would be no injustice were the thief saved on the cross as highly exalted as the Apostle Paul. But the general drift of Scrip- ture is in favour of the doctrine that a man shall reap what he sows ; that God will reward every one according to, although not on account of his works.
§ 7. Perfectionism. Protestant Doctrine.
The doctrine of Lutherans and Reformed, the two great branches of the Protestant Church, is, that sanctification is never perfected in this life ; that sin is not in any case entirely sub- dued ; so that the most advanced believer has need as long as he continues in the flesh, daily to pray for the forgiveness of sins.
The question is not as to the duty of believers. All admit that we are bound to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Nor is it a question as to the command of God; for the first, original, and universally obligatory commandment is that we should love God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves. Nor does the question concern the provisions of the Gospel. It is admitted that the Gospel provides all that is needed for the com- plete sanctification and salvation of believers. "What can we need more than we have in Christ, his Spirit, his word and his ordinances ? Nor does it concern the promises of God ; for all rejoice in the hope, founded on the divine promise, that we shall be ultimately delivered from all sin. God has in Christ made provision for the complete salvation of his people: that is, for their entire deliverance from the penalty of the law, from the power of sin, from all sorrow, pain, and death ; and not only for mere negative deliverance, but for their being transformed into the image of Christ, filled with his Spirit, and glorified by the beauty of the Lord. It is, however, too plain that, unless sanctifi- cation be an exception, no one of these promises besides that which concerns justification, is perfectly fulfilled in this life. Justification does not admit of degrees. A man either is under condemnation, or he is not. And, therefore, from the nature of the case, justification is instantaneous and complete, as soon as the sinner believes. But the question is, whether, when God prom- ises to make his people perfectly holy, perfectly happy, and per- fectly glorious, He thereby promises to make them perfect in holiness in this life ? If the promises of happiness and glory are not perfectly fulfilled in this life, why should the promise of
246 PART m. Ch. xvni. — sanctification.
sanctification be tlius fulfilled ? It is, however, a mere question of fact. All admit that God can render his people perfect before death as well as after it. The only question is, Has He promised, with regard to sanctification alone, that it shall be perfected on this side of the grave ? and, Do we see cases in which the prom- ise has been actually fulfilled? The answer given to these ques- tions by the Church universal is in the negative. So long as the believer is in this world, he will need to pray for pardon. The grounds of this doctrine are, —
1. The spirituality of the divine law and the immutability of its demands. It condemns as sinful any want of conformity to the standard of absolute perfection as exhibited in the Bible. Anything less than loving God constantly with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, is sin.
2. The express declaration of Scripture that all men are sin- ners. This does not mean simply that all men have sinned, that all are guilty, but that all have sin cleaving to them. " If," de- clares the Apostle, " we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John i. 8.) As the wise man had said before him, " There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Eccles. vii. 20.) And in 1 Kings viii. 46, it is said, " There is no man that sin- neth not." And the Apostle James, iii. 2, says : " In many things we offend all." It is a manifest perversion of the simple grammatical meaning of the words to make afxapTiav ovk exofiev to refer to the past. The verb is in the present tense. The truth is not in us, says the Apostle, if we say we have no sin, i. e., that we are not now polluted by sin. In the context he sets forth Christ as the " Word of Life," as having life in Himself, and as being the source of life to us. Having fellowship with Him, we have fellowship with God. But God is light, i. e., is pure, holy, and blessed ; if, therefore, we walk in darkness, i. e., in igno- rance and sin, we can have no fellowship with Him. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, and do not need now and at all times the cleansing power of Christ's blood, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Argument from the General Representations of Scripture.
The declarations of Scripture, which are so abundant, that there is none righteous, no not one ; that all have sinned and