Scriptural Sanctification - Media Sabda Org

wrought, it is not subject to the law of growth; it is so thoroughly and solely the work of God that
it may be quickly wrought."
Dr. T. N. Ralston, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, says:
"Whenever we comply with the conditions prescribed in the gospel -- that is, whenever we
exercise the requisite degree of faith, be it one day or ten years after our conversion -- that moment
God will 'cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'"
Dr. T. O. Summers, of the same Church, in speaking of indwelling sin, says:
"When it exists in the heart of the regenerate, it is a hated and subdued principle, which by gradual
mortification, or by an instant and powerful exercise of faith, is entirely destroyed."
These six authors are able and well-known representative men, two each of British, Northern, and
Southern Methodism. Their most elaborate productions are in the courses of study for ministers of
the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and thus have the
endorsement of these great bodies of Christians. We could fill many pages with extracts from the
formal addresses of the bishops of American Methodism, the official deliverances of her
Conferences, and the writings of scores of her most distinguished, cultured, and saintly sons,
endorsing and confirming the theory of Wesley and other Methodist fathers on this subject, and
supporting the proposition we are discussing. But we content ourself with only a few quotations from
the latest of these.
We first give a paragraph from the Pastoral Address of the Centennial Conference of American
Methodism, held in Baltimore, December, 1884, and composed of delegates from eight branches of
the Methodist family. It was prepared by a committee composed of Bishop Merrill and Governor
Stanard, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Wilson and General Vance of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, and Bishop Campbell, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and
adopted by a "unanimous vote" of the Conference. The Address says:
"We remind you, brethren, that the mission of Methodism is to promote holiness. Holiness is the
fullness of life, the crown of the soul, the joy and strength of the Church. It is not a sentiment nor
an emotion, but a principle inwrought in the heart, the culmination of God's work in us, followed by
a consecrated life. In all the borders of Methodism the doctrine is preached, and the experience of
sanctification is urged. We beseech you, brethren, stand by your standards on this subject. Our
founders rightly interpreted the mind of the Spirit, and gave us the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us not
turn from them to follow strange lights, but rather let us believe their testimony, follow their
example, and seek purity of heart by faith in the cleansing blood, and then, in the steady line of
consecrated living, 'go on unto perfection.'"
Here is not only a most luminous and discriminating definition of "justification," "holiness," or
"purity of heart, as an experience, or "fullness of life, the crown of the soul, the joy and strength of
the Church," and "the culmination of God's work in us," to be "followed by a consecrated life" -- one
of the best, clearest, and fullest of brief definitions we ever read -- but we are urged to "stand by our