Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: DOUGAN CLARK, M.D.]
THE
THEOLOGY OF HOLINESS.
BY
DOUGAN CLARK, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AND CHURCH
HISTORY IN EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, INDIANA.
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY FATHER AND MOTHER,
DOUGAN AND ASENATH CLARK,
BOTH FOR MANY YEARS APPROVED
MINISTERS IN THE FRIENDS' CHURCH,
AND BOTH LONG SINCE DEPARTED
TO BE WITH CHRIST, THIS
BOOK IS LOVINGLY
Dedicated.
CONTENTS.
I. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A NECESSITY
II. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION OBTAINABLE
III. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PATRIARCHAL TIMES
IV. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN TYPE
V. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PROPHECY
VI. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST
VII. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PAUL
VIII. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PETER
IX. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JOHN
X. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JAMES AND JUDE
XI. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE FATHER
XII. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE SON
XIII. SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE HOLY GHOST
XIV. SANCTIFIED BY THE TRUTH
XV. SANCTIFIED BY FAITH
XVI. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I.
ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION A NECESSITY.
Science is a systematic presentation of truth. Theology is the most
important of all sciences. It is the science that treats of God and of
man in his relation to God. It is a systematic presentation of revealed
truth. As the basis of Astronomy is the universe of worlds revealed by
the telescope, and as the basis of Geology is the crust of the earth,
so the basis of Theology is the Divine revelation found in the Holy
Scriptures. The Theology of Entire Sanctification, therefore, is a
systematic presentation of the doctrine of entire sanctification as
derived from the written word of God. Such a presentation we hope--with
the help of the Holy Spirit, which we here and now earnestly invoke--to
attempt to give in this book. May God bless the endeavor, and overrule
our human weakness, to the glory of His Name. Amen.
It is a lamentable fact that there is a large class of Christians to
whom the subject of entire sanctification is a matter of indifference.
They hope, with or without sufficient reason, that their sins are
forgiven. They propose to live moral and useful lives, and trust, again
with or without sufficient reason, that they will go to heaven when
they die. The subject of holiness does not interest them. They suppose
themselves to be doing well enough without it.
There are others claiming to be Christians, to whom the subject is even
positively distasteful. It is an offence to them. They do not want to
hear it preached. They regard those who claim it as cranks. They look
upon holiness meetings as being hotbeds of delusion and spiritual
pride. They turn away from the whole subject not only with
indifference, but with disdain.
There are still others, and these God's children, as we may charitably
believe, who do not even regard holiness as a desirable thing. They
assert that it is needful and salutary to retain some sin in the heart
as long as we live, in order to keep us humble. It is true that they
are never able to tell how much sin it takes to have this beneficial
effect, but a certain amount they are bent on having.
Another class takes the opposite view. They regard holiness as very
desirable, and a very lovely thing to gaze upon and think upon, but
they also regard it as quite impossible of attainment. They hope to
grow towards it all the days of their lives, and to get it at the
moment of death. Not sooner than the dying hour, do they believe any
human being can be made holy. Not till death is separating the soul
from the body can even God Himself separate sin from the soul. The
whole doctrine of entire sanctification, therefore, they regard as a
beautiful theory, but wholly impossible as an experience, and wholly
impracticable as a life.
In general terms, we may say that carnal Christians, as described by
Paul in I. Corinthians 3:1-4, are opposed to the doctrine of entire
sanctification. "The carnal mind is enmity against God," and the
carnal mind is irreconcilably opposed to holiness. This opposition may
take one of the forms already described, or, possibly, some other forms
which have been overlooked, but the root of the hostility is the same
in all. Wherever "our old man" has his home in a Christian's heart,
there entire sanctification will be rejected.
But we must not forget that there are many exceptions. There are
thousands of sincere, believing hearts in all Christian denominations,
in whom inbred sin still exists, but not with the consent of the will.
They are tired--very tired of the tyrant that rules them, or of the
ceaseless struggles by which, with God's added and assisting grace,
they are enabled to keep him under. They long for deliverance. They are
hungering for full salvation, and rejoice to hear the message of entire
sanctification through the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. The
Lord bless all these hungering multitudes, and give them the desire of
their hearts by saving them to the uttermost, and may their numbers be
vastly increased, so that the banner of Christ's church may everywhere
be unfurled--the banner on which is inscribed the glorious motto of
Holiness to the Lord.
Now we meet all objections to the doctrine of entire
sanctification--whether in the form of indifference, or dislike, or
undesirableness, or impossibility--with the simple proposition, It is
necessary. If this proposition can be established, all objections, of
whatever character, must fall to the ground, and the eager cry of every
Christian heart must be, How can I obtain that priceless blessing which
is essential to my eternal bliss, which is indispensable, and without
which I shall never see the Lord?
For this is the language of the Holy Ghost in Heb. 12:14, "Follow peace
with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,"
and in the Revised Version, "Follow after peace with all men, and the
sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." This can mean
nothing short of entire sanctification, or the removal of inbred sin.
