Entire Sanctification
By Adam Clarke

      ADAM CLARKE: HOLINESS SAINT AND SCHOLAR

       The name of Adam Clarke is synonymous with biblical scholarship and
      rightly so. His Commentary and Critical Notes on the entire Bible was
      completed in 1826 and it represented more than 30 years of intense
      research and writing. Other scholars have written commentaries on the
      whole Bible, but Clarke's is a thesaurus of biblical, oriental,
      philosophical, and classical learning unequaled by any other. When it
      is recalled that all this work was done while Clarke was a busy,
      itinerant Wesleyan preacher who never had an hour's secretarial help
      in his life, it, together with all his other publications, indicates
      a prodigious literary achievement.
       Clarke was a Wesleyan scholar and an ardent, convinced expositor
      of scriptural holiness. No appreciation of the holiness heritage can
      ignore Adam Clarke. Following the Wesley brothers and John Fletcher,
      Clarke's is the next name in that illustrious line of holiness preachers
      and scholars from John Wesley to the present. It is altogether fitting
      that we should highlight Adam Clarke's contribution to the theology
      of scriptural holiness. Before looking at his teaching in some detail,
      a brief sketch of his life and work is necessary.
       Adam Clarke was born in the county of Londonderry, North Ireland,
      in 1760 and was converted in 1779 through hearing a Methodist preacher.
      Three years later he left home to attend Wesley's school in Kingswood,
      Bristol, England. Five weeks later he was appointed to his first
      preaching circuit and for the next 50 years he was a self-taught
      Wesleyan preacher who, among other academic accomplishments, made
      himself master of at least 10 languages, ancient and modern.
       He served on 24 Methodist circuits in England and Ireland, worked
      for 3 years in the Channel Islands, was three times president of the
      English Methodist Conference and four times president of the Irish
      Methodist Conference. He devoted hundreds of working hours to the newly
      founded British and Foreign Bible Society and 10 years of painstaking
      editing and collating of state papers. This latter work was a colossal
      undertaking. It required the most exact examination, deciphering, and
      classification of British State Papers from 1131 to 1666. The research
      was carried on in 14 different locations, including the Tower of London,
      London's Westminster Archives, and Cambridge University Library. In
      1808 the University of Aberdeen conferred on Adam Clarke the honorary
      degree of LL.D., the university's highest academic honor.
       As well as his Commentary, Clarke's publications ran to 22 volumes,
      including his Memorials of the Wesley Family, Reflections on the Being
      and Attributes of God, The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, 4 volumes
      of sermons, 3 volumes of miscellanea titled Detached Pieces, a volume
      on Christian Missions, A Concise View of the Succession of Sacred
      Literature, and A Bibliographical Dictionary. Clarke's literary output
      was phenomenal when it is recalled that he was a full-time itinerant
      preacher.
       A glance at the record of the 24 Methodist circuits he served
      between 1782 and 1832 shows that his longest domicile in one place was
      four years, yet his moving from place to place approximately every two
      years does not seem to have interfered with his reading, writing, and
      publication. He was elected a member of six of the most learned
      societies of his day, including the Antiquarian Society, the Royal
      Asiatic Society, and the Royal Irish Academy. In spite of all the
      distinctions given to him, Clarke remained a loyal Wesleyan preacher
      and a devout, humble believer. Learning I love," he once wrote, "learned
      men I prize; with the company of the great and the good I am often
      delighted. But infinitely above all these and all other possible
      enjoyments, I glory in Christ--in me living and reigning and fitting
      me for His heaven."
       Clarke was a preacher of rare power and gifts and, particularly in
      his latter years, he preached to crowded churches. To his pulpit
      ministry he brought all the warmth of his Celtic upbringing and all
      the vast resources of his encyclopaedic learning. Essentially a textual
      preacher, he made little formal preparation before he entered the
      pulpit--a method that we lesser mortals should not emulate! "I cannot
      make a sermon before I go into the pulpit," he confessed to his friend,
      Robert Carr Brackenbury, "therefore, I am obliged to hang upon the
      arm and the wisdom of the Lord. I read a great deal, write very little,
      but strive to study." "I ... strive to study"--that was the secret of
      Clarke's success both as a preacher and a writer.
       A veritable Briareus in his many accomplishments, he explored every
      available avenue of knowledge, especially the linguistic, the scientific,
      and the historical. Advising a young Methodist preacher about his
      studies, Clarke averred: "A Methodist preacher should know everything.
      Partial knowledge on any branch of science or business is better than
      total ignorance.... The old adage of 'Too many irons in the fire'
      contains an abominable lie. You cannot have too many--poker, tongs,
      and all, keep them all going." It was advice he followed himself before
      giving it to others. Visiting Liverpool in the north of England in
      1832, he contracted the deadly Asiatic cholera and died from it at his
      London home on August 26.
       Adam Clarke was a holiness preacher and scholar. He was enthusiastically
      committed to Methodist doctrine and experience and particularly to Wesley's
      understanding of Christian perfection. In a sermon preached from Phil. 1:27-28
      titled "Apostolic Preacher," he explained Christian holiness:
       "The whole design of God was to restore man to his image, and raise
      him from the ruins of his fall; in a word, to make him perfect; to blot
      out all his sins, purify his soul, and fill him with all holiness, so
      that no unholy temper, evil desire, or impure affection or passion
      shall either lodge or have any being within him. This and this only
      is true religion, or Christian perfection; and a less salvation than
      this would be dishonourable to the sacrifice of Christ and the operation
      of the Holy Ghost.... Call it by what name we please, it must imply
      the pardon of all transgression and the removal of the whole body of
      sin and death.... This, then, is what I plead for, pray for, and heartily
      recommend to all true believers, under the name of Christian perfection."
       Preaching on Eph. 3:14-21 Clarke interpreted the phrase "filled with
      all the fulness of God" as descriptive of the experience of full
      salvation. "To be filled with God is a great thing, to be filled with
      the fulness of God is still greater; to be filled with all the fulness
      of God is greatest of all. It is . . . to have the heart emptied of,
      and cleansed from, all sin and defilement, and filled with humility
      meekness, gentleness, goodness . . . and love to Go and man."
       Clarke knew that some Christians were opposed to the Wesleyan
      doctrine of entire sanctification because they think no man can be
      fully saved from sin in this life.... They hold out death as the
      complete deliver from all corruption and the final destroyer of sin
      as if were revealed in every page of the Bible! Whereas there is not
      one passage in the sacred volume that says any such thing! Were this
      true, then death, far from being the last enemy, would be the last and
      best friend, and the greatest of all deliverers.... It is the blood
      of Jesus alone that cleanseth from all unrighteousness."
