This Chapter teaches the following propositions : 1st. All of those in whom God has by regeneration

sanctification. 2Qb

created a new spiritual nature continue under his gracious influence, his Word and Spirit dwelling in them, and thus have the grace implanted in them developed more and more.

2d. This work of sanctification involves both the gradual destruction of the old body of sin and the quickening and strengthening of all the graces of the new man, and the inward purification of the heart and mind, as well as all those holy actions which proceed from them.

3d. This work of sanctification involves the entire man — intellect, affections and will, soul and body.

4th. It is never perfect in this life, but in every case, as in that of Paul, there remains more or less of the old "law in our members," warring against the law of our mind.

5th. That nevertheless, from a constant supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the gracious element in the believer's nature prevails, and he gradually advances in holiness until he is made perfect at dea.h.

1st. God, having implanted in regeneration a new spiritual nature in the subject of his grace, always continues to foster and develop that principle by the indwelling of his Word and Spirit until it attains full j)crfecti()n.

The word "to sanctify'' is used in two different Senses in Scripture: (1.) To consecrate, or set aj)art from a common to a sacred use. John x. 36 ; Matt, xxiii. 17. (2.) To render morally pure or holy. 1 Cor. vi. 11 ; Heb. xiii. 12. In the latter sense of the word, regenerati-)n is the commencement of sanctification, and

sanctification is the completion of the work ccramenced ill regeneration. As regeneration is an act of God's free grace, so sanctification is a gracious work of God, and eminently of the Holy Spirit. It is attributed to God absolutely (1 Thess. v. 23) : to the Son (Eph. v. 25, 26), and pre-eminently to the Holy Spirit, whose especial office in the economy of redemption it is to apply the grace secured through the mediation of the Son.

The means of sanctification are of two distinct orders. ia\ inward and (h\ oiitwnrd.

Thejmwgxd means of sanctification is Faith. Faith is the instrument of our justification, and hence of our deliverance from condemnation and communion with God, the organ of our union with Christ and fellowship with his Spirit. Faith, moreover, is that act of the regenerated soul whereby it embraces and experiences the power of the truth, and whereby the inward experiences of the heart and the outward actions of the life are brought into obedience to the truth.

The outward means of sanctification are —

(1.) The truth as revealed in the inspired Scriptures: " Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.^' John xvii. 17, 19. '^As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." 1 Pet. i. 22 ; ii. 2. The truth, as the outward means of sanctification, stands in correlation to faith, the inward means of it. Conf. Faith, chap, xiv., § 2 : This faith "acteth differently upon that which every passage thereof containeth ; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come." By

this means the truth nourishes and exercises the principles of grace implanted in the soul.

(2.) The sacraments. Matt. iii. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 13; 1 Pet. iii. 21.

(3.) Prayer is a means of sanctification, {a) as the act in which the soul engages in communion with God, and (5) since God has promised to answer believing prayer with the donation of spiritual gifts. John xiv. 13, 14.

(4.) The gracious discipline of God's providence. John XV. 2; Rom. v. 3, 4 ; Heb. xii. 5-11.

It must be remembered that while the subject is passive with respect to that divine act of grace whereby he is regenerated, after he is regenerated he co-operates with the Holy Ghost in the work of sanctification. The Holy Ghost gives the grace and prompts and directs in its exercise, and the soul exercises it. Thus, while sanctification is a grace, it is also a duty. And the soul is both bound and encouraged to use with diligence, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, all the means for its spiritual renovation, and to form those habits of resisting evil and of right action in which sanctification so largely consists. The fruits of sanctification are good works. An action to be good must have its origin in a holy principle in the heart, and must be conformed to the law of God. Although not the ground of our acceptance, good works are absolutely essential to salvation as the necessary consequences of a gracious state of soul and perpetual requirements of the divine law. Gal. V. 22; Eph. ii. 10; John xiv. 21.

2d. This work of sanctification involves the destruction of the old body of sin, as well as the development of the grace implanted in regeneration ; it is

also first inward and spiritual, and then outward and practical.

That the whole body of death is not immediately destroyed in the instant of regeneration is plainly taught in the sixth and seventh chapters of Romans, in the recorded experience of many biblical characters, and in the universal experience of Christians in modern times. It hence necessarily follows that the tendencies graciously implanted and sustained must come in conflict with the tendencies to evil which remain. They can co-exist only in a state of active antagonism, and as the one gains in prevalence the other must lose. " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Gal. v. 24. "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.'' CoL iii. 5.

