Adapted from: “The Inheritance Restored” By Milton Lorenzo (M. L.) Haney
Third Edition, Published In 1897
Milton Lorenzo Haney, son of Methodist minister James Haney and Mary Bevans Haney, was born on January 23, 1825 in Richland County, Ohio. From his earliest age he was taught both the way of salvation and the need of sanctification as a second work of grace. In 1834, the family moved to Illinois where Milton was saved on January 1, 1841. He began seeking holiness at the age of nineteen and at the same time he began preaching, but did not receive the experience until three years later at a camp meeting being led by his brother Richard. He was sanctified after he had first prayed his brother Richard’s wife and his brother Freeborn into the experience. On July 10, 1849, he married Sarah Huntsinger at Princeton, Illinois.
“It will not do to say that the love of which St. John speaks as perfect, is merely perfect in kind, for he speaks of the same love as being possessed and not yet made perfect. - I John 4:12-18. Our love to God, in the lowest measure, is perfect in kind, because it came from Him; but the love that God calls perfect, is the love of a perfect heart. The heart cannot be perfect with God while there is left in it any mixture of carnal affections; for all that is carnal is opposed to God. Therefore, before we are wholly sanctified, it is utterly impossible to love God perfectly. To love God with all the heart is to love him perfectly; because it is precisely the measure of love that he has required. If the reader says he has met a demand for one hundred dollars in gold, with ninety dollars, he would not be believed. If he undertakes to prove it by showing that every dollar of the ninety was pure gold, would that show that the claim was met?”
“This state of loving God with all the heart is called perfection in the Holy Scriptures. It is so called because to be perfect, is to fill the measure of the divine demand. The outer limit of God’s requirement of his children in either the law or the gospel, is expressed in these words; ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.’”
Believing it to be the will of my Heavenly Father that I should put in permanent form some thoughts on holiness which have stood the test, I have realized the need of Divine aid as never before.
The volume has been prepared in a single year of evangelistic labor, which has involved attendance upon at least six hundred services. Not a week of quiet has been allowed; but it has been prepared amid the cries of children, the babble of tongues, and the conflict of holy war. (the Civil War in which 600,000 lives were lost)
I have tried to make plain every step of the saving process, from a state of impenitence to complete sanctification. While some may question its doctrinal correctness, none, who comply with the conditions prescribed, will fail to obtain salvation to the uttermost. The instructions to the sanctified are not so full as desired but sufficient light, I trust, has been thrown on the pathway to guard against all extravagance, and furnish safe direction towards the deeper things of God.
The testimony of hundreds who have been saved, in both pardon and purity, through reading of its pages, and the strong expressions of approval which many spiritual minds have accorded it have led to a second revision of the work and this third edition.
Many alterations in verbiage and arrangement have been made. Not a few of the chapters have been greatly enlarged. Seven new chapters have been added which, I trust, will be of value in removing doubt, allaying confusions, intensifying thirst after God, strengthening the weak and making the gift of completed holiness a reality to God’s children.
I have conscientiously labored to improve the book with a heart-felt prayer that God may use it. In the name of Jesus, the book is committed to the public with the trust that many who read may, thereby, have their “inheritance restored”.
M. L. Haney.
In the first hour of 1841, after years of seeking, my soul was born of God. The consciousness of pardon, and the witness of acceptance were so clear, that in fifty-five years a doubt concerning it has never been entertained. From the beginning I was called to Christian activities, and impressed that the work of the ministry was before me. My father and three of my brothers being ministers, more was expected of me than I felt able to perform.
I saw no possibility of being a Christian in neglect of the means of grace, and can truthfully say, I never intentionally avoided a prayer or class meeting.
These services were to me at once desirable and painful. Only He who knows the heart fully understood the suffering of my timid soul when compelled by a sense of duty to take an active part in these services.
Three years after my conversion, I went to study with an older brother, to prepare for the ministry.
Here I was compelled to face these difficulties and forever settle the question of using my talent for God. In a church crowded with strangers, at an altar crowded with many seekers of pardon, the minister named two persons to pray. A brother of much experience was named first, and I was directed to follow him. As he began to pray I began, as usual, to tremble. Turning to a man of God kneeling beside me, I pleaded with him to pray in my stead when he was done. To this request I received an answer, in a sharp, decisive tone; “pray yourself.” Fortunately, his prayer was of great length; the only long prayer I remember, that was ever a benefit to anybody.
In utter self-despair, I then covenanted with God that I would never again hesitate to pray, or speak for him; and I was instantly and forever delivered from that painful bondage in the class and prayer services.
Many have mistaken such consecration to active service, for the grace of complete sanctification. I was graciously delivered, and filled with unspeakable joy, but I had no thought then, nor since, that I was fully sanctified.
Before that protracted meeting closed, I heard two German sisters relate their experience of holiness, in a love feast. They could use only a few words of very imperfect English, but there was a power from God accompanying what they said that marked me for eternity. From that time I sought this blessed experience, but very vaguely. It was then called a “deeper work of grace,” and “more religion.” These terms deceived me, as they have nine-tenths of the Christian world where they have been used.
I went on to seek a “deeper work of grace” and “more religion,” by interminable approaches to something: I knew not what. It was evident I must do better; so I kept on doing. More religion suggested greater activity, so I became more and still more active, until I entered the itinerant ministry.
In the fall of 1846, I left my father’s house on horseback for my circuit, nearly one hundred and fifty miles away. Having been licensed to preach only six weeks, and very poorly prepared for the public ministry, I went weeping to my first appointment. It was very plain to my mind that if God did not come to my rescue, I should utterly fail. Reading the Methodist discipline, I saw that as a Methodist minister I was expected to be “made perfect in love” in this life. Reading Mr. Wesley on Christian perfection, my views of the subject were much enlightened, but strange to say, I failed to see that the grace my soul longed for could only be received by a simple act of faith.
Fathers in the faith whom I consulted urged rigid attention to the means of grace, and I began more earnestly than ever to discipline myself into complete sanctification. I covenanted to pray in secret five times at least every day, when it was possible; to fast twice every week, and read five chapters in the Bible daily; to rise at four o’clock in the morning, and read the Scriptures on my knees; to use every hour I could in the study of good books; to not neglect any member of my charge; to visit from house to house both saints and sinners; to avoid committing sin in every instance; to especially set a double guard over any bad habits, and to neglect no Christian duty.
I carried out these rules with a rigidity that now surprises me, and I have no recollection of a single instance in those ten months in which my soul once felt the sting of condemnation. The Heavenly Father saw the exceeding earnestness of my soul, and because of my ignorance, blest me very greatly during those months. The joy of my spirit was wonderful. My ministry was strangely blest. Many sinners were converted, some of who are now in glory, and others are yet on the way. I found it a great and glorious thing to be justified.
About this time I heard of three laymen, more than a hundred miles away, who were wholly sanctified; and I resolved that I would visit them and learn the way. In seasons of greatest joy I never dreamed that I was already wholly sanctified. On the contrary, when my soul came nearest to God, and the witness of the Holy Spirit to my sonship was clearest, my need of inward holiness became most apparent. Ten months of prayer and fasting had failed to bring the desired object; but if I could converse with these sanctified persons, perhaps they would lead me into this experience. I had reached “more religion,” and a “deeper work of grace,” but it was clear as light, that I was not wholly sanctified.
In August, 1847, I went one hundred miles
across the prairies of
The last night of the camp-meeting, I went with others into a tent to instruct penitents; and I prayed and exhorted until they were all converted; and over the conversion of each of them, I praised the Lord aloud. When these were all converted, my sister-in-law and an older brother (now in heaven) cried out for a clean heart. Forgetting, for the time, my own need, I knelt beside them, and encouraged and prayed for them until they were both sanctified, and I shouted as they each received witness that the work was done.
A young minister then began to seek sanctification with great earnestness, and I went to him with perfect confidence, telling him I knew Jesus’ blood would wash his soul white as snow. He, too, was sanctified, and I was filled with joy. Surprising as it may appear to the reader, all this did not sanctify me. My soul was so absorbed for the salvation of others that I was completely oblivious to my own need.
