{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26990/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26990","id":"gutenberg_26990","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26990","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Holiness"],"text":"Produced by Free Elf, David Wilson and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                        HOLY IN CHRIST:\n\n           Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children\n                   to be Holy as He is Holy.\n\n                               BY\n                      REV. ANDREW MURRAY,\n\n        AUTHOR OF 'ABIDE IN CHRIST,' 'LIKE CHRIST,' ETC.\n\n\n\n                          _'I am holy:\n                       ye shall be holy.'_\n\n\n\n                   FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY,\n                  CHICAGO, NEW YORK, TORONTO,\n             Publishers of Evangelical Literature.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThere is not in Scripture a word more distinctly Divine in its origin\nand meaning than the word holy. There is not a word that leads us higher\ninto the mystery of Deity, nor deeper into the privilege and the\nblessedness of God's children. And yet it is a word that many a\nChristian has never studied or understood.\n\nThere are not a few who can praise God that during the past twenty years\nthe watchword BE HOLY has been taken up in many a church and Christian\ncircle with greater earnestness than before. In books and magazines, in\nconventions and conferences, in the testimonies and the lives of\nbelievers, we have abundant tokens that what is called the\nHoliness-movement is a reality.\n\nAnd yet how much is still wanting! What multitudes of believing\nChristians there are who have none but the very vaguest thoughts of what\nholiness is! And of those who are seeking after it how many who have\nhardly learnt what it is to come to God's Word and to God Himself for\nthe teaching that can alone reveal this part of the mystery of Christ\nand of God! To many, holiness has simply been a general expression for\nthe Christian life in its more earnest form, without much thought of\nwhat the term really means.\n\nIn writing this little book, my object has been to discover in what\nsense God uses the word, that so it may mean to us what it means to Him.\nI have sought to trace the word through some of the most important\npassages of Holy Scripture where it occurs, there to learn what God's\nholiness is, what ours is to be, and what the way by which we attain it.\nI have been specially anxious to point out how many and various the\nelements are that go to make up true holiness as the Divine expression\nof the Christian life in all its fulness and perfection. I have at the\nsame time striven continually to keep in mind the wonderful unity and\nsimplicity there is in it, as centred in the person of Jesus. As I\nproceeded in my work, I felt ever more deeply how high the task was I\nhad undertaken in offering to guide others even into the outer courts of\nthe Holy Place of the Most High. And yet the very difficulty of the task\nconvinced me of how needful it was.\n\nI fear there are some to whom the book may be a disappointment. They\nhave heard that the entrance to the life of holiness is often but a\nstep. They have heard of or seen believers who could tell of the blessed\nchange that has come over their lives since they found the wonderful\nsecret of holiness by faith. And now they are seeking for this secret.\nThey cannot understand that the secret comes to those who seek it not,\nbut only seek Jesus. They might fain have a book in which all they need\nto know of Holiness and the way to it is gathered into a few simple\nlessons, easy to learn, to remember, and to practise. This they will not\nfind. There is such a thing as a Pentecost still to the disciples of\nJesus; but it comes to him who has forsaken all to follow Jesus only,\nand in following fully has allowed the Master to reprove and instruct\nhim. There are often very blessed revelations of Christ, as a Saviour\nfrom sin, both in the secret chamber and in the meetings of the saints;\nbut these are given to those for whom they have been prepared, and who\nhave been prepared to receive. Let all learn to trust in Jesus, and\nrejoice in Him, even though their experience be not what they would\nwish. He will make us holy. But whether we have entered the blessed life\nof faith in Jesus as our sanctification, or are still longing for it\nfrom afar, we all need one thing, the simple, believing, and obedient\nacceptance of each word that our God has spoken. It has been my earnest\ndesire that I might be a helper of the faith of my brethren in seeking\nto trace with them the wondrous revelation of God's Holiness through the\nages as recorded in His blessed Word. It has been my continual prayer\nthat God might use what is written to increase in His children the\nconviction that we must be holy, the knowledge of how we are to be holy,\nthe joy that we may be holy, the faith that we can be holy. And may He\nstir us all to cry day and night to Him for a visitation of the Spirit\nand the Power of Holiness upon all His people, that the name of\nChristian and of saint may be synonymous, and every believer be a vessel\nmade holy and meet for the Master's use.\n\n  A. M.\n\n  Wellington, _16th November 1887_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  DAY                                                         PAGE\n   1. God's Call to Holiness--1 Pet. i. 15, 16,                 11\n\n   2. God's Provision for Holiness--1 Cor. i. 2,                19\n\n   3. Holiness and Creation--Gen. ii. 3,                        28\n\n   4. Holiness and Revelation--Ex. iii. 4-6,                    36\n\n   5. Holiness and Redemption--Ex. xiii. 2,                     46\n\n   6. Holiness and Glory--Ex. xv. 11-17,                        55\n\n   7. Holiness and Obedience--Ex. xix. 5, 6,                    64\n\n   8. Holiness and Indwelling--Ex. xxv. 8,                      73\n\n   9. Holiness and Meditation--Ex. xxviii. 36-38,               81\n\n  10. Holiness and Separation--Lev. xx. 24, 26,                 89\n\n  11. The Holy One of Israel--Lev. xi. 45,                      98\n\n  12. The Thrice Holy One--Isa. vi. 1-3,                       107\n\n  13. Holiness and Humility--Isa. lvii. 15,                    117\n\n  14. The Holy One of God--John vi. 69,                        125\n\n  15. The Holy Spirit--John vii. 39,                           133\n\n  16. Holiness and Truth--John xvii. 17,                       142\n\n  17. Holiness and Crucifixion--John xvii. 19,                 150\n\n  18. Holiness and Faith--Acts xxvi. 18,                       158\n\n  19. Holiness and Resurrection--Rom. i. 4,                    167\n\n  20. Holiness and Liberty--Rom. vi. 18-22,                    175\n\n  21. Holiness and Happiness--Rom. xiv. 17,                    184\n\n  22. In Christ our Sanctification--1 Cor. i. 30, 31,          192\n\n  23. Holiness and the Body--1 Cor. iii. 16,                   201\n\n  24. Holiness and Cleansing--2 Cor. vii. 1,                   210\n\n  25. Holiness and Blamelessness--1 Thess. iii. 12, 13,        219\n\n  26. Holiness and the Will of God--1 Thess. iv. 3,            227\n\n  27. Holiness and Service--2 Tim. ii. 21,                     235\n\n  28. The Way into the Holiest--Heb. x. 19,                    243\n\n  29. Holiness and Chastisement--Heb. xii. 10, 14,             253\n\n  30. The Unction from the Holy One--1 John ii. 20, 27,        262\n\n  31. Holiness and Heaven--2 Pet. iii. 11,                     271\n\n      Notes,                                                   281\n\n\n\n\nFirst Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nGod's Call to Holiness.\n\n  'Like as He which called you is _holy_, be ye yourselves also _holy_\n  in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be _holy_,\n  for I am _holy_.'--1 Pet. i. 15, 16.\n\n\nThe call of God is the manifestation in time of the purpose of eternity:\n'Whom He predestinated, them He also _called_.' Believers are 'the\n_called_ according to His purpose.' In His call He reveals to us what\nHis thoughts and His will concerning us are, and what the life to which\nHe invites us. In His call He makes clear to us what the hope of our\ncalling is; as we spiritually apprehend and enter into this, our life on\nearth will be the reflection of His purpose in eternity.\n\nHoly Scripture uses more than one word to indicate the object or aim of\nour calling, but none more frequently than what Peter speaks of\nhere--God has called us _to be holy_ as He is holy. Paul addresses\nbelievers twice as 'called to be _holy_' (Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2). 'God\ncalled us', he says, 'not for uncleanness, but _in sanctification_'\n(1 Thess. iv. 7). When he writes, 'The God of peace _sanctify_ you\nwholly,' he adds, 'Faithful is He which _calleth_ you, who also will do\nit' (1 Thess. v. 24). The calling itself is spoken of as 'a _holy_\ncalling.' The eternal purpose of which the calling is the outcome, is\ncontinually also connected with holiness as its aim. 'He hath _chosen_\nus in Him, that we should be _holy_ and without blame' (Eph. i. 4).\n'Whom God _chose_ from the beginning unto _salvation in sanctification_'\n(2 Thess. ii. 12). '_Elect_ according to the foreknowledge of the\nFather, through _sanctification_ of the Spirit' (1 Pet. i. 2). The call\nis the unveiling of the purpose that the Father from eternity had set\nHis heart upon: that we should be holy.\n\nIt needs no proof that it is of infinite importance to know aright what\nGod has called us to. A misunderstanding here may have fatal results.\nYou may have heard that God calls you to salvation or to happiness, to\nreceive pardon or to obtain heaven, and never noticed that all these\nwere subordinate. It was to 'salvation _in sanctification_,' it was to\nHoliness in the first place, as the element in which salvation and\nheaven are to be found. The complaints of many Christians as to lack of\njoy and strength, as to failure and want of growth, are simply owing to\nthis--the place God gave Holiness in His call they have not given it in\ntheir response. God and they have never yet come to an agreement on\nthis.\n\nNo wonder that Paul, in the chapter in which he had spoken to the\nEphesians of their being 'chosen to be holy' prays for the spirit of\nwisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God to be given to believers,\nthat they might know 'the hope of their _calling_' (i. 17, 18). Let all\nof us, who feel that we have too little realized that we are called to\nHoliness, pray this prayer. It is just what we need. Let us ask God to\nshow us how, as He who hath called us is Himself holy, so we are to be\nholy too; our calling is a holy calling, a calling before and above\neverything, to Holiness. Let us ask Him to show us what Holiness is, His\nHoliness first, and then our Holiness; to show us how He has set His\nheart upon it as the one thing He wants to see in us, as being His own\nimage and likeness; to show us too the unutterable blessedness and glory\nof sharing with Christ in His Holiness. Oh! that God by His Spirit would\nteach us what it means that we are called to be holy as He is holy. We\ncan easily conceive what a mighty influence it would exert.\n\n'Like as He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy'. How\nthis call of God shows us the true _motive_ to Holiness. 'Be ye holy,\nfor I am holy.' It is as if God said, Holiness is my blessedness and my\nglory: without this you cannot, in the very nature of things, see me or\nenjoy me. Holiness is my blessedness and my glory: there is nothing\nhigher to be conceived; I invite you to share with me in it, I invite\nyou to likeness to myself: 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.' Is it not\nenough, has it no attraction, does it not move and draw you mightily,\nthe hope of being with me, partakers of my Holiness? I have nothing\nbetter to offer--I offer you myself: 'Be holy, for I am holy.' Shall we\nnot cry earnestly to God to show us the glory of His Holiness, that our\nsouls may be made willing to give everything in response to this\nwondrous call?\n\nAs we listen to the call, it shows also the _nature_ of true Holiness.\n'_Like as_ He is holy, so be ye also holy.' To be holy is to be Godlike,\nto have a disposition, a will, a character like God. The thought almost\nlooks like blasphemy, until we listen again, 'He hath chosen us _in\nChrist_ to be holy.' In Christ the Holiness of God appeared in a human\nlife: in Christ's example, in His mind and Spirit, we have the Holiness\nof the Invisible One translated into the forms of human life and\nconduct. To be Christlike is to be Godlike; to be Christlike is to be\nholy as God is holy.\n\nThe call equally reveals the _power_ of Holiness. 'There is none holy\nbut the Lord;' there is no Holiness but what He has, or rather what He\nis, and gives. Holiness is not something we do or attain: it is the\ncommunication of the Divine life, the inbreathing of the Divine nature,\nthe power of the Divine Presence resting on us. And our power to become\nholy is to be found in the call of God: the Holy One calls us to\nHimself, that He may make us holy in possessing Himself. He not only\nsays 'I am holy,' but 'I am the Lord, who make holy.' It is because the\ncall to Holiness comes from the God of infinite Power and Love that we\nmay have the confidence: we can be holy.\n\nThe call no less reveals the _standard_ of Holiness. '_Like as He_ is\nholy, _so ye also_ yourselves,' or (as in margin, R.V.), 'Like the Holy\nOne, which calleth you, be ye yourselves also holy.' There is not one\nstandard of Holiness for God and another for man. The nature of light is\nthe same, whether we see it in the sun or in a candle: the nature of\nHoliness remains unchanged, whether it be God or man in whom it dwells.\nThe Lord Jesus could say nothing less than, 'Be perfect, even as your\nFather in heaven is perfect.' When God calls us to Holiness, He calls us\nto Himself and His own life: the more carefully we listen to the voice,\nand let it sink into our hearts, the more will all human standards fall\naway, and only the words be heard, Holy, as I am holy.\n\nAnd the call shows us the _path_ to Holiness. The calling of God is one\nof mighty efficacy, an effectual calling. Oh! let us but listen to it,\nlet us but listen to Him, and the call will with Divine power work what\nit offers. He calleth the things that are not as though they were: His\ncall gives life to the dead, and holiness to those whom He has made\nalive. He calls us to listen as He speaks of His Holiness, and of our\nholiness like His. He calls us to Himself, to study, to fear, to love,\nto claim His Holiness. He calls us to Christ, in whom Divine Holiness\nbecame human Holiness, to see and admire, to desire and accept what is\nall for us. He calls us to the indwelling and the teaching of the\nSpirit of Holiness, to yield ourselves that He may bring home to us and\nbreathe within us what is ours in Christ. Christian! listen to God\ncalling thee to Holiness. Come and learn what His Holiness is, and what\nthine is and must be.\n\nYes, be very silent and listen. When God called Abraham, he answered,\nHere am I. When God called Moses from the bush, he answered, Here am I,\nand he hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. God is calling\nthee to Holiness, to Himself the Holy One, that He may make thee holy.\nLet thy whole soul answer, Here am I, Lord! Speak, Lord! Show Thyself,\nLord! Here am I. As you listen, the voice will sound ever deeper and\never stiller: Be holy, _as_ I am holy. Be holy, _for_ I am holy. You\nwill hear a voice coming out of the great eternity, from the\ncouncil-chamber of redemption, and as you catch its distant whisper, it\nwill be, Be holy, I am holy. You will hear a voice from Paradise, the\nCreator making the seventh day holy for man whom He had created, and\nsaying, Be holy. You will hear the voice from Sinai, amid thunderings\nand lightnings, and still it is, Be holy, as I am holy. You will hear a\nvoice from Calvary, and there above all it is, Be holy, for I am holy.\n\nChild of God, have you ever realized it, our Father is calling us to\nHimself, to be holy as He is holy? Must we not confess that happiness\nhas been to us more than holiness, salvation than sanctification? Oh! it\nis not too late to redeem the error. Let us now band ourselves together\nto listen to the voice that calls, to draw nigh, and find out and know\nwhat Holiness is, or rather, find out and know Himself the Holy One. And\nif the first approach to Him fill us with shame and confusion, make us\nfear and shrink back, let us still listen to the Voice and the Call, 'Be\nholy, as I am holy.' 'Faithful is He which _calleth_, who also _will do\nit_.' All our fears and questions will be met by the Holy One who has\nrevealed His Holiness, with this one purpose in view, that we might\nshare it with Him. As we yield ourselves in deep stillness of soul to\nlisten to the Holy Voice that calls us, it will waken within us new\ndesire and strong faith, and the most precious of all promises will be\nto us this word of Divine command:\n\n  BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO Lord! the alone Holy One, Thou hast called us to be holy, even as Thou\nart holy. Lord! how can we, unless Thou reveal to us Thy Holiness. Show\nus, we pray Thee, how Thou art holy, how holy Thou art, what Thy\nholiness is, that we may know how we are to be holy, how holy we are to\nbe. And when the sight of Thy Holiness only shows us the more how unholy\nwe are, teach us that Thou makest partakers of Thy own Holiness those\nwho come to Thee for it.\n\nO God! we come to Thee, the Holy One. It is in knowing and finding and\nhaving Thyself, that the soul finds Holiness. We do beseech Thee, as we\nnow come to Thee, establish it in the thoughts of our heart, that the\none object of Thy calling us, and of our coming to Thee, is Holiness.\nThou wouldst have us like Thyself, partakers of Thy Holiness. If ever\nour heart becomes afraid, as if it were too high, or rests content with\na salvation less than Holiness, Blessed God! let us hear Thy voice\ncalling again, Be holy, I am holy. Let that call be our motive and our\nstrength, because faithful is He that calleth, who also will do it. Let\nthat call mark our standard and our path; oh! let our life be such as\nThou art able to make it.\n\nHoly Father! I bow in lowly worship and silence before Thee. Let now\nThine own voice sound in the depths of my heart calling me, Be holy, as\nI am holy. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Let me press it upon every reader of this little book, that if\n     it is to help him in the pursuit of Holiness, he must begin _with\n     God Himself_. You must go _to Him who calls you_. It is only in the\n     personal revelation of God to you, as He speaks, I am holy, that\n     the command, Be ye holy, can have life or power.\n\n  2. Remember, as a believer, you have already accepted God's call,\n     even though you did not fully understand it. Let it be a settled\n     matter, that whatever you see to be the meaning of the call, you\n     will at once accept and carry out. If God calls me to be holy, holy\n     I will be.\n\n  3. Take fast hold of the word: 'The God of peace sanctify you wholly:\n     faithful is He which _calleth_ you, _who also will do it_.' In that\n     faith listen to God calling you.\n\n  4. Do be still now, and listen to your Father calling you. Ask for\n     and count upon the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, to open\n     your heart to understand this holy calling. And then speak out the\n     answer you have to give to this call.\n\n\n\n\nSecond Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nGod's Provision for Holiness.\n\n  'To those that are _made holy_ in Christ Jesus, called to be\n  _holy_.'--1 Cor. i. 2.\n\n  'To all the _holy ones_ in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. Salute\n  every _holy one_ in Christ Jesus.'[1]--Phil. i. 1, iv. 21.\n\n\nHOLY! IN CHRIST! In these two expressions we have perhaps the most\nwonderful words of all the Bible.\n\nHOLY! the word of unfathomable meaning, which the Seraphs utter with\nveiled faces. HOLY! the word in which all God's perfections centre, and\nof which His glory is but the streaming forth. HOLY! the word which\nreveals the purpose with which God from eternity thought of man, and\ntells what man's highest glory in the coming eternity is to be; to be\npartaker of His Holiness!\n\nIN CHRIST! the word in which all the wisdom and love of God are\nunveiled! The Father giving His Son to be one with us! the Son dying on\nthe cross to make us one with Himself! the Holy Spirit of the Father\ndwelling in us to establish and maintain that union! IN CHRIST! what a\nsummary of what redemption has done, and of the inconceivably blessed\nlife in which the child of God is permitted to dwell. IN CHRIST! the one\nlesson we have to study on earth. God's one answer to all our needs and\nprayers. IN CHRIST! the guarantee and the foretaste of eternal glory.\n\nWhat wealth of meaning and blessing in the two words combined: HOLY IN\nCHRIST! Here is God's provision for our holiness, God's response to our\nquestion, How to be holy? Often and often as we hear the call, Be _ye_\nholy, _even as I_ am holy, it is as if there is and ever must be a great\ngulf between the holiness of God and man. IN CHRIST! is the bridge that\ncrosses the gulf; nay rather, His fulness has filled it up. IN CHRIST!\nGod and man meet; IN CHRIST! the Holiness of God has found us, and made\nus its own; has become human, and can indeed become our very own. To the\nanxious cries and the heart-yearnings of thousands of thirsty souls who\nhave believed in Jesus and yet know not how to be holy, here is God's\nanswer: YE ARE HOLY IN CHRIST JESUS. Would they but hearken, and\nbelieve; would they but take these Divine words, and say them over, if\nneed be, a thousand times, how God's light would shine, and fill their\nhearts with joy and love as they echo them back: Yes, now I see it. Holy\nin Christ! Made holy in Christ Jesus!\n\nAs we set ourselves to study these wondrous words, let us remember that\nit is only God Himself who can reveal to us what Holiness truly is. Let\nus fear our own thoughts, and crucify our own wisdom. Let us give up\nourselves to receive, in the power of the life of God Himself, working\nin us by the Holy Spirit, that which is deeper and truer than human\nthought, Christ Himself as our Holiness. In this dependence upon the\nteaching of the Spirit of Holiness, let us seek simply to accept what\nHoly Scripture sets before us; as the revelation of the Holy One of old\nwas a very slow and gradual one, so let us be content patiently to\nfollow step by step the path of the shining light through the Word; it\nwill shine more and more unto the perfect day.\n\nWe shall first have to study the word Holy in the Old Testament. In\nIsrael as the holy people, the type of us who now are holy in Christ, we\nshall see with what fulness of symbol God sought to work into the very\nconstitution of the people some apprehension of what He would have them\nbe. In the law we shall see how HOLY is the great keyword of the\nredemption which it was meant to serve and prepare for. In the prophets\nwe shall hear how the Holiness of God is revealed as the source whence\nthe coming redemption should spring: it is not so much Holiness as the\nHoly One they speak of, who would, in redeeming love and saving\nrighteousness, make Himself known as the God of His people.\n\nAnd when the meaning of the word has been somewhat opened up, and the\ndeep need of the blessing made manifest in the Old Testament, we shall\ncome to the New to find how that need was fulfilled. In Christ, the Holy\nOne of God, Divine Holiness will be found in human life and human\nnature; a truly human will being made perfect and growing up through\nobedience into complete union with all the Holy Will of God. In the\nsacrifice of Himself on the cross, that holy nature gave itself up to\nthe death, that, like the seed-corn, it might through death live again\nand reproduce itself in us. In the gift from the throne of the Spirit of\nGod's Holiness, representing and revealing and communicating the unseen\nChrist, the holy life of Christ descends and takes possession of His\npeople, and they become one with Him. As the Old Testament had no higher\nword than that HOLY, the New has none deeper than this, IN CHRIST. The\nbeing in Him, the abiding in Him, the being rooted in Him, the growing\nup in Him and into Him in all things, are the Divine expressions in\nwhich the wonderful and complete oneness between us and our Saviour are\nbrought as near us as human language can do.\n\nAnd when Old and New Testament have each given their message, the one in\nteaching us what _Holy_, the other what _in Christ_ means, we have in\nthe word of God, that unites the two, the most complete summary of the\nGreat Redemption that God's love has provided. The everlasting\ncertainty, the wonderful sufficiency, the infinite efficacy of the\nHoliness that God has prepared for us in His Son, are all revealed in\nthis blessed, HOLY IN CHRIST.\n\n'The Holy Ones in Christ Jesus!' Such is the name, beloved\nfellow-believers, which we bear in Holy Scripture, in the language of\nthe Holy Spirit. It is no mere statement of doctrine, that we are holy\nin Christ: it is no deep theological discussion to which we are invited;\nbut out of the depths of God's loving heart, there comes a voice thus\naddressing His beloved children. It is the name by which the Father\ncalls His children. That name tells us of God's provision for our being\nholy. It is the revelation of what God has given us, and what we already\nare; of what God waits to work in us, and what can be ours in personal\npractical possession. That name, gratefully accepted, joyfully\nconfessed, trustfully pleaded, will be the pledge and the power of our\nattainment of the Holiness to which we have been called.\n\nAnd so we shall find that as we go along, all our study and all God's\nteaching will be comprised in three great lessons. The first a\nrevelation, '_I am holy_;' the second a command, '_Be ye holy_;' the\nthird a gift, the link between the two, '_Ye are holy in Christ_.'\n\nFirst comes the revelation, 'I am holy.' Our study must be on bended\nknee, in the spirit of worship and deep humility. God must reveal\nHimself to us, if we are to know what Holy is. The deep unholiness of\nour nature and all that is of nature must be shown us; with Moses and\nIsaiah, when the Holy One revealed Himself to them, we must fear and\ntremble, and confess how utterly unfit we are for the revelation or the\nfellowship, without the cleansing of fire. In the consciousness of the\nutter impotence of our own wisdom or understanding to know God, our\nsouls must in contrition, brokenness from ourselves and our power or\nefforts, yield to God's Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, to reveal God as\nthe Holy One. And as we begin to know Him in His infinite righteousness,\nin His fiery burning zeal against all that is sin, and His infinite\nself-sacrificing love to free the sinner from his sin, and to bring him\nto His own perfection, we shall learn to wonder at and worship this\nglorious God, to feel and deplore our terrible unlikeness to Him, to\nlong and cry for some share in the Divine beauty and blessedness of this\nHoliness.\n\nAnd then will come with new meaning the command, 'Be holy, as I am\nholy.' Oh, my brethren! ye who profess to obey the commands of your God,\ndo give this all-surpassing and all-including command that first place\nin your heart and life which it claims. Do be holy with the likeness of\nGod's Holiness. Do be holy as He is holy. And if you find that the more\nyou meditate and study, the less you can grasp this infinite holiness;\nthat the more you at moments grasp of it, the more you despair of a\nholiness so Divine; remember that such breaking down and such despair is\njust what the command was meant to work. Learn to cease from your own\nwisdom as well as your own goodness; draw near in poverty of spirit to\nlet the Holy One show you how utterly above human knowledge or human\npower is the holiness He demands; to the soul that ceases from self, and\nhas no confidence in the flesh, He will show and give the holiness He\ncalls us to.\n\nIt is to such that the great gift of Holiness in Christ becomes\nintelligible and acceptable. Christ brings the Holiness of God nigh by\nshowing it in human conduct and intercourse. He brings it nigh by\nremoving the barrier between it and us, between God and us. He brings it\nnigh, because He makes us one with Himself. 'Holy in Christ:' our\nholiness is a Divine bestowment, held for us, communicated to us,\nworking mightily in us because we are _in Him_. 'In Christ!' oh, that\nwonderful _in_! our very life rooted in the life of Christ. That holy\nSon and Servant of the Father, beautiful in His life of love and\nobedience on earth, sanctifying Himself for us--that life of Christ, the\nground in which I am planted and rooted, the soil from which I draw as\nmy nourishment its every quality and its very nature. How that word\nsheds its light both on the revelation, 'I am holy,' and on the command,\n'Be ye holy, as I am,' and binds them in one! In Christ I see what God's\nHoliness is, and what my holiness is. In Him both are one, and both are\nmine. In Him I am holy; abiding and growing up in Him, I can be holy in\nall manner of living, as God is holy.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO Most Holy God! we do beseech Thee, reveal Thou to Thy children what it\nmeaneth that Thou hast not only called them to holiness, but even called\nthem by this name, 'the holy ones in Christ Jesus.' Oh that every child\nof Thine might know that He bears this name, might know what it means,\nand what power there is in it to make Him what it calls him. Holy Lord\nGod! oh that the time of Thy visitation might speedily come, and each\nchild of Thine on earth be known as a holy one!\n\nTo this end we pray Thee to reveal to Thy saints what Thy Holiness is.\nTeach us to worship and to wait until Thou hast spoken unto our souls\nwith Divine Power Thy word, 'I am holy.' Oh that it may search out and\nconvict us of our unholiness!\n\nAnd reveal to us, we pray Thee, that as holy as Thou art, even a\nconsuming fire, so holy is Thy command in its determined and\nuncompromising purpose to have us holy. O God! let Thy voice sound\nthrough the depth of our being, with a power from which there is no\nescape: Be holy, be holy.\n\nAnd let us thus, between Thine infinite Holiness on the one hand and our\nunholiness on the other, be driven and be drawn to accept of Christ as\nour sanctification, to abide in Him as our life and our power to be what\nThou wouldst have us--'Holy in Christ Jesus.'\n\nO Father! let Thy Spirit make this precious word life and truth within\nus. Amen.\n\n\n  1. You are entering anew on the study of a Divine mystery. 'Trust\n     not to your own understanding;' wait for the teaching of the Spirit\n     of truth.\n\n  2. _In Christ._ A commentator says, 'The phrase denotes two moral\n     facts--first, the act of faith whereby a man lays hold of Christ;\n     second, the community of life with Him contracted by means of this\n     faith.' There is still another fact, the greatest of all: that it\n     is by an act of Divine power that I am in Christ and am kept in\n     Him. It is this I want to realize: the Divineness of my position in\n     Jesus.\n  3. Grasp the two sides of the truth. _You are_ holy in Christ with\n     a Divine holiness. In the faith of that, you are to _be holy_, to\n     _become holy_ with a human holiness, the Divine Holiness manifest\n     in all the conduct of a human life.\n  4. This Christ is a Living Person, a Loving Saviour: how He will\n     delight to get complete possession, and do all the work in you!\n     Keep hold of this all along as we go on: you have a claim on\n     Christ, on His Love and Power, to make you holy. As His redeemed\n     one, you are at this moment, whatever and wherever you be, _in\n     Him_. His Holy Presence and Love are around you. You are _in Him_,\n     in the enclosure of that tender love, which ever encircles you with\n     His Holy Presence. _In that Presence, accepted and realized, is\n     your holiness._\n\n\n    [1] There is one disadvantage in English in our having synonyms of\n        which some are derived from Saxon and others from Latin.\n        Ordinary readers are apt to forget that in our translation of\n        the Bible we may use two different words for what in the\n        original is expressed by one term. This is the case with the\n        words _holy_, _holiness_, _keep holy_, _hallow_, _saint_,\n        _sanctify_, and _sanctification_. When God or Christ is called\n        the Holy One, the word in Hebrew and Greek is exactly the same\n        that is used when the believer is called a saint: he too is a\n        holy one. So the three words _hallow_, _keep holy_, _sanctify_,\n        all represent but one term in the original, of which the real\n        meaning is to make holy, as it is in Dutch, _heiliging_\n        (holying), and _heiligmaking_ (holy-making).\n\n\n\n\nThird Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Creation.\n\n  'And God blessed the Sabbath day, and _sanctified_ it, because\n  that in it He had rested from all the work which God created and\n  made.'--Gen. ii. 3.\n\n\nIn Genesis we have the Book of Beginnings. To its first three chapters\nwe are specially indebted for a Divine light shining on the many\nquestions to which human wisdom never could find an answer. In our\nsearch after Holiness, we are led thither too. In the whole book of\nGenesis the word Holy occurs but once. But that once in such a\nconnection as to open to us the secret spring whence flows all that the\nBible has to teach or to give us of this heavenly blessing. The full\nmeaning of the precious word we want to master, of the priceless\nblessing we want to get possession of, '_Sanctified in Christ_,' takes\nits rise in what is here written of that wondrous act of God, by which\nHe closed His creation work, and revealed how wonderfully it would be\ncontinued and perfected. When God blessed the seventh day, and\n_sanctified_ it, He lifted it above the other days, and set it apart to\na work and a revelation of Himself, excelling in glory all that had\npreceded. In this simple expression, Scripture reveals to us the\ncharacter of God as the Holy One, who _makes holy_; the way in which He\nmakes holy, by entering in and _resting_; and the power of _blessing_\nwith which God's making holy is ever accompanied. These three lessons we\nshall find it of the deepest importance to study well, as containing the\nroot-principles of all the Scripture will have to teach us in our\npursuit of Holiness.\n\n1. God _sanctified_ the Sabbath day. Of the previous six days the\nkeyword was, from the first calling into existence of the heaven and the\nearth, down to the making of man: _God created_. All at once a new word\nand a new work of God, is introduced: _God sanctified_. Something higher\nthan creation, that for which creation is to exist, is now to be\nrevealed; God Almighty is now to be known as God Most Holy. And just as\nthe work of creation shows His Power, without that Power being\nmentioned, so His making holy the seventh day reveals His character as\nthe Holy One. As Omnipotence is the chief of His natural, so Holiness is\nthe first of His moral attributes. And just as He alone is Creator, so\nHe alone is Sanctifier; to make holy is His work as truly and\nexclusively as to create. Blessed is the child of God who truly and\nfully believes this!\n\nGod sanctified the Sabbath day. The word can teach us what the nature\nis of the work God does when He makes holy. Sanctification in Paradise\ncannot be essentially different from Sanctification in Redemption. God\nhad pronounced all His works, and man the chief of them, very good. And\nyet they were not holy. The six days' work had nought of defilement or\nsin, and yet it was not holy. The seventh day needed to be specially\nmade holy, for the great work of making holy man, who was already very\ngood. In Exodus, God says distinctly that He sanctified the Sabbath day,\nwith a view to man's sanctification. 'That ye may know that I am the\nLord that doth _sanctify you_.' Goodness, innocence, purity, freedom\nfrom sin, is not Holiness. Goodness is the work of omnipotence, an\nattribute of nature, as God creates it: holiness is something infinitely\nhigher. We speak of the holiness of God as His infinite moral\nperfection; man's moral perfection could only come in the use of his\nwill, consenting freely to and abiding in the will of God. Thus alone\ncould he become holy. The seventh day was made holy by God as a pledge\nthat He would make man holy. In the ages that preceded the seventh day,\nthe Creation period, God's Power, Wisdom, and Goodness had been\ndisplayed. The age to come, in the seventh day period, is to be the\ndispensation of holiness: God made holy the seventh day.\n\n2. God sanctified the Sabbath day, _because in it He rested_ from all\nHis work. This rest was something real. In Creation, God had, as it\nwere, gone out of Himself to bring forth something new: in resting He\nnow returns from His creating work into Himself, to rejoice in His love\nover the man He has created, and communicate Himself to him. This opens\nup to us the way in which God makes holy. The connection between the\nresting and making holy was no arbitrary one; the making holy was no\nafter-thought; in the very nature of things it could not be otherwise:\nHe sanctified _because_ He rested in it; He sanctified by resting. As He\nregards His finished work, more especially man, rejoices in it, and, as\nwe have it in Exodus, 'is refreshed,' this time of His Divine rest is\nthe time in which He will carry on unto perfection what He has begun,\nand make man, created in His image, in very deed partaker of His highest\nglory, His Holiness.\n\n_Where God rests in complacency and love, He makes holy._ The Presence\nof God revealing itself, entering in, and taking possession, is what\nconstitutes true Holiness. As we go down the ages, studying the\nprogressive unfolding of what Holiness is, this truth will continually\nmeet us. In God's indwelling in heaven, in His temple on earth, in His\nbeloved Son, in the person of the believer through the Holy Spirit, we\nshall everywhere find that Holiness is not something that man is or\ndoes, but that it always comes where God comes. In the deepest meaning\nof the words: where God enters to rest, there He sanctifies. And when we\ncome to study the New Testament revelation of the way in which we are\nto be holy, we shall find in this one of our earliest and deepest\nlessons. It is as we enter into the rest of God that we become partakers\nof His Holiness. 'We which have believed do enter into that rest;' 'He\nthat hath entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works,\nas God did from His.' It is as the soul ceases from its own efforts, and\nrests in Him who has finished all for us, and will finish all in us, as\nthe soul yields itself in the quiet confidence of true faith to rest in\nGod, that it will know what true Holiness is. Where the soul enters into\nthe Sabbath stillness of perfect trust, God comes to keep His Sabbath\nholy; and the soul where He rests He sanctifies. Whether we speak of His\nown day, 'He sanctified it,' or His own people 'sanctified in Christ,'\nthe secret of Holiness is ever the same: 'He sanctified because he\nrested.'\n\n3. And then we read, '_He blessed_ and sanctified it.' As used in the\nfirst chapter and throughout the book of Genesis, the word 'God blessed'\nis one of great significance. 'Be fruitful and multiply' was, as to\nAdam, so later to Noah and Abraham, the Divine exposition of its\nmeaning. The blessing with which God blessed Adam and Noah and Abraham\nwas that of fruitfulness and increase, the power to reproduce and\nmultiply. When God blessed the seventh day, He filled it so with the\nliving power of His Holiness, that in it that Holiness might increase\nand reproduce itself in those who, like Him, seek to enter into its rest\nand sanctify it. The seventh day is that in which we are still living.\nOf each of the creation days it is written, up to the last, 'There was\nevening, and there was morning, the sixth day.' Of the seventh the\nrecord has not yet been made; we are living in it now, God's own day of\nrest and holiness and blessing. Entering into it in a very special\nmanner, and taking possession of it, as the time for His rejoicing in\nHis creature, and manifesting the fulness of His love in sanctifying\nhim, He has made the dispensation we now live in one of Divine and\nmighty blessing. And He has at the same time taught us what the blessing\nis. Holiness is blessedness. Fellowship with God in His holy rest is\nblessedness. And as all God's blessings in Christ have but one fountain,\nGod's Holiness, so they all have but one aim, making us partakers of\nthat Holiness. God created, _and blessed_; with the creation blessing.\nGod sanctified, _and blessed_; with the Sabbath blessing of His rest.\nThe Creation blessing, of goodness and fruitfulness and dominion, is to\nbe crowned by the Sabbath blessing of rest in God and holiness in\nfellowship with Him.\n\nGod's finished work of Creation was marred by sin, and our fellowship\nwith Him in the blessing of His holy rest cut off. The finished work of\nredemption opened for us a truer rest and a surer entrance into the\nHoliness of God. As He rested in His holy day, so He now rests in His\nHoly Son. In Him we now can enter fully into the rest of God. 'Made holy\nin Christ,' let us rest in Him. Let us rest, because we see that as\nwonderfully as God by His mighty power finished His work of Creation,\nwill He complete and perfect His work of sanctification. Let us yield\nourselves to God in Christ, to rest where He rested, to be made holy\nwith His own holiness, and to be blessed with God's own blessing. God\nthe Sanctifier is the name now inscribed upon the throne of God the\nCreator. At the threshold of the history of the human race there shines\nthis word of infinite promise and hope: 'God blessed and sanctified the\nseventh day because in it He rested.'\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBlessed Lord God! I bow before Thee in lowly worship. I adore Thee as\nGod the Creator, and God the Sanctifier. Thou hast revealed Thyself as\nGod Almighty and God Most Holy. I beseech Thee, teach me to know and to\ntrust Thee as such.\n\nI humbly ask Thee for grace to learn and hold fast the deep spiritual\ntruths Thou hast revealed in making holy the Sabbath day. Thy purpose in\nman's creation is to show forth Thy Holiness, and make him partaker of\nit. Oh, teach me to believe in Thee as God my Creator and Sanctifier, to\nbelieve with my whole heart that the same Almighty power which gave the\nsixth-day blessing of creation, secures to us the seventh-day blessing\nof sanctification. Thy will is our sanctification.\n\nAnd teach me, Lord, to understand better how this blessing comes. It is\nwhere Thou enterest to rest, to refresh and reveal Thyself, that Thou\nmakest holy. O my God! may my heart be Thy resting-place. I would, in\nthe stillness and confidence of a restful faith, rest in Thee, believing\nthat Thou doest all in me. Let such fellowship with Thee, and Thy love,\nand Thy will be to me the secret of a life of holiness. I ask it in the\nname of our Lord Jesus, in whom Thou hast sanctified us. Amen.\n\n\n  1. God the Creator is God the Sanctifier. The Omnipotence that did\n     the first work does the second too. I can trust God Almighty to\n     make me holy. God is holy: if God is everything to me, His presence\n     will be my holiness.\n\n  2. Rest is ceasing from work, not to work no more, but to begin a\n     new work. God rests and begins at once to make holy that in which\n     He rests. He created by the word of His power; He rests in His\n     love. Creation was the building of the temple; sanctification is\n     the entering in and taking possession. Oh, that wonderful entering\n     into human nature!\n\n  3. God rests only in what is restful, wholly at His disposal. It is\n     in the restfulness of faith that we must look to God the\n     Sanctifier; He will come in and keep His holy Sabbath in the\n     restful soul. We rest in God's rest; God rests in our rest.\n\n  4. The God that rests in man whom He made, and in resting sanctifies,\n     and in sanctifying blesses: this is our God; praise and worship\n     Him. _And trust Him to do His work._\n\n  5. Rest! what a simple word. The Rest of God! what an inconceivable\n     fulness of Life and Love in that word. Let us meditate on it and\n     worship before Him, until it overshadow us and we enter into\n     it--the Rest of God. _Rest_ belongeth unto God: He alone can give\n     it, by making us share His own.\n\n\n\n\nFourth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Revelation.