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fort should be required, and no rig-
orous discipline necessary, in order
to engage them in it.
And all the
propensities, also, were in the direc-
tion of duty, as prescribed by God.
Had man continued in the perfec-
tion in which God created him, he
would have had all his faculties, and
all his mental tendencies, and the
constantly increasing force of habit,
in entire harmony with the dictates
of conscience, and with the divine
rule of action as revealed. He
would have acted right, not by a
constant warfare with himself, which
is characteristic of an imperfect be-
ing, but without a warfare,-with
a consenting and obedient nature.
Any unfitness in the condition of the
mind for any moral duty, any ne-
cessity of self-conquest in order to
discharge it, is proof of a deranged
and imperfect moral state.

or faculties, so to speak, of his glo. rious nature. The moral perfection of angels, is the perfect conformity of their conduct to the same right principles, and the perfect moral condition of all the faculties of their nature. The moral perfection of man, is the conformity of his actions to the same right principles, and the perfect moral condition of all the faculties of his nature. And it is clear, in this view, that true perfection is one and the same thing in all beings. If it is said-Prof. Upham does not say this, but it has often been urged by others-that God is infinite and we finite; we answer, that this makes no difference at all on the question of moral perfection. The objection entirely mistakes the case. It supposes that the degree of goodness in a being depends on the extent of the capacities which he possesses; which is not true. A piece of mechanism may be very simple-may have few parts, and may be applied to a very humble purpose; but if its parts are all in order, and it answers its end entirely, there is just as much and just the same perfection in it, as in a machine which is far more ingenious and complicated in contrivance, and is applied to a far nobler end. Each does all that it ought to do, and is all that it ought to be; and the one as truly as the other. And even so, if man does all he ought to do, and For and is all he ought to be, nothing better, nothing higher, nothing more perfect, can be affirmed of angels, or, with reverence be it said, of the Deity himself. All, on such a sup position, are examples of true moral perfection, and of one and the same moral perfection. Man, in such a case, is perfect even as the angels; and even as, in the language of the Savior, his Father which is in heaven is perfect. And further, is not the idea of an inferior sort of perfection in itself absurd? Does not the language, indeed, involve a contradiction? For what is an inferior kind

It may seem hardly necessary to insist on a point so plain, as that what we have now described is the only true perfection; that no being can be considered perfect, of whom it is true, either that his moral action is in any respect defective, or his moral nature in any respect deranged. It is the glory of angels, that they perfectly obey God's law with a nature that, like a harp with every chord in tune, is perfectly prepared. And we perceive at once, that if we suppose any thing short of this, even in the least particular, the idea of perfection ceases. if, as is admitted by all sound moralists, there is an eternal and immutable distinction between right and wrong, then goodness must be every where and in all beings essentially the same. The fundamental principles of right moral action, must be the same to God and to his creatures; and there must be one rule of dutyone standard by which to test char acter-to angels and to men. moral perfection of the Deity, is the perfect conformity of his conduct to right principles-and the perfect moral condition of all the attributes Vol. III.

The

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of perfection but an imperfect kind of perfection-that is, no perfection at all? If moral perfection is complete freedom from moral blemish or defect; if a morally perfect being is one whose nature and whose actions have no defect of a moral kind, is it not just as absurd to talk of a higher and a lower sort of moral perfection, as it is to talk of a higher and lower sort of infinity, or a longer and shorter eternity? Beings may differ inconceivably in their natural constitution-may be of all ranks in the scale of existence : but the moral perfection of the highest and the lowest must be one, namely, that which combines the two elements-perfection of moral action, and perfection in the condition of the moral nature. Without both these elements, no being can be morally perfect; with them, all are alike perfect.

As to the question, how this perfection which Jesus Christ requires, shall be attained,-how sinful, ruined man, when he has been pardoned and renewed, shall become pure as God is pure, it is plain, that one part of the achievement consists in putting away all known sin, and striving after entire conformity in moral action to the law of God. To this course, the Gospel continually urges the believer. If ye love me, says Christ, keep my commandments. If a man come after me, and forsake not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple. Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? says Paul. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure, says John in the same spirit. Allowing one's self in acts of sin, is contrary even to the very idea of Christian character; and sin impairs the evidence of our abiding in Christ just so far as it gains any advantage

over us. It is only by dying unto sin, devoting ourselves with all our faculties to God, acknowledging in our inmost souls that we are not our own, and taking God's will to be ours, and his fullness to be our sufficient portion, that we can make progress towards the true perfection. It will only be when our moral conduct is so conformed to the divine requirements, that to the omniscient eye we are chargeable with no wrong action-that we shall have reached the line of duty. Till then, we shall not be perfect in action, and shall have need to mourn over our delinquencies and to be continually pressing on.