When the last soul had been delivered from sin, the blessed Holy Spirit suggested that it was now time for me to look after the interests of my own soul. I had forgotten that I had come a hundred miles to that meeting to get a holy heart! I immediately renewed the old struggle, and began to work with all my might to be wholly sanctified. The Lord regarded me in great pity until I had reached the end of my own strength, and when I became quiet enough to hear His voice and follow His leadings, He began at once to reveal to me, as never before, the depravity of my nature, which, in the light of God’s holiness, appeared as corruption itself. There was no condemnation with this, because I was conscious that all my transgressions were swept away, and the witness of my sonship was as clear as the light of the sun at noonday. But at the very same time, the impurity of my heart was made so plain that I loathed myself.
In this transaction, God led me to understand
the distinct work accomplished in complete sanctification; that the need of
my justified nature was to be made pure; that after all these years of
glorious Christian experience, including the preceding ten months of prayer,
and fasting, and struggling, and shouting, I now needed a holy heart. He
then graciously revealed to my anxious spirit, that two things were
necessary to reach this experience. I must first put the whole case in
Jesus’ hands, and trust Him to do the whole work. I said, “I will meet these
conditions now.” Though many were present, I was alone with God, and the
Holy Spirit began to interrogate me. To obtain the complete surrender of my
will at every point, He brought before me the chief objects of my love. As
they were each presented, the question came, “Will you give this to me?” I
answered, “Yes.” Another, and still another was presented, and I replied, “I
do,” until the end came. Past, present, and future, were left
unconditionally with God; and there came to my soul the consciousness of
complete surrender. Not that I was simply willing to surrender; but that I
had surrendered, so fully, that it seems to me, at this date, that there was
no possibility of surrendering another item, because all was the Lord’s. I
was then within a single step of sanctification, and the Spirit said, “Only
believe.” I immediately began to get ready to put forth a great effort to
believe, when, lo! Before I was
ready, my heart had believed, and was made clean.
No act of my life was, perhaps, more simple and easy, than the act of faith which received Jesus Christ as my complete Saviour and sanctifier.
Why did not some minister tell me, when I was laying plans for months of prayer and fasting, that Jesus would sanctify me before I got half-way through my first prayer? Why did not some one say to my earnest soul, that Jesus could sanctify a thousand men before I would have time to get hungry on fast day? O what dishonor to Christ, that in my ignorance, I should have gone through all these performances to sanctify myself and substitute these for His all-cleansing blood.
Between daylight and sunrise, I arose and said, “I am the Lord’s, and I believe the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin.”
There were no rapturous emotions. I was not so happy as I had been the day before; but there was a sense of emptiness, accompanied by an undercurrent of peace, that brought the calmness of eternity into my soul. This condition of soul lasted for some hours before it was lost in the consciousness of heart purity. I was thus taught that sanctification is not the filling, but the emptying of the soul. It is not an addition, but a subtraction, and consists in emptying the heart of depravity: The fullness of the Spirit came fourteen hours afterward, when it was least expected and then my whole being was filled with God, and this was accompanied by the direct witness of the Holy Spirit to the work of complete sanctification. I had believed that Jesus’ blood cleansed me, and I testified to my faith a number of times before the witness came; now I testified to my knowledge of the fact.
The witness to this distinct work of cleansing, forever settled the question of this “second experience,” in my soul. It was as clear to my personal consciousness as the question of my existence. I have never doubted it, for one moment, in the forty-nine years that have passed since I first received it; and since that period, a doubt as to the truth of Christ’s religion has seemed impossible to my soul.
Glorious as was the beginning, the progress of these happy years has been more glorious still. A ministry of many regrets, and also of innumerable reasons for praises; a life of trial, temptation, and poverty, but one of deliverance, and triumph, and riches which come from God. Counting in all the sorrow, and battle, and want, with the misjudgments of my brethren, the memory of these forty-nine years will bless me when I am dying, and enhance the joy of my blood-washed soul on the fields of eternity.
Reader, have you this glorious experience?
Note:
the lengthy sanctified life of this early author included time as an officer
in the army actively fighting in the Civil War, after which he was appointed
to be a wartime Chaplain. He led many men into salvation and
sanctification between battles!
His
military enlistment came about due to the unbridled enthusiasm of the many
devout young men he pastored at the time. The lengthy but fascinating
account of how they virtually drafted him to be their leader before they
enlisted and then went to war, is found in his 227 page “Pentecostal
Possibilities”:
“At
the oft repeated request of judicious and holy people, accompanied, as I
think, by kindred suggestions from the Holy Spirit, I at length put in
printed form the incidents of my life. This recital involves a glance at
parentage and childhood, with early youth in the West, and covers a ministry
of fifty-seven years. Too much space may have been given to exciting
incidents of the war of the great rebellion; [Civil War] but three years'
identity with its front lines of fire and blood can hardly be passed over
lightly!
The book has been hurriedly written
in my seventy-ninth year, very largely from memory; but is launched with all
its imperfections with the prayer that God may use it in the salvation of
men after the hand that wrote it has ceased to act. M. L. HANEY.
See -he wrote it for us, even though our parents and perhaps grandparents, were not even born at the time! Although there is some repetition I have included his testimonial from: “The Inheritance Restored” ES
It has been stated in previous chapters that I had been awakened to the subject of Christian holiness, and since my nineteenth year (since 1844) had been a seeker of that grace. My entrance on the work of a minister brought such responsibilities that I seemed compelled to come nearer to God.
The books assigned me to study by the church, led toward that experience. The vows I would be expected to take required that I be at least an earnest seeker. My people all knew I was a seeker, and many of them were seekers with me.
The fathers of Methodism prescribed the persistent use of all the means of grace. They specified much secret prayer, daily reading of the Scriptures, fasting, giving thorough attention to gospel preaching, special attention upon the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, etc. as the highway leading to sanctification. They also said when you have done all this, come to God by simple faith as though you had done nothing, and receive it as the gift of God through Jesus Christ.
I followed to the letter this prescription month after month, without wearying. I prayed five times in secret, when it was at all possible each day. I usually fasted twice each week. I visited nearly, if not every, family in the bounds of my circuit, including saints and sinners, and talked to them about God, and usually prayed in every place. I usually rose at, or before, four o’clock in the morning to pray, and read the Scriptures on my knees, and had wondrous fellowship with God. For ten months I think there was not a minute when I felt the sting of Divine condemnation, or doubted that I was His child. I was often exceedingly happy and carried the conscious witness that my past sins were all forgiven, and during this time I think one hundred souls were converted under my ministry: but all this did not sanctify me!
As seen afterwards, there was a sense in which all this time I was seeking this grace by works! So I faithfully kept the first injunction of the fathers, but utterly failed to reach the second. Why was there this long delay to find what ought to have been reached in the first hour of seeking?
1. It was not for want of earnestness. There have been but few more earnest souls.
2. It was not for want of prayer. I prayed enough to sanctify a thousand souls.
3. It was not because of known sinful indulgences--there were none, as far as I knew, as I would have to state if I were dying!
4. It was not because I failed to be fully justified, or that I was a backslider in heart or life. I never had had a Christian experience before so rich and glorious as during this ten months; and surely I grew more in grace in that time than in all my life preceding it.
Why,
then, was I not sanctified?
1. Because I sought it simply as a wonderful blessing, an immense gust of glory! I got these again and again, but each time found I was not sanctified. The Divine, inwrought work of God called sanctification is more than ten thousand gusts of blessing. There are millions of blessings, but only one new birth. The new birth is not simply a blessing that makes you happy; it is a work of God that brings you into a new state, in which you are to live billions of years. You are in that happy state of salvation in sorrow, as well as in joy, and can never be out of it without committing sin. Sanctification does not consist at all in emotional upheavals. It often produces them, but exists without them. If this is not true, every time a soul is under trial, or in sorrow, he has lost the experience!
2. I failed to find this grace in three years of seeking, because I never met God’s conditions for sanctification. He has not promised that any man who will pray five times each day, fast twice each week and wear his life out working for the church shall be sanctified. If he had, all who do these things would be sanctified. But millions have done, and are doing, all these things who have not been, and are not now, wholly sanctified.