\n\n  'And when the Lord saw that Moses turned aside to see, He called\n  unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And\n  he said, Here am I. And He said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy\n  shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is _holy_\n  ground. And Moses hid his face, for He was afraid to look upon\n  God.'--Ex. iii. 4-6.\n\n\nAnd why was it holy ground? Because God had come there and occupied it.\nWhere God is, there is holiness; it is the presence of God makes holy.\nThis is the truth we met with in Paradise when man was just created;\nhere, where Scripture uses the word _Holy_ for the second time, it is\nrepeated and enforced. A careful study of the word in the light of the\nburning bush will further open its deep significance. Let us see what\nthe sacred history, what the revelation of God, and what Moses teaches\nus of this holy ground.\n\n1. Note the place this first direct revelation of God to man as the Holy\nOne takes in sacred history. In Paradise we found the word _Holy_ used\nof the seventh day. Since that time twenty-five centuries have elapsed.\nWe found in God's sanctifying the day of rest a promise of a new\ndispensation--the revelation of the Almighty Creator to be followed by\nthat of the Holy One making holy. And yet throughout the book of Genesis\nthe word never occurs again; it is as if God's Holiness is in abeyance;\nonly in Exodus, with the calling of Moses, does it make its appearance\nagain. This is a fact of deep import. Just as a parent or teacher seeks,\nin early childhood, to impress one lesson at a time, so God deals in the\neducation of the human race. After having in the flood exhibited His\nrighteous judgment against sin, He calls Abraham to be the father of a\nchosen people. And as the foundation of all His dealings with that\npeople, He teaches him and his seed first of all the lesson of\n_childlike trust_--trust in Him as the Almighty, with whom nothing is\ntoo wonderful, and trust in Him as the Faithful One, whose oath could\nnot be broken. With the growth of Israel to a people we see the\nrevelation advancing to a new stage. The simplicity of childhood gives\nway to the waywardness of youth, and God must now interfere with the\ndiscipline and restriction of law. Having gained a right to a place in\ntheir confidence as the God of their fathers, He prepares them for a\nfurther revelation. Of the God of Abraham the chief attribute was that\nHe was the Almighty One; of the God of Israel, Jehovah, that He is the\nHoly One.\n\nAnd what is to be the special mark of the new period that is now about\nto be inaugurated, and which is introduced by the word holy? God tells\nMoses that He is now about to reveal Himself in a new character. He had\nbeen known to Abraham as God Almighty, the God of Promise (Ex. vi. 3).\nHe would now manifest Himself as Jehovah, the God of Fulfilment,\nespecially in the redemption and deliverance of His people from the\noppression He had foretold to Abraham. God Almighty is the God of\nCreation: Abraham believed in God, 'who quickeneth the dead, and calleth\nthe things that are not as though they were.' Jehovah is the God of\nRedemption and of Holiness. With Abraham there was not a word of sin or\nguilt, and therefore not of redemption or holiness. To Israel the law is\nto be given, to convince of sin and prepare the way for holiness; it is\nJehovah, the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, who now appears. And it\nis the presence of this Holy One that makes the holy ground.\n\n2. And how does this Presence reveal itself? In the burning bush God\nmakes Himself known as dwelling in the midst of the fire. Elsewhere in\nHoly Scripture the connection between fire and the Holiness of God is\nclearly expressed: 'The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and the\nHoly One for a flame.' The nature of fire may be either beneficent or\ndestructive. The sun, the great central fire, may give life and\nfruitfulness, or may scorch to death. All depends upon occupying the\nright position, upon the relation in which we stand to it. And so\nwherever God the Holy One reveals Himself, we shall find the two sides\ntogether: God's Holiness as judgment against sin, destroying the sinner\nwho remains in it, and as Mercy freeing His people from it. Judgment and\nMercy ever go together. Of the elements of nature there is none of such\nspiritual and mighty energy as Fire: what it consumes it takes and\nchanges into its own spiritual nature, rejecting as smoke and ashes what\ncannot be assimilated. And so the Holiness of God is that infinite\nPerfection by which He keeps Himself free from all that is not Divine,\nand yet has fellowship with the creature, and takes it up into union\nwith Himself, destroying and casting out all that will not yield itself\nto Him.\n\nIt is thus as One who dwells in the fire, who is a fire, that God\nreveals Himself at the opening of this new redemption period. With\nAbraham and the patriarchs, as we have said, there had been little\nteaching about sin or redemption; the nearness and friendship of God had\nbeen revealed. Now the law will be given, sin will be made manifest, the\ndistance from God will be felt, that man, in learning to know himself\nand his sinfulness, may learn to know and long for God to make him holy.\nIn all God's revelation of Himself we shall find the combination of the\ntwo elements, the one repelling, the other attracting. In His house He\nwill dwell in the midst of Israel, and yet it will be in the awful\nunapproachable solitude and darkness of the holiest of all within the\nveil. He will come near to them, and yet keep them at a distance. As we\nstudy the Holiness of God, we shall see in increasing clearness how,\nlike fire, it repels and attracts, how it combines into one His infinite\ndistance and His infinite nearness.\n\n3. But the distance will be that which comes out first and most\nstrongly. This we see in Moses: he hid his face, for He feared to look\nupon God. The first impression which God's Holiness produces is that of\nfear and awe. Until man, both as a creature and a sinner, learns how\nhigh God is above him, how different and distant he is from God, the\nHoliness of God will have little real value or attraction. Moses hiding\nhis face shows us the effect of the drawing nigh of the Holy One, and\nthe path to His further revelation.\n\nHow distinctly this comes out in God's own words: 'Draw not nigh hither;\nput off thy shoes from off thy feet.' Yes, God had drawn nigh, but Moses\nmay not. God comes near: man must stand back. In the same breath God\nsays, Draw nigh, and, Draw not nigh. There can be no knowledge of God or\nnearness to Him, where we have not first heard His, Draw not nigh. The\nsense of sin, of unfitness for God's presence, is the groundwork of true\nknowledge or worship of Him as the Holy One. 'Put off thy shoes from off\nthy feet.' The shoes are the means of intercourse with the world, the\naids through which the flesh or nature does its will, moves about and\ndoes its work. In standing upon holy ground, all this must be put away.\nIt is with naked feet, naked and stript of every covering, that man must\nbow before a holy God. Our utter unfitness to draw nigh or have any\ndealings with the Holy One, is the very first lesson we have to learn,\nif ever we are to participate in His Holiness. That _Put off!_ must\nexercise its condemning power through our whole being, until we come to\nrealize the full extent of its meaning in the great, '_Put off_ the old\nman; put on the Lord Jesus,' and what 'the _putting off_ of the body of\nthe flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,' is. Yes, all that is of\nnature and the flesh, all that is of our own doing or willing or\nworking--our very life, must be put off and given unto the death, if\nGod, as the Holy One, is to make Himself known to us.\n\nWe have seen before that Holiness is more than goodness or freedom from\nsin: even unfallen nature is not holy. Holiness is that awful glory by\nwhich Divinity is separated from all that is created. Therefore even the\nseraphs veil their faces with their wings when they sing the Thrice\nHoly. But oh! when the distance and the difference is not that of the\ncreature only, but of the sinner, who can express, who can realize, the\nhumiliation, the fear, the shame with which we ought to bow before the\nvoice of the Holy One? Alas! this is one of the most terrible effects of\nsin, that it blinds us. We know not how unholy, how abominable, sin and\nthe sinful nature are in God's sight. We have lost the power of\nrecognising the Holiness of God: heathen philosophy had not even the\nidea of using the word as expressive of the moral character of its gods.\nIn losing the light of the glory of God, we have lost the power of\nknowing what sin is. And now God's first work in drawing nigh to us is\nto make us feel that we may not draw nigh as we are; that there will\nhave to be a very real and a very solemn putting off, and even giving up\nto the death, of all that appears most lawful and most needful. Not only\nour shoes are soiled with contact with this unholy earth; even our face\nmust be covered and our eyes closed, in token that the eyes of our\nheart, all our human wisdom and understanding, are incapable of\nbeholding the Holy One. The first lesson in the school of personal\nholiness is, to fear and hide our face before the Holiness of God. 'Thus\nsaith the High and Lofty One, whose name is holy, I dwell in the High\nand Holy Place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit.'\nContrition, brokenness of spirit, fear and trembling are God's first\ndemand of those who would see His Holiness.\n\nMoses was to be the first preacher of the Holiness of God. Of the full\ncommunication of God's Holiness to us in Christ, His first revelation to\nMoses was the type and the pledge. From Moses' lips the people of\nIsrael, from his pen the Church of Christ, was to receive the message,\n'Be holy: I am holy: I make holy.' His preparation for being the\nmessenger of the Holy One was here, where he hid his face, because he\nwas afraid to look upon God. It is with the face in the dust, it is in\nthe putting off not only of the shoes, but of all that has been in\ncontact with the world and self and sin, that the soul draws nigh to the\nfire, in which God dwells, and which burns, but does not consume. Oh\nthat every believer, who seeks to witness for God as the Holy One, might\nthus learn how the fulfilment of the type of the Burning Bush is the\nCrucified Christ, and how, as we die with Him, we receive that Baptism\nof Fire, which reveals in each of us what it means: the Holy One\ndwelling in a Burning Bush. Only so can we learn what it is to be holy,\nas He is holy.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy God! I have seen Thee, who dwellest in the fire. I have heard\nThy voice, Draw not nigh hither; put thy shoes off from thy feet. And my\nsoul has feared to look upon God, the Holy One.\n\nAnd yet, O my God! I must see Thee. Thou didst create me for Thy\nlikeness. Thou hast taught that this likeness is Thy Holiness: 'Be holy,\nas I am holy.' O my God! how shall I know to be holy, unless I may see\nThee, the Holy One? To be holy, I must look upon God.\n\nI bless Thee for the revelation of Thyself in the flames of the\nthorn-bush, in the fire of the accursed tree. I bow in amazement and\ndeep abasement at the great sight: Thy Son in the weakness of His human\nnature, in the fire, burning but not consumed. O my God! in fear and\ntrembling I have yielded myself as a sinner to die like Him. Oh, let the\nfire consume all that is unholy in me! Let me too know Thee as the God\nthat dwelleth in the fire, to melt down and purge out and destroy what\nis not of Thee, to save and take up into Thine own Holiness what is\nThine own.\n\nO Holy Lord God! I bow in the dust before this great mystery. Reveal to\nme Thy Holiness, that I too may be its witness and its messenger on\nearth. Amen.\n\n\n  1. _Holiness as the fire of God._ Praise God that there is a\n     Power that can consume the vile and the dross, a Power that\n     will not leave it undisturbed. 'The bush burning but not\n     consumed' is not only the motto of the Church in time of\n     persecution; it is the watchword of every soul in God's\n     sanctifying work.\n\n  2. There is a new Theology, which only speaks of the love of\n     God as seen in the cross. It sees not the glory of His\n     Righteousness, and His righteous judgment. This is not the God\n     of Scripture. 'Our God is a consuming fire,' is New Testament\n     Theology. To 'offer service with reverence and awe,' is New\n     Testament religion. In Holiness, Judgment and Mercy meet.\n\n  3. _Holiness as the fear of God._ Hiding the face before God\n     for fear, not daring to look or speak,--this is the beginning\n     of rest in God. It is not yet the true rest, but on the way to\n     it. May God give us a deep fear of whatever could grieve or\n     anger Him. May we have a deep fear of ourselves, and all that\n     is of the old, the condemned nature, lest it rise again. 'The\n     spirit of the fear of the Lord' is the first manifestation of\n     the spirit of holiness, and prepares the way for the joy of\n     holiness. 'Walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort\n     of the Holy Ghost;' these are the two sides of the Christian\n     life.\n\n  4. The Holiness of God was revealed to Moses that he might be\n     its messenger. The Church needs nothing so much to-day as men\n     and women who can testify for the Holiness of God. Will you be\n     one?\n\n\nNOTE.\n\nThe connection between the fear of God and holiness is most intimate.\nThere are some who seek most earnestly for holiness, and yet never\nexhibit it in a light that will attract the world or even believers,\nbecause this element is wanting. It is the fear of the Lord that works\nthat meekness and gentleness, that deliverance from self-confidence and\nself-consciousness, which form the true groundwork of a saintly\ncharacter. The passages of God's Word in which the two words are linked\ntogether are well worthy of a careful study. 'Who is like unto Thee,\nglorious in _holiness_, _fearful_ in praises?' 'In Thy _fear_ will I\nworship towards Thy _holy_ temple.' 'O _fear_ the Lord, ye His _holy\nones_.' 'O worship the Lord, in the beauty of _holiness_; _fear_ before\nHim, all the earth.' 'Let them praise Thy great and _terrible_ name;\n_holy_ is He.' 'The _fear_ of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and\nthe knowledge of the _Holy One_ is understanding.' 'The Lord of hosts,\nHim shall ye _sanctify_; let Him be your _fear_, and let Him be your\ndread.' 'Perfecting _holiness_ in the _fear_ of the Lord.' 'Like as He\nwhich _called you_ is holy, be ye yourselves also _holy_; and if ye\n_call on Him_ as father, pass the time of your sojourning in _fear_.'\nAnd so on through the whole of Scripture, from the Song of Moses on to\nthe Song of the Lamb: 'Who shall not _fear_ Thee, O Lord! and glorify\nThy name, for Thou only art _holy_.' If we yield ourselves to the\nimpression of such passages, we shall feel more deeply that the fear of\nGod, the tender fear of in any way offending Him, the fear especially of\nentering into His holy presence with what is human and carnal, with\naught of our own wisdom and effort, is of the very essence of the\nholiness we are to follow after. It is this fear of God will make us,\nlike Moses, fall down and hide our face in God's presence, and wait for\nHis own Holy Spirit to open in us the eyes, and breathe in us the\nthoughts and the worship, with which we draw nigh to Him, the Holy One.\nIt is in this holy fear that that stillness of soul is wrought which\nleads it to rest in God, and opens the way for what we saw in Paradise\nto be the secret of holiness: God keeping His Sabbath, and sanctifying\nthe soul in which He rests.\n\n\n\n\nFifth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Redemption.\n\n  '_Sanctify_ unto _me_ all the first-born.'--Ex. xiii. 2.\n\n  'All the first-born _are mine_; for on the day I smote all the\n  first-born in the land of Egypt _I sanctified_ unto _me_ all the\n  first-born in Israel: _mine_ they shall be: I am the Lord.'--Num.\n  iii. 13, viii. 17.\n\n  'For I am the Lord your God that bringeth you up out of the land\n  of Egypt to be your God: ye shall therefore _be holy_, for I am\n  _holy_.'--Lev. xi. 45.\n\n  'I have redeemed thee; thou art mine.'--Isa. xliii. 1.\n\n\nAt Horeb we saw how the first mention of the word holy in the history of\nfallen man was connected with the inauguration of a new period in the\nrevelation of God, that of Redemption. In the passover we have the first\nmanifestation of what Redemption is; and here the more frequent use of\nthe word holy begins. In the feast of unleavened bread we have the\nsymbol of the putting off of the old and the putting on of the new, to\nwhich redemption through blood is to lead. Of the seven days we read:\n'In the first day there shall be an _holy_ convocation, and in the\nseventh day there shall be an _holy_ convocation;' the meeting of the\nredeemed people to commemorate its deliverance is a holy gathering; they\nmeet under the covering of their Redeemer, the Holy One. As soon as the\npeople had been redeemed from Egypt, God's very first word to them was,\n'Sanctify--make holy unto me all the first-born: it is mine.' (See Ex.\nxiii. 2.) The word reveals how proprietorship is one of the central\nthoughts both in redemption and in sanctification, the link that binds\nthem together. And though the word is here only used of the first-born,\nthey are regarded as the type of the whole people. We know how all\ngrowth and organization commence from a centre, around which in\never-widening circles the life of the organism spreads. If holiness in\nthe human race is to be true and real, free as that of God, it must be\nthe result of a self-appropriating development. And so the first-born\nare sanctified, and afterwards the priests in their place, as the type\nof what the whole people is to be as God's first-born among the nations,\nHis peculiar treasure, 'an holy nation.' This idea of proprietorship as\nrelated to redemption and sanctification comes out with especial\nclearness when God speaks of the exchange of the priests for the\nfirst-born (Num. iii. 12, 13, viii. 16, 17): 'The Levites are _wholly\ngiven unto me_; instead of the first-born have I _taken them unto me_;\nfor all the first-born _are mine_; in the day that I smote every\nfirst-born in the land of Egypt _I sanctified them for myself_.'\n\nLet us try and realize the relation existing between redemption and\nholiness. In Paradise we saw what God's sanctifying the seventh day was:\nHe took possession of it, He blessed it, He rested in it and refreshed\nHimself. Where God enters and rests, there is holiness: the more\nperfectly the object is fitted for Him to enter and dwell, the more\nperfect the holiness. The seventh day was sanctified as the period for\nman's sanctification. At the very first step God took to lead him to His\nHoliness--the command not to eat of the tree--man fell. God did not give\nup His plan, but had now to pursue a different and slower path. After\ntwenty-five centuries' slow but needful preparation, He now reveals\nHimself as the Redeemer. A people whom He had chosen and formed for\nHimself He gives up to oppression and slavery, that their hearts may be\nprepared to long for and welcome a Deliverer. In a series of mighty\nwonders He proves Himself the Conqueror of their enemies, and then, in\nthe blood of the Paschal Lamb on their doors, teaches them what\nredemption is, not only from an unjust oppressor here on earth, but from\nthe righteous judgment their sins had deserved. The Passover is to be to\nthem the transition from the seen and temporal to the unseen and\nspiritual, revealing God not only as the Mighty but as the Holy One,\nfreeing them not only from the house of bondage but the Destroying\nAngel.\n\nAnd having thus redeemed them, He tells them that they are now His own.\nDuring their stay at Sinai and in the wilderness, the thought is\ncontinually pressed upon them that they are now the Lord's people, whom\nHe has made His own by the strength of His arm, that He may make them\nholy for Himself, even as He is holy. The purpose of redemption is\nPossession, and the purpose of Possession is likeness to Him who is\nRedeemer and Owner, is Holiness.\n\nIn regard to this Holiness, and the way it is to be attained as the\nresult of redemption, there is more than one lesson the sanctifying of\nthe first-born will teach us.\n\nFirst of all, we want to realize how inseparable redemption and holiness\nare. Neither can exist without the other. _Only redemption leads to\nholiness._ If I am seeking holiness, I must abide in the clear and full\nexperience of being a redeemed one, and as such of being owned and\npossessed by God. Redemption is too often looked at from its negative\nside as deliverance from: its real glory is the positive element of\nbeing redeemed unto Himself. Full possession of a house means\noccupation: if I own a house without occupying it, it may be the home of\nall that is foul and evil. God has redeemed me and made me His own with\nthe view of getting complete possession of me. He says of my soul, 'It\nis mine,' and seeks to have His right of ownership acknowledged and made\nfully manifest. That will be perfect holiness, where God has entered in\nand taken complete and entire possession.[2] It is redemption gives God\nHis right and power over me; it is redemption sets me free for God now\nto possess and bless: it is redemption realized and filling my soul,\nthat will bring me the assurance and experience of all His power will\nwork in me. In God, redemption and sanctification are one: the more\nredemption as a Divine reality possesses me, the closer am I linked to\nthe Redeemer-God, the Holy One.\n\nAnd just so, _only holiness brings the assurance and enjoyment of\nredemption_. If I am seeking to hold fast redemption on lower ground, I\nmay be deceived. If I have become unwatchful or careless, I should\ntremble at the very idea of trusting in redemption apart from holiness\nas its object. To Israel God spake, 'I brought you up out of the land of\nEgypt: _therefore_ ye shall be holy, for I am holy.' It is God the\nRedeemer who made us His own, who calls us too to be holy: let Holiness\nbe to us the most essential, the most precious part of redemption: the\nyielding of ourselves to Him who has _taken_ us as His own, and has\nundertaken to _make_ us His own entirely.\n\nA second lesson suggested is the connection between God's and man's\nworking in sanctification. To Moses the Lord speaks, '_Sanctify_ unto me\nall the first-born.' He afterwards says, '_I sanctified_ all the\nfirst-born for myself.' What God does He does to be carried out and\nappropriated through us. When He tells us that we are made holy in\nChrist Jesus, that we are His holy ones, He speaks not only of His\npurpose, but of what He has really done; we have been sanctified in the\none offering of Christ, and in our being created anew in Him. But this\nwork has a human side. To us comes the call to be holy, to follow after\nholiness, to perfect holiness. God has made us His own, and allows us to\nsay that we are His: but He waits for us now to yield Him an enlarged\nentrance into the secret places of our inner being, for Him to fill it\nall with His fulness. Holiness is not something we bring to God or do\nfor Him. Holiness is what there is of God in us. God has made us His own\nin redemption, that He might make Himself our own in sanctification. And\nour work in becoming holy is the bringing our whole life, and every part\nof it, into subjection to the rule of this holy God, putting every\nmember and every power upon His altar.\n\nAnd this teaches us the answer to the question as to the connection\nbetween the sudden and the gradual in sanctification: between its being\na thing once for all complete, and yet imperfect and needing to be\nperfected. What God sanctifies is holy with a Divine and perfect\nholiness as His gift: man has to sanctify by acknowledging and\nmaintaining and carrying out that holiness in relation to what God has\nmade holy. God sanctified the Sabbath day: man has to sanctify it, that\nis, to keep it holy. God sanctified the first-born as His own: Israel\nhad to sanctify them, to treat them and give them up to God as holy. God\nis holy: we are to sanctify Him in acknowledging and adoring and\nhonouring that holiness. God has sanctified His great name, His name is\nHoly: we sanctify or hallow that name as we fear and trust and use it\nas the revelation of His Holiness. God sanctified Christ: Christ\nsanctified Himself, manifesting in His personal will and action perfect\nconformity to the Holiness with which God had made Him holy. God has\nsanctified us in Christ Jesus: we are to be holy by yielding ourselves\nto the power of that holiness, by acting it out, and manifesting it in\nall our life and walk. The objective Divine gift, bestowed once for all\nand completely, must be appropriated as a subjective personal\npossession; we must cleanse ourselves, perfecting holiness. Redeemed\nunto holiness: as the two thoughts are linked in the mind and work of\nGod, they must be linked in our heart and life.\n\nWhen Isaiah announced the second, the true redemption, it was given to\nhim, even more clearly and fully than to Moses, to reveal the name of\nGod as 'The Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.' The more we study this\nname, and hallow it, and worship God by it, the more inseparably will\nthe words become connected, and we shall see how, as the Redeemer is the\nHoly One, the redeemed are holy ones too. Isaiah says of 'the way of\nholiness,' the 'redeemed shall walk therein.' The redemption that comes\nout from the Holiness of God must lead up into it too. We shall\nunderstand that to be redeemed in Christ is to be holy in Christ, and\nthe call of our redeeming God will acquire new meaning: 'I am _holy_:\n_be ye holy_.'\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO Lord God! the Holy One of Israel and his Redeemer! I worship before\nThee in deep humility. I confess with shame that I so long sought Thee\nmore as the Redeemer than as the Holy One. I knew not that it was as the\nHoly One Thou hadst redeemed, that redemption was the outcome and the\nfruit of Thy Holiness; that a participation in Thy Holiness was its one\npurpose and its highest beauty. I only thought of being redeemed from\nbondage and death: like Israel, I understood not that without fellowship\nand conformity to Thyself redemption would lose its value.\n\nMost holy God! I praise Thee for the patience with which Thou bearest\nwith the selfishness and the slowness of Thy redeemed ones. I praise\nThee for the teaching of the Spirit of Thy Holiness, leading Thy saints,\nand me too, to see how it is Thy Holiness, and the call to become\npartaker of it, that gives redemption its value; how it is for Thyself\nas the Holy One, to be Thine own, possessed and sanctified of Thee, that\nwe are redeemed.\n\nO my God! with a love and a joy and a thanksgiving that cannot be\nuttered, I praise Thee for Christ, who has been made unto us of Thee\nsanctification and redemption. In Him Thou art my Redeemer, my Holy One.\nIn Him I am Thy redeemed, Thy holy one. O God! in speechless adoration I\nfall down to worship the love that passeth knowledge, that hath done\nthis for us, and to believe that in one who is now before Thee, holy in\nChrist, Thou wilt fulfil all Thy glorious purposes according to the\ngreatness of Thy power. Amen.\n\n\n  1. 'Redemption through His blood.' The blood we meet at the\n     threshold of the pathway of Holiness. For it is the blood of\n     the sacrifice which the fire of God consumed, and yet could not\n     consume. That blood has such power of holiness in it, that we\n     read, 'Sanctified by His own blood.' Always think of holiness,\n     or pray for it, as one redeemed by blood. Live under the\n     covering of the blood in its daily cleansing power.\n\n  2. It is only as we know the Holiness of God as Fire, and bow\n     before His righteous judgment, that we can appreciate the\n     preciousness of the blood or the reality of the redemption. As\n     long as we only think of the love of God as goodness, we may\n     aim at being good; faith in God who redeems will waken in us\n     the need and the joy of being _holy in Christ_.\n\n  3. Have you understood the right of property God has in what He\n     has redeemed? Have you heard a voice say, _Mine. Thou art\n     Mine._ Ask God very humbly to speak it to you. Listen very\n     gently for it.\n\n  4. The holiness of the creature has its origin in the Divine\n     will, in the Divine election, redemption, and possession. Give\n     yourself up to this will of God and rejoice in it.\n\n  5. As God created, so He redeemed, to sanctify. Have great\n     faith in Him for this.\n\n  6. Let God have the entire possession and disposal of you.\n     Holiness is His; our holiness is to let Him, the Holy One, be\n     all.\n\n\n    [2] See Note A on Holiness as Proprietorship.\n\n\n\n\nSixth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Glory.\n\n  'Who is like unto Thee, O Lord! among the gods?\n  Who is like unto Thee, _glorious in holiness_,\n  Fearful in praises, doing wonders?\n  Thou in Thy mercy hast led Thy people which Thou hast redeemed:\n  Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to the habitation of\n      _Thy holiness_ ...\n  _The holy place_, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.'\n\n        --Ex. xv. 11-17.\n\n\nIn these words we have another step in advance in the revelation of\nHoliness. We have here for the first time Holiness predicated of God\nHimself. _He is_ glorious in holiness: and it is to the dwelling-place\nof _His Holiness_ that He is guiding His people.\n\nLet us first note the expression used here: glorious in holiness.\nThroughout Scripture we find the glory and the holiness of God mentioned\ntogether. In Ex. xxix. 43 we read, 'And the tent shall be _made holy_ by\nmy _glory_,' that glory of the Lord of which we afterwards read that it\nfilled the house. The glory of an object, of a thing or person, is its\nintrinsic worth or excellence: to glorify is to remove everything that\ncould hinder the full revelation of that excellence. In the Holiness of\nGod His glory is hidden; in the glory of God His Holiness is manifested:\nHis glory, the revelation of Himself as the Holy One, would make the\nhouse holy. In the same way the two are connected in Lev. x. 3, 'I will\nbe _sanctified_ in them that come nigh unto me, and before all the\npeople I will be _glorified_.' The acknowledgment of His Holiness in the\npriests would be the manifestation of His glory to the people. So, too,\nin the song of the Seraphim (Isa. vi. 3), '_Holy, holy, holy_, Lord God\nof Hosts: the whole earth is full of His _glory_.' God is He who\ndwelleth in a light that is unapproachable, whom no man hath seen or can\nsee: it is the _light_ of the knowledge of the _glory_ of God that He\ngives into our hearts. The glory is that which can be seen and known of\nthe invisible and unapproachable light: that light itself, and the\nglorious fire of which that light is the shining out, that light is the\nHoliness of God. Holiness is not so much an attribute of God, as the\ncomprehensive summary of all His perfections.\n\nIt is on the shore of the Red Sea that Israel thus praises God: 'Who is\nlike unto Thee, O Lord! Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness?' He\nis the Incomparable One, there is none like Him. And wherein has He\nproved this, and revealed the glory of His Holiness? With Moses in\nHoreb we saw God's glory in the fire, in its double aspect of salvation\nand destruction: consuming what could not be purified, purifying what\nwas not consumed. We see it here too in the song of Moses: Israel sings\nof judgment and of mercy. The pillar of fire and of the cloud came\nbetween the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel: it was a cloud\nand darkness to those, but it gave light by night to these. The two\nthoughts run through the whole song. But in the two verses that follow\nthe ascription of holiness, we find the sum of the whole. 'Thou\nstretchedst out Thy right hand: the earth swallowed them.' 'The Lord\nlooked forth upon the host of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and\ndiscomfited them.' This is the glory of Holiness as judgment and\ndestruction of the enemy. 'Thou in Thy mercy hast led _Thy people_ which\nthou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided _them_ in Thy strength to the\nhabitation of Thy Holiness.' This is the glory of Holiness in mercy and\nredemption--a Holiness that not only delivers but guides to the\nhabitation of holiness, where the Holy One is to dwell with and in His\npeople. In the inspiration of the hour of triumph it is thus early\nrevealed that the great object and fruit of redemption, as wrought out\nby the Holy One, is to be His indwelling: with nothing short of this can\nthe Holy One rest content, or the full glory of His Holiness be made\nmanifest.\n\nAnd now, observe further, how, as it is in the redemption of His people\nthat God's Holiness is revealed, so it is in the song of redemption that\nthe personal ascription of Holiness to God is found. We know how in\nScripture, after some striking special interposition of God as Redeemer,\nthe special influence of the Spirit is manifested in some song of\npraise. It is remarkable how it is in these outbursts of holy\nenthusiasm, God is praised as the Holy One. See it in the song of Hannah\n(1 Sam. ii. 2), 'There is none holy as the Lord.' The language of the\nSeraphim (Isa. vi.) is that of a song of adoration. In the great day of\nIsrael's deliverance the song will be, 'The Lord Jehovah is become my\nstrength and song. Sing unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent\nthings. Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is _the\nHoly One_ of Israel in the midst of thee.' Mary sings, 'For He that is\nmighty hath done great things to me: and _holy_ is His name.' The book\nof Revelation reveals the living creatures giving glory and honour and\nthanks to Him that sitteth on the throne; 'and they have no rest day and\nnight, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, which\nwas, and which is, and which is to come.' And when the song of Moses and\nof the Lamb is sung by the sea of glass, it will still be, 'Who shall\nnot fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy.' It is\nin the moments of highest inspiration, under the fullest manifestation\nof God's redeeming power, that His servants speak of His Holiness. In\nPs. xcvii. we read, 'Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks\nat the remembrance of His Holiness.' And in Ps. xcix., which has, with\nits thrice repeated holy, been called the echo on earth of the Thrice\nHoly of heaven, we sing--\n\n  Let them praise Thy great and terrible name.\n  HOLY IS HE.\n\n  Exalt ye the Lord our God,\n  and worship at His footstool:\n  HOLY IS HE.\n\n  Exalt ye the Lord our God,\n  and worship at His holy hill:\n  For the Lord our God is HOLY.\n\nIt is only under the influence of high spiritual elevation and joy that\nGod's holiness can be fully apprehended or rightly worshipped. The\nsentiment that becomes us as we worship the Holy One, that fits us for\nknowing and worshipping Him aright, is the spirit of praise that sings\nand shouts for joy in the experience of His full salvation.\n\nBut is not this at variance with the lesson we learnt at Horeb, when God\nspake, 'Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes,' and where Moses feared\nand hid his face? And is not this in very deed the posture that becomes\nus as creatures and sinners? It is indeed: and yet the two sentiments\nare not at variance: rather they are indispensable to each other; the\nfear is the preparation for the praise and the glory. Or is it not that\nsame Moses who hid his face and feared to look upon God, who afterwards\nbeheld His glory until his own face shone with a brightness that men\ncould not bear to look upon? And is not the song that sings here of God\nas glorious in holiness, also the song of Moses who feared and hid his\nface? Have we not seen in the fire, and in God, and specially in His\nHoliness, the twofold aspect; consuming and purifying, repelling and\nattracting, judging and saving, with the latter in each case not only\nthe accompaniment but the result of the former? And so we shall find\nthat the deeper the humbling and the fear in God's Holy Presence, and\nthe more real and complete the putting off of all that is of self and of\nnature, even to the putting off, the complete death of the old man and\nhis will, the more hearty the giving up to be consumed of what is\nsinful, the deeper and fuller will be the praise and joy with which we\ndaily sing our song of redemption: 'Who is like unto Thee, O Lord,\nglorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?'\n\n'_Glorious_ in holiness; _fearful_ in praises:' the song itself\nharmonizes the apparently conflicting elements. Yes, I will sing of\njudgment and of mercy. I will rejoice with trembling as I praise the\nHoly One. As I look upon the two sides of His Holiness, as revealed to\nthe Egyptians and the Israelites, I remember that what was there\nseparated is in me united. By nature I am the Egyptian, an enemy doomed\nto destruction; by grace, an Israelite chosen for redemption. In me the\nfire must consume and destroy; only as judgment does its work, can mercy\nfully save. It is only as I tremble before the Searching Light and the\nBurning Fire and the Consuming Heat of the Holy One, as I yield the\nEgyptian nature to be judged and condemned and slain, that the Israelite\nwill be redeemed to know aright his God as the God of salvation, and to\nrejoice in Him.\n\nBlessed be God! the judgment is past. In Christ, the burning bush, the\nfire of the Divine Holiness did its double work: in Him sin was\ncondemned in the flesh; in Him we are free. In giving up His will to the\ndeath, and doing God's will, Christ sanctified Himself; and in that will\nwe are sanctified too. His crucifixion, with its judgment of the flesh,\nHis death, with its entire putting off of what is of nature, is not only\nfor us, but is really ours; a life and a power working within us by His\nSpirit. Day by day we abide in Him. Tremblingly but rejoicingly we take\nour stand in Him, for the Power of Holiness as Judgment to vindicate\nwithin us its fierce vengeance against what is sin and flesh, and so to\nlet the Power of Holiness as Redemption accomplish that glorious work\nthat makes us give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness. And so the\nshout of Salvation rings ever deeper and truer and louder through our\nlife, 'Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto\nThee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?'\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\n'_Who_ is like unto Thee, O Lord! glorious in holiness, fearful in\npraises, doing wonders?' With my whole heart would I join in this song\nof redemption, and rejoice in Thee as the God of my salvation.\n\nO my God! let Thy Spirit, from whom these words of holy joy and triumph\ncame, so reveal within me the great redemption as a personal experience,\nthat my whole life may be one song of trembling and adoring wonder.\n\nI beseech Thee especially, let my whole heart be filled with Thyself,\nglorious in holiness, fearful in praises, who alone doest wonders. Let\nthe fear of Thy Holiness make me tremble at all there is in me of self\nand flesh, and lead me in my worship to deny and crucify my own wisdom,\nthat the Spirit of Thy Holiness may breathe in me. Let the fear of the\nLord give its deep undertone to all my coming in and going out in Thy\nHoly Presence. Prepare me thus for giving praise without ceasing at the\nremembrance of Thy holiness. O my God! I would rejoice in Thee as my\nRedeemer, MY HOLY ONE, with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. As my\nRedeemer, Thou makest me holy. With my whole heart do I trust Thee to do\nit, to sanctify me wholly. I do believe in Thy promise. I do believe in\nThyself, and believing I receive Thee, the Holy One, my Redeemer.\n\nWho is like unto Thee, O Lord! glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,\ndoing wonders?\n\n\n  1. _God's Holiness as Glory._ God is glorified in the holiness\n     of His people. True holiness always gives glory to God alone.\n     Live to the glory of God: that is holiness. Live holily: that\n     will glorify God. To lose sight of self, and seek only God's\n     glory, is holiness.\n\n  2. _Our Holiness as Praise._ Praise gives glory to God, and is\n     thus an element of holiness. 'Thou art holy, Thou that\n     inhabitest the praises of Israel.'\n\n  3. God's Holiness, His holy redeeming love, is cause of unceasing\n     joy and praise. Praise God every day for it. But you cannot do\n     this unless you live in it. May God's holiness become so\n     glorious to us, as we understand that whatever we see of His\n     glory is just the outshining of His holiness, that we cannot\n     help rejoicing in it, and in Him the Holy One.\n\n  4. The spirit of the fear of the Lord and the spirit of praise\n     may, at first sight, appear to be at variance. But it is not\n     so. The humility that fears the Holy One will also praise Him:\n     'Ye that fear the Lord: praise the Lord.' The lower we lie in\n     the fear of God, and the fear of self, the more surely will He\n     lift us up in due time to praise Him.\n\n\n\n\nSeventh Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Obedience.\n\n  'Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on\n  eagles' wings, and brought you _unto myself_. Now therefore, if ye\n  will _obey my voice indeed_, and keep my covenant, ye shall be a\n  peculiar treasure unto me above all people: ye shall be unto me an\n  _holy_ nation.'--Ex. xix. 4-6.\n\n\nIsrael has reached Horeb. The law is to be given and the covenant made.\nHere are God's first words to the people; He speaks of redemption and\nits blessing, fellowship with Himself: 'Ye have seen how I brought you\n_unto myself_.' He speaks of holiness as His purpose in redemption: 'Ye\nshall be unto me an _holy_ nation.' And as the link between the two He\nplaces obedience: 'If ye will indeed _obey_ my voice, ye shall be unto\nme an _holy_ nation.' God's will is the expression of His holiness; as\nwe do His will, we come into contact with His holiness. The link between\nRedemption and Holiness is Obedience.\n\nThis takes us back to what we saw in Paradise. God sanctified the\nseventh day as the time for sanctifying man. And what was the first\nthing He did with this purpose? He gave him a commandment. Obedience to\nthat commandment would have opened the door, would have been the\nentrance, into the Holiness of God. Holiness is a moral attribute; and\nmoral is that which a free will chooses and determines for itself. What\nGod creates and gives is only naturally good; what man wills to have of\nGod and His will, and really appropriates, has moral worth, and leads to\nholiness. In creation God manifested His wise and good will. His holy\nwill He speaks in His commands. As that holy will enters man's will, as\nman's will accepts and unites itself with God's will, he becomes holy.\nAfter creation, in the seventh day, God took man up into His work of\nsanctification to make him holy. Obedience is the path to holiness,\nbecause it is the path to union with God's holy will; with man unfallen,\nas with fallen man, in redemption here and in glory above, in all the\nholy angels, in Christ the Holy One of God Himself, obedience is the\npath of holiness. It is not itself holiness: but as the will opens\nitself to accept and to do the will of God, God communicates Himself and\nHis Holiness. To obey His voice is to follow Him as He leads in the way\nto the full revelation and communication of Himself and His blessed\nnature as the Holy One.\n\nObedience. Not knowledge of the will of God, not even approval, not even\nthe will to do it, but the doing of it. Knowledge, and approval, and\nwill must lead to action; the will of God must be _done_. 'If ye indeed\nobey my voice, ye shall be unto me an holy nation.' It is not faith, and\nnot worship, and not profession, that God here asks in the first place\nfrom His people when He speaks of holiness; it is obedience. God's will\nmust be _done_ on earth, as in heaven. 'Remember _and do_ all my\ncommandments, that ye may be holy to your God' (Num. xv. 40). 'Sanctify\nyourselves therefore, and be ye holy; and ye shall keep my statutes _and\ndo_ them. I am the Lord which sanctify you' (Lev. xx. 7, 8). 'Therefore\nshall ye keep my commandments _and do_ them: I am the Lord: I will be\nhallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord which hallow you,\nthat brought you up out of the land of Egypt' (xxii 21, 33).