the secret of the Lord.  And  the more
comprehensive and general this becomes, the better are
they pleased.   Their bond of union is perfect love, and
it is like a threefold cord. But why this reference to the
sublime verities of experimental religion? Are they to
receive such treatment from honored men?
2. But it has been here argued, that it is unwise to attempt to promote this work by special meetings, or efforts
at the. altar. To assume and assert that such meetings
and labors are "damaging" is a responsibility that some
one else than myself must talk. Is it damaging for preachers who are groaning after perfect love, and expect to be
made perfect in this life; who feel that the multitude of
their labors, the nature of their sacrifices, the weight of
their obligations, do so press upon their souls that they
must have a manifestation of God as transcends their past
experience?  Is it damaging, when ten, fifteen, twienty, or
thirty ministers meet with members of the church, who
also feel they need more of the sanctifying grace to fit themn
for their diversified spheres and duties, to come together
and ask God to cleanse them from all sin?
Let them say whether the prayers they there hear, the
experiences to which they there listen, the advice they there
receive,- let them say, who also can judge of a matter after
they have heard it, whether in spirit, conversation, or conduct, they have thus suffered any injury. Why, then, is their
youth renewed like the eagle's?  It is thought that going
to the altar for perfect love is of like influence. Sinners
do not know what we mean!  Then, we are poor instructors.  Whom  does going to the altar harm?  Those who
approach it?  Then why do they go?   Dr. Curry thinks
that comining to the altar, and pledging ourselves, and making vows, is dangerous.  I think this is quite a rigid con. 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
struction of the act of approaching the altar, as I believe
many         come, and neither make a vow nor pledge themselves.
But suppose they do both. When a vow is proper as to
its matter, is intelligent and voluntary, is there any thing in
it       wrong? Was it wrong in David who would pay "them
in th   e presence of all the people"?  What originated watchmeetingos?   What in them has ever been deemed the most
solemn and impressive part? Is it not the vow, as Dr. C.
may       call it? Why sing we
" The covenant we this moment make"?
* How often writes Wesley on this wise (vol. vii. p. 181),
"I have very pleasing accounts of uncommon blessings
which many received at the time of renewing their coveiz~nt with God"!  Again, Aug. 6, 1755, "I mentioned
to our congregation in London a means of increasing serious
religion, which had been frequently practised by our forefathers,-  the joining in a covenant to serve God with all
our heart and with all our soul. I explained this for several
mornings following; and on Friday many of us kept a fast
unto the Lord, beseeching him to give us wisdom and
strength, that we might promise unto the Lord our God,
and keep it.  On Monday, at six in the evening, we met
for that purpose at the French Church, at Spitalfields. After I had recited the tenor of the covenant proposed in
the words of that good man, Richard Alleine, all the people
stood up, in token of assent, to the number of about eiyhteen
hundred.  Such a night I scarce ever knew before."-Vol.
vii. p.3. 368.  "Again, about eighteen hundred of us met together. It was a most solemn season, as we did openly
avouch the Lord to be our God; and so did he avouch us to
be his people."-Vol. iv. p. 320. "Let me give an account
of a meeting in 1760. There was a great revival in York
81 
82.NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
shire on Jan. 13. About the 30th of January, we met
together at Otley.... In the evening, when they
came to speak of the several states of their souls, some with
deep sighs and groans complained of the heavy burden they
felt from the remains of inbred sin, seeing in a clearer
light than ever before the necessity of deliverance from it.
When they had spent the usual time together, a few went
to their own houses; but the rest remained upon their knees
groaing for the great and precious promises.  When one of
them was desired to pray, he no sooner lifted up his voice
to God than the Holy Ghost made intercession in all that
were present, "with groanings that could not be uttered;'
and in a while they expressed the travail of their souls by
loud and bitter cries. They had no doubt of the favor of
God; but they could not rest while they had any thing in
them contrary to his nature. One cried out in an agony,
'Lord, deliver me from my sinful nature!' then a second,
a third, and a fourth; and while he that prayed first was
uttering these words,' Thou God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, hear us for the sake of thy Son!' one broke out,
' Blessed be the Lord for ever, for he has purified my heart!'
Another,' Praise the Lord with me, for hlie has cleansed my
heart from sin.'  Another cried,'I am hanging over the
pit of hell.'...  Thus they continued for the space
of two hours,...  some crying for pardon, or purity
of heart, with the greatest agony of spirit. Before they
parted, three believed God had fulfilled his word, and cleansed them from all unrighteousness. The next evening they
met again, and the Lord was again present to heal the
broken in heart. One received remission of sins, and
three more believed God had cleansed them from all sin."
-Vol. vii. p. 376.
Again (vol. vii. p. 379), "The work of God increases 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
every day. There is hardly a day but some are justified
or sanctified, or both. The people are all oii fire." Is
there any thing like altar work in this?
Brother B. is so fixed in this matter, that, if his attainment of entire holiness depends on his going to the altar,
hlie will not obtain it. Now that argument has no more
weight with me than mine will have with him when I tell
him, what is the truth, that I would go  to the altar,
thougli it only made my spirit humble; and the result of
my past efforts has not discouraged future attempts. Nor
is it alone the people of, our own church that find profit in
this means. I was once conducting an extra meeting in
a Union Chapel, where Presbyterians, Protestant Episcopalians, Lutherans, German Reformed, and Baptists worshipped with us. I gave the invitation. They came to
the altar, and there professed such comfort and profit as
led them to ask the privilege, even after we had turned
our special attention to the conversion of sinners, that in
number rose to about six times our membership.   And
these were not ignorant people. But a boorish boy asks,
"W\hen are you going to convert at your church again?"
A boy asks! Now, that would not have been a very great
question, if a man had asked it; end it is not much augmented by being here introduced in argument. If it has
any force, it is in application to converting, not cleansing;
and Brother Hunt vindicated the origin of the altar in his
grandsire, showing it was introduced to prevent confusion.
3. But it is objected by -Dr. Curry that it is taking higher
responsibilities to profess it. I will not say that it is not.
But, in this world, responsibility is a necessity of our nature
and relations. We take responsibility if we act; we meet
responsibility if we act not. The responsibility of a human
intelligence inheres in him as a moral agent, - lies back of
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purposes or promises. I am an immortal spii'it. The lhan(l
of God fashioned me. His breath animated my fiame. I-lis
inspiration giveth me understanding. My soul was redeemed
by the death of his Son. The will of God to me, then, is
the ground of my highest obligation; and this is " the will
of God, even my sanctification." My tuty is fixed, whether
I acknowledge it or not. God holds me to it. It is my option whether I will render him supreme honor; but, refusing, thete is no option whether I shall take the consequences. How, then, is my responsibility affected by my profession? It is that I act consstently before man and God.
But my Maker holds me to the offering, of my entire heart,
and the rendering of all my services, just as truly as if I
had declared it before all worlds; and holiness is a thing, I
must have or perish. I ask, then, Is there no responsibility
in declining to promise? God calls me to be a Christian.
I cannot refuse.  I start and fail.  Did I do well to begin?
God calls me to the ministry; and I feel, Woe is me if I
preach not the gospel!  I cannot incur that woe.   But
others refuse.  May they say, You took the responsibility
of becoming a preacher?  I  say, And you  of refusing.
Suppose, as a minister, I make no profession of holiness.
Then does the world eipect less of me than a holy life?
Will my profession or non-profession change their demand
that I be holy in example? Do not all suppose we will
represent the truths we preach, in the spirit that we manifest?  Am  I not called of God to be as holy as John
Fletcher?   But I cannot take  the responsibility.   Of
what?   Of obeying God?  Then we take the responsibility of declining it.  It might have been a dangerous one.
God  asks my  heart.   He  searches  me.   My  necessity
makes its appeal. I know my weakness. But I say I will
try. I do not succeed. What then? The cause is re 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
proached. Is it reproached, that we will not so desire it,
and rest in God; and so direct our energies, as by grace to
obtain and profess it? I like the son who said, " I go, sir."
I would rather fall a dozen times in the effort to go than to
stand strong in my purpose to make no attempt.
Shall we, then, decline a testimony of this experience 2
Is there a principle of gratitude that constrains us to witness for pardon that is not as imperative for purity? Not
that I would intimate that on all occasions those who possess it should speak of it. Their judgment must guide.
If they can encourage anothler, honor God, or establish
their own soul, then why should they not?   "At first,"
says Wesley (in I)iscipline, 17, 92, 116), "he would scarce
be able to refrain. By silence he might avoid many crosses...    But this could not be done with  a clear
conscience. Men do not light a candle to put it under a
busllel.  Mluchl less does the All-wise God.  His will is
that many shall see it, and put their trust in the Lord.
Nor does any thing more quicken those who are justified."
Fletcher says (vol. ii. p. 266), "The line of your duty
runs exactly between the proud forwardness of some stiff
Pharisees, and the voluntary humility of some stiff Mystics.
The former vainly boast of more than they experience; the
latter ungratefully hide the wonderful works of God.  Let
your lives shou it; and, when you have a proper call, declare it with your lips and pens." - Mr. Fletcher said he
four times lost it because he did not profess it.
4. The question has been asked by Dr. Curry," Whether
the professors of holiness help the preacher? " He who
proposed that inquiry is as old as myself.  I know  not
whether  the question  was a rhetorical  one, and thus
the strongest form of an assertion; or whether the reticence
(shown by him that made the inquiry) was - what
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the art of eloquence sometimes makes it - more forcible than
speech.  But I will be innocent enough to suppose it was
asked for information. I answer, then, I knew four persons,
in the society which I first joined, that professed entire holiness.  One was a young man.  He was a living sermon.
Two of them were females; and when in the church their
voices rose in praise, the climax of any service was reached.
The fourth was a colored man.  He was a saint that men consulted in the deep things of God; and when in prayer Samson Rogers - that was his name - drew nigh to God, the
throne shook, and there was a "door opened in heaven."
Would not such help us? I went to my first circuit.
Many thoughts of the place, period, and people, have perishled with the lapse of thirty years.   But fresh in my
memory, as yesterday, are the names and virtues of Join
Percy, E. Reynolds, and Mrs. T. White. To me, in my
youtl), inexperience, and unskilfulness, they were so gentle, considerate, and encouraging, that, though others were
not unkind, they were pre-eminently helpful.  They professed perfect love, and the odor of their piety filled the
circuit. Yes: they did indeed help this preacher. I went
to my first Conference. I saw Joseph Lybrand. He had
an almost matchless eloquence; but in the pulpit he sometimes seemed seraphic, and such serenity of spirit, urbanity of manners, and dignity of ministerial bearing marked
his intercourse that ought to have helped any preacher.
He said God had given him a pure heart.
I came to this city.  I met H. Moore.  What gave him
his influence? Was it in learning acquired? In talents
possessed?  In wealth enjoyed?  It was in this that men
said, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"
My relations brought me into frequent intercourse with
a family that has been much engaged in promoting the ex 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
perience of perfect love.  They had neither sought nor desired my appointment; and I utter but a negative virtue
when I say, I have yet to hear the first word from their lips
to impair the influence, to molest the spirit, or to interfere
with the labors of any pastor whom God has placed over
them; while multiplied attentions and earnest efforts have
shown their interest, and testified their zeal, to aid him in
any way in the Master's cause.  There are now in our
mnidst, - those whom I may not name, that I never meet
but to be taught and humbled by their sublime devotion,
their exalted virtues, vnd their constant assimilation to the
mind of Christ.
Do they help the preacher?  Yes: they helpl me.  Would
God I could as greatly help them?
