of perfect purity amidst the increasing wickedness of the age, and was thus prepared for translation to heaven. How expressive is that short sentence ! "Enoch walked with God." Does not this imply a state of entire sanctification? Elijah also might have enjoyed a state of perfect love; for he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire and horses of fire, without passing through the ordeal of death. Passing over a host of those "of whom the world was not worthy," we come to a few cases recorded in the New Testament. Of Stephen, it is said, he was "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." Acts vi. 8; vii. 55. Can entire sanctification imply more than this? When the Holy Spirit fills the soul, he must expel every principle which is opposed to his holy nature. When the heart is filled with living faith the life must be governed by love; for this faith worketh by love. That it did so in Stephen, a greater proof cannot be given than is presented to us in the short account of his christian life and death contained in the sixth and seventh chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. See him stand before the council. What boldness, and yet what meekness! What fidelity, and yet what tenderness! What benignity and love! "And all that sat in the council looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." Acts vi. 15. And when they gnashed on him with their teeth, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him, he meekly submitted to all their insult and abuse, and, like his blessed Lord, prayed for his murderers: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Acts vii. 60. If this is not regarded as an instance of entire sanctification we fear that prejudice is too strong to admit any evidence that could possibly be adduced. St. Paul, is another example of entire sanctification. We know that many of those who reject this doctrine, more than question this statement, and assert that he declares the contrary in his Epistle to the Romans, chapter vii. But in this chapter it is evident that the apostle, whether describing his own experience, or that of another, is illustrating the working of the mind under conviction, and not after conversion. For sin in this person had entire dominion, hence he exclaims, "I am carnal, sold under sin." ver. 14-and the law of the members kept him in constant captivity, so that in despair he exclaims, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" ver. 23, 24. But this is not the case with one who is regenerate; for in the sixth chapter he declares, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Ver. 14. And in the eighth he declares, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Ver. 2. It is true he uses the pronoun, I, in the seventh chapter; but this only by a figure of speech common to him and to other writers, in which they personify another. The Apostle uses this figure Rom. iii. 7. Gal. ii. 18. 1 Cor. x. 30. On one occasion he ex 66 pressly says, These things I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes." 1 Cor. iv. 6. Besides he keeps up the use of the personal pronoun in the eighth chapter, which describes quite an opposite state of experience; and if both refer to himself, the one must be interpreted of him before, and the other after his conversion; for they could not both exist in the same person and at the same time. The complaint of Rom. vii. 24, is opposed to ver. 25th. The captivity ver. 23, is opposed to the liberty of chap. viii. 2. The opposition in the mind chap. vii. 14 is opposed to the state in chap. viii. 4. The impotence and inability to do any good thing chap. vii. 14, is opposed to the ability and conduct chap. viii. 3, 4, and chap. vi. The person in the flesh chap. vii. 5, 14, 18, is said to be "not in the flesh" chap. viii. 9. Dr. Macknight says, "They who think the apostle is here describing his own case, and the cases of other regenerated persons, should consider that he does not speak of single instances of omission of duty, and commission of sin; for the words which he uses, xatɛgyaloμaι, Tęασow, пow, all denote a continuation, or habit of acting. Now how such a habit of doing evil, and neglecting good, can be attributed to any regenerated person, and especially to the Apostle Paul, who, before this Epistle to the Romans was written, told the Thessalonians, Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and righteously, and unblameably, we behaved among you,' I confess I do not comprehend." See Commentary. What does entire sanctification mean if the apostle did not enjoy it when he made the above statement? For his holiness, and unblameableness were before God, and not merely before men. Besides, he knew how to be abased, and how to abound, and he had learned in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content. Phil. iv. 11, 12. He was free from covetousness, and desired no man's gold and silver ; yea he counted all things loss for Christ. He was crucified to the world, and the world to him, and he gloried only in the cross of Christ. He said "Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left" &c. 2 Cor. vi. 3-7. Does entire sanctification imply more than this? Does one that is "carnal, sold under sin," do this? No. But the apostle also sets himself up as an example to the church," Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me" &c. 1 Cor. iv. 16, 17. Phil. iii. 17-20. iv 9. Read the text and say, can we understand them as implying less than entire sanctification? And certainly if he were not sanctified wholly, this is extravagant boasting; and to appeal to God for its truth as he does 1 For a man to appeal to God that Thess. ii. 10, is awful. his heart and life were blameless, if he were not sanctified wholly, would be awful hypocrisy. We must either charge him with falshood, or wilful deception, unless we admit that he was entirely holy. We need not refer to St. John, who was a witness of perfect love. 1 John iv. 17. Nor yet to others whose names are recorded in the book of life. What was the privilege of these belongs to us; for there is no respect of perons with God. He is the same Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon him. The promises belong to us as well to others. They are to us, and to our children and to all that are afar of; and they "all in him (Christ) are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God." And when we are willing to seek their fulfilment in God's way we may prove their truth in our own experience. To sum up the argument if the nature of God is to be regarded as indicative of his will, if the doctrines of the Bible are to be believed, if the commands of God are to be obeyed, if the sanctions of his law and the inducements to keep it are to be interpreted, if the promises of his word are to be trusted, if the covenant and oath of God are to be received and respected, if the ability of God is sufficient to perform these promises, if the provision of the gospel is sufficient, and all the arrangements of the plan of redempton, including the atonement of Christ, the gift of the Spirit, the institution of the christian ministry, and the ordinances of religion are adequate to accomplish the work for which they are appointed; if the exhortations to holiness are not deceptive, if the prayers of the apostles, and of Jesus Christ himself do not lead us into mazes of error; if the experience of God's people is not a fancy; if these things are not a fallacy, a dream, a bubble, a cheat, a lie, then it is our privelege to be sanctified wholly; and it is high time that the people of God should awake to their privileges while passing through the present state, and not allow life to pass away in mere baby-hood, and dwarfishness. Brethren, arise! Seek the entire destruction of sin; press into your high and holy calling; and then will you truly go forth with strength and power, holding forth the word of life, and shining as lights in the world; and others seeing your good works will glorify your father which is in heaven. CHAPTER VII. SANCTIFICATION -A PRESENT BLESSING. THE text teaches that it is our privilege to enjoy sanctification as a present blessing. This may be implied in what we have already said, yet we shall notice it separately because many who believe that we must be made perfectly holy before we can enter heaven, teach that we cannot attain this state of grace until death, or a little before that event. Dr. J. Dick, whom we have previously quoted, says, "However earnestly a christian may wish that it [sin] should cease to exist in his soul, complete exemption from it is unattainable in the present state." See on Theology, vol. 3. Dr. Manton says, tification is not full and complete for degrees: every part is sanctified, but every part is not wholly sanctified. In the most gracious there is a double principle, hell and heaven. Adam and Jesus, the flesh and the spirit, the law of the members and the law of the mind: such a medley and composition are we during the present state." See Epistle of Jude The Rev. Thomas Robinson, (author of scripture 66 sanc |