\n\nA moment's reflection will make the reason of this clear to us. It is in\na man's work that he manifests what he is. I may know what is good, and\nyet not approve it. I may approve, and yet not will it. I may in a\ncertain sense will it, and yet be wanting in the energy, or the\nself-sacrifice, or the power that will rouse and do the thing. Thinking\nis easier than willing, and willing is easier than doing. Action alone\nproves whether the object of my interest has complete mastery over me.\nGod wants His will _done_. This alone is obedience. In this alone it is\nseen whether the whole heart, with all its strength and will, has given\nitself over to the will of God; whether we live it, and are ready at any\nsacrifice to make it our own by doing it. God has no other way for\nmaking us holy. 'Ye shall keep my statutes _and do_ them: I am the Lord\nwhich make you holy.'\n\nTo all seekers after holiness this is a lesson of deep importance.\nObedience is not holiness; holiness is something far higher, something\nthat comes from God to us, or rather, something of God coming into us.\nBut obedience is _indispensable_ to holiness: it cannot exist without\nit. While, therefore, your heart seeks to follow the teaching of God's\nword, and looks in faith to what God has done, as He has made you _holy\nin Christ_, and to what God is still to do through the Spirit of\nHoliness as He fulfils the promise, 'The very God of peace sanctify you\nwholly,' never for one moment forget to be obedient. 'If ye shall indeed\nobey my voice, ye shall be an holy nation to me.' Begin by doing at once\nwhatever appears right to do. Give up at once whatever conscience tells\nthat you dare not say is according to the will of God. Not only pray for\nlight and strength, but _act_; do what God says. 'He that _doeth_ the\nwill of God is my brother,' Jesus says. Every son of God has been\nbegotten of the will of God: in it he has his life. To do the Father's\nwill is the meat, the strength, the mark, of every son of God.\n\nIt is nothing less than the surrender to such a life of simple and\nentire obedience that is implied in becoming a Christian. There are,\nalas! too many Christians who, from the want either of proper\ninstruction, or of proper attention to the teaching of God's word, have\nnever realized the place of supreme importance that obedience takes in\nthe Christian life. They know not that Christ, and redemption, and faith\nall lead to it, because through it alone is the way to the fellowship of\nthe Love, and the Likeness, and the Glory of God. We have all, possibly,\nsuffered from it ourselves: in our prayers and efforts after the perfect\npeace and the rest of faith, after the abiding joy and the increasing\npower of the Christian life, there has been a secret something hindering\nthe blessing, or causing the speedy loss of what had been apprehended. A\nwrong impression as to the absolute necessity of obedience was probably\nthe cause. It cannot too earnestly be insisted on that the freeness and\nmighty power of grace has this for its object from our conversion\nonwards, the restoring us to the active obedience and harmony with God's\nwill from which we had fallen through the first sin in Paradise.\nObedience leads to God and His Holiness. It is in obedience that the\nwill is moulded, and the character fashioned, and an inner man built up\nwhich God can clothe and adorn with the beauty of holiness.\n\nWhen a Christian discovers that this has been the missing link, the\ncause of failure and darkness, there is nothing for it but, in a grand\nact of surrender, deliberately to choose obedience, universal,\nwhole-hearted obedience, as the law of his life in the power of the Holy\nSpirit. Let him not fear to make his own the words of Israel at Sinai,\nin answer to the message of God we are considering: 'All that the Lord\nhath spoken, _we will do_;' 'All that the Lord hath said _will we do_,\nand be obedient.' What the law could not do, in that it was weak through\nthe flesh, God hath done by the gift of His Son and Spirit. The\nlaw-giving of Sinai on tables of stone has been succeeded by the\nlaw-giving of the Spirit on the table of the heart: the Holy Spirit is\nthe power of obedience, and is so the Spirit of Holiness, who, in\nobedience, prepares our hearts for being the dwelling of the Holy One.\nLet us in this faith yield ourselves to a life of obedience: it is the\nNew Testament path to the realization of the promise: 'If ye will _obey_\nmy voice indeed, ye shall be unto me an _holy_ nation.'\n\nWe have already seen how holiness in its very nature supposes the\npersonal relation to God, His personal presence. 'I have brought you\n_unto myself_; if ye obey, ye shall be _unto me_ an holy nation.' It is\nas we understand and hold fast this personal element that obedience will\nbecome possible, and will lead to holiness. Mark well God's words: 'If\nye will obey my _voice_, and keep my covenant.' The voice is more than a\nlaw or a book; it always implies a living person and intercourse with\nhim. It is this that is the secret of gospel obedience: hearing the\nvoice and following the lead of Jesus as a personal friend, a living\nSaviour. It is being led by the Spirit of God, having Him to reveal the\nPresence, and the Will, and the Love of the Father, that will work in us\nthat personal relation which the New Testament means when it speaks of\ndoing everything unto the Lord, as pleasing God.\n\nSuch obedience is the pathway of holiness. Its every act is a link to\nthe living God, a surrender of the being for God's will, for God Himself\nto take possession. In the process of assimilation, slow but sure, by\nwhich the will of God, as the meat of our souls, is taken up into our\ninmost being, our spiritual nature is strengthened, is spiritualized,\ngrowing up into an holy temple in which God can reveal Himself and take\nup His abode.\n\nLet every believer study to realize this. When God sanctified the\nseventh day as His period of making holy, He taught us that He could not\ndo it at once. The revelation and communication of holiness must be\ngradual, as man is prepared to receive it. God's sanctifying work with\neach of us, as with the race, needs time. The time it needs and seeks is\nthe life of daily, hourly obedience. All that is spent in self-will, and\nnot in the living relation to the Lord, is lost. But when the heart\nseeks day by day to hearken to the voice and to obey it, the Holy One\nHimself watches over His words to fulfil them: 'Ye shall be unto me an\nholy nation.' In a way of which the soul beforehand can have but little\nconception, God will overshadow and make His abode in the obedient\nheart. The habit of always listening for the voice and obeying it will\nonly be the building of the temple: the Living God Himself, the Holy\nOne, will come to take up His abode. The glory of the Lord will fill\nthe house, and the promise be made true, 'I will sanctify it by my\nglory.'\n\n'I brought you _unto myself_; if ye will obey _my voice_ in deed, ye\nshall be _unto me_ an holy nation.' Seekers after holiness! God has\nbrought you to Himself. And now His voice speaks to you all the thoughts\nof His heart, that as you take them in, and make them your own, and make\nHis will your own by living and doing it, you may enter into the most\ncomplete union with Himself, the union of will as well as of life, and\nso become a holy people unto Him. Let obedience, the listening to and\nthe doing the will of God, be the joy and the glory of your life; it\nwill give you access unto the Holiness of God.\n\n  BE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO my God! Thou hast redeemed me for Thyself, that Thou mightest have me\nwholly as Thine own, possessing, filling my inmost being with Thy own\nlikeness, Thy perfect will, and the glory of Thy Holiness. And Thou\nseekest to train me, in the power of a free and loving will, to take Thy\nwill and make it my own, that in the very centre of my being I may have\nThine own perfection dwelling in me. And in Thy words Thou revealest Thy\nwill, that as I accept and keep them I may master their Divine contents,\nand will all that Thou willest.\n\nO my God! let me live day by day in such fellowship with Thee, that I\nmay indeed in everything hear Thy voice, the living voice of the living\nGod speaking to me. Let the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Thy Holiness, be\nto me Thy voice guiding me in the path of simple, childlike obedience. I\ndo bless Thee that I have seen that Christ, in whom I am holy, was the\nobedient one, that in obedience He sanctified Himself to become my\nsanctification, and that abiding in Him, Thy obedient, holy Child, is\nabiding in Thy will as once done by Him, and now to be done by me. O my\nGod! I will indeed obey Thy will: make Thou me one of Thy holy nation, a\npeculiar treasure above all people. Amen.\n\n\n  1. 'He became obedient unto death.' 'Though He was a Son, yet He\n     learned obedience by the things which He suffered.' 'I come to\n     do Thy will.' 'In which will we are sanctified.' Christ's\n     example teaches us that obedience is the only path to the\n     Holiness or the glory of God. Be this your consecration: a\n     surrender in everything to seek and do the will of God.\n\n  2. We are 'holy in Christ'--in this Christ who did the will of\n     God and was obedient to the death. In Him it is we are; in Him\n     we are holy. His obedience is the soil in which we are planted,\n     and must be rooted. 'It is my meat to do His will;' obedience\n     was the sustenance of His life; in doing God's will He drew\n     down Divine nourishment; it must be so with us too.\n\n  3. As you study what it is to be and abide in Christ, as you\n     rejoice you are in Him, always remember it is Christ who obeyed\n     in whom God has planted you.\n\n  4. If ever you feel perplexed about holiness, just yield yourself\n     again to do God's will, and go and do it. It is ours to obey,\n     it is God's to sanctify.\n\n  5. _Holy in Christ._ Christ sanctified Himself by obedience, by\n     doing the will of God, and in that will, as done by Him, we\n     have been sanctified. In accepting that will as done by Him, in\n     accepting Him, _I am holy_. In accepting that will of God, as\n     to be done by me, _I become holy_. I am in Him; in every act of\n     living obedience, I enter into living fellowship with Him, and\n     draw the power of His life into mine.\n\n  6. Obedience depends upon hearing the voice. Do not imagine you\n     know the will of God. Pray and wait for the inward teaching of\n     the Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nEighth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Indwelling.\n\n  'And let them make me _a holy place_, that I may _dwell_ among\n  them.'--Ex. xxv. 8.\n\n  'And the tent shall be _sanctified_ by my glory, and I will\n  _dwell_ among the children of Israel, and will be their God.'--Ex.\n  xxix. 43, 45.\n\n\nThe Presence of God makes holy, even when it descends but for a little\nwhile, as at Horeb, in the burning bush. How much more must that\nPresence make holy the place where it dwells, where it fixes its\npermanent abode! So much is this the case, that the place where God\ndwells came to be called _the_ holy place, 'the holy place of the\nhabitation of the Most High.' All around where God dwelt was holy: the\nholy city, the mountain of God's Holiness, His holy house, till we come\nwithin the veil, to the most holy place, the holy of holies. It is as\n_the indwelling God_ that He sanctifies His house, that He reveals\nHimself as the Holy One in Israel, that He makes us holy too.\n\nBecause God is holy, _the house_ in which He dwells is holy too. This\nis the only attribute of God which He can communicate to His house; but\nthis one He can and does communicate. Among men there is a very close\nlink between the character of a house and its occupants. When there is\nno obstacle to prevent it, the house unintentionally reflects the\nmaster's likeness. Holiness expresses not so much an attribute as the\nvery being of God in His infinite perfection, and His house testifies to\nthis one truth, that He is holy, that where He dwells He must have\nholiness, that His indwelling makes holy. In His first command to His\npeople to build Him a holy place, God distinctly said that it was that\nHe might dwell among them: the dwelling in the house was to be the\nshadowing forth of His dwelling in the midst of His people. The house\nwith its holiness thus leads us on to the holiness of His dwelling among\nHis redeemed ones.\n\nThe holy place, the habitation of God's Holiness, was the centre of all\nGod's work in making _Israel_ holy. Everything connected with it was\nholy. The altar, the priests, the sacrifices, the oil, the bread, the\nvessels, all were holy, because they belonged to God. From the house\nthere issued the twofold voice--God's call to be holy, God's promise to\nmake holy. God's claim was manifested in the demand for cleansing, for\natonement, for holiness, in all who were to draw near, whether as\npriests or worshippers. And God's promise shone forth from His house in\nthe provision for making holy, in the sanctifying power of the altar, of\nthe blood and the oil. The house embodied the two sides that are united\nin holiness, the repelling and the attracting, the condemning and the\nsaving. Now by keeping the people at a distance, then by inviting and\nbringing them nigh, God's house was the great symbol of His own\nHoliness. He had come nigh even to dwell among them; and yet they might\nnot come nigh, they might never enter the secret place of His presence.\n\nAll these things are written on our behalf. It is as the Indwelling One\nthat God is the sanctifier of _His people_ still: the Indwelling\nPresence alone makes us holy. This comes out with special clearness if\nwe note how, the nearer the Presence was, the greater the degree of\nholiness. Because God dwelt among them, the camp was holy: all\nuncleanness was to be removed from it. But the holiness of the court of\nthe tabernacle was greater: uncleanness which did not exclude from the\ncamp would not be tolerated there. Then the holy place was still holier,\nbecause still nearer God. And the inner sanctuary, where the Presence\ndwelt on the mercy-seat, was the Holiest of All, was most holy. The\nprinciple still holds good: holiness is measured by nearness to God; the\nmore of His Presence, the more of true holiness; perfect indwelling will\nbe perfect holiness. There is none holy but the Lord; there is no\nholiness but in Him. He cannot part with somewhat of His holiness, and\ngive it to us apart from Himself; we have only so much of holiness as we\nhave of God Himself. And to have Himself truly and fully, we must have\nHim as the Indwelling One. And His indwelling in a house or locality,\nwithout life or spirit, is only a faint shadow of the true indwelling as\nthe Living One, when He enters into and penetrates our very being, and\nfills us, our very selves, with His own life.\n\nThere is no union so intimate, so real, so perfect, as that of an\nindwelling life. Think of the life that circulates through a large and\nfruitful tree. How it penetrates and fills every portion; how\ninseparably it unites the whole as long as it really is to exist!--in\nwood and leaf, in flower and fruit, everywhere the indwelling life flows\nand fills. This life is the life of nature, the life of the Spirit of\nGod which dwells in nature. It is the same life that animates our\nbodies, the spirit of nature pervading every portion of them with the\npower of sensibility and action.\n\nNot less intimate, yea rather, far more wonderful and real, is the\nindwelling of the Spirit of the New Life, through whom God dwells in the\nheart of the believer. And it is as this indwelling becomes a matter of\nconscious longing and faith, that the soul obeys the command, 'Let them\nmake me a holy place, that I may dwell among them,' and experiences the\ntruth of the promise, 'The tent shall be sanctified by my glory, and I\nwill dwell among the children of Israel.'\n\nIt was as the Indwelling One that God revealed Himself in the Son, whom\nHe sanctified and sent into the world. More than once our Lord insisted\nupon it, 'Believe me, that I am in the Father and _the Father in me_;\nthe Father _abiding in me_ doeth the works.' It is specially as the\ntemple of God that believers are more than once called holy in the New\nTestament: 'The temple of God is _holy_, which temple ye are.' 'Your\nbody is a temple of the _Holy_ Spirit.' 'All the building groweth unto\nan holy temple in the Lord.' It is--we shall later on learn to\nunderstand this better--just because it is through the Spirit that the\nheart is prepared for the indwelling, and the indwelling effected and\nmaintained, that the Spirit so peculiarly takes the attribute of Holy.\nThe Indwelling Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The measure of His indwelling,\nor rather of His revealing the Indwelling Christ, is the measure of\nholiness.\n\nWe have seen what the various degrees of nearness to God's Presence in\nIsrael were. They are still to be found. You have Christians who dwell\nin the camp, but know little of drawing nigh to the Holy One. Then you\nhave outer court Christians: they long for pardon and peace, they come\never again to the altar of atonement; but they know little of true\nnearness or holiness; of their privilege as priests to enter the holy\nplace. Others there are who have learnt that this is their calling, and\nlong to draw near, and yet hardly understand the boldness they have to\nenter into the Holiest of all, and to dwell there. Blessed they to whom\nthis, the secret of the Lord, has been revealed. _They know_ what the\nrent veil means, and the access into the immediate Presence. The veil\nhath been taken away from their hearts: they have found the secret of\ntrue holiness in the Indwelling of the Holy One, the God who is holy and\nmakes holy.\n\nBeliever! the God who calls you to holiness is the God of the Indwelling\nLife. The tabernacle typifies it, the Son reveals it, the Spirit\ncommunicates it, the eternal glory will fully manifest it. And you may\nexperience it. It is your calling as a believer to be God's Holy Temple.\nOh, do but yield yourself to His full indwelling! seek not holiness in\nthe first place in what you are or do; seek it in God. Seek it not even\nas a gift from God, seek it in God Himself, in His indwelling Presence.\nWorship Him in the beauty of holiness, as He dwells in the high and holy\nplace. And as you worship, listen to His voice: 'Thus saith the high and\nlofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the\nhigh and holy place, _with him also_ that is of a contrite and humble\nspirit.' It is as the Spirit strengthens us mightily in the inward man,\nso that Christ dwells in our heart by faith, and the Father comes and\nmakes with Him His abode in us, that we are truly holy. Oh, let us but,\nin true, true-hearted consecration, yield ourselves to be, as distinctly\nas was the tabernacle or the temple, given up entirely to be the\ndwelling of the Most High, the habitation of His Holiness. A house\nfilled with the glory of God, a heart filled with all the fulness of\nGod, is God's promise, is our portion. Let us in faith claim and accept\nand hold fast the blessing: Christ, the Holy One of God, will in His\nFather's Name, enter and take possession. Then faith will bring the\nsolution of all our difficulties, the victory over all our failures, the\nfulfilment of all our desires: 'The tent, the heart, shall be sanctified\nby my glory; and I will dwell among them.' The open secret of true\nholiness, the secret of the joy unspeakable, is Christ dwelling in the\nheart by faith.\n\n  BE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nWe bow our knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus, that He would grant\nunto us, according to the riches of His glory, what He Himself has\ntaught us to ask for. We ask nothing less than this, that Christ may\ndwell in our hearts by faith. We long for that most blessed, permanent,\nconscious indwelling of the Lord Jesus in the heart, which He so\ndistinctly promised as the fruit of the Holy Spirit's coming. Father! we\nask for what He meant when He spake of the loving, obedient disciple: 'I\nwill come and manifest myself to him. We will come and take up our abode\nwith him.' Oh, grant unto us this indwelling of Christ in the heart by\nfaith!\n\nAnd for this, we beseech Thee, grant us to be strengthened with might by\nThy Spirit in the inner man. O Most Mighty God! let the spirit of Thy\nDivine Power work mightily within us, renewing our mind, and will, and\naffections, so that the heart be all prepared and furnished as a\ntemple, as a home, for Jesus. Let that Blessed Spirit strengthen us to\nthe faith that receives the Blessed Saviour and His indwelling Presence.\n\nO Most Gracious Father! hear our cry. We do bow our knee to Thee. We\nplead the riches of Thy glory. We praise Thee who art mighty to do above\nwhat we can ask or think. We wait on Thee, O our Father: oh, grant us a\nmighty strengthening by the Spirit in the inner man, that this bliss may\nbe ours in its full blessedness, our Lord Jesus dwelling in the heart.\n\nWe ask it in His Name. Amen.\n\n\n  1. God's dwelling in the midst of Israel was the great central\n     fact to which all the commands concerning holiness were but\n     preparatory and subordinate. So the work of the Holy Spirit\n     also culminates in the personal indwelling of Christ. (John\n     xiv. 21, 23. Eph. iii. 16, 17.) Aim at this and expect it.\n\n  2. The tabernacle with its three divisions was, as of other\n     spiritual truths, so the image of man's threefold nature. Our\n     spirit is the Holiest of all, where God is meant to dwell,\n     where the Holy Spirit is given. The life of the soul, with its\n     powers of feeling, knowing, and willing, is the holy place. And\n     the outer life of the body, of conduct and action, is the outer\n     court. Begin by believing that the Spirit dwells in the inmost\n     sanctuary, where His workings are secret and hidden. Honour Him\n     by trusting Him to work, by yielding to Him in silent worship\n     before God. From within He will take possession of thought and\n     will; He will even fill the outer court, the body, with the\n     Holiness of God. 'The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly;\n     and may your spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved entire,\n     without blame. Faithful is He which calleth you, who will also\n     do it.'\n\n  3. God's indwelling was within the veil, in the unseen, the\n     secret place. Faith knew it, and served Him with holy fear. Our\n     faith knows that God the Holy Spirit has His abode in the\n     hidden place of our inner life. Set open your inmost being to\n     Him; bow in lowly reverence before the Holy One as you yield\n     yourself to His working. Holiness is the presence of the\n     Indwelling One.\n\n\n\n\nNinth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Mediation.\n\n  'And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it,\n  HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that\n  Aaron may bear the iniquity of the _holy_ things, which the\n  children of Israel shall _hallow_ in all their _holy_ gifts; and\n  it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted\n  before the Lord.'--Ex. xxviii. 36, 38.\n\n\nGod's house was to be the dwelling-place of His Holiness, the place\nwhere He was to reveal Himself; as the Holy One, not to be approached\nbut with fear and trembling; as the Holy-making One, drawing to Himself\nall who would be made partakers of His Holiness. Of the revelation of\nHis Holy and His Holy-making Presence, the centre is found in the person\nof the high priest, in his double capacity of representing God with man,\nand man with God. He is the embodiment of the Divine Holiness in human\nform, and of human holiness as a Divine gift, as far as the dispensation\nof symbol and shadow could offer and express it. In him God came near to\nsanctify and bless the people. In him the people came their very\nnearest to God. And yet the very Day of Atonement, in which he might\nenter into the Most Holy, was but the proof of how unholy man was, and\nhow unfit to abide in God's Presence. In himself a proof of Israel's\nunholiness, he yet was a type and picture of the coming Saviour, our\nblessed Lord Jesus, a wondrous exhibition of the way in which hereafter\nthe holiness of God should become the portion of His people.\n\nAmong the many points in which the high priest typified Christ as our\nsanctification, there is, perhaps, none more suggestive or beautiful\nthan _the holy crown_ he wore on his forehead. Everything about him was\nto be holy. His garments were holy garments. But there was to be one\nthing in which this holiness reached its fullest manifestation. On his\nforehead he was always to wear a plate of gold, with the words engraved\non it, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. Every one was to read there that the whole\nobject of his existence, the one thing he lived for, was, to be the\nembodiment and the bearer of the Divine holiness, the chosen one through\nwhom God's holiness might flow out in blessing upon the people.\n\nThe way in which the blessing of the holy crown was to act was a most\nremarkable one. In bearing HOLINESS TO THE LORD on his forehead, he is,\nwe read, 'to bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of\nIsrael hallow; that they may be accepted before the Lord.' For every sin\nsome sacrifice or way of atonement had been devised. But how about the\nsin that cleaves to the very sacrifice and religious service itself?\n'Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.' How painfully the worshipper\nmight be oppressed by the consciousness that his penitence, his faith,\nhis love, his obedience, his consecration, were all imperfect and\ndefiled! For this need, too, of the worshipper, God had provided. The\nholiness of the high priest covered the sin and the unholiness of his\nholy things. The holy crown was God's pledge that the holiness of the\nhigh priest rendered the worshipper acceptable. If he was unholy, there\nwas one among his brethren who was holy, who had a holiness that could\navail for him too, a holiness he could trust in. He could look to the\nhigh priest not only to effect atonement by his blood-sprinkling, but in\nhis person to secure a holiness too that made him and his gifts most\nacceptable. In the consciousness of personal unholiness he might rejoice\nin a mediator, in the holiness of Another than himself, the priest whom\nGod had provided.\n\nHave we not here a most precious lesson, leading us a step farther on in\nthe way of holiness? To our question, How God makes holy, we have the\nDivine answer: Through a man whom the Divine Holiness has chosen to rest\nupon, and whose holiness belongs to us, as His brethren, the very\nmembers of His own body. Through a holiness which is of such efficacy,\nthat the very sins of our holy things disappear, and we can enter the\nHoly Presence with the assurance of being altogether well-pleasing.\n\nAnd is not just this the lesson that many earnest seekers after holiness\nneed? They know all that the Word teaches of the blessed Atonement, and\nthe full pardon it has brought. They believe in the Father's wonderful\nlove, and what He is ready to do for them. And yet, when they hear of\nthe childlike simplicity, the assurance of faith, the loving obedience,\nand the blessed surrender with which the Father expects them to come and\nreceive the blessing, their heart fails for fear. It is as if the\nblessing were all beyond their reach. What avails that the Holy One is\nsaid to come so nigh? their unholiness renders them incapable of\nclaiming or grasping the Presence that offers itself to them. Just see\nhow the Holy One here reveals His way of making holy, and preparing for\nthe fellowship of His Holiness. In His Elect One as Mediator, holiness\nis prepared and treasured up enough for all who come through Him. As I\nbow to pray or worship, and feel how much there is still wanting of that\nhumility, and fervency, and faith, that God has a right to demand, I may\nlook up to the High Priest in His Holiness, to the holy crown upon His\nforehead, and believe that the iniquity of my holy things is borne and\ntaken away. I may, with all my deficiency and unworthiness, know most\nassuredly that my prayer is acceptable, a sweet-smelling savour. I may\nlook up to the Holy One to see Him smiling on me, for the sake of His\nAnointed One. 'The holy crown shall always be on His forehead, that they\nmay be accepted before the Lord.' It is the blessed truth of\nSubstitution--One for all--of Mediatorship; God's way of making us holy.\nThe sacrifice of the worshipping Israelite is holy and acceptable in\nvirtue of the holiness of Another.\n\nThe Old Testament shadow can never adequately set forth the New\nTestament reality with its fulness of grace and truth. As we proceed in\nour study, we shall find that the holiness of Jesus our sanctification\nis not only imputed but imparted, because we are _in Him_; the new man\nwe have put on is created in true holiness. We are not only counted\nholy; we are holy, we have received a new holy nature in Christ Jesus.\n'He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all _of One_;\ntherefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren.' It is our living\nunion with Jesus, God's Holy One, that has given us the new and holy\nnature, and with that a claim and a share in all the holiness there is\nin Jesus. And so, as often as we are conscious of how unholy we are, we\nhave only to come under the covering of the Holiness of Jesus, to enjoy\nthe full assurance that we and our gifts are most acceptable. However\ngreat be the weakness of our faith, the shortcoming in our desire for\nGod's glory, the lack in our love or zeal, as we see Jesus, with\nHoliness to the Lord on His forehead, we lift up our faces to receive\nthe Divine smile of full approval and perfect acceptance.\n\nThis is God's way of making holy. Not only with the holy place, as we\nhave seen, but with the holy persons too, He begins with a centre, and\nfrom that in ever-widening circle makes holy. And that this Divine\nmethod will be crowned with success we may be sure. In the Word we find\na most remarkable illustration of the extent to which it will be\nrealized. We find the words on the holy crown once again in the Old\nTestament at its close. In the day of the Lord, 'there shall be upon the\nbells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.' The high priest's motto\nshall then have become the watchword of daily life; every article of\nbeauty or of service shall be holy too; from the head it shall have\nextended to the skirts of the garments. Let us begin with realizing the\nHoliness of Jesus in its power to cover the iniquity of our holy things;\nlet us make proof of it, and no longer suffer our unworthiness to keep\nus back or make us doubt; let us believe that we and our holy things are\nacceptable, because in Christ holy to the Lord; let us live in this\nconsciousness of acceptance, and enter into fellowship with the Holy\nOne. As we enter in and abide in the holiness of Jesus, it will enter in\nand abide in us. It will take possession and spread its conquering power\nthrough our whole life, until with us too upon everything that belongs\nto us the word shall shine, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And we shall again\nfind how God's way of holiness is ever from a centre, here the centre of\nour renewed nature, throughout the whole circumference of our being, to\nmake His Holiness prove its power. Let us but dwell under the covering\nof the Holiness of Jesus, as He takes away the iniquity of our holy\nthings, He will make us and our life holy to the Lord.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO my God and Father! my soul doth bless Thee for this wondrous\nrevelation of what Thy way and Thy grace is with those whom Thou hast\ncalled 'Holy in Christ.' Thou knowest, O Lord, how continually our\nhearts have limited our acceptance with Thee by our attainments, and\nconscious shortcoming has wrought condemnation. We knew too little how,\nin the Holiness of Him who makes us holy, there is a Divinely infinite\nefficacy to cover our iniquities, and give us the assurance of perfect\nacceptance. Blessed Father! open our eyes to see, and our hearts to\nunderstand this holy crown of our blessed Jesus, with its wondrous and\nmost blessed, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.\n\nAnd when our hearts condemn us, because our prayers are so little\nconsciously according to the will or to the glory of God, or truly in\nthe name of Jesus, O most Holy Father, be pleased by Thy Spirit to show\nus how bright the smile and how hearty the welcome is we still have with\nThee. Teach us to come in the Holiness of our High Priest, and enter\ninto Thine, until it take possession of us, and permeate our whole\nbeing, and all that is in us be holy to the Lord. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Holiness is not something I can see or admire in myself: it\n     is covering myself, losing myself, in the Holiness of Jesus.\n     How wonderfully this is typified in Aaron and the holy crown.\n     And the more I see and have apprehended of the Holiness of\n     Jesus, the less shall I see or seek of holiness in myself.\n\n  2. He will make me holy: my tempers and dispositions will be\n     renewed; my heart and mind cleansed and sanctified; holiness\n     will be a new nature; and yet there will be all along the\n     consciousness, humbling and yet full of joy: it is not I;\n     Christ liveth in me.\n\n  3. Let us lie very low and tender before God, that the Holy\n     Spirit may reveal to us what it is to be holy in the Holiness\n     of Another, in the Holiness of Jesus, that is, in the Holiness\n     of God.\n\n  4. Do not trouble or weary too much to grasp this with the\n     intellect. Just believe it, and look in simplicity and trust to\n     Jesus to make it all right for you.\n\n  5. _Holy in Christ._ In childlike faith I take Christ's holiness\n     afresh as my covering before God. In loving obedience I take it\n     into my will and life. I trust and I follow Jesus: this is the\n     path of holiness.\n\n  6. If we gather up the lessons we have found in the Word from\n     Paradise downward, we see that the elements of holiness in us\n     are these, each corresponding to some special aspect of God's\n     holiness: deep Restfulness (ch. 3), humble Reverence (ch. 4),\n     entire Surrender (ch. 5), joyful Adoration (ch. 6), simple\n     Obedience (ch. 7). These all prepare for the Divine Indwelling\n     (ch. 8), and this again we have through the Abiding in Jesus\n     with the Crown of Holiness on His head.\n\n\n\n\nTenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Separation.\n\n  'I am the Lord your God, which have _separated_ you from other\n  people. And ye shall be _holy_ unto me, for I the Lord am _holy_,\n  and have _separated_ you from other people that ye should be\n  _Mine_.'--Lev. xx. 24, 26.\n\n  'Until the days be fulfilled, in the which he _separateth_ himself\n  unto the Lord, he shall be _holy_.... All the days of his\n  _separation_ he is _holy_ unto the Lord.'--Num. vi. 5, 8.\n\n  'Wherefore Jesus also, that He might _sanctify_ the people through\n  His own blood, suffered _without the gate_. Let us therefore go\n  forth unto Him _without the camp_, bearing His reproach.'--Heb.\n  xiii. 12, 13.\n\n\nSeparation is not holiness, but is the way to it. Though there can be no\nholiness without separation, there can be separation that does not lead\nto holiness. It is of deep importance to understand both the difference\nand the connection, that we may be kept from the right-hand error of\ncounting separation alone as holiness, as well as the left-hand error of\nseeking holiness without separation.\n\nThe Hebrew word for holiness possibly comes from a root that means to\nseparate. But where we have in our translation 'separate' or 'sever' or\n'set apart,' we have quite different words.[3] The word for holy is used\nexclusively to express that special idea. And though the idea of holy\nalways includes that of separation, it is itself something infinitely\nhigher. It is of great importance to understand this well, because the\nbeing set apart to God, the surrender to His claim, the devotion or\nconsecration to His service, is often spoken of as if this constituted\nholiness. We cannot too earnestly press the thought that this is only\nthe beginning, the presupposition: holiness itself is infinitely more;\nnot what I am, or do, or give, is holiness, but what God is, and gives,\nand does to me. It is God's taking possession of me that makes me holy;\nit is the Presence and the glory of God that really makes holy. A\ncareful study of God's words to Israel will make this clear to us. Eight\ntimes we find the expression in Leviticus, 'Ye shall be holy, for I am\nholy.' Holiness is the highest attribute of God, expressive not only of\nHis relation to Israel, but of His very being and nature, His infinite\nmoral perfection. And though it is by very slow and gradual steps that\nHe can teach the carnal darkened mind of man what this means, yet from\nthe very commencement He tells His people that His purpose is that they\nshould be like Himself--holy because and as He is holy. To tell me that\nGod separates men for Himself to be His, even as He gives Himself to be\ntheirs, tells me of a relation that exists, but tells me nothing of the\nreal nature of this Holy Being, or of the essential worth of the\nholiness He will communicate to me. Separation is only the setting apart\nand taking possession of the vessel to be cleansed and used; it is the\nfilling of it with the precious contents we entrust to it that gives it\nits real value. Holiness is the Divine filling without which the\nseparation leaves us empty. Separation is not holiness.\n\nBut separation is essential to holiness. 'I have separated you from\nother people, and ye shall be holy.' Until I have chosen out and\nseparated a vessel from those around it, and, if need be, cleansed it, I\ncannot fill or use it. I must have it in my hand, full and exclusive\ncommand of it for the time being, or I will not pour into it the\nprecious milk or wine. And just so God separated His people when He\nbrought them up out of Egypt, separated them _unto Himself_ when He gave\nthem His covenant and His law, that He might have them under His control\nand power, to work out His purpose of making them holy. This He could\nnot do until He had them apart, and had wakened in them the\nconsciousness that they were His peculiar people, wholly and only His,\nuntil He had so taught them also to separate themselves to Him.\nSeparation is essential to holiness.\n\nThe institution of the Nazarite will confirm this, and will also bring\nout very clearly what separation means. Israel was meant to be a holy\nnation. Its holiness was specially typified in its priests. With regard\nto the individual Israelite, we nowhere read in the books of Moses of\nhis being holy. But there were ordinances through which the Israelite,\nwho would fain prove his desire to be entirely holy, could do so. He\nmight separate himself from the ordinary life of the nation around him,\nand live the life of a Nazarite, a separated one. This separation was\naccepted, in those days of shadow and type, as holiness. 'All the days\nof his separation he is holy unto the Lord.'\n\nThe separation consisted specially in three things--temperance, in\nabstinence from the fruit of the vine; humiliation, in not cutting or\nshaving his hair ('it is a shame for a man if he have long hair');\nself-sacrifice, in not defiling himself for even father or mother, on\ntheir death. What we must specially note is that the separation was not\nfrom things unlawful, but things lawful. There was nothing sinful in\nitself in Abraham living in his father's house, or in Israel dwelling in\nEgypt. It is in giving up, not only what can be proved to be sin, but\nall that may hinder the full intensity of our surrender into God's hands\nto make us holy, that the spirit of separation is manifested.\n\nLet us learn the lessons this truth suggests. We must know _the need_\nfor separation. It is no arbitrary demand of God, but has its ground in\nthe very nature of things. To separate a thing is to set it free for one\nspecial use or purpose, that it may with undivided power fulfil the will\nof him who chose it, and so realize its destiny. It is the principle\nthat lies at the root of all division of labour; complete separation to\none branch of study or labour is the way to success and perfection. I\nhave before me an oak forest with the trees all shooting up straight and\nclose to each other. On the outskirts there is one tree separated from\nhis fellows; its heavy trunk and wide-spreading branches prove how its\nbeing separated, and having a large piece of ground separated to its own\nuse, over which roots and branches can spread, is the secret of growth\nand greatness. Our human powers are limited; if God is to take full\npossession, if we are fully to enjoy Him, separation to Him is nothing\nbut the simple, natural, indispensable requisite. God wants us all to\nHimself, that He may give Himself all to us.\n\nWe must know the _purpose_ of separation. It is to be found in what God\nhas said, 'Ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have\nseparated you from the people, that ye should be MINE.' God has\nseparated us _for Himself_ in the deepest sense of the word; that He\nmight enter into us, and show forth Himself in us. His holiness is the\nsum and the centre of all His perfections; it is that He may make us\nholy like Himself that He has separated us. Separation never has any\nvalue in itself; it may become most wrong or hurtful; everything depends\nupon the object proposed. It is as God gets and takes full possession of\nus, as the eternal life in Christ has the mastery of our whole being, as\nthe Holy Spirit flows fully and freely through us, so that we dwell in\nGod, and God in us, that separation will be, not a thing of ordinances\nand observances, but a spiritual reality. And it is as this purpose of\nGod is seen and accepted and followed after, that difficult questions as\nto what we must be separated from, and how much sacrifice separation\ndemands, will find an easy answer. God separates from all that does not\nlead us into His holiness and fellowship.\n\nWe need, above all, to know _the power_ of separation, the power that\nleads us into it in the spirit of desire and of joy, of liberty and of\nlove. The great separating word in human language is the word _Mine_. In\nthis we have the great spring of effort and of happiness: in the child\nwith its toys, in labour with its gains and rewards, in the patriot who\ndies for his country, it is this _Mine_ that lays its hand on what it\nsets apart from all else. It is the great word that love uses. Be it the\nchild that says to its mother, My own mamma, and calls forth the\nresponse, My own child; the bridegroom who draws the daughter from her\nbeloved home and parents to become his; or the Holy God who speaks: 'I\nhave separated you from the people, that ye should be _Mine_;' it is\nalways with that _Mine_ that love exerts its mighty power, and draws\nfrom all else to itself. God Himself knows no mightier argument, can put\nforth no more powerful attraction than this, 'that ye should be _Mine_.'\nAnd the power of separation will come to us, and work in us, just as we\nyield ourselves to study and realize that holy purpose, to listen to and\nappropriate that wondrous _Mine_, to be apprehended and possessed of\nthat Almighty Love.\n\nLet us study step by step the wondrous path in which Divine Love does it\nseparating work. In redemption it prepares the way. Israel is separated\nfrom Egypt by the blood of the Lamb and the guiding pillar of fire. In\nits command, 'Come out and be separate,' it wakens man to action; in its\npromises, 'I will be your God,' it stirs desire and strengthens faith.\nIn all the holy saints and servants of God, and at last in Him who was\nholy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, it points the way. In\nthe power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, it seals the\nseparation by the Presence of the Indwelling God. This is indeed the\npower of separation. _The separating power of the Presence of God_; this\nit is we need to know. 'Wherein now shall it be known that I have found\ngrace in Thy sight, I and Thy people?' said Moses: 'is it not in _that\nThou goest with us_? _so_ shall we be _separated_, I and Thy people,\nfrom all the people that are upon the face of the earth.' It is the\nconsciousness of God's Indwelling Presence, making and keeping us His\nvery own, that works the true separateness from the world and its\nspirit, from ourselves and our own will. And it is as this separation is\naccepted and prized and persevered in by us, that the holiness of God\nwill enter in and take possession. And we shall realize that to be the\nLord's property, a people of His own, is infinitely more than merely to\nbe accounted or acknowledged as His, that it means nothing less than\nthat God, in the power and indwelling of the Holy Ghost, fills our\nbeing, our affections, and our will with His own life and holiness. He\nseparates us for Himself, and sanctifies us to be His dwelling. He comes\nHimself to take personal possession by the indwelling of Christ in the\nheart. And we are then truly separate, and kept separate, by the\npresence of God within us.