That this work begins in the state of the heart and governs the life by previously governing the heart, is evident (a) from the known fact of human nature that the moral character of all actions is derived from the inward moral dispositions and affections which prompt to them. (6.) The same is asserted in the Scriptures. Luke vi. 45. As the character of the fruit is determined by the character of the tree which produces it, so the moral character of actions depends upon the heart from which they proceed. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt, (c.) Truly good works can be produced only by a heart in living union with Christ: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." John xv. 4.

3d. This work of sanctification involves the entire man— intellect, affections and will, soul and body. This

is proved (1) from the necessity of the case. Our natural sinful condition involves blindness of mind, as well as hardness or perverseness of heart. (2.) From the fact that we are sanctified by means of the truth. (3.) It is explicitly asserted in Scripture that sanctification involves spiritual illumination : ^^ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may givp nnto von the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowIedp!;e of him^ th^ f^vps of your understanding- being; enli^b|tt^rird , tb"^ y^ ^"y kll^/' etc. Eph. 1. IV, 18; Col. iii. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 6 ; 1 Thess. V. 23.

As our bodies are integral parts of our persons, their instincts and appetites act immediately upon the passions of our souls, and hence they must be brought subject to the control of the sanctified will, and all the members of the body, as organs of the soul, made instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom. vi. 13; 1 Thess. iv. 4.

4th. This work of sanctification is never perfected in this life.

Different parties of Perfectionists maintain that perfection is possible in this life in different senses.

Pelagians maintain (1) that the law of God respects only the voluntary exercises and actions, and not the states of the soul. (2.) That obligation is always limited by ability — that the law of God can demand no more than its subject is fully able to render. Hence from the very limits of moral obligation it follows that every man is always perfectly able to do all that is required of him. Hence he can be perfect whenever he pleases.

Arminian and Papist Perfectionists hold (1) that men can do nothing morally right without divine grace, anc"

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270 CONFESSION C: FAITH.

(2) that even with this grace no man is able perfectly to keep the original Adaraic law of absolute perfection. They maintain, however, that God for Christ's merits' sake has graciously lowered the demands of the law in the case of believers from absolute perfection to faith and evangelical obedience. They hold that it is the [)rivilege and duty of all men in this life to attain to a state of perfect love and sincere obedience to the gospel lav), which they o'lll gracious or Christian perfection.

The Papists make a distinction between voluntary transgressions of known law, and concupiscence or the involuntary first movements of the remains of corruption within the regenerate. The latter they deny to be properly of the nature of sin. John Wesley teaches the same. Methodist Doctrinal Tracts, pp. 294-312.

But that concupiscence, or the first movement and tendencies of evil desire in the hearts of regenerated men, is of the nature of sin is distinctly affirmed in our Standards. Confession of Faith, chap, vii., § 5. That this is true is proved —

(1.) All men judge that the moral state of the soul which determines, or tends to determine, evil action is itself essentially evil, and indeed the true source of the evil in the action.

(2.) All genuine Christian experience involves the same practical judgment. The main element in all genuine conviction of sin is, not simply that the thoughts, words and feelings are wrong, but that, lying far below all exercises or volitions, the nature is morally corrupt. It is his deadness to divine things, blindness, hardness, aversion to God, which he is helpless to change, that chiefly oppresses the truly convicted man with a sense

of sin. And in some degree the same conviction remains until death.

(3.) It is of the essence of the moral law that it demands all that ought to be. Every even the least deficiency from the whole measure of moral excellence that ought to be is of the nature of sin. Therefore nothing short of absolute conformity to the Adamic law of absolute holiness is of the nature of sinless perfection, or ought to be called by that name.

(4.) All the prayers and hymns and devotional literature of the Wesleyan, and other evangelical churches whii'h profess a sort of perfectionism, acknowledge sin in the believer. Dr. Peck (Christian Doct. of Perfection) admits that the workings of concupiscence, or remaining spontaneous tendency to evil in the heart of the perfect Christian, are an occasion for self-abhorrence and confession, that they need forgiveness, and the constant application of the atoning blood of Christ. We agree with this, and maintain therefore that these remains of corruption in all Christians are of the nature of sin, and that consequently the Christians in whom they remain are not perfect.

