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SCRIPTURAL SALIFICATION

AN

ATTEMPTED SOLUTION OF THE
HOLINESS PROBLEM.

BY THE
REV. JNO. R. BROOKS, D.D.,
Of the Western North Carolina Conference.

With an Introduction,
BY JNO. J. TIGERT, D.D., LL.D.,
Book Editor, M. E. Church, South.

"And they -wtre all filled -with the Holy Ghost."

THIRD EDITION.

Nashville, Tenn. :
Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South.
Barbee & Smith, Agents.
1899.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899,
By John R. Brooks,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

DeMcaton>.

To the Memory of Julia Ann Hastings,
The Devoted Wife of My Young Manhood, and Mother
of My Children;
To Mary Pauline Hill,
The Self-sacrificing and Efficient Helpmeet and Coworker of My
Riper Years;
To the Memory of Lucy Hastings Broods- Betts,
My Dutiful and Sainted Daughter ;
To My Three Beloved and Affectionate Sons,
William Hastings, Eugene Hastings, and
Fletcher Hastings Brooks;
To the People of the Ten Pastoral Charges and
Four Districts Which I Have Been
Permitted to Serve ; and
To All Who Aspire To Be Useful and Happy Christians,
ftbts Dolume
Is Affectionately and Prayerfully Inscribed.
(iii)

CONTENTS.
 PAGE
Introduction  ix
Note  xv
CHAPTER I.
Prefatory and Introductory  i

CHAPTER II.
Some Definitions  12
CHAPTER III.
Difference Between Regeneration and Sanctifica
tion — Sin and Salvation  29
CHAPTER IV.
The Three Dispensations and Corresponding Types
of Piety  38
CHAPTER V.
Three Types of Piety Exist Under the Present Dis
pensation  51
CHAPTER VI.
Were the One Hundred and Twenty Disciples
Wholly Sanctified at Pentecost ?  61
CHAPTER VII.
When and How Does the Holy Spirit Effect Our
Entire Sanctification Since Pentecost?  79
CHAPTER VIII.
Sanctification Subsequent to Regeneration and
Instantaneous — Scripture Proof  92
CHAPTER IX.
Sanctification Subsequent to Regeneration and
Instantaneous — Scripture Proof Continued  112
(v)

VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
The View of Great, Learned, and Spiritual Men of
Nearly All Churches  140
CHAPTER XI.
The View of Methodist Interpreters of Scripture. 155
CHAPTER XII.
The Evidential Value of Experience  168
CHAPTER XIII.
Testimony from Experience  183
CHAPTER XIV.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Some Wit
nesses Introduced  191
CHAPTER XV.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Methodist,
Catholic, Presbyterian, and Lutheran Witnesses. 208
CHAPTER XVI.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Muller,
Finney, and Taylor  221
CHAPTER XVII.
Congregational Testimony from Experience — Drs.
Upham and Mahan  229
CHAPTER XVIII.
Some Quaker Testimony from Experience — Clark,
Updegraff, and Hannah Whitall Smith  248
CHAPTER XIX.
Some Episcopal Testimony — Dr. Cullis, Mrs. Ham
mer, and Miss Frances Ridley Havergal  263
CHAPTER XX.
Some Baptist Testimony — Drs. Fuller, Judson, Gor
don, Earle, and Levy  270

CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER XXI. PAGE
Modern Methodist Testimony — Fisk, Olin, Foster,
Peck, Miss Willard, Carradine, Anderson, and
Schoolfield  284
CHAPTER XXII.
Some Objections Considered  317
CHAPTER XXIII.
Other Objections Considered  342
CHAPTER XXIV.
Some Questions Answered  364
CHAPTER XXV.
Concluding Appeal  388

INTRODUCTION.
I cheerfully comply with the request of my friend,
Dr. Brooks, to write a word of introduction to his ex
cellent volume — no less excellent, indeed, in its spirit
than in its theme and his treatment of it. The author
needs no epistle of commendation from me : he is wide
ly known as an eminently useful minister of our com
munion and a member of many General Conferences.
Just as this task devolves upon me, there comes to
hand the London Quarterly Review for January, 1899
— the theological organ in England of the mother
Church of Methodism. I cannot do better — especially
as Dr. Brooks has dwelt upon the acceptance of the
Wesleyan doctrine by members of other Churches —
than insert a pertinent paragraph from the editor's arti
cle on " Methodism and the Age."
And the doctrine of Christian perfection which Wesley
calmly maintained in the face of almost universal contempt
and derision [so the paragraph runs] has been welcomed in
these latter days by devout souls in all communions. At any
ordinary holiness convention the Episcopalian, the Presby
terian, the Baptist, the Congregationalist, and the Methodist
will be found together witnessing to the reality and blessed
ness of the doctrine of perfect purity and perfect love. These
representatives of the several Churches may differ in their defi
nitions of entire sanctification, but the differences are merely
(ix)

X INTRODUCTION^
verbal; substantially they unanimously witness to the great
doctrine for which Wesley contended, viz., that the infinite grace
of the sovereign Spirit can renew and perfect the soul here and
now. No distinctive doctrine of primitive Methodism puts mod
ern Methodism at a disadvantage. The truths that were once
special to her are ceasing to be special, not because she discov
ers that those truths were partial or misconceived, but because
they are becoming the recognized doctrines of the universal
Protestant Church.
Dr. Brooks's volume is characterized by a sane and
sober appeal to experience. A wide induction of veri
fied facts has as much value in religion as in science.
Such inductions are now being wisely and successfully
employed by theologians in the field of apologetics.
The sure word of personal testimony convinces the
gainsayers. It is freely conceded that alleged experi
ence is not legitimate as a sole and independent instru
ment for the construction of doctrine. If it contradict
the Scriptures, it is self-condemned. If it supplement
the Scriptures, it indicts the Holy Spirit and aims to
convict him of the sin of omission. Hence its rightful
function is the confirmation or verification of the Scrip
tures in the living realities of the Christian's faith, hope,
and love. And in the Scriptures the characteristics of ex
perience must be found clearly, accurately, completely
described, the Bible being the only rule and the suffi
cient rule both of our faith and practice.
On the other hand, the very notion of experience is
implicative of genuineness, truth, reality. There are

INTRODUCTION. XI
dangers, difficulties, deceptions, no doubt, attaching no
less to conversion than to sanctification; for in both
cases a believer testifies to a work consciously wrought
in him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Fancy and
fanaticism are deeply seated in human nature. Never
theless, experience is experience. Unless Methodists
have wholly misread the Bible, it teaches the working
of the mighty power of God in human souls. If it is
a reality, we cannot but know it. If it is a delusion,
let us give up at once and forever the contention that
religion is the life of God in the soul of man, and deny
that men are partakers of the divine nature. When
freed from self-deception and the possible admixtures
of error imposed from without by traditional formulas,
in the light of which another seeks to lead the subject
of experience to explain it, experience stands in the
soul itself for indisputable reality — otherwise all the
personal religious foundations are gone. If there are
not verifiable certainties of Christian experience, Meth
odism has been from the beginning a stupendous
blunder. The late Dr. R. W. Dale, in his "Living
Christ and the Four Gospels," gives a vivid picture of
the dissipation of a Christian scholar's doubts by a plain
man's experience. The learned divine leaves his study
and finds his way to a humble home where
he sits by the side of some poor, aged, and illiterate man, whose
strength is slowly wasting, and the conditions of whose life are
very cheerless ; but the old man had traveled by the same path
that all the saints have traveled. As the scholar listened, he

Xll INTRODUCTION.
could recall, at point after point, identical experiences of his
own. It was as if the man were telling the story of years
which he had spent in some foreign country which the scholar
also had visited. They had seen the same cities and harbors
and churches and palaces, the same ruins, the same mountains
and rivers, the same crops, the same trees and flowers. The
old man's account of them was very different from what his
own account would have been, the old man's theories and ex
planations of them and his own were still more different, but it
was certain that what he had seen the old man had seen.
The doctrinal rather than the experimental presenta
tion of Christian truth has characterized for the most
part the method of theologians. To this rule, John
Wesley, as in so many other particulars, was a note
worthy exception : in few other things have his wisdom
and independence, his common sense and courage, been
more conspicuously displayed. The Christian con
sciousness, with its well-defined peculiarities, of which
many German theologians since Schleiermacher's day
have made so much — some of them seeking to draw
the entire system of dogmatics from this source — had
in Wesley's time been ignored or underestimated. As
in many questions of biblical criticism, both as to
method and results, the founder of Methodism antici
pated some of the most recent advances of the highest
scholarship — compare his text emendations and transla
tions in his " Notes on the New Testament " with the
Revised Version of 1881 — so he was one of the earliest
theologians and religious teachers to draw attention to
the doctrinal as well as the practical value of religious

INTRODUCTION.

experience, and to insist on the evidential value of the
Christian consciousness. Every thoughtful reader of
that most marvelous record of apostolic activities out
side the Holy Scriptures, Wesley's Journal, must have
been struck with the confirmation of his own faith
which John Wesley derived from the experiences of
the people called Methodists whom God raised up un
der his ministry.
Dr. Brooks seems to me to have kept in the main to
the well-defined truths of Wesleyan orthodoxy on the
subject of entire sanctification. He is not only Wes
leyan, but, what is better, he is scriptural, devoting his
first eleven chapters to " the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those
things which cannot be shaken may remain." What
ever be the advance in modern forms of statement, it is
necessary to allow that the essential, delivering truths
of the gospel have been recognized in their true light,
and realized in their appointed power, since the gospel
was first preached. Redemption by "price" and by
" power," by the Saviour and by the Sanctifier ; pardon
and purity ; satisfaction and sanctity ; oblation and obe
dience : these have been the polar truths of the gospel
in all ages and lands. To the advancement of these
truths, the volume in the hands of the reader is dedi
cated. To the large class of ministers and laymen,
who have not committed themselves, on the one ex
treme, to wholesale rejection and indiscriminate denun-

XIV INTRODUCTION.
ciation of the doctrine and the experience, or, on the
other, to an intolerant disdain of calm and considerate
discussion and criticism, this book ought to give light
and leading. To multitudes of private disciples and
sincere souls, humble inquirers after the way of life,
the subject is fascinating. They need to inquire wisely
and thoroughly in such vital concerns.
Jno. J. Tigert.
Nashville, 31 January, 1899.

NOTE.
Like the psalmist and the apostle, the author may say, "We
believed, and therefore have we spoken," in the following pages.
For this book is born of a profound conviction that the theory
therein propounded and elaborated is the truth of God. And
such conviction has come not only from a prayerful study of
his Word, accompanied by a personal and experimental test of
this interpretation, but also from the tests of many other reliable
witnesses who testify from their experience of its truth.
In presenting this theory to others the author has tried not
to dogmatize, but has constantly sought to give scriptural
proofs and experimental facts in support of every position
taken. And he trusts the reader will not reject his theory sim
ply because he cannot accept the author's interpretation of any
particular passage of Scripture, or because he fails to feel the
force of the testimony given by any particular witness. For half
his interpretations may be wrong and a good number of these
testimonies may be faulty, and yet the theory still stand firm,
being buttressed by other sound exegesis and valid testimony.
For reasons noted in the introductory chapter, the volume
has grown far beyond the limits originally assigned it by the
author, but he trusts that it will be none the less acceptable or
useful on that account. It is hoped, too, that the steel engrav
ing will not prove unacceptable to the author's former parish
ioners, if it should not be prized by others.
The book falls far below the author's ideal ; but, with all its
defects, and with an earnest desire to promote the glory of God
and the good of men, after many drawbacks in its preparation,
and much delay in its publication, it is prayerfully sent forth
on its mission of love. Jno. R. Brooks.
Salisbury, N, C, 13 February, 1899.
(XV)

SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
CHAPTER I.
Prefatory and Introductory.
Some may ask, Why write another book on this
vexed question of sanctification ? Would it not be bet
ter to let this matter which is so agitating the Church
rest ? Our answer is :
i. This is a question of the utmost practical im
portance, one that has direct bearing on the life and effi
ciency of the Church ; and that, hence, most earnest ef
fort should be made to settle it, if possible, on the basis
of Scripture, reason, and experience. We most hearti
ly indorse the following, as embodying our views,
from the eminent Bishop R. S. Foster, of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church, in his late work on The Phi
losophy of Christian Experience. And we give the
facts therein stated as one of our reasons for writing.
The bishop says :
All along through the Christian ages there have been Jo-
hannean spirits of such saintliness as to give sanction to the
most extreme views as to the possibilities of grace. Thomas a
Kempis, Fenelon, Fletcher, Madame Guyon, and others dead,
and some still living, might be added to the list. For more than
a hundred years it has been a subject of deep interest among
Christians of mystical tendencies in all sects, and especially
among the Methodist family of Churches. It has undoubted
ly given rise to fanaticisms and delusions in an alarming de
gree. Meantime there is a great truth that must be conserved, and, as
far as possible, rescued from the abuses to which it has become sub-
(1)

3 scriptural sanctification.
jected. The odium that gathers about it by evil association is no ex
cuse for its desertion. Christ, if on the gibbet, is still Christ. A
jewel is still a jewel, however incrusted with base alloys. The al
loys may hide the precious gem or disfigure its beauty, but cannot
destroy its value. It is the task of Christian patience to remove the
debasing incrustations and set it in position.
The truth to be preserved is, that there is a higher experience
possible to Christians than that which is attained in, and at the time
of, regeneration. And this must be taught so as not to reflect dis
credit on regeneration on the one hand or excite fanaticism on the
other, and so as to inspire aspiration after it as duty and privilege.
The possibility of enlargement is beyond question. The
duty is plain. The desire is felt by every truly regenerate
soul. It may and ought to be by growth in grace day by day.
It may be by sudden and overwhelming manifestations to and in
the soul at any moment when earnestly sought. It is precisely the
same grace of life in all stages of possible enlargement — God more
and more, or in a moment completely filling the regenerate soul
with his presence and his love, so that it effioresces in all the graces
of righteousness ; its love is perfect, and its peace is undisturbed.
There is such an enlargement possible, and we must believe
it possible at any moment. There is no limit to the possibilities of
grace short of perfect love which keeps perpetual sunshine of God's
favor. The limits are in ourselves. God wills fhat his people
should be a holy people; that every facet of the saved soul
should reflect his image; that the seed of life implanted in it
should grow to a tree of righteousness, every bough of which
should come to perfect fruitage. For this he would have each
soul filled with the glory and joy of his presence — a sacred temple,
all of whose recesses are undefiled. We are sure that this is so.
There is no Christian 6oul that does not feel that it is so. It is
the ringing cry resounding through all the corridors of every
Christian soul : "Be ye holy that bear the vessels of the Lord."
In telling us what this enlargement is, Bishop Fos
ter gives the following definition or description of this
" higher experience," which, in advance of more elab
orate definitions, we adopt as our own :
What js this higher grape? Some call it holiness; some,

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 3
purity; some, sanctification; some, perfection; some, maturity.
There has been much unseemly disputation over the name as
well as much fanatical profession concerning the experience,
and much crude and unsound teaching as to what it includes
and how it is to be attained, and much ill-tempered criticism.
It answers all the ends of description to say, it is the perfect
ing of the smd in love. Love is not simply the queen of the
graces, but the mother of them all — the all-embracing. Love
is the fulfilling of the law ; love made perfect excludes envy, jeal
ousy, pride, and all violent and hurtful tempers and acts; love is
reverent, meek, humble, docile, patie7it, obedient, worktth no ill, ful-
fitteth all righteousness. Perfect love inspires perfect faith, courage,
heroism, self-denial, casteth out all fear. . . . God fills the soul
with his love to overflowing. It thrills with gladness; it expels im
purity. While it reigns, there is no place for evil thoughts, evil de
sires, evil feelings. Heaven has already come. Can it be perma
nent at its highest pitch? We think we are safe in saying no,
as an emotion. The thrill of love and joy must be intermittent
in a life like ours on earth. Other feelings must come, and for
the time obscure and replace these. But as a principle govern
ing the life, we are bold to say love may and should abide moment by
moment and without alloy.
Because we are profoundly convinced of the truth of
these weighty words of the bishop, especially those
italicized, we have made this humble contribution to the
literature of this most important subject. We would
do something toward removing the " debasing incrusta
tions" that have covered this "precious gem" of "per
fect love," and so " set it in position" before the Church
that she will again duly prize it, earnestly seek it, and
with joy find and keep it.
2. It is because we feel constrained to tell others what
God has done for us, so as to excite in them a desire for
the same blessing. The Rev. Daniel Steele, D.D., of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, the scholarly and saint
ly author of a number of books on this rich theme, in

4 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
his preface to Love Enthroned, gives substantial ex
pression to our own feelings and views. He says :
How strange it is that every one who receives full salva
tion gets hold of a. pen as soon as he can and blazons it abroad
to the world ! It is no more wonderful than the loosened tongue
of the young convert. It argues the genuineness of the blessing
found. The very fact that persons who hate hobbies become,
when thus anointed of the Holy Ghost, men of one idea, and
henceforth push this specialty with tongue and pen as if in the
grasp of an all-absorbing passion, ought to demonstrate to
doubters that there is here a great gospel truth struggling to
reveal itself to the Church. ... It is the design of the
writer, in true Pauline style, "To testify unto you the gospel of
the grace of God." He may not often use the pronoun in the
first person singular. But he wishes it to be understood that
his arguments have been forged on the anvil of his own expe
rience. St. Paul's argumentative epistles are his experience
expressed in logical form.
Albeit, we would not so present this subject as to
put in the background any other important truth. We
would especially avoid so magnifying this matter as to
minify the importance of regeneration. Nor would we
so stress this work of subjective purification, wrought
through the baptism of the Spirit, as to draw off atten
tion from the ever-growing and expanding life of prac
tical holiness that should proceed from this baptism.
3. It may be possible for us to reach some through
this book whom we could not otherwise reach, and who
might not read any other book on this subject. The
sainted Bishop Janes, so favorably known to Southern
Methodism in the forties, in his introduction to Bishop
Foster's first book on this subject — Christian Purity —
says :
Every man has his circle of influence. Each author on this
subject will secure some readers that would not give attention

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. g
to the writings of others. Here is a power for good that ought
not to be lost. Verily, if there is any subject on which we need
precept upon precept, and line upon line, the theme of this book
is that subject. If there is any religious truth that should be
urged upon the disciples of Jesus with the sweetness of con
straining love, and the solemnity of divine authority, it is the
truth that Christians may and ought to be holy. Oh, that tens
of thousands of individuals, filled with its bliss, and inspired by
its power, were telling of its charms and inviting to its pursuit!
The same motive constrains us to write this book that
moves us to preach another sermon. And we may be
permitted to say that the same motive which prompts
others to hear another sermon should move them to read
another book. " Believers could have been saved by
one Gospel — one photograph of the Nazarene. But
God chose four evangelists to hold up to the Son of
man their mirrors, in order to reflect his bright image
upon our dark world. Who shall be the limners of his
great Successor, the blessed Comforter, but they in
whom he abides, with whom he communes, and on
whom he has wrought his transfiguration ? The work
of each of these spiritual artists may fix some wander
ing eye in a long and earnest gaze till transformed from
glory to glory by the Spirit of God."
4. The great necessity for toning up the spiritual life
of the Church, and thus increasing her power and use
fulness, has had much weight with us. While we are
not pessimistic in our temperament and habit, and while
we admit that the general trend of the Church is in the
direction of improvement, we cannot close our eyes to
some of her deficiencies, which greatly weaken her life
and impede her progress. Her lack of deep spiritual
ity, heavenly-mindedness, scriptural liberality, and Paul
ine activity gives great concern to intelligent and

O SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
thoughtful men of all the families of Protestant Chris
tianity. They greatly deplore her failure to come up
to the Scripture standard of abiding peace, fullness of
joy, perfect love, unworldliness of spirit, unstinted lib
erality, and unflagging zeal, which the believer, in his
normal life, should be expected to reach.
We might fill this volume with extracts from leading
men in the Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, Meth
odist, and other Churches, giving no uncertain sound
on this subject. Presidents Mahan and Finney, Pro
fessor Cowles and D. L. Moody, of the Congregational
Church ; Albert Barnes, Dr. Cuyler, and Dr. Chapman,
of the Presbyterian Church ; Spurgeon, Gordon, Mur
ray, and Meyer, of the Baptist Church ; Bishops Janes,
Peck, and Foster, and Drs. Keen and Steele, of the
Methodist Episcopal Church ; and Lovick and George
F. Pierce, and Morris, and Mahon, and others, of our
own Church — these, and many more, have deplored the
weakness and worldliness and inefficiency of God's peo
ple, because of their lack of the Pentecostal baptism of
purity and love and power that is offered to her.
Is not the following, written by a distinguished Con
gregationalist, as true to-day as it was when he wrote
it quite a while ago ? He says :
The standard of piety throughout the American Church Is
extremely and deplorably low. It is low compared with that of
the primitive Church, compared with the provisions of the gospel,
with the obligations of redeemed sinners, or with the requisite qual
ifications for the work to be done. The spirit of the world has
deeply pervaded and largely engrossed the heart of the Church.
Go through the land and estimate her unconsecrated wealth,
measure the energy of worldliness and the apathy of love and
prayer, for the proof. There is an extensive public sentiment which
repels the subject of personal holiness, hears it named with fear, dis-

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 7
cusses it -with sensitive apprehensions of excess, or even treats it
¦with sarcasm.
A recent writer sums up the opinion of several lead
ing men of the different Churches, referred to above,
in these words : " They all agree that there is a great
need, pressing, urgent, awful! — the need of such a
personal baptism of the Holy Ghost as shall bring holi
ness and power to the Churches and the ministry"
Is not the following from Dr. A. T. Pierson too true ?
He says :
The world has come into the Church in such a fashion that
the Church has become composed of one-half wholly worldly
people, and the other half of worldly holy people, so that if you
do not have a chance to consult the Church roll, you cannot
tell who belongs and who does not. How many people in our
modern Churches practically know whether there is a Holy
Ghost or not ?
Joseph Cook is represented as saying that " the great
need of the world is the Christianizing of Christianity."
And are not too many of the ministers of the present
day like Dr. Steele says he was before he embraced this
theory and sought this blessing ? In speaking of him
self, he says :
Before his eyes were anointed he saw not, in the provisions
of the atonement, the blessing of the fullness of Christ as a
sharply defined transition in Christian experience — an instan
taneous work of the Spirit by faith only, as taught by Wesley.
Embracing the plausible theory of the gradual unfolding of the
spiritual life without any sudden uplift by the power of the
Spirit, he criticised, without the charity that is kind, the prof essors of
the grace, magnifying their imperfections, stigmatizing them as
fanatics, and "pluperfects* and judging them all by an occasional
glaring hypocrisy, or by the extravagances of some unbalanced mind.
Thus he ran into the shallow fallacy of those sinners who feast on the

8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
failings of the saints — ex uno disce omnes — who from one learn the
character of all.
Two years ago, in this State, a most earnest and con
servative evangelist asked all present who felt that they
had access to God in prayer to stand, Of a congrega
tion of some three hundred and fifty persons, mostly
Church members, only seven stood, three of whom were
preachers. The next night he asked those who had
the witness of the Spirit to indicate it by giving him
their hand. One of the seven held back. And these
members of different Churches would compare favor
ably with those of other towns. This may not have
been a fair test, yet we are sure that comparatively few
have the abiding witness of the Spirit. Do we con
clude, hence, that all these Church members are
hypocrites or unregenerate ? By no means. But we
would say of them, as Mr. Moody once said of others :
" Nine-tenths of them seem to be useless to the Church,
but when you talk with them, you find they have some
faith, and you cannot say they are not children of God
but they have not the power, they have not the liberty,
they have not the love that real disciples of Christ
should have." And we may add that they have not
the assurance, joy, peace, and strength that are the
birthright of every believer, and which come to every
soul that receives " the gift of the Holy Ghost.?'
And as the experience of such disciples is defective,
so also is their service, their lives. Two of the great
est sins of the Church to-day are covetousness and
worldliness. And we are sure that the cure for these
and other evils in the experience and practice of pro
fessed Christians is " the baptism with the Holy Ghost,"
bringing purity, peace, unselfish love, and power to

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 9
the doubting, worldly-minded, and spiritually weak
disciples of our Lord. With the hope of doing at least
something toward accomplishing these much-desired
results, we have written.
A word now as, to the way in which we have tried
to do this work : •
1 . We have had constantly in view two classes whom
we desire to reach — the leaders of thought, who are
more or less familiar with the literature of the subject,
and the masses who have not read much on this theme,
but who need to and would be glad to know more of it.
The carrying out this double purpose has made the book
much larger than was at first intended, which we regret.
2. We have not gone over the ground usually trav
ersed by Methodist writers on this subject half a cen
tury ago. Their chief contention was that entire sanc
tification may come in this life rather than exclusively
at death. The controversy to-day is chiefly as to
whether this work is accomplished at or subsequently
to regeneration, and whether, as a subjective purifica
tion, it is gradual or instantaneous in its development.
Hence the prominence we have given to the discussion
of Pentecost and its results, as well as to other scrip
tures that are believed to bear more or less directly on
the two points indicated above, found in Chapters VII.,
VIII., and IX.
3. We have made the testimony of experience un
usually prominent, because we believe its great eviden
tial and illustrative value has not been duly appreciated.
The chapters discussing the validity and value of this
testimony, and embodying records of the same, are
fuller than the demands of the argument made them, as
we wished to illustrate for the general reader the way

IO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of this great salvation, as well as to establish for the
more critical reader the chief proposition discussed in
our book.
4. We have tried to harmonize as far as possible the
apparently confiicting theories touching the nature of
this great blessing, and the time and conditions of its
development. We have tried to show that there is a
broad scriptural and conservative platform, on which
Christians of all parties and communions can consist
ently stand. To what extent we have succeeded in
this object the public must determine. We frankly
confess, however, that we are not sanguine about con
ciliating or convincing extremists on either side of this
question. Indeed, we have scant hope of such result.
5. As another has said substantially, it has not been
our purpose to bewilder the reader with pages of spec
ulation, but to keep as near as possible to the teaching
of Scripture, to our own experience, and to the testi
mony of others on whom the Holy Spirit has poured
his illumination. In our early ministry we became
greatly interested in this subject, and read the didactic
writings of Wesley, Fletcher, Clarke, Watson, Peck,
Foster, and others, and the more hortatory and devo
tional books of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer and others. Later
on, and especially since deciding to write this volume,
we have reviewed or read more or less thoroughly
some fifty or more volumes devoted to this theme, try
ing to get the best thought on every phase of this
many-sided subject. While we have been greatly aid
ed in our work by this reading, especially by the writ
ings of Dr. Steele, Bishop Foster, and Dr. Gordon, we
have tried not to blindly follow the leading of any one,
not even that of our illustrious founder. On the con-

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. II
trary, we have endeavored to test the soundness of
their teaching by the word of God, reason, and expe
rience. We rejoice at the general attention that is being
drawn to this and kindred truths. Christians of all
schools of thought seem more inclined to magnify the
work of the Holy Ghost, in his baptismal and anoint
ing power, which, as we think, we have shown is sub
stantially the same as the Pauline, Johannean, and Wes
leyan doctrine of entire sanctification, or perfect love.
We believe that God is in this movement, and that his
Church, in all her branches, is coming to see more clear
ly not only that Jesus Christ is his greatest gift to the
world, but that the Holy Spirit is his greatest gift to
the Church. It is our ambition, in some small meas
ure at least, to increase the momentum of this move
ment. May God's blessing give success to the effort !

CHAPTER II.
Some Definitions.
One grows dizzy and confused in going through the
long lists of definitions that are found in the literature
of this subject. Dr. Mudge calls those of many of the
leading men of Methodism, from Wesley and Fletcher
down, "a monumental muddle." And yet, in order to
a clear understanding of the subject to be discussed,
one must venture somewhat into this field. That we
may see clearly what man is saved from, the extent to
which he is saved, and the process by which the Holy
Spirit accomplishes this work, we must know the mean
ing of the terms used by the sacred writers and unin
spired men in speaking of this work. Especially must
we know the terms used in speaking of the fundamen
tal facts of sin and depravity, and the crowning facts of
full salvation.
The following is a short glossary given by the learn
ed Rev. Daniel Steele, D.D., in his valuable work, Love
Enthroned :
I. Holy. i. Set apart to the service of God; applies to per
sons and things. 2. Morally pure, free from all stain of sin.
(Persons.) 3. In the New Testament the original Greek word
is used technically to designate all justified believers, and is
translated " saints," or holy ones.
II. Holiness. The state of (1) consecration to God ; (2) Mor
al purity. III. Sanctify, i. To hallow, to consecrate to religious
uses. " I sanctify myself ." (Jesus.) 2. To make pure, to cleanse
from moral defilement. "The very God of peace sanctify you
wholly." (St. Paul.) 3. Sanctified. In the New Testament
used technically to designate the justified.
(12)

SOME DEFINITIONS. 1 3
IV. Sanctification. Holiness : the act of making holy.
V. The Moral Law. i. Unwritten : the sense of moral ob
ligation felt within. 2. Written: the Decalogue with its (i)
Prohibitions; (2) Precepts. Also the two tables, prescribing
(1) Duties to God; (2) Duties to man.
VI. Sin. 1. Actual, a willful transgression of the known
law of God. Sin of commission, disobedience to a prohibition.
Sin of omission, neglect of a precept. " Sin is the transgres
sion of the lew." (St. John.) Sin. 2. Original or inbred — often
without any adjective, and always in the singular number — a
state, not an act; native corruption of the moral nature de
rived from Adam's apostasy ; a lack of conformity to the moral
law. Under the remedial dispensation it involves no guilt till
approved by the free agent and its remedy is rejected. It is in
tensified by acts of sin of which it is the source. "All unright
eousness is sin." (St. John.) [We would add "sin that dwelleth
in me," and "the law of sin and death " — St. Paul.]
VII. Perfection. As applied to man. 1. Legal or Adamic.
Entire conformity to the moral law. " I have seen an end
of all perfection, (for) thy law is exceeding broad." (David.)
2. Celestial. The complete restoration of both soul and body
in the glorified state after the resurrection. "Not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect." (St. Paul.)
3. Ideal or absolute. The combination of all conceivable ex
cellences in the highest degree. Ascribed only to God, and
not to beings capable of endless progress. " I am perfect."
(God.) " If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse."
(Job.) 4. Evangelical or Christian. The loving God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as our
selves, with the complete exclusion of every feeling contrary to pure
love. " Love is the fulfilling of the law." (St. Paul.) "The bond
of perfectness," the sum total of the virtues. (St. Paul, trans
lated by Bengel.) "There is a twofold perfection, the perfec
tion of the work, and that of the workman." (Bishop Hopkins.)
The former is legal, the latter is evangelical, perfection, which
is nothing but inward sincerity, and uprightness of heart to
ward God, although there may be many imperfections and de
fects intermingled.
While we might not fully accept all these definitions,

14 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
they are believed to be in the main accurate. Dr.
Mudge, in his Growth in Holiness, excepts to one or
more of them, and suggests that we substitute the word
" depravity " for the term " original sin," insisting that
it is misleading to call this inherited weakness " sin " of
any sort. He says : " It is quite time that this misbe
gotten and utterly misleading term, together with its
partners, ' birth sin ' and ' inbred sin,' was dismissed to
the museum of theological curiosities, where alone at
present it belongs." While, with Bishop Granbery, in
our fear of Pelagianism, we may protest against the en
tire disuse of these terms, we are inclined to agree with
Dr. Mudge that the term " depravity " may be a better
one, and that it is " full time that sin be called sin and
depravity depravity." And yet St. Paul speaks of "sin
that dwelleth in us," from which expression comes our
term, " indwelling sin."
Notwithstanding the multitudinous definitions that
Dr. Mudge quotes for his " monumental muddle," he
thinks there are not enough of these yet. He says :
We do not understand why such numbers of theologians
fight so shy of defining depravity. In most cases they decline
attempting it, sometimes writing hundreds of pages on the
subject without once giving a clear and formal definition.
And even when appealed to to supply the omission, we have
known them to refuse or evade the request.
He quotes Bishop Peck as saying : " It is not nec
essary, nor is it possible to define this depravity in
words." But, notwithstanding the general dodging of
other authors and the alleged needlessness and impos
sibility of such definition, Dr. Mudge ventures to give
the following as his :
Depravity is that abnormal or disordered condition of hu
man nature whereby we are no longer in harmony with God or

SOME DEFINITIONS. IZ
with ourselves, as we were originally made, but have so strong
a leaning toward self-indulgence that we are easily brought
into disobedience to the divine commands. . . . It is the
bias or tendency to sin.
It is doubted if the Doctor's definition throws much
new light on this difficult subject. And it is believed
that its lack of clearness and fullness accounts for what
is believed to be the fundamental error on which the
leading theory of his book is based — the theory that
one cannot be saved from all depravity in this life, and
that depravity is an indispensable condition of " growth
in holiness toward perfection," the title of his book.
It is believed that his failure to discriminate between
physical and spiritual depravity, and to recognize the
fact that one may be saved from the latter in this life,
while the former may cling to him till the resurrection
morn, accounts in large measure for his non-Metho-
distic views on the question of sanctification.
By physical depravity is meant the impairment of
the substance of the mind or body, resulting from the
fall. This may be called the weakness or disease of
our nature from which proceed many errors of judg
ment and consequent blunders in the outer life, neither
of which, however, involves any tendency to sin — a
violation of the law of love ; while spiritual depravity
may be called the disease of our nature which involves a
bias toward evil — a bent toward selfishness and sinful
ness — the inclination to what is inconsistent with love
to God and man. The former is the condition from
which what have been called " sins of infirmity " pro
ceed, and will cling to us as long as we are in the
body. It is believed that the latter, called by St. Paul
"the law of sin," may be fully removed from the

l6 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
soul in the hour of entire sanctification. The former
may consist with entire freedom from wrong feelings
and the possession of perfect or unmixed love, while
the latter is inconsistent with both. Mr. Wesley and
his early followers always recognized the distinction
between these two kinds of depravity, calling the one
mental or physical infirmity, weakness, or disease, pos
sessing no moral quality, and the other " original sin,"
" sin that dwelleth in us," or " sin in believers." We
call it spiritual depravity, because it involves a lack of
conformity to, and inclines one to violate, the law of
love. It does not involve guilt " until approved by
the free agent, and its remedy is rejected."
The writer in the next chapter suggests a phase of
this subject that may possibly tend to harmonize some
apparently conflicting theories of sanctification. It is
sufficient for the present to say that such scriptures as
Genesis vi. 5, viii. 21 ; Proverbs vi. 14; Matthew xv.
19, 20; Jeremiah xvii. 9; Mark vii. 21 ; and Galatians
v. 19-21 clearly show the source from which sin pro
ceeds, and which needs cleansing from something, call
it " original sin," " inbred sin," " depravity," or what
not. There has of late been some dissent from the second
definition of the verb to sanctify, given above by Dr.
Steele, and generally held by the fathers of Methodism
and their followers, as well as by almost all other ortho
dox Christians, namely, " To make pure, to cleanse from
moral defilement." Such dissentients emphasize the
first definition as the chief, if not the only, scriptural one.
This is specially . noticeable in a recently published
Sermon on Sanctification, by the Rev. J. D. Bar-
bee, D.D., and A Friendly Talk on the Second -B 'less-

SOME DEFINITIONS. 17
*ngi by the Rev. J. H. Nichols, and in other recent
publications. The first of these writers, in his sermon,
quotes passages of Scripture to show that sanctification
means chiefly, if not solely, separation from the world
and consecration to God, and then says : " Sanctifica
tion is a state — the state of being separated from things
common and set apart peculiarly and exclusively to a
specified object." He says again : " Whenever it does
include that idea [that of cleansing or purification], it is
the secondary meaning of the term, and incidental to
the main fact." Once more : " Sanctification antedates
regeneration," and, as "an experience, is not possible to
any man." The other writer would have us believe
that it means solely to " separate and set apart " — sep
arate from sin and set apart to the service of God, es
pecially when applied to persons.
It is conceded on all hands that this is the first and
an indispensable part or condition of sanctification ; but,
with equal emphasis, it is denied that this is all or the
most important thing implied in this work, especially
as it relates to man. With others we have always
supposed that the work of cleansing or fitting the ob
ject or person for the service to which it or he is de
voted is at least of equal importance with that of sep
aration and consecration, and not "secondary" and
merely "incidental to the main fact" of consecration.
Also that the latter work is worthless without the for
mer. This is true of both ceremonial and spiritual
sanctification. Without quoting any passages from
the Old Testament, which generally refer to inanimate
things, we call special attention to one in Hebrews ix.
13, 14, and 18-23, where the apostle throws much light
on the Old and New Testament meanings of the word.
2

l8 SCRIPTURAL^ SANCTIFICATION.
Let the reader turn to and read the passage. It will
be noted here :
i. That the sanctification of both inanimate things
and living persons is referred to : " The tabernacle and
all the vessels of the ministry " and " all the people "
were sanctified.
2. That two or three things are implied in this sanc
tification : ( i ) The separation of " the tabernacle and
vessels of the ministry " from " unholy or common
uses," and their consecration to holy or religious pur
poses — the service of God; and, (2) their ceremonial
cleansing or purification, thus fitting them for that
service. "All the people " were thus first ceremonially
separated from idolatry and consecrated to God's serv
ice, and secondly, ceremonially cleansed from the stain
of idolatry, and thus fitted for that service.
3. That the real or spiritual sanctification of the be
liever is effected in the same way — implies the same
things. By the grace of God he ( 1 ) separates himself
from the world and sin, and devotes himself to the
service of God. Then (2) he is "purged," "cleansed,"
or "purified" by "the blood of Christ," and thus fitted
for that service.
4. That Paul here gives this second part or work of
sanctification more prominence than he does the first.
He uses the word " dedicated " but once, and the margin
translates that " purified " ; but the terms " purifying "
and " purified," " purge " and " purged," he uses four
different times. The Revised Version translates the
Greek terms with "clean," "cleansed," and "clean
ness." This is the prominent idea involved in or result
ing from this process of sanctification — the mind is fixed
on the resultant of the acts of separation and consecration.

SOME DEFINITIONS. 19
5. These " sprinklings " or " cleansings " are said to
be sanctifications : " Sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh," etc.
6. It was to prepare them for God's service : " How
much more shall the blood of Christ . . . purge
your consciences from dead works [fitting youl to
serve the living God."
The most casual observer will see here that much
greater prominence is given to, and stress laid on, the
second part of sanctification — the work of cleansing
and empowering that results from separation and con
secration — than there is to the latter work.
In this passage special reference is made to the aton
ing or cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ, as the
procuring cause of our sanctification. But the same les
son is taught in those passages that set forth the work
of the Holy Spirit, as the efficient cause of our sanctifi
cation. Paul to the Thessalonians says that God had
chosen them " to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth." Peter tells those to whom
he writes that they were "elect" — saved — "through
sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience" — enabling
them to obey. " The God of peace, himself, sanctify
you wholly," says Paul again. Here the work that God
does, instead of being regarded as "incidental to the
main fact," is made much more prominent than what
man does in separation and consecration, the former
fitting him for the service or " obedience " to which he
devotes himself in the latter : just as all admit that the
new birth is far more important than the acts which
condition it.
So in Romans xii. i, 2, where the work or process
of ceremonial sanctification under the old dispensation

20 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
is referred to and applied to us now, the three things in
this work are clearly set forth. ( i ) Man's separation
from, or his not being " conformed to, this world." (2)
His consecration to God's service and being thus made
"holy" or sacred unto him: "Present your bodies" —
yourselves — "a living sacrifice" — become "holy, ac
ceptable unto him." (3) Spiritual transformation that
fits one for doing God's will : " Be ye transformed by
the renewing of your minds, that ye may prove," or
know and do, God's "good and acceptable and perfect
will." The separation and consecration are made with
reference and in order to the much more important re
sulting work of transformation, renewal, cleansing, and
empowering that fit him for obedience to God's will —
the service to which he consecrates himself in sanctifi
cation. The consecration of the temple, type of the human
temple, was followed by the fire that consumed the of
fering made in connection with it, and by the temple's
being filled with the glory of the Lord. The burning
and the filling, the work of God, seem much more im
portant than the words of consecration used by Solo
mon or even the act of giving or consecrating it by the
people. The latter would have been worthless without
the former. These were doubtless symbols of the bap
tism of fire and the filling of the human temple with
the Holy Ghost at our complete consecration to God
and full faith in his Son, as at Pentecost and after
wards. Paul's wonderful prayer in Ephesians iii. 14-19 re
ferred to the sanctification of the individual or Church
as Solomon's did to that of the temple. One of the
figures used in that prayer is believed to have come

SOME DEFINITIONS. 21
from the temple, and the principal things referred to in
it are what God does for the individual through Christ
and the Holy Spirit. It is our being "strengthened
with might by the Spirit in the inner man," our " ex
periencing " the wonderful love of Christ through his
being enthroned and " dwelling " in our hearts, and our
being " filled with all the fullness of God." Our sepa
ration and consecration are assumed, and special atten
tion is called to these important results of those acts
and of faith, as the chief things in our sanctification —
something which follows, rather than "antedates, re
generation," and which may be " experienced " by the
" inner man."
We might cite the lesson of Pentecost, but as the full
significance and meaning of that wonderful manifesta
tion of sanctifying power is in dispute, we will defer
consideration of its lessons to another chapter.
It would be easy to show that the Fathers of Meth
odism and her leading authors — from Wesley, whom
Dr. Barbee calls " the greatest man who ever spoke
the English language," down to Dr. Summers, who,
Rev. D. V. Price says, is " the greatest theologian
of Southern Methodism " — all hold the view of sancti
fication presented above, in opposition to that of the
writers referred to. So does Dr. Mudge and all the
best writers on that side. Professor Joseph Agar Beet,
D.D., the well-known English Wesleyan author, edu
cator and divine, and a learned and most patient inves
tigator and specialist in philology, in his valuable work,
Holiness as Understood by the Writers of the Bible,
takes the same view. He says :
The prayers of Christ (John xvii. 17) and of St. Paul (1
Thess. v. 23) teach plainly that our sanctification is a work of

22 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
God. And these prayers refer not to the objective holiness
which claims us for God [separation and consecration], but
to the subjective holiness [the internal cleansing, love and em
powering] in which the claimed devotion is actually rendered.
For both prayers were offered on behalf of those who were al
ready objectively holy [separated and consecrated] And the
words of Hebrews xii. io, " that we may partake his holiness '"
Implies that our holiness is an outflow of God's holiness. . . •
His power working in us the devotion he requires. . . . God
cannot sanctify the unforgiven." [Italics ours.]
If Professor Beet's book had not been written first
we might almost suppose that it was designed to answer
the " sermon " to which we have referred, and in which
we are taught that we are sanctified before we are con
verted. And in the following passage, as well as in
those already quoted, he teaches that our holiness, or
sanctification — he uses the two terms interchangeably —
is chiefly internal, and is the work of God. He says :
" Our holiness is entirely God's work in us, a realiza
tion of his eternal purpose, and a satisfaction of a claim
that has its root in the nature of God. In this sense
we partake his holiness."
So we might say of the standard lexicographers of
all Churches. But, like some writers on baptism, these
critics seem to discard lexicons and standards, and turn
for light to the literature of the subject in the Bible.
They remind us of the mistake of some of our good but
extreme Baptist brethren, who admit that all the lexi
cographers are against them as to the meaning of the
Greek term baptizo. Dr. Alexander Carson, for exam
ple, whose work is the strongest we have ever read on
that side of the baptismal controversy, repudiated the
dictionaries, admitting that they were all against him,
and went to classic Greek literature for the meaning of

SOME DEFINITIONS. 23
that word. The result of his incursion into that field
is that he says baptizo means " dip, and nothing but
dip," having sole reference to mode.
Dr. Dale, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, whose
work on the other side is the ablest and most exhaust
ive we have ever read, followed Dr. Carson into that
field, but brought back a very different report in his
Classic Baptism. He says that baptizo never means
"dip," always referring to a condition resulting from
the process of baptism, administered by any mode, and
without any direct reference to the mode itself. Both
these distinguished authors may have swung to an ex
treme in their interpretation of baptizo, as found in
Greek literature. We are very sure that the former
did. Without wishing to discuss the subject of bap
tism, we respectfully suggest that, in his zeal for a fa
vorite theory, Dr. Carson let his mind rest almost ex
clusively on the supposed mode or act implied in bap
tism, to the partial if not utter exclusion of the more
important resulting condition — symbolical or real pu
rity and power that fit one for the service to which he is
consecrated in baptism.
So we think it is with these writers on sanctification.
In their zeal for a pet theory, and especially against
what they regard as a hurtful one, they have virtually
discarded lexicons and standards, and have professedly
gone to the literature of the Bible for their meaning of
hagiazo, the Greek term for sanctify. They seem to
have fixed their minds almost exclusively on the first
meaning of the word, " separate and consecrate," and
to have almost entirely overlooked or rejected what is
regarded by nearly all others as the most important
part of sanctification, the internal process in, and the

24 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
condition or life resulting from, this act of separation
and dedication, the purification of heart and the strength
ening of soul, that fit one for the service of God, to
which he is devoted in sanctification.
If these writers will turn to the Methodist baptismal
formula they will see that these three things are there
set forth as implied in baptism, which, as we may see
more fully later on, is almost or quite synonymous with
sanctification. Indeed, the author of Hebrews calls the
ceremonial sanctifications or cleansings and empower-
ings of the Levitical service " divers washings " —
Greek, baptismois, baptisms. According to that for
mula, after a child is ( I ) " dedicated " to God in baptism
we are taught to pray that he would ( 2 ) " wash and
sanctify him with the Holy Ghost," " that the old Adam
may be so buried that the new man may be raised up in
him," " that all carnal affections may die in him, and
that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow
in him," and (3) " that he may have power and strength
to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the
world, and the flesh," and that he "may receive the
fullness of thy grace, and ever remain in the number of
thy faithful and elect children."
Here we are taught that the child is by the parents
and the minister " dedicated " to God, the first part of
baptism or sanctification, but that God is then asked to
" wash and sanctify " him, to " bury the old Adam "
and cause the "carnal affections" that are in him to
" die," " all things belonging to the Spirit to live and
grow in him," and that he may so " have power and
strength " from the Spirit as to be enabled to secure
" victory, and to triumph over the devil, the world, and
the flesh," and to have such "fullness of grace" and

SOME DEFINITIONS. 25
the Spirit as to prove " faithful " in God's service — the
second part of baptism or sanctification.
Very much the same is found in the service for adult
baptism, the chief difference being that the adult takes
the vow of separation, consecration, and service for him
self. But the prayer after consecration refers to the
same things, all of which are God's work, done simul
taneously with or subsequently to the separation and
consecration implied in the vows we take, and is very
much more important than our work or part of bap
tism or sanctification, rather than being "incidental"
to it.
The same lesson is taught in our General Rules,
which we are to observe after baptism. There is ( I )
" Doing no harm," continued separation from the world
and sin ; (2) " Doing good," continued consecration to
the service of God, and (3) "Attending upon all the
ordinances of God," the future use of all the means of
grace through which we continue to be saved from sin,
and be empowered for God's service.
Dr. Summers says, " Sanctification without justifica
tion is a simple absurdity." It does not then " ante
date '' it, as the " sermon " quoted from teaches. He
teaches again that " our sanctification is effected by a
cleansing process," and is, hence, not merely or chiefly
'' separation and consecration."
It is believed then that, in the light of Scripture and
more modern usage, the term sanctify means much
more than separation from the world and sin and con
secration to God— that it implies such a cleansing from
defilement, and empowering of the Spirit, as fits us for
the service of God, to which we give ourselves in sanc
tification.

26 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Dr. Steele's third definition of " holy," or " sancti
fied,'' may be objected to by some of those who are
generally called " holiness people." It is the custom of
some of that class to apply these terms only to those
whom they regard as completely holy or entirely sanc
tified, overlooking, we respectfully suggest, the tech
nical and popular meaning of the terms as used in the
Scriptures. Candor requires us to say that we think
Dr. Steele is right, and that the terms seem quite gen
erally to be used in that sense in the Bible. They are
applied to those who are ceremonially, symbolically, or
spiritually separated from sin and consecrated to God,
and, in the same sense, may be partially or wholly fitted
for his service. In the Old Testament they are applied
to the priests and people who, through circumcision and
other things, became technically and ceremonially God's,
whether their hearts and lives were holy or not. In
the New Testament they seem applied to baptized and
professed believers or Church members without direct
reference to their spiritual state — to their being partial
ly or wholly saved from sin and empowered for serv
ice. Professor Beet says :
This is the use of the adjective holy in five out of every six
places in the New Testament in which it is spoken of Christian
believers. . . . We also notice that the writers of the New
Testament call believers saints without thought of the degree
of their Christian life or the worthiness of their conduct.
He adds that this use of these terms " declares what
God requires them to be," and also " points out their
privilege." It will be noticed, too, that Dr. Steele uses the terms
" sanctification " and " holiness " as synonyms, and de-

SOME DEFINITIONS. 27
fines them as "the act of making holy." Professor
Beet says :
In both Testaments the words holy [one], hallow, holiness
correspond exactly to saint, sanctify, sanctification. These
words may be transposed without error. A saint is a holy per
son; holiness is the state resulting from the act of sanctifica
tion. That we have two families of words for one idea re
sults from the fact that our language is a Latin superstructure
built upon a German foundation. From each of these lan
guages we derive words conveying the one idea of holiness.
Purify and cleanse, purity and cleanness, do not seem
to be the exact synonyms of sanctify and hallow, sanc
tification and holiness. The latter terms embrace the
idea of consecration, both before and after the act or
process of purifying or cleansing takes place, while the
former seem to result from such act. Purification seems
synonymous with the second part or meaning of holi
ness or sanctification — the act or process by which we
are cleansed, and the resulting condition. Purity may
be considered the equivalent of negative holiness, free
dom from all sin and spiritual depravity ; but positive
holiness is a very active principle, an aggressive life,
which proceeds from purity or negative holiness and
the empowering of the soul with love, as a stream from
its fountain.
Sinfulness, " sinwardness," sin, as a state of deprav
ity, constitutes man's spiritual disease. Consecration,
the first part of sanctification or holiness, is the act
of putting oneself into the hands of the great Physi
cian ; the cleansing or healing of the soul, bringing it
into a state of purity, negative holiness, or spiritual
health, is the second or subjective part or work of sanc
tification or holiness, while positive holiness — a life of

28 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
active obedience — is what proceeds from this state of
purity and health. During the cleansing and healing
process, or at its close, the great Physician takes full
possession of the patient — "that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith " — and keeps him clean and healthy
just so long as the first part of sanctification or holiness
remains intact, so long as he is fully separated from the
world and consecrated to God, so long as he thus keeps
himself in the hands of this great Physician. And,
through the power of the Spirit, he so tones up and
empowers this now healthy soul that it is enabled to
triumph over all sin and temptation, to keep clean and
practice holiness, is " strengthened with might by his
Spirit in the inner man," and " filled with all the fullness
of God."
The term "perfect," or "perfection," as used by us
is, in the sense of Dr. Steele's fourth definition, "evan
gelical " or " Christian " perfection ; and that only in
the sense of "perfect love," perfect freedom, in the
heart and life, from all the feelings, tempers, words, and
deeds that are contrary to or inconsistent with love to
God and man. We do not use it, except qualifiedly,
even in the sense of maturity or ripeness of character.
We use it only in the sense of perfection of quality or
healthiness of nature, and not of degree, quantity, or de
velopment of life — pure, unmixed love, not mature or
ripe love.
For fuller and more critical definitions of the terms
used in the Bible in speaking of this work, the reader
is referred to Summers's Holiness, Lowrey's Possi
bilities of Grace, and Beet's Holiness as Understood by
the Writers of the Bible.

CHAPTER III.
Difference Between Regeneration and
Sanctification — Sin and Salvation.
If there is any real and well-defined difference be
tween regeneration and sanctification, the fact ought, if
possible, to be clearly shown. Here and from now on
we use the term sanctification in the sense of "entire
sanctification." We confess to some degree of hesitancy
and trepidation in entering this field, on which so many
and such fierce wars of words have been waged ; yet,
invoking divine guidance, we humbly venture to make
some suggestions.
The two fundamental facts of human life and expe
rience are sin and salvation : sin as an act or series of
acts of the creature, bringing on him guilt and produ
cing a morbid condition of his nature which we call de
pravity or death ; salvation as an act or series of acts
on the part of the Creator, removing this guilt, heal
ing this spiritual disease, and bringing to the creature
a condition of innocence and health which we call right
eousness or life.
The first sin of Adam brought on himself this con
dition of guilt and condemnation, together with this
morbid state of depravity or death. This depravity
evidently involved great moral corruption and weak
ness, if not utter impurity and impotency — total inabil
ity to love and obey God, complete spiritual pollution
and prostration.
The proximate cause of this weakness was doubtless
(29)

30 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from man's complex
nature. This fact and its result were expressed by the
old divines as the depravation of man's nature result
ing from his dejWvation of the Spirit's presence and
grace. The Holy Ghost was to man the source of his
life and purity and strength — of his disposition and
ability to love and obey God. With his presence
Adam had full power to do God's will ; with his de
parture came most pitiable and abject weakness, involv
ing the complete loss of this power, followed by spirit
ual impurity.
It is insisted that Adam entailed this morbid spirit
ual condition upon all his offspring, so that, apart from
the remedial influences of grace which through the
atonement meet us on our coming into the world, we
are now naturally very much in the condition of
Adam after the fall, except the guilt and condemnation
brought on him by his actual sin. In due time, as a
rule, if not universally, this depravity finds expression
in actual sin, which in turn greatly aggravates and in
tensifies this morbid condition. Viewing man in this
state, God says of him during the patriarchal age,
" Every imagination of the thought of his heart is only
evil continually." Later on the prophet affirms sub
stantially the same thing when he declares that his
" heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked " ; while Jesus and the great apostle draw the
same picture of his natural state in New Testament
times. They tell us that "that which is born of the
flesh is flesh," and that in this " flesh there dwelleth no
good thing." They compare unrenewed human na
ture to a " cage of unclean birds," and represent it as
a fountain of evil sending forth such a corrupt stream

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 3 1
as is described in Matthew xv. 19 and Galatians v.
19-21. The darkest and most pitiable picture of man's con
dition, drawn by the apostle, is the one of utter hope
lessness and helplessness, which we see in the words
representing him as being " without God, having no
hope in the world," and as, consequently, " without
strength," being indeed " dead in trespasses and sins."
This is substantially the same picture that we have of
Adam after the fall, resulting from the withdrawal of
the Holy Spirit from his heart after his sin, leaving
him " without God," hopeless and helpless.
Now comes the important inquiry as to how God
saves man from this condition of guilt, helplessness,
and death. And a scriptural answer to this question
may tend to show us more or less clearly what depravity
is, and the difference between regeneration and sanctifi
cation, as well as the relation they sustain to each other.
It need hardly be said that through the atonement
the legal or governmental obstacles in the way of man's
forgiveness and the return of the Spirit into his heart
are removed. Hence, as he comes into the world, or
as soon as his mental nature is sufficiently developed
for him to cooperate with the Spirit, the latter comes
to him and imparts what is called " preventive grace "
or " initial life," involving or imparting sufficient
strength to enable him to repent and believe on Christ.
If man improves this degree of life and strength by
repenting and believing, he is then forgiven — cleansed
from guilt — in justification. At the same time, in re
generation, he receives a much larger gift of the Spirit
of life and strength, proportioned to the intelligence,
breadth, and strength of his faith; enough in every

32 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
case, however, it may be, to enable him, with greater
or less effort, to resist temptation and avoid actual or
volitional sin. This impartation of life, grace, and
strength does not seem, however, as a rule, if ever,
sufficient to thoroughly cleanse this fountain of evil,
completely heal this spiritual disease, or fully renew
and empower this corrupt and enervated nature. In
rare and exceptional cases, when the human conditions
are approximately perfect, this thorough work may be
wrought in regeneration.
But usually it is sanctification that completes this
work of cleansing, healing, and empowering through
the richer baptism and the perfect in-filling of the Par
aclete, at the believer's Pentecost. This is not the
work of maturing the life imparted in regeneration,
which is quite another thing, requiring time and im
plying growth. It seems to be rather an instantaneous
healing, cleansing, and strengthening of the soul to
which life was imparted prior to and at regeneration.
As such it may, as a baptism, come as soon after re
generation as the latter does after the awakening or
quickening of initial life. Growth may and ordinarily,
if not invariably, does precede this purifying, health-
giving, and invigorating baptism, as it did regeneration ;
but this growth is much more healthy, symmetrical,
and rapid afterwards.
In this view of the matter, the most striking pecul
iarities of the depraved, diseased, or unsaved man are
his utter weakness and helplessness, and consequent im
purity, set forth in the descriptive words of Scripture,
"witherat strength," "dead," "unclean," etc. And
the leading peculiarity of the thoroughly healed, com
pletely renewed, and fully saved man is his possession

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 33
of full spiritual life, health, and strength, indicated in
such words of the great apostle as the following:
" Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man"; "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might"; "filled with all the fullness of God"; "the
exceeding greatness of his power to usward who be
lieve " ; "a glorious Church, not having spot or wrin
kle or any such thing"; "sanctified wholly," "pre
served blameless," etc. As weakness, impurity, and sin
resulted from the loss of the Spirit, so purity, strength,
and love are involved in the restoration of that Spirit
to the soul, and in proportion to the extent or fullness
of his restoration.
In this view of the matter, the most striking peculiar
ity or attribute of depravity is spiritual weakness and
death, from which result corruption and sin. We see
also that the chief difference between regeneration and
sanctification lies in the measure of the Spirit of life,
health, strength, and purity that comes into the believer's
nature or life when these works are wrought. May
we not say that, in its last analysis, it is in the measure of
strength, or of himself, that the Spirit imparts to him
¦ — a strength that involves or secures the healing and
cleansing of the soul from the disease and impurity of
depravity, and the keeping of it healthy and clean?
In regeneration, the gift of this Spirit of life and health
and strength seems to be only partial ; in sanctifica
tion, it seems to be full. After regeneration, one real
izes his possession, in some measure, of the Spirit of
life and love, of purity and power ; but there is also a
feeling of spiritual weakness, and of incompleteness in
the work wrought in the soul. In sanctification, there is
a consciousness of strength and of completeness in the
3

34 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
work accomplished within by the Spirit of life and
power : " Ye are complete in him." The feeling of
emptiness and dissatisfaction — "the aching void with
in " — with more or less of doubt and fear and unrest,
is displaced by one of fullness and satisfaction, of as
surance and rest — of absolute freedom from the feel
ing of condemnation, fear, and doubt, together with the
possession, if not the consciousness, of "power" to
keep clean — a power that frees us from the weakness,
disease, and feeling of evil tempers — spiritual deprav
ity — from everything in the heart that is contrary to love.
And we think this view of the matter is in harmony
with the general teaching of the Scriptures as to hu
man weakness and divine strength.
I. This is seen in Paul's assurance that man's realiza
tion of his weakness — subjective faith — is a condition of
God's impartation to him of his grace and strength :
" When I am weak, then am I strong " ; " My strength
is made perfect in weakness " ; "I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me," etc. Here the apostle gives the recognition of his
weakness as the condition of his triumph, through di
vine strength, over self and suffering and sin.
2. He teaches elsewhere that divine strength will
enable him to do as well as suffer all that is required of
him. His Lord had said, " Without me ye can do
nothing," but he triumphantly declares, " I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
3. In his epistles to regenerate men he over and over
again, especially in his prayers, refers to their need
of divine strength, and prays that they might be
" strengthened," " confirmed," " established," and " set
tled " in the way of obedience and righteousness. He

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 35
regarded them as "babes " in knowledge and strength,
who needed " Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God," to take possession of them — enthrone himself
in their hearts — and become their wisdom and strength.
To quote all such passages from Paul would be to tran
scribe a large proportion of his epistles, especially to
the Ephesians and Colossians.
4. St. John teaches the same lesson when he calls
young converts " little children," older Christians
" young men," and maturer ones " fathers." The dis
tinguishing characteristic of the " young men " was
that they were " strong " and, in that strength, had
" overcome the wicked one." That of the " little chil
dren " was that they had had their " sins forgiven "
them — were converted — but had not been made
" strong," and had not, in the same sense, " overcome
the wicked one." They were weak and unestablished,
and were more liable to yield to the power of Satan.
That of the " fathers " was that they had " known him
that is from the beginning " — had, after being baptized
or strengthened by the Spirit, grown richer in the
knowledge of Christ and his salvation.
5. That had been the teaching of their Lord before
they wrote their epistles. His regenerate disciples
were to "tarry at Jerusalem," to be "indued with
power" or strength "from on high," by having the
whole Godhead take full possession of them. It was
not until they had been thus filled with the Spirit —
the Trinity — that they were completely saved from
moral weakness, spiritual depravity, and that perfect
harmony was restored to man's disordered nature, and
he was brought into full communion and fellowship
with his offended God. It is the work of sanctification

36 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
to secure this complete restoration — to bring the Holy
Spirit, the Godhead, back to man's enervated and
polluted nature, securing purity and the " power " to
keep pure. It is when God, especially in the person
of the Spirit, takes the place in man's nature that he
occupied before the fall that this complete work is
done. The following passage from Professor Beet is in
harmony with this view. He says :
The Spirit of Christ is the agent of the spiritual contact with
Christ which imparts to us his presence and reproduces in us his
life. As we have seen, every impulse of the Spirit is toward
God, and he is given to us that he may fill our hearts, become
soul of our soul, and lead out toward God our thoughts, purposes,
words, and actions. And he is the bearer of the power as well as
the holiness of Christ. By his omnipotence the Spirit of God rolls
back and completely neutralizes the evil forces within us, so that
they no longer defile us, and in spite of them bears upward our en
tire being in absolute devotion to God.
Hence we half agree with Dr. Mudge in the follow
ing : " Instead of ' cleansing,' then, we would suggest
that of ' empowering ' as a much better term to use, and
one less liable to mislead, for the effect of God's incom
ing to the heart of man." For the " empowering " of the
soul by the Spirit, as at Pentecost, involves its "cleans
ing " from the defilement resulting from past weak
ness, and such a daily infusion of " strength" as enables
it to keep clean. '
As more or less clearly showing the difference be
tween regeneration and sanctification, we give the fol
lowing illustration, the use of which, we think, is justi
fied by our Lord's teaching in the parable of the sower :
As a plat of ground, the heart is overgrown with the
thorns and briers of sin. In justification this growth is

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 37
removed, leaving the roots of these thorns and briers
in the soil. In regeneration good seed is sown in the
heart from which immediately springs the plant of faith,
bearing the fruit of love, joy, and peace. At the same
time, or very soon thereafter, " shoots " from these
thorn and brier roots spring up, and tend to " choke "
the plant of faith. In sanctification these roots — " the
remains of the carnal mind " — are removed and nothing
is left in the heart that is different from, or antagonis
tic to, this plant of faith and its fruit of love, etc. At
the same time, and in the same process, this plant of
faith may be greatly invigorated and the conditions of
its growth greatly improved, so that the future devel
opment of that plant and its fruit is much more healthy,
symmetrical, and rapid.

CHAPTER IV.
The Three Dispensations and Corresponding
Types of Piety.1
The manifestations of God to our race are believed
to have been made under three different dispensa
tions. He is believed to have dispensed knowledge
and grace to man in three different degrees of fullness.
These dispensations have by some been called the Pa
triarchal, Prophetic, and Gospel dispensations ; by oth
ers — and we think more properly — the dispensations
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Dr.
Pope, the distinguished Wesleyan divine, prefers call
ing them the " Manifestations " of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Some think the first of these dis
pensations extends from the fall to the giving of the
law, the second from the latter period to Pentecost,
and the third from Pentecost to the close of man's pro
bation. Others extend the first dispensation to the
commencement of John's ministry — his manifestation
of Christ to the world — making the dispensation of the
Son short and transitional, while others still restrict
that of the Son to the period between our Lord's res
urrection and Pentecost.
While all three persons of the Godhead have from the
first been interested in and working for our race, it is
insisted that each of these persons has been most
!The leading idea of this and the next chapter was present
ed in a sermon preached at the Virginia Conference in 1893
and elsewhere. (38)

dispensations and types of piety. 39
prominently set forth under the dispensation called by
his name. Under the first, the Father is made con
spicuous as the Lawgiver ; under the second, the Son
as the Mediator ; under the third, the Spirit as the Re-
newer and Sanctifier of the race. The chief mark of
difference between these dispensations seems to be the
extent to which God has revealed himself, both objec
tively and subjectively — through his word and through
his Spirit. The starlight of this external and internal
revelation in the first dispensation gradually brightened
into the moonlight of the second, while the latter is
eclipsed by the glorious sunlight of the third. Or, to
put it a little differently, the early or gray dawn of the
dispensation of the Father gradually brightens into the
later or roseate dawn of that of the Son, while the glo
rious rising of the " Sun of righteousness " at Pente
cost ushers in the bright day of the Spirit's power and
work. It is believed, too, that there have been and still are
three different types of piety corresponding to these
three dispensations.
i. It is thought that the leading characteristic of the
type under the first dispensation is the fact that men
served God chiefly, if not solely, from the motive of
fear. The sterner side of the divine nature — the side
of law — being presented to and made prominent before
the mind, the feeling of fear, that moved men to obe
dience, was developed. Frequently, if not generally, in
the Old Testament man's service of God is spoken of
as one of fear. Such passages as these are of com
mon occurrence : " O fear the Lord, ye his saints " ;
" The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear him " ; " Come, all ye that fear God," etc.

40 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
And Solomon, in summing up man's duty, says : " Fear
God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man."
Job was one of the finest characters developed un
der that dispensation. He was not only distinguished
for rare patience, but for superior integrity and benev
olence of character. But what does God say of his
piety and life ? Of Satan he twice asks : " Hast thou
considered my servant Job, that there is none like him
in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that f ear-
eth God and escheweth evil ? " Now, although Job is
here declared to be the highest type of piety at that
time in the earth, his perfection of experience and life
is said to consist chiefly, if not solely, in fearing God
and eschewing evil — in avoiding wrong and doing
right, prompted by the motive of fear. It is admitted
that Job may have had some measure of peace, if not
of love and joy, in his service of God, as his mind,
under the influence of the Spirit, may have appropri
ated the ancient promise that the seed of the woman
should bruise the serpent's head, and the later and
fuller one made to Abraham. But it is certain that
fear was the dominant feeling, as the reign of law was
the dominant doctrine of that dispensation.
Cornelius was another fine character developed un
der that dispensation in the days of our Lord and after
his ascension. For, as we may see more fully latei
on, the dispensation under which one lives does not de
pend solely or chiefly on the age of the world in which
his lot is cast, but rather on the measure of light and
grace which he receives. It seems that before Corne
lius knew anything very definite about ousf Lord's mis
sion and work, he " feared God and worked righteous-

DISPENSATIONS AND TYPES OF PIETY. 41
ness." His prayers and alms, prompted by that fear,
went up as a memorial before God, and he was accept
ed with him. Luke calls him " a devout man, and
one that feared God with all his house, which gave
much alms to the people, and prayed to God always."
We see that the type of experience and piety of this
devout Gentile — this intelligent and conscientious hea
then — was very much like that of Job, who flourished
a millennium and a half earlier in the history of our
race. He feared God and served him and his genera
tion under the influence of that motive.
It was in connection with the case of Cornelius and
his associates that Peter states the general fact that
" God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation
he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is ac
cepted with him." This declaration is believed to be
applicable to all the nations of the earth to-day — Jew
ish, Mohammedan, and Pagan, as well as Christian :
that every man of these nations, who fears God and
to the best of his ability, with the light and grace he
has, works righteousness, is accepted with him. The
man who gets the best creed in his reach and lives up
to it the best he can is accepted with God. Richard
Watson, the profound Wesleyan divine, insists that the
• heathen of the present age are living under the patri
archal dispensation. It is believed that the light
streaming down through the channel of tradition,
through the works of nature, and from the " true
Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world," not only makes them responsible, but also
brings to them a possibility of salvation.
In his note on this declaration of Peter, Mr. Wesley
says : " He ' is accepted with him ' through Christ,

42 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
though he knows him not. The assertion is express,
and admits of no exception. He is in the favor of
God whether enjoying his written word and ordi
nances or not." This teaching of Peter and the above-
quoted comments harmonize with the lesson of Paul in
Romans i. 18-20 and ii. 11-16. Here we are taught
that the heathen have sufficient knowledge of God, re
vealed through " the things that are made " and " the
work of the law written in their hearts," to make
them " without excuse " if they disregard that law, and
to enable them to stand " justified " at last through obe
dience to that law.
This view is sustained by the general teaching of
the Bible as to God's design in and method of revelation
to our race under all dispensations. That method is to
make a revelation of both law and gospel, of both
justice and grace ; and that design, in every such
revelation, is not to " condemn " but to " save " men.
In his first revelation after the fall, the gospel assurance
that " it shall bruise thy head " came before the state
ment of the law of toil and suffering under which man
should in the future live. So, later on, in unfolding to
Abraham and Jacob this primal promise, God preached
the gospel to them before the formal law was given
through Moses ; and after that law was enacted, a
still fuller revelation of the gospel of atonement and
grace was made in the Levitical services that pointed to
Christ. And all along through the prophetic ages the
stream of gospel light flowed on pari passu with that of
law, until at Pentecost they became coincident and con
fluent in man's experience and life, the great law and
gospel of love being written upon the fleshly tables of
his heart through the full gift of the Holy Ghost.

DISPENSATIONS AND TYPES OF PIETY. 43
On no other theory can we defend the divine admin
istration in heathen lands. If the light which God
gives them through tradition, nature, and the Spirit
contains no gospel — proves only a condition of respon
sibility and guilt, and not one of salvation — then it is
an unmitigated curse rather than a gracious blessing.
It is designed and adapted to insnare their feet and
drag them to death, rather than to direct their footsteps
and help them to life.
And the writings of the heathen, as well as intelligent
observation among them, tend to confirm this view. A
learned critic in his note on Romans ii. 15 well says :
All the writings of the ancient pagans show, most decisive
ly, that, notwithstanding the great prevalence of practical in
iquity, there was a clear and universal understanding among
them of the great distinctions between right and wrong. The
vices and crimes enumerated by the apostle, though every
where practiced, were still everywhere understood to be vices
and crimes. As such, they were denounced by the philoso
phers, satirized by the poets, and forbidden by the laws; and
thus there is abundant evidence that when the people com
mitted such iniquity themselves, or encouraged it in others,
they did or encouraged what they distinctly and certainly knew
to be wrong.
And this knowledge between right and wrong is de
signed to save rather than to damn them. It is de
signed and adapted to have them, in a less degree, it
may be, than did Job and Cornelius, "fear God and
work righteousness " up to the measure of light and
grace — the word and Spirit — imparted to them, and
thus find acceptance with him. This is the type of
piety under the dispensation of the Father in all ages
and in all parts of the world.1
1 Let no one conclude that, because the heathen have a pos
sibility of salvation without the written or preached gospel,

44 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
2. It is believed that the leading characteristic of the
piety and religious experience under the dispensation
of the Son was and is, that to the fear and obedience
developed under that of the Father is added a greater
or smaller measure of peace — peace that tones down,
modifies, and relieves that fear — peace that may be
often mixed with that fear, as well as with some meas
ure of love and joy. The most prominent doctrine of
that dispensation was the mediation of Jesus Christ, in
which the gentler and more merciful side of the divine
character was presented. It was the doctrine of a Re
deemer set forth in type, animal sacrifice, and prophecy,
as the Reconciler, in which the placability of God was
exhibited. This doctrine was specially emphasized in
therefore it is not so important to send the latter to them.
God thought it so important that Cornelius, an enlightened
and accepted heathen, should have a fuller gospel that he sent
an angel to tell him where to find a preacher to bring it to him.
And he brought special influences to bear upon Peter to have
him go as a missionary to Cornelius and his friends. And
Paul so felt the importance of this matter, and so well under
stood the purport of his Lord's commission, that he went to
the most intelligent and cultured heathen of his day, notably
to Athens, to convert the already existing possibility of their
salvation into a probability or approximate certainty. And we
spend much more money at home to accomplish the same
object for our people than we give to foreign missions. For,
what we contribute to Sunday schools, the support of the min
istry, the building of churches, etc., at home is to make the
salvation, that is already possible to them, probable or certain.
The heathen in their condition need this work much more
than they. And then there is God's imperative command,
from which there is no appeal, and which Paul understood to
require that he carry this light to those who already had
enough knowledge to make them " without excuse " if they
fail to improve it.

DISPENSATIONS AND TYPES OF PIETY. 45
his life and death, as the Peacemaker. Hence, proba
bly, peace was the chief fruit of faith and the special pe
culiarity of man's experience under that dispensation.
Did our Lord refer to this fact when he said to his
sorrowing disciples, " Let not your heart be troubled ;
ye believe in God, believe also in me"? "Ye believe
in God " as the Ruler and Lawgiver ; believe in me as
the Redeemer and Peacegiver. This is believed to
have been the experience of his apostles and other dis
ciples not long before Pentecost. To the extent that
they uriderstood and believed the prophecies relating to
his coming and work, the declaration of John that he
was the " Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world," and his own teaching as to his mission —
to that extent their fear may have been changed into a
peace accompanied with some measure of love and joy.
After his resurrection, when he breathed on them and
said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," they probably re
ceived the witness of the Spirit and more of his fruit
of love, peace, and joy.
But, as it is difficult to draw the exact line between
the dispensations of the Father and the Son, so is it
with the types of piety peculiar to those dispensations.
As there was a gradual unfolding through the ages of
God's purpose in redemption, culminating at Pentecost,
so there most probably was of the faith and experience
corresponding thereto. The light and experience of
these dispensations may have almost imperceptibly
shaded into each other as do the colors of the rainbow,
or as the gradual brightening of the early dawn into
that which immediately precedes the sun's rising.
The New Testament record of the apostles' lives
shows very clearly that their faith was weak and un-

46 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
steady, that their experience of peace was mixed with
much of doubt and fear, that unholy ambition, a world
ly and self-seeking spirit cropped out in their lives.
This was the type of piety under the second and transi
tional dispensation.
3. But the light and experience peculiar to the dis
pensation of the Spirit is much more marked, and is
easily distinguished from that of former dispensations.
The slavish fear of the first departs, or is changed into
a filial fear or loving respect and reverence for the Fa
ther. The peace of the second is relieved of all dis
quiet, becoming deeper and more abiding. Love and
joy, more or less glowing, become the constant heri
tage of the believer. He has the abiding witness of the
Spirit, and realizes perfect deliverance from condemna
tion and doubt. He is enabled to "glory in tribula
tions," and, with Paul, to sing " sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing." To adopt other words of the great apostle,
he "rejoices evermore, prays without ceasing, and in
everything gives thanks." For Scripture proof that
this is the believer's privilege under the dispensation of
the Spirit turn to Romans v. 1-5; viii. 1-4, 15, 16; 1
Thessalonians v. 16-18; and similar passages.
Let it be remembered that the three several types of
piety noted here indicate what was and is attainable
under the three dispensations, and what was and is
reached by the most faithful men living under them,
such as Job, Cornelius, John, and Paul. It is doubted
if the great mass of believers did then, or do now, reach
the high standard set up, especially that which is at
tainable under this dispensation.
There are two important reasons for this marked
change in the type of piety at Pentecost.

