of those who have written on either side of the subject, have agreed that this perfection is necessary to a meetness for heaven, and that every finally-saved soul attains to it previous to or at the time of mortal dissolution. Wesley and his school, however, explicitly deny the necessity of a delay till that period. While they admit that a majority of believers do fail to receive the fulness of the Divine grace any long time previous to their last hours, they insist that the New Testament describes the experience as one not barely possible, but one practicable and expected to be actual in the Church; and, moreover, that there are directions and exhortations suitable only to those who have already come to such a state. Among the texts quoted in support of this position is the assertion of Paul (Rom. viii. 3, 4): "God sent his Son that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." Wesley says the commands bearing on this experience, some of which we have before quoted, have reference to the living, not to the dead. The requirement to love God with all the heart, "cannot mean, Thou shalt do this when thou diest, but while thou livest." John says: "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John iv. 17.)

Watson objects to the doctrine of the completion of the spiritual work only in the death of the body, first, because the promises of entire sanctification in the Scriptures are nowhere "restricted to the article of death, either expressly, or in fair inference"; and, secondly, because "we nowhere find the circumstance of the soul's union with the body represented as a necessary obstacle to its entire sanctification." He notices the fact that a strong argument against his position has been drawn from the latter part of the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans; and he exerts himself to parry the stroke, denying that the Apostle is there describing the state of a believer in Christ. He also says, "the doctrine before us is disproved by those passages of Scripture which connect our entire sanctification with subsequent habits and acts, to be exhibited in the conduct of believers before death." "Know this, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth

we should not serve sin." The Apostle, he says, prays for the entire sanctification of the Thessalonians, and then for their preservation in that hallowed state till "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"We conclude, therefore, as to the time of our complete sanctification, or, to use the phrase of the Apostle Paul, 'the destruction of the body of sin,' that it can neither be referred to the hour of death, nor placed subsequently to this present life. The attainment of perfect freedom from sin is one to which believers are called during the present life, and is necessary to that completeness of 'holiness,' and of those active and passive graces of Christianity, by which they are called to glorify God in this world, and to edify mankind." — Institutes, Part II. chap. 39.

Fletcher reasons much in the same way, and is particularly severe on what he calls the doctrine of a "death purgatory"; for to this he considers those to be driven who, while acknowledging that perfect holiness is necessary to a meetness for heaven, yet deny that it may be experienced in this life. He argues with much animation, that death will in no respect alter the moral character of the soul; and that disembodied spirits will possess the very same dispositions and propensities which they had when they dwelt in the body.

Another point of discussion has been, whether this is an instantaneous or a gradual work; some of those who accept the doctrine favoring the one, others the other. Wesley himself, though quite positive, is not always clear. He says it is both instantaneous and gradual. He teaches explicitly enough that the normal experience of a Christian is a growth,

"first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear," a going on from small beginnings to a large, rich ma- . turity of gifts and graces. Yet even in such, he says, there comes a time when faith and love have a perfect operation; when the body of sin is not only subdued, but dead; when the believer is entirely free from all desires and inclinations toward those things which are sinful. He avers that the moment when this takes place is the moment of a great and wondrous change, the arrival at a new and elevated plane of the religious life, where the believer knows and feels much to which he was previously a stranger. He illustrates it as follows:

"A man may be dying for some time, yet he does not, properly speaking, die till the instant the soul is separated from the body; and in that instant he lives the full life of eternity. In like manner he may be dying to sin for some time, yet he is not dead to sin until sin is separated from his soul; and in that instant he lives the full life of love. And as the change undergone when the body dies is of a different kind, and infinitely greater than any we had known before, yea, such as till then it is impossible to conceive, so the change wrought when the soul dies to sin is of a different kind and infinitely greater than any before, and than any can conceive till he experiences it; yet he still grows in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, in the love and image of God; and will do so not only till death, but probably to all eternity." - Plain Account.

The length of time requisite for the extirpation of these evil elements from the soul and the maturing of the Christian life is quite indeterminate. Under the same degree of faithfulness there would be a wide difference corresponding to different constitutional peculiarities. But we are assured that the experience may be looked for at almost any time between. a period briefly subsequent to regeneration and the end of life.