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO my God! who hast separated me for Thyself, I beseech Thee, by Thy\nmighty power, to make this Divine separation deed and truth to me. May\nwithin, in the depths of my own spirit, and without, in all my\nintercourse, the crown of separation of my God be upon me.\n\nI pray Thee especially, O my God, to perfect in power the separation\nfrom self! Let Thy Presence in the indwelling of my Lord Jesus be the\npower that banishes self from the throne. I have turned from it with\nabhorrence; oh, my Father, reveal Thy Son fully in me! it is His\nenthronement in my heart can keep me as Thy own, as Himself takes the\nplace of myself.\n\nAnd give me grace, Lord, in my outward life to wait for a Divine wisdom,\nthat I may know to witness, for Thy glory and for what Thy people need,\nto the blessedness of an entire giving up of everything for God, a\nseparation that holds back nothing, to be His and His alone.\n\nHoly Lord God! visit Thy people. Oh, withdraw Thou them from the world\nand conformity to it. Separate, Lord, separate Thine own for Thyself.\nSeparate, Lord, the wheat from the chaff; separate, as by fire, the gold\nfrom the dross; that it may be seen who are the Lord's, even His holy\nones. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Love separates effectually. With what jealousy a husband claims\n     his wife, a mother her children, a miser his possessions! Pray that\n     the Holy Spirit may show how God brought you to Himself, that you\n     should be His. 'He is a holy God; He is a Jealous God.' God's love\n     shed abroad in the heart makes separation easy.\n\n  2. Death separates effectually. If I reckon myself to be indeed\n     dead in Christ, I am separated from self by the power of Christ's\n     death. Life separates still more mightily. As I say, 'Not I, but\n     Christ liveth in me,' I am lifted up out of the life of self.\n\n  3. Separation must be manifest; it is meant as a witness to others\n     and ourselves; it must find expression in the external, if\n     internally it is to be real and strong. It is the characteristic of\n     a symbolic action that it not merely expresses a feeling, but\n     nourishes and strengthens the feeling to which it corresponds. When\n     the soul enters the fellowship of God, it feels the need of\n     external separation, sometimes even from what appears to others\n     harmless. If animated by the spirit of lowly consecration to God,\n     the external may be a great strengthening of the true separateness.\n\n  4. Separation to God and appropriation by Him go together. This has\n     been the blessing that has come to martyrs, confessors,\n     missionaries,--all who have given distinct expression to the\n     forsaking all.\n\n  5. Separation begins in love, and ends in love. The spirit of\n     separation is the spirit of self-sacrifice, of surrender to the\n     love of God; the truly separate one will be the most loving and\n     love-winning, given up to serve God and man. Is not what separates,\n     what distinguishes Jesus from all others, His self-sacrificing\n     love? This is His separateness, in which we are to be made like\n     Him.\n\n  6. God's holiness is His separateness; let us enter into _His_\n     separateness from the world; that will be our holiness. Unite\n     thyself to God. Then art thou separate and holy. God separates for\n     Himself, not by an act from without, but as His Will and Presence\n     take possession of us.\n\n\n    [3] See Note B.\n\n\n\n\nEleventh Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Holy One of Israel.\n\n  'I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be\n  _your God_; ye shall therefore _be holy_, for _I am holy_. I the\n  Lord which _make you holy, am holy_.'--Lev. xi. 45, xxi. 8.\n\n  'I am the Lord Thy God, _the Holy One of Israel_, Thy Saviour.\n  Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, _the Holy One of Israel_: I am\n  the Lord, _your Holy One_, the Creator of Israel, your\n  King.'--Isa. xliii. 3, 14, 15.\n\n\nIn the book of Exodus we found God making provision for the Holiness of\nHis people. In the holy times and holy places, holy persons, holy\nthings, and holy services, He had taught His people that everything\naround Him, that all that would come near Him, must be holy. He would\nonly dwell in the midst of holiness; His people must be a holy people.\nBut there is no direct mention of God Himself as holy. In the book of\nLeviticus we are led on a step further. Here first we have God speaking\nof His own holiness, and making it the plea for the holiness of His\npeople, as well as its pledge and power. Without this the revelation of\nholiness were incomplete, and the call to holiness powerless. True\nholiness will come to us as we learn that God Himself alone is holy. It\nis He alone makes holy; it is as we come to Himself, and in obedience\nand love are linked to Himself, that His Holiness can rest on us.[4]\n\nFrom the books of Moses onwards we shall find that the name of God as\nholy is found but seldom in the inspired writings, until we come to\nIsaiah, the evangelist prophet. There it occurs twenty-six times, and\nhas its true meaning opened up in the way in which it is linked with the\nname of Saviour and Redeemer. The sentiments of joy and trust and\npraise, with which a redeemed people would look upon their Deliverer,\nare all mentioned in connection with the name of the Holy One. 'Cry\naloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is _the Holy One of\nIsrael_ in the midst of thee.' 'The poor among men shall rejoice in _the\nHoly One of Israel_.' 'Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory\nin _the Holy One of Israel_.' In Paradise we saw that God the Creator\nwas God the Sanctifier, perfecting the work of His hands. In Israel we\nsaw that God the Redeemer was ever God the Sanctifier, making holy the\npeople He had chosen for Himself. Here in Isaiah we see how it is God\nthe Sanctifier, the Holy One, who is to bring about the great redemption\nof the New Testament: as the Holy One, He is the Redeemer. God redeems\nbecause He is holy, and loves to make holy: Holiness will be Redemption\nperfected. Redemption and Holiness together are to be found in the\npersonal relation to God. The key to the secret of holiness is offered\nto each believer in that word: 'Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the\nHoly One of Israel: I am the Lord, your Holy One.' To come near, to\nknow, to possess the Holy One, and be possessed of Him, is Holiness.\n\nIf God's Holiness is thus the only hope for ours, it is right that we\nseek to know what that Holiness is. And though we may find it indeed to\nbe something that passeth knowledge, it will not be in vain to gather up\nwhat has been revealed in the Word concerning it. Let us do so in the\nspirit of holy fear and worship, trusting to the Holy Spirit to be our\nteacher.\n\nAnd let us first notice how this Holiness of God, though it is often\nmentioned as one of the Divine attributes, can hardly be counted such,\non a level with the others. The other attributes all refer to some\nspecial aspect or characteristic of the Divine Nature; Holiness appears\nto express what is the very essence or perfection of the Divine Being\nHimself. None of the attributes can be predicated of all that belongs to\nGod; but Scripture speaks of His Holy Name, His Holy Day, His Holy\nHabitation, His Holy Word. In the word Holy we have the nearest possible\napproach to a summary of all the Divine perfections, the description of\nwhat Divinity is. We speak of the other attributes as Divine\nperfections, but in this we have the only human expression for the\nDivine Perfection itself. It is for this reason that theologians have\nfound such difficulty in framing a definition that can express all the\nword means.[5]\n\nThe original Hebrew word, whether derived from a root signifying to\nseparate, or another with the idea of shining, expressed the idea of\nsomething distinguished from others, separate from them by superior\nexcellence. God is Separate and different from all that is created,\nkeeps Himself separate from all that is not God; as the Holy One He\nmaintains His Divine glory and perfection against whatever might\ninterfere with it: 'There is none holy, but the Lord;' 'To whom will you\nliken me? or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.' As Holy, God is\nindeed the Incomparable One; Holiness is His alone; there is nothing\nlike it in heaven or earth, except when He gives it. And so our holiness\nwill consist, not in a human separation in which we attempt to imitate\nGod's,--no, but in entering into His separateness; belonging entirely to\nHim; set apart by Him and for Himself.\n\nClosely connected with this is the idea of Exaltation: 'Thus saith the\nHigh and Holy One, whose name is Holy.' It was the Holy One who was seen\nsitting upon a throne high and lifted up, the object of the worship of\nthe seraphim. In Psalm xcix. God's Holiness is specially spoken of in\nconnection with His exaltation. For this reason, too, His Holiness is so\noften connected with His Glory and Majesty (see 'Sixth Day'). And here\nour holiness will be seen to be nothing but the poverty and humility\nwhich comes when 'the loftiness of man is brought low, and the Lord\nalone is exalted.'\n\nIf we inquire more closely wherein the infinite excellence of this\nSeparateness and Exaltation consists, we are led to think of the Divine\nPurity, and that not only in its negative aspect--as hatred of sin--but\nwith the more positive element of perfect beauty. Because we are\nsinners, and the revelation of God's Holiness is in a world of sin, it\nis natural, it is right and meet, that the first, that the abiding\nimpression of God's Holiness should be that of an Infinite Purity that\ncannot look upon sin, in whose Presence it becomes the sinner to hide\nhis face and tremble. The Righteousness of God, forbidding and\ncondemning and punishing sin, has its root in His Holiness, is one of\nits two elements--the devouring and destroying power of the consuming\nfire. 'God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness' (Isa. v. 16); in\nrighteousness the Holiness of the Holy One is maintained and revealed.\nBut Light not only discovers what is impure, that it may be purified,\nbut is in itself a thing of infinite beauty. And so some of our holiest\nmen have not hesitated to speak of God's Holiness as the infinite\nPulchritude or Beauty of the Divine Being, the Perfect Purity and Beauty\nof that Light in which God dwelleth. And if the Holiness of God is to\nbecome ours, to rest upon us, and enter into us, there must be, without\nceasing, the holy fear that trembles at the thought of grieving the\ninfinite sensitiveness of this Holy One by our sins, and yet side by\nside, and in perfect harmony with it, the deep longing to behold the\nBeauty of the Lord, an admiration of its Divine glory, and a joyful\nsurrender to be His alone.\n\nWe must go one step further. When God says, 'I am holy: _I make holy_,'\nwe see that one of the chief elements of His Holiness is this, that it\nseeks to communicate itself, to make partaker of its own perfection and\nblessedness. This is nought but Love. In the wonderful revelation in\nIsaiah of what the Holy One is to His people, we must beware of\nmisreading God's precious Word. It is not said, that _though_ God is the\nHoly One, and hates sin, and ought to punish and destroy, that\nnotwithstanding this He will save. By no means. But we are taught that\n_as_ the Holy One, _just because_ He is the Holy One, who delights to\nmake holy, He will be the Deliverer of His people. (See Hos. xi. 9.) It\nis Holiness above everything else that we are invited to look to, to\ntrust in, to rejoice in. The Holy One is the Holy-making One: He redeems\nand saves that He may win our confidence for Himself, that He may draw\nus to Himself as the Holy One, that in the personal attachment to\nHimself we may learn to obey, to become of one mind with Him, to be holy\nas He is holy.\n\nThe Divine Holiness is thus that infinite Perfection of Divinity in\nwhich Righteousness and Love are in perfect harmony, out of which they\nproceed, and which together they reveal. It is that Energy of the Divine\nlife in the power of which God not only keeps Himself free from all\ncreature weakness or sin, but unceasingly seeks to lift the creature\ninto union with Himself and the full participation of His own purity and\nperfection. The glory of God as God, as the God of Creation and\nRedemption, is His Holiness. It is in this that the Separateness and\nExaltation of God, even above all thought of man, really consists. 'God\nis Light;' in His infinite Purity He reveals all darkness, and yet has\nno fellowship with it. He judges and condemns it; He saves out of it,\nand lifts up into the fellowship of His own purity and blessedness. This\nis the Holy One of Israel.\n\nIt is this God who speaks to us, 'I am the Lord your God: I am holy: I\nmake holy.' It is in the adoring contemplation of His Holiness, in the\ntrustful surrender to it, in the loving fellowship with Himself, the\nHoly One, that we can be made holy. My brother! would you be holy?\nlisten again, and let, in the deep silence of trust, God's words sink\ninto your heart--'Your Holy One.' Come to Himself and claim Him as your\nGod, and claim all that He, as the Holy One who makes holy, can do for\nyou. Just remember that Holiness is Himself. Come to _Him_; worship\n_Him_; give _Him_ the glory. Seek not, even from Him, holiness in\nyourself; let self be abased, and be content that the Holiness is His.\nAs _His_ presence fills your heart, as _His_ Holiness and Glory are your\none desire, as _His_ holy Will and Love are your delight,--as the Holy\nOne becomes all in all to you,--you will be holy with the holiness He\nloves to see. And as, to the end, you see nothing to admire in self, and\nonly Beauty in Him, you will know that He has laid of His glory on you;\nand your holiness will be found in the song, There is none holy, but the\nLord.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO God! we have again heard the wonderful revelation of Thyself, 'I am\nholy.' And as we felt how infinitely exalted above all our conceptions\nThy Holiness is, we heard Thy call, almost still more wonderful, 'Be ye\nholy, as I am holy.' And as every thought of how we were to be holy, as\nThou art holy, failed us, we heard Thy voice once again, in this most\nwonderful word of all, 'I make you holy.' I am 'your Holy One.'\n\nMost Holy God! we do beseech Thee, give us in some due measure to\nrealize how unholy we are, and so to take the place that becomes us in\nThy presence. Oh that the sinfulness of our nature, and all that is of\nself, may be so discovered to us, that it may be no longer possible to\nlive in it! May the Light that reveals this, reveal too, how Thy\nHoliness is our only hope, our sure refuge, our complete deliverance.\nO Lord! speak into our souls the word, 'The Holy One, your Redeemer,'\n'Your Holy One,' with such power by Thy Spirit, that our faith may grow\ninto the assured confidence that we can be holy as Thou art holy.\n\nHoly Lord God! we wait for Thee. Reveal Thyself in power within us, and\nfit us to be the messengers of Thy Holiness, to tell Thy people how holy\nThou art, and how holy we must be, and how holy Thou dost make us. Amen.\n\n\n  1. This Holy One is God Almighty. Before He revealed Himself to\n     Israel as the Holy One, He made Himself known to Abraham as the\n     Almighty, 'who quickeneth the dead.' In all your dealings with\n     God for holiness, remember He is the Almighty One, who can do\n     wonders in you. Say often, 'Glory to Him who is mighty to do\n     exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.'\n\n  2. This Holy One is the Righteous God, a consuming fire. Cast\n     yourself into it, that all that is sinful may be destroyed. As\n     you lay yourself upon the altar, expect the fire. 'And yield\n     your members unto God as instruments of Righteousness.'\n\n  3. This Holy One is the God of Love. He is your Father; yield\n     yourself to let the Holy Spirit cry in you, Abba Father! that\n     is, to let Him shed abroad and fill your heart with God's\n     father-love. God's Holiness is His fatherliness; our holiness\n     is childlikeness. Be simple, loving, trustful.\n\n  4. This Holy One is God. Let Him be God to you; ruling all,\n     filling all, working all. Worship Him, come near to Him, live\n     with and in and for Him: He will be your holiness.\n\n\n    [4] 'I am the Lord your God; ye shall therefore _make holy_\n        yourselves, and _be holy, for I am holy_' (Lev. xi. 44).\n\n        'I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to\n        be your God: ye shall therefore _be holy, for I am holy_'\n        (Lev. xi. 45).\n\n        'Ye shall _be holy_, for _I the Lord your God am holy_'\n        (Lev. xix. 2).\n\n        '_Make holy_ yourselves therefore, and _be ye holy_, for I am\n        the Lord your God; ye shall keep my statutes and do them: I am\n        the Lord which _make you holy_' (Lev. xx. 7, 8).\n\n        'Ye shall _be holy_ unto me, for _I the Lord am holy_, and have\n        separated you from other people, that ye should be mine'\n        (Lev. xx. 26).\n\n        'The priest shall be _holy_ unto thee, for _I the Lord which\n        make you holy, am holy_' (Lev. xxi. 8).\n\n        'I will be _hallowed_ among the children of Israel; I am the\n        Lord _which make you holy_' (Lev. xxii. 32).\n\n        'I am the Lord _which make them holy_' (Lev. xxi. 15, 23;\n        xxii. 9, 16).\n\n    [5] See Note C for some account of the different definitions that\n        have been given.\n\n\n\n\nTwelfth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Thrice Holy One.\n\n  'I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. Above Him\n  stood the seraphim. And one cried to another, and said, _Holy,\n  holy, holy_ is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His\n  glory.'--Isa. vi. 1-3.\n\n  'And the four living creatures, they have no rest day and night,\n  saying, _Holy, holy, holy_ is the Lord God, the Almighty, which\n  was, and which is, and which is to come.'--Rev. iv. 8.\n\n\nIt is not only on earth, but in heaven too, that the Holiness of God is\nHis chief and most glorious attribute. It is not only on earth, but in\nheaven too, that the highest inspiration of adoration and praise makes\nmention of His Holiness. The brightest of living beings, they who are\never before and around and above the throne, find their glory in adoring\nand proclaiming the Holiness of God: surely there can be for us no\nhigher honour than to study and to know, to worship and adore, to\nproclaim and show forth the glory of the Thrice Holy One.\n\nAfter Moses, as we know, Isaiah was the chief messenger of the Holiness\nof God. Each had a special preparation for his commission to make known\nthe Holy One. Moses saw the Holy One in the fire, and hid his face and\nfeared to look upon God, and so was prepared for being His messenger,\nand for praising Him as 'glorious in holiness.' Isaiah, as he heard the\nsong of the seraphim, and saw the fire on the altar, and the house\nfilled with the smoke, cried out, 'Woe is me.' It was not till, in the\ndeep sense of the need of cleansing, he had received the touch of the\nfire and the purging of his sin, that he might bear to Israel the Gospel\nof the Holy One as its Redeemer. May it be in the spirit of fear and\nlowly worship that we listen to the song of the seraphim, and seek to\nknow and worship the Thrice Holy One. And may ours too be the cleansing\nwith the fire, that we may be found fit to tell God's people that He is\nthe Holy One of Israel, their Redeemer.\n\nThe threefold repetition of the HOLY has at all times by the Church of\nChrist been connected with the Holy Trinity. The song of the living\ncreatures around the throne (Rev. iv.) is evidence of the truth of this\nthought. We there find it followed by the adoration of Him who was, and\nis, and is to come, the Almighty: the Eternal Source, the present\nmanifestation in the Son, the future perfecting of the revelation of God\nin the Spirit's work in His Church. The truth of the Holy Trinity is\noften regarded as an abstract doctrine, with little direct bearing on\npractical life. So far is this from being the case, that a living faith\nmust root in it: some spiritual insight into the relation and the\noperation of each of the Three, and the reality of their living Oneness,\nis an essential element of true growth in knowledge and spiritual\nunderstanding.[6] Let us here regard the Trinity specially in its\nrelation to God's Holiness and as the source of ours. What does it mean\nthat we adore the Thrice Holy One? God is not only holy, but makes holy:\nin the revelation of the Three Persons we have the revelation of the way\nin which God makes holy.\n\nThe Trinity teaches us that God has revealed Himself in two ways. The\nSon is _the Form of God_, His manifestation as He shows Himself to man,\nthe Image in which His unseen glory is embodied, and to which man is to\nbe conformed. The Spirit is _the Power of God_, working in man, and\nleading him up to that Image. In Jesus, He who had been in the form of\nGod took the form of man; and the Divine Holiness was literally\nmanifested in the form of a human life and the members of a human body.\nA new holy human nature was formed in Christ, to be communicated to us.\nIn His death His own personal holiness was perfected as human obedience,\nand so the power of sin conquered and broken. Therefore in the\nresurrection, through the Spirit of Holiness, He was declared to be the\nSon of God with power to impart His life to us. There the Spirit of\nHoliness was set free from the veil of the flesh, the trammels that\nhindered it, and obtained power to enter and dwell in man. The Holy\nSpirit was poured out as the fruit of Resurrection and Ascension. And\nthe Spirit is now the Power of God in us, working upwards towards\nChrist, to reproduce His life and Holiness in us, to fit us for fully\nreceiving and showing forth Him in our lives. Christ from above comes to\nus as the embodiment of the Unseen Holiness of God: the Spirit from\nwithin lifts us up to meet Him, and fits us to receive and make our own\nall that is in Him.\n\nThe Triune God whom we adore is the Thrice Holy One: the mystery of the\nTrinity is the mystery of Holiness: the Glory and the Power of the\nTrinity is the Glory and Power of God who makes us holy. There is God\ndwelling in light inaccessible, a consuming fire of Holy Love,\ndestroying all that resists, glorifying into its own purity all that\nyields. There is the Son, casting Himself into that consuming fire,\nwhether in its eternal blessedness in heaven, or its angry wrath on\nearth, a willing sacrifice, to be its food and its satisfaction, as\nwell as the revelation of its power to destroy and to save. And there is\nthe Spirit of Holiness, the flames of that mighty fire spreading on\nevery side, convicting and judging as the Spirit of Burning, and then\ntransforming into its own brightness and holiness all that it can reach.\nAll the relations of the Three Persons to each other and to us have\ntheir root and their meaning in the revelation of God as the Holy One.\nAs we know and partake of Him, we shall know and partake of Holiness.\n\nAnd how shall we know Him? Let us learn to know the Holiness of God as\nthe seraphs do: in the worship of the Thrice Holy One. Let us with\nveiled faces join in the ceaseless song of adoration: 'Holy, holy, holy\nis the Lord of hosts.' Each time we meditate on the Word, each prayer to\nthe Holy God, each act of faith in Christ the Holy One, each exercise of\nwaiting dependence on the Holy Spirit, let it be in the spirit of\nworship: Holy, holy, holy. Let us learn to know the Holiness of God as\nIsaiah did. He was to be the chosen messenger to reveal and interpret to\nthe people the name, the Holy One of Israel. His preparation was the\nvision that made him cry out, 'Woe is me! for mine eyes have seen the\nKing, the Lord of hosts.' Let us bow in silence before the Holy One,\nuntil our comeliness too be turned into corruption. And then let us\nbelieve in the cleansing fire from the altar, the touch of the live\ncoals of the burning holiness, which not only consumes, but purges lips\nand heart to say, 'Here am I, send me.' Yes, let us worship, whether\nlike the adoring seraphim, or like the trembling prophet, until we know\nthat our service too is accepted, to tell forth the praise of the Thrice\nHoly One.\n\nHoly, holy, holy: if we are indeed to be the messengers of the Holy One,\nlet us seek to enter fully into what this Thrice Holy means. HOLY, the\nFather, _God above us_, High and Lifted up, whom no man hath seen or can\nsee, whose Holiness none dare approach, but who doth Himself in His\nHoliness draw nigh to make holy. HOLY, the Son, _God with us_, revealing\nDivine Holiness in human life, maintaining it amid the suffering of\ndeath for us, and preparing a holy life and nature for His people. HOLY,\nthe Spirit, _God in us_, the Power of Holiness within us, reaching out\nto and embracing Christ, and transforming our inner life into the union\nand communion of Him in whom we are holy. Holy, holy, holy! it is all\nholiness. It is only holiness--perfect holiness. This is Divine\nholiness: holiness hidden and unapproachable; holiness manifested and\nmaintained in human nature; holiness communicated and made our very own.\n\nThe mystery of the Holy Trinity is the mystery of the Christian life,\nthe mystery of Holiness. The Three are One, and we need to enter ever\nmore deeply into the truth that neither of the Three ever works separate\nor independent of the other. The Son reveals the Father, and the Father\nreveals the Son. The Father gives not Himself, but the Spirit: the\nSpirit speaks not of Himself, but cries Abba Father! The Son is our\nSanctification, our Life, our All: the fulness is in Him. And yet we\nhave ever to bow our knees to the Father for Him to reveal Christ in us,\nfor Him to establish us in Christ. And the Father does not this without\nthe Spirit: so that we have to ask to be strengthened mightily by the\nSpirit, that Christ may dwell in us. Christ gives the Spirit to them\nthat believe and love and obey; the Spirit again gives Christ, formed\nwithin and dwelling in the heart. And so in each act of worship, and\neach step of growth, and each blessed experience of grace, all the Three\nPersons are actively engaged: the One is ever Three, the Three are ever\nOne.\n\nWould you apply this in the life of holiness, let faith in the Holy\nTrinity be a living practical reality. In every prayer to _the Father_\nto sanctify you, take up your position _in Christ_, and do it in the\npower of _the Spirit within you_. In every exercise of faith _in Christ_\nas your Sanctification, let your posture be that of prayer to _the\nFather_ and trust in Him as He delights to honour the Son, and of quiet\nexpectancy of _the Spirit's_ working, through whom the Father glorifies\nthe Son. In every surrender of the soul to the sanctification of _the\nSpirit_, to His leading as the Spirit of Holiness, look to _the Father_\nwho grants His mighty working, and who sanctifies through faith in _the\nSon_, and expect the Spirit's power to manifest itself in showing the\nwill of God, and Jesus as your Sanctification. If for a time this\nappears at variance with the simplicity of childlike faith and prayer,\nbe assured that as God has thus revealed Himself, He will teach you so\nto worship and believe. And so the Holy, holy, holy will become the deep\nundertone of all our worship and all our life.\n\nChildren of God! called to be holy as He is holy, oh, come let us bow\ndown and worship in His holy presence! Come and veil the face: withdraw\neye and mind from gazing on what passes knowledge, and let the soul be\ngathered into that inner stillness, in which the worship of the heavenly\nSanctuary alone can be heard. Come and cover the feet: withdraw from the\nrush of work and haste, be it worldly or religious, and learn to\nworship. Come, and as you fall down in self-abasement, the glory of the\nHoly One will shine upon you. And as you hear and take up and sing the\nsong, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, you will find how in such knowledge and worship\nof the Thrice Holy One is the power that makes you holy.\n\n  BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nHoly, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty! which wast, and art, and art to\ncome! I worship Thee as the Triune God. With face veiled and feet\ncovered, I would bow in deep humility and silence, till Thy mercy lift\nme as on eagles' wings to behold Thy glory.\n\nMost merciful God! who hast called me to be holy as Thou art holy, oh,\nreveal to me somewhat of Thy Holiness! As it shines upon me and strikes\ndeath into the creature and the flesh, may even the most involuntary\ntaint of sin, and its slightest movement, become unbearable. As it\nshines and revives the hope of being partaker of Thy Holiness, may the\nconfidence grow strong that Thou Thyself art making me holy, wilt even\nmake me a messenger of Thy Holiness.\n\nThrice Holy God! I worship Thee as my God. HOLY! THE FATHER; holy and\nmaking holy; making holy His own Son and sending Him into the world,\nthat we might behold the very glory of God in a human face, the face of\nJesus Christ. HOLY! THE SON; the Holy One of God, fulfilling the will of\nthe Father, and so making holy Himself that He might be our holiness.\nHOLY! THE SPIRIT; the Spirit of Holiness, dwelling within us, making the\nSon and His Holiness our own, and so making us partakers of the Holiness\nof God. O my God! I bow down, and worship, and adore.\n\nMay even now the worship of heaven that rests not day or night be the\nworship my soul renders Thee without ceasing. May its song be, down in\nthe depths of the heart, the keynote of my life: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Lord\nGod Almighty! which wast, and art, and art to come. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Thought always needs to distinguish and separate: in life\n     alone there is perfect unity. The more we know the living God,\n     the more we shall realize how truly the Three are One. In each\n     act of One Person the other Two are present. There is not a\n     prayer rises but the Presence of the Holy Three is needed\n     through Christ, in the Spirit, we speak to the Father.\n\n  2. In faith to apprehend this is to have the secret of holiness.\n     The Holy God above us, ever giving and working; the Holy One of\n     God, the living gift, who has possession of us, in whom we are;\n     the Holy Spirit, God within us, through whom the Father works,\n     and the Son is revealed: this is the God who says, I am holy, I\n     make holy. In the perfect unity of the work of the Three,\n     holiness is found.\n\n  3. No wonder that the love of the Father and the grace of the\n     Son do not accomplish more, when the fellowship of the Holy\n     Spirit is little understood or sought or accepted. The Holy\n     Spirit is the fruit and crown of the Divine Revelation, through\n     whom the Son and the Father come to us. If you would know God,\n     if you would be holy, you must be taught and led of the Spirit.\n\n  4. As often as you worship the Thrice Holy One, hearken if no\n     voice be heard: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Let\n     the answer rise, Here am I, send me, and offer yourself to be\n     _a messenger of the holiness of God_ to those around you.\n\n  5. When in meditation and worship you have sought to take in and\n     express what God's word has taught, then comes the time for\n     confessing how you know nothing, and for waiting on God _to\n     reveal Himself_.\n\n\n    [6] The Divine necessity and meaning of the doctrine of the Trinity\n        is seen from the counterpart we have of it in nature. In every\n        living object that exists we distinguish first _the life_, then\n        _the form_ or _shape_ in which that life manifests itself, then\n        _the power_ or _effect_ as seen in the result which the life\n        acting in its form or manifestation produces. And so we have God\n        as the Unseen One, the Fountain of life; the Son as the Form or\n        Image of God, the manifestation of the Unseen Life; and the Holy\n        Spirit as the Power of that life proceeding from the Father and\n        the Son, and working out the purpose of God's will in the\n        Church. Applying this thought to God as the Holy One, we shall\n        understand better the place of the Son and the Spirit as they\n        bring to us the Holiness of God.\n\n\n\n\nThirteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Humility.\n\n  'Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose\n  name is _Holy_: I dwell in the High and _Holy_ place, with him\n  that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of\n  the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'--Isa.\n  lvii. 15.\n\n\nVery wonderful is the revelation we have in Isaiah of God, the Holy One,\nas the Redeemer and the Saviour of His people. In the midst of the\npeople whom He created and formed for Himself, He will as the Holy One\ndwell, showing forth His power and His glory, filling them with joy and\ngladness. All these promises have, however, reference to the people as a\nwhole. Our text to-day reveals a new and specially beautiful feature of\nthe Divine Holiness in its relation to the individual. The High and\nLofty One, whose name is Holy, and whose only fit dwelling-place is\neternity, He looks to the man who is of a humble and contrite heart;\nwith him will He dwell. God's Holiness is His condescending Love. As it\nis a consuming fire against all who exalt themselves before Him, it is\nto the spirit of the humble like the shining of the sun, heart-reviving\nand life-giving.\n\nThe deep significance of this promise comes out clearly when we connect\nit with the other promises of New Testament times. The great feature of\nthe New Covenant, in its superiority to the old, is this, that whereas\nin the law and its institution all was external, in the New the kingdom\nof God would be within. God's laws given and written into the heart, a\nnew spirit put within us, God's own Spirit given to dwell within our\nspirit, and so the heart and the inner life fitted to be the temple and\nhome of God; it is this constitutes the peculiar privilege of the\nministration of the Spirit. Our text is perhaps the only one in the Old\nTestament in which this indwelling of the Holy One, not among the people\nonly, but in the heart of the individual believer, is clearly brought\nout. In this the two aspects of the Divine Holiness would reach their\nfull manifestation: I dwell in the High and Holy place, and with him\nalso that is of a contrite and humble spirit. In His heaven above, the\nhigh and lofty place, and in our heart, contrite and humble, God has His\nhome. God's Holiness is His glory that separates Him by an infinite\ndistance, not only from sin, but even from the creature, lifting Him\nhigh above it. God's Holiness is His Love, drawing Him down to the\nsinner, that He may lift him into His fellowship and likeness, and make\nhim holy as He is holy. The Holy One seeks the humble; the humble find\nthe Holy One: such are the two lessons we have to learn to-day.\n\n_The Holy One seeks the humble._ There is nothing that has such an\nattraction for God, that has such affinity with holiness, as a contrite\nand humble spirit. The reason is evident. There is no law in the natural\nand the spiritual world more simple, than that two bodies cannot at the\nsame moment occupy the same space. Only so much as the new occupant can\nexpel of what the space was filled with can it really possess. In man,\nself has possession, and self-will the mastery, and there is no room for\nGod. It is simply impossible for God to dwell or rule when self is on\nthe throne. As long as, through the blinding influence of sin and\nself-love, even the believer is not truly conscious of the extent to\nwhich this self-will reigns, there can be no true contrition or\nhumility. But as it is discovered by God's Spirit, and the soul sees how\nit has just been self that has been secretly keeping out God, with what\nshame it is broken down, and how it longs to break utterly away from\nself, that God may have His place! It is this brokenness, and continued\nbreaking down, that is expressed by the word contrition. And as the soul\nsees what folly and guilt it has been, by its secret honouring of self,\nto keep the Holy One from the place which He alone has a right to, and\nwhich He would so blessedly have filled, it casts itself down in utter\nself-abasement, with the one desire to be nothing, and to give God the\nplace and the praise that is His due.\n\nSuch breaking down and humiliation is painful. Its intense reality\nconsists in this, that the soul can see nothing in itself to trust or\nhope in. And least of all can it imagine that it should be an object of\nDivine complacency, or a fit vessel for the Divine blessing. And yet\njust this is the message which the Word of the Lord brings to our faith.\nIt tells us that the Holy One, who dwells in the High and Lofty place,\nis seeking and preparing for Himself a dwelling here on this earth. It\ntells us, just what the truly contrite and humble never could imagine,\nand even now can hardly believe, that it is even, that it is only, with\nsuch that He will dwell. These are they in whom God can be glorified, in\nwhom there is room for Him to take the place of self and to fill the\nemptied place with Himself. The Holy One seeks the humble. Just when we\nsee that there is nothing in us to admire or rest in, God sees in us\neverything to admire and to rest in, because there is room for Himself.\nThe lowly one is the home of the Holy One.\n\n_The humble find the Holy One._ Just when the consciousness of sin and\nweakness, and the discovery of how much of self there is, makes you fear\nthat you can never be holy, the Holy One gives Himself. Not as you look\nat self, and seek to know whether now you are contrite and humble\nenough--no, but when no longer looking at self, because you have given\nup all hope of seeing anything in it but sin, you look up to the Holy\nOne, you will see how His promise is your only hope. It is in faith\nthat the Holy One is revealed to the contrite soul. Faith is ever the\nopposite of what we see and feel; it looks to God alone. And it believes\nthat in its deepest consciousness of unholiness, and its fear that it\nnever can be holy, God, the Holy One, who makes holy, is near as\nRedeemer and Saviour. And it is content to be low, in the consciousness\nof unworthiness and emptiness, and yet to rejoice in the assurance that\nGod Himself does take possession and revive the heart of the contrite\none. Happy the soul who is willing at once to learn the lesson that, all\nalong, it is going to be the simultaneous experience of weakness and\npower, of emptiness and filling, of deep, real humiliation, and the as\nreal and most wonderful indwelling of the Holy One.\n\nThis is indeed the deep mystery of the Divine life. To human reason it\nis a paradox. When Paul says of himself, 'as dying, and behold we live;\nas sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing\nall things,' he only gives expression to the law of the kingdom, that as\nself is displaced and man becomes nothing, God will become all. Side by\nside with deepest sense of nothingness and weakness, the sense of\ninfinite riches and the joy unspeakable can fill the heart. However deep\nand blessed the experience becomes of the nearness, the blessing, the\nlove, the actual indwelling of the Holy One, it is never an indwelling\nin the old self; it is ever a Divine Presence humbling self to make\nplace for God alone to be exalted. The power of Christ's death, the\nfellowship of His cross, works each moment side by side with the power\nand the joy of His resurrection. 'He that humbleth himself shall be\nexalted;' in the blessed life of faith the humiliation and the\nexaltation are simultaneous, each dependent on the other.\n\nThe humble find the Holy One; and when they have found, the possession\nonly humbles all the more. Not that there is no danger or temptation of\nthe flesh exalting itself in the possession, but, once knowing the\ndanger, the humble soul seeks for grace to fear continually, with a fear\nthat only clings more firmly to God alone. Never for a moment imagine\nthat you attain a state in which self or the flesh are absolutely dead.\nNo; by faith you enter into and abide in a fellowship with Jesus, in\nwhom they are crucified; abiding in Him, you are free from their power,\nbut only as you believe, and, in believing, have gone out of self and\ndwell in Jesus. Therefore, the more abundant God's grace becomes, and\nthe more blessed the indwelling of the Holy One, keep so much the lower.\nYour danger is greater, but your Help is now nearer: be content in\ntrembling to confess the danger, it will make you bold in faith to claim\nthe victory.\n\nBelievers, who profess to be nothing, and to trust in grace alone, I\npray you, do listen to the wondrous message. The High and Lofty One,\nwhose name is Holy, and who dwells in the Holy Place, and who can dwell\nnowhere but in a Holy Place, seeks a dwelling here on earth. Will you\ngive it Him? Will you not fall down in the dust, that He may find in\nyou the humble heart He loves to dwell in? Will you not now believe that\neven in you, however low and broken you feel, He doth delight to make\nHis dwelling? 'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the\nKingdom;' with them the King dwells. Oh, this is the path to holiness!\nbe humble, and the holy nearness and presence of God in you will be your\nholiness. As you hear the command, Be holy, as I am holy, let faith\nclaim the promise, and answer, I will be holy, O Most Holy God! if Thou,\nthe Holy One, wilt dwell with me.\n\n  BE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO Lord! Thou art the High and Lofty One, whose Name is Holy. And yet\nThou speakest, 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is\nof a contrite and humble spirit.' Yes, Lord! when the soul takes the low\nplace, and has low thoughts of itself, that it feels it is nothing, Thou\ndost love to come and comfort, to dwell with it and revive it.\n\nO my God! my creature nothingness humbles me; my many transgressions\nhumble me; my innate sinfulness humbles me; but this humbles me most of\nall, Thine infinite condescension, and the ineffable indwelling Thou\ndost vouchsafe. It is Thy Holiness, in Christ bearing our sin, Thy Holy\nLove bearing with our sin, and consenting to dwell in us; O God! it is\nthis love that passeth knowledge that humbles me. I do beseech Thee, let\nit do its work, until self hides its head and flees away at the presence\nof Thy glory, and Thou alone art all.\n\nHoly Lord God! I pray Thee to humble me. Didst Thou not of old meet Thy\nservants, and show Thyself unto them until they fell upon their faces\nand feared? Thou knowest, my God! I have no humility which I can bring\nThee. In my blessed Saviour, who humbled Himself in the form of a\nservant, and unto the death of the cross, I hide myself. In Him, in His\nspirit and likeness, I would live before Thee. Work Thou it in me, by\nthe Holy Spirit dwelling in me, and as I am dead to self in Him, and His\ncross makes me nothing, let Thy holy indwelling revive and quicken me.\nAmen.\n\n\n  1. Lowliness and holiness. Keep fast hold of the intimate\n     connection. Lowliness is taking the place that becomes me;\n     holiness, giving God the place that becomes Him. If I be\n     nothing before Him, and God be all to me, I am in the sure path\n     of holiness. Lowliness is holiness, because it gives all the\n     glory to God.\n\n  2. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of\n     heaven.' These first words of the Master when He opened His\n     lips to proclaim the Kingdom, are often the last in the hearts\n     of His disciples. 'The Kingdom is in the Holy Ghost:' to the\n     poor in spirit, those who know they have nothing that is really\n     spiritual, the Holy Spirit comes to be their life. The poor in\n     spirit are the Kingdom of the Saints: in them the Holy Spirit\n     reveals the King.\n\n  3. Many strive hard to be humble with God, but with men they\n     maintain their rights, and nourish self. Remember that the\n     great school of humility before God, is to accept the humbling\n     of man. Christ sanctified Himself in accepting the humiliation\n     and injustice which evil men laid upon Him.\n\n  4. Humility never sees its own beauty, because it refuses to look\n     to itself: It only wonders at the condescension of the Holy\n     God, and rejoices in the humility of Jesus, God's Holy One, our\n     Holy One.