1.A 13. LETTER XIII
LETTER XIII. The nature of sanctification The word means to set apart from a common to a special purpose Proved from Scripture Hence it requires the death of a separation from sin Differs from justification To retain this, we must seek sanctification This is God’s will He can require nothing less For not seeking this, many backslide An appeal to M.’s experience Anticipation of future bliss All confirmed by our Hymns. MY DEAR M : Having shown the necessity and possibility of holiness of heart and life, it seems proper to attempt an explanation of its nature, or in what it consists.
Anything is said to be sanctified that is set apart from a common to a special service. The radical meaning of the word to sanctify, is, therefore, to set apart.* The word rendered holy has a kindred signification, implying that anything which has been taken from earthly and consecrated to heavenly,
* The Hebrew word fdq; (kadish,) which signifies to be pure, clean, is indifferently rendered by our translators, holy, pure, or to be sanctified, and imports a deliverance from physical, ceremonial, or moral pollution, and of course implies that what ever is thus cleansed, has been consecrated to the special service of Almighty God, or at least from a common to a special use. The Greek word, agioj, (agios,) has a kindred meaning to the above Hebrew word, into which the latter is translated in the Septuagint, both implying that whatever man or thing is thus denominated, has been set apart from common or earthly purposes to a special or religious purpose, or spiritual, or religious purposes, is denominated holy, or is set apart for a religious use. This is the radical import of those two words, and this radical meaning will be found to be kept up in all those places where they occur in the Holy Scriptures, however little or much they may differ in their various applications to different things and subjects. So it is said in Genesis 2:3 : " And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" that is, he set it apart as a day of holy rest, and hence it has ever been denominated the holy Sabbath, because it has been set apart from the other days of the week from secular to sacred purposes. In Exodus 19:10, it reads : " And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes." The people were thus called upon to separate themselves from all uncleanness, to cease from their common and otherwise lawful avocations, that they might thus be prepared to hear the voice of God speaking unto them through his servant Moses, to whom God was about to reveal his law. This related chiefly to an external cleansing, though doubtless God required the internal purification of the heart, which was typified by the "washing of their clothes," and the abstaining from all fleshly indulgences.
Other passages might be quoted in support of this idea of sanctification, but these must suffice. There are one or two places, however, in which the word is used without any reference at all to the cleansing of the person from either external or internal pollution, as in John 17:19, where Jesus Christ saith, " And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth." Here the word most evidently signifies that setting apart, or that solemn dedication of Himself to the glorious work of man’s redemption, for which Jesus Christ came into our world, and which he accomplished by his death and resurrection, and not from any cleansing from cither natural, ceremonial, or moral pollution, for Jesus Christ was " holy" from the beginning, " harmless and un- defiled, and separate from sin," through the whole course of his spotless life.
Having thus ascertained the primary meaning of this most expressive word, and seen its various applications to men and things, let us examine its signification in its application to individual men and women, as sinners that need the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ. Taking along with us the radical meaning of the terra, implying a setting apart, it imports that all the powers of the soul and body have been, or must be, solemnly consecrated to God’s holy service. This most assuredly includes " a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness." The soul that is wholly sanctified is separated from sin, sin being entirely eradicated from the heart, so that it no longer " has do minion over him." In this sense it differs from justification, though every justified soul is in part sanctified, in the sense just now given, and in a lower sense it is wholly sanctified, that is, the soul that is now justified in the sight of God, is now solemnly dedicated to his service; having renounced " the world, the flesh, and the devil," he has pledged himself to be hereafter devoted to God, and to follow him according to the clearest light he has, and according to the best of his ability; and if he continue, as certainly he may, to " walk in the light, as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse him from all unrighteousness," and that speedily and effectually. Nor can a justified man long retain his justification unless he persevere after sanctification; for no man can stand justified before God, while ho opposes or refuses to follow the will of God; and this is " His will, even our sanctification," fully declared, not only in the text just now cited, in which a part is put for the whole, and therefore fully includes the doctrine of entire sanctification for he that abstains from the vices prohibited in the context, will necessarily abstain from all others but generally throughout the word of God. In fact, the sum and substance of all God’s requirements, the manifest aim of all his institutions, whether under the old or new dispensation the very design for which the Lord Jesus came into our world, suffered and died the definite object of all the commands and promises of God all these express, in unequivocal language, the will of God to be, that we should be holy. He cannot, indeed, consistently with his nature, require anything less. What is His nature? Is it not holy? Pure essential holiness? Is not then His will governed by this inflexible principle of His nature? To require, therefore, anything beside, or inferior to this, would be to contravene the immutable law of His own nature. This, then, is the unalterable law, the immutable will of God, that we should be sanctified. He cannot, as I have already said, require anything less. And this he has expressed a thousand times, in a thou sand different places, and in a thousand ways.