Then why do we insist that God’s dear children must tread this Roman route, that by their works, and sufferings and sacrifices they may make themselves holy, when holiness is the gift of God? Why did not my teachers tell me I could, and ought to be sanctified, before I got half way through my first prayer, or had time to get hungry on fast day? Prayer is blessed both before and after being sanctified, and fasting is right in its place: but when used as substitutes for complete consecration to God for heart purity and faith in Jesus to make you pure, they will hinder your sanctification. Prayer and fasting, if used to help you to comply with God’s conditions, will hasten your sanctification. When these conditions are met, we are at once infallibly sanctified.
In the summer of 1847 I heard of three or four persons in Knox County, Illinois, who had reached this experience, and that they were going to attend a camp meeting on the Dempsey ground. My brother Freeborn was then the “preacher in charge” on that circuit, and Roswell Morse was his helper. As I desired to meet those persons so recently sanctified I determined to go to that camp meeting.
It was a hundred miles away and the sun was hot, but that little trip across the prairie was nothing to my hungry soul. I had several seasons of shouting on the way, when no one heard but God. I was so filled with love for souls and the desire to help them that I was constrained to turn my weary horse out of the way to converse with children who were seated on a fence some distance off, and went on feeling that some of them would be saved as the result. The camp went forward with power and blessing, and souls were converted nearly every time we met. I became so absorbed in helping penitents, and so happy in God, that I forgot about my own needs.
Being appointed to preach in the afternoon, the Lord so filled me with glory that I praised Him with a very loud voice while preaching and there was a shout in the camp. I think the preaching must have been a small affair, but God was there in great power. Thirty souls, I would think, rushed inside the altar enclosure seeking pardon, and most of them cried aloud for mercy. My happy soul tumbled down among them, and the impression has followed me for many years that they were all converted in a few minutes! It was wonderful.
Before the night service it was determined to march around the ground with singing instead of preaching, and then wind up with an altar call. I think my brother Richard led that night, and at least thirty penitents, largely all new seekers, were crying to God. A storm was approaching and our chances in those days for shelter in the camp were poor. I knew the meeting must close in the morning, and so it distressed me that these seekers should be driven away by the storm without salvation. I hastened to two of those fully saved brothers, and plead with them to join with me in prayer that God would send the storm round and not allow those souls to go without being saved.
The whole appearance of the sky indicated a drenching rain. My brother seeing its near approach gave orders that the penitents be taken to the tents because he did not know that God was going to handle the storm. Bro. Freeborn, Bro. Morse and myself laid hold of four young men and took them to Barton Cartwright’s tent. I saw each of them beautifully converted in a little time, and praised God aloud, when each came through.
The last one being converted, I looked around to see if there was any other I could help, and Richard Haney’s wife, Adaline, was crying for a holy heart at the east side of the tent. I hastened to kneel by her, as though I were a veteran in the experience, and assured her that God would sanctify her; I knew He would! She stepped into the fountain and was unspeakably filled with God. Her face I shall never forget. Her life to its close was a burning lamp. No one who knew her closely ever doubted the genuineness of her testimony.
As soon as I got through shouting I looked, and my brother Freeborn was in tears and crying for a holy heart. I prayed and put my arms about his neck and felt I must push him right into the fountain. When the Holy Spirit came in and applied the blood and filled him with love, he sank down as if he did not have a bone in his body. He seemed awestruck and incapable of giving expression to the glory that filled his blood washed soul! His colleague, Rev. R. Morse was now in agony of struggle about six feet away. The death of the former man in him seemed like crucifixion, but it was not long until he was overwhelmed and swept by the great power of God. He wept and shouted and was more demonstrative than either of the others.
His whole experience was exactly in harmony with my conceptions. So another flood of praise went up to God from my happy soul.
When all was quiet, I became quiet enough to hear the Holy Spirit whisper: “It is now time that you give attention to your own soul.” I had come one hundred miles to that meeting to get the experience of holiness, and had been so lost to myself in helping others, that the last night had come and I was without the experience.
I at once began to pray and prayed all night without ceasing. About daybreak I was so exhausted I was unable to struggle any more, and became quiet as a well-conquered child. As soon as I was out of His way He began by giving me a fearful view of the carnal nature that was in me. In contrast with His holiness it seemed to me as black as ink. Here was the white light of His holiness, there the deep, black, indwelling evil deposit called the carnal mind. I was not condemned in the slightest, for I knew every sin I had ever committed was blotted out, that God was my Father, and I was His fully forgiven and His accepted child; but I loathed this vile nature within as never before, and unspeakably desired its instant removal.
I had not thought of crying for pardon, for my whole soul pleaded to be made clean, but how should I get there? The Holy Spirit whispered: “Two things are necessary, only two -first, consecration; second, faith in Jesus.” How glad I was to find the terms so easy, and my heart exclaimed: “O, my Lord, is that all?” My love for Him was so great I knew I could easily give to Him anything I had.
I was utterly isolated from every human being, though Christians were all about me: and was alone quietly listening to God.
The Holy Spirit then probed me with searching questions, asking would I do this, and that, go here or there, and my whole soul said yes. He then asked: “Should I be pleased never again to make you happy once, and allow you to live to old age,” (and it looked nearly one hundred years away); “Will you be all mine, and trust my blood to cleanse you from all sin, and testify to this wherever I ask you to?” To this my heart answered. “O, my Lord, how can I do this?” I had been an exceedingly happy Christian, and to give up all religious joy, how could I do it? It seemed worse than death. But the question was repeated, and my whole heart answered yes! I then had a clear, definite inner sense that I was wholly given to God, and my consecration was a finished fact.
Now I said, only that step of faith and I will have the blessing. So I began to make a desperate effort to believe, as I had often done before; but my heart went in advance of my plans, and took Jesus as my complete Sanctifier: then and there and I arose to my feet. A brother said to me: “Brother Haney, where are you now?” I answered: “I am all the Lord’s and I believe the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin!” This was near sunrise in the morning and I had lain on the ground from about 10 o’clock the previous evening, and the struggle had left its impression on my physical force.
My new experience was at first a sense of utter emptiness. My sense of joy was not half equal to any one of the three days preceding. I had the rest that results from settlement. There seemed to be nothing unsettled. I was all the Lord’s, and believed without mixture of doubt, that I was cleansed from all sin. The closing exercises of a great camp meeting, with shouts of praise, the shedding of tears, cries of penitents, and victory in the air, did not seem to move me. I was so exhausted that, like the disciples in Gethsemane, I fell asleep several times, and when awakened by my nodding, Satan hurled the statement into my soul that I was a pretty specimen of sanctification, going asleep in such a meeting as that! My heart responded: “Sleeping or waking, I am all the Lord’s!” I traveled thirty miles that day and testified four times that I was all the Lord’s and believed the blood cleansed me from all sin. It was not until late in the day that the sense of emptiness began to merge into a realization of utter cleanness, but in no moment did my faith give way.
Stopping with a Brother Headstrom, who knew nothing of my situation, I led in family prayer that night. While praying the Holy Spirit witnessed to what had been done about sunrise that morning on the Dempsey camp ground, and flooded my soul with glory such as I had never experienced. I had believed for sanctification fourteen hours before, and received it, and retained it by faith during the day. Now my faith was turned into knowledge. I was as truly and as perfectly saved when I rose from the straw in the morning, as I was when the witness was given, and in the fifty-six years since I have not experienced a doubt as to the genuineness of the experience.
Possibly, no greater mistake has been made and persistently adhered to in Christian theology, than the idea that a lengthened period must elapse between the two acts of God’s grace by which we are regenerated and wholly sanctified. That there are two distinct acts of grace, the one resulting in regeneration, and the other in complete sanctification, has been and is now (1897) taught by every organized body of Christians except one or two. It is difficult to decide how the impression that became so widely accepted that complete sanctification is the result of weary years of struggle followed by some remarkable occurrence in death.
The brethren at Thessalonica had been converted from heathenism only about six months, when St. Paul wrote urging the call to holiness, thus indicating that he had already told them of this when among them. Having shown them it was God’s will that they should now be sanctified, he prays under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that they would not only be sanctified but preserved blameless in this state to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: and he assures them that God will do this. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.
It is, therefore, consistent with God’s will that earnest converts should at once be led into this glorious state. Certainly, if converts from heathenism with only six months of Christian experience were ready to receive this grace, then those who are instructed in the Scriptures from their infancy are as capable the moment they are born of God. God commands babes, not men, to leave first principles and go on unto perfection. The greatest mistake made by the Christian church in all the centuries, the mistake most disastrous to her complete interests, is the failure to obey this divine order.