       Another familiar argument against Christian perfection was the
      assertion that indwelling sin humbles believers and keeps them penitent.
      Clarke replied: "Pride is of the essence of sin . . . and the root
      whence all moral obliquity flows. How then can pride humble us? . . .
      The heart from which it [pride] is cast out has the humility, meekness
      and gentleness of Christ implanted in its stead."
       To the further argument that a Christian is surely humbled by the
      sense of indwelling sin, Clarke replied: "I grant that they who see
      and feel and deplore their indwelling sin, are humbled. But is it the
      sin that humbles? No. It is the grace of God that shows and condemns
      the sin that humbles us.... We are never humbled under a sense of
      indwelling sin till the Spirit of God drags it to the light and shows
      us not only its horrid deformity, but its hostility to God; and He
      manifests it that He may take it away."
       Preaching some 30 years after Wesley died, Clarke saw this glorious
      doctrine exemplified by a host of professing Methodists. Replying to
      the objection that this teaching produced self-righteousness in its
      professors, Clarke testified: "No person that acts so has ever received
      this grace. He is either a hypocrite or a self-deceiver. Those who
      have received it . . . love God with all their heart, they love even
      their enemies.... In the splendor of God's holiness they feel themselves
      absorbed.... It has been no small mercy to me that in the course of
      my religious life, I have met with many persons who professed that the
      blood of Christ had saved them from all sin, and whose profession was
      maintained by an immaculate life; but I never knew one of them that
      was not of the spirit above described. They were men of the strongest
      faith, the purest love, the holiest affections, the most obedient lives
      and the most useful in society."
       Adam Clarke wrote and preached and exegeted the doctrine of entire
      sanctification with all his command of scripture, linguistic expertise,
      and wide theological reading, but there is one characteristic of his
      presentation that deserves more attention. He not only believed it was
      a scriptural doctrine and that it was theologically sound--he enforced
      it and explained it and defended it with all the passion of an evangelist.
      Whenever he touched the subject, he had as his dominant concern not
      only that Christians would believe it and be persuaded of its veracity,
      but that they might personally claim the experience, enter into it,
      live it, enjoy it, and testify to it.
       "If men would but spend as much time in fervently calling upon God
      (i.e. to fully sanctify them) as they spend in decrying this doctrine,
      what a glorious state of the church should we soon witness! . . . This
      moment we may be emptied of sin, filled with holiness and become truly
      happy.... The perfection of the gospel system is not that it makes
      allowance for sin, but that it makes an atonement for it, not that it
      tolerates sin, but that it destroys it.... Let all those who retain
      the apostolic doctrine . . . press every believer to go on to perfection,
      and expect to be saved, while here below, into the fulness of the
      blessing of the Gospel of Jesus.... Art thou weary of that carnal mind
      which is enmity to God? Canst thou be happy whilst thou art unholy?
      Arise, then, and be baptized with a greater effusion of the Holy Ghost....
      Reader, it is the birthright of every child of God to be cleansed from
      all sin, to keep himself unspotted from the world, and so to live as
      never more to offend his Maker. All things are possible to him that
      believeth, because all things are possible to the infinitely meritorious
      blood and energetic Spirit of the Lord Jesus."
       It is surely not out of place to note that the doctrine that Adam
      Clarke advocated so fervently found rich expression in his own life.
      Henry Moore, close confidant of both John Wesley and Adam Clarke, said
      of the latter: "Our Connection, I believe, never knew a more blameless
      life than that of Dr. Clarke.''
       In view of Clarke's clear and enthusiastic exposition of Christian
      perfection, it is not a little surprising that the most serious criticism
      of his teaching has come from the "holiness movement."
      Clarke emphasized almost exclusively the instantaneous phase of
      sanctification and quite neglected the growth phase. "In no part of
      the scriptures are we directed to seek holiness gradatim. We are to
      come to God as well for an instantaneous and complete purification
      from all sin as for an instantaneous pardon. Neither the gradatim
      pardon or the seriatim purification exists in the Bible."
       Clarke's teaching is further described as throwing "off center"
      John Wesley's "theological balance." But this criticism is quite
      misleading. It quotes only one brief passage from the chapter titled
      "Entire Sanctification" in Samuel Dunn's anthology of Clarke's teaching,
      titled Christian Theology. That chapter is a compilation from a number
      of Clarke's writings on Christian holiness, and the full text of the
      originals needs to be studied before such a sweeping judgment is made
      on three sentences. In the given extract Clarke is speaking exclusively
      of entering into the blessing, a grace as instantaneous as justification.
      Wesley taught this identical truth and to say that Clarke's reiteration
      of it jeopardized the Wesleyan "theological balance" is quite wide of
      the mark. And why not quote the very next sentence from Clarke? "It
      is when the soul is purified from all sin that it can properly grow
      in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.'' And why
      ignore an earlier passage? "He who continues to believe, love and obey
      will grow in grace and continually increase in the knowledge of Jesus
      Christ. The life of a Christian is a growth.''
       Clarke's teaching on entire sanctification is thoroughly Wesleyan;
      in fact Clarke more nearly follows John Wesley here than any of his
      contemporary, and later, Methodist theologians--John Fletcher, Richard
      Watson, W. B. Pope, etc.. Clarke argues, as Wesley did, that in a
      moment the believer's heart may be cleansed from all sin and filled
      with God's fullness. Following this crisis of grace there is continuous
      growth in the entirely sanctified life. This is what authentic Wesleyanism
      has always taught. Those who want to criticize Clarke here really must
      go back to the original full text of his writings rather than passing
      premature judgment on isolated extracts. Far from throwing Wesley's
      teaching "off center," Clarke reinforced, reemphasized, and revitalized
      Wesley's "grand depositum"--and for that reason, and others, Adam
      Clarke inspires holiness preachers today.

      Source: "The Preacher's Magazine," by Herbert McGonigle Professor of
      Church History, British Isles Nazarene College, Manchester, England

      ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION
      By Dr. Adam Clarke

       The word "sanctify" has two meanings. 1. It signifies to consecrate,
      to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to
      God and his service. 2. It signifies to make holy or pure.