\n\n  5. The link between holiness and humility is indwelling. The\n     Lofty One, whose name is Holy, _dwells_ with the contrite one.\n     And where He dwells is _the Holy Place_.\n\n\n\n\nFourteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Holy One of God.\n\n  'Therefore also that _holy_ thing which shall be born of thee\n  shall be called the Son of God.'--Luke i. 35.\n\n  'We have believed and know that Thou art _the Holy One of\n  God_.'--John vi. 69.\n\n\n'The holy one of the Lord'--only once (Ps. cvi. 16) the expression is\nfound in the Old Testament. It is spoken of Aaron, in whom holiness, as\nfar as it could then be revealed, had found its most complete\nembodiment. The title waited for its fulfilment in Him who alone, in His\nown person, could perfectly show forth the holiness of God on\nearth--Jesus the Son of the Father. In Him we see holiness, as Divine,\nas human, as our very own.\n\n1. In Him we see wherein that Incomparable Excellence of the Divine\nNature consists. 'Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest iniquity,\ntherefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness\nabove Thy fellows.' God's infinite hatred of sin, and His maintenance of\nthe Right, might appear to have little moral worth, as being a\nnecessity of His nature. In the Son we see Divine Holiness tested. He is\ntried and tempted. He suffers, being tempted. He proves that Holiness\nhas indeed a moral worth: it is ready to make any sacrifice, yea to give\nup life and cease to be, rather than consent to sin. In giving Himself\nto die, rather than yield to the temptation of sin; in giving Himself to\ndie, that the Father's righteous judgment may be honoured; Jesus proved\nhow Righteousness is an element of the Divine Holiness, and how the Holy\nOne is sanctified in Righteousness.\n\nBut this is only one side of Holiness. The fire that consumes also\npurifies: it makes partakers of its own beautiful Light-nature all that\nis capable of assimilation. So Divine Holiness not only maintains its\nown purity; it communicates it too. Herein was Jesus indeed seen to be\nthe Holy One of God, that He never said, 'Stand by, for I am holier than\nthou.' His holiness proved itself to be the very incarnation of Him who\nhad spoken, 'Thus saith the High and Lofty One, whose Name is Holy: I\ndwell in the High and Holy place, and with him who is of a contrite\nspirit.' In Him was seen the affinity holiness has for all that is lost\nand helpless and sinful. He proved that holiness is not only the energy\nwhich in holy anger separates itself from all that is impure, but which\nin holy love separates to itself even what is most sinful, to save and\nto bless. In Him we see how the Divine Holiness is the harmony of\nInfinite Righteousness with Infinite Love.\n\n2. Such is the Divine aspect of the character of Christ, as He shows in\nhuman form what God's Holiness is. But there is another aspect, to us no\nless interesting and important. We not only want to know how God is\nholy, but how man must act to be holy as God is holy. Jesus came to\nteach us that it is possible to be men, and yet to have the life of God\ndwelling in us. We ordinarily think that the glory and the infinite\nPerfection of Deity are the proper setting in which the beauty of\nholiness is to be seen: Jesus proved the perfect adaptation and\nsuitability of human nature for showing forth that which is the\nessential glory of Deity. He showed us how, in choosing and doing the\nwill of God, and making it his own will, man may truly be holy as God is\nholy.\n\nThe value of this aspect of the Incarnation depends upon our realizing\nintensely the true humanity of our Lord. The awful separating and\npurifying process that is ever being carried on in the fiery furnace of\nthe Divine Holiness, ever consuming and ever assimilating, we expect to\nsee in Him in the struggles of a truly human will. Holiness, to be truly\nhuman, must not only be a gift, but an acquirement. Coming from God, it\nmust be accepted and personally appropriated, in the voluntary surrender\nof all that is not in accordance with it. In Jesus, as He distinctly\ngave up His own will, and did and suffered the Father's will, we have\nthe revelation of what human holiness is, and how truly man, through\nthe unity of will, can be holy as God is holy.\n\n3. But what avails that we have seen in Jesus that a man can be holy?\nHis example were indeed a mockery if He show us not the way, and give us\nnot the power, to become like Himself. To bring us this, was indeed the\nsupreme object of the Incarnation. The Divine nature of Christ did not\nsimply make _His_ humanity partaker of its holiness, leaving Him still\nnothing more than an individual man. His Divinity gave the human\nholiness He wrought out, the holy human nature which He perfected, an\ninfinite value and power of communication. With Him a new life, the\nEternal Life, was grafted into the stem of humanity. For all who believe\nin Him, He sanctified Himself, that they themselves might also be\nsanctified in truth. Because His death was the great triumph of His\nobedience to the will of the Father, it broke for ever the dominion of\nsin, it atoned for our guilt, and won for Him from the Father the power\nto make His people partakers of His own life and holiness. In His\nResurrection and Ascension the power of the New Life, and its right to\nuniversal dominion, were made manifest, and He is now in full truth the\nHoly One of God, holding in Himself as Head the power of a Holiness, at\nonce Divine and human, to communicate to every member of His body.\n\nTHE HOLY ONE OF GOD! in a fulness of meaning that passeth knowledge, in\nspirit and in truth, Jesus now bears this title. He is now the One Holy\nOne whom God sees, of such an infinite compass and power of holiness,\nthat He can be holiness to each of His brethren. And even as He is to\nGod the Holy One, in whom He delights, and for whose sake He delights in\nall who are in Him, so Christ may now be to us too the One Holy One in\nwhom we delight, in whom the Holiness of God is become ours. 'We have\nbelieved and know that Thou art _the Holy One of God_,'--blessed they\nwho can say this, and know themselves to be holy in Christ.\n\nIn speaking of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we saw how Christ stands\nmidway between the Father and the Spirit, as the point of union in which\nthey meet. In the Son, 'the very image of His substance' (Heb. i. 3), we\nhave the objective revelation of Deity, the Divine Holiness embodied and\nbrought nigh. In the Holy Spirit we have the same revelation\nsubjectively, _the Divine Holiness entering our inmost being and\nrevealing itself there_. The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and\nglorify Christ as the Holy One of God, as He takes of His Holiness and\nmakes it ours. He shows us how all is in Christ; how Christ is all for\nus; how we are in Christ; and how, as a living Saviour, Christ through\nHis Spirit takes and keeps charge of us and our life of holiness. He\nmakes Christ indeed to be to us _the Holy One of God_.\n\nMy Brother! wouldst thou be holy, wouldst thou know God's way of\nholiness--learn to know Christ as the Holy One of God. Thou art _in\nHim_, 'holy in Christ.' Thou hast been placed, by an act of Divine\nPower, in Christ, and that same Power keeps thee there, planted and\nrooted in that Divine fulness of life and holiness which there is in\nHim. His Holy Presence, and the power of His eternal life, surround\nthee: let the Holy Spirit reveal this to thee. The Holy Spirit is within\nthee as the power of Christ and His life. Secretly, silently, but\nmightily, if thou wilt look to the Father for His working, will He\nstrengthen the faith that thou art in Christ, and that the Divine life,\nwhich thus encircles thee on every side, will enter in and take\npossession of thee. Study and pray to believe and realize that it is in\nChrist as the Holy One of God, in Christ in whom the Holiness of God is\nprepared for thee as a holy nature and holy living, that thou art, and\nthat thou mayest abide.\n\nAnd then remember, also, that this Christ is thy Saviour, the most\npatient and compassionate of teachers. Study holiness in the light of\nHis countenance, looking up into His face. _He came from heaven for the\nvery purpose of making thee holy._ His love and power are more than thy\nslowness and sinfulness. Do learn to think of holiness as the\ninheritance prepared for thee, as the power of a new life which Jesus\nwaits and lives to dispense. Just think of it as all in Him, and of its\npossession as being dependent upon the possession of Himself. And as the\ndisciples, though they scarce understood what they confessed, or knew\nwhither the Lord was leading them, became His saints, His holy ones, in\nvirtue of their intense attachment to Him, so wilt thou find that to\nlove Jesus fervently, and obey Him simply, is the sure path to holiness\nand the fulness of the Holy Spirit.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy Lord God! I do bless Thee that Thy beloved Son, whom Thou\ndidst sanctify and send into the world, is now to us _the Holy One of\nGod_. I beseech Thee that my inner life may so be enlightened by the\nSpirit that I may in faith fully know what this means.\n\nMay I know Him as the revelation of Thy Holiness, the incarnation in\nhuman nature, even unto the death, of Thine infinite and unconquerable\nhatred of sin, as of Thy amazing love to the sinner. May my soul be\nfilled with great fear and trust of Thee.\n\nMay I know Him as the exhibition of the Holiness in which we are now to\nwalk before Thee. He lived in Thy holy will. May I know Him as He\nwrought out that holiness, to be communicated to us in a new human\nnature, making it possible for us to live a holy life.\n\nMay I know Him as Thou hast placed me in Him in heaven, holy in Christ,\nand as I may abide in Him by faith.\n\nMay I know Him, as He dwells in me, the Holy One of God on the throne of\nmy heart, breathing His Holy Spirit and maintaining His holy rule. So\nshall I live holy in Christ.\n\nO my Father! it pleased Thee that in Thy Son should all the fulness\ndwell. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in Him\ndwell the unsearchable riches of grace and holiness. I beseech Thee,\nreveal Him to me, reveal Him in me, that I may not have to satisfy\nmyself with thoughts and desires, without the reality, but that in the\npower of an endless life I may know Him, and be known of Him, the Holy\nOne of God. Amen.\n\n\n  1. In the holiness of Jesus we see what ours must be:\n     righteousness, that hates sin and gives everything to have it\n     destroyed; love, that seeks the sinner and gives everything to\n     have him saved. 'Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of\n     God, neither he that loveth not his brother.'\n\n  2. It is a solemn thought that we may be studying earnestly to\n     know what holiness is, and yet have little of it, because we\n     have little of Jesus. It is a blessed thought that a man may\n     directly be little occupied with the thought of holiness, and\n     yet have much of it, because he is full of Jesus.\n\n  3. We need the whole of what God teaches in His Word in regard\n     to holiness in all its different aspects. We need still more to\n     be ever returning to the living centre where God imparts\n     holiness. Jesus is _the Holy One of God_: to have _Him_ truly,\n     to love _Him_ fervently, to trust and obey _Him_, to be _in\n     Him_--this makes us holy.\n\n  4. Your holiness is thus treasured up in this Divine, Almighty,\n     and most gentle Saviour--surely there need to be no fear that\n     He will not be ready or able to make you holy.\n\n  5. With such a Sanctifier, how comes it that so many seekers\n     after holiness fail so sadly, and know so little of the joy of\n     a holy life?\n\n     I am sure it is with very many this one thing: they seek to\n     grasp and hold this Christ in their own strength, and know not\n     how it is the Holy Spirit within them who must be waited for to\n     reveal this Divine Being, the Holy One of God, in their hearts.\n\n\n\n\nFifteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Holy Spirit.\n\n  'But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him\n  were to receive: for _the Holy Spirit_ was not yet: because Jesus\n  was not yet glorified.'--John vii. 39.\n\n  'The Comforter, even _the Holy Spirit_, whom the Father will send\n  in my name, He shall teach you all things.'--John xiv. 26.\n\n  'God chose you to salvation _in sanctification of the Spirit_, and\n  belief of the truth.'--2 Thess. ii. 13. (See 1 Pet. i. 2.)\n\n\nIt has sometimes been said, that while the Holiness of God stands out\nmore prominently in the Old Testament, in the New it has to give way to\nthe revelation of His love. The remark could hardly be made if it were\nfully realized that the Spirit is God, and that when He takes up the\nepithet Holy as His own proper name, it is to teach us that now the\nHoliness of God is to come nearer than ever, and to be specially\nrevealed as the power that makes us holy. In the Holy Spirit, God the\nHoly One of Israel, and He who was the Holy One of God, come nigh for\nthe fulfilment of the promise, 'I am the Lord that make you holy.' The\nunseen and unapproachable holiness of God had been revealed and brought\nnear in the life of Christ Jesus; all that hindered our participation in\nit had been removed by His death. The name of Holy Spirit teaches us\nthat it is specially the Spirit's work to impart it to us and make it\nour own.\n\nTry and realize the meaning of this; the epithet that through the whole\nOld Testament has belonged to the Holy God, is now appropriated to that\nSpirit which is within you. The Holiness of God in Christ becomes\nholiness _in you_, because this Spirit is in you. The words, and the\nDivine realities the words express, _Holy_ and _Spirit_, are now\ninseparably and eternally united. You can only have as much of the\nSpirit as you are willing to have of holiness. You can only have as much\nholiness as you have of the indwelling Spirit.\n\nThere are some who pray for the Spirit because they long to have His\nlight and joy and strength. And yet their prayers bring little increase\nof blessing or power. It is because they do not rightly know or desire\nHim as the _Holy_ Spirit. His burning purity, His searching and\nconvicting light, His making dead of the deeds of the body, of self with\nits will and its power, His leading into the fellowship of Jesus as He\ngave up His will and His life to the Father,--of all this they have not\nthought. The Spirit cannot work in power in them because they receive\nHim not as the _Holy_ Spirit, in _sanctification_ of the Spirit. At\ntimes, in seasons of revival, as among the Corinthians and Galatians, He\nmay indeed come with His gifts and mighty workings, while His\nsanctifying power is but little manifest. (1 Cor. xiv. 4, xiii. 8, iii.\n1-3; Gal. iii. 3, v. 15-26.) But unless that sanctifying power be\nacknowledged and accepted, His gifts will be lost. His gifts coming on\nus are but meant to prepare the way for the sanctifying power within us.\nWe must take the lesson to heart; we can have as much of the Spirit as\nwe are willing to have of His Holiness. Be full of the Spirit, must mean\nto us, Be fully holy.\n\nThe converse is equally true. We can only have so much holiness as we\nhave of the Spirit. Some souls do very earnestly seek to be holy, but it\nis very much in their own strength. They will read books and listen to\naddresses most earnestly; they will use every effort to lay hold of\nevery thought, and act out every advice. And yet they must confess that\nthey are still very much strangers to the true, deep rest and joy and\npower of abiding in Christ, and being holy in Him. They sought for\nholiness more than for the Spirit. They must learn how even all the\nholiness which is so near and clear in Christ, is beyond our reach,\nexcept as the Holy Spirit dwells within and imparts it. They must learn\nto pray for Him and His mighty strengthening (Eph. iii. 16), to believe\nfor Him (John iv. 14, vii. 37), in faith to yield to Him as indwelling\n(1 Cor. iii. 14, vi. 19). They must learn to cease from self-effort in\nthinking and believing, in willing and in running; to hope in God, and\nwait patiently for Him. He will by His Holy Spirit make us holy. Be holy\nmeans, Be filled with the Spirit.\n\nIf we inquire more closely how it is that this Holy Spirit makes holy,\nthe answer is,--He reveals and imparts the Holiness of Christ. Scripture\ntells us: Christ is made unto us sanctification. He sanctified Himself\nfor us, that we ourselves might also be sanctified in truth. We have\nbeen sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once\nfor all. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus. The whole living Christ is\njust a treasury of holiness for man. In His life on earth He exchanged\nthe Divine Holiness He possessed into the current coin needed for this\nhuman earthly life, obedience to the Father, and humility, and love, and\nzeal. As God, He has a sufficiency of it for every moment of the life of\nevery believer.\n\nAnd yet, it is all beyond our reach, except as the Holy Spirit brings it\nto us and inwardly communicates it. But this is the very work for which\nHe bears the Divine Name, the _Holy_ Spirit, to glorify Jesus, the Holy\nOne of God, within us, and so make us partakers of His Holiness. He does\nit by revealing Christ, so that we begin to see what is in Him. He does\nit by discovering the deep unholiness of our nature (Rom. vii. 14-23).\nHe does it by mightily strengthening us to believe, to receive Jesus\nHimself as our life. He does it by leading us to utter despair of self,\nto absolute surrender of obedience to Jesus as Lord, to the assured\nconfidence of faith in the power of an indwelling Christ. He does it by,\nin the secret silent depths of the heart and life, imparting the\ndispositions and graces of Christ, so that from the inner centre of our\nlife, which has been renewed and sanctified in Christ, holiness should\nflow out and pervade all to the utmost circumference. Where the desire\nhas once been awakened, and the delight in the law of God after the\ninward man been created, there, as the Spirit of this life in Christ\nJesus, He makes free from the law of sin and death in the members, he\nleads into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. As God within us, He\ncommunicates what God in Christ has prepared.\n\nAnd if we ask once more how the working of this Holy Spirit, who thus\nmakes holy, is to be secured, the answer is very simple and clear. He is\nthe Spirit of the Holy Father, and of Christ, the Holy One of God: from\nthem He must be received. 'He showed me a river of water of life\nproceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.' Jesus speaks of 'the\nHoly Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name.' He taught us to ask\nthe Father. Paul prays for the Ephesians: 'I bow my knees to the Father,\nthat He may grant unto you, according to the riches of His glory, that\nye may be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.' It is\nas we look to God in His Holiness, and all its revelation from Creation\ndownward, and see how the Spirit now flows out from the throne of His\nHoliness as the water of life, that our hope will be awakened that God\nwill give Him to work mightily in us. And as we then see Jesus revealing\nthat holiness in human nature, rending the veil in His atoning death,\nthat the Spirit from the Holiest of all may come forth and, as the Holy\nSpirit, be His representative, making Him present within us, we shall\nbecome confident that faith in Jesus will bring the fulness of the\nSpirit. As He told us to ask the Father, He told us to believe in\nHimself. 'He that believeth in me, rivers of living water shall flow out\nof him.' Let us bow to the Father in the name of Christ, His Son; let us\nbelieve very simply in the Son as Him in whom we are well-pleasing to\nthe Father, and through whom the Father's love and blessing reach us,\nand we may be sure the Spirit, who is already within us, will, as the\nHoly Spirit, do His work in ever-increasing power. The mystery of\nholiness is the mystery of the Trinity: as we bow to the Father,\nbelieving in the Son, the Holy Spirit will work. And we shall see the\ntrue meaning of what God spake in Israel: '_I am holy_,' thus speaks the\nFather; '_Be holy_,' as my Son and in my Son; '_I make holy_,' through\nthe Spirit of my Son dwelling in you. Let our souls worship and cry out,\n'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.'\n\nThe Holy Spirit. All true knowledge of the Father in His adorable\nHoliness, and of the Son in His, which is meant to be ours, and all\nparticipation of it, depend upon our life in the Spirit, upon our\nknowing and owning Him as abiding in us as our Life. Oh, what can it be\nthat, with such a Thrice Holy God, His Holiness does not more cover His\nChurch and children? The Holy Spirit is among us, is in us: it must be\nwe grieve and resist Him. If _you_ would not do so, at once bow the knee\nto the Father, that He may grant you the Spirit's mighty workings in\nthe inner man. Believe that the Holy Spirit, bearer to you of all the\nHoliness of God and of Jesus, is indeed in you. Let Him take the place\nof self, with its thoughts and efforts. Set your soul still before God\nin holy silence, for Him to give you wisdom; rest, in emptiness and\npoverty of spirit, in the faith that He will work in His own way. As\nDivine as is the holiness that Jesus brings, so Divine is the power in\nwhich the Holy Spirit communicates it. Yield yourself day by day in\ngrowing dependence and obedience, to wait on and be led of Him. Let the\nfear of the Holy One be on you: sanctify the Lord God in your heart: let\nHim be your fear and dread. Fear not only sin: fear above all self, as\nit thrusts itself in before God with its service. Let self die, in\nrefusing and denying its work: let the Holy Spirit, in quietness, and\ndependence, in the surrender of obedience and trust, have the rule, the\nfree disposal of every faculty. Wait for Him--He can, He will in power\nreveal and impart the Holiness of the Father and the Son.[7]\n\n  BE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nHoly, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! the whole earth is full of Thy\nglory! Let that glory fill the heart of Thy child, as he bows before\nThee. I come now to drink of the river of the water of life that flows\nfrom under the throne of God and of the Lamb. Glory be to God and to the\nLamb for the gift that hath not entered into the heart of man to\nconceive--the gift of the Holy indwelling Spirit.\n\nO my Father! in the name of Jesus I ask Thee that I may be strengthened\nwith might by Thy Spirit in the inner man. Teach me, I pray Thee, to\nbelieve that Thou hast given Him, to accept and expect Him to fill and\nrule my whole inner being. Teach me to give up to Him; not to will or to\nrun, not to think or to work in my strength, but in quiet confidence to\nwait and to know that He works in me. Teach me what it is to have no\nconfidence in the flesh, and to serve Thee in the Spirit. Teach me what\nit is in all things to be led by Thy Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Thy\nHoliness.\n\nAnd grant, gracious Father, that through Him I may hear Thee speak and\nreveal Thyself to me in power: I AM HOLY. May He glorify to me and in\nme, Jesus, in whom Thy command 'BE HOLY' hath been so blessedly\nfulfilled on my behalf. And let the Holy Spirit give me the anointing\nand the sealing which bring the perfect assurance that in Him Thy\npromise is being gloriously fulfilled, 'I MAKE YOU HOLY.' Amen.\n\n\n  1. It it universally admitted that the Holy Spirit has not, in\n     the teaching of the Church or the faith of believers, that\n     place of honour and power, which becomes Him as the Revealer of\n     the Father and the Son. Seek a deep conviction that without the\n     Holy Spirit the clearest teaching on holiness, the most fervent\n     desires, the most blessed experiences even, will only be\n     temporary, will produce no permanent result, will bring no\n     abiding rest.\n\n  2. The Holy Spirit dwells within, and works within, in the hidden\n     deep of your nature. Seek above everything the clear and\n     habitual assurance that He is within you, doing His work.\n\n  3. To this end, deny self and its work in serving God. Your own\n     power to think and pray and believe and strive--lay it all down\n     expressly and distinctly in God's presence; claim, accept, and\n     believe in the hidden workings of the indwelling Spirit.\n\n  4. As the Son ever spake of the Father, so the Spirit ever points\n     to Christ. The soul that yields itself to the Spirit will of\n     Him learn to know how Christ is our holiness, how we can always\n     abide in Christ our Sanctification. What a vain effort it has\n     often been without the Spirit! '_As the anointing taught you_,\n     ye abide in Him.'\n\n  5. In the temple of thine heart, beloved believer, there is a\n     secret place, within the veil, where dwells, often all unknown,\n     the Spirit of God. Do bow in deep reverence before the Father,\n     and ask that He may work mightily. Expect the Spirit to do His\n     work: He will make Thy inner man a fit home, Thy heart a\n     throne, for Jesus, and reveal Him there.\n\n\n    [7] I cannot say how deeply I feel that one of the great wants of\n        believers is that they do not _know_ the Holy Spirit, who is\n        within them, and thereby lose the blessed life He would work in\n        them. If it please God, I hope that the next volume of this\n        series may be on _The Spirit of Christ_. May the Father give me\n        a message that shall help His children to know what the Holy\n        Spirit can be to them.\n\n\n\n\nSixteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Truth.\n\n  '_Make them holy_ in _the Truth_: Thy word is _Truth_.'--John\n  xvii. 17.\n\n  'God chose you unto salvation in _sanctification_ and belief of\n  _the Truth_.'--2 Thess. ii. 12.\n\n\nThe chief means of sanctification that God uses is His word. And yet how\nmuch there is of reading and studying, of teaching and preaching the\nword, that has almost no effect in making men holy. It is not the word\nthat sanctifies; it is God Himself who alone can sanctify. Nor is it\nsimply through the word that God does it, but through the Truth which is\nin the word. As a means the word is of unspeakable value, as the vessel\nwhich contains the truth, if God use it; as a means it is of no value,\nif God does not use it. Let us strive to connect God's Holy Word with\nthe Holy God Himself. God sanctifies in the Truth through His word.\n\nJesus had just said, 'The words which Thou gavest me, I have given\nthem.' Let us try and realize what that means. Think of that great\ntransaction in eternity: the Infinite Being, whom we call God, _giving\nHis words_ to His Son; in His words opening up His heart, communicating\nHis mind and will, revealing Himself and all His purpose and love. In a\nDivine power and reality passing all conception, God gave Christ His\nwords. In the same living power Christ gave them to His disciples, all\nfull of a Divine life and energy to work in their hearts, as they were\nable to receive them. And just as in the words of a man on earth we\nexpect to find all the wisdom or all the goodness there is in him, so\nthe word of the Thrice Holy One is all alive with the Holiness of God.\nAll the holy fire, alike of His burning zeal and His burning love,\ndwells in His words.\n\nAnd yet men can handle these words, and study them, and speak them, and\nbe entire strangers to their holiness, or their power to make holy. It\nis God Himself, the Holy One, who must make holy through the word. Every\nseed, in which the life of a tree is contained, has around it a husk or\nshell, which protects and hides the inner life. Only where the seed\nfinds a place in congenial soil, and the husk is burst and removed, can\nthe seed germinate and grow up. And it is only where there is a heart in\nharmony with God's Holiness, longing for it, yielding itself to it, that\nthe word will really make holy. It is the heart that is not content with\nthe word, but seeks the Living, Holy One in the word, to which He will\nreveal the truth, and in it Himself. It is the word given to us by\nChrist as God gave it Him, and received by us as it was by Him, to rule\nand fill our life, which has power to make holy.\n\nBut we must notice very specially how our Saviour says, Sanctify them,\nnot in the word, but in the truth. Just as in man there is body, soul,\nand spirit, so in truth too. There is first _word-truth_; a man may have\nthe correct form of words while he does not really apprehend the truth\nthey contain. Then there is _thought-truth_; there may be a clear\nintellectual apprehension of truth without the experience of its power.\nThe Bible speaks of truth as a living reality: this is the _life-truth_,\nin which the very Spirit of the truth we profess has entered and\npossessed our inner being. Christ calls Himself _the Truth_: He is said\nto be full of grace and truth. The Divine life and grace are in Him as\nan actually substantial existence and reality. He not only acts upon us\nby thoughts and motives, but communicates, as a _reality_, the eternal\nlife He brought for us from the Father. The Holy Spirit is called the\nSpirit of Truth; what He imparts is all real and actual, the very\nsubstance of unseen things; He guides into the Truth, not thought-truth\nor doctrine only, but life-truth, the personal possession of the Truth\nas it is in Jesus. As the Spirit of Truth He is the Spirit of Holiness;\nthe life of God, which is His Holiness, He brings to us as an actual\npossession.\n\nIt is now of this living Truth, which dwells in the word, as the\nseed-life dwells in the husk, that Jesus says, 'Make them holy in the\nTruth: Thy word is Truth.' He would have us mark the intimate\nconnection, as well as the wide difference, between the word and the\ntruth. The connection is one willed by God and meant to be inseparable.\n'Thy word is truth;' with God they are one. But not with man. Just as\nthere were men in close contact and continual intercourse with Jesus, to\nwhom He was only a man, and nothing more, so there are Christians who\nknow and understand the word, and yet are strangers to its true\nspiritual power. They have the letter but not the spirit; the Truth\ncomes to them in word but not in power. The word does not make them\nholy, because they hold it not in Spirit and in Truth. To others, on the\ncontrary, who know what it is to receive the truth in the love of it,\nwho yield themselves, in all their dealings with the word, to the Spirit\nof Truth who dwells in it and in them too, the word comes indeed as\nTruth, as a Divine reality, communicating and working what it speaks of.\nAnd it is of such a use of the word that the Saviour says, 'Make them\nholy in the truth: Thy word is truth.' As the words, which God gave Him,\nwere all in the power of the eternal Life and Love and Will of God, the\nrevelation and communication of the Father's purpose, as God's word was\nTruth to Him and in Him, so it can be in us. And as we thus receive it,\nwe are made holy in the Truth.\n\nAnd what now are the lessons we have to learn here for the path of\nHoliness? The first is: Let us see to it that in all our intercourse\nwith God's Blessed Word we rest content with nothing short of the\nexperience of it, as truth of God, as spirit and as power. Jesus said,\n'If ye abide in my word, ye shall know the truth.' No analysis can ever\nfind or prove the life of a seed: plant it in its proper soil, and the\ngrowth will testify to the life. It is only as the word of God is\nreceived in the love of it, as it grows and works in us, that we can\nknow its truth, can know that it is the Truth of God. It is as we live\nin the words of Jesus, in love and obedience, keeping and doing them,\nthat the Truth from heaven, the Power of the Divine Life which there is\nin them, will unfold itself to us. Christ is the Truth; in Him the love\nand grace, the very life of God, has come to earth as a substantial\nexistence, a Living, Mighty Power, something new that was never on earth\nbefore (John i. 17); let us yield ourselves to the Living Christ to\npossess us and to rule us as the Living Truth, then will God's word be\nTruth to us and in us.\n\nThe Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Truth; that actual heavenly\nreality of Divine life and love in Christ, the Truth, has a Spirit, who\ncomes to communicate and impart it. Let us beware of trying to study or\nunderstand or take possession of God's word without that Spirit through\nwhom the word was spoken of old; we shall find only the husk, the truth\nor thought and sentiment, very beautiful perhaps, but with no power to\nmake us holy. We must have _the Spirit_ of the Truth within us. He will\nlead us _into_ the Truth; when we are in the Truth, God makes us holy in\nit and by it. The Truth must be in us, and we in it. God desires truth\nin the inward parts: we must be of the people of whom Christ says, 'If\nye were of the truth,' 'he that is of the truth knoweth me.' In the\nlower sphere of daily life and conduct, of thought and action, there\nmust be an intense love of truth, and a willingness to sacrifice\neverything for it; in the spiritual life, a deep hungering to have all\nour religion every day, every moment, stand fully in the truth of God.\nIt is to the simple, humble, childlike spirit that the truth of the word\nwill be unsealed and revealed. In such the Spirit of truth comes to\ndwell. In such, as they daily wait before the Holy One in silence and\nemptiness, in reverence and holy fear, His Holy Spirit works and gives\nthe truth within. In thus imparting Christ as revealed in the word, in\nHis Divine life and love, as their own life, He makes them holy with the\nholiness of Christ.\n\nThere is another lesson. Listen to that prayer, the earthly echo of the\nprayer which He ever liveth to pray, 'Holy Father! make them holy in the\ntruth.' Would you be holy, child of God? cast yourself into that mighty\ncurrent of intercession ever flowing into, ever reaching, the Father's\nbosom. Let yourself be borne upon it until your whole soul cries, with\nthe unutterable groanings, too deep and too intense for human speech,\n'Holy Father! make me holy in the truth.' As you trust in Christ as the\ntruth, the reality of what you long for, and in His all-prevailing\nintercession; as you wait for the Spirit within as the Spirit of truth;\nlook up to the Father, and expect His own direct and almighty working to\nmake you holy. The mystery of holiness is the mystery of the Triune\nOne. The deeper entrance into the holy life rests in the fellowship of\nthe Three in One. It is the Father who establishes us in Christ, who\ngives, in a daily fresh giving, the Holy Spirit; it is to the Father,\nthe Holy Father, the soul must look up continually in the prayer, 'Make\nme holy in the truth.'\n\nIt has been well said that in the word Holy we have the central thought\nof the high-priestly prayer. As the Father's attribute (John xvii. 11),\nas the Son's work for Himself and us (ver. 19), as the direct work of\nthe Father through the Spirit (vers. 17, 20), it is the revelation of\nthe glory of God in Himself and in us. Let us enter into the Holiest of\nall, and as we bow with our Great High Priest, let the deep, unceasing\ncry go up for all the Church of God, 'Holy Father! make them holy in the\ntruth: Thy word is truth.' The word in which God makes holy is summed up\nin this, HOLY IN CHRIST. May God make it truth in us!\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBlessed Father! to Israel Thou didst say, I the Lord am holy and make\nholy. But it is only in Thy beloved Son that the full glory of Thy\nHoliness, as making us holy, has been revealed. Thou art our Holy\nFather, who makest us holy in Thy truth.\n\nWe thank Thee that Thy Son hath given us the words Thou gavest Him, and\nthat as He received them from Thee in life and power, we may receive\nthem too. O Father! with our whole heart we do receive them; let the\nSpirit make them truth and life within us. So shall we know Thee as the\nHoly One, consuming the sin, renewing the sinner.\n\nWe bless Thee most for Thy Blessed Son, the Holy One of God, the Living\nWord in whom the Truth dwelleth. We thank Thee that in His never-ceasing\nintercession, this cry ever reacheth Thee, 'Father, sanctify them in Thy\ntruth,' and that the answer is ever streaming forth from Thy glory. Holy\nFather! make us holy in Thy truth, in Thy wonderful revelation of\nThyself in Him who is the truth. Let Thy Holy Spirit so have dominion in\nour hearts that Thy Holy Child Jesus, sanctifying Himself for us that we\nmay be sanctified in the truth, may be to us the Way, the Truth, and the\nLife. May we know that we are in Him in Thy presence, and that Thy one\nword in answer to our prayer to make us holy is--Holy in Christ. Amen.\n\n\n  1. God is the God of truth--not truth in speaking only, or truth of\n     doctrine--but truth of existence, or life in its Divine reality.\n     And Christ is _the truth_; the actual embodiment of this Divine\n     life. And there is a kingdom of truth, of Divine Spiritual\n     realities, of which Christ is King. And of all this truth of God in\n     Christ, the very essence is, the Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth:\n     He leads us into it, so that we are of the truth and walk in it. Of\n     the truth, the reality there is in God, Holiness, is the deepest\n     root; the Spirit of _truth_ is the _Holy_ Spirit.\n\n  2. It is the work of _the Father_ to make us holy in the truth: let\n     us bow very low in childlike trust as we breathe the prayer: 'Holy\n     Father! make us holy in the truth.' _He will do it._\n\n  3. It is the intercession of _the Son_ that asks and obtains this\n     blessing: let us take our place _in Him_, and rejoice in the\n     assurance of an answer.\n\n  4. It is _the Spirit of truth_ through whom the Father does this\n     work, so that we dwell in the truth, and the truth in us. Let us\n     yield very freely and very fully to the leading of the Spirit, in\n     our intercourse with God's Word, that, as the Son prays, the Father\n     may make us holy in the truth.\n\n  5. Let us, in the light of this work of the Three-One, never read\n     the Word but with this aim: to be made holy in the truth by God.\n\n\n\n\nSeventeenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Crucifixion.\n\n  'For their sakes I _sanctify_ myself, that they themselves also\n  may be _sanctified_ in truth.'--John xvii. 19.\n\n  'He said, Lo, I am come to do Thy will. In which will we have been\n  _sanctified_ through the offering of the body of Jesus once for\n  all. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are\n  _sanctified_.'--Heb. x. 9, 10, 14.\n\n\nIt was in His High-priestly prayer, on His way to Gethsemane and\nCalvary, that Jesus thus spake to the Father: 'I sanctify myself.' He\nhad not long before spoken of Himself as 'the Son whom the Father hath\nsanctified and sent into the world.' From the language of Holy Scripture\nwe are familiar with the thought that, what God has sanctified, man has\nto sanctify too. The work of the Father, in sanctifying the Son, is the\nbasis and groundwork of the work of the Son in sanctifying Himself. If\nHis Holiness as man was to be a free and personal possession, accepted\nand assimilated in voluntary and conscious self-determination, it was\nnot enough that the Father sanctify Him: He must sanctify Himself too.\n\nThis self-sanctifying of our Lord found place through His whole life,\nbut culminates and comes out in special distinctness in His crucifixion.\nWherein it consists is made clear by the words from the Epistle to the\nHebrews. The Messiah spake: 'Lo, I come to do Thy will.' And then it is\nadded, 'In the which will we have been sanctified through the offering\nof the body of Christ.' It was the offering of the body of Christ that\nwas the will of God: in doing that will He sanctified us. It was of the\ndoing that will in the offering His body that He spake, 'I sanctify\nmyself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.' The\ngiving up of His will to God's will in the agony of Gethsemane, and then\nthe doing of that will in the obedience unto death, this was Christ's\nsanctifying Himself and us too. Let us try and understand this.\n\nThe Holiness of God is revealed in His will. Holiness even in the Divine\nBeing has no moral value except as it is freely willed. In speaking of\nthe Trinity, theologians have pointed out how, as the Father represents\nthe absolute necessity of Everlasting Goodness, the Son proves its\nliberty: within the Divine Being it is willed in love. And this now was\nthe work of the Son on earth, amid the trials and temptations of a human\nlife, to accept and hold fast at any sacrifice, with His whole heart to\nwill, the will of the Father. 'Though He was a Son, yet He learned\nobedience in that He suffered.' In Gethsemane the conflict between the\nwill of human nature and the Divine will reached its height: it\nmanifests itself in language which almost makes us tremble for His\nsinlessness, as He speaks of His will in antithesis to God's will. But\nthe struggle is a victory, because in presence of the clearest\nconsciousness of what it means to have His own will, He gives it up, and\nsays, 'Thy will be done.' To enter into the will of God He gives up His\nvery life. In His crucifixion He thus reveals the law of sanctification.\nHoliness is the full entrance of our will into God's will. Or rather,\nHoliness is the entrance of God's will to be the death of our will. The\nonly end of our will and deliverance from it, is death to it under the\nrighteous judgment of God. It was in the surrender to the death of the\ncross that Christ sanctified Himself, and sanctified us, that we also\nmight be sanctified in truth.\n\nAnd now, just as the Father sanctified Him, and He in virtue thereof\nappropriated it and sanctified Himself, so we, whom He has sanctified,\nhave to appropriate it to ourselves. In no other way than crucifixion,\nthe giving up of Himself to the death, could Christ realize the\nsanctification He had from the Father. And in no other way can we\nrealize the sanctification we have in Him. His own and our\nsanctification bears the common stamp of the cross. We have seen before\nthat obedience is the path to holiness. In Christ we see that the path\nto perfect holiness is perfect obedience. And that is obedience unto\ndeath, even to the giving up of life, even the death of the cross. As\nthe sanctification which Christ wrought out for us, even unto the\noffering of His body, bears the death mark, we cannot partake of it, we\ncannot enter it, except as we die to self and its will. Crucifixion is\nthe path to sanctification.\n\nThis lesson is in harmony with all we have seen. The first revelation of\nGod's Holiness to Moses was accompanied with the command, Put off. God's\npraise, as Glorious in Holiness, Fearful in Praises, was sounded over\nthe dead bodies of the Egyptians. When Moses on Sinai was commanded to\nsanctify the Mount, it was said, 'If any touch it, man or beast, it\nshall not live.' The Holiness of God is death to all that is in contact\nwith sin. Only through death, through blood-shedding, was there access\nto the Holiest of all. Christ chose death, even death as a curse, that\nHe might sanctify Himself for us, and open to us the path to Holiness,\nto the Holiest of all, to the Holy One. And so it is still. No man can\nsee God and live. It is only in death, the death of self and of nature,\nthat we can draw near and behold God. Christ led the way. No man can see\nGod and live. 'Then let me die, Lord,' one has cried, 'but see Thee I\nmust.' Yes, blessed be God, so real is our interest in Christ and our\nunion to Him, that we may live in His death; as day by day self is kept\nin the place of death, the life and the holiness of Christ can be\nours.[8]\n\nAnd where is the place of death? And how can the crucifixion which leads\nto Holiness and to God be accomplished in us? Thank God! it is no work\nof our own, no weary process of self-crucifixion. The crucifixion that\nis to sanctify us is an accomplished fact. The cross bears the banner,\n'It is finished.' On it Christ sanctified Himself for us, that we might\nbe sanctified in truth. Our crucifixion, as our sanctification, is\nsomething that in Christ has been completely and perfectly finished. 'We\nhave been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ\nonce for all.' 'By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are\nsanctified.' In that fulness, which it is the Father's good pleasure\nshould dwell in Christ, the crucifixion of our old man, of the flesh, of\nthe world, of ourselves, is all a spiritual reality; he that desires and\nknows and accepts Christ, fully receives all this in Him. And as the\nChrist, who had previously been known more in His pardoning, quickening,\nand saving grace, is again sought after as a real deliverer from the\npower of sin, as a sanctifier, He comes and takes up the soul into the\nfellowship of the sacrifice of His will. 