I am next to show when entire sanctification is attainable.

1. The blessing of entire sanctification is promised to Christians. The promise in--

Jer. 31:31--34: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Ezk. 36;25--27: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."

1 Thess. 5:23, 24: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

Eph. 1:13: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

These and many others show that the promise is made to those who have some degree of faith, that is, who have been regenerated. In the last it is said; "We are sealed after that we believe."

2. Faith is always the expressed or implied condition of the promises. It has been supposed that the promise in Jer. 31, together with other kindred promises, is absolute in such a sense as to have no condition whatever. To this it may be replied as it has been before in substance, that the things which they promise are of such a nature as that they cannot possibly be received but by faith, nor is faith the thing promised. The law of love cannot possibly be written in the heart, but through the faith which works by love. Therefore of necessity this promise, as well as all other promises of spiritual blessings, is conditioned upon faith in us. Should it be said that the promise to write the law in our hearts, includes the doing of all that which is essential to its fulfillment, and that therefore a promise to beget love is virtually a promise to secure the right use of the means necessary to that end. But this is as far as possible from excluding our own agency and responsibility. When Paul had declared, that not a hair of any man's head on board the ship should perish, this did not exclude the necessity of the sailors remaining on board. For he afterwards said, "except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved." Now it is true that in a very important sense, the promise that the hair of no man's head should perish, implied that God would secure the use of the requisite means to preserve them. Yet who would infer from this that that promise was not conditioned upon the sailors remaining on board, and the right use of the voluntary agency of Paul and all the rest on board to preserve themselves. So it should be remembered, that the promises, to create a new heart and a new spirit--to make a new covenant with the house of Israel--and to write the law in their hearts--are certainly and necessarily conditioned upon the faith of every one who would receive their fulfillment.

To the doctrine of entire sanctification by faith, it has been objected, that faith is itself a holy exercise, and therefore, as such, is, for the time being, entire sanctification, and that, to make faith the condition of entire sanctification is to make entire holiness the condition of entire holiness. To this I reply: sanctification is by faith in two senses.

1. Sanctification is by faith in opposition to sanctification by law, that is, the soul is sanctified by faith in Christ in opposition to legal sanctification. Christians are made holy by contemplating the love of Christ and by faith in him and his Atonement instead of being made holy by the influence of legal considerations. This is evident from what the Apostle says in Rom. 9:30--32. "What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law: for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone." The sanctification of the saints is effected only by renouncing all hope of justification or sanctification on the ground of law and embracing Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Faith is i[n]deed a holy exercise and therefore is, in the lowest sense, entire sanctification. It is entire sanctification in the sense, simply of a holy exercise. But it is not a state of entire sanctification in the sense in which I use the term in this discourse, nor as I think in the sense in which the Bible uses the term. The sense in which I use the term sanctification, includes all that is implied in perfect obedience to the law of God. In this sense of the term, it includes, if I may so speak, the whole family of holy exercises, of which faith is one and but one. In the sense in which I use entire sanctification, it includes all the modifications of benevolence, whereas faith is but one of the forms, or modifications of holiness.

2. Who does not know that one holy exercise not only may be the condition of another, but that as a matter of fact, faith is and must be the condition of the whole circle of holy affections.

3. This state is attainable on the ground of natural ability at any time. If this state were not attainable on the ground of natural ability, it would not be required, and its absence would not be sin. But it has been doubted whether the work of entire sanctification is such, in its own nature, that it can be accomplished at once. To this I reply:

(1.) If it cannot be instantly accomplished, it would not be instantly required.

(2.) If it were not, in its own nature, capable of being attained at once, the non-attaining it at once would not be sin. All that would be required would be to press forward as fast as we could.

(3.) But in this case the pressing forward would be a sinless state, because it would be all that could be required. So that we should possess at once, what according to the supposition, is naturally impossible, that is, a state of entire sanctification.

(4.) I have already shown that provision is made against every temptation. And as temptation, under some form, is the cause of all sin, if sufficient provision is made against all present and future temptation, it follows that a state of entire sanctification is attainable at once.

4. Full faith in the word and promises of God, naturally, and certainly, and immediately produces a state of entire sanctification. Let it be understood that by faith, I mean--

(1.) A realization of the truth and meaning of the Bible.

(2.) A laying hold upon all those truths upon which this state of mind depends, especially a full realization and belief of the sacred record God has given of his Son, "that his blood cleanseth us from all sin." It is easy to see that the realization and belief of the infinite love of God, as manifested in Christ Jesus, would have a tendency to fill the mind with unutterable and constant love to God--and beget the most cordial and perfect love to man. This result is instantaneous on the exercise of faith, and in this sense sanctification is an instantaneous work.

5. God is able to produce entire sanctification in any soul, when he is pleased to do so.

This appears to be plainly taught by Christ, when he spoke of the ability of God to save the rich. He asserts that their salvation is more difficult "than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." And when the disciples expressed their astonishment, He replied, that "with God all things are possible." Now this seems to be a case in point. To sanctify the rich is the only difficulty in the way of their salvation. And Christ has asserted, that God is able not only to sanctify them, but that "all things are possible with Him," that is, that there is no limit to his ability in this respect.

Eph. 3:20, proves the same point. Here the Apostle asserts that God is able to do "abundantly above all that we ask and above all that we think," exceeding abundantly, &c. Now we can both think of and ask for the blessing of entire, and permanent, and instantaneous sanctification, and if this passage of scripture is true, God is able to grant it.

That God is able not only to produce present but also to confirm us in a state of perpetual sanctification, is plain from many other passages of scripture. Jude 24: "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." Upon this passage I remark;

(1.) Here it is asserted, that God is able to keep us from falling.

(2.) To present us faultless before the presence of his glory.

(3.) To keep us and present us faultless, is to preserve us in a state of permanent sanctification. And this it is declared he is able to do.

To this it has been objected that moral government implies the power to resist every degree of motive. This I most fully admit. But it is one thing to have the power thus to resist, and quite another thing to use that power. God certainly knew when he created moral agents to what extent, under their circumstances, they would actually exercise their powers of resistance, and therefore whether he could sanctify and save them or not. As a matter of fact, he has overcome the voluntary resistance of all who are converted. And if he has broken down their enmity, and so far subdued them, is it incredible that he should be able wholly to sanctify them, and preserve them blameless?