       Many talk much, and indeed well, of what Christ has done for us:
      but how little is spoken of what he is to do in us! and yet all that
      he has done for us is in reference to what he is to do in us. He was
      incarnated, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead; ascended to
      heaven, and there appears in the presence of God for us. These were
      all saving, atoning, and mediating acts for us; that he might reconcile
      us to God; that he might blot out our sin; that he might purge our
      consciences from dead works; that he might bind the strong man armed
      --take away the armor in which he trusted, wash the polluted heart,
      destroy every foul and abominable desire, all tormenting and unholy
      tempers; that he might make the heart his throne, fill the soul with
      his light, power, and life; and, in a word, "destroy the works of the
      devil." These are done in us; without which we cannot be saved unto
      eternal lie. But these acts done in us are consequent on the acts done
      for us: for had he not been incarnated, suffered, and died in our stead,
      we could not receive either pardon or holiness; and did he not cleanse
      and purify our hearts, we could not enter into the place where all is
      purity: for the beatific vision is given to them only who are purified
      from all unrighteousness: for it is written, "Blessed are the pure in
      heart, for they shall see God." Nothing is purified by death;--nothing
      in the grave; nothing in heaven. The living stones of the temple, like
      those of that at Jerusalem, are hewn, squared, and cut here, in the
      church militant, to prepare them to enter into the composition of the
      church triumphant.
       This perfection is the restoration of man to the state of holiness
      from which he fell, by creating him anew in Christ Jesus, and restoring
      to him that image and likeness of God which he has lost. A higher
      meaning than this it cannot have; a lower meaning it must not have.
      God made man in that degree of perfection which was pleasing to his
      own infinite wisdom and goodness. Sin defaced this divine image; Jesus
      came to restore it. Sin must have no triumph; and the Redeemer of
      mankind must have his glory. But if man be not perfectly saved from
      all sin, sin does triumph, and Satan exult, because they have done a
      mischief that Christ either cannot or will not remove. To say he cannot,
      would be shocking blasphemy against the infinite power and dignity of
      the great Creator; to say he will not, would be equally such against
      the infinite benevolence and holiness of his nature. All sin, whether
      in power, guilt, or defilement is the work of the devil; and he, Jesus,
      came to destroy the work of the devil; and as all unrighteousness is
      sin, so his blood cleanseth from all sin, because it cleanseth from
      all unrighteousness.
       Many stagger at the term perfection in Christianity; because they
      think that what is implied in it is inconsistent with a state of
      probation, and savors of pride and presumption: but we must take good
      heed how we stagger at any word of God; and much more how we deny or
      fritter away the meaning of any of His sayings, lest he reprove us, and
      we be found liars before him. But it may be that the term is rejected
      because it is not understood. Let us examine its import.
       The word "perfection," in reference to any person or thing signifies
      that such person or thing is complete or finished; that it has nothing
      redundant, and is in nothing defective. And hence that observation of
      a learned civilian is at once both correct and illustrative, namely,
      "We count those things perfect which want nothing requisite for the
      end whereto they were instituted." And to be perfect often signifies
      "to be blameless, clear, irreproachable;" and according to the above
      definition of Hooker, a man may be said to be perfect who answers the
      end for which God made him; and as God requires every man to love him
      with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as
      himself; then he is a perfect man that does so; he answers the end for
      which God made him; and this is more evident from the nature of that
      love which fills his heart: for as love is the principle of obedience,
      so he that loves his God with all his powers, will obey him with all
      his powers; and he who loves his neighbor as himself will not only do
      no injury to him, but, on the contrary, labor to promote his best
      interests. Why the doctrine which enjoins such a state of perfection
      as this, should be dreaded, ridiculed, or despised, is a most strange
      thing; and the opposition to it can only be from that carnal mind that
      is enmity to God; "That is not subject to the law of God, neither
      indeed can be." And had I no other proof that man is fallen from God,
      his opposition to Christian holiness would be to me sufficient.
       The whole design of God was to restore man to his image, and raise
      him from the ruins of his fall; in a word, to make him perfect; to
      blot out all his sins, purify his soul, and fill him with holiness;
      so that no unholy temper, evil desire, or impure affection or passion
      shall either lodge or have any being within him; this and this only
      is true religion or Christian perfection; and a less salvation than
      this would be dishonorable to the sacrifice of Christ, and the operation
      of the Holy Ghost; and would be as unworthy of the appellation of
      Christianity," as it would be of that of "holiness or perfection."
      They who ridicule this are scoffers at the word of God; many of them
      totally irreligious men, sitting in the seat of the scornful. They who
      deny it, deny the whole scope and design of divine revelation and the
      mission of Jesus Christ. And they who preach the opposite doctrine are
      either speculative Antinomians, or pleaders for Baal.
       When St. Paul says he "warns every man, and teaches every man in
      all wisdom, that he may present every man PERFECT in Christ Jesus,"
      he must mean something. What then is this something? It must mean "that
      holiness without which none shall see the Lord." Call it by what name
      we please, it must imply the pardon of all transgression, and the
      removal of the whole body of sin and death; for this must take place
      before we can be like him, and see him as he is, in the effulgence of
      his own glory. This fitness, then, to appear before God, and thorough
      preparation for eternal glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and
      heartily recommend to all true believer, under the name of Christian
      perfection. Had I a better name, one more energetic, one with a greater
      plenitude of meaning, one more worthy of the efficacy of the blood
      that bought our peace, and cleanseth from all unrighteousness, I would
      gladly adopt and use it. Even the word "perfection" has, in some
      relations, so many qualifications and abatements that cannot comport
      with that full and glorious salvation recommended in the gospel, and
      bought and sealed by the blood of the cross, that I would gladly lay
      it by, and employ a word more positive and unequivocal in its meaning,
      and more worthy of the merit of the infinite atonement of Christ, and
      of the energy of his almighty Spirit; but there is none in our language;
      which I deplore as an inconvenience and a loss.
       Why then are there so many, even among sincere and godly ministers
      and people, who are so much opposed to the term, and so much alarmed
      at the profession? I answer, Because they think no man can be fully
      saved from sin in this life. I ask, where is this in unequivocal words,
      written in the New Testament? Where, in that book is it intimated that
      sin is not wholly destroyed till death takes place, and the soul and
      the body are separated? Nowhere. In the popish baseless doctrine of
      purgatory, this doctrine, not with more rational consequences, is
      held: this doctrine allows that, so inveterate is sin, it cannot be
      wholly destroyed even in death; and that a penal fire, in a middle
      state between heaven and hell, is necessary to atone for that which
      the blood of Christ had not cancelled; and to purge from that which
      the energy of the almighty Spirit had not cleansed before death.