'He put away sin _by the\nsacrifice of Himself_,' must become true of us as it is of Him. He\nreveals how it is a part of His salvation to make us partakers of a will\nentirely given up to the will of God, of a life that had yielded itself\nto the death, and had then been given back from the dead by the power of\nGod, a life of which the crucifixion of self-will was the spirit and the\npower. He reveals this, and the soul that sees it, and consents to it,\nand yields its will and its life, and believes in Jesus as its death and\nits life, and in His crucifixion as its possession and its inheritance,\nenters into the enjoyment and experience of it. The language is now, 'I\ndied that I might live: I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no\nlonger I that live, but Christ that liveth in me.' And the life it now\nlives is by the faith on the Son of God, the daily acceptance in faith\nof Him who lives within us in the power of a death that has been passed\nthrough and for ever finished.\n\n'I sanctify myself for them, that they themselves also may be sanctified\nin truth.' 'I come to do Thy will, O God. In the which will,' the will\nof God accomplished by Christ, 'we have been sanctified through the one\noffering of the body of Christ.' Let us understand and hold it fast:\nChrist's giving up His will in Gethsemane and accepting God's will in\ndying; Christ's doing that will in the obedience to the death of the\ncross, this is His sanctifying Himself, and this is our being sanctified\nin truth. 'In the which will we have been sanctified.' The death to\nself, the utter and most absolute giving up of our own life, with its\nwill and its power and its aims, to the cross, and into the crucifixion\nof Christ, the daily bearing the cross--not a cross on which we are yet\nto be crucified, but the cross of the crucified Christ in its power to\nkill and make dead--this is the secret of the life of holiness--this is\ntrue sanctification.\n\nBeliever! is this the holiness which you are seeking? Have you seen and\nconsented that God alone is holy, that self is all unholy, and that\nthere is no way to be made holy but for the fire of the Divine Holiness\nto come in and be the death of self? 'Always bearing about in the body\nthe dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in\nour mortal body'--is the pathway for each one who seeks to be sanctified\nin truth, even as He sanctified Himself; sanctified just like Jesus.\n\nHe sanctified Himself for us, that we ourselves also might be sanctified\nin truth. Yes, our sanctification rests and roots in His, in Himself.\nAnd we are in Him. The secret roots of our being are planted into Jesus:\ndeeper down than we can see or feel, there is He our Vine, bearing and\nquickening us. Let us by faith understand that, in a manner and a\nmeasure which are far beyond our comprehension, intensely Divine and\nreal, we are in Him who sanctified Himself for us. Let us dwell there,\nwhere we have been placed of God. And let us bow our knees to the\nFather, that He would grant us to be mightily strengthened by His\nSpirit, that Christ as our Sanctification may dwell in our hearts, that\nthe power of His death and His life may be revealed in us, and God's\nwill be done in us as it was in Him.\n\n  BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nHoly Father! I do bless Thee for this precious blessed word, for this\nprecious blessed work of Thy beloved Son. In His never-ceasing\nintercession Thou ever hearest the wonderful prayer, 'I sanctify myself\nfor them, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.'\n\nBlessed Father! I beseech Thee to strengthen me mightily by Thy Spirit,\nthat in living faith I may be able to accept and live the holiness\nprepared for me in my Lord Jesus. Give me spiritual understanding to\nknow what it means that He sanctified Himself, that my sanctification is\nsecured in His, that as by faith I abide in Him, its power will cover my\nwhole life. Let His sanctification indeed be the law as it is the life\nof mine. Let His surrender to Thy fatherly will, His continual\ndependence and obedience, be its root and its strength. Let His death to\nthe world and to sin be its daily rule. Above all, _let Himself_, O my\nFather! _let Himself_, as sanctified for me, the living Jesus, be my\nonly trust and stay. He sanctified Himself for me, that I myself also\nmay be sanctified in truth.\n\nBeloved Saviour! how shall I rightly bless and love and glorify Thee for\nthis wondrous grace! Thou didst give Thyself, so that now I am holy in\nThee. I give myself, that in Thee I myself may be made holy in truth.\nAmen. Lord Jesus! Amen.\n\n\n  1. 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take\n     up his cross, and follow me.' Jesus means that our life shall be\n     the exact counterpart of His, including even the crucifixion. The\n     beginning of such a life is the denial of self, to give Christ its\n     place. The Jews would not deny self, but '_denied_ the Holy One,\n     and killed the Prince of Life.' The choice is still between Christ\n     and self. Let us deny the unholy one, and give him to the death.\n\n  2. The steps in this path are these: First, the deliberate decision\n     that self shall be given up to the death; then, the surrender to\n     Christ crucified to make us partakers of His crucifixion; then,\n     'knowing that our old man is crucified,' the faith that says, 'I am\n     crucified with Christ;' and then, the power to live as a crucified\n     one, to glory in the cross of Christ.\n\n  3. This is God's way of holiness, a Divine mystery, which the Holy\n     Spirit alone can daily maintain in us. Blessed be God, it is the\n     life which a Christian can live, because Christ lives in us.\n\n  4. The central thought is: We are in Christ, who gave up His will\n     and did the will of God. By the Holy Spirit the mind that was in\n     Him is in us, the will of self is crucified, and we live in the\n     will of God.\n\n\n    [8] See Note D.\n\n\n\n\nEighteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Faith.\n\n  'That they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among\n  them that are _sanctified by faith in me_.'--Acts xxvi. 18.\n\n\nThe more we study Scripture in the light of the Holy Spirit, or practise\nthe Christian life in His power, the deeper becomes our conviction of\nthe unique and central place faith has in God's plan of salvation. And\nwe learn, too, to see that it is meet and right that it should be so:\nthe very nature of things demands it. Because God is a Spiritual and\nInvisible Being, every revelation of Himself, whether in His works, His\nword, or His Son, calls for faith. Faith is the spiritual sense of the\nsoul, being to it what the senses are to the body; by it alone we enter\ninto communication and contact with God.\n\nFaith is that meekness of soul which waits in stillness to hear, to\nunderstand, to accept what God says; to receive, to retain, to possess\nwhat God gives or works. By faith we allow, we welcome God Himself, the\nLiving Person, to enter in to make His abode with us, to become our\nvery life. However well we think we know it, we always have to learn the\ntruth afresh, for a deeper and fuller application of it, that in the\nChristian life faith is the first thing, the one thing that pleases God,\nand brings blessing to us. And because Holiness is God's highest glory,\nand the highest blessing He has for us, it is especially in the life of\nholiness that we need to live by faith alone.\n\nOur Lord speaks here of 'them that are sanctified by faith in me.'[9] He\nHimself is our Sanctification as He is our Justification: for the one as\nfor the other it is faith that God asks, and both are equally given at\nonce. The participle used here is not the present, denoting a process or\nwork that is being carried on, but the aorist, indicating an act done\nonce for all. When we believe in Christ, we receive the whole Christ,\nour justification and our sanctification: we are at once accepted by God\nas righteous in Him, and as holy in Him. God counts and calls us, what\nwe really are, sanctified ones in Christ. It is as we are led to see\nwhat God sees, as our faith grasps that the holy life of Christ is ours\nin actual possession, to be accepted and appropriated for daily use,\nthat we shall really be able to live the life God calls us to, the life\nof holy ones in Christ Jesus. We shall then be in the right position in\nwhich what is called our progressive sanctification can be worked out.\nIt will be, the acceptance and application in daily life of the power of\na holy life which has been prepared in Jesus, which has in the union\nwith Him become our present and permanent possession, and which works in\nus according to the measure of our faith.[10]\n\nFrom this point of view it is evident that faith has a twofold\noperation. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, though _now\nactually existing_, the substance of things hoped for, but _not yet\npresent_. It deals with the unseen present, as well as with the unseen\nfuture. As the evidence of things not seen, it rejoices in Christ our\ncomplete sanctification, as a present possession. Through faith I simply\nlook to what Christ is, as revealed in the Word by the Holy Spirit.\nClaiming all He is as my own, I know that His Holiness, His holy nature\nand life, are mine; I am a holy one: by faith in Him I have been\nsanctified. This is the first aspect of sanctification: it looks to what\nis a complete and finished thing, an absolute reality. As the substance\nof things hoped for, this faith reaches out in the assurance of hope to\nthe future, to things I do not yet see or experience, and claims, day by\nday, out of Christ our sanctification, what it needs for practical\nholiness, 'to be holy in all manner of living.' This is the second\naspect of sanctification: I depend upon Jesus to supply, in personal\nexperience, gradually and unceasingly, for the need of each moment,\nwhat has been treasured up in His fulness. 'Of God are ye in Christ\nJesus, who of God is made unto us sanctification.' Under its first\naspect faith says, I know I am in Him, and all His Holiness is mine; in\nits second aspect it speaks, I trust in Him for the grace and the\nstrength I need each moment to live a holy life.\n\nAnd yet, it need hardly be said, these two are one. It is one Jesus who\nis our sanctification, whether we look at it in the light of what He is\nmade for us once for all, or what, as the fruit of that, He becomes to\nour experience day by day. And so it is one faith which, the more it\nstudies and adores and rejoices in Jesus as made of God unto us\nsanctification, as Him in whom we have been sanctified, becomes the\nbolder to expect the fulfilment of every promise for daily life, and the\nstronger to claim the victory over every sin. Faith in Jesus is the\nsecret of a holy life: all holy conduct, all really holy deeds, are the\nfruit of faith in Jesus as our holiness.\n\nWe know how faith acts, and what its great hindrances are, in the matter\nof justification. It is well that we remind ourselves that there are the\nsame dangers in the exercise of sanctifying as of justifying faith.\nFaith _in God_ stands opposed to trust _in self_: specially to its\nwilling and working. Faith is hindered by every effort to do something\nourselves. Faith looks to God working, and yields itself to His\nstrength, as revealed in Christ through the Spirit; it allows God to\nwork both to will and to do. Faith must work; without works it is dead,\nby works alone can it be perfected; in Jesus Christ, as Paul says,\nnothing avails but 'faith _working_ by love.' But these works, which\nfaith in God's working inspires and performs, are very different from\nthe works in which a believer often puts forth his best efforts, only to\nfind that he fails. The true life of holiness, the life of them who are\nsanctified in Christ, has its root and its strength in an abiding sense\nof utter impotence, in the deep restfulness which trusts to the working\nof a Divine power and life, in the entire personal surrender to the\nloving Saviour, in that faith which consents to be nothing, that He may\nbe all. It may appear impossible to discern or describe the difference\nbetween the working that is of self and the working that is of Christ\nthrough faith: if we but know that there is such a difference, if we\nlearn to distrust ourselves, and to count on Christ working, the Holy\nSpirit will lead us into this secret of the Lord too. Faith's works are\nChrist's works.\n\nAnd as by effort, so faith is also hindered by the desire to see and\nfeel. 'If thou believest, thou shalt see;' the Holy Spirit will seal our\nfaith with a Divine experience; we shall see the glory of God. But this\nis His work: ours is, when all appears dark and cold, in the face of all\nthat nature or experience testifies, still each moment to believe in\nJesus as our all-sufficient sanctification, in whom we are perfected\nbefore God. Complaints as to want of feeling, as to weakness or\ndeadness, seldom profit: it is the soul that refuses to occupy itself\nwith itself, either with its own weakness or the strength of the enemy,\nbut only looks to what Jesus is, and has promised to do, to whom\nprogress in holiness will be a joyful march from victory to victory.\n'The Lord Himself doth fight for you;' this thought, so often repeated\nin connection with Israel's possession of the promised land, is the food\nof faith: in conscious weakness, in presence of mighty enemies, it sings\nthe conqueror's song. When God appears to be _not doing_ what we trusted\nHim for, then is just the time for faith to glory in Him.\n\nThere is perhaps nothing that more reveals the true character of faith\nthan joy and praise. You give a child the promise of a present\nto-morrow: at once it says, Thank you, and is glad. The joyful thanks\nare the proof of how really your promise has entered the heart. You are\ntold by a friend of a rich legacy he has left you in his will: it may\nnot come true for years, but even now it makes you glad. We have already\nseen what an element of holiness joy is: it is especially an element of\nholiness by faith. Each time I really see how beautiful and how perfect\nGod's provision is, by which my holiness is in Jesus, and by which I am\nto allow Him to work in me, my heart ought to rise up in praise and\nthanks. Instead of allowing the thought that it is, after all, a life of\nsuch difficult attainment and such continual self-denial, this life of\nholiness through faith, we ought to praise Him exceedingly that He has\nmade it possible and sure for us: we can be holy, because Jesus the\nMighty and the Loving One is our holiness. Praise will express our\nfaith; praise will prove it; praise will strengthen it. 'Then believed\nthey His words; they sang His praise.' Praise will commit us to faith:\nwe shall see that we have but one thing to do, to go on in a faith that\never trusts and ever praises. It is in a living, loving attachment to\nJesus, that rejoices in Him, and praises Him continually for what He is\nto us, that faith proves itself, and receives the power of holiness.\n\n'Sanctified by faith in me.' Yes, 'by faith _in Me_:' it is the personal\nliving Jesus who offers Himself, Himself in all the riches of His Power\nand Love, as the object, the strength, the life of our faith. He tells\nus that if we would be holy, always and in everything holy, we must just\nsee to one thing: to be always and altogether full of faith in Him.\nFaith is the eye of the soul: the power by which we discern the presence\nof the Unseen One, as He comes to give Himself to us. Faith not only\nsees, but appropriates and assimilates: let us set our souls very still\nfor the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, to quicken and strengthen that\nfaith, for which He has been given us. Faith is surrender: yielding\nourselves to Jesus to allow Him to do His work in us, giving up\nourselves to Him to live out His life and work out His will in us, we\nshall find Him giving Himself entirely _to us_, and taking complete\npossession. So faith will be power: the power of obedience to do God's\nwill: 'our most holy faith,' 'the faith delivered to the holy ones.'\nAnd we shall understand how simple, to the single-hearted, is the secret\nof holiness: just Jesus. We are in Him, our Sanctification: He\npersonally is our Holiness; and the life of faith in Him, that receives\nand possesses Him, must necessarily be a life of holiness. Jesus says,\n'Sanctified by faith in me.'\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBeloved Lord! again have I seen, with adoring wonder, what Thou art\nwilling to be to me. It is in Thyself, and a life of living fellowship\nwith Thyself, that I am to become holy. It is in the simple life of\npersonal attachment, of trust and love, of surrender and consecration,\nthat Thou dost become my all, and make me partaker of Thyself and Thy\nHoliness.\n\nBlessed Lord Jesus! I do believe in Thee, help Thou mine unbelief. I\nconfess what still remains of unbelief, and count on Thy presence to\nconquer and cast it out. My soul is opening up continually to see more\nhow Thou Thyself art my Life and my Holiness. Thou art enlarging my\nheart to rejoice in Thyself as my all, and to be assured that Thou dost\nThyself take possession and fill the temple of my being with Thy glory.\nThou art teaching me to understand that, however feeble and human and\ndisappointing experiences may be, Thy Holy Spirit is the strength of my\nfaith, leading me on to grow up into a stronger and a larger confidence\nin Thee in whom I am holy. O my Saviour! I take Thy word this day,\n'Sanctified by faith in me,' as a new revelation of Thy love and its\npurpose with me. In Thee Thyself is the Power of my holiness; in Thee is\nthe Power of my faith. Blessed be Thy name that Thou hast given me too a\nplace among them of whom Thou speakest: 'Sanctified by faith in me.'\nAmen.\n\n\n  1. Let us remember that it is not only the faith that is dealing\n     specially with Christ for sanctification, but all living faith,\n     that has the power to sanctify. Anything that casts the soul wholly\n     on Jesus, that calls forth intense and simple trust, be it the\n     trial of faith, or the prayer of faith, or the work of faith, helps\n     to make us holy, because it brings us into living contact with the\n     Holy One.\n\n  2. It is only through the Holy Spirit that Christ and His Holiness\n     are day by day revealed and made ours in actual possession. And so\n     the faith which receives Him is of the Spirit too. Yield yourself\n     in simplicity and trust to His working. Do not be afraid, as if you\n     cannot believe: you have 'the Spirit of faith' within you: you have\n     the power to believe. And you may ask God to strengthen you\n     mightily by His Spirit in the inner man, for the faith that\n     receives Christ in the indwelling that knows no break.\n\n  3. I have only so much of faith as I have of the Spirit. Is not\n     this then what I most need--to live entirely under the influence of\n     the Spirit?\n\n  4. Just as the eye in seeing is receptive, and yields to let the\n     object placed before it make its impression, so faith is the\n     impression God makes on the soul when He draws nigh. Was not the\n     faith of Abraham the fruit of God's drawing near and speaking to\n     him, the impression God made on him? Let us be still to gaze on the\n     Divine mystery of Christ our holiness: His Presence, waited for and\n     worshipped, will work the faith. That is, the Spirit that proceeds\n     from Him into those who cling to Him, will be faith.\n\n  5. _Holiness by faith in Jesus_, not by effort of thine own,\n      Sin's dominion crushed and broken _by the power of grace alone_,--\n     _God's own holiness_ within thee, His own beauty on thy brow,--\n      This shall be thy pilgrim brightness, this _thy blessed portion now_.\n\n        F. R. H.\n\n\n    [9] The best commentators connect the expression, 'by faith in me,'\n        not with the word 'sanctified,' but with the whole clause, 'that\n        by faith in me they may receive.' This will, however, in no way\n        affect the application to the word sanctified. Thus read, the\n        text tells us that the remission of sin, and the inheritance,\n        and the sanctification which qualifies for the inheritance, are\n        all received by faith.\n\n   [10] See Note E.\n\n\n\n\nNineteenth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Resurrection.\n\n  'The Son of God, who was born of the seed of David _according to\n  the flesh_, who was declared to be the Son of God with power,\n  _according to the Spirit_ of holiness, by the resurrection of the\n  dead.'--Rom. i. 4.\n\n\nThese words speak of a twofold birth of Christ. According to the flesh,\nHe was born of the seed of David. According to the Spirit, He was the\nfirst begotten from the dead. As He was a Son of David in virtue of His\nbirth through the flesh, so He was declared to be the Son of God with\npower, in virtue of His resurrection-birth through the Spirit of\nholiness. As the life He received through His first birth was a life in\nand after the flesh with its weakness, so the new life He received in\nthe resurrection was a life in the power of the Spirit of holiness.\n\nThe expression, the Spirit of holiness, is a peculiar one. It is not the\nordinary word for God's Holiness that is here used as in Heb. xii. 10,\ndescribing holiness in the abstract as the attribute of an object, but\nanother word (also used in 2 Cor. vii. 1 and 1 Thess. iii. 13)\nexpressing the habit of holiness in its action--practical holiness or\nsanctity.[11] Paul used this word, because He wished to emphasize the\nthought, that Christ's resurrection was distinctly the result of that\nlife of holiness and self-sanctifying which had culminated in His death.\nIt was the spirit of the life of holiness which he had lived, in the\npower of which He was raised again. He teaches us that that life and\ndeath of self-sanctification, in which alone our sanctification stands,\nwas the root and ground of His resurrection, and of its declaration that\nHe was the Son of God with power, the first begotten from the dead. The\nresurrection was the fruit which that Life of Holiness bore.\n\nAnd so the Life of Holiness becomes the property of all who are\npartakers of the resurrection. The Resurrection Life and the Spirit of\nHoliness are inseparable. Christ sanctified Himself in death, that we\nourselves might be sanctified in truth: when in virtue of the Spirit of\nsanctity He was raised from the dead, that Spirit of holiness was proved\nto be the power of Resurrection Life, and the Resurrection Life to be a\nLife of Holiness.\n\nAs a believer you have part in this Resurrection Life. You have been\n'begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' You\nare 'risen with Christ.' You are commanded 'to reckon yourself to be\nalive unto God in Christ Jesus.' But the life can work in power only as\nyou seek to know it, to yield to it, to let it have full possession and\nmastery. And if it is to do this, one of the most important things for\nyou to realize is, that as it was in virtue of the Spirit of holiness\nthat Christ was raised, so the Spirit of that same holiness must be in\nyou the mark and the power of your life. Study to know and possess the\nSpirit of holiness as it was seen in the life of your Lord.\n\nAnd wherein did it consist? Its secret was, we are told: 'Lo, I am come\nto do Thy will, O God.' 'In the which will,' as done by Christ, 'we have\nbeen sanctified by the one offering of the body of Jesus Christ.' This\nwas Christ's sanctifying Himself, in life and in death; this was what\nthe Spirit of holiness wrought in Him; this is what the same Spirit, the\nSpirit of the life in Christ Jesus, will work in us: a life in the will\nof God is a life of holiness. Seek earnestly to grasp this clearly.\nChrist came to reveal what true holiness would be in the conditions of\nhuman life and weakness. He came to work it out for you, that He might\ncommunicate it to you by His Spirit. Except you intelligently apprehend\nand heartily accept it, the Spirit cannot work it in you. Do seek with\nyour whole heart to take hold of it: the will of God unhesitatingly\naccepted, is the power of holiness.\n\nIt is in this that any attempt to be holy as Christ is holy, with and in\nHis Holiness, must have its starting-point. Many seek to take single\nportions of the life or image of Christ for imitation, and yet fail\ngreatly in others. They have not seen that the self-denial, to which\nJesus calls, really means the denial of self, in the full meaning of\nthat word. In not one single thing is the will of self to be done:\nJesus, as He did the will of the Father only, must rule, and not self.\nTo 'stand perfect and complete in all the will of God' must be the\npurpose, the prayer, the expectation of the disciple. There need be no\nfear that it is not possible to know the will of the Father in\neverything. 'If any man will do, he shall know.' The Father will not\nkeep the willing child in ignorance of His will. As the surrender to the\nSpirit of holiness, to Jesus and the dominion of His holy life, becomes\nmore simple, sin and self-will will be discovered, the spiritual\nunderstanding will be opened up, and the law written in the inward parts\nbecome legible and intelligible. There need be no fear that it is not\npossible to do the will of the Father when it is known. When once the\ngrief of failure and sin has driven the believer into the experience of\nRom. vii., and the 'delight in the law of God after the inward man' has\nproved its earnestness in the cry, 'O wretched man that I am,'\ndeliverance will come through Jesus Christ. The Spirit works not only to\nwill but to do; where the believer could only complain, 'To perform that\nwhich is good, I find not,' He gives the strength and song, 'The law of\nthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin\nand death.'\n\nIn this faith, that it is possible to know and do the will of God in all\nthings, take over from Him, in whom alone you are holy, as your\nlife-principle; 'I come to do Thy will, O God.' It is the principle of\nthe resurrection life: without it Jesus had never been raised again. It\nis the principle of the new life in you. Accept it; study it; realize\nit; act it out. Many a believer has found that some simple words of\ndedication, expressive of the purpose in everything to do God's will,\nhave been an entrance into the joy and power of the resurrection life\npreviously unknown. The will of God is the complete expression of His\nmoral perfection, His Divine Holiness. To take one's place in the centre\nof that will, to live it out, to be borne and sustained by it, was the\npower of that life of Jesus that could not be held of death, that could\nnot but burst out in resurrection glory. What it was to Jesus it will be\nto us.\n\nHoliness is Life: this is the simplest expression of the truth our text\nteaches. There can be no holiness until there be a new life implanted.\nThe new life cannot grow and break forth in resurrection power, cannot\nbring forth fruit, but as it grows in holiness. As long as the believer\nis living the mixed life, part in the flesh and part in the spirit, with\nsome of self and some of Christ, he seeks in vain for holiness. It is\nthe New Life that is the holy life: the full apprehension of it in\nfaith, the full surrender to it in conduct, will be the highway of\nholiness. Jesus lived and died and rose again to prepare for us a new\nnature, to be received day by day in the obedience of faith: we 'have\nput on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and\ntrue holiness.' Let the inner life, hid with Christ in God, hid also\ndeep in the recesses of our inmost being, be acknowledged, be waited on,\nbe yielded to, it will work itself out in all the beauties of holiness.\n\nThere is more. This life is not like the life of nature, a blind,\nnon-conscious principle, involuntarily working out its ideal in\nunresisting obedience to the law of its being. There is the Spirit of\nthe life in Christ Jesus--the Spirit of holiness--the Holy Spirit\ndwelling in us as a Divine Person, entering into fellowship with us, and\nleading us into the fellowship of the Living Christ. It is this fills\nour life with hope and joy. The Risen Saviour breathed the Holy Spirit\non His disciples: the Spirit brings the Risen One into the field, into\nour hearts, as a personal friend, as a Living Guide and Strengthener.\nThe Spirit of holiness is the Spirit, the Presence, and the Power of the\nLiving Christ. Jesus said of the Spirit, 'Ye know Him.' Is not our great\nneed to know this Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, of His Holiness and\nof ours? How can we 'walk after the Spirit' and follow His leading, if\nwe know not Him and His voice and His way?\n\nLet us learn one more lesson from our text. _It is out of the grave of\nthe flesh and the will of self that the Spirit of holiness breaks out in\nresurrection power._ We must accept death to the flesh, death to self\nwith its willing and working, as the birthplace of our experience of the\npower of the Spirit of holiness. In view of each struggle with sin, in\neach exercise of faith or prayer, we must enter into the death of Jesus,\nthe death to self, and as those who say, 'we are not sufficient to think\nanything as of ourselves,' in quiet faith expect the Spirit of Christ to\ndo His work. The Spirit will work, strengthening you mightily in the\ninner man, and building up within you an holy temple for the Lord. And\nthe time will come, if it has not come to you yet, and it may be nearer\nthan you dare hope, when the conscious indwelling of Christ in your\nheart by faith, the full revelation and enthronement of Him as ruler and\nkeeper of heart and life, shall have become a personal experience.\nAccording to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,\nwill the Son of God be declared with power in the kingdom that is within\nyou.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy Lord God! we do bless Thee that Thou didst raise Thy Son from\nthe dead and give Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in Thee.\nThou didst make His resurrection the power of eternal life in us, and\nnow, even as He was raised, so we may walk in newness of life. As the\nSpirit of holiness dwelt and wrought in Him, it dwells and works in us,\nand becomes in us the Spirit of life.\n\nO God! we beseech Thee to perfect Thy work in Thy saints. Give them a\ndeeper sense of the holy calling with which Thou hast called them in\nChrist, the Risen One. Give all to accept the Spirit of His life on\nearth, delight in the will of God, as the spirit of their life. May\nthose who have never yet fully accepted this be brought to do it, and in\nfaith of the power of the new life to say, I accept the will of God as\nmy only law. May the Spirit of holiness be the spirit of their lives!\n\nFather! we beseech Thee, let Christ thus, in ever increasing experience\nof His resurrection power, be revealed in our hearts as the Son of God,\nLord and Ruler within us. Let His life within inspire all the outer\nlife, so that in the home and society, in thought and speech and action,\nin religion and in business, His life may shine out from us in the\nbeauty of holiness. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Scripture regards the resurrection in two different aspects.\n     In one view, it is the title to the new life, the source of our\n     justification. (Rom. iv. 25, 1 Cor. xv. 17.) In another it is\n     our regeneration, the power of the new life working in us, the\n     source of our sanctification. (Rom. vi. 4; 1 Pet. i. 3.) Pardon\n     and holiness are inseparable; they have the same source, union\n     with the Risen Living Christ.\n\n  2. The blessedness to the disciples of having a Risen Christ\n     was this: He, whom they thought dead, came and _revealed\n     Himself_ to them. Christ lives to reveal Himself to thee and to\n     me; wait on Him, trust Him for this. He will reveal Himself to\n     thee as thy sanctification. See to it that thou hast Him in\n     living possession, and thou hast His Holiness.\n\n  3. The life of Christ is the holiness of Christ. The reason we\n     so often fail in the pursuit of holiness is that the old life,\n     the flesh, in its own strength seeks for holiness as a\n     beautiful garment to wear and enter heaven with. It is the\n     daily death to self out of which the life of Christ rises up.\n\n  4. To die thus, to live thus in Christ, to be holy--how can we\n     attain it? It all comes '_according to the Spirit of\n     holiness_.' Have the Holy Spirit within thee. Say daily, 'I\n     believe in the Holy Ghost.'\n\n  5. _Holy in Christ._ When Christ lives in us, and His mind, as\n     it found expression in His words and work on earth, enters and\n     fills our will and personal consciousness, then our union with\n     Him becomes what He meant it to be. It is the Spirit of His\n     holy conduct, the Spirit of His sanctity, must be in us.\n\n\n   [11] See Note F.\n\n\n\n\nTwentieth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Liberty.\n\n  'Being made _free from sin_, ye became servants of righteousness:\n  now present your members as servants of righteousness _unto\n  sanctification_. Now being made _free from sin_, and become\n  servants unto God, ye have your fruit _unto sanctification_, and\n  the end eternal life.'--Rom. vi. 18, 19, 22.\n\n  'Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.'--Gal. ii. 4.\n\n  'With freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be\n  not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.'--Gal. v. 1.\n\n\nThere is no possession more precious or priceless than liberty. There is\nnothing more inspiring and elevating; nothing, on the other hand, more\ndepressing and degrading than slavery. It robs a man of what constitutes\nhis manhood, the power of self-decision, self-action, of being and doing\nwhat he would.\n\nSin is slavery; the bondage to a foreign power that has obtained the\nmastery over us, and compels often a most reluctant service. The\nredemption of Christ restores our liberty and sets us free from the\npower of sin. If we are truly to live as redeemed ones, we need not only\nto look at the work Christ did to accomplish our redemption, but to\naccept and realize fully how complete, how sure, how absolute the\nliberty is wherewith He hath made us free. It is only as we '_stand\nfast_ in our liberty in Christ Jesus,' that we can have our fruit unto\nsanctification.\n\nIt is remarkable how seldom the word _holy_ occurs in the great argument\nof the Epistle to the Romans, and how, where twice used in chap. vi. in\nthe expression 'unto sanctification,' it is distinctly set forth as the\naim and fruit to be reached through a life of righteousness. The twice\nrepeated 'unto sanctification,' pointing to a result to be obtained, is\npreceded by a twice repeated 'being made free from sin and become\nservants of righteousness.' It teaches us how the liberty from the power\nof sin and the surrender to the service of righteousness are not yet of\nthemselves holiness, but the sure and only path by which it can be\nreached. A true insight and a full entering into our freedom from sin in\nChrist are indispensable to a life of holiness. It was when Israel was\nfreed from Pharaoh that God began to reveal Himself as the Holy One: it\nis as we know ourselves 'freed from sin,' delivered from the hand of all\nour enemies, that we shall serve God in righteousness and holiness all\nthe days of our life.\n\n'_Being made free from sin_:' to understand this word aright, we must\nbeware of a twofold error. We must neither narrow it down to less, nor\nimport into it more, than the Holy Spirit means by it here. Paul is\nspeaking neither of an imputation nor an experience. We must not limit\nit to being made free from the curse or punishment of sin. The context\nshows that he is speaking, not of our judicial standing, but of a\nspiritual reality, our being in living union with Christ in His death\nand resurrection, and so being entirely taken out from under the\ndominion or power of sin. 'Sin shall not have dominion over you.' Nor is\nhe as yet speaking of an experience, that we feel that we are free from\nall sin. He speaks of the great objective fact, Christ's having finally\ndelivered us from the power which sin had to compel us to do its will\nand its works, and urges us, in the faith of this glorious fact, boldly\nto refuse to listen to the bidding or temptation of sin. To know our\nliberty which we have in Christ, our freedom from sin's mastery and\npower, is the way to realize it as an experience.\n\nIn olden times, when Turks or Moors often made slaves of Christians,\nlarge sums were frequently paid for the ransom of those who were in\nbondage. But it happened more than once, away in the interior of the\nslave country, that the ransomed ones never got the tidings; the masters\nwere only too glad to keep it from them. Others, again, got the tidings,\nbut had grown too accustomed to their bondage to rouse themselves for\nthe effort of reaching the coast. Slothfulness or hopelessness kept them\nin slavery; they could not believe that they would be able ever in\nsafety to reach the land of liberty. The ransom had been paid; in truth\nthey were free; and yet in their experience, by reason of ignorance or\nwant of courage, they were still in bondage. Christ's redemption has so\ncompletely made an end of sin and the legal power it had over us,--for\n'the strength of sin is the law,'--that in very deed, in the deepest\nreality, sin has no power to compel our obedience. It is only as we\nallow it again to reign, as we yield ourselves again as its servants,\nthat it can exercise the mastery. Satan does his utmost to keep\nbelievers in ignorance of the completeness of this their freedom from\nhis slavery. And because believers are so content with their own\nthoughts of what redemption means, and so little long and plead to see\nit and possess it in its fulness of deliverance and blessing, the\nexperience of the extent to which the freedom from sin can be realized\nis so feeble. 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' It is\nby the Holy Spirit, His light and leading within, humbly watched for and\nyielded to, that this liberty becomes our possession.\n\nIn the sixth chapter Paul speaks of freedom from sin, in chap. vii.\n(vers. 3, 4, 6) of freedom from the law, as both being ours in Christ\nand union with Him. In chap. viii. (ver. 2) he speaks of this freedom as\nbecome ours in experience. He says, 'The law of the Spirit of life in\nChrist Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.' The\nfreedom which is ours in Christ, must become ours in personal\nappropriation and enjoyment through the Holy Spirit. The latter depends\non the former: the fuller the faith, the clearer the insight, the more\ntriumphant the glorying in Christ Jesus and the liberty with which He\nhas made us free, the speedier and the fuller the entrance into the\nglorious liberty of the children of God. As the liberty is in Christ\nalone, so it is the Spirit of Christ alone that makes it ours in\npractical possession, and keeps us dwelling in it: 'the spirit of the\nlife in Christ Jesus _hath made me free_ from the law of sin and death.'\n'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' As the Spirit\nreveals Jesus to us as Lord and Master, the new Master, who alone has\nought to say over us, and leads us to yield ourselves, to present our\nmembers, to surrender our whole life to the service of God in Christ,\nour faith in the freedom from sin becomes a consciousness and a\nrealization. Believing in the completeness of the redemption, the\ncaptive goes forth as 'the Lord's freedman.' He knows now that sin has\nno longer power for one moment to command obedience. It may seek to\nassert its old right; it may speak in the tone of authority; it may\nfrighten us into fear and submission; power it has none over us, except\nas we, forgetting our freedom, yield to its temptation, and ourselves\ngive it power.\n\nWe are the Lord's freedmen. 'We have our liberty in Christ Jesus.' In\nRom. vii. Paul describes the terrible struggles of the soul who still\nseeks to fulfil the law, but finds itself utterly helpless; sold under\nsin, a captive and a slave, without the liberty to do what the whole\nheart desires. But when the Spirit takes the place of the law, the\ncomplaint, 'O wretched man that I am,' is changed into the song of\nvictory: 'I thank God, through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of\nlife hath made me free.'\n\nWhat numberless complaints of insufficient strength to do God's will, of\nunsuccessful effort and disappointed hopes, of continual failure,\nre-echo in a thousand different forms the complaint of the captive, 'O\nwretched man that I am!' Thank God! there is deliverance. 'With freedom\ndid Christ set us free! Stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again\nin a yoke of bondage.' Satan is ever seeking to lay on us again the yoke\neither of sin or the law, to beget again the spirit of bondage, as if\nsin or the law with their demands somehow had power over us. It is not\nso: be not entangled; stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has\nmade you free. Let us listen to the message: 'Being made free from sin,\nye became servants unto righteousness; now yield your members servants\nto righteousness _unto sanctification_.' 'Having been made free from\nsin, and having been enslaved unto God, ye have your fruit _unto\nsanctification_.' To be holy, you must be free, perfectly free; free for\nJesus to rule you, to lead you; free for the Holy Spirit to dispose of\nyou, to breathe in you, to work His secret, gentle, but mighty work, so\nthat you may grow up unto all the liberty Jesus has won for you. The\ntemple could not be sanctified by the indwelling of God, except as it\nwas free from every other master and every other use, to be for Him and\nHis service alone. The inner temple of our heart cannot be truly and\nfully sanctified, except as we are free from every other master and\npower, from every yoke of bondage, or fear, or doubt, to let His Spirit\nlead us into the perfect liberty which has its fruit in true holiness.\n\nBeing made free from sin, having become servants unto righteousness, ye\nhave your fruit unto holiness, and the end life everlasting. Freedom,\nRighteousness, Holiness--these are the steps on the way to the coming\nglory. The more deeply we enter by faith into our liberty, which we have\nin Christ, the more joyfully and confidently we present our members to\nGod as instruments of righteousness. The God is the Father whose will we\ndelight to do, whose service is perfect liberty. The Redeemer is the\nMaster, to whom love binds us in willing obedience. The liberty is not\nlawlessness: 'we are delivered from our enemies, that we may serve Him\nin righteousness and holiness all the days of our life.'[12]\n\nThe liberty is the condition of the righteousness; and this again of the\nholiness. The doing of God's will leads up into that fellowship, that\nheart sympathy with God Himself, out of which comes that reflection of\nthe Divine Presence, which is Holiness. Being made free from sin, being\nmade the slaves of righteousness and of God, we have our fruit unto\nholiness, and the end--the fruit of holiness becomes, when ripe, the\nseed of--everlasting life.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost glorious God! I pray Thee to open my eyes to this wonderful liberty\nwith which Christ has made me free. May I enter fully into Thy word,\nthat sin shall have no dominion over me because I am not under the law\nbut under grace. May I know my liberty which I have in Christ Jesus, and\nstand fast in it.\n\nFather! Thy service is perfect liberty: reveal this too to me. Thou art\nthe infinitely Free, and Thy will knows no limits but what its own\nperfection has placed. And Thou invitest us into Thy will, that we may\nbe free as Thou art. O my God! show me the beauty of Thy will, as it\nfrees me from self and from sin, and let it be my only blessedness. Let\nthe service of righteousness so be a joy and a strength to me, having\nits fruit unto sanctification, leading me into Thy Holiness.\n\nBlessed Lord Jesus! my Deliverer and my Liberty, I belong to Thee. I\ngive myself to Thy will, to know no will but Thine. Master! Thee and\nThee alone would I serve. I have my liberty in Thee! be Thou my Keeper.\nI cannot stand for one moment out of Thee. In Thee I can stand fast: in\nThee I put my trust.\n\nMost Holy God! as Thy free, obedient, loving child, Thou wilt make me\nholy. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Liberty is the power to carry out unhindered the impulse of our\n     nature. In Christ the child of God is free from every power\n     that could hinder his acting out the law of his new nature.\n\n  2. This liberty is of faith (Gal. v. 5, 6). By faith in Christ I\n     enter into it, and stand in it.\n\n  3. This liberty is of the Holy Spirit. 