Well, now, can a man stand justified before God, who refuses to make this will THIS will manifested in such numerous ways, declared in such a variety of phraseology, and expressed in so many places, by such unambiguous lan guage I say, can a man retain his justification who does not make this WILL the supreme rule of his faith and practice? I hesitate not to affirm, and I believe every enlightened Christian, who is rightly instructed in the principles of Christianity, will say amen to my affirmation, that no man can stand justified in the sight of God, who does not either enjoy, or does not earnestly seek after, the full sanctification of his soul and body to God. For the lack of this there are so many weak and sickly among us, half dead and half alive professors of religion. They content themselves with some faint desires, unaccompanied with any strenuous, persevering efforts after this "great salvation," hence their prayers are cold and formal, and when they attempt to sing, " Hoiianna* lamniish on their tongues, And their devotion dies."
They are in fact backslidden. They have " lost their first love," and perhaps they are already questioning the work of grace which God once wrought in their hearts. They are. in the language of St. Peter, " blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that they were once purged from their old sins." What an awful state is this! Why is all this? Why? Alas! It is because they have neglected to "go on unto perfection." Instead of " forgetting the things that are behind, and pressing forward to the things which are before," aiming at the " prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus," they have looked back at their past experience, until they have lost sight of both it and the " mark of the prize set before them"- the prize of " perfect love," of entire sanctification of soul and body to God. They have lost the evidence of their acceptance in the Beloved, merely because they have neglected to make the will of God, which is their sanctification, the rule of their faith and practice.
I have been carried along so fast by following the current of my thoughts, that I find myself unable to finish the definition of sanctification in this letter, and must conclude with quoting a few verses of our most excellent Hymns, in confirmation of the views already expressed, merely premising that you, my dear M., have already anticipated me in what I have said, or may say, on this subject, by your own happy experience. You know, that when made a partaker of this great blessing, you had already, and at that interesting moment, more solemnly and unreservedly than ever, consecrated yourself, your whole soul and body, to the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that from that time to the present, you have felt that you are " not your own," but being " bought with a price," even the price of the blood of the Son of God, you are not at liberty to withdraw any part of the offering, but that you must continually keep yourself at the foot of the cross, while you look up with a believing, loving, obedient heart to your great LIVING Intercessor for the daily, the hourly, the every moment supplies of his Spirit and grace, to enable you to " stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free." Yes, you said, in the expressive language of the poet, " Pleasure, and wealth, and praise no more Shall lead my captive soul astray; Mj fond pursuits I all give o er, Thee, ONLY THEK, resolved to obey. My OWN IN ALL THINGS to resign, And know no other WILL but THINI." And having thus consecrated yourself to God, and felt the sealing influence of the Holy Spirit upon your inmost soul, enabling you to say, " Abba, Father, I know myself Thy child," you could exultingly, while looking around on the spiritual army of God, those especially who had gained the victory over sin, and were standing with their bright armour on, sing the following lines of the poet, of faith, of love, and of hope :
" Blest, O Israel, art thou!
What people is like thee! SAVED FROM SIN by Jesus now Thou art, and still shalt be. JESUS is thy seven-fold SHIELD, JESUS is thy FLAMING SWORD; Earth, and hell, and SIN shall yield To God’s Almighty word."* my God! What must the soul of the poet have felt when he penned these words! Armed with this panoply Divine, with " Jesus for his seven-fold shield," with " Jesus for his flaming sword," he might well bid defiance to " earth
* The pen of Charles Wesley never dipped deeper into the fountain of divine love, nor ever depicted in brighter colours the complete triumph of " perfect love," than it did in that ad mirable hymn. Hear him in the following glowing language :
" In a land of corn and wine, His lot shall be below, Comforts there, and blessings join, And milk and honey flow! Jacob’s WELL is IN HIS SOUL!
Gracious dews his heavens distill, FILL his soul, already FULL, And shall FOREVER FILL!"
1 pity the man that cannot relish the exquisitely fine touches of this poetry, nor perceive the depths of those words which recognize the Saviour’s metaphor of the " well of water spring ing up into everlasting life!" and hell," and have said and sung, and said and sung again, " Sin shall yield"
" To GOD’s ALMIGHTY WORD!" May you, my dear M., be thus " Equipp d for the war." And may the writer of these very imperfect letters have the unspeakable pleasure of sharing with you in the triumph of " Redeeming grace and dying love." May we together sing, in anticipation of the uncreated, the indescribable, the inconceivable glories of heaven " There we shall meet again, When all our toils are o er, And death, and grief, and pain, And parting are no more; We shall with our brethren rise, And grasp thee in the flaming skies.
"O happy, happy day. That calls thy exiles home! The heavens shall pus away, The earth receive its doom : Earth we shall view, and heaven destroy d, And shout above the fiery void!" Shall it be so? Yes, by the grace the rich abounding grace of God in Christ Jesus I can, I think, with trembling humility, and yet with a firm, unwavering faith in the promises of God, say " These EYES shall see them fall, Mountains, and stars, and skies! These EYES shall see them all Out of their ashes rise! These LIPS His praises shall rehearse, Whose nod restores the universe."
O, my dear M., shall our eyes see that grand consummation with joy? How poor do all the glories of this world appear when compared to those of that! May you and I share in those glories! And may a spark of the Divine love, which I feel burning in my heart at this moment of writing, be communicated to the heart of my friend!