And then it must be added, that in the work of becoming truly perfect, it is necessary that the believer, relying on God's effectual grace, should use appropriate means to raise up his moral nature from the ruins of the fall, and recover it from the dreadful derangements produced by a life of sin. Here is the labor; a labor so great, that were it not for the exceeding richness of Gospel provisions, and the eternal and inexhaustible fullness of grace which is offered us in Jesus Christ our Lord, we must utterly despair. Sin has rendered the passions of the soul restless and difficult of control. It has so perverted the affections, that they are disposed continually to fasten on unworthy and forbidden objects. It has so blunted the moral sensibilities, and vitiated the moral taste, that even in the regenerated soul, the power of moral beauty,— the loveliness of goodness,-makes but a feeble impression and awakens but moderate admiration. It has placed the soul under the urgent influence of habit; so that, from this cause, it is pressed towards evil with a mighty power. All these effects of sin are to be obliterated from the moral nature, before the great work of attaining perfection is completed. The violence of the passions must be

thoroughly subdued, and they completely subjected to reason and to conscience. The affections must be elevated and purified, so that they shall go out towards nothing but what is truly excellent and holy. The moral sense must be brought to that degree of tenderness and refinement, that it can perfectly appreciate and feel what is morally attractive. The tyranny of pernicious habits must be utterly destroyed, and all the force of habit be brought into alliance with what is good. When all this is done, and not before, there will be no law in the members warring against the law of the mind; no flesh lusting against the Spirit; no strife and conflict in the soul. When all this is done, then the ruined temple of man's nature will appear in its original glory, with all its stones replaced, its shattered columns reërected, its arches restored to original symmetry and strength, and all its beauty and proportion as at first. Man will then be the same noble, godlike being that he was when he came from the hand of his Creator. This will be perfection, true perfection,-the only true perfection.

But here we meet another question. When does our blessed Lord require us to arrive at this perfection? And to this we reply-with the least possible delay-as soon as the nature of the case admits. On this part of the subject what we have just been showing will be borne in mind, that sanctification to perfection, consists of two distinct parts the abandonment of sin-and the restoration of the moral nature. If now we ask, when Jesus Christ will have his followers abandon sin? without the -we say, at once: delay of a single hour. God forbid, says the Apostle, that we who are dead to sin, should live any longer therein. It is asserting only a palpable truism, to say that there is no necessity that any believer should go on to allow himself in

sin. Necessity and sin are incomWhat is necessary patible terms.

are never

can not be sinful, and what is sin-
Where-
ful can not be necessary.
fore, says Paul again, let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race which
is set before us. If we mean to
be Christ's, and especially if we
mean to make rapid Christian pro-
gress, we are to settle once for all
the principle that we
to give place to sin-never, on any
pretence whatever, to suffer our-
selves to do that which conscience
and the law of God forbid, or to
omit what they require. There is
reason to fear that the views of ma-
ny are very loose on this point;
that many who profess religion, do
not feel that God requires, and their
Christian profession requires them,
now to cease from every sin; and
to yield themselves to God as the
servants of righteousness. Yet this
is the demand of the Gospel; and
we may be sure that our divine mas-
ter never did, and never will, give us
any license to commit what we know
to be sin, occasionally, or to wait a
moment, before we part with the sin
that is most dear.

In respect to the other thing which is included in perfection, the restoration of the moral nature, the case is different. This must of necessity be a gradual work. Nothing but a miracle can make it otherwise. The sick man, when his disease has begun to leave him, requires time, and exercise, and careful nourishment, to repair his wasted vigor, and bring back the elasticity of a healthful body. And even so it is indispensable that the soul, with its powers enfeebled and deranged by the disease of sin, should, when the Great Physician has administered the effectual remedy for the deadly malady, have time to recover, under the influence of God's truth and spirit, and disciplinary providence, and by means of a vigorous self

training and self-dicipline. All we can say on this point, is,-that the more faithful the believer is in the use of means, the more rapidly will he regain what sin has robbed him of, the blessedness and glory of a perfect moral nature,―a nature that shall truly bear God's image; and that he is most solemnly bound to give all diligence in the work; to strive as one that contendeth for a crown, so that in the least practicable time, he may undo what his life of sin has done, to unfit his moral nature for God's service. If he is faithful in his efforts, especially if he takes hold by an active faith, of the all-sufficiency of Christ, he will find himself gaining victories, one by one, over the corruptions of his nature. His passions will become more governable; his moral sensibilities more acute; his affections and tastes more pure and elevated; and habit coming to his aid, will lend continually a stronger and stronger influence in favor of his duty. He will be more and more sensible that he is filled with the Spirit, and led by the Spirit; and of course will have more and more of the witness in himself, that he is born of God. He will be able to see clearly, as he examines himself from time to time, that grace is destroying the old man which is corrupt, and making the new man to grow up unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; and thus making him meet,-fit in character, to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. When this last point is reached, and the moral man perfectly restored, perfection is really attained. If now any are anxious to inquire whether this last part of the great work of rising to perfection, this perfect regaining of soundness in the moral nature, is ever accomplished in the present life, we answer that the question seems to us of very little practical consequence indeed. It is a clear case, that we are sol