'Where the Spirit of the\n     Lord is, there is liberty.' 'If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are\n     not under the law.' A heart filled with the Spirit is made free\n     indeed. But we are not made free that we may do our own will.\n     No, made _free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit_.\n     'Where the Spirit is, there is liberty.'\n\n  4. This liberty is in love. 'Ye were called for freedom; only use\n     not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love\n     be servants, one to another.' The freedom with which the Son\n     makes free is a freedom to become like Himself, to love and to\n     serve. 'Though I was free from all men, I brought myself under\n     bondage to all, that I might gain the more.' This is the\n     liberty of love.\n\n  5. 'Being made free from sin, ye became _servants of\n     righteousness_ unto sanctification.' 'Let my people go, that\n     they may serve me.' It is only the man that doeth righteousness\n     that can become holy.\n\n  6. This liberty is a thing of joy and singing.\n\n  7. This liberty is the groundwork of holiness. The Redeemer who\n     makes free is God the Holy One. As the Holy Spirit He leads\n     into the full possession of it. To be so free from everything\n     that God can take complete possession, is to be holy.\n\n\n   [12] See Note G.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-first Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Happiness.\n\n  'The kingdom of God is joy in the Holy Ghost.'--Rom. xiv. 17.\n\n  'The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.'--Acts\n  xiii. 52.\n\n  'Then Nehemiah said, This day is _holy_ unto the Lord: neither be\n  ye sorry, for the _joy_ of the Lord is your strength. So the\n  Levites stilled the people, saying, Hold your peace; for the day\n  is _holy_; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their\n  way to make great _mirth_, because they had understood the\n  words.'--Neh. viii. 10-12.\n\n\nThe deep significance of joy in the Christian life is hardly understood.\nIt is too often regarded as something secondary; whereas its presence is\nessential as the proof that God does indeed satisfy us, and that His\nservice is our delight. In our domestic life we do not feel satisfied if\nall the proprieties of deportment are observed, and each does his duty\nto the other; true love makes us happy in each other; as love gives out\nits warmth of affection, gladness is the sunshine that fills the home\nwith its brightness. Even in suffering or poverty, the members of a\nloving family are a joy to each other. Without this gladness,\nespecially, there is no true obedience on the part of the children. It\nis not the mere fulfilment of a command, or performance of a service,\nthat a parent looks to; it is the willing, joyful alacrity with which it\nis done that makes it pleasing.\n\nIt is just so in the intercourse of God's children with their Father.\nEven in the effort after a life of consecration and gospel obedience, we\nare continually in danger of coming under the law again, with its, Thou\nshalt. The consequence always is failure. The law only worketh wrath; it\ngives neither life nor strength. It is only as long as we are standing\nin the joy of our Lord, in the joy of our deliverance from sin, in the\njoy of His love, and what He is for us, in the joy of His presence, that\nwe have the power to serve and obey. It is only when made free from\nevery master, from sin and self and the law, and only when rejoicing in\nthis liberty, that we have the power to render service that is\nsatisfying either to God or to ourselves. 'I will see you again,' Jesus\nsaid, 'and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from\nyou.' Joy is the evidence and the condition of the abiding personal\npresence of Jesus.\n\nIf holiness be the beauty and the glory of the life of faith, it is\nmanifest that here especially the element of joy may not be wanting. We\nhave already seen how the first mention of God as the Holy One was in\nthe song of praise on the shore of the Red Sea; how Hannah and Mary in\ntheir moments of inspiration praised God as the Holy One; how the name\nof the Thrice Holy in heaven comes to us in the song of the seraphs; and\nhow before the throne both the living creatures and the conquering\nmultitude who sing the song of the Lamb, adore God as the Holy One. We\nare to 'worship Him in the beauty of holiness,' 'to sing praise at the\nremembrance of His Holiness;' it is only in the spirit of worship and\npraise and joy that we fully can know God as holy. Much more, it is only\nunder the inspiration of adoring love and joy that we can ourselves be\nmade holy. It is as we cease from all fear and anxiety, from all strain\nand effort, and rest with singing in what Jesus is in His finished work\nas our sanctification, as we rest and rejoice in Him, that we shall be\nmade partakers of His Holiness. It is the day of rest, is the day that\nGod has blessed, the day of blessing and gladness; and it is the day He\nblessed that is His holy day. Holiness and blessedness are inseparable.\n\nBut is not this at variance with the teaching of Scripture and the\nexperience of the saints? Are not suffering and sorrow among God's\nchosen means of sanctification? Are not the promises to the broken in\nheart, the poor in spirit, and the mourner? Are not self-denial and the\nforsaking of all we have, the crucifixion with Christ and the dying\ndaily, the path to holiness? and is not all this more matter of sorrow\nand pain than of joy and gladness?\n\nThe answer will be found in the right apprehension of the life of\nfaith. Faith lifts above, and gives possession of, what is the very\nopposite of what we feel or experience. In the Christian life there is\nalways a paradox: what appear irreconcilable opposites are found side by\nside at the same moment. Paul expresses it in the words, 'As dying, and,\nbehold, we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making\nmany rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.' And elsewhere\nthus, '_When_ I am weak, _then_ am I strong.' The apparent contradiction\nhas its reconciliation, not only in the union of the two lives, the\nhuman and the Divine, in the person of each believer, but specially in\nour being, at one and the same moment, partakers of the death and the\nresurrection of Christ. Christ's death was one of pain and suffering, a\nreal and terrible death, a rending asunder of the bonds that united soul\nand body, spirit and flesh. The power of that death works in us: we must\nlet it work mightily if we are to live holy; for in that death He\nsanctified Himself, that we ourselves might be sanctified in truth. Our\nholiness is, like His, in the death to our own will, and to all our own\nlife. But--this we must seek to grasp--we do not approach death from the\nside from which Christ met it, as an enemy to be conquered, as a\nsuffering to be borne, before the new life can be entered on. No, the\nbeliever who knows what Christ is as the Risen One, approaches death,\nthe crucifixion of self and the flesh and the world, from the\nresurrection side, the place of victory, in the power of the Living\nChrist. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His\ndeath and resurrection as ours; and Christ Himself, the Risen Living\nLord, leads us triumphantly into the experience of the power of His\ndeath. And so, to the believer who truly lives by faith, and seeks not\nin his own strugglings to crucify and mortify the flesh, but knows the\nliving Lord, the deep resurrection joy never for a moment forsakes Him,\nbut is his strength for what may appear to others to be only painful\nsacrifice and cross-bearing. He says with Paul, 'I glory in the cross\nthrough which I have been crucified.' He never, as so many do, asks\nPaul's question, 'Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?'\nwithout sounding the joyful and triumphant answer as a present\nexperience, 'I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' 'Thanks be to\nGod, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.' It is the joy of a\nPresent Saviour, of the experience of a perfect salvation, the joy of a\nresurrection life, which alone gives the power to enter deeply and fully\ninto the death that Christ died, and yield our will and our life to be\nwholly sanctified to God. In the joy of that life, from which the power\nof the death is never absent, it is possible to say with the Apostle\neach moment, 'As dying, and, behold, we live; as sorrowful, yet always\nrejoicing.'\n\nLet us seek to learn the two lessons: Holiness is essential to true\nhappiness; happiness essential to true holiness. _Holiness is essential\nto true happiness._ If you would have joy, the fulness of joy, an\nabiding joy which nothing can take away, be holy as God is holy.\nHoliness is blessedness. Nothing can darken or interrupt our joy but\nsin. Whatever be our trial or temptation, the joy of Jesus of which\nPeter says, 'in whom ye now rejoice with joy unspeakable,' can more than\ncompensate and outweigh. If we lose our joy, it must be sin. It may be\nan actual transgression, or an unconscious following of self or the\nworld; it may be the stain on conscience of something doubtful, or it\nmay be unbelief that would live by sight, and thinks more of itself and\nits joy than of the Lord alone: whatever it be, nothing can take away\nour joy but sin. If we would live lives of joy, assuring God and man and\nourselves that our Lord is everything, is more than all to us, oh, let\nus be holy! Let us glory in Him who is our holiness: in His presence is\nfulness of joy. Let us live in the Kingdom which is joy in the Holy\nGhost; the Spirit of holiness is the Spirit of joy, because He is the\nSpirit of God. It is the saints, God's holy ones, who will shout for\njoy.\n\nAnd _happiness is essential to true holiness_. If you would be a holy\nChristian, you must be a happy Christian. Jesus was anointed by God with\n'the oil of gladness,' that He might give us 'the oil of joy.' In all\nour efforts after holiness, the wheels will move heavily if there be not\nthe oil of joy; this alone removes all strain and friction, and makes\nthe onward progress easy and delightful. Study to understand the Divine\nworth of joy. It is the evidence of your being in the Father's\npresence, and dwelling in His love. It is the proof of your being\nconsciously free from the law and the strain of the spirit of bondage.\nIt is the token of your freedom from care and responsibility, because\nyou are rejoicing in Christ Jesus as your Sanctification, your Keeper,\nand your Strength. It is the secret of spiritual health and strength,\nfilling all your service with the childlike happy assurance that the\nFather asks nothing that He does not give strength for, and that He\naccepts all that is done, however feebly, in this spirit. True happiness\nis always self-forgetful: it loses itself in the object of its joy. As\nthe joy of the Holy Ghost fills us, and we rejoice in God the Holy One,\nthrough our Lord Jesus Christ, as we lose ourselves in the adoration and\nworship of the Thrice Holy, we become holy. This is, even here in the\nwilderness, 'the Highway of Holiness: the ransomed of the Lord shall\ncome with singing; the redeemed shall walk there; everlasting joy shall\nbe upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness.'\n\nDo all God's children understand this? that holiness is just another\nname, the true name, that God gives for happiness; that it is indeed\nunutterable blessedness to know that God does make us holy, that our\nholiness is in Christ, that Christ's Holy Spirit is within us. There is\nnothing so attractive as joy: have believers understood it that this is\nthe joy of the Lord--to be holy? Or is not the idea of strain, and\nsacrifice, and sighing, of difficulty and distance so prominent, that\nthe thought of being holy has hardly ever made the heart glad? If it has\nbeen so, let it be so no longer. 'Thou shalt glory in the Holy One of\nIsrael:' let us claim this promise. Let the believing assurance that our\nLoving Father, and our Beloved Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, who in\ndove-like gentleness rests within us, have engaged to do the work, and\nare doing it, fill us with gladness. Let us not seek our joy in what we\nsee in ourselves of holiness: let us rejoice in the Holiness of God in\nChrist as ours; let us rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. So shall our\njoy be unspeakable and unceasing; so shall we give Him the glory.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Blessed God! I beseech Thee to reveal to me and to all Thy children\nthe secret of rejoicing in Thee, the Holy One of Israel.\n\nThou seest how much of the service of Thine own dear children is still\nin the spirit of bondage, and how many have never yet believed that the\nHighway of Holiness is one on which they may walk with singing, and\nshall obtain joy and gladness. O Father! teach Thy children to rejoice\nin Thee.\n\nI ask Thee especially to teach us that, in deep poverty of spirit, in\nhumility and contrition and utter emptiness, in the consciousness that\nthere is no holiness in us, we can sing all the day of Thy Holiness as\nours, of Thy glory which Thou layest upon us, and which yet all the time\nis Thine alone. O Father! open wide to Thy children the blessed mystery\nof the Kingdom, even the faith which sees all in Christ and nothing in\nitself; which indeed has and rejoices in all in Him; which never has or\nrejoices in ought in itself.\n\nBlessed God, in Thy Word Thou hast said, 'The meek shall increase their\njoy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of\nIsrael.' Oh, give us, by Thy Holy Spirit, in meekness and poverty of\nspirit, to live so in Christ, that His Holiness may be our\never-increasing joy, and that in Thyself, the Holy One of Israel, we may\nrejoice all the day. And may all see in us what blessedness it is to\nlive as God's holy ones. Amen.\n\n\n  1. The great hindrance to joy in God is expecting to find\n     something in ourselves to rejoice over. At the commencement of\n     this pursuit of holiness we always expect to see a great change\n     wrought in ourselves. As we are led deeper into what faith, and\n     the faith-life is, we understand how, though we do not see the\n     change as we expected, we may yet rejoice with joy unspeakable\n     in what Jesus is. This is the secret of holiness.\n\n  2. Joy must be cultivated. To rejoice is a command more frequently\n     given than we know. It is part of the obedience of faith, to\n     rejoice when we do not feel like doing so. Faith rejoices and\n     sings, because God is holy.\n\n  3. 'Filled with joy and the Holy Ghost,' 'The Kingdom is joy in\n     the Holy Ghost.' The Holy Spirit, the Blessed Spirit of Jesus\n     is within thee, a very fountain of living water, of joy and\n     gladness. Oh, seek to know Him, who dwells in thee, to work all\n     that Jesus has for thee: He will be in thee the Spirit of faith\n     and of joy.\n\n  4. Love and joy ever keep company. Love, denying and forgetting\n     itself for the brethren and the lost, living in them, finds the\n     joy of God. 'The kingdom of God is joy in the Holy Ghost.'\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-second Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nIn Christ our Sanctification.\n\n  'Of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from\n  God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption; that,\n  according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the\n  Lord.'--1 Cor. i. 30, 31.\n\n\nThese words lead us on now to the very centre of God's revelation of the\nway of holiness. We know the steps of the road leading hither. He is\nholy, and holiness is His. He makes holy by coming near. His presence is\nholiness. In Christ's life, the holiness that had only been revealed in\nsymbol, and as a promise of good things to come, had really taken\npossession of a human will, and been made one with true human nature. In\nHis death every obstacle had been removed that could prevent the\ntransmission of that holy nature to us: Christ had truly become our\nsanctification. In the Holy Spirit the actual communication of that\nholiness took place. And now we want to understand what the work is the\nHoly Spirit does, and how He communicates this holy nature to us: what\nour relation is to Christ as our sanctification, and what the position\nwe have to take up toward Him, that in its fulness and its power it may\ndo its work for us.\n\nThe Divine answer to this question is, 'Of God are ye _in Christ_.' The\none thing we need to apprehend is, what this our position and life in\nChrist is, and how that position and life may on our part be accepted\nand maintained. Of this we may be sure, that it is not something that is\nhigh and beyond our reach. There need be no exhausting effort or\nhopeless sighing, 'Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring\nChrist down from above?' It is a life that is meant for the sinful and\nthe weary, for the unworthy and the impotent. It is a life that is the\ngift of the Father's love, and that He Himself will reveal in each one\nwho comes in childlike trust to Him. It is a life that is meant for our\nevery-day life, that in every varying circumstance and situation will\nmake and keep us holy.\n\n'Of God are ye _in Christ_.' Ere our Blessed Lord left the world, He\nspake: Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. And it is\nwritten of Him: 'He that descended is the same that ascended far above\nall the heavens, that He might fill all things.' 'The Church is His\nbody, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' In the Holy Spirit\nthe Lord Jesus is with His people here on earth. Though unseen, and not\nin the flesh, His Personal Presence is as real on earth as when He\nwalked with His disciples. In regeneration the believer is taken out of\nhis old place 'in the flesh;' he is no longer in the flesh, but in the\nspirit (Rom. viii. 9); he is really and actually in Christ. The living\nChrist is around him by His holy Presence. Wherever and whatever he be,\nhowever ignorant of his position or however unfaithful to it, there he\nis in Christ. By an act of Divine and omnipotent grace, he has been\nplanted into Christ, encircled on every side by the Power and the Love\nof Him who filleth all things, whose fulness specially dwells in His\nbody here below, the Church.\n\nAnd how can one who is longing to know Christ fully as his\nsanctification, come to live out what God means and has provided in\nthis--'in Christ'? The first thing that must be remembered is that it is\na thing of faith and not of feeling. The promise of the indwelling and\nthe quickening of the Holy One is to the humble and contrite. Just when\nI feel most deeply that I am not holy, and can do nothing to make myself\nholy, when I feel ashamed of myself, just then is the time to turn from\nself and very quietly to say: I am in Christ. Here He is all around me.\nLike the air that surrounds me, like the light that shines on me, here\nis my Lord Jesus with me in His hidden but Divine and most real\npresence. My faith must in quiet rest and trust bow before the Father,\nof whom and by whose Mighty Grace I am in Christ: He will reveal it to\nme with ever-growing clearness and power. He does it as I believe, and\nin believing open my whole soul to receive what is implied in it: the\nsense of sinfulness and unholiness must become the strength of my trust\nand dependence. In such faith I abide in Christ.\n\nBut because it is of faith, therefore it is of the Holy Spirit. _Of God_\nare ye _in Christ_. It is not as if God placed and planted us in Christ,\nand left it to us now to maintain the union. No, God is the Eternal One,\nthe God of the everlasting life, who works every moment in a power that\ndoes not for one moment cease. What God gives, He continues with a\nnever-ceasing giving. It is He who by the Holy Spirit makes this life in\nChrist a blessed reality in our consciousness. 'We have received the\nSpirit of God that we might _know_ the things that are freely given us\nof God.' Faith is not only dependent on God for the gift it is to\naccept, but for the power to accept. Faith not only needs the Son as its\nfilling and its food; it needs the Spirit as its power to receive and\nhold. And so the blessed possession of all that it means to be in Christ\nour sanctification comes as we learn to bow before God in believing\nprayer for the mighty workings of the Spirit, and in the deep childlike\ntrust that He will reveal and glorify in us this Christ our\nsanctification in whom we are.\n\nAnd how will the Spirit reveal this Christ in whom we are? It will\nspecially be as the Living One, the Personal Friend and Master. Christ\nis not only our Example and our Ideal. His life is not only an\natmosphere and an inspiration, as we speak of a man who mightily\ninfluences us by his writings. Christ is not only a treasury and a\nfulness of grace and power, into which the Spirit is to lead us. But\nChrist is the Living Saviour, with a heart that beats with a love that\nis most tenderly human, and yet Divine. It is in this love He comes\nnear, and into this love He receives us, when the Father plants us into\nHim. In the power of a personal love He wishes to exercise influence,\nand to attach us to Himself. In that love of His we have the guarantee\nthat His Holiness will enter us; in that love the great power by which\nit enters. As the Spirit reveals to us where we are dwelling, in Christ\nand His love, and that this Christ is a living Lord and Saviour, there\nwakens within us the enthusiasm of a personal attachment, and the\ndevotion of a loving allegiance, that make us wholly His. And it becomes\npossible for us to believe that we can be holy: we feel sure that in the\npath of holiness we can go from strength to strength.\n\nSuch believing insight into our relation to Christ as being in Him, and\nsuch personal attachment to Him who has received us into His love and\nkeeps us abiding there, becomes the spring of a new obedience. The will\nof God comes to us in the light of Christ's life and His love--each\ncommand first fulfilled by Him, and then passed on to us as the sure and\nmost blessed help to more perfect fellowship with the Father and His\nHoliness. Christ becomes Lord and King in the soul, in the power of the\nHoly Spirit, guiding the will into all the perfect will of God, and\nproving Himself to be its sanctification, as He crowns its obedience\nwith ever larger inflow of the Presence and the Holiness of God.\n\nIs there any dear child of God at all disposed to lose heart as he\nthinks of what manner of man he ought to be in all holy living, let me\ncall him to take courage. Could God have devised anything more wonderful\nor beautiful for such sinful, impotent creatures? Just think, Christ,\nGod's own Son, made to be sanctification to you. The Mighty, Loving,\nHoly Christ, sanctified through suffering that He might have sympathy\nwith you, given to make you holy. What more could you desire? Yes, there\nis more: '_Of God you are in Him._' Whether you understand it or not,\nhowever feebly you realize it, there it is, a thing most Divinely true\nand real. You are in Christ, by an act of God's own Mighty Power. And\nthere, in Christ, God Himself longs to establish and confirm you to the\nend. And you have, greatest wonder of all, the Holy Spirit within you to\nteach you to know, and believe, and receive, all that there is in Christ\nfor you. And if you will but confess that there is in you no wisdom or\npower for holiness, none at all, and allow Christ, 'the Wisdom of God\nand the Power of God,' by the Holy Spirit within you, to lead you on,\nand prove how completely, how faithfully, how mightily, He can be your\nsanctification, He will do it most gloriously.\n\nO my brother! come and consent more fully to God's way of holiness. Let\nChrist be your sanctification. Not a distant Christ to whom you look,\nbut a Christ very near, all around you, in whom you are. Not a Christ\nafter the flesh, a Christ of the past, but a present Christ in the power\nof the Holy Ghost. Not a Christ whom you can know by your wisdom, but\nthe Christ of God, who is a Spirit, and whom the Spirit within you, as\nyou die to the flesh and self, will reveal in power. Not a Christ such\nas your little thoughts can frame a conception of, but a Christ\naccording to the greatness of the heart and the love of God. Oh, come\nand accept this Christ, and rejoice in Him! Be content now to leave all\nyour feebleness, and foolishness, and faithlessness to Him, in the quiet\nconfidence that He will do for you more than you can think. And so let\nit henceforth be, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in\nthe Lord.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Blessed Father! I bow in speechless adoration before the holy\nmystery of Thy Divine Love....\n\nOh, forgive me, that I have known and believed it so little as it is\nworthy of being known and believed.\n\nAccept my praise for what I have seen and tasted of its Divine\nblessedness. Accept, Lord God! of the praise of a glad and loving heart\nthat only knows that it never can praise Thee aright.\n\nAnd hear my prayer, O my Father! that in the power of Thy Holy Spirit,\nwho dwells in me, I may each day accept and live out fully what Thou\nhast given me in Christ my sanctification. May the unsearchable riches\nthere are in Him be the daily supply for my every need. May His\nHoliness, His delight in Thy will, indeed become mine. Teach me, above\nall, how this can most surely be, because I am, through the work of\nThine Almighty Quickening Power, in Him, kept there by Thyself. My\nFather! my faith cries out: I can be holy, blessed be my Lord Jesus!\n\nIn this faith I yield myself to Thee, Lord Jesus, my King and Master, to\ndo Thy will alone. In everything I do, great or small, I would act as\none sanctified in Jesus, united to God's will in Him. It is Thou alone\ncanst teach me to do this, canst give me strength to perform it. But I\ntrust in Thee--art Thou not Christ my sanctification? Blessed Lord! I do\ntrust Thee. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Christ, as He lived and died on earth, is our sanctification.\n     His life, the Spirit of His life, is what constitutes our\n     holiness. To be in perfect harmony with Christ, to have His\n     mind, is to be holy.\n\n  2. Christ's Holiness had two sides. God sanctified Him by His\n     Spirit: Christ sanctified Himself by following the leading of\n     the Spirit, by giving up His will to God in everything. So God\n     has made us holy in Christ; and so we follow after and perfect\n     holiness by yielding ourselves to God's Spirit, by giving up\n     our will and living in the will of God.\n\n  3. It is well that we take in every aspect of what God has\n     revealed of holiness in His word. But let us never weary\n     ourselves by seeking to grasp all completely. Let us even\n     return to the simplicity that is in Jesus. To bow at His feet,\n     to believe that He knows all we need, and has it all, and loves\n     to give it all, is rest. And holiness is resting in Jesus the\n     rest of God. Let all our thoughts be gathered up into this one:\n     Jesus, Blessed Jesus.\n\n  4. This holy life in Christ is for to-day, when you read this. For\n     to-day He is made of God unto you sanctification: to-day He\n     will indeed be your holiness. Believe in Him for it; trust Him,\n     praise Him. And remember: _you are in Him_.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-third Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and the Body.\n\n  'The temple of God is _holy_, which temple ye are. _The body_ is\n  for the Lord, and the Lord for _the body_. Know ye not that your\n  _body_ is the temple of _the Holy Ghost_ which is in you;\n  therefore glorify God in your _body_.'--1 Cor. iii. 16, vi. 13,\n  19.\n\n  'She that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, that\n  she may be _holy_ both _in body_ and spirit.'--1 Cor. vii. 34.\n\n  'Present your _bodies_ a living sacrifice, _holy_, acceptable to\n  God.'--Rom. xii. 1.\n\n\nComing into the world, our Blessed Lord spake: '_A body_ didst Thou\nprepare for me; lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.' Leaving this world\nagain, it was in His own _body_ that He bore our sins upon the tree. So\nit was in the body, no less than in soul and spirit, that He did the\nwill of God. And therefore it is said, 'By which will we have been\nsanctified through the offering _of the body_ of Jesus Christ once for\nall.'\n\nWhen praying for the Thessalonians and their sanctification, Paul says,\n'And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit\nand soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at the coming of\nour Lord Jesus Christ.' Of himself he had spoken as 'always bearing\nabout _in the body_ the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may\nbe manifested _in our body_. For we which live are always delivered unto\ndeath for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested _in\nour mortal flesh_.' His earnest expectation and hope was, 'that Christ\nbe magnified _in my body_, whether by life or by death.' The relation\nbetween body and spirit is so intimate, the power of sin in the spirit\ncomes so much through the body, the body is so distinctly the object\nboth of Christ's redemption and the Holy Spirit's renewal, that our\nstudy of holiness will be seriously defective if we do not take in the\nteaching of Scripture on holiness in the body.\n\nIt has been well said that the body is, to the soul and spirit dwelling\nand acting within it, like the walls of the city. Through them the enemy\nenters in. In time of war, everything yields to the defence of the\nwalls. It is often because the believer does not know the importance of\nkeeping the walls defended, keeping the body sanctified, that he fails\nin having the soul and spirit preserved blameless. Or it is because he\ndoes not understand that the guarding and sanctifying of the body in all\nits parts must be as distinctly a work of faith, and as directly through\nthe mighty power of Jesus and the indwelling of the Spirit, as the\nrenewing of the inner life, that progress in holiness is so feeble. The\nrule of the city we entrust to Jesus: but the defence of the walls we\nkeep in our own hands; the King does not keep us as we expected, and we\ncannot discover the secret of failure. It is the God of peace _Himself_,\nwho sanctifies wholly, who must preserve spirit and soul _and body_\nentire and without blame. The tabernacle with its wood, the temple with\nits stone, were as holy as all included within their walls: God's holy\nones need the body to be holy.\n\nTo realize the full meaning of this, let us remember how it was through\nthe body sin entered. 'The woman saw that the tree was good for food,'\nthis was the temptation in the flesh; through this the soul was reached,\n'it was a delight to the eyes;' through the soul it then passed into the\nspirit, 'and to be desired to make one wise.' In John's description of\nwhat is in the world (1 John ii. 15), we find the same threefold\ndivision, 'the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of\nlife.' And the three temptations of Jesus by Satan correspond exactly:\nhe first sought to reach Him through the body, in the suggestion to\nsatisfy His hunger by making bread; the second (see Luke iv.) appealed\nto the soul, in the vision of the kingdoms of this world and their\nglory; the third to the spirit, in the call to assert and prove His\nDivine Sonship by casting Himself down. Even to the Son of God the first\ntemptation came, as to Adam and all in the world, as lust of the flesh,\nthe desire to gratify the natural and lawful appetite of hunger. We\ncannot note too carefully that it was on a question of eating what\nappeared good for food that man's first sin was committed, and that that\nsame question of eating to satisfy hunger was the battleground on which\nthe Redeemer's first encounter with Satan took place. It is on the\nquestion of eating and drinking what is good and lawful that more\nChristians than are aware of it are foiled by Satan. To have every\nappetite of the body under the rule and regulation of the Holy Spirit\nappears to some needless, to others too difficult. And yet it must be,\nif the body is to be holy, as God's temple, and we are to glorify Him in\nour body and our spirit. The first approaches of sin are made through\nthe body: in the body the complete victory will be gained.\n\nWhat Scripture teaches as to the intimacy of the connection between the\nbody and spirit, physiology confirms. What appear at first merely\nphysical transgressions leave a stain and have a degrading influence on\nthe soul, and through it drag down the spirit. And on the other side,\nspiritual sins, sins of thought and imagination and disposition, pass\nthrough the soul into the body, fix themselves in the nervous\nconstitution, and express themselves even in the countenance and the\nhabits or tendencies of the body. Sin must be combated not only in the\nregion of the spirit: if we are to perfect holiness, we must cleanse\nourselves from all defilement of flesh _and_ spirit. 'If through the\nSpirit ye do make dead the deeds of _the body_, ye shall live.' If we\nare indeed to be cleansed from sin and made holy unto God, the body, as\nthe outworks, must very specially be secured from the power of Satan\nand of sin.\n\nAnd how is this to be done? God has made very special provision for\nthis. Holy Scripture speaks so explicitly of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit\nthat communicates holiness, in connection with the body. At first sight\nit looks as if the word, your bodies, were simply used as equivalent to,\nyour persons, yourselves. But as the deeper insight into the power of\nsin in the body, and the need of a deliverance specially there, quickens\nour perception, we see what is meant by the body being the temple of the\nHoly Spirit. We notice how very specially it is of sins in the body that\nPaul speaks as defiling God's holy temple; and how it is through the\npower of the Holy Ghost in the body that he would have us glorify God.\n'Know ye not that _your body_ is the temple of the Holy Ghost: glorify\nGod therefore, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in _your body_.' The\nHoly Spirit must not only exercise a restraining and regulating\ninfluence on the appetites of the body and their gratification, so that\nthey be in moderation and temperance,--this is only the negative\nside,--but there must be a positively spiritual element, making the\nexercise of natural functions a service of holy joy and liberty to the\nglory of God; no longer a threatened hindrance to the life of obedience\nand fellowship, but a means of grace, a real help to the spiritual life.\nIt is only in a body that is full of the holy life, very entirely\npossessed of God's Spirit, that this will be the case.\n\nAnd how can this be obtained? In the true Christian life, self-denial is\nthe path to enjoyment, renunciation to possession, death to life. As\nlong as there is ought that we think we have liberty and power to use or\nenjoy aright, if we but do so in moderation, we have not yet seen or\nconfessed our own unholiness, or the need of the entire renewing of the\nHoly Spirit. It is not enough to say, 'Every creature of God is good, if\nit be received with thanksgiving;' we must remember the addition, 'for\nit is sanctified by the word and by prayer.' This sanctifying of every\ncreature and its use is a thing as real and solemn as the sanctifying of\nourselves. And this will only be where, if need be, we sacrifice the\ngift and the liberty to use it, until God gives us the power truly to\nuse it to His glory alone. Of one of the most sacred of Divine\ninstitutions, marriage, Paul, who so denounces those who would forbid to\nmarry, says distinctly that there may be cases in which a voluntary\ncelibacy may be the surest and acceptable way of being 'holy both in\nbody and spirit.' When to be holy as God is holy indeed becomes the\ngreat desire and aim of life, everything will be cherished or given up\nas it promotes the chief end. The actual and active presence of the Holy\nSpirit in the life of the body will be the fire that is kept burning\ncontinually on the altar.\n\nAnd how is this to be attained? Of the body as of the spirit it is God,\nGod in Christ, who is our Keeper and our Sanctifier. The guarding of\nthe walls of the city must be entrusted to Him who rules within. 'I am\npersuaded that He is able to guard my deposit,' to keep that which I\nhave committed to Him, must become as definitely true of the body, and\nof each of its functions of which we are conscious that it is the\noccasion of doubt or of stumbling, as it has been of the soul we\nentrusted to Him for salvation. A fixed deposit in a bank is money given\naway out of my hands to be kept there: the body or any part of it that\nneeds to be made holy must be a deposit with Jesus. Faith must trust His\nacceptance and guarding of it; prayer and praise must daily afresh renew\nthe assurance, must confirm the committal of the deposit, and maintain\nthe fellowship with Jesus. Abiding thus in Him and His Holiness, we\nshall receive, in a life of trust and joy, the power to prove, even in\nthe body, how fully and wholly we are in Him who is made unto us\nsanctification, how real and true the Holiness of God is in His people.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBlessed Lord! who art my sanctification, I come to Thee now with a very\nspecial request. O Thou who didst in Thine own body bear our sins on the\ntree, and of whom it is written, 'We have been sanctified through the\noffering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,' be pleased to reveal\nto me how my body may to the full experience the power of Thy wonderful\nredemption. I do desire in soul and body to be holy to the Lord.\n\nLord! I have too little understood that my body is the temple of the\nHoly Ghost, that there is nothing in it that can be matter of\nindifference, that its every state and function is to be holiness to the\nLord. And where I saw that this should be so, I have still sought myself\nto guard from the enemy's approaches these the walls of the city. I\nforgot how this part of my being too could alone be kept and sanctified\nby faith, by Thy taking and keeping charge of what faith entrusted to\nThee.\n\nLord Jesus! I come now to surrender this body with all its needs into\nThy hands. In weariness and nervousness, in excitement and enjoyment, in\nhunger and want, in health and plenty, O my holy Saviour, let my body be\nin Thy keeping every moment. Thou callest us, 'being made free from sin,\nto present our members as servants of righteousness unto\nsanctification.' Saviour! in the faith of the freedom from sin which I\nhave in Thee, I present every member of my body to Thee: I believe the\nSpirit of life in Thee makes me free from the law of sin in my members.\nWhether living or dying, be Thou magnified in my body. Amen.\n\n\n  1. In the tabernacle and temple, the material part was to be in\n     harmony with, and the embodiment of, the holiness that dwelt\n     within. It was therefore all made according to the pattern\n     shown in the mount. In the two last chapters of Exodus, we have\n     eighteen times 'as the Lord commanded.' Everything, even in the\n     exterior, was the embodiment of the will of God. Even so our\n     body, as God's temple, must in everything be regulated by God's\n     word, quickened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.\n\n  2. As part of this holiness in the body, Scripture mentions dress.\n     Speaking of the 'outward adorning of plaiting the hair, of\n     wearing jewels, or the putting on of apparel,' as inconsistent\n     with 'the apparel of a meek and quiet spirit,' Peter says,\n     'After this manner aforetime _the holy women_, who hoped in\n     God, adorned themselves.' Holiness was seen in their dressing;\n     their body was the temple of the Holy Spirit.\n\n  3. 'If ye through the Spirit do make dead the deeds of _the body_,\n     ye shall live.' His quickening energy must reign through the\n     whole. We are so accustomed to connect the spiritual with the\n     ideal and invisible, that it will need time and thought and\n     faith to realize how the physical and the sensible influence\n     our spiritual life, and must be under the mastery and\n     inspiration of God's Spirit. Even Paul says, 'I buffet _my\n     body_, and bring it into bondage, lest I myself should be\n     rejected.'\n\n  4. If God actually breathed His Spirit into the body of Adam\n     formed out of the ground, let it not be thought strange that\n     the Holy Spirit should now animate our bodies too with His\n     sanctifying energy.\n\n  5. 'Corporeality is the end of the ways of God.' This deep saying\n     of an old divine reminds us of a much neglected truth. The\n     great work of God's Spirit is to ally Himself with matter, and\n     form it into a spiritual body for a dwelling for God. In our\n     body the Holy Spirit will do it, if He gets complete\n     possession.\n\n  6. It is on this truth of the Holy Spirit's power in the body that\n     what is called Faith-healing rests. Through all ages, in times\n     of special spiritual quickening, God has given it to some to\n     see how Christ would make, even here, the body partaker of the\n     life and power of the Spirit. To those who do see it, the link\n     between Holiness and Healing is a very close and blessed one,\n     as the Lord Jesus takes possession of the body for Himself.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-fourth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Cleansing.\n\n  'Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us _cleanse_\n  ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting\n  _holiness_ in the fear of God.'--2 Cor. vii. 1.\n\n\nThat holiness is more than cleansing, and must be preceded by it, is\ntaught us in more than one passage of the New Testament. 'Christ loved\nthe Church, and gave Himself up for it, that He might _sanctify_ it,\nhaving _cleansed_ it by the washing of water with the word.' 'If a man\n_cleanse_ himself from these, he shall be a vessel _sanctified_.' The\ncleansing is the negative side, the being separate and not touching the\nunclean thing, the removal of impurity; the sanctifying is the positive\nunion and fellowship with God, and the participation of the graces of\nthe Divine life and holiness (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18). So we read too of the\naltar, that God spake to Moses: 'Thou shalt _cleanse_ the altar, when\nthou makest atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to _sanctify_\nit' (Ex. xxix. 36). Cleansing must ever prepare the way, and ought\nalways to lead on to holiness.\n\nPaul speaks of a twofold defilement, of flesh and spirit, from which we\nmust cleanse ourselves. The connection between the two is so close, that\nin every sin both are partakers. The lowest and most carnal form of sin\nwill enter the spirit, and, dragging it down into partnership in crime,\nwill defile and degrade it. And so will all defilement of spirit in\ncourse of time show its power in the flesh. Still we may speak of the\ntwo classes of sins as they owe their origin more directly to the flesh\nor the spirit.\n\n'_Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh._' The functions\nof our body may be classed under the three heads of the nourishment, the\npropagation, and the protection of our life. Through the first the world\ndaily solicits our appetite with its food and drink. As the fruit good\nfor food was the temptation that overcame Eve, so the pleasures of\neating and drinking are among the earliest forms of defilement of the\nflesh. Closely connected with this is what we named second, and which is\nin Scripture specially connected with the word flesh. We know how in\nParadise the sinful eating was at once followed by the awakening of\nsinful lust and of shame. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul\nclosely connects the two (1 Cor. vi. 13, 15), as he also links\ndrunkenness and impurity (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10). Then comes the third form\nin which the vitality of the body displays itself: the instinct of\nself-preservation, setting itself against everything that interferes\nwith our pleasures and comfort. What is called temper, with its fruits\nof anger and strife, has its roots in the physical constitution, and is\none among the sins of the flesh. From all this, the Christian, who would\nbe holy, must most determinedly cleanse himself. He must yield himself\nto the searching of God's Spirit, to be taught what there is in the\nflesh that is not in harmony with the temperance and self-control\ndemanded both by the law of nature and the law of the Spirit. He must\nbelieve, what Paul felt that the Corinthians so emphatically needed to\nbe taught, that the Holy Spirit dwells in the body, making its members\nthe members of Christ, and in this faith put off the works of the flesh;\nhe must cleanse himself from all defilement of flesh.