The Book of Religions: Comprising the Views, Creeds, Sentiments, or Opinions, of All the Principal Religious Sects in the World, Particularly of All Christian Denominations in Europe and America, to Which are Added Church and Missionary Statistics, Together With Biographical SketchesHayward, John
Religion
The Book of Religions: Comprising the Views, Creeds, Sentiments, or Opinions, of All the Principal Religious Sects in the World, Particularly of All Christian Denominations in Europe and America, to Which are Added Church and Missionary Statistics, Together With Biographical Sketches
Hayward, John
Christian biography; Religions; Sects
“It is a divine evidence and conviction, secondly, that what God hath
promised he is able to perform. Admitting, therefore, that ‘with men it is
impossible’ ‘to bring a clean thing out of an unclean,’ to purify the
heart from all sin, and to fill it with all holiness,—yet this creates no
difficulty in the case, seeing ‘with God all things are possible.’ And
surely no one ever imagined it was possible to any power less than that of
the Almighty! But if God speaks, it shall be done. God saith, ‘Let there
be light; and there [is] light.’
“It is, thirdly, a divine evidence and conviction that he is able and
willing to do it now. And why not? Is not a moment to him the same as a
thousand years? He cannot want more time to accomplish whatever is his
will. And he cannot want to stay for any more _worthiness_ or _fitness_ in
the persons he is pleased to honor. We may, therefore, boldly say, at any
point of time, ‘Now is the day of salvation!’ ‘To-day, if ye will hear his
voice, harden not your hearts.’ ‘Behold, all things are now ready; come
unto the marriage.’
“To this confidence that God is both able and willing to sanctify us now,
there needs to be added one thing more—a divine evidence and conviction
that he doeth it. In that hour it is done: God says to the inmost soul,
‘According to thy faith be it unto thee.’ Then the soul is pure from every
spot of sin; it is clean ‘from all unrighteousness.’ The believer then
experiences the deep meaning of those solemn words, ‘If we walk in the
light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’
“ ‘But does God work this great work in the soul gradually, or
instantaneously?’ Perhaps it may be gradually wrought in some: I mean, in
this sense, they do not advert to the particular moment wherein sin ceases
to be. But it is infinitely desirable, were it the will of God, that it
should be done instantaneously; that the Lord should destroy sin ‘by the
breath of his mouth,’ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And so he
generally does—a plain fact, of which there is evidence enough to satisfy
any unprejudiced person. _Thou_, therefore, look for it every moment.”—See
_Wesley’s Sermons_, vols. i. and ii.
Oberlin Views Of Sanctification.
In the fall of 1836, during an interesting revival of religion in Oberlin,
Ohio, the minds of many became deeply interested in the inquiry, “Can we
live holy lives? and, if we can, how?” At first, fears were entertained
that some would run into the errors of the Perfectionists; but, finally,
after much prayer and investigation, they adopted the following views of
sanctification:—
“1. That entire obedience to the moral law constitutes entire
sanctification or holiness.
“2. That all moral agents are able to render this obedience.
“3. That because all moral agents are able to render this
obedience, they are bound to do so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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