Now,  I do not mean  to say all professors of holiness
help  the  preacher.   Some  may  lack  the  love  they
profess,-or the prudence to be desired.   I by no means
think they are always wise. I sl-hould be glad to think none
do any harm.   But I have not been looking for these; and it
is sometimes said, a man will find in the worldjust the thing
he looks for. My observation has been that they are generally sound in morals, exemplary in deportment, regular in
the public means of grace, a people in earnest for God.
Is it helping the preacher, to advance the cause of Christ
by the diffusion of holiness among the members? Hear
Wesley (vol. vii. p. 377), "Wherever the work of God
increased in all its branches, many were convicted of sin,
many justified, many  backsliders healed.   So it was ill
London society, in particular. In February, 1761, it contained upwards of three-and-twenty hundred members; in
1763, about eighlt-and-twenty hundred." Have we been
helped in no such way?
He writes (vol. vii. p. 381), "Many years ago my brother
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88      NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
frequently said,' Your day of Pentecostis not fully come;'
but I doubt not it will, and you will hear of persons sanctified as frequently as you do now of persons justified." He
adds, "Any unprejudiced person might observe, it is now
fully come."
We can never consent that this experience should lose
its influence as a testimony, or that any should decry a
ministrv or a means that gives prominence to this theme.
Thus would our base be circumscribed and weakened; our
banner cease to wave in the vanguard of our hosts; our
battle-cry of" Holiness to the Lord" would be stifled, if not
stopped; and the stillness of death might prevail where tlihe
shout of the victor should have been heard, and the triumph
of truth would have beet complete.... Thgn, O  Metliodism! youngest but most admired among the sister denominations! what earnest Christian would so commend
thy beauty, or at thine altar with such avidity link his
destiny with thine?
Then with lamentations write it from the Book of Lamentations, (ii. 1). " hIow hath the Lord covered the
daughter of Zion with a cloud!"
One of the worst ways of treating perfect love is,, to
speak of it with indifference, to hear of it with suspicion,
or to permit prejudice toward its professors. We should
show that it is a possible, and may be a present, attainment.
bide should try to impress-the seeker with the importance
of ftsting(, hlumiliation, and  prayer, of reading the Holy
Scriptures, and of waiting upon God in the use of all
the means of grace; and preeminently with the necessity of
faith in the purposes, promises, and power of God.  Let
it also be felt that this effort is to be made in the spirit of a
son, rather than in that of a servant; and it will be found 
ADDRESS OF REV. J. A. ROCHE.
that nothing so much encourages the inquirer as a direct
and definite statement of the way in whiclhl we obtained
this experience. As did the early Methodist preachers, so
may we assure the people, that, "if there is one blessing
which above all others God delights to give to his children,
it is that of perfect love to himself."
Mr. President, I never can consent that my words be
construed to the disparagement of the new birth. At that
auspicious hour, we enter the ark of Godl, and are saved from
the floods of ungodliness that whelm a wicked world. But,
in entire holiness we attain that Ararat, where, having
escaped from many an agitating billow and disturbing doubt,
we look forth as upon the glories of a second creation,
through the mercy of Him who saith, "Behold! I make
all things NEW.
8*
ft
89 
IV.
WHAT ARE THE BEST METHOID OF PROMOTING
EXPERIENCE OF PERFECT LOVE?
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.*
[]HIS question assumes that there is such an experience
as Perfect Love attainable in this life; that it ought to
be promoted in the church; that some methods of promoting it are better than others; and that the best methods
should be sought out and adopted by us.  The truth of
these assumptions is generally conceded by Methodist
ireachers.
We admit the fact of such an experience, as set forth in
the Holy Scriptures, and in the theological standards and
spiritual literature of our church. And whatever differences we have, relate more to the time and manner and
incidents of the experience than to the thing itself.
In discussing our differences, the object sought should be
the attainment of harmony of opinion and of teaching, as
well as of effort to spread scriptural holiness. It therefore
becomes necessary to harmonize, as much as possible, our
views of the fundamental principles involved in or associated with this great experience; we need to build up
* This speech was on the floor for delivery, when the debate was abruptly
closed; and, as no opportunity of delivering it was given, its publication was
desired by the brethren whose addresses appear in this volume. It is therefore submitted, with the hope that it may be useful.
90 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
together firom the base; we must have the key-note right,
and then harmonize all others with that standard.
"Perfect Love" is a phrase used by St. John, to describe the high attainments of the adult believer in Christ.
WhVlere he uses this phrase (1 John iv. 17, 18), he intimates that some Christians are not made perfect in love,
but are still subject to a fear that hath torment.
It is admitted that this phrase is a specific one, having
special reference to one aspect of Christian experience,simply love. But, though referring directly to this sublime
affection of the soul, it- involves all the other essential
attributes of the mature Christian character.   "Love is
the fulfilling the law;" it involves obedience to God, and
entire conformity to his will.   Hence it includes the regeneration of our nature by the Holy Spirit, with the
accompanying justification and witness of adoptioii, which
are essential to our supreme love and obedience to God.
Our standard authors are therefore right in using " Perfect
Love" synonymously with "holiness," "entire sanctification," and" Christian Perfection," - all of which are scriptural phrases and terms pointing to, or describing, the
same thing; they all and each mean conformity to the
will of God, and full restoration to his image of purity and
goodness.
The point where we begin to diverge from doctrinal
unity is in regard to the measure of Perfect Love, sanctifcation, or perfection attained by the believer in his conversion to God.  Some of us predicate of him a higher, and
others a lower, degree of holiness; and these differences
affect all our theorizings as to his subsequent p)rog(ress and
attainments.  Perhaps each of us views the subject from
recollections of personal experience. If so, our differences
would necessarily be as wide as the varying phases of our
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mental constitutions. A score of artists, painting a land scape. from as many standpoints, would produce widely
different pictures, -  though each would be of the same
scene, and perfect to him that drew it.
When, then, is the measure of holiness attained in con version? Is it full and perfect, or only partial? If perfeet, then what is termed "perfect  love," and "entire
sanctification" is involved in that one experience; if partial,
then we have to meet the questions, Hlow  far has  the
work progressed in the convert? What remains to be
done? How can it be best accomplished?
Probably none of you would argue that the work of
holiness is perfected in ordinary conversions. If any hold
that opinion, a careful reading of Mr. Wesley's sermon on
"Sin in Believers" will convince you of its untenableness.
All of those Scriptures which urge believers onward to a
higher and mature Christian life obviously disprove such a
sentiment.
Conceding, then, the doctrine of a partial or only incipient sanctification in conversion, What is the degree or
measure of that sanctification? I doubt whether it call be
uniform in all experiences.  It must be gauged by the
knowledge and religious convictionsof the subjects of
regeneration. Some awakened persons are ignorant of the
breadth of thle Divine law, and are brought under conviction
chiefly for their gross outward sins; hence of these they
repent, and seek grace to lead better lives. God gives
what they seek.  Others, with much more religious knowledge, have a conviction of the sinfulness of their inner as
well as outward life; hence they repent of heart-sins, -  of
pride, self-will, anger, envy,- &c., as fully as of outward
acts of sin.  Accordingly they seek in conversion a hi,gher
state of grace than the former class do; they believe or trust 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
in Christ for a hi(gier degree of holiness; they are sanctified
up to the measure of their convictions; they enter into the
King's highway so fully at the first that they may never
pass thlroughl another great crisis into the maturer life, but
gradually rise into it by easy steps. These, however, are
rare and exceptional cases.
Generally, sinners, when awakened, see their outward
sins, feel their guilt and peril, desire to flee the wrath
to come, and seek the favor of God.   They are instantly
urged to the altar of penitence, where Christian zeal
pauses not to increase and perfect their convictions, but
urges them at once to the prayer of contrition and to
the faith of justification. They are blessed with religious
comforts; they hope in the mercy of God; they trust ill
Christ, and have peace, joy, and hope. They go to their
homes and daily avocations. Secular cares and duties meet
them.   Their high-wrought  emotions subside.   Temptations assail them. They are chlafed by the frictions of life.
Former appetites and passions, which they have habitually
indulged, begin to stir and clamor for their usual gratification. Thus beset on every side, and impelled by the
strength of their animal or earthward nature, they yield,
and fall into sin and condemnation. But the Spirit- still
strives with them, their conscience is around, they quickly
repent and turn to God; and he restores their peace and
confidence. Again they fall, and again rise. Thus they
go on in a vacillating way, now repenting, then sinning
again,-  swinging, pendulumn-like, between the worldly and
the spiritual life, - now all aglow, then careless, - -nowv
prayerful, Bible-reading, and  earnest; then  thlou,ghtless,
trifling(r, vain, selfish, indifferent. Their life and character
are nmixed.  Good and evil are contending( in them for the
mastery. " When they would do good, evil is present
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withl them."   They " find a law in their members warriing
against the law of their mind, and bringing them into
bondage."   They are in a state of unrest, - tossed like
the sea-waves. They are like a ship beating against strong
head-winvds, often driven leeward, but still striving to head
for the desired port. They are in the experience so graphically given in the 7th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the
Romans, with judgment enlightened, conscience quickened, and will on the side of God and holiness; but still
groaning under what Paul calls "a law in his members,"
- but what Mr. Wesley defines as "the inward constraining power flowing from the dictate of corrupt nature."
The practical question before us is, how to treat these
cases, so as to lead them into a higher Christian experience,
or "up to the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ."
Some of you, if I rightly apprehend the meaning of your
words, would send them back to lay again the foundations
of a religious character; assuming that they are not Christians, or have not been truly regenerated. But it is more
than questionable whether this would relieve their distress,
or improve their experience.   The assumption that they
were never renewed by grace is groundless; for they know
that they repented, and believed the gospel, and were accepted in the Beloved, and they are conscious that they still
believe in Christ, and look to him alone for eternal life.
They have also brought forth fruits meet for repentance.
They wish to be Christians indeed, and to be recognized as
such; and yet they feel " the plague of their own heart."
Sometimes they feel the assurance of justification with God,
but most of the time they are under a clouLd. Condemned
of their own conscience for their halting and unisatisfac 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
tory Christian life, they are groping after God. They are
"babes in Christ," and hlie will not cast them off.
Instead of sending them back to work over again the
processes of their initiatory experience, St. Paul says to
them," Leave the first principles," - the rudiments,- and
go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation. He
would have them act on the assumption that what had been
wrought in them, partial and limited though it be, was
good as far as it had gone. He would not have them renounce their old hope; but hold fast the beginning "of their
confidence."
Another theory of treatment of these cases is, that they
should be taught to grow up into Christian maturity by
gradually mortifying and putting away their former sinful
propensities and tendencies, and by diligently cultivating
the  Christian  graces;  and that these things should be
done in the use of the common means of grace, and under
the expectation that God will in his own good time cut
short the work in righteousness, and perfect them in
love.
Others still teach them that they should go to Christ at
once, with a complete self-renunciation, and consecration of
all to him; and, in the exercise of a lively faith, ask and
receive a present and full salvation from every sinful tendency, and that fulness of grace which shall mature all
their graces, and make them "complete in him."
Now  which of these methods of treatment  is best?
Which is most philosophical, Wesleyan, scriptural?  No
graver question has ever been discussed here.
If you teach this struggling soul that he cannot get free
from his chains till death comes to his relief, you reject and
fling back the declaration of Christ, " The truth shall
make you free. If the Son, therefore, make you free, ye
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shall be free indeed." You also ascribe to death a saving
power, which belolgs only to Jesus.
Teach him to keep on the stretch towards holiness, pressing on to a point that lie cannot reach, and you only repeat for him the experience of Tantalus.
Teach him to seek holiness by mortifications and penances, and you doom him to the hopeless labors of the
ascetics,- the fruitless task of a Sisyphus who rolls up his
as oft-returning stone.
Teach him that he must get rid- of his evil tendencies
by the gradual substitution of new and better ones, and
you only increase his burden, and force the complaint,
"To wvill is present with me; but how to perform the good,
I find not."