We affirm that the best time to seek and receive sanctification is immediately after the soul is born of God:
1. Because the soul under the control of their newborn love is more teachable than at any subsequent period.
The Christian just emerged from the darkness of a struggle which he can never forget, and delivered from the bitterness of death resulting from a life of rebellion against God, now sees the terrible character of sin more clearly than he does at a later period.
The soul is now under the influence of the covenant of obedience to God, and if at once led into the experience of sanctification, that covenant need never be broken.
John Wesley says:
“I
have been lately thinking a good deal on one point, wherein, perhaps, we
have all been wanting. We have not made it a rule as soon as ever persons
are justified to remind them of going on unto perfection; whereas this is
the very time preferable to all others. They have then the simplicity of
little children, and they are fervent in spirit, ready to cut off a right
hand or pluck out the right eye. But if we once suffer this fervor to
subside, we shall find it hard enough to bring them again ever to this
point.”
Alas what multitudes have allowed this fervor to subside and cannot bring it back again!
2. The newborn soul has the spirit of sacrifice in a measure not afterward possessed. In addition to this is an intensity of love for Christ, which leads, as Mr. Wesley says, to a readiness to cut off right hands for his sake.
The way of holiness is a way of sacrifice, and because of this, there are few older Christians willing to enter upon it.
To be true to Christ, and be “as He is” in this world, has much meaning. Newborn love prepares God’s child to take the sacrifices of the cross that crucifies him to this world and this world to Him.
Many of the Lord’s people and ministers begin to seek a holy heart, but fail to reach the fountain of cleansing. The principal reason for this failure is that there is an idol with which they cannot part; a right eye which they shrink from plucking out, or some evil habit that they will not give up. Under the mighty impulse of newborn love, these souls would not have stopped because of the hardships of the way.
3. Complete sanctification should be sought
immediately after justification so that the newborn soul may
continue to be justified. As
elsewhere stated, God always in the new birth gives the power to control the
carnal nature until it can be removed;
but as sure as there is cause and effect, if the seeds of sin are not
speedily removed, they will spring up in the soul and contend for the
mastery; and, after a time, faith begins to waver, peace gives way to
disquietude, and the soul becomes the
theatre of war. This ought not to be!!! All who fail to obey
God’s order to “leave the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and go
on unto perfection,” will at times lose their feeling of having God’s
approval, fall into transgression, and deprive themselves of divine
fellowship much of the time during the first year of Christian experience.
This is “tremendously true.”
Has God made no provision to keep his children justified? Do the Scriptures provide a never-ending series of “sinning and repenting” for the sons and daughters of God? The plain declaration of God’s word, that “the path of the just is as a shining light, which shineth more and more,” certainly does not mean that we shall have more darkness and less light after twenty years of experience, than we had at the beginning.
God has provided a remedy for these days of darkness and sinning, and revealed it plainly in his Word. To all who fail to avail themselves of this provision, He gives the clearest warning of the painful results that must follow. He assures every babe in Christ, who refuses to leave the first principles and “go on unto perfection,” that by so doing he will “lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Furthermore, He warns the whole church of the danger of utter apostasy to all who attempt to remain in their first experience. Heb. 6:1-8.
Multitudes are today stumbling on the dark mountains in doubt and sadness, who would have been full of light and joy if they had “gone on unto perfection.’’
4. New converts need sanctification immediately, to enable them to keep the vows of their conversion. No soul can be converted until he has covenanted to obey God. Obedience involves cross bearing and the faithful discharge of every duty assigned him. But there are duties from which he shrinks, and crosses that seem too heavy to be borne. To discharge these duties, and, at the same time, battle with his inward foes, seems at times well nigh impossible. When the fervor of “first love” has subsided, many of his duties become irksome, and parts of God’s blessed service become drudgery to him. Thousands find the way so difficult, that they become discouraged and give up their hope in Christ. Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” and “ye shall find rest to your souls.” There is a provision in the gospel that perfectly harmonizes the soul with the duties assigned to it, or God is indeed a hard master. This provision is found in the experience and state of complete sanctification.
5. New converts need sanctification quite as much as Christians of riper years. The carnal mind, even though it is suppressed at first, is no more in harmony with God in the breast of a new convert than in an aged Christian. Years of faithful service may give the wisdom to deal with carnal affections, which is not possessed in the infancy of his experience; but why should he be compelled to contend with these evils through many weary years, when even mature Christians have never been able to perfectly subdue them? (Yes, really… Why? Earnest Seeker)
This unholy nature can only be removed by the supernatural power found in the application of Jesus’ cleansing blood.
6. Complete sanctification should be obtained immediately after justification, in order to mature in Christian experience. Nothing so hinders the growth of a justified soul as the fallen nature. What so hinders the growth of a tree as the worm at the root? What so hinders the growth of a child as disease in its vital organs? Is it better to let the worm remain until the tree is matured? Would it be wise to delay the application of remedies until the child is grown? What would be the character of the maturity or growth thus obtained? The common wisdom that God has chosen to cleanse His people from their fallen nature only in mature experience, or at the end of life, is opposed to the story told by nature. All the graces of the Spirit are weakened by the continuance of the fallen nature; and it will be found, that after years of hard struggle, Christians usually have less patience and more fretfulness; less meekness and more anger; less love and more enmity; less faith and more unbelief than in the first three weeks of their Christian experience.
On the other hand, what is plainer to all who have tested it, than the immediate and continual enlargement of all these graces as soon as the soul is sanctified?
7. We urge the obtaining of sanctification to
all new converts as the divinely appointed
preparation for good works and a
life of usefulness.
“Every
branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away and every branch that
beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John
15:2. “If a man therefore purge
himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for
the Master’s use, and PREPARED UNTO EVERY GOOD WORK.” 2 Tim. 2:21.
The fallen nature interposes the greatest difficulties in the performance of our daily Christian duties; and the greatest hindrance to the activity of a justified soul is the inherent evil of his own heart. Is it argued that sinful conduct would hinder a soul more than the fallen nature?
The majority of God’s professed children never speak one word of counsel or warning to the impenitent, because of the “fear of man.” Would these, if completely sanctified, fail to plead with the unsaved to be reconciled to God? How many ministers, called of God, find preaching the gospel to be a heavy task? If each one of these ministers were completely sanctified, he would deliver the gospel message with gladness.
To be “purged from these,” is God’s provision for “meetness for the Master’s use;” to be “sanctified,” His appointed preparation for every good work.
You might as well expect to obtain the maximum yield of corn with the weeds left in the hill, as to expect a Christian to attain the fullest measure of usefulness while drained by the unceasing battle with the evils of his own heart.
If complete sanctification is an experience necessary and precious to the advanced Christian, the same experience is equally important and precious to newborn souls.
This being so, who on earth or in heaven, can
tell why they should be deprived of it? If it were possible, we would repeat
in the hearing of the whole
We use the words to sanctify, in this chapter, as used in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Mr. Wesley says that sanctification is both a gradual, and an instantaneous work. This kind of statement has led many to misrepresent Mr. Wesley’s teachings. Those who would make the impression that Mr. Wesley believed we could merely grow into sanctification have never studied him on the subject.
The following statement will clearly set forth
what he and the Fathers taught:
Sanctification is gradual in preparation, but always instantaneous in its
reception.
No unsaved sinner can, by any possibility, receive this grace. Therefore, a work of preparation must be done ahead of it. It is promised to only those who are already the sons and daughters of God.
Therefore, the new birth is preparation for sanctification. The new birth includes conviction for transgressions, a genuine repentance, the exercise of saving faith in Christ, forgiveness of past sins, the impartation of a new life to the soul and adoption into the family of God. Part of this work is human; part is Divine. The human part requires time. After conversion, the Lord must reveal the necessity of a work of purifying. This requires more or less time. After conviction of the need for sanctification, there must be, on the part of these enlightened Christians, a compliance with the Divinely prescribed conditions. To sanctify, means to consecrate to a holy purpose, and to make pure. Consecration must precede purification. Therefore, time is required to make the consecration.
The Divine work of purifying depends on faith in Christ, and time is needed to exercise faith.
