1.A 21. LETTER XXI

LETTER XXI.

How to attain sanctification 1. To feel its necessity : 2. To - believe in its attainableness : 3. To apprehend its nature: 4. To understand its evidence : 5. To be determined to seek it It is all of grace Must be received by faith alone An error stated Why so much importance attached to faith The Spirit of God goes before, and prepares the way Charles Wesley’s poetry. MY DEAR M : I humbly trust that I have succeeded in showing the necessity, the propriety, the nature, and the evidences of holiness, or entire sanctification. And now, the most important part of my work remains to be done; and I most ardently pray, that my head, my heart, and my pen may be guided aright : that the one may be enlightened by the Holy Spirit; that the other may be warmed with Divine love, and that my pen may be directed by the " wisdom coming from above," that I may see the way clearly, and understand the mind of God on this subject; that my heart may willingly and lovingly follow after, and fully enter into it, and that my pen may lucidly, plainly, and fully mark out the way in which inquiring souls may seek and find the " pearl of great price;" so that no one, however weak or strong, may be led astray. The first thing -essential to its attainment, is to perceive and feel its necessity; for no one will ever seek for a thing of which he does not feel the need. This necessity I have pointed out in my first, second, and third letters. The second thing requisite is to believe un hesitatingly believe in its possibility. This, I think, I have abundantly shown in my fourth, fifth, and sixth letters. I say the imperfect believer must fully believe in the possibility of attaining " perfect love," or he will never seek after it, with a view to its present attainment for a man would be the veriest fool among fools to seek after a thing perfectly beyond his reach, or which he believed to be wholly unattainable. The third thing is, as clearly as may be to apprehend its nature, otherwise his views will be confused or erroneous, and perhaps altogether false, and therefore, though he may seek after it, he will do it confusedly or erroneously, and perhaps altogether falsely; and hence, as he is pursuing a phantom of his own imagination, he will never obtain the object of his pursuit. To prevent such a fatal catastrophe, I have endeavoured, according to the ability which God gave me, in my seventh and eighth letters, to describe its nature, or to show in what it consists. The fourth prerequisite i to understand its evidence, which I have presented in the subsequent letters, to which my readers for, my dear M., I presume to have some other readers be sides yourself are referred. The last thing requisite is, to be determined to seek after it with full purpose of heart, and never to rest satisfied until it is found, and also to know the way in which it may be found; and this I shall now endeavour to point out as Scripturally and as plainly as possible. In the first place, let it be deeply engraven upon the heart as it was, and is, upon the heart of my dear friend, to whom I write that every blessing with which the soul is blessed is of GRACE pure, unmerited, and unbounded GRACE manifested in Christ Jesus, and conveved to the soul by the direct or indirect operation of the Holy Spirit. Neither reading nor hearing the word of God, partaking of the holy sacraments, repentance, prayer, nor even believing, will be effectual to this or any other degree of salvation, only so far as it may be accompanied by the operation of the Holy Spirit on the heart in the inmost soul, moulding it into the image of God. In the next place, it must be conceded on all hands that it is to be received, if ever received at all, by a simple act of faith. This inevitably follows from the former proposition, namely, that it is all of GRACE; for the very idea of a thing’s being of grace, is that it is a FREE GIFT; for this enters into the very composition of grace, the word essentially signifying a free, unmerited GIFT; and therefore it is not, and cannot be, bestowed as a reward for any work done by us, whether it be a work of piety towards God, or of mercy or benevolence towards man. None of these works, or all together, can make us any better, more worthy, or more fitted for the re ception of any blessing from God, than what we now are; and the best of us, considered in our natural, unrenewed state, are but hell-deserving sinners; and considered in relation to God’s holy law, which is as unbending in its demands as the throne of God itself, should be only worthy of eternal damnation. This being the case, if we are ever made the partakers of this "great salvation," we must receive it by faith only. But let us carefully guard against some errors that may arise out of this doctrine of salvation by faith. It is so stated, not because there is any intrinsic excellence in faith, or the act of believing, simply considered, any more than in any other act of the mind; but it is because the believing soul lays hold on God through Jesus Christ, who is " able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him." It is not, there fore, the simple act of believing that saves us, but the truth in which we believe. " If the TRUTH make you free, ye shall be free indeed." It is the truth, therefore the TRUTH OF GOD of that God that cannot lie of Him who has said, " I will cleanse you from all your filthiness " it is the truth of this God, who is faithful and WILL DO IT that saves the trembling soul that comes to him by faith, saying, " Lord, I BELIEVE thy every word, Thy every PROMISE TRUE; And lo! I wait on thee, my Lord, Till I my strength RENEW." This will appear still more evident when it is considered that the belief of an error is the same act of the mind as the belief of the truth. Believing is compared to eating. Here are two beggars, to whom is given a piece of bread. The one eats his bread and dies; the other eats his and lives. Now the act of eating was precisely the same in both cases. They both took the bread, masticated it with their teeth, and swallowed it : but the effects were far different; the one dies and the other lives. What caused this difference? What? The one piece of bread contained poisonous matter, and the other was wholesome. It was the quality of the bread, therefore, and not the act of eating, which produced these different effects. And in all cases, when we are nourished by our food, it is the food that nourishes us, and not the act of eating; although the eating is so essential to our living that, let ever so much food, and that of the best quality, be furnished, unless we partake of it we cannot live.