Teach him that he can only be saved fully by the sovereign act of God, and that God will put forth that act
without regard to human conditions, wishes, or prayers,
and you take away all motive to hunger and thirst and
strive for this full salvation.
Teach him that he will finally be saved by faith, but
that "faith is not a voluntary exercise," and you have
removed his difficulty to another point, without relieving it.
You have also taught him a grievous error, - one which
would undermine the whole gospel of a free and conditional salvation.
What, then, is the true method of leading such a soul int o th    e  fulness of Christ?  WVesley approaches him, and
bids him look at once and only to Jesus. He puts this
prayer into his heart: -
"I want Thy life, Thy purity,
Thy righteousness, brought in;
I ask, desire, and trust in Thee,
To be redeemed from sin. 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
For this, as taught by Thee, I pray:
My inbred sin cast out,
Thou wilt in me Thy power display,
I can no longer doubt.
Let anger, sloth, desire, and pride
This moment be subdued,Be cast into thecrimson tide
Of my Redeemer's blood!
Saviour, to Thee my soul looks up,
My present Saviour Thou:
In all the confidence of hope
I claim the blessing now.
'Tis done: Thou dost this moment save,
With full salvation bless;
Redemption through Thy blood I have,
And spotless love and peace."
This is a correct rendering of the scriptural doctrine of
salvation by grace, through faith. It sets forth the true
remedy for the sin-sick soul, and shows how this remedy
is to be applied. It is scriptural. When David wanted
a clean heart, he went to God, and asked for it: "Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, 0
God! and renew a right spirit within me."  When  Paul
wanted the Thessalonians wholly sanctified, he asked God
to effect the work, and added, "Faithful is He that calleth
you, who also will do it."  When he wanted the Ephesians
to receive the fulness of the gospel salvation, he did not set
them about the hopeless task of self-sanctification; but
bowed his knees before God, and prayed "that he would
grant them, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might, by his Spirit, in the inner man;
that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith; that they,
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being rooted and grounded in love, might be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth and length
and depth and lieighth, and to know the love of Christ,
which passetli knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness
of God."
To the same people, Paul wrote, "By grace are ye saved,
through faith." And to the Corinthians, " Behold, now is
the accepted time! - behold, now is the day of salvation!
It may be admitted that there is sometimes a gradual dying unto sin under the ordinary gracious influences which
envelop and pervade the Christian life.  Old habits, aptitudes, and tendencies may possibly be removed by the substitution of new and heavenly ones, while the young believer lives near to Christ; for "all things are possible with
God." But this gradual method is not held forth in the
sacred writings. On the contrary, Paul speaks of the
"destruction of the body of sin," or of the natural propensions toward evil, as a shlorter, sharper, more violent work,
-a crucifixion, -  a putting to death,- an excision, - thus
clearly teaching that God can and does perform his work
in quick methods.  He directs the leper to wash and be
clean, instead of putting him through a long course of medical treatment.  He says, "I will: be thou clean!"  And
the work is done.
To teach that we are to gain full salvation by long processes of self-mrnortification and self-discipline, and by the
decay of nature, is to depart from the doctrine of grace,
and teach another gospel. Salvation, in all its stages and
degrees, is by grace, through faith.
The faith which brings a full salvation is more than an
assent to the doctrines which cluster around Calvary, more
than a belief in the general or special promises of God,
mnore than believing that he will hear and answer our 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
prayers, more than believing that we do receive when we
pray: it is an actual trust in Christ now to do the wuork.
"The faith which saves," says R. Watson (Inst. vol. ii. 1).
245), "is a hearty concurrence of the will and affections
with this plan of salvation, which implies a renunciation of
every other refuige, and an actual trust in the Saviour, and
personal apprehension of his merits; such a belief of the
gospel, by the power of the Spirit of God, as leads us to
come to Christ, to receive Christ, to trust in Christ, and to
commit the keeping of our souls into his hands, in humble
confidence of his ability'and willingness to save us."
The exercise of such a faith presupposes that certain preliminary steps to faith have been taken, - that the soul has
had a deep conviction of its sinfulness and wants; that it
has despaired of all self-help, and of salvation in any other
way          or name; that it is intent on gaining the great salvation, or hungering and thirsting after it; that it has solemnly devoted or consecrated itself to God, to be his without
reserve, -now, wholly, and forever. These preliminary
steps having been taken, the exercise of a saving trust in
Christ  becomes easy and plain.  Then
"Faith lends its realizing light,
The clouds disperse, the shadows fly;
The invisible appears in sight,
And God is seen by mortal eye."
Then, like Paul, the struggling soul is enabled to "thank
God, through Jesus Christ;" and to say confidently, "The
law of the spirit of life in Cheist Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death."
The reality, the possibility, of this "death unto sin" has
been repeatedly called in question during this debate. One
has told us that "persons can have no consciousness that
they are dead to sin; that consciousness only takes cogni
. Ide 
.99 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
zance of our active, and not of our passive, mental states;
that sin may exist in them, though inactive and dormant;
that we cannot know that they are dead to sin."
But we may doubt the mental philosophy here involved.
And, further, we may doubt whether there be any thing passive or dormant in a soul passing through this great experience, of which moral quality may be predicated. Whatever
tendencies or aptitudes may be in such an one, lying back
of his will, must be in such complete abeyance as scarcely
to have existence, or as to be divested of all power. One
passing into this high experience is in the highest state of
mental activity. He examines himself with the most rigid
scrutiny. He calls upon God to aid him in this self-search,
"Search me, O God! and know my heart; try me, and
know my thoughts." He brings all his life, - his public,
social, and private acts; his desires, passions, and tempers;
the current of even his involuntary thoughts and imaginations; the motives which  prompt his voluntary life; all
that pertains to him within and without, - under the scrutiny of an awakened conscience, and under the sharp
glance of Omniscience. If the possibility of self-deception
still remains, the probability of it is extremely remote. After examining and proving himself, he finds nothing but a
heart fully cleansed from sin, and made a temple of the
Holy Ghost. Consciousness recognizes the completeness of
the chlange,-the death of the old, the consummation of the
new.   With Paul, such an one can say, "Our rejoicing is
this,- the testimony of our conscience or [consciousness],
that in simplicity and sincerity of God [Gr.] we have our
conversation [or life] in the world." Being consciously
"made free from sin, he has his fruit unto holiness; and the
end, everlasting life."  He is "dead, and his life is hid
with Christ in God."   He can truly say, "I live; yet not
*.:.
100 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live in
the flesh is by faith on the Son of God." With John, too,
he can say, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth ts from all sin." -" We  know that we are of
God, by the spirit which he has given us." Surely these
inspired writers were conlCious of being wholly saved from
sin; not only from actual sinning, but from all inward sin,fr6m all unholy desires, imaginations, tempers, and motives.
Not that their natural appetites or capacities were destroyed; but the perverted, corrupt, ill-balanced, and depraved
power of them was, - the tendencies of their whole being
becoming as steadily and strongly towards virtue, purity,
and piety as they formerly were towards sin.
Doubts of the attainableness of such a state in this life
have been more than once expressed in this debate. But,
if it is not attainable, if Christianity can only throw a
restraining power over our natural depravity, if it can only
bind the strong man armed, but cannot cast him out,ill what is it superior to worldly and even heathen systems
of philosophy and ethics? Socrates and other intelligent
heathen have attained eminence in virtue through their
philosophy. But can Christianity do no more than restrain the evil of our nature?  Will you bring it down to
the level of human systems?   Nay,  let us assert that
Jesus can save from all sin; that he can cleanse the heart
as well as life, - all the within as well as the without.
"i He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing that he ever livethli to make intercession
for them." Thus do the Scriptures declare; and tile proof
of their truth has been verified in the experience of the
saints of every age.
The relation of gradualism to this great work is both
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101 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
precedent and subsequent. In some cases the approach to
conversion is gradual and slow. Convictions grow slowly,
like some germs; but they may culminate in an hour or
moment. So, after conversion, convictions of the sinfulness
of thought, desire, imagination, motive, and tendency, may
be of slow growth, - depending upon one's growth in
knowledge, attention to the monitions of the Spirit, and
care of his soul-life. We progress towards entire sanctification very much as we do towards conversion. It is a
progress like that of Abraham up Mount Moriah, bearing
his wood and leading his sacrifice up to the altar, and to
the grand climacteric of faith. The way is short to the
swift-footed. It is only a short distance to the cleansing
Jordan, if Naaman will take the direct path, instead of
going around by the rivers of Damascus. It is unfortunate
that so many seekers of perfect love take the long and devious ways, rather than the direct path of consecration and
faith.  Mr. Wesley says, "It is our duty to pray and look
for full salvation every day, every hour, every moment.
Why  should not this be the accepted time?"-  Works,
vol. vi. p. 764.   Paul  says,  "Behold,  now  is the accepted time! behold, now is the day of salvation! "  Surely
it may be a now, an instantaneous blessing, as many happy
souls have proved.
There is a growth after entire sanctification; but it is
only in one direction, - that of likeness to God. There is
no more dying to sin, for that death is complete. Paul's
figure of grafting may best illustrate the thought.   When
the inserted bud has obtained a good hold in the sapling,
the knife is applied to the stock above it, wholly cutting it
away, so that the scion may have all the nourishment of
the root. The old dies at once and forever; the new lives
to grow up in all Christian excellences and fruitfulness.
102 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
The nature of man is not destroyed, but the whole tendency of that nature is changed: the heavenly graft absorbs
all.  In this, there is grovwthll thlrough all of life, the Christian graces shine more and more unto the perfect day,
devotional habits grow stronger and more constant, communion with God becomes deeper and sweeter, -" beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, the soul is changed
into the same image from glory into glory." Doubtless
this' spiritual growth will be perpetuated in heaven.
The completeness of the death of sin that we teach, has
been astutely denied in this debate. It has been asserted
that the sinful tendencies of our nature can only be held
in abeyance or subjection; that temptation will excite the
old desires again; and that opportunity will lead again to
former sins.
The real question here is not as to the completeness of
the work wrought in the soul, but as to the possibility of
falling firom grace. None will deny the entire purity of the
pair in Eden; and yet temptation found its way there.
Desire for a forbidden object was excited, and this desire
culminated in actual transgression. The wholly-saved soul
cannot now be in a higher state than was enjoyed in Eden.
Peccability is an attendant condition, if not a necessary appendage, of free moral agency. The holiest have need of
watchfulness, steadfastness, faith, and constant effort.  "By
faith thou standest." - Rom. xi. 20; 2 Cor. i. 24.
The experience of perfect love, then, so far as I understand it, is the completion of the great renovation which is
begunii in conversion, the death of all the sinful tendencies of the soul, the "cleansing of the thoughits of our
lihearts, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that we
perfectly love God, and worthlily magnify his holy name;"
it is the entire dedication of our hearts to him for his tem
103 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
pie, the thorough cleansing of this temple, and the filling
of it with his spirit and glory; it is the being " transformed
by the renewing of our mind," and the actual "proving
what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God"
concerning us.
But what are the best methods of promoting this experience
of perfect love?
In answering this question to Methodist ministers, I
would respectfully say, that the methods pointed out in our
" Book of Discipline," and in the experience of our most
efficient pastors and revivalists, should have the preference
with us.  For our "Discipline," based upon the Holy Scriptures, embraces the wisdom of some of the best experiences
and observations of the best men in the present and past
age.
1. Our "Discipline" bids us, as ministers, to be exceedingly attentive to our own spiritual state. See the searching examination of candidates for license to preach, for
admission into full connection, and for elders' orders (pp.
60, 80-85, 189-194, of edition of 1864). See also the
" Rules" for a preacher's conduct and work (pp. 61-79).