All this is in preparation to receiving complete Sanctification. As the penitent seeking pardon reached the point where he gave up his sins by degrees, so the believer may take a length of time in the process of complete consecration. But there does come a moment when he is at last, wholly consecrated. The repenting sinner may have found it very difficult to believe for forgiveness, but at last he got a view of Christ and trusted him. In like manner, the child of God, when seeking a holy heart, may meet with delays, but there will be a moment in which he believes in Christ for sanctification.
When the sinner fully submits to God and believes in Christ for pardon, pardon is instantly given.
When the believer makes the consecration required and believes in Christ for holiness, he is instantly made holy. When the sinner fully complies with the conditions for the removal of his transgressions, they are all instantly swept from the record; in like manner, the believer, having complied with the conditions for the removal of the fallen nature, his whole nature is instantly washed in Christ’s most precious blood. His justification was gradual in preparation but was instantaneously bestowed. His sanctification was gradual in preparation but instantaneous in its accomplishment. In either case, the seeker may have been a long time seeking, but there was a moment when he found the object sought.
Mr. Wesley says:
“Indeed,
this is so evident a truth, that well nigh all the children of God,
scattered abroad, however they differ in other points, yet generally agree
in this, that though we may ‘by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body,’
resist and conquer both outward and inward sin --although we may weaken our
enemies day by day--yet we cannot drive them out. By all the grace that is
given at justification we cannot extirpate them. Though we watch and pray
ever so much, we cannot wholly cleanse either our hearts or hands. Most
surely we cannot until it please our Lord to speak to our hearts again--to
speak the second time, ‘be clean,’ and then only the leprosy is cleansed.
Then only the evil root, the carnal mind is destroyed; the fallen nature
exists no more. But if there be no such second change, if there be no
INSTANTANEOUS deliverance after justification, if there be none but a
gradual work of God, (that there is a gradual work none denies,) then we
must be content, as well as we can, to remain full of sin (depravity) until
death.” Sermons, Vol. I, p. 122.
“Inquiring
(in 1761) how it was that in all these parts we had so few witnesses of full
salvation, I constantly received one and the same answer; ‘we see now, we
sought it by our works; we thought it was to come gradually; we never
expected it to come in a moment by simple faith, in the very same manner as
we received justification.’ What wonder is it then that you have been
fighting all these years “as one that beateth the air.” Works, Vol. 7, p.
377.
Rev. John A. Wood, whose book, “Perfect Love”, should be in every Christian home, says: “The church generally holds that God instantaneously removes all indwelling sin from dying infants, and from all justified believers who die suddenly, like the dying thief, and it is reasonable to believe that He instantaneously sanctifies those who trust in the blood of Christ to have it done. Purity being God’s work accomplished by faith, is evidence that it is instantaneous, the same as its kindred blessings--pardon, adoption, and regeneration. The beautiful analogy in the conditions and experience of regeneration and complete sanctification teaches an instantaneous work similar to regeneration. The sinner convicted of his guilt, believes in Christ for pardon, and is forgiven freely and fully. The Christian convicted of impurity, believes in Christ for holiness, and his heart is made pure, completely and instantaneously. The promise, ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,’ covers the latter case, just as much as the former. Gradualism is not in harmony with the analogy of the great work of God in spiritual regeneration. The instantaneous is.”
Dr. Adam Clark says: ‘We are to come to God for an instantaneous and complete purification from all sin, as we come for instantaneous pardon. In no part of the scriptures are we directed to seek the remission of sins serially -one now and another then, and so on. Nor in any part are we directed to seek holiness by gradation. Neither a gradation pardon, nor a gradation PURIFICATION exists in the Bible.’ ‘For as the work of cleansing and renewing the heart is the work of God, His almighty power can perform it in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And as it is this moment our duty to love God with all our heart, and we cannot do this until He cleanse our heart, consequently He is ready to do it this moment, because He wills that we should in this moment love him. In this moment, therefore, we may be emptied of sin, filled with holiness, and become truly happy.’ Clarke’s Theology, p. 208.
Bishop Janes said in his sermon at
Bishop Randolph Foster says: ‘Sanctification is distinct, as opposed to the idea that it is mere regeneration. It is something more and additional; instantaneous, as opposed to the idea of gradual growth to maturity or ripeness ... While there is progress toward it, yet that its attainment is not a mere ripeness following gradual growth, but is by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, and instantaneously wrought, however long the soul may have been progressing toward it.’ Christian Purity, p. 46.
Dr. Nathan Bangs. ‘Those who teach that we are gradually to grow into a state of sanctification, without ever experiencing an instantaneous change from the fallen nature to holiness are to be repudiated as unsound, anti-scriptural and anti-Wesleyan.’ Article in Guide. 1854.
Dr. F. G. Hibbard says: ‘Mr. Wesley, and Mr. Fletcher, discern sanctification to be in two stages; the lowest degree is to be emptied of all sin, the highest, to be filled with God. To be emptied of all sin, to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, is a work to be done by the Spirit of God immediately acting on the soul, through the truth. It is done at once, according to the faith of the believer, through the meritorious blood and righteousness of the Redeemer. But to bring forth the Christian graces (i.e. fruits) to the highest measure of maturity or perfection compatible with this earthly state, or with the moral capabilities of the believer, is a work of time, to be carried forward and performed, until the day of Jesus Christ.’ --N. C. Advocate.
Rev. Dr. Fuller in his address before the Evangelical Alliance. ‘Nor did you find relief, peace, strength, victory over your corruptions, until you came to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, until looking to Jesus, you cast your soul upon him for sanctification, just as you did at first for pardon.’
Richard Watson. ‘To this faith shall the promises of complete sanctification be given, which, in the nature of the case, presents an instantaneous work immediately following upon complete and unwavering faith.’ Institutes, Vol. 2, p. 455.
Rev. J. S. Inskip. ‘I understand, that in all cases where any special success has been given to the teaching of this doctrine; it has been where the instantaneous character of the work has been made very prominent.’ --Method of Promoting Perfect Love.
Rev. Dr. Lowry. ‘Salvation in all its stages is by faith and by faith alone. And this makes sanctification not only instantaneous, but creates a necessity that we should receive it as a gracious gift bestowed, as opposed to the idea of a product worked out, or resulting from development and growth.’ --Divine Life. June 1878.
The pastoral address of the General Conference of 1832 presents the following upon the subject of holiness: ‘When we speak of holiness, we mean that state in which God is loved with all the heart, and served with all the power. As Methodists, we have said this is the privilege of the Christian in this life. And we have further said that this privilege may be secured instantaneously by an act of faith, as justification was.’ Wood’s “Perfect Love”.
We believe with the Catechism of the (former) Methodist Episcopal Church, that “sanctification is the act of God’s free grace whereby we are made holy.”
How Is Sanctification Obtained?
Some declare that sin has its seat in our physical being; therefore only death can rescue us from its power. Others maintain that the process of salvation from the fallen nature is begun in regeneration, and God carries on the work of purifying in the soul; but none are fully delivered from its power until somewhere near death. While comfortless, restless millions expect deliverance, only through the fires of purgatory.
But the greatest mistake of the centuries is the effort to convince men that the fallen nature is destroyed in regeneration -while they are at times painfully conscious that the foe still lives within!!
Thousands of God’s children, among whom are many Methodist preachers, pressed with the conscious need of inward purity, are told that it is attained by growth in grace, and immediately begin a series of good works, in order to develop themselves into purity; but after all their struggles and efforts on this theme, they are never thus developed.
Alas! How much of Romanism is left in Christian Protestantism.
Why not teach these hungering, thirsting souls,
to come at once to Christ and be washed from all sin in His most precious
blood? “Oh! Precious fountain that saves from sin.” Why tell them to do
anything, or go anywhere but come at once, and as they are, to the fountain
and be made perfectly whole.
Complete sanctification involves two items,
-complete consecration, and complete purification. It is our duty to
consecrate, and God’s work to purify our hearts. God cannot consecrate for
us; neither can we purify our hearts for Him; but God will purify our
hearts, if we will but consecrate our all for that purpose, and trust him to
do the work. Every sanctified Christian has reached the experience in this
way. He may not have had sufficient light to recognize the steps by which he
came, but there was a blessed period when he gave his all to Christ as never
before, and, “simply trusting he was blest.”
Conviction For Sanctification
God from the beginning decreed that the glory of our salvation should be given to Christ.
