repentance, perfect faith, perfect humility, perfect meekness, perfect self-denial, perfect resignation, perfect hope, perfect charity for our visible enemies, as well as for our earthly relations; and, above all, perfect love for our invisible God, through the explicit knowledge of our Mediator, Jesus Christ. And as this last star is always accompanied by all the others, as Jupiter is by his satellites; we frequently use, as St. John, the phrase 'perfect love," instead of the word 'perfection;' understanding by it the pure love of God, shed abroad in the hearts of established believers by the Holy Ghost, which is abundantly given them under the fulness of the Christian dispensation.

"Should any one ask if the Christian perfection which we contend for is a sinless perfection, we reply, 'Sin is the transgression of' a divine 'law;' and man may be considered either as being under the antievangelical, Christless, remediless law of our Creator; or as being under the evangelical, mediatorial, remedying law of our Redeemer: and the question must be answered according to the nature of these two laws.

"With respect to the first, that is, the Adamic, Christless law of innocence and paradisiacal perfection, we utterly renounce the doctrine of sinless perfection, for three reasons. We are conceived and born in a state of sinful degeneracy, whereby that law is already virtually broken. Our mental and bodily powers arc so enfeebled, that we cannot help actually breaking that law in numberless instances, even after our full conversion. And, when once we have broken that law, it considers us as transgressors for ever: nor can it any more pronounce us sinless than the rigorous law which condemns a man to be hanged for murder can absolve a murderer, let his repentance and faith be ever so perfect. Therefore, I repeat it, with respect

to the Christless law of paradisiacal obedience, we entirely disclaim sinless perfection.

"But Christ has so completely fulfilled our Creator's paradisiacal law of innocence, which allows neither of repentance nor of renewed obedience, that we shall not be judged by that law; but by a law adapted to our present state and circumstances,-a milder law, called 'the law of Christ;' that is, the Mediator's law, which is, like himself, 'full of' evangelical 'grace and truth.' "We do not doubt, but as a reasonable, loving father never requires of his child who is only ten years old the work of one who is thirty years of age; so our heavenly Father never expects of us, in our debilitated state, the obedience of immortal Adam in paradise, or the uninterrupted worship of sleepless angels in heaven. We are persuaded, therefore, that, for Christ's sake, he is pleased with an humble obedience to our present light, and a loving exertion of our present powers; accepting our gospel services according to what we have, and not according to what we have not. Nor dare we call that loving exertion of our present power sin; est by so doing we should contradict the Scriptures, confound sin and obedience, and remove all the landmarks which divide the devil's common from the Lord's vineyard.

"We exhort the strongest believers to 'grow up to Christ in all things;' asserting that there is no holiness and no happiness in heaven (much less upon earth) which does not admit of a growth, except the holiness and happiness of God himself; because, in the very nature of things, a being absolutely perfect, and in every sense infinite, can never have any thing added to him. But infinite additions may be made to beings every way finite, such as glorified saints and holy angels are.

"Hence, it appears, that the comparison which we

make between the ripeness of a fruit, and the maturity of a believer's grace, cannot be carried into an exact parallel. For a perfect Christian grows far more than a feeble believer, whose growth is still obstructed by the shady thorns of sin, and by the draining suckers of iniquity. Besides, a fruit which is come to its perfection, instead of growing, falls and decays: whereas a 'babe in Christ' is called to grow till he becomes a perfect Christian; a perfect Christian, till he becomes a disembodied spirit; a disembodied spirit, till he reaches the perfection of a saint glorified in body and soul; and such a saint, till he has fathomed the infinite depths of divine perfection, that is, to all eternity. For if we go on 'from faith to faith,' and are spiritually changed from glory to glory,' by beholding God darkly through a glass' on earth; much more shall we experience improving changes, when we shall 'see him as he is,' and behold him 'face to face,' in various, numberless, and still brighter discoveries of himself in heaven."*

The following are Dr. Clarke's views :-"The word 'sanctify' has two meanings. 1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service. 2. It signifies to make holy or pure.

"Many talk much, and indeed well, of what Christ has done for us: but how little is spoken of what he is to do in us! and yet all that he has done for us is in reference to what he is to do in us. He was incarnated, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead; ascended to heaven, and there appears in the presence of God for us. These were all saving, atoning, and mediating acts for us; that he might reconcile us to God; that he might blot out our sin; that he might

*Last Check, pp. 329–332.

purge our consciences from dead works; that he might bind the strong man armed-take away the armour in which he trusted, wash the polluted heart, destroy every foul and abominable desire, all tormenting and unholy tempers; that he might make the heart his throne, fill the soul with his light, power, and life; and, in a word, 'destroy the works of the devil.' These are done in us; without which we cannot be saved unto eternal life. But these acts done in us are consequent on the acts done for us: for had he not been incarnated, suffered, and died in our stead, we could not receive either pardon or holiness; and did he not cleanse and purify our hearts, we could not enter into the place where all is purity: for the beatific vision is given to them only who are purified from all unrighteousness; for it is written, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Nothing is purified by death;-nothing in the grave; nothing in heaven. The living stones of the temple, like those of that at Jerusalem, are hewn, squared, and cut here, in the church militant, to prepare them to enter into the composition of the church triumphant.

"This perfection is the restoration of man to the state of holiness from which he fell, by creating him anew in Christ Jesus, and restoring to him that image and likeness of God which he has lost. A higher meaning than this it cannot have; a lower meaning it must not have. God made man in that degree of perfection which was pleasing to his own infinite wisdom and goodness. Sin defaced this divine image; Jesus came to restore it. Sin must have no triumph; and the Redeemer of mankind must have his glory. But if man be not perfectly saved from all sin, sin does triumph, and Satan exult, because they have done a mischief that Christ either cannot or will not remove.

To say he cannot, would be shocking blasphemy against the infinite power and dignity of the great Creator; to say he will not, would be equally such against the infinite benevolence and holiness of his nature. All sin, whether in power, guilt, or defilement, is the work of the devil; and Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil; and as all unrighteousness is sin, so his blood cleanseth from all sin, because it cleanseth from all unrighteousness.

"Many stagger at the term perfection in Christianity; because they think that what is implied in it is inconsistent with a state of probation, and savours of pride and presumption: but we must take good heed how we stagger at any word of God; and much more. how we deny or fritter away the meaning of any of his sayings, lest he reprove us, and we be found liars before him. But it may be that the term is rejected because it is not understood. Let us examine its import.

"The word "perfection,' in reference to any person or thing, signifies that such person or thing is complete or finished; that it has nothing redundant, and is in nothing defective. And hence that observation of a learned civilian is at once both correct and illustrative, namely, 'We count those things perfect which want nothing requisite for the end whereto they were instituted.' And to be perfect often signifies 'to be blameless, clear, irreproachable;' and, according to the above definition of Hooker, a man may be said to be perfect who answers the end for which God made him; and as God requires every man to love him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbour as himself; then he is a perfect man that does so; he answers the end for which God made him; and this is more evident from the nature of that love which fills his heart for, as love is the principle of obedience, so