It is doubtful whether a more searching appeal to us to
be fully devoted to God, and holy, could be written than
is found ill these pages.   Let them be studied and carried out, and they would revolutionize our ministry and
churches.
2. We are directed to make the promotion of holiness our specialty.   Thus in part ii. ch. ii. sect. 7, p.
71:  " Question. What  is the best general method  of
preaching? Answer. 1, To convince; 2, to offer Christ;
3, to invite; 4, to build up; and to do this in some measure
in everyj sermon. Question 2. What is the most effectual
v 104 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
way of preaching Christ? Answer. The most effectual
way of preaching Christ is to preach him in all his offices;
and to declare his law as well as his gospel, both to believers
and unbelievers.  Let us strongly and closely insist upon
inward and outward holiness in all its branches." In harmony with this preaching, we are to administer the government of the church; read the "Rules," quarterly in every
society; conduct divine worship so as to guard against
formality, and promote spiritual life; nominate godly men
for stewards; appoint the most holy and useful men  as
class-leaders;  make religious pastoral visits; "Set upon
the unsanctified with the most vehement exhortations"
(p. 75); see that our people are supplied with good
books; take a spiritual shephlerd's care of the lambs of the
flock, &c.  The "spread of scriptural holiness over these
lands " is declared to be the mission of Methodism.  The
founders of the church declared it their conviction that
"God  thrust them out to raise up a holy p)eople." - See
.Pref. to Dis.   The promotion of holiness was  their specialty; and they organized the church with a view to this
end.
It is only by special aims and efforts that great results
are achieved. The Apostles were men of one work and
with one theme; and, by the singleness of their aim, they
enthroned Christianity in the world-ruling empire. Luther
made justification by faith his specialty, and with it shook the
foundations of papal superstition and tyranny. It is special
preaching that has built up the great Protestant organizations and beneficent institutions which give distinction and
glory to our age.  Every revival of religion is the result
of specialties in preaching and labor. Methodism itself is
a specialty, and the offspring of a specialty; "it is Christianity in earnest," -a revival and distinct proclamation
105 
106     NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
of the central saving doctrines of the gospel. Wesley
was not only a "homo unius libri," but eminently a man
of one doctrine, - the doctrine of a present and full salvation from sin, attainable now through faith in Christ.
The sons and daughters of Wesley,- the Flethelers, Bramwells, Carvossos, Hester A. Rogerses, John Smiths, Ben)jamin Abbots, Francis Asburys, and many others of
great eminence among the dead and living, -have gained
their'great power, and won their immortality, through
special devotion to this great doctrine and work.
When a pastor finds his dhurch in a low state, hlie hesitates not at any lawful means for lifting them up; he leads
them off to a camp-meeting; he holds a protracted meeting; he invites the praying band to occupy his church;
he goes out of the pulpit among his congregation and
pleads with them personally; he rallies the backslidden
and penitent around the altar, and his brethren the laity
within the chancel; he shouts and sings and exhorts, and
does many other things that are not prescribed in the " Discipline," and that are deemed irregular by other churches.
He is sustained in these irregular and special labors, because they are expedient and useful, and because the ordinary means of grace fail to effect the immediate salvation
of the people.
Now, any argument that will justify extraordinary measures for the conversion of sinners, will justify special
efforts to lead believers to the fount of entire sanctification.
For the latter work ranks with the former in importance.
Mr. Wesley looked for ten conversions as quite sure to
follow one case of entire sanctification. Experience proves
the correctness of his estimate. The great revival of the
doctrine and experience of perfect love about 1760
resulted in the conversion of multitudes of sinners. It is 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
so in the present and partial revival of holiness. Were
the million of members of our church to be led at once
into the enjoyment of perfect love, I doubt not that our
next "Annual Minutes" would show at least three million
of members and probationers in our church, while the moral
power of the church through the nation and the world
would be more than ten-fold increased. In view of the
bare possibibility of such a result, should not all cavil lings at revival machinery, and at holiness-meetings, and
specialties cease?.  The  cry of "hobbyism"  does not
sound well from the lips of Methodist preachers; nor can
such a cry influence the great and earnest souls of our
church. Men who have one great and glorious idea thrilling their whole being are the men of power, - men who
meet with defeat in the wilderness, and then move on to
victory, - men who will evangelize the world, and win an
enviable immortality.
In our efforts to promote holiness, there is need of special, distinct, and demonstrative preaching on this su'ect.
Many of our people are uninformed in regard to the doctrine, and anxious to know the truth. Some of them have
imbibed errors respecting it which need correction. Some
are prejudiced against the doctrine; and it should be the
pastor's aim to allay and remove those prejudices. Perhaps some that profess the experience are deceived, and
dishonor the doctrine by improprieties and sins; if so, who
but the pastor should undeceive them, and win them to the
right path? Many who are worldly, selfish, and sinful
among us need to be convinced and convicted of their
need of entire sanctification, and to be stirred up to seek
it. All our congregations need more light on this subject,
and more prompting a,nd help to seek the great salvation;
and our pulpits should constantly shed this light.
107 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
In promoting this precious experience, pastors may find
great helps in an intimate fellowship with those who are
interested in this, or who profess its attainment. Take
them to your hearts; convince them that you are their
friends; rally them around you in your work. They will
aid your own spiritual life; they will hold up your hands
ill (lark days; they will aid in diffusing the healthful literature of holiness; they will widen the circle of the pastor's spiritual influence.
As to special meetings for the promotion of holiness,
each pastor can best judge whether they be expedient in
his charge or not. Those who have tried them, generally
testify in their favor. Many souls have been quickened
and saved in them; and the Sabbath announcement of
such a meeting is often the means of awaking inquiry
among those who are ignorant or indifferent. Whether
such meetings are held or not, all the social meetings of
Christians should be pervaded with the hallowing light of
this doctrine, and the glow of its experience. This should
be a household and common theme among all Methodists;
and the more we can make it so, the more successful we
shall be in promoting its rich experience.
"But is it expedient to call church members to the altar
to seek this blessing?"   I see no substantial objection to it
in what has been said here. If we have unholy members
of our church, the worldly know it, and have been perhaps stumbled or disgusted by their spirit or life: it is
therefore fitting that they should go to the altar, and weep
with the penitents.  Whatever of "confusion" may arise
in the minds of outsiders by such a spectacle, is more than
compensated in the fitness of the confession of their need
of more religion, which is thus publicly made.
We can do much towards promoting holiness by dif
108 
ADDRESS OF REV. GEO. A. HUBBELL.
fusing our rich spiritual literature among all our people,
and inducing them to read it. Our earlier Methodist biographies are all ablaze with this glorious doctrine. There
are also many excellent treatises on the spiritual life which
ought to be familiar in every Methodist household. The
more we can induce our people to read on this subject, the
more holy will they become.
Much can be done indirectly in this work.   Persuade
the young convert to take a class in the Sabbath school,
and he becomes a reading and thoughtful Christian. Encourage that gifted young man to pray and exhort, and
he will soon feel the need of being "more knowing and
holy." Induce that thrifty man to a larger liberality,
and you aid in breaking the bonds of worldliness which
hold him back from Christ. So with all practical Christian duties; as you get persons to engage in them, you
lead them nearer to religious thought and fervor.
Finally, to end where I began, we have need to go
before our people in knowledge of this doctrine, and in
experience of its power. Streams do not naturally rise
above their fountains, nor congregations above their spiritual teachers. When the priests stepped into Jordan with
the ark on their shoulders, the people courageously arose
and passed over. As we personally advance, our people
will quickly follow, and perhaps outrun us in this race.
When the ministers are clothed with salvation, the saints
will shout for joy.
Severe things have been said here against the abuses
of this doctrine, and the improprieties and sins of its professors. But admitting these things to be true, what is
their logic. Do they disprove the doctrine, or the experience? The wicked world can exceed you in railing
against religious professors; but is religion therefore false?
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109 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
is its profession a hypocritical pretence? Christ did not
build his church upon fickle Peter, but upon the immutable truth that Peter confessed. Good people have
had their errors and faults, but their truths and excellences have been greater.   The  Mystics of the dark
ages kept alive the flame of piety, and sowed the seed
of the great Reformation; they were the most valiant
antagonists of Popery and of the frivolities of the Schoolmen, and their power for good still throbs with life in the
richest spiritual literature of their church. Their writings
created the  Quietism of France  and Pietism of Germany. Fenelon, Pascal, Law, and Taylor were their disciples. From the writings of these sprang the Holy Club
of Oxford, and Methodism.  We are their debtors.  Is it
fitting to speak reproachfully or slightly of them? Admit
their faults and errors; yet the marvel is that they made
so high attainments as they did, and that they had so few
errors. They were reared in superstition, surrounded by
error, persecuted by the Papists, afflicted, cast out of the
pale of Christian sympathy, and deserted by those who
should have been their spiritual guides. Instead of upbraiding such people with errors and obstinacy in their opinions,
we should rejoice in their excellences and vindicate their
good name. So with modern errorists on this great theme;
let them be loved and corrected, rather than denounced
and despised! They belong to Christ's flock; and let his
shepherds guide, feed, and defend them!
110 
V.
REMARKS ON THE PROMOTION OF PERFECT
LOVE.
BY REV. B. M. ADAMS.
I NOTICE, among nearly all who have taken part in
this discussion, a practical agreement on three points: -
1. There is such a thing as perfect love in this life.
2. This work commences at conversion.
3. There is a progress, more or less rapid, between these
two points.
I do not understand any man here, to teach that there
is a grand leap from conversion to entire sanctification, ignoring all process between (though it seems to me some
have been understood as teaching thus); but my impression is, all agree as to this progress, more or less rapid,
between conversion and entire sanctification, and that
here is the point of debate.
All the pleadings for growth, so forcibly put forth, I can
fully indorse, with a single qualification; that is, that
growth be rapid. I will accept slow growth, if I must;
but, if rapid advancement be my privilege, I prefer it.
When brethren couple the term gradual with slowness
always, I demur: it does not follow necessarily; the
progress of a train of cars from New York to New Haven
is gradual, but not necessarily slow. The law of growth in
nature has been introduced here as furnishing an analogy or
ill
I 
112    NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
illustration of this slow progress. If a man lived as long as
a pine, we might expect to find his spiritual development
slow, like the growth of a pine: he is, however, the creature of a day; and, if he attain great heights and maturity
in the Christian life, he must hasten. The illustration
quoted so often in support of slow growth, "first the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear," means -
if it bears on the subject at all,-rapid development. What
farmer would plant seed-corn for a crop that takes forty
years to come to maturity? It has seemed to me that this
pleading for slow and long-continued progress;  the fact
that but few, comparatively, enjoy this grace until they
have been many years in the way- is the result of a poor
understanding of privilege, and a weak faith; hence I see
great pertinency in the question, " How may we best promote the experience of perfect love?" I answer,  1. By laboring definitely for its promotion. Aim to
"present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,"- this is the
Bible standard. We must do this by  Explaining the doctrine, showing what it is; being less
careful, however, about names and terms than the thing.
Let the Bible speak: make much of such Scriptures as
Ps. xv. and 1 Cor. xiii.  Hold up  the blessing  as a
great privilege; and make it clear, so that no true lover
of the Lord may be in doubt. Show its relation to regeneration. Preach much on the witness of the Spirit, and
the fruits of the Christian life.
When we agreed to be directed by the" Discipline of the
Methodist-Episcopal Church," we promised to make this
theme and work our business. Read the" Discipline," pages
61 to 80, and you will find (as good or) a better book of
devotion for the closet than almost any other besides the
Bible. On page 61, in the directions to a preacher, we 
ADDRESS OF REV. B. M. ADAMS.
find, " Let your motto be holiness to the Lord; " and, in
the preliminary examination before the Conference, we are
asked if we have considered these directions, - this among
the rest, " Let your motto be holiness unto the Lord."