The Holy Spirit reveals to the sinner his lost and helpless condition, and when fully convinced that he cannot by any possibility, save himself, the same Holy Spirit leads him to Christ for pardon and regeneration.
God wills that Christ shall have all the glory for our sanctification as well, so after a time of rejoicing in deliverance from transgression, God, as the Holy Spirit, begins to reveal our remaining sinful nature to us. This is the beginning of conviction for holiness.
Recently, many newborn believers are being diligently instructed in God’s plan of entry into His Rest without waiting for them to fall into the weariness of the believer’s wilderness state. We have found that they come at once to Christ to be made every bit whole in His Rest. In obedience they are consciously delivered from the fallen nature, and escape the years of weariness and conviction that always result from disobedience to God. Many Christians resist conviction for holiness (perhaps until they completely lose their justification) before they yield to God. The power of Satan over Christians in this crisis is marvelous.
Experienced Christians and even ministers under conviction for holiness often retrace the paths they took while still lost, such as resisting the Holy Spirit. Instead of seeking the company of those who would help them to Christ, they keep the company of those who oppose the doctrine. Even in the house of God they will sit with the unconverted in the rear of the congregation, rather than draw nigh and join with those who are seeking this grace. Instead of reading some reliable author who will clearly point out to them the way of deliverance, they read authors that would falsely convince them that they either now possess, or do not need, or cannot have, what God is calling them to. They search the Scriptures, hoping to find in them some proof that God does not demand holiness of heart. Their souls are moved to great bitterness by the ministry and testimony of those who are in the experience of holiness, and ignore the fact that the best men and women on earth make this profession, they pass the purest examples by unnoticed, and rehearse the faults and failings of the frailest in the hearing of all who will listen; receiving with greediness and promptly spreading every scandal about those who have made bad work of their profession of this grace. No wonder the Psalmist cries out, “Who can understand his errors? Lord, cleanse me from secret faults.”
Conviction for holiness does not necessarily involve condemnation. God does not condemn those He justifies. Conviction for transgression brings condemnation to the sinner; but conviction for holiness does not relate to transgression. The blessed Holy Spirit comes to the heart on which He has set the seal of pardon and reveals the remaining unholy nature that still must be removed. If the soul thus enlightened gives instant heed, and walks in the light given, he need never feel the sting of condemnation, from the moment of pardon until he puts on his crown of glory. At the same time he will loathe the impurities of his nature thus revealed to him. If however he refuses to obey, and repeatedly resists the call to holiness, he thus rejects the offer of deliverance, and at once becomes responsible for the presence of his sinful nature; and a renewal of conviction will bring a sense of guilt. Hence the agonizing struggles of many who seek this grace after having resisted conviction from time to time.
We repeat, that to all earnest Christians who have ordinary opportunities for light, there comes real conviction for holiness. This may be recognized in various ways. There is an abiding consciousness of need; a sense of incompleteness, with earnest longings of soul for grace that is not possessed, combined with great dissatisfaction with present attainments. If there is delay to go forward, there will be intermissions in the previously steady peace of the soul. In reading the Scriptures the need of the soul is made more apparent, and if there is continued delay to go forward, there will come in every instance, a clear revelation of the presence of a sinful nature in the heart.
If this is not heeded, God will permit sinful
propensities to re-assert their supremacy and he who had perfect control
over anger, and malice, and pride, will now find these passions arising to
control him...
Again, the testimony of those in the experience of holiness will produce a strange mixture of desire and aversion, similar to that experienced by the convicted sinner when listening to the testimony of those who know the joys of pardoned sin.
When listening to the direct demand of the Gospel for present holiness, there will be the accompanying prompting of the Holy Spirit, moving the soul to present submission.
When the commands and promises of the Divine word, relating to sanctification, are read, the heart is moved to obey and appropriate them, just as the convicted sinner is moved to repent and be converted by the Scriptures relating to repentance and the new birth. Added to this, there will often be a deep sense created within of the need of holiness with the conviction that if this call is rejected, God will retire and leave His rebel child to perish. Trifling with the Holy Spirit in this call has sent many to perdition. To the obedient soul there comes a deep unquenchable thirst for inward purity, and a readiness to use every right means for its attainment.
Reader, have YOU an experiential knowledge of the truth of this chapter?
When the obedient child of God is convicted of the need of complete sanctification, he will at once inquire, if not hindered by carnal influence, “what must I do to receive it?” We trust the Lord will enable us to make the way plain to all such.
As previously stated, complete sanctification involves both complete consecration and complete purification.
If the inquirer will keep this thought before his mind, it will save him from much confusion. Get intelligent views of both the human, and the divine part of this work; and do not permit any agency to turn you aside from the pursuit of the truth. Right here Satan interposes, if possible, one of his greatest hindrances, by turning your attention from your duty, which is consecration, and inducing you to make agonizing efforts to accomplish that which God only can do, i.e., purify your heart.
This is the precise condition into which Satan has led all those who spend their lives in fruitless efforts to grow, or improve themselves into purity of heart. It is simply your duty to comply with the conditions; God will do all the saving. Satan will keep you employed about the divine part of this work if he can, and so keep you from meeting the conditions; and after years have passed you will, like many of your brethren, be more confused than ever. Therefore keep this truth before you: complete sanctification means complete consecration and complete purification. And to be completely sanctified you must first be completely consecrated.
The enemy will doubtless suggest, and many of your brethren will join to suggest, that you were wholly consecrated when you were converted. Right here, get a clear view as to what is embraced in the consecration of a child of God for a holy heart. To aid you in this, I suggest, that whatever you did by way of consecration at the time of your conversion, was all done before you were either pardoned or regenerated. It was done under a load of conscious guilt, and in the darkness of spiritual death.
What God now demands, must be done under the light of regeneration with the Holy Sprit as your internal guide. What you did then was the act of a condemned sinner; what you do now is the act of a justified Christian in the light of day. You were then required to renounce the things that are wrong; God now demands that you lay at His feet the things that are right. The offering you then made was a man with all his powers under the control of spiritual death. God now demands the presentation of a man whose faculties are made alive by Him under the control of grace.
“Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God.” “I speak after the manner of men,
because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members
servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity; even so now yield
your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness.” Romans 6:13, 19.
The motive which activated you then was fear; the motive which activates you now is love. That was the submission of fettered and enslaved powers under the sentence of eternal death; this is a love offering to Christ of the powers He has emancipated. Then you gave up your sins and surrendered your wicked soul for pardon and regeneration; you now present your pardoned and regenerated soul for complete holiness. You then sought justification; you now seek sanctification. That was repentance; this is consecration. The two-fold work of consecration and purification is embodied in this Scripture:
“I
beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
Here we see, that consecration must precede transformation, and transformation must be accomplished in order that God’s will may, in all things, be to us always, good and acceptable, and perfect. The persons addressed are, unquestionably, the children of God, and this presentation of Christian duty by the inspired apostle clearly proves that they had not yet attained these three points of Christian experience, that is, the living sacrifice, the transformation, and the demonstration.
Reader, have you reached them? We get the true idea of the sacrifice demanded by referring to the former dispensation. To illustrate: King David was required to offer a lamb in sacrifice. What did he have to do in order to meet the requirement? First, he must separate the lamb from the flock, from his own and all other service, and, laying it upon God’s altar, it was thus set apart to the one service of God only. The moment it was surrendered it became the Lord’s lamb, and since David no longer possessed it, he had no right to say what should be done with it. If God orders its use as a whole burnt offering, or, if He wills that it eaten by His priests or Levites, David has no right to object. Or, if He orders that it be returned to the flock and put in David’s care, David is still to recognize the lamb, with all its proceeds, as the Lord’s, and himself as the steward of God’s property.
You are now asked by divine authority to present your body to be a living sacrifice. That means the separation of your body from all other service, and setting it apart to the service of God only. The presentation of your body to God necessarily includes your whole spiritual nature--your intellect, your feelings and your will. When your whole body, soul and spirit, are thus given to Christ, you are no longer your own; therefore the use of these powers is involved in this covenant. That includes all of your time. Not one-seventh, or one-seventieth of it, but all of it. Whether you wake or sleep; whether you labor or rest; whether you eat or drink; whatsoever you do must be done in His name and to His glory. It includes the time spent in the various departments of business life, as well as in religious service. Not simply that you do business for yourself in an honest way; that is what many heathens, and even atheists do; but that you henceforth recognize yourself as in the employ of the Lord Jesus Christ, attending to the business He has committed to your hands for Him. While God has established the rights of property between men for the sake of order and the highest good to the race, each consecrated soul must recognize his rights as suggested in Lev. 25:23: “The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine; and ye are strangers with me.” Complete consecration is the complete transfer of ownership to God, of houses, farms, shops, merchandise, money; all must from henceforth be forever recognized as the property of Jesus Christ.