       Even papists could not see that a moral evil was detained in the
      soul through its physical connection with the body; and that it required
      the dissolution of this physical connection before the moral contagion
      could be removed. Protestants, who profess, and most certainly possess,
      a better faith, are they alone that maintain the deathbed purgatory;
      and how positively do they hold out death as the complete deliverer
      from all corruption, and the final destroyer of sin, as if it were
      revealed in every page of the Bible! Whereas, there is not one passage
      in the sacred volume that says any such thing. Were this true, then
      death, far from being the last enemy, would be the last and best friend,
      and the greatest of all deliverers: for if the last remains of all the
      indwelling sin of all believers is to be destroyed by death, (and a
      fearful mass this will make,) then death, that removes it, must be the
      highest benefactor of mankind. The truth is, he is neither the cause
      nor the means of its destruction. It is the blood of Jesus alone that
      cleanseth from all unrighteousness.
       It is supposed that indwelling sin is useful even to true believers,
      because it humbles them and keeps them low in their own estimation. A
      little examination will show that this is contrary to the fact. It is
      generally, if not universally allowed that pride is of the essence of
      sin, if not its very essence; and the root whence all moral obliquity
      flows. How then can pride humble us? Is not this absurd? Where is there
      a sincere Christian, be his creed what it may, that does not deplore
      his proud, rebellious, and unsubdued heart and will, as the cause of
      all his wretchedness; the thing that mars his best sacrifices, and
      prevents his communion with God? How often do such people say or sing,
      both in their public and private devotions,--

      "But pride, that busy sin,
      Spoils all that I perform!"

      Were there no pride, there would be no sin; and the heart from which
      it is cast out has the humility, meekness, and gentleness of Christ
      implanted in its stead.
       But still it is alleged, as an indubitable fact, that "a man is
      humbled under a sense of indwelling sin." I grant that they who see
      and feel, and deplore their indwelling sin, are humbled: but is it the
      sin that humbles? No. It is the grace of God, that shows and condemns
      the sin that humbles us. Neither the devil nor his work will ever show
      themselves. Pride works frequently under a dense mask, and will often
      assume the garb of humility. How true is that saying, and of how many
      is it the language!

      "Proud I am my wants to see,
      Proud of my humility."

      And to conceal his working, even Satan himself is transformed into an
      angel of light! It appears then that we attribute this boasted humiliation
      to a wrong cause. We never are humbled under a sense of indwelling sin
      till the Spirit of God drags it to the light, and shows us, not only
      its horrid deformity, but its hostility to God; and he manifests it,
      that he may take it away: but a false opinion causes men to hug the
      monster, and to contemplate their chains with complacency!
       It has been objected to this perfection, this perfect work of God
      in the soul, that "the greater sense we have of our own sinfulness,
      the more will Christ be exalted in the eye of the soul: for, if the
      thing were possible that a man might be cleansed from all sin in this
      life, he would feel no need of a Saviour; Christ would be undervalued
      by him as no longer needing his saving power." This objection mistakes
      the whole state of the case. How is Christ exalted in the view of the
      soul? How is it that he becomes precious to us? Is it not from a sense
      of what he has done for us, and what he has done in us? Did any man
      ever love God till he had felt that God loved him? Do we not "love him
      because he first loved us?" Is it the name JESUS that is precious to
      us? or JESUS the Saviour saving us from our sins? Is all our confidence
      placed in him because of some one saving act? or, because of his
      continual operation as the Saviour? Can any effect subsist without its
      cause? Must not the cause continue to operate in order to maintain the
      effect? Do we value a good cause more for the instantaneous production
      of a good and important effect, than we do for its continual energy,
      exerted to maintain that good and important effect? All these questions
      can be answered by a child. What is it that cleanseth the soul and
      destroys sin? Is it not the mighty power of the grace of God? What is
      it that keeps the soul clean? Is it not the same power dwelling in us?
      No more can an effect subsist without its cause, than a sanctified
      soul abide in holiness without the indwelling Sanctifier. When Christ
      casts out the strong-armed man, he takes away that armor in which he
      trusted, he spoils his goods, he cleanses and enters into the house,
      so that the heart becomes the habitation of God through the Spirit.
      Can then a man undervalue that Christ who not only blotted out his
      iniquity, but cleansed his soul from all sin; and whose presence and
      inward mighty working constitute all his holiness and all his happiness?
      Impossible! Jesus was never so highly valued, so intensely loved, so
      affectionately obeyed, as now. The great Saviour has not his highest
      glory from his atoning and redeeming acts, but from the manifestation
      of his saving power.
       "But the persons who profess to have been made thus perfect are
      proud and supercilious, and their whole conduct says to their neighbor,
      'Stand by, I am holier than thou.' " No person that acts so has ever
      received this grace. He is either a hypocrite or a self-deceiver. Those
      who have received it are full of meekness, gentleness, and long-suffering:
      they love God with all their hearts--they love even their enemies; love
      the whole human family, and are servants of all. They know they have
      nothing but what they have received. In the splendor of God's holiness
      they feel themselves absorbed. They have neither light, power, love,
      nor happiness, but from their indwelling Saviour. Their holiness,
      though it fills the soul, yet is only a drop from the infinite ocean.
      The flame of their love, though it penetrate their whole being, is
      only a spark from the incomprehensible Sun of righteousness. In a
      spirit and in a way which none but themselves can fully comprehend and feel, they can say or sing,--

      "I loathe myself when God I see,
      And into nothing fall:
      Content that Christ exalted be;
      And God is all in all."

       It has been no small mercy to me, that, in the course of my religious
      life, I have met with many persons who professed that the blood of
      Christ had saved them from all sin, and whose profession was maintained
      by an immaculate life; but I never knew one of them that was not of
      the spirit above described. They were men of the strongest faith, the
      purest love, the holiest affections, the most obedient lives, and the
      most useful in society. I have seen such walking with God for many
      years: and as I had the privilege of observing their walk in life, so
      have I been privileged with their testimony at death, when their sun
      appeared to grow broader and brighter at its setting; and, though they
      came through great tribulation, they found that their robes were washed
      and made white through the blood of the Lamb. They fully witnessed the
      grand effects which in this life flow from justification, adoption, and
      sanctification; namely, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience,
      joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance in the same
      to the end of their lives. O God! let my death be like that of these
      righteous I and let my end be like theirs! Amen.
       It is scarcely worth mentioning another objection that has been
      started by the ignorant, the worthless, and the wicked. "The people
      that profess this, leave Christ out of the question; they either think
      that they have purified their own hearts, or that they have gained
      their pretended perfection by their own merits." Nothing can be more
      false than this calumny. I know that people well in whose creed the
      doctrine of "salvation from all sin in this life " is a prominent
      article. But that people hold most conscientiously that all our
      salvation, from the first dawn of light in the soul to its entry into
      the kingdom of glory, is all by and through Christ. He alone convinces
      the soul of sin, justifies the ungodly, sanctifies the unholy, preserves
      in this state of salvation, and brings to everlasting blessedness. No
      soul ever was or can be saved but through his agony and bloody sweat,
      his cross and passion, his death and burial, his glorious resurrection
      and ascension, and continued intercession at the right hand of God.