(5.) Paul expressly calls concupiscence, sin : " I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known concupiscence, except the law had said, Thou shalt not experience concupiscence.'' Rom. vii. 7. The sin rhat dwelt in Paul wrouo^ht in him ao-ainst his will, and wrought in him all manner of concupiscence. Rom. vii. 14-25. And yet this evil tendency, this law in his members wari-ing against the law of his spirit, is expressly called ** sin ;" and in other passages called " old man," '•body of sin." Col. ii. 11; iii. 9.

272 CONFESS. DN OF FAITH.

(6.) The biographies and recorded testimonies of all the Scripture saints make it impossible to attribute sinless perfection to any one of them. Paul disclaims it. Rom. vii. 14-25; Phil. iii. 12-14. John disclaims it in his own behalf and that of all Christians. 1 John i. 8.

The word ^'perfect" is applied to some men in Scripture either to mark comparative excellence, or to assert genuine sincerity in profession and service. But the inspired biographies of the men themselves, such as of David, Acts xiii. 22; Noah, Gen. vi. 9, and Job, Job i. 1, prove very clearly that the perfection intended was not a sinless one.

(7.) Perfectionism is in conflict with the universal experience and observation of God's people. The personal profession of it is generally judged to be just ground for serious suspicions as to the claimant's mental soundness or moral sincerity.

5th. Nevertheless, from a constant supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the gracious element in the believer's nature, upon the whole, prevails, and he gradually advances in holiness until he is rendered perfect at death. This precious truth follows necessarily from the fact, already shown, that sanctification is a work of God's free grace in execution of his eternal purposes of salvation. Wherefore we are "confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in us will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6 ; the certainty of which will be fur- *^her discussed under Chapter xvii.

In Scripture, the word sanctification bears a variety of senses. It signifies separation from a common to a sacred use, or dedication to the service of God. Thus the altar, temple, priests, and all the sacred utensils, were sanctified. It also signifies purification from ceremonial defilement. — Heb, ix. 13. But the sanctification of believers, of which this chapter treats, consists in their purification from the pollution of sin, and the renovation of their nature after the image of God.

Antinomians maintain, that believers are sanctified only by the holiness of Christ being imputed to them, and that there is no inherent holiness infused into them, nor required of them. This is a great and dangerous error; and, in opposition to it, our Confession asserts, that believers are really and personally sanctified. Their sanctification includes " the mortification of sin in their members," It includes also " the fruits of the Spirit, as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." — Gal. v. 22. These are personal things ; they are wrought in the hearts of believers, and produced in their tempers and lives. It is absurd to say they are in Christ, and imputed to believers; they are the effects of the Holy Spirit imparted to us, whose operations are compared, by Christ himself, to " a well of water within us, springing up unto everlasting life."

Romanists, as we formerly noticed, confound justification with sanctification; and, as this leads to various dangerous mistakes, we shall mention several points in which they differ. They differ in their nature: justification is a relative change of state ; sanctification is a real change of the whole man, soul and body. They differ in their o)-der : justification, in the order of nature, though not of time, precedes sanctification; for righteousness imputed is, in the order of nature, prior to holiness, implanted and inherent. They differ in their matter : the matter of justification is the righteousness of Christ imputed; the matter of sanctification is an inherent righteousness communicated. They differ in their form : justification is a judicial act, by which the sinner is pronounced

righteous ; sanctification is a physical or moral act, or rather a series of acts, by which a change is eiFected in the qualities of the soul. They differ in their propei'ties : justification is perfected at once, and is equal in all believers ; sanctification is imperfect at first, and exists in different degrees of advancement in different individuals ; hence the former is called an act, and the latter a work. Other points of difference might be mentioned, but we only add, that in justification we receive a title to heaven ; sanctification gives us a meetness for, and a capacity of, enjoying it.

Sanctification is both a privilege and a duti/. In the one view it is the work of God, and in the otlier it is the work of man, assisted by supernatural grace. As a privilege, it is graciously promised in the gospel. — Ezek. xxxvi. 27. As a duty, it is required by the law ; hence we are called to " make" to ourselves a " new heart," and to " cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." — Ezek. xviii. 31 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1.

Sanctification may be considered as initial and prog^ressiice. Initial sanctification is the same as regeneration, whereby we become " new creatures;" — " old things being done away, and all things becoming new." In progressive sanctification, the several lusts of the old man are more and more weakened and mortified. In initial sanctification, the Spirit of Christ enters the heart with all his train of graces, and implants them there. In progressive sanctification, these graces are more and more quickened and strengthened. In initial sanctification, a principle of spiritual life is implanted, and the lineaments of the divine image faintly impressed upon the soul. In progressive sanctification, the spiritual life is increased, and the outlines of the divine image gradually filled up. In short, the same work which is begun in regeneration is carried on in sanctification, until the new creature attains to the full stature of a perfect man in Christ. — Phil. i. 6.