Who can expect to promote high godliness without a high
idea]?
Teach it in the pastoral work. Look for those who are
seeking "perfect love;" instruct and encourage them  to
expect it speedily.
Be careful about urging profession on those who think
they have found the blessiAg.  Let the Spirit of God lead
them in this, as in all other things. No good comes from
undue haste. If they are satisfied they have received it,
and the glorious gift lives and burns in their souls, its
manifestation in the line of profession will take care of
itself.
If inconsistent professors are found, deal with them kindly,
but firmly. Visit them, point out their error lovingly and
plainly; but avoid an attack on the doctrine, when you
only mean its abuse. If the doctrine is preached as it
should be, and its fruits are properly explained, you will
have little trouble with inconsistent professors.
Calling people to the altar to seek, and holding special
meetings to promote, this experience, must be determined by
circumstances, the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and sound
common sense.
Great care should be used in the terms by which we propose to lead souls. (I must be allowed to express my convictions, which I do with all charity.) The expressions so
commonly used, " Lay all on the altar."-" The altar sanctifieth the gift."- " When you have laid all on the altar, you
are bound to believe you are a sanctified man or woman,"
are liable to be misunderstood. No doubt many have
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113 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MiEETING.
really found the blessing through this teaching, but minany
are confused and misled by it. The consecration, as I
suppose, intended by the terms, "Lay all on the altar," is
our work; and we are sanctified no farther than our own
setting apart for God goes. The teaching really, or by
implication, that we are therefore to believe, with no other
evidence, we are sanctified wholly, does not go far enough:
the fire of God must descend, and consume the offering;
there mhust be the glorious acceptance of the Holy Spirit,
-the imperial " Amen" of God rolling through the soul,
like thunder through the sky.! Be sure seekers do not stop
short of fuill satisfaction: it is impossible to make them
strong by reasoning them into a position of professed
strengoth. You may by skilful pilotage bring the soul to
the bar of entire surrender, but the tides and winds of
the Holy Ghost must carry it out into the ocean of perfect love.
Urge young converts to walk according to their light, and
see they have a great deal of it. Put good books into
their hands, and by every possible means instruct them in
Bible knowledge.
2. Experience the blessing.  We believe in its possibility:
let us at any cost secure its possession; for we are not fully
qualified to labor for its promotion until we  can say,
"Come."   It has been suggested that such were the exigencies of the work in early times that God made a kind
of exception in the case of the heroes of the early church;
but allow me to say that Benjamin Abbot never needed
"perfect love," in his day, more than Benjamin Adams
needs it now. The oppositions to God are more formidable, in some regards, now than then. We are called to
meet the most subtle errors, the most blatant infidelity, and
pomp of pretentious forms, sir: nothing can cope success
114 
ADDRESS OF REV. B. M. ADAMS.
fuilly with these things but superior holiness. There is
wonderful power in this experience: let us go to God without delay, and plead until we know we are made perfect in
love. No spasm of a merely emotional experience will do:
there must be more than concern, more than consecration;
there must be the fire-sealing of the Holy Ghost, broad
upon the soul. Then a holy ministry will lead a holy
church to the conquest of the world. Oh that we were
awake to our opportunities and responsibilities!  As a next
means of promoting it,  3. Live it. A holy life Is very powerful. Profession is
not enough: our people can tell whether we have the
glorious possession or not; their perceptions are keen,
counterfeits cannot long deceive them.
We'can give the lie to our profession, and do more harm
by one act of sin than good by a year of profession. No
man can live this great blessing without a life of prayer
and watchfulness.
If Jesus was often in prayer all night; if some of the
noblest of earth have found it necessary to spend days
and nights alone with God,- let us not think that we,
upon whom the most wonderful responsibilities are come,
can do Christ's work in leading his people to holiness, without far more prayer than ministers ordinarily use.
And now, in conclusion, our ministers must take hold of
this doctrine anew.
Silence in the pulpit on this subject, and the subjects
involved, has indirectly lifted the flood-gates of worldliness.   Worldly amusements, worldly conformity, worldly
plans, are coming upon  us.   I  believe  the church is
far more worldly to-day than she would have been, had
this doctrine been faithfully preached and lived by our
115 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
ministry. We have been so silent on this subject that the
people, hungry and thirsty for the celestial truth, have
prayed and cried to God, until he has been compelled (if I
may so speak) to raise up women to do the work; and, if
we object to the manner of their doing it, let us, in the
name of God, show a better way. We have suffered much
loss by the want of faithfulness in this matter. There are
men who have obtained all their reputation in the ministry, and success as well, through the advocacy and power
of this blessing; but, on coming into positions of some
prominence in the church, "have closed their lips on this
subject, and lost their influence for good, to a great extent,
much to the sorrow of the truly devout, and the disadvantage of the great cause of deep piety.   We must take hold
of this doctrine anew.   Our own people are waking up:
other denominations are opening their eyes to the glory of
this divine truth, and are looking to us to lead them on;
and we must do so, or lose our place in the van of the
army of God.
Our own people will not grow in grace, unless we give
them something definite to enjoy and to do. This doctrine of perfect love, attainable in this life as all agree,
sets a definite object before the mind; and, as it is sought
and found, Christian activities will multiply on every
side.
We must take hold of this doctrine, as fitting us for the
emergencies of the ministry of our church.  Perfect love
is the most splendid furnishing of a Methodist preacher.
You know that a heated iron, though blunt, will pierce its
way, even where a much sharper instrument, if it be cold,
could not penetrate; so, if our ministers be filled with the
glory of this blessing, they will pierce the hardest hearts,
116 
ADDRESS OF REV. B. M. ADAMS.
where the sharpest wits cannot enter. There is something
providential in this discussion: it has come at the right
time; the people are hearing of it, and are expecting to
hear more. The whole situation of things demands that we
light our torches at the altar fires of this great salvation
afresh, and carry them blazing through the world.
117 
VI.
THE DOCTRINE AND EXPERIENCE OF CHRIS                   TIAN HOLINESS.
ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.*
- DO not, with some of my brethren, deplore the debate
in progress, relating, as it does, to the most vital topic
of New-Testament revelation. We can never suffer by
contact with it; nor will the truth suffer, so long as we
speak according to the oracles of God. But I do deplore
the publication in our official press of views so antagonistic
as those of Brothers I. and C. Both cannot be Wesleyan;
both cannot be reliable standards of doctrine to our
people. Such publication of division and conflict in the
doctrinal views of our leading teachers, on a subject so essentially Methodistic, may do much to defeat the design of
our centenary triumphs. Harmony of opinion, and strength
of conviction, on this subject are more important to the
prosperity of the church than the success of all the financial
projects of the church during the centennial year.  I have
not heard all that has been said on the negative side; but,
if much of what I have heard and read be the standard
* The address of Mr. Parker, like that of Mr. Hubbell, was not delivered before
the Preachers' Meeting, but was prepared for the debate, and would have been
given on the morning the question in discussion was dismissed, if the opportunity
had been afforded. Indeed, it is proper to say, that a number of brethren were
desirous to be heard on the subject, but gave way to the general opinion that the
main points had been fully enough presented.
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W. H. B. 
ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.
and accepted views of the Methodism of to-day, our work
is done.  For, apart fronm the promotion of scriptural holiness, Methodism has no mission which may not be accomplishled as well, perhaps better, by the other evangelical
churches. Our mission is not to promote our peculiar
views of ministerial relationship; nor to show other churches
how to reach the masses with the blessings of the gospel;
nor are we alone in the practical and universal offer of salvation; nor in our belief of the doctrine of the witness of
the Spirit; nor in our testimony against sill, and our declaration of its inevitable penalty in the future and final retribution. None of these things are now done better by us
than by other Christian evangelical churches.   Methodism
has no claim to special public attention, except it be in the
advocacy of her original, all-conquering theme, -" the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of peace," the spread of
scripturtl holiness; and by this we mean holiness as Mr.
Wesley meant it, and taught it in his latter writings,- the
holiness which is obtained by believers instantaneously, by
the power of the Holy Ghost, through faith, -just as we
are, just now.- See Wesley's Sermons, vol. ii. 223, 224.
And let me here remark, that it will be long before
our people yield their supreme confidence in Mr. Wesley
as our chief human authority on this subject; and no minister will succeed in promoting the experience of perfect love
among them who questions that authority. If it be a fault to
be slavishly Wesleyan, not only in "my regard for his executive abilitv," but also for his peerless ability to teach thlis
truth as it is in Jesus; if I am primitive in my simplicity, because I am shocked when I hear our strong thinkers dissent
with so great freedom from Mr. Wesley in relation to a
subject which cost him so much anxious thought and severe
conflict, and which, in his hands, "subdued kingdoms, and
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NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
wrought righteousness," -  then shall I yield in meekness
to your judgment, and consent 4evermore to be thought
simply Wesleyan.
Though perfect love is not a complete definition of what
is intended by the subject as discussed, it is yet understood
to mean the grace of entire sanctification, as distinct from
its partial state in a regenerate soul, and from its progressive stages in a soul advancing. In the partial state, love is
mixed with slavish fear; in this, love is perfected. It is not
exclusive love, - the love of God and religion alone; but
supreme love, to which all other affections are subordinate.
In the progressive stages, this grace is sought; there is no
spiritual growth without reference to this. To love God
with all the heart is the crowning excellence of Bible duty;
and, without aiming at this, there can be no progress. In
the wholly sanctified, " Hope in fill fruition dies, and all
the soul is love."
1. To promote the experience of this gracious state, we
ought to teach that the entire sanctification of the believer,
like his justification, is wholly dependent upon the free and
available grace of our blessed Lord; that it is not some
achievement, mastered as we master a lesson, attained by
toilsome effort, self-discipline, fastings, and prayers,- a sort
of permanent acquisition, which goes on increasing as the
stock of our spiritual exercises accumulates, and depending
upon them,- the result of a gradual self-crucifixion, and
self-elevation into the divine image. These processes of
self-abasement, carefully and devoutly pursued, will be verv
friendly to the acquirement of this grace; very helpful at
the moment the soul makes itself over to Jesus, to be
moulded by his gracious power into his own image; but if
ever sanctified fully, that moment must be looked for as
near as possible, just now,- inasmuch as the attainment of
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ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.
this grace depends, not on the amount I have done, but on
the ever-availing love of Jesus.   If it is by grace, through
faith, - and this is the Wesleyan testimony, - then it may
be obtained, as in our justification, whenever we yield the
task of self-renewal as hopeless, and come to Him who is
o]r righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And
the subject, by any other process, is surely wrested from its
straight, scriptural, and Methodistic line.  Faith, as the condition, is ignored, or modified, to accommodate the gradual
and disciplinary process. But it is by Christ, and from
Christ, without merit ontour part, and wholly depending
upon his; and therefore may be obtained now.
2. In our zeal to teach the importance of a progressive
sanctification, we should avoid the minifying of the instantaneous work in the heart, through faith, by the Spirit of God.
We are all in danger of magnifying the views we entertain,
and of diminishing the importance of others; but the necessity of Christian progress, before entire sanctification is
obtained, is nowhere more frequently insisted upon than by
those who teach that by faith, just now, the regenerate
soul may experience the specific and distinct work of entire
purification.   Nothing is more  painfully manifest to  a
thoughtful pastor than that a large proportion of our people are dissatisfied with their experience. They are eagerly longing for something higher; are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but they are not filled. That their
want lies in this direction is apparent when you touch the
subject. To be consciously clean, by the washing of the
blood of Christ, is the longing and struggle of their life.
