The doctrine of entire santification...

Prefatory Note

THE Bible reveals the fact that God created man in His own likeness and image, and endowed him with almost unlimited capabilities, surrounded him with objects of beauty and attractiveness, and supplied every legitimate desire with its corresponding objects of gratification, and provided for his happiness and growth with a gorgeousness that overwhelms the finite mind. But while yet in a whirl of bewilderment from the contemplation of man's Edenic surroundings, it surprises us with the story of his apostasy and alienation.

Aside from the light the Bible pours upon the pathway of the race, the history of man is a dark and inexplicable tragedy. It appears as a pure and limpid stream bursting out on the mountain-side, to linger a moment amid Edenic beauties and perfumes, and plunge forever into the morass of wretchedness and woe. But the gospel throws the " rainbow of promise " over the scene, disperses the darkness from man's environed pathway and " brings life and immortality to light."

The gospel has to do with man only as a sinner — but as a redeemed sinner. It brings to our ears the glad tidings that, although born a sinner, possessed of sinful tendencies, and surrounded with sinful influences, the entire race is under the gracious possibilities of a redemptive scheme, which, if improved, will give him a complete victory over the farthest-reaching influences and ultimate sequences of the fall.

The subject of holiness is inseparable from man. No one can write or think of man's origin or destiny without considering him in his relation to the subject of personal holiness. Holiness was man's heritage in his primeval state, and holiness will be

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his restored condition when, with the seraphic throng, he shall compass the eternal throne. And holiness must be his condition in this life if he would actuate the possibilities of the remedial plan.

The force of all the redemptive agencies focalize in the Divine effort to restore man to a life of holiness and fellowship with God, that shall secure to him a destiny of holy delights.

As a well-defined view of man in Eden, and man fallen and redeemed, and a just conception of the gracious agencies of the gospel are essential to the salvation of every sinner and the symmetrical growth and usefulness of every believer, we devote these pages to the subject of holiness in its doctrinal and philosophical aspects.

This unpretentious volume seeks to glorify God by honoring the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men. It aims to refute the insidious errors that have manifested themselves more or less definitely in many sections of the church upon this subject. It rejects the doctrine " that sin is a part of the original plan " of the Divine Being with regard to the world; or that sin, having made its appearance, "it is utilized by the Lord and made tributary to His glory." We repudiate all theories that encroach upon the atoning merit or personality of the Son of God, or in any way supersede tl e personality and office of the Holy Ghost in the salvation of men.

These pages give prominence to the fact that salvation, being a covenant work, is an event that must transpire between the covenanting parties, the Saviour, and the saved ; consequently it can neither be by the process of evolution nor culture, by attrition nor growth, but that God saves all that come unto Him through the gospel of the Son of God.

INTEODUOTIOE".

THE author of this volume is well and favorably known to many, who will, therefore, give his writings a cordial welcome. His genial spirit, his attractive manners, his holy cordiality, his transparent frankness, and his noble decision of character have endeared him personally to thousands of saintly hearts. His clear logic, his fervent eloquence, his loving appeals, his masterly pulpit ministry have made a wide and profound impression throughout this country. It will be no small recommendation to his many friends to say that in this volume his readers will recognize his style, almost hear his voice, and have herein treasured some of those valuable truths to which they have listened on the National Camp-ground and elsewhere.

It was at the call of many who had listened to these thoughts as presented in sermons or otherwise, and especially at the urgent suggestion of the late lamented President of the National Camp-Meeting Association, Bro. Inskip, that the author finally consented to offer them to the public in the present permanent form. We think he has done the cause of holiness valuable service. He has furnished statements and arguments in compact form, that will be an effectual antidote to specious, subtle and damaging delusions among those who claim to be cultured, cautious, orthodox and progressive, and which

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will also neutralize the influence of such persons over the uneducated, simple-hearted, confiding and earnest.

Without going minutely, or at undue length, into the author's design, or anticipating his own clear and cogent statements, we may be permitted to say that his aim is to establish a safeguard against dangerous fanaticisms and fatal heresies, which are now rife. He guards the scheme of redemption against necessitarianism. He stoutly opposes all errors, whether originating in paganistic philosophy or theistic evolution, and demonstrates the fact that gradualism, either by growth or attrition, is not the Divine process of salvation in any of its stages. His argument demonstrates that sin is no part of God's original plan concerning man. Sinfulness is not man's normal condition. Man is a responsible, fallen, alienated being, redeemed by Christ's vicarious death. Sin is never utilized to minister to God's glory. In the scheme of redemption it is not subjugated and made tributary to man's advancement, thus becoming to him a blessing and to God a co-worker. On the contrary, sin with all its train of consequences is to be destroyed. " For this cause was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil." All theories that encroach upon Christ's personality and atoning merit, or upon the personality and work of the Holy Ghost, are shown to be unscriptural, unreasonable and injurious. Salvation is a covenant between the Saviour and the saved; hence evolution, culture, attrition and growth have no part in the work of salvation, whatever other good purposes they may providentially subserve. Discrimination is clearly made between redemption and

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development in their processes and agencies. Evolution, whether scientific or theistic, is necessarily and essentially the opposite of redemption. Evolution is a continuous process, either with or without epochs. Eedemption is inconceivable without forfeiture, the arrest of penalty by a third party, and the inauguration of an entirely different class of forces from those which were in operation before the Fall. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us." Thus, briefly and yet quite exhaustively, the fact and completeness of the redemptive scheme and its agencies are clearly set forth.

We congratulate the author upon the successful completion of his important work. We congratulate his readers upon the solid satisfaction they will receive from his logical and attractive presentation of that class of truths which, though more difficult to comprehend, are really fundamental and essential to knowledge, faith, experience and practice. We hope that the most sanguine expectations entertained in the preparation and publication of this book may be fully realized.

E. I. D. Pepper.

Philadelphia, 1885.

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