DISPENSATIONS AND TYPES OF PIETY. 47
1. The practically completed work of Christ on
earth, at least, as our Prophet and Priest, and his en
tering more fully upon his work as our King. Under
former dispensations, up to the commencement of our
Lord's ministry, God revealed himself chiefly, if not
solely, through the ministry of angels and men. And
this revelation was not so full, explicit, and clear as
that made by Jesus Christ. See John i. 17, 18; xv.
15; Hebrews i. 1, 2; ii. 1-4; and other passages.
Especially did his revelation of the love of God, made
in his ministry, his miracles of mercy, and particularly
in his death, draw men in confidence and love to the
Father, whom they had previously regarded and served
chiefly as their Lawgiver. By his unfolding of the
doctrine and work of the Spirit, and the promises of
his coming in the fullness and richness of his grace and
blessing, especially in John xiv.— xvi., he prepared them
for the baptismal and uplifting power of Pentecost.
Besides this fuller revelation, as before intimated, by
his atoning work he had removed the obstacles out of
the way of a fuller and closer communion between
man and God — the return of the Spirit to his heart.
The sacrifice that would "make the conscience per
fect " and bring his promised heritage of peace and joy
had been made. But this was not enough. " The
promise of the Father" must be fulfilled before man's
salvation would be full and complete.
2. That promise was redeemed in the abundant gift
of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. That the Spirit was
given in much larger measure at that time than he had
ever been given before is very plainly taught in both
the Old and the New Testament Scriptures. In the
prophecies of Ezekiel and Joel is found this " promise

4.8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of the Father " to which our Lord refers. See Ezeki
el xxxvi. 25-27 ; Joel ii. 28, 29. These prophecies are
thought to point to Pentecost. Indeed, Peter quotes
the one from Joel and applies it to that eventful occa
sion. Certain prophecies of John the Baptist and Jesus
point directly to a fuller and richer gift of the Spirit
and his glorious baptism at the opening of the new
dispensation. And in his wonderful farewell discourse,
found in John xiv.-xvi., our Lord plainly and repeated
ly promises his coming and glorious work in and for
the disciples. There is a very remarkable passage in
John vii. 37-39 which throws a flood of light on this
subject. The reader will note that in these prophecies
and promises the gift of the Spirit under this dispensa
tion is represented as being so abundant and full as to
eclipse all his former manifestations. In them God
seems almost absolutely to ignore all his previous op
erations in the minds and lives of men. Through
Ezekiel he says, " I will put my Spirit within them,"
as though he had never, in any measure, possessed
man before. Through Joel he says, " I will pour out
my Spirit upon all flesh," as though all flesh had not
before Pentecost been to any extent the subjects of his
enlightening and helping grace.
Jesus promises that he would send the "Comforter"
into the world to do a more glorious and helpful work
for them than he had ever done before for even his
nearest disciples. And especially does he teach in the
last passage referred to that after his glorification the
Holy Spirit would do a work in them and through
them that would far transcend in power and glory any
thing that he had wrought under any former dispensa-

DISPENSATIONS AND TYPES OF PIETY. 49
tion ; and he teaches that this wonderful work should
accompany the " gift of the Holy Ghost," which was
soon to follow his ascension and glorification. Indeed,
this bestowment of the Spirit at Pentecost was so far
to transcend any former like gift of the Father that
our Lord calls it '¦'¦the promise of the Father," as
though he had given no other promise to his people.
And John would so emphasize this abundant outpour
ing of the Spirit that he says, "for the Holy Ghost
was not yet given " previous to that time. He thus, in
the language of hyperbole, so magnifies this richer gift
of the Spirit at Pentecost as seemingly to deny that he
had ever, in any measure, been given before. And
yet, as all admit, he had, to some extent and in some
sense, been in the world all along, as " the true Light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
And the fulfillment of these prophecies and redemp
tion of these promises, a record of which is found in
the second chapter of Acts, abundantly show that
a much larger measure of the Spirit was given at
Pentecost than had been vouchsafed to men before.
According to this record, his coming seems to have
been preceded by a fuller consecration and a wonderful
and unusual concert of earnest prayer and expectant
faith on the part of the one hundred and twenty disci
ples. It was heralded by a "sound as of a mighty
rushing wind." It was accompanied by the " tongues
of fire" that sat on their heads, and the miraculous
gift of tongues that was bestowed upon them. It
implied the disciples being so filled with the Holy
Ghost — his taking such full possession of them — as they
had never realized before. It brought a purer, bright
er, and stronger type of piety, and developed a richer,
4

50 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
deeper, fuller, and more thrilling experience of salva
tion through his grace. His coming and abiding with
them involved also the induement of power and the
anointing with wisdom for more courageous and effi
cient service. In a word, by this wonderful gift of the
Spirit the apostles and other disciples were lifted from
the dispensation of the Son into that of the Holy Ghost.
They were richly endowed with all the fruit or graces
of that Spirit, saving them from fear and doubt and
self, and all else that lifts itself against God and men,
and opening up to them a new and brighter career of
usefulness and happiness. This is the type of piety
open to believers under the dispensation of the Spirit,
because of the gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed upon
the Church in his baptismal power at Pentecost

CHAPTER V.
Three Types of Piety Exist Under the
Present Dispensation.
i. Because of different degrees of light and grace
they existed in different parts of the world in the apos
tolic age, and do to-day. The same material sun, during
the same year, develops the dwarfed and almost fruitless
plant of the frigid zone, the larger, more comely, and
more fruitful one of the temperate zone, and the tow
ering, mammoth, and still more fruitful one of the tor
rid zone. So with the plant of faith and the fruit of
righteousness, growing thereon, under the influence of
the "Sun of righteousness" in different parts of the
world then and now. Under the slanting rays of that
Sun, in the dark parts of the earth, the dwarfed plant
of faith, that bears the fruit of fear and obedience up
to creed, is developed to-day. Under his directer rays,
in more enlightened lands, the larger plant of faith
that bears, to some extent, the sweeter fruit of love
and peace and joy, is developed. And under the per
fectly direct and fructifying rays of that Sun, where a
full gospel is preached, the still more vigorous and fruit
ful plant of faith, on which the rich fruit of love and
peace and joy grows to perfection, is developed. Be
cause of the unequal distribution of knowledge and
grace, these three spiritual zones, like their natural an
alogues, may exist and produce this variety of plant
and fruit in our day ; and for the same reasons they
are believed to have existed after Pentecost in different
parts of the earth during the apostolic age. (51)

52 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
2. For certain reasons these different types of piety are
believed to exist in the same country, community, con
gregation, and family to-day.
(i ) Because of wrong or deficient instruction, defective
consecration, or weak faith, many professed Christians
are to all intents and purposes living to-day under the dis
pensation of the Father. They have been taught, both
by precept and example, to serve God chiefly if not solely
from the motive of fear. They have not been encour
aged to expect the Spirit of adoption and assurance, and
his fruit of peace and love and joy. Indeed, they have
been led to decry experimental godliness and despise
" heart religion." They have been more concerned
about the " form " than they have about the " power "
of godliness. As a consequence, the ethical predomi
nates over the spiritual — the moral over the experimental
— in their experience and lives. They are dominated
by the " spirit of bondage to fear," and look more care
fully to works than to faith — to the external than to
the internal life. The better and more conscientious of
this class " fear God and work righteousness." Like
Cornelius, they are devout, prayerful, and charitable.
And if no better training or fuller light has come to
them — if they have diligently sought the light and
faithfully lived up to what they received — we dare
not deny that they are, like Cornelius, " accepted "
with God. There may be many of this class in all
Churches, Romish and Protestant, but, for obvious
reasons, there are probably more in ritualistic Churches
than in others. The earnest, ill-instructed, and fearful
penitent, outside the Church, may fall into this class.
He is a " servant of God," under the influence of the
law, who falls short of gospel light and faith. His ex-

THREE TYPES OF PIETY. 53
perience seems recorded in the seventh chapter of Ro
mans. (2) There seems to be to-day a large class of pro
fessed Christians very much like those who lived un
der the dispensation of the Son, during the ministry
of our Lord, especially between his resurrection and
Pentecost. They have been brought more fully un
der the influence of the gospel, and have found "peace
with God " through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, to
which is added some measure of love and joy. But
this peace is often disturbed by doubt and fear. Dis
quiet and darkness frequently take the place of the
light and rest that came at conversion. Joy is not full,
and love, especially in the face of temptation, seems
mixed with the unchristian tempers or feelings of im
patience, anger, malice, envy, etc. They may have
longer or shorter seasons of assurance and rest, but the
witness of the Spirit is not constant, and their experi
ence of peace is not uniform. Human nature — what
seems to be depraved human nature — often stirs within,
and the believer feels that all is not right. It is be
lieved that many, if not quite all, converted people have
felt these "motions" of self-will, pride, ill-will, jeal
ousy, and unholy ambition in their hearts. They real
ize that self too often creeps into their best services
and works. And they have mourned and been great
ly troubled over these things, and have longed for de
liverance. They have experienced a painful sense of
weakness, and felt that they did not and could not love
God supremely and their fellows unselfishly. While
they may have checked and controlled these unholy
feelings, and prevented their outward expression in
sinful words and deeds, they have realized that all is

54 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
not right within — that they were not saved from the
feeling of sin. It is feared that the experience and
lives of a large proportion of professed Christians do
not come up to this standard. Too often they give
way to these tempers, and sin in word and deed. They
do not have easy and constant victory over self, Satan,
and the world. Now, is this the best that there is for
the Christian under this glorious dispensation of the
Spirit? Does not God's gift of the Holy Ghost bring
more to the believer — the young believer even — than
this ? We rejoice to believe and say that it does.
(3) For there is another class, who come up to the
higher gospel standard of piety and experience — the
standard reached at Pentecost, and that may be reached
by all now. With a clearer revelation of their need and
of the provision made in the gospel for fully supplying
that need, with a more intelligent and unreserved con
secration and a stronger faith, they have appropriated
the promise of the Spirit in the fullness and richness of
his baptismal and transforming grace — his cleansing and
empowering influences. They have been "filled with"
and enjoy the abiding presence and influence of the
divine Cleanser, Comforter, Strengthener, and Anoint-
er. The wonderful prayer of Paul for the Ephesian
Church has been answered in their case, and they are
"strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man" ; " Christ dwells in their hearts by faith," having
been enthroned there ; they are " rooted and grounded in
love," " comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height," " know the love of
Christ which passeth knowledge," and have been " filled
with all the fullness of God." Being thus " filled " and
" rooted " and " grounded " and " strengthened " and es-

THREE TYPES OF PIETY. 55
tablished in love, they are enabled to "walk after the
Spirit " and have " the righteousness of the law " — the
law of supreme and unselfish love, the law of "per
fect love " — " fulfilled in them." They are thus saved
from the impurity, weakness, doubt, fear, and selfish
ness that characterize to some extent the experience and
lives of the other two classes noticed. Their peace
and love and joy are profound, full, and " perfect " —
unmixed with their opposites. There is no mixture
of doubt, distressing fear, unbelief, envy, impatience,
pride, or other evil tempers. They are saved from the
feeling of these things, as well as from their outward
expression in word and deed.
But is this not an imaginary something, beautiful in
theory but never realized in experience and practice ? Far
from it. We profoundly believe that it has been and is
now enjoyed by many, and that it may be by all. It is
believed to be the normal standard of experience and life
to which God calls us under this glorious dispensation of
the Spirit. He would have all, and has provided for hav
ing all, who are Christians at all to be " full of faith
and the Holy Ghost " and " good works." It is be
lieved to be in his plan that the other two types of
piety noticed should be of short duration and transi
tional in their nature. We are not sure that he would
have us stop at all in the second dispensation and type.
He may prefer that we should go at a bound from the
dispensation of awakening, fear, and repentance into
the one of that fullness of the Spirit which brings un
mixed light and love and peace. And we are not sure
but that in rare cases men do not stop, or at least
linger, in the second dispensation or stage of develop
ment.

56 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
The eleven apostles seem to have lived under all
three of these dispensations and had all three of these
types of piety. Before their call by the Saviour they
were most probably, as " devout men " — and did Jesus
call any other sort? — under the dispensation of the Fa
ther. After their call and under the instruction of their
Master, certainly after his resurrection, they passed into
the dispensation of the Son. At Pentecost they were
carried by a mighty tidal wave of divine influence into
that of the Spirit.
Cornelius and Paul seem not have tarried in the sec
ond dispensation at all, or at most for only a few hours or
days. For Peter seems to have introduced the former
into the two higher dispensations at once, and Ananias
seems to have conducted the latter through the second
within the space of three days. And the father of
Methodism, who lingered for a score or more of years
in the dispensation of the Father, may, at the time he
felt his " heart strangely warmed," have passed through
the second into the third dispensation. At any rate, it
seems to have been only a few weeks before he, at
three o'clock in the morning, after a night of prayer,
came to his Pentecost and received a wonderful bap
tism of the Spirit, filling him with light and love and
power. So, no doubt, has it been with others since
Wesley's day. Earnest and devout men who, from
their awakening, have wanted to see all their need and
all their privilege, may have at once appropriated to
themselves, by faith, all that is offered to them in the
gospel, and have at conversion, or very soon thereafter,
come into possession of full salvation. And so may all
have done had the internal and external human condi
tions been the same. The picture drawn in the earlier

THREE TYPES OF PIETY. 57
parts of this chapter is not of what God would have
men be, but of what we find them. He has provided
better things for both the first and second classes
named, and they may at regeneration, or soon there
after, come into their inheritance. Full salvation is the
birthright of all God's servants and children, and they
may confidently claim and certainly obtain it when they
are born into his family, or very soon thereafter.
The reasons why so few, comparatively, at that time
claim and come into this blessed inheritance may be par
ticularly noticed in another chapter. It is enough to say
at this point that the reasons or obstacles are in them
or their instructors, and not in God or his plan. They
may be summed up in a lack of knowledge, earnest
ness, consecration, faith, or all of these things. The
word of God has not been rightly interpreted to or by
them, or they have failed to receive and improve the
light. They may not have received the full truth, or,
receiving it, they may have " held it in unrighteous
ness." The light has been shining for them, the grace
has been offered to them, but they have not seen the
former nor embraced the latter.
It is believed, however, that there are a few in all
Churches who improve this light, perform these con
ditions, and enjoy this blessing. In some Churches
the light, faith, and experience of the few go beyond
the creeds, standards, and pulpits of those Churches
and the faith and experience of the many. Such
creeds, standards, and pulpits belong to the dispensa
tion of the Father or the Son, rather than to that of
the Spirit. The glorious work of salvation through
faith in the Son, or that of full salvation through
faith in the doctrine and work of the Spirit, is ob-

58 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
scured in such creeds and pulpits. But, like David,
who seems to have climbed to the mountain top and
had foregleams of a brighter day, they go ahead
of their creeds, and with him sing of the "joy of
God's salvation " that fills their souls. Dr. Lovick
Pierce tells of a Primitive Baptist lady whose faith
and experience went a bowshot beyond anything
dreamed of in the creed and pulpits of her Church,
rejoicing in the possession of the fruit of this blessed
baptism. Many Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Con-
gregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and others
have in their faith overleaped the creeds and pulpit
teaching of their communions, and have claimed and
taught the experience of this divine baptism of purity,
peace, and power. Such rare and saintly spirits of
these Churches as Jonathan Edwards and his wife,
James Brainerd Taylor, A. B. Earle, T. C. Upham,
Asa Mahan, Charles G. Finney, Professor Tholuck,
Frances Ridley Havergal, Hannah Whitall Smith, D. L.
Moody, A. B. Simpson, A. J. Gordon, Andrew Mur
ray, John McNeil, F. B. Meyer, J. Wilbur Chapman,
M. H. Houston, and many others, have risen superior
to their early training and partially or wholly above
their creeds and pulpits, and have secured this richer
and higher experience. They call this pentecostal
blessing "the rest of faith," "the interior life," "the
higher life," " the baptism of the Spirit," " entire " or
" permanent sanctification," " the second experience,"
the " higher grace," " the Christian's secret of a happy
life," "the induement of the Spirit," "the Spirit-filled
life," " the more abundant life," the " baptism of fire,"
etc. They may differ on some minor points, especially
in the use of terms, but they are substantially agreed

THREE TYPES OF PIETY. 59
on three points : First, that this gift or baptism of the
Spirit is, as a rule, if not invariably, subsequent to
regeneration, and is instantaneous in its development.
Secondly, that it involves a much richer and purer ex
perience, in which the believer is or may be saved from
all actual, if not original, sin by being filled with the
Spirit of love. Thirdly, that it implies the anointing
with wisdom and power for a much more fruitful serv
ice. In a word, that it suddenly lifts the believer to a
higher plane of activity, usefulness, and enjoyment than
the one on which he started at regeneration.
This doctrine having been embodied in the creed and
standards of Methodism, and having been given prom
inence in her pulpits, probably more of that Church
than of any other have sought and enjoyed this pente-
costal fullness of salvation. Mr. Wesley says that " a
cloud of witnesses " in his day testified to the truth of
this doctrine, attested to them by their experience ;
and since his day hundreds and thousands of our peo
ple, among them some of the ablest, most learned, and
most saintly of our men and women, have added their
testimony to that of the founder, under God, of our
Church. Wesley and his colleagues called it " Chris
tian perfection," "entire sanctification," "perfect love,"
and occasionally the "baptism of the Spirit," or the
" second blessing." The last term is a favorite one
with a large and growing class of modern Methodists ;
many others hold on to the terms generally used by
Wesley and Fletcher; while a still more conservative
class, because of a real or supposed abuse or misinter
pretation of such terms, are inclined to use the less
objectionable ones of the "baptism" or "gift of the
Holy Ghost," the "fullness of the Spirit," being

60 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
"filled with the Spirit," the "pentecostal blessing," etc.
And candor requires the admission that there is a dif
ference among them, not only as to the use of these
terms, but also as to their meaning. There is, too,
quite a diversity of opinion as to what is implied in the
baptism of the Spirit, or the sanctification of the be
liever, as well as to the time and conditions of such
work. These different theories will in due time be
glanced at, if not fully discussed.
We cannot refrain from giving, as bearing on the
lessons of the foregoing chapters, the following extract
from a sermon on Acts xix. 2 by the eminent and broad-
minded Bishop Phillips Brooks, of the Protestant Epis
copal Church :
But here at Pentecost what was there to call out such prodi
gies? If what we have said is true, was there not certainly
enough? It was the coming back of God into man. It was the
promise in these typical men of how near God would be to
every man henceforth. It was the manifestation of the God
Inspirer as distinct from and yet one with the God Creator and
God Redeemer. // was primarily the entrance of God into man,
and so, in consequence, the entrance of its spirit and full mean
ing into every truth man could know. It was the blossom-day
of humanity ,full of the promise of unmeasured fruit. And what
that first Whitsunday was to all the world, one certain day comes
to any man, the day that the Holy Spirit comes to him. God enters
into him and he sees everything with God's vision.

CHAPTER VI.
Were the One Hundred and Twenty Disciples
Wholly Sanctified at Pentecost?
Much may depend on proper answers to the ques
tions : Was the work of sanctification only partial in the
case of the one hundred and twenty disciples before
they went into that upper room ? And did the baptism
of the Spirit there received complete that work ? It is
believed that both of these questions should be answered
in the affirmative. And it is proposed in this chapter
to show that all three of the things implied in entire
sanctification or full salvation — unreserved consecra
tion, thorough cleansing or healing, and the being filled
with the Spirit of love and power — were involved in
their experience when they received " the gift of the
Holy Ghost."
Before giving the proof of this it may not be amiss
to say that some writers on the subject are disposed to
deny both the things implied in the above proposition
touching the subjective experience of the disciples —
that they were only partially saved before Pentecost,
and that they were fully saved at that time. Indeed,
there are several conflicting theories touching this mat
ter, at which we have not space for more than a glance.
i. Some say that these disciples had not been regener
ated before Pentecost, but that this work was done for
them at that time, not, however, involving entire sanc
tification in the sense of a complete cleansing and em
powering. And they insist that if the apostles and
others of the one hundred and twenty were ever en-
(61)

62 scriptural sanctification.
tirely saved from depravity in this life it was after Pen
tecost. 2. Others think that these disciples had been regen
erated before Pentecost, and that the fuller gift of the
Spirit at that time was chiefly, if not solely, for the
working of miracles, or for greater courage and effect
iveness in preaching the gospel, and in other ways of
witnessing and working for Christ, without, however,
any marked change in their experience of personal and
subjective salvation.
3. Others believe that these disciples had been regen
erated, and that this baptism greatly deepened the work
of grace in their hearts, but without thoroughly cleans
ing or sanctifying them.
4. There are others still who think that these disci
ples were thoroughly saved or cleansed before Pente
cost, and that their baptism only deepened or intensified
that internal work, or more fully empowered them for
service. Now, as before stated, it is proposed to show (1)
that these one hundred and twenty disciples had been
regenerated and were accepted with God before Pente
cost ; that they — the apostles at least — were in the dis
pensation of the Son, and were enjoying the light,
grace, and experience peculiar to that dispensation.
(2) That they had not been fully saved from spiritual
depravity — the feeling of sin in the heart, at least, up to
that time. That they were worldly-minded, ambitious,
envious, bigoted, selfish, cowardly, etc., in spirit, if not in
practice. That the assurance of the Master that " now
ye are clean," previously given them, must have re
ferred to something else than their internal and thor
ough purification from evil tendencies, which Peter

AT PENTECOST. 63
seems to teach occurred at Pentecost. (Acts xv. 9.)
Wesley speaks of two kinds of purity. (3) That they
were thoroughly cleansed and filled with the Spirit of
love and power at Pentecost. (4) That they were so
possessed and strengthened by the Spirit as to enable
them to keep clean and walk blamelessly before God.
(5) That they were so filled, anointed, and empowered
by the Spirit as to be much more useful than they were
before that time. In proof of this let us,
1. Examine the prophecies relating to and fulfilled at
Pentecost. Take the one from Ezekiel xxxvi. 25-27.
While this prophecy may have referred primarily, in
its reference to temporal blessings, to something that
would come to Israel before Pentecost or after their
restoration, expositors generally refer its secondary and
more important meaning or fulfillment to that day or
this dispensation. As so applied it clearly teaches, ( 1 )
that the subjects of this gift of the Spirit, the gift here
symbolized by sprinkling " clean water," were to be
made clean : " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and
from all your idols, will I cleanse you." (2) That they
would be thoroughly renewed in heart and spirit, hav
ing the stony heart taken away : "A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ;
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh." (3) Their be
ing so possessed of, and influenced or empowered by, the
indwelling Spirit that they would be enabled or caused
to " walk," continue, in the way of obedience : "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." This implies complete salvation.

64 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Now let us consider the words of the prophet in Joel
ii 28, 29. That this prophecy was fulfilled at Pente
cost is, as we have seen, plainly declared by Peter. It
seems to refer more directly to the empowering of the
disciples for effective service, as well as the gift of the
Spirit to the Gentiles. Joel predicted that the Spirit
would be poured out " upon all flesh " — all nations and
peoples, and all classes in these nations — upon Jews and
Gentiles, " old men and young men," " sons and daugh
ters," " servants," and " handmaidens." And he proph
esied of their being empowered for and moved to wit
ness and work for God : " They shall prophesy " — tes
tify to and preach his truth.
The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, in his Essential
Christianity, and the Rev. Thomas Payne, another
English writer, in his Covenant Promise of the Fa
ther, and others, seem inclined, hence, to limit the work
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to this induement of
power, which they call " courage " for that work, or
"induement for service," overlooking partially if not
wholly, as we think, the Spirit's work of cleansing and
filling the soul with love and his other fruit. They do
not deny, however, that this latter work may have been
done for them at another time. Indeed, Mr. Payne
concedes it, and Mr. Hughes is believed also to hold this
view. But they interpret Pentecost in the light of this
prophecy alone.
It is believed that they take too narrow a view of
this baptism of the Spirit, and for the following rea
sons : This is only one of the many predictions or
promises of the Spirit at Pentecost. And it is quoted
by Peter to explain only one phenomenon of that occa
sion, the one which attracted special attention and pro-

AT PENTECOST. 65
voked uncharitable criticism — namely, the disciples'
prophesying in many tongues. The ignorant and cap
tious part of the multitude, who heard what appeared
to them to be senseless confusion of language, charged
the one hundred and twenty with being " drunk with
new wine." It was to meet this charge and explain
this phenomenon that Peter quoted this prophecy which
related to the general gift of the Spirit, the gift to all
nations, "tongues," and classes, and the consequent
prophesying by representatives of these nations and
classes. The work predicted through Ezekiel, which
was chiefly subjective, and hence eluded their observa
tion and escaped their criticism, was for that reason not
alluded to by Peter. Yet the " cleansing," the giving
of a " new heart," and the " putting of the Spirit within
them," to "cause" or enable them to keep God's com
mandments, were just as really included in the fulfill
ment of Ezekiel's prophecy as was the gift of " tongues "
and the spirit of prophecy in that of Joel's.
Hence, at the "Gentile Pentecost," an account of'
which is given in the tenth of Acts, when this phe
nomenon did not appear, Peter did not refer particular
ly to the prophecy of Joel. On the contrary, he says
of Christ, who then baptized the Gentiles with the
Spirit : " To him gave all the prophets witness, that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall re
ceive remission of sins." Dr. Clarke says that the
phrase here translated "remission of sins" means "all
that is implied in pardon of sin, destruction of its tyr
anny, and purification from its pollution " ; that " it is
wrong to restrict such operations of mercy to pardon
alone." Hence, Peter, in explaining this matter to the
other apostles, says in Acts xv. 8, 9, "God which
5

66 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
knoweth the hearts bare them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost" — as well as "remission of sins" —
" even as he did unto us ; and put no difference be
tween us and them, purifying their hearts by faith"
as he had promised through Peter to do for all that
should be called. We see then that Peter's quotation
from " all the prophets " instead of from Joel exclu
sively, and his comment on what occurred at this Gen
tile Pentecost, which he says was like that of the Jews,
had no direct reference to the gift of " tongues " and
their " courage " for prophesying, but to that which
was subjective — the pardon of sin and the purification
of their hearts by faith.
In another Old Testament prophecy concerning
Pentecost the same lesson is taught. See Jeremiah
xxxi. 31-34, which is quoted and applied to this dis
pensation in Hebrews viii. 8—12. Here we are taught
that the Spirit of love and anointing — the Spirit to
write the law of love in our " inward parts " and our
" hearts," and to anoint us so that we might " know "
for ourselves God's will — was given unto them. This
experience is also subjective, and has no reference to
the gift of tongues or courage apart from the other
graces of the Spirit.
The prophecies and promises of the New Testa
ment that relate to Pentecost teach the same lesson.
In that remarkable passage found in John vii. 37-39
we are taught that the blessing bestowed at Pentecost
was both subjective and objective — related to the be
liever's experience as well as to his usefulness : " If
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
This unquestionably refers to the cleansing and satis
fying effect of the water of life that comes from the

AT PENTECOST. 67
Spirit to the man who " thirsts " for pardon and purity,
love and joy. " He that believeth on me, as the Scrip
ture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of liv
ing water." This refers to the streams of saving influ
ence that flow out from the consecrated, Spirit-filled,
and grace-empowered soul to refresh and save others.
Both these results are said to flow from the gift of the
Spirit after the glorification of Christ and at Pentecost :
" But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that be
lieve on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was
not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
The same lesson is taught in the wonderful sermon
and prayer of our Lord found in John xiv.— xvii., to
which we invite the reader's most thoughtfnl consider
ation. Those profound and pregnant words are uni
versally understood to refer to Pentecost and its re
sults. And the purport of these precepts, promises,
and prayers indicates what was realized by the disci
ples at Pentecost and afterwards, in their experience
and labors. In this passage we see that reference is
had to both their subjective and objective life — their ex
perience of salvation and their carrying it to others.
1. They were to receive the Spirit as an abiding Pres
ence and Power — the Parakletos — Advocate, Counsel
or, Guide, Helper, and Comforter : "And I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever." "He dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you."
2. They were to have the fruit of the Spirit in their
hearts, (i) Love — love from God and to him and
men : "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved
you ; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my command
ments, ye shall abide in my love." " That the love

68 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I
in them." (2) Joy: "These things have I spoken
unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that
your joy might be full." (3) Peace: "Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you." " These things
have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace." 3. Union with God and Christ : " I in them and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one." "At
that day [Pentecost] ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
4. That they might be saved from fear and sor
row : " Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid." " I will not leave you comfortless " — orphans.
5. Their sanctification : "Sanctify them through thy
truth." Dr. Clarke, in his note on this passage, says :
" This word has two meanings : ( 1 ) It signifies to con
secrate, to separate from earth and common use, and
to devote or dedicate to God and his service. (2) It
signifies to make holy or pure. The prayer of Christ
may be understood in both these senses." Jesus had
just said, " They are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world," and had just prayed that God would
" keep them from the evil " or the evil one. Then he
seems in the next verse to pray that they might be
cleansed and fitted for the service of God to which
they had separated and devoted themselves. Professor
Beet takes the same view of this passage. That is Dr.
Steele's construction of this prayer. He says : " Sanc
tify them through thy truth, that is, through faith in
the distinctive office and work of the Comforter " — the
truth just spoken to them. Both he and Dr. Clarke
translate hagiazo, as used in the nineteenth verse and

AT PENTECOST. 69
applied to our Lord, to consecrate — devote to death for
their salvation. Sanctification, li^e baptism, does not
mean as much or the same when applied to our Lord
as it does when applied to other men. As applied to
him it simply means consecration or devotion and em
powering, while as applied to them it means in addi
tion purification or a fitting for the service to which
they are devoted.
Now, this coming into their hearts and lives of a
new and mighty Force — the indwelling Christ and the
blessed Comforter ; the having of this fullness of joy,
this supreme and unselfish love — loving God and each
other as Christ did ; this profound and abiding peace ;
this union with the Father and Christ ; this deliver
ance from fear and sorrow ; in a word, this " sanctifica
tion " — this cleansing and in-filling and empowering of
the Spirit — all was to be realized at Pentecost, and re
ferred chiefly to their spiritual and internal life — their
experience of personal salvation and ability to keep the
moral law — and only secondarily to their usefulness.
There are other passages in this wonderful body of
truth which refer to what Joel prophesied about. The
requirement or assurance of much greater fruitfulness,
for the glory of God, and the power to do greater
works than our Lord himself had done, because of a
closer and more vital union with him as the vine, and
the gift of the Spirit of power, because he should "go
to the Father," as set forth in the fifteenth chapter,
bear on this point. And the wonderful anointing,
teaching, and guiding of the Spirit, which they should
have after Pentecost, so often here promised, referred
largely to the same thing. The two things are united
in the case of the apostles and disciples here instructed

70 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and prayed for — internal purity, anointing, and power,
which sent out the stream of love, zeal, and abundant
usefulness. Let us for a moment examine the prediction of John
the Baptist, touching the work of Pentecost, as it is
substantially repeated and indorsed by our Lord. To
our mind this prediction is very clear and conclusive on
this point of subjective purity, as well as of objective
power. This prophecy of John is found first in Mat
thew iii. ii, and is repeated substantially in Mark i. 8,
Luke iii. 1 6, and Acts i. 5, our Lord and Mark omitting
"and with fire." The words of this passage, together
with its setting, show that it is a substantial repetition
and partial fulfillment of the prophecy found in Mala-
chi iii. 1—3. Here the prophet predicts the coming of
John to prepare the way for Christ's advent and work
as the great Baptizer or Purifier of his people. He
represents him as purifying and refining them as does
a refiner or purifier of silver and gold. He says : " He
is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ; and he shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and
silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness." On this passage from Malachi we remark :
1 . That the context, being so similar to that of Joel's
and John's prophecies, shows that it pointed to Pente
cost. This is hardly doubted.
2. The figures used and the plain statements made
show conclusively that the work wrought on its sub
jects was one of purification, fitting them for God's
service. (1) The terms applied to our Lord or the
Holy Spirit, calling him "a Refiner and Purifier,"

AT PENTECOST. 71
indicate it. (2) Soap and fire, the material ele
ments used to symbolize the Spirit's work, are both
cleansing instrumentalities. (3) The words applied to
the process of the Spirit's work indicate the same thing
— " He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them
as silver and gold." (4) The effect on their lives, fit
ting them for God's service, indicates the same thing :
" That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness " — keep his commandments, love him su
premely and man unselfishly.
Now let us notice the later prediction of John : " I
indeed baptize you with water ; but one mightier than
I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy
to unloose ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire." On this passage we remark :
1. All agree that this prophecy was fulfilled at Pen
tecost. 2. The term " baptize " clearly indicates that the
work wrought on or in the apostles was one of cleans
ing. ( 1 ) The meaning of the term shows it. However
much men may differ as to the mode of baptism, they
generally agree that it means to purify, as the result of
the act, and that the water used in symbolical baptism
is designed to represent the purifying effect of the Holy
Spirit. Dr. Summers clearly expresses the matter
when he says : " The Hebrew rahats, like its Greek
representative baptizo, means to purify." Again he
says : " The word baptism, ... as used in the New
Testament, properly denotes purification by water."
He calls it " the ordinance of purification," and says
that " it is emblematical of sanctification." Dr. Broadus
calls it " symbol of a new and pure life." Now if wa
ter baptism purifies and sanctifies symbolically, the bap-

72 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tism of the Spirit must do the same really and spiritual
ly. ( 2 ) The use of the figure of fire clearly indicates
that this purification was complete, that this sanctifica
tion was entire, that it was just as thorough as is the
refining and purifying work of fire on gold and silver,
which removes all the dross. Hence Dr. Clarke, in his
note on this passage, says : " He is represented here
under the similitude of fire because he was to illuminate
and invigorate the soul, penetrate every part, and as
similate the whole to the image of the God of glory"
On a parallel passage he says : " The Holy Ghost and
fire do not mean two things, but one — viz., the Holy
Ghost under the similitude of fire — pervading every
part, refining and purifying the whole" 1
It is true that our Lord, in urging his apostles to
" tarry at Jerusalem " till they were " indued with pow
er from on high," and in his promise that they should
" receive power after that the Holy Ghost should come
upon them," probably referred in part to the same
things that Joel did — the power to work miracles and
the courage and ability to prophesy and witness for
1 Dr. Broadus and some other critics incline to the opinion
that the figures of " fire," " fan," " ax," and " furnace," used by
Malachi and John, refer to the purification of nations by de
stroying the wicked in them and leaving a pure nation. But
many others, including Calvin, Olshausen, Godet, and Clarke,
think they refer to the purifying work of the Spirit on individ
uals, consuming their faults, or vices, or impurities. May they
not, in some sense, refer to both? The ax and fan and furnace
may refer to the judgments that God brought on the Jewish
nation, while the fire of the Holy Ghost and the furnace of af
fliction may refer to individuals. The " tongue of fire," sign of
the fulfillment of the prophecy, sat on each individual, indicating
that the work of purification was personal and not national.

AT PENTECOST. 73
Christ. But he certainly did not intend to teach that
this was all that this baptism of power implied. Dr.
Clarke's note on Luke xxiv. 49 seems sound and judi
cious. He says : " The energy of the Holy Ghost was
to be communicated to them for three particular pur
poses. 1. That he might be in them a sanctifying Com
forter, fortifying their souls, and bringing to their
remembrance whatever Jesus had before spoken to
them." This was subjective, and referred to their ex
perience. " 2. That their preaching might be accom
panied by his demonstration and power to the hearts of
their hearers, so that they might believe and be saved."
This was objective, and referred to their usefulness.
" 3. That they might be able to work miracles to con
firm their pretensions to a divine mission, and to estab
lish the truth of the doctrines they preached." This,
too, is objective, and related to their success in preach
ing. Mr. Hughes and others who agree with him should
remember that courage, as a fruit of the Spirit, does
not exist in the soul apart from his other graces.
Hence Peter, in enumerating the elements of charac
ter and conditions of success in the believer, puts "vir
tue," or courage, next to " faith," but he adds " knowl
edge," "temperance," "patience," "godliness," "broth
erly kindness," love to the brotherhood, and " chari
ty," love for all men. It takes all these to make up a
rounded, aggressive, and successful Christian minister or
layman. And we are sure that under the baptismal and
sanctifying power of the Spirit the one hundred and
twenty got all these graces of the Spirit at Pentecost.
They received and were filled with the Spirit and his
undivided fruit. Fire is not so much a symbol of pow-

74 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
er as it is of purity. And Paul, in 2 Timothy i. 7, re
minds us that we need something more than courage to
equip us for effective service. He says to that young
minister : " God hath not given us the spirit of fear ;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Here
is not only deliverance from " fear " and induement
with "power," or courage, but also the possession of
"love," zeal, or a passion for souls, and the anointing
with a " sound mind," wisdom and holy tact in direct
ing this courage and zeal.
2. For the meaning of Pentecost — the relation of
the gift of the Holy Ghost at that time to sanctification
— let us glance at the record of the fulfillment of these
prophecies, found in the Acts. This record shows that
these prophecies were substantially if not literally ful
filled. ( 1 ) In the gift of the Spirit that had been
promised by the Father. Peter said : " Therefore being
by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath
shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (2)
Ezekiel's prophecy, "I will put my Spirit within
you," and Christ's words, " He shall give you another
Comforter," that " shall be in you," were fulfilled :
"They were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (3)
The baptism of fire came, and they were purified in
fulfillment of the prophecies of Ezekiel, Malachi, and
John : "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." And
Peter, in Acts xv. 8, 9, teaches that this baptism of the
Holy Ghost and fire resulted in " purifying their
hearts" — in cleansing or excluding from them of all
that is contrary to love, making that love pure or " per
fect"— a perfectly "new heart." (4) The Spirit of

AT PENTECOST. 75
prophecy and power and success, foretold by Joel, by
St. John (vii. 39), and by our Lord, took possession of
them : " They began to speak with tongues " ; "And
with great power gave the apostles witness of the res
urrection of the Lord Jesus, and great fear was upon
them " ; " Rivers of living water " flowed out to the
three thousand at Pentecost and to many others soon
afterwards. If the record shows that the prophecies
concerning Pentecost were fulfilled in these particulars,
may we not reasonably conclude that they were fulfilled
in every other particular ? Are we not shut up to the ne
cessity of believing that the apostles were thoroughly
" sanctified through the truth " — fully cleansed from
all sin of the heart and life, and perfectly filled with
love and joy, peace and power, and were thus fitted
for acceptable service and abundant usefulness to which
they consecrated themselves in that upper room ?
3. The changed lives of the apostles indicate what
Pentecost did for them. Before that time, Jesus re
proves them for their " unbelief," " doubt," " slowness
to believe," and even " hardness of heart " — Ezekiel's
" heart of stone," that had not been fully taken out of
them. As before intimated, they were so selfish, am
bitious, and worldly of spirit as to call forth our Lord's
sharpest reproof. And he had to rebuke their spirit of
bigotry, intolerance, and revenge, exhibited toward
those who " followed " not with them and the inhos
pitable Samaritans. They were very cowardly, and
forsook him in his hour of trial and greatest need of
sympathy. The marked change in these respects wrought at Pen
tecost is more clearly seen in the cases of Peter and
John, probably the most prominent and conspicuous of

76 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
the apostles. Before Pentecost, Peter was very human
— self-confident in the absence of danger, but cowardly
in its presence. He was going with his Lord to prison
and death, but quailed when confronted by a weak
Jewish " damsel " and charged with being one of his
disciples. And when the charge was repeated by an
other " maid," he denied with " an oath," to which he
added profane "cursing and swearing," to emphasize
his third denial. But after Pentecost he was not only
ready to confess him, but to suffer shame and death for
his sake ; and when threatened and commanded to
desist from further preaching in his name, he boldly,
but humbly and meekly, defied the Roman power and
the Jewish Sanhedrin.
John's lack of full salvation showed itself before Pen
tecost chiefly in a spirit of bigotry and vindictiveness.
He forbade the casting out of devils by those who fol
lowed not with them, and wanted to call down fire
from heaven to consume those who declined to enter
tain his Lord. After Pentecost, he became the broad-
minded and great apostle of love, author of the general
or catholic epistles of tender affection that bear his
name. Peter's special and prominent weakness before
Pentecost was fear, or cowardice, while those of John
seem to have been narrowness and vindictiveness of
spirit. After Pentecost, the most prominent character
istic of Peter was his courage, while that of John was
his breadth and love. And as Peter's courage and
John's love were then doubtless made perfect, so we
may properly infer were all the other elements of their
religious life — -all the other graces of the Spirit in their
hearts ; they were freed from their opposites.
It may be said that Peter afterwards betrayed this

AT PENTECOST. 77
weakness at Antioch, and drew upon himself the re
buke of St. Paul, thus indicating that he was not fully
saved. (Gal. ii. 11-13.) This act of Peter is in per
fect harmony with the theory held by all intelligent
and thoughtful men who advocate the doctrine of per
fect love, through the baptism of the Spirit. They in
sist that the thoroughly saved man is the subject of
temptation, and that he may yield— may " be overtaken
in a fault" — and bring himself into condemnation.
They hold that neither regeneration nor sanctification
destroys his moral freedom, and that he may, hence,
backslide or fall at least temporarily. It will be no
ticed that Peter yielded at his special point of weak
ness — " fear," cowardice. He seems to have been
constitutionally impulsive, vacillating, and mercurial,
not to say cowardly ; and being off his guard, Satan
got the advantage of him at Antioch, and he yielded.
He did not avail himself of the grace that is " suffi
cient" to "keep us from falling" — did not walk in
the way that was open for his " escape " in this time of
temptation. The saintly Fletcher tells us that he, from
the same cause — fear of man — made two or three tem
porary lapses. But he, like Peter no doubt did, prompt
ly recovered his lost ground, and we believe afterwards
held it.
Nothing in the record indicates that any other one
of the eleven apostles, or, indeed, of the one hundred
and twenty, was ever " overtaken in a fault " that was
inconsistent with " perfect love."
We think then that the prophecies of both the Old
and New Testament, which relate to Pentecost, to
gether with the record of their fulfillment at that time,
as well as the subsequent lives of those who were the

78 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
subjects of this wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost,
show most conclusively that the one hundred and
twenty disciples in that upper room were wholly sanc
tified by the baptism of the Spirit, which they then
and there received. And we are glad to say that we
are sustained in this view by Fletcher, Clarke, Wat
son, and leading Methodist authors generally, down to
Drs. Steele and Keen, and others, of our day. In
deed, we hardly know of a respectable Methodist
author, who accepts the Wesleyan doctrine of entire
sanctification as an instantaneous work of the Spirit,
subsequent to regeneration, who does not identify this
work with that which was wrought in the one hun
dred and twenty at Pentecost. And the leading au
thors outside of Methodism, such as Andrew Murray,
of England, and Dr. A. J. Gordon, of America, who
insist on an instantaneous work of the Spirit, distinct
from and subsequent to regeneration, which they call
the " induement of the Spirit," the " baptism of the
Holy Ghost," etc., identify this work with what was
accomplished at Pentecost. And this second work in
sisted on by Dr. Gordon and others of that school, as
we may see more fully later on, is substantially what
Methodists call sanctification, or perfect love.

CHAPTER VII.
When and How Does the Holy Spirit Effect
Our Entire Sanctification Since Pentecost?
Are we to-day ushered into the dispensation of the
Spirit, receiving " the gift of the Holy Ghost," being
fully saved from sin and depravity at regeneration? or
is this work wrought later in life or at death, on cer
tain conditions?
This is the point of divergence for many different
and apparently conflicting theories. All admit that
the work of sanctification must be done at some time
and in some way before the soul can enter heaven.
The contention during the last century and the first
half of this was chiefly between the Methodists, on the
one side, and the Romanists, and especially the Cal-
vinistic Protestants, on the other. The Romanists
held, and still hold, that the soul is saved in part at least
from depravity and venial sins by the fires of purga
tory subsequently to death. The Calvinists held, and
very generally still hold, that one is not fully saved
from original sin or depravity till death. The Metho
dist contention was that in regeneration we are wholly
saved from the guilt of sin, the necessity for commit
ting actual sin, and partially from depravity or " origi
nal sin " ; and that subsequently we are wholly saved
from this spiritual depravity, or the feeling of sinful
tempers, by a special work or baptism of the Spirit,
wrought in the soul on the condition of faith. This
work they called "entire sanctification," or "perfect
love." They taught, too, that this entire cleansing and
perfection in love occurred instantaneously, and may
(79)

80 scriptural sanctification.
come at any time after regeneration. This was the gen
erally accepted Methodist theory and teaching up to near
the middle of this century. Since that time, however,
there has been marked diversity of sentiment among
Methodists, both as to the time and the conditions of
this full salvation.
i . There is the theory that we are thoroughly cleansed
from sin and " sinwardness " — fully sanctified — in regen
eration. This was the view of Count Zinzendorf , which
was so vigorously opposed by Mr. Wesley. It is by way
of reproach called " Zinzendorfianism." The first and
most elaborate statements and defenses of this theory
that have come under our observation were by the Rev.
J. T.Crane, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in
Holiness the Birthright of all God's Children ( 1874) ;
and The Problem of Methodism, by the Rev. J. M.
Boland, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South (1888). They both reject what is called the
"residue theory of regeneration and the second-change
theory of sanctification," and hold that the believer is
thoroughly sanctified in regeneration. Their writings
show both research and ability. Less elaborate pro
ductions have come from the pens of the Rev. Drs. C.
W. Miller, D. R. McAnally, and J. D. Barbee, and the
Rev. Messrs. J. H. Baxter, J. H. Nichols, D. Vance
Price, and others, presenting substantially the same
view. 2. That we are in a low sense entirely sanctified in
regeneration, but that in the higher sense of being
saved from all depravity or selfishness it may not be
expected while we are in the body. This is the theory
propounded and elaborated with marked ability by the
Rev. James Mudge, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal

sanctification since pentecost. 8i
Church, in his work entitled Growth in Holiness To
ward Perfection, or Progressive Sanctification (1895).
Dr. Mudge holds very nearly the views advocated by
the authors named above as to the thoroughness of the
work done in regeneration, differing from them chiefly
in setting up an ideal standard of holiness, which he
calls " entire sanctification in the higher or absolute
sense," and which he says cannot be reached until we
enter on " another life." He teaches " sanctification up
to knowledge," but holds that, as we do not at conver
sion, and probably never will in this life, know all the
evil that is in the profound depths of our souls, we
may not be thoroughly saved from it before death.
And what Mr. Wesley and other Methodist writers
call " sins of infirmity," resulting from physical de
pravity, Dr. Mudge seems to regard as the outcrop-
pings of selfishness or spiritual depravity.
3. That we are not fully saved from spiritual de
pravity in regeneration, but that we gradually grow
into a state of full salvation or perfect love, reached at
or before death, but without experiencing any instan
taneous or marked change in our experience, and with
out knowing when we reach that point of entire sanc
tification — "the zero of inbred sin." This seems to
be the theory of the Rev. W. F. Tillett, D.D., advo
cated in a series of admirably written papers in the Sun
day School Magazine (1896), under the heading of
"What We Believe, and Why." Substantially the same
view is briefly stated in the Rev. Dr. C. W. Miller's
Conflict of Centuries. This may be called the the
ory of gradual sanctification, sometimes called "grad
ualism." A good number of other intelligent Metho
dists hold to this or the Crane-Boland theory. There

82 scriptural sanctification.
may be slight variations from these three theories
among Methodists, but these are thought to be suffi
cient to show the chief departures from what is known
as the old Wesleyan theory of partial sanctification in
regeneration, entire sanctification, or complete salvation
from spiritual depravity, by a subsequent and instan
taneous work of the Spirit, followed by growth in
holiness — sanctification of the life — toward the ideal
perfection of character which we have in the life of
Christ, and which we may reach at the resurrection.
Dr. Tillett very clearly states the question at issue
in the following words :
The real question at issue among Methodists concerning
sanctification seems to us to be this : Does the Bible teach, and
Christian experience confirm, the doctrine that there is, subse
quent to regeneration, a second radical and instantaneous work
of divine grace within and upon the moral nature of the re
generated believer which must take place before death in or
der to his complete salvation from all sin? The solution of
this, the only real point at issue, will carry along with it the
solution of all other important points.
And he is candid enough to add :
That the primitive and generally recognized "Wesleyan
Methodist doctrine of sanctification " answers this question
affirmatively admits of easy and abundant proof, by an appeal
to Wesley, Fletcher, Watson, and others.
Dr. Tillett says further :
An influential and constantly increasing majority of modern
Methodists, however, answer this question negatively. . . .
They feel that the doctrine of instantaneous sanctification lacks
that Scripture proof which alone can justify its being regarded
as a part, least of all as an essential part, of the true Bible doc
trine of holiness.
At present we only dissent from the statement that

SANCTIFICATION SINCE PENTECOST. 83
"an influential and constantly increasing majority of
modern Methodists answer this question negatively."
We may notice this statement more fully later on.
The Rev. Dr. Daniel Steele, of the Methodist Episco
pal Church, in his Defense of Christian Perfection
(1896), states the matter a little differently. He says:
The Wesleyan doctrine of evangelical perfection [entire
sanctification] is assailed at three special points : its entireness,
its instantaneousness, and its certification. These are so re
lated that they stand or fall together.
Dr. Steele, in speaking of the views of the leading
and best-known Methodist authors down to the pres
ent, adds :
While our theologians differ on minor points, there is a
complete unanimity as to the possibility of instant and entire
purification in this life, in answer to a faith fully developed
and adequate.
The principal proposition which it is proposed to es
tablish in this and succeeding chapters is substantially
the affirmative of the question stated in the first quota
tion from Dr. Tillett, with a few slight modifications
and explanations.
1. The first qualification of his theory which we make
is the concession that this thorough cleansing or entire
sanctification may, under the most favorable conditions,
be simultaneous with regeneration. This concession
has often been made. It was made by Mr. Wesley
and other fathers of Methodism down to Dr. Summers
and others of our day. Dr. Summers says :
In the new birth the tone, temper, and tendency of our
minds are changed — the current of our feelings is made to run
in a different channel, and a capacity to do the will of God is
imparted. But the holiness which is then realized is propor-

84 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tioned to our faith. If it be possible before regeneration to
discover all the depravity of our nature in its diversified fea
tures and operations; if we are made thoroughly sensible of
its presence, and are as much concerned for its removal as we
are for the pardon of our guilt and the repeal of our condem
nation ; if, in addition, we have a faith proportionable to such
repentance, a faith which is not embarrassed by any doubt, but
which covers over the vast extent of the broad commandment
and the gracious promise of entire sanctification — we know no
reason in the divine economy to prevent the fulfillment of that
promise, so that we may be perfectly sanctified in the very
moment when we are freely justified. Our faith being free
from doubt, our hope would be unmixed with despondency,
and our love would be unadulterated1 with any of the earthly,
sensual, or devilish elements, the removal of which is the work
of sanctifying grace. We should, indeed, still have to exercise
our senses to discern both good and evil— to avoid the latter
and to practice the former — in order to acquire a confirmed
habit of holiness, to grow in grace 'and iii the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — a progression in piety
which constitutes the positive perfection of our moral nature.
But self-knowledge so, thorough, arid ,faith" so strong and
extensive, securing sanctifying grace so pervadirig, powerful,
perfect, are seldom if ever realized before we are justified and
born again. There are few; "babes. in Christ" who are not
measurably "carnal," in consequence of the. weakness o£ their
faith and the defectiveness of their knowledge (1 Cor. iii.), few
who are not lacking in their faith, so that while they can say,
"Lord, I believe" — which is, indeed, a good confession, war
ranting their claim to a filial relation to God — they have to ap
pend the prayer, " Help thou my unbelief," which is an un
questionable acknowledgment of imperfection, even in re
spect of negative holiness. When there is unbelief or doubt,
there must be fear, servile fear, and "he that feareth is not
made perfect in love."
The Rev. Dr. H. R. Withers, in the Quarterly Re
view of July, 1894, states our position in the following
words :

SANCTIFICATION SINCE PENTECOST. 85
I thought all well-informed Christians understood that so
far as the plan of divine grace is concerned, so far as the Bible
offered anything, it was full, perfect, and finished ; but that the
insufficiency or imperfection of the matter lay altogether on
man's side of the work; no imperfection is in the grace offered
by the Bible, but that perfect grace is imperfectly received by
us, owing altogether to our weak and imperfect faith. . . .
But they likewise hold that men do not generally embrace this
generous offer of grace, but, as a rule, make a second act of
faith necessary to accomplish the perfect art of cleansing.
The same concession is made by such non-Metho-
distic writers as Dr. J. Elder Cumming, Dr. A. J. Gor
don, the Rev. Andrew Murray, and others of that
school, including the Keswick writers generally, who,
as Dr. Cumming says, believe
that in addition to the gift of the Spirit received at conversion
there is another blessing corresponding in its signs and effects
to the blessing received by the apostles at Pentecost — a bless
ing to be asked for and expected by Christians still, and to be
described in language similar to that employed in the book of
Acts. Further on Dr. Cumming, quoted and indorsed by
Dr. Gordon, says :
I should like to add that it is possible to maintain that God
from the first offered to his own people a higher position in
this matter than they have generally been able to occupy, in
that the fullness of the Spirit was and is offered to each soul at con
version, and that it is only from want of faith that subsequent out
pourings of the Holy Ghost became needful.
The Rev. John McNeil, in his Spirit-Filled Life,
says :
As far as God is concerned, there is no reason why this filling
should not take place at the hour of conversion — of the new birth;
. . . but it were a fatal blunder to assert that all men on be
lieving thus receive the Holy Ghost.

86 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
For this result at conversion it would seem that the
human conditions must be almost ideal. There must
be a knowledge or faith that, first, sees clearly all the
soul's need, and that, secondly, distinctly sees and
fully appropriates all that the gospel offers for our
complete salvation. To bring about these conditions
one must be taught or learn for himself what the
Bible teaches as to his depravity, pollution, and weak
ness, as well as to his guilt, together with the fact that
full provision is made in the gospel for his thorough
cleansing from that pollution, as well as for the full
pardon of his guilt, and the gift of a new life. And,
in the improvement of his preventive grace and initial
life, he must exercise a faith that is full, both subjec
tively and objectively. His conviction or persuasion
must as fully embrace or relate to his need as it does to
God's promise. Where such clear insight awakens
ardent desire and secures full appropriating faith at
conversion, we dare not deny that the Holy Ghost, at
that time, takes full possession of the soul and does his
perfect work of cleansing, renewal, and empowering.
Such soul may by a supreme and intelligent act of faith
pass at a bound from the dispensation of the Father
into that of the Holy Ghost. The " good-ground "
hearer in the parable of the sower, may be of, and rep
resent, this ideal class.
2. The second modification or explanation of Dr.
Tillett's proposition relates to the term " radical "
which he uses in speaking of the work of sanctifica
tion. If he means to say that Mr. Wesley and other
fathers of Methodism taught that sanctification is rad
ically different in nature from regeneration, we think
he misinterprets them. They taught, and modern

SANCTIFICATION SINCE .PENTECOST. 87
Methodists still teach, that regeneration is initial sanc
tification, and that the latter only deepens and finishes
the work begun in the former. Mr. Wesley, in his
sermon on " Patience," says :
Many persons have spoken of the work of sanctification, tak
ing the word in its full sense, as if it were quite of another
kind, as if it differed entirely from that which is wrought in
justification [regeneration]. But this is a great mistake, and
has a tendency to make us undervalue that glorious work.
. . . Love is the sum of Christian sanctification; it is the one
kind of holiness -which is found only in various degrees, in the be
lievers who are distinguished by St. John into " little children,
young men, and fathers."
So Bishop Foster, in his Christian Purity, says :
It has been the universal teaching of the Church that re
generation is a degree of holiness. That entire sanctification
is complete holiness has been as universally the creed of the
Church. They are then the same in kind. . . . Regeneration is
sanctification begun but not completed.
But if by " radical " Dr. Tillett simply means that
the work of sanctification is a thorough renewal as
distinguished from that of regeneration, which is only
partial ; if he means that this cleansing and renewing
work of the Spirit goes to the root of the evil, or the de
pravity of our nature, removing from the heart all the
disease of sin — " sin that dwelleth in us " — from which
proceed evil thoughts, murders, etc., noted in Matthew
xv. 19, and which, when unrestrained, produces such
" works of the flesh " as are enumerated in Galatians
v. 19-21, then we accept the term with that meaning.
Sanctification seems to do for the "thorny-ground"
hearer after regeneration — after the plant of faith
springs up in his heart — what may have been done for
the " good-ground " hearer at the time of his regenera-

88 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tion. It seems to remove from the heart the cause or
source of backsliding, such as the distracting "cares,"
the morbid " desire for riches and pleasure," and " other
things," which prevent the healthy and rapid develop
ment of the plant which bears the fruit of love to God
and man. It removes or prevents the feeling of evil
or unholy tempers — tempers that are inconsistent with
love, meekness, patience, humility, etc.1
3. A word of explanation as to the term " instanta
neous." If Dr. Tillett simply means that entire sancti
fication is instantaneous in the same sense in which re
generation is, then we accept the term as expressing
our view of the matter. But it should be remembered
that the conditions out of which regenerating faith
springs may be, and generally are, gradual in their
development, running possibly through days, weeks,
months, and even years. But the final act of faith
and the work of God in regeneration are both instan
taneous. So is it in sanctification. The believer may
in a day, a year, or ten years after conversion be grad
ually brought to the point at which he more fully and
intelligently consecrates himself, and, by a strong faith,
appropriates the promise of the Spirit in the fullness of
his cleansing and strengthening grace. But the act of
faith and the coming into his heart of the Spirit, in his
baptismal and sanctifying power, are both instantane
ous. The revelation to consciousness of the fact that this
work has been wrought in the soul may not, however,
in either case, be marked or instantaneous. Indeed,
1 Let the reader suspend judgment as to the interpretation
of the parable of the sower, suggested above, until he consid
ers a fuller discussion of the matter found in Chapter XXII.

SANCTIFICATION SINCE PENTECOST. 89
the soul may never know the exact instant at which it
was regenerated or fully sanctified. Some of the great
est and most saintly of men could never say definitely
when they were born again ; yet they, in due time, had'
meridian evidence of the fact that they had passed
from death unto life. And so has it been with men
who have come into the richer experience of " perfect
love." They may not have been able to fix on the day
or the hour of their entire sanctification, yet ere long
they became as thoroughly convinced of it as they had
previously been of their regeneration. In both these
experiences there has been' a gradual increase of light
from dawn to sunrising, but there was a time in both
cases when the sun rose and shed his full and assuring
light. In the case of others there have been what may be
called " sudden " conversions and sanctifications, and
instantaneous revelations of these facts to conscious
ness, like that of Paul and the disciples at Pentecost.
Like the sun bursting through the rifted cloud, or the
opening of the door to a lighted hall, the light has
come instantaneously, flooding the mind with assurance
and peace.
It is believed that this second work of the Spirit just
as really marks an epoch or crisis in the believer's life
as does his first work in regeneration — that the soul's
emerging out of the dispensation of the Son into that
of the Spirit is just as marked and epochal as is its pas
sage from the dispensation of the Father into that of
the Son ; and that both are as instantaneous as is a
baptism. 4. We would substitute "before or at death" for
Dr. Tillett's " before death." It is believed that men

90 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
who have lived under inferior dispensations, and hence
have not realized the necessary conditions for exerci
sing a faith that brings full salvation, will be saved at
death from all sinward depravity, just as we believe
infants are. We may discuss this point more fully in
another chapter, though we may never in this life per
fectly understand the rationale of this change at death.
5. If by " all sin " Dr. Tillett means actual or voli
tional sin, we do not concur with him, for we believe
one is saved from that in regeneration — from its guilt
and the necessity for its commission. But if by the
term he means what is usually called " original " or
" inbred " sin, " sin dwelling in us," " sinwardness," a
" bias toward sin," or " sinful feelings," we accept that
part of his hypothetical proposition. We do not be
lieve that, as a rule, men are saved from this or these
in regeneration.
Now, with these concessions and explanations, we
are prepared to answer Dr. Tillett's carefully worded
question in the affirmative. And we shall humbly try
to establish this proposition by an appeal to both Scrip
ture and experience. Before presenting this proof,
however, it may be well to state more specifically what
we hope to establish. We may be able to do this
more satisfactorily by stating more clearly the oppos
ing theories and the objections to our theory. It is
held by the other side :
1. That we are thoroughly saved in regeneration.
2. That the almost universal testimony of experience
which seems to contradict this theory, by declaring
that certain evils remain in the heart after regenera
tion, may be accounted for in two ways : ( 1 ) That
the supposed "remains of the carnal mind" in the

SANCTIFICATION SINCE PENTECOST. 91
heart after regeneration are only the evidences of a
struggle between the rectified will and the innocent
appetites and propensities pressing upon the will of
our purified nature ; that it is temptation coming from
a thoroughly renewed nature rather than from an
impure heart. (2) That if this evil does really exist
in the heart after regeneration, it results from back
sliding. 3. It is insisted by others that we are not, and cannot
be, fully saved from selfishness or spiritual depravity
in this life.
4. That if we are made perfect in love before death
we reach such a state by a gradual growth in grace,
and that we cannot know when we reach it ; that nei
ther the Holy Spirit nor consciousness gives clear and
unmistakable testimony to the fact.
5. That men's testimony to this experience is " col
ored" by their theory, and is therefore not very re
liable. 6. That this supposed instantaneous and profound sec
ond experience or work is only one of many gracious
experiences that come to the faithful believer ; that he
receives many such baptisms of the Spirit without
being entirely sanctified; indeed, that no baptism of
the Spirit brings entire sanctification before death.
Now we hope to show by proof from Scripture and
experience that no one of these positions is tenable.
We trust the reader will remember these positions as
we proceed with the evidence and argument.

CHAPTER VIII.
Sanctification Subsequent to Regeneration
and Instantaneous — Scripture Proof.
Our first appeal is to the Bible. Our thesis, as ex
plained in the last chapter, does not require us to prove
that no believers are wholly sanctified at regeneration,
and that hence a second change must be wrought in
all the regenerate to thoroughly save them from sin
wardness or depravity, and fit them for heaven. For
it was conceded that full provision has been made for
complete salvation in conversion, and that this thor
ough work may be wrought at that time if the human
conditions are perfect. It may not be amiss here to
restate and emphasize this last noted fact or theory.
We again quote from Dr. Withers, who has written
very thoughtfully on this subject. He says :
Scientifically it stands thus: Jesus died, God is satisfied; I
believe, the Spirit enters ; I am sanctified. But when the sin
ner comes to reduce that science to practice, we find that he
was not sanctified at first. In truth he did not expect it, for he
did not clearly comprehend the full force of the definition. He
did not know what he needed further than to be forgiven. He felt
himself a sinner, and wanted God to forgive him. He did not
think about sanctification. He was not far enough advanced
in grace to have an opinion on the subject.
Continuing, Dr. Withers well says again :
So far as the system of grace is concerned, he might have
enjoyed the full blessing by a single act of faith. But general
ly men do not make that step. So universal is the practice of
making a second step to stand when we might have stood with
one step, that both the Scr.ptures and the standards, viewing
(92)

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 93
the subject from the practical and not the scientific standpoint,
describe it as a second blessing. It is in here between the ini
tial faith, with its accompanying grace, and the perfected faith,
with its perfecting grace, that we find the majority of experi
ences and a numerous class of scriptures.
All, then, that we are required to prove from the
Scriptures and experience is that some believers, it may
be many or few, are not fully sanctified in regenera
tion. Our position might be strengthened should it
appear that this: is generally, if not quite universally,
the case with .believers.
1. As our first Scripture proof, we cite the case of
the 'apostles; at Pentecost. We think it has already
been shown in the sixth chapter,
(1) That they had previously been regenerated.
They had been "chosen out of the world," and had
been sent out to preach the gospel. Jesus had said of
them, '^They are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world," and thai their names had been " written
in heaven." : They seem to have received a fuller meas
ure of the^Spirit when he "breathed on them" and said,
;" Receive ye the Holy Ghost "—an " earnest of Pente
cost." \He had declared that they were "branches" of
;himself,!*' the. true vine," and that, in a certain sense,
'they were " clean! "' through the word he had spoken
unto theni — bad at least been cleansed from guilt.
Now, if they were vitally related to him by faith, as the
¦branch is to the: vine, and -if they had been "purged,"
,'pruned, or' cleansed j in a certain sense, as a condition of
their bearing: 'fruit, which- they must in some measure
have borne, they certainly had been regenerated.
(2) They had; not been Wholly sanctified — thor
oughly cleansed rand renewed in love. As we saw in

94 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Chapter VI., they were before Pentecost doubting, un
believing, worldly, ambitious, and vindictive in spirit.
Also that some, if not all of them, were weak, self-
seeking, vacillating, and cowardly in disposition, for
saking and denying their Lord in his darkest hour.
These things clearly indicate that they had not been
made " perfect in love."
(3) They were fully saved, instantaneously sancti
fied, at Pentecost. First, the prophecies of the Old
Testament which predicted thorough cleansing, per
fect renewing or healing, and abundant empowering
of the disciples, were fulfilled at Pentecost. Secondly,
those of the New Testament which promised a bap
tism of the Holy Ghost and fire, purifying, refining,
and invigorating their hearts, were redeemed at the
same time. So also were those that related to their
being so filled with the Spirit of refreshment and joy
and strength that they would send out " rivers of liv
ing water" to others. Thirdly, the prayer of our
Lord that they should be sanctified through " the
truth " and through the Spirit's purifying their hearts
by faith, and filling them with a love that was as
unselfish as his own, was answered then. Fourthly,
the thoroughness and instantaneousness of this work
at Pentecost are further indicated by the marked if
not radical change that was wrought in the lives of
the apostles, and by the suddenness with which the
work was done, answering to all the demands of a
baptism of fire and power. In addition to the admitted
fact that the content of an inspired prophecy or prayer
clearly indicates the nature and thoroughness of the
work wrought in fulfillment of or answer thereto,
when the necessary human conditions exist, the record

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 95
in Acts shows that such work did come to the apostles
at Pentecost. Also that it manifested its completeness
in their subsequent lives. For a fuller presentation of
this argument the reader is referred to Chapter VI. To
our mind this proof seems most conclusive, amounting
almost to a demonstration.
2. As our second Scripture proof, we cite the cases of
others whose baptism by the Spirit subsequently to Pen
tecost is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, some of
which are noted by Gordon, McNeil, Steele, and others
who have written on this subject. We pass over the
case of the three thousand who believed on the day of
Pentecost. The record is not clear concerning their ex
perience or as to the extent with which the Holy Ghost
came upon them at that time. However, before Peter
commenced his sermon they were " devout men," who
were most probably in the dispensation of the Father.
Although Peter assures them that the promise of the
Spirit had been made to them, and that they should on
certain conditions "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,"
it is not clear that they then received him in the same
degree of fullness with which he came upon the one
hundred and twenty in the upper room. It is not said
that they were on that day " filled with the Holy Ghost" ;
but the record in Acts iv. 31 indicates that in a few
days after Pentecost this blessing came upon them.
For the statement in that verse, that after they had
"prayed" "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,"
seems to include a good part of the multitude of be
lievers — "the people" and "their own company" — as
well as the one hundred and twenty. See verses 1 and
23. This may have been the Pentecost of the five thou
sand who were added to the Lord within a few days.

gb SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
But the cases of others noticed later on are believed
by many interpreters to be more clearly in proof.
( i ) Take that of the disciples at Samaria, converted
under the ministry of Philip, an account of which we
have in Acts viii. 5-17. Under this evangelist's preach
ing, these people are said to have given "heed unto
those things which Philip spoke," to have " received
the word of God," to have been " baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus," and to have been the subjects of
" great joy " because of what Philip said and did in
their midst. All this occurred before the apostles
came down from Jerusalem to " pray for " and most
probably further instruct them, in order that they
might " receive the Holy Ghost " in his fullness.
They were doubtless regenerate and in the dispensa
tion of the Son before the apostle's coming to induct
them into that of the Holy Ghost, at which time they
seem to have come into possession of the same measure
of the Spirit that was given to the " upper room " dis
ciples. (2) The case of Cornelius, recorded in the tenth of
Acts, has already been noticed. We refer to it again
to say that, before he sent for and heard Peter, under"
whose instruction the " Holy Ghost fell on " him as he
did on the disciples at Pentecost, Cornelius was most
probably in a regenerate state. At any rate he was
"devout," prayerful, charitable, and in a state of ac
ceptance with God. And if he had died before he saw
and heard Peter, we are sure that he would have been
saved. He lacked the baptism of the Holy Ghost —
the being filled with the Spirit — to put him in the same
spiritual state with the "upper-room" disciples. This,
Peter tells us in Acts xv. 7-9, was done for him at the

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 97
time indicated in Acts x. in that he was filled with the
Holy Ghost and his heart was purified by faith.
(3) We cite the oft-noticed case of the Ephesian
disciples, given in Acts xix. 1-7. Now let us note
that these men were "disciples" who "believed" on
Christ and had been " baptized " with John's baptism.
They had most probably been introduced by the Bap
tist or some other preacher into the dispensation of the
Son, and had, hence, been regenerated. But they had
not received the Holy Ghost in his fullness, either at
their conversion or afterwards. Paul proceeded to in
struct them as to their privileges, and to induct them
into the dispensation of the Spirit, they being then
baptized with the Holy Ghost. For it seems that at
the time they believed on Christ and were baptized
they were not told of " the gift of the Holy Ghost,"
and that it was their privilege to receive him in the
fullness of his blessing, as is unfortunately the case
with most preachers and their congregations in the
present day.
As we know but little, if anything, of the subsequent
history of those Samarian, Cornelian, or Ephesian dis
ciples, we cannot determine from that history, as we
did in the case of the apostles, what changes were
wrought in their experience and lives by the gift or
baptism of the Spirit, which came to them after their re
generation. The presumption from the circumstances,
however, is that they were substantially if not identi
cally the same with those of the one hundred and twenty
in the upper room. And that is the opinion of such
interpreters as Drs. Gordon and Steele, Messrs. Mur
ray, Meyer, and others, already referred to.
Dr. Mudge would explain the case of the Ephesian
7

98 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
disciples on the theory that they were living under an
inferior dispensation and knew only the baptism of
John, not having been instructed by a gospel minister
as to their privileges under the dispensation of the
Spirit, ushered in at Pentecost. But what will he say
of the Samaritans, discipled by Philip? Philip was a
gospel minister, " full of the Holy Ghost," consciously
living under the dispensation of the Spirit, and doubt
less preached a full gospel to them. See Acts vi. 3—5.
It seems to have been about a year after Pentecost;
and he, if not one of the apostles, was most probably
one of the one hundred and twenty, or at least of the
thousands converted at Pentecost or soon thereafter,
and probably lived in or about Jerusalem. And these
Samaritans were given Christian rather than John's
baptism. But the Holy Ghost had not fallen on them
in the fullness of his power. They needed a measure
of the Spirit — some kind of a blessing from him —
which they did not receive when they believed and
were baptized under the ministry of Philip. And
after the apostles came and " prayed for them," they
received it. Mark the difference between these and
the Ephesian disciples. (1) They had a better in
formed preacher. Philip, under the influence of the
Spirit with whom he was filled, preached " the things
concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus
Christ " — things concerning the dispensation of the Son,
if not of the Spirit, called by way of preeminence "the
kingdom of God." (2 ) They were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus," the same baptism that was given the
Ephesians after Paul found them, the latter having re
ceived only John's baptism before.
But Dr. Mudge resorts to what he thinks is a better

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 99
translation of the passage in Acts xix. 2, that of the
Revised Version: "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost
when ye believed ? " He admits that the Authorized
Version, " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed?" would seem to give some sanction to the
theory that after conversion a second work, called " re
ceiving the Holy Ghost," is essential to the full equip
ment of the believer," meaning his full salvation. But
Dr. Steele answers this by saying : " Whether we read
Acts xix. 2, ' Have ye received the Holy Ghost since
ye believed?' as Bengel, Meyer, and others do, or
' when ye believed ? ' as the Revised Version does, is
immaterial. It is evident that the persons addressed as
disciples and believers were lacking in some great
spiritual blessing necessary to the perfection of their
Christian character and to their highest efficiency."
According to the theory which we have propounded
— that one may be fully sanctified in regeneration — it
matters not, as Dr. Steele says, which way we trans
late the apostle's words. On that theory he might
with propriety ask whether they " received the Holy
Ghost," in his fullness, at or subsequent to their con
version — the time when they "believed" unto salva
tion — unto pardon and regeneration.
Drs. Mudge and Tillett, however, dissent from that
view of the matter, the former expressly and the latter
by implication or in a general way. Indeed, both of
them seem to doubt the identity of the baptism at Pen
tecost with the work of entire sanctification or perfect
love. We are persuaded that neither of these authors
attaches the importance to what is called "the bap
tism," the in-filling, or " the gift of the Holy Ghost,"
that the Scriptures and other learned interpreters of

IOO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
the Word do. They concede that such baptism may
mark an important "epoch" in the believer's history,
but do not believe that it effects the marked and thor
ough change in his condition which the advocates of
the second- work theory insist is done by that baptism.
After discussing the matter somewhat at length, Dr.
Mudge says :
Our conclusion is that all true Christians, when they are
born of the Spirit, are filled with the Spirit up to their capacity
at that time, are baptized with the Spirit, and may receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, even the Spirit of adoption or the Spirit
of holiness, whereby they cry to God, Father! and are made
holy. Dr. Tillett says :
Spiritual blessings and baptisms of the Spirit are experiences
subsequent to regeneration, which come instantaneously to be
lievers whenever they are needed and sought in faith; but
they are not, like regeneration, " radical " operations of the
Spirit within and upon the moral nature.
It will be noticed that, while controverting what we
regard as the scriptural theory of the baptism of the
Spirit, Drs. Mudge and Tillett, yielding, it is believed,
to the force of testimony from Christian experience, if
not from Bible teaching, concede nearly or quite all
that is claimed by that theory. In referring to the
believer's various baptisms of the Spirit, the former
says : " The most important of these may perhaps be
called the ' second blessing,' counting it, as indeed it
is, a very wonderful and precious and stirring epoch in
their experience." The latter says : " The blessing
which some believers experience subsequent to their
regeneration, whether it be a second blessing or '¦the
second blessing,' certainly marks a mighty change for

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. IOI
good in their spiritual lives, and must therefore come
from God."
I . They concede that this " most important " bap
tism is subsequent to regeneration. 2. That it is
epochal and "instantaneous" in Christian experience.
In another place Dr. Mudge calls it a " crisis." 3.
That it " certainly marks a mighty change for good
in their spiritual lives" being a " very wonderful and
precious and stirring epoch in their experience" On
the preceding page Dr. Mudge calls it a "quickening
or strengthening or uplifting of the spiritual life."
In giving his experience, he says of one of these
baptisms, received about three years after his conver
sion : "It was certainly a memorable hour, a turning
point in my life, from which dates a decided change
in my experience. I returned to school a different in
dividual. There was no more shirking of duty. I
implicitly obeyed whatever I felt to be the orders of
God. I bore clear testimony to the full salvation with
which God had so wonderfully enriched my soul"
And the Doctor tells us that this baptism came from a
fuller consecration and an "appropriating faith" and
adds : " My steps have been forward from that day in
August, i860, to this" — it was "permanent."
Where is the sober advocate of the " second-bless
ing," " second- work," " perfect-love," or " pentecostal
baptism " theory of sanctification, who claims more for
it than Dr. Mudge concedes here in his baptism or ex
perience ? He calls it a " turning point," a " decided
change," and a " full salvation," that made him a " dif
ferent individual," and " wonderfully enriched his soul,"
lifting him to and starting him along a higher plane of
obedience, on which he has ever since steadily walked.