It is not guilt that troubles them, but incompleteness.
Their anxiety indicates their confidence in the power of
the gospel to cleanse them now. If the attainment were
impossible, or uncertain as to the time or evidence of its ex
11
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NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
perience, they would cease to sigh after it. Shall we meet
their hunger with a stone? Shall we excite their suspicion
-by our doubts or our silence - as to the possibility of its
attainment in the present life?  Are we likely to inspire
our people to seek after heart-purity, by telling them, as it
has been stated on this floor, " that the highest holiness
on earth is trying to be holy, that no angel in heaven has
any other positive holiness than trying to be holy; " or, as
with -another brother present, "that, in cases of special responsibility, God may sometimes sanctify the heart,"- thus
referring the whole subject, to God's sovereignty, and not
to his grace, through faith; or, with another, that "entire
sanctification is only fighting out the battle on the line of
our regeneration; that regeneration is only a change of
base," - a very base thing indeed it must be, if our carnal
nature is to be retained. When am I to have a new
nature?  How shall that nature be obtained?  How shall I
be restored" to the image of God in righteousness and true
holiness "? Cometh this by battle, or by cleansing blood?
Shall I hope to win it by courageous endeavor, or take it as
a gift bought by the atonement?  If the latter, then why
may not all have it? What ground is there in the Bible
for the theory of divine sovereignty advocated by Bro.
"that some do obtain the grace of entire sanctification, but
only when called to meet special responsibilities?"  Are
not all Christian responsibilities special? The domestic
burdens of a tried and tempted mother are just as special
to her, and need as much grace, as the responsibilities of the
pastor or the missionary. If it is by grace, through faith,
it is available to all.   If it is only a question of divine
sovereignty, given to some in view of special burdens, and
not in reference to their consecration and faith, then the
glory of our Methodist Arminianism has departed: we
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ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.
have swung round the circle, and find our centenary and
our grave together.  If the utmost I can be is to try to
be holy, Calvinism teaches this: all evangelical Christians,
with whom we have been in controversy on this doctrine
for a century, believe this. What, then, do we more than
others? They are all trying to be holy.
3. If the doctrine of the entire sanctification of believers
in the present life is a doctrine of the New Testament, and
so clearly a Methodist doctrine, that, as Mr. Wesley says,
no man ought to remain in the Methodist ministry who
denies it (vol. vii. p. 20C), then we, of all other  men,
should avoid exciting the suspicion of our people against it,
by reflections upon the imperfectness of its professors.  Indeed, I think this frequent dragging in, and seeming delight
at the exposure of, the imperfectness of those who believe
in the theory, and profess to have experienced this grace, is
ungenerous, if not worse. If it means any thing logically,
it means that, wherever men depart in conduct firom the
consistency becoming the profession or belief of any doctrine, that doctrine must be false. But men do depart
from the consistency becoming a regenerate state; therefore the doctrine of regeneration is false: yea, more, some
ministers are wanting in charitv, humility, and zeal; therefore all ministers are hypocrites, and religion is false.
Moreover, the impression sought to be conveyed by this
style of reasoning is, that thile majority of the professors
of the experience of entire sanctification are thus palpably
defective.  The objection would be so logically weak, without this implication, that none would venture to employ it.
But it is worse than weak: it is not true.  It never was
true, -it is not true to-day, -that the majority of those
who profess to enjoy the experience of entire sanctification
are thus radically and palpably at fault in their lives or tem
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NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
pers. The responsibility of proof is not upon us, but upon
those who make and parade the charge.  I have been interested in the promotion of this work, as a specialty, during twenty-five years. I have seen its professors, of all
grades of intellect, and all circumstances of trial; and I
am decidedly of the opinion, that, for willing work in the
cause of Jesus, for self-sacrifice, humility, patient endurance, purity of life, meekness of temper, love of Methodism, and zeal in promoting her best interests, I have found
none equal to these. Some have excelled in one grace,
some in another, a few in all; and, in spiritual power and
usefulness, the possessors of this original Wesleyan doctrine
of Christian purity are not behind the rest of the church.
4. We should seek to promote the experience of perfect love, by preaching it as the New Testament teaches it,
- attainable in this life through faith in Christ; attainable
when we believe, - if in a regenerate state,- without a long
preparation. We should presume, that, although we ourselves may not enjoy it, the testimony of other good meln,
as to their experience of it, instantaneously, by faith, ought
to be relied upon.
We expect our testimony to be accepted when we speak
of having passed from death unto life. Why should we
doubt, when other good men affirm that their experience
of perfect love was as marked and palpable as to time and
inward witness as the blessing of their adoption? There
is a kind of knowledge which is kept back from the wise
and skilful, till they  "do his will."   We  wondered  at
the testimony of the regenerate before our own conversion: we do not wonder now.  If it is still God's plan to
hide these things fi'om  the wise and  prudent,  do not
doubt or denv if he reveals them unto babes.   "The meek
will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his
way."
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ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.
5. To promote the experience of perfect love, special
meetings for instruction and prayer are often very serviceable. For nearly one hundred years these meetings have been
held within the circle of Methodism. They have diffused
intelligence and deepened conviction on the subject. They
have prevented extravagance of statement and assumption; they have restrained fanaticism, and controlled the
enthusiasm which the deep feeling of want created. Why,
thern, condemn these meetings? Would it not be wiser
that we, as pastors, should control them; so that soundness
in the faith, purity of life; and power of experience, shall
be the result? Such meetings will be held until our people are better satisfied with their experience, and so long
as our doctrinal standards remain unchanged. Special
meetings for the promotion of Christian holiness are the
essential consequence of these two facts, and why oppose
them? We doubt if the blessing is often found without
seeking it as a specialty. -See Wesley's Sermon  " On
Patience," vol. ii. p. 223.
"Ye ]ave not, because ye ask not," has been true, - in
the observation of the speaker, at least. We have known
many strong men live without it, because they sought it
not; they had every other quality for usefulness in the
conflicts of Israel, but they were strangely wanting in
power: while we have known babes become Goliaths when
endowed with this grace. We never knew a pastor earnestly and wisely urge the attainment of this grace, without
creating a necessity for these meetings in the multitudes
who will rise up within his own congregation, asking for
more special instruction than the ordinary public services
will afford. Does not the gist of the opposition to this
doctrine and its meetings lie just here: If we can make
the doctrine indefinite in its statements, uncertain in its
11*
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attainment, and unreliable in its fruits, we have relieved
our conscience from the pressure of duty to seek it now.
If it is uncertain in its attainment, I am  not divinely
instructed to pursue it at once, and obtain it at whatever
cost. Thus a margin is left for that pride which loves to
determine for itself the measure of its own humility, selfdenial, and consecration.  But I must be holy some time,holy in a higher sense than that partial holiness which is
the common, imperfect, unsatisfying experience of the
church. I can only become so as the blood shall wash me.
The blood can wash me now. And what if I affirm that
of this state I may have the direct witness of the Spirit?
This statement does no violence to the teaching of Scripture, which assures us that we may "know  the things
which are freely given to us of God." This statement
also accords with the experience of multitudes of the purest
and best in our own and in other churches. They all alike
testify to certain indubitable facts: -
That at the time of their conversion they passed from
death unto life, and obtained the witness of their adoption.
That they began at once to love God; but their love was
not perfect,- it was mingled with fear.
That they had fellowship with God, and yet retained
a nature which was consciously defiled.
That, after their justification, a conflict was maintained
between the flesh and the spirit, each striving for the
ascendancy.
That this experience caused them anxiety and unrest.
They had the witness of the Spirit that they were born of
God, but they had also a will not wholly resigned to the
will of God.
Their humble dependence upon the gracious Spirit secured strength for the conflict; increasing light was im
126 
ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN PARKER.
parted; new motives were pressed upon the heart, controlling and making more complete the consecration. But
consecration has no power to appropriate: it only gives,
- it does not take. Now the struggle ceased. The whole
heart rested in the Crucified, apprehending Jesus as its
perfect Saviour. It has been the testimony of millions of
the dead and the living, that, at that very moment a
second distinct work was accomplished in the heart, colnsciously complete, - a death unto sin, a new life unto
righteousness. Love became perfect. The soul-rest was
complete. Supreme love'to God was the controlling affection; rest, the abiding experience.
Is this uniform testimony of the best part of the church
of God during the past century to be set aside as doubtful or unreliable? If so, - and lMethodism consents to
such a surrender, - she has done her work, and is ready
for her burial. She may retain the old, honorable title,
and take some other shape; but her distinctive work and
her ancient glory are done.
127
k 
VII.
STATEMENT OF THlE DOCTRINE OF ENTIRE
SANCTIFICATION.
BY REV. S. DUNN.
CORRELATIVES.
WE will first look at the relation in which the blessing
-E stands to justi*cation, adoption, the witness of the
Holy Spirit, and regeneration; and the order in which all
these Christian privileges enter into individual experience,an order that is never inverted. In most modern systems
of theology, regeneration is placed before adoption. This
is a mistake; and if asked, as we have often been, "What!
can God  adopt an unregenerated person?" we answer,
Certainly he can, and can adopt no other. A man cannot
adopt his own son. Adoption is the receiving of an alien
-a stranger-to the name, rights, and privileges of a new
family. The mistake has arisen from supposing that justification and adoption are two distinct and even separate
acts, whereas they are one and the same. The latter is included in the former. It is not correct, though often
stated, that God might have pardoned without adopting us.
The loss of our sonship was the penalty of sin, and hence
there could be no pardon of the sin that did not include in
it the restoration of our sonship. If regeneration preceded,
then God, in the act of justification, would justify, not the
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t
14 
ADDRESS OF REV. S. DUNN.
ungodly, but the godly; would be merciful, not to a sinner,
but to a saint.  Again, it is forgotten that regeneration is
produced by the Spirit of adoption.   The scriptural order
is this: When a penitent sinner reposes on the infinitely
meritorious sacrifice of Christ, God, for Christ's sake, forgives him; but, as no man knows the mind of God, but the
Spirit of God, he instantly, on our believing, witnesses to
our spirit that we are the children of God. The Holy
Spirit never witnesses to our regeneration,- our own spirit
testifies to it,- but to our pardon, our adoption. Because
ye are sons, adopted iato the divine family, God sends forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts to depose to the
glorious fact, enabling you to cry, "Abba, Father!" Now,
observe, it is the Spirit of adoption that produces regeneration. His presence in the heart is sanctity. The light
he manifests is spiritual light. The impressions lie makes,
the desires he enkindles, the principles he implants, the life
he infuses, are all holy. The new creature is formed; the
new birth- regeneration - takes place. But let us clearly
mark the distinction between justification and sanctification.
Justification precedes, santification follows as the fruit and
evidence of it. Justification is an act that passes in the
mind of God; sanctification is a work wrought in the heart
of man. Justification is a relative change; sanctification is
a real change. Justification changes our forensic relation
toward God; sanctification changes the actual dispositions
of our hearts toward him. Justification takes away the
guilt Of sin; sanctification breaks its power, and removes its
pollution. Justification includes in it our adoption into the
divine faimily; sanctification makes us partakers of the diville nature. Justification absolves us from a liability to
hell; sanctification gives us a meetness for heaven. Justification is a complete act, so that it cannot be said of one
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NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
man that he is more justified than another; but it may be
said of one man that he is more sanctified than another.
And as sanctification differs from justification, as the actual
enjoyment of an estate differs from the possession of the
title-deed, so it differs from regeneration as the process differs from the commencement: regeneration is sanctification
beguii; sanctification is regeneration matured or perfected.
All, therefore, who are regenerated are partially sanctified;
but all who are regenerated are not entirely sanctified.
This is evident froIn the experience of believers, and from
the whole tenor of the word of God.
ATTAINABLE.