emnly bound to strive to attain it as soon as possible, be the time necessary for this purpose longer or shorter. It is also certain, for the Scriptures teach it, that God gives to all true believers who have not before attained it, a full victory over the body of sin, or the carnal na ture at death. So that every one who is faithful to his master, does sooner or later, prove in his own experience the completeness of salvation, and the all-sufficiency of the Savior; and thus attains to absolute perfection. If any are still disposed to press the question, we say that, for ourselves, we know of but two instances in which humanity perfect in action and in nature,— perfect as angels and as God,—absolutely perfect, has been exhibited in our world :-that of our first parents in Eden before the fall,-and that of the second Adam, the man Christ Jesus. We assert nothing on the subject. We only say, that if there have been other examples of the only true perfection, in the present world, neither sacred nor profane history has preserved the memory of them, and we know no evidence of the fact.

If here it should be said, that we can feel but little encouragement to strive to attain perfection, according to the command of Christ, if we may not feel certain of attaining it until we die, we answer, that there are abundant facts to prove the con. trary. Look at the painter or the sculptor. Each has his ideal of beauty. It is a glorious conception, far, very far beyond his powers of execution. His most laborious efforts do not reach it; but the eye of the soul is ever gazing on it; the imagination feasts on it continually; and though there is, in this case, a certainty that it never can be reached, yet see what efforts are called forth by the desire to approximate it in some good degree. This desire forever fills and haunts the spirit of the artist, warms him with

a noble enthusiasm that quickens all his powers, and urges him on with an impulse, that makes years of the closest application and of wearisome labor, seem but trifles. He feels no want of stimulus, though pressing towards a perfection which he knows he shall never reach; but on the contrary, is often urged to an intensity of effort, which wears out his body and brings it to the tomb. And look too at examples, which bear directly on the point. Who have hungered and thirsted after righteousness with intenser longings, who have striven after self-crucifixion and likeness to Christ with more earnest and persevering efforts, who have actually made greater attainments in the life of God, than the Augustines, the Luthers, the Paysons of the Christian church? yet these, and others of kindred spirit by thousands, were always ready to say with Paul,-I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwell. eth no good thing. In their view, the work of bringing back their moral nature to such a condition that all its derangements should disappear, was so difficult, and required such various discipline and such thorough inworking of the grace of God, that while they were resolved to strive with all their powers to accomplish it, with all watch fulness and prayer, they felt that victory would only come when they put off the mortal body, and then as the free gift of grace. The experience of all such, we may say of the brightest lights which the church has ever exhibited to a benighted world, disproves entirely the assertion, that men will not strive after the true perfection, unless they know that they shall at tain it soon.

Now let it be particularly observ. ed, that our objection to Professor Upham's theory, is not that it alleges that this absolute perfection is actually attained in the present life.

As we

It sets up no such claim. have already shown, although Prof. Upham, in form, opposes the "popular doctrine" in the early part of his treatise, he, in fact, maintains it as strongly as ourselves in the progress of his work. He disclaims, expressly, the idea that sinless perfection is attained in the present life. He even goes so far as to admit, in his chapter on the confession of sin by sanctified persons, that they can not be certain that they are free even from voluntary transgression. "There may be sins in us," says he, "and not merely those which result from infirmity and are involuntary, which are seen by the omniscient eye of God, but which may not be obvious to ourselves. * Who, then, is able, either on philosophical or Scripture principles, to assert, absolutely and unconditionally, that he has been free from sin, at least for any great length of time?" We confess, we are surprised at the extent of this admission. It looks to us exceedingly like an abandonment altogether of the doctrine of perfection in any sense. Either the exercise of perfect faith and love secures a state of sanctification, or freedom from all voluntary sin, according to the theory, or it does not. If it does not, the theory falls. But if it does, there is certainly no room for the admission, that it is impossible for any to be positive that they have been free from all such sin for any great length of time. They are bound to believe, if the theory be true, undoubtingly, that they are preserved from all sins except those of mere infirmity. But not to insist on this, our difficulty with the theory is, not that in its real meaning, it places before the mind of the believer, as perfection, more than he is able to attain in the present life, but that it presents far less than the glorious idea to which the Gospel points him; that while, in words, it seems to propose something higher than the ordinary aim of believers, as the

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