attainment: The Rest of Faith; The Higher Life; Holiness; A Clean Heart; The Renewal of the Holy Ghost; and by Methodists more particularly, Christian Perfection; Entire Sanctification; Perfect Love; Full Redemption.

There is an element of truth in all these names: some referring to the state itself, some to the way by which it is attained, and others to a particular grace which is highly exemplified. In the Scriptures, phrases denoting this blessing occur in such profusion, that there is a difficulty in selecting those which are most appropriate for our purpose; this is, indeed, the fulness of the blessing' of 'the Gospel of peace;' and there is no part of the Christian estate which has such an extensive class of terms to illustrate and exhibit it. Here are a few: 'pure in heart,' blameless,' unreproveable,' 'the

sons of God, without rebuke,' 'sincere and without offence,' 'sanctify you wholly,...spirit and soul and body.' My aim is to show the relative bearing of some of the names given to this attainment in grace to the one grand truth of which they all form a part.

It is worthy of notice that while we have Hymns For Believers Rejoicing Fighting Praying Working, etc.,' we have none entitled, 'Seeking Entire Sanctification,' or Christian Perfection.' The term used is Full Redemption.' We may be sure the Wesleys had a good reason for the words they used; and, I think, we shall find in this instance a beautiful example of the definiteness, consistency and harmony of their teaching; for which we who have come under their influence cannot be too thankful.

What, then, is Redemption? Redemption is the deliverance of man from the guilt, power, pollution and punishment of sin and his restoration to the favour and image of God.' In our enquiry, therefore, we

begin with a person who has already become a child of God-' a new creature.' In his case pardon has been granted, he is justified, is 'a new creature' in Christ Jesus; regeneration has been accomplished and sanctification has begun. In other words, he is delivered from the guilt, the pollution and the punishment of sin; he is restored to the favour of God. But we can scarcely say that he has been entirely delivered from the power of sin, or that he is completely restored to the image of God; both of which, however, are included in 'Full Redemption.' There is a tendency, in some modern teachers, to make Christian Perfection the entrance into a new order of life, rather than the completing of the life already begun. This theory tends to lessen the value of Regeneration, by which we already live a life 'hid with Christ in God.' The following verse illustrates the relationship :

Finish then Thy new creation,

Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation,
Perfectly restored in Thee.'

I. Full Redemption is complete restoration to the image of God. Can He not, and will He not, restore us?

'Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Whom one all-perfect God we own, Restorer of Thine image lost,

Thy various offices make known;
Display, our fallen souls to raise,
Thy whole economy of grace.'

We must not measure ourselves by ourselves : our lives by the lives of others. One great hindrance to moral progress is that we judge of our character by standards which make us feel satisfied, rather than convince us of sin. But we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.' On

'Plant, and root, and fix in me

All the mind that was in Thee, etc.'

'A gentle mind,' all unholy anger gone; a patient mind,' fully resigned to our Father's gracious will; ‘a noble mind,' all servile fear cast out; 'a spotless mind,' where sin finds no response; 'a loving mind;' 'a constant mind;' 'a perfect mind,' what a lofty attainment this is!

'I shall fully be restored
To the image of my Lord,
Witnessing to all mankind,
Jesu's is a perfect mind.'

Full Redemption is the exemplifying of every virtue which can be exhibited in the human soul:

What! never speak one evil word,
Or rash, or idle, or unkind!
O, how shall I, most gracious Lord,

This mark of true perfection find?'

'If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.' (James iii. 2.) Though this is an age of

restless activity, we all need, in spiritual matters, to remember the Apostle's injunction, 'Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.' In a jubilant song, let us ask for this:

'A patient, a victorious mind,

That life and all things casts behind,
Springs forth obedient to Thy call;
A heart that no desire can move,
But still to adore, believe, and love,

Give me, my Lord, my life, my all!'

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' So does the religion of Christ ennoble life in every aspect, furnishing the highest motives and the strongest incitations to diligence in the pursuit of science, learning and commerce, converting all into means of grace, and opportunities of attaining acquaintance with likeness to our Lord.

There is one verse which sums up all with almost overwhelming force:

Thy nature be my law,
Thy spotless sanctity,
And sweetly every moment draw
My happy soul to Thee.
Soul of my soul remain !
Who didst for all fulfil,
In me, O Lord, fulfil again,

Thy Heavenly Father's will!'