102 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Yet Dr. Mudge fails to see that even this " most im
portant " baptism, though a " full salvation," saves
from all spiritual depravity. And Dr. Tillett cannot see
that this " mighty change" involves any '" radical' op
eration of the Spirit within and upon the moral nature "
of its subject. Nor do we see that this " change " is
" radical " except in the sense of the Spirit's removing
from the soul the disease, the impurity, the roots of or
the bias to and weakness of sin, and his bringing to it
perfect health, purity, and power, a work that was be
gun in regeneration, when the guilt of sin was removed
and its power or dominion was broken.
Truth and candor require admissions on our part
that may bring Drs. Mudge and Tillett and ourself
nearer together than we seem to be. We concede that,
as Dr. Mudge says, " all true Christians, when they
are born of the Spirit, are filled with the Spirit up to
their capacity [we should say faith] at that time, are
baptized with the Spirit, in a certain sense, and receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost, even the Spirit of adoption,
or the Spirit of holiness, whereby they cry to God,
'Father,' and are made holy" in part. We believe
that was to some extent — up to the measure of their
faith — the experience of the apostles before Pentecost,
and of others to-day before they reach their personal Pen
tecost. But the apostles were not, and these others are
not, in possession of what is called by preeminence " the
promise of the Father," "the gift" or "baptism of
the Holy Ghost," or what Dr. Mudge calls " the most
important " of these gifts or baptisms of the Spirit.
And we agree with Dr. Mudge that " a baptism of
the Holy Ghost, as the words are used now — that is, a
quickening, or strengthening, or uplifting of the spirit-

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. IO3
ual life — may be a very great thing or a comparatively
small thing, something permanent or something eva
nescent, according to circumstances." Also, that "be
ing filled with the Holy Ghost may mean much or
more or most." And we are also inclined to accept
the theory of Dr. Steele, that there are three kinds of
baptism or fullness of the Spirit — the "ecstatic" or
"emotional" fullness, the "charismatic" or "prophetic"
fullness, and the "ethical" or "moral" fullness — "the
fullness of righteousness."
1. The first of these — the "emotional" fullness —
may be realized in regeneration, and, as Dr. Steele
says, " may temporarily conceal, but does not remove,
the evils of the heart," being, as Dr. Mudge states,
" evanescent " and leaving no permanent moral effect.
This is what Mr. Fletcher thinks was realized in case
of most of the multitude at Pentecost. While he con
cedes that some or many of them may have been made
perfect in love, he thinks that some, if not most of
them, " may have had the imperfection of their love
only covered over by a land flood [freshet] of peace
and joy in believing." Mr. Wesley speaks of those
who at conversion felt no sin in the heart and con
cluded, hence, that there was none, but who were soon
undeceived. And this seems to be the case with many
of the present day at their conversion, or at other
marked periods in their history subsequent thereto.
They feel nothing but love at the time — seem to be on
a higher spiritual plane — but soon after their conver
sion or reconsecration they or others see their mistake.
It was only an "emotional" fullness.
2. The second kind, or "charismatic" fullness, is an
extraordinary gift of the Spirit, which seems sometimes

104 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
to be bestowed on unconverted men like Balaam and
some of whom our Lord speaks in Matthew vii. 21-23,
and to whom Paul refers in 1 Corinthians xiii. 2, as well
as men of modern times, who, at least, seem to have a
large degree of evangelistic power — ability to reach
others — but who have not themselves been reached by
the saving grace of the gospel. This gift may also come
to converted men whose salvation is comparatively su
perficial, or, at least, is not complete, but who seem to
have on them the "burden of souls," and who have a
good degree of, at least, apparent success in winning
them to Christ. How often is this the case with
preachers and laymen, who are very zealous for the
salvation of others, but who feel before, during, and
after the revival that their own experience is not en
tirely satisfactory. This gift may also and very espe
cially come to the believer who has been profoundly
and thoroughly saved, giving great power and success
to his efforts to save others.
3. Of the third kind, or "ethical" fullness of the
Spirit, Dr. Steele well says that it
must imply entire sanctification — the permanent gracious pres
ence in the soul of the Holy Spirit, in his fullness, not as an
extraordinary gift, but as a Person having the right of way
through soul and body, having the keys to even the inmost
rooms, illuminating every closet and pervading every crevice
of the nature, filling the entire being with holy love. This we
may call the ethical fullness, or the fullness of righteousness,
to distinguish it from the ecstatic and the charismatic fullness.
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled."
Facts seem to indicate that the sanctified believer
may have the fullness of the Spirit in only one or in all
three of these senses — at least not have the first two in

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. IO5
large measure. He may receive the " ethical " fullness
without much accompanying emotion or a very large
bestowment of the gift of prophecy or talent for use
fulness ; or he may have all three of these gifts come
to him in abundant measure at the hour when "the
promise of the Father " is fulfilled in him by " the bap
tism of the Holy Ghost."
Dr. Mudge seems right, then, in saying that "a
baptism with the Holy Ghost . . . may be a very
great thing or a comparatively small thing, something
permanent or something evanescent, according to cir
cumstances." Also, that "being 'filled with the Holy
Ghost ' may mean much or more or most." Both an
" emotional " and a " charismatic " fullness may be " a
comparatively small thing," and both of them may be
" evanescent," while an " ethical " fullness is a " very
great thing," and may be "something permanent."
And this "ethical" work of the Spirit "may mean
much or more or most" under different dispensations
and to different individuals under the same dispensa
tion. It meant "much" to Job, "more" to the apos
tles before Pentecost, and " most " to them afterwards.
It may have meant "much" to the twelve Ephesian
disciples before they received John's baptism, and
"more" after that, and "most" when Paul, twenty
years after Pentecost, "prayed for them" and "they
received the Holy Ghost" in still greater fullness.
And so it may be to-day with different individuals under
varying circumstances, and of the same individual at
different periods in his history.
Dr. Mudge not only doubts whether Cornelius and
those Ephesian disciples were at the times referred to
the subjects of entire sanctification, in the Wesleyan

106 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
meaning of that term, but he entertains the same doubt
concerning the apostles and others of the one hundred
and twenty at Pentecost. He would explain the great
change wrought in and upon them by the fact of their
passing from a lower dispensation into that of the
Spirit, in harmony with the theory propounded and
elaborated in some of the early chapters of this book.
The chief, if not the only, difference between his theory
and ours seems to be that he does not admit that the
Spirit, under this dispensation, saves the believer from
all selfishness — from all that kind of depravity which
is contrary to or inconsistent with perfect, pure, or un
mixed love, while we insist that this ethical baptism or
fullness of the Spirit did at Pentecost and does now,
on condition of consecration and faith, purify the be
liever from all this. And we think Dr. Mudge is un
fortunate in adducing the recorded experience of Dr.
Steele in support of his theory. After discussing the
case of the apostles and citing the experience of Mr.
Wesley, he says :
A strikingly similar case has occurred in more recent days
— that of the distinguished author and theological teacher, the
Rev. Daniel Steele, D.D. In November, 1870, he, being at
that time professor at Genesee College, tells us that, " after an
earnest and persistent struggle, he entered into a spiritual en
lightenment entirely inconceivable before, a permanent spirit
ual exaltation and fullness." As to his previous life, he says:
" My experience was never marked. I never could tell the
day of my conversion. . . . Hence my utterances have
been feeble and destitute of power ... I will not dwell
on the unpleasant theme of a ministry of twenty years almost
fruitless in conversions, through a lack of the unction from the
Holy One. . . . The Holy Spirit, though formally ac
knowledged and invoked, was practically ignored. ... I
believe myself to have been in the pre-pentecostal state. . .

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. I07
I believe that I dwelt a long time in the dispensation of the
Father, a shorter period in that of the Son, and that now at
length, by the grace of God, I have entered that of the Holy
Ghost. In the first period I enjoyed the first element of the
kingdom, righteousness or justification — dikaiosyne — an act of
the Father; in the second place, the legacy of the risen Jesus;
and in the third, joy, the endowment of the Holy Ghost."
Dr. Mudge would explain Dr. Steele's professed ex
perience of entire sanctification, as a second work, real
ized subsequent to regeneration, on the theory that
conversion is more thorough and involves the gift of a
larger measure of the Spirit under some circumstances
than it is and does under others, a fact that is cheer
fully conceded. In other words, that when Dr. Steele
" entered into a spiritual enlightenment entirely incon
ceivable before" he simply came into the dispensation
of the Spirit, and was only more thoroughly regener
ated and received more fully the witness of the Spirit,
without being saved from all selfishness or depravity.
We admit that Dr. Steele only then came fully into the
dispensation of the Spirit, but we deny Dr. Mudge's
inference therefrom. For we think that an analysis
of Dr. Steele's experience, quoted above and given
elsewhere in his writings, will show that it tends to es
tablish rather than disprove our theory as to the char
acter of the work wrought at Pentecost, and at Ephe
sus, twenty years later.
1. Dr. Mudge seems to think that Dr. Steele's "pre~
pentecostal " experience was below the ordinary or
average experience of the believer under this dispensa
tion, and that his ministry was less fruitful than the
average, while this second or third experience only
brought him up to that average. But Dr. Steele says
that while in the dispensation of the Son he had the

Io8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
" peace " which is " the legacy of the risen Jesus." And
four years later, in speaking of that experience, he says :
"I loved Jesus, studied his character with increasing
admiration, and preached him with delight" He had
some measure of "peace," "love," and "delight" in his
service. Can the average Christian, who doubts Dr.
Steele's theory of "perfect love," claim more for his
own experience? What Dr. Steele did mourn over
was a " void " or " vacuum " in his nature, the " frac
tional" or imperfect quality of his "love," and a lack
of " power " in his preaching.
2. What Dr. Mudge thinks was simply or chiefly
Dr. Steele's receiving the witness of the Spirit, the lat
ter calls " a permanent spiritual exaltation and fullness."
This fullness seems, from other statements made later
on, to have been threefold — "ecstatic," "charismatic,"
and "ethical," especially the last. For he had "joy"
and " power " in preaching, while the " vacuum " in
his soul was filled with a love that was "perfect."
Four years later he said :
He [the Spirit] has unlocked every apartment of my being,
and filled and flooded them all with the light of his radiant
presence. The vacuum has become a plenum. . . . O the
indescribable sweetness of this perfect love, after many years of
love painfully imperfect and divided! What that void within was,
what that untouched core of my being — whether it was selfish
ness, unbelief, original or inbred sin — I leave to the theologians
to discuss. I aver that it was something very uncomfortable.
Praise the Lord Jesus, it is gone, never to return. Joy did not
go with it, but stays behind it. The Man of Calvary, the Son
of God, treads all the avenues of my soul, filling its emptiness,
melting its hardness, cleansing its impurity, and pouring upon my
iead "the blessed unction from above, comfort, life, and fire of love.
One year later he says :
Another reason why continued testimonies to the mighty

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. I09
Healer of my soul are demanded is because each successive
year demonstrates more and more fully the completeness and
permanence of the cure. Time magnifies the keeping power of
Christ. Another year later, the seventh anniversary of his
entering into this "spiritual exaltation and fullness,"
he says :
The chief characteristic of the seven past years of my Chris
tian life is soul-rest, running through every day and hour like a
little golden thread. " For we which have believed do enter
into rest."
Does this look like his was merely a more thorough
conversion, which brought him only or chiefly a clearer
witness of the Spirit? Such witness it did indeed
bring, but that was only an accompaniment of that " ex
altation," "fullness," "rest," and "perfect love" that
came with it. Dr. Steele thus speaks of that witness :
How changed is all this now, " through the full assurance of
understanding, the full assurance of faith, the full assurance of
hope," the contents of which are that I am now and wholly
forever the Lord's ! This assurance has not been interrupted for
one moment for five years.
Two years later Dr. Steele, in speaking of his ex
perience, calls it :
Salvation from doubt, the disturber of the soul's peace.
This is an element [not all of it] of the uninterrupted Sabbath
of love made perfect, and it differs from the ordinary witness
of the Spirit in two particulars — it is abiding and not intermit
tent, and it attests purity as well as pardon.
That this blessing was bestowed on Dr. Steele after
he came into the dispensation of the Son, and had re
ceived the witness of his adoption as a son, is proved
by what he says of his experience before that time.
In a letter to the writer, dated 10 February, 1898, Dr.

HO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Steele, referring to that experience, says : " I am sure
that I was regenerated and had the witness of the
Spirit intermittently during twenty-eight years, and
the last year was conscious of a larger growth in spir
ituality." He was not then, by the way, in a back
slidden state when this blessing came. In the same
letter, referring to his post-pentecostal experience,
given in his Mile-Stone Papers and quoted above,
Dr. Steele says that "it continues the same up to date"
— "soul-rest running through every day and hour,"
his "assurance not having been interrupted for one
moment" in twenty-seven years.
And Dr. Steele goes on year after year down to the
present, as we see, bearing this testimony to the thor
oughness of the work wrought in his soul twenty-
seven 'years ago, completely saving him from spiritual
depravity, and filling him with pure, unmixed, "perfect
love," as well as giving him the " abiding " witness of
the Spirit. And he is not what might be called a
" swift " or partial witness, but rather a prejudiced and
unwilling one. For he once rejected and opposed this
theory. And, as an intelligent and cultivated witness,
he ought to be as well qualified for interpreting and
applying his own experience as Dr. Mudge is. And
that experience, as given and interpreted by himself,
tends most strongly to confirm, rather than disprove,
the theory that the one hundred and twenty at Pente
cost, as well as Cornelius, the Samaritans, Ephesians,
and others noticed, were fully sanctified by the " ethical "
fullness or baptism of the Spirit, which they received
when ushered into the dispensation of the Holy Ghost.
While the record is not so full and clear in the case of
the disciples at Samaria and Ephesus as it is in that of

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. Ill
the apostles at Pentecost, yet the general fact that their
avowal of faith in Christ, against all their traditions
and prejudices, and in the face of persecution for his
sake, indicates a degree of surrender, consecration, and
faith that would make them ready and fitted for receiv
ing God's full blessing.
In a former chapter we said that this view of the
effect produced by the pentecostal baptism was and is
held by leading Methodist authors and others. We
content ourselves with an extract from the Rev. Rich
ard Watson, who is still regarded by many as the
ablest divine that Methodism has ever produced. In
one of his sermons on this subject, he says :
We should greatly narrow our view of the subject if we
confined the effects of these operations of the Holy Spirit
merely to his miraculous gifts. That which the apostles re
ceived in addition was infinitely more valuable than these gifts,
however important they were to the success of their public
ministry. The visible tongues of fire were only emblems of
what passed within. It was indeed a baptism of fire to them.
What new creatures did they now become! They were raised
from earthliness to spirituality. Their gross conceptions of
the kingdom of Christ were purged away. The bright flame
irradiated their dim eyes to perceive the true and full meaning
of the sacred Scriptures, kindled the ardor of an unquenchable
love to Christ, and transformed them into bright reflections of
his own purity. They came together the sincere, but timid
and partially enlightened, followers of Christ; and they de
parted full of light, power, and love.
If, as Mr. Watson says, "it was indeed a baptism of
fire to them," and "kindled the ardor of an unquench
able love to Christ, and transformed them into bright
reflections of his purity," filling them with "light and
power and love," they must have been fully saved —
entirely sanctified.

CHAPTER IX.
Sanctification Subsequent to Regeneration
and Instantaneous — Scripture Proof
Continued.
Having considered somewhat the proof of this prop
osition that comes to us from the Acts of the Apostles
— the record of the work of those godly men in found
ing and organizing the Church — we now turn to the
Epistles which they wrote to those churches touching
their privileges and duties and the means and condi
tions of their spiritual development — their establish
ment in faith and holiness.
Before doing so, however, we call attention to some
very suggestive observations of the Rev. Daniel Steele,
D.D., S.T.D., on " the tense readings of the Greek
New Testament." Dr. Steele ranks very high as a
Greek scholar, having been professor of New Testa
ment Greek in the Theological Department of Boston
University, besides filling two other theological chairs
in that institution and professorships in two other uni
versities. He has been called " the Fletcher of Amer
ica," because of his ability, scholarship, and piety. In
quoting him, Dr. Mudge calls him " the distinguished
author and theological teacher." Dr. Steele says :
In this age of astonishing scientific progress, when the mi
croscope applied to living tissues reveals whole continents of
evidences of design in bioplastic life and marvelously strength
ens theism in its debate with atheism, we have applied the
same instrument to the Greek Testament, in the aid of exege
sis in the interest of disputed truths, and for the refutation of
(112)

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. II3
certain doctrinal errors. Our microscope will be directed to a
long-neglected field of research, the Greek tenses, not for the
purpose of discovering new truths, but for the confirmation
and clear elucidation of verities as old as Revelation.
In the field of exegetics the late advance has been in the
most searching grammatical analysis, attending to the accents,
the particles, the tenses, and the emphatic order of the words.
This results from the greater accuracy of modern scholarship.
Most of our standard commentaries were written by annotators
trained to disregard the minutiae of the Greek language. But
Dean Alford, Bishop Ellicott, and other late sacred scholars en
rich their notes with gems of truth discovered by applying the
microscope of modern learning. They call frequent attention
to the tenses as conveying important truth. Recent Greek
Testament grammarians, such as Winer and the younger
Buttman, indignantly rebuke the blindness of the old annota
tors to the value of the tenses. Says Winer, the highest au
thority in the grammar of the Greek Testament: " In regard to
the tenses of the verb, Greek Testament grammarians and ex
positors have exhibited very great misapprehensions. In gen
eral, the tenses are employed with exactly the same accuracy
as in Greek authors."
Dr. Steele continues :
That the English scholar may understand our argument
and our illustrations, we give the following definitions: The
present tense denotes what is now going on, and indicates a
continuous, repeated, or habitual action, as, / am writing. The
imperfect denotes the same continuity or repetition in the past,
as, / was writing. "The aorist indicative," says Goodwin, "ex
presses the simple momentary occurrence of an action in past
tense, as, / wrote" The perfect denotes an action as already
finished at the present time, as, I ltave written; my writing is
just now finished. . . The chief peculiarity lies in the
aorist. We have in the English no tense like it. Except in
the indicative it is timeless, and in all the moods indicates what
Kreuger styles " singleness of act."
Dr. Steele fortifies his position by the following quo
tations from Buttman's New Testament Grammar :

114 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
The established distinction between the aorist as a purely
narrative tense [expressing something momentary], and the im
perfect as a descriptive tense [expressing something contem
poraneous or continuous], holds in all its force in the New Testa
ment. Says Winer: "Nowhere in the New Testament does
the aorist express what is wont to be [a continuous process that
has been or is still going on]."
In applying these principles of grammar to the
Greek New Testament, Dr. Steele says :
i. All exhortations to prayer and spiritual endeavor in the
resistance of temptations are usually expressed in the present
tense, which strongly indicates persistence [a continuance of the
course, or a repetition of the act].
2. The next fact that impresses us in our investigation is the
absence of the aorist and the presence of the present tense whenever
the conditions of final salvation are stated [these conditions being
continuous, and extending through probation].
3. But when we come to consider the work of purification in
the believer's soul by the power of the Holy Spirit, both in the
new birth and in entire sanctification, we find that the aorist is
almost uniformly used. This tense, according to the best New
Testament grammarians, never indicates a continuous, habitual,
or repeated act [as in the process of growth], but one which is
momentary, and done once for all [as in a baptism].
After noting four classes of texts where there is real
or apparent exception to this rule — where the aorist
may "imply a state and not an isolated act" — Dr.
Steele says :
The aorists of verbs denoting sanctification and perfection
[perfect love], quoted in this essay, belong to no one of these
exceptional classes.
Dr. Steele closes this chapter with the following
words :
We have looked in vain to find one of these verbs in the
imperfect tense when individuals are spoken of. The verb
hagiazo, to sanctify, is always aorist or perfect. See Acts xx.

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. II5
32; xxvi. 18; Romans xv. 16; 1 Corinthians i. 2; 2 Timothy ii.
21; Hebrews x. 10, 29; Jude 1. The same may be said of the
verbs katharizo and haguizo, to purify. Our inference is that
the energy of the Holy Spirit in the -work of entire sanctification,
however long the preparation, is put forth at a stroke by a
momentary act. This is corroborated by the universal testimony
of those who have experienced this grace.
This seems to be a very important point, which
bears directly on the instantaneousness of the work of
sanctification. For the theory we are combating as
sumes that there are " no notes of time " — no intima
tions of the momentary completion of the work of
sanctification — in the passages usually quoted to prove
a second and instantaneous work of cleansing and em
powering. It assumes that these passages, especially
in the Epistles, contain nothing that shows an instan
taneous work in sanctification, as distinguished from
regeneration, or from a gradual growth in grace, as a
continuous process up to entire sanctification. If the
words translated "sanctify" and "purify," when ap
plied to individuals, are never in the imperfect tense,
thus indicating an unfinished or continued process, but
are always in the aorist or perfect tense, thus indica
ting a momentary or finished work, this sanctification
or purification must be instantaneous.
The general development, maturing or perfecting of
the life and character, made pure and comparatively
strong by this act of the Spirit, is quite another thing.
We do not speak of the gradual baptism of a believer,
or the gradual healing of a paralytic, but always think
of these acts as instantaneous and finished ones, while
the better life which follows these acts may be contin
ually growing, expanding, and improving. As illus
trating this difference let us examine a few passages

Il6 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of Scripture. Though not in the Epistles, let us take
John xvii. 17 : "Sanctify them through thy truth." On
this passage Dr. Steele says :
Sanctify (aorist, imperative) them once for all through thy
truth, that is, through faith in the distinctive office and work of
the Comforter. . . . Says Winer: "In the New Testament
the obvious distinction between the imperative aorist — as sanc
tify, above — and the imperative present is uniformly main
tained. The imperative aorist denotes an action that is either
rapidly completed and transient, or viewed as occurring but once''
Now, here, as we have seen, the term sanctify used
by our Lord in this prayer is in the imperative aorist,
and must refer to " either a rapidly completed and
transient" action or one that "occurs but once," like a
baptism. Then the sanctification for which he prayed
must have been instantaneous. And that it implied
something more than " separation and consecration " —
man's work — is evidenced by the fact that God was
asked to do this work for him. The holy lives which
the apostles subsequently lived resulted from this in
stantaneous work of cleansing and empowering.
Now let us consider one or two things which Paul
says to the church at Corinth, which he organized, and
to which he wrote two long Epistles. We approach
two passages about which a great deal has been writ
ten on both sides of this question — 1 Cor. iii. 1-4 and
2 Cor. vii. 1. In the first of these Paul is believed to
teach that men are not, or at least may not, be thor
oughly saved from "carnality," "filthiness of the flesh
and spirit," spiritual depravity, etc., in regeneration.
In the second he is believed to teach how and when
we may be saved from it or them.
After reading and rereading what Drs. Crane, Bo-
land, Tillett, and others have written to break the

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. II7
force of Mr. Wesley's construction of this passage, we
are still inclined to believe that he was substantially
correct in his interpretation, and for the following rea
sons :
1. These Corinthians were Christians. Paul calls
them "brethren" and "babes in Christ." He says
that he had "fed" them "with milk" — "the sincere
milk of the word" — and that this was still the proper
food for them. They had then been born again and
were still alive spiritually. For unborn or dead " babes "
are not " fed with milk."
2. This weak condition of babyhood seems not to
have resulted from backsliding, as is suggested by Drs.
Crane and Boland, but rather from a lack of development
or of the infusion of divine strength into their souls.
For Paul teaches that they had never been strong and
free from carnality : " For hitherto ye have not been
able to bear it." The term " hitherto " covers all their
history since their conversion, and shows that they had
been weak and carnal from the first, and not as the re
sult of backsliding. Hence he adds, " For ye are yet
carnal." If he had meant to charge them with back
sliding, would he not have said, " Ye have again be
come carnal" 'i
The truth seems to be that they had been born again
— had had some measure of life, " the divine nature,"
imparted to them — but as it was with the "thorny-
ground " hearers, that new life or nature did not fully
dominate their old or " carnal " nature. Rather, that
the latter largely dominated or was at least mixed with
the former, and found expression in feelings if not in
words of " envy," " strife," " divisions," etc. Observa
tion shows that too often, if not generally, after the

Il8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
" freshet " of love and joy — the " emotional fullness " —
that overflows the soul at conversion subsides, the
"carnal" nature shows its presence still, and often
finds such expression as it did at Corinth. And all ob
serving men must admit that because of differences in
human conditions a much more vigorous life — much
more of the divine nature — seems given to some men
at conversion than what comes to others. Dr. Mudge
takes this view, and puts the Wesleyan construction on
this passage.
But suppose they had backslidden, such result most
probably proceeded from the fact that they had not been
fully discipled — had not been baptized with, or filled
and strengthened and established by, the Holy Spirit,
and were hence, in the pre-pentecostal state, like the weak
and wavering apostles before Pentecost. Paul in these
Epistles instructs them, sets before them their privi
leges, gives them a bright picture of " perfect love" in
the thirteenth chapter of this Epistle, and in the sixth
and seventh chapters ot his second Epistle intimates
how this result, perfect love, may be brought about.
We now glance at 2 Corinthians vii. 1. Here is Dr.
Steele's note :
Let us cleanse [aorist] ourselves at a stroke from every
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting [present] holiness
in the fear of the Lord. If Paul had been exhorting to a
gradual inward cleansing, he would certainly have used the
present tense. . . . Cleansing is here viewed as a human
work, inasmuch as our application of the purifying power is
by faith, just as we are to "make ourselves new hearts "by
availing ourselves of the regenerating Spirit. Paul uses the
adhortative form, " let us cleanse," instead of the exhortatory
form, " cleanse ye," simply to soften the command by including
himself. The doctrine of this passage is that the faith which appro-

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. I IQ
priates the Sanctifier is a momentary act, lifting the soul out of
all outward or carnal, and inward or spiritual, sin. Had the
process of sanctification been like washing a mud statue — a
continuous and never completed work, as some teach— Paul
would not have failed to express this idea by using the present
tense, " Let us be continually cleansing," etc. While the Wes
leyan doctrine of instantaneous sanctification is taught by the
aorist tense in this verse, the seemingly paradoxical Wesleyan
doctrine of progressive sanctification is also taught by the
present participle, " perfecting holiness," etc. This word [" per
fecting"] in this passage is defined in Bagster's Greek Testa
ment Lexicon thus, "to carry into practice," "to realize." The
perfect inward cleansing instantaneously wrought by the Holy
Spirit through faith is to be constantly and progressively car
ried forward into all the acts of daily life, as the moral discrim
ination becomes more and more acute with the increase of
knowledge. That is, the cleansing or healing process — the sub
jective work — is instantaneously wrought by a baptism,
while the life of holiness proceeding therefrom grows
and improves as knowledge and skill increase.
Take 2 Timothy ii. 21 : "If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared
unto every good work." As Dr. Steele suggests,
"purge" here is in the aorist tense, and expresses a
definite and momentary act, while "sanctified" and
" prepared " are in the perfect tense, implying the per
manent and finished result of the one act of purging,
by which we are made " meet " or are fitted for God's
use or service. And the doing " every good work " is
the stream or life of holiness, proceeding from the
completed process of purging or cleansing, and which
may continually afterwards enlarge and grow.
Take the oft-quoted passage in 1 Thessalonians v.
23. On this passage Dr. Steele has the following :

120 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
And the very God of peace, once for all, sanctify [aorist]
you wholly, and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be pre
served [initial aorist, to mark the beginning in the heart of
the power that keeps the believer.] The nicety of Paul's
grammatical knowledge is seen in verse 25: "Brethren, pray
[present] for us. Greet [aorist] all the brethren with a holy
kiss." The praying was to be continuous, the kissing mo
mentary. We would stress the teaching of Paul in this well-
known passage. Notwithstanding the repeated efforts
to break its force in support of the theory of instanta
neous and entire sanctification, subsequent to regenera
tion, we insist that it clearly sustains this theory, and
for the following reasons :
1. These Thessalonians had been regenerated, were
already the subjects of a partial sanctification. Paul
had said to them : " We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our" prayers ;
remembering without ceasing your work of faith and
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ." 2. There is not the slightest intimation that their
having backslidden is the reason for the prayer of the
text, as may have been the case with his prayer for
" the churches of Galatia." On the contrary, he great
ly rejoices in their faithfulness and steadfastness, after
having sent Timotheus to see if they did "stand fast in
the Lord," if they had kept from backsliding. After the
latter reported to the apostle, he commended them most
highly, as worthy examples for others, without giving
the slightest intimation of any thing wrong in their spirit
or lives. Bishop Hendrix says that Paul " has nothing
but commendation in his first Epistle to them."
3. Yet he wanted to " perfect that which was lack-

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 121
ing in their faith," and prayed that God would "sanc
tify " them " wholly," that their " faich " might be made
" perfect " — be freed from mixture of unbelief, and that
they might be so established in love, so freed from
every antagonistic feeling or temper, as to be "pre
served blameless " in heart and life, in " spirit and soul
and body," "unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ." 4. What was implied in this complete sanctification
indicates it. (i ) Was it merely an act of fuller "sepa
ration from the world " and " self -consecration " to God ?
In addition to this, it was evidently a more thorough
work of God wrought in and upon man's moral or
spiritual nature. " The very God of peace himself
sanctify you wholly" is the language of the prayer. By
God's grace man consecrates himself to his service, but
God, by the power of his Spirit, fits him for that serv
ice and " preserves " him " blameless " in it so long as
he remains fully consecrated and trustful. (2) Was
this prayer for an entire sanctification which results
from a series of God's gifts of the Spirit, promoting a
gradual growth into this grace? On the contrary, as
already seen, the aorist indicates that this work was
completed by a momentary act, one mighty baptism of
the Spirit, to be followed by a " blameless " life pro
ceeding therefrom — a life that might expand indefi
nitely. (3) The terms "wholly," "whole spirit, and soul
and body," and "blameless" indicate the completeness
of this work, even salvation from all spiritual deprav
ity. The assurance of God's faithfulness in doing this
work indicates its certainty, when the human condi
tions are favorable, while the "blameless" life that fol-

122 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
lows shows that this thorough work may be wrought
before death, and be permanent.
Now let us look at Paul's teaching in the Epistle to
the Ephesians, written to that church some nine years
after he found those twelve disciples there who had
not received "the Holy Ghost" since they believed,
and about four years after he closed his pastorate
there, and had such a pathetic parting from the elders
of that church, a record of which we find in the nine
teenth and twentieth chapters of the Acts.
Take the passage found in chapter i. 15—19 :
( 1 ) Paul here says he gives God thanks unceasingly
for them, because he had heard of their " faith in the
Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints." Here is not
the slightest intimation of backsliding on the part of
these " saints which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in
Christ Jesus," as the reason for his prayer, but rather
the contrary for which he gives thanks.
(2) He prays "that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him : the eyes of your understanding being en
lightened ; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inher
itance in the saints, and what is the exceeding great
ness of his power to usward who believe, according to
the working of his mighty power?' etc. The end
of this prayer looks very much like that gift of the
Spirit promised and prayed for by our Lord in John
xiv. -xvii. — the Spirit who should illuminate their
minds, purify their hearts, and empower their souls as
he did at Pentecost. It is "the Spirit of wisdom,"
"revelation," "knowledge," "enlightenment," "hope,"

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 1 23
and "power" — the Spirit who would "take the things
of Christ and show them " unto his disciples, and in
due them with " power from on high." Paul evident
ly refers here to a glorious " revelation " to conscious
ness of " the riches " of our " inheritance," a foretaste of
future glory, " the earnest of our " inheritance of which
he had just written, and the exceeding greatness of his
power to usward who believe.
( 3 ) The aorists indicate that this blessing was to come
instantaneously, like a baptism, and not by a continuous
process or a series of acts of faith.
Let us examine that wonderful prayer and doxology
in Ephesians iii. 14—21, frequently referred to before.
1. We note the nature, thoroughness, and fullness
of the work for which Paul prays :
( 1 ) It was the impartation of strength to their faith
and the life that springs from it — " strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man."
( 2 ) The perfecting and establishing of them in love
by the enthronement of Christ in their hearts — " that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length and depth and height, and to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with all the fullness of God." If Christ
takes full possession of the heart and dwells therein,
to the end that we may be " rooted and grounded "
— fully established — "in love," and if we are "filled
with all the fullness of God," certainly all selfishness,
sin, and spiritual depravity would be excluded from our
hearts. This looks very much like the baptism of love
and power that came to the one hundred and twenty at

I24 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Pentecost, when they were " filled with the Holy
Ghost"— "all the fullness of God."
2. We note the time when this prayer was or may
have been answered — before death. The chief reason
for, or " cause " of, Paul's prayer, which he gives in the
thirteenth verse, indicates it : " that ye faint not at my
tribulations for you." It was that they might be so es
tablished in the faith that they would not backslide and
renounce Christianity because of the persecution that
came to him, the founder of their Church and their
leader, as Peter did because of the apparently fallen
fortunes of his Leader and Lord. The danger of such
apostasy came to them in this life.
3. The use of the aorist indicates that this work was
to be a momentary and instantaneous one, like that im
plied in a baptism. Dr. Steele says :
Here we have seven aorists in four verses: "grant," "be
strengthened," " dwell," or take up his abode, " may be able,''
"to comprehend," "to know," and "be filled." May we not
infer that Paul chose this tense to convey most strongly and
vividly the ability of Christ to do a great work in a short time,
to save believers fully, and to endow them with the fullness of
the Spirit? If gradual impartatlons of the Sanctifier had been
in his thought, it is strange that he did not use one present
tense to express endowment by degrees.
Dr. Steele quotes another learned critic, Dr. Karl
Braune, as saying : •
The Greek perfect participles rooted and grounded denote a
state in which they already are and continue to be, which is the
presupposition in order that they may be able to know. . . .
" To comprehend " (aorist) here means more than mere intellec
tual apprehension — a perception, but preeminently an inward
experience corresponding with " to know " (aorist) in verse 19.
(4) We note the certainty of this work's being

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 1 25
wrought in us when the necessary human conditions ex
ist. God's power and faithfulness are pledged to accom
plish it. It is " according to the riches of his glory," and
" the power? the mighty power of God, " that worketh
in us? and that is "able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think." These " riches " of
his grace and the mighty power of his Spirit prom
ised us give assurance of certainty and completeness in
this work. For a declaration of God's ability to do
for us " exceeding above all that we can ask or think "
involves his promise to do it if we perform the pre
scribed conditions of his working. And Paul, as an
inspired man, never prayed for that which is imprac
ticable. He certainly " knew what to pray for as he
ought," and was guided in asking what is " according
to the will of God."
Now, do not these facts show that an inspired apostle
prayed that a regenerated Church, which had not back
slidden, might have such a wonderful baptism of the
Spirit of power and love as would thoroughly save them
from selfishness, unbelief, and fear, and so establish them
that they would abide in the love of God and the practice
of holiness ? and that he pledged all the resources of
the Godhead to the accomplishment of this as an in
stantaneous work in their " hearts," their " inner man " ?
And does any one doubt that if his prayer was an
swered these Ephesians were fully saved and had as
surance of the fact?
In the next chapter (Ephesians iv. 11-15) Paul
teaches that our Lord has planned and provided for
developing the necessary human conditions for an an
swer to the apostle's prayer for that Church. In the
eleventh verse he calls attention to his gift of a corps

126 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of workers ("apostles," "prophets," "evangelists,"
" pastors," and " teachers " ) for bringing about the con
ditions of this baptism and the subsequent development
of believers. In the twelfth and thirteenth verses he
is believed to refer to that " perfecting of the saints "
in faith and love which comes with the baptism of the
Spirit, while in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses he
seems to note the growth toward maturity and the
ideal perfection of our Lord's life, resulting from the
perfection of love, purity of heart, and endowment with
strength involved in such baptism.
We are aware that some critics construe this passage
differently, and understand St. Paul in the fourteenth and
fifteenth verses virtually to restate and amplify the doc
trine of the twelfth and thirteenth verses. Meyer is not
very clear or decided, leaning rather to the latter view.
This fact may, however, be attributed to dogmatic rea
sons — his denominational bias — and his failure to note
the force of the aorist tense, writing before special atten
tion had been called to its force. Dr. Clarke, possibly
for the latter reason, seems inclined to the same view.
Yet, in his note on a parallel passage to which he here
refers, he gives this definition of " perfecting the
saints " : " This perfection or rejointing of the soul im
plies the purification and placing every faulty passion
and appetite in its proper place; so that the original
order, harmony, unity, and purity of the soul may be
restored" — the work of spiritual baptism. On the same
verse he defines it as "the graces that constitute the
mind of Christ, such as brotherly love, charity, har
mony, unity, and order." Such "perfecting" or "per
fection of the saints " — a perfection of quality or na
ture — perfect purity of heart and " unity " of soul in

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 127
love to God and man — may come instantaneously with
the baptism or gift of the Spirit of anointing and
power. And so may we " come to the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ." All this may come with or be involved in
such a baptism of the Spirit as came at Pentecost.
For such "unity" or oneness of faith and love, and such
illumination of the Spirit, or "knowledge of the Son
of God," were prayed for and predicted by our Lord.
And a " perfect man," perfect or pure manhood — using
the term "man" generically — may result from a cleans
ing of the soul from spiritual imperfection. And "the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" may
mean that condition of soul in which we receive the
"fullness of the Spirit" or "all the fullness of God,"
and Christ takes up his abode in our hearts. And the
aorists in this passage indicate a momentary and fin
ished action, as in a baptism. Alford's version is,
"Till we all attain [aorist] unto the unity of the faith,"
etc. Dr. Steele says :
The perfecting of the saints is here expressed by a definite
and momentary arrival at a point when faith merges into
knowledge, when a Saviour believed becomes a Saviour fully
realized. This transition from faith to full knowledge is a crisis
expressed by an aorist. It is when the Paraclete purges the film
of inbred sin from the eye of the soul, and Jesus, as a living,
loving, glorified, and complete Saviour, is manifested to the
spiritual vision. Then the child, the imperfect believer, be
comes a perfect man [perfect in nature], and reaches the full
ness of Christ; that is, the abundance which he has to bestow,
a fullness excluding all sin, but capable of eternal increase.
And Paul seems to condition this " eternal increase "

128 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
— the soul's growth up into Christ — on this baptism of
purity, love, and power : " That we henceforth be no
more children" — weak and unestablished — "tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc
trine," etc. " But" — being established and strength
ened by this baptism of power, and "speaking the
truth in love" — "being sincere," margin — "may grow
up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ." It is admitted that the gift of " apostles," etc., is one
of the antecedent conditions of this growth, as it was of
this baptism or confirmation, but the latter seems to be
the proximate condition of such growth. After a cer
tain time in their history they were to be no more like
" children " — weak and unsteady in their faith and lives
— but strong and uniform in their service. When
was that time? Was it immediately after the giving
of the "apostles," etc.? Rather, was it not at a sharply
defined crisis in their history, indicated by the use of
the aorist, which crisis may have been brought about
and hastened by the labors of the "apostles" and
others? These "apostles" and others had been given
before they, as "children," were "tossed to and fro,"
etc. Our Lord had taught his apostles and other dis
ciples some three years, during which time they were
as "children," even up to his death, weak in faith and
irregular in spirit and life. But after he taught them
to pray and look for the promised Paraclete, a mighty
baptism came upon them, marking a momentous crisis
in their lives. This baptism did for them what Paul
prays may be done for the Ephesians — unified, puri
fied, or healed their spiritual nature, making it a "per
fect " manhood in that same sense, and so established

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 1 29
and empowered them that their lives were strong and
faithful, and they were ever growing more and more
like their Head.
Under the great commission, these apostles, their as
sociates, and their successors were to do two things for
the " nations " to whom they were sent :
1. "Teach" — "make disciples or Christians of all
nations." A man is not a " disciple " or " Christian "
, in the full sense of that term until he has been taught
to accept Christ as his complete Saviour — until by the
baptism of the Spirit he is " full of faith and the Holy
Ghost." Hence the going of the apostles to Samaria
to complete the work commenced by Philip, and Paul's
question to the twelve disciples at Ephesus, " Have ye
received the Holy Ghost ? "
2. " Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you." Being girded with strength
by this baptism, they are " henceforth " to run steadily
in the way of all God's commandments, growing more
and more in knowledge, wisdom, grace, and usefulness
until they are translated and reach the ideal perfection
of our Lord.
We have had Paul's prayers for the sanctification of
this church, and his didactic statement of what Christ
has done to bring about the human conditions of that
work. Now let us consider for a moment an exhorta
tion to that end, found in Ephesians iv. 22—24, a Pas"
sage so often and so confidently quoted by Dr. Boland
to show that we are thoroughly renewed in regenera
tion. Dr. Steele has the following on this passage : "That
ye put off [aorist] the old man [the unsanctified na
ture]. Here the aorist is used because the act of put-
9

I30 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ting off is one and decisive, ' referring,' says Alford,
' to a direct, definite, and reflexive act.' Verse 24 :
'And that ye put on [aorist] the new man, which after
God is created [aorist, was instantaneously created] in
righteousness,' etc."
This passage seems to correct three errors touching
this matter of sanctification :
( 1 ) That it is wrought at regeneration. Alford says :
"Beware of rendering with Eadie and Peile [and he,
might have added Boland], ' that ye have put off,' which
is inconsistent with the context (verse 25), and not jus
tified by the word ' you ' being expressed."
( 2 ) That such exhortation is based on the backslid
den condition of the Church. No such intimation is
made by the apostle. On the contrary, he calls them
" saints " and " faithful in Christ Jesus," stating that he
"ceased not to give thanks" for them after he heard
of their faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the
saints." Such words are not usually addressed to a
backslidden Church. As Dr. Steele says, " such un
doubted Christians are exhorted by one decisive act to
lay off the old man, implying that he was not yet fully
laid aside, and to put on the new man, as if Christ were
not fully investing and pervading the nature."
(3) That we gradually grow into entire sanctification.
Dr. Steele well asks : "Why these aorists, if only a grad
ual growth out of sin into holiness is contemplated?"
As already noted, it is " one decisive act " to be per
formed — an instantaneous work to be wrought in or
on faithful saints, subsequent to their conversion, an
swering all the demands of a baptism. This exhorta
tion seems to be the substantial equivalent of the one
given in the next chapter to " be filled with the Spirit."

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. I3I
Similar lessons might be taken from Paul's other
Epistles and the writings of the other apostles, but lack
of space seems to forbid our doing so. As Bishop
Hendrix says, Paul, in all his Epistles but one, prayed
for the entire sanctification of those to whom he wrote.
Such prayer assumed that they were not entirely sanc
tified at the time he wrote. They were, then, not fully
saved at conversion, or had afterwards backslidden.
If such prayer was based on the latter fact, it is unac
countable that the apostle never, except to " the churches
of Galatia," hints at their relapse.
And on this theory, his prayer should have been for
their restoration rather than for the " perfecting of
their faith " and the " strengthening of them in the
inner man" because they were "babes in Christ."
And it would seem that he would have exhorted them
to repentance as the condition of his prayers being an
swered. That was the method of our Lord in his
effort to reclaim the backslidden churches of Asia.
After commending them for the good still remaining
in them, he uses such expressions as the following :
" Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the
first works " ; "I know thy works, that thou hast a
name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful and
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to
die"; "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten: be
zealous therefore and repent." There was repeated
charge of backsliding, followed by repeated exhorta
tion to repentance.
And, as already intimated, Paul did this with " the
churches at Galatia," except that he failed to commend

I32 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
them, as he did the other churches, for the good that
was in them.
1 . The first thing that he said to these Galatians after
invoking God's blessing upon them was : "I marvel that
ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ, unto another gospel." And he
follows this up with such expressions as these : " O
foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye
should not obey the truth ? " " How turn ye again
[margin, 'back'] to the beggarly elements?" "I am
afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in
vain " ; " Where is then the blessedness ye spake of ? "
" Ye did run well, who did hinder you ? " — " drive you
back," margin.
2. And it is a suggestive fact that the cause of this
declension seems to have been their losing sight of the
fact that we are to " stand fast," become established,
and go forward by faith, rather than by works — by
trusting in Christ to do the work for us instead of re
lying on our own efforts after full salvation by growth.
Hence, Paul asks of them : " This only would I learn
of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith ? Are ye so foolish ? having
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the
flesh ? " Further on he says : " The just shall live by
faith," and then adds, " that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith," and "we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" ;
" Walk in the Spirit," etc.
3. In the passages quoted, and others that might be
given, Paul chides them for their declension, reminding
them that they had " fallen from grace " — the way of
salvation by grace and faith, rather than by works — ¦

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 1 33
efforts of " the flesh." He then urges their return to
the scriptural way of salvation and to a better life.
4. He next assures them of his earnest prayer for
their restoration : " My little children, of whom I trav
ail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you, I de
sire to be present with you now, and to change my
voice ; for I stand in doubt of you." This prayer
seems to have been ( i ) for their second spiritual birth,
or such a restoration as would place them where they
were at their conversion : " I travail in birth again."
(2) For such a "forming" or enthronement of
" Christ, the power of God? in their hearts that they
would not fall again : " Until Christ be formed in
you." (3) The cause of this anxiety and prayer was
his " doubt " as to the soundness of their faith, and of
their spiritual safety : " For I stand in doubt of you."
(4) One result of such restoration would be that he
could " change his voice " to them from one of censure
to one of approval.
One is struck with the fact that Paul more than once
here refers to their " receiving the promise of the
Spirit through faith," their being " made perfect " by
faith, " living by faith," " waiting for the hope of
righteousness by faith," " walking in the Spirit," etc.
He evidently refers to the "baptism of the Spirit"
which they needed, which comes by faith, and which,
had they received it at or soon after their conversion,
would have so established them that they may not
have backslidden, and which would tend to save them
from future relapses. And we need hardly add that
what comes by faith and in answer to prayer ordinari
ly, if not universally, comes instantaneously and not by
growth.

134 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
We come back to the point that Paul's prayers, es
pecially the most wonderful of them, were for such
churches as had not backslidden, but were in a good
and growing spiritual condition, for which he com
mended them. Also that the terms and tenses used
indicate that answers to those prayers involved a mo
mentary and finished work in the heart, like " the bap
tism with," or "the gift of, the Holy Ghost" — the
instantaneous coming into the soul of an Almighty
" Power " that is henceforth to strengthen and domi
nate the life of the believer.
This is what Paul tells the Galatians occurred in his
own case : ' '• I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life
that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
Here is a complete crucifixion or domination of his
carnal nature by the new Christ-life that is in him,
and that continues there so long as he lives by faith.
And in another place he tells these Galatians how
Christ came into his life — by a sudden revelation of
himself to his consciousness. (Gal. i. 15, 16.) Here
the " separation," " calling," and " revelation " are all
aorists, and indicate a momentary or single action. Dr.
Steele says :
After his birth and calling or conversion, there was an in
stantaneous revelation of the Son of God within, to the spirit
ual eye, as there had been an objective revelation of the form of
the Son of man to Paul's physical eye on his way to Damascus.
Both Ellicott and Alford insist that the sequence of tenses here
teaches that this inward revelation of Christ was after his con
version. This is in harmony with Christ's promise that he
would manifest himself to those who already love him, and
evince their love by obedience. . . . This may well be
called Paul's second blessing.

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. I35
But it matters not to our theory whether this revela
tion was made to Paul at or subsequently to his con
version. It involved the sudden coming into his na
ture or life of a new and mighty Power that became
the dominant Force in that life after crucifying the old
self-life. It was the Force that left Adam's life when
he sinned, leaving him "without strength." It was
the " Power " that enabled Paul to say, " I can do all
things though Christ which strengtheneth me."
Does not the term "circumcision," as well as that
of baptism, which is applied to the work of sanctifica
tion, indicate its instantaneousness ? We presume that
there is universal assent to the proposition that if one
fully obeys the two commands of our Lord, found in
Matthew xxii. 37-39, his love is "perfect" in quality —
is unmixed with its opposite. How is this love made
thus perfect ? Moses says : " The Lord thy God will
circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed, to love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy
soul." Here the act of circumcision is applied to the
work of perfecting our love. It is an instantaneous
excision, and not a gradual process of growth.
As to whether this circumcision is at or subsequent
to conversion is not material to the argument. And
yet many things indicate that it is subsequent to regen
eration. St. John suggests that this "perfect love"
results from a work or process by which fear is elimi
nated from the heart : " Herein is our love made per
fect. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in
love." Here the apostle evidently teaches that the love
of some had, in some way, been " made perfect," while
that of others had not been. They had a "love" to
God, but it was mixed with " fear," amd was not, hence,

136 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
" perfect " in quality, for " perfect love casteth out
fear." And John refers to the means or agency by which
this perfection of love was wrought : "Herein is our
love made perfect." What does the term " herein "
refer to ? He had just said : " God dwelleth in us, and
his love is perfected in us." And the last words before
" herein " are : " God is love, and he that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him." It is the same
lesson of God's coming " suddenly into his temple," as
he did at Pentecost, and purifying it and taking up his
abode therein, "dwelling" in man's heart. It is God,
Christ, the Holy Ghost, coming as a mighty " Power "
back into man's nature, and as the Circumciser, Bap-
tizer, aud Strengthener, freeing the soul from fear and
all other evil, and, on condition of our continued faith
(our "dwelling in God"), keeping it pure and strong,
and " perfect in love."
While we would not base the truth of an important
doctrine like this on the teaching of types and symbols,
yet these are not to be wholly overlooked in our argu
ment. While some writers may have gone too far in
their "spiritualizing," there must be something in the
Bible that constitutes a basis for such books as Dr.
Carradine's Second Blessing in Symbol, the Rev.
M. W. Knapp's Out of Egypt into Canaan, and Dr.
J. Wilbur Chapman's Kadesh - barnea. And the
writer of Hebrews, in the fourth chapter, certainly re
fers to the rest of Canaan as a type of the believer's
"rest of faith" here, as well as of his eternal rest.
And may we not safely say that the bondage of Egypt
typifies our bondage to sin, the journey to Kadesh-bar-
nea the interval between regeneration and what might,

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 137
very soon if we had faith, be our entire sanctification —
the rest of perfect love in the Canaan of full salvation ?
We have purposely omitted many passages of
Scripture usually quoted in the discussion of this sub
ject because they do not bear directly on the instanta
neousness of this work. We will, however, call atten
tion to one. We confess to no small degree of sur
prise at the construction some writers put on the " per
fect love" spoken of in i John iv. 18. Dr. Mudge
insists that the apostle here refers to God's love to us
— " divine " love — which he says is always " perfect."
We might well ask then how the apostle can say,
" Herein is our love made perfect." Is God's love
ever " made perfect " ? And can we with propriety
call that " our love " ? And the love which the apostle
speaks of once had " fear " mixed with it. Can " fear "
be affirmed of God's love to us in any of its degrees?
It really looks as if Dr. Mudge here has more regard
for his theory that " no one can be made perfect in love
in this life" — free from spiritual depravity — than he
has to the plain teaching of the apostle.
Dr. Whitehead, of Virginia, in a " paper " noticed
more fully in another chapter, seems to take nearly the
same view, differing, however, somewhat from Dr.
Mudge. He says : " The few passages in the First
Epistle of John in which ' perfect love ' is found bear
without forcing only the meaning of sincere, genuine,
real love, ' love in deed and in truth,' love free from
slavish fear, which is simply that ' love of God ' which
is ' shed abroad in the heart ' of true believers ' by the
Holy Spirit which is given unto them.' (Rom. v.
5-)" Dr. Whitehead here teaches ( i ) that this " perfect "

138 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
love is simply "sincere, genuine, real," human love,
that is " free from slavish fear." We might ask if all
love to God is not " sincere, genuine, and real," whether
"free from fear" or not? And does not St. John
teach that there is such love — love that has not been
made perfect or free from fear, though " sincere and
real " ? But ( 2 ) Dr. Whitehead seems, like Dr. Mudge,
to teach that it is " divine " love that St. John is writing
about ; for he says that it " is the love of God that is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us." It is certainly God's love to us and
not ours to him that is "shed abroad in our hearts,"
and which is always " perfect," does not need to be
made perfect," or " free from slavish fear." It is true
that this love may give birth to our love to God, which,
although " sincere," is not always " perfect " or " free
from fear."
We much prefer Bishop Granbery's interpretation of
St. John to that of either Dr. Mudge or Dr. White
head. In reviewing the former's book, the bishop says :
We must differ also with the author in his interpretation of
"perfect" as meaning "divine " in 1 John iv. 18. . . . Per
fect means complete, finished, every part present and sound,
and all the parts rightly adjusted. There is no reason for empty
ing it of its meaning by making " love " and "perfect love " synony
mous, or straining the sense by substituting " divine " as its
equivalent." Again says the bishop: "Love in the regenerate
is the same as in the wholly sanctified, but in the one case it is
more or less mixed with selfishness; in the other it is entirely free
from selfishness : they differ in the degree of purity. Perfection in
purity, in the exclusion of every alien, antagonistic principle, maybe
attained, but not such perfection in degree as to exclude possibility
of increase. The virtues, though perfect, will still be finite.
"There is no fear in love," but fear may linger in a loving heart.
The italics are ours. This is sound scriptural and

SUBSEQUENT TO REGENERATION. 1 39
Wesleyan doctrine. The love of the regenerate is
" sincere, genuine, and real," although " mixed with
selfishness " as well as " fear." And his " mixed " and
" imperfect " love may be " made pure " and " perfect"
in this life.
The sum of what has been said in the argument
from Scripture in this and preceding chapters is :
1. That sanctification is usually, if not invariably,
wrought subsequently to regeneration.
2. That, as a baptism or circumcision, it is an instan
taneous work, following a longer or shorter period of
gradual preparation for it.
3. That the cases of the one hundred and twenty at
Pentecost, and of others given in Acts, establish the
two above positions.
4. That the exhortations, prayers, and didactic teach
ing of the Epistles, especially the use of the Greek
aorist tense, tend clearly to the same end.
5. That this work is distinctly attested to conscious
ness, and is abiding in its results.
6. That after this work of cleansing and empower
ing is wrought, the soul grows, or may grow, rapidly
toward the maturity or perfection of character given
us in the experience and life of Christ.

CHAPTER X.
The View of Great, Learned, and Spiritual
Men of Nearly All Churches.
i . It need hardly be stated that every leading Church
of Christendom, Greek, Romish, and Protestant, em
bodies in her creed, as her interpretation of the Bible,
the theory that men are not fully saved from depravity,
original sin, or a bias toward evil in regeneration. We
presume that no intelligent and well-informed person
will dispute this.
2. Many of these leading Churches teach by impli
cation, if not expressly, that there is in this life a sec
ond, instantaneous, and important gift of the Spirit im
parted to men, on certain conditions. The theory and
practice of confirmation by the Greek, Roman, Lu
theran, Anglican, and American Protestant Episcopal
Churches is based on the supposed Scripture teaching
that, subsequent to regeneration, a distinct and larger
gift of the Spirit comes to the regenerate. ( I ) It
should be noted that this rite is based on such passages
of Scripture as Acts viii. 14-17 and xix. 1-6, where
we are taught that the Holy Ghost fell upon the Sa
maritan and Ephesian disciples after their regeneration.
(2) That in "the order of confirmation" those con
firmed are said to have been previously regenerated
"by water and the Holy Ghost," and to have had
"given unto them forgiveness for all their sins." (3)
That the prayer made by the bishop for those to be
confirmed is : " Strengthen, we beseech thee, O Lord,
(140)

the view of spiritual men. 141
with the Holy Ghost, the 'Comforter]" etc. (See
" the order of confirmation " of the Protestant Episco
pal Church.)
Now, while we are not taught here that the Spirit,
in his fully cleansing and empowering grace, is in that
rite expected or given, we are led to believe that he
comes, as the Comforter and Strengthener, to abide
with and confirm in obedience those who in this rite
are supposed to receive him. And, while we may fear
that in the great multitude of cases this rite, because of
the condition of those receiving it, may be a compara
tively profitless form and a mere shadow of good
things, yet there would seem to be in the Scriptures
some substance to cast this shadow over the minds of
so many great, learned, and devout men of these ven
erable Churches. The practice of this rite raises at
least a presumption in favor of the supposed scriptural
theory of a second gift or work of the Spirit, bestowed
or wrought instantaneously after regeneration.
3. Leading divines of non-ritualistic, as well as of
prelatical, Churches so interpret the Scriptures. There
is a good list of older writers and a larger one of more
modern authors, who hold substantially the view advo
cated in this book. More than half a century ago Drs.
Upham and Mahan, eminent ministers of the Congre
gational Church, and President Finney, probably the
greatest evangelist of this century, of the Presbyterian
Church, held and ably advocated this view. So did
the Rev. Dr. A. B. Earle, a noted and most successful
evangelist of the Baptist Church. We will not now
quote from the writings of these well-known preach
ers and authors, who held and taught entire sanctifica
tion, as an instantaneous work, subsequent to and dif-

I42 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ferent from regeneration, as clearly and as strongly as
ever did Wesley and Fletcher. Those who may wish
to read their views can do so in Dr. Upham's Interior
Life, in Dr. Mahan's Baptism of the Holy Ghost and
Autobiography, in President Finney's Systematic The
ology, and in Dr. Earle's Rest of Faith.
Among the later non-Methodistic writers on this
subject is the late Dr. A. J. Gordon, of the Baptist
Church, preeminent among the preachers and writers
of his denomination. His able and most helpful book,
The Twofold Life, is based on the theory propound
ed by him in the following words :
The Scriptures seem to teach that there is a second stage in
spiritual development, distinct and separate from conversion, some
times widely separated in time from it, and soihetimes almost con
temporaneous with it — a stage to which we rise by a special renewal
of the Holy Ghost, and not by the process of gradual growth. . . .
There is a transaction described in the New Testament by
the terms, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sealing of the Spirit,
the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the like. The allusions to
it in the Acts and the Epistles mark it unmistakably as something
different from conversion.
Dr. Gordon says that he came to hold this theory
after
a fresh study of the Acts of the Apostles, and from the convic
tion begotten by such study, that there is more light to break
out of that book than we have yet imprisoned in our creeds.
Also,
from new experience in revival work, and from observation
of what great things the Spirit of God can accomplish when he
falls upon believers and fills them with his power.
In a later work, Ministry of the Spirit, Dr. Gordon
propounds and advocates the same theory. He con
troverts the theory of the Rev. Ernest Boys, given in

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. I43
his book, Be Filled With the Spirit; or, Scriptural
Studies About the Holy Ghost. Mr. Boys's theory is
that there is no special induement or in-filling of the
Spirit after conversion. He says that such induement
of the Spirit
is not any special or more advanced experience, but simply the
condition of every one who is a child of God;
thatbelievers converted after Pentecost, and living in different lo
calities — all believers — are just as really endowed with the in
dwelling Spirit as those who actually partook of the pente
costal blessing at Jerusalem.
In controverting the above, Dr. Gordon says :
On the contrary, it seems clear from the Scriptures that it
is still the duty and privilege of believers to receive the Holy Glwst
by a conscious, definite act of appropriating faith, just as they re
ceived Jesus Christ at conversion.
Again says Dr. Gordon :
To say that in receiving Christ we necessarily receive in
the same act the gift of the Spirit seems to confound what the
Scriptures make distinct. For it is as sinners that we accept
Christ for our justification, but it is as sons that we accept the
Spirit for our sanctification. . . . It is a fact that Christ has
made atonement for sin ; in conversion faith appropriates this
fact in order to our justification. It is a fact that the Holy
Ghost has been given; in consecration faith appropriates this
fact for our sanctification.
Once more he says :
We cannot emphasize too strongly the divine crisis in the soul
¦which a full reception of the Holy Ghost may bring.
And he warns us not to "conceive of the Christian
life as only a gradual growth in grace"
Dr. Gordon quotes other distinguished, scholarly,

144 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and pious authors, such as Moberly, Owen, Jukes,
Kelly, Moule, Godet, and others, who hold and teach
substantially the same views. We have not space for
giving his quotations from these authors. We will,
however, give a few lines from the Rev. Andrew
Murray, found in his Spirit of Christ. He says :
In the words of Ezekiel we find, in the one promise, this two
fold blessing God bestows through his Spirit very strikingly set
forth. The first is, "I will put within you a new spirit" ; that is,
man's own spirit is to be renewed and quickened by the work of
God's Spirit. When this has been done, then there is the second
blessing, "I will put my Spirit within you" to dwell in that new
spirit. . . . The importance of recognizing this distinction can
easily be perceived. We shall then be able to understand the
true relation between regeneration and the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. The former is that work of the Holy Spirit, by
which he convinces us of sin, leads to repentance and faith in
Christ, and imparts a new nature. Through the Spirit God then
fulfills the promise, " I will put a new spirit within you." The
believer is now a child of God, a temple ready for the Spirit to
dwell in. When faith claims it, the second half of the promise
is fulfilled as surely as the first. As long now as the believer
only looks at regeneration and the renewal wrought in his
spirit, he will not come to the life of joy and strength which is
meant for him. But when he accepts God's promise that there is
something better than even the new nature, than the inner temple,
that there is the Spirit of the Father and the Son to dwell within
him, there opens up a wonderful prospect of holiness and blessedness.
Mr. Murray gives quotations of like tenor from Go
det, Beck, and Saphir to confirm his views. The late
Rev. John McNeil, a Presbyterian minister, in his ad
mirable work, The Spirit-Filled Life, presents the
same view in the following words :
This being filled with the Spirit is a definite blessing, quite
distinct from being "born of the Spirit" It is objected by some
that every Christian has the Spirit; quite true, for "if any man

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. I45
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his " ; and " no man
can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit"; but to "have the
Spirit" and to be "filled with the Spirit" are two different things.
. . . As far as God is concerned, there is no reason why
this filling should not take place at the hour of conversion — of
the new birth. . . . But it were a fatal blunder to assert
that all men on believing [unto pardon] receive the Holy
Ghost in a similar manner, or were thus " filled with the
Spirit " ; most certainly in Bible times it was not so.
The Keswick movement in Great Britain, which
started some half century ago, and which has gone for
ward with constantly augmenting force up to this time,
and which has so wonderfully quickened the religious
thought and life of the United Kingdom, extending its
influence to America and elsewhere, is based on this
theory. Andrew Murray is connected with that move
ment. The Rev. Dr. Arthur T. Pierson regards the
movement " as one of the most important developments
of the last half century." He has attended many of their
meetings and conventions, held to secure the conversion
of the ungodly and " for the deepening of spiritual life "
in believers, and gives in The Missionary Review of
the World for December, 1897, a synopsis of their
teaching. He says :
Keswick teaching is definite and unmistakable. It affirms a
possible and practicable deliverance from continuance in known
sin; a renewal of the spirit of the mind, a dominion of love,
and an experience of inward peace. It maintains that it is a
sin to be anxious, because where anxiety begins faith ends, and
where faith begins anxiety ends; that it is not necessary to be un
der the domination of any lust of the body or mind, to live a life of
doubt and despondency, or interrupted communion with God. For
feited joy means broken fellowship. Keswick maintains that
to every trusting, obedient soul, who dares to take God at his
word and count every commandment as an enablement, there is an
immediate deliverance from the palsied limbs that make im-
10

I46 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
possible a holy walk with God ; from the withered hand that
prevents a holy work for God, and from moral deformity that
bows one together, so that it is impossible to lift up oneself to
spiritual uprightness and erectness.
He says, too, that this teaching lays "special em
phasis on the induement and the filling of the Holy
Spirit? and " insists that holiness is the result, not
of a prolonged and persistent self-effort [in growth],
but of a simple appropriation of Christ as the Victor
over evil" [an instantaneous work].
In speaking of the method, spirit, and result of this
teaching, Dr. Pierson says :
Keswick has been a fountain of spiritual life, because four
great scriptural laws have there singular exemplification: Ha
bitual prayerfulness, prominence of the word of God, unity
among all believers, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. It
may seem an exaggeration to some, but we know of nothing
nowadays which so closely reproduces the assemblies of the prim
itive apostolic Church.
It would seem from the foregoing that these Kes
wick interpreters of the Bible teach substantially what
Wesley, Gordon, and the others quoted do as to the
fact that there comes into the soul a Power which we
call the indwelling Spirit or enthroned Saviour, who
saves us from the guilt, impurity, and weakness of sin,
and empowers us for an effective service of God and
man. And that although this may be done at conver
sion, it seems ordinarily to be done subsequently to that
time, and is a "deepening" and completion of the work
then begun. Also, that this " deliverance " is " imme
diate" or instantaneous — "that holiness is the result,
not of a prolonged and persistent self -effort, but of a
simple appropriation of Christ as the Victor over evil."

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. 147
Indeed, this teaching has been recently objected to be
cause it is Wesleyan.
Mr. Moody and his colaborers teach nearly the same
thing at their training schools in Northfield and Chi
cago, and in their pulpits, namely, the sudden coming
into their lives of the Spirit in such measure as to give
full assurance, perennial peace, and the power to ren
der much more acceptable service to God and men. In
an address on what he calls this "baptism of the
Spirit" or "induement of power," delivered in 1886,
Mr. Moody says :
Young men, you will get this blessing when you seek it
above all else. There will be no trouble about knowing when you
/lave got it. We should not have to wait long for this baptism
of the Spirit if we did not have to come to the end of ourselves.
This sometimes is a long road.
In that address Mr. Moody told his experience, say
ing :
It was in the fall of 1871. I had been very anxious to have
a large Sunday school and a large congregation, but there
were few conversions. I remember I used to take a pride in
having the largest congregation in Chicago on a Sunday night.
Two godly women used to come to hear me. One of them
came to me one night after I had preached very satisfactorily,
as I thought. I fancied she was going to congratulate me on
my success; but she said, " We are praying for you." I won
dered if I had made some blunder that they talked in that way.
Next Sunday night they were there again, evidently in prayer
while I was preaching. One of them said, " We are still pray
ing for you." I could not understand it, and said: "Praying
forme! Why don't you pray for the people ? I am all right."
"Ah!" they said, "you are not all right; you have not got
power, there is something lacking, but God can qualify you."
I did not like it at first, but I got to thinking it over, and after
a little time I began to feel a. desire to have what they were

I40 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
praying for. They continued to pray for me, and the result
was that at the end of three months God sent this blessing on
me. In describing the coming and effect of that blessing
Mr. Moody says :
The blessing came upon me suddenly like a flash of lightning.
For months I had been hungering and thirsting for power in
service. I had come to that point that I think I would have
died if I had not got it. I remember I was walking the streets
of New York. I had no more heart in the business I was about
than if I had not belonged to the world at all. Right there, on
the street, the power of God seemed to come upon me so won
derfully that / had to ask God to stay his hand. I was filled with
a sense of God's goodness, and felt as though I could take the whole
world to my heart. I took the old sermon I had preached be
fore without any power; it was the same old truth, but there
was a new power. Many were impressed and converted.
This happened years after I was converted myself.
Mr. Moody closed with the following words :
I would not for the whole world go back to where I was be
fore 1871. Since then I have never lost the assurance that I am
walking in communion with God, and I have a joy in his service that
sustains me and makes it easy work. I believe I was an older
man then than I am now; I have been growing younger ever
since. I used to be very tired when preaching three times a
¦week; now I can preach five times a day and never get tired at
all. I have done three times the work I did before, and it gets
better every year. It is so easy to do a thing when love prompts
you. It would be better, it seems to me, to go and break stone
than to preach in a professional spirit.
The words in italics show that Mr. Moody's inter
pretation of Scripture, confirmed by his experience, is
( 1 ) that this baptism of the Spirit comes after conver
sion or regeneration, and is different from and superior
to it. ( 2 ) That it comes " suddenly " or instantane
ously, "like lightning." (3) That this fullness of the

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. 149
Spirit in his case was not only " ecstatic " and " charis
matic," but " ethical " as well. For it brought " love,"
"joy," "assurance," and internal strength that were
permanent — remained with him up to the time he made
the address— -fifteen years after his wonderful baptism.
And it so renewed his youth and increased his strength
that he could do "three times as much work" as he
could before. (4) He knows when he received it as
well as he knows when he sees a " flash of lightning."
Hence he told the young men that " there will be no
trouble about knowing when you have got it."
It is well known that the Quakers, or Friends, and
the Salvation Army people thus interpret the Scrip
tures and Christian experience. The writings of such
Friends as Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith, author of
The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, and David
B. Updegraff, as well as those of George Fox and
other earlier writers, teach substantially and plainly the
Wesleyan theory of sanctification. And the same may
be said of the writings of General William Booth, Mrs.
Catherine Booth, and other leaders of the Salvation
Army. They use the Wesleyan terminology.
It may be asked if this second work subsequent to
regeneration, spoken of by Gordon, Murray, Pierson,
Meyer, Moody, and others, is anything more than one
of the " many baptisms " or " blessings " of the Spirit,
referred to by Dr. Tillett, Dr. Mudge, and others when
discussing the " second blessing " theory of sanctifica
tion. Is it not simply an " emotional " fullness of the
Spirit, which may pass away with the occasion that
brings it ? Or is it not merely the " charismatic " full
ness of the Spirit, or a baptism of courage, or of zeal
for souls, referred to by the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes

150 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and others, which may or may not involve that which
is "ethical," subjective, and permanent? Does it in
volve or bring identically or substantially what Wesley
and his followers call " entire sanctification " or " per
fect love"? We have answered this question as to
Mr. Moody.
As we agree with the Rev. F. B. Meyer that no one
who has recently written on " the person and mission
of the Holy Spirit is so lucid, so suggestive, so scrip
tural, or deeply spiritual" as is Dr. Gordon (we except
Dr. Steele), we will let him answer the above questions.
Dr. Gordon calls them " the first and second stages
of spiritual experience," " the twofold life," and de
nominates them " regeneration and renewal," or " con
version and consecration." He is careful, however, to
tell us that " in all that we have said we have assumed
that the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier and Sealer of
this consecration? meaning that the Holy Spirit does
an important work in us when we, by his grace, more
fully consecrate ourselves to God — perform the act of
" self -consecration." And he teaches that this " re
newal," " consecration," " sanctification," or " sealing "
is just as marked a "stage" or "crisis? and is just as
instantaneous in our " experience " and lives, as is our
"regeneration " or " conversion." And, while he admits
that, in a certain sense, there maybe frequent "infillings"
of the Spirit — gifts of power — he insists that there is —
need be — but one "baptism" or " sealing." He says :
Now, as we examine the Scriptures on this point, we shall
see that we are required to appropriate the Spirit as sons in the
same way that we appropriate Christ as sinners.
He then puts into the mouth of the earnest believer
this prayer :

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. 151
O Holy Spirit, I yield to thee now in humble surrender. I
receive thee as my Teacher, my Comforter, my Sanctifier, and
my Guide.
He then adds :
Do not testimonies abound on every hand of new lives re
sulting from such an act of consecration as this, lives full of
peace and power and victory, among those who before had re
ceived the forgiveness of sins, but not the induement of power ?
Our observation and experience emphatically con
firm this view.
Again, in speaking of the result of this baptism, he
says: Other effects will certainly attend the blessing, a fixed assur
ance of our acceptance in Christ, and a holy separateness from the
world. He doubtless speaks from his experience. Farther
on he sums up his discussion of the subject with the
following words :
Thus we have had the induement of the Spirit presented to
us under three aspects — sealing, filling, and anointing ; all of
which terms, so far as .we can understand, signify the same
thing — the gift of the Holy Ghost appropriated through faith.
Each of these terms is connected with some special divine en
dowment — the seal with assurance and consecration; the filling
with power; and the anointing with knowledge. All these gifts
are -wrapped up in the one Gift in which they are included, and
without whom we are excluded from their possession.
He closes the chapter with the following :
Thus does the Power which is externally for us become a
Power within us ; the law of Sinai with its tables of stone is re
placed by the law of "the Spirit of life " "in the fleshly tables
of the heart"; the outward commandment is exchanged for an
inward decalogue ; hard duty by holy delight, that henceforth
the Christian life may be " all in Christ, by the Holy Spirit for
the glory of God."

I52 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
But, it may be asked again, if Dr. Gordon and the
class of writers he represents teach that this baptism
or induement of the Spirit saves one from all sin and
spiritual depravity, and makes him perfect in love in the
sense in which Wesley taught it. Drs. Mahan,Upham,
and Earle, of a former generation, did ; and the Rev.
Drs. E. M. Levy, Baptist, of Philadelphia, and A. B.
Simpson, Presbyterian, of New York, and the Rev. A.
M. Hills, Congregationalist, of Oberlin, of the present
day, do most emphatically. But Drs. Gordon, Pierson,
and Chapman, and Messrs. Murray, Meyer, McNeil,
Moody, and others, seem to " fight shy " of the words
" perfect " and " perfection," and presumably for the
following reasons : ( 1 ) Because of their Calvinistic
training they believe that spiritual depravity or inbred
sin, as well as mental and physical weakness, is consti
tutional, and is connected with the body in such sense
that we cannot be fully saved from it in this life. (2)
The " Free Methodists " or " Nazarites," and the
" Plymouth Brethren " of the North, have, by their An-
tinomianism and other errors and extremes, brought
the term " perfectionist " into disrepute, if not contempt,
as some unwise and extreme " sanctificationists " have
done in the South ; so that some prudent preachers of
our section, who believe in and teach the Wesleyan
theory of " perfect love," rarely or never use the terms
" perfection," " sanctification," and " second blessing "
in the pulpit. (3) Because they do not, as indicated
above, understand or use the term " sin " in the same
sense in which Mr. Wesley did. What he calls " sins
of infirmity," resulting from ignorance, physical and
mental weakness, etc., they seem to regard as sin in
the Bible meaning of the term, " the law of sin," " in-

THE VIEW OF SPIRITUAL MEN. I53
dwelling sin," etc., and hence say we cannot be saved
from all sin — " a sinful body " — in this life. Prop
erly understood, there is very little difference between
them and Mr. Wesley, for he did not preach or claim
to have " sinless perfection," in the sense of being
saved from sins of infirmity, etc. ; nor does any intel
ligent follower of his do so to-day.
After rejecting the theory of " sinless perfection "
and "deliverance from a sinful nature," Dr. Gordon
says :
But we do consider it possible that one may experience a
great crisis in his spiritual life, in which there is such a. total
self-surrender to God, and such an in-filling of the Holy Spirit,
that he is freed from the bondage of sinful appetites and hab
its, and enabled to have constant victory over self, instead of
suffering constant defeat. . . . And we doubt not there
are Christians who have yielded themselves to God in such
absolute surrender, and who through the upholding power of the
Spirit have been so kept in that condition of surrender that sin
has not had dominion over them. If in them the war between
the flesh and the spirit has not been forever ended, there has been
present victory, in which troublesome sins [inbred sin] have
ceased from their assaults, and the peace of God lias ruled in the
heart." The words in italics indicate that Dr. Gordon's views
of the nature of this work of the Spirit are almost
identical with those of Mr. Wesley. It marks " a
great crisis in his spiritual life," conditioned on "total
self-surrender to God," followed by being " kept in
that condition of surrender," " constant victory over
self " — selfishness or improper self-love — " the war be
tween the flesh and the spirit," if not " forever ended,"
is so successful that " troublesome sins " — " the sin
that dwelleth in us" — "have discontinued their as-

154 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
saults," and "peace rules in the heart." Taken in
connection with what he and Mr. Moody say of unin
terrupted assurance, every essential element of entire
sanctification or perfect love is seen to be included.
Indeed, it will thus be seen that the interpretation of
Scripture by many leading divines of non-Methodistic
Churches, confirmed by experience, supports the affirma
tive of Dr. Tillett's hypothetical proposition : (i) That
sanctification is subsequent to regeneration ; ( 2 ) that
it is instantaneous in its development; and (3) that its
accomplishment is certified to the subject of it.