       If men would but spend as much time in fervently calling upon God
      to cleanse by the blood that which He has not cleansed, as they spend
      in decrying this doctrine, what a glorious state of the church should
      we soon witness! Instead of compounding with iniquity, and tormenting
      their minds to find out with how little grace they may be saved, they
      would renounce the devil and all his works, and be determined never
      to rest till they had found that He had bruised him under their feet,
      and that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from all unrighteousness.
      Why is it that men will not try how far God will save them? nor leave
      off praying and believing for more and more, till they find that God
      has held his hand? When they find that their agonizing faith and prayer
      receive no farther answer, then, and not till then, they may conclude
      that God will be no farther gracious, and that He will not save to the
      uttermost them who come to him through Christ Jesus.
       But it is farther objected, that even St. Paul himself denies this
      doctrine of perfection, disclaiming it in reference to himself: "Not
      as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I
      follow after," Phil. iii. 12. This place is mistaken: the apostle is
      not speaking of his restoration to the image of God; but to completing
      his ministerial course, and receiving the crown of martyrdom; as I have
      fully shown on my notes on this place, and to which I must beg to refer
      the reader. There is another point that has been produced, at least
      indirectly, in the form of an objection to this doctrine: "Where are
      those adult, those perfect Christians? We know none such; but we have
      heard that some persons professing those extraordinary degrees of
      holiness have become scandalous in their lives."
       When a question of this kind is asked by one who fears God, and
      earnestly desires his salvation, and only wishes to have full evidence
      that the thing is attainable, that he may shake himself from the dust
      and arise and go out, and possess the good land--it deserves to be
      seriously answered. To such I would say, There may be several, even
      in the circle of your own religious acquaintance, whose evil tempers
      and unholy affections God has destroyed; and having filled them with
      is own holiness, they are enabled to love Him with all their heart,
      soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves. But such
      make no public professions: their conduct, their spirit, the whole
      tenor of their life, is their testimony. Again: there may be none such
      among your religious acquaintance, because they do not know their
      privilege, or they unfortunately sit under a ministry where the doctrine
      is decried; and in such congregations and churches holiness never
      abounds; men are too apt to be slothful, and unfaithful to the grace
      they have received; they need not their minister's exhortations to
      beware of looking for or expecting a heart purified from all
      unrighteousness; striving or agonizing to "enter in at the strait
      gate" is not pleasant work to flesh and blood; and they are glad to
      have anything to countenance their spiritual indolence; and such
      ministers have always a powerful coadjutor; the father of lies, and
      the spirit of error will work in the unrenewed heart, filling it with
      darkness, and prejudice, and unbelief. No wonder, then, that in such
      places, and under such a ministry there is no man that can be "presented
      perfect in Christ Jesus." But wherever the trumpet gives a certain
      sound, and the people go forth to battle, headed by the Captain of
      their salvation, there the foe is routed, and the genuine believers
      brought into the liberty of the children of God.
       As to some having professed to have received this salvation, and
      afterward become scandalous in their lives (though in all my long
      ministerial labors, and extensive religious acquaintance, I never
      found but one example), I would just observe that they might possibly
      have been deceived; thought they had what they had not; or they might
      have become unfaithful to that grace and lost it; and this is possible
      through the whole range of a state of probation. There have been angels
      who kept not their first estate; and we all know, to our cost, that
      he who was the head and fountain of the whole human family, who was
      made in the image and likeness of God, sinned against God, and fell
      from that state. And so may any of his descendants fall from any degree
      of the grace of God while in their state of probation; and any man and
      every man must fall, whenever he or they cease to watch unto prayer,
      and cease to be "workers together with God." Faith must ever be kept
      in lively exercise, working by love; and that love is only safe when
      found exerting its energies in the path of obedience. An objection of
      this kind against the doctrine of Christian perfection will apply as
      forcibly against the whole revelation of God as it can do against one
      of the doctrines; because that revelation brings the account of the
      defection of angels and of the fall of man. The truth is, no doctrine
      of God stands upon the knowledge experience, faithfulness, or
      unfaithfulness of man; it stands on the veracity of God who gave it.
      If there were not a man to be found who was justified freely through
      the redemption that is by Jesus; yet the doctrine of "justification
      by faith" is true; for it is a doctrine that stands on the truth of
      God. And suppose not one could be found in all the churches of Christ
      whose heart was purified from all unrighteousness, and who loved God
      and man with all his regenerated powers, yet the doctrine of Christian
      perfection would still be true; for Christ was manifested that he might
      destroy the works of the devil; and his blood cleanseth from all
      unrighteousness. And suppose every man be a liar, God is true.
       It is not the profession of a doctrine that establishes its truth;
      it is the truth of God, from which it has proceeded. Man's experience
      may illustrate it; but it is God's truth that confirms it.
       In all cases of this nature, we must forever cease from man,
      implicitly credit God's testimony, and look to him in and through
      whom all the promises of God are yea and amen.
       To be filled with God is a great thing; to be filled with the
      fulness of God is still greater; to be filled with all the fulness of
      God is greatest of all. This utterly bewilders the sense and confounds
      the understanding, by leading at once to consider the immensity of
      God, the infinitude of His attributes, and the absolute perfection of
      each! But there must be a sense in which even this wonderful petition
      was understood by the apostle, and may be comprehended by us. Most
      people, in quoting these words, endeavor to correct or explain the
      apostle by adding the word communicable. But this is as idle as it is
      useless and impertinent. Reason surely tells us that St. Paul would
      not pray that they should be filled with what could not be communicated.
      The apostle certainly meant what he said, and would be understood in
      his own meaning; and we may soon see what this meaning is.