How are we to attain to this? Can we ourselves effect it by any amount of self-discipline, or working on our feelings and emotions? Immediately preceding the prayer for entire sanctification in the Epistle to the Thessalonians we have this exhortation: 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil;' in other words,. human exertion and human prudence are stimulated to the utmost, but there is a power needed above and behind all these efforts. 'And'

while you are doing all you can to carry out the exhortation-may 'the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.' It is God alone that sanctifieth. Upon this mark the Christian fixes his eye, and as he advances finds Christ ever on before him. He is happy in the progress he makes; and, while humbled by the sense of his imperfections, he knows that his labour after conformity to the Divine image is not in vain in the Lord.

II. Full Redemption is entire deliverance from the power of sin. Hitherto we have been considering the aim of the Christian life. Now worldly men and even infidels admire this manifestation of the life of Christ. They admit that Christianity is a beautiful ideal : that its precepts are perfect. How true it is that to admire the truth is not always to love it! The unsaved man who is striving to do right, has to tell of the wretchedness which springs from the conflict between his judgment and his will:

Thou hidden love of God, whose height,
Whose depth unfathomed, no man knows,
I see from far Thy beauteous light,

Inly I sigh for Thy repose;
My heart is pained, nor can it be
At rest, till it finds rest in Thee.

Thy secret voice invites me still

The sweetness of Thy yoke to prove ; And fain I would; but though my will Seems fixed, yet wide my passions rove; Yet hindrances strew all the way; I aim at Thee, yet from Thee stray.'

We need Life; and the sayings of the Saviour come to our mind: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;' 'He that hath the Son hath life.' And so the Hymn :

When Jesus makes my heart His home,
My sin shall all depart.
The Christian's prayer is ever for

A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer's throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.'

But how and in what sense does Christ become our life? He is in heaven. How can he then make our hearts His home? Before He left His disciples He said: 'I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come to you.' 'The world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me ; because I live, ye shall live also.' This was fulfilled when the Holy Ghost, the promise of the Father, was given. Yet the believer, filled with the Spirit, is not led to think so much of the Spirit and His agency as of the person and work of Christ. The Comforter takes of Christ; and shows Him unto us the loveliness of His character, His mercy, His sufferings, His life in all its aspects. The Spirit awakens and illumines the soul; and then introduces the Saviour. The personality which the soul sees is that of Jesus Himself: Jesus Himself imparts, He comes in man to live.' One characteristic of this Higher Life is the freshness, the beauty and the force with which the simple truth is set before the mind: some promise is brought to our remembrance; we see, we love, we yield; and our soul is 'changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.'

The Hymns descriptive of this agency of the Holy Spirit are very numerous and well known. Hymns 351, 367, 374, 376, are all worthy of careful study, with the 770th in the New Supplement.

'Refining fire, go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul;

Scatter Thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole.'

Four other names remain to be considered: Entire Sanctification; A Clean Heart; The Rest of Faith ; Christian Perfection.-Sanctification: Two ideas are involved in this word: purification from sin and consecration to God. The first is found in sentences of this kind: That He might

sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.' The second idea, consecration, is very familiar, and needs no Scripture quotations; the thought is that of separation from unholy purposes and dedication to sacred purposes, e. g., the holy oil, the holy temple. Holiness is the combination of the two: a holy man is one who is entirely cleansed from sin and wholly devoted to God. There are some beautiful Hymns illustrative of this phase of the doctrine. With reference to purification from sin, or a Clean, Heart, we at once think of Hymn 346:

'My dying Saviour, and my God,
Fountain for guilt and sin,
Sprinkle me ever with Thy blood,

And cleanse, and keep me clean.'

Does God so cleanse the heart absolutely and at once, that it needs no more for ever the cleansing blood? No! that blood cleanseth us': 'The

atonement of Thy blood apply, Till faith to sight improve.

The Hymns of Consecration are very numerous, and are found chiefly in the division For Believers Saved; but the last verse of Hymn 769, by the late Rev. T. T. Lynch, combines the two ideas :

Holy Spirit, dwell with me!
I myself would holy be,
Separate from sin, I would
Choose, and cherish all things good;
And whatever I can be,

Give to Him Who gave me Thee.'