CHAPTER XL
The View of Methodist Interpreters of
Scripture.
As Dr. Tillett concedes that " Wesley, Fletcher,
Watson, and others" of the earlier Methodists, be
lieved and taught that sanctification is subsequent to
regeneration, and is a different and " an instantaneous
work," we need not quote from their teaching on this
subject. In order to give more modern Methodistic
interpretation of the Scriptures, we will first quote from
the best known, ablest, and most generally accepted
standard authors of the three leading branches of Meth
odism, giving the statement of only one of those named
by Dr. Tillett— Richard Watson.
Referring to the things promised us in the Bible,
Mr. Watson says :
If the entire renewal of our nature be included in this num
ber, without limitation of time, except that in which we ask it,
in faith, then to this faith shall the promise of entire sanctifica
tion be given, which, in the nature of the case, supposes an in
stantaneous work immediately following upon our entire and
unwavering faith.
Dr. W. B. Pope, of the British Wesleyan Church,
says :
There is no restraint of time with the Holy Ghost. The
preparations for an entire consecration to God may be long
continued or they may be hastened. Whenever the seal of
perfection is set on the work, whether in death or in life, it
must be a critical and instantaneous work. (155)

156 SCRIPTURAL sanctification.
Dr. Minor Raymond, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, says :
It is obvious that the work of complete sanctification is both
progressive and instantaneous. The Spirit may take time in
preparing a holy temple for a habitation of God, but he enters
and takes full possession — fills the temple with his presence — in
a single instant of time. The work may be long in doing, but
there is an instant when it is done, completed, and finished.
Dr. John Miley, of the same Church, says :
We admit an instant partial sanctification in regeneration,
and therefore may admit the possibility of an instant entire
sanctification. Such a view of sanctification does not mean
that there need be no preparation for its attainment. The ne
cessity for such a preparation is uniformly held, even by such
as hold strongly the second-blessing view. . . . Let it be
recalled that the question here is not the maturity of the Chris
tian life, but the purification of the nature. For the attainment of
the former there must be growth, and growth requires time.
But while the subjective purification may be progressively
wrought, it is not subject to the law of growth; it is so thorough
ly and solely the work of God that it may be quickly wrought.
Dr. T. N. Ralston, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, says :
Whenever we comply with the conditions prescribed in the
gospel — that is, whenever we exercise the requisite degree of
faith, be it one day or ten years after our conversion — that moment
God will " cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
Dr. T. O. Summers, of the same Church, in speak
ing of indwelling sin, says :
When it exists in the heart of the regenerate, it is a hated
and subdued principle, which by gradual mortification, or by
an instant and powerful exercise of faith, is entirely destroyed.
These six authors are able and well-known repre
sentative men, two each of British, Northern, and

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. 1 57
Southern Methodism. Their most elaborate produc
tions are in the courses of study for ministers of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Epis
copal Church, South, and thus have the indorsement of
these great bodies of Christians. We could fill many
pages with extracts from the formal addresses of the
bishops of American Methodism, the official deliverances
of her Conferences, and the writings of scores of her
most distinguished, cultured, and saintly sons, indorsing
and confirming the theory of Wesley and other Meth
odist fathers on this subject, and supporting the prop
osition we are discussing. But we content ourself with
only a few quotations from the latest of these.
We first give a paragraph from the Pastoral Ad
dress of the Centennial Conference of American
Methodism, held in Baltimore, December, 1884, and
composed of delegates from eight branches of the
Methodist family. It was prepared by a committee
composed of Bishop Merrill and Governor Stanard, of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Wilson and
General Vance of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, and Bishop Campbell, of the African Metho
dist Episcopal Church, and adopted by a "unanimous
vote " of the Conference. The Address says :
We remind you, brethren, that the mission of Methodism is
to promote holiness. Holiness is the fullness of life, the crown
of the soul, the joy and strength of the Church. It is not a
sentiment nor an emotion, but a principle inwrought in the
heart, the culmination of God's work in us, followed by a con
secrated life. In all the borders of Methodism the doctrine is
preached, and the experience of sanctification is urged. We
beseech you, brethren, stand by your standards on this sub
ject. Our founders rightly interpreted the mind of the Spirit,
and gave us the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us not turn from

158 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
them to follow strange lights, but rather let us believe their
testimony, follow their example, and seek purity of heart by
faith in the cleansing blood, and then, in the steady line of
consecrated living, " go on unto perfection."
Here is not only a most luminous and discriminating
definition of " sanctification," " holiness," or " purity of
heart," as an "experience," or "fullness of life, the
crown of the soul, the joy and strength of the Church,"
and " the culmination of God's work in us," to be " fol
lowed by a consecrated life" — one of the best, clearest,
and fullest of brief definitions we ever read — but we
are urged to "stand by our standards on this subject."
And we are assured that " our founders rightly inter
preted the mind of the Spirit, and gave us the truth as
it is in Jesus " on this subject. And they close by say
ing : "Let us not turn from them to follow strange
lights, but rather let us believe their testimony, follow
their example, and seek purity of heart by faith in the
cleansing blood [as a condition of growth], and then,
in the steady line of consecrated living, ' go on unto
perfection ' " — grow in grace toward maturity.
Is not this a most hearty and emphatic indorsement
of " Wesley, Fletcher, Watson, and others " of our
" founders," and of their " interpretation " of Scrip
ture, as embodied in our " standards," as well as a sol
emn charge not to follow such " strange lights " as
Crane and Mudge, of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and Boland and Tillett, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, who, in a large measure, repudiate the
teaching of our " founders" ? This is the deliverance
of American Methodism as late as 1884.
We next give an extract from the Quadrennial Ad
dress of the ten bishops of the Methodist Episcopal

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. 1 59
Church, South, ten years later, at Memphis, in 1894.
They say :
The privilege of believers to attain unto the state of entire
sanctification or perfect love, and to abide therein, is a well-
known teaching of Methodism. Witnesses to this experience
have never been wanting in our Church, though few in com
parison with the whole membership. Among them have been
men and women of beautiful consistency and seraphic ardor:
jewels of the Church. Let the doctrine still be proclaimed, and the
experience still be testified.
That these bishops believe we may " attain unto
the estate of entire sanctification or perfect love," both
gradually and instantaneously, is indicated by the
fact that they indorse the " well-known teaching of
Methodism," which, according to Dr. Tillett, includes
this postulate. That they believe it comes sub
sequently to regeneration is indicated by the state
ment that "but few in comparison with the whole
membership " attain unto this " experience." Certain
ly they do not mean that but few are regenerated.
And that they believe we may know when we come
into possession of this " experience " is shown by the
fact that they say " men and women of beautiful con
sistency " have given such testimony from " this expe
rience "—from an assurance that they possessed it.
We next give the latest deliverence of the sixteen
bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in their
Address to the General Conference of 1896. Among
other things, they say :
As a Church we have taught from the beginning that be
lievers have power to become the sons of God, be made par
takers of the divine nature. We have insisted on the glorious
privilege and duty of all men becoming saints, of immediately
being made perfect in love, and of gradually ripening into Chris-

160 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tian maturity in all faculties. This doctrine was never more
definitely stated, clearly perceived, nor consistently lived by
greater numbers than now.
Three things will here be noted : ( I ) That their
Church has " taught from the beginning " that it is "the
glorious privilege and duty of all men . . . to be im
mediately made perfect in love?' ( 2 ) Then " of grad
ually ripening " or growing " into Christian maturity."
(3) That "this doctrine was never more definitely
stated, clearly perceived, nor consistently lived by
greater numbers than now" This does not look like
" an influential and continually increasing majority of
modern Methodists " — Northern Methodists, at least —
" answer this question " of instantaneous sanctification
or perfection in love subsequent to regeneration " neg
atively." But, lest some one should insist that these bishops
meant to teach that men are made " perfect in love ''
at regeneration, we will give the following declarations
made by several of them, individually, in 1895, tne year
before this address was written.
Bishop Bowman, the senior bishop, says : " I believe
and teach Mr. Wesley's view of regeneration and entire
sanctification." Bishop Foster says : " My book, entitled Christian
Purity, teaches plainly all the views I hold on this
subject." The bishop wrote us substantially the same
thing last year. Any one who has read that book knows
that he fully indorses the Wesleyan theory of instan
taneous sanctification, subsequent to regeneration, to
gether with a clear witness of the Spirit to his work in
sanctification. Bishop Newman says :

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. l6l
Regeneration and entire sanctification represent two steps
of grace, the latter the completion of the former. This is the
doctrine of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Bishop Joyce says :
The Scriptures teach, and therefore the Methodist Episcopal
Church teaches also, that regeneration and entire sanctification
are separate and distinct as to the time of tlieir reception on the
part of the believing soul. So far as I know, this is the teaching
of all of our ministers, including bishops and other Church
officers. Bishop Warren says :
I hold firmly to the Wesleyan doctrine of regeneration and
entire sanctification.
Bishop Mallalieu says :
From the very first years of my ministry to the present time
I have held, with Adam Clarke, Richard Watson, John Fletch
er, and John Wesley, that regeneration and entire sanctification
are separate and distinct one from the other, and therefore received
at different times — both received by faith — and the last the privi
lege of every believer, as the first is of every penitent.
It will be noticed that all these bishops indorse the
Wesleyan theory that sanctification is different from re
generation and is not simultaneously developed. They
do not express a direct opinion as to its instantaneous
ness, as they were only asked to answer the following
question : " Do you teach that regeneration and entire
sanctification are separate and distinct, one from the oth
er, and therefore received at different times ? " But, in
indorsing Wesley's view of the matter, they indorsed
the theory of its instantaneousness as well as its follow
ing regeneration, as Dr. Tillett himself admits.
Bishop Ninde comes the nearest to the theory of co-
etaneous regeneration and sanctification of any of them,
taking the position held by Dr. Summers, Dr. Withers,
11

l62 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
this writer, and others, that it is possible to be thor
oughly saved in regeneration. He says :
No doubt a person who should experience the right kind
and measure of faith might and would be wholly sanctified at
the same instant he should be regenerated. But such instances,
if they ever occur, are extremely rare. Usually the two works
are quite distinct, both in nature and in time, as our standards
teach. None of the bishops who had been heard from
when these answers were published presented a differ
ent view of the matter. Some of them were abroad or
traveling in this country, and had not given their opin
ions. Bishops Merrill and Foss have published like
views, and Bishop Joyce says : " So far as I know, this
is the teaching of all our ministers, including bishops
and other Church officers."
We give some extracts from articles in The Metho
dist Review, written by Bishops Granbery and Hen
drix, and bearing more or less directly on some points
in the proposition we are discussing. Among many
other good things, Bishop Granbery says :
Love in the regenerate is the same as in the wholly sancti
fied ; but in the one case it is more or less mixed with selfishness, in
the other it is entirely free from selfishness; they differ in the degree
of purity. Perfection in purity, in the exclusion of every alien, an
tagonistic principle, may be attained, but not such perfection in
degree as to exclude possibility of increase. . . . We offer
no theory or explanation why men are not entirely sanctified
in the hour they first believe. We are persuaded from our
study of the New Testament that the new birth is not entire sanc
tification [as Crane and Boland teach] ; that babes in Christ are
inconsistent Christians — while in comparison with all out of
Christ are spiritual — are carnal when compared with their
maturer brethren. . . . The process of purification, of be
ing transformed into the image of our Lord, from glory to

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. 163
glory, is sometimes very slow, in other cases very rapid; -we
cannot fix a limit to its utmost possible quickness.
It may then be instantaneous. Is not the subjective
purification absolutely and always instantaneous, while
the objective holiness — improvement of life — is always
gradual ?
We have space for only a few short extracts from Bish
op Hendrix. As already noticed, he teaches that we are
not fully sanctified in regeneration, indorsing Mr. Wes
ley's and Bishop Granbery's view of Dr. Boland's Zin-
zendorfianism, and saying that in all Paul's Epistles but
one he prayed for the " entire sanctification " of those to
whom he wrote. He also agrees with Wesley, Coke,
and Asbury as to the time and conditions of being made
perfect in love, saying : " It is possible to be made per
fect in love in this life, and the final act is an instanta
neous one." He also quotes and indorses these fathers
of Methodism as teaching that we should " defend " and
preach it as both gradual and instantaneous : " There
fore, whoever would advance the gradual change in be
lievers should strongly insist on the instantaneous."
We give below the views of two of the strongest
and best known representative men of Southern Meth
odism outside the episcopacy. The first passage is
from the Rev. Jno. J. Tigert, D.D., LL.D., fraternal
delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church of 1892, and now our Book Editor
and Editor of The Methodist Review. He says :
Methodism has a doctrine of perfect love or Christian per
fection as clearly defined and as continuously and consistently
held as her doctrines of justification and regeneration. . . .
In our humble judgment, the doctrine can be shown to be not
only Methodistically, but scripturally, psychologically, and
experimentally sound. On the four pillars of Scripture, psy-

164 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
chology, Methodism, and experience, the doctrine has always
reposed securely. The onslaughts of those who claim that the
whole work of entire sanctification is accomplished in regener
ation [Crane, Boland, and others], and of those who claim the
necessary ineradicability of our sinful natures, while we abide
in the flesh [Mudge and others] — though each of these posi
tions is the annihilation of the other — have not yet over
turned the doctrine of Methodism. The opponents oscillate
in polar vibrations from the extremes of perfect love in regen
eration to that of the indestructibility of fleshliness, or the car
nal mind, but do not disturb the serenity of those who abide
under the equatorial sun whose tropical fervor melts all into
the harmonious truth and gentle tenderness of perfect love.
. . . Almost every one of Paul's Epistles, like all the early
Methodist Disciplines, has imbedded somewhere in it a little
tract on Christian perfection. — Methodist Review, November-De
cember, 1894.
Dr. Tigert's hearty indorsement of the Wesleyan
view of this subject in the same article shows that he
holds the theory of the instantaneousness of sanctifica
tion, as well as of its being subsequent to regeneration.
In the following number of the Review the Rev.
J. C. Morris, D.D., fraternal delegate to the Methodist
Episcopal General Conference of 1896, and now pas
tor of First Church, Memphis, gives his view of per
fect love. He says :
The Scriptures and the experience of believers are coinci
dent in this, that somewhat of depravity remains in the regen-
ated man and wars against his spiritual life. So far as sub
jective holiness is concerned, conversion is an incomplete
work. But the Scriptures, while they recognize this as sancti
fication, yet most distinctly and urgently exhort us to an expe
rience wherein the work is to become complete. "The very
God of peace sanctify you wholly," is the apostle's prayer.
Every sincere believer, as he grows in grace and in the knowl
edge of our Lord Jesus Christ, comes at some time to a painful sense
of the need of a further work in his own heart.

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. 165
The only question that remains is this: How is this work of
entire sanctification effected? Is it by growth and develop
ment, or is it by a specific act of faith? The Scriptures every
where teach that salvation from sin in any form is the direct
work of God upon the simple condition of faith. Getting rid
of sin is an experience wrought by the power of God for those
who see and confess and cast themselves in confidence upon
the Saviour. When we were converted we were saved by faith;
and if we be entirely sanctified, it must be in the same way. Hav
ing begun by faith, the work cannot be perfected in any other
way. The next year after the above was published, Dr.
Morris, as the representative of Southern Methodism,
devoted the greater part of his Fraternal Address to
Northern Methodism to the elucidation and enforce
ment of the above Wesleyan and scriptural views of
sanctification. This is the man whom the Rev. Dr. D.
C. Kelley — no mean judge of men — has compared to the
sainted Marvin, saying : " I know no man his peer since
Marvin ascended." He referred especially to the " di
vinely inspired insight and luminous powers of inter
pretation " of the man " on whom the mantle of the
sainted Marvin has specially fallen."
We may add the interpretation of Southern Metho
dism, given through her revised hymn book, Dr. Til
lett himself being on the Committee of Revisal, ap
pointed by the General Conference of 1886. This
work of the committee was formally indorsed by our
nine bishops, 1st of January, 1889. In their preface
to the revised book, the bishops say :
The labor of the committee was carefully performed, and
has produced a. book of doctrinal soundness and poetic merit,
strictly maintaining, as in all previous editions of Methodist
psalmody, the Wesleyan character of the collection.
We cannot urge too strongly the vital importance of diffu-

166 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
sing in the homes of our beloved Methodism the unwasting
fragrance of these hymns. . . .
Let our congregations hold the theology which has brought
life to myriads, as it is embalmed in these measures.
The committee took about two and a half years to do
their work, and ought to have thoroughly eliminated all
unsound and unscriptural interpretation and doctrine from
our hymnal. And yet we have forty-five hymns under
the heading of "Entire Sanctification and Perfect Love,"
twelve more than we have under that of "Justification
and the New Birth." The separation of these forty-
five hymns from the thirty-three under the last-named
heading indicates beyond question that the makers, re
visers, and indorsers of the hymn book believed that
the " entire sanctification and perfect love " sung in
these hymns comes to the believer subsequently to the
" justification and the new birth," celebrated in those
under the preceding heading. And many quotations
from them might be given, teaching plainly that such
sanctification is instantaneous in the same sense that
regeneration is. For proof we beg the reader to turn
to the hymn book and read the 411th hymn, especially
the third and fourth stanzas ; second and fourth stanzas
of 420; first and second of 421 ; whole of 422 ; third,
fourth, and fifth of 424 ; third and fourth of 425 ; fourth
of 429 ; whole of 432 ; first, second, and fifth of 435 ;
second of 444 ; third and fifth of 445 ; whole of 447 and
449; 177, under another heading, and 864 among the
"miscellaneous" hymns.
It is noticeable that nearly every one of these hymns
contains a prayer— prayer for something that the au
thor believed might be received at once, instantaneous
ly ; the word " now," so frequently used, fixing the

METHODIST INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE. 167
time of its expected answer. It is used three times in
one hymn to indicate the point,
Where fear, and sin, and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.
We might double the length of this chapter by
quoting from the writings of the strongest, most schol
arly, most pious, and most trusted men of Methodism,
who have clearly and strongly insisted that sanctifica
tion is subsequent to regeneration, is instantaneous in
its development, and is certified to the believer's con
sciousness. Dr. Morris well says that " this doctrine
runs like a red line through " McTyeire's History of
Methodism, which gives in outline the doctrine, polity,
experience, and work of world-wide Methodism down
to 1884, the time when the Centennial Address warns
us not to follow the " strange lights " which about that
time began to shine for us.

CHAPTER XII.
The Evidential Value of Experience.
There has of late been manifested a marked dispo
sition to undervalue, if not to discard, the testimony of
Christian experience. For this reason we think it well to
devote a chapter to a discussion of the scriptural warrant
for resorting to such testimony, as well as to its great
value in settling such questions as the one under dis
cussion. We would do this before introducing any
witnesses. It will hardly be denied that of all attainable knowl
edge, that which we derive from experience is the
most satisfactory. Also that of all evidence to the
truth of any theory, that which results from an exper
iment is the most conclusive and convincing. Hence
all sober philosophers, instead of perpetually specula
ting as to the truth of a given theory, wherever it is
practicable, resort to experimental tests of its truth.
Indeed, it is regarded as unphilosophical and unwise
to rely entirely on abstract reasoning in any department
of thought, where experiment is practicable. Hence
all physical science is occupied with experiments. If
any scientist wishes to ascertain the truth of any theory
submitted to him by another or suggested by the phe
nomena of nature, he at once applies his experimental
tests. For example, if a chemist comes into possession
of a substance of the qualities of which he is ignorant,
he throws it into his crucible and subjects it to certain
testing processes by which he satisfactorily determines
its nature. (168)

evidential value of experience. 169
There are also tests somewhat similar to these in
mental science. A man who is skilled in logic can by
analysis test the soundness of any argument that has
been reduced to words. By throwing it into the cru
cible of a syllogism, he can as certainly detect fallacy
in the reasoning as the chemist can discover dross in
the metal he is testing.
This is true, too, of questions of social science, where
the emotions are more directly involved. Take, for
example, the simple question of love for offspring.
Should a mother doubt her love for the babe she folds
to her bosom, such doubt is quickly removed when
God, by laying his afflicting hand on the babe, throws
this question into the crucible of parental conscious
ness. Solomon, in the case of the two claimants of
the same child, promoted the ends of justice by his re
sort to such an experiment.
Why, then, may not experiment be practicable and
its resulting experience valuable in matters of religion ?
For, as one has truly said, if there be any such thing
as a religion that is adapted to our wants, it must fall
into the department of matter or mind. Its theories,
doctrines, and facts must, hence, report themselves to
our intellectual or spiritual consciousness, and may,
consequently, be a matter of continual experiment and
constant experience.
And it is well known that men have, hence, adopt
ed two methods of inquiry into the truth and divinity of
Christianity — the argumentative and experimental meth
ods. In the first we argue from given facts — facts out
side of consciousness — to a conclusion as to the truth of
the theory supposed to be supported by them. From
the facts of miracles and prophecy, for example, we

170 scriptural sanctification.
argue to the conclusion that the God who wrought the
one and inspired the other authorized and approved
the utterances of those through whose instrumentality
he did these things.
The other is the experimental method, already ad
verted to. In it the testimony of consciousness or ex
perience brings us to a more satisfactory conclusion as
to the truth and value of Christianity. The knowl
edge or proof received in this way comes from exper
imental tests, while in the other it results from a more
or less intricate process of reasoning.
We need hardly say that an experiment is an act or
series of acts by which we try to discover something
unknown, to establish something only partially known,
or to test the truth of a theory about which there is doubt.
It is an attempt to discover the unknown by the use of
the known ; to test the truth of a theory that occurs
to us or which others claim to have established, and
about which there is doubt — to test it by applying a
principle or method suggested by them or known to us
or others. Simple experiments test the theory that fire
warms us, that food nourishes us, that water quenches
our thirst, and that certain medicines heal us.
The conviction or experience resulting from such
experiment is very decided, and the testimony to others
coming from such experience ought to be most decisive
and satisfactory — much more so than that which springs
from the result of a process of reasoning.
Our Lord prescribed the experimental method of in
vestigation, and enjoined the duty of testifying or wit
nessing to others of the result of such experiment. To
the Jews who questioned his Messiahship and the au
thority of his utterances, he said : " If any man will do

evidential value of experience. 171
his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of
God, or whether I speak of myself." Whatever else
the Saviour means to teach here, he evidently leaves us
to infer that experiment is practicable and valuable in
matters of religion. Also that we may test the truth
of his doctrines by the experiment here suggested —
the wishing to know and the effort at doing God's will.
We are aware of the construction put on these words,
which leaves out the latter part of the experiment just
stated, and makes our Lord say, " If any man wills or
wishes to do God's will," etc., without any reference to
his doing it. But we insist that any man who wishes
to know or do God's will is ready and is trying to do it,
so far as it is already known to him — shows the sincer
ity of his desire by such a course.
As already suggested, the Jews, to whom he ad
dressed these words, denied or doubted his divinity and
his authority to teach them, and virtually charged him
with being an impostor. Then "Jesus answered them
and said, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine," etc. He said substantially : " I tell you what
I know to be God's truth ; test the authority and truth
fulness of my utterances by an experiment. I declare to
you what I know to be God's will ; satisfy yourselves
by the test of the experience, which will come to you
if you will do his will, as it is revealed by your proph
ets, or as I make it known to you. The result will be
that you shall know as I do, that my doctrine is from
God." Peter's case illustrates the meaning of our Lord and
the truth of his declaration. He seems to have been the
most candid and teachable, the most earnest and obe
dient, of his first twelve followers. He seemed ever

172 scriptural sanctification.
willing and anxious to know and do God's will, as it
was revealed to him by his Master. He promptly fol
lowed Jesus at his first call, and on all occasions seems
to have been foremost in his devotion to him and his
cause. And we find, hence, that he was first to be
come convinced of his divinity and Messiahship. At
least, he was first to openly avow his faith. For when
Jesus asked them all, "Whom do ye say that I am?"
Peter promptly replied, " Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God." The rejoinder of our Lord is sig
nificant and instructive : " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven." He knew
this not from the testimony of men or that of Christ's
miracles merely — for the others had these as well as he
• — but from a direct communication from God to his spir
itual consciousness — an experience of the fact derived
from the experiment of doing God's will.
Paul's case is another illustration in point. His his
tory and declaration not only prove that he was all along
willing and anxious to know God's will, but also that
he was trying to do it as he then understood it. He un
doubtedly came up to his creed, living " in all good con
science " while persecuting the Church. For, he says,
" I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus," unconsciously
fulfilling the prophecy of his Lord that, " the time
cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God service." The language of his heart to God
before his arrest on the Damascan road was doubtless
that which he then addressed to our Lord : " What
wilt thou have me to do?" As a result, Jesus appeared
unto him, and, by both an objective and subjective rev-

EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. 1 73
elation, imparted a knowledge of his Messiahship and
of Paul's duty — an experimental as well as a theoretical
knowledge of his divinity and power to save.
Cornelius, the devout and guileless, the earnest and
candid Gentile, who "feared God and wrought right
eousness " up to his creed — did God's will as he under
stood it — and who wanted to know it more perfectly,
had such fuller revelation made to him by Peter and the
Holy Ghost at Cesarea. And Paul teaches, in Romans
xii. 1, 2, that consecration to the work of doing God's
will and the spiritual transformation that results there
from will enable us to " prove," or, as Dr. Clarke puts
it, " have practical proof and experimental knowledge
of the will of God."
It is believed that in this way the truth of nearly or
quite all the doctrines of Christianity may be tested ;
that the man who earnestly and conscientiously im
proves the light he has, let it be much or little, shall
have that light increased until he has " abundance " for
all his need. This is in harmony with the general law
relating to God's gifts, so often stated by our Lord, and
as it is written in nature and runs through the spiritual
realm, namely, that improvement conditions increase —
that use insures enlargement : " Unto every one that
hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance."
It is believed that in this way the sincere atheist may
" feel after " and surely " find " our God, and that the
honest skeptic and Jew may come to believe in our Bi
ble and the Messiah of the New Testament. And it is
confidently claimed that the troubled penitent may
in this way find promised pardon, and the renewed
soul be lifted to the heights where perpetual sunshine
and perennial peace will be his heritage. In this way

I74 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
one can by experiment test the truth of these doctrines,
from the basal one of God's existence to the crowning
one of the believer's privilege to be thoroughly saved
from sin and completely filled with the Spirit of love
and power.
In harmony with this view, Dr. Daniel Steele, in his
Half Hours with St. Paul, well says :
The foundation of the Christian doctrines is laid in the word
of God. We Protestants believe that no doctrine is to be re
ceived or enforced upon any person that is not found in the
open Bible. Nevertheless, the confirmations of a doctrine are
found in our own experience. I believe all the doctrines of the
Bible are confirmed in Christian experience. All the doctrines
of the word of God find a response in human needs and in hu
man experience. They are confirmed by such experience.
Of course, Dr. Steele refers chiefly, if not solely, to
the doctrines of sin and salvation, and kindred truths,
which relate to man's condition and duty in this life.
Bishop R. S. Foster, in the preface to his very able
work, the Philosophy of Christian Experience ( 1890),
states the subject of his book in the following words :
The subject is sympathetic with the temper of the age. It
deals with facts rather than speculations; with experimental
verities rather than mere dogmas. It subjects Christianity to
practical tests, and so puts it in line with scientific method. It
offers the inner experiences of the soul to the examination and expla
nation of reason. The age busies itself with facts, demands facts,
will have nothing but facts, relegates all speculation. The
subject accepts the situation, and presents facts for considera
tion — the deepest and most indisputable of all facts; not the
mere facts of sense about which there may be dispute, and
which relate to mere temporal and material things, but the
deeper facts of the soul, facts of consciousness, about which it
is impossible that there should be any dispute ; facts which af
fect character and destiny, therefore of the most profound in
terest possible.

EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. 1 75
The bishop, in the first chapter or lecture of his
book, defines or describes the experience, whose phi
losophy and evidential value he discusses. He says :
Experience more specifically relates to the internal state and
feelings, existing as present, or recalled as past consciousness,
through which one has passed or is passing. This is the sense
in which it is most commonly used, and in which it is invari
ably used in these lectures. Whatever a man exeperiences he
knows. It is the knowing that constitutes the experience. If he
did not know the experience, he could not be said to have it.
There is no consciousness of which we are not conscious, or of
which we have not knowledge.
Again the bishop says :
The proof of pain is that we feel it. The same is true of
all subjective experiences. The proof of them is that we have
them. The philosophy of these matters of experience com
prises simply the consciousness of them, the right understand
ing of their grounds and sources, and their significance or rela
tion to ends to be served by them.
After thus clearly stating the principles and postu
lates of his philosophy, Bishop Foster proceeds to enu
merate the facts of consciousness to which they are ap
plicable :
To put clearly before us our task, we restate in brief the ex
perience, the philosophy of which we are to render. It em
braces five discrete facts of consciousness : (1) Consciousness
of guilt; (2) consciousness of repentance; (3) consciousness of
faith; (4) consciousness of pardon and forgiveness; (5) con
sciousness of a new life springing in the soul ; with other sub
sequent experiences which need not be mentioned.
But later on Bishop Foster does mention and ap
ply his philosophy to post-regeneration experiences — to
the facts which emerge in consciousness after conver
sion. He holds that these facts establish the following
postulates : ( I ) that the soul is not thoroughly healed

176 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
in regeneration; (2) that this cure is or may be com
pleted gradually or instantaneously in this life by a
second work of the Spirit; and (3) that the soul may
subsequently have perpetual sunshine and peace, result
ing from a consciousness, experience, or knowledge of
this perfect cure and its consequences.
President Finney, in his Systematic Theology, takes
substantially the same ground that Bishop Foster does
touching the infallibility of the testimony of conscious
ness to the facts of religious experience. He says :
A man's consciousness is the highest and best evidence of
the present state of his own mind. I understand conscious
ness to be the mind's recognition of its own existence and ex
ercises, and that it is the highest possible evidence to our own
mind of what passes within us. . . . It is a testimony that
we cannot doubt any more than we can doubt our existence.
How do we know that we exist? I answer, by our conscious
ness. How do I know that I breathe, or love, or hate, or sit, or
stand, or lie down, or rise up; that I am joyful or sorrowful?
In short, that 1 exercise any emotion or volition or affection
of mind? How do I know that I sin, or repent, or believe? I
answer, by my own consciousness. No testimony can be so
direct and convincing as this.
He then applies this philosophy to the highest work
of the Spirit in the soul, and says that "consciousness
can testify to our present sanctification," meaning en
tire and permanent sanctification. Dr. Daniel Steele, in
his Love Enthroned, presents and elaborates the same
view. He says :
We will now endeavor to show the philosophic grounds of
certainty in regard to the spiritual manifestation of the Son of
God to the perfect believer. The subtle suggestion is some
times presented that this whole matter of Christian experience
is illusory — a phenomenon of our own mind under the in
fluence of causes wholly within itself. The thoughtful be
liever is sometimes annoyed by the thought that God has

EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. 1 77
nothing to do with inward religious emotions — that what seems
to come from without, and to move so marvelously within the
soul, assuring of pardon and cleansing from sin, really arises
from the hidden depths of our own mysterious nature, while
intently contemplating religious ideas, and that there is no
manifestation of God at all as an objective existence. To this
we have two answers :
1. In the first place, if this illusion leaves permanent beneficial
effects upon the character, gives victory over sin, fills the soul
with love toward God and the purest philanthropy, destroys
the fear of death and adorns and beautifies the spirit with all
excellences, it is infinitely better than any reality to be found on
earth, and it should be earnestly coveted and diligently sought by
every person.
2. But we may know that God manifests himself in Chris
tian experience by the testimony of consciousness — the same
testimony that assures us of the existence of the external world.
. . . So we reply that the soul illumined by the Holy Spirit
is conscious not only of its own subjective religious exercises,
but of a God, their external cause, impressing himself mysteri
ously upon the spirit. In other words, we may have, when our
perceptions are quickened by the Holy Spirit, the same knowledge
of God as we have of the external world. Christians in advanced
experience universally testify that they know God.
It is fundamental in philosophy that consciousness cannot
lie. To deny this would be to nullify mental science by
throwing discredit upon the source of its facts. For it is a law
of evidence that one proved falsehood destroys the credibility
of a witness. "Falsus in uno,falsus in omnibus" — false in one
instance, false in all. Consciousness testifies in Christian experi
ence that a Power from without the soul enters in and subdues all
things to himself, and that this Power is a person, since it does the
work of a person, certifies to the penitent believer his pardon, and
awakens an intense love to the Worker — an affection directed to
ward persons only. That this person is Christ, or rather the Holy
Spirit revealing him, is directly apprehended by our spiritual per
ceptions in a manner wliolly inexplicable to reason. But it ought
not to be strange that he who created the infant with power to in
terpret its mother's smile should endow the human spirit with power
to recognize his Creator's presence. . . .
12

178 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
The sudden pain which shoots through the nerves to the
sensorium carries with it the feeling of certainty that some
cause outside of the mind, some thorn or needle, is the cause
of this sensation. In like manner, we argue that certainty
which the Christian feels, that the changes occurring in his ex
perience are not from some cause from within, but from with
out; and that this cause is not material, but spiritual, in its
nature. We are endowed with the ability to discriminate be
tween the objective and the subjective. If it were not so, we
could not distinguish our perceptions from the images of our
fancy. In like manner, we are enabled to discriminate between re
ligious emotions, having an objective cause, and subjective phantasies.
Hence, advanced Christians, especially, speak with the utmost
assurance of their communion with God, and of the joy of the
Holy Ghost. The Christian under the full illumination of the
Spirit as certainly knows God as the Hamiltonian or non-Hamil-
tonian may know matter. Consciousness testifies to no greater cer
tainty in the apprehension of the external world than she does in the
knowledge of Christ. The direct intuition, or inference, if it be an
inference, amounts to an absolute certainty in both cases.
To the idealistic objectors to this philosophy of expe
rience Dr. Steele says :
To such persons we would say that the field of internal
Christian experience affords the groundwork for a philosophy
as positive as any based upon the facts of physics or civil his
tory. The moral and religious intuitions furnish us with ut
terances as authoritative as those which arise in the field of
pure intellect. . . . The facts for the truth of which Chris
tian believers vouch are as stubborn as any in the domain of science.
It is certainly very unscientific to refuse to put them to the test of
experiment, and then to discredit the testimony of the vast body of
competent witnesses who have done so, with the assertion that they
are deceived or deceiving. . . . The Christian can give just as
good an account of his experimental knowledge of Christ as the
philosopher can give of his knowledge of the external world.
Let the doubting reader weigh well the above itali
cized extracts. Dr. Steele quotes and indorses the fol-

EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. 1 79
lowing from Rauch's Psychology. In speaking of re
ligion, the latter calls it
a peculiar activity of God in the human soul, differing from all his
other operations, by which it is converted, renewed, and purified by a
Power which manifests itself to the consciousness, needing no other

The importance of this matter, we think, justifies the
giving of these long extracts from such profound philos
ophers, who have experimented as well as speculated in
this blessed science. And we think it is easy to show that
this philosophy harmonizes with the teaching of Scrip
ture, especially the five or six different facts of conscious
ness to which Bishop Foster calls attention. Did not
Felix have a distinct consciousness of guilt, the pub
lican of repentance, the father of the dumb demoniac
of faith, the penitent woman at Simon's house of for
giveness, and the upper-room disciples of the baptism
of purity, peace, and power? And was not this con
sciousness of these facts a knowledge of them ? When
the jailer was awakened, did he not know that he was
guilty? When Paul was "justified by faith," did he
not know that he had " peace " ? When a man " loves
the brethren," does he not "know" that he has "passed
from death unto life"? And when one is conscious of
absolute freedom from condemnation and fear, and from
every feeling or temper contrary to love, having hum
ble and confident boldness in view of the judgment —
having this experience continuously for a series of
years — does he not know that he has " perfect love " ?
When a man "tastes and sees that the Lord is good"
and " gracious," does he not receive experimental knowl
edge of the fact ? When he has " tasted the good word
of God," " the heavenly gift," and " the powers of the

l8o SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
world to come," has he not had an experience of these
things ? And does not this experience bring or involve
a knowledge of them ? May not a man as really know
that he " hungers and thirsts after righteousness" as
that he hungers and thirsts for the things that satisfy
his physical wants? And may he not just as really
and satisfactorily feel and know that he is "filled" with
"righteousness" as that he hungered and thirsted after
it? And can he not know that he is "filled" with the
Spirit and his fruit as really as that his physical hun
ger and thirst are satisfied ?
And if we may "know that we have passed from
death unto life" — have been regenerated — "because
we love the brethren," why may we not know, with
the same degree of certainty, that we have been saved
from the impurity, weakness, and feeling of remain
ing spiritual depravity by the baptism of the Spirit,
that "purifies our hearts by faith," "strengthens us
with might in the inner man," " roots and grounds us
in love," and "fills us with all the fullness of God"?
These are just as really facts that emerge in con
sciousness as are the facts of guilt, pardon, the wit
ness of the Spirit to adoption, and his fruit of " love,
joy, and peace " which attends that witness. And the
intelligence takes as full cognizance of the one class
of facts as it does of the other, and as really knows of,
and can as confidently testify to, their existence. While
we will not stop here to argue the question, we are
sure that the Spirit just as clearly testifies to the work
of entire sanctification and its result of " perfect love,"
wrought after regeneration, as he does to the sinner's
guilt and condemnation before that time, or to his par
don and adoption at that time. And we are sure that

EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE. l8l
the fully saved believer is just as conscious of the
Spirit's fruit of perfect or unmixed love, joy, and
peace in his heart as he was of previous guilt and par
don, and of a mixed experience of love, joy, and peace
resulting therefrom.
Indeed, we are satisfied that the knowledge or as
surance of this fact is clearer and much more satisfac
tory. Dr. Steele calls attention to the very important
fact that
after the Holy Ghost was given [at Pentecost], a word came
into the Greek Testament which is not found in the four Gos
pels [containing records of pre-pentecostal facts], a strengthened
form of the word " knowledge " — epignosis — meaning exact,
clear, full, perfect, satisfactory knowledge — of course not ex
haustive knowledge of God and spiritual things [for we may
forever grow in that sort of knowledge]. All these adjectives
are used by the various great scholars of the age now living,
and some who have passed away — by Meyer, Bishops Lightfoot,
Ellicott, and Westcott, and Dean Alford, and many others.
Dr. Steele notes, too, that " the ordinary word for
' knowledge ' in classic Greek is gnosis ; but that Paul
adds an intensive prefix to it, changing it to epignosis,
giving it a stronger meaning. Peter in three instances
follows Paul's example." Hence we have " full as
surance of faith," " full assurance of hope," " full as
surance of understanding," etc., in the Authorized Ver
sion of their writings, and " perfect knowledge," " clear
knowledge," etc., in other versions.
Dean Alford, whom a well-informed, scholarly, and
spiritual divine calls " one of the most eminent men of
England, who spent his life on the Greek Testament,"
is uniform and emphatic in rendering this prefix with
some such adjective as "full," "perfect," "thorough,"
"certain," etc., making it "full" or "perfect knowl-

l82 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
edge," in such passages as Ephesians iv. 13, Colos-
sians ii. 2, 2 Timothy iii. 7, 2 Peter i. 8, etc.
And we are fully prepared to see the superiority of
this experimental knowledge over that which comes
from reasoning, when we remember, as Dr. Steele
says, that
God reveals himself to us through his Son Jesus Christ,
but he communicates himself to us through the Holy Spirit.
This is the beautiful relation of the three persons in the Trin
ity: God the Father revealing himself to the world, to our
intelligence, to our faith, in his Son Jesus Christ, but giving
a direct and experimental knowledge of himself by communicating
himself to our spiritual intuitions through the person of the Holy
Ghost. And we believe that if every disciple of Christ will
wait on him in consecration and faith for his personal
Pentecost, he will receive " the fullness of the Holy
Ghost," and that God by his Spirit will be " imported
into the very center of his being? carrying to his soul
a "full knowledge " of himself. Then it may be said
of him as Dr. Steele says of Paul :
He will be neither a gnostic, implying a conceit of spiritual
knowledge; nor an agnostic, professing ignorance of revealed
truth; nor a merognostic, having only doubtful glimpses of di
vine verities; but he will be an epignostic, rejoicing in perfect as
surance of spiritual realities.
We are profoundly convinced that the believer who
receives "the baptism of the Holy Ghost" realizes such
an assurance of divine things as absolutely excludes all
doubt of the divinity of Christianity, and of his accept
ance with God — such an assurance as expels all doubt
of both these facts.

CHAPTER XIII.
Testimony from Experience.
Now, the question arises, What must the Christian
do with this experience ? Shall he suppress this knowl
edge ? May he hide this light under a bushel ? Is he
at liberty to bury this precious talent? Or shall he
testify to this experience, impart this knowledge, and
let this light shine out for the glory of God and the
good of others? There is almost as much difference
of opinion touching this matter as there is as to the
value of Christian experience. But it seems to us
that there ought to be but one opinion as to the be
liever's duty to testify ; albeit, there may be much
ground for difference as to one's motives for testi
fying, and the way in which this testimony is to be
given. We will only say that, as we view the mat
ter, the glory of God and the good of man should be
the sole ends had in view, and the plan of testifying
which promises most fully to reach these ends should
be the one adopted. Every believer may and should
say with the psalmist, " My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord," expecting that " the humble shall hear
thereof and be glad." He may properly add : " O
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name
together." And he may join David in his invitation to
" come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare
what he hath done for my soul." But we should re
member that we are to " boast " of what the Lord has
done, and not of our own attainments. We are to " mag-
(183)

184 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
nify " and " exalt " him, and not ourselves. We are to
" tell " what " God hath done for us," and not what we
have wrought for ourselves or others. And all this is
to be done, that others, hearing thereof, may be "glad"
— shall be encouraged to seek like blessings for them
selves — such testimony being confirmed by a godly life.
Of course all admit that an air of inordinate self-as
sertion in testifying to the crucifixion of self is unseem
ly. This testimony is to be given with " meekness
and fear," reverence for God and fear lest we unduly
magnify ourselves. And, at the same time, it must
be conceded that there is less of self in humbly and
gratefully telling what God has instantaneously done for
our souls, on the simple conditions of consecration and
faith, than there is in speaking of like results that have
proceeded from our painful and persistent efforts after
growth. The once-blind man, in testifying from his ex
perience of instantaneous healing to the divinity of our
Lord and his power to heal, " magnified " his Master
more and himself less than he would have done by say
ing that, by his faithfulness and constancy, through a
course of years, in using the means which Jesus had
prescribed for his healing, he had received his sight.
We have already intimated that our Lord not only
prescribed the experimental method of investigation,
but that he also enjoined the duty of testifying from ex
perience. " Ye shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses
unto me" It is, hence, not merely a privilege, but also
a duty we owe to him and others, that we " tell- what
God has done for our souls." We are not only to
have a " reason for the hope that is in us," but we are
to hold ourselves " ready " on all proper occasions to

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 185
"give" that reason. Christ has summoned us to be
his witnesses, to testify, not merely from his word, but
also from his work within us, as to his power and
readiness to save. That was why the apostles and
others were to tarry at Jerusalem until they were in
dued with this " power from on high " — power to testi
fy humbly, gratefully, and boldly from their experience
of full salvation — from their reception of the Spirit of
love and joy and peace and courage, and not merely
from a fuller objective revelation of Christ's divinity
and ability to save. It was this gift of " prophecy " —
this power, not to foretell, but to " forth-tell " out of the
heart — this power, as Paul expresses it, of " speaking
unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort,"
that they received. It is the power to speak to profit
out of a heart filled with the Spirit, as well as out of the
Book, illuminated by the anointing of the same Spirit.
Hence it was that Paul's ministry was one of testi
mony — " to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
He often confirmed and enforced his statements of
doctrine by giving his experience of its truth. To the
Galatians he intimates that he could not preach the
gospel successfully without such experience. He says :
" It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in
me, that I might preach him among the heathen."
Here Paul evidently refers to an internal revelation of
Christ to his consciousness — an experimental knowl
edge of the Saviour — as coming directly from God, and
not through man, as an important, if not indispensable,
condition of his successfully preaching or testifying of
him to others.
This must in some measure be true with all who are

l86 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
to witness for Christ, whether preachers or laymen.
Bishop C. D. Foss, of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
has well said : " ' Ye are my witnesses,' saith the Lord.
The Church, which is Christ's body, has a testimony to
offer concerning its Head, and also concerning the life
which continually flows from the Head into all the
members." Hence, when, by persecution, the Spirit-
filled disciples of Jerusalem were scattered abroad, they,
preachers and laymen, "went everywhere preaching the
word " and testifying for Christ.
Methodism stands for experience and testimony. In
speaking of Wesley, Bishop Foss says :
When at the age of thirty-six he " felt his heart strangely
warmed," Methodism was born. His subsequent experience
and teaching concerning " perfect love " brought in a new era
for yearning, struggling, doubting disciples; and the twin
evangels of salvation now, and of salvation from all sin, sounded
out more clearly than ever before, not only through all the
branches of the Church he founded, but throughout all evan
gelical Christendom.
What are the class meetings and love feasts of
Methodism, and the " experience," " testimony," and
" praise " meetings of other Churches for but to testify
to men what we have experienced of God's saving
power? And the glory of his name and the good of
others are supposed to be promoted by such testimony.
Every assured believer may and ought with Charles
Wesley to say :
What we ha.ve felt and seen,
With confidence we tell;
And publish to the sons of men
The signs infallible.
Much has been said by others of the importance of
Christian testimony as a means of convincing and sav-

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 187
ing men. Dr. Daniel Steele says " the value of Chris
tian testimony in persuading men to be saved has never
been rated at its full worth. When St. Paul's life was
at stake, whether before a Jewish mob or a pagan king,
he always told his experience." He says again :
A philosopher has said, " The experience of one rational be
ing is of interest to all who become cognizant of it." This is
because we are so constituted as to be similarly affected by
like causes. Let half a dozen persons far gone with pulmo
nary consumption publish to the world their complete cure by
the same remedy, and the glad news would flash across the
continents and beneath the seas, irradiating with hope myriads
of sick chambers. Hence the value of testimony. Justice, in
her walk through the earth, leans upon this staff. The entire
science of medicine and art of healing have been founded
upon it. The pharmacopoeia has been filled through the at
testation of cures. Who can better authenticate the healing
than the healed patient? Who better than the cleansed soul
can testify his spiritual transfiguration, and the power by which
it was accomplished? Experience is one of the chief elements of
evangelical power.
Once more says Dr. Steele :
Testimony is the most cogent argument. A herald is use
ful to make proclamation of the law, and of the will of the
court, but make way! here comes one more important to the
ends of justice — an unimpeachable witness. All jurists tell us
that one word of authentic evidence outweighs ten thousand
words of professional pleading. The witness must speak, the
plea may be dispensed with. The testimony can go to the jury
without the argument, but it will be folly to send the argument
without the testimony. We fear the modern Christian Church is
making this sad blunder, when, respecting the question of full salva
tion in this life, she listens more attentively to the speculations of
theorizers than to the declaration of witnesses attesting that Jesus is
a complete Saviour. . . . The great want of the age is a wit
nessing Church and ministry.
The late Bishop Gilbert Haven, when editor of Zion's

ISO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Herald, in his editorial preface to the published expe
rience of a distinguished scholar, divine, and author of
his Church, says :
Much is said about the higher life; less is felt of its great
fullness. An experience is worth a thousand theories.
He then adds :
That there is a Pauline experience of the heights and depths
of grace divine, that the Holy Ghost can now fall on believers in
fullness of power, it is impossible to doubt in the face of multitudi
nous testimony from all ages and branches of the Church.
The late Dr. A. J. Gordon says :
Having drawn our scheme of the doctrine of the Spirit from
the Scriptures, we have sought to fill up the outline from the
records of religious biography. For Christian experience, if it be
true and divinely inspired, is but the Bible translated and printed in
illuminated text, "Scripture writ large "for the benefit of dim
eyes that cannot read the fine print of doctrine.
Dr. Pierson says that the Keswick managers will not
allow any one to conduct their services who cannot tes
tify from experience to the truth of the high doctrines
which these godly people preach. Another well-known
divine has said that " one experience in the converted
or sanctified life is worth ten thousand theories." Dr.
Tigert gives " experience " as one of the four pillars on
which the doctrine of " perfect love " stands. And we
are glad that Dr. Tillett gives experience its due place
as a means of confirming the teaching of Scripture
touching this question of sanctification.
It is well known that, as Dr. Steele expresses it,
" there is in the Christian Church a strong aversion to
a profession of sanctification." This is specially true
in some sections, and for reasons which we may in a
future chapter enumerate. We content ourself for the
present with saying that we think the word " profess "

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 189
should be substituted by " confess," and that the latter
should be applied to our Saviour rather than to our
selves. We will add the following judicious words of
Dr. Steele :
Jesus is to be confessed by the penitent seeker as a needed
Saviour. The first confession is usually made by coming to
an inquiry meeting or an altar, or rising for prayers. Jesus is
to be confessed as a. pardoning Saviour. This is deemed a vital
point. Every skillful pastor urges on the convert this confes
sion by baptism and the Lord's Supper, and by a constant dec
laration by the tongue of Christ's forgiving grace. Jesus as a
complete Saviour, able to save to the uttermost from fear and
doubt and indwelling sin, is to be confessed to his honor, to the
praise of the Holy Ghost, the efficient agent, and to the glory
of the Father. Christ should be the object of our confessions,
and not self, as justified, nor self as cleansed, nor self as filled
with the Holy Ghost. . . . There is needless offense given
when we profess sanctification instead of humbly confessing
Christ, " made unto us sanctification."
Is there any more impropriety in confessing Christ as
our " complete Saviour " than there is in confessing him
as our "pardoning and partial Saviour"? Is there any
more magnifying of self in saying that Christ has given
us the witness of purity than there is in claiming the
witness of adoption? Is it not more to the glory of his
grace for one to say that he has an abiding and constant
witness to his freedom from fear, condemnation, and
doubt than for him to say such testimony is intermittent?
Is not the richness of his grace often discounted in our
love feasts and other testimony meetings by the confes
sion of darkness and uncertainty and defeat, instead of
brightness and assurance and victory?
The Rev. Dr. Asbury Lowrey, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, one of the ablest exponents of this
doctrine, and author of Possibilities of Grace, says :

I90 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
For many years I did not interlard my sermons with my
experience nor testify explicitly to its reception. This, I think,
was a mistake, and it had two bad effects :
1. It limited my usefulness in spreading the experience.
Instances of entire sanctification did occur under my ministra
tions, but they were not numerous until I began to press the
matter upon the people as a present need and an experience of
which I had personal knowledge.
2. My own evidence became often eclipsed, and my expe
rience at times was much like a succession of cloudy and clear
days. This continued until I committed myself more fully be
fore my Conference and the Church as an exponent of the
doctrine. From that time I preached doctrine experimentally
and my experience doctrinally. The new method, I am per
suaded, is the correct one, as it has been blessed to many souls.
What the Church needs, in regard to every great gospel truth,
is doctrine supported by experience, and experience under-
girded by doctrine. The root of experience is doctrine, and
the end of all doctrine is experience.
May we not venture to say, as suggested by another,
that there is reciprocal obligation on others to hear and
give due weight to this testimony? Mark says that
when the eleven apostles rejected the testimony of
Mary Magdalene and others to the resurrection of our
Lord, he " upbraided them with their unbelief and hard
ness of heart, because they believed not them which had
seen him cfter he had risen"
If, as all admit, one should be careful how he bears
witness for Christ, should not others " take heed how
they hear " his testimony ? And, in " proving all
things," should we not " hold fast that which is good "
in human prophesyings and testifyings touching this
matter of the higher life ? This is what the reader is
asked to do with the testimony given by reliable wit
nesses in subsequent chapters.

CHAPTER XIV.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Some
Witnesses Introduced.
So far in this discussion we have propounded and
advocated the theory that God has in the gospel
made provision for man's being thoroughly healed,
cleansed, and saved in conversion. Also that, where
the human conditions are favorable and scriptural, this
thorough work is or may be wrought at that time. It
is insisted, however, that because, as a rule, these con
ditions do not exist at that time, the work of thorough
cleansing or subjective sanctification does not occur
until after regeneration. Also that this further work
is or may be wrought instantaneously, on the condition
of faith, the soul receiving as satisfactory assurance of
the fact as it had previously received of its regenera
tion. In trying to establish this proposition, we have
adduced the testimony of Scripture, as we interpret it,
and as it is interpreted by many leading divines of va
rious schools of thought, especially those of Metho
dism. In the last two chapters we discussed the va
lidity and value of testimony from experience. We
would now introduce some credible witnesses, whose
experience is believed to confirm our interpretation of
Scripture and strongly support our proposition.
Before introducing any uninspired or modern witness
es, we would adduce the testimony of the great apostle
to the Gentiles. It has long been a matter of surprise
to us that any intelligent student of the Scriptures
should question the fact that St. Paul possessed and
(191)

192 scriptural sanctification.
testified, directly or indirectly, to his experience of this
full salvation. Our opinion is based on the following
facts :
1. He was baptized and filled with the Spirit three
days after his arrest and surrender on his way to Da
mascus. The manifest completeness of that surren
der, together with the fact that he was instructed by
one who was most probably of the one hundred and
twenty Spirit-filled disciples of that noted upper room,
would indicate that he was prepared for and received
the ethical fullness of the Spirit.
2. We see nothing in Paul's future history incon
sistent with the fact that he was thoroughly saved at
that time. His "contention" with Barnabas (Acts
xv. 39), and his disclaiming having reached the ideal
perfection belonging to the post - resurrection state
(Phil. iii. 12-15), do not disprove this theory. For
his " contention " was doubtless a just one, entirely con
sistent with perfect integrity of heart, resulting from
an honest difference of judgment between him and
Barnabas, and no one claims the perfection of which
he wrote to the Philippians. Besides, as was stated
in speaking of Peter's case, our theory does not involve
the Christian's freedom from temptation or a liability
to yield and do wrong. And it is hardly necessary to
say that in writing the seventh chapter of Romans Paul
was not portraying his post-conversion experience, if
he was referring to himself at all. That experience
may be read in the fifth, sixth, and eighth chapters of
that Epistle.
3. It is a remarkable fact that while, as Bishop Hen
drix says, Paul, " in all his Epistles but one, prays for
the entire sanctification of those to whom he wrote,"

testimony from experience. 193
he never once asked them to pray for his own spiritual
deliverance. Dr. Steele notes the suggestive fact that,
while, in his Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians,
and Philemon, he asks for their prayers, it is never for
his spiritual improvement. It is rather for protection,
guidance, and success in his work as an apostle. And to
our mind it is almost inconceivable that Paul could write
such wonderful prayers as are recorded in Ephesians
iii. 16-19, Colossians i. 9-12, and 1 Thessalonians v.
23, and himself not have experience of what he
prayed that others might receive, especially when he
fails to ask the most spiritual of those churches to
pray that he might obtain it.
4. Paul's declarations touching his experience and
life not only indicate that he enjoyed this blessing, but
also that he professed it to others. As President Fin
ney suggests, in weighing Paul's expressions about
himself, "we should understand him to mean all that
he says when speaking in his own favor." For " the
Spirit of inspiration would guard him against speaking
too highly of himself." And " no man ever seemed to
possess greater modesty, and to feel more unwilling to
exalt his own attainments."
In the light of these facts, let us examine two or
three passages in which he speaks of himself and his
life. To the Thessalonians he says : " Ye are witness
es, and God also, how holily and justly and unblama-
bly we behaved ourselves among you." Here he calls
them and God to witness that he had lived a holy and
blameless life among them. To the Corinthians he
says: "Be ye followers [imitators] of me, as I am
also of Christ." Here this modest man urges Chris-

i94

scriptural sanctification.

tians, without qualification, to imitate him, and says
that he imitated Christ.
But it may be said that Paul here refers to his outer
life, and that all regenerated people are able to live holy
and blameless lives, imitating Christ in their words
and deeds. But he elsewhere speaks of his inner life
and experience. To the Romans he writes of his hav
ing been made "free from the law of sin and death,"
and of his having "the righteousness of the law" —
the law of supreme and unselfish love — "fulfilled in"
him. This looks very much like a profession of de
liverance from the law of, and tendency or bent to, sin
in his members, to which he refers in the seventh chap
ter, and which we call depravity. Also of his receiv
ing the fullness of love that follows such deliverance.
To the Galatians he says : " I have been crucified
with Christ, and it is no longer I that live." (Revised
Version, margin.) As punctuated by Alford, he
says : " I am crucified with Christ, but it is no longer
I that live, but Christ liveth in me." Here, as Dr.
Steele expresses it :
The former ego of selfishness has met with a violent death,
having been nailed to the cross, and Christ has taken the su
preme place in the soul. The very fact that this death was
violent implies that it was instantaneous, a very sharply de
fined transition in St. Paul's consciousness.
It does not matter for our purpose whether this was
done at his baptism with the Spirit, on Straight street,
Damascus, in his dungeon at Rome, or elsewhere. It
marks a well-defined crisis in his history, when the sin
principle — the selfward tendency — of his nature be
came extinct, and the love principle — the Christward
tendency — became dominant and all-pervasive. Paul's

testimony from experience. 195
experience and profession of perfect self-abnegation,
faith, love, joy, and humility are in proof. If space
permitted, we might give many passages of his writings
bearing on these points. Did he not sit for the picture
of perfect love, patience, meekness, etc., drawn in the
thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians ?
We believe that the facts above stated go very far to
prove, if they do not absolutely demonstrate, the fact
that St. Paul experienced and testified to the full salva
tion presented in this volume. They certainly give no
support to the theory sometimes advanced that Paul
professed not to have received this perfect salvation.
We agree with President Finney that "it seems plain
that Paul and John, to say nothing of the other apos
tles, designed and expected the Church to understand
them as speaking from experience, and as having re
ceived of that fullness which they taught is in Christ
and in his gospel." It is inconceivable that these great
and good men "should have virtually said, as a more
modern preacher once did, " Brethren, do not live as
we do, but as we tell you," whether they referred to
their inner or their outer life.
And we believe the same may be said in reply to the
suggestion that John Wesley never enjoyed nor pro
fessed this full salvation. It is in the highest degree
improbable that such a man would for fifty years
preach so plainly, so confidently, and so persistently a
doctrine and experience like this without having test
ed such doctrine and had such experience. Indeed,
in speaking of his preaching this doctrine he uses the
same term that he does in speaking of the testimony
given from experience to the truth of the doctrine, by
" the cloud of witnesses " to whom he refers. It is the

196 scriptural sanctification.
word "testify," which he says he did "in public and
in private," through a long course of years. Hence,
Bishop McTyeire, in his History of Methodism, speaks
of "the moment when" Mr. Wesley "found that stead
fast peace which never afterwards forsook him, but
gave serenity to his countenance and cheerfulness to
his heart to the last moment of a prolonged life." We
have already indicated the "moment" at which he is
believed to have "found that steadfast peace" — either
when he felt his heart "strangely warmed," or when,
not long after that time, after prayer through the night,
his pentecostal baptism came about three o'clock in the
morning. Hence we regard all his preaching and writ
ing on this subject subsequently to that time, especially
after the revival of 1761-63, as a virtual testimony from
his experience, as confirming the word of God.
We next introduce the witnesses whose testimony
Mr. Wesley gives, witnesses the value of whose testi
mony has been too often and, we are sure, unwisely
discounted. In this testimony we have combined the
intelligent and most extended and careful observation
of this great man, and the clearly stated and most con
vincing experiences of hundreds of these simple-mind
ed children of nature. At the risk of being charged
with "threshing out old straw," we quote freely from
Mr. Wesley's sermon on Patience, in which he gives
this testimony. Before making these quotations, how
ever, we call attention to some objections that have been
made to it.
Dr. Mudge is disposed to discount if not utterly re
ject this testimony, and to criticise Mr. Wesley for re
ceiving and believing it. Of Wesley and his associates
he says :

testimony from experience. 197
They were also surrounded by a mass of very ignorant fol
lowers whose crude, unreliable, undiscriminating testimonies
on the subject they felt bound to accept in lieu of anything
better, and to whose rudimentary comprehension they felt
bound to adapt their teaching.
Dr. Tillett says :
It is a fact of curious interest that, while Mr. Wesley in
the first instance derived his high and holy ideal of religion
from studying the Bible, and then applied that ideal to the ex
perience, character, and life of himself and others, pressing all
up to the Bible ideal, his ideas of instantaneous sanctification
were derived mainly from certain Methodists professing to
have experienced it, and then the Bible was examined to see if
it taught the doctrine.
We think both these writers, especially Dr. Mudge,
do great injustice to Mr. Wesley, his early followers,
and the cause they did so much to advance.
1. We think Mr. Wesley showed the wisdom of the
philosopher and the good sense of the practical inves
tigator by combining the Socratic and Baconian meth
ods of investigation in his search for truth, carefully
questioning men as to the facts of their experience, and
then generalizing these facts so as to get at the theory
supposed to be supported by them. For, conceding,
for argument's sake, as Mr. Wesley does as a fact, that
the Scriptures do not, " in express terms," teach that
sanctification is instantaneous, yet he and others might
very properly resort to experimental tests of its truth.
The theory being suggested by his scriptural view of
full salvation by faith, and by the alleged experience of
a few who said they had tested the correctness of that
view in their own full salvation, they might very prop
erly make conjectural or hypothetical tests of its truth,
as other philosophers do of the phenomena of nature.

198 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
And they were as rational in so doing as were Colum
bus, Newton, and Franklin, when they made such tests
of suggested hypotheses touching the existence of a
western world, the law of gravitation, and the nature
of electricity.
And the former started with something more than an
unsupported hypothesis. As already stated, the doc
trine of salvation by faith and the professed experience
of reliable witnesses raised a strong presumption in
favor of such hypothesis. On investigation, finding so
many well-attested facts of consciousness, certifying
that the subjects of them were all sanctified instantane
ously, Mr. Wesley inferred rationally that the theory
of instantaneous sanctification is true. Were not these
hundreds of experimenters as rational as Peter and
other Jews who, at our Lord's suggestion, experi
mented in doing God's will, as they understood it, as a
condition of ascertaining the divinity of Jesus and the
authority of his utterances? Had not Mr. Wesley,
their great leader, taught them that there is full and
present salvation offered them in the Bible, and that
they might realize it by faith? Did they not very nat
urally conclude that, if regeneration came instantane
ously by faith, the fuller and completer salvation would
come in the same way?
On this supposition, one and another, and later on
hundreds, tested this hypothesis by experiment, and re
ported the resulting experience to Mr. Wesley. He
then most carefully sifted and tested their testimony,
giving many days and weeks, if not years, to the work.
After doing this in the case of many hundreds if not
thousands of his followers, he very rationally con
cluded that this clear and general testimony from the

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. I99
facts of consciousness converted the hypothesis of in
stantaneous sanctification into a well-established theory
touching the same. And did Mr. Wesley act more ir
rationally in accepting such testimony than the other
apostles would have done to accept the testimony of
Peter to our Lord's divinity, or than the multitude
at Pentecost did in believing his public testimony to
the fact that Jesus was their promised Messiah and
Saviour ?
The same test was applied to regeneration and the
direct witness of the Spirit in Mr. Wesley's day. The
prevailing theory when he commenced his work was
that regeneration, except as baptism is that work, is
gradual in its development. Also that the revelation
to consciousness of the fact, if such revelation is made
at all, is indirect and through the Word. Mr. Wesley
seems himself to have inclined to that view until the
testimony of the Moravians from experience, and his
own experience, confirmed by the experience of thou
sands of his people, established beyond question the
theory of instantaneous regeneration and the direct
witness of the Spirit.
Is it replied that the Scriptures are very plain on
these points, but are obscure touching the matter of
sanctification ? The answer is, that many of the leading
divines of Mr. Wesley's day did not so understand the
Scriptures as to regeneration and the Spirit's witness.
Nor did Mr. Wesley in his early ministry. Is it said
that regeneration is represented as a birth, and that the
three thousand at Pentecost were instantaneously re
generated? It may be replied that sanctification is
represented as a baptism, and that the one hundred
and twenty upper-room disciples are believed to have

200 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
been instantaneously sanctified, when baptized with the
Spirit at Pentecost. Is it still insisted that, at best, in
stantaneous sanctification is only a matter of inference
from the teaching of the Bible? We reply that many
learned divines think the same of instantaneous regen
eration. And so do Christians almost universally be
lieve as to the authority for substituting the first for
the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, with this
difference, that experience confirms the former and not
the latter theory. A thoughtful divine has well said :
While I freely allow that the consciousness of the believer
cannot be an original source of doctrine, yet I must admit that
when a doctrine is taught by fair inference in the Word of God,
whether by command or by promise, or as a matter of history, the
testimony of consciousness in the living believer is authoritative,
and must be accepted in the case of that particular believer.
Dr. Gordon well says :
It is needful sometimes in setting forth an obscure truth, to
present our argument in illuminated text in order to win attention
to it. Afterwards it will be easily read in common type. That
is to say, it often requires the most vivid and powerful experiences
to impress us with the reality of a certain doctrine; which, after
we have once accepted, we can discover in its most ordinary
manifestations. Dr. Tillett must know that, although Mr. Wesley
admitted that instantaneous sanctification is not taught
" in express terms " in the Bible, he nevertheless held
that it is taught by implication and inference. Also,
that Mr. Wesley says he got this doctrine out of the
Bible more than twenty years before the time when he
so carefully examined most of the witnesses referred
to in the extract from his sermon, which was in 1759-
62. On November 1, 1762, he wrote the following to
Messrs. Maxfield, Bell, and Owen :

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 201
You have over and over denied instantaneous sanctification,
but I have known and taught it (and so has my brother, as our
writings show) above these twenty years.
In his sermon on the Scripture Way of Salvation,
first published in 1765, he says :
I have continually testified, in private and in public, that we
are sanctified, as well as justified, by faith.
Then, in the conclusion of his Plain Account, he
says :
It is the doctrine of St. Paul, St. James, St. Peter, and St.
John, and no otherwise Mr. Wesley's than as it is of every one
who preaches the pure and whole gospel. / tell you, as plain
as I can speak, where and when I found this. I found it in the
oracles of God, in the Old and New Testaments, when I read them
with no other view or desire than to save my own soul.
That does not look like "his ideas of instantaneous
sanctification were derived mainly from certain Metho
dists' professing to have experienced it, and then the Bible
was examined to see if it taught the doctrine," as Dr.
Tillett says and Tyerman intimates. On the con
trary, Mr. Wesley says he got his " ideas " from " the
Old and New Testaments," and not " from certain
Methodists' professing to have experienced it." Also
that he got them from the Bible when he " read it with
no other view or desire than to save his own soul." Not,
as Dr. Tillett says, "to see if it taught the doctrine"
which he had gotten out of the experience of others ; or,
as Dr. Mudge says, because he " felt bound to adapt his
teaching" to the "rudimentary comprehension" of his
"mass of very ignorant followers, whose crude, unre
liable, undiscriminating testimonies on the subject he
felt bound to accept in lieu of anything better." He
found something "better" in the Bible.

202 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
As if he were answering the charges of these writ
ers, he virtually says that it was not with such " view
or desire " that he " examined " or " read " the Bible,
but that he found this doctrine therein "above twenty
years" before most of these professions were made.
And there is no intimation that he regarded such
professions as "better" than the Bible teaching. No
doubt Mr. Wesley's faith in this doctrine of instanta
neous sanctification was greatly strengthened by the
experience and testimony of these witnesses, but it did
not originate in them. But, as we have seen, if Mr.
Wesley had pursued the course indicated by Dr. Tillett,
he would have played the part of a wise philosopher,
and the conclusions reached by such course would have
been rational and sound.
2. Let us look for a minute at the character and
competency of Mr. Wesley's witnesses, and the im
port of their testimony. As we have seen, Dr. Mudge
disparages them and suggests their incompetency. It
is true that, as a rule, they were plain and unlearned
people, but it does not necessarily follow that their
"testimonies" were hence "unreliable" and "undis-
criminating." Mr. Wesley says :
We asked them the most searching questions we could devise.
They answered every one without hesitation and with the utmost
simplicity, so that we were fully persuaded that they did not deceive
themselves. Again he says :
Not trusting to the testimony of others, / carefully examined
most of these myself; and in London alone / found six hun
dred and fifty-two members of our Society who were exceeding
clear in their experience, and whose testimony / could see no rea
son to doubt.
The italicized words certainly indicate that Mr.

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 203
Wesley, who knew these witnesses, did not regard
them as " undiscriminating " and "unreliable," but he
says their experience "was exceeding clear," that their
testimony was given "without hesitation," and "with
the utmost simplicity," "fully persuading" him "that
they did not deceive themselves." And these were of
the very kind of witnesses whose testimony we ought
the more readily to accept. They were honest, un
sophisticated children of nature. They were not con
firmed theologians, having a pet theory to sustain, but
were disinterested witnesses, who spoke out of their
hearts the things which they had experienced, and
which were attested by their consciousness. Like the
man who had been healed of his blindness, they may not
have been prepared to discuss any abstruse theological
question, but could in simplicity say that "whereas
I was blind, now I see." God has chosen such men
for his witnesses, taking "the weak things of this
world to confound the mighty." " Out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength."
Whatever Dr. Mudge may say of these witnesses,
he must admit that their examiner was not "unre
liable," "undiscriminating," nor incompetent. And he
will hardly deny that Mr. Wesley used every precau
tion to prevent mistake and deception. He "careful
ly examined most of them" himself, "not trusting to
the testimony of others" as to what these witnesses
said, asking "them the most searching questions" he
"could devise." Of some of these witnesses Mr. Wes
ley says : "/ can take their word, for I know them
well? For one, we would much prefer the judg
ment of such a lawyer as John Wesley, who was on
the ground and carefully examined the witnesses him-

204 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
self, to that of Dr. Mudge, who is more than a cen
tury removed from the scene.
3. We call attention to the large number of these wit
nesses, examined separately and at different times and
places through so long a period. ( 1 ) Mr. Wesley says
different witnesses testified during a period of some for
ty-five years. ( 2 ) This testimony began in London, and
extended to Bristol, Kingswood, and "various parts of
Ireland as well as England." (3) That it commenced
with "two or three persons in London," and ran up to
six hundred and fifty-two at one time in that city alone.
He then adds : " I believe that no year has passed since
that time [forty-five years ago] wherein God has not
wrought the same work in many others'' In another
place he speaks of his being "encompassed with a
cloud of witnesses" to the same thing, doubtless run
ning the number up to many thousands.
4. The unanimity with which they testified to the
same thing — the instantaneousness of sanctification.
Mr. Wesley says :
Every one of these (after the most careful inquiry, I have
not found one exception in Great Britain or Ireland) has de
clared that his deliverance from sin was instantaneous; that
the change was wrought in a moment. Had half of these, or
one-third, or one in twenty, declared it was gradually wrought
in them, I should have believed this with regard to them, and
thought that some were gradually sanctified and some instan
taneously. But, as I have not found, in so long a space of time
[forty-five years], a single person speaking thus; as all who be
lieve they are sanctified declare -with one voice that the change
was wrought in a moment, I cannot but believe that sanctifica
tion is commonly, if not always, an instantaneous work.
This stream of testimony from experience flowed
on down to the day of Mr. Wesley's death, confirming

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 205
him in the opinion that this doctrine of sanctification is
the most important one held and preached and expe
rienced by Methodists, saying in his last days that "it
is the grand depositum which God has given to the peo
ple called Methodists, and chiefly to propagate this, it ap
pears, God raised them up." The following is Mr. Wes
ley's last recorded utterance on this subject, made dur
ing the year of his death : "A man that is not a thorough
friend to Christian perfection will easily puzzle others,
and thereby weaken, if not destroy, any select society."
It seems, then, that neither his later interpretation of
Scripture nor the lack of experience on his part, or
that of any others, changed in the slightest degree his
views and teaching touching this important doctrine.
And that stream of testimony has flowed on down the
century since Mr. Wesley's death to the present. The
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in
their Quadrennial Address of 1894, refer to it and say :
Witnesses to this experience have never been wanting in
our Church, though few in comparison with the whole mem
bership. Among them have been men and women of beautiful con
sistency and seraphic ardor, jewels of the Church.
Before offering any other testimony, we would an
swer another objection to that last considered. An at
tempt has been made to break the force of this tes
timony, and discount the doctrine and experience tes
tified to, by citing the fanaticism and defection of
George Bell and Thomas Maxfield, two of these wit
nesses. And we have no doubt some good men have
honestly believed that the course of these two fanatics
does largely discount or nullify the sober testimony of
their associates, and bring discredit to the doctrine
they professed to believe and the experience they tes-

2o6 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tified to. We were once inclined to think so ourself.
But, fortunately for the cause of truth, Mr. Wesley and
Dr. Abel Stevens, one of his most illustrious followers,
have cleared away the mists that obscured this subject.
The latter characterizes George Bell as " an honest
madman," and suggests that Maxfield joined him in his
vagaries and schism because of his "discontent with
Wesley's authority," and of his own " subordinate posi
tion," together with " his wish for an independent one."
Dr. Stevens notes, too, that this fanaticism mani
fested itself " chiefly in London," and was short-lived.
The revival in which it broke out lasted some four years
— 1759-62. In 1763 Mr. Wesley wrote that "very few
compared to the whole number " had given way to fa
naticism and " separated from their brethren." He adds :
Nor has the work ceased to this day in any of its branches.
God still convinces, justifies, sanctifies. We have lost only the
dross, the enthusiasm [fanaticism], the offense. The pure
gold remains, faith working by love, and we have reason to be
lieve increases daily.
As late as 1768 he writes a friend, blessing God that
if a hundred enthusiasts were set aside, they were still encom
passed with a cloud of witnesses, who have testified, and do
testify in life and in death, the perfection we have taught for
forty years.
In speaking of the lives and character of those wit
nesses whom we have cited — those who did not go off
with Maxfield, and whom Dr. Mudge calls "very ig
norant," and whose testimonies he says "are crude
and unreliable " — Dr. Stevens says :
It was indeed remarked that the professors of sanctification
were generally, as at Dublin, distinguished more than other Meth
odists as "calm and sober-minded." Quietness, without "quiet
ism," became a characteristic of them as a class, and among

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 207
preachers and people they were considered by Wesley to be
his most prudent, most reliable coadjutors.
The early suppression in his societies of this Bell-
Maxfield fanaticism, and the still more glorious results
that soon followed Mr. Wesley's ministry, indicate the
genuineness of the work of full salvation in the great
mass of his followers. Dr. Stevens says :
If Wesley's treatment of these disturbances was at first too
indulgent, his final course was characteristically decisive, and
soon extinguished the evil. He then went forth traversing the
land, and found the societies flourishing, the revival extending into
many new places, and his congregations larger than ever before.
This was true. of his work in the towns and cities of
England, Scotland, and Ireland, his congregations being
unusually large, and at one place reaching twenty thou
sand. And this glorious work of sanctification went
steadily forward ; for, some eight or ten years after the
time noted above, Mr. Wesley, in speaking of sanc
tification, says :
I believe no year has passed since that time wherein God
has not wrought the same work/» many others, but sometimes in
one part of England or Ireland, sometimes in another.
Only once, some thirty years afterwards, and at only
one place, do we hear of the defection of Bell and Max
field seriously obstructing the good work of Mr. Wes
ley and his colaborers.
We close this chapter by saying that we are pro
foundly convinced that the testimony from experience
of these early followers of Wesley, given by so many
of them through a period of half a century, and so care
fully taken by this great man, has not been rated at
its true value. We regard it as most satisfactory and
convincing to the candid mind — more so than even the
reasoning of John Wesley.