This progressive work, with Wesley, is not merely a strengthening of the habit of holiness, by a persistent repression of evil appetites, affections, and impulses, till by disuse they practically cease to exist; it is the effect of the influence of the Holy Spirit in the heart, bestowed in answer to the prayer of faith. It must, however, be observed, that faith, in Wesley's meaning, is no mystic, or quietistic, or Antinomian operation. It implies all the work that pertains to the Christian life, a putting forth all the powers of the soul to fulfil the Divine command, relying upon superhuman power only where human ability fails; "a faith that works by love and purifies the heart." So that really his life of faith is one of self-denial, cross-bearing, earnest prayer, deep thoughtfulness, and constant application of all the principles of the Gospel. It embraces all that is implied in spiritual culture. In response to the faith which is the root and mainspring of all good human character, God is believed to bring in those spiritual influences which give the soul peculiar strength in the resist

ance of temptation, clearer views of God, intenser love of the Divine character, deeper desire for holiness, and more thorough hatred of sin.

But though this maturing of Christian graces and this annihilation of evil desires in the normal Christian life is for the most part gradual, yet it is claimed by many, and admitted by Wesley, that there are numerous instances of what may be called a second conversion, or, as it is frequently termed in conversation and the narratives of experience," the second blessing." It is asserted that God can, and often does, in answer to the prayer of faith, "cut short the work in righteousness," thus completing in a few hours what in many another instance is the process of months or years. On this point there has been some difference of opinion among the followers of Wesley, and much discussion. Still the denominational standards in the main, and a very large proportion of the testimony from experience, so far as given, go to favor the idea of an immediate and distinct second experience. Wesley is not entirely harmonious with himself on this particular question. As before stated, he says that the work is both instantaneous and gradual, averring that even in the gradual experience there comes an instant when the work is complete, and that instant is one of a wonderful change in the views and feelings of the subject of it. In certain passages of his writings, he gives the impression that this is the natural and regular method of sanctification. Yet elsewhere he seems to contend just as strenuously for an "immediate work." He represents that a believer at any stage of his experience may seek the great blessing, with the assurance that he will certainly find it if seeking aright. God is able and willing for any "to do it NOW. And why not? the same as a thousand years? to accomplish whatever is his will. say at any point of time, 'Now is hold all things are now ready! The following we find in the "Plain Account":

Is not a moment to him He cannot want more time We may therefore boldly the day of salvation! BeCome to the marriage!""

"God usually gives a considerable time for men to receive light, to grow in grace, to do and suffer his will, before they are either justified or sanctified. But he does not invariably adhere to this. Sometimes

he cuts short his work.' He does the work of many years in a few weeks; perhaps in a week, a day, an hour. He justifies or sanctifies both those who have done or suffered nothing, and who have not had time for a gradual growth either in light or grace. . . . . . Generally speaking, it is a long time, even many years, before sin is destroyed. All this we know. But we know, likewise, that God may with man's good leave 'cut short his work' in whatever degree he pleases, and do the usual work of many years in a moment. He does so in a great many instances. And yet there is a gradual work both before and after that moment. So that one may affirm, the work is gradual; another, it is instantaneous, - without any manner of contradiction."

Fletcher illustrates it by the narrative of the disciples who went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while Jesus remained behind. They toiled very hard and made little headway. But after they had "rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He said to them, It is I, be not afraid: then they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." "Just so," says he, "we toil till our faith discovers Christ in the promise, and welcomes him into our hearts; and such is the effect of his presence, that immediately we arrive at the land of perfection."

"Hence it follows that the most Evangelical method of following after this perfection to which we are immediately called is that of seeking it now, by endeavoring fully to lay hold on the promise of that perfection, through faith, just as if our repeated acts of obedience could never help us forward. But in the mean time we should do the works of faith, and repeat our internal and external acts of obedience with as much earnestness and faithfulness, according to our present power, as if we were sure to enter into rest merely by a diligent use of our talents, and a faithful exertion of the powers which Divine grace has bestowed upon us. If we do not attend to the first of these directions, we shall seek to be sanctified by works, like the Pharisees; and if we disregard the second, we shall fall into Solifidian sloth with the Antinomians." Last Check, p. 639.

We have now given the principal features of this doctrine, and briefly indicated some of the arguments by which it is maintained. We have not presented all the objections to it, nor all the arguments by which they are met by its defenders,