What can we be? Sir T. Fowell Buxton said: 'I am sure that a young man may be very much what he pleases.' This is fully true of the young believer. Such must be our consecration that we can honestly sing: My all is on the altar; I'm waiting for the fire.' God will then accept the offering, and show His acceptance by sending us the Holy Spirit into our hearts, baptizing us with fire. We now become one

in heart with Him; we feel the energy of love; and all is done with a conscious or instinctive aim to glorify God. Entire Sanctification,' then, is the state of being entirely cleansed from sin so as to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.' It includes 'a clean heart' and entire consecration.

Again This attainment is called The Rest of Faith; and very appropriately. This name expresses one of its most important features. What does Faith rest upon? Promises: promises 'exceeding great and precious,' and given for the express purpose that by them we may be made' partakers of the Divine nature.' See also Ezekiel xxxvi. 25-27. After the prayer for entire sanctification, in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, comes the guarantee on which we must rely for its realization: 'Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it.' Habitual faith, habitually working by love, sustained by habitual hope, brings the exceeding greatness of the Divine power into the individual believer's life. We must commit ourselves to Christ for sanctification as we did for justification putting our whole being into His hands, trusting Him to save us from all our 'filthiness' and all our 'idols.'

Further Full Redemption is rest, not only upon God, but in God. 'He is jealous of His prerogative to be the only blessedness of His people; and as long as any creature, especially so long as self, the worst of all the creatures, is the source whence happiness is sought, so long is there a restraint on the fruition of God.'

'I would be Thine, Thou knowest I would,
And have Thee all my own;
Thee, O my all-sufficient Good!
I want, and Thee alone.'

term, as it is very obnoxious in some circles. Methodists have been taunted with it; but the desirableness of a clear apprehension of the name arises mainly from the fact that it is in this direction that the doctrine is liable to be abused, and so lead to error. word 'perfect' is Scriptural, and therefore we cannot reject it; and there is certainly no other word that can replace it. It is our duty to understand it. To be 'perfect,' is to possess everything that is requisite to the nature of the subject. As in nature, so in grace, a man's capacities extend. Who shall fix the limit? Hence no Christian thinks himself absolutely perfect; but, in fact, the more perfect a man is, the more conscious is he of his imperfection. Growth is an attribute of spiritual life. There are two ideas in the Scripture use of the word perfect: Soundness and maturity of individual graces; and completeness and harmony of the character as a whole. For a very clear exposition of this thought see Dr. Waddy's sermon: The Charge of God to Abraham. By this perfection, the possibility of sinning is not eradicated. The necessity for diligence and watching remains; and a soul in this high state of Christian experience is only safe in self-distrust and reverence : 'perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.'

The guard of all Thy mercies give,
And to my pardon join

A fear lest I should ever grieve
The gracious Spirit Divine.'

Christians, then, may be perfect: sincere; no admixture of evil in their designs whatsoever they do, they do 'all to the glory of God.' Pure in heart: the all-searching Sunshine detecting no fatal flaw in the warp and

weft of their lives. Sincerity of heart and purity of intention, form, as George Herbert says, 'The famous stone that turneth all to gold.' They are 'the wings on which the soul flies to heaven,' said Jeremy Taylor. The perfect Christian, again, is blameless in allegiance to God. The precious blood of Christ and the power of His Spirit avail, removing that which alone is hateful in God's sight, sin; removing 'the seed of sin's disease;" 'erasing' from the soul 'the original offence.'

Not perfect in knowledge, 'as many as are perfect' in love make earnest efforts to advance even in the former. Not free from mistakes, they learn wisdom from past failures. Not free from bodily or mental infirmities; not free from temptation, they endure and overcome. Still but dust ; ' God pities their frailties and forgives their errors.

This blessing is obtained only by faith in God. The old Methodists had a formula: 'We must expect it by faith, expect it as we are, and expect it now.'

'Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.'

'Holiness is the best thing God Himself can bestow upon us, either in this world or in the world to come. Grace is holiness militant, holiness encumbered with many enemies and difficulties, which it still fights against and manfully quits itself of. And Glory is holiness triumphant, holiness with a palm in her hand and a crown upon her head.'-Dr. Cudworth.