CHAPTER XV.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Meth
odist, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Lutheran
Witnesses. We now introduce a witness who comes up to the
highest standard of intelligence, culture, piety, discrim
inating power, and reliability that Dr. Mudge or any
one else can raise — the saintly and sainted John Fletch
er, "Wesley's designated successor."
The gifted Robert Southey, of the Church of En
gland, though not in sympathy with Methodism, says :
"Fletcher was a man of rare talents, and rarer virtue.
No age or country has ever produced a man of more
fervent piety, or more perfect charity ; no Church has
ever possessed a more apostolic minister. He was a
man of whom Methodism may well be proud, as the
most able of its defenders." Isaac Taylor, the distin
guished and well-known Nonconformist author, says :
" Fletcher was a saint ; as unearthly a being as could
tread the earth at all." Robert Hall, his distinguished
Baptist contemporary, says : " Fletcher is a seraph who
burns with the ardor of divine love. Spurning the
fetters of mortality, he almost habitually seems to have
anticipated the rapture of the beatific vision." The
Rev. Dr. Dixon, one of the greatest of Wesleyan
Methodist preachers, says : " I conceive Fletcher to
have been the most holy man who has been upon the
earth since the apostolic age."
Before giving the testimony from the experience of
this man, whom Southey regarded as "abler," and the
(208)

testimony from experience. 209
others quoted as "holier" and "more seraphic," than
Wesley himself, we will quote a paragraph from his
writings, giving his interpretation of the Bible touch
ing instantaneous sanctification. He says :
If our hearts are purified by faith, as the Scripture express
ly testifies ; if the faith which peculiarly purifies the heart of
Christians is a faith in " the promise of the Father," which
promise was made by the Son, and directly points at a peculiar
effusion of the Holy Ghost, the Purifier of spirits ; if we may be
lieve in a moment, and if God may in a moment seal our sancti
fying faith by sending us a fullness of his sanctifying Spirit — if this,
I say, is the case, does it not follow that to deny the possibility of
the instantaneous destruction of sin, is to deny, contrary to Scrip
ture and matter of fact, that we can make an instantaneous act
of faith in the sanctifying promise of the Father, and in the all-
cleansing blood of the Son, and that God can seal that act by
the instantaneous operation of his Spirit?
Of his experience, Mr. Fletcher, among other things,
says :
Last Monday evening he [God] spoke to me by these words:
" Reckon yourself, therefore, to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." I obeyed the
voice of God ; I now obey it, and tell you all, to the praise of
his love, I am free from sin, dead unto sin, and alive unto God.
I received the blessing four or five times before ; but I lost it
by not observing the order of God who tells us, " With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." . . . Now, my brethren,
you see my folly, I have confessed it in your presence, and
now I am resolved before you all to confess my Master. I will
confess him to all the world. And I will declare unto you, in
the presence of God the Holy Trinity, / am now dead indeed
unto sin and alive unto God, through Jesus Christ, who is my in
dwelling holiness, my all in all.
When it is remembered that Mr. Fletcher used the
word " sin " in the sense of " original sin," " indwelling
sin," " the law of sin," depravity, etc., we can see how
14

2IO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
clearly he professed salvation from all inward and out
ward " filthiness of the flesh and spirit," and the pos
session of " inward holiness " or " purity of heart," and,
" perfect love."
A judicious writer, in commenting on the above, says :
" That open confession of sanctification was the begin
ning both of Fletcher's permanence in holiness and of
the days of his wondrous power." ' And what a life he
did live after this ! In addition to what Southey, Tay
lor, Hall, and Dixon have said of him, we add the fol
lowing testimonies from others. The first is from the
Rev. Joseph Benson, the well-known commentator and
intimate friend of Fletcher, and shows how completely
divine grace triumphed over a naturally fiery and pas
sionate spirit :
He was meek, like his Master, as well as lowly in heart. Not
that he was so by nature, for he was of a fiery, passionate spirit:
insomuch that he has frequently thrown himself on the floor
and lain there most of the night, bathed in tears, imploring
victory over his own temper. And he did obtain the victory in
a very eminent degree. For twenty years and upward before
his death, no one ever saw him out of temper or heard him
utter a rash expression, on any provocation whatever. And
he did not want provocation, and that sometimes in a high de
gree; especially from those whose ^religious sentiments he
thought it his duty to oppose. But none of these things moved
him; no, not in the least degree.
How complete was this triumph of divine grace,
substituting the greatest irritability and passionateness
of nature with the most consummate meekness, gentle
ness, and humility 1 Christians who say they can't
control their temper ought to take courage from this
experience. In his funeral sermon, Mr. Wesley pays
the following tribute to his deceased friend :

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 211
I was intimately acquainted with him for above thirty years.
I conversed with him morning, noon, and night without the least
reserve, during a journey of many hundred miles. And in all
that time I never heard him speak an improper word, nor saw him
do an improper action. Many exemplary men have I known,
holy in heart and life, within fourscore years; but one equal
to him I have not known : one so inwardly and outwardly devoted
to God, so unblamable a character in every respect, I have not
found either in Europe or America, and I scarce expect to find
another such on this side of eternity.
The following is from the pen of James Ireland,
Esq., one of Mr. Fletcher's associates and friends. It
testifies to both his greatness and goodness :
Such a soul I never knew; such a great man in every sense
of the word. He was too great to bear the name of any sect.
. . . I never saw Mr. Fletcher's equal. On him great grace
was bestowed. What deadness to the world! What spiritual-
mindedness! What zeal for souls! What communion with
God! What intercourse with heaven! What humility at the
feet of Jesus! What moderation toward all men! What love
for the poor! In short, he possessed the mind which was in
Christ Jesus.
The following high encomium is from the pen of
Richard Watson, probably the profoundest theologian
of Wesleyan Methodism. He calls Fletcher
a man eminent for genius, eloquence, and theological learn
ing; still more distinguished for sanctity of manners and the
virtues of primitive Christianity. . . . The measure of
every other grace in him was exceeded by his deep and unaf
fected humility, . . . teaching by his own attainments, more
than even by his writings, the fullness of evangelical promises and
with what intimacy of communion man may walk with God.
We close these testimonies to this great and good
man with the following from his latest biographer, the
Rev. Luke Tyerman, A.M. :
Fletcher was distinguished for his genius, his learning, and

212 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
his biblical and theological knowledge, but let all Methodists
throughout the world, and as long as Methodism lasts, remem
ber in all their Church meetings and Church appointments,
that Wesley's " designated successor " was preeminently "A
GOOD MAN, AND FULL OF THE HoLY GHOST AND OF FAITH."
We feel that the interpretation and experience of
this almost inspired man, this ablest exponent and de
fender of the doctrine of entire sanctification, this most
illustrious and saintly exemplar of its truth, is of itself
enough to satisfy unprejudiced minds of the scriptural-
ness of this doctrine.
We will next give the testimony of one of Fletcher's
contemporaries, of whom Bishop Simpson once said,
" Holy hands were never laid on a holier head " — that
of Richard Whatcoat. After giving an account of his
clear and happy conversion, Bishop Whatcoat says :
My faith and love grew stronger and stronger, but / soon
found that, though I was justified freely, yet I was not wholly sanc
tified. This brought me into a deep concern, and confirmed
my resolution to admit of no peace or truce with the evils which
I still found in my heart. I was sensible that they both hindered
me at present in my holy exercises, and that I could not enter
into the joy of my Lord unless they were all rooted out. . . .
After many sharp and painful conflicts, and many gracious
visitations also, on the 28th of March, 1761, my soul was drawn
out and engaged in a manner it never was before. Suddenly I
was stripped of all but love. And in this happy state, rejoicing
evermore and in everything giving thanks, / continued for some
years with little intermission or abatement, wanting nothing
for soul or body more than I received from day to day.
It is possible, if not probable, that Bishop Whatcoat
was one of the witnesses whom Mr. Wesley examined,
for it was during the revival of 1759-62 that he pro
fessed sanctification, and he was an Englishman, at
that time living in his native land.

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 213
We, for a time, turn from Methodist testimony, not
confining ourself to any Church, but giving the expe
rience and testimony of a well-known Catholic, as well
as that of men and women of different Protestant de
nominations. Take first that of Madame Guyon, of the Catholic
Church. A distinguished Baptist divine, in speaking of
her spiritual condition before she received the baptism of
the Spirit, which brought the experience here recorded,
says : " There is every evidence that this earnest wom
an had already appropriated the work of Christ for her
on the cross and on the throne, and had been saved by
it." She had then been converted. Of her experience
after this baptism she says :
I slept not all that night, because thy love, O my God, flowed
in me like delicious oil, and burned as a fire which was going to
destroy all that was left of self in an instant. I was all on a sud
den so altered that I was hardly to be known either by myself or
others. I found no more those troublesome faults or reluctance to
duty that formerly characterized me. They all disappeared, con
sumed like chaff in a great fire. Nothing was now more easy
than the practice of prayer. Hours passed away like mo
ments, while I could hardly do anything else but pray. The
fervency of my love allowed me no intermission. It was a prayer of
rejoicing and of possession, wherein the taste of God was so great, so
pure, unblended, and uninterrupted, that it drew and absorbed the
powers of the soul into profound recollection, a state of confiding,
affectionate rest in God, existing without intellectual effort. For I
now had no sight but Jesus Christ alone.
The Baptist divine just quoted makes this judicious
comment on the above :
When we think of the penetrating, subduing, hallowing
character of this woman's piety, begetting hatred in some, of
course, but conquering so many others and bringing them into
obedience to the cross of Christ, it goes far to certify the truth

214 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of the above strong statements. Friars, priests, nuns, men of
the world, women of fashion, nobles, and peasants were drawn
to her by a strange charm, and that charm lay evidently in
her presence more than in her words. . . . Hundreds of
Madame Guyon's virgin sisters were immured in convents,
seeking thus by retired and hidden communion to become holy
unto the Lord. But here was one fulfilling the duties of wife
and mother, and yet surpassing them all in her exalted devo
tion. . . . She has been called a Mystic and a Quietist, . . .
and theologians have said that Mysticism destroys obedience
by paralyzing freedom of choice. But life is better than philoso
phy, demonstrations of experience than the deductions of reason.
And here was one who in her life shone like a seraph and obeyed like
an angel; and however we may reason, her own generation
and every succeeding generation have recognized the saint's
halo about her head.
We turn from this seraphic Catholic saint to listen
to the words and consider the life and the work of the
profound and saintly President Jonathan Edwards, of
the Presbyterian Church. Of him Dr. Gordon says :
The diary of Jonathan Edwards furnishes a remarkable ex
hibition of the various stages of the Spirit's work in the heart.
His conversion was clearly marked, and at a later period his full
consecration and separation unto God not less distinctly.
The following is taken from a record of his expe
rience years after his marked conversion. This expe
rience came during an hour of " contemplation and
prayer." He says :
The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an
excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and con
ception — which continued, as near as I can judge, about an
hour; which kept me a greater part of the time in a flood of
tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what
I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated;
to be in the dust and to be full of Christ alone; to love him with a
holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve him;

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 215
and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and
heavenly purity.
And those who know of his subsequent life believe
that the desire and prayer of his heart on this occasion
had a response from heaven. President Edwards him
self gives the following description of some of his sub
sequent experiences :
I found from time to time an inward sweetness that would
carry me away in my contemplations. This I know not how to
express otherwise than as a calm, sweet abstraction of the soul
from all the concerns of the world, and sometimes a kind of
vision or fixed ideas and imaginations of being alone in the
mountains, or some solitary wilderness, far from all mankind,
sweetly conversing with Christ, and wrapped and swallowed up in
God. Dr. Gordon, in commenting on the above, says :
We have heard Edwards called "the Isaiah of the Christian
dispensation," profound wisdom and seraphic devotion being
so wonderfully united in him. Certainly here is a scene in
the great theologian's life which is strangely like that which
the prophet so vividly pictured in his own. There is the same
overpowering vision of the Lord, the same melting of heart
before his awful purity, and the same self-surrendering conse
cration to his service. If the sealing of the Spirit can ever be
discovered in the lives of modern saints, we should say that here is a
conspicuous instance. And as we hear him preaching at Enfield,
not long after, when, as he speaks, the impression of eternal
things is so powerful that men cling to the pillars of the Church,
trembling before the impending terror of the Lord, which he so
vividly pictures, we exclaim, "Truly the anointing which he hath
received abideth on him ! "
We note three things in this experience : ( i ) that
it was subsequent to conversion, (2) that it was in
stantaneous, and (3) that it was an ethical and abiding
fullness of the Spirit.

2l6 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
We next give the testimony of Mrs. President Ed
wards, which was put on record by her distinguished
husband. It seems, from what he says, that after Mrs.
Edwards's conversion she had been "subject to great
unsteadiness in grace and frequent melancholy." It is
said that while in this frame of mind she " desired God
above all other things," and that " this desire expressed
itself in the most searching self-surrender ; and the de
light which followed was this desire finding rest in its
supreme object." Of what followed this " extraordi
nary self -dedication and renunciation of the world "
President Edwards says :
Since that resignation spoken of before, made near three
years ago, everything of that nature [unsteadiness in grace and
melancholy] seems to be overcome and crushed by the power of
faith and trust in God and resignation to him. She has remained
in a constant, uninterrupted rest and humble joy in God, and assur
ance of his favor, without one hour's melancholy or darkness from
that day to this. . . . These things have been attended with a
constant sweet peace and calm and serenity of soul without any cloud
to interrupt it; a continual rejoicing in all the works of God's
hand — the works of nature and God's daily works, all appear
ing with a sweet smile upon them ; . . . a daily sensible do
ing and suffering everything for God, for a long time past;
eating for God and sleeping for God, and bearing pain and
trouble for God, ana1 doing all as the service of love, and so do
ing it with a continual, uninterrupted cheerfulness, peace, and joy.
How fully do this experience and testimony harmo
nize with John Wesley's teaching and the experience of
his followers of President Edwards's day, as well as that
of so many in the present day ! ( i ) There is conver
sion, followed by more or less of "unsteadiness" of
experience and life, and seasons of " melancholy " or
spiritual sorrow. (2) "Extraordinary self -dedication
and renunciation of the world " — fuller separation and

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 217
consecration as our knowledge of and desire for full
salvation have increased. (3) Having this unsteadi
ness and sorrow instantaneously " overcome or crushed
by the power of faith and trust in God." (4) " Con
stant, uninterrupted rest and humble joy in God, and
assurance of his favor, without one hour's melancholy
or darkness from that day." (5) "A daily sensible do
ing and suffering everything for God," rendering him
a " service of love," " with a continual, uninterrupted
cheerfulness, peace, and joy." As another has said, "the
experience of Mrs. Edwards seems to have been a con
tinuous one, and to have constituted when attained an
habitual state rather than exceptional transport." In
other words, her fullness of the Spirit was ethical and
permanent. Her subsequent life seems to have been
most sober and orderly, " balanced with the most ex
alted communion and practical service."
The labors and saintliness of the great Calvinistic
divine and his seraphic wife were to American Presby-
terianism very much what those of the incomparable
Fletcher and his equally saintly helpmeet were to
British Methodism. And although, because trained
in different schools of theology, they did not give the
same name to their " high experience," it was very
much the same thing, they calling it " consecration " or
the " full assurance of faith," while the Methodists
called it " sanctification " or " perfect love."
Take the case of Merle D'Aubign^, the distinguished
and devout historian of the great Reformation. A
well-known Baptist author, in giving this historian's
experience, says :
He saw the doctrine of the new birth theologically and as
contained in Scripture ; but as yet he had not known it experi-

2l8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
mentally, as written in the heart. And now while at the uni
versity in Geneva he tells us that he sought and "experienced
the joys of the new birth." Being justified by faith, he had peace
with God; lie knew himself forgiven and accepted. But still he
lacked perfect joy and the peace of God keeping his heart and mind.
Some years after his conversion he and two intimate friends,
Fredrick Monod and Charles Rien, were at an inn at Kiel,
where the chances of travel had detained them, searching the
Word of God together for its hidden riches. D'Aubigne thus
tells the story of what there passed in his own soul: "We were
studying the Epistle to the Ephesians, and had got to the end
of the third chapter, when we read the last two verses : ' Now
unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
unto him be glory,' etc. This expression fell upon my soul as a
revelation from God. ' He can do by his power,' I said to my
self, 'above all that we ask, above all even that we think; nay, ex
ceeding abundantly above all.' A full trust in Christ for the work
to be done within my poor heart now filled my soul. We all three
knelt down, and although I had never fully confided my in
ward struggles to my friends, the prayer of Rien was filled
with as much admirable faith as he would have uttered had he
known all my wants. When I arose in the inn room at Kiel, I
felt as if my ' wings were renewed as the wings of eagles.'
From that time forward I comprehended that all my own efforts
were of no avail; that Christ was able to do all by his 'power that
worketh in us.' And the habitual attitude of my soul was to lie
at the foot of the cross, crying to him : ' Here am I, bound hand
and foot, unable to move, unable to do the least thing to get
away from the enemy who oppresses me. Do all thyself. I
know that thou wilt do it, thou wilt even do " exceeding abun
dantly above all that I ask."' / was not disappointed; all my
doubts were removed, my anguish was quelled; and the Lord ' ex
tended to me peace as a river' Then I could comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Then I was able
to say : ' Return unto thy rest, O my soul ! for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee.' "
The passages in italics indicate that the experience

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 219
of this able, learned, and spiritual Lutheran was
like that of his Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist
brethren. ( 1 ) It came " some years after his conver
sion," when he had " experienced the joys of the new
birth," " had peace with God," and " knew himself for
given and accepted," but realized that " he lacked per
fect joy and the peace of God keeping his heart and
mind? (2) That it came instantaneously, on condi
tion of his ceasing from his own efforts after growth
into this blessing, and a " full trust in Christ " to do it
all himself. (3) All his doubts were removed, his an
guish was quelled, and the Lord gave him peace as a
river. In a word, Paul's wonderful prayer in Ephe
sians iii. 16—19 was answered in his experience. (4)
He knew when the blessing came. He " was not dis
appointed" in his faith and expectation, but was en
abled to say, " The Lord hath dealt bountifully with
me." (5) It was permanent — was an ethical fullness
— as his future life and work show. One has well
said :
Not less did D'Aubign^ need that deeper experience and il
lumination [alluded to above] to fit him to produce the history
of the Reformation — that historic exposition of the doctrine
of justification by faith. There are things of God hidden in
the Scriptures, diffused through human history, and inwrought
with religious experience, which no intellectual acumen, how
ever subtle, can grasp. Therefore, for every kind and quality
of service we need the Paraclete.
This gifted and devout German doubtless had this
abiding Anointer and Sanctifier. In commenting on
the above related experience, Dr. Gordon well says :
Here indeed was a most blessed experience; but not some
thing strange and exceptional in religious biography. We can
trace the same thing under different names through many

220 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
saintly lives. The "inward death " of Mysticism; the "divine
stillness " of Quietism ; the " rest of faith " of the brethren of
the High Life — all these terms are readily translated back into
the one idea of the peace of God ruling in the heart. It is, in a word,
the perfect quiet which comes to the soul that is yielded up in perfect
self-surrender to God. Tauler 1 is constantly describing it as the
fountain of that wonderful second life of his after his two years'
retirement from the pulpit into the cell. " If a man truly loves
God," says he, "and has no will but to do God's will, the whole
force of the river Rhine may run at him and will not disturb
him or break his peace"
In speaking of this experience, Tauler says that its
possessor enjoys " the most quiet and peaceful liberty,
being uplifted above all fear and agitation of mind
concerning death or hell, or any other things which
might happen to the soul either in time or in eternity?
Well said and most true !
*Tauler was a most devout Mystic of the fourteenth century.

CHAPTER XVI.
Testimony from Experience Continued — Mul-
ler, Finney, and Taylor.
With some degree of reluctance we turn from the
rich field of Christian experience and testimony of the
past centuries to the still richer one of the current cen
tury. Go now with us where we may see " the standing
miracle of the nineteenth century," George Miiller's
Orphanage at Bristol, England. Does any one ask
what is the secret of this one man's "sheltering, feed
ing, clothing, and educating thousands of poor chil
dren through a long series of years, with no funds or
resources to draw from except what God has sent him
in answer to prayer"? The money expended in this
work amounts to millions of dollars. This secret is re
vealed by a distinguished divine, who gives the follow
ing short sketch of Miiller's spiritual life :
George Miiller was converted in 1825 while a student in the
University of Halle, but until 1829 he seems hardly to have
known whether there be any Holy Spirit. He has graphically
told us how in that year, while staying at Tergumouth, in En
gland, he was made acquainted with the person and office work
of the Comforter, and how the blessed secret of the Spirit's guid
ance and illumination and induement was made known to him. It
all came to him now as a divine baptism.
Of what followed this divine baptism we will let
him, in his Life of Trust, speak : " In the beginning of
September I returned to London, much better in body ;
and as to my soul the change was so great that it was
(221)

222 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
like a second conversion" In speaking of the effect of
studying the word under the illuminating influence of
the divine Anointer, he says : " The result was that
the first evening I shut myself in my room, to give
myself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, /
learned more in a few hours than I had done during
a period of several months previously."
His subsequent " work of faith and labor of love "
for nearly three -fourths of a century attest the fact
that this "divine baptism" or "second conversion"
was thorough in its nature and permanent in its re
sults. The author quoted above well says :
He who four years before had drank of the water of life,
now found it within him " a well of water springing up unto
everlasting life," and the third experience began at once to
follow: "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."
How many orphans' lives have those streams since enriched
and made glad!
Four marks of this full salvation are here seen : It
was after conversion, was instantaneous, was certified
to consciousness, and was abiding.
Kirk, in his Lectures on Revivals, expresses the
opinion that probably no man since the days of White-
field has been instrumental in turning so many souls to
God by his preaching as the late Rev. Charles G. Fin
ney, successively of the Presbyterian and Congrega
tional Churches. Of him Dr. Gordon says :
Certainly we should not know where to look in recent
times to find such startling and overwhelming results attend
ing the proclamation of the gospel as those which were wit
nessed under his ministry. . . . Vast ingatherings attend
ed his labors wherever he went. Of the fruits of one revival
which sprang forth under his preaching, so judicious an ob
server as Dr. Lyman Beecher declared that it "was the great-

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 223
est work of God and the greatest revival of religion that the
world has ever seen in so short a time, one hundred thousand
being reported as having connected themselves with Churches
as the results of that great revival! "
Now what is the secret of the wonderful success of
this remarkable man ? A dip into his autobiography
will reveal it. After passing through powerful spirit
ual exercises, he had been converted. Very soon there
after, while in his law office, the mighty baptism of
the Spirit came upon him. He describes it in the fol
lowing words :
I then received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. With
out any expectation of it, without ever having thought in my,
mind that there was such a thing for me, without any rec
ollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any
person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a
manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I
could feel the impression like a wave of electricity going
through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in
waves of liquid love ; for I could not express it in any other
way. It seemed like the breath of God. I can recollect dis
tinctly that it seemed to fan me like immense wings. No words
can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart.
I wept aloud with joy and love, and I do not know but I should
say I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my
heart. Those waves came over me, one after another, until I
recollect I cried out, " I shall die if these waves continue to pass
over me." I said, " Lord , I cannot bear any more." Yet I had no
fear of death. . . . Thus I continued until late at night. I re
ceived some sound repose. When I awoke in the morning
the sun had risen and was pouring a clear light into my room.
Words cannot express the impression this sunlight made upon
me. Instantly the baptism I had received the night before re
turned upon me in the same manner. I arose upon my knees
in the bed and wept aloud for joy, and remained for some
time too much overwhelmed with the baptism of the Spirit to
do anything but pour out my soul to God. It seemed as if

224 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
this morning's baptism was acccompanied with a gentle reproof,
and the Spirit seemed to say to me, " Will you doubt? Will
you doubt?" I cried, "No! I will not doubt: I cannot doubt."
He then cleared the subject up so much to my mind that it was
impossible for me to doubt that the Spirit of God had taken pos
session of my soul [had come back as a new power in his heart].
This remarkable experience seems, in some respects,
to be exceptional. ( i ) This baptism came very soon
after conversion, and seems to have been Pauline in
this and other respects. It is believed, however, that
such cases ought to be the rule. (2) It came without
being sought as such. President Finney says he did
not remember ever having heard the baptism of the
Spirit mentioned, and that he was not expecting it.
And yet, in passing through the powerful spiritual ex
ercises before and after his conversion, he may have
been brought to see the plague of his heart, and his
need of something more fully to fit him for the work
which God had for him to do. His surrender and
consecration, like Paul's, may have been so complete,
and his faith may have been so full and unquestioning,
that he was in condition for receiving all that God had
for him without his specifically expecting the baptism of
the Spirit. And we do not know to what extent God
may exercise his sovereign prerogative, in calling and
fitting one for a special work, without invading the sa
cred precincts of man's sovereignty over the motions of
his will and the state of his heart. (3) It seems ra
ther exceptional in the " overwhelming " manifestation
of God to his soul. Yet there are other cases like it
in this respect, but they seem to be rare. Men may
not ordinarily expect such waves of divine influence to
submerge them. (4) It seems exceptional in the meas
ure of his success in winning souls, for but few can

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 225
hope to equal him in this respect. He had unusual
natural as well as spiritual equipment for this work.
And the field which he occupied, as well as the crying
need for such work, may have largely contributed to
his phenomenal success. (5) It was somewhat excep
tional in the fact that, instead of his " experience being
colored by his theory," it was contrary to his theory,
and seems to have given color and direction to that
theory touching sanctification ; for President Finney
not only modified or rejected the theory of his Church
touching sin and depravity, but also became one of the
ablest and most pronounced champions of the doctrine
of entire sanctification that has written on the subject.
In other respects his experience harmonizes with
that of others whom we have quoted. ( 1 ) It was
after regeneration. (2) It came instantaneously. (3)
It was well attested. He says : " It was impossible
for me to doubt that the Spirit of God had taken pos
session of my soul." (4) It was an " ethical fullness,"
or the " fullness of righteousness." The fact that it
was an experience of such wonderful and inexpressible
love would indicate that it was not a mere " charismat
ic " fullness. And so would the fact that it was an
abiding experience differentiate it from a mere "ecstat
ic " or emotional fullness.
We would press the experience of this wonderful
man against the theory of Hugh Price Hughes and
others, that the baptism at Pentecost was only one for
courage and boldness. If any modern preacher ever
had this pentecostal baptism of power or courage, it
must have been President Finney ; for the results of
his ministry have hardly been paralleled since the
apostolic age, if they were then. There was not only
15

226 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
" power " in his words, but also in his looks, for people
were cut to the heart by a glance from him. And yet,
on reading his account of this baptism, we see notice
- of scarcely anything but love — " waves of liquid love " :
"No words can express the wonderful love that was
shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and
love." It was the "electricity" of love "going through
and through" him, and "waves of liquid love" that
"came over " him, cleansing him from selfishness and sin,
and filling him with "all the fullness of God." It was
the same kind of love for which Paul prayed in Ephe
sians iii. 16-19; a l°ve *n which he was "rooted and
grounded " and " strengthened " and " established,"
and which became the basis and source of his courage
and boldness, or his " power " to win souls. All the
reference he makes to his deliverance from fear and the
induement of courage is incidental : " Yet I had no
fear of death," not referring directly to his deliverance
from the fear of man.
Leaving the experience and testimony of well-known
and historic characters, we turn to that of a more
youthful disciple. Of him Dr. Gordon says : "James
Brainerd Taylor had been converted at the age of fif
teen. Six years later he experienced a remarkable
blessing from the Spirit. All his subsequent papers
refer to this date as the most important era in his
Christian life." The following is part of Mr. Taylor's
account of this remarkable experience :
It was on the 23d of April, 1822, when I was on a visit to
Haddam in Connecticut. The time and place will never, no,
never, be forgotten. I recur to it at this moment with thankful
remembrance. For a long time my desire had been that the
Lord would visit me and fill me with the Holy Ghost. My cry to
him was, Seal my soul forever thine. I lifted up my heart in

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 227
prayer that the blessing might descend. I felt that I needed
something that I did not possess. There was a void within
that must be filled or I could not be happy. My earnest desire
was then, as it had been ever since I had professed religion, six
years before, that all love of the world might be destroyed, all self
ishness extirpated, pride banished, unbelief removed, all idols de
throned, everything hostile to holiness and opposed to the divine will
crucified, that holiness to the Lord might be engraved on my heart
and evermore characterize my conversation. My mind was led to
reflect on what would probably be my future situation. It re
curred to me, I am to be hereafter a minister of the gospel.
But how shall I be able to preach in my present state of mind?
I cannot — never, no, never, shall I be able to.do it with pleasure
without great overturnings in my soul. I felt that I needed that
for which I was tlien, and for a long time had been, hungering and
thirsting. I desired it, not for my benefit only, but for that of the
Church and the world.
At this very juncture I was most delightfully conscious of giving
up all to God. I was enabled in my heart to say: " Here, Lord,
take me; take my whole soul and seal me thine — thine now
and thine forever. If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
Then there ensued such emotions as T never before experienced.
All was calm and tranquil, and a heaven of love pervaded my
whole soul. I had a witness of God's love to me and of mine to him.
Shortly after I was dissolved in tears of love and gratitude to our
blessed Lord. The name of Jesus was precious to me, "'twas
music in my ear." He came as King, and took full posses
sion of my heart; and I was enabled to say: " I am crucified
with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me. Let him, as King of kings and Lord of lords, reign in me,
reign without a rival forever."
On the above record of experience Dr. Gordon
makes the following comment :
The invariable accompaniment of such visitations of the
Spirit we find throughout the subsequent history of this young
man. His communion with God was of the most elevating
and transforming character. It seemed literally as though it
were Christ for him to live. For wherever he went he exhib
ited the Lord Jesus so conspicuously in hi6 example, in his

228 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
words, and in his persuasions, that men could not resist the
power with which he lived and spoke. Dying at the age of
twenty-eight, his labors had nevertheless been such a blessing
to his generation, that many servants of God, living till three
score and ten, might be glad to leave behind them such a rec
ord. His college and seminary vacations were spent in evan
gelistic labors, and during these seasons he toiled like an apos
tle. Night and day with tears he warned men. Publicly and
from house to house he exhorted and entreated and prayed.
And wherever he went revivals seemed to break forth as
though he carried some resistless divine influence in his per
son, and hundreds in a town would be converted during a sin
gle visit. His own soul meanwhile lived in the most exultant fel
lowship with the Father and the Son. He makes the same rec
ord that Edwards does, that the one memorable season of
divine visitation was followed by many others, in which the
tides of heavenly love and delight filled and flooded the soul.
The joy of the first baptism and its accompanying power remained
unto the end.
This remarkable experience and testimony most
strikingly support the theory of this book — that the
sanctifying baptism of the Spirit ordinarily comes
after conversion, is instantaneous, is certified to the
consciousness, and abides with its subject. This
young man was certainly the subject of a baptism
which clearly involved the " ecstatic," " ethical," and
" charismatic " fullness of the Spirit, all three of
which were permanent or abiding. We would most
heartily commend the experience and example of this
devout young Presbyterian to the close study and con
scientious imitation of all theological students and
young preachers of the gospel. May they catch his
spirit and walk in his footsteps !

CHAPTER XVII.
Congregational Testimony from Experience
— Drs. Upham and Mahan.
The Rev. Professor Thomas C. Upham, D.D., is
well known as one of the ablest, most scholarly, and
most spiritual metaphysicians and divines ever pro
duced by the Congregational Church of America. He
was the author of quite a number of philosophical, bi
ographical, and theological works of high merit. Dr.
Mudge is candid enough to call him "a high proficient
both in mental philosophy and spiritual experience."
We will favor our readers with some extracts from
the record of his experience, written by himself and
published first in Pioneer Experiences and afterwards
in Forty Witnesses. We had hoped to give this expe
rience in full, but lack of space forbids. Hence we
must content ourself with copious extracts and some
comments. We direct attention to several things in
this remarkable record :
i. Dr. Upham's experience was not the result of a
pet theory, received from his Church or religious
teachers, and was not, therefore, "colored" by pre
conceived views. On the contrary, his theory touch
ing sanctification resulted from his having " examined
the subject, as he thought, prayerfully, candidly, and
faithfully, looking at the various objections as well as
the multiplied evidences " — flying in the face of his
Church's teaching and his traditional faith. (229)

230 scriptural sanctification.
2. This is not the experience of a heated and excited
rhapsodist, but that of a cool and well-balanced philoso
pher. Nor is it the " crude, unreliable, undiscrimina
ting testimony" of one of Mr. Wesley's "ignorant fol
lowers," but that of a " high proficient, both in mental
philosophy and spiritual experience," who did not em
brace Mr. Wesley's views until after he had thoroughly
and prayerfully examined the subject for himself. And
this testimony was not given until after he had, through
a course of years, fully tested the truth of this theory
by daily experiment. The facts establishing its truth
had been clearly revealed to his consciousness, which,
in turn, promptly reported them to his intelligence,
producing profound and unwavering conviction.
3. Three more or less distinct stages of his spiritual
development are noted :
( 1 ) From the time he " experienced " and " made a
profession of religion" — 1815-18 up to 1839 — more
than twenty years, he seems to have been in the dis
pensation of the Father, obeying God as a " servant,"
chiefly from the motive of "fear." He says: "Dur
ing the greater part of that long period I believe that
I have striven earnestly for higher religious attain
ments." But he adds : " For various reasons, how
ever, and particularly the discouraging influence of the
prevalent doctrine that personal sanctification cannot
fully take place till death, I did not permanently attain
the object of my desires."
(2) In the summer of 1839, after more earnest and
thorough study of the Scriptures, he became convinced
of the possibility and duty of present sanctification by
faith, and within six months thereafter was ushered
into the dispensation of the Son. In describing this

testimony from experience. 231
change, he says : " I was removed from the condition
of a servant and adopted into that of a son. I believed
and felt, in a sense which I had never experienced be
fore, that my sins were all blotted out, were wholly
forgiven, and that Christ was not only the Saviour of
mankind in general, but my Christ, my Saviour in par
ticular, and that God was my Father." And he tells
us that although after this he had "great and abiding
peace and consolation," the " important contest " with
self was not yet over. Indeed, he tells us that this " in
ternal conflict " became more marked and fearful. He
says :
The principal difficulty, as I daily examined my heart to see
how the case stood between my soul and God, seemed to be a
consciousness, while other evils were greatly or entirely re
moved, of the remains of selfishness. Indeed, at this particu
lar time the selfish principle, or rather the principle of self-love
in its inordinate and unholy exercise, seemed to be stimulated
to unwonted activity. The remains of every form of internal
opposition to God appeared to be centered in one point and to
be prosecuted in one aspect. I do not know that I was ever
more troubled, during so short a space of time, with feelings
of this nature. / do not mean that I was more selfish at this time
than ever before. By no means. But the existence and horrible
nature of this state of mind were more fully brought to view. I
took this encouragement, however: that God was perhaps now
showing me, as he often does when he is about to bless with
entire holiness of heart, the very root of evil; and I was sin
cerely desirous to see it and to know it, that it might be slain
in his presence.
(3) His stay in the dispensation of the Son was
short and transitional, only a little over a month — from
about the 27th of December to the 3d of February, at
which latter date he was ushered into that of the Spirit,
and was filled with the Holy Ghost. Three conditions

232 scriptural sanctification.
of this wonderful change are given, (a) A fuller and
more intelligent consecration : " Under the influence of
the feelings I have just described " — this new sense of
sonship and peace — " I consecrated myself anew to
God in a more specific and solemn manner." (<5)
Prayer : " My continual prayer to God was that he
would enable me to love him with all my heart." (c)
Faith : " My faith remained unshaken, and on Monday
morning I thought I could say with great calmness and
assurance, ' Thou hast given me the victory.' "
4. What followed this last transition ? ( 1 ) That " in
ordinate self-love " — that " selfish principle " — seemed
to be exterminated : " The selfish exercises which had
recently, and, as it were, by a concentrated and spasmodic
effort, troubled me so much, seemed to be at once re
moved ; and I believed, and had reason to believe, that
my heart, presumptuous as it may appear to some to
say it, was now purified by the Holy Ghost and made
right with God." (2) His love was made "perfect" :
" I was then, if not mistaken in my feelings, . . .
filled with the blessing of "perfect love." (3) He had
assurance of the fact of his full salvation : " I was
distinctly conscious when I reached it." (4) This
"perfect love" and assurance of it were abiding:
I was never able before that time to say with sincerity and
confidence that I loved my heavenly Father with all my soul
and with all my strength. But aided by divine grace, I have
been enabled to use this language, which involves, as I under
stand it, the true idea of Christian perfection or holiness both
then and ever since. . . . Certain it is that my spiritual life lias
been a new life. There is calm and sunshine upon the soul. The
praise of God is continually upon my lips. I have continually what
seems to me to be the witness of the Holy Spirit — that is to say, I have
a firm and abiding conviction that I am wholly the Lord's, which does

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 233
not seem to be introduced into the mind by reasoning or by any
methods whatever of forced or self-made reflection, and -which I can
ascribe only to the Spirit of God. It is a sort of interior voice,
which speaks silently but effectively to the soul and bids me
be of good cheer. ... I realize that my cup of happiness
is full, whatever may be my personal trials and sorrows, when
ever and wherever my heavenly Father is glorified in me.
We notice some clear implications of this experience
and testimony :
1. That all "selfishness," "inordinate self-love?
or depravity was not removed in regeneration. For
whether we date that work, in Dr. Upham's case, at
the time he first "professed religion," or when he first
received the witness of adoption, this lesson is taught
us. For (1) this "internal conflict" was going on
during those twenty-odd years, raging more fearfully
after he "was removed from the condition of a serv
ant and adopted into that of a son " than it ever had
before, his depravity being " stimulated to unwonted
activity? bringing more clearly than ever to view " the
existence and horrible nature " of this remaining evil
within just before his baptism with the Spirit. ( 2 )
This "internal conflict" was not a mere condition of
temptation, or temptation itself, perfectly consistent
with a state of entire sanctification, as Dr. Boland sug
gests. Else Dr. Upham would have felt it after his
" heart was purified by the Holy Spirit? and he was
"filled with the blessing of '< perfect love'" just as he
had after he had received the Spirit of adoption and
had " abiding peace and consolation"
(3) This "internal conflict" and selfish bias to
ward evil was not the result of his having backslidden.
For Dr. Upham says that " during the greater part of
that long period " — the twenty years between his " pro-

234 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
fession of religion " and his assurance of adoption —
" I believe that I have striven earnestly for high reli
gious attainments." That does not look like careless
backsliding. And then the Doctor tells us that it was
after he had so grown in grace that he could say, " God
had given me great blessings, such as a new sense of
forgiveness, increased love, a clear evidence of adop
tion and sonship, closer and deeper communion with
himself, but T felt there was something remaining to
be experienced." And he tells us that it was only a
few days after he could make such a good profession
as the above that he " daily examined his heart " to see
how he then stood with God, and found the " remains
of selfishness " within, and realized that " the remains
of every form of internal opposition to God appeared
to be centered in one point of inordinate self-love, or
the principle of selfishness." And, without having
backslidden — for how could he backslide while press
ing forward at such a rate? — he tells us that on the
evening before he received this wonderful baptism he
"was greatly afflicted in mind; tossed to and fro as in a
tempest" by this "internal conflict" between depravity,
or selfishness, and divine grace. We repeat, then, that
this experience of " internal conflict " resulted neither
from a state of backsliding nor from the resistance of
a pure nature to temptation. For Dr. Upham was
clearly not in a backslidden state, and he did not expe
rience this " conflict " after he was sanctified.
2. The second implication is that sanctification in
volves the experience of something more than conse
cration before or after regeneration. Hence Dr. Up
ham, viewing the matter from the standpoint of expe
rience, says : " I would take the liberty to say here

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 235
that I do not consider consecration and sanctification the
same thing. Consecration is the incipient, the prereq
uisite act. It is the laying of ourselves on the altar;
but it is not till God has accepted the sacrifice, and
wrought upon us by the consuming and restoring
work of the Holy Spirit, that we can be said to be sanc
tified. It is true that the one may immediately and
almost simultaneously follow the other, and this will be
the case where faith in God is perfect." We need not
repeat what he says of that experience of " purity,"
" love," " sunshine," " strength," and " power " which
he had after he " consecrated himself anew to God in a
more specific and solemn manner." This does not har
monize with the view of those who insist that " sepa
ration and consecration " are about all there is of sanc
tification, and that there is no " experience " of sancti
fication which follows such act. Nor does it agree
with the teaching of others, that the one consecration
made at regeneration is always as full as we can make,
and is sufficient to bring God's largest blessing.
3. This experience implies that Dr. Upham received
" the baptism of the Holy Ghost," and was the subject
of his "ethical" and " abiding fullness" of grace and
blessing ; that he received something more than a
mere " emotional fullness " or ordinary " blessing " of
the Spirit, which is more or less " evanescent." He says :
" There was no intellectual excitement, no very marked
joy, when I reached the great rock of practical salva
tion. The soul seemed to have gathered strength
from the storm which it had passed through on the
previous night, and, aided by a power from on high, it
leaped forward, as it were by a bound, to the great
and decisive mark!'

236 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
4. It implies that there is nothing in a sound
psychology contradictory to this theory of sanctifica
tion. This " high proficient in mental science," this pro
found philosopher and acute metaphysician, the author
of an able work on metaphysics, failed to see anything
in the psychology of the subject to contradict his in
terpretation of Scripture, or his experience touching
this matter. Nor do we believe that any rational or
well-established psychology tends in the least degree
to nullify this theory of sanctification, when the latter
is properly understood and the former is rightly ap
plied. We hope to show this more fully in another
chapter. We have devoted this large space to the record, analy
sis, and application of Dr. Upham's experience because
we believe that, with intelligent and thoughtful men, the
testimony from consciousness of one such " high pro
ficient " in such matters is worth more than the un
supported hypotheses of a thousand mere theorists.
We are sorry that Dr. Boland seems to speak
slightingly of Dr. Upham, as "one of Dr. and Mrs.
Palmer's converts." This record of his experience
from which we have quoted indicates that he was con
verted to the theory of entire sanctification in this life
before he met them and other Methodist friends to
whom he refers. But if they had convinced him of
the truth of this theory, he would only have been in
line with the eloquent Apollos, who seems to have
been led to embrace the doctrine of the Spirit's fullness
of blessing under the tutelage of Aquila and Priscilla, a
spiritual and well-instructed layman and his wife. Dr.
Buckley, in his Centennial Address at Baltimore in
1884, speaks in the highest terms of Mrs. Palmer.

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 237
While we might not be able to agree with her in all
that she said and did — we read her works nearly forty
years ago — we honor her memory as that of one of
God's most saintly and useful servants. And the gift
ed Miss Frances E. Willard was a beneficiary of Mrs.
Palmer's teaching and evangelistic labors.
The Rev. Asa Mahan, D.D., LL.D., a well-known
journalist, teacher, and author, and the first President
of Oberlin College, Ohio, was one of the ablest, most
pious, and most notable men of his day in the Congre
gational Church. The following elaborate statement
of his experience is clearer and stronger', if possible,
than that of Dr. Upham. We are certainly glad he
wrote it. He says :
On Sabbath, November 9, 1884, I completed the eighty-fifth
year of my life. The first seventeen years of this period were
spent in the darkness of impenitency and sin, a state rightly
represented by the words, " having no hope, and without God
in the world." The following eighteen years I lived and walked
in the dim twilight of that semi-faith which fully knows Christ
in the sphere of "justification by faith," but knows almost noth
ing of him in the sphere of " sanctification by faith," and is ab
solutely ignorant of him in the promise, " He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire." During the subsequent
fifty years I have found grace "to walk with God" in that
sphere of cloudless sunlight in which "we are complete in
Christ," and know him as " our wisdom, righteousness, sancti
fication, and redemption " — know him not only as " the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," but as " he
that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost," and in which, consequent
ly, " God is our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning
are ended."
I am distinctly aware of the fact that should I, in speaking
of the past, use a single word or sentence for self-glorification,
I should grievously offend my God and Saviour, and in a cor
responding degree wrong my own soul. My object will be to

238 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
state merely the facts and characteristics of the periods of my
life as may be interesting and instructive to the reader.
Here permit me to say, in general, that while I was in pub
lic regard an unexceptionally moral youth, no individual ever
did or ever can lead a more godless life than I did. I never in
a single instance, excepting at my mother's knee, offered a
prayer to God in any form. I never entertained or expressed
a sentiment of thanksgiving for a blessing received, or con
fessed a sin to my God; nor did I ever do or avoid doing a
single act from regard to his will, favor, or displeasure.
Two facts peculiarized my natural characteristics. On one
side my nature was specially tender and sympathetic; while on
the other it was equally characterized by the strongest and
most positive temperaments and propensities.
(a) My temper, for example, -was very easily excited, and when I was
excited I was utterly reckless of all consequences in time or eternity,
andof any pain that might be inflicted upon me. The thought of that
temper so horrified me while alone in my father's pasture, at the age
of ten years, that I exclaimed aloud, " This temper will ruin me ! "
From my early years the principle of ambition had continuous
and absolute control over my daily thoughts and all my plans
for future life. I would be an educated man, and in that
sphere "a man of renown." Everywhere I openly avowed
that purpose, and made it a leading theme of conversation
with those of my own age especially. In no youth that I ever
knew did the principles of pride and self-will, the latter espe
cially, exist with such strength as in myself. A more restless
nature no one, as it seems to me, ever did possess. Those
facts sufficiently indicate my natural disposition and temper
ament. My mother once called me to her and said: "The
neighbors who visited here yesterday afternoon had a conver
sation about you. They all agreed that if you should live
on to manhood you would become a very good or a very bad
man. There would be nothing halfway about you."
MY CONVERSION, AND THE SUCCEEDING EIGHTEEN YEARS.
(b) Of my conversion, I may say of a truth that it was, in the judg
ment of all who know me, of a very marked and decisive character,
being followed by a visible change in character and life, such as was
seldom witnessed. During the first five years of my Christian

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 239
life I was directly instrumental in originating four important
revivals of religion — three of these occurring in the schools
which I taught, and these where no work of grace existed
within hearing distance around.
(c) Nor -was my ministry of eight years' continuance, during this
period, a fruitless one : no less, I suppose, than two thousand souls
being added to the churches through my instrumentality.
MARKED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIRST EIGHTEEN YEARS
OF MY CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. There was at length [not long after his religious life
commenced, he says below], notwithstanding all my prayers
and efforts to the contrary, a gradual fading out of that joy,
and a conscious diminution of the ardency of that love, until I
was fully at home in the sentiment of the hymn :
Where Is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed,
How sweet their mem'ry still;
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
(d) That " aching void" remained a characteristic of my religious
life up to the close of the period now under consideration.
2. Not long after my religious life commenced I found, to
my great sorrow and regret, that those sinful propensities
which had held absolute control over me during the era of my
impenitency still existed, and when temptation arose " warred
in my members " with seemingly undiminished strength, and
were frequently "bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which was in my members." No believer, as it seems to me,
ever did or ever can strive more resolutely and untiringly than
I did to subdue and hold in subjection his evil propensities, or
made less progress to effect his purpose than I did. When
subject to strong and especially sudden temptation, I found
myself not more than a conqueror, but a groaning captive.
For eighteen years, for example, I maintained a most deter
mined war upon that evil temper; yet, when suddenly pro
voked, I found myself, and that invariably, betrayed into
words and acts of which I would have occasion to repent and
confess as sins. How often did I exclaim, " O wretched man

240 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
Nor did my struggles and most determined resolutions issue
in any seeming increase of power over these propensities.
3. During these eighteen years, after the fading of my primal
joys, I was from time to time troubled and not unfrequently ago
nized -with painful doubts — doubts about my standing as a believer,
about the truth of the gospel, and a future state as revealed in the
same. I seemed to myself to be among the number who feared
the Lord, obeyed the voice of his servants, and yet walked in
darkness and had no light.
4. As far as the inner life was concerned, I seemed to my
self to be making no progress. I did considerably grow in
knowledge, and in power as a preacher, but the light within
did not brighten on toward the perfect day.
(e) 5. The fear and dread of death, which had thrown such a
deep gloom over my impenitent life, continued to oppress me
during the eighteen years under consideration, rendering my
ministerial visitations to the sick and attendance upon funerals
seasons of great trial and pensiveness. Thus far, " through fear
of death I had all my lifetime been subject to bondage."
(f) 6. I did know how to preach the gospel to the impeni
tent, to lead inquiring sinners unto Christ for the pardon of
sin; and I could also "preach the doctrines" to believers, urge
them to faithfulness in duty, to labor and pray for the conver
sion of sinners, and to liberal contributions for every good
cause. In all these respects I had good success in my sacred
calling; but when I reflected upon such precepts and utter
ances as the following, " Feed my sheep," " Comfort ye the
feeble-minded, support the weak," " I long to see you, that I
may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may
be established," I said to myself, " There is a lack in me of essen
tial qualifications for the highest functions of my sacred calling." I
did not know how to conduct religious conversation among my peo
ple; " to feed the flock of God."
7. / saw there was an essential defect in my experience and char
acter as a Christian. I read and prayerfully pondered such pas
sages as the following, namely : " The water I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life"; "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee " ; "Whom having not

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 241
seen, ye love, and in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory " ;
"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that hath loved us," etc. As I read such passages I said to myself,
"My experience hardly approaches that which is here revealed as the
common privilege of all the saints." In the secret of my own
spirit I said, " I will never cease inquiry and prayer until ' God
shall open the eyes of my understanding, that I may know the
things which are freely given us of God.' "
(g) After some years of most diligent inquiry and prayer my
eyes were opened, and "I beheld with open face, as in a glass, the
glory of the Lord," and "knew the love of Christ, which passeth knowl
edge? and merged " out of darkness into God's marvelous light."
In that light I have lived and walked for the past fifty years.
When I reflected, as I often did, upon this up and down sin
ning and repenting form of life on this lower plane, I fre
quently said to myself: "This does indeed seem to be a strange
kind of service to offer to my God and Redeemer. I know,
however, of no other way of leading a religious life but to do
as I am doing — that is, renewing a broken purpose as often as
broken, and after every fall to rise up and start anew with the
same purpose as before." When a sense of weariness and de
spondency came over me in view of the facts of such a life, I
often repeated to myself the words, " Faint, yet pursuing."
During all those years such passages as the following were
a dead letter to me : passages in which " the very God of
peace " promises, on condition that " he is inquired of by us to
do it for us," that he will himself " sprinkle clean water upon
us, and we shall be clean"; that "he will turn his hand upon
us, and purely purge away our dross, and take away all our
sin"; that he will "sanctify us wholly, and preserve our whole
spirit and soul and body blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ."
When I apprehended that he was just as able to "sanctify me
wholly" as to justify me fully, then, totally renouncing self and self-
dependence, I entered upon the faith-life in its true and proper form.
MY FIFTY YEARS' WALK WITH GOD.
(/() And here permit me to remark that there has been during
this entire period a total disappearance of all those painful experi-
16

242 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ences which threw such a " disastrous twilight " over the preceding
eighteen years of my Christian life. The peace and joy which, as
an unfailing and unfading light, have filled and occupied these
past fifty years have so far surpassed and eclipsed the "peace
ful hours enjoyed" during the ardency of my "first love " that
the latter is seldom " remembered or comes into mind." Not a
throb of pain from the ' ' aching void " so long left in my heart by the
passing away of those "peaceful hours " has been experienced dur
ing these fifty years. On the other hand, that void has been occu
pied and filled by " the peace of God" during this entire period.
During these fifty years I have almost, and I might say quite,
ceased to be conscious of the existence and action of those evil propensi
ties (lusts) which, during the preceding eighteen years, " warred in
my members," and so often rendered me a groaning captive " un
der the law of sin and death," " the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus having made me free " from that old law. Im
mediately after my entrance into " the brightness of the divine
rising," I became blissfully conscious that all my propensities
were, by divine grace, put under my absolute control; that I
was no longer a groaning captive, but the Lord's free man —
free and divinely empowered to employ all faculties and pro
pensities, physical and mental, as "instruments of righteous
ness in the divine service."
(j) In but one single instance, for example, have I, during all
these fifty years, been conscious at all of a movement of that evil
temper, the strongest of all my propensities, and that was but for an
instant, and occurred some thirty or forty years since, no one suspect
ing the fact but myself. Brother Finney, after our very intimate
association of fifteen years' continuance at Oberlin, made the
statement to a leading minister, a mutual friend of ours:
"Brother Mahan never gets angry; nor does he ever, under
the severest provocations or the most trying and disturbing
providences, lose the even balance of his mind."
(/) As the result of fifty years' experience and careful self-
watchfulness I present myself as a witness for Christ, that
"our old man may be crucified with him," and "the body of
sin destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Were
those old propensities against which I so long and vainly fought,
and whose existence and action within I so long and deeply lamented,
now warring or acting at all in the inner man, should I not be,

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 243
sometimes at least, conscious of the fact? Nor has the shadow of
one of those doubts which so frequently darkened my vision — doubts
of my standing with God, of the truth of his word and of an eter
nity to come — had for a moment a place in my experience since " the
Sun of righteousness rose upon my soul with healing in his wings"
(k) In the inner life also there has been during these fifty years,
not as formerly, little or no conscious growth, but an increasing
knowledge of my indwelling God and Saviour, and a consciously
growing " meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light" as
well as of the doctrine and the great revelations of the sacred word.
Knowledge now, also, as it had not then, has a consciously
transforming power, changing the moral being into the image
of Christ, "from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." The fear and dread of death which threw such a deep gloom over
my impenitence, and continued to oppress me during the eighteen
years of my primal Christian life, has never approached my mind
since " the brightness of the rising " at the commencement of the
period now under consideration. Oh ! how sweet is the whisper of
the angel, In my room,
A few more shadows and he will come.
As long as Christ has work for me here, I much prefer earth
to heaven; when that work shall have been finished, I am pos
sessed of but one desire, and that is, " to be absent from the
body and present with the Lord." My entrance into the higher
life was attended by two important facts — a vast increase of effect
ive power in preaching Christ to the impenitent, and the " edifica
tion of the body of Christ " {believers) became the leading charac
teristic and luxury of my ministry. Religious conversation be
came as easy and spontaneous as the outflow of water from a
living fountain. How often have I had occasion to repeat the
word of the apostle as applicable to myself: " Blessed be God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mer
cies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are com
forted of God."
Should I designate what I regard as one of the leading, if not
the leading, characteristics of my experience and life during these

244 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
fifty years I should refer to such scriptures as the following:
" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee" ; "And the fruit of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance forever"; "Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus." At intervals my joy in God be
comes so full and overflowing that it seems as if the great
deep of the mind is being broken up. But my peace, quiet
ness, and assurance know no interruption. " In whatever state
I am, I have learned therewith to be content"; my abiding
place being the center of the sweet will of my God.
Should I be asked, " Have you not sinned during these many
years?" my reply would be: "I set up no such pretension as
that. This I do profess, however: that I find, grace to 'serve
Christ with a pure conscience.' But while ' I know nothing by
(against) myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that
judgeth me is God.' I do 'have confidence toward God,' be
cause ' my heart condemns me not.' I have this evidence also,
that the love I have does cast out all ' fear that hath torment.'
In the consciousness of such facts I commit to Christ the keep
ing of my soul, and that in ' the full assurance of faith,' the full
assurance of hope, 'the full assurance of understanding.'"
As the result of these fifty years' experience and widely ex
tended and careful observation, together with the most careful
and prayerful study of every part of the word of God which
bears upon the subject, / may add here that not a shadow of a
doubt rests upon my mind of the absolute truth of these great doc
trines, namely, the doctrines of justification by faith, sanctification by
faith, and of the baptism of the Holy Ghost to be received by faith.
Soon after I became conscious of a personal union -with Christ, "I
in him and he in me? I inquired of the Lord whether such blissful
union could be an abiding one. In specific answer to such in
quiry this promise was, ail-impressively, presented to my faith,
and has ever since abode in my heart as the light of my life,
namely: "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither
for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 245
glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy
moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting
light, and the day of mourning shall be ended."
It might prove interesting and profitable to point out
and stress some of the most striking passages in this,
which is to us, in some respects, the most remarkable
record of Christian experience we have ever read.
But to save space we content ourself by marking with
italics the parts we think should awaken most intense
interest, and prove most instructive and convincing,
adding a few words, however, to call attention to the
most striking points, indicated by these italic letters.
(<z) Dr. Mahan's marked lack of piety before his
conversion, his never doing anything with a view of
pleasing God, while his fearful temper, which was
" very easily excited," made him " utterly reckless of
all consequences in time and eternity."
(3) His sound conversion, which he says was of
" a very marked and decisive character, being followed
by a visible change in character and life, such as was
seldom witnessed."
(e) The fruitfulness of his ministry, some "two
thousand souls being added to the churches through
his instrumentality " in eight years of the time before
he received this baptism.
(a?) That notwithstanding all "his prayers and ef
forts to the contrary, a gradual fading out" of his
" primal joys " was realized, leaving or revealing an
" aching void " and " painful doubts — doubts about my
standing as a believer, about the truth of the gospel,
and a future state as revealed in the same." And his
efforts at exterminating his remaining depravity by the
force of his will and his efforts at growth in grace were

246 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
unsuccessful. Nor was this sad experience of doubt
and failure caused by his backsliding, for he says : " I
seemed to myself to be among the number who feared
the Lord, obeyed the voice of his servants, and yet
walked in darkness." And he says again :
No believer, it seems to me, ever did or ever can strive more
resolutely and untiringly than I did to subdue and hold in
subjection his evil propensities, or made less seeming progress
to effect his purpose than I did. . . . For eighteen years,
for example, I maintained a most determined war upon that
evil temper, yet when suddenly provoked, I found myself, and
that invariably, betrayed into words and acts of which I would
have occasion to repent and confess as sins. . . . Nor did my
struggles and most determined resolutions issue in any seem
ing increase of power over those propensities. . . . As far
as the inner life was concerned, I seemed to myself to be mak
ing no progress. I did considerably grow in knowledge and
in power as a preacher, but the light within did not brighten on
toward the perfect day
(e) His fear and dread of death "continued to op
press " him during the eighteen years under considera
tion. (_/) He keenly felt, as many others have, that his
experience was defective, and did not come up to the
standard of uniform joy and peace set up in the Scrip
tures as the common heritage of all believers. He felt,
too, his inability to minister successfully to those who
needed comfort and would walk along the higher plane
of perpetual sunshine. How many other ministers have
painfully felt this !
(g-j) His complete deliverance and the glorious re
sults. "After some years of most diligent inquiry and
prayer my eyes were opened and I . . . merged
' out of darkness into light.' In that light I have lived
and walked for the past fifty years? That he may

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 24^
clearly see these, we beg the reader to go back
and read again what this distinguished divine, schol
ar, and teacher says of his " fifty years' walk with
God," and see how completely he was saved from
"doubt," the "aching void," "evil tempers," "fear,"
and everything else that was inconsistent with " the
peace and joy which as an unfailing and unfading
light have filled and occupied these last fifty years?
and " have so far surpassed and eclipsed the ' peaceful
hours enjoyed ' during the ardency of my ' first love '
that the latter is seldom ' remembered or comes into
mind.' "
(£) We call special attention to what he says of
his increased "conscious growth" during those fifty
years of " meetness for the inheritance of the saints in
light." This does not harmonize with Dr. Mudge's
theory that remaining depravity is a necessary condi
tion of " growth in holiness toward perfection."

CHAPTER XVIII.
Some Quaker Testimony from Experience —
Clark, Updegraff, and Hannah Whitall
Smith.
The Rev. Dougan Clark, M.D., Professor of Latin
and Greek in Earlham College, a native of Randolph
county, N. C, and a resident of Richmond, Ind., says :
I cannot point to the time when converting grace first
reached my soul. I am quite sure that it was in very early
life. I am certain there were occasions every now and then,
during my youth and early manhood, when my soul was filled
with the love of God ; when I was contrite before him, when my
peace flowed as a river, and when I enjoyed what I now be
lieve to have been the witness of the Spirit to my adoption and son-
skip. . . .
Until I had reached middle life my Christian experience was very
unsteady and unsatisfactory. God was wonderfully good to me;
but the carnal mind was very strong, and was ever struggling
against the movings of the Spirit. So I was up and down, one
day on the housetop, next in the cellar — sinning and repenting,
backsliding and returning ; at times growing in grace, and at
times almost losing my faith and hope. I was a Christian, but
not a healthy one. Still, upon the whole, I can say, to the glory
of Jesus my Saviour, that during those years, by his grace, I did
make considerable progress in the divine life. The old man —
the strong man — was mostly kept in bonds. The struggle was
often severe and protracted; but when I trusted in Jesus, he
gave me the victory.
When I was about thirty years of age, my attention was first
called distinctively and intelligibly to the subject of holiness as
an actual, obtainable experience. This was from the perusal
of Interior Life, by Professor Upham. . . . At length, in the
twelfth month (December), 1871, while attending a series of
(248)

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 249
meetings at a Friends' church in Ohio, in which brother David
B. Updegraff was taking part, acting under his advice, I arose
in a large assembly and stated my sense of my own unworthi-
ness and weakness ; but that, relying wholly on Christ, I did
then and there reckon myself dead indeed unto sin and alive
unto God through Jesus Christ my Lord. I had now com
mitted myself publicly. While I knew that I could not make
myself dead to sin, I felt as if the responsibility was now laid
upon Jesus. What I reckoned in faith he could make real and
true. There was no very marked feeling for several hours.
I held on by faith to my confession. Then came peace — full,
quiet, calm — not rapture, nor ecstasy, but all the silent heaven
of love ; and this continued almost without intermission dur
ing my waking hours for several weeks.
"Now, what did I get?" Answer: 1. A clean heart: I was
baptized with the Holy Ghost, and my heart was purified
by faith. 2. Perfect love. 3. The endowment of power. For
whatever spiritual power I have been possessed of since, either
for winning sinners to Christ or bringing believers to entire
sanctification, by consecration and faith in Jesus, I date it from
that blessed day and hour.
"How has it been with me since?" There have been fail
ures on my part, but God has kept me wonderfully. There
have been great and exceedingly subtle temptations — angel-of-
light temptations — but Jesus has carried me through. There
have been great trials and fearful sorrows — greater, I believe,
than the average Christian, or even the average holiness man,
is called to endure; but Jesus sustains and keeps and consoles.
. . . I wish the number [saved through him] was manifold
greater, as it might have been if I had been wholly the Lord's
from my youth ; but I can rejoice now when others preach and
write better than I, and are the means of gathering in hun
dreds where I bring units.
On the 19th of February, 1887, I do still testify that, by the
grace of God, I am reckoning myself dead to sin; and I have
a sure confidence that now the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth me
from all sin, and that I have received, and now have, the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord !
Here is the same testimony to conversion and wit-

250 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ness of the Spirit to adoption, followed by an " un
steady and unsatisfactory" experience, and a struggle
with the "old man," backsliding and repenting, until,
after a full consecration and faith there comes the in
stantaneous baptism of the Spirit, which cleanses and
establishes the soul in uniform peace and obedience. In
this case the result of this baptism is declared to be "a
clean heart? "perfect love? and "the endowment of
power? which continued with him for fifteen years of
"temptation" and " blessed service."
The Rev. David B. Updegraff is well known as a
minister and writer among the Friends of Ohio. We
giv.e the following extracts from the record of his ex
perience, written by himself in 1888. He says :
I was born near Mount Pleasant, Ohio, on the 23d day of
August, 1830. I cannot doubt that I was solemnly given to
God from my birth by pious parents. My infant lips were
taught to pray, and when I said,
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
I really expected him to do it. My young heart was not a stran
ger to the gracious visitations of the Spirit of God, and was
often melted by the power of love. But I grew up in sinful
ness and in rebellion against God. . , .
After being settled in life I renewed my covenant with God
and sought to do right because it is right. I was a birthright
member of the Church, and was " zealous toward God accord
ing to the perfect manner of the law of my fathers." I cer
tainly did "fear the Lord," and was a "servant under the law
that gendereth to bondage " for many years. But I had not
received the adoption of a son. In March, 1864, I made this
discovery. The gospel of God came to me in great power.
. . . My spiritual conflict was somewhat protracted, but
it came to an end in the silent watches of the night, and I
had " peace with God." His Spirit witnessed with my spirit that
I was his child. . . . But first neglect, then disobedience,

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 25I
then waywardness interfered with my Christian life. Chasten
ing and suffering from the hand of the Lord were followed by
restoration of soul. . . .
Some years had passed since I found the liberty of the sons
of God, but I saw that few were being brought into the king
dom. . . . There were a good many people who gave me
trouble ; but as I learned more of myself I discovered one
"old man" who gave me more trouble than all the others, and
he was a member of my own household. "His deeds" had
been put off, and truly there was no condemnation, yet when
"I would do good" he was present with me. And he was
there to " war against the law of my mind," with a resolute
purpose to " bring me into captivity to the law of sin." If he
succeeded even partially, I was troubled and grieved, and if he
did not, I was in distress and fear lest he might.
The Lord taught me by some special providences, and I be
gan to understand more clearly how that "the law was weak
through the flesh." I hated pride, ambition, evil tempers, and
vain thoughts ; but I had them for all that, and they were a
part of me. Not as acts to be repented of and forgiven, but dis
positions lying behind the acts, and promptings thereto, nat
ural to the " old man," and inseparable from his presence in
my being. I began to ask God, with a measure of faith, to
" cast him out." Along with this desire came a great " hunger
and thirst " to be " filled with all the fullness of God." I longed
for " a clean heart and a constant spirit.'' . . .
Then passed quickly before me the obstacles in the way, and
the "things to be suffered for Jesus' sake." The misapprehen
sions, suspicions, and revilings of carnal professors, as well as the
conflicts with the world, the flesh, and the devil. And they were
not the exaggerations of fancy, either ; selfishness, pride, and
prejudice joined forces and rose in rebellion, while the "old
man " pleaded for his life. But I could not, would not draw
back. "Vile affections" were resolutely nailed to the cross,
and those things that " were gain to me " — denominational
standing, family, business, friends, possessions, time, talent, and
reputation — were irrevocably committed to the sovereign con
trol and disposal of my Almighty Saviour. With all upon the al
tar, I had no sooner " reckoned myself dead indeed unto sin and

252 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
alive unto God " than the " Holy Ghost fell " upon me. Instant
ly I felt the melting and refining fire of God permeating my whole
being. I had entered into rest. I was nothing and nobody,
and glad that it was forever settled that way. I was con
scious of a. longing to get rid of ambitions and self-will, and
have my heart cry out for nothing but the will of God. I was
deeply conscious of his presence and of his sanctifying work.
It was not an effort to realize that I loved the Lord with all
my heart and mind and strength, and my neighbor as myself.
The inmost calm and repose in God of that time, that day,
that hour, was a wonder to me then, and it continues to be
so still. It was, and it is, the " peace of God that passeth all
understanding." The witness of the Spirit to entire sanctification
was as clear and unmistakable to my own soul as it was in the ex
perience of justification.
I have had abundant time and occasion in the nearly nineteen
years that have passed to scrutinize and test the reality and na
ture of the work wrought then, and perpetuated since, by the
power of the Holy Ghost. In and of myself I am neither holier nor
stronger than before. But I have learned that this wondrous
baptism with the Holy Ghost is the secret of stability in the
Christian character as well as success. True, it is not a state
that is necessarily immutable, but rather a mode of life which may
and ought to be maintained by a perpetual faith in Jesus and his
promises. His constant abiding perpetuates a disposition to do the
will of God. And our obedience in allowing him to " work in us to
will and to do of his own good pleasure " constrains him to abide.
I have proved the secret of victory in this life to be quietness,
assurance, and obedience, loving God supremely. . . .
In addition to the italicized passages, to which we
call special attention, we note the usual expressions of
those who seem to be scripturally saved — baptized
with the Spirit and delivered from sin and depravity :
(1) He lived for some time under the dispensation of
the Father, " fearing him and working righteousness "
as a "servant." (2) He passed into the dispensation
of the Son and had the clear " witness of adoption "

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 253
and the love and confidence of a "son." (3) This ex
perience was followed by internal conflict, revealing
" the old man " or remaining carnality, which, on con
dition of faith, was wholly removed by a mighty bap
tism of the Spirit, a clear witness to his work being
given by that Spirit. (4) "Stability" in obedience
and abiding peace and power for " nearly nineteen
years " — up to the time of his writing — resulted from
this baptism.
We are sure that our readers will be glad to hear
the experience and testimony of Mrs. Hannah Whitall
Smith, author of the well-known and highly prized
book, entitled The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life,
nearly one hundred thousand copies of which have
been sold, and which has been read and enjoyed by
Christians of nearly if not quite all denominations.
It is interesting to know how she found the " secret "
she tells so well to others. We would like to give her
statement in full, written on the 19th of April, 1887,
but shall have to content ourself with copious extracts.
She says :
I was born in Philadelphia, Pa., second month, seventh day,
1832. I was converted in Philadelphia, in 1856, in my twenty-
fifth year. My conversion was very clear and unmistakable.
After long years of legal striving, in which I resorted in vain
to every expedient my soul could devise for gaining the favor
of God and the forgiveness of all my sins, I was taught to see
my own utter helplessness in the matter, and to trust entirely
and only to Christ to save me. I knew that I was born again,
and never from that time have I doubted this. Never have I
had a moment's fear about my acceptance with God, or my
present possession of eternal life.
As time passed on the Lord graciously led me into the
knowledge of much truth. My guarded education in the So
ciety of Friends, of which I was at that time a member, had

254 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
already separated me very much from the vain fashions and
amusements of the world, and my chief interests were all cen
tered around the religion of Jesus Christ, as the only object
really worthy of serious thought or attention.
But my heart was ill at ease. That I grew in knowledge I
could not deny ; but neither could I deny that I did not grow
in grace ; and, at the end of eight years of my Christian life, I
was forced to make the sorrowful admission that I had not
even as much power over sin as when I was first converted.
In the presence of temptation I found myself -weakness itself. It was
not my outward walk that caused me'sorrow, though I can see
now that that was far from what it ought to have been ; but it
was the sins of my heart that troubled me — coldness, deadness,
want of Christian love, intellectual apprehension of truth with
out any corresponding moral effects, roots of bitterness, want
of a meek and quiet spirit — all of those inward sins over which
the children of God are so often forced to mourn.
I could not but see that, although I was not under law, but
under grace, still sin had more or less dominion over me, and
I felt that I did not come up to the Bible standard. The Chris
tian life contemplated there was a life of victory and triumph; my
life was one of failure and defeat. The commands there given
to be holy, to be conformed to the image of Christ, to be
blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke,
seemed almost a mockery to me, so utterly impossible did I
find it to attain to any such standard ; for I made very earnest
efforts after it. . . .
At times some new discovery of the truth of God in the
Bible would seem for awhile to carry me above temptation,
and to make me more than conqueror. And my heart would
rejoice at the thought that now at last I had found the secret
of living, and that henceforth my continued defeats would be
turned into continued victories. But after awhile, as the as
pect of truth, in which I had been rejoicing, became familiar
to me, I found to my bitter sorrow that it seemed to lose its
power, and I was left as helpless as ever, only under deeper con
demnation, because of the increased responsibilities of increased
knowledge. There was also another thing that troubled me. I had been

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 255
taught, and I found in the Bible, that it was my privilege to know
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a Leader and Guide to my soul;
and I believe that he was indeed indwelling in me, but I felt
that experimentally I knew very little about his teaching, and
had no actual consciousness of his presence. That it would be
an inestimable blessing thus to know him, I realized more and
more, as I discovered the utter powerlessness of my own wis
dom and judgment to guide me aright, and felt increasingly
that only as the Spirit accompanied and energized my service
was it ever of any avail. But here, too, all my efforts seemed
worse than useless, and I found myself only involved in con
tinually increasing perplexity and darkness.
At times the belief forced itself upon me that all Christians
were not like me; that the lives of some were full of a degree
of devotedness and depth of communion to which I was a
stranger; and I wondered what their secret could be. But,
supposing it could consist in nothing but their greater watch
fulness and earnestness, I knew of no resource but to seek to
redouble all my efforts, and to go through the same weary
round of conflict and struggle again, only, of course, to meet
with the same bitter defeat.
Such was my life; and, in spite of much outward earnestness and
devotedness, I felt it to be a failure. Often I said to myself that if
this was all the gospel of Christ had for me, it was a bitterly disap
pointing thing. For though I never doubted the fact of my be
ing a child of God, justified and forgiven, a possessor of eter
nal life, and an heir of a heavenly inheritance, still, when my
heart condemned me — and this was almost continually — I could
not have confidence toward God, and I was not happy. Heaven
itself seemed to lose its charm to the heart that was afar off
from God.
/ began to long for holiness. I began to groan under the bond
age to sin in which I was still held. My whole heart panted after
entire conformity to the will of God and unhindered communion
with him. But so thoroughly convinced was I that no efforts or
resolutions or prayers of my own would be of any avail, and so
ignorant was T of any other way, that I was almost ready to give
up in despair.
In this time of sore need (1863) God threw into my company

256 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
some whose experience seemed to be very different from mine.
They declared that they had discovered a. "way of holiness,"
wherein the redeemed soul might live and walk in abiding
peace, and might be made " more than conqueror " through the
Lord Jesus Christ. I asked them their secret, and they replied, "It
is simply in ceasing from all efforts of our own and in trusting the
Lord to make us holy."
Never shall I forget the astonishment this answer gave me.
''What!" I said, "do you really mean that you have ceased
from your own efforts altogether, in your daily living, and that
you do nothing but trust the Lord? And does he actually and
truly make you conquerors?"
" Yes," was the reply, " the Lord does it all. We abandon
ourselves to him. We do not even try to live our lives our
selves ; but we abide in him, and he lives in us. He works in us
to will and to do of his good pleasure, and we hold our peace."
Like a revelation the glorious possibilities of a life such as
this flashed upon me, but the idea was too new and wonderful
for me to grasp. I had never thought of Christ as being such
a Saviour as I now heard him described to be. I had known,
indeed, that he gave me life in the first place as a free gift,
without I myself being able to do one single thing toward ob
taining it, except to believe and to receive. But that he should
now live my life for me in the same way, without my being able to
do anything except believe and receive, surpassed my utmost concep
tions. I had learned how to trust him for the forgiveness of my
sins; but I had always trusted myself to conquer them. I had
seen the sad error of legality as regarded my redemption, but I
was altogether legal in my thoughts as regarded my daily holy
living. I had never dreamed of trusting the Lord for that,
and I did not know how to do it.
So I went to work harder than ever. Over and over again
I tried to dedicate myself to God. I sought to bind my will
with chains of adamant, and to present it a holy offering be
fore the Lord. I lay awake whole nights to wrestle in prayer
that God would grant me the blessing he had granted these
other Christians. I did everything, in short, but the one thing
needful. I could not believe; I did not trust; and all else was
worse than useless. But perhaps not altogether useless ; for it

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 257
taught me very effectually one necessary lesson, and that was
my own utter and absolute helplessness.
At last, however, I saw clearly that I was indeed truly noth
ing; that I needed the Lord just as absolutely for my daily liv
ing as I had needed him in the first place to give me life. /
discovered that I was just as unable to govern my temper or my
tongue for five minutes as I had been long ago to convert my soul.
I found out, in short, the simple truth, -which I ought to have learned
long before, that -without Christ I could do nothing; absolutely noth
ing. I saw that all my efforts, instead of helping, had only hindered
the work.
Then I began anew to search the Scriptures. I found that
the salvation he had died to procure was declared to be a per
fect salvation, and that he was able to save to the very uttermost.
I found that he offered himself to me as my life, and that he
wanted to come into my heart and take full possession there and sub
due all things to himself. I felt that this was indeed a gospel to
meet my utmost needs, that such a salvation as this would sat
isfy the widest limits of my longings, and unspeakably I de
sired to appropriate it as mine.
But here I was met by another enemy, whom I had thought
forever slain. It seemed as if I could not trust the Lord ; as if
I was actually afraid to do so. Legality had been met and con
quered, but unbelief still remained, and threatened to shut me
out altogether from the promised land of rest. Although God
had declared the Lord Jesus to be a perfect Saviour, sufficient
for my daily and hourly needs, I could not believe he would
really prove to be so. It seemed too great a trust to repose in
any one, even in the divine Saviour. But in his infinite love
he broke down this last remaining barrier also. . . .
The Lord revealed himself to me as so worthy of my utmost
confidence that I could not help trusting him. He showed
himself to me as a perfect and complete and present Saviour,
and I abandoned my whole self to his care; telling him that I
was utterly helpless, that I could not feel nor think nor act
for one moment as I ought to do, and that he must do it all for
me — all. I confessed my own absolute inability to dedicate
myself to his service, my powerlessness to submit my will to
his; and I cast myself, as it were, headlong into the ocean of
17

258 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
his love, to have all these things accomplished in me by his al
mighty working. I trusted him utterly and entirely. . . .
The Lord fesus Christ became my present Saviour, and my soul
found rest at last, such a rest that no words can describe it — rest
from all its legal strivings, rest from all its weary conflicts, rest
from all its bitter failures. The secret of holiness was revealed to
me, and that secret was Christ. Christ made unto me wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
At first my faith was but a weak and wavering one. Almost
tremblingly I hung on to Christ moment by moment, saying
continually in my heart: "Lord, I trust thee, I trust thee.
Look, Lord, I am trusting thee." But I found to my aston
ishment that it was a practical reality that he did deliver me.
When temptation came, I did not try to conquer it myself, but at once
handed it over to him, saying: "Lord Jesus, save me from this sin.
I cannot save myself, but thou canst and wilt, and I trust thee"
Then I left it with him, and he fought for me, while I stood by
and held my peace. And he always came off conqueror.
Thus daily my faith grew, and I was able to apprehend more
and more of that which I was apprehended of Christ fesus. I
longed to grasp the utmost limits of the deliverance from sin
purchased for me by the death of Christ. Just what this limit
was I did not understand, either in its nature or extent, but I
could leave it all to him. I did not indeed know what was the
meaning of that scripture wherein we are told that the body
of sin was destroyed by the crucifixion of Christ, and where
we are commanded therefore to reckon ourselves dead to
sin. . . .
Thus that flesh, which I had discovered to be so utterly
corrupt and incapable of improvement, I now found could be
reckoned to be dead, and consequently abandoned. Necessari
ly I had at first only a very imperfect comprehension of what
this meant, but practically I found, from the very first, that
just in proportion as by faith I did abandon the flesh or carnal
nature in me, and reckon it to be dead, so also did the flesh lose
its power over me to conquer or enslave.
And "according to my faith" I have found it done unto me,
ever since. Whenever I, by faith, reckon myself to be dead, I
find I am practically dead. In putting off the old man by faith,

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 259
and putting on the new man, I find that the one is actually put
off and the other actually put on. My soul has entered into
that interior rest or " keeping of Sabbaths " which the apostle
Paul, in Hebrews iv. 9, declares " remaineth for the people of
God"; and I am dwelling in the "peaceable habitations" and
" quiet resting places " promised in Isaiah xxxii. 18. Not that
there are no conflicts. Ah, no! But the battle is no longer mine,
but Christ's.
And now, if I am asked what is my life, with a deep and
abiding sense of my own nothingness I can only answer that,
in so far as I am faithful, Christ is now my life. Once I had
truthabout him,but now I have himself! Once I tried to live in
my new nature, independent of him ; now I am joined to him in
a oneness that is indescribable, knowing that I have in truth no
other life but his, and seeking more and more to live only there.
Not that I never leave this blessed abiding place, and walk in
the flesh again, to my unspeakable regret. But Christ is al
ways the same, and the way of access by faith is always open ;
and, thanks be unto God, he is faithful to keep that which I
have committed to him, and more and more does he confirm
my soul steadfast and immovable in him. . . .
I have sought to keep a continual spirit of surrender and
trust, and have tried to be obedient to the best light I knew.
When I have failed, it has been the result of either disobedi
ence or lack of faith, and it has needed only a return to the
place of perfect surrender and entire trust, to restore my soul
again to its place of rest. At every moment when surrender
and trust have been active the Lord has never failed to respond
with his wondrous grace. Moreover, he has never failed
to make even my mistakes work together for my eternal
good. In short, I have found it to be more and more true,
every day of my life, that Christ is a complete and ever-pres
ent Saviour, and that if I but commit all my interests to him, I
have, as a dear child once said, nothing to do now but "just
mind." To say "Thy will be done" seems to me, more and more,
the sweetest song of the soul. The deepest longings of my whole
being are met and satisfied in God. He is enough! Believing,
resting, abiding, obeying — these are my part; he does all the rest.
We trust the reader will carefully read and ponder

260 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
this whole statement, but we call attention to some
special lessons.
i. She says that her conversion, eight years before
receiving the baptism of the Spirit, was "very clear
and unmistakable." She adds : " I know that I was
born again ; and never from that time have I doubted
this. Never have I had a moment's fear about my ac
ceptance with God, or my present acceptance." Her
baptism or alleged " second experience " was not, then,
merely her conversion, but something subsequent to
and different from it.
2. That, as this supposed full salvation was not sim
ply her conversion, so it was not her recovery from a
backslidden state, as might be suggested by Drs. Crane
and Boland and others. For, as we have seen, she
did not, during those eight years of struggle after bet
ter things, for " a moment doubt her acceptance with
God " or her " present possession of eternal life.'
And she says her life was one of " very earnest efforts
after" holiness.
3. Nor was it one of many joyous seasons, gracious
uplifts, or spiritual baptisms that seemed " to carry her
above temptation " and " make her more than con
queror," noted by Drs. Tillett and Mudge. For al
though " at times " she had these blessings from which
she hoped " that henceforth her continued defeats
would be turned into continued victories," she found
them followed by " bitter sorrow" because she was
soon " left as helpless as ever."
4. Nor was it merely what Dr. Mudge calls a bap
tism or fullness of the Spirit that results chiefly in the
abiding witness of the Spirit. For she had that be
fore, but this brought her much more.