       By the "fulness of God," we are to understand all the gifts and
      graces which he has promised to bestow on man in order to his full
      salvation here, and his being fully prepared for the enjoyment of
      glory hereafter. To be filled with all the fulness of God is to have
      the heart emptied of and cleansed from all sin and defilement, and
      filled with humility, meekness, gentleness, goodness, justice, holiness,
      mercy, and truth, and love to God and man. And that this implies a
      thorough emptying of the soul of every thing that is not of God, and
      leads not to him, is evident from this, that what God fills, neither
      sin nor Satan can fill, nor in any wise occupy; for, if a vessel be
      filled with one fluid or substance, not a drop or particle of any
      other kind can enter it, without displacing the same quantum of the
      original matter as that which is afterward introduced. God cannot be
      said to fill the whole soul while any place, part, passion, or faculty
      is filled, or less or more occupied, by sin or Satan: and as neither
      sin nor Satan can be where God fills and occupies the whole, so the
      terms of the prayer state that Satan shall neither have any dominion
      over that soul nor being in it. A fulness of humility precludes all
      pride; of meekness, precludes anger; of gentleness, all ferocity; of
      goodness, all evil; of justice, all injustice; of holiness, all sin;
      of mercy, all unkindness and revenge; of truth, all falsity and
      dissimulation; and where God is loved with all the heart, soul, mind,
      and strength, there is no room for enmity or hatred to him, or to any
      thing connected with him; so, where a man loves his neighbor as himself,
      no ill shall be worked to that neighbor; but, on the contrary, every
      kind affection will exist toward him; and every kind action, so far
      as power and circumstances can permit, will be done to him.
       Thus the being filled with God's fulness will produce constant,
      pious, and affectionate obedience to him, and unvarying benevolence
      towards one's neighbor; that is, any man, any and every human being.
      Such a man is saved from all sin; the law is fulfilled in him; and he
      ever possesses and acts under the influence of that love to God and
      man which is the fulfilling of the law. It is impossible, with any
      Scriptural or rational consistency, to understand these word in any
      lower sense; but how much more they imply, (and more they do imply,)
      who can tell?
       Many preachers, and multitudes of professing people, are studious
      to find out how many imperfections and infidelities, and how much
      inward sinfulness, are consistent with a safe state in religion; but
      how few, very few, are bringing out the fair gospel standard to try
      the height of the members of the church; whether they be fit for the
      heavenly army; whether their stature be such as qualifies them for the
      rank of the church militant! "the measure of the stature of the fulness"
      is seldom seen; the measure of the stature of littleness, dwarfishness,
      and emptiness, is often exhibited.
       Some say "The body of sin in believers is, indeed, an enfeebled,
      conquered, and deposed tyrant, and the stroke of death finishes its
      destruction." So, then, the death of Christ and the influences of the
      Holy Spirit were only sufficient to depose and enfeeble the tyrant
      sin; but our death must come in to effect his total destruction! Thus
      our death is, at least partially, our Saviour, and thus that which was
      an effect of sin, ("for sin entered into the world, and death by sin,")
      becomes the means of finally destroying it: that is, the effect of a
      cause can become so powerful as to react upon that cause and produce
      its annihilation! The divinity and philosophy of this sentiment are
      equally absurd. It is the blood of Christ alone that cleanses from
      all unrighteousness; and the sanctification of a believer is no more
      dependent on death than his justification. If it be said that "believers
      do not cease from sin till they die," I have only to say they are such
      believers as do not make a proper use of their faith: and what can be
      said more of the whole herd of transgressors and infidels? They cease
      to sin when they cease to breathe. If the Christian religion bring no
      other privileges than this to its upright followers, well may we ask,
      "Wherein doth the wise man differ from the fool, for they have both
      one end!" But the whole gospel teaches a contrary doctrine.
       It is strange there should be found a person believing the whole
      gospel system and yet living in sin! "Salvation from sin" is the long
      continued sound, as it is the spirit and design, of the gospel. Our
      Christian name, our baptismal covenant, our profession of faith in
      Christ, and avowed belief in his word, all call us to this: can it be
      said that we have any louder calls than they? Our self-interest, as
      it respects the happiness of a godly life, and the glories of eternal
      blessedness; the pains and wretchedness of a life of sin, leading to
      the worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched; second,
      most powerfully, the above calls. Reader, lay these things to heart,
      and answer this question to God: "How shall I escape if I neglect so
      great salvation?" And then, as thy conscience shall answer, let thy
      mind and thy hand begin to act.
       As there is no end to the merits of Christ incarnated and crucified;
      no bounds to the mercy and love of God; no let or hindrance to the
      almighty energy and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit; no limits
      to the improvability of the human soul; so there can be no bounds to
      the saving influence which God will dispense to the heart of every
      genuine believer. We may ask and receive, and our joy shall be full!
      Well may we bless and praise God, "who has called us into such a state
      of salvation;" a state in which we may be thus saved; and, by the grace
      of that state, continue in the same to the end of our lives!
       As sin is the cause of the ruin of mankind, the gospel system,
      which exhibits it cure, is fitly called "good news, or glad tidings;"
      and it is good news, because it proclaims Him who saves his people
      from their sins; and it would indeed be dishonorable to that grace,
      and the infinite merit of Him who procured it, to suppose, much more
      to assert, that sin had made wounds which grace would not heal. Of
      such a triumph Satan shall ever be deprived.
       "He that committeth sin is of the devil." Hear this, ye who plead
      for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states
      believers are to be saved from all sin in this life! He who committeth
      sin is a child of the devil, and shows that he has still the nature
      of the devil in him; "for the devil sinneth from the beginning:" he
      was the father of sin,-- brought sin into the world, and maintains
      sin in the world by living in the hearts of his own children, and thus
      leading them to transgression; and persuading others that they cannot
      be saved from their sins in this life, that he may secure a continual
      residence in their heart. He also knows that if he has a place throughout
      life, he will probably have it at death; and, if so, throughout eternity.
       "That is," say some, "he does not sin habitually as he formerly did."
      This is bringing the influence and privileges of the heavenly birth
      very low indeed. We have the most indubitable evidence that many of
      the heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental discipline and
      cultivation, an entire ascendancy over all their wonted vicious habits.
      Perhaps my reader will recollect the story of the physiognomist, who,
      coming into the place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his
      pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man's science to proof,
      desired him to examine the face of their master, and say what his moral
      character was. After a full contemplation of the philosopher's visage,
      he pronounced him the "most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous
      old man that he ever met." As the character of Socrates was the reverse
      of all this, his disciples began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates
      interfered, and said, "The principles of his science may be very
      correct; for such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosophy." O
      ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended gospel ministers! will ye
      allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway not even so extensive
      as that of the philosophy of a heathen who never heard of the true God?
       Many tell us that "no man can be saved from sin in this life." Will
      these persons permit us to ask, How much sin may we be saved from in
      this life? Something must be ascertained on this subject: 1. That the
      soul may have some determinate object in view. 2. That it may not lose
      its time, or employ its faith and energy, in praying for what is
      impossible to be attained. Now, as Christ was manifested to take away
      our sins, to destroy the works of the devil; and as his blood cleanseth
      from all sin and unrighteousness, is it not evident that God means
      that believers in Christ shall be saved from all sin? For if his blood
      cleanses from all sin, if he destroys the works of the devil, (and sin
      is the work of the devil,) and if he who is born of God does not commit
      sin, then he must be cleansed from all sin; and while he continues in
      that state, he lives without sinning against God, for the seed of God
      remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born, or begotten
      of God.