Entire sanctification and Christian perfeetion are synonymous. The first term gives the nlegative view of holiness,
the second the positive. Entire sanctification means the
entire separation of sin firom the soul]; and, by sin, we mean
sinful tempers, passions, desires.  Christian perfection is
the perfection of Christian graces, - of all those gMaces that
are implanted in the soul when regeneration takes place.
There is a large class of Scripture passages which show
that all believers are partially sanctified, and that it is their
privilege to be entirely sanctified. When God says by
Ezekiel, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and
ye shall be clean; from  all your filthiness  and from all
vour idols will I cleanse you," - he means personal, entire
sanctification; for there is no national sanctification that is
not personal, - every nation is made up of indiaduals.
The promise probably refers to the blessings'of the gospel.
When  Christ prays  for  his  disciples,  "Sanctify  them
through thy truth," he assuredly means fully sanctify them.
When Paul exhorts the "saints" at Rome to "reckon
themselves to be dead indeed unto sin," he certainly means
130 
ADDRESS OF REV. S. DUNN.
t
dead unto all sin, and to be fully alive unto God. To the
"dearly beloved" at Corinth, he writes, "Let us cleanse
ourselves firom all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."   He prayed that the
saints at Ephesus "might be filled with  all the fulness of
God;"  for those at Philippi, "that they might be filled
with the fruits of righteousness; " for those at Thessalonica, "that they might be sanctified wholly, - spirit, soul, and
body;" for the believing Hebrews, that God would make
them "perfect in every good workl to do his will."  Peter
tells those who had "obtained like precious faith, that God
had given unto them exceeding great and precious promises, that by these they might be partakers -of the divine
nature."  And  John writes, that  "the  blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin; that God is not only faithful
and jest to forgive us our sins, but to cleanse us firom all1
unrighteousness."
It would be easy to show from the character and conduct of God, the death of Christ, the agency of the Spirit,
the design of the gospel, and the desires after it kindled
in the heart of believers, that the blessing of entire sanctification is attainable; but, on this point, we only make one
more remark, that, so far from most, if not all, the passages that refer to the sanctification of the soul meaning
only partial sanctification, we doubt if there is a passage in
the whole Bible that enjoins it, or that promises it, or
that contains a prayer for it, that does not mean entire
sanctification.                   "
GRADUAL.
That there is a marked gradation of grace in the soul is
evident from the precepts, promises, and examples of the
Bible, and from the emblems by which it is there repi
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sented, Also from the fact that improvability is a property
of the soul; and religion, as a principle proceeding from the
blessed God, can have no limits nor dimensions. The
standard is infinite.  We  are required to have in us the
same mind that was in Christ; to purify ourselves even as
he is pure; to'be holy as God is holy. Hence we can never
arrive at a point in holiness beyond which we cannot pass.
If the heart is filled with grace to-day, God can enlarge it
to-morrow, and again fill it; and this progression in holiness should continue from day to day to the end of life,
and will continue in heaven'through eternity. God will
there perpetually display new glories, bestow fresh blessings,
draw us more'closely to himself; and we shall be eternally
rising higher and higher into a brighter resemblance of
himself,- the transcendent original of all perfection.
Growth in sanctification is promoted by self-denial, mortifying the flesh, watchfulness, and prayer, hearing and
reading the word' of God; and by listening to the dictates,
yielding to the influences, and by nourishing, cultivating,
and exercising the graces of the Holy Spirit.  It is not
correct to say, that "grace may increase in the soul, without
any decrease of sin." We can no more conceive of this
than we can of an addition of light to a room without a
diminution of darkness. The introduction of grace necessarily involves the removal of sin. In proportion as grace
strengthens, sin weakens. The perfection of the one is
the destruction of the other. Thus, if faith is made
perfect, unbelief cannot exist.  When  the soul is fully
clothed with humility, pride must be extinct; when perfectly adorned with meekness, sinful anger can have no
place. When patience has its perfect work, peevishness
and discontent must depart. Where love to God is made
perfect, there must be the exclusion of self-will and love
132 
ADDRESS OF REV. S. DUNN.
of the world; and this is what the Scripture means by
entire sanctification.
INSTANTANEOUS.
Here is no contradiction. It is both gradual and instantaneous. When Wesley, in one part of his writings, urges
persons in danger of Antinomianism to a diligent use of the
means, that they may grow in grace; and elsewhere reminds those who were stationary that they might speedily
obtain the blessings they lack, -it is unfair to represent him
as uttering contradictions. Few men better knew how to
distinguish things that differ than that acute logician and
profound theologian. But why should it be thought a
thing incredible that God should in an instant cleanse the
soul? The bodily cures- emblematic of the soul's restoration from its maladies to health- effected by our Lord were
instantaneously effected.
Justification is an instantaneous act. Regeneration is an
instantaneous work. It is called a creation; but a gradual
creation is an absurdity. It is termed a resurrection, but a
gradual change from death to life is an impossibility; and,
if the transition is spoken of as a new birth, there must be
an instant when it takes place. If sanctification is compared to the growth of corn, there is an instant when the
corn is fully ripe in the ear; if to the advancement of the
human body from childhood, there is an instant when it arrives at its full stature; if to the light of the sun, there is an
instant at which it shines in noon-tide splendor. These analog,ies, however, are not perfect. There is a point at which
both corn and the human body begin to dew, and the sun
to decline; but the soul is capable of endless improvement.
Still there is an instant when sanctification commences;
an instant when every new supply of grace is received;
12
133 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
and an instant when such a measure is communicated as
fills the soul, and, consequently, excludes every opposing
principle and contrary affection. Again, if we gradually
go on unto perfection, there must be an instant when we
reach it. If we are to' purify our hearts by faith," and
are "sanctified by faith," then, the instant the faith required
is exercised, the blessing will be received.   If it be asked,
Can any man, at any time, in any place, believe for entire sanctification? we answer, No. But if the question is,
Can a Christian who has correct views of the blessing,
deeply feels his need of it, intensely desires it, is willing to
part with every idol to obtain it, diligently uses all the appointed means to secure it, and opens his heart by faith to
receive it, be instantly filled with light and love to the
expulsion of all sin? we unhesitatingly say, Yes. According to his faith it shall be unto him. And here it should
be remembered, that faith is not only the condition on which
we receive the blessing, but is also the rule,- the measure
of the blessing received. If the eye of faith be partially
opened, the soul will be partially ilumninated and*occupied
by grace. But, if the eye of faith be opened to its fill extent, the soul will be filled with heavenly light and love.
Still, as there is a difference in men's capacities, all who are
entirely sanctified have not the same amount of grace.
All are filled, but the vessel of one will contain more than
the vessel of another.
All Christians allow that "without holiness  no  man
shall see the Lord." When is it to be obtained? Purification by purgatorial fires is a fiction. Death is a negation, and is tl* effect of sin, and can therefore never react upon its cause so as to effect its destruction.   If sin
be destroyed, it must be in this life. The question in the
" Discipline," "Do you expect to be made perfect in love,
134 
ADDRESS OF REV. S. DUNN.
in this life?" does not mean at the close of this life; but in
this life, -in contradistinction to death, purgatory, or hell.
And if in this life, then now, that you may " serve God
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of
your life." When God excites an intense desire for entire
sanctification in the hearts of his people, he must intend to
gratify it.  He cannot delight to tantalize them by exhibiting it as of inestimable value, making them hunger and
thirst after it, promising that they who seek shall find, and
yet refuse them the blessing. If they now groan to be entirely sanctified, and yet cannot have sin destroyed in them
before death, then God does not will its destruction; and, if
he does not will its destruction before death, then its existence harmonizes with his will in life, but contradicts
it in death; then, he wills at one period what he does
not will at another; then, he works in his people what lihe
does not possess in himself, and even excites I will in them
to thwart his own. Can this be? If it be said that the
destruction of sin in us before death would not be for our
advantage, we answer that whatever makes us more like
God, secures more of the mind that was in Christ, fills us
with more of the grace of the Holy Spirit, increases our
happiness, usefulness, and safety, and better fits us for
heaven, must be for our advantage; and all this will be effected by our entire sanctification. We shall then be vessels of honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use,prepared unto every good work. There is certainly nothing in the doctrine repugnant to the ideas that the Scriptures teach us to entertain of God, no divine attribute-that
renders the existence of sin necessary until death; nor
would it derogate from his glory, were he now to enter the
heart, and destroy sin by the brightness of his coming.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."
135 
NEW-YORK PREACHERS' MEETING.
There is no reason why we should expect promised blessings       at some future period rather than the present.  "Behold, now is the accepted time! behold, now is the day of
salvation!"     God will never be more able or willing to
sanctify us than he is now; the blood of Christ will never
be more efficacious, nor the influences of the Holy Spirit
more purifying. Then, instead of any further disputing
about       it, let the soul of every believer
At once break out in strong desire
The perfect bliss to prove;
Each longing heart be all on fire,
To be dissolved in love.
136
ft 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
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INCIDENTAL ILLIUSTRATIONS...........
PROMISE OF THE FJATHER............
FAITH AND ITS EFFECTS.............
WAY OF HOLINESS..................
ENTIRE DEVOTION...................
THE USEFUL DISCIPLE...............
CENTRAL IDEA OF CHRISTIANITY.......
DIVINE UNION......................
THE HAPPY ISLANDS,.................
THINGS NEW AND OL.D...............
NEW-TESTAMENT STANDARD PIETY......
MEMOIR OF MRIS. TRUSLOW...........
CHORAL ECHOES....................
WHAT IS BECOME OF THE CHURCHES?. ~
LAST WORDS OF CHRIST..............
DROPS OF WATER...................
PRACTICAL SANCTIFICATION...........
A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF TRACTS......
FOUR YEARS IN THE OLD WORLD.
BY MRS. P. PALMER.
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-our Years in -he  l c Wor c.
,By MRS. P. PALMER.
13,000 ALIREADY SOLD.
This book has been long enough before the public to be
known. It has won the approval of the religious press and
of eminent ministers of all denominations. It fires the heart,
and holds the appreciative interest of every reader to the
end. We hope to make it a household book in America.
It is an elegantly-bound octavo volume of 700 pages, and
the printing is executed in superior style. It contains an
elegant engraving of the author.   It is sold   by  subscription  only.   This is done to secure the widest possible circulation, and bring it to the attention of every family.
We want agents to canvass thoroughly every town in the
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Our friends will favor us, and advance the cause, by seeking
out for us some proper person, reliable and energetic,- pastor,
superannuated preacher, preacher's wife, school-teacher, experienced agent, or active lady,- to act as agent among them.
Our agents are selling from one to three hundred, and from
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PUBLISHED BY FOSTER, & PALMER, JR.,
14 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK.
4
a 
'THIE I        DI S iPLN.
A Narrative of Mrs. Mary Gardner.
BY MRS. P. PALMER.
We are now able to offer a new edition of this valuable book,
which has never been fairly before the public. All will want it who
have read Mrs. PALMER'S other works.  Read what is said of it: -
"The subject of this narrative was emphatically a daughter of affliction. Born in affluent circumstances, she was, in a very singular manner, mare acquainted with experimental religion at an early age; and
the pictures that follow of her trials, relapses, her rebellions, her
recoveries, her usefulness, her faith, her piety, through scenes of affliction, bereavement, hardships, and privation, make up one of the most
singular and interesting books of personal experience we have ever
read."- Local Preachers' Magazine, England.
The Northeri? Christian Advocate says,
"Mrs. PALMER'S former works have gained for her a high reputation, and very deservedly too. The present volume will do good by
bringing more fuilly to light the virtues of one who would otherwise
have remained comparatively unknown. It is a pleasing record of
unostentatious usefulness. This work has been republished in England, and passed through several editions. A new American edition
is now through the press, and ready for delivery."