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE. 261
5. Nor was it merely such a baptism of courage for
service as Hugh Price Hughes and others intimate is
all that is implied in this fuller gift of the Spirit. But
it was an " ethical " fullness, which involved purity of
heart and the death of the sin principle. Else she
could not say, " I was enabled to reckon myself dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ my
Lord " ; and then add, " What heights and depths of
love, what infinite tenderness of care, what wise lov-
ingness of discipline, what grandeur of keeping, what
wonders of revealing, what strength in weakness,
what comfort in sorrow, what light in darkness, what
easing of burdens I have found ! What a God and
what a Saviour, no words can tell ! "
6. Nor was this new and blessed experience the re
sult of growth. For she says that she "made very
earnest efforts after it " in that way. "At times I
went through agonizing conflict in my efforts to bring
about a different state of things. I resolved, I prayed,
I wrestled, I strove, I lashed myself up into the belief
that all I held most dear in life could continue to be
mine only as I attained to more faithfulness and de
votedness of walk. . . . But all was in vain.
and, it seemed, even worse than vain. When I would
do good, evil was present with me ; and I could see
no hope of deliverance except in death, which, by de
stroying the body of sin to which I was chained, would
thus break the yoke of bondage." The chief result
of these efforts at growth into this grace was a clearer
and a keener revelation of her " weakness? helplessness,
and *w*d,
_ . That it came by faith : " I took him for my Sav
iour from the daily power of sin with as naked a faith

262 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
as I once took him for my Saviour from its guilt. I
believed the truth that he was my practical sanctifica
tion, as well as my justification, and that he not only
could save me and would save me, but that he did."
She found that " it is simply in ceasing from all efforts
of our own and in trusting in the Lord to make us
holy " that we come into this full salvation.
8. That, while she grew but little before that time,
her growth was much more marked and satisfactory
after this baptism. She says : "All the former period
of my Christian course seems comparatively wasted.
I was a child of God, it is true, but my growth was
stinted, and my stature feeble. But when this secret
of faith was revealed to me, I began to grow, and the
dedication which was before impossible to me became
the very joy of my heart."
9. This experience was abiding, having continued
through some twenty-three years at the time she
wrote. For, although she had had occasional tempo
rary lapses, from which she promptly recovered, she
says : " Thanks be unto God, he is faithful to keep
that which I have committed to him, and more and
more does he confirm my soul steadfast and immovable
in him. ... I have found it to be more and more
true every day of my life, that Christ is a complete
Saviour, and that if I but commit all of my interests to
him, I have, as a dear child once said, nothing to do
now but ' just mind.' "

CHAPTER XIX.
Some Episcopal Testimony — Dr. Cullis, Mrs.
Hammer, and Miss Frances Ridley Havergal.
Dr. Charles Cullis, a physician of Boston, and a
communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, wrote
his experience in February, 1888, from which we make
the following extracts :
I was brought up in a very respectable church, and knew
nothing about conversion. At about the age of seventeen I
felt that I ought to be a Christian. How, I did not know. No
body told me. I supposed that the only way would be to read
the Bible and pray, and I went at it. When I was converted
I do not know, but I am very sure I was. I don't know the date,
for there was no particular sensation or emotion to mark it.
Some four or five years after that I met with a great sorrow,
and I consecrated myself wholly to God. . . . The promises
of God were brought very forcibly to my mind as to whether
they were true or not. I puzzled over them for a few days,
and the more I puzzled and thought the more doubt began to
come in, until one day I took my Bible between my two hands
and, holding it up, in my room alone, I said, " I will believe
every word inside of these two covers, whether I understand
it or not." From that moment to this I have never had the
least shadow of doubt of the truth of God's word, and have
acted upon the promises and have lived according to them for
nearly twenty-five years.
This was my justified state, in which I found a good deal of
comfort; but how should I get rid of the natural temperament,
and the failing, which was a great one with me, of getting ir
ritated over very little things, and then getting vexed -with myself
because I did get irritated? I had spent hours and hours upon my
(263)

264 scriptural sanctification.
knees, with tears running down my cheeks, praying that the Lord
-would help me overcome this; but he did not.
One day in prayer, the Lord's Prayer came home to me
very blessedly by the Spirit, in the closing sentences, "Thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." It flashed
through my soul in a moment, " ' Thine is the power ,' and, Lord,
I have been asking thee to help me to overcome this; thine is the
power to do it all "; and with joy unspeakable in my soul I got
up from my knees praising God for victory. Whether this was
my reception of sanctification or not I do not know. It is the only
very marked experience of deliverance that I have ever had.
/ believe that years ago he gave me a cliange of heart and baptized
me with the Holy Ghost. There have been occasional slight
lapses through weakness of faith, but the light has been burning
steadily from that day to this. My Saviour has become more
and more precious to me, and I am conscious that the blood cleans-
eth, and tlie Holy Ghost abides.
The experience of this Episcopal brother is very
much like that of his Presbyterian, Quaker, and Meth
odist brethren :
1 . He was sure of his conversion and " found a good
deal of comfort " in what he calls his " justified state."
2. But he found that through his own efforts — his
prayers and tears — he could not rid himself of his re
maining depravity, which seemed to show itself spe
cially in an irritable temper.
3. That when he ceased trying to save himself from
it, and looked to God to do it for him, he found in
stantaneous and complete deliverance through a divine
power within.
4. That he could say years after that time that "the
light has been burning steadily from that day to this,"
and that he was " conscious that the blood cleanseth,
and the Holy Ghost abides."
e. All this blessed deliverance and happy life he at-

SOME EPISCOPAL TESTIMONY. 265
tributes to " the baptism of the Holy Ghost," in which,
he thinks, was involved his "reception of [instanta
neous] sanctification."
The following extracts are taken from the record
ed experience of Mrs. Anna M. Hammer, of the Prot
estant Episcopal Church in Newark, N. J., written
by herself in July, 1887, with some of our comments.
We note :
1. The clearness of her conversion. She says: "I
have no doubt as to my conversion, that I was born
again." 2. That after her conversion she entered on a gay
and fashionable life, " from which she keenly felt all
the way through that her spiritual life was suffering."
3. That under God's afflicting hand she was drawn
" nearer to the Lord," and her " Christian life grew
sweeter and deeper."
4. That she received a baptism or " anointing " of
the Spirit " for service," which did not involve entire
sanctification or "the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a
distinct second experience." It seems that this was an
emotional or charismatic fullness of the Spirit, that was
comparatively superficial and evanescent.
5. That " finally a great hunger of soul came upon "
her, and she found that " there were in the corners of
her heart things known only to herself and God," and
she " realized that nothing short of the ' anointing which
abideth ' would satisfy her soul and fit her fully as a
worker for God."
6. That after three days of agony and tears the bap
tism which brings an ethical and abiding fullness came
upon her. Seven years after that she says, " From that
hour my Christian life has been victory."

266 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
7. That she was not backslidden when the baptism
came. "At the time of my anointing by the Holy
Spirit, I was living a consecrated life of faith and active
service." 8. She grew after that : " I have grown year by
year in the depth of experience which becomes deeper
and sweeter as the years roll on."
9. There seem to have been three epochs in her his
tory. ( 1 ) Her conversion : " I have no doubt as to my
conversion." (2) Her first anointing for service: "At
the time of my anointing by the Holy Spirit, I was living
a consecrated life of faith and active service." ( 3 ) Her
full sanctification : " My sanctification was a second
actual experience, and from that time my life has been
changed, is deeper, stronger, steadier, sweeter, richer.
The life I have lived for the last seven years has been
wonderfully free from condemnation."
We next give extracts from the experience and tes
timony of Miss Frances Ridley Havergal, of the
Church of England, the saintly and well-known author
of a number of devotional books, such as Kept for the
Master's Use. It was written by her sister, and called
F. R. H.'s Second Experience. She says :
One day Frances received in a letter a tiny book with the
title All for Jesus. She read it carefully. Its contents ar
rested her attention. It set forth a fullness of Christian expe
rience and blessing exceeding that to which she had as yet at
tained. She was gratefully conscious of having for many years
loved the Lord and delighted in his service; but there was in her
experience u falling short of the standard, not so much of a holy
walk and conversation as of uniform brightness and continuous
enjoyment in the divine life. All for Jesus she found went
straight to this point of the need and longing of her soul.
Writing in reply to the author of the little book, she said : " I

SOME EPISCOPAL TESTIMONY. 267
do so long for a deeper and fuller teaching in my own heart;
All for Jesus has touched me very much. I know I love
Jesus, and there are times when I feel such intensity of love to
him that I have not words to describe it. I rejoice, too, in
him as my 'Master' and 'Sovereign,' but I want to come
nearer still, to have the full realization of John xiv. 21, and to
know ' the power of his resurrection,' even if it be with the
fellowship of his sufferings. And all this not exactly for my
own joy alone, but for others. So I want Jesus to speak to me,
to say ' many things ' to me, that I may speak for him to
others with real power. It is not knowing doctrine, but being
with him, which will give this."
God did not leave her long in this state of mind. He him
self had shown her that there were "regions beyond" of bless
ed experience and service; had kindled in her very soul the in
tense desire to go forward and possess them ; and now, in his
own grace and love, he took her by the hand and led her into
the goodly land. A few words from her correspondent on the
power of Jesus to keep those who abide in him from falling,
and on the continually present power of his blood ("the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin "), were used
by the Master in effecting this. Very joyously she replied: "I
see it all, and I have the blessing."
The " sunless ravines " were now forever passed, and henceforth
her peace and joy flowed onward, deepening and widening under
the teaching of God the Holy Ghost. The blessing she had received
had (to use her own words) " lifted her whole life into sunshine, of
which all she had previously experienced was but as pale and passing
April gleams, compared with the fullness of summer glory."
The practical effect of this was most evident in her daily,
true-hearted, whole-hearted service for her King, and also in
the increased joyousness of the unswerving obedience in her
home life, the surest test of all. . . . She says:
" I would distinctly state, that it is only as and while a soul is
under the full power of the blood of Christ that it can be
cleansed from all sin; that one moment's withdrawal from that
power, and it is again actively, because really, sinning ; and that
it is only as, and while, kept by the power of God himself that
we are not sinning against him. One instant of standing alone

268 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
is certain fall ! But (premising that) have we not been limiting
the cleansing power of the precious blood when applied by the Holy
Spirit, and also the keeping power of our God? Have we not
been limiting i John i. 7, by practically making it refer only
to ' the remission of sins that are past ' instead of taking the
grand simplicity of ' cleanseth us from all sin ' ? 'All ' is all;
and as we may trust him to cleanse the stain of past sins, so we
may trust him to cleanse from all present defilement; yes, all!
If not, we take away from this most precious promise, and, by
refusing to take it in its fullness, lose the fullness of its applica
tion and power.
" Then we limit God's power to ' keep ' ; we look at our frailty
more than at his omnipotence. Where is the line to be drawn
beyond which he is not able? The very keeping implies total
helplessness without it, and the very cleansing most distinctly
implies defilement without it. It was that one word ' cleans
eth ' which opened the door of a very glory of hope and joy to
me. I had never seen the force of the tense before, a contin
ual present, always a present tense, not a present which the
next moment becomes a past. It goes on cleansing, and I
have no words to tell how my heart rejoices in it. Not a com
ing to be cleansed in the fountain only, but a remaining in the
fountain, so that it may and can go on cleansing. . . .
" One arrives at the same thing, starting almost from any
where. Take Philippians iv. 19, 'your need'; well, what is
my great need and craving of soul ? Surely it is now (having
been justified by faith, and having assurance of salvation) to
be made holy by the continual sanctifying power of God's
Spirit; to be kept from grieving the Lord Jesus; to be kept
from thinking or doing whatever is not accordant with his
holy will.
" Oh, what a need is this! And it is said ' he shall supply all
need': now shall we turn round and say 'all' does not mean
quite all? Both as to the commands and the promises, it seems
to me that anything short of believing them as they stand is
but another form of 'Yea, hath God said?' . . .
" One of the intensest moments of my life was when I saw the force
of that word ' cleanseth.' The utterly unexpected and altogether
unimagined sense of its fulfillment to me, on simply believing it in

SOME EPISCOPAL TESTIMONY. 269
its fullness, was just indescribable. I expected nothing like it short
of heaven. I am so thankful that, in the whole matter, there was as
little human instrumentality as well could be, for certainly two sen
tences in letters from a total stranger were little. I am so conscious
of his direct teaching and guidance through his Word and Spirit in
the matter that I cannot think I can ever nnsee it again. I have
waited many months before -writing this, so it is no new and untested
theory to me; in fact, experience came before theory, and is more to
me than any theory."
We only call attention to the italicized passages in
order to stress certain points :
1. Her certain conversion, but lack of brightness and
joy in her experience.
2. God's awakening in her the desire for better
things, and his leading her to them, and her instanta
neously seeing and receiving them.
3. In this she passed the "sunless ravines," and her
" whole life was lifted into sunshine."
4. The effect of this was a better service and a more
joyous life.
5. Full surrender the condition of realizing the bless
edness of the cleansing and keeping power of Christ.
6. Fuller surrender and larger growth — continual
"progress" in the "highway of holiness" — as light in
creased and opportunity was given.
7. God's continual cleansing and keeping power —
God, and not self or growth, the source of strength.
8. That she was not backslidden, but was pressing
forward when the blessing came.
9. Contrary to and " before theory," and came not
from men, but from God. Let us read and ponder
well all her testimony.

CHAPTER XX.
Some Baptist Testimony — Drs. Fuller, Judson,
Gordon, Earle, and Levy.
While the first three named above do not explicitly
testify from their experience, it is believed that they
speak out of their hearts as well as out of the Word.
The well-known Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller says:
"It is true that, in subduing our depravities, one act of
faith is worth a whole life of attempted faithfulness.
In other words, that "one act of faith," which brings
the baptism of purity and power, does more toward
destroying or subduing our depravity than "a whole
life of attempted faithfulness" in trying to grow into
this deliverance.
That distinguished and saintly missionary, the Rev.
Adoniram Judson, D.D., says : " Renounce the world,
renounce thyself, and flee into His loving arms, which
are open to receive thee. Angels will rejoice over thy
second conversion as they did over thy first. Thou
wilt begin to live in a new world, to breathe a new
atmosphere, and behold the light of heaven shining
upon thee; and thou wilt begin to love the Lord thy
God in a new manner?
Here the condition and results of this second work,
this "second experience," the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, which Dr. Judson calls a "second conversion,"
are strikingly stated. I. Full surrender and consecra
tion. "Renounce the world, renounce thyself." 2.
Faith: "Flee to his loving arms, which are open to
receive thee." 3. Results: " Thy second conversion " —
(270)

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 271
a deeper work of grace — followed by a " new world,"
a " new atmosphere, a " new light," and a " new man
ner" of love.
Dr. Judson's worthy and well-known namesake, the
late Rev. Adoniram Judson Gordon, D.D., who, a
prominent Baptist minister of this State once said to
us, is regarded as the soundest divine of that Church
in the North, has left his testimony on record. It is
true that he may not have said in so many words that
this was his experience, but he gave it as his opinion
that one could thus be saved by the baptism of the
Spirit, and supported his position and illustrated his
view with the experience of others. A good part of his
Twofold Life is devoted to work of this kind. In com
menting on the experience of Madame Guyon, he says :
The fruit of this divine baptism is what it will specially in
terest us to seek. And this was immediate and blessed. Will
the Spirit that cleanseth us from sinfulness also keep us from
sinning? is a question which is asked with the most painful
solicitude by the tempted, oft defeated, and well-nigh despair
ing believer. The Scriptures certainly give some very strong
and explicit promises on this point. " Walk in the Spirit, and
ye sliall not fulfill the lust of the flesh," says the apostle.
. . . "In him is no sin; whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not," writes the apostle John. If we were In such unbroken
communion with him that there were an unceasing /low of the
divine life through our souls, sin would be overborne, quenched,
and destroyed. The experience of perpetual walking with God and
perpetual abiding in Christ is the one into which the Holy Ghost is
seeking to bring the believer. And it is certainly reasonable to expect
that a marked induement of the Holy Ghost would issue in definite
experience of overcoming.
Dr. Gordon then quotes the following from Madame
Guyon's experience to prove that such may be realized
by us : "/ found no more those troublesome faults or

272 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
that reluctance to duty which formerly characterized
me. They all disappeared like chaff in a great fire?
And if, after that, as Dr. Gordon says, she "in her
life shone like a seraph and obeyed like an angel," her
quoted statement of experience must have been true.
For the same purpose he then quotes from the expe
rience of St. Theresa, of Spain : " From the time that
the Lord granted me this grace, I was saved from all
my faults and my miseries [those that are spiritual J.
I had power given me to become indeed free."
Now, if we yield to be led and guided by the Spirit,
why may we not "have this experience of perpetual
walking with God and perpetual abiding in Christ,"
"into which the Holy Ghost is trying to bring the be
liever"? Cannot the Spirit do this if we will let him?
And when we surrender our wills to his, and devote
our lives to the doing of his will, do we not "let him
have his way with us"?
As illustrating the truth of what Drs. Fuller, Jud
son, and Gordon have taught, we give the experience
of two well-known and most successful Baptist minis
ters, the late Rev. Dr. A. B. Earle, of Newton, Mass.,
and the Rev. Edgar M. Levy, D.D., of Philadel
phia. Dr. Earle, "the great Baptist evangelist," un
der whose ministry it is said that " one hundred
and fifty-seven thousand souls were led to Christ? and
who held a most successful meeting in Raleigh in 1870,
gives his experience and testimony. We intended to
give the bulk of Dr. Earle's statement, but find that
lack of space forbids. We trust, however, that the
following analysis and brief extracts and comments
will be sufficient to give the reader a good idea of his
rich experience and emphatic testimony.

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 273
We need hardly take space to analyze this expe
rience further than to stress a few points in it.
1. This "rest" came years after his clear conversion,
and was not the result merely of regeneration or a re
covery from a backslidden state ; for he had assurance
of the divine favor and was making progress in the di
vine life before this instantaneous blessing came.
2. It came and was retained by faith : " This state
of heart is reached only by faith, and retained only by
faith — not by helping Christ take care of us, but by
trusting him to do it all," says Dr. Earle.
3. He knew when he received this blessing : "All
at once a sweet heavenly peace filled all the vacuum in
my soul, leaving no longing, no unrest, no dissatis
fied feeling, in my bosom. I felt, I knew, that I was
accepted fully in fesus" This harmonizes very mark
edly with the experience of the author.
4. This blessing brought him "uninterrupted rest
and peace " in place of what had before been intermit
tent. This record was written seven years after it
came, and he says : " There has not been one hour of
conscious doubt or darkness since that time. A heav
en of peace and rest fills my soul. Day and night the
Saviour seems by me?
5. He did not claim "sinless perfection," but was
kept from any sin that brought "condemnation,"
"doubt," or "darkness." Nor did Wesley teach "sin
less perfection," but conceded that, because we are
"very imperfect and weak," as Dr. Earle says, mentally
and physically, we may commit " sins of infirmity " with
out incurring guilt or losing our "rest and peace."
6. He had temptation, but it was more easily resist
ed : " Temptation is presented, but the power of it is
18

274 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
broken." " It is much easier now to resist temptation
than it was before."
7. He was more useful : " My success in leading
souls to Jesus has been much greater than before."
Another says of him that " he had no special power as
a preacher before the Holy Ghost fell upon him," but
that after that event " conversions under his preaching
numbered quite five thousand yearly."
8. He not only grew in usefulness, but also in grace :
" You are then just prepared to grow in divine things.
The roots of your faith can strike deep into the soil of
truth and love, and need not be disturbed until trans
planted into heavenly soil, there to continue to grow
and flourish in the garden of the Lord."
Dr. Earle says further :
I could give a great cloud of witnesses, all testifying to the
same thing: that is, after receiving evidence of regeneration,
they felt a longing of heart for something higher — a fullness of
love — a state of heart that would enable them to abide in Christ
without interruption. This they sought and found, and many of
them, after ten or twenty years, are still enjoying the same blessing,
with increasing sweetness.
The testimony of this very spiritual and eminently
useful servant of God ought to have much weight with
our Baptist brethren and other earnest souls who are
longing for this "rest of faith" — this " fullness of love,"
this " perfect love," which comes with " the gift of the
Holy Ghost " — the baptism of peace and power.
We close this chapter with extracts from the testi
mony of the Rev. Dr. Levy, of Philadelphia, who has
for years been successively pastor of Baptist churches
of that city and of Newark, N. J. It was written by
himself in 1872, under the title of From Bondage toFree-
dom; or, How I Entered into Rest. Many thousands of

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 275
copies of it have been circulated in Europe and India.
Dr. Levy, who is still pastor of a Baptist church in
Philadelphia, says :
It pleased God in my earliest childhood to call me by his
Holy Spirit. As far back as memory will allow me to go, I can
recall seasons of great distress on account of sin. When other
children around me were busy at play I would often invent
some excuse to withdraw, that I might find a place where I
could weep before God in secret
The weary burden grew heavier with my increasing years.
As fast as my mental powers were developed so as to under
stand, in a measure, the law of God, my condemnation and ruin
became more alarmingly real. I cannot look back to this
period of life as men usually do. They were not to me days
of mirth, but days in which even childhood's laughter was
turned into weeping and its buoyancy into heaviness. . . .
I knelt near the window and heard, or seemed to hear, the
voice of One saying unto me, " I love them that love me; and
they that seek me early shall find me." That promise was
mine. It was my Father's assurance of a loving welcome. It
was but a moment, and I was in his arms. It was a rapturous
hour. All things were changed. Sorrowing and sighing fled
from my bosom. The Spirit of God witnessed with my spirit
that I was born again. " Being justified by faith, I had peace
with God " / never afterwards had a doubt of my conversion.
Even in the most unsatisfactory days of my Christian life, I
could not question the reality of the work of grace in my
youthful heart. . . .
After a pastorate of fourteen years, I accepted a caJl to
Newark, N. J. Here also God wonderfully blessed my labors, and
hundreds were added to the Church. But oh, how were all my
services, even the best, mixed with selfishness, ambition, and pride!
A consciousness of this often filled me with shame and sorrow.
Then I would make a new effort to improve my life by more watch
fulness, zeal, and prayer ; and although failure was sure to follow,
yet, not knowing of any better method, I would tread the same weary
road over and over again. . .
After a residence of ten years in Newark, I returned, in the
autumn of 1868, to the scene of my early labors, and became

276 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
pastor of the Berean Baptist Church, Philadelphia. Here I
found the religious condition of the members of my new
charge as unsatisfactory as my own. They were in a cold,
barren, worldly state. I have seldom seen a church more
broken and paralyzed. I grieved for them with tender com
passion. This solicitude in their behalf produced a fresh con
sciousness of my own imperfections. I ha£ed sin. I felt that
it weakened my moral powers, grieved the Holy Spirit, inter
rupted my communion with God, and impaired my usefulness.
One Sunday afternoon I entered my schoolroom unusually
depressed. A sense of utter helplessness came over me. As
my tear-dimmed eyes surveyed the school, I was painfully
moved by the number of adult scholars who were unconverted.
I returned to my study, crying, " Who is sufficient for these
things ? "
In February, 1871, Mr. Purdy, an evangelist, was holding
meetings in the Methodist church adjacent to mine. I was in
vited by the pastor to attend these efforts to promote Christian
holiness. I went timidly at first, and yet I continued to go
every afternoon for several days. There were divine influ
ences drawing me there. Many Christians from different
churches were also in attendance. Day after day, with meek
ness and gentleness, and yet with unwavering confidence, they told
the story of long years of conflict, and of ultimate and complete tri
umph through simple faith in the blood that cleanses from all sin, of
their soul-rest and abiding peace, of their power with God and man,
and the fullness of their joy . At first I became deeply interested,
and then my heart began to melt. I said: "These Christians
are certainly in possession of a secret of wonderful power
and sweetness. What can it be? Is it justification? No; it
cannot be that. I have experienced the blessing of justifica
tion; by it I have been absolved from all my past sins; by it I
stand in the righteousness of Christ, and every privilege of a
child of God, and every grace of the blessed Holy Spirit, has
been secured to me; but I do not realize that it has destroyed
the power of inbred sin, or ended 'the war in my members,'
or brought to me complete rest of soul. I have peace; but it is
often broken by '¦fear which has torment' I am conscious of loving
God, but like some sickly, flickering flame, I am expecting every mo-

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 277
ment to see it expire altogether. I have joy, but, like a shallow
brook, the drought exhausts it. I have faith, but it is such a poor,
weak thing that I am in doubt, sometimes, whether it is faith at all.
'I hate vain thoughts'; and yet they continue to come, and
seem at home in my mind. . . . Once, it is true, they felt
as I feel, and mourned as I mourn, over broken vows, sinful
tempers, intermittent devotions, and repeated failures. But a
wonderful change is now manifest. 'They are rooted and
grounded in love.' ' Being made free from sin,' they now
bring forth fruit unto holiness. Having purged themselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, they have become
'vessels unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use,
and prepared unto every good work.' " My desires were kin
dled. An insatiable hunger seized my soul.
Just at this stage of my experience the meetings ended, and
Mr. Purdy was compelled to leave for another appointment.
Before leaving, however, a suggestion was made that he might
be induced to return and hold meetings in my own church. It
was a surprise to me. I was not sure that my people would
consent. I could do nothing, therefore, but leave it for the
decision of the church on the coming Sabbath. I did so, and,
greatly to my surprise, there was not the slightest objection
raised. It was of the Lord.
During the ten days that preceded the meeting I was more titan
usually prayerful. I commenced a careful examination of the doctrine
of sanctification. I reviewed my theological studies. I could scarcely
think or read or pray on any other subject. I conversed with inti
mate friends of my own and other denominations. Nearly all of
them pronounced the views advanced as nothing else than un-
scriptural and pernicious errors. They admitted the existence
and universality of the disease, but could tell of no adequate
remedy this side of the grave. They allowed that the malady
might be mollified; but in this life, they affirmed, it could never
be perfectly healed. I searched the Scriptures, but alas! "my
eyes were holden," so that I could not see that perfect deliver
ance from sin which God has provided, through the redemp
tion of Christ, for his believing people. Those passages in the
Word of God which require of all his children holiness of char
acter, purity of heart, the entire sanctification of the soul, body,

278 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and spirit, I was led to regard, from educational training, as
marks — very high, indeed — after which every Christian should
aspire, but to which no one could ever attain ; or else as figu
rative expressions, indicating that at conversion we were made,
in some judicial sense, holy before God.
These views, however, could no longer satisfy me. I had
an intense longing for something better. With the poet, my
poor heart cried out: I'm weary of the strife within,
O let me turn from self and sin !
The first day of our meeting had come. The church was
well filled. I introduced Mr. Purdy. But I had many misgiv
ings, and a secret desire in my heart that he would say nothing
about sanctification, but bend all his efforts to the conversion
of sinners. This, however, was not his way. Like a wise
master builder, he commenced to lay the foundation broad and
deep. He took up our Confession of Faith, and urged, from
the teaching contained therein, that we should accept the doc
trine of sanctification by faith. Our Covenant was next pro
duced ; and here he reminded us that in this we solemnly prom
ised that we would so regulate our lives as to enable us to " stand
perfect and complete in all the will of God." Last of all, he
spoke of our baptism as a beautiful symbol of our death unto
sin, our burial with Christ, and our resurrection to a new and
holy life. "According to your form of baptism," he said, " the
body is buried in water as the corpse is buried in the grave.
In all your teachings on this subject you insist that it is a figure
of the believer's death and burial unto sin. But that is not all.
You not only claim, in this act, that you die to sin, but that you
also rise to a life of holiness. ' Now, if we are dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him : knowing that Christ,
being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once;
but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.' " (Rom. vi.) With great emo
tion and emphasis he said : " You have the type, the figure, the
symbol : will you deny the doctrine, and make what distinguish
es you as a denomination a. mere empty, lifeless ceremonial?"

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 279
After the sermon, a number of persons bore testimony to
the fullness and completeness of their present salvation. They
represented several evangelical denominations — the Methodist,
the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, the Friends, the Baptist; and
there was a beautiful harmony in all that they said. I had no
reason to doubt the truthfulness of their statements. " I might
question," I thought, their logic, find fault with their theories,
and reject their phraseology; but how could I dispose of their
experience? My judgment was assailed as it had never been
before. After the meeting, I returned to my study, fell upon
the floor, and poured out my soul before God. / did not pray
for pardon, but for purity. I did not seek clearer evidences of my
acceptance, but to be " made free from sin,'' not in a judicial or theo
logical sense, but by a real conscious, inwrought holiness.
That night I was unable to sleep. I was completely broken
down in heart before God. The vision of Isaiah seemed re
produced. " I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up." "Then said I, Woe is met for I am undone; be
cause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts."
The morning at length dawned, and on every ray I could
read, " Walk in the light, as He is in the light." " Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord of hosts," as chanted by the seraphim, seemed
floated through all the air. As I thought of God, it was not so
much his power or wisdom or justice or love that attracted my
attention, as his infinite, spotless holiness.
That day, Friday, March 9, 1871, was observed by the church
as a special season of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. My
soul was in great agony. I can compare my experience on this mem
orable day to nothing else than crucifixion. It seemed to me that I
had gone up with Christ to Calvary and -was transfixed to the cruel
and shameful cross. A sense of loneliness and abandonment stole
over my mind. "A horror of great darkness fell upon me? and
all the powers of hell assaulted my soul. The enemy brought before
me, with tremendous force, my lifelong prejudices, my theological
training, my professional standing, my denominational pride. It
was suggested that I must leave everything behind me should I go a
step farther in this direction. The dread of being misunderstood,

38o SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of having my motives questioned, or being called "unsound in doc
trine? of being slighted by my ministerial brethren, and treated
with suspicion and coldness, filled my heart with unspeakable an
guish. Everything appeared to be sliding from under my feet.
My sight grew dim, my strength departed, and faintness like unto
death came upon me.
This mental conflict, however, soon subsided. The storm
clouds passed away, and light began to stream in. I was now
done with theorizing, with philosophical doubts and vain spec
ulations. The struggle was over. I cared no longer for the
opinions of men. I was willing to be a fool for Christ, and to
suffer the loss of all things. I was like a little child. I cried
out, "Teach me thy way, O Lord! and lead me in a plain
path." Just then the fountain of cleansing was revealed. Je
sus stood before me, with his bleeding wounds, saying, " Come
in! Come in!"
I turned to my congregation and said : "/ stand before you to
day a poor, weak, and helpless sinner. I have tried to find the way
of holiness by every possible means. All my efforts, my struggles,
my prayers, my fasting, and my round of duties have proved miser
able failures. God is making a wonderful revelation to my long
darkened understanding. I am confident now that it is not by
growth, or by effort, or by works of any kind, 'for then would our
salvation be of works, and not of grace' 'In that day, saith the
Lord, there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for unclean-
ness.' That day has come. Here lies the fountain of my Sav
iour's blood. It was opened for me, even me."
I fell upon my knees and bowed my face to the floor. For
a moment I felt that I was sinking in a great sea, and that all
its waves were going over me. But they did not seem to be
the waters of death.
The Spirit of God whispered those precious words: "But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of fesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin." My faith laid hold of this wonderful truth, a strange peace
entered into my soul, I exclaimed within myself, "I am free! My
heart, my soul, my mind, my body, are washed in the blood of the
Lamb!" It was all so strange, so new, so unlike anything I had

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 281
ever experienced before, that I could not utter a word, and then the
only sentiment of my heart was, "Lord,it is done! I am saved/ "
When the meeting ended, I repaired immediately to the par
sonage. I experienced great physical exhaustion, like Jacob,
who was never so weak as when he had just prevailed with the
angel. / threw myself into a chair, and at once the blessed baptism came.
I seemed filled with all the fullness of God. I wept for joy. All
night long I wept. All the next day, at the family altar, in the
street, and in the sanctuary, tears continued to flow. The fountains
of my being seemed broken up, and my heart was dissolved in grati
tude and praise. My soul seemed filled with pulses, every one
thrilling and throbbing with such waves of love and rapture that I
thought I must die from excess of life. . .
Life has become marvelously simplified and natural. I no
longer work for liberty, but as having liberty; not for, but
from, life. That which before was either impossible, or at least
difficult, is now natural and easy.
/ do not find this life — what in my ignorance I once regarded it
— one of mysticism, indolence, and self-gratulation, but a life of cease
less activity amid undisturbed repose; of perpetual absence of all
weariness amid perpetual employment. Neither do I find it a con
dition of stagnation. All life involves growth, and there are no
limits to the possibilities of growth in the life of faith. The more
the soul receives the more it is capable of receiving, and the
more ityearns to receive.
I have not realized that this experience exempts us from
trial, persecution, and disappointment. For me the way has
frequently been strewn with thorns rather than roses. Unkind-
ness has often wounded my heart. Friends have turned away,
sometimes with pity and sometimes with blame. At times
I have been in heaviness through manifold temptation, and
faith has almost yielded to the outward pressure; but, blessed be
God! for sixteen years I have been preserved from all murmuring,
disquietude, or fear. The trials have not been too many or too
severe. Every arrow has been feathered with love, and every
furnace blast has but consumed the dross. I am saved! saved
to the uttermost! Glory to the Lamb!
We have space for only brief comments on Dr.

282 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Levy's very striking experience. It is in most re
spects similar to that of other thoughtful men of the
different Churches.
1. It came after a clear conversion, about which he
" never afterwards had a doubt."
2. It was not merely restoration from a backslidden
state. 3. It came after great trouble about his lack of puri
ty and peace of heart, and remarkable struggles against
the prejudice of denominational training.
4. It was by faith and instantaneous in its develop
ment. 5. He had abundant and satisfactory assurance that
the work was done — knew when it was accomplished.
6. It was permanent and abiding in its effects.
7. Also that he has grown in grace, and thinks
" there are no limits to the possibilities of growth in
the life of faith."
We call special attention to the passages put in italics.
Many years after the above was written, Dr. Levy
says :
Many inquiries are made concerning the author's present
and more mature views involved in that experience. The question
has been more than once asked, " Has time or more careful
examination of the Scriptures, or a better acquaintance with
the human heart, made it necessary to modify or reject the
conclusions as untenable?" To all these interrogations one
and the same answer has been given : "By no means." A better
knowledge of God's word, a keener insight into the heart, and a
deeper experience of the workings of the blessed Holy Spirit have
only confirmed and intensified the testimony then given.
To the further questions, " Have there been no lapses ?
has the witness never been clouded? has there never
been a time when there was a consciousness of not

SOME BAPTIST TESTIMONY. 283
pleasing God " during those sixteen years and more ? Dr.
Levy replies : "A determination to be honest with my
self and true to God compels me to acknowledge that
twice, perhaps thrice, has the light been withdrawn,
and I have walked mournfully before the Lord." But
he assures us that those periods of darkness were of
short duration. He says :
There was no effort, as in his early experience, to patch up or
mend what had become soiled or broken. Faith again laid
hold of the precious promise, " If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our 6ins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness." The answer came. The witness was re
newed. The communion was restored.
The following is very plain and encouraging to the
faint-hearted :
And now, understanding better than before how he may be
blameless, and yet not faultless, he has a keener sense of his own
weakness, and of Christ's power to save to the uttermost. The
devil tempts, but He delivers. The world brings tribulation,
but He overcomes the world for him. Dark clouds often ap
pear, but He sets a bright light in them, or stretches over them
the rainbow of His peace. Men frown, and friends grow
strange and cold, but for every frown or slight He gives a fresh
smile. The happy art has been discovered, how to be at peace
amid war, to possess sweetness amid bitterness, to be strong
amid weakness, to be rich amid poverty, to be indifferent to
the opinion of others amid the deepest concern for their souls,
to be dead amid the bliss of life. "O Lord God of hosts,
blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee!"
Dr. Levy's experience strikingly illustrates the teach
ings of Fuller, Judson, Gordon, Murray, Meyer, and
other well-known and most spiritual and useful Baptist
ministers. May it prove helpful to the many believers
whose experience is not satisfactory ! We are pro
foundly convinced of the substantial if not the literal
truth of this record of it.

CHAPTER XXL
Modern Methodist Testimony — Fisk, Olin, Fos
ter, Peck, Miss Willard, Carradine,
Anderson, and Schoolfield.
We will first give the testimony of Dr. Tillett's dis
tinguished namesake, the eminent Wilbur Fisk. In
the following extracts, Dr. George Prentice, his biogra
pher, very truly and justly characterizes him, and gives
us some most important facts touching his experience
and life. He says :
Dr. Wilbur Fisk, the charming, inspiring, and subduing
preacher, the founder of institutional education in American
Methodism, a man combining the distinctive charms that en
dear to us the beautiful characters of Fenelon and Channing,
Jonathan Edwards and John Fletcher, lived more than a score of
years in the faith and exemplification of the sublime doctrine of
Christian perfection as taught by Jesus Christ, St. Paul, and
St. John. He prized that great tenet as one of the most important
distinctions of Christianity.
His experience, which left its radiant impress on his daily life,
was signalized by an overwhelming effusion of the Holy Spirit, de
priving him of physical strength for several hours. It occurred
at a camp meeting at Wellfleet, on August 10, 1819. As he
was passing one of the Boston tents, a lady invited him to
stay in that tent. She then told him that on the way down
an assurance had been given her that Mr. Fisk would receive
the blessing of a. holy heart at that meeting. Dr. Fisk says:
"Her words thrilled through me in an indescribable manner.
I wept, I trembled, I fell. But Satan drew a veil of unbelief
over my mind. They prayed for me, but all was dark; my
heart was [seemed] harder than ever. [A clearer revelation of
his depravity which preceded this baptism.] Thursday morn
ing we had a familiar conversation concerning heart holiness.
(284)

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 285
About the setting of the sun, word came that souls were
begging for prayers in Brother Taylor's tent (the celebrated
'Father Taylor,' of the Seaman's Bethel). I went immediate
ly in, and behold! God was there. We united in prayer, when
one after another, to the number of four or five, were con
verted. We rose to sing. I looked up to God, and thanked
him for answering prayer, and cried, 'Lord, why not hear
prayer for my soul? ' My strength began to fail while I looked
in faith. 'Come, Lord, and come now. Thou wilt come.
Heaven opens, my Saviour smiles. Glory! glory! Oh, glory to
God! Help me, my brethren, to praise the Lord.' The scene
that was now opened to my view I can never describe. I
could say: ' Lord, thou knowest that I love thee! I love thee
above everything. . . . Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me praise his holy name.' "
The following from his biographer gives us further
insight into Dr. Fisk's pre-pentecostal experience, as
well as some of the results of this baptism :
From this period Dr. Fisk dated his experience of perfect love.
Before that he had passed through seasons when he doubted
the fact of his acceptance with God, his personal interest
in Christ, and even the truth of Christianity itself. When
in later years a young minister consulted him concerning
just such doubts, Dr. Fisk told him that he had been delivered
from such things forever at the Wellfleet meeting. They could no
more dwell in the presence of the full development of the life of
perfect purity, perfect humility, and perfect assurance titan darkness
can dwell in the presence of noonday.
In a letter to his sister, while describing his expe
rience, Dr. Fisk says :
In the work of sanctification upon the heart there appear to
be two distinct stages : one is to empty the soul of sin and every
thing offensive; and the other is to fill it with love. 1. The
strong man armed is bound and cast out. 2. The stronger takes
possession. God -was pleased, however, in my case, to empty and
fill in the same moment.
The recorded experience of this eminent scholar and

286 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
divine fully harmonizes with the Wesleyan theory and
teaching. It was subsequent to regeneration, was in
stantaneous in its development — marking a distinct cri
sis in his life, was certified to and through conscious
ness, and was abiding in its results — was enjoyed for
more than twenty years.
We next give the testimony of the Rev. Dr. Olin,
of both Northern and Southern Methodism. Dr.
Daniel Steele, who knew Dr. Olin well, very truly
says :
Stephen Olin stands forth with commanding prominence in
the history of the American pulpit. It is thought by many
that he was intrinsically the greatest man, taken all in all, that
American Methodism has produced. It could be said of him
as Rowland Hill said of Chalmers, "The most astonishing
thing about him was his humility." He was the best example
we have personally known — the writer was with him for six
years — of that childlike simplicity which Christ taught as the
essential condition for entering the kingdom of heaven, and
which Bacon declared to be equally necessary to those who
would enter the kingdom of knowledge. Like Dr. Wilbur Fisk,
lie was a personal example of St. Paul's doctrine of Christian perfec
tion as expounded by Wesley. At first he entertained doubts
respecting it; but as he advanced in life, and especially under
the chastening influence of affliction, it became developed in
his own experience.
In giving his experience, Dr. Steele says :
To the writer he said: "My wife I had recently buried in
Italy ; my children were dead, my health undermined. My en
tire earthly prospect was gloomy indeed. God only remained.
I lost myself, as it were, in him ; I was hid in him with Christ.
Then I found, when wandering on the banks of the Nile in
quest of health, without any process of logic, but by an experimen
tal demonstration, " the perfect love that casteth out fear."
In commenting on the foregoing experience, Dr.
Steele says :

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 287
The marvelous grace that glorified his greatness with un
surpassed humility, in great measure was the effect of this ex
perience on a certain day in Egypt, and the result of the con
stancy of his faith in this crowning gift of God to believers in
this world when they most need it. From the hour of that
memorable spiritual transfiguration in the land of the pyramids,
the doctrine of full redemption through the sanctifying office
of the Holy Spirit was very precious to him, and he looked with
painful feelings upon anything designed to bring it into disrepute,
or lower the standard of piety which it implies. This colossal mind
had no difficulty with the question whether consciousness of inner
purity is a sufficient proof of entire sanctification.
All the marks of the Wesleyan type of " perfect
love " are seen in this experience of Dr. Olin. It came
after conversion, was reached instantaneously, was rec
ognized when it came, and was abiding in its results, as
his subsequent experience and life show. Besides, it
came after he had reached mature manhood, if not old
age, and after his wrestling with doubts concerning the
possibility of such experience. The testimony of this
majestic but most humble servant of God ought to
have weight with all thoughtful doubters of the scrip-
turalness of this doctrine, and of the propriety of a
good and humble Christian's testifying to this grace.
We next give the testimony of some well-known
living Methodists, and of one recently passed to her re
ward. Bishop R. S. Foster, D.D., LL.D., of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, is justly regarded as one of the pro-
foundest theologians and acutest metaphysicians that
Methodism has ever produced. Indeed, he will rank
well with the scholars and divines of any Church or
age. The Rev. A. B. Hyde, D.D., Professor of Greek
in the University of Denver, and author of The Story

288 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of Mehodism — himself no mean scholar and divine —
says of him :
His youthful turn was to literature and metaphysics, and his
specialty has for his whole life been in this direction. In depth of
theological study he has been the most eminent of our bishops, and
he may be called among them as St.fohn was called among the apos
tles, "the divine? the theologian. He has been the man usually
chosen where, as at Chautuaqua, there has been wanted a clear
unfolding of difficult and profound subjects.
Before he was elected bishop, Dr. Foster was pres
ident of the Northwestern University and of Drew
Theological Seminary, having previously served as
professor of systematic theology in the latter institu
tion. He is the author of a much-read volume on the
subject of this book, entitled Christian Purity, and
of a later and profounder one on the Philosophy of
Christian Experience, in both of which he clearly and
strongly presents the Wesleyan view of sanctification.
Below we give an analysis of his experience, the
record of which was written by himself, making ex
tracts, and adding such comments as may tend to im
press and enforce the lesson of this remarkable expe
rience and testimony. We need say but little more
than that this clear-cut experience fully illustrates and
strongly tends to establish the theory of this volume.
We note :
i. That his baptism with the Spirit, which brought
entire sanctification, was subsequent to regeneration
and different from it, bringing what he calls " a radical
conscious change " — a change which went to the roots
of evil in his nature.
2. That this baptism or "radical change" was dif
ferent from any ordinary baptism or "blessing" which

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 289
the earnest believer may receive before or after his being
made " perfect in love," and which may involve chiefly
an emotional fullness of the Spirit, with more or less
of growth in grace. The bishop notes two very re
markable baptisms of this sort occurring not long be
fore his entire sanctification. The following is his ac
count of them. Of the first and what immediately
preceded it, he says :
I became at last completely wretched — more a slave than a
child. It was manifest to me that in this way I could not live.
Something must be done. In the time of my extremity, de
liverance came. At a love feast at New Street, a colored
church (and I had always doubted much the religion of those
people), under the exercises of these simple, ignorant Chris
tians, / was wonderfully blessed. My whole soul was stirred with
in me; my heart melted like wax ; tears flowed prof usely ; I praised
the Lord aloud. This was a great, timely, and permanent bless
ing. It continued almost without interruption up to the time I
am about more particularly to describe [the time of his sancti
fication. No backsliding then before the baptism came]. My
devotions became more spiritual, and my graces all acquired
new life. In a word, I was greatly, divinely revived.
The bishop then proceeds to tell us about another
rich baptism or blessing that came to him "during
the interval " between the one just noted and " the
baptism with the Spirit" which he received at his
sanctification. It was after an attack of sickness
which he says " was blessed to " him. He thus de
scribes this second remarkable experience :
One night, about the time I began decidedly to convalesce,
my mind became absorbed in meditations of the goodness of
God to me, and my great ingratitude to him. I may say, " He
made all his goodness to pass before me," and all my sinful un-
worthiness to pass before me too. This exercise continued for
several hours; more and more my soul became absorbed, until my
heart seemed to break and melt within me. I wept, I sobbed, I con-
19

29O SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
vulsed and cried out. Oh, what a blessing was it which I tlien re
ceived! [This, like the blessing noted above, seems to have been
chiefly an emotional fullness.] . . . This was one of the
most holy and heavenly influences I had ever felt on my heart.
And now I began to pant for holiness. My prejudices were not all
gone, but they were greatly lessened, and I wrestled and prayed
with new earnestness and desire for victory.
He had not yet received " the baptism with the Spir
it," for it was only a few weeks after the above expe
rience that the bishop had the following additional and
different one. He was in the midst of a meeting he
was holding, of which he says :
Many were revived, a number converted. My own heart
shared largely in the divine manifestations. This continued un
til Thursday, the 10th [no backsliding then], when, at the even
ing service, the whole membership were invited to join the
penitents at the altar in prayer, for a deeper personal baptism,
and for their unconverted friends. In this exercise my soul
became peculiarly drawn out. Solicitude for my friends be
came intense, causing me to agonize with God on their ac
count. I soon became unconscious of all that surrounded me,
absorbed with my own suit. I had not been long thus engaged,
when my attention was as it -were forcibly drawn to my own case.
A reproving finger seemed to point to my own unfaithfulness,
and imperfections of religious character, as the reason why
some of my friends remained unawakened, unconverted.
Here my mind fixed ; the impression becoming more and more
distressing, until a sense of my unworthiness — nay, real sin
— became intensely painful, almost insupportable. Now I
seemed again, as with the pressure of an invisible hand,forci-
bly conducted into the inmost chamber of my heart, and cherished
sins and inward corruptions were revealed to me. How vile 1
seemed to be! What defilement covered my -whole soul as a mantle!
What a disparity between me and what a minister of Jesus
ought to be ! Never did I see inbred corruption in such a light
before. I saw, I felt that this was not the highest state of spiritu
ality. Holiness to the Lord was presented to my mind. I saw, I
felt that it was attainable ; that it was possible to me. Oh, how

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 29!
I desired it! Now it seemed "worse than death my God to
love, and not my God alone." . . . The corruptions of my
lieart rose up still more distinctly to my view. The question
seemed to be, " Will you consent that Christ shall take them all
away, and make you holy — give you a clean heart?" That
was the naked point. It was plain — a point of choice, of deci
sion. It brought a struggle, but, thank God, I was enabled to
say yes. When I came to this point I was calm. My agony had
subsided . . . On making choice, as above described, the first
thing that I discovered -was, that I could no longer pray as before.
The spirit of earnest entreaty and desire was entirely removed. I
had no joy, no special manifestations — not much as usual. I was
rather without feeling of any kind. My heart seemed completely
emptied of everything, even a sense of want. At this state I felt no
alarm; I -was satisfied; I wanted nothing. A deep immovable calm
took possession of my heart.
How different from the two experiences of emotional
fullness noted above.
We have been careful to give these three remarkable
experiences that the reader may see clearly that this
third one is markedly different from the other two,
being an ethical and abiding fullness. In addition to
what we note above, the bishop, in speaking of this
last baptism or experience, says :
I have been happy a thousand times, but my present exercise
was new and strange. It was rest — rest in God ; inward con
tent. 3. As already noted, this was not a recovery from
backsliding, for he had been pressing on from the time
of the two wonderful previous baptisms of overflowing
joy which he notes. And it was only a few days after
that this paramount blessing came.
4. He knew when this instantaneous change came —
had the -witness of it :
The Spirit seemed to lead me into the inmost sanctuary of
my soul, into those chambers where I had before discovered

292 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
such defilement, and showed that all was cleansed, that the
corruptions which had given me so much distress were dead —
were taken away — that not one remained. I felt the truth of this
witness; it was so; I was conscious of it, as conscious of it as I had
ever been of my conversion. . . . My heart had entered into
new and higher existence. This was as evident as transition from
darkness to light. '
5. This was abiding, and gave him easy triumph
over temptation :
My mind remains in the same state, with scarcely a shadow
of variation. This is one remarkable fact in my new life — it is
even and sustained. I have been tempted, vilely tempted, but
the adversary has found no response; I have had an easy and
direct victory over all assaults. It is not with me as it was
aforetime; faith brings me instant victory, almost without a.
conscious effort.
6. His experience was not colored by his creed. On
the contrary, his creed and prejudices were very much
against this experience. He says :
Eventually, when the work of holiness began to be more
talked of, and extensively professed, from the fact that I had
failed to obtain it, and because of indiscretions in the lives and
language of some who professed it, and from heresies in the
instructions of some who taught it, and particularly because I
was myself somewhat spoiled with false philosophy, I imbibed a
strong antipathy against the whole subject. This opposition of mind,
unacknowledged to myself, increased, and became more settled and
deadly. Finally I could have no patience to have the subject intro
duced. My whole mind recoiled at it. I felt contempt for those
who prof essed it, and even carefully refrained from naming it in my
prayers. ... I once said to a dear friend who was convers
ing with me on the subject, and urging me to seek it (she was
one who I believed enjoyed it): "If my enjoyment of it re
quires ^.profession, I do not desire it. I do not feel that I could
receive it on such terms, or with such involvements." So dark
had I become — so dreadfully prejudiced.
These facts ought to be seriously pondered by other

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 293
prejudiced ones, and should give his testimony great
weight. 7. This "high proficient both in philosophy and
spiritual experience " — this profound philosopher and
divine, who has for half a century made metaphysics a
" specialty " — sees nothing in this theory of instanta
neous and entire sanctification that is contrary to a
sound psychology. And he has, in a profound and
elaborate work, written in his riper years — Philosophy
of Christian Experience — most ably applied the prin
ciples of psychology to this experience of sanctifica
tion. The opinion and testimony of this St. John of
Northern Methodism, this expert in " clearly unfold
ing difficult and profound subjects," this most emi
nent of the bishops of our sister Church, whose broad
charity and warm sympathies come out to us, ought
to have weight with all our thinking people. And the
more so because, while progressive on many lines of
religious thought, Bishop Foster is regarded as con
servative and safe on this question, having persistently
made effort to restrain the more impulsive and less
thoughtful advocates of this theory from unsound in
terpretation of Scripture and unsafe and fanatical prac
tices based on such interpretation.
Probably next to Queen Victoria of England, Miss
Frances E. Willard is the most widely known and
best beloved woman of the English-speaking world.
She has well been called the " uncrowned queen of
America." And her dominion was not limited to this
country, for wherever Christianity has gone her name
and fame and good works are known. She has prob
ably done more for the cause of temperance and social
purity than any other woman, living or dead. And at

294 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
her death, Christians of all faiths, Romish and Protest
ant, were loud in her praises. This remarkable wom
an, with almost world-wide fame for her ability and
good works, not only believed in this doctrine, but
also professed to have tested its truth in her experience.
The following extracts are from what she wrote in
1887. After giving an account of her conversion and
growth in grace, she says :
In 1866 Mrs. Bishop Hamline came to our village, and we
were closely associated in the work of the American Ladies'
Centennial Association that built Heck Hall. This saintly
woman placed in my hands the Life of Hester Ann Rogers, Life
of Carvosso, Life of Mrs. Fletcher, Wesley's Sermons on Christian
Perfection, and Mrs. Palmer's Guide to Holiness. I had never
seen any of these books before, but had read Peck's Central
Idea of Christianity, and had been greatly interested in it. I had
also heard saintly testimonies in prayer meeting, and, in a gen
eral way, believed in the doctrine of holiness. But my read
ing of these books, my talks and prayers with Mrs. Hamline,
that modern Mrs. Fletcher, deeply impressed me. I began to
desire and pray for holiness of heart. Soon after this, Dr. and
Mrs. Phoebe Palmer came to Evanston as guests of Mrs. Ham
line, and for weeks they held meetings in our church. This
was in the winter of 1866; the precise date I cannot give. One
evening, early in their meetings, when Mrs. Palmer had spoken
with marvelous clearness and power, and at the close those de
sirous of entering into the higher Christian life had been asked
to kneel at the altar, another crisis came to me. [The first was
at the time of her conversion, previously noted.] It was not so
tremendous as the first, but it was one that deeply left its im
press on my spirit. . . . Kneeling in utter self-abandonment, I
consecrated myself anew to God.
I cannot describe the deep welling up of joy that gradually
possessed me. I was utterly free from care. I was blithe as a
bird that is good for nothing except to sing. . . . The con
scious, emotional presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit
held me. I ran about upon his errands "just for love." Life

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 295
was a halcyon day. All my friends knew and noticed the
change, and I would not like to write down the lovely things
some of them said to me; but they did me no harm, for I was
shut in with the Lord. . . .
Since then I have sat at the feet of every teacher of holiness
whom I could reach ; have read their books and compared their
views. I love and reverence and am greatly drawn toward all,
and never feel out of harmony with their spirit. Wonderful
uplifts come to me as I pass on — clearer -views of the life of God in
the soul of man. Indeed, it is the only life, and all my being
sets toward it as the rivers toward the sea. Celestial things
grow dearer to me; the love of Christ is steadfast in my soul;
the habitudes of a disciple sit more easily upon me ; tenderness
toward humanity and the lower orders of being increases with
the years. In the temperance, labor, and woman questions I
see the stirring of Christ's heart; in the comradeship of Chris
tian work my spirit takes delight, and prayer has become my
atmosphere. Nor did this creed and experience make her narrow
or bigoted, but rather tended to broaden her views and
enlarge her sympathies and charity. She says :
I am a strictly loyal and orthodox Methodist, but I find
great good in all religions and in the writings of those lofty
and beautiful moralists who are building better than they know,
and all of whose precepts blossom from the rich soil of the
New Testament. No word of faith in God or love to man is
alien to my sympathy. The classic ethics of Marcus Aurelius
are dear to me, and I have carried in my traveling outfit not
only a Kempis, but Epictetus and Plato. The mysticism of
Fenelon and Guyon, the sermons of Henry Drummond and
Beecher, the lofty precepts of Ralph Waldo Emerson, all help
me up and onward. I am an eclectic in religious reading,
friendship, and inspiration. My wide relationships and con
stant journeyings would have made me so had I not the nat
ural hospitality of mind that leads to this estate. But, like the
bee that gathers from many fragrant gardens but flies home
with his varied gains to the same friendly and familiar hive, so

296 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
I fly home to the sweetness and sanctity of the old faith that has
been my shelter and solace so long.
Miss Willard closes her testimony with the follow
ing words :
" Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," is the deepest voice out of
my soul. Receive it every instant, voluntarily given back to
thyself, and receive it in the hour when I drop this earthly
mantle, that I wear to-day, and pass onward to the world invisi
ble but doubtless not far off.
And, no doubt, he did receive it at the last, for
among her last words were : " How beautiful to be
with God ! " This experience has the characteristics
of others given in this volume. It came after conver
sion, was instantaneous, was certified to consciousness,
was abiding, and was followed by growth — " wonder
ful uplifts " and " clearer views of the life of God in
the soul of man." It will be noted, too, that Miss
Willard seems to trace her " tenderness toward hu
manity," and her great zeal in the " temperance " and
other causes, to the inspiration and strength given and
continued to her through this wonderful baptism and in
duement. This experience was given some twenty-one
years after she received this blessing, and ten years
later she died in the same faith and experience. And
may we not be permitted to add that if this superb
specimen of Christian womanhood could come down
from her high place in the world's admiration and es
teem, and " sit at the feet of every teacher of holiness "
and " love and reverence " them, and could humbly
kneel at the altar of prayer and seek this blessing, and
then meekly profess the enjoyment of it, certainly her
humbler sisters can well afford to do so ? And if such
a grand man as Bishop Foster avows his faith in and

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 297
experience of this great salvation, why should any
preacher be ashamed to do so ?
The Rev. J. O. Peck, D.D., one of the best known
authors and most successful ministers of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, testifies clearly and intelligently as
to his experience before this baptism, and at the time he
received it, as well as to the results that followed. As
to what preceded it, he says :
While pastor in Springfield, in 1872, a memorable incident
in my experience occurred. / had never, consciously, lost my zeal
or devotion to the gospel ministry, nor the evidence of my assured sal
vation in Jesus Christ. . . . A deep heart-hunger that I had
never known began to be realized. I hardly knew how to under
stand it. I had not lost spirituality, so far as I could judge my
condition. I longed for scarcely I knew what. I examined
myself and prayed more earnestly, but the hunger of my
soul grew more imperious. I was not plunged into darkness
or conscious condemnation, yet the inward cravings increased.
The result of these weeks of heart-throes was a gradual sink
ing of self, a consuming of all selfish ambitions and purposes,
and a consciousness of utter emptiness. There arose an unut
terable longing to be filled. I waited upon the Lord, but he de
layed his coming.
After telling of his going to a camp meeting to seek
this baptism, and his public declaration of the purpose
of his going, he says :
/ then descended to the altar and knelt with others before the
Lord. I knew what I came for, believed it the will of God to
bestow it, and cast myself fully upon the promises of God. By
simple trust I was enabled to take Christ as my sufficiency to fill and
satisfy my hungry soul. The instant I received Christ as " wis
dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," the still
ness and emotionlessness of absolute quiet permeated my en
tire being. . . . I kne-w that moment that he was my complete
Saviour! At once the most delicious experience -was mine that I can
conceive. No joy, no rapture; but something sweeter, deeper than

298 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
anything before known — " the peace of God that passeth all un
derstanding! " It settled in upon me deeperand deeper, sweeter
and sweeter, till I seemed " filled with all the fullness of God."
/ ¦was ineffably satisfied. I could not shout nor speak. . . . And
this experience I have never lost — -not always equally clear and con
spicuous, but ever a sacred deposition in my heart.
Then follows his testimony as to the results of this
gracious baptism. He says :
Certain results have followed this experience or attended it
in my ministry.
1. My soul has been one with God. I have not had an ambi
tion or plan or purpose that was not formed in the desire to
glorify God. Not perfect, nor faultless, nor mistakenless, nor
errorless, yet the whole purpose of my life has been to please
him. 2. / have had a greater love for my work. I always loved it in
tensely, but it has since seemed to possess me. The salvation
of dying men has been a passion. I love the work with glow
ing affection.
3. Greater results have followed my ministry. More souls have
been converted each year — two to three times more. I have
had power unknown before to persuade sinners to Christ.
4. My intellectual work was at once vastly stimulated. I have
studied twice as much each year. My thought has been
clearer and my love for patient thinking more ardent.
5. Perfect love has reigned in my soul. I have not slept a night
since that camp meeting with a bitter or vindictive or unchris
tian feeling toward a human being. It is easy to love men.
I have experienced my share of occasions for the exhibitions
of unsanctified human nature, but it does not spring up. I judge
it is not there.
6. I have had an aversion to argument or controversy on the sub
ject of Christian perfection. I dare not speculate, I dare not mix
up my little human philosophy with the great divine truth
and the divine experience. ..." My soul doth magnify
the Lord" for this experience which has doubled my joys, and,
if I may judge, doubled the effectiveness of my imperfect ministry.

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 299
Ministers of the gospel might well ponder the words
and imitate the example of this superb preacher and
most successful pastor.
The Rev. B. Carradine, D.D., is widely known both
North and South as a most earnest and successful
evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Before he voluntarily left the itinerancy and engaged
in the work of an evangelist, he served most efficiently
some of the leading charges of his Church in New
Orleans and St. Louis, receiving large salaries for his
services. He is a man of good culture, high character,
great spirituality, and wonderful pulpit power.
On the first day of June, 1889, while he was pastor
of Carondelet Street Church, New Orleans, he re
ceived this wonderful baptism ; and we give some ex
tracts from his recorded experience, which has been
helpful to the writer and others. While the reader
may not agree with all of Dr. Carradine's views and
methods, it is hoped he will weigh well his testimony.
After most interestingly telling how he was brought
into the experience here given, he says :
On the morning of the third day — may God help me to tell
it as it occurred! — the witness was given. It was about nine
o'clock in the morning. That morning had been spent from
daylight in meditation and prayer, in profound peace and love,
and in the full expectancy of faith, when suddenly I felt that
the blessing was coming. By some delicate instinct or intui
tion of soul, I recognized the approach and descent of the Holy
Ghost. My faith arose to meet the blessing. In another min
ute I was prostrated by the power of God. I called out again
and again, "O my God! my God!" and "Glory to God!" while
billows of fire and glory rolled in upon my soul with steady,
increasing force. The experience was one of fire. I felt that
I was being consumed. For several minutes I thought I
would certainly die. / knew it was sanctification. I knew it as

3OO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
though the name was written across the face of the blessing and
upon every wave of glory that rolled in upon my soul. . . ,
I knew I was sanctified just as I knew fifteen years before
that I was converted. I knew it not only because of the
work itself in my soul, but through the Worker. He, the Holy
Ghost, bore witness clearly, unmistakably, and powerfully to his own
work; and, although months have passed away since that
blessed morning, yet the witness of the Holy Spirit to the
work has never left me a moment, and is as clear to-day as it
was then.
Farther on, in speaking from experience of the re
sults of this baptism, he says :
When that sanctifying work occurs, sin dies in the heart.
Various propensities of the body, which regeneration subdued,
but could [did] not eradicate, are instantly corrected, arrested,
or extirpated. The craving of habit is ended, the root of bit
terness is extracted, pride is lifeless, self-will is crucified, and
anger and irritability are dead. In a word, inward sin is dead.
A sweet, holy calm fills the breast, actually affects the body,
steals into the face, and rules the life. The millennium has
begun in the soul.
After quoting from the experiences of others to
prove that this great blessing is not merely a recovery
from backsliding, he has this to say of his own case :
With great shrinking I mention my own experience in the
same breath with such superior and holy men. But God calls
upon me to witness here, and by my tongue and pen to protest
humbly, but firmly, against this degrading definition of sancti
fication. God knows that I have not been a backslider. He knows
that for over twelve years the rule of my life, rarely broken, has been
never to lay my head upon my pillow until I felt a sense of accept
ance with him; while every day I have felt his presence in my soul.
Evidently the blessing on June i, of last year, was not a re
covery from backsliding.
These brief extracts from Dr. Carradine's recorded
experience — we wish we had space for longer ones —

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 30!
clearly indicate that it comes fully up to the Wesleyan
standard. It was subsequent to regeneration, was in
stantaneous, was certified to by his consciousness, and
was abiding in its effects ; and it was remarkable for its
intensity and the extent to which it excited his emo
tional nature. Fearing that it might prove misleading
and discouraging to others, he reminds his readers that
it was exceptional in those respects. He cites the case
of Dr. Lovick Pierce, who said that for minutes he
felt that he could live without breathing, so unutter
able was the calm in his soul. He also quotes from
the experience of Dr. Thomas C. Upham, who says :
I was then redeemed by a mighty power, and filled with the
blessing of perfect love. There was no intellectual excitement, no
marked joys when I reached this great rock of practical salvation;
but I was distinctly conscious when I reached it.
Dr. Carradine then adds :
This is the point I make: that to lay the emphasis upon the
emotional feature is misleading. It is as unwise here as it is in
conversion to demand certain exalted states as the criterion in
such a case. The instant we make an overwhelming rapture
the standard experience, that instant we grieve and discourage
many, and make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to se
cure the longed-for blessing.
We are profoundly convinced of the truth of this
last statement.
The following is from the Rev. T. H. B. Anderson,
D.D., one of the strong men who have helped to plant
Southern Methodism on the Pacific Slope, and who
has several times represented that section of the
Church in the General Conference. He was very
much opposed to — was indeed bitter against — the " sec
ond-blessing " theory of sanctification. When Dr. Car
radine went to San Francisco to hold a series of meetings,

302 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Dr. Anderson solemnly covenanted with a ministerial
friend that he might hear Dr. Carradine preach, but that
he would do " nothing more." He would not encourage
him in his peculiar methods — least of all would he
yield to the influence of his meeting. The following
extracts show what followed. Dr. Anderson says :
i . I was known to be bitterly opposed to the " second-bless
ing " theory of sanctification. / prejudiced many minds against
it; . . . I was opposed to it all ; and more, fought it publicly
and privately. God forgave me, and I rejoice that I stand
where, for the first time, / can understand Christian experience.
2. That I had been converted there was no doubt, in my mind ;
that I feared God, I knew; that I was doing all I could, my
almost day and night work was proof. What more did I need?
There was unrest, a lack of continuous peace, of uninterrupted joy .
My friends, I loved passionately; my enemies, not any too
well. Plainly, my feet were weary, my heart ached, and my pres
ent experience was not satisfactory. I had not lost ground;
this had been my experience for more than thirty years. . . .
3. The sermon by Dr. Carradine, songs and prayers, all
made a good impression on me ; but far from what they seemed
to make on others. Indeed, there was intense feeling in the
house. Tears, shouts, amens were everywhere, but I was not
equal to the occasion. It was above me; I could not reach it. I
went away, sad and thoughtful; went away introspecting my
life. What I found I have already told. I returned Mon
day morning and was present at the nine o'clock service. It
was one of remarkable power; the Lord was there. At the
close of the service Dr. Carradine called for seekers of sanctifi
cation. I neither went forward nor stood up, but concluded I
would go away. To me it was a mystery; it was not such a meet
ing as I had often attended. There was lightning in it; the
strokes were coming thick and fast. My soul was gradually be
coming a storm center. I was being slowly but surely drawn into it
by the power of divine grace.
I took my hat, cane, and overcoat, and started out of the
church. . . . Looking around I found Mrs. Glide, » lady
whom I had known for years, on the same mission, who, after

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 303
speaking a few words on another subject, said quietly, "Are
you going away?" I had an engagement in Oakland, but
concluded to let it go and attend to it later. I went back into
the church and took my seat. My thoughts, for a few mo
ments, ran thus: "Lord, what blessings I have received from
thee have been good, and I know all about them; but if there
are others that would be of service to me, or to my ministry, I
want them. I now take the place of the ox on the Greek coin
—stand between the altar and the plow — ready for service or
sacrifice. I am ready for poverty or riches, friends or foes,
but give me what I need." This is as near the train of thought
as I can give.
Suddenly I found myself falling — falling away from every
thing — the Church and the preachers, my family and friends.
I went down into loneliness and desolation. I became un
conscious of what was about me — I could not see — a horror
of darkness was around me. I went down, down; and for
the first time I felt alone. Oh, the sense of loneliness was aw
ful ! Never to my dying day can I forget it. As I continued
to descend, the fire went crashing down through my body ; a
sense of burning as distinct in my flesh as though coals of fire
were laid on it; yet there was no charring, no pain. By this
time I believed I was dying, and although I could not see, my
mind was active; I felt my pulse, and found that my heart was
beating regularly.
Just at the end of the darkness, to my surprise, I found my
self in the arms of the " Wonderful Man." He was the whitest
man I ever saw; his face was like the sun. For a moment he
held me ; and such a bracing, buttressing, and girding of life T
never had before. I was, blessed be God, in the arms of the Om
nipotent. Then the vision ceased to be objective; slowly, as I sat
there, I saw the Christ pass into my own life, and with the last
glimpse of him came bliss unutterable. For hours and hours
wave after wave of glory rolled into my soul. At times it
seemed to me that I would die; it was more than I could hold.
Then there would be a cessation ; but as soon as I could get
my breath another great wave would come and quite over
whelm me. For forty-eight hours I was tossed by these heav
enly gales. I would lie down at night and wonder if he (the
Comforter) would be with me in the morning. I really suf-

304 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
fered, in my mind, for fear he might not return ; but invariably
I found him present, filling me with peace. . . .
I have said enough; the half I have not told nor could I tell.
The effect on my life has been peace, quietness, assurance.
I found the work wrought in me to be purgative, illuminative,
unitive. I love my Church, my brethren, my family — the
whole world — better than I did before. Her doctrines — justifi
cation, regeneration, sanctification, and redemption — stand out
in my experience as great lights. Everything drops to its
place; and my experience is delightful. I have no quarrels
about terms; no fault to find with other people's experiences;
only want the privilege of "growing in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour."
How did I get it? I have told you all I know; but looking
backward see that my surrender was complete, my consecration
perfect. The Lord Jesus came and accepted the sacrifice; and
every moment since T have been happy. More: a large number
of devout men and women were praying for me — praying that
I might be conquered, as I had been an open enemy to the experience.
No doubt the great Head of the Church heard their prayers;
and for his own sake, theirs, and mine gave me joy.
What effect lias it had on my life ? It has tranquilized it. The
fret, worry, anxiety, all gone; my heart aches no more; my feet,
so tired, are resting; indeed, they feel as if they were in the
burning path of the cherubim. Halleluiah!
I am not a dreamer, nor given to hallucinations. [We believe
this is true.] It has been hard for me to believe in the super
natural; hence I have preached more on miracles, the new
birth, and subjects involving supernatural power than most
preachers. "Why should you thus preach?" you ask. Be
cause I forced myself by study and talk to believe that the Holy
Ghost is immanent in everything. I know it now. He imported
into my life the life of Jesus Christ. "Christ in us " rehabilitating
our natures, is my conception of sanctification.
This experience is strikingly like St. Paul's. From
a bitter and zealous opposer of this theory and experi
ence, he is suddenly and overwhelmingly converted to
both, and then becomes the ardent advocate of this way

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 305
of thinking and living, and grows stronger in his new
faith as he grows in this blessed experience. In a re
cent letter to the writer, Dr. Anderson asks to add the
following to his written experience, quoted above :
After four years of careful, painstaking study of the doc
trine and experience of entire sanctification, I have no desire
to change my views.
1 . / am more and more convinced that the doctrine grounds itself
in " God's word written," and that it can therefore become an
experience in the life of every man.
2. That sanctification begins in justification, but becomes
entire at the will and pleasure of the justified man; that this
state is reached by faith — accepting Christ as the Sanctifier.
3. That this experience is in accord with the doctrines of the
Methodist Church, but harmonizes with the economics of all the
other Churches. . . .
4. That, taught and experienced by both pastors and people,
it would give us power in pulpit and pew, and save us from many
foolish and hurtful things. If I understand the experience, it
means goodness subjectively and faithfulness objectively. It must,
therefore, go to church, to prayer meeting, to Sunday school,
feed the hungry, visit the sick, and in every way do good to
the souls and bodies of men. . . .
We briefly call attention to three or four things in
this remarkable experience :
1. It was not only not " colored" by his former theory,
but was in direct conflict with his long-cherished views,
and was in harmony with a theory which he had up
to that time " bitterly opposed? and which he had just
solemnly covenanted not to embrace.
2. It was thirty years after he had beyond all doubt
been converted, and when he " had not lost ground "
in his religious life.
3. It was overwhelming and very marked in its in
fluence over him, working a great change in his ex
perience and life.
20

306 scriptural sanctification.
4. It was instantaneous in its development and abid
ing in its results.
We feel that the remarkable experience of this "bitter
opposer" of the theory of a second and instantaneous
work of grace after regeneration ought to cause like
doubters and opposers to stop and reflect.
We now give the experience of one who is well and
most favorably known in the Virginias and Carolinas
and elsewhere, as one of the most unselfish, earnest,
spiritual, and successful lay evangelists in all our land —
James E. Schoolfield, of Danville, Va. We are sure
that the thousands whom he has led to Christ or helped
to a better life will be glad to look into his inner experi
ences which are the secret of his wonderful success.
Mr. Schoolfield says :
I was converted in 1869, at the age of nineteen. I know
about the time, but never could locate the exact day or place ;
/ do know the fact, however. I enjoyed religion for a year or
two, but then began to lose, and finally lost my consciousness
of acceptance, and became absorbed in business, making Chris
tianity a secondary consideration. I never lost my respecta
bility or churchianity, but did lose my spirituality. I was
moral, honest, upright, a steward in the church, and was con
sidered by the community and the church as a consistent and
exemplary Christian. And I was, so far as morality, etc., are
concerned. I was awakened to my real condition in 1885 (February, I
think). I saw I was trying to do an impossible thing — viz.,
hold on to the Lord and the world at the same time. Here
commenced the real struggle of my life, which continued, un
known to any one, for several months. But God gave me the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. "The joy of God's sal
vation" was not only restored, but in a much larger degree than
ever before. I know definitely the time and place, and tliere can be
no mistake about it in my own mind. And in the next few days I
had several unmistakable effusions of the Spirit.

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 307
A meeting commenced in my church. I tried to work (do
personal work) for the first time in my life. I also testified in
public for the first time. I would go to different unconverted
persons I knew. I knew that they believed in me — had confi
dence in me — but somehow I was conscious that Iliad no power. I
was distressed about it, and one night, feeling thoroughly dis
couraged, I quit work. I went and sat down on the chancel
cushion in the old Main Street Church, Danville, Va., and there
buried my face in my hands and commenced to pray, about
after this fashion: "Lord, there is something I need, something I
lack. I don't know what; but whatever it is give it to me. I am
willing to do anything? etc. The meeting closed for the night.
I went home in the same frame of mind and immediately re
tired, and there, continuing the prayer, I felt that the Spirit was
silently stealing over me and filling my whole being with his glori
ous presence. I was gloi-iously conscious of the divine presence fill
ing my soul. I immediately told my dear wife about it, and, so
far as I can recall, I slept but little that night — was perfectly
quiet, but oh, so happy!
From that moment my life was revolutionized, and if I had not
had, only a few days or weeks before, such positive, unmistakable
evidence of my acceptance, conversion, and restoration, I would
have doubted whether I had ever been converted before. I know
this was not conversion. [Nor was it restoration.] To me
it has always been a distinct baptism of the Holy Ghost — a different
and more decided work than conversion or the renewal liad been, be
fore alluded to. You may wish to know what I call it I answer:
To me it was and always has been a distinctive baptism of the Holy
Ghost. Wltat reference it has to salvation I don't know. I do
know it -was a powerful spiritual uplift, and that it revolutionized
my own life, and that the joy of conscious salvation was abiding
probably for three years, and the effects are abiding to this moment,
fuly 7, 1898, or for thirteen years.
"Was this your call to the evangelistic work?" I answer,
No. / never thought of going into the evangelistic work until four
years later, when I received a positive, definite, and even more
distinct manifestation, but of a different character. It was not
so much of a spiritual uplift as it was a distinctive call to a spe
cific work. The second radical work was in 188$ — the call to the
evangelistic work was in 188c) or 1890.