Sanctification extends to the whole man, including all the faculties of the soul, and all the members of the body. — 1 Thess. V. 23. Our entire nature was originally created in the image of God; by the entrance of sin this image was utterly defaced and lost; hence corrupted and depraved nature is called " the old man," because it infects the whole man, and defiles both soul and body. Now, as original corruption pervades the whole man, so sanctifying grace extends to every part; hence our nature, as renewed after the image of God, is called " the new man," because the holiness communicated in sanctification possesses and ennobles the whole man.

14^ CONFESSION OF FAITH. [[CHAP. XIII.

Sanctification is imperfect in this life. There have been men, and there still are, who maintain, that sinless perfection is attainable in this life. Tliis is held by Antinomians, who profess that the perfect holiness of Christ is imputed to believers. It is held likewise by Romanists, Socinians, and others, who affirm that believers have, or may attain, a perfect inherent holiness.* The doctrine of sinless perfection was also held by the founder of the Methodists; and the same opinion is still held by his followers, f In opposition to such views, our Confession decidedly affirms, that sanctification is " imperfect in this life." Though it extends to the whole man, yet " there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part." The Scriptures abound with the most explicit testimonies against the doctrine of sinless perfection. — Eccl. vii. 20; James iii. 2; Prov. xx. 9; 1 John i. 8. The epithet perfect, is indeed applied to several saints, but it must be understood either comparatively, in which sense " Noah was perfect in his generation;" or, as synonymous with sincerity or uprightness, in which sense God said to Abraham, " Walk before me, and be thou perfect." That the most eminent saints mentioned in Scripture were not free from sin, is evident from the defects and blemishes which are discovered in their conduct. They were far from imagining that they had attained to sinless perfection. — Job ix. 20; Ps. xix. 12 ; Phil. iii. 12. Every real Christian will certainly aspire after perfection; but none can attain to absolute perfection in this life.

As there is both grace and the remainders of corruption in every saint, it follows, that there will be " a continual and irreconcilable war" between these two opposite principles. This conflict is described in a very striking manner. — Rom. vii,; Gal. v. 17 Sometimes the one principle prevails, and sometimes the other ; but grace will finally overcome.

The impulsive or moving cause of sanctification is the free grace of God. — Tit. iii. 5. The meritorious cause is the blood and righteousness of Christ. — Tit. ii. 14. The efficient cause is the Holy Spirit.— 1 Pet. 1. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; 1 Cor. vi. 11. The instrumental cause is faith in Christ. — Acts. xv. 9, xxvi. 18. The external means are, the Word, read and preached, the sacraments, and prayer. — John xvii. 17; 1 Pet. ii. 2. Providences, especially afflictive dispensations, are also blessed for promoting the sanctification of believers. — Rom. viii. 28, v. 3-5.

Holiness, though it cannot give us a title to heaven, is in-

* For a fuller account of these opinions, see Hill's Lectures, p. 303. t Richard Watson's Tlicol. Institutes, vol. iv., p. 140.

dispensably necessary. It is necessary by a divine and unalterable constitution ; for " without holiness no man shall see the Lord." — Heb. xii. 14. God has enacted it as an immutable law, that nothing which defileth shall enter into the heavenly city. — Ilev. xxi. 27. It is necessary, also, as a preparative for heaven. It is the e\ddence of our title, and constitutes our meetness for enjoying the pleasures and engaging in the work of the heavenly world. " Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall see God," — Matt. v. 8.

Let us, then, in the diligent use of appointed means, earnestly " follow holiness." " This is the will of God, even our sanctification." This is his express command : " Be ye holy ; for I am holy." Those whom he ordained to glory as the end, he chose to holiness as the means, without which none shall ever attain that end. — Eph. i. 4. This is, also, the end of our redemption by Jesus Christ. — Eph. v. 25, 26. He died not only to save us from wrath, but to save us from our sins. Holiness was the primeval glory of our nature, and shall we not endeavour to recover that glory — to be restored to the image of him who created us ? Holiness is eminently the glory of God ; and shall Ave not seek to resemble him in sanctity ? Holiness is necessary to make us " meet for being partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." Presumptuous and delusive is that hope of seeing Christ hereafter, which does not produce an ardent desire and earnest endeavour to be conformed to him here. " Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." — 1 John iii. 3.