Just so in respect to those who are seeking this " pure and undefiled religion." The one believes he has it when he has it not, and like the beggar who ate the poisoned bread, believing an error, he has no spiritual life; and will, unless he is undeceived by the application of truth to his heart, ultimately die. The other lays hold by faith on the promises of God, holds fast until God speaks in accents of love to his soul, " I will; be thou clean." " Come ye out from among them, and I will receive you;" and he "arises and shines, having the glory of God risen upon him;" and he now "lives by faith in the Son of God, who gave himself for him." Now, the simple act of believing, in these two cases, was precisely the same, but the effects were far different; and these were caused, not by the act of the mind in believing, but by the thing believed. The one believed an error and died. The other believed a truth and lived. It was, therefore, the thing believed that both saved and killed. Hence the vast importance of the proposition of our Saviour, before quoted, " If the TRUTH make you free, ye shall be free indeed." But some will doubtless say, if this be so, why is so much importance attached to faith? Why is it so frequently said, in substance, " He that believeth shall be saved " " Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" "The just shall live by faith?" The reason is very obvious. Take the simile of eating the bread for an illustration. Let there be ever so much and so good food provided, unless we eat we cannot live. And so also, though the provisions of the Gospel are simple, " Enough for all, enough for each, Enough forever more," and though they are freely offered to us, unless we receive them we cannot be profited by them; cannot be saved from our sins, and be made partakers of this " great salvation;" and there is no other way for us to receive them, but by simply believing "with the heart unto righteousness." But in all this process the Lord goes before and prepares the way, by the operation of his Holy Spirit upon the heart, pointing out the way for the penitent sinner and this penitence itself is the effect of the Spirit working within him to come to Jesus Christ by faith; and then working in the heart of the justified believer, convincing him of the necessity of entire sanctification, presenting to his mind the Lord Jesus, whose blood is now ready to " cleanse him from all unrighteousness," and finally enabling him to throw himself, by a simple act of faith, upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus for the full salvation of his soul from all sin, and when thus saved he sees and feels that it is all of grace, from beginning to its end.

Let us, my dear M., be deeply convinced of the absolute necessity of this preparation of heart by the inworking of the Holy Spirit, which, as the apostle says, " works mightily in you that believe," stirring up within us a desire after this very thing, creating a " hungering and thirsting after" this perfect " righteousness," and in the mean time begetting a self- loathing, and a thorough consciousness of our utter inability to save ourselves by anything we can possibly do; and while in this state of mind, " burdened, sick, and faint," throwing ourselves helpless at the feet of Jesus, we cry out in the expressive language of the poet, in that most admirable of all the admirable hymns Charles Wesley ever wrote, and which Dr. Watts said was worth all the poetry he had ever written :

" What though my shrinking flesh complain, And murmur to contend so LONG;

I rise superior to my pain : When I am weak, then am I strong! And when MY ALL of strength shall FAIL, I SHALL WITH THE GOD-MAN PREVAIL." And 0, with what earnestness does this "weak," "self-despairing" one, struggling as under a mighty load of inward pollutions, staggering, "fainting" under his burden, and totally failing to find any relief in himself, or in any thing but the Almighty Saviour whom he so importunately seeks I say with what vehement earnestness does he pray in the next verse :

" Yield to me NOW, for I am WEAK,
But CONFIDENT in SELF-DESPAIR
I Speak to my heart, in blessings speak;
Be conquer d by my INSTANT PRAYER :
SPEAK, or thou never hence shall move,
And tell me if thy name be love."

I can hardly deny myself the pleasure of anticipating the happy deliverance of the soul which is brought into the glorious liberties of God’s sanctified children, which I design, if God gives me strength for the task, to portray in a future letter, by quoting the next verse in this most exquisitely sweet and powerfully descriptive hymn, so delightfully expressive of the feelings of a soul receiving an answer to its " instant prayer." Read it, my dear M., ay, sing it with a heart overflowing with loving gratitude to God for manifesting such .love to our fallen world, and for raising up such a man as Charles Wesley, whose finest touches of poetry have cheered the hearts of thousands as they do mine at this moment of writing of weary, yet happy pilgrims from this to the land of rest. After that strong prayer of faith, the poet puts the following language into the mouth of his seeking, penitent believer, expressive of his joy at having found the object of his pursuit :

" Tis LOVE! tis LOVE! Thou diedst for me;

I know the whisper in my heart : The morning breaks, the shadows flee, One universal love thou art; To me, to all, thy bowels move, Thy nature and thy name is LOVE."

I leave you, my dear M., to find out the emphatical words, for they seem to me every one so full of meaning, that I know not how to distinguish one from the other, except it be the first two and the last. With this I must bid you adieu for the pre sent, with a promise, by God’s permission, to resume in my next, the subject of the way to attain the blessing about which I am writing.