1.A 14. LETTER XIV

LETTER XIV. A further explanation of sanctification Paul’s doctrine A death of sin and a life of holiness Explanation of the terms death and life The two states incompatible with each other John supports the same doctrine It is God’s work to sanctify And therefore it can be done The same truth proved from poetry. MY DEAR M : We have already seen that anything which is holy or sanctified has been set apart, or consecrated to the special service of Almighty God. And in the application of the term to an individual, it imports that he has solemnly consecrated himself, his soul and body, his time and talent, to God, to be used and employed in any way that he may see fit. The least that is implied in this entire consecration is, that he is delivered from sin, properly so called.* No truth, indeed, is more unequivocally revealed and frequently insisted upon in the Holy Scriptures than the absolute necessity, as well as the easy possibility, of a deliverance from sin, in order that we may be " holy, and without blame before Him in love all the days of our lives." "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 6:1-2.

Many doubtingly inquire now, How is it possible for us to be delivered from sin? Not so the apostle Paul. His clear and comprehensive views of the rich provisions of the Gospel of the grace of God his strong faith in the efficacy of the blood of Christ his firm confidence in the mighty working of the eternal Spirit made him wonder that any one should say that there is a necessity for our living any longer in sin. Nay, he asserts in the above text the utter impossibility of a person that is " DEAD to sin LIVING

* See the extracts from Wesley, for the distinction between wilful sin and the sin of ignorance; between those infirmities inseparable from human nature, and tins properly so called any longer therein." And this will appear most evident to every person who duly considers the import of those words, dead and alive. When a man is said to be dead to a thing, it is the same as to say that he is separated from it the word death meaning the effect of separation the thing separated ceasing to live, though it may still exist in another form. Thus, if we separate a limb from the body, the separated limb dies, as a necessary consequence. This might easily be illustrated by a thousand examples, but its plainness renders this unnecessary.

Well now, if the Christian be dead to sin, sin is separated from his soul, eradicated from his nature, so that it no longer reigns over him, or rules within him. From this " body of death," that is, the body of sin, which brought spiritual death upon his soul, and long hung about him, like a rotting carcass, he is now delivered, so that a divorce has been effected from all his corrupt passions and appetites the " old man, with all his evil deeds, is crucified," slain, and entirely severed from his soul.

Now, how can a man that is thus dead to sin separated cut off from it LIVE any longer therein? To be alive to a thing, is to be united to it life being the effect of union. Thus, while the soul and body remain united, they live together in the flesh, but the moment a separation takes place, the body dies, as a necessary consequence. Can a man be dead, that is, separated from sin, and at the same time live, that is, be united to it? Can a man be separated from the city of New- York, and at the same time be united, that is, live here? The thing is utterly impossible. Hence says the apostle, in verses 6 and 7 :

" Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be DE STROYED, that henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead" to sin this being destroyed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost " is freed from sin," entirely separated from it. He then exhorts them to " reckon themselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." " Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." And if sin be so effectually destroyed that it does not reign in the "mortal body," so entirely conquered that all the bodily appetites and passions are so sanctified that we need not indulge in any fleshly gratification that is inconsistent with the pure principle of holiness, surely the soul, which is, under the grace of God, the prime mover and regulator of all the bodily appetites and passions, must also, and more especially, be freed from the dominion, yea, from the very inbeing of sin.

Texts of Scripture speaking a similar language could easily be multiplied, but my space will not allow of an extended use of them. There is one passage, however, in 1 John 3:9, so fully in point, and which tends so completely to establish the doctrine under discussion, that after referring you, my dear M , to the entire passage, 1 to 9, I must take the liberty of quo ting the ninth verse for its full confirmation. It is as follows :

" Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin : for his seed remaineth in him : and he can not sin, because he is born of God." This is strong, as well as plain and unequivocal language. He cannot sin that is, he can not, consistently with his high and holy character, as an adopted child of God, born to a heavenly inheritance, and, as such, bound to obey all the laws of his heavenly Father, who has taken him into a sacred union with him self, through faith in his Son, demean and disgrace the purity and dignity of his new relationship, by stooping to the drudgery of sinning in thought, word, or deed. Not that he has no power to sin, for he still possesses all the natural moral power he ever did, and therefore might, as easily as Eve and Adam did, " turn away from the holy commandment de livered unto him;" but the "law of God being written on his heart, and imprinted in his in ward parts," so long as he obeys its precepts, " walks in the light as he is in the light," he has fellowship with God, and with all the " holy brethren," and he " keeps himself unspotted from the world." In this sense " he cannot sin, because he is born of God," and his " seed remaineth in him;" so long as it remaineth in him as a LIVING, active principle, it vegetates, buds, and blossoms, and bears fruit to the glory of God; and his heavenly Father " purges him, that he may bring forth more fruit;" and whatsoever he doeth prospers, because his work is of and in the Lord. This death unto sin, however, is not procured without a violent and painful struggle. As the death of the body is generally preceded and accompanied by violent pains, and struggling agonies, so this spiritual death of the " body of sin" this separation of sin from the soul is attended with the most painful sensations, arising from the strong grasp which sin has upon the soul, and the powerful bias created by years of habitually yielding to the dictates of corrupt nature. And it is not to be supposed that this severance between the affections of the heart and those sinful objects around which they have so long entwined themselves, can be effected without inflicting pain; and hence the Holy Scriptures compare it to some of the most exquisitely painful sensations to which human nature can be subjected; hence also the tears that are shed, the groans that are uttered, the earnest prayers that are offered, the strenuous efforts that are made to exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by a person that is struggling under the tyrannical power of inbred sin, and striving to deliver himself from its cruel grasp. He may weep, groan, pray, and believe in vain, unless the Lord God Omnipotent come down to his help. The moment, however, the " sword of the Spirit" is unsheathed, and wielded by the hand of Omnipotence, and enters the heart, " piercing to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow," the close and strong connexion that had long existed between the affections and sinful objects is cut asunder, and the freed affections, healed of the wounds thus made by the separation effected, by the balm of Jesus blood, instantly fly up, and fix themselves " on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father."

Now the redeemed purified soul sinks down into a calm submission to the will of God. The stormy passions subside, the warring elements within cease their raging, unbelief is expelled, and the sanctified soul feels all that heaven-born peace, which Jesus promised to his disciples when he said, " My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have PEACE : be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." I have conquered, by the operation of my Spirit, all that worldly disposition by which you were so much troubled while struggling to get free from the dominion of sin, and now you have that " peace of God which passeth all understanding."

How conformable to the above sentiments, all drawn from sacred Scripture, are the following, expressed in the glowing language of the poet of Methodism :

" Thou hidden love of God, whose height, Whose depth unfathomed, no man knows , see from far thy beauteous light, Inly I sigh for thy repose; My HEART is PAIN’D, nor can it be At KKST till it find rest IN THIS." And how ardently does the poet supplicate for a separation between the affections of his heart and the objects of sense with which he is surrounded, in the following verse!

" Is there a thing beneath the sun, That strives with thee my heart to share 1 Ah, TEAR it thence, and REIGN ALONE, The Lord of every motion there! Then shall my heart from EARTH BE FREE, When it hath found REPOSE IN THEE."

I must beg of you, my dear M., to read this hymn, the 304th of the old collection, through, and mark how completely the poet depicts the painful sensations the soul that is panting, struggling, and reaching forth the trembling hand of faith, passes through, while he prays in the following language for spiritual life :

" O hide this self from me, that I No more, but Christ in me may live! My vile affections CRUCIFY, Nor let ONE darling lust SURVIVE! In all things nothing may I see, Nothing desire or seek but THEE."

How any one can read, and, above all, sing such hymns, and then doubt the possibility of attaining the heights and depths of perfect love, of having his " vile affections crucified," of having his " heart from earth made free," so that not " one darling lust should survive," I am at a loss to conceive. And Charles Wesley was not a man to put unmeaning words into the month of a congregation, and teach them to sing,

" Speak to my inmost soul, I am thy love, thy God, thy all, To feel thy power, to hear thy voice, To TASTE THY LOVE, be all my choice," while he did not believe any such thing attain able. No, no! He meant what he said, and he said what he felt. And may you, my dear M., and all who read these words, be able to say and sing in faith, in full confiding faith, in that faith which takes hold on God, and believes the promise sure :

" Reign in me, Lord, thy foes control, Who would not own thy sway;

Diffuse THINE IMAGE THROUGH MY SOUL, Shine to the perfect day.

" Scatter the LAST REMAINS of SIN, And SEAL me thine abode; O make me glorious all within, A TEMPLE BUILT BY GOD."