308 . scriptural sanctification.
When I received the baptism in 1885 I had never heard of the
"second blessing," sanctification, etc.; or, if I had, it was in such
a. vague and indefinite way that I knew nothing in the world
about it.
The reader will observe that Mr. Schoolfield notes
four distinct epochs in his religious history — his con
version, restoration, spiritual baptism, and call to the
evangelistic work. He is very clear and emphatic as
to the fact that his baptism with the Spirit was sub
sequent to his conversion and restoration, and some
four years before his call to the ministry, and that it
was markedly different and distinct from all these ex
periences. Also that this baptism came instantaneous
ly and was abiding in its results — being an ethical full
ness of the Spirit.
We have heard him say that several ministerial
friends, who did not profess to have received this bap
tism, and with whom he advised concerning his expe
rience, told him that the results of this baptism or full
ness of joy and peace and power would not continue
with him, while others, who had experienced such a
baptism, assured him that they would. His subse
quent experience harmonizes with the views of the lat
ter. The former seemed to think that it was only one
of the many spiritual baptisms or blessings which the
believer receives, and which Mr. Schoolfield received
between his restoration and this ethical fullness — "sev
eral unmistakable effusions of the Spirit," the effect of
which is evanescent. But this brother's remarkable
experience and phenomenal success as an evangelist —
as many as one thousand souls being brought into the
Church as the result of one of his meetings — confirm
his theory that this was " the baptism with the Holy

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 3O9
Ghost," an ethical, abiding, and charismatic fullness of
the Spirit.
Nor was his experience " colored by his theory, for
he says that he does not remember ever having heard
of the- " second blessing," " sanctification," etc., as a
work or blessing distinct from regeneration, up to the
time of his wonderful baptism. Nor did he for some
time identify it with that work. It really seems to us
that the well-defined and clearly- marked experience of
this intelligent, unbiased, unselfish, earnest, and most
successful man of God ought to go far toward con
vincing the skeptical ones that there is a second work,
or experience, or baptism of the Spirit that comes in
stantaneously to the earnest and fully consecrated soul
after conversion, and that largely " revolutionizes " the
lives of the subjects of it. Also that it is not merely a
recovery from backsliding, or simply an emotional or
charismatic fullness of the Spirit, the results continu
ing with him for thirteen years — down to the present.
We should be glad to give the testimony of other
well-known Methodist saints if we had space, but
these testimonies have already exceeded the limits first
intended for them. We have written and have before
us extracts from the recorded experiences of ten or
twelve other well-known ministers and laymen, men
and women, of high character and saintly lives, who
testify that they have had a marked experience of a sec
ond and instantaneous work in their hearts, cleansing
them from impurity, and filling them with love.
Their testimony indicates very clearly, too, that this
experience was not merely a recovery from backslid
ing. Also that this baptism was abiding in its effects,
varying from about fifteen to sixty years, up to the

3IO SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
time they wrote. One says nearly fifteen years, an
other nearly twenty-five, others thirty, thirty-eight,
forty-six, fifty-two, and sixty.
They insist that these were periods of unmixed peace
and love, and that, while they grew more or less before
this baptism, the years since it came have been emphat
ically their "growth period"
Now, let us apply the argument. In order that the
reader may the more clearly see and the more keenly
feel the force of the foregoing testimony from expe
rience, we call attention to the following facts involved
in or relating to it, some of which may have been no
ticed before.
i. This testimony was not given by interested parties,
who were wedded to a certain theory to which they
had previously committed themselves, and which they
were anxious to support by their experience. On the
contrary, (i) this experience came in advance of any
previously formed views on the subject, as in the case
of Finney, Schoolfield, and others. (2) A change of
opinion and a resulting experience flew in the face
of denominational training and prejudice, and of pre
viously embraced views, as in the case of President
Edwards, Tholuck, Godet, Mahan, Upham, Moody,
Earle, Gordon, Levy, Houston, Miss Havergal, and
others. (3) This experience, even among Methodists,
had in some cases to encounter grave and serious doubts
as to the truth of this doctrine, as in the case of Dr.
Fisk, Dr. Olin, and others. (4) It had to overcome
deep-seated prejudice and bitter opposition on the part
of other Methodists, as in the case of Bishop Foster,
Dr. Steele, Dr. Anderson, and others.

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 3H
2. We call attention to the ability and competency
of these interpreters and witnesses. And we may
apply our tests to all the elements or qualifications
that go to make up thorough competency — natural
endowments, educational acquirements, spiritual at
tainments, long experience, and abundant usefulness.
What country or Church produced in their day more
astute, learned, spiritual, and useful men than Wesley,
Fletcher, Clarke, and Watson? Where can we find
four holier, more self-sacrificing, and apostolic men
than Bishops Asbury, Coke, McKendree, and Tay
lor? What Church during this century has produced
the mental and spiritual equals of Wilbur Fisk and
Stephen Olin, Lovick Pierce and E. M. Marvin?
Have we any divines to-day who are superior to Sum
mers and McTyeire, Foster and Steele ?
Did the Congregational Church ever produce four
greater and more useful men than Mahan and Upham,
Finney and Moody ? Do the Baptists put any discount
on Judson and Gordon, on Fuller and Spurgeon?
Have they any more useful men than Murray and
Meyer, than Earle and Levy? Has the Presbyterian
Church ever produced a greater man than Jonathan
Edwards, or a holier woman or more saintly Christain
than his wife or young Brainerd Taylor ? Who are to
day doing more to infuse new life into the Church and
to reach the unsaved world than Arthur T. Pierson,
John McNeil, D. L. Moody, and Beverly Carradine?
What women have been more richly endowed men
tally and spiritually, have won greater fame, or have
done or are still doing more for the elevation of their
race than Madame Guyon, Mary Fletcher, Phoebe
Palmer, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Hannah Whitall

312 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Smith, Frances Ridley Havergal, Catherine Booth,
Frances E. Willard, and Margaret Bottome?
Nearly or quite all of these give substantially the
same interpretation to the Scriptures that we do touch
ing this doctrine, and most if not all of them have
tested its truth in and given testimony to it from expe
rience. And a host of other names might be added to
these, such as Whatcoat, Carvosso, Hester Ann Rog
ers, Bramwell, the three Pecks, Hamline, Janes, Simp
son, Wightman, Key, Keen, Dunn, Lowrey, Boswell,
Hannon, Morris, Mahon, Withers, and many others.
3. Most of these interpreters and witnesses arrived
at their conclusion as to the truth of this doctrine, ( 1 )
from what they regarded as a rational interpretation of
God's word, given prior to their experimental test of
its truth. This seems to have been the case with such
men as Wesley, Fletcher, Clarke, Watson, Fisk, Olin,
Mahan, Upham, Simpson, McTyeire, Wightman, Fos
ter, Steele, Tigert, and others who were and are cer
tainly the equals of men on the other side of this ques
tion. Suppose, as some contend, that Mr. Wesley never
experienced this baptism, nor testified from experience
to the truth of this doctrine? Suppose that his pro
found, unshaken, and abiding conviction of its truth
came originally, as he emphatically avers that it did,
from a close and prayerful study of the Bible ? And,
suppose, as some contend, that he had never had the
truth of his theory confirmed by his experience — that
is, that so far as his experience had any bearing on the
question at all, it was against this theory — is it not very
remarkable that he never for a moment, even in the
face of bitter opposition, and in the presence of wild

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 313
fanaticism, wavered a hair's breadth in his convictions
touching this subject? Is not his clear, uniform,
steady, and persistent testimony to the day of his
death, from his interpretation of the Bible, confirmed
by the experience of others, that this is one of the most
important teachings of God's word and the crowning
doctrine of Methodism a very strong presumptive
proof of its truth ? And the same may be said of the
interpretation of many others of the great and good
men to whom we have referred, and whose traditional
creed did not embody this important doctrine.
( 2 ) But the case becomes much stronger when these
profound and spiritual men add to their hermeneutical
test and testimony the test of experiment and the testimo
ny of experience. Before the addition of the latter the
scales holding their opinions and those on the opposite
side may have been in equipoise, but such addition
from experience gives great preponderance to the side
of this doctrine. On the one side we have, as Metho
dist writers, such men as Crane, Boland, Miller, Mc-
Anally, Whitehead, Tillett, Barbee, Baxter, Nichols,
Price, and a few others. They do not claim to have had
any experience that can reasonably be put in the balance
against this doctrine. It is simply claimed that their
experience does not support this theory. Dr. Mudge's
case may be regarded as an exception to this statement,
but we submit that, when his experience is properly
interpreted, it does not weigh against, but rather sup
ports, this theory. See Chapter XXIII. And it is
claimed by the other side that these writers have not
made a scriptural and thorough test of the matter by
experiment. In other words, that their testimony
from experience is only negative, and therefore worth-

314 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
less. They have, hence, to rely solely on their inter
pretation of the Bible in the light of reason and argu
ment, without the additional light coming from expe
rience. And in their speculations and theory they
differ widely as to the nature of this blessing, as well
as to the time, conditions, and results of its bestowment
or development.
On the other hand, we have such men as Wesley,
Fletcher, Watson, Clarke, Asbury, Coke, Whatcoat,
Fisk, Olin, McKendree, Lovick Pierce, the Pecks,
Foster, Steele, Key, Carradine, and a host of others,
who came from their study of the Bible more or less
fully convinced of the truth of this doctrine, and sub
stantially agreed as to the nature of this baptism, and
the time and conditions of its reception, as well as to
its effects on the hearts and lives of those receiving it.
But, not stopping there, these go farther than those on
the other side. They resort to intelligent and patient
experimental tests of the truth of this theory. After
making this experiment, they testify most positively
from their resulting experience that they have become
beyond the shadow of a doubt convinced that their in
terpretation of the Bible is correct. They assert most
positively that its truth has been revealed to their con
sciousness, and has, hence, become a subject of knowl
edge as well as of faith or opinion. That whereas,
when they rose from the study of God's word they
believed this to be its teaching, now they know it to
be so — that faith has merged into full and certain
knowledge. Here is a remedy which, it is claimed, is an infallible
cure for a certain disease. Learned and experienced
physicians subject it to a most searching analysis.

MODERN METHODIST TESTIMONY. 315
Half of them give it as their opinion that it will not
effect the cure for which it is recommended. The
other half are convinced that it will. In order to test
the matter more fully and satisfactorily, the latter half
try it on themselves and on all their patients who are
troubled with that disease, and who will take it. The
result is that they and all who follow their directions
realize a perfect cure. The other physicians persist
ently refuse to try it on themselves or their patients,
but continue to argue or theorize from the analysis
that they are right, and that the other doctors and their
patients are wholly mistaken. Now, whose opinion and
testimony would have more weight with the average
sick man? To ask the question is to answer it.
But other physicians and patients after the analysis
are undecided — have doubts about the value of this medi
cine — and some may bitterly oppose its use ; but on see
ing others cured by it, they are induced to try it for
themselves, with the result of having all such doubts re
moved and such opposition give way, followed by hearty
recommendation of it to others. Other physicians and
their patients still, having been brought up in other
schools of medicine, have inherited strong prejudices
against this remedy and all who prescribe or use it.
But, from the testimony of those who have tried it and
from observation of remarkable cures, as well as their
later analysis of it, they are induced to test it in their
own cases with most favorable results. Now, would not
the testimony from experience of these different classes
of thoroughly cured men have more weight than that
of ten times as many others who testify solely from
their analysis of the medicine?
It is easy to apply this illustration to the matter in

316 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
hand. Men of great ability, superior learning and
piety, and wonderful spiritual insight — certainly the
equals of those on the other side — after examining and
analyzing certain passages of Scripture, have decided
that they offer to the believer a thorough, instantane
ous, conscious, and permanent cure for the disease of
selfishness or spiritual depravity, and that this cure is
ordinarily effected subsequently to regeneration. In ad
dition, they have acceped this offer, and by experiment
and in their experience found that their interpretation
of that offer is correct.
Others of the same Church who had " doubts " about
such interpretation or have "bitterly opposed" those
who so interpreted that offer, as well as great and
most spiritual men and women of other Churches, who
inherited prejudices against such theory of interpre
tation, most gladly add their emphatic testimony to the
soundness of such interpretation and the genuineness
of such experience of cure.
Can any reasonable man hesitate for a moment in
deciding whose interpretation and testimony to accept?
How long should we listen to mere theorizers who
say water will not quench our thirst, that food will not
satisfy our hunger, and that a well-tried medicine will
not cure our disease when universal observation and
experience, where these things have been tried, most
emphatically contradict such theory?

CHAPTER XXII.
Some Objections Considered.
I. It is urged that God never does an imperfect
work, and that, hence, his work of salvation or cleans
ing is perfect in regeneration. This objection once
had weight with us, and we have, hence, tried to con
sider it calmly and fully, and offer the following solu
tion of the question :
(i) A perfect'regeneration may not imply a perfect
purification, just as a perfect awakening is not a per
fect regeneration, or a perfect sanctification is not a
perfect glorification. The ante-natal spiritual life may
be perfect of its kind, the post-natal of its kind, the
post-pentecostal of its kind, and the post-resurrection
of its kind ; but there are, nevertheless, great differ
ences between these different kinds of life.
( 2 ) God's work may be perfect when the human ex
pression of that work may be very imperfect. The de
fective mirror gives us imperfect reflection of the sun's
perfect rays ; and an inferior or poorly cultivated soil
responds to his life-giving influences with imperfect
fruit. Hence Dr. Steele well says :
Look abroad through nature and you will find many imper
fections- — deformed animals, trees gnarled and twisted, in
high latitudes pines dwarfed to mere ferns, in all climes abor
tive blossoms and wind-fall fruits, and children born with poi
sonous humors in their blood, or incipient tubercles in their
lungs. God's works are always perfect when the conditions are
perfect. . . . He does not produce perfect oranges in Alas
ka, nor perfect apples in Florida, nor models in human statue
in Lapland, nor Caucasian fairness of complexion in Africa.
(317)

318 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
It is thus in his spiritual kingdom. Perfect saints are de
veloped only under appropriate conditions — perfect faith in
Jesus Christ, evinced by an entire surrender to his will. But,
as the wonderful creative tendency of God waits not for per
fect conditions, but breaks forth into forms of weakness and
depravity in the natural world, so the amazing love of God
does not wait for perfect spiritual conditions, but puts forth
its beneficent activities, resulting in a prodigal wastefulness in
its wayside sowings.
Dr. Steele says again :
When faith in Christ Jesus is weak, a feeble spiritual life is
the inevitable result. But when faith grasps him as an om
nipotent Saviour, the uttermost salvation from sin is the con
sequence, and Christian manhood walks forth upon the earth
in the statue of the fullness of Christ. All spiritual transforma
tions result from the combination of two forces, the divine and
the human. Where the human is defective the resultant will
be imperfect, for the divine agency will not compensate the
defects of the human cooperation. Hence the weakness of
man is reflected upon the almightiness of God. Sons are
born into his family having still the taint of depravity lurking
in their blood, to be purged away by the cathartic of a mighty
faith in the all-cleansing blood of " the Lamb of God which tak
eth away the sin of the world."
Are we not clearly taught this lesson in the parable
of the sower? The work which God has provided
for — the sowing of good seed — is the same with all
four kinds of soil or classes of hearers. But, because of
the differences between the various soils — representing
the differences between the several classes of hearers —
there is perfect fruit produced by only one soil — only
one class bring forth fruit to perfection. And the
sole reason given for such result is the difference be
tween the condition and work of these several classes —
the purely human conditions of salvation. Take the
class represented by the "thorny ground." Here was a

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 319
mixed state of experience, represented by the " thorns "
which sprang up in the soil, and the "cares and riches
and pleasures of this life," which spring up in the
heart. Here is a mixture of, and a struggle between,
the new life of faith, which comes from the seed of
truth, and the desires and tendencies of the old life,
still in the heart — the "old man" that is not thorough
ly crucified, eradicated, or dominated by the new life or
"new man."
It is bare assumption to say that the hearers of this
class were not regenerated. The record indicates the
contrary — " he becometh unfruitful," ceases to bear
fruit. He must certainly then once have borne it. And
the plant of faith did spring up, but it was amid unfa
vorable and hurtful surroundings. There must as re
ally have been spiritual life in this case as there was in
the one the different stages of whose development is rep
resented by the " blade," the " ear," and the " full corn in
the ear." Is there no life till the " full corn in the ear "
ripens ? If one should die during the time of this strug
gle, before the "choking" process is complete, would
he not as certainly be saved as would the one who dies
before his "blade" of faith is developed into the "ear"
or the "full corn" of faithfulness? Then he must
have been regenerated.
Nor was this condition of conflict in the heart the re
sult of backsliding; for the good and evil plants
"sprang up together," not the evil after the good.
Nor was it caused by the pressure on the will of inno
cent desires or appetites, constituting simply a condi
tion of temptation in a thoroughly renewed heart, as
Dr. Boland suggests. Else the "good-ground" hear
ers would have had the same experience.

320 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
These evils in the heart were not only human in
their origin — not part of God's "perfect" work — but,
with proper human effort, before, at, or after conversion,
they might have been prevented or removed. Hence
our Lord's exhortation — the lesson or moral of the
parable — to "take heed how we hear" the gospel, lest
we fall into or remain in one of the unfruitful classes.
They evidently resulted from a lack of proper instruc
tion, knowledge of their condition, intelligent conse
cration, or of faith before or at the time of hearing.
Possibly the force of old habits of thought and action
constituted a part of the unfavorable human conditions
which prevented a perfect work. Regeneration, thens
may be perfect on the divine side, but defective on the
human. May we not get away from our preconceived views
long enough to look about us and see that the teaching
of this parable and the theory based on it find illustra
tion in the facts of nearly or quite every revival and
its results? Do we not know that hardly one in a
hundred of the converts of ordinary revivals fails, af ter
the subsidence of his emotional fullness, to give signs
of remaining carnality in his heart? It shows itself
in a bent toward, if not a giving way to, peevishness,
selfishness, worldliness, pride, self-will, backsliding,
etc. Does not observation thus add its testimony to
that of Scripture and experience, that we are not fully
saved from depravity in regeneration? The Rev. Dr.
Hoss, editor of the Christian Advocate, Nashville,
Tennessee, not long since made the following state
ment in his paper supporting this view :
With perfect candor we declare that we do not know a single
Methodist preacher who doubts the necessity of holiness, nor one tliat

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 32 1
identifies it with justification [regeneration], nor one that fails to
teach that, as a complete work, it is subsequent to justification.
The italics are ours. Would that we could say the
same thing of some preachers whom we know.
2. It is urged that a true psychology contradicts this
theory of instantaneous sanctification as a second work
after regeneration. Dr. Paul Whitehead, one of the acut-
est and most accomplished divines of Southern Metho
dism, some two years since, prepared and had pub
lished in the Richmond Advocate a somewhat elaborate
paper on sanctification. In it he objects to " a vague
ness and indefiniteness, hoth in psychology and scrip
tural interpretation, as to what the so-called 'remains
of the carnal mind ' are." And others may be ready
to ask what part of man's original nature is left when
the " body of sin is destroyed," or the " old man " is " cru
cified," etc.? And much is said about the innocent ap
petites, desires, and affections of our nature, which be
long to a pure or unfallen man.
Now, we do not claim to have received any new
light on this subject, and candidly admit that there may
be a degree of " vagueness " about it which we are not
able to remove ; yet we fail to see any lack of harmo
ny between this theory and a true and scriptural psy
chology. We know of no intelligent writer who claims
that sanctification works any change in the substance of
the soul, removing any of its natural faculties or powers,
or imparting to it any new ones. Bishop Foster, in his
Philosophy of Christian Experience, notes the changes
wrought in regeneration and subsequent experiences,
and gives the true psychology of the subject. He
says :
It is the same soul it was prior to its naturalization. It is,
21

322 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
important that we should emphasize this. 'It is not another
soul. Nothing has been added to its prior self-essence, and
nothing has been removed from its prior self-essence. All
its old faculties and susceptibilities remain, and no new ones
have been added. In these respects it does not differ from its
former self. The change that has taken place in it is simply a
change as to the objects of its affections and the determina
tions of its will. . . There is an identity of soul which holds
from the dawn of existence to utmost immortality.
We contend as earnestly as Dr. Crane, Dr. Boland,
or any one else, that in the "destruction" or "crucifix
ion" of the "old man" not a single one of these fac
ulties of the soul is entirely extirpated, but that order is
restored to these deranged powers by the eradication of
that which is morbid, and by a regulation of and a re
straint upon that which is innocent in these faculties.
It is admitted that a sensuous meaning and a too literal
construction may sometimes be given to the terms the
apostle uses in speaking of man's inherited depravity,
such as "the body of sin," "the body of this death,"
"the carnal mind," "the old man," etc., but we think
that all of what is represented by them is removed in
sanctification. But, as Bishop Foster says :
What is meant and what is true is this: When the soul is
forgven, and its affections are turned toward righteousness,
and its will is determined to the practice of righteousness, so
that it passes from under the dominion of evil, impulses and incli
nations to evil are not completely eradicated. They still arise and
assert themselves. They assail and disturb the peace of the
soul. They have a constant tendency to prevail with it. They
find support in its old habits and in its native lusts — that is, de
sires and cravings.
It is this morbid bias or tendency to evil remaining
in the regenerate soul that is removed or corrected in
sanctification, This work no more involves the extir-

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 323
pation of any of man's original powers than does the
healing of any natural disease with which the mind
or body is afflicted. It is simply the restoration of
man's spiritual nature to perfect health by completely
removing or overcoming the morbid, " carnal," or " sin
ful " tendencies or impulses of the " mind " — not by re
moving any part of that mind itself.
And we agree also that there are sources of tempta
tion and danger in the nature of the thoroughly saved
man. There are innocent appetites, affections, and
propensities that have to be controlled and regulated.
It was doubtless so with the first pair before the fall,
and with our Lord. These tendencies are blind and
unreasoning, and need to be guided and restrained. It
was doubtless such innocent appetites of Paul's nature
that he " kept under " lest he should sin and " become
a castaway." We concede that there may be a "vagueness and in-
definiteness " " as to what the so-called ' remains of the
carnal mind' are," but insist that this is true also about
a great many other doctrines of Scripture. It is so with
the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation, the resur
rection, depravity, regeneration, etc. Our Lord did
not try to explain the mystery of the new birth, nor
Paul that of the resurrection. How different are men's
interpretations of Scripture touching regeneration, the
witness of the Spirit, sanctification, etc. ! And how
"vague and indefinite" are their definitions of deprav
ity ! Dr. Mudge complains that leading divines fight
shy of defining it at all, and his definition differs wide
ly from Dr. .Steele's and President Finney's, and theirs
from that of others. Bishop Peck and Dr. Barbee do
not attempt to define it at all. The former says :

324 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
It is not necessary, nor is it possible, to define this deprav
ity in words. . . . This is an inquiry prohibited by the
laws of our being.
The latter says :
But what is depravity? In vain may this question be
pressed for definite and explicit answer, for the meaning of
the term lies in the domain of psychology, where all defini
tions cease.
How, then, can we fully understand the psychology
of sanctification? If it is not "necessary" nor "pos
sible to define depravity in words," and if it is "in
vain" we seek "for definite and explicit answer" to
the question of "what is depravity," is it any wonder
that there is "vagueness and indefiniteness " as to what
are the "remains" of depravity in the regenerate
heart? May we not say that a satisfactory answer to
this "inquiry" is "prohibited by the laws of our
being," and that "the meaning of this term lies in the
domain of psychology"?
Is not the following description of the "remains of
the carnal mind," given by Bishop Foster, about as
vagueless and definite as the average definition of sin,
depravity, or regeneration ? He says :
I note, third, that dissatisfiedness of the soul with itself is a
common experience of all regenerate souls, varying from in
tense distress at times to mild regret. Its experience is not
satisfactory. It has a prevailing consciousness of inexcusable
defects. It does not reach its ideal. It feels the chidings of
the Holy Spirit. It lashes itself with chidings. It often car
ries an unhealed wound because of its unfaithfulness, or fail
ure to be what it feels it ought to be. There is the abiding
consciousness that there is something better for it. When
it is upheld and sustained in an average experience, and others
think well of it, and there is no external failure visible to
other eyes, it discerns inward poverties which grieve and dis-

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 325
tress it. . . . There are holy yearnings in it after
something higher and nobler. There is often a distressing
sense of remaining evil in it. I think I am safe in saying this is
universal experience subsequent to the experience of regeneration.
And we think our Lord's teaching as to what re
mained in the heart of the " thorny-ground " hearer is
fully as definite and as explicit as it is as to what was
in that heart before it received the seed of truth, or as
to the nature of the plant of regeneration which springs
from that seed.
3. It is asked with a degree of confidence which in
dicates that the questioner feels that his position is im
pregnable, "How can -we go from infancy to manhood
at a leap?" And the answer is, that, in the sense in
dicated by the objector, we can't do it at all. And,
so far as we know, no intelligent writer teaches any
such thing. Does the healing of a babe's physical
disease or deformity make him a developed or mature
man? Yet it does make him a pure, healthy, or per
fect specimen of man, or humanity, using the term
"man" generically. He is "perfect" in the sense of
being free from defect or imperfection of nature or
quality, just as a seed or plant may be called "perfect,"
although neither of them has been developed into the
fruit-bearing tree. And, as a healthy lamb is a perfect
sheep — perfect in nature — so is it with the spiritual
babe. By the baptism or circumcision of the Spirit in
sanctification his spiritual disease is healed, his spiritual
deformity is removed, and he becomes a perfect or
healthy " babe " — " man " — in all the elements of his
nature. As already suggested, his growth from that
time to spiritual maturity, like that of the plant or
lamb or physical babe, may be more rapid and healthy.

326 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
But why speculate about the matter when we, at
Pentecost, see men who had up to that time been spir
itual invalids and weaklings, leaping into healthy and
vigorous manhood? — a weak, vacillating, and coward
ly Simon transformed in an hour into the strong,
sturdy, and heroic Peter? It was not growth that
brought this strength and courage, but a baptism of
purity and power. The oft-quoted parable about the
" blade," the " ear," the " full corn in the ear," etc.,
does not contradict this theory. For the question is
one of health and not of growth. The former is in
stantaneous in its development, while the latter is
gradual. Can't we remember that this is not a question of
human strength — strength that comes from growth or
anything else that is human? It is one of divine
" power " or " strength," imparted directly to the soul:
" God is our strength ; "Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might " — not ours. " Strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man " — it is
strength from the Spirit to the inner man — not from
the latter or from growth. It is " power " received
from God, " after that the Holy Ghost is come upon "
us — not from our developed resources. " When I am
weak " in myself, " then am I strong " in God, because
" the power of Christ rests upon me." " I can do all
things," not through the strength that comes from
growth, but " through Christ that strengtheneth me "
— through the strength which he at the time, imparts
to me — "strengtheneth me" — it is the present tense.
" Without me ye can do nothing " — " without my
helping you at the time you need strength."
Samson was strong only when God was with him.

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 327
When his faith, that found expression in obedience,
and which linked him to this divine strength, was
gone, he became weak as other men. And it was not
until that faith, which showed itself in his prayer for
strength, again put him in communication with the
Source of that strength it returned unto him. He
did not grow into this strength either before or after
his fall. It is thus with the fully baptized Chris
tian. He is not only absolutely helpless — "without
strength " — in himself but he feels it. With Charles
Wesley he feels and says, "Every moment, Lord, I
need the merit of thy blood? and then trustingly adds,
"Strong in the strength which God supplies through
his eternal Son."
We, then, do not leap into spiritual maturity when
"the promise of the Father" is fulfilled in us; but
God, as it were, leaps or comes suddenly into our
weak, helpless souls, and substitutes our impurity and
weakness with his purity and strength — puts us in direct
communication with divine resources. It is this view
of the matter, doubtless, that prompts Principal Moule,
in giving his experience, to say : "It was a new contact,
as it were, with the inner and eternal movements of re
deeming goodness and power, a new discovery in di
vine resources." We are not surprised that Dr. Gor
don, after speaking of Moule as " one who writes upon
this subject with a scholarship evidently illuminated by
a deep spiritual intuition," adds :
Well is our doctrine described in these italicized words: "A
contact with the inner movements of divine power" The energy
of the Spirit appropriated, even as with uplifted finger the
electric car touches the current which is moving just above it
in the wire and is borne irresistibly on by it. Thus does the
power which is externally for us become a power within us.

328 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Paul teaches that our experience of love and strength
is " according to " or from " the power that worketh in
us " — God's power communicated to the soul when we
come into " contact with the divine resources of love
and power."
Even Dr. Crane, who teaches that regeneration and
full sanctification are coetaneous, and who advocates
the theory of growth from regeneration to Christian
perfection, makes the following admission. He says :
A clear apprehension of the blessing, an ardent desire, a full
surrender of all that we have and are and hope for, a fixed
purpose, a strong faith, urging the believer to the throne of
God in humble, persistent, importunate prayer, [secure] as
much progress in an hour as was accomplished during previous
years. This looks very much like a " leap " into or " to
ward " perfection or maturity of character, instead of our
" leap " into perfection of love or purity of heart. But
Dr. Crane states identically the scriptural condition of
the latter. And this is certainly a long " leap " — many
thousands of times longer than those made during pre
vious hours after regeneration. We claim no more for
our theory. Yet God's power is equal to the task of
working for and in us anything that is " exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think " — " the pow
er that worketh in us " instantaneously, in answer to
prayer. 4. To our great surprise Dr. Mudge insists that
there can be no growth in holiness after all depravity
is eliminated from our nature. He virtually makes
remaining depravity a necessary condition of soul
growth. It seems to us that we may as well say that
there can be no growth of the plant or babe after it is

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 329
saved from disease and deformity. And the divine rec
ord says expressly that "Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favor with God'' It is true that after one
is thoroughly purified from sin and spiritual depravity
he may not grow purer or any more healthy than one
who is perfectly healed of disease can grow in health.
And yet, both may grow in strength and beauty of
character, and unselfishness of life, and, like our Lord,
gradually approach the divine ideal of manhood, and
secure increasingly the " favor " or approval of God.
The life of the Christian is in the Scriptures com
pared to the course of the sun : " The path of the just
is as the shining light that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day." At the gray dawn the king of
day shoots his rays above the horizon into the darkness
of receding night, with which they mingle. At the
roseate dawn those rays have almost conquered or dis
pelled that darkness. But when he lifts his bright
disk above the horizon all darkness flees before his
full-orbed glory. Yet, as he gradually mounts to
the zenith, his shining increases to meridian splendor
and power. There was a mixture of light with more
or less of darkness up to the time of his rising, but
none remained afterwards. Yet the light became
brighter and the heat intenser until he reached the
maximum of his glory and strength. So is it with the
Christian. Under the dispensation of the Father " the
Sun of righteousness " shoots his rays into the dark
ness of men's minds, and dimly shines upon their path
way. Under that of the Son those rays more nearly
expel that darkness, while under that of the Spirit they
bid it all depart, leaving the mind full of light. Still
this light may gradually increase in glory and power in

33O SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
men's pure hearts and holy lives "unto the perfect
day" of eternity. And it may increase throughout
that "day." Surely no one will say that any measure
of darkness after the sun's rising is necessary to his
increase in the intensity and influence of his shining
until he reaches the meridian. Nor is there any need
for the darkness of depravity in man's heart in order
to his growing up into the beauty and power and glory
of a mature spiritual manhood.
But the Christian may grow faster in " knowledge "
than he does in " grace " — in light than in strength
The Sanctifier purifies the heart — the motives — so that
there is no desire or impulse or purpose contrary to
love. But he does not perfectly repair the damage
that has been done to man's mental and physical pow
ers. Hence Mr. Fletcher says :
Christian perfection extends chiefly to the will, which is the
capital moral power of the soul, leaving the understanding igno
rant of ten thousand things.
When the will is fully surrendered and the Sancti
fier takes full possession, that will is rectified and the
forces of the soul are unified by supreme and unselfish
love, and are directed toward only one end — the glory
of God and the good of man. But, while this purify
ing and anointing process tends to clarify the intellect
ual atmosphere, it does not show us always what is for
the glory of God and the good of others and ourselves.
This knowledge has to come from other sources — the
Bible, nature, observation, etc. We grow in this knowl
edge as we study the Bible, science, history, etc. So
that while a man's heart is right with God he may to
day believe a thing lawful which on to-morrow he

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 33 1
may conclude is wrong. We may recur to this point
in answering the next objection.
5. It is often objected that some of those who pro
fess " perfect love " are not as consistent in their lives
as are some who do not make such a claim. Dr.
Whitehead gives this as one of his reasons for rejecting
the Wesleyan view of that doctrine. He says :
It also seemed to me, when I considered the lives of the people
of God of my own generation, that those of them, either in or out
of the ministry, who were most holy were not men who made
such a profession. And of some who did profess to be entirely
sanctified and to be as sure of it as they were of their conver
sion, I was constrained to believe that they were inconsistent
and enthusiastic, and in general of a faulty and sometimes un
lovely type of Christian character.
Now, in answer to this objection we would say :
( 1 ) It is admitted that there may be some hypocritical
pretenders among those who profess perfect love, as
there doubtless are among those who do not claim so
much, but we would charitably trust there are but few
such in either class. And the counterfeit in neither
case proves that all are spurious, but rather the con
trary. (2) It is feared that there is a larger class of such
professors who are mistaken as to their spiritual at
tainments. They have unwisely been urged to make
a profession of sanctification before they received the
witness to such work, or they have mistaken an emo
tional fullness of the Spirit for an ethical fullness, and,
for one or the other of these reasons, have claimed to
be thoroughly saved. Having made such profession,
they are not willing to confess their mistake, hence go
on claiming such blessing when their lives, especially

332 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
their tempers and words, flatly contradict such profes
sion. But this fact proves nothing more against the
theory of sanctification than do the inconsistent lives
of others against that of regeneration.
(3) But there is another aspect of this matter re
ferred to above, which requires more extended consid
eration. The following from Dr. Steele bears on this
objection. He says :
There is an element of moral fallibility in all professors of
perfect holiness, as there must be in all fallen men so long as
they live in the world. . . . The conscience has a twofold
efficiency — the impulsive and the discriminating power . The first
is moral sensibility or feeling. In all holy beings this impulse
toward the right is round, full, and complete, a movement of
the soul along the line of perceived rectitude, with no draw
backs, antagonisms, and counter-currents within itself. There
is a delightful consciousness of an inward harmony of forces all
moving in one direction. . . . The great work of the Sancti
fier by his powerful and usually instantaneous in-working is to rec
tify the will, poise the passions aright, hold in check all innocent and
eradicate all unholy appetites, and to enthrone the conscience over a
realm in which no rebel lurks.
When this is done, the motives are pure and the
whole impulse of the soul is toward God and right
eousness. But, as noted in the preceding section, the
discriminating power of conscience may be defect
ive and need cultivation or instruction. Hear Dr.
Steele again :
The moral intuition, which is infallible within the sphere of mo
tives, never failing to condemn the wrong motive and to approve
the right one, deals with the abstract in ethics, such, for instance
as the duty to love a benefactor, while the intellect is employed
with the determining of right in the concrete, right in specific
instances, my duty toward this or that man. The moral intui
tion gives us the principles of immutable morality. . . . But
most of the moral questions which we are called to decide are

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 333
not of the abstract kind ; they are concrete, and involve specific ex
amination by our power of reasoning before the decision can be made.
They are practical and not theoretical. They all need the help
of our intellectual powers, our enlightened judgments, to dis
cover their bearings and relations, before our moral intuitions
can discover their moral character. . . . Hence the dis
criminating power of the holiest man's conscience, outside the
sphere of motives, must be imperfect so long as he dwells in an
earthly tabernacle.
Hence, too [adds Dr. Steele], his moral judgments, and his
acts founded on these judgments, may be condemned by the
superior judgment of another who makes no profession of
perfect love to God, or any other degree of love to him. He
may have better data and a stronger reasoning faculty, and ar
rive at a more correct conclusion, and put forth more com
mendable action in this particular case. . . . Here, then, is
the broad ground for charity.
What a man of Dr. Whitehead's intelligence and
culture might clearly see to be wrong, another, lacking
these things, but being just as conscientious as he —
just as pure in the region of motives — would not
scruple to do. And what the Doctor, in his early life,
may not have seen to be wrong may now, as the result
of his growth in grace and knowledge, be heartily con
demned by his more enlightened conscience. A cen
tury ago some of our best people, " in and out of the
ministry," did not hesitate about taking a social glass
or patronizing a lottery, but such .practices are now al
most if not quite universally condemned by a more
enlightened public sentiment. Dr. Steele gives the
case of what he calls " an eminent apostle of Christian
purity," who " kept on during a year smoking his
cigar and invoking upon it the divine blessing as sin
cerely as he did upon his beefsteak. But when his
higher intelligence showed him the injury which his

334 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
habit was doing to himself and the cause of Christ,
conscience banished that ' superfluity of naughtiness,'
forever from his lips." Possibly some of our readers
may never reach that degree of moral discernment.
In the light of this philosophy and these facts, it
may not be difficult to see why one who makes no pro
fession of " perfect love " may, in his outer life, seem
to be more holy or consistent than another who has
really been entirely sanctified. Also, why the type of
" character" of the latter may seem more "faulty" and
" unlovely " than that of the former. The one may
have been more intelligent, and had a better cultivated
intellect and conscience before his conversion, while he
may also have grown more in moral discernment since
that time than the other. The latter may be holier in
the region of motives, but, because of his ignorance,
that holiness in its outward expression may fall farther
below the standard of absolute righteousness than that
of his better informed but less fully saved brother.
And, hence, by comparison, his life may appear more
" inconsistent," " faulty," and unlovely."
Before leaving this point we would note some other
inferences to be drawn from this philosophy. As Dr.
Steele says :
Here is scope for progressive sanctification, through a
prayerful culture of our intellects, attaining more light to-day
in which to see yesterday's mistakes, and avoiding them in the
future. Hence the duty enjoined in 2 Corinthians vii. 1 of per
fecting holiness is a progressive work, realizing or carrying into
practice the cleansing from all "filthiness" instantaneously
wrought within. . . . Here also is the reason for saying
daily, " Forgive us our debts." For there is no man, however
pure, whose increased intelligence may not discover in his past
conduct acts or omissions not in accordance with the standard
of perfect righteousness.

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 335
Dr. Steele indorses the suggestion of Whewell that
no act is morally indifferent, and adds that
there seems to be a broad field of indifferent acts simply be
cause our moral discrimination is not sufficiently acute to dis
cern the moral element in them ; that as this insight of the con
science is quickened, this field of acts morally indifferent will
grow narrower, till at last it will entirely disappear.
We sum up this answer in the language of Dr.
Steele :
That the discovery in any of our acts of a want of conform
ity to the law of holiness [and we may add in the lives of
others] is by no means a proof of inbred sin still lurking within
the soul. The sum total of the inward impulses may be to
ward God, and the blood of his Son may be cleansing us from
all sin.
Again, that
doubtless, thousands of believers are fully sanctified, but find
ing their moral perceptions still imperfect, they refuse to give
glory to the Sanctifier for his great work, .and at length fall
back into their former mixed state of sin and holiness, of sin
ning and repenting.
Dr. Whitehead's " faulty " professors of sanctification
may belong to the former of the above-named classes,
while the " more holy " ones, who make no such pro
fession, may fall into the latter class — before they " fall
back." (4) Dr. Whitehead speaks of such professors being
" enthusiastic." There have been enthusiasts or fanat
ics in all ages of the Church. Mr. Wesley, as we
know, had his Maxfield and Bell, and modern Metho
dism may have had their counterparts. We believe
that in some sections of the Church there have been
and still are shallow, ignorant, unbalanced, impulsive,

336 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and sometimes bad-tempered men, whose vagaries and
extremes have tended to bring the very terms " sancti
fication," " second blessing," etc., as well as the holy
cause which these extremists claim to represent, into
disrepute, if not contempt. Others, not shallow nor
bad, in what seems to some, at least, to be unwise
zeal, have dissociated this doctrine from kindred ones
of great if not equal importance, and are charged with
having mounted it as a hobby, and ridden down these
other doctrines. There may have been some mistake
made at this point. But, as Bishop Foster says,
" meantime there is a great truth that must be con
served, and, as far as possible, rescued from the abuses
to which it has been subjected." Shall we not then, if
this is true, instead of rejecting this " great truth," do
what we can to rescue it, as the crowning jewel of
Christianity and Methodism, from its mistaken and
misguided friends ? Have not men been fanatical
about instantaneous regeneration and the witness of
the Spirit ? But shall we for that reason give up these
doctrines and let the Church drop back into the dis
pensation of the Father — the ritualism and formalism of
the seventeenth century?
(5) But have there not been and are there not still
many saintly and consistent professors of this superior
experience? Dr. Abel Stevens, as noticed before, says
that such professors in Mr. Wesley's day " were gen
erally distinguished more than other Methodists as
' calm and sober-minded,' . . . and, among preach
ers and people, they were considered by Wesley to be
his most prudent and reliable coadjutors." And cer
tainly if John and Mary Fletcher, Richard Whatcoat,
and Francis Asbury were average specimens of such

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 337
professors of that day, we are prepared to believe his
statement. And how about Adam Clarke, Joseph
Benson, Nathan Bangs, Wilbur Fisk, Stephen Olin,
Bishops Hamline, Janes, McKendree, and Wightman,
of later periods in our history? What can be said
against Lovick Pierce and Thomas L. Boswell, Fran
ces E. Willard and Frances M. Bumpass, not long
since translated? For nearly half a century the last
named professed and beautifully exemplified this expe
rience in her sweet and saintly life. And cannot Dr.
Whitehead find among those living within his own
Conference and the Church at large professors of this
grace, whose Christly spirit and holy lives illustrate
the highest type of piety ever known among men —
men and women who live all they profess and teach?
As Christians we should not practice what we con
demn in men of the world — select the most inferior
specimens of piety to discredit the doctrines which
they profess to exemplify.
6. Dr. Whitehead urges as another objection to re
maining depravity in the regenerate, what he calls " a
very palpable difficulty in reconciling their non-removal
at regeneration with God's love and grace, and with
the doctrine of a full and free salvation by grace." Dr.
Crane urges a similar objection, insisting that man
needs the fullness of salvation as much at conversion
as he does at any time afterwards. In reply we would
say :
( 1 ) That similar objection may be and has been
urged against other well-known scriptural teachings
touching God's dealings with the race, and with indi
viduals. For example, it would at first blush seem
that " God's love " would have prompted him to make
22

338 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
a full revelation of himself to our race in the early
ages of its history, instead of waiting four thousand
years to send his Son into the world for that purpose.
And man needed that revelation and the " full and free
salvation by grace" that came with it, through the gift
of the Spirit at Pentecost, as much before that time as
he has since. But the human conditions for receiving
and improving this richer gift of God's love did not
exist until the " due time " for the manifestation of
Christ to the world came. And we may say that
" God's love " would prompt him to give the gospel to
the whole heathen world as soon as he did to Jerusa
lem, Samaria, Athens, Corinth, and other cities and
peoples. And they certainly needed it as much. But
for eighteen hundred years the human conditions have
prevented his doing so.
We may apply this objection to smaller numbers
and to individuals. Love doubtless prompted our
Lord to give as full revelation and as large a measure
of the Spirit to his apostles before Pentecost as he did
at that time. And they seem to have needed it as
much. But he reminded them that they could not then
" bear " such revelation, and they were not ready for
the full coming of the Spirit. And we need the work
of regeneration at the time enlightening grace and ini
tial life are first imparted to us, but, for reasons which
are human, and which God does not disregard, men
are often months and years passing from one of these
stages to the other — in being prepared for the work of
regeneration. So, while " God's love and grace " may
incline him to impart "full and free salvation," and
while man may need it at regeneration, the human con
ditions constitute a bar to his giving it or man's receiv-

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 339
ing it. Thus, while God is ready and anxious to give it,
man is not prepared to receive it.
The physician does not resort to the heroic treat
ment which his patient now needs, or apply the knife
to remove a dangerous excrescence which is fast suck
ing the life out of his system, until by milder reme
dies and strengthening tonics he is prepared for the
exhaustive medicine or the trying surgical operation.
So with the spiritual patient of the Great Physician.
The former, at regeneration, may not have that meas
ure of knowledge and faith — conviction of his need
and God's supply — to prepare him for that " free and
full salvation " which the Physican is ready to give and
his patient needs. It requires at least some time to
prepare him for receiving it.
(2) But then, we might ask, does not the young
convert need at regeneration the strength which it is
said comes from growth, as well as the purity which,
on the theory we are combating, he receives at regen
eration ? Why does not " God's love " impart such
strength at regeneration? Is it replied that it is con
trary to his method to give directly what comes from
man's own effort and in harmony with a law of his
nature? Our rejoinder is that it is contrary to God's
method to give man any more than he feels that he
needs and asks from him, and that such method har
monizes with the law of faith — subjective and objective
— which is the rule and condition of his action.
And it is objected by others, who hold the theory of
gradual purification by growth, that this remaining
depravity is an important condition of developing,
through struggle, a strong character. We believe our
theory provides for meeting both these objections.

340 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
The impurity and weakness of the young convert may
both be removed at or very soon after conversion, thus
fitting him for a more successful struggle with the
powers of darkness after he is thoroughly saved.
" God's love " and " man's need " combine in calling
for an early baptism of purity and power, bringing to
the soul early in its religious history a wonderful incre
ment of strength, not from growth merely, or chiefly,
but directly from the empowering Spirit and indwell
ing Saviour. The preparation for this fuller baptism-
may in rare cases be made prior to regeneration, by
faithful and full instruction and a diligent study of the
Bible and one's condition and need. But ordinarily
this preparation is made after regeneration. It may
require only a few hours or days, but may run into
months or even years. At its completion this spirit
ual equipment of "full and free salvation" is given,
fitting man for a better and more joyous service than
he could render without it.
Thus both of these objections to this theory are an
swered by the theory itself, and such answers are in
harmony with God's revealed method of dealing with
man. We may, on it, ( i ) receive a free and a fuller
salvation from impurity and weakness at or soon after
conversion than what comes to us at regeneration on
the opposing theory, thus giving fuller scope " to God's
love and grace," and at the same time fitting us for a bet
ter service. (2) The necessity for such struggle and
effort on our part as may be necessary for the gradual
development of a symmetrical and strong character is
not removed. For, certainly the temptations that come
from innocent and blind appetites, desires, affections,
etc., and from Satan and the world are sufficient to

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 34 I
keep a pure and strong nature from stagnation and
death. 7. Another objection that has often been urged is
thus stated by Dr. Whitehead :
A puzzle to know what becomes of the hundreds and thou
sands of apparently sincere and pious people who "die well,"
but have never sought and never professed publicly or private
ly to find entire sanctification.
Bishop Peck and others wrestle with this apparent
difficulty, but we confess, with all deference, that to
our mind the difficulty is only in appearance. For, as
incidentally stated in another chapter, if the regenerate
man maintains his integrity until death, without having
received this fuller baptism, he will doubtless, like in
fants, be thoroughly fitted, either consciously or " un
consciously," for heaven in that hour. Just as we be
lieve one living under the dispensation of the Father, as
a " servant," " fearing God and working righteousness"
up to his light, will at death be admitted to paradise, al
though he never came into the heritage of a " son," re-
receiving the witness of adoption during this life.
Yet should one deliberately and persistently reject
the light which reveals to him his privilege and duty
in this matter, and neglect to secure this better equip
ment for a life of usefulness, we are sure that he
will suffer loss, if he does not forfeit his justification.
Just as all admit is the case with a regenerate man who
rejects the light bearing on his duty to grow in grace
and be " rich in good works," and becomes stationary
and "unfruitful." The benefits of this blessing are
largely for this life, bringing, as it does, a much larger
measure of happiness and usefulness here, but of
course a more glorious reward hereafter.

CHAPTER XXIII.
Other Objections Considered.
i . The alleged difficulty of knowing that we receive
this blessing is thus stated as an objection to this the
ory by Dr. Whitehead : " How can we certainly know
that we are entirely sanctified?" After saying that
the Spirit witnesses "only to the fact of our sonship
or ' adoption,' " Dr. Whitehead says :
There is absolutely no passage in the New Testament which
even implies that any other attainment or state of grace is cer
tified to us by the Holy Ghost. All judgments or conclusions
of our own mind must be fallible, and can bring no assurance
removing all doubt. We may be utterly and completely mis
taken. . . . The assertion, for example, of Dr. B. Carra
dine that he had a peculiar witness by the Holy Spirit to his
reception of such a blessing — a witness more distinct than that
of his conversion, similar to that former witness, but more
powerful and emphatic — is doubtless honest and sincere, and
is intended to describe some mental assurance and satisfaction
arrived at by him ; but to declare it to be the witness of the
Holy Ghost is presumptuous and vain, and smacks of an ill-
regulated enthusiasm.
In reply to the above, we remark :
( i ) That, as another suggests, the Spirit seems to
bear witness, either directly or indirectly, to every
spiritual state resulting from the neglect or improve
ment of his influences brought to bear upon us. First,
to our guilt resulting from actual sin and our failure to
repent and believe in Christ. This we call " convic
tion of sin." It is conviction of guilt, resulting from
(342)

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 343'
his " witness " to the fact. Secondly, to our adoption —
to our being the children of God. Our "conviction"
of that fact results from his witness to it. Thirdly,
to the fact that we are called to preach the gospel,
impressing us with the fact that we are " moved by the
Holy Ghost" to engage in this work. Our "convic
tion" that it is our duty to do so is produced by the
"witness" of the Spirit to the fact. Fourthly, to one's
backsliding — to his loss of the divine favor. " Convic
tion" of that fact comes from his "witness" to it.
Fifthly, to the fact that when he comes in his bap
tismal power he thoroughly cleanses and mightily
strengthens the fully consecrated soul. His " witness "
produces "conviction" of this fact. Does any one
doubt that the one hundred and twenty at Pentecost,
who most probably before that time had the witness of
adoption, received then a direct and clear witness to the
fact of a deeper and completer work of grace in their
hearts ?
(2) At the risk of being charged with a "bald
wresting of God's word," we must say that we pre
fer Mr. Wesley's interpretation of i Corinthians ii. 12
to that of Dr. Whitehead ; not because it is Mr. Wes
ley's, but because we think it is sounder. Our " know
ing the things which are freely given to us of God " is
conditioned on our " receiving " " the Spirit which is of
God." This knowledge comes to us either directly or
indirectly from this Spirit — knowledge of "the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him,"
even "the deep things of God." Has God not "pre
pared anything but adoption for those that love him"?
Does he "reveal" nothing to our consciousness but
this fact? John says, "He that believeth on the Son

344 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
of God hath the witness in himself." Who is that
witness but the Spirit? And does he not witness to
the fact of the soundness of our faith — a fact different
from adoption? Does he not reveal the "deep things
of God" — the profounder experiences of salvation?
Does not John say, "And hereby we know that he
abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us"?
Also, " Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and
he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit" ? Here
are two facts which it is claimed belong peculiarly to
this richer experience of "perfect love," and through
which it is developed — our dwelling in Christ and his
dwelling in us, witnessed to by the indwelling Spirit.
Whether these two facts necessarily involve "perfect
love" or not, they are different from that of adoption.
And no matter whether or not the term "witness" is
applied to the Spirit's work, his presence and influence
produce conviction, bring "knowledge" of the fact
that we are in Christ and he is in us — facts not identical
with that of adoption.
And then how does one know that he is forgiven?
Dr. Whitehead says, "This witness is given only to
the fact of our sonship or 'adoption.'" Forgiveness
and adoption are certainly two different things. We
know it may be said that one of these necessarily in
volves the other. And so we might say that the hav
ing Christ and the Spirit dwelling or abiding in us
necessarily involves the cleansing and empowering that
come with the full baptism of the Spirit. For our
Lord and St. Paul both teach that such baptism of the
Spirit, or the coming of Christ into the heart, is subse
quent to and different from regeneration and adoption.
(John xiv. 16, 17, 20, 23; Acts ii. 4; Eph. iii. 16, 17.)

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 345
Part of Dr. Whitehead's objection is put in the fol
lowing words : " To permit men to claim the attesta
tion of the Holy Spirit to any kind of experience they
may assert to be scriptural is to open the door to the
wildest fanaticism." Dr. Mudge makes similar objec
tion. The same objection has been repeatedly and
persistently urged against the doctrine of the direct
witness of the Spirit to adoption, and that of a direct
call from the Spirit to the ministry. And some men
have grown fanatical under the influence of such sup
posed witness or call. It has been thought necessary,
hence, to guard the professed subjects of this witness
and call, as well as others, against deception and mis
take by asking for the added " witness of our spirit " —
the testimony of consciousness — and the "gifts, grace,
and fruit" accompanying and confirming this call.
" The fruit of the Spirit " in the heart of the believer,
and the "fruit" of conversions, resulting from one's
incipient ministry, may shut the door to mistake and
fanaticism. So, in this witness to purity and " perfect love." In
telligent and sober men and saintly women, believing
that the Bible warrants their expecting such a witness,
look for it, and then most confidently and emphatically,
though humbly, declare that they have received it.
They say that their own spirit, their consciousness,
through a long series of years — in some cases as long
as half a century — most clearly attests that this direct
witness is from the Spirit, being confirmed by his un
mixed fruit of love, peace, patience, hope, and joy.
Consciousness attests that the selfish or sin principle,
the bias to evil, is extinct, and that the love principle is
dominant in their hearts. And others see nothing in

346 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
their lives to contradict this claim. Take one passage
of scripture which is believed to bear on this point, 1
John iv. 17, 18. The subject of this witness most pos
itively declares that his "love" is perfectly free from
"fear," and that he, hence, has no dread of death and
its consequences — that he has "boldness" in view of
the "judgment" — that, while he may instinctively
shrink from the awful mystery and the supposed pain
of death, he is absolutely free from any " fear " of its
consequences. His love to God is not mixed with any
of the fear or dread of him that has "torment" in it.
And Dr. Whitehead's charge that Dr. Carradine's
claim of a " witness of the Holy Ghost " to such a
state "is presumptuous and vain, and smacks of an ill-
regulated enthusiasm," is alike applicable to the fathers
of Methodism and others who have been eminent for
ability, learning, and piety. Such "high proficients
both in philosophy and religious experience" as Drs.
Mahan and Upham, of the Congregational Church,
and Bishops McKendree and Foster, and Drs. Lovick
Pierce and Daniel Steele, with many others, of the
Methodist Church, have made a like claim. And, if
we may add our humble testimony, we would say that
we have no more doubt of the genuineness of such direct
and indirect witness than we have of such witness of
the Spirit to our adoption. Indeed, if there is any dif
ference, we believe the former testimony is clearer and
more satisfactory. We are very sure that it is more
uniform. See closing paragraphs of Chapter XII.
2. There is such lack of harmony in the views of
those who advocate this theory. It has been noted that
Dr. Mudge says there is a "monumental muddle" in
the use of terms by Methodist writers on this subject,

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 347
and Dr. Boland represents the "modern fathers" as
being "in trouble" over their divergent views. It
must be admitted that there has been some looseness in
the use of terms, and that some measure of confusion
and misconception has resulted. For example, we
think that it is quite unwise to confound purity with
maturity, perfect love with perfect development, entire
sanctification with the perfection of character that re
sults from growth, health of soul with ripeness of
soul, etc.
And yet these writers are pretty well agreed on
what is fundamental and vital to this theory. They
may differ on some other minor points, but most or
all of them insist, ( I ) that, as a rule, this work is
wrought after regeneration; (2) that it is instantane
ous, and involves a thorough cleansing from spirit
ual depravity; (3) that the work is witnessed to and
by the consciousness of the subject; (4) that it in
volves such an empowering of the soul that it may
abide in this state; (5) that the subject of it is much
happier and much more useful than he was before.
And we might turn this objection against the ob
jector ; for there is marked difference of opinion with
the opposers of this theory. As already noticed, they
do not agree in their definitions of depravity. Nor
are they in harmony as to the nature, time, conditions,
and results of the believer's sanctification. Dr. Barbee
says it consists chiefly in the soul's separation from the
world and its consecration to God, and that it comes
before regeneration, the latter thoroughly cleansing the
heart, the soul from that time gradually growing into
"perfect love," and receiving assurance of the fact when
it reaches that point. Drs. Crane and Boland claim

348 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
that it comes at regeneration, and implies a thorough
cleansing from depravity, as well as a full consecration
to God, the soul then gradually growing up to Chris
tian perfection or maturity. Dr. Tillett seems to hold
that we are not thoroughly saved from depravity in
regeneration, but that we gradually grow into entire
sanctification or perfect love, without, however, know
ing when we are thus thoroughly saved. While Dr.
Mudge insists that we are " sanctified up to knowledge"
in regeneration, but that we are neither then nor at any
other time during this life entirely saved from deprav
ity, and, of course, have no witness to the fact.
Here is very decided " vagueness and indefiniteness,"
as well as difference of opinion, touching this matter
of sanctification. One says that sanctification, regen
eration, and perfect love are all different and dis
tinct works, occurring at different times. Others say
that all three of them are substantially the same, and
are reached simultaneously and instantaneously. An
other says that entire sanctification and perfect love are
substantially the same, but are gradually reached after
regeneration. Still another says that regeneration,
sanctification, and perfect love are nearly or quite the
same, but that they do not involve being saved from
all depravity — rather, that we are gradually saved
from depravity till death, growing "toward perfec-
ton," but never reaching it in this life.
Dr. Mudge seems to agree with Whitefield that
"there must be some Amalekites left in the Israel
ite's land to keep his soul in action," etc  some re
maining depravity in the believer's heart all the way
through life as the condition of the soul's "growth in
holiness," while Drs. Crane and Boland and others

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 349
hold that the soul's most rapid growth is after it is
saved from depravity in regeneration or afterwards.
Dr. Tillett thinks we may not know when depravity
reaches the " zero point," and the soul is made perfect
in love, while Dr. Barbee thinks we may.
A writer quoted and indorsed by Dr. Boland says :
" Sanctification is not a doctrine, but an experience, and
when it is presented simply as purity of heart and
life before God, it finds none to oppose it, none to cavil
at it." Yet Dr. Barbee does oppose such presenta
tion of the subject, teaching that sanctification is a
"state? and not an " experience" of purity of heart,
or any other experience. Hear him as to experience :
" Of one fact he may be certain, and distinctly testify
it — namely, that he has not obtained an experience of
sanctification, or the ' second blessing,' for such an ex
perience is not possible to any man."
It seems, then, that some others than the advocates
of the Wesleyan theory of sanctification have made a
"muddle," and that some other "modern fathers" are
"in trouble." And yet we have not lost hope that good
and earnest and thoughtful men on both or all sides of
this many-sided question may yet find a common and
scriptural ground on which all may stand — may unite
in an interpretation of God's word that will include
most or all that is vital in these different theories.
3. It is objected to the testimony from experience
that one's " experience may be colored by his theory?
and that there is testimony from experience against
the theory of entire sanctification in this life"
(1) The answer to the first part of this objection
has already been given by noting that many of the
leading witnesses to this experience inherited the idea

350 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
and were trained to believe that this full salvation is not
possible to us in this life. This is notably true with such
men as President Finney and Drs. Mahan and Upham,
of the Congregational Church ; Drs. Earle, Gordon,
and Levy, of the Baptist Church ; Miss Frances Ridley
Havergal, of the Church of England ; and many others
whose names might be given. And we could turn
this testimony against the objector. The teaching of
the Bible, confirmed by the testimony of others from
experience, so overcame this traditional faith and prej
udice as to have them make experimental tests of this,
to them, new theory, by which they became firmly es
tablished in their later views.
( 2 ) The fact that so large a proportion of professed
Christians do not enjoy this blessing, and that some
have earnestly sought without obtaining it, is urged
against this theory. Dr. Whitehead and others have
pressed the alleged fact that Mr. Wesley did not make
an explicit profession of it against the truth of his
teaching concerning it. And the Doctor says that his
own failure to secure this blessing when he earnestly
sought it tended to weaken his faith in the doctrine.
And then we are reminded that comparatively few
members of any Church make profession of this " high
grace." In reply to this objection we would say, First, that
the value of experience as an argument depends very
much on the circumstances under which and the influ
ences by which it has been developed. The fact that
not one of the hundreds of millions of heathen who
have never heard the gospel has experienced conver
sion, in the New Testament sense, has not a feather's
weight against the Bible theory of regeneration, and

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 35 1
the testimony of millions who have in their experience
tested that theory. Neither should the lack of experi
ence in this matter of sanctification by the great mass of
professed Christians have the slightest weight against
this doctrine ; for they have heard but little more of the
possibility and conditions of instantaneous sanctification
than the heathen have of conversion. We should re
member the mistake of the king of Siam, who pro
tested to some travelers from a cold climate that their
story about snow and ice could not be true because con
tradicted by the experience or observation of himself and
all his subjects, who lived in the torrid zone. The con
ditions for developing snow and ice did not exist there.
Nor do those for developing instantaneous sanctification
exist in the Church at large.
Secondly, in many cases where the light has been
given, men have failed to improve it and perform the
conditions of sanctification. It is so with regenera
tion. Thousands who have been trained in Christian
homes, and have heard the gospel in the sanctuary
from their childhood, are still unsaved because they
neglect or reject the conditions of salvation. And
how many, like Dr. Whitehead says of himself and
sanctification, say they have earnestly sought pardon
but failed to find it. Would the Doctor adduce their
failure as evidence that no one has been forgiven,, or
that these may not be? Rather, would he not insist
that there has been some defect in their instruction
or consecration or faith? We may apply these illus
trations to Dr. Whitehead's case without reflecting on
his intelligence or sincerity or piety ; for, after saying
" long effort was made, along the line of this teaching, to
obtain the coveted blessing, . . . but there was at

352 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
best no assurance that entire sanctification had been
wrought in the soul," he gives what seem to us are
some of the reasons for his failure. He says : " In the
process of this seeking and heart-searching there were
always these impediments suggested to the cordial re
ception of the theory taught as above stated." He
then enumerates five of these "impediments" or objec
tions to this theory, those we have been trying to re
move or answer. No wonder he failed to " obtain the
coveted blessing." There were in his mind these
" impediments " or obstacles in the way of his "cor
dial reception of the theory " of sanctification. His
faith in the doctrine was defective.
Reliable writers on this subject give cases of intelli
gent, cultivated, and pious ministers of the gospel in
different Churches who have for years unsuccessfully
sought this blessing, because there was some defect in
their views of the matter, their consecration, or their
faith. When that defect was removed they have ob
tained the coveted blessing. Having tested the matter
more fully than the Doctor did, their testimony ought
at least to be as strong in favor of the theory as his is
against it.
Thirdly, as to Mr. Wesley's case, we have already
given reasons for believing that he experienced and pro
fessed " perfect love." It may be sufficient for others
to answer Dr. Whitehead's objection by saying that oth
er eminent men have given it as their conviction that Mr.
Wesley did profess it. Among them is the very able
and accomplished Dr. J. M. Buckley, editor of the New
York Christian Advocate. Some years ago, in answer
ing the question, " Have we any record of Mr. Wesley
professing to be entirely sanctified?" he said :

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 353
We know of no record of his explicitly professing or say
ing in so many words, "I am entirely sanctified"; no record of
uttering words to that effect. But we have no more doubt that
he habitually professed it than tliat he professed conversion. The re
lation John Wesley sustained to his followers and to this doc
trine makes it certain that he professed it, and almost certain
that there would be no special record of it.
1. All Wesley's followers assumed him to be what he urged
them to be. Before they were in a situation to make records,
his position was so fixed that to record his descriptions of his
state would have been unthought of.
2. He preached entire sanctification, and urged it upon his
followers. 3. He defended its attainableness in many public controver
sies. 4. He urged and defended the profession of it, under cer
tain conditions and safeguards; made lists of professors; told
men they had lost it because they did not profess ; and said
and did so many things, only to be explained upon the assump
tion that he professed to enjoy the blessing, that no other
opinion can find support.
We cannot agree with Dr. Whitehead that Mr. Wes
ley's " quotation " on his dying bed, " of his brother
Charles's poetical lines,
' I, the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me,'
is, under the circumstances, very remarkable." It
would seem to be only an expression of his perfect
lack of self-confidence and of his perfect faith in
Christ. Dr. Whitehead must admit that Mr. Wesley
was eminent for piety, whether he professed perfect
love or not, and that he did not in his dying hour mean
to say that he was then the " chief of sinners," either
in heart or life. Would it have been " remarkable " or
out of place for John Fletcher, who professed this
23

354 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
grace, and who was preeminent for his humility, to
have given expression to this virtue in the words
quoted ?
(3) Dr. Mudge cites his own experience of what we
call entire sanctification to prove that we are not saved
from all selfishness and depravity in that work. He
boldly throws down the gauntlet to the " second bless
ing " writers, and gives his own experience, when he
was one of them, in rebuttal of their testimony from
experience. We have copied in another chapter part
of Dr. Mudge's experience, given in his Growth in
Holiness, to show that it is very much like, if not
identical with, that of others who profess to have re
ceived the blessing of entire sanctification. But after
detailing that striking experience, the Doctor says :
Nevertheless, after a time, both while in college and subse
quently, I gradually became aware that the work performed
upon me at the time above described was not so deep and
thorough as I had supposed. I was conscious of feelings
which looked so suspiciously like ambition, pride, discontent,
and selfishness, that I could not feel perfectly at ease about
the matter. . . . Owing to some bitter trials, a fuller dis
closure was made to me than ever before as to certain remains
of the self-life needing further attention. ... I had found,
however positively all appeared well, that when increasingly
keen and unexpected tests were from time to time brought to
bear, a little of self always showed its head, calling for further
purification, further repression. Hence I inferred it would
probably always be so; as long, at least, as I remained on
earth. We would give the most candid consideration to
these passages from Dr. Mudge. For we regard him
not only as a man of very marked ability and scholar
ship, but also as one of superior piety and honesty.
(1) If Dr. Mudge analyzes and interprets his ex-

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 355
perience correctly — if he did find selfishness and sin-
wardness in his heart after his supposed sanctification
— such state may have resulted from a temporary
relapse into the self-life. During the "very bitter
trials " noted, he may have taken his eye off his ever-
present and strengthening Saviour and yielded to the
tempter, so that something like "certain remains of
the self-life " appeared again. We have no doubt that
Peter felt very much the same way when he dissem
bled at Antioch.
(2) Dr. Mudge's feelings are susceptible of an in
terpretation that is perfectly consistent with his free
dom from selfishness. All thoughtful men realize the
difficulty of distinguishing certain virtues and vices —
the innocent and the sinful expressions of some of our
natural affections, propensities, etc. For example, the
line of demarkation between innocent self-love and self
ishness, proper self-esteem and pride, lawful acquisi
tiveness and covetousness, a proper feeling of resent
ment or opposition to wrong and sinful anger or re
venge, a laudable desire to be useful and unholy ambi
tion — the difference between these is not always easily
seen. Of course Dr. Mudge knows that these inno
cent affections are not destroyed by sanctification, but
that they are simply purified and regulated by it. And
he will readily grant that it is not wrong for a man to
desire the good opinion of his fellows and the approval
and praise of his God. God appeals to our self-love
and encourages us to " seek for glory and honor and
immortality," as well as " eternal life." Jesus distinct
ly recognizes the lawfulness of self-love, and only en
joins that we love our " neighbor as " much as we do
ourselves — not more.

356 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
No sober philosopher insists that it is wrong for
the soul to burn with indignation — a sort of anger
— at grievous wrong done himself or another. He
would be less than a complete man if he did not feel
it. Jesus felt this kind of anger, while God is "angry
with the wicked every day " in this sense. And there
is a sort of " discontent " that all may feel — a " dissat-
isfiedness " with his outer life, which, because of in
firmities of mind and body, is not exactly what he de
sires it to be.
Dr. Mudge evidently recognizes the difficulty of
making the distinction noted above. He says : " I was
conscious of feelings which looked so suspiciously like
ambition, pride, discontent, and selfishness that I could
not feel perfectly at ease about the matter." His con
viction was only a " suspicion " of something wrong.
His feelings " looked like ambition," etc., and his " ease
about the matter" was not "perfect." A laudable
" ambition " may " look like " an unholy one, a proper
self-esteem like pride, a " discontent " with external
conditions like impatience, and innocent self-love like
" selfishness." (3) These things that "looked" to Dr. Mudge
" like " depravity may have been only temptations from
the devil. "A high proficient in spiritual experience,"
if not in "philosophy," gives the following wise sug
gestions and warning :
Let us quite understand what we mean by temptation. You
especially who have stepped out with the assurance that you
have died to self and sin may be greatly amazed to find your
self assailed with a tempest of thoughts and feelings that seem
to come wholly from within, and you will be impelled to say,
"Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem to be alive." This,
beloved, is the time to remember that temptation has power to

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 357
penetrate our inmost being with thoughts and feelings that
seem to be our own, but are really the instigations of the evil
one. "We wrestle with principalities and powers"; that is to
say, they twine themselves around us as wrestlers do about the
limbs of their opponents, until they seem to be a part of our
selves. This is the essence of temptation, and we are almost
constrained to conclude that the evil is within ourselves, and
that we are not cleansed and sanctified as we had believed. . . .
We little know how evil can find access to a pure nature,
and seem to incorporate itself with our thoughts and feelings,
while at the same time we resist and overcome it, and remain
as pure as the sea fowl that emerges from the water without a
single drop remaining on its burnished wing, or as the harp
which may be struck by a rude and clumsy hand and give forth
a discordant sound, not from any defect of the harp but because
of the hand that touched it.
It is at such times as these that Mr. Wesley says we
specially need the witness of the Spirit to this work,
and may not be fully relieved of doubt without it.
(4) Other statements of Dr. Mudge indicate that he
was saved from " selfishness " or the " self -life." The
next words to the question last given above indicate it :
I believe I can say now, but one thing seemed desirable
or valuable in heaven or in earth, and that was the will of God.
And everything which came to me I welcomed as God's will for
me. So far as I am in any way conscious, my whole being, with
out reservation or hesitation, goes out after him and abides in
him. Loving only what God loves and willing only what God wills,
I find no room for disappointment, but only for delight and thanks
giving, in all he sends me. Surely this is the land of Beulah, if not
something more. It is indeed heaven below.
In referring to the time when, as he expresses it, he
received this "full salvation with which God had so
Wonderfully enriched my soul," the time which he calls
" a memorable hour, or turning point in my life, from
which dates a decided change in my experience," mak-

35^ SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ing him " a different individual," he is very explicit.
He says :
What, then, did happen to me thirty years ago that it should
be made so important an epoch from which to date a higher
life ? It was, as nearly as I can make it out, simply the apprehen
sion of Jesus to be my all-sufficient Empowerer for every occasion
which naturally comes upon a consecration greatly increased in
thoroughness, and indeed made complete up to the measure of light
up to tliat time vouchsafed.
In speaking of the love which resulted from this
baptism, he says :
// has banished all fear tliat has any element of torment, and
so, according to fohn, has perhaps the right to style itself perfect.
But, since the treasure is held in an " earthen vessel " and its
manifestations must be guided by a fallible judgment, there
can be no guarantee that it shall always appear perfect to those
-who observe its workings.
This last is an important point that should restrain
criticism of thoroughly good but apparently inconsist
ent men. We will give one more extract from this re
markable record of Dr. Mudge's experience. Under
the heading, " Thirty Years with Jesus," he says :
It was in August, i860, that I took Christ for my complete
Saviour, freely surrendering to him my whole heart: and so,«/-
though there had been a Christian life of the usual mixed, unsatisfac
tory character for four years previously, it is only these thirty years
now finished that can really be called -with full appropriateness a
walk with Jesus.
We must be excused for making the following com
ments before passing to the last item in this answer :
1. Dr. Mudge's experience was up to the time of
this baptism — for four years — " of the usual mixed,
unsatisfactory character."
2. That not until after the sudden coming of our

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 359
Lord as the " Empowerer " into his life could that life
" be called a walk with Jesus."
3. This increment of strength enabled him to go
steadily forward, growing in grace, and kept him
from backsliding. He says : "Each year without
exception has been an improvement upon its predeces
sors. There has never been anything that could be
called a period of lapse or backsliding ."
4. The italicized words in the above extracts indicate
that his experience was of the most scriptural and sat
isfactory nature — good enough for the most exacting
" second-blessing " man.
5. Before men quote Dr. Mudge to justify their liv
ing on a low plane of experience, they ought to see to
it that they get up where he is.
(5) If Dr. Mudge's experience was really defective
in the respects noted by him, we might confidently
point to that of others equally able, eminent, scholarly,
and pious as an offset to his. We give that of the
Rev. Dr. Daniel Steele, of Dr. Mudge's own Confer
ence, and whom he calls " the distinguished author and
theological teacher," and whom another calls " the
Fletcher of America." He says :
After seventeen years of life's varied experiences on seas
sometimes very tempestuous, in sickness and in health, at
home and abroad, in honor and dishonor, in tests of exceeding
severity, there has come up out of the depths of neither my conscious
nor unconscious being anything bearing the ugly features of sin.
. . . I testify that it is possible for believers to be so filled with
the Holy Ghost that they can live many years on the earth conscious
every day of a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light,
and of no shrinking back because of a felt need of further in-war d
cleansing, from an instant translation into the society of the holy
angels and into the presence of the holy God. This was my daily
experience since 1870 — seventeen years.

360 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
And he says it has continued so to this year — ten
years longer, twenty-seven in all. Unlike Dr. Mudge,
he did not feel or see anything in his heart " like pride,
ambition, or selfishness " " calling for further purifica
tion or repression."
The Rev. Dr. Mahan is better known and more dis
tinguished than Dr. Mudge, and was, we think, as
well able to analyze and interpret his experience. He
tells us that the old and very proud, willful, and fiery
self, that gave him so much trouble during the eight
een years of his pre-pentecostal experience, never but
once for fifty years, and that only "for an instant? re
vealed itself to his consciousness. Let the reader turn
to Dr. Mahan's experience in Chapter XVII.
And it should be remembered that the testimony of
these eminent men and thousands of other saintly men
and women is positive, while that of Dr. Mudge and
others is of a negative character. The former say we
know what God has done for us when we performed
the conditions prescribed. That of the latter, so far as
it bears against our theory, is as to what has not been
done for them, because, it is insisted, they failed to per
form those conditions. The reader remembers the
Irishman who was laughed out of court because he
protested against a verdict of guilty on the testimony
of two reliable eyewitnesses, alleging that he could
produce twenty witnesses who would testify that they
did not see him commit the crime — witnesses who may
have been blind, or twenty miles away from the scene
of the crime. The testimony of two witnesses to the
fact that a certain medicine cured them and kept them
in health is worth more than that of thousands of
others who neglect to take it in the quantity or for the
length of time it was prescribed.

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 361
4. It is objected that the sacred writers did not divide
those to whom they wrote into classes — the- merely
regenerate and the wholly sanctified.
( 1 ) Did not the apostles classify them in this way
when selecting the deacons of the church at Jerusa
lem? They directed the "brethren" to select men
" full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom " for that office.
Does not this injunction indicate that there was an
other class in that church who were not " full of the
Holy Ghost" — had not received the Pentecostal bap
tism ?
(2) For whom did Paul pray in the prayers for en
tire sanctification which Bishop Hendrix says are re
corded in all his Epistles except one? Of course it
was for those who had not been sanctified "wholly."
Suppose his prayers recorded in First Thessalonians
were answered in case of part of that church and not in
case of others, because of obstacles in them, which was
most probably the case. In his second Epistle, did he
not have to address two classes? They would have
been in that church at any rate.
(3) When Paul in the first chapter of First Corin
thians said, " I thank my God always on your behalf
for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus
Christ ; that in everything, ye are enriched by him,
. . . so that ye come behind in no gift," was he ad
dressing the same class whom he, in the third chapter,
calls " carnal " and " babes in Christ," and who
" walked as men " ? If these latter were " carnal " be
cause backslidden, or were weak and undeveloped
"babes," how about the others who "had been en
riched by him," and "came behind in no gift"?
Were there not two classes addressed here ?

