2. The Meaning of Sanctification - Enter His Rest

the doctrine of perfect love taught by the Wesleyan theologians.
No effort is made to prove sanctification. I have written for sincere Christians
sympathetic with spiritual values and sensitive to them. For these I would remove
fallacious intellectual obstacles which hitherto have prevented their seeking and finding
this fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. I have written also for those who
would understand the experience better, both for their own enjoyment and to enable them
to help others personally by leading them to Him “who shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver” (Mal. 3:3).
Those interested in a discussion of the truths concerning repentance, regeneration and the
beginning of the Christian life are referred to my book "The Meaning of Salvation", the
companion volume of the present work.
The Meaning of Sanctification begins with a discussion of the theory of gradual
sanctification.
Next, the historical and scriptural evidences that millions of Christians have believed in a
second crisis of salvation are traced. This crisis was experienced universally in the
apostolic church. Then follows a study of the implications of such an experience and how
to obtain it.
In appendices at the end of the book have been included some studies not deemed
desirable to include in the body of the book.
This book has been written in the broken scraps of time saved from the pressing tasks of
preaching, teaching, and editorial work. My only excuse for offering it in such imperfect
condition is that the time is far spent, the night is at hand — that night when no man can
work.
I have only these small loaves and fishes to offer the Master. May he multiply them as he
did a like offering in another day.
As this simple spiritual meal is spread I would praise the beauty of holiness and raise one
more voice in the song of the ages, glorifying the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world.”
Yours in Christian service,
Charles Ewing Brown
1. THE THEORY OF GRADUAL SANCTIFICATION
Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that the average Christian of our own time
has very hazy ideas about the nature and meaning of sanctification. As we have elsewhere
pointed out, many thousands of Christians in America accept the Wesleyan doctrine of
sanctification as a second work of grace. Christians who do not hold that doctrine
generally have a confused mass of ideas and traditions which, when analyzed and
formulated, may be seen to be based upon the historical doctrine of sanctification as set
forth and expounded by the great Calvinistic theologians.
Probably the foremost of modern classics in this field is the Systematic Theology of Dr.
Charles Hodge. Not within a hundred years has any theologian stated the historical
position of Calvinism more ably than he. Therefore we take some space to set forth his