And, surely, it is hardly necessary to argue the question as to the
indispensableness of this blessed experience, in order to gain an
entrance into heaven. Everyone will admit that God Himself is a
perfectly and absolutely holy Being, and He has ever told His followers
in all ages, "Be ye holy for I am holy"--making His own perfect and
entire holiness the sufficient reason for requiring the same quality
in His people. And, although the holiness of the highest created being
will always fall infinitely short of that of the Infinite God, as
regards quantity, it will be the same _in quality_, for Jesus
tells us, "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect,"
not, of course, with the unmeasurable amount of perfection which
appertains to Him, but with the same kind of perfection so far as it
goes. And again in Rev. 21:27, we are told that "There shall in no wise
enter into it" (the heavenly city) "anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." Heaven is a holy
place, and occupied with none but holy inhabitants.
But if holiness of heart is a necessity in order that we may reach the
blissful abode of the glory land, when is this stupendous blessing to
be obtained? It is by no means, thoughtlessly, that I write obtained
and not attained. It is very generally spoken of as an attainment, and
this form of expression has a tendency to discourage the seeker by
magnifying the difficulty of receiving this blessing. The thought
contained in the word attainment is that of something earnestly striven
for, struggled after, persistently pursued with much labor and toil and
effort, until, at last, the coveted prize is attained. A very few of
the multitudes who went to California, soon after gold was discovered
there, attained fortune; but it was after years of hard labor and
privation and hardship. The majority died on the way, or while mining
for the precious metal, or returned as poor as they went.
On the other hand, the idea of an obtainment is simply that of a gift.
And entire sanctification is precisely a gift, "merely this and nothing
more." It is not received by struggle, nor effort, nor merit of our
own; it is not a great and laborious enterprise to be undertaken; not
the fruit of a long journey or a perilous voyage; not by doing, nor
trying, nor suffering, nor resolving, nor achieving, but by stretching
out the hand of faith and taking. Praise the Lord.
And, therefore, we ask again when is this indispensable gift to be
obtained? The Roman Catholic and the Restorationist answer, in
purgatorial fire, or in some kind of a second probation after death.
But the Holy Scriptures tell us absolutely nothing either of a
purgatory or a post-mortem probation. On the contrary, they clearly
teach us that our destiny for all eternity is to be determined in one
probation, which is allotted to us in the present life. Let no one
suppose, for a moment, that he can be made fit for heaven at any time,
nor in any place, nor by any means, after he has left this mundane
sphere. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation."
But all the Calvinistic churches by their creeds, and also a large
portion of the membership of Arminian denominations, without regard to
their creeds, if asked when are we to obtain entire sanctification as
an essential meetness for heaven, would answer, at death. The
prevailing idea on this subject, among Christian believers, seems to be
as follows: First, through repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ, we are converted. Our past sins are pardoned, and we
are born again. After that, our sole business is to grow in grace, and
by this growth to approach nearer and nearer to the standard of entire
sanctification, but never even suppose that we can reach that standard
until the moment of death.
Now, grace is the gift of God, and we cannot, possibly, grow in grace
until we receive it. And we can never grow into grace, but grow in it
after we get it. We can grow, it is true, in the grace of justification
to a limited degree and for a limited time. The degree is limited
because of the presence of inbred sin, which is the great, if indeed,
not the only hindrance of growth. The time is limited in most cases, at
least, because if the justified Christian is brought to see the need
and the possibility of entire sanctification, and yet fails, as so many
do, to enter into the blessing, because of unbelief, he is very prone
either to backslide, in which case, of course, there will be a
cessation of growth, or, like the Galatians, he will submit to the
bondage of legalism, and after having begun in the Spirit, he will seek
to be perfected in the flesh; in which case Paul's verdict to that
beloved church was not ye are growing in grace, but, "ye are fallen
from grace."
It is plain, therefore, that we can never grow into the blessing of
entire sanctification. That blessing is to be received by faith, as the
gift of God in Christ Jesus and through the Holy Spirit; and when the
grace has once been obtained in this manner, then we can grow in it
indefinitely and for a lifetime, possibly even for an eternity. Growth
in grace is a most blessed thing in its right place, and when rightly
understood and experienced, but it can never bring us to the death of
the old man, nor to the experience of entire sanctification.
And as growth cannot do this, neither can death. Death is nowhere
mentioned in Scripture as a sanctifier. Death can separate the soul
from the body, but to separate sin from the soul is a work which God
can only do. Jesus Christ is our sanctification, and the Holy Spirit is
our sanctifier, and even if the work is performed in the article of
death, it is still the Holy Spirit and not death that performs it. And
if He can perform it in the hour and article of death, where is the
hindrance to His performing it a week, a month, a year, or forty years
before death--if only the conditions are fulfilled on our part. Do we
say that He cannot perform it before death; then where is His
omnipotence? Do we say that He will not do it before death; then where
is His own holiness? In either case, we dishonor God and rob ourselves
of an inestimable and indispensable blessing. God save us from such
folly.