Since the powers of our being are His, all the possessions gained through those powers are His property also.
Consecration does not mean that any man should leave any legitimate business or profession. If God has called you to be a lawyer, you are to plead law for him. If by His will you are in the practice of medicine, glorify him in this profession. If you are a farmer, cultivate His land--of which you are the steward--to please Him. If you are a mechanic, fill your calling as He directs. If you are a merchant, buy and sell in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God the Father. If you are a wife and mother, you are to render holy service in the proper care of your house, and in training the children God has given you for their mission in life. Do not fancy that because you keep your house in good order you are therefore keeping it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Among the most heaven-daring women on the earth are many who keep house as well as you do. The question is for whom, and to whom is this service rendered?
The presentation of your whole love-nature to God, necessarily involves the objects of your affection. Husband, wife, child, friend, associate, even your own life, are by this transaction laid at his feet for life or death as He may choose.
All and more than has been specified is
involved in a present and total surrender of your will to God, for all time
and all eternity. Many who think their wills completely surrendered would
rebel at once if God should demand one-tenth of their income to feed the
poor and carry on His work. I know a man of God whose health was completely
broken by confinement in
Consecration means a sacred care for God’s poor, and relief for the widow and orphan. It means that you sustain His cause with your money, your reputation, and your life. It means that your whole being and your complete possessions are at his disposal; and that in reference to your money as well as your prayers, your heart shall cry out, “Lord what wilt Thou have me to do.” The earnest seeker must not fail to distinguish between willingness or desire to consecrate, and the act itself. Satan does not care how willing or anxious you are to consecrate, if he can just keep you from consecrating. You may be willing and desire to read a book, but never read it. You may be willing and desire to give a beggar money for food, but let him perish without it. So the willingness and determination to consecrate, and the act by which consecration is accomplished, are distinct questions. Consecration is not only the recognition of the rights of God, but the actual turning over into his hands that which belongs to him.
Many settle for what they term a willingness to consecrate, and so are never consecrated. A man desires to sell his farm, and determines it must be done. Ask him, “Have you sold your farm?” and he replies with some confusion, “I want to sell it.” That proves that the farm is not sold. Thus it is with many of God’s children; they are fully convinced they must consecrate; they desire and are willing to consecrate; but in some way they fail to do it.!!! Suppose the man referred to, at last makes out a deed to his neighbor who has wanted the farm for some years. Now ask him, “Have you sold the farm?” and he promptly responds, “Yes!” He does not need any witness to prove to him that the land is sold; he is clearly conscious of the fact. In like manner, the act of consecration, when completed, will inevitably bring the testimony of your own consciousness that “ ‘tis done, the great transaction is done.” This always ends all efforts to consecrate.
Reader, are you now wholly consecrated? If not, resolve to settle this matter at once.
Begin by laying open your heart to the all-searching eye. Tell God that you will settle this question now. Ask him to show you the hiding places of rebellion in your soul. Fear not! God cannot lead you astray.
As He shows you the way, walk in it without hesitation. Keep your heart centered on Christ; not on the Holy Spirit, but on Christ. Many have been misled while looking at the Holy Spirit, because, right here, other spirits have interposed and led the soul astray. The devil never comes as “an angel of light,” while the heart is stayed on Christ. You cannot reach the end you are seeking without the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit always comes as the fruit of faith in Christ. Ask God, in Jesus’ name, to give you the Holy Spirit to lead you in this transaction, and give up the first thing He shows you. Be sure that it is really turned over to God for eternity, no matter what it may cost. Keep your heart open and follow as He leads, until the Holy Spirit has taken a complete inventory of all you have and are, or hope to have or be, which He now demands at your hands. Then covenant with Christ that when anything that you do not now see and will be revealed in the future, also shall be subject to His will. At this point you will recognize that you have reached the end; you have nothing more to give, and your soul will be clearly conscious of the fact that you are indeed all the Lord’s. Thus having surrendered all, you are irrevocably His--not His merely on condition that He will bless you, but His, blessing or no blessing, light or darkness, life or death. You are now in His hands to be made completely holy.
You are now ready to receive by a simple act of faith the divine work of complete sanctification, which will be followed by the witness of the Holy Spirit, that you are indeed completely sanctified.
“As before stated; the divine part of sanctification is purifying the heart. Hence the words sanctification, holiness and purity are used interchangeably. The wildest errors have grown out of confounding purity with maturity. More confusion has grown out of this mistake, perhaps, than any other. Complete sanctification does not necessarily include maturity; neither does maturity necessarily include complete purification. There are many Christians matured by long experience, who are perfectly conscious of indwelling impurities; while others, in the childhood of Christian experience, are just as clearly conscious of being completely cleansed in Jesus’ precious blood. Bishop Morris was certainly a mature Christian, and yet he sought and obtained complete purity in the very last years of his life.
Grace Paddy, who was sanctified, as Mr. Wesley says, a few hours after her conversion, was certainly not a matured Christian. When will intelligent Christians distinguish between the enlargement or growth of the soul, and its purification? Is it difficult to understand the difference between the growth of a hill of corn, and the destruction of the weeds that hinder its growth? How long, O Lord, how long will thy children grieve thee by attempting to substitute their own works for thy all-cleansing blood?
Let it be repeated until the tidings shall reach the uttermost parts of the earth, that whatever partakes of the nature of sin can be removed only by eternal power in the application of atoning blood. Purity is not attained by works, or by agonies, or by growth; but it is received. “Sanctification is that act of divine grace whereby, we are made holy.” --Methodist Catechism. It is not a series of human acts or a series of divine acts but one act that makes us holy. To this Mr. Wesley refers in holy song, “Speak the second time--be clean.”
Jesus now waits at the door of your consecrated being, to say: “I will; be thou clean.” If sanctification is to be received as God’s free gift, what is the act on our part by which we are made its subjects?
Let the answer come from God:
“And
God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy
Spirit, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a
yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were
able to bear?” Acts 15:8-10.
To this day God’s ministers will insist on putting this yoke on his children. Hence, they are kept “going about” to develop themselves into holiness. Here we see that the purification of the heart is accomplished by faith.
“But
rise and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this
purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of those
things which thou hast seen, and of
those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the
people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
Acts 26:16-18.
These are the words of Christ. How do the Gentiles receive the forgiveness of sins? “By faith that is in Me.” Does He promise anything additional through the ministry of Paul? Yes; “an inheritance among them that are sanctified.” How was this received? Jesus says, “By faith that is in Me.” “And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” I John 3:3. The persons referred to as having “this hope,” are the “sons of God,” spoken of in the first and second verses of the same chapter. There is, therefore, a work of purification to be accomplished in those who are “now the sons of God,” for each one is commanded to “purify himself even as He is pure.” How does a man purify himself? “By faith that is in Me.”
“But
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through
sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the Truth: Whereunto He called
you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Thes. 2:13-14.
Is not the doctrine of sanctification a new doctrine? No; it was ordained of God “from the beginning.” Can any be saved from all sin until wholly sanctified? No; “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification.” And the fact so clearly stated that “God hath from the beginning chosen” that this cleansing should be accomplished by the Holy Spirit, proves that it is not attained by growth, or any amount of good works. By this act of grace we are delivered from all unsanctified affections. Hence the testimony of all who are sanctified, to the blessed consciousness of salvation from all sin, which they did not possess before they received this grace. How blessed that conscious knowledge! Are all Christians called to this grace? The apostle in addressing a whole body of Christians says, “whereunto He called you by our gospel.” Is the glory of Christ as promised in this life fully revealed to us before we are sanctified? No. God hath from the beginning chosen that such measure of the glory of Christ is obtained “through sanctification.”
How is this wonderful grace received? By “BELIEF OF THE TRUTH.” “Who of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30. The Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of in this text, and the righteousness mentioned is that “act of God’s grace whereby we are justified.”
