The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1876-12-28

keep them from the evil" In 1st Thess.
4:3, we read, "For this is the will of God,
even your sanctlfcation." God wills for
man what it is possible for man to attain.
Hence, that it is Gods will that we
should be sanctifed, is the clearest posi-
BILE proof that we may be and ought
to be.
But while this is a teaching of the
bible. we a1e compelled in fairness to say
that there have been insuperable objec-
tons raised against the modern teaching
on the subject. And it may be matter
of simple justice to those who are under
stood to deny the doctrine, that they have
simply objected to the modern way of
putting it. We are compelled to examine
into the meaning of the word that we
may know what the Scriptures teach re-
specting it.
The VOID in the original from which
we have sanctifcation in the common
version of the New Testament is hagias-
mos and means, according to Liddell
u Scott, "consecrdtiOn, sunctifcation. "
1t comes from the verb hagiadzo, which
means according to the same authority,
'to hallo,o, purify consecrate;" and Ex.
19; ;22, John 1896 and Matt. 23:l7 are
cited as evidence Then they give us a
secondary meaning which to cleanse from,
pollution, purify They cite Lev. 1919,
Heb. 9:l3 as containing that meaning.
The noun Hagiasmos is found just
ten times in the New Testament. Five
times, the kings translators giveussancti-
fication and five times they translate it
holiness. The verb hagiadzo occurs
twenty y-eight times. Twenty-Five times it
is rendered sanctify, sanctifed, sanctifeth,
etc. twice tits translated hallo,oed be once
let be holy. Hence as sanctifcation has the
the preference as the English representa-
tive of the Greek word hagiasmos, we
are left to enquire what is its meaning.
DR.. Noah Webster says of sanctifcatim
81. The act of making holy. 2. The
act of consecrating or setting apart for a
sacred purpose; conservation" He gives a
number of meanings to the verb sanctify.
These are the first and second: 81. In
a general sense, to cleanse, purify, or make
holy. 2. To separate, set apart, or ap-
point, to holy, sacred, or religious use.'
From these definitions it appears that
sanctifcation does not have the meaning
whieh our modern holiness seekers attach
to it. 1t does not mean state in which
the heart is free from temptation, or ter.
dency to sin; but, l. u purity of life, a
constant guarding of ones self against
every appearance of evil. ,. And it has
also a lower meaning, that of setting
apart, or appointing to such holiness OF
purpose and effort.
In the scriptures it is generally found
in this lower meaning. Even sometimes
the holiness is of law, but does not in
clude any particular purity of heart or
life. In this sense it occurs twice in l
Cor. 7:l4: "For the unbelieving hus
band is sanct1fed by the wife, and the
unbelieving wife is sanctJfed by the hus.
band" It cannot mean that an unbe-
lever is put into state of entire holi-
ness by the faith of husband or wife
This is the meaning: The unbeliever, il
pleased to dwell with the consort after
conversion, is set apart in the will of
God to remain the companion of such
believing party.
Usually, however, the setting apart is
to the service of the Lord, in direct ef-
fort to glorify his name. La the Old
Testament, it is not clear that it occurs
once in the higher meaning of an effort
to purify the affections and free the
heart from evil thoughts and impure de,
sires. No doubt that these efforts in no,
illness were intended to follow as the re-
suit, or fruit of sanctifcation, but the
sanctifcation was an appointment or
setting apart to do, or accomplish that,
and in itself was neither more nor less
than a setting apart to religious use.
We will notice some of these uses:
Gen. 2:3. "God blessed the seventh
day and sanctifed it." Now we can not
suppose that any difference is made in
the seventh day by its sanctifcation, ex,
cept that God had appointed it as day
to be kept sacred. 1t was thereby set
apart to religious purpose. Hence, af,
ter the children of Israel had been deliv,
cred fro.n Egyptian bondage and God
was giving them the law by which they
might grow up into a higher spiritual
condition, He said to them Remember
the Sabbath day to keep 1t holy" Ex
POS.
I'm Ex 1872, God said to Moses, "Sanc
tify unto me all the 6rst-bo.n H." In the
twelfth verse the command is repeated in
these words: "Thou shalt set apart,
etc so that inspiration has given "se,
apart" as Gods definition of sanctify in
this case So we might continue to read
"Go acd sanctify them to-day and to-
morrow" Elk. 1910; "And let the priests
also, which come near to the Lord, saneti
fly themselves" v. %.
Ex. 2S:4l: "And thou. shalt put them
(coats, girdles and bonnets) upon Aaron
thy brother, and his sons with him; and
shall anoint them, and eonsecrate them,
and sanctify them that they may minister
unto me in the priests Office" This was
done, and they were sanctifed. But who
supposes that they were perfect in spirit
ual purity because of these coats, and
girdles, and bonnets, and bathing, and
anointing, etc, etc?
Ex. 30:29: "And thou shalt sanctify
them (the tabernacle, ark, table Of show
bread, golden candlestick, alter of incense,
altar of burnt offering, the laver and hi
foot,) that they mag be most holy, what
soever toucheth them shall be holy"
Lev. 27:14, A man might sanctify his
house and it should be holy unto the
Lord.
Lev. 27:l6, %, A man might sanstif
his field or some part of ii unto the Lord
Not only so, but he could redeem it from
its sanctifcation, and the field would
become his again. There is to be found
no difference in the field on account OF
its having been sanctifed, except that its
products wou!d go into the treasury OF
the Lord. But, thorns, briars and weeds
would grow there just as we'll then as
before, and unless the ground should be
cultivat, d there would be no produce to
go into the treasury of the Lord or any
where else So it was with all that was
sanctified by the law of Moses; whether
the first born in all their families, the
Levites that were afterwards taken ia
their place, the high priests or the COM
mon priests, house, field, farm, the
tabernacle, or any of the instruments OF
vessels thereof sanctifcation means nc
more than setting apart to the service Of
the Lord. To suppose that these mer
were freed from all tendency to sin by
reason of their sanctifcation we would
need first to forget their history. Indeed
some of them make poor out at holy
living, worse than some of the perfect
holiness advocates of modern times.
Not only however is the word sane tiff
cation employed 10 this lower sense 10 the
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