Scripture, reason and experience, therefore, all unite in the sentiment
that entire sanctification is to be sought and obtained now, and if
now, then it is to be obtained instantaneously, and if instantaneously
and now, it follows, also, that it is to be obtained by faith, and from
these premises the further conclusion is logically deducible, that we
cannot make ourselves any better in order to receive it, but that we
must take it as we are. And so we arrive at and adopt the pithy precept
of John Wesley, "Expect it by faith--expect it as you are--expect it
now."
In these remarks we have necessarily anticipated some things which
belong more accurately to the next chapter; but we are not seeking so
much for a perfectly methodical arrangement, as for a clear and
Scriptural presentation of the subject. And we proceed to affirm now
that entire sanctification is not only essential as the condition of
entering heaven, but that it is also necessary for the highest results
of the Christian life on earth. It is not only an indispensable
blessing to die by, but, if we would fulfill our Father's will in this
world, it is indispensable to live by.
But before leaving entirely the subject of growth in grace, having
demonstrated, as we trust, that we can never grow into entire
sanctification, we ought, perhaps, to explain what we mean by the
statement that we can grow indefinitely in that precious grace after,
and not before, we receive it. Entire sanctification has two sides or
aspects. It has a positive side and a negative side. Its negative side
is the removal of inbred sin, and is, therefore, a matter of
subtraction. And herein, we may remark in passing, is a characteristic
difference between entire sanctification and regeneration. The latter
is a matter of addition, because it implies the impartation of a new
life to the soul which has hitherto been "dead in trespasses and sins."
Now in this negative aspect of entire sanctification there can be no
growth. If a heart is pure it cannot be more pure. If it is free from
sin it cannot be more free from sin. An empty vessel, as some one has
said, cannot be more empty. There can be no increase in purity.
But the positive side of entire sanctification is perfect love, and
this is a relative expression. It does not mean that all who possess it
must have an equal amount of love. Perfect love to each individual is
just his own heart--not some one else's heart--being filled with love.
One individual may have a greater capacity of loving than another, just
as he may have a greater capacity of seeing or of working. Perfect love
in a child would not be perfect love in a man; and perfect love in a
man would not be perfect love in an angel. And perfect love may
increase in the same individual so that what is perfect love today may
not be perfect love to-morrow. As we commune with God and work with
Him, as we get more and more acquainted with Christ and With the Holy
Spirit, and see more of the infinite attractions of the Triune God, how
is it possible that we should not love Him more and more? "There will
never be a time in earth nor in Heaven," says the late Dr. Upham, "when
there may not be an increase of holy love." On the positive side of
entire sanctification, then, there may be and will be growth
indefinitely and everlastingly. And this is the true growth in grace,
about which much more could be said, but we leave it for the present,
to resume our main theme of the necessity of entire sanctification in
this life as well as the life to come.
We make a definite statement as follows, viz: No Christian can do all
that God would have him do, nor enjoy all that God would have him enjoy
in this world, without the grace of entire sanctification. In the
beautiful language of metaphor the Saviour says, "I am the true Vine
and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not
fruit He taketh away, and every branch in Me that beareth fruit He
purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit." And again, "Herein is
My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be My
disciples." Now the abundant fruit requires for its production the
abundant life, and these are both found in the Lord Jesus Christ. "I am
come," says He, "that ye might have life (in regeneration) and that ye
might have it more abundantly" (in entire sanctification). The abundant
life and the abundant fruit, therefore, can only be found in connection
with purity of heart.
It is doubtless _true_ that every living branch, that is to say,
every justified and regenerated believer, may and should and must, if
he would retain his religion, bring forth some fruit. And it is
precisely these branches that are bearing fruit, whom the Great
Husbandman "purges"--sanctifies--that they may bring forth the more
abundant fruit by which He Himself shall be glorified. And here we
might rest our case with a Q. E. D., but another remark or two will be
in place.
The late Lord Tennyson could perceive, with the genius of a poet, the
intimate connection between purity and power. He puts into the mouth of
Sir Galahad, one of his heroes, these beautiful words, viz:
"My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure."
Now one of the most common complaints among Christians of all
denominations, is because of their weakness and their leanness. And yet
nothing is clearer than that God has promised to make His people
strong, that He has commanded them to be strong in the Lord, and that
not to be strong is even blameworthy, not to say criminal in His sight.
The reason, then, of our weakness and our leanness and the meagreness
of our fruitage, can be nothing else than because we do not fulfill the
conditions on which He promises to make us strong. One of these
conditions, and an indispensable one, is that we be entirely
sanctified. It is they that know their God, both in conversion and
entire sanctification, both in pardon and purity, that shall "be strong
and do exploits." Beloved, if you would accomplish the work that God
has given you to do, and not have to regret its non-accomplishment in
eternity, even if you are saved so as by fire, seek and find that which
is the essential condition, and ask at once to be wholly sanctified.
And if you would have the fullness of joy, even the joy of an uttermost
salvation, the peace that passeth understanding, the fellowship with
the Father and with His son, Jesus Christ, the sealing and anointing of
the Spirit, the white stone and the new name, the abiding presence of
the indwelling Comforter, then pray that the very God of Peace may here
and now sanctify you wholly. Amen.