How is Christ made our righteousness? By faith.
Rom.
How is Christ made our sanctification? There will be a period in your experience when you will cease to trust in your good works; when you will be fully convinced that the combined efforts of the centuries will not wash out a single stain from your soul; when you will recognize the fact that all the forces of the universe, outside of Christ, are incapable of extracting one carnal root from your depraved being. Then, having surrendered your all, you will believe in Christ as your sanctifying Saviour, and you will be wholly sanctified.
The faith that justifies the soul is the act by which we receive Christ as our justification: The faith that sanctifies the soul is the act by which we receive Christ as our sanctification. Hence the only difference in the two acts is in the object sought. In the first we believed for the removal of the guilt and pollution of our transgressions; in the second we believed for the removal of the fallen nature.
The first is the faith that justifies; the second is the faith that sanctifies. And Christ has the glory of the whole work.
The greatest hindrance to this faith is the lack of complete consecration. If you find it difficult to believe for a clean heart, examine your consecration. If after reading with prayer, the chapter on this subject, you have the testimony of your own consciousness that your “all to Christ is given,” leave the whole transaction as settled forever. But if there is any doubt in your soul, settle that question first. It may be there is a controversy with God about the matter of experiences.
I heard a brother say that for two whole years after he was completely consecrated, he found it quite impossible to believe for sanctification. Before he sat down, he told of a terrible struggle going on in his soul during those two years over the question of happiness. He would not believe without a great baptism of joy. Was that complete consecration? Think of it. A poor soul keeping up a controversy with his Maker for two years and dictating to God the terms of his salvation, and fancying all the time that he was wholly consecrated. Consecration involves the submission of every question to the will of God, including your present and future experiences. If you are thus given up to Him, you are now ready to receive this grace in God’s way, with or without emotion as He may appoint. Your faith reaches Christ as your deliverer from the fallen nature by believing His Word. Many seek His salvation by believing in their feelings, but the salvation does not come. If they are in a happy state of mind they believe; if there are no joyous sensations within, they do not believe. That is exercising faith in your feelings. Such faith is a present practical rejection of Christ, and is greatly displeasing to God.
Others build their faith on what they like to call “the evidence,” meaning by this the witness of the Holy Spirit. If God demanded faith in the witness of the Holy Spirit as the condition of your salvation, such faith would save you; but as He has not, you are still unsaved. Just as long as you wait for the witness before you believe your soul will remain unwashed. How can the Holy Spirit witness that you are cleansed when He knows you are still unclean? How can you be cleansed until after you believe in Christ to cleanse you? Do you expect God will change His plan to save you? God’s plan is that you first believe in Christ to cleanse and save you to the uttermost. Then He saves you. After you are saved He sends the Holy Spirit to witness that the work is done. Then, when such witness is given, you will feel and know that you are saved. Your plan is that God must give you the witness that you are saved while still in unbelief, so that you may feel and know that it is done, and then you will believe in your knowledge and feelings. But how will Jesus get the glory for your salvation on these terms?
If you will finally let God have his way, He
will save you. If you are now convinced that faith in your consecration, or
in your feelings, or in anything but Christ will leave you to perish; if you
will utterly abandon all trust in your prayers, or agonies, or tears, and
see and concede that there is but one arm that can save, but one door of
hope, but one name given, but one sacrifice offered, and but one fountain of
cleansing: then turn to Hebrews 12:12: “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might
sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” Do you
with the heart believe that Jesus shed His precious blood to sanctify the
people? Are you included in this number? Did Jesus, the Christ of God,
really pour out His blood on the cross to cleanse your soul from all
sin? Having so freely made the provision, will He hesitate when you come to
Him for its application to your soul? Coming, as you now do, in the way that
He appointed, is it possible for Him to fail to cleanse you? Will you trust
Him now? Do you now believe that the blood that was shed on
Read 1 John 1:7: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN.” Are you walking in all the light God has given you? Are you willing to suspend the whole question on this promise? If you do so, and the promise fails, you will go down. Are you afraid the promise of God will give way? If not, then stand upon it, and repeat in defiance of earth and hell, “the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, CLEANSETH ME FROM ALL SIN.” No longer trusting in your feeling; NO, but in the immutable Word of God. No longer believing in the internal witness; no, but believing in Christ’s all-cleansing blood. No longer leaning on your experiences; no, but leaning on the arm that is mighty to save. Do you hereby take Christ as your wisdom, as your righteousness and as YOUR SANCTIFICATION? “YES, I DO.”
Then let us sing.
Tis done, the great transaction’s done;
I am my Lord’s, and He is mine.
As with your heart you have believed, with your
mouth you are to confess, not what you feel, but what you believe. Reckon
yourself from this moment as dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ. You have left the whole work of cleansing and saving
to Him, and whatever may come, never take it out of His hands.
Do not yield to restlessness about
special experiences.
Leave that whole question with Him; and, resting in His hands as a piece of well-mixed clay, trust Him to mould you according to His pleasure. Whether you have joy or sorrow, trial or triumph, you are all the Lord’s, and trusting with all your heart that Jesus’ blood cleanseth you from all sin.
As in justification, so in sanctification there is a variety of manifestations, but the same Spirit.
Many who now have the clearest witness that they have passed from death unto life, cannot tell the precise moment when they were born of God. It may be so in sanctification. Yet there was a moment when your sins were forgiven, and the work of regeneration took place in your heart. The same is true of sanctification. Some are filled with joy unspeakable at the moment of pardon; to others the joy came afterward. Sanctification is followed by the same variety of experience. Some are brought into trial and temptation immediately after conversion; others are allowed weeks and even months of uninterrupted peace. So it is in sanctification. Some are instantly blest with the internal witness, when justified; others for the trial of their faith, or for other reasons, are left for a time without the clear witness. It is so in sanctification.
That there is a definite and distinct experience of sanctification subsequent to regeneration (attested by the witness of the Holy Spirit) is proved by every one who complies with the conditions.
Mr. Wesley calls this the “second blessing” to distinguish it from the new birth, which is called the first blessing. Sometimes when the call to holiness is presented, and the people of God are pressed to seek this second blessing, ministers of the gospel will respond in the Spirit of ridicule, “O yes, you can have the first blessing, and the second blessing, and the third blessing, and on up to the fortieth blessing,” thus sneering at the expressed will of God, and causing many weak Christians to stumble.
Do such ministers intend to throw contempt on the distinct experience of the new birth, by classing it with the unnumbered blessings that are generously bestowed on the just and the unjust? Or is there a transaction between God and man by which a sinner is brought out of death into life? We prefer not speaking of either the new birth or sanctification as simply a blessing. The new birth is truly a blessing beyond computation; but it is a thousand times more than that. Strictly speaking, there is but one new birth, but there are unnumbered blessings. The new birth brings us into a state of sonship and acceptance with God. In this state are uncounted blessings, but only one new birth. A child, by virtue of his birth, is the heir to his father’s possessions; and this may include gifts innumerable, but he has only one birth. He may by his own wickedness deprive himself of his inheritance, and by repentance and faith these forfeited possessions may be restored to him; but he has only one birth. So a child of God may forfeit his right to the divine inheritance and finally perish; but if he returns to God, He will restore him; but strictly speaking he is born of God but once.
The divine work of sanctification brings its subject into a state a thousand times more important than a blessing. The soul may or may not be filled with joyful emotions when it is wholly sanctified.
It may, at subsequent periods, pass through ordeals of unspeakable sorrow; but that does not affect its state.
The idea that sanctification means simply a fit of rapture, or a baptism of joy, should be at once and forever excluded from the common sense of mankind. No, beloved; this act of God’s free grace whereby we are made holy, is worth more than the joy of a lifetime without it.
Having exercised faith in Jesus’ cleansing
blood to wash out all the stains of the fallen nature, the blessed Holy
Spirit has made the application, and eternal power has swept from the whole
domain of your nature everything that
is out of harmony with God. There is not a root or seed of sin
remaining. Complete sanctification, therefore, brings you into a state of
moral purity. Hitherto the evils of your heart were held in check by a power
implanted that was greater than they; now these evils are destroyed,
and the whole man becomes the
"Sanctify
them by thy truth. Thy word is truth" (John
17:17).