       How strangely warped and blinded by prejudice and system must men
      be who, in the face of such evidence as this, will still dare to maintain
      that no man can be saved from his sin in this life; but must daily
      commit sin in thought, word, and deed, as the Westminster divines have
      asserted! that is, every man is laid under the fatal necessity of
      sinning as many ways against God as the devil does through his natural
      wickedness and malice; for even the devil himself can have no other
      way of sinning against God, except by thought, word, and deed. And
      yet, according to these and others of the same creed, "even the most
      regenerate sin against God as long as they live." It is a miserable
      salvo to say "they do not sin so much as they used to do; and they do
      not sin habitually, only occasionally." Alas for this system! Could
      not the grace that saved them partially save them perfectly? Could not
      that power of God that saved them from habitual sin save them from
      occasional or accidental sin? Shall we suppose that sin, how potent
      soever it may be, is as potent as the Spirit and grace of Christ? And
      may we not ask, If it was for God's glory and their good that they
      were partially saved, would it not have been more for God's glory and
      their good if they had been perfectly saved? But the letter and spirit
      of God's word, and the design and end of Christ's coming, is to save
      his people from their sins.
       The perfection of the gospel system is not that it makes allowances
      for sin, but that it makes an atonement for it; not that it tolerates
      sin, but that it destroys it.
       However inveterate the disease of sin may be, the grace of the Lord
      Jesus can fully cure it.
       God sets no bounds to the communications of his grace and Spirit
      to them that are faithful. And as there are no bounds to the graces,
      so there should be none to the exercise of those graces. No man can
      ever feel that he loves God too much, or that he loves man too much
      for God's sake.
       Be so purified and refined in your souls, by the indwelling Spirit,
      that even the light of God shining into your hearts shall not be able
      to discover a fault that the love of God has not purged away.
       "Be thou perfect, and thou shalt be perfection," that is, altogether
      perfect: be just such as the holy God would have thee to be, as the
      Almighty God can make thee, and live as the sufficient God shall
      support thee; for He alone who makes the soul holy can preserve it in
      holiness. Our blessed Lord appears to have these word pointedly in
      view, "Ye shall be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect,"
      Matt. v. 48. But what does this imply? Why, to be saved from all the
      power, the guilt, and the contamination of sin. This is only the negative
      part of salvation, but it has also a positive part; to be made perfect
      --to be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect, to be filled
      with the fulness of God, to have Christ dwelling continually in the
      heart by faith, and to be rooted and grounded in love. This is the
      state in which man was created; for he was made in the image and
      likeness of God. This is the state from which man fell; for he broke
      the command of God. And this is the state into which every human soul
      must be raised who would dwell with God in glory; for Christ was
      incarnated and died to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. What
      a glorious privilege! And who can doubt the possibility of its attainment
      who believes in the omnipotent love of God, the infinite merit of the
      blood of the atonement, and the all-pervading and all-purifying energy
      of the Holy Ghost? How many miserable souls employ that time to dispute
      and cavil against the possibility of being saved from their sins, which
      they should devote to praying and believing that they might be saved
      out of the hands of their enemies! But some may say, "You overstrain
      the meaning of the term; it signifies only, Be sincere; for, a perfect
      obedience is impossible, God accepts of sincere obedience." If by
      sincerity the objection means "good desires, and generally good purposes,
      with an impure heart and spotted life," then I assert that no such thing
      is implied in the text, nor in the original word. But if the word
      sincerity be taken in its proper and literal sense, I have no objection
      to it. Sincere is compounded of sine cera, " without wax;" and, applied
      to moral subjects, is a metaphor taken from clarified honey, from which
      every atom of the comb or wax is separated. Then let it be proclaimed
      from heaven, "Walk before me, and be sincere! Purge out the old leaven,
      that ye may be a new lump unto God; and thus ye shall be perfect, as
      your Father who is in heaven is perfect." This is sincerity. Reader,
      remember that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Ten thousand
      quibbles on insulated texts can never lessen, much less destroy, the
      merit and efficacy of the great atonement.
       God never gives a precept but he offers sufficient grace to enable
      thee to perform it. Believe as he would have thee, and act as he shall
      strengthen thee, and thou wilt believe all things savingly, and do all
      things well.
       God is holy; and this is the eternal reason why all his people
      should be holy--should be purified from all filthiness of the flesh
      and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. No faith in any
      particular creed, no religious observance, no acts of benevolence and
      charity, no mortification, attrition, or contrition can be a substitute
      for this. We must be made partakers of the divine nature. We must be
      saved from our sins--from the corruption that is in the world, and be
      holy within and righteous without, or never see God. For this very
      purpose Jesus Christ lived, died, and revived, that he might purify
      us unto himself; that through faith in his blood our sins might be
      blotted out, and our souls restored to the image of God. Reader, art
      thou hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Then, blessed art
      thou, for thou shalt be filled.
       God is ever ready, by the power of his Spirit, to carry us forward
      to every degree of life, light, and love, necessary to prepare us for
      an eternal weight of glory. There can be little difficulty in attaining
      the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls from all sin, if God
      carry us forward to it; and this he will do, if we submit to be saved
      in his own way, and on his own terms. Many make a violent outcry
      against the doctrine of perfection; that is, against the heart being
      cleansed from all sin in this life, and filled with love to God and
      man; because they judge it to be impossible! Is it too much to say of
      these, that they know neither the Scripture nor the power of God?
      Surely, the Scripture promises the thing, and the power of God can
      carry us on to the possession of it.
       The object of all God's promises and dispensations was to bring
      fallen man back to the image of God, which he had lost. This, indeed,
      is the sum and substance of the religion of Christ. We have partaken
      of an earthly, sensual, and devilish nature; the design of God, by
      Christ, is to remove this, and to make us partakers of the divine
      nature, and save us from all the corruption, in principle and fact,
      which is in the world.
       It is said that Enoch not only "walked with God," setting him always
      before his eyes--beginning, continuing, and ending every work to His
      glory--but also that "he pleased God," and had "the testimony that he
      did please God." Hence we learn that it was then possible to live so
      as not to offend God: consequently so as not to commit sin against
      him, and to have the continual evidence or testimony that all that a
      man did and purposed was pleasing in the sight of Him who searches
      the heart, and by whom devices are weighed: and if it was possible
      then, it is surely, through the same source, possible now; for God,
      and Christ, and faith are still the same.