362 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
St. John virtually divides those to whom he wrote
into two classes — those whose love was " perfect,"
free from " fear," and those whose love was im
perfect, was mixed with " fear." And the same apos
tle in one chapter twice addresses three classes — " lit
tle children," " young men," and " fathers " — this dis
tinction doubtless growing out of differences in their
religious experience. The first because " your sins are
forgiven you " — you are justified and regenerated ;
the second because " ye are strong, and the word of
God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wick
ed one " — have received the Strengthener, " the Word
of God," into your hearts, enabling you to " over
come the wicked one." The third because " ye have
known him that is from the beginning " — ye have
grown into a profound knowledge of the Son of God
through the long abiding of his Interpreter in your
hearts. These three classes seem to represent those
of all ages, who, first, have just been converted — had
their sins forgiven ; secondly, those who have been
baptized with the Spirit and had Christ to come into
their hearts ; and, thirdly, those who have subsequently
" grown in grace and knowledge " — into a profound
and ripe experience — a sort of perfection or maturity
of life.
The line between these classes may not be as sharp
ly defined in the apostolic writings as they are in some
modern books and sermons, but they unquestionably
were had in mind and were referred to in the New
Testament. 5. It is asked, by way of objection to "this theory,
Why are the children of sanctified parents born de
praved, if the latter are saved from all depravity ?

OTHER OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 363
Mr. Wesley and other writers have wrestled with this
question, but it must be confessed that their solutions
of the problem are not entirely satisfactory. Does not
what scientists call the " law of reversion to type,''
which runs through the vegetable and animal king
doms, explain the fact? Take a simple illustration
where this reversion is immediate. By grafting the
crab with the pippin we greatly improve the fruit of
the tree, bringing it to comparative perfection. But
from the seed of the pippin will spring the crab, which
will never bear good fruit until it in turn is grafted
from the superior tree. So the man that, by being
grafted into Christ, bears the sweet and luscious fruit
of (perfect love can never impart this power to his
children. They will revert to the original type of de
praved human nature, and will themselves have to be
grafted into Christ before they can bring forth the
fruit borne by their parents.

CHAPTER XXIV.
Some Questions Answered.
i. Can one who is filled with the Spirit live with
out sin? Is he not liable to, and does he not sin
every day? We might possibly silence without satis
fying the questioner by quoting the following from St.
John: Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not : whosoever sinneth hath
not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man
deceive you. . . . He that committelh sin is of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin : for his seed re-
maineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, etc.
Here the apostle certainly seems to teach ( i ) that
the regenerate man, who may or may not be fu'ly
saved from " inbred sin," does not or need not commit
actual sin —"transgress" God's law of love. (2)
That the mark of distinction between the Christian and
the not- Christian— the child of God and the child of
the devil — is that one sins and the other does not, this
difference making " manifest " to which class one be
longs. (3) That the probability of not daily sinning
is so great in the case of one who " is born of God " in
the highest and best sense — is thoroughly renewed
and " strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man," and
has " his seed " remaining in him — one whom Dr. Pope
calls the " perfectly regenerate " — that the apostle, in
the language of hyperbole, says " he cannot sin."
(364)

some questions answered. 365
That St. John does not mean to teach that it is liter
ally and absolutely impossible for a converted or fully
saved man to sin is indicated plainly enough in 1 John
ii. 1. Here he says that he wrote them certain things
to prevent their sinning, but reminds them that if, not
withstanding, they should do so, they had an "Advo
cate " and " propitiation " in the person and work of
Jesus Christ, through whom they might find forgive
ness and cleansing. Dr. Steele gives the following
translation of this difficult passage : " Whosoever has
been born of God [perfect tense implying that the new
life has continued] is not sinning, because he that has
been born of God cannot be sinning because his seed
remaineth in him " — " the love of God shed abroad in his
heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him." The idea
is that he cannot pursue a course of sin while the Holy
Ghost abides in him and imparts love to his heart.
Yet, he may be surprised into the act of sin — " if any
man sin " — for which he may find instant forgiveness
through the " propitiation " of our "Advocate."
We leave those who say that we sin every day, "by
thought, word, and deed," to harmonize their theory
with the teaching of St. John in the above quotation.
They attempt to do so by turning to such passages
as 1 Kings viii. 46, Ecclesiastes vii. 20, and 1 John i.
7-10, which they suppose teach that all men sin daily.
But, as critics have repeatedly shown, the first two pas
sages, properly rendered, only teach that men may sin
— are liable to do so. The first passage is part of Solo
mon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, and is, " If
they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth
not) " — may not sin is the proper rendering. As one
has suggested, Solomon spoke just as the governor of

366 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
one of our states would in dedicating an insane asy
lum, declaring, " If any citizen of this commonwealth
should become insane ( and there is no citizen who may
not do so)," etc. We would widely miss the mark if we
interpreted him as saying, " There is no citizen who is
not already insane." And Solomon puts it hypothetic-
ally in the first part of the verse, "If any man sin," just
as John does when saying, " If any man sin, we have
an Advocate," etc. The same is true of the passage in
Ecclesiastes. It is amazing with what tenacity intelligent and
learned men cling to the passage in John, cited above,
to support their creed of necessary sin. If we had
space, we would be glad to go into a thorough exami
nation of this passage. But we must content ourself
with only a few words. ( 1 ) St. John is believed to
have intended this passage for the gnostics or others
who deny that they are depraved or sinners.1 (2)
He answers them by saying that this theory contra
dicts God's word, which says " all have sinned," and
makes him a liar. (3) That if they would " confess "
their sins and depravity, God would forgive and cleanse
them. Just as a physician might say to his patient,
who denies that he is sick : " By such denial you contra
dict my diagnosis of your case ; but if you will practi
cally ' confess ' your mistake by putting your case into
JThe gnostics, according to well-informed writers, believed
that the soul is naturally pure, and is not contaminated by such
sins of the body as gluttony, impurity, drunkenness, etc. That
the soul is as "a golden jewel in a dunghill, the gold being in
no way alloyed or defiled by the encompassing filth." Hence
that it needs no forgiveness or cleansing. John seems to have
been writing to correct this error.

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 367
my hands, I will cure the disease and restore you to
health — removing the poison out of your system."
St. John refers to the condition of the patient, before
the great Physician has done his cleansing and healing
work. But when he " discharges " that patient, he has
been " cleansed from all sin " and " all unrighteous
ness." And he would not now contradict God in say
ing, " I have no sin," or as Paul expresses it, I have
been " freed from sin." It is only the man who makes
such denial before he has been forgiven and cleansed
that is guilty of this impious act of contradicting Jeho
vah. It is believed that people generally fail to note the
difference between sins and infirmities so often pointed
out by thoughtful divines. Mr. Wesley says :
Not only sin, properly so called, that is a voluntary trans
gression of a known law ; but sin, improperly so called, that is
an involuntary transgression of a divine law, known or un
known, needs the atoning blood. I believe there is no such
perfection in this life as excludes these involuntary transgres
sions which I apprehend to be naturally consequent on the
ignorance and mistakes inseparable from mortality. There
fore sinless perfection is a phrase I never use, lest I should
seem to contradict myself. I believe a person filled with the
love of God is still liable to involuntary transgressions — sins of
infirmity. But Dr. Mudge says :
What are commonly called involuntary transgressions as
a matter of fact generally involve minute volitions, escaping
from us because of moral weakness. If so, they are not sim
ply infirmities, but sins, although they may be termed small
and comparatively unimportant sins.
We might well ask, (i) How does Dr. Mudge get
around St. John's repeated denial that the saved man

368 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
commits sin, which he defines as the " transgression of
the law," and assert that he does ? And (2 ) with what
sort of microscope he looks down through and below
one's consciousness and sees " volitions " that are so
" minute " that one's own consciousness had never dis
covered them. (3) If they are so "minute" that they
" escape " from us under the guise of " involuntary
transgressions," how does Dr. Mudge discover that
they are " voluntary " ? Is he not getting into " the
domain of psychology, where," Dr. Barbee says, "all
definitions cease" ? (4) Where is the grace that so
strengthens the believer that he need not sin ? — " My
grace is sufficient for thee." " I can do all things," etc.
The Bible, as well as thoughtful men, seems to make
the distinction between " sins," and " faults " or " in
firmities." The psalmist says : " Cleanse thou me
from secret [unconscious, voluntary or involuntary]
faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptu
ous [willful, known, and voluntary] sins." Dr. Steele
thus gives Jude xxiv. : " Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling [into sin, or, as the Vulgate
reads, sine peccato, without sin], and to present you
faultless [without infirmity, not here, but] in the pres
ence of his glory with exceeding joy," etc. He adds :
"Jude understood the distinction between faults, or in
firmities, and sins. In his scheme of Christian perfec
tion faults are to disappear in the life to come, but we
are to be saved from sins now."
Dr. Mudge makes this distinction, and says that
" innocent or unintentional or unavoidable transgressions
are not sins, but simply infirmities." Writers have il
lustrated this difference between what they call "blame
less," but " faulty " acts, with a child's bungling and

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 369
defective work, which is prompted by unmixed love.
The letter the little boy writes his father, or the sew
ing the little girl does for her mother, may be full of
" faults " or defects, but these children are " blameless "
of wrong, either of intention or action, because their
works were prompted by love, and the defects resulted
from unavoidable ignorance or lack of skill.
So, while unmixed love to God and man rules in our
hearts we may commit a thousand acts, which, because
of our mental or physical weakness or infirmity, fall
below the perfect standard of right reached by our
Lord in his life. Our works may be thusfaulty, while
we are blameless in the sight of God. But, because
these acts fall below that perfect standard, we have
need to confess them, and to resort to the atonement
for absolution, and to pray daily, " Forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors."
As intimated in previous chapters, we believe that
we may be saved from the feeling of sinful tempers,
as well as their outward expression in word or deed —
that we need not feel or say or do anything that is in
consistent with unmixed love and all the other graces
of the Spirit. Professor Beet, on I John i. 7, very
suggestively and, we think, truly says : " Of such un-
cleanness our sense of shame is, I venture to believe, a
reliable test and measure ; consequently it is our happy
lot to be saved now from whatever pollutes or, if
known to others, would disgrace us." In other words,
the blood and grace of the gospel save us from all that
makes us ashamed to look into God's face or the faces
of our fellows, although feeling shame and sorrow for
past wrongs. We have anticipated the question of our
liability to temptation and sin after being fully saved.
24

370 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
We need only add the well-known facts that our Lord
was tempted, and that the first pair were not only tempt
ed, but fell. We believe, however, that the ability to
overcome temptation is greatly increased, and that the
probability of falling into sin is greatly lessened.
2. Does sanctification eradicate or repress the de
pravity or carnality of man's nature? This ques
tion may seem more theoretical than practical. And
yet some regard it as an important one. While the
Scriptures are not very explicit, the preponderance of
testimony seems to be in favor of the elimination
theory. (i) The scriptural figures applied to the work of
sanctification indicate it, especially those of circumci
sion and baptism. The excision in the first, and the
washing and cleansing with water and the burning and
purifying by fire in the second, clearly indicate the re
moval from our nature of that which is inconsistent
with purity. So with the process of purifying silver
and gold, applied to this work of spiritual purification
— the dross is separated from these metals. So of the
figures of pruning and purging — the branch is cut off,
and the excrescence is removed from the tree and vine,
while the disease is purged out of the human system.
So of the verbs which signify to " crucify," " kill,"
" mortify," and " destroy," used in speaking of this
work. The idea of repression is not hinted at, but,
in every case, that of elimination or destruction is sug
gested. (2) It has well been remarked, too, "that while the
Greek language richly abounds in words signifying
repression," such as are translated in the New Testa
ment by " bind," " conquer," " bring into bondage,"

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 371
" repress," " restrain," " subdue," etc., not one of them
is applied to the triumph of divine grace over inbred
sin. This is certainly significant.
(3) It has been suggested that the theory of repres
sion does not harmonize with the testimony of conscious
ness in the case of wholly sanctified persons. The case
of Arvid Gradin, noted by Mr. Wesley, has been cited
as a typical one. He testified to " the highest tranquil
lity, serenity, and peace of mind, with a deliverance
from every fleshly desire, and a cessation of all', even,
inward sins." And then such men as Bishop Foster,
Dr. Upham, Dr. Steele, and many others, say they re
ceived a direct witness of the Spirit and the testimony
of consciousness to the fact of a purity that seems, at
least, to result from the " taking away " of all their de
pravity — a witness that abides for many years.
We are surprised that so astute a divine as Dr. Til
lett should suggest the following difficulty in the way
of the elimination theory. He would like to know the
condition of a backslider from a sanctified state if all
" original sin " and " acquired depravity " had been
" entirely destroyed by his ' sanctification,' and no sub
sequent fall could bring that back again." He sees an
imaginary difficulty in the way of the existence of de
pravity in the heart from which it was once removed,
though the person has fallen into actual sin. He says
" he is then without any sin in him, and yet he is un-
sanctified ! "
Will Dr. Tillett tell us how the " guilt and dominion
of sin," from which we are saved in regeneration, come
back into the soul when the believer backslides? Can
he not see how a man may be thoroughly cured of in
herited or contracted disease, and yet afterwards con-

372 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
tract that disease again, and be brought into exactly the
same unhealthy condition he was in before he was
healed ? The germs of the original or acquired disease
were eliminated, but by exposure others came in.
There was no repression of these germs. So may it
be with " inherited " or " acquired depravity," and the
healing and relapse that may come to the soul. Sin
brings guilt and depravity or pollution back to the once
sanctified soul as it did to Adam's pure nature.
It is believed that depravity is repressed by re
generation, but removed or destroyed by sanctification.
We believe that the latter " eliminates " that which is
morbid and abnormal from the soul, and "represses"
and regulates that which is healthy and normal in our
nature. Paul's " old " or " carnal " nature was " cruci
fied," but his new or normal nature was, through divine
grace, repressed or " kept under " — his innocent but
blind appetites and passions being controlled through
the Christ-life in him.
3. How do we interpret those scriptures which
seem to teach that the soul is thoroughly saved in re
generation? Such passages as the following are con
fidently relied on to support that theory : 2 Corinthians
v. 17; Galatians v. 24; Ephesians iv. 24; 1 Peter i.
22, 23. We answer ( 1 ) that those to whom the apos
tles refer may have been fully saved in regeneration.
Or ( 2 ) the apostles may have been giving the ideal of
a true Christian in this life — what God would have
him be, and what he has arranged for his becoming in
his early religious history, by receiving the gift of the
Holy Ghost. To be " Christ's," to be « in Christ," to
" put on the new man," and to " love one another with
a pure heart fervently," may involve states of grace

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 373
reached after we are " born again," through the bap
tism of the Spirit. In commenting on Galatians v. 24,
Dr. Steele says :
It is evident that Paul here presents the ideal of a true
Christian in the present world after he has, through faith in
Christ, entirely crucified the flesh. . . . The apostle por
trays all Christians on earth at this climax, being viewed in
their concrete actuality, having appropriated their full heritage
in Jesus Christ.
In calling attention to an ideal American, would a
writer point out a diseased, deformed, or dwarfed spec
imen? Would he not, rather, select one who, having
been well born, thoroughly trained, and healthfully
developed, shows our manhood in its best state? So
Paul and Peter, in giving to the churches ideals of true
Christians, select those who had been well " born again,"
had had their " hearts purified," their " affections and
lusts crucified," their natures thoroughly " renewed,"
by being " in Christ " and having " Christ in them."
In a word, they seem to have taken them from the
class who, like Barnabas, Stephen and the other dea
cons chosen with him, as well as the one hundred and
twenty at Pentecost, were " full of the Holy Ghost,"
rather than from those who were partly " carnal," and
hence did not reach the scriptural ideal.
(3) As we have noticed elsewhere, learned critics
say that this "putting off of the old man," and this
" putting on of the new man," and this " crucifixion of
the passions and lusts " is subsequent to conversion.
Paul in the seventeenth verse of this same chapter of
Galatians refers to the conflict that was going on be
tween "the flesh and the Spirit" before the former
was " crucified." The " thorny-ground " hearers did

374 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
not have these things crucified at regeneration, though
they might have been afterwards.
(4) It was possibly with them as Professor Beet
says it was with the apostles' application of the terms
" holy " and " sanctified " to those who were not fully
saved, indicating their privilege and duty, and what
God has called them to be. They might and ought to
have " all things new," etc.
(5) As we have already seen, nearly or quite all ex
perience seems to contradict this construction of these
passages — " all things have " not " become new," etc.
4. Why is it important that we seek this blessing ?
( 1 ) To prevent backsliding. We need hardly say that
backsliding is one of the chief reproaches and weak
nesses of Christianity, as it is seen to-day in our land
and in others. A large proportion of the average con
gregation and community now outside the Church
once professed faith in Christ, but have left her com
munion and relapsed to the world. And thoughtful
men who have had exceptionally good opportunities for
getting information give it as their opinion that from
one-half to three-fourths of the present Church mem
bership are destitute of a saving relation to Christ. It
is true that many of these were never scripturally con
verted, but it is believed that a large proportion of
them have " left their first love " and now have only
" a name to live " but " are dead," while others need to
"strengthen the things which remain, that are ready
to die." This state of things is a source of sorrow
and discouragement to every true pastor's heart, and a
cause of stumbling to the outside world.
Now it, is believed that this backsliding results very
largely from the weakness and the unsatisfactory ex-

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 375
perience that ordinarily attend the early spiritual life of
the young convert. His mixed experience is a disap
pointment to him, and the fearful struggle he has to
maintain his integrity tends to dishearten him and bring
about a relaxation of effort. What makes the matter
worse is the fact that he finds the average Church
member in the same condition, and hence receives no
inspiration or encouragement from him.
Now this baptism of the Spirit tends to correct
these evils by imparting to him such strength and such
an experience of uniform assurance, peace, and joy —
by so establishing and confirming him in the faith —
that he will not be inclined to backslide. And if this
had been done for his Church before he was converted,
he would have received from her a more vigorous life
at his spiritual birth, and her subsequent sympathy and
fellowship would have greatly encouraged and helped
him in his Christian life. If all believers were thus
"full of faith and the Holy Ghost," we would have an
ideal Church, that " would cleave unto the Lord " and
be " steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord."
That is believed to have been one of the chief rea
sons why the apostles lost no time in having those dis-
cipled in their day to receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. That seems to have been the reason for their
hastening to Samaria to establish those reached by
Philip, and why Paul so promptly asked the disciples
at Ephesus if they had received the Holy Ghost since
they believed. Hence, too, the record in Acts that the
apostles went here and yonder to " confirm the souls of
the saints." Also the many earnest prayers recorded
in their epistles for them that they might be " strength-

376 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ened," "established," "confirmed," and "settled," so
that they would " stand fast " and not " go back to the
beggarly elements " and have their " last state worse
than the first."
(2) The second reason is the happiness it brings.
Those who have considered the experiences given in
previous chapters have probably noticed that the follow
ing things are implied in them : 1 . Deliverance from
all doubt, both of the truth of Christianity and of one's
acceptance with God. This involves freedom from a
sense of condemnation, and the " fear " of meeting God
at death and in the judgment. Whatever else may be
said of this baptism, it is certainly an effectual remedy
for " doubt and fear." 2. It implies unmixed and un
interrupted love, peace, and joy, or, as some express it,
" perpetual sunshine in the soul." And one does not have
the feeling of irritation, impatience, anger, revenge,
etc., which was realized under provocation before this
blessing came. Nor is there that sense of emptiness,
want, " hunger and thirst," the " aching void," etc.
experienced before. The writer never fully realized
what our Lord meant by saying we " shall be filled "
after " hungering and thirsting after righteousness,"
and that " whosoever drinketh of this water shall never
thirst," until he was himself, as he humbly trusts,
" filled with the Holy Ghost," and drank deeply of this
water. 3. Freedom from anxiety about " frames and
feelings," and from fear of falling from this state.
This is very different from what we supposed and
feared before seeking it. We have learned a most
valuable lesson about the Lord's faithfulness in " keep
ing us from falling," and the confidence and assurance
with which we can live without any special " feeling."

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 377
Our experience is very much like what Dr. Keen, a
most saintly man, says of himself, though not so pro
nounced as to the " gales of the Spirit," " waves of com
fort," etc., of which he speaks. He says :
Another spiritual lesson taught me at this time by a special
illumination of the Holy Ghost, and which has been to me the
secret that has given to my faith and experience a steadiness as
well as a progressiveness through these years, was the dis
crimination between the fact of fullness and the feeling of full
ness; that one may be filled with the Holy Ghost when he
may not feel filled. . . . Should the friend who is near me
have asked me, as I seated myself to write this "paper," "Do
you feel filled with the Spirit just now?" I should have candid
ly answered: "No, I do not feel filled. I am not at all conscious
of any sort of spiritual emotion." But had he said to me, "Are
you now filled with the Spirit?" in the absence of any feeling,
I should, with a smile, unhesitatingly have replied : " Oh yes,
I am filled with the Spirit"; for I was conscious that then I
was wholly given to Jesus and was trusting him as my Baptizer
with the Holy Ghost. But should my friend ask me now, as I
am writing these lines, "Do you now feel filled?" I should re
spond at once, " Yes, bless the Lord! " for as I have been writ
ing, and am now seeking to unfold the mind of the Spirit in
this testimony, blessed gales of the Spirit have been breaking
the dead calm of my soul, with which I began my writing,
into sweet, precious waves of holy comfort and inward glad
ness. . . . Ever since I learned clearly this blessed lesson
— " Only trusting, I am filled " — my rest of soul has been a
fixed factor. Satan never any more says to me: "Ah, where
is your blessing? You don't feel like you did." His stratagem
is to lead earnest souls to make feeling the basis of faith.
We have given this long quotation from Dr. Keen
to show what we mean by not trusting to feeling, and
to relieve the minds of some perplexed and tempted
ones. In all this absence of feeling there is, however,
no sense of unrest, emptiness, and dissatisfaction with
one's spiritual state.

378 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
We might give other items or facts indicating the su
periority and blessedness of this experience, but again
refer the reader to the testimony given in other chap
ters. Of course we may expect to have temptations,
trials, and conflicts all the way through life, but,
"through Christ that strengtheneth us," we can, with
comparative ease, successfully resist, patiently endure,
and completely triumph over these things. We may
realize with the prophet that God " keeps in perfect
peace " him " whose heart is stayed on " the Lord, and
with the apostle we may "glory in tribulations," and
sing, " Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing."
(3) Another reason is the greater usefulness that fol
lows this baptism. The testimonies to this result, found
in the " experience " chapters of this book, are very de
cided. We refer especially to those of Finney, Moody,
Earle, Peck, James Brainerd Taylor, Pierson, and oth
ers. A moderate estimate is that one's usefulness in
the ministry is doubled if not quadrupled. And the
sweeter spirit, more consistent life, more effectual
prayers, and more earnest and effective words of private
Christians, in the home, in the social circle, and in all
places for Christian work, are far more potent for
good. Having Christ in us as " the power and wisdom
of God," we become sources of greater power for good
to others — "rivers" of saving and refreshing influ
ences quietly flowing out from our " Spirit - filled "
souls to those with whom we are brought into contact.
In a word, a happy experience and a . consistent life
take the reproach of weakness and ineffectiveness —
of bad tempers and inconsistent and fruitless lives —
from our holy religion, and commend it more effectively
to the world as something most valuable and desirable.

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 379
(4) We need hardly add that, as the result of such a
fruitful and useful life, we may expect larger and more
glorious reward in heaven. A fuller consecration, a
richer experience, greater faithfulness, and more abun
dant usefulness here will secure greater reward there.
At least these four things, then, will come to us
from this full baptism with the Holy Ghost — less dan
ger of backsliding, greater happiness, and enlarged
usefulness here, with more abundant reward hereafter.
May these reasons prove influential with all our readers !
5. When should we seek and expect this baptism ?
All the reasons for seeking it at all, given in the last
section, indicate that it should be sought as soon as it
may be obtained ; for certainly the purity, happiness,
and strength which tend to prevent our backsliding,
promote our usefulness, and increase our reward ought
to be sought as soon as they are available. And, as
has been frequently said before, we believe these are
available at or very soon after conversion. Hence we
would insist that in cases where this baptism does not
come at regeneration, the young converts' minds should
at once be directed to this promised baptism, and they
urged and encouraged to immediately seek it. As we
have seen, that appears to have been the apostolic
method. (Acts ii. 37, 38; viii. 6, 12, 17; xix. 5, 6.)
Dr. Steele says :
The reason for the seeming blending of the baptism of the
Holy Ghost with regeneration, in exceptional instances in the
Acts of the Apostles, is to be attributed to the fact that the
regenerate were urged to the immediate attainment of this
great blessing, so that they did attain it with the interval of
only a brief period.
John Fletcher is said to have found this blessing "a

380 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
very few days after his conversion." And when John
Wesley's preachers constantly held out this blessing as
attainable soon after regeneration, and many believers
exemplified the truth in their experience, there were in
stances of its attainment within a few days after conver
sion. In his Journal, August 4, 1762, Mr. Wesley says :
The next morning I spoke severally with those who be
lieved they were sanctified. There were fifty-one in all —
twenty-one men, and twenty-one widows or married women,
and nine young women or children. In one of these the change
was wrought in three weeks after she was justified; in three,
seven days after it; in one, five days; and in S. L., aged four
teen, two days only.
Two days later he says of another of his societies :
Many believed that the blood of Jesus Christ had cleansed
them from all sin. I spoke to these, forty in all, one by one.
Some of them said they received the blessing ten days, some
seven, some four, some three days after they found peace with
God, and two of them the next day. What marvel, since one
day is with God as a thousand years?
And if it comes by faith, just like regeneration
(Acts xv. 8, 9; xxvi. 18; Gal. iii. 2, 14), why should
it not come as soon as one feels his need of it, and per
forms the conditions of full surrender, unreserved con
secration, and perfect trust in Christ ? K^p"" This full
ness of the Spirit is the antecedent condition of a nor
mal development of the spiritual life. No one has
reached the normal condition of a vigorous life, healthy
development, and abundant fruitfulness, until he is
"full of the Holy Ghost and faith?' "^gg Hence the
sooner this fullness comes, the better. As bearing on
this question of when to seek and expect it, we give the
following instance from Dr. Steele as better than any
thing we can write. He says :

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 38 1
A few years ago the wife of a. distinguished minister was
lying hopelessly ill. All was mist and uncertainty before
her. She longed for the purity and peace promised in the
holy word, but her husband had always preached a gradual
growth in grace, and completeness in Christ only at the last
moment of life, and she waited for that hour in dread uncer
tainty. " Oh that I could have complete deliverance from sin now,
before that fearful hour!"
" Why not now ? " the Spirit suggested.
She sent for her husband, and as he entered her sick cham
ber she anxiously inquired: "Can Christ save me from all
sin?" "Yes; he's an almighty Saviour, your Saviour, able to save
to the uttermost."
" When can he save me ? You have often said that he saves
from all sin at the dying moment. If he is almighty, don't you
think he could save me a few minutes before death? It would
take the sting of death away to know that I am saved."
" Yes, I think he could."
" Well, if he could save me a few minutes before death, don't
you think it possible to save a few hours or a day before
death?" The husband bowed his assent. "But," she said
with deep earnestness, "I may live a week, or a month; do
you think it possible for God to save a soul from all sin so long
before death?"
" Yes; all things are possible with God," he answered with
deep emotion.
" Then kneel right down here and pray for me. I want
this full salvation now, and if I live a month, I will live to
praise God."
He knelt beside her bed and poured out his soul to God in
prayer as he had never done before. And while he prayed
the cleansing blood that makes whiter than snow was applied
to her soul, and she was enabled to rejoice with a joy that
is unspeakable and full of glory. She lived a month after
wards to magnify the grace of God, and testify of the perfect
love that casteth out all fear. And since that hour her hus
band has preached Christ as a present Saviour, able to save
from all sin.

382 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
6. How shall we seek it ? The answer to this ques
tion has already been given in general terms. Nor
need we go into details here. We would refer the
reader to the experiences given in former chapters.
Viewing the matter in the light of those testimonies,
the teaching of Scripture, and his own experience, the
writer would say that the indispensable and certain
conditions of receiving this baptism are complete sur
render of the will to Christ, full consecration to his
service, and unwavering faith in his promise to baptize
us with the Holy Ghost. As in seeking regeneration,
we should not be looking within for feeling or any
thing else that we may think constitutes our fitness or
readiness for such a blessing. "All the fitness he re-
quireth," in either case, is that " we feel our need of
him," that " we hunger and thirst " after the blessing
sought — have conviction of our need and of his readi
ness to supply it.
Dr. Keen, in his Faith Papers, says :
Are you a child of God seeking full salvation? Seize upon
some declaration of God's word, such as, " The blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin"; apply it to your own
heart; confess to yourself, to Satan, and to God, that it is true
to you, even you, because the Lord has spoken it; refuse to lis
ten to the lying voice of Satan that it is not so. Let no in
ward feeling nor outward sign dissuade you from your volun
tary choice to count God's word to yourself. And, according
to such a faith, it shall be done unto you. Have you given all
to Christ? Are you now longing to be fully saved? Are you
persuaded that 'Tis the promise of God full salvation to give
Unto him who on Jesus, his Son, will believe?
You may at once then begin to sing :
I can, I will, I do believe
That Jesus saves me now.

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 383
The Rev. F. B. Meyer says :
As once you obtained forgiveness and salvation by faith, so
now claim and receive the Spirit's fullness. . . . There may
not be at first the sound of rushing wind, or the coronet of fire,
or the sensible feeling of his presence. Do not look for these,
any more than the young convert should look to feeling as an
evidence of acceptance. But believe in spite of feeling that you
are filled, . . . and the feeling will sooner or later break
in on your consciousness, and you will rejoice with exceeding
joy, and all the fruits of the Spirit will begin to show them
selves. The writer's experience harmonizes very nearly
with the above from these two most spiritual and suc
cessful pastor-evangelists, one of the Methodist and the
other of the Baptist Church.
7. Who should seek it ? What classes ? After what
has been said, this seems almost a needless question ;
yet it may not be amiss to answer it. The Rev. John
McNeil, a Presbyterian divine, says :
Some have the idea that this blessing of the fullness is
only for a favored few, for such as have some special work
to do for God, but not for ordinary folk, "for auld wives and
wabsters" in their homespun. Surely this is one of the devil's
champion lies! Alas! alas! that it has found such credence!
The infilling is what makes this promise true, " He that is fee
ble among them at that day shall be as Davjd, and the house
of David shall be as God " (Zech. xii. 8), so that " one man of
you shall chase a thousand." (Josh. xxii. 10.) This means
defeat for the devil, so no wonder he strives to keep us back
from the fullness. . . .
Mothers in the home, " with thronging duties pressed," need
the "fullness" to enable them to glorify Christ as surely as the
apostles needed it ; the washerwoman needs it as well as the pas
tor, the tradesman as well as the evangelist. To live the Christ-
glorifying life in the station in which God has placed us, we
individually need to be filled with the Spirit. " They were all
filled" (Acts ii. 4), men and women, the one hundred and

384 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
twenty in the upper room, the rank and file as well as the
apostles. " Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for
the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that
are afar off." . . . They all received because they all need
ed. Do not we all need ? Why then should we not all receive ?
And if we do not receive we will suffer loss, the Church will
suffer loss, the world will suffer loss, and, above and beyond
all, Christ will suffer loss.
Hence Joel prophesies that God would "pour out
his Spirit upon all flesh " — all nations and all classes in
those nations — "old men" and "young men," "sons
and daughters," "servants and handmaidens," because
all peoples and classes needed this spiritual baptism to
fit them for prophesying, or in other ways glorifying
God and blessing men.
8. How shall we keep it? We have space to an
swer this question only in general terms. And the
obvious answer is that the conditions of continuance in
this higher life are those performed on coming into it- -
continued self-surrender, consecration, and faith. Of
course the former habits of watchfulness and prayer,
the reading of God's word, and the reducing of its les
sons to practice in our lives, should be carried into this
higher life. These, however, will not be half so irk
some as they were in our mixed life. Perfect love
will make these duties and services comparatively pleas
ant. As answering more or less directly and fully this
and one or two others of the questions asked in this
chapter, we give the following extracts from the expe
rience of two "elect ladies" of well-known piety and
intelligence. They are taken from Dr. Steele's Love
Enthroned. The first is that of a Presbyterian minis
ter's wife, who has " testified on both continents to the

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 385
cleansing blood of Jesus Christ purifying her from all
sin years after conversion." She says :
When I was converted, my conversion was so marked, so
clear, so decided, that I never could have a doubt of it. I
went on for three years in the ordinary Christian way (some
times gaining a little, perhaps, but at other times defeated), bat
tling against my besetting sins — against pride and ambition,
against impatience and irritability, against worrying about the
future, and about the petty things of life.
But at the end of three years I was taught a very different
way from that of making resolutions, and struggling into the
divine life, and battling down my ambition, and pride, and levity,
and all those things that tormented me. I found that Jesus
Christ would do all that work for me. After I learned this
my life was changed. Oh, how changed it was ! How calm and
serene it became! There was such a resting on Jesus! He
seemed to be with me every day and all the time; and Hooked to
him to keep me from pride and ambition, and from the worriments
of life, and from anxiety about the future, and I found that he
did that work for me. He did it all the time. He is the conqueror
of sin. If we leave ourselves in his hands, he does for us what we
cannot do for ourselves.
The following from the same book was written by a
" widely known " lady, who, " in evangelical labors most
abundant, testifies to a steady growth up to the time
when the love of Christ was made perfect in her heart
by the fullness of the Holy Ghost." She says :
For years and years I worked and worked to get the Chris
tian graces, and fit myself for salvation by Christ! And oh how
hard that was! But then it was [seemed] a great deal easier
than to submit to Jesus. My heart chafed and found no rest
until I was willing to accept the words of Christ when he said
to me, " Your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked," and
at the same time to accept his words when he said, " I will save
you," and to trust in him. After that doubts went from me,
and there seemed to be a full resting in the righteousness of
Christ, in his merits, in his atonement. There was no rest in
25

386 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
myself, in my experiences, or aught else besides simply resting upon
Christ to save me eternally, and accepting his promises to be with
me everywhere and every day, and to guide me in all things. In
this there was joy and peace to my soul.
She gives the following illustration, which very clear
ly indicates the difference between the regenerate and
the sanctified state, and the blessedness of the latter,
together with the way in which we retain this blessed
ness. She says :
All that I can think of to illustrate my Christian life is this,
that it is like sitting in a rowboat and rowing upstream, and
making progress by severe effort; until, by and by, there
comes a steamer along, and the weary toiler is asked if he will
not have a ride, and he steps on board and makes the remain
der of the voyage easily and pleasantly. It seemed at first that
the Christian work was hard and wearying, but after that it
was God doing the work in me, God pushing tne on, God leading
me, God guiding. And now it is easy — easy in the family,
with the little ones, everywhere. For it is love, the love of
God, that is working. The soul is filled with love. And oh
how love will go anywhere, and count no loss, and keep no
record of what it does! There is no burden at all about living
for a loved object. It is perfect freedom.
The above is in harmony with the prophecy of Eze
kiel, that God, by putting his "Spirit within" us,
would " cause," or constrain, or help us to walk in
" his statutes," and " keep his judgments, and do them."
" The beautiful vignette of a cross grasped by a hand,
with the motto underneath, Teneo et teneor — ' I hold
fast, and am held fast ' — -expresses the thought. There
is no other way of maintaining the higher life. It is a
rest in Christ. It is the rest of faith?
As bearing on the questions discussed in this chap
ter, as well as on the general subject of this book, we

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 387
most earnestly recommend that the reader procure
some or all of the following books : Dr. Steele's Love
Enthroned, Milestone Papers, Defense of Christian
Perfection, Half Hours with St. Paul, The Gospel of
the Comforter ; Dr Keen's Pentecostal Papers, Sal
vation Papers, Faith Papers, Praise Papers; Hills's
Holiness and Power- Gordon's Twofold Life and
Ministry of the Spirit; McNeil's Spirit-Filled Life;
McDonald's Scripture Way of Holiness and Saved to
the Uttermost ; Carradine's Sanctification; and Smith's
Christian' s Secret of a Happy Life. The writings
of Andrew Murray and F. B. Meyer are also helpful.
While we cannot indorse all that is in the above-named
books, we can in the main approve them. If one wish
es to look farther into the testimony from experience,
let him get Harrison's Forty Witnesses and Inskip's
Holiness Miscellany.

CHAPTER XXV.
Concluding Appeal.
In the preceding chapters we have tried to show
that there is something better for Christians than what
they, as a rule, received at regeneration. We have tried
to show, too, that this blessing may come soon after con
version, if not realized at that time. Also that, while we
may gradually grow into the frame of mind or state of
heart out of which sanctifying faith springs, yet the sub
jective work of sanctification — the baptism which brings
unmixed purity and "perfect love" — is instantaneous,
being followed, however, on condition of continued con
secration and faithfulness, by more rapid growth in ob
jective holiness — improvement in thought, action, and
life. We would devote these closing pages to an ear
nest appeal to our readers to reduce to practice the les
sons we have sought to give.
i. Our appeal is to the pulpit, our brethren of the
ministry, with whom we have a fellow-feeling, and in
whom and in whose success we feel a profound inter
est. We are persuaded that ministers of all Churches
agree substantially with Andrew Murray, that
throughout the Church of Christ there is universal com
plaint of the feebleness of the Christian life, and that there are
tens of thousands of souls longing to know how to lead a better
life. They find in God's word promises of perfect peace, of
a faith that overcomes the world, of a joy that is unpeakable,
of a life of ever-abiding communion with Christ, hidden in the
hollow of God's hand, and in the secret of his pavilion. But,
alas! thousands say they know not how to obtain it.
( I ) We ask, who are to point these feeble and faint-
(388)

concluding appeal. 389
ing thousands to the true Source of their spiritual re
freshment and strength, but those who are specially
called to this work of the ministry? And who can
so successfully lead these hungry and thirsty souls be
side the still waters and into the green pastures of full
salvation as those who have themselves drunk of these
waters and tried these pastures? Can one effectively
testify to the value of what he has not himself tried?
Can any one carry a soul on his faith and prayers
farther into the kingdom of grace, into the experi
ence of salvation, either at his conversion or afterwards,
than he himself has gone? Has a defective faith or a
low experience the procreative energy and the reproduc
tive power that a perfect faith or an experience of full
salvation has ? Has the faith of a servant, or even that of
a son, the power to reproduce itself in the lives of oth
ers as has the faith of a fellow — the faith of one that has
uninterrupted communion and full fellowship with God ?
Where was the missionary spirit of Judaism ? Why
were the spiritual results that followed the preaching
of the apostles before Pentecost so meager? Why
the wonderful manifestation of power on that day under
the ministry of Peter, producing, it is believed, greater
spiritual results than had followed the ministry of our
Lord and all the apostles and other disciples up to that
time? Why did Jesus urge the apostles to tarry at
Jerusalem until Pentecost, assuring them that after
that time they could do greater works than he had
done? Why was the ministry of Wesley, and Caugh-
ey, and Finney, and Mahan, and Earle, and why is
that of Meyer, and Moody, and Peck, and Pierson, and
Schoolfield, and thousands of others, made nearly ten
fold more effective by this baptism of the Spirit?

390 scriptural sanctification.
Is it not because the most important equipment of the
gospel minister comes to him when he reaches his per
sonal Pentecost? Is it not because, as Andrew Mur
ray and others express it, " the first duty of every
clergyman is to beg of God, very humbly, that all he
wants to be done in his hearers may be fully and truly
done in himself" ? We cannot give to others at
conversion or subsequently a more scriptural type of
piety than we ourselves have. Hence, if we should
presume to give any particular word of advice to our
brethren of the ministry (especially to the young
preachers of our own Church), in whose ranks we
have tried to labor for forty years, it would be this :
"Make a journey to Pentecost " before you attempt
to preach any more — that is, if you have not already
been there. The present weakness of the Church may
have resulted largely from your past failure to go.
(2) Having yourselves gone to Pentecost, then
urge every penitent and every believer to do the same
thing. We should preach this baptism — this gift of
the Holy Ghost — as the birthright and high privilege
oi every one of God's servants and children. We be
lieve it should be definitely set before the mind of
every earnest soul as something to be desired and
sought and obtained by every one at any time when he
will make a full surrender and consecration, and exer
cise a full faith.
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe,1 in her later life,
1 It may not be amiss to ask that the Southern reader extend
to Mrs. Stowe the justice and charity embodied in the follow
ing generous words of Joel Chandler Harris: "Mrs. Stowe, let
me hasten to say, attacked the possibilities of slavery with all
the eloquence of genius ; but the same genius painted the por
trait of the Southern slave-owner, and defended him"

concluding appeal. 391
sought and professed to find and enjoy this blessing.
In her Primitive Christian Experience she says :
The advantages to the Christian Church, in setting before
it distinct points of attainment, are very nearly the same in
result as the advantages of preaching immediate regeneration
in preference to indefinite exhortation to men to lead sober,
righteous, and godly lives. It has been found, in the course
of New England preaching, that pressing men to an immediate
and definite point of conversion produced immediate and definite
results; and so it has been found among Christians, that pressing
them to an immediate and definite point of attainment will in like man
ner result in marked and decided progress. For this reason it is
that among the Moravian Christians, where the experience by
them denominated "full assurance of faith" ["perfect love"]
was much insisted on, there were more instances of high reli
gious faith than in almost any other denomination.
And Dr. Steele well says :
When a definite point is presented to the believer as attain
able immediately, all the energies of the soul are aroused and
concentrated. Prayer is no more at random. There is a target
set up to fire at. Faith as an act — a voluntary venture — puts
forth its highest energies and achieves its greatest victories.
At the time we sought and obtained this baptism,
there seemed nothing more distinctly and vividly im
pressed upon our mind than the importance of the
ministry's setting before the people this standard of
attainment — something definite that may be reached at
once by faith. And we still believe this to be exceed
ingly important. We are very sure that presenting
this subject in a vague and general way, as something
that may possibly be reached at some future and in
definite time by growth, will accomplish but little
more than will a like presentation of the subject of
regeneration. Let every one understand that it will
come as a distinct blessing whenever the simple condi-

392 scriptural sanctification.
tion is performed. Pentecost came after our Lord's
full and explicit presentation of the doctrine of the
Spirit, and Peter not only offered " remission of sins,"
but also " the gift of the Holy Ghost," to the multi
tude that heard him on that wonderful occasion.
We believe this privilege and duty should be pre
sented in a way that will disarm prejudice and inspire
confidence and hope. We are persuaded that the
terms that have been so generally misunderstood, and
that have brought the subject more or less into disre
pute, should be avoided ; especially such as " perfec
tion," "sanctification," the "second blessing," etc. We
see no sacrifice of principle in this course, but simply a
regard for the law of expediency. In fact, it is serious
ly doubted if these terms as clearly express the work
of cleansing and empowering that is involved in the
baptism of the Spirit as some others do. Nor are we
sure that they are as generally used in the Scriptures
in speaking of this subjective work as are some others.
The " baptism of the Holy Ghost," being " filled with
the Spirit," "with all the fullness of God," "receiving
the gift of the Holy Ghost," the induement of "pow
er," having our hearts " purified by faith," " cleansed,"
etc., are scriptural terms and expressions that convey
the same idea without misleading or giving offense.
And the terms " sanctified," etc., are in the Bible applied
to those not wholly saved, and " perfect," " perfection,"
etc., seem ordinarily applied to the life that flows from
this internal cleansing, and to a standard which we
may gradually approach, but possibly never reach in
this world. The expression " perfect love " seems to
be an exception to the rule.
Does not the term " sanctification," as it is under-

concluding appeal. 393
stood by the general public, convey the idea of a sort
of super-terrestrial or ethereal kind of experience that
is rarely or never reached, and that is still more rarely
retained? Is it not regarded as an impracticable and
angelic attainment, which ordinary mortals cannot reach
and hold? We intend no criticism of those who use
this and similar terms, but simply offer a suggestion
to ministers who would be most useful and reach the
largest number without driving any one from them.
Let us present it as an experience that implies full as
surance, bringing freedom from condemnation, fear,
and doubt, together with the fullness of love, joy, and
peace, as well as the power to render a better service.
And should we not encourage the earnest, intelli
gent, and well-informed penitent to expect this bless
ing at or near conversion? A distinguished advocate
and exemplar of the Wesleyan theory of a second
work after regeneration once gave us the case of a
minister who he thinks was thoroughly saved at re
generation because he had previously been faithfully
instructed by his Spirit-filled parents. Bishop Taylor,
in his wonderful itinerary of Africa, first presents the
law as a means of bringing his hearers to Christ, and
then immediately preaches the baptism of the Holy
Ghost to cleanse and empower and establish them.
We heartily indorse the following from Bishop
Foster, in his Philosophy of Christian Experience:
Preach the great doctrine of holiness, not technically or disputa-
tiously, but in the spirit of love; not to repel, but to attract and
win. Preach it naturally, as you preach every other truth. Let it
live and breathe through all your teachings and in all your services
in due proportion and out of the heart of love. Avoid unholy holiness.
Encourage aspiration after a beautiful and blameless life. Let
your gospel so build men in truth and love, and all your serv-

394 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ices be so intoned with unction of sacredness, that hungry
souls will be fed, and that cravings after less nutritious food
will find no occasion. Deal gently with the weak and erring.
Aspire, yourselves, after greatest sacredness of character — the high
est soul experience. Set an example of meekness and modesty in
your own professions, and of true and sublime character in your de
votion to the work which has been committed to you.
He then addresses especially those who do not make
a profession of sanctification :
A word to those believers who do not make great profes
sions of attainments in grace. You profess to be Christians.
That itself is a great profession. It places you among the chil
dren of God. It brings you under the obligation of a righteous
and holy life. Recognize that fact. Especially beware of think
ing it a praiseworthy thing — a virtue — not to profess much. More
yet, beware of imagining that it lessens your obligations to a holy
heart and a holy life; rather lament the conscious deficiencies which
restrain you. Above all, do not allow yourselves to take an attitude
of hostility to high experience because you do not yourselves enjoy it,
or because of prejudice against some who seem immodest, and whose
lives, to your thinking, contradict their professions. Justify not your
delinquencies because of their unseemliness. Think of the noble ex
amples of the best saints. Be charitable and forbearing. Do not
permit the frailties of others to be a hindrance to you. Deal faith
fully with your own soul. Remember you are a disciple of
Christ; you represent him before men; you bear his name; no
man can stand for you; no man's delinquencies can excuse
you. Do not scandalize him by your unfaithfulness. If it is
modesty that restrains you, pity the forward ; if it is conscious
shortcomings, be not censorious of others, but be quick to
remedy your own faults. Remember your obligations; do not
forget your responsibility. See to it tliat your example is fault
less. Be not content with anything short of utmost salvation.
The good bishop addresses the following wise words
to those who make a profession of perfect love :
To begin with, remember there is no difference between
you and your brethren that marks an essential distinction.

CONCLUDING APPEAL.

395

You are brethren in the Lord — servants of the same Master,
participants of the same life, members of the same family,
journeying to the same heaven. Why should you fall out by
the way and vex one another? The difference is one of more
or less experience, not of kind. Have you more grace? have
you experienced more of the deep things of God? is your brotlier
less advanced? Then the greater reason that you should be gentle
and kind. You have been lifted into a greater experience ; to
you has been revealed more of the deep things of God; a
deeper life has come into your soul.
Is there not reason that this great experience should make
you an example of every grace ? and more especially of the grace of
humility and self -forgetfulness ? If God has filled you thus with
his wondrous love, ought it not to make your love more abound
ing? If you have tasted this grace, I know you feel so. . . .
You love holiness. The first advice I offer is, love it more
and more; still continue to aspire after its greater depths and heights;
you cannot be too holy; but do not make the mistake of imagining
that the profession of holiness is holiness, or is a means to its attain
ment, or a means to its continuance.1 Above all, avoid extrava
gance in the manner and terms of profession? This lias been, and
yet is, a source of great evil. There is no occasion for it. Tour
heart compels you to confess what God has done for you. That is
right, but you want to be wise in the manner of your confession, and
your life to correspond with it; otherwise, it becomes an offense and
IThis last statement doubtless has exceptions. For both reason and expe
rience indicate that if, from fear or shame or any other unworthy motive we
persist in refusing to testify where the glory of God may be promoted by such
testimony, we may expect to forfeit this blessing. This was John Fletcher's
teaching and experience.
2 Mr. Wesley gives some most wise and "wholesome advice on this same
point. He says: "Be particularly careful in speaking of yourselves. Ton may
not, indeed, deny the work of God, but speak of it, when you are called thereto,
in the most inoffensive manner possible. Avoid all magnificent, pompous words.
Indeed^oa need give it no general name, neither sanctification, perfection, the
second blessing, nor the having attained. Rather speak of the particulars
which God has -wrought for you. You may say, 'At such a time I felt a change
which I am not able to express ; and since that time I have not felt pride or anger
or unbelief nor anything but a fullness of love to God' And if any of you should
at any time fall from what you now are, if you should again feel pride or unbe
lief or any temper from which you are now delivered, do not deny, do not hide,
do not disguise it at all, at the peril of your soul." How important these ear
nest and wise words 1

396 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
does immense harm. Great mischief has come to the Church from
this source. If your experience is genuine, you would not do
harm — make not your godliness itself an offense. // will not
hurt you to be modest in speaking of yourself , to remember that you
are fallible — not to think of yourself more highly than you ought
to think; in honor to prefer others. Remember that self-dis
trust is not a vice but a virtue rather. Remember further tliat any
experience you may have had has not freed you from common infirmi
ties, and therefore the reason for modesty [very important]. . . .
That there are tendencies to over profession, separation, spirit
ual egotism, pride, antinomianism, a freeing from the common
law of duty, schism of the body of Christ, uncharitable judging
of others, setting up a censorship over the pulpit, self-assertion
and overweening confidence, a depreciation of the ordinary
means of grace, fanaticism, no one who is observant can doubt.
Every thoughtful Christian knows that these dangers are rife.
You may not be conscious of them in yourself, but you know
they exist. This ought to be sufficient to put you on your guard.
The following from the good bishop may well be
considered and heeded by ministers and others belong
ing to both of these classes :
There can be but one aim with us as Christians. That aim
must be that the whole Church shall be brought to the highest
possible completeness in Christ, that all the members of the
mystical body shall become vigorous and healthy, that the entire
Church should be penetrated and filled with the divine life to utmost
fullness. I am bold to say that this is the longing desire and
aim of every regenerate soul. Nothing is more certain than
that things which tend to strife and contention and schism must
hinder that aim. Can we doubt, with all the facts before us,
that great evil has arisen from the spirit of separation that has
been engendered and is assiduously cultivated among us? Is
it to edification that a guild should be established on the pro
fession of special attainments in grace? Does it improve the
quality and usefulness of the class so distinguishing itself?
Does experience prove that it is helpful to the body? Is it au
thorized by the teachings and spirit of the Master himself. It
has happened time and again: does the history of the past

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 397
warrant the belief that it is of God ? Is there not a better way ?
Reflect. [Whether or not we fully agree with the good bishop,
should we not seriously consider this ?]
• *
We close these extracts from Bishop Foster with
the following wise words addressed more particularly
to Methodists professing this " higher experience," but
appropriate to all classes of our people. He says :
Brothers, God has taken us into a great fellowship, even the
fellowship of himself; he has made us partakers of the divine
nature; has given to us the Spirit of his Son, the indwelling of
the Holy Ghost; has raised us to sonship and heirship; has set
us to be the lights of the world ; to be coworkers with him in
the salvation of our fellow-men, the custodians and the dis
pensers of his eternal truth, and the witnesses of his grace to pres
ent and complete salvation from sin. This is our high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. We expect in a brief period to be done
with this earthly life, and are confidently hoping to be wel
comed into heaven. In view of these things, what manner of
persons ought we to be? Surely we are called unto holiness.
Let us not quibble and quarrel about names. The great thing is to
live as children of light. . . .
God has intrusted us with a great trust: the blessed doc
trine of Christian holiness. The trust puts us under peculiar
responsibilities. Our fellow-Christians of other communions
have given no such hostages as we have. They are more mod
est in their professions. It is for us to prove that we are not
rash, and by the beauty of our lives to furnish incentives to the
higher experience which we profess. It is for all who pro
fess the name of the Lord Jesus to depart from all iniquity,
and to show themselves pure and spotless.
We feel like giving here the words of a distinguished
minister who was not a Methodist, the Rev. Dr. Dale,
of England. In a sermon preached before the Wes
leyan Conference in 1879, he said :
If Methodism had carried out its doctrine of entire sanctifi
cation in public, as well as in private life, it -would have effected
the most prof ound ethical revolution modern history has known.

398 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
Anent what Bishop Foster says in the last para
graph quoted from him, it may not be amiss to add the
following from a private letter written the author by a
well-known Congregational minister and author :
We Congregationalists must grope our way into the great
truth with no denominational teaching or literature to help us.
But it is the great birthright and inheritance of Methodists.
We have quoted thus largely from this profound
philosopher, learned divine, and eminent saint because,
from his long experience, his high position, and his
wide observation, he is far better fitted for giving
advice to all classes than we are ; and because his
experience and teaching of this " higher grace " for
nearly half a century, and his well-known catholic
and charitable spirit, and especially his conservative
views on this subject, fully entitle him to a patient and
respectful hearing by those on both sides of this per
plexing question. Let us carefully weigh his weighty
words. It is not improper for us to add that Bishop Foster
wrote the above some eight years ago, and that part of
his advice was intended to meet conditions supposed to
be then existing in his own Church. To what extent
these conditions exist in our Southland we are not
fully prepared to say. That there is, however, more
or less of strife, contention, and a tendency to separa
tion and schism in some sections of our Church is well
known. Nor would we undertake to fix on any one class
the sole responsibility for this state of things. We be
lieve, however, that both sides are to a greater or less
extent to blame. We believe there have been tenden
cies toward extremes in both directions. We are per
suaded that there have been improper things said and

CONCLUDING APPEAL.

399

done by good men of all opinions touching this vexed
question. Possibly there have been some few extremists
whose tendencies have been toward uncharitableness,
" over profession," and fanaticism. And, without at
tempting to locate the responsibility for a state of
things which all must greatly deplore, let us address
ourselves to the task of correcting these evils. We
trust that an appeal for peace and toleration may not
come amiss from one who has conscientiously been on
both sides of this controversy, and who would most
probably be on the other side to-day had he not tested
the matter in his own experience.
May not those of us who claim to be conservative
have contributed more toward bringing about this un
fortunate state of things than we suppose or intended ?
Our silence in the pulpit on this subject may have had
something to do with it. In an address delivered to a
class of young ministers, Bishop Foss recently said :
Silence for six months together on what the Church be
lieves and teaches on the subject of perfect love is just paving
the way for irresponsible teachers to come forward and take
the work out of our hands. . . . Don't let people listen to
you for six months, and then have to ask what you mean upon
these questions. Having taken your ordination vows, preach
perfect love as the Bible puts it, and it won't hurt much if put
exactly as John Wesley teaches it.
As one who has unfeigned love and tender charity
for all classes, may we not plead for the forbearance
and charity which the great apostle, who so radically
changed his own views, urged on all Christians? Had
we the ear and confidence of the " second-blessing "
people, and of all those who conscientiously believe
differently from them, we would most earnestly and

400 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
lovingly say : " ' Let your moderation ' — your forbear
ance — 'be known' and extended 'to all men.'" O
my brethren ! let us all try to live in and breathe the
atmosphere of the thirteenth of First Corinthians, and
shed forth the sweet and fragrant aroma of a pure,
loving, and charitable life. Let us say with our great
founder, "If thy heart be right with my heart, give
me thine hand," no matter how far apart our heads
may be. God heal the wounds of our bleeding Metho
dism and help us to live in the unity of the Spirit and in
the bonds of peace and love I1 Can we not all stand on
a common platform made of the following material
taken from Dr. Mudge's Growth in Holiness? He
says :
What is the truth, what the error, concerning the second-
blessing theory of entire sanctification as commonly taught?
We are not of those who deem it altogether erroneous or alto
gether correct. And the errors spring, we imagine, more
from a careless, unintelligent, wholly heterogeneous use of
terms than from any other source. We wholly agree with the
good brethren who are leading in this movement, that the great mass
of the members of our Churches are in a very unsatisfactory condition,
and need a further work of purification wrought upon their hearts;
that it is their privilege and duty to be living, day by day, a life
without conscious condemnation and with the fullness of love govern
ing all tlieir words and actions.
We further agree that in order for them to reach this most de
sirable state, a crisis must in most cases be brought on, very similar
to what they went through at conversion. In other words, as they
"received Christ Jesus the Lord, so must they walk with him."
They must repent of their sins, for sins they have certainly been
committing in living so far below their acknowledged privilege and
1 We heartily recommend to every reader of this volume a small and cheap
book, entitled T-wo Epistles, by the Rev. W. P. Andrews. It is on this line,
and breathes the spirit of the Master. It can be had at our Publishing House
for twenty cents,

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 4OI
neglecting so many of tlieir admitted duties. They must make a
complete confession of everything they know. It is true they
did this when their sins were first pardoned; but they are in a
position now to do it much more thoroughly and effectually.
They know a great deal more than they did then; the daily
discipline of life has shown them their weaknesses [their need
of a. baptism of power]; the heights and depths, the lengths
and breadths of the law of God have become much more fully
revealed to them ; light from a hundred sources has been thrown
upon the depravities of their heart. So their consecration now can
be a great deal more detailed and complete. The territory -was, in a
sense, all made over to God originally; but it has now been better
explored, its resources are more largely known, and hence a renewed
transference of the title deeds has much more significance.
This deeper consecration being thus more carefully and
solemnly made, it only remains, as in the beginning, to believe that
God accepts that -which is given, receives the penitent offerer, who is
at the same time the offering, into a new and tenderer relation, and
fully empowers him for all the service to which the eager suppliant
will certainly be called. Thus resting in this comfortable assurance,
all his anxieties, which were inseparable from a partial consecration
and an imperfect faith, being at an end, he has perfect peace, abid
ing joy, and meetness for ttie Master's use. This will be a momen
tous era in his life, an epoch from which he will very naturally
date as being almost a fresh conversion. It will be a new start, a
strong departure, which will put an end for awhile at least [why
not permanently?] to the old zigzaggery, the perpetual ups and
downs, which have been so humiliating or, at any rate, so disgrace
ful to himself and so painful to his Lord. In the promotion of such
new departures as this, and in the insistence that nothing short of
this can be considered a normal Christian life, we think a good work
is being done.
The reference is to the work that is being done by the
" holiness " or " second-blessing " people. And, taken
in connection with Dr. Mudge's remarkable experience,
elsewhere given and explained in this volume, this plat
form would seem to be broad enough for any sober-
minded " second-blessing " man to stand on. He can do
26

402 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
so without surrendering his convictions as to the cause
of the great need of this second " crisis " or " epoch " in
the believer's history and experience. He may believe
that it is because of a partial work at conversion, while
Dr. Mudge and others may believe that it is because of
backsliding. And the " perfect peace and abiding joy"
which the Doctor says result from this crisis is substan
tially what we contend for. And will not our people
who agree with Drs. Mudge and Boland come to this
platform and join us in the good work necessary to
bring about this crisis and its glorious results in the
experience and lives of all our people ?
It is a most grave and acute " condition," and not a
harmless " theory," that confronts us and demands our
earnest attention. The question with the practical di
vine is not how sin and its fearful train of evils came
into the world, but how can we most speedily and ef
fectively get them out of it. It is even so, or ought to
be, with good and earnest men of all schools of thought
as to this burning question of healing the disease, per
fecting the love, and bringing to its maximum of
strength and usefulness a weak, worldly, and compar
atively inefficient Church. May God give us light and
wisdom that we may see what Israel needs, and then
give us so much of the meek and lowly and loving
spirit of the Master that we will, in a loyal and un
selfish spirit, do what will please him and save men !
2. We would appeal to the presidents and faculties
of our colleges and universities, especially to our theo
logical professors. We would most heartily commend
to them the epignosis — the "certain knowledge" of
God, or the " full assurance of faith " — that comes with
this wonderful baptism, as the infallible remedy for

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 403
all doubt and unbelief. This was notably the case with
that rare scholar and saint, Wilbur Fisk. And it will
work a perfect cure for scientific skepticism in case of
themselves and their pupils. We most heartily com
mend it, too, to all theological students as the source of
their greatest power in the ministry. Without it, no
matter how superior their intellectual equipment, they
will be comparatively weak and inefficient.
The well-known Professor Tholuck has been called
" The Spiritual Primate of the Established Church of
Germany." We are told that " to his influence, more than
to any other cause, must be assigned the reintroduction
into the German universities, and into the German mind,
of the principles and spirit of the evangelical faith." The
following from a writer in the New York Christian Ad
vocate, published a few years ago, gives the secret of his
wonderful success in this most important work :
It was not simply in the lecture room, the pulpit, and the
printed page that he won victories for the Master. Personal
intercourse with the student was his marked characteristic.
His house was the home of the undergraduates. He was not
satisfied unless some were at his table. But how came he to
have such a passion for the souls of the young men that he
was called the " Student Professor," the " soul-loving Profess
or Tholuck"? How came he to have a spirit so rare? He
began his manhood as an unbeliever, and wrote his oration on
leaving the gymnasium [high school] on " The Superiority of
Mohammedanism over Christianity." Under the influence of
Neander he was converted. He afterwards received what he
called " a baptism of fire " (the baptism with the Holy Ghost).
When he had been a professor fifty years, he said: "Nothing
fills me with more adoring wonder than to think how the ' Spirit
of Fire' has ever been with me since I received the baptism of
fire from above."
When he went to the University of Halle, only five out of
nine hundred students believed in the divinity of Christ. They

404 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
had been converted by the influence of a Christian craftsman,
and they were called by the other students " the idiotic ortho
dox." Hegel, who had imbibed some Christian principles,
gave Tholuck this parting charge: "Deal a deathblow to the
bold rationalism prevalent at Halle." It was a mighty task, as
the whole faculty was against him, and, with the whole body of
the students, had petitioned against his appointment at Halle.
But he had earnestly prayed to be sent there, and went with
the " baptism of fire " upon him. God enabled him by his sermons
and personal influence to revolutionize the university, to convert the
faculty to his side, and lead thousands of students to Christ, and be
come a mighty power in the spiritual life of Germany. . . .
It was his custom to walk for his health two hours a day,
and he would select a student to walk with him and talk
about Christ. A great number of the pupils date their new life
from these never-to-be-forgotten walks with the ardent, holy
professor. One student was a Jew — wild, unruly, dissipated.
Tholuck could only see him before six in the morning. He
often visited him at that hour and in prison. One day he re
ceived a note from the wild student with these words: "Tho
luck is sighing; Tholuck is praying; but I am drinking like
a brute." But that very student became a noted preacher of
the gospel.
This writer then gives more fully the source of this
remarkable power and success in the following words :
The source of this wonderful devotion and passion for the
souls of his students was given by Professor Tholuck himself
at the jubilee in Halle, held in his honor in the celebration of
the fiftieth year of his immortal life-work. Multitudes came
together from all parts of the land, and congratulations came
from every class, including the emperor on the throne. On
this occasion this world-honored teacher made this memorable
declaration: "What a number of my students have risen up
who can say with myself, ' I have but one passion, and that is
Christ, and Christ alone.' Such work can only be where the
Spirit of fire is a beam of a divine influence from God. All my
success has been owing to the baptism of fire (Feuergcist),
which I received at the very commencement of my career, and
to the principle of love that seeks and follows."

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 405
What a marvelous work was wrought by this one
consecrated professor, who was not a man of towering
intellect or transcendent genius, but who, under the in
fluence of this " baptism of fire," became the channel
through which " the power of God and the wisdom of
God" changed the current of religious thought in a
great university and a mighty empire, probably reach
ing hundreds of professors, thousands of students, and
indirectly millions of the people. Oh that we had a
man of like spirit and power in every professor's chair,
State and Church, in this broad land of ours !
Especially do we need such in our theological semi
naries — the " schools of the prophets." Dr. Mahan,
many years ago, in writing of this matter and in refer
ring to Professor Tholuck, used the following burning
words :
Had I the ears of the professors in our theological semina
ries, I would say to them : " What God most desires in you as
the immutable condition of the discharge of your high func
tions as the teachers of his truth, what is indispensable to the
moral and spiritual culture of your pupils, and what the im
mortal well-being of the Church and the world imperiously
requires of you, is the personal reception on your part of this bap
tism of fire."
He says again :
A theological seminary, surely, should be, and may be,
"holy ground," "the house of God," and a "gate of heaven."
No man, however learned, is at all qualified to teach God's
truth in it who is not " full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." A
teacher of a class of candidates for the ministry, who is not thus
filled with the Spirit, and does not so teach that the faith of his
pupils shall stand, " not in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God," is doing more than any other individual can do to
send men who are " not spiritual but carnal " into the sacred
office.

406 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
President Finney made the same complaint. He says :
It is painful to observe the constant tendency to substitute
culture for this Holy Spirit power, or human learning and elo
quence in place of this divine induement. I fear this tendency
is increasing in the Church. The churches are calling for men
of great learning and eloquence instead of men who are deeply
baptized with the Holy Ghost. The seminaries of learning
are much in fault in this thing. They do not lay half stress enough
upon the possession of this induement as an essential qualification for
usefulness in the world. The manifest possession of this induement
of power should be considered an indispensable qualification for a
professor in college or in a theological seminary. A theological pro
fessor who does not believe in this induement of power, and who does
not possess it in a manifold degree, cannot fail to be a stumbling-
block to his students. If he does not speak of it as altogether indis
pensable, and urge it upon them as the most important of all qualifi
cations for the ministry, his teaching and his influence will be vitally
defective. Another most earnest Congregational minister and
author has recently had this to say to the theological
professors of his Church :
Multitudes of them [former students], after years of experi
ence in the ministry, look back with keen sorrow, not to say
disgust, upon the impracticable training which they received
at your hands, from the evil effects of which many of them
never recover. As for myself, I compress all my complaints
into this one charge : You did not show yourself to be baptized
with the Holy Spirit, and show us how to receive the blesshig, and,
like the apostle Paul, with all the power of your beings, urge us to
be possessors of it. Oh that, like Tholuck, the " Spirit of fire "
were ever upon you all, and that, like him, you led your stu
dents to have but one passion, and that a passion for Christ
and Christ alone !
He says elsewhere :
That element of success was not so much as mentioned in
the classroom during my three years' course in one of the best
institutions of the land.

CONCLUDING APP3AL. 407
And he points and enforces his exhortation and ap
peal with the fact that under the ministry of men
trained in such seminaries there had for four successive
years been over thirteen hundred Congregational
churches that did not report a single accession on
profess sion of faith, and that in 1896 the number was
fourteen hundred and eighty-three. He also quotes
Mr. Moody and others as saying " that there were
over three thousand churches in the Congregational
and Presbyterian bodies of this country that did not
report a single member added by profession of faith "
in 1895.
Is it any wonder, then, that two ministers, graduates
of leading universities and equally prominent theolog
ical seminaries, should have recently said :
If we were to start in the ministry again, knowing what we now
know of the essentials to success, we would rather attend Moody's
Institute in Chicago one year, and learn our English Bible and get
baptized with the Holy Spirit, than to have our seminary course re
peated. Do not these facts loudly and eloquently appeal to
college professors and theological instructors of all our
Churches in all sections of our land ? We commend to
those of our own Church the example of the cultured
and seraphic Fletcher when he was president of Lady
Huntingdon's college. The Rev. Joseph Benson, the
well-known commentator, in giving an account of his
visit to Trevecca, says :
Here it was that I saw — what shall I say — an angel in hu
man flesh? I should not far exceed the truth if I said so.
Prayer, praise, love, and zeal — all ardent, elevated above what
one would think attainable in this state of frailty — were the
elements in which he continually lived. Languages, arts,
sciences, grammar, rhetoric, logic, even divinity itself, as it

4°8 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
is called, were all laid aside when he appeared in the school
room among the students. And they seldom hearkened long
before they were all in tears, and every heart caught fire from
the flame that burned in his soul.
The historian says :
Closing these addresses, Fletcher would say: "As many of
you as are athirst for the fullness of the Spirit of God, follow
me into my room." Two or three hours were spent there in
such prevailing prayer as seemed to bring heaven down to
earth. Oh for more Tholucks and Fletchers in our colleges
and " schools of the prophets " !
3. We appeal to the laity of all our Churches. As
we have seen, this theory and experience of the bap
tism of the Holy Ghost are not confined to any de
nomination. On the contrary, cultured men and wom
en of all the leading Protestant Churches and some
saintly Catholics have embraced this theory and found
this experience. Their teaching and testimony have
been given in this volume — those of Catholics, Lu
therans, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Presbyte
rians, Baptists, Quakers, and others. We appeal to the
members of all these Churches to weigh the testimony
of those of their communions who have studied this
question and tested its truth by experiment.
We beg you to try this blessed way of peace and
rest and brightness for yourselves. Experiment in
this blessed science of full salvation, and " taste " and
" see " for yourselves that God is abundantly " gra
cious," and fills his children with all his fullness of
love and power. You want to be happy and Useful.
God calls you to a life of joyous fruitfulness. Jesus
has made provision for your heart to be full of joy

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 409
and your life full of fruit. Do not slight this provision.
With this baptism of the Spirit comes this perfect peace,
and abundant power to work for Christ and souls.
Discard all technical terms, and seek by consecration
and faith this fullness of love and this induement of
power. Pray every day the prayer of Paul found in
Ephesians iii. 14-20, until the answer comes, remem
bering the assurance of complete success, given in the
twentieth verse — success through or " according to the
power that worketh in us."
You want to be useful as well as happy, and doubt
less feel that you fall far below the measure of God's
requirement. You need this baptism of love and
power to that end. As one has well said :
This Spirit baptism will not make all believers evangelists;
it would make all influential witnesses for Christ in the field
where God has called each to live and work. It would anoint
the mother with power to train her children for the service of
God. It would anoint the Sabbath-school teacher with power
to teach his or her class to love Jesus. It would enable the
superintendent to be a mighty man of God in the Sabbath
school, and it would make the deacon or the leader of the En
deavor Society or the Epworth League a wonder of efficiency
in service. The pastor baptized with this Spirit would preach
with a new and unknown power. The Church universal,
baptized with the Spirit, would be resistless in its influence,
and terrible in the march of its conquests " as an army with
banners." This baptism also brings light and peace and power
into social and business circles, making life's burdens
lighter, its friction smaller, its joys sweeter, and its hopes
brighter. It goes with the wife and mother into the
cares, responsibilities, and perplexities of domestic life,
making home more attractive and its duties less irksome.
It accompanies the student to his schoolroom, mak-

410 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
ing his tasks easier. It goes with the husband and
father into the field, the workshop, the countingroom,
the business office, and the marts of trade, keeping
him tranquil and serene amid these scenes of toil and
conflict and burden-bearing. In a word, it gives a new
and brighter phase to life, bringing perennial peace,
perpetual sunshine, and increased faithfulness. May
all our readers seek it !
4. A word to our old parishioners. During the past
forty years God has permitted us to preach and other
wise minister to many thousands of his people. We
are painfully conscious of the comparative inefficiency
and fruitlessness of that service. It was with great
timidity and shrinking that we entered upon this work.
During the first few weeks of our ministry, we felt
that we would greatly prefer to go where we would
never see the face of man again than to continue in this
responsible and difficult work. But, trusting in God,
we pressed on with some measure of success and en
couragement, feeling more than once that we would
cheerfully give our life in order to secure the prosperi
ty of the Church and the salvation of the congregation
we were serving. We were conscientious, and strove
to be faithful and useful, and had more or less of joy in
God's service and of success in our ministry. But, be
cause of a defective faith and a mixed experience, we
feel that the fruits of that ministry have fallen far
short of the measure they ought to have reached. For
this lack of service and the many mistakes which have
marked our ministry, though greatly deplored, we feel
that we have the divine forgiveness, and now crave
your pardon. You were kind to us beyond our merits,
and deserved a better service at our hands.

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 4II
Before- we entered the ministry, we became greatly
interested in this matter of sanctification. We read
much on the subject and earnestly sought the blessing.
But some of our later reading unsettled our views,
which had been strictly Wesleyan. In the course of
our ministry we have at different times preached to
some of you on both sides of this question. We were
honest but mistaken in this. Later on we preached the
Wesleyan doctrine again — we might say somewhat
tentatively, hypothetically, and hesitatingly. Further
reading and our profound sense of need — need of a
more thorough work in our own soul—brought us to
fully accept again the theory of our early ministry.
Some very gracious experiences, while stationed in
Newbern, in 1878, and while on the Greensboro Dis
trict, in 1893, tended to bring us back to that theory.
In June, 1896, having reached a point where we felt
that we must have something better — feeling, indeed,
at times, that we would prefer death to living at the
old " poor dying rate," carrying with us an " aching
void within," a keen sense of weakness and want — we
deliberately and most earnestly sought this baptism un
til God came and took possession of our poor hungry
heart. It was in the town of Reidsville, N. C, during
a meeting held there by that most earnest and godly
man, James E. Schoolfield. Since that time until the
present, except for a short period in the fall of that
year, there has been freedom from fear and doubt and
condemnation, and we believe, from the feeling of evil
tempers, as well as their outward expression, while un
mixed love and peace have certainly seemed to rule in
our heart. And observing men who have waited on
our ministry since that time say that there has been

412 SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION.
decided increase in the spirituality and power of our
preaching. The lapse referred to above we think came from
brooding over real and imaginary wrongs, done us by
another, when Satan took advantage of us and tempo
rarily triumphed. But since then our peace and rest
have been undisturbed. Our experience has been in
substantial harmony with that of those who testify
through this volume — Christ dwelling within and keep
ing us from evil. We have since then doubtless made
many mistakes, and others may have misinterpreted
our motives and criticized our words and actions, but
the " testimony of our conscience " is that we have, by
the grace of God, lived " in simplicity and godly sin
cerity " — without, we trust, any feeling, word, or deed
that was inconsistent with love.
Our message to you now is one of love and of ear
nest exhortation. We beg you to seek at once that
which will prove the joy and comfort of your hearts
and the strength and stay of your lives. Were these
our dying words to you, we would say : Surrender
your will and consecrate your all to Jesus now, and
claim " the promise of the Father " — " the gift of the
Holy Ghost " — to fill and thrill and keep you. Do not
listen to any theorizing about the matter, but say,
Lord Jesus, thou knowest what I need — give it to me
now. You need not seek it as " sanctification " or the
" second blessing " if you are prejudiced against these
terms. Simply ask to be " filled with the Holy Ghost "
and with " all the fullness of God." No caviler who
believes in the Bible can deny you the right to claim
that blessing, and that is all you need. That is the
way in which we proceeded.

CONCLUDING APPEAL. 413
Do not mind it if some one says that you received
all that at conversion. Just tell him that if you did
you have lost it, and need it again; that you want
something that will abide und enable you to " rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything
give thanks." You know that neither your conversion
nor any subsequent baptism, unless you have received
" the baptism with the Holy Ghost," has enabled you
to do this for any considerable length of time. Even
Dr. Mudge, as we have seen, says that the great mass
of Church members, no matter what they received at
conversion, need to pass through such a "crisis" and
receive very much such a blessing as is implied in this
ethical baptism or fullness of the Spirit.
If you want help in your seeking, read Dr. Keen's
Pentecostal Papers, McNeil's Spirit-Filled Life, Mac-
Donald's Saved to the Uttermost, The Christian's Se
cret of a Happy Life, etc. They cost very little. If
you do not know where to get them, write us and we
will secure them for you. Ask God to help you see
your need and his rich provision for supplying that
need, and then appropriate that provision. Ask him
to " make you willing to be made willing " to become
wholly his.
And now, dear people, once under our care, and
still in our heart, and all other readers of this humble
volume, may the "very God of peace himself sanc
tify you wholly ; and we pray God your whole spirit,
and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," when we hope to
meet you in the clouds, and " ever be with you and
the Lord ! "

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