PRICE 65 CENTS
SENT PER MAIL, ON RECEIPT OF PRICE.
.H'OST.r H b, &   AT,T L H,-, Tz:.,
14 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 
Prepsoz l'r. a(
FROM MANY  FOUNTAINS.
BY MIRA ELDREDGE.
16mo. 216 pages Red Edges. Three Illustrations.
SECOND EDITIdN NOW READY.
A beautiful book, made in the very best style, with a
page pleasant to the eye, and refreshing to the
soul. The press speak well of it, and the
devout feed upon it.
"I want to suggest about'Drops of Water,' that it deserves to be designated Springs, Fountains, and Rivers of
Living Waters.  I have not for a long time met a book so
full of the quintessence of religion as this in its statement of
deep communion with God. Then, too, it is so unpretending! Everybody should get it that can. I love to peruse
it."-Rev. Tr. S. Inskip.
PRICE $LOO. SENT PER MAIL, ON RECEIPT OF PRICE.
FOSTER, & PALMER, JR.,
14 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK.
b
-OMeo 
NOTICES OF MRS, PALMER'S WORKS,
The chief characteristic of Mrs. Palmer's productions may be briefly summed up
thus: 1. A loty and pure idealqof Christianity and the Christian life. 2. She is
deeply in earnest to exemplify this ideal, not by fitful endeavors, but by a steady,
persistent strife. In her there is no tinge of quietism. 3. Her writings are well
adapted to set every body in motion with whom they come in contact.  We know
of no human book that will so stir a persoli's soul to its lowest depths as her
"Faith and its Effects."  We once circulated a few dozen of that book among  a
church spiritually dead, and the result was a gracious revival Iler books?nake
working Christians.  4. They exhibit a rare insight into the Scriptures, a clear view
of the temptations of the enemy, and the method provided for our escape X while,
at the same time, they open up so clearly the great doctrine of Holiness, that no one
in earnest to find it need stumnble. 5. As a crowning excellence, they indicate a
present salvation. Many have a way of talking and writing about religion very
convincing, indeed, but then the hearer or reader, after swallowing the nostrum,
falls asleep, without thinking or making any effort for the next twenty years. Not
so with our author: every line is an exhortation to present duty.  First shedding
light on the subjeet patiently, till all the phases of it become clear, the next is
action -present, steady, persistent action. Many receive the doctrine of holiness
in a vague and general manner, which leaves them at liberty to act now, by and
by, or never; but in these workrethey are driven to the wall, and made to feel that
now is the accepted timle. The perusal of these works will always be attended
with happy results. They are excellent to put in the hands of young converts.Zion's Herald.
THrE WAY OF HOLINESS, WITH NOTES BY THE
WAY. Thirty-sixth American Edition.
We regard the reading of this book as an era in the progress of our Christian
experience. So it is alIo regarded by numbers who have read it in this place. We
wish those who oppose the doctrine of holiness would read this book, and then ask
themselves whether that doctrine really tends to let down, as has been reported,
the standard of the gospel, and whether 9%ch an experience can originate front
other than the Spirit of truth. We recommend it as one of the best books that can
be placed in the hands of inquirers after full salvation in Christ. It bears the
(1)
I..  - 
NOTICES OF MRS. PALMER'S WORKS.
stamp of no one particular sect, but teaches the way of holiness in truth and love.
- Evangelist.
"The Way of Holiness" is pure in sentiment, correct in theology, and beautiful
in composition. Of all that has been written on the blessed theme of entire saiictification, it is doubtful whether any thing is better calculated to rouse pious desire,
and guide the soul in its seeking.- Ladies' Repository.
We are led to admire the common sense and judicious manner in which Mrs.
Palmer writes on the subject of Christian perfection. This volume combines religious experience and Bible argument. It contains enough of the former to illustrate,
and enough of the latter to prevent, its being insipid.- Christian Repository.
We would commend this work to all who are perplexed as to the nature of true
faith, as well as to the confident Christian. The work has been highly commended
by many, and great has been the demand for it.- Weekly Message.    *
"The Way of Holiness, with Notes by, the Way."   1st English, from  34th
American Edition. Contains a remarkably Vlear exposition of the dotrine of entire
sanctification, and of the scriptural way of attaining to the experience of this
inestimable blessing. The Notes, which constitute the second part of the book,
relate the experience of the writer, a singularly devoted American Methodist. The
book has been well received in America, and is well worthy of acceptance in
England, where we trust it will arouse and instruct many to walk in the way of
holiness.- Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, England.
One of the best books of its class which has been issued from the press for a long
time. We envy not the feelings of the individual who can read it without resolving
on entire devotion to God. If such books were more in vogue, more holiness of life
would be exemplified by professed Christians. -Methodist.ssociation Magazine,
England.
We do most heartily desire and pray that such zeal and piety as Mrs. Palmer's
may every where be kindled, and that such narratives of experience may be greatly
multiplied. - London Watchman, England.
A deeply interesting book, on a most important subject. It is true to the experience of almost every Christian.  It cannot be perused, with thought and praye,
without much spiritual benefit resulting therefrom. We cordially commend it to
our readers. - Methodist Pilot, England.
It is a b)ook rich in experience, and breathing a spirit full of humility and love. -
Primitive Methodist Magazine, England.
We do not expect our friends to buy and peruse every book mentioned in these
notices; but here is one which we are not willing to suppose will escape the
examination of any Christian whose eye may light upon this recommnendation of it.
There is an unusual degree of simplicity in the narrative, such as we think could
not be arrived at except by the chastening power of the Sanctifier. The author has
but one aim; namely, to present pictures - daguerreotype impressions - of her
states of mind, from the time she started in the way to seek Holiness until after she
attained it. The difficulties she encountered, their effect upon her mind, and the
manner of her escape, are also so represented that the pious reader readily apprehends them. and often finds that as in water face answereth to face, so does heart
to heart in religious experience. We earnestly commiend this little volume to all
who hunger and thirst after righteousness. - Bishop Hamline: Ladies' Repository.
2
0 
NOTICES OF MRS. PALMER'S WORKS.
FAITH AND ITS EiFECTS; OR, FRAGMENTS
FROM MY PORTFOLIO. Twenty-fourth American
Edition. By Mrs. PHCEBE PALMER.
We know of few who have labored more, or more successfully, in promoting the
cause of Holiness than the author of these "Fragments."  It is a delightful fact
that the works written by her have met with a most unprecedented sale. Tilhe
author shows clearly that it is the will of God that believers should be wholly
sanctified. In doing this, she exposes and corrects the errors into which soine had
fallen, points out the short and good old way of attailling this state of grace, and
supports all she advances by direct and incidental appeals to the Word of God.Christian Jdvoecate and Journal.
In this work such light is thrown upon the precise point of transit from condemnation to favor, bondage to liberty, partial to full salvation, as is not perihaps so
clearly done in any other human composition. The prevailing error of waiting for
greater preparedness of mind, and for impulses and manifestations from on high,
before we may consider ourselves called upon to trust God for juistification and
sanctification, is exposed, and the simplicity of faith, and manner of its exercise,
so logically presented as to be nearly if not quite unmistakable to the least discerning mind.- Zion's Herald.
It treats of every stage of religious experience and practice, from the dawn of
conviction for sin to the stage of hallowed intimacy with God enjoyed by the
mature veteran believer.  The reader will find here the best houghts on a thousand
points of Christian truth of a mind highly endued by nature, constantly impelled
by a consuming zeal for the salvation of souls, and enlightened and guided by longcontinued habits of communion with God and his word. The whole is illustrated
and enlivened by a happy intermixture of fact and incident, never, perhaps, to be
met with in a work on experimental divinity, save tihe book in question. -  Northern
Christian Advocate.
It is calculated to instruct and interest every believer, and it seems particularly
adapted to Sabbath school  teachers.  It will greatly assist them  in explaining the
way offaith to their scholars, and, if prayerfully read, will not fail to increase in
their own hearts the work of faith with power. - Sabbath School Adeocate.
This work has met with a remarkable sale, bespeaking a growing piety in the
church. A revival of religion on the right basis is that which carries believers on
to perfection.  In the Methodist and other churches such a revival was perhaps
never nmore general than at present; and in the United States and in Canada this
has in no small degree been promoted by Mrs. Palmer's writings. It is only a truism
to assert that MIrs. Palmer is eminently scriptural.- Christian Guardian, Canada.
An 18mo volume of 352 pages, illustrating very fully the nature of" Faith and its
Effects." It is written in a simple, concise, and persuasive style. The child or the
adult, the Christian or the unbeliever, may be profited by its perusal. - Family
Guardian.
"Faith and its Effects, by Mrs. Phoebe Palmer." 1st English, from 22d American
Edition.  This little work is rich in all the best experiences of the Christian life.
*   If the rationale of faith is still to seek, its reality and power are put beyond all
doubt or controversy, and the believer stands immeasurably in advance of the
philosopher. - London Quarterly, England.
3
4. 
NOTICES OF MRS. PALMER'S WORKS.
The work consists of a series of letters, Ohich, for simplicity, religious beauty,
and adaptation for usefulness, were never surpassed. They are eminently calculated to strengthen faith, an4 promote the advancement of spirituality and holiness
in the soul.- -Methodist Magazine, London, England.
Another eminently pious work from the pen of the devoted Mrs. Palmner. It
breathes the same spirit as "The Way of Holiness," and cannot fail to fan the
flame of devotion wherever it circulates. We would recommend all class leaders
in the Methodist churches to strive to circulate both works among the members
under their charge. Next to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, such works must
contribute largely to the formation of all the habits of a holy life. - Methodist
Associatioen Magazine, London, England.
It contains gems of gospel truth, and is pervaded by a strong devotional feelinga feejing which finds its way to the heart of every Christian reader.- British
Mothers' Magazine, London.
The late Rev. Dr. Bond, in a lengthy and most favorable editorial notice of this
work, referring to its rapid sale, says, "The work, therefore, must be extensively
known and approved, and does not require any eulogy from us to commend it to
the public attention. The subject, however, which the work embraces-' Faith and
its Effects'-can never be exhausted or become of less interest by its familiarity.
On the contrary, it will be increasingly appreciated as we come more and more to
comprehend it in all its bearings and depth of meaning. The author of' Faith and
its Effects' takes the right way to explain the nature and effects of saving faith
namely, by the Scriptures and experience. There are no metaphysical speculations
employed. It assumes that God has spoken. This fact is supposed to be demonstrated by indubitable evidence, and then all that remains is to inquire what hlie has
said, and to rely upon it as true. This evidence is faith. But of course the faith
to be exercised will consist of various acts, each necessary to salvation, but not
essentially the same act.... We do not wonder, then, that this little book,
illustrating and making plain' Faith and its Effects' should have had such an
extensive run.  We hope the demand will still increase."- Christian Jdvocate and
Journal,.New York.
PRESENT TO ILY CHRISTIAN FRIEND; OR,
ENTIRE DEVOTION. By Mrs. PHOEBE PALMER. Twen   tieth Edition.
A charming little present for the holidays. A new edition, greatly improved and
enlarged. Though presented in a new form, with a large addition of new matter,
it has no new doctrines to teach. A mere announcement of the work will be
sufficient to lead many to supply themselves with it. - Western Christian ddvocate.
Well worthy a place in the Christian library, or as a travelling pocket companion.
- Christian Repository.
We know no work of its size comprising so much that is calculated to arrest the
attention, and fix the mind of the reader on the importance and attractiveness of
the subject of which it treats.- Guide to Holiness.
This invaluable little work contains nearly double as much matter as the earlier
editions. So widely is the beloved author known that any words of explanasion
or recommendation would be superfluous. - Ladies' Repository. 
4