       The petition "Thy will be done in earth, as is in heaven," certainly
      points out a deliverance from all sin; for nothing that is unholy can
      consist with the divine will; and, if this be fulfilled in man, surely
      sin shall be banished from his soul. Again: the holy angels never
      mingle iniquity with their loving obedience; and, as our Lord teaches
      us to pray that we do his will here as they do in heaven, can it be
      thought he would put a petition into our mouths the fulfilment of
      which was impossible?
       The reader is probably amazed at the paucity of large stars in the
      whole firmament of heaven. Will he permit me to carry his mind a little
      farther, and either stand astonished at, or deplore with me the fact
      that, out of the millions of Christians in the vicinity and splendor
      of the eternal Sun of Righteousness, how very few are found of the
      first order! How very few can stand examination by the test laid down
      in 1 Cor. xiii! How very few love God with all their heart, soul mind,
      and strength, and their neighbors as themselves! How few mature
      Christians are found in the church! How few are, in all things, living
      for eternity! How little light, how little heat, and how little influence
      and activity, are to be found among them that bear the name of Christ!
      How few stars of the first magnitude will the Son of God have to deck
      the crown of His glory! Few are striving to excel in righteousness;
      and it seems to be a principal concern with many, to find out how
      little grace they may have, and yet escape hell; how little conformity
      to the will of God they may have, and yet get to heaven. In the fear
      of God I register this testimony, that I have perceived it to be the
      labor of many to lower the standard of Christianity, and to soften
      down, or explain away, those promises of God that Himself has linked
      with duties; and because they know they cannot be saved by their good
      works, they are contented to have no good works at all; and thus the
      necessity of Christian obedience, and Christian holiness, makes no
      prominent part of some modern creeds. Let all those who retain the
      apostolic doctrine, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin
      in this life, press every believer to go on to perfection, and expect
      to be saved, while here below, into the fulness of the blessing of the
      gospel of Jesus. To all such my soul says, Labor to show yourselves
      approved unto God; workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing
      the word of truth; and may the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your
      hands! Amen.
       Many employ that time in brooding and mourning over their impure
      hearts, which should be spent in prayer and faith before God, that
      their impurities might be washed away. In what a state of nonage are
      many members of the Christian church!
       I am afraid that what some persons call their infirmities may rather
      be called their strengths; the prevailing and frequently ruling power
      of pride, anger, ill will, &c.; for how few think evil tempers to be
      sins! The gentle term "infirmity" softens down the iniquity; and as
      St. Paul, so great and so holy a man, say they, had his infirmities,
      how can they expect to be without theirs? These should know that they
      are in a dangerous error; that St. Paul means nothing of the kind; for
      he speaks of his sufferings, and of these alone. One word more: would
      not the grace and power of Christ appear more conspicuous in slaying
      the lion than in keeping him chained? in destroying sin, root and
      branch, and filling the soul with his own holiness, with love to God
      and man, with the mind, all the holy, heavenly tempers that were in
      himself, than in leaving these impure and unholy tempers ever to live,
      and often to reign, in the heart? The doctrine is discreditable to the
      gospel, and wholly antichristian.
       "If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not,"
      1 Kings viii. 46. On this verse we may observe that the second clause,
      as it is here translated, renders the supposition in the first clause
      entirely nugatory; for if there be no man that sinneth not, it is
      useless to say, "If they sin;" but this contradiction is taken away
      by reference to the original, which should be translated, "If they
      shall sin against thee;" or, "Should they sin against thee; for there
      is no man that may not sin;" that is, There is no man impeccable; none
      infallible; none that is not liable to transgress. This is the true
      meaning of the phrase in various parts of the Bible, and so our t
      ranslators have understood the original; for, even in the thirty-first
      verse of this chapter, they have translated yecheta, "If a man trespass;"
      which certainly implies he might or might not do it; and in this way
      they have translated the same word, "If a soul sin" in Lev. v. 1; vi. 2;
      1 Sam. ii. 25; 2 Chron. vi. 22; and in several other places. The truth
      is, the Hebrew has no mood to express words in the permissive or optative
      way; but to express this sense, it uses the future tense of the
      conjugation kal. This text has been a wonderful stronghold for all
      who believe that there is no redemption from sin in this life; that
      no man can live without committing sin; and that we cannot be entirely
      freed from it till we die. 1. The text speaks no such doctrine; it
      only speaks of the possibility of every man sinning; and this must be
      true of a state of probation. 2. There is not another text in the
      divine records that is more to the purpose than this. 3. The doctrine
      is flatly in opposition to the design of the gospel; for Jesus came
      to save his people from their sin, and to destroy the work of the devil.
      4. It is a dangerous and destructive doctrine, and should be blotted
      out of every Christian's creed. There are too many who are seeking to
      excuse their crimes by all means in their power; and we need not embody
      their excuses in a creed, to complete their deception, by stating that
      their sins are unavoidable.
       The soul was made for God, and can never be united to him, nor be
      happy, till saved from sin. He who is saved from his sin, and united
      to God, possesses the utmost felicity that the human soul can enjoy,
      either in this or the coming world.
       Where a soul is saved from all sin, it is capable of being fully
      employed in the work of the Lord: it is then, and not till then, fully
      fitted for the Master's use.
       All who are taught of Christ are not only saved, but their
      understandings are much improved. True religion, civilization, mental
      improvement, common sense, and orderly behavior, go hand in hand.
       When the light of Christ dwells fully in the heart, it extends its
      influence to every thought, word, and action; and directs its possessor
      how he is to act in all places and circumstances.
       Our souls can never be truly happy till our wills be entirely
      subjected to, and become one with, the will of God.
       While there is an empty, longing heart, there is a continual
      overflowing fountain of salvation. If we find, in any place, or at
      any time, that the oil ceases to flow, it is because there are no
      empty vessels there; no souls hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
      We find fault with the dispensations of God's mercy, and ask, "Why were
      the former days better than these?" Were we as much in earnest for our
      salvation as our forefathers were for theirs, we should have equal
      supplies, and as much reason to sing aloud of divine mercy.
       "Be ye holy," saith the Lord, "for I am holy." He who can give
      thanks at the remembrance of his holiness is one who loves holiness;
      who hates sin; who longs to be saved from it, and takes encouragement
      at the recollection of God's holiness, as he seeth in this the holy
      nature which he is to share; and the perfection which he is here to
      attain. But most who call themselves Christians hate the doctrine of
      holiness, never hear it inculcated without pain; and the principal
      part of their studies and those of their pastors, is to find out with
      how little holiness they can rationally expect to enter into the
      kingdom of heaven. O fatal and soul-destroying delusion! How long will
      a holy God suffer such abominable doctrines to pollute his church, and
      destr