\n\n'_And of spirit._' As the source of all defilement of the flesh is\nself-gratification, so self-seeking is at the root of all defilement of\nthe spirit. In relation to God, it manifests itself in idolatry, be it\nin the worship of other gods after our own heart, the love of the world\nmore than God, or the doing our will rather than His. In relation to our\nfellow-men it shows itself in envy, hatred, and want of love, cold\nneglect or harsh judging of others. In relation to ourselves it is seen\nas pride, ambition, or envy, the disposition that makes self the centre\nround which all must move, and by which all must be judged.\n\nFor the discovery of such defilement of spirit, no less than of the sins\nof the flesh, the believer needs the light of the Holy Spirit; that the\nuncleanness may indeed be cleansed out and cast away for ever. Even\nunconscious sin, if we are not earnestly willing to have it shown to us,\nwill most effectually prevent our progress in the path of holiness.\n\n'_Beloved! let us cleanse ourselves._' The cleansing is sometimes spoken\nof as the work of God (Acts xv. 9; 1 John i. 9); sometimes as that of\nChrist (John xv. 3; Eph. v. 26; Tit. ii. 14). Here we are commanded to\ncleanse ourselves. God does His work in us by the Holy Spirit; the Holy\nSpirit does His work by stirring us up and enabling us to do. The Spirit\nis the strength of the new life; in that strength we must set ourselves\ndeterminedly to cast out whatever is unclean. 'Come out, and be ye\nseparate, and touch not the unclean thing.' It is not only the doing\nwhat is sinful, it is not only the willing of it, that the Christian\nmust avoid, but even the touching it: the involuntary contact with it\nmust be so unbearable as to force the cry, O wretched man that I am! and\nto lead on to the deliverance which the Spirit of the life of Christ\ndoes bring.\n\nAnd how is this cleansing to be done? When Hezekiah called the priests\nto sanctify the temple that had been defiled, we read (2 Chron. xxix.),\n'The priests went in unto the inner part of the house of the Lord to\ncleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found.' Only\nthen could the sin-offering of atonement and the burnt-offering of\nconsecration, with the thankofferings, be brought, and God's service be\nrestored. Even thus must all that is unclean be looked out, and brought\nout, and utterly cast out. However deeply rooted the sin may appear,\nrooted in constitution and habit, we must cleanse ourselves of it if we\nwould be holy. 'If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, the\nblood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' As we bring out every sin\nfrom the inner part of the house into the light of God and walk in the\nlight, the precious blood that justifies will work mightily to cleanse\ntoo: the blood brings into living contact with the life and the love of\nGod. Let us come into the light with the sin: the blood will prove its\nmighty power. Let us cleanse ourselves in yielding ourselves to the\nlight to reveal and condemn, to the blood to cleanse and sanctify.\n\n'Let us cleanse ourselves, _perfecting holiness in the fear of the\nLord_.' We read in Hebrews (x. 14), 'Christ hath perfected forever them\nthat are sanctified.' As we have so often seen that what God has made\nholy man must make holy too, as he accepts and appropriates the holiness\nGod has bestowed, so here with the perfection which the saints have in\nChrist. We must perfect holiness: holiness must be carried out into the\nwhole of life, and carried on even to its end. As God's holy ones, we\nmust go on to perfection, perfecting holiness. Do not let us be afraid\nof the word. Our Blessed Lord used it when He gave us the command, 'Be\nye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.' A child striving\nafter the perfection in knowledge of his profession, which he hopes to\nattain when he has finished school, is told by his teacher that the way\nto the perfection he hopes for at the end of his course is to seek to be\nperfect in the lessons of each day. To be perfect in the small portion\nof the work that each hour brings, is the path to the perfection that\nwill crown the whole. The Master calls us to a perfection like that of\nthe Father: He hath already perfected us in Himself: He holds out the\nprospect of perfection ever growing. His word calls us here day by day\nto be perfecting holiness. Let us seek in each duty to be whole-hearted\nand entire. Let us, as teachable scholars, in every act of worship or\nobedience, in every temptation and trial, do the very best which God's\nSpirit can enable us to do. 'Let patience have its perfect work, that ye\nmay be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.' 'The God of peace make\nyou perfect in every good work to do His will.'\n\n'_Having therefore these promises_, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves\nfrom all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear\nof God.' It is faith that gives the courage and the power to cleanse\nfrom all defilement, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It is as\nthe promises of the Divine love and indwelling (2 Cor. vi 16-18) are\nmade ours by the Holy spirit, that we shall share the victory which\novercometh the world, even our faith. In the path along which we have\nalready come, from the rest in Paradise down through Holy Scripture, we\nhave seen the wondrous revelation of these promises in ever-growing\nsplendour. That God the Holy One will make us holy; that God the Holy\nOne will dwell with the lowly; that God in His Holy One has come to be\nour holiness; that God has planted us in Christ that He may be our\nsanctification; that God, who chose us in sanctification of the Spirit,\nhas given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and now watches over us in\nHis love to work out through Him His purposes and to perfect our\nholiness: such are the promises that have been set before us. 'Having\ntherefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all\nfilthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'\n\nBeloved brother! see here again God's way of holiness. Arise and step on\nto it in the faith of the promise, fully persuaded that what He hath\npromised He is mighty to perform. Bring out of the inner part of the\nhouse all uncleanness; bring it into the light of God; confess it and\ncast it at His feet, who takes it away, and cleanses you in His blood.\nYield yourself in faith to perfect, in Christ your Strength, the\nHoliness to which you are called. As your Father in heaven is perfect,\ngive yourself to Him as a little child to be perfect too in your daily\nlessons and your daily walk. Believe that your surrender is accepted:\nthat the charge committed to Him is undertaken. And give glory to Him\nwho is able to do above what you can ask or think.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nHoly Lord Jesus! Thou didst give Thyself for us, that, having cleansed\nus for Thyself as Thine own, Thou mightest sanctify us and present us to\nThyself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.\nBlessed be Thy Name for the wonderful love. Blessed be Thy Name for the\nwonderful cleansing. Through the washing by the word and the washing in\nthe blood, Thou hast made us clean every whit. And as we walk in the\nlight, Thou cleansest every moment.\n\nWith these promises, in the power of Thy word and blood, Thou callest us\nto cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. Blessed\nLord! graciously reveal in Thy Holy Light all that is defilement, even\nits most secret working. Let me live as one who is to be presented to\nThee without spot or wrinkle or any such thing--cleansed with a Divine\ncleansing, because Thou gavest Thyself to do it. Under the living power\nof Thy word and blood, applied by the Holy Spirit, let my way be clean,\nand my hands clean, my lips clean, and my heart clean. Cleanse me\nthoroughly, that I may walk with Thee in white here on earth, keeping my\ngarments unspotted and undefiled. For Thy great love's sake, my Blessed\nLord. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Cleansing has almost always one aim: a cleansed vessel is fit\n     for use. Spiritual work done for God, with the honest desire\n     that He may through His Spirit use us, will give urgency to our\n     desire for cleansing. A vessel not cleansed cannot be used: is\n     not this the reason that there are some workers God cannot\n     bless?\n\n  2. _All_ defilement: one stain defiles. 'Let us cleanse ourselves\n     from _all_ defilement.'\n\n  3. No cleansing without Light. Open the heart for the Light to\n     shine in.\n\n  4. No cleansing like fire. Give the defilement over to the fire of\n     His Holiness, the fire that consumes and purifies. Give it into\n     the death of Jesus, to Jesus Himself.\n\n  5. 'Perfecting holiness in _the fear of God_:' it is a solemn\n     work. Rejoice with trembling--work out your salvation with fear\n     and trembling.\n\n  6. 'Having these promises,' it is a blessed work to cleanse\n     ourselves--entering into the promises, the purity, the love of\n     our Lord. The fear of God need never hinder the faith in Him.\n     And true faith will never hinder the practical work of\n     cleansing.\n\n  7. _If we walk in the light, the blood cleanseth._ The light\n     reveals; we confess and forsake, and accept the blood; so we\n     cleanse ourselves. Let there be a very determined purpose to be\n     clean from all defilement, everything that our Father considers\n     a stain.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-fifth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoly and Blameless.\n\n  'Ye are witnesses, and God also, how _holily_ and justly and\n  _unblameably_ we behaved ourselves among you that believe.--The\n  Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another,\n  and toward all men, to the end He may stablish your hearts\n  _unblameable in holiness_ before our God and Father at the coming\n  of our Lord Jesus with all His _holy ones_.'--1 Thess. ii. 10,\n  iii. 12, 13.\n\n  'He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we\n  should be _holy and without blemish_ before Him _in love_.'--Eph.\n  i. 4.\n\n\nThere are two Greek words, signifying nearly the same, used frequently\nalong with the word holy, and following it, to express what the result and\neffect of holiness will be as manifested in the visible life. The one is\ntranslated without blemish, spotless, and is that also used of our Lord\nand His sacrifice, the Lamb without blemish (Heb. ix. 14; 1 Pet. i. 19).\nIt is then used of God's children with holy--holy and without blemish\n(Eph. i. 4, 5, 27; Col. i. 22; Phil. ii. 15; Jude 24; 2 Pet. iii. 14). The\nother is without blame, faultless (as in Luke i. 6; Phil ii. 15, iii. 6),\nand is also found in conjunction with holy (1 Thess. ii. 10, iii. 13, v.\n23). In answer to the question as to whether this blamelessness has\nreference to God's estimate of the saints or men's, Scripture clearly\nconnects it with both. In some passages (Eph. i. 4, v. 27; Col. i. 22;\n1 Thess. iii. 15; 2 Pet. iii. 14) the words 'before Him,' 'to Himself,'\n'before our God and Father,' indicate that the first thought is of the\nspotlessness and faultlessness in the presence of a Holy God, which is\nheld out to us as His purpose and our privilege. In others (such as Phil.\nii. 15; 1 Thess. ii. 10), the blamelessness in the sight of men stands in\nthe foreground. In each case the word may be considered to include both\naspects: without blemish and without blame must stand the double test of\nthe judgment of God and man too.\n\nAnd what is now the special lesson which this linking together of these\ntwo words in Scripture, and the exposition of holy by the addition of\nblameless, is meant to teach us? A lesson of deep importance. In the\npursuit of holiness, the believer, the more clearly he realizes what a\ndeep spiritual blessing it is, to be found only in separation from the\nworld, and direct fellowship with God, to be possessed fully only\nthrough a real Divine indwelling, may be in danger of looking too\nexclusively to the Divine side of the blessing, in its heavenly and\nsupernatural aspect. He may forget how repentance and obedience, as the\npath leading up to holiness, must cover every, even the minutest detail\nof daily life. He may not understand how faithfulness to the leadings\nof the Spirit, in such measure as we have Him already, faithfulness to\nHis faintest whisper in reference to ordinary conduct, is essential to\nall fuller experience of His power and work as the Spirit of holiness.\nHe may, above all, not have learnt how, not only obedience to what he\nknows to be God's will, but a very tender and willing teachableness to\nreceive all that the Spirit has to show him of his imperfections and the\nFather's perfect will concerning him, is the only condition on which the\nHoliness of God can be more fully revealed to us and in us. And so,\nwhile most intent on trying to discover the secret of true and full\nholiness from the Divine side, he may be tolerating faults which all\naround him can notice, or remaining,--and that not without sin, because\nit comes from the want of perfect teachableness,--ignorant of graces and\nbeauties of holiness with which the Father would have had him adorn the\ndoctrine of holiness before men. He may seek to live a very holy, and\nyet think little of a perfectly blameless life.\n\nThere have been such saints, holy but hard, holy but distant, holy but\nsharp in their judgments of others; holy, but men around said, unloving\nand selfish; the half-heathen Samaritan more kind and self-sacrificing\nthan the holy Levite and priest. If this be true, it is not the teaching\nof Holy Scripture that is to blame. In linking holy and without blemish\n(or without blame) so closely, the Holy Spirit would have led us to\nseek for the embodiment of holiness as a spiritual power in the\nblamelessness of practice and of daily life. Let every believer who\nrejoices in God's declaration that he is holy in Christ seek also to\nperfect holiness, reach out after nothing less than to be 'unblameable\nin holiness.'\n\nThat this blamelessness has very special reference to our intercourse\nwith our fellow-men we see from the way in which it is linked with love.\nSo in Eph. i. 4, 'That we should be holy and without blemish before Him\n_in love_.' But specially in that remarkable passage: 'The Lord make you\nto _increase and abound in love_ toward one another, and toward all men,\n_to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness_.' The\nholiness and the blamelessness, the positive hidden Divine\nlife-principle, and the external and human life-practice--both are to\nfind their strength, by which we are to be established in them, in our\nabounding and ever-flowing love.\n\nHoliness and lovingness--it is of deep importance that these words\nshould be inseparably linked in our minds, as their reality in our\nlives. We have seen, in the study of the holiness of God, how love is\nthe element in which it dwells and works, drawing to itself and making\nlike itself all that it can get possession of. Of the fire of Divine\nholiness love is the beautiful flame, reaching out to communicate itself\nand assimilate to itself all it can lay hold of. In God's children true\nholiness is the same; the Divine fire burns to bring into its own\nblessedness all that comes within its reach. When Jesus sanctified\nHimself that we might be sanctified in truth, that was nothing but love\ngiving itself to the death that the sinful might share His holiness.\nSelfishness and holiness are irreconcilable. Ignorance may think of\nsanctity as a beautiful garment with which to adorn itself before God,\nwhile underneath there is a selfish pride saying, 'I am holier than\nthou,' and quite content that the other should want what it boasts of.\nTrue holiness, on the contrary, is the expulsion and the death of\nselfishness, taking possession of heart and life to be the ministers of\nthat fire of love that consumes itself, to reach and purify and save\nothers. Holiness is love. Abounding love is what Paul prays for as the\ncondition of unblameable holiness. It is as _the Lord makes_ us to\nincrease and abound in love, that _He can establish_ our hearts\nunblameable in holiness.\n\nThe Apostle speaks of a twofold love, 'love toward each other, and\ntoward all men.' Love to the brethren was what our Lord Himself enjoined\nas the chief mark of discipleship. And He prayed the Father for it as\nthe chief proof to the world of the truth of His Divine mission. It is\nin the holiness of love, in a loving holiness, that the unity of the\nbody will be proved and promoted, and prepared for the fuller workings\nof the Holy Spirit. In the Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians,\ndivision and distance among believers are named as the sure proof of the\nlife of self and the flesh. Oh, let us, if we would be holy, begin by\nbeing very gentle, and patient, and forgiving, and kind, and generous in\nour intercourse with all the Father's children. Let us study the Divine\nimage of the love that seeketh not its own, and pray unceasingly that\nthe Lord may make us to abound in love to each other. The holiest will\nbe the humblest and most self-forgetting, the gentlest and most\nself-denying, the kindest and most thoughtful of others for Jesus' sake.\n'Put on therefore, as God's elect, _holy and beloved_, a heart of\ncompassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering' (Col. iii. 12,\n13).\n\nAnd then the love toward all men. A love proved in the conduct and\nintercourse of daily life. A love that not only avoids anger and evil\ntemper and harsh judgments, but exhibits the more positive virtue of\nactive devotion to the welfare and interests of all. A charitable love\nthat cares for the bodies as well as the souls. A love that not only is\nready to help when it is called, but that really gives itself up to\nself-denial and self-sacrifice to seek out and relieve the needs of the\nmost wretched and unworthy. A love that does indeed take Christ's love,\nthat brought Him from heaven and led Him to choose the cross, as the\nonly law and measure for its conduct, and makes everything subordinate\nto the Godlike blessedness of giving, of doing good, of embracing and\nsaving the needy and lost. Thus abounding in love, we shall be\nunblameable in holiness.\n\nIt is in Christ we are holy; of God we are in Christ, who is made of\nGod unto us sanctification: it is in this faith that Paul prays that the\nLord, our Lord Jesus, may make us increase and abound in love. The\nFather is the fountain, He is the channel; the Holy Spirit is the living\nstream. And He is our Life, through the Spirit. It is by faith in Him,\nby abiding in Him and in His love, by allowing, in close union with Him,\nthe Spirit to shed abroad the love of God, that we shall receive the\nanswer to our prayer, and shall by Himself be established unblameable in\nholiness. Let it be with us a prayer of faith that changes into praise:\nBlessed be the Lord, who will make us increase and abound in love, and\nwill establish us unblameable in holiness before our God and Father, at\nthe coming of our Lord Jesus with His holy ones.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Gracious God and Father! again do I thank Thee for that wondrous\nsalvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, which has made us holy\nin Christ. And I thank Thee that the Spirit can so make us partakers of\nthe life of Christ, that we too may be unblameable in holiness. And that\nit is the Lord Himself who makes us to increase and abound in love, to\nthe end our hearts may be so established; that the abounding love and\nthe unblameable holiness are both from Him.\n\nBlessed Lord and Saviour! I come now to claim and take as my own, what\nThou art able to do for me. I am holy only in Thee; in Thee I am holy.\nIn Thee there is for me the power to abound in love. O Thou, in whom the\nfulness of God's love abides, and in whom I abide, the Lord, my Lord,\nmake me to abound in love. In union with Thee, in the life of faith in\nwhich Thou livest in me, it can be and it shall be. By the teaching of\nThy Holy Spirit lead me in all the footsteps of Thy self-denying love,\nthat I too may be consumed in blessing others.\n\nAnd thus, Lord! mightily establish my heart to be unblameable in\nholiness. Let self perish at Thy presence. Let Thy Holiness, giving\nitself to make the sinner holy, take entire possession, until my heart\nand life are sanctified wholly, and my whole spirit and soul and body be\npreserved blameless unto Thy coming. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Let us pray very earnestly that our interest in the study of\n     holiness may not be a thing of the intellect or the emotions,\n     but of the will and the life, seen of all men in the daily walk\n     and conversation. 'Abounding in love,' 'unblameable in\n     holiness,' will give favour with God and man.\n\n  2. 'God is Love;' Creation is the outflow of love. Redemption is\n     the sacrifice and the triumph of love. Holiness is the fire of\n     love. The beauty of the life of Jesus is love. All we enjoy of\n     the Divine we owe to love. Our holiness is not God's, is not\n     Christ's, if we do not love.\n\n  3. 'Love seeketh not its own.' 'Love never faileth.' 'Love is the\n     fulfilling of the law.' 'The greatest of these is love.' 'The\n     end of the commandment is love.' To love God and man is to be\n     holy. In the intercourse of daily life, holiness can have its\n     simple and sweet beginnings and its exercise; so, in its\n     highest attainment, holiness is love made perfect.\n\n  4. Faith has all its worth from love, from the love of God, whence\n     it draws and drinks, and the love to God and man which streams\n     out of it. Let us be strong in faith, then shall we abound in\n     love.\n\n  5. 'The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts by the\n     Holy Ghost which was given unto us.' Let this be our\n     confidence.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-sixth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and the Will of God.\n\n  'This is _the will of God_, even your _sanctification_.'--1 Thess.\n  iv. 3.\n\n  'Lo, I am come to do _Thy will_. By _which will_ we have been\n  _sanctified_, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ\n  once for all.'--Heb. x. 9, 10.\n\n\nIn the will of God we have the union of His Wisdom and Power. The Wisdom\ndecides and declares what is to be: the Power secures the performance.\nThe declarative will is only one side; its complement, the executive\nwill, is the living energy in which everything good has its origin and\nexistence. So long as we only look at the will of God in the former\nlight, as law, we feel it a burden, because we have not the power to\nperform--it is too high for us. When faith looks to the Power that works\nin God's will, and carries it out, it has the courage to accept it and\nfulfil it, because it knows God Himself is working it out. The surrender\nin faith to the Divine will as Wisdom thus becomes the pathway to the\nexperience of it as a Power. 'He doeth according to His will,' is then\nthe language not only of forced submission, but of joyful expectation.\n\n'This is the will of God, your sanctification.' In the ordinary\nacceptation of these words, they simply mean that among many other\nthings that God has willed, sanctification is one; it is something in\naccordance with His will. This thought contains teaching of great value.\nGod very distinctly and definitely has willed your sanctification: your\nsanctification has its source and certainty in its being God's will. We\nare 'elect in sanctification of the Spirit,' 'chosen to be holy;' the\npurpose of God's will from eternity, and His will now, is our\nsanctification. We have only to think of what we said of God's will\nbeing a Divine power that works out what His wisdom has chosen, to see\nwhat strength this truth will give to our faith that we shall be holy:\nGod wills it, and will work it out for all and in all who do not resist\nit, but yield themselves to its power. Seek your sanctification, not\nonly in the will of God, as a declaration of what He wants you to be,\nbut as a revelation of what He Himself will work out in you.\n\nThere is, however, another most precious thought suggested. If our\nsanctification be God's will, its central thought and its contents,\n_every part of that will_ must bear upon it, and the sure entrance to\nsanctification will be the hearty acceptance of the will of God in all\nthings. To be one with God's will is to be holy. Let him who would be\nholy take his place here and 'stand in all the will of God.' He will\nthere meet God Himself, and be made partaker of His Holiness, because\nHis will works out its purpose in power to each one who yields himself\nto it. Everything in a life of holiness depends upon our being in the\nright relation to the will of God.\n\nThere are many Christians to whom it appears impossible to think of\ntheir accepting all the will of God, or of their being one with it. They\nlook upon the will of God in its thousand commands, and its numberless\nprovidential orderings. They have sometimes found it so hard to obey one\nsingle command, or to give up willingly to some light disappointment.\nThey imagine that they would need to be a thousandfold holier and\nstronger in grace, before venturing to say that they do accept all God's\nwill, whether to do or to bear. They cannot understand that all the\ndifficulty comes from their not occupying the right standpoint. They are\nlooking at God's will as at variance with their natural will, and they\nfeel that that natural will will never delight in all God's will. They\nforget that the new man has a renewed will. This new will delights in\nthe will of God, because it is born of it. This new will sees the beauty\nand the glory of God's will, and is in harmony with it. If they are\nindeed God's children, the very first impulse of the spirit of a child\nis surely to do the will of the Father in heaven. And they have but to\nyield themselves heartily and wholly to this spirit of sonship, and they\nneed not fear to accept God's will as theirs.\n\nThe mistake they make is a very serious one. Instead of living by faith\nthey judge by feeling, in which the old nature speaks and rules. It\ntells them that God's will is often a burden too hard to be borne, and\nthat they never can have the strength to do it. Faith speaks\ndifferently. It reminds us that God is Love, and that His will is\nnothing but Love revealed. It asks if we do not know that there is\nnothing more perfect or beautiful in heaven or earth than the will of\nGod. It shows us how in our conversion we have already professed to\naccept God as Father and Lord. It assures us, above all, that if we will\nbut definitely and trustingly give ourselves to that will which is Love,\nit will as Love fill our hearts and make us delight in it, and so become\nthe power that enables us joyfully to do and to bear. Faith reveals to\nus that the will of God is the power of His love, working out its plan\nin Divine beauty in each one who wholly yields to it.\n\nAnd which shall we now choose? And where shall we take our place? Shall\nwe attempt to accept Christ as a Saviour without accepting His will?\nShall we profess to be the Father's children, and yet spend our life in\ndebating how much of His will we shall perform? Shall we be content to\ngo on from day to day with the painful consciousness that our will is\nnot in harmony with God's will? Or shall we not at once and for ever\ngive up our will as sinful to His,--to that Will which He has already\nwritten on our heart? This is a thing that is possible. It can be done.\nIn a simple, definite transaction with God, we can say that we do accept\nHis holy will to be ours. Faith knows that God will not pass such a\nsurrender unnoticed, but accept it. In the trust that He now takes us up\ninto His will, and undertakes to breathe it into us, with the love and\nthe power to perform it--in this faith let us enter into God's will, and\nbegin a new life; standing in, abiding in the very centre of this most\nholy will.\n\nSuch an acceptance of God's will prepares the believer, through the Holy\nSpirit, to recognise and know that will in whatever form it comes. The\ngreat difference between the carnal and the spiritual Christian is that\nthe latter acknowledges God, under whatever low and poor and human\nappearances He manifests Himself. When God comes in trials which can be\ntraced to no hand but His, he says, 'Thy will be done.' When trials come\nthrough the weakness of men or his own folly, when circumstances appear\nunfavourable to his religious progress, and temptations threaten to be\ntoo much for him and to overcome him, he learns first of all to see God\nin everything, and still to say, 'Thy will be done.' He knows that a\nchild of God cannot possibly be in any situation without the will of His\nHeavenly Father, even when that will has been to leave him to his own\nwilfulness for a time, or to suffer the consequences of his own or\nothers' sin. He sees this, and in accepting his circumstances as the\nwill of God to try and prove him, he is in the right position for now\nknowing and doing what is right. Seeing and honouring God's will thus in\neverything, he learns always to abide in that will.\n\nHe does so also by doing that will. As his spiritual discernment grows\nto say of whatever happens, 'All things are of God,' so he grows too in\nwisdom and spiritual understanding to know the will of God as it is to\nbe done. In the indications of conscience and of Providence, in the\nteaching of the word and the Spirit, he learns to see how God's will has\nreference to every part and duty of life, and it becomes his joy, in all\nthings, to live, 'doing the will of God from the heart, as unto the Lord\nand not unto men.' 'Labouring fervently in prayer to stand complete and\nfully assured in all the will of God,' he finds how blessedly the Father\nhas accepted his surrender, and supplies all the light and strength that\nis needed that His will may be done by him on earth as it is in heaven.\n\nLet me ask every reader to say to a Holy God, whether he has indeed\ngiven himself to Him to be made holy? Whether he has accepted, and\nentered into, and is living in, the good and perfect will of God? The\nquestion is not, whether, when affliction comes, he accepts the\ninevitable and submits to a will he cannot resist. But whether he has\nchosen the will of God as his chief good, and has taken the\nlife-principle of Christ to be his: 'I delight to do Thy will, O God.'\nThis was the holiness of Christ, in which He sanctified Himself and us,\nthe doing God's will. 'In which will we have been sanctified.' It is\nthis will of God which is our sanctification.\n\nBrother! are you in earnest to be holy? wholly possessed of God? Here is\nthe path. I plead with you not to be afraid or to hold back. You have\ntaken God to be your God; have you really taken His will to be your\nwill? Oh, think of the privilege, the blessedness, of having one will\nwith God! and fear not to surrender yourself to it most unreservedly.\nThe will of God is, in every part of it, and in all its Divine power,\nyour sanctification.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBlessed Father! I come to say that I see that Thy will is my\nsanctification, and there alone I would seek it. Graciously grant that,\nby Thy Holy Spirit which dwelleth in me, the glory of that will, and the\nblessedness of abiding in it, may be fully revealed to me.\n\nTeach me to know it as the Will of Love, purposing always what is the\nvery best and most blest for Thy child. Teach me to know it as the Will\nof Omnipotence, able to work out its every counsel in me. Teach me to\nknow it in Christ, fulfilled perfectly on my behalf. Teach me to know it\nas what the Spirit wills and works in each one who yields to Him.\n\nO my Father! I acknowledge Thy claim to have Thy will alone done, and am\nhere for it to do with me as Thou pleasest. With my whole heart I enter\ninto it, to be one with it for ever. Thy Holy Spirit can maintain this\noneness without interruption. I trust Thee, my Father, step by step, to\nlet the light of Thy will shine in my heart and on my path, through that\nSpirit.\n\nMay this be the holiness in which I live, that I forget and lose self in\npleasing and honouring Thee. Amen.\n\n\n  1. Make it a study, in meditation and prayer and worship, to get a\n     full impression of the Majesty, the Perfection, the Glory of\n     the Will of God, with the privilege and possibility of living\n     in it.\n\n  2. Study it, too, as the expression of an infinite Love and\n     Fatherliness; its every manifestation full of loving-kindness.\n     Every providence is _God's will_; whatever happens, meet God in\n     it in humble worship. Every precept is _God's will_; meet God\n     in it with loving obedience. Every promise is _God's will_;\n     meet God in it with full trust. A life in the will of God is\n     rest and strength and blessing.\n\n  3. And forget not, above all, to believe in its Omnipotent Power.\n     _He worketh all things after the counsel of His will._ In\n     nature and those who resist Him, without their consent. In His\n     children, according to their faith, and as far as they will it.\n     Do believe that the will of God will work out its counsel in\n     you, as you trust it to do so.\n\n  4. This will is Infinite Benevolence and Beneficence revealed in\n     the self-sacrifice of Jesus. Live for others: so can you become\n     an instrument for the Divine will to use (Matt. xviii. 14; John\n     vi. 39, 40). Yield yourselves to this redeeming will of God,\n     that it may get full possession, and work out through you too\n     its saving purpose.\n\n  5. Christ is just the embodiment of God's will: He is, God's will\n     done. Abide in Him, by abiding in, by doing heartily and\n     always, the will of God. A Christian is, like Christ, a man\n     given up to the Will of God.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-seventh Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Service.\n\n  'If a man therefore cleanse himself from these, he shall be a\n  vessel unto honour, _sanctified_, meet _for the Master's use_,\n  prepared _unto every good work_.'--2 Tim. ii. 21.\n\n  'A _holy_ priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. A _holy_\n  nation, that ye may _show forth the excellences of Him_ who called\n  you out of darkness into His marvellous light.'--1 Pet. ii. 5, 9.\n\n\nThrough the whole of Scripture we have seen that whatever God sanctifies\nis to be used in the service of His Holiness. His Holiness is an\ninfinite energy that only finds its rest in making holy: to the\nrevelation of what He is in Himself, 'I the Lord _am holy_,' God\ncontinually adds the declaration of what He does, 'I am the Lord that\n_make holy_.' Holiness is a burning fire that extends itself, that seeks\nto consume what is unholy, and to communicate its own blessedness to all\nthat will receive it. Holiness and selfishness, holiness and inactivity,\nholiness and sloth, holiness and helplessness, are utterly\nirreconcilable. Whatever we read of as holy, was taken into the service\nof the Holiness of God.\n\nLet us just look back on the revelation of what is holy in Scripture.\nThe seventh day was made holy, that in it God might make His people\nholy. The tabernacle was holy, to serve as a dwelling for the Holy One,\nas the centre whence His Holiness might manifest itself to the people.\nThe altar was most holy, that it might sanctify the gifts laid on it.\nThe priests with their garments, the house with its furniture and\nvessels, the sacrifices and the blood,--whatever bore the name of holy\nhad a use and a purpose. Of Israel, whom God redeemed from Egypt that\nthey might be a _holy_ nation, God said, 'Let my people go, that they\nmay _serve_ me.' The holy angels, the holy prophets and apostles, the\nholy Scriptures,--all bore the title as having been sanctified for the\nservice of God. Our Lord speaks of Himself 'as the Son, whom the Father\n_sanctified and sent_ into the world.' And when He says, 'I sanctify\nmyself,' He adds at once the purpose: it is in the service of the Father\nand His redeemed ones,--'that they themselves may be sanctified in\ntruth.' And can it be thought possible, now that God, in Christ the Holy\nOne, and in the Holy Spirit, is accomplishing His purpose, and gathering\na people of saints, 'holy ones,' 'made holy in Christ,' that now\nholiness and service would be put asunder? Impossible! Here first we\nshall fully realize how essential they are to each other. Let us try and\ngrasp their mutual relation. We are only made holy that we may serve.\nWe can only serve as we are holy.\n\n_Holiness is essential to effectual service._ In the Old Testament we\nsee degrees of holiness, not only in the holy places, but as much in the\nholy persons. In the nation, the Levites, the priests, and then the High\nPriest, there is an advance from step to step: as in each succeeding\nstage the circle narrows, and the service is more direct and entire, so\nthe holiness required is higher and more distinct. It is even so in this\nmore spiritual dispensation: the more of holiness, the greater the\nfitness for service; the more there is of true holiness, the more there\nis of God, and the more true and deep is the entrance He has had into\nthe soul. The hold He has on the soul to use it in His service is more\ncomplete.\n\nIn the Church of Christ there is a vast amount of work done which yields\nvery little fruit. Many throw themselves into work in whom there is but\nlittle true holiness, little of the Holy Spirit. They often work most\ndiligently, and, as far as human influence is concerned, most\nsuccessfully. And yet true spiritual results in the building up of a\nholy temple in the Lord are but few. The Lord cannot work in them,\nbecause He has not the mastery of their inner life. His personal\nindwelling and fellowship, the rest of His Holy Presence, His Holiness\nreigning and ruling in the heart and life,--to all these they are\ncomparative strangers. It has been rightly said that work is the cure\nfor spiritual poverty and disease; to some believers who had been\nseeking holiness apart from service, the call to work has been an\nunspeakable blessing. But to many it has only been an additional blind\nto cover up the terrible want of heart-holiness and heart-fellowship\nwith the living God. They have thrown themselves into work more\nearnestly than ever, and yet have not in their heart the rest-giving and\nrefreshing witness that their work is acceptable and accepted.\n\nMy brother! listen to the message. 'If a man _cleanse_ himself, he shall\nbe a vessel unto honour, _sanctified_, _meet_ for the Master's use,\n_prepared_ unto every good work.' You cannot have the law of service\nmore clearly or beautifully laid down. A vessel of honour, one whom the\nKing will delight to honour, must be a vessel _cleansed_ from all\ndefilement of flesh and spirit. Then only can it be a _sanctified_\nvessel, possessed and indwelt by God's Holy Spirit. So it becomes _meet\nfor the Master's use_. He can use it, and work in it, and wield it. And\nso, clean and holy, and yielded into the Master's hands, we are Divinely\nprepared for every good work. Holiness is essential to service. If\nservice is to be acceptable to God, and effectual for its work on souls,\nand to be a joy and a strength to ourselves, we must be holy. The will\nof God must first live in us, if it is to be done by us.\n\nHow many faithful workers there are, mourning the want of power; longing\nand praying for it, and yet not obtaining it! They have spent their\nstrength more in the outer court of work and service, than in the inner\nlife of fellowship and faith. They truly have never understood that\nonly as the Master gets possession of them, as the Holy Spirit has them\nat His disposal, can He use them, can they have true power. They often\nlong and cry for what they call a baptism of power. They forget that the\nway to have God's power in us is for ourselves to be in His power. Put\nyourself into the power of God; let His holy will live in you; live in\nit and in obedience to it, as one who has no power to dispose of\nhimself; let the Holy Spirit dwell within, as in His Holy Temple,\nrevealing the Holy One on the throne, ruling all; He will without fail\nuse you as a vessel of honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use.\nHoliness is essential to effectual service.\n\n_And service is no less essential to true holiness._ We have repeated it\nso often: Holiness is an energy, an intense energy of desire and\nself-sacrifice, to make others partakers of its own purity and\nperfection. Christ sacrificed Himself--wherein did that sacrifice\nconsist, and what was its aim? He sanctified Himself that we might be\nsanctified too. A holiness that is selfish is a delusion. True holiness,\nGod's holiness in us, works itself out in love, in seeking and loving\nthe unholy, that they may become holy too. Self-sacrificing love is of\nthe very essence of holiness. The Holy One of Israel is its Redeemer.\nThe Holy One of God is the dying Saviour. The Holy Spirit of God makes\nholy. There is no holiness in God but what is most actively engaged in\nloving and saving and blessing. It must be so in us too. Let every\nthought of holiness, every act of faith or prayer, every effort in\npursuit of it, be animated by the desire and the surrender to the\nHoliness of God for use in the attaining of its object. Let your whole\nlife be one distinctly and definitely given up to God for His use and\nservice. Your circumstances may appear to be unfavourable. God may\nappear to keep the door closed against your working for Him in the way\nyou would wish; your sense of unfitness may be painful. Still, let it be\na matter settled between God and the soul, that your longing for\nholiness is that you may be fitter for Him to use, and that what He has\ngiven you of His Holiness in Christ and the Spirit is all at His\ndisposal, waiting to be used. Be ready for Him to use; live out, in a\ndaily life of humble, self-denying, loving service of others, what grace\nyou have received. You will find that in the union and interchange of\nworship and work, God's Holiness will rest upon you.\n\n'The Father _sanctified_ the Son, _and sent_ Him into the world.' The\nworld is the place for the sanctified one, to be its light, its salt,\nits life. We are 'sanctified in Christ Jesus,' and sent into the world\ntoo. Oh, let us not fear to accept our position--our double position; in\nthe world, and in Christ! In the world, with its sin and sorrow, with\nits thousands of needs touching us at every point, and its millions of\nsouls all waiting for us. And in Christ too. For the sake of that world\nwe 'have been sanctified in Christ,' we are 'holy in Christ,' we have\n'the spirit of sanctification' dwelling in us. As a holy salt in a\nsinful world, let us give ourselves to our holy calling. Let us come\nnearer and nearer to God who has called us. Let us root deeper and\ndeeper in Christ our sanctification, in whom we are of God. Let us enter\nmore firmly and more fully into that faith in Him in whom we are, by\nwhich our whole life will be covered and taken up in His. Let us beseech\nthe Father to teach us that His Holy Spirit does dwell in us every\nmoment, making, if we live by faith, Christ with His Holiness, our home,\nour abode, our sure defence, and our infinite supply. As He which hath\ncalled us is holy, let us be holy in His own Son, through His own\nSpirit, and the fire of His Holy Love will work through us its work of\njudging and condemning, of saving and sanctifying. A sanctified soul God\nwill use to save.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nBlessed Master! I thank Thee for being anew reminded of the purpose of\nThy Redeeming Love. Thou gavest Thyself that Thou mightest cleanse for\nThyself a people of Thine own, zealous in good works. Thou wouldest make\nof each of us a vessel of honour, cleansed and sanctified, meet for Thy\nuse, and prepared for every good work.\n\nBlessed Lord! write the lessons of Thy word deep in my heart. Teach me\nand all Thy people that if we would work for Thee, if we would have\nThee work in us, and use us, we must be very holy, holy as God is holy.\nAnd that if we would be holy, we must be serving Thee. It is Thy own\nSpirit, by which Thou dost sanctify us to use us, and dost sanctify in\nusing. To be entirely possessed of Thee is the path to sanctity and\nservice both.\n\nMost Holy Saviour! we are in Thee as our sanctification: in Thee we\nwould abide. In the rest of a faith that trusts Thee for all, in the\npower of a surrender that would have no will but Thine, in a love that\nwould lose itself to be wholly Thine, Blessed Jesus, we do abide in\nThee. In Thee we are holy: in Thee we shall bear much fruit.\n\nOh, be pleased to perfect Thine own work in us! Amen.\n\n\n  1. It is difficult to make it clear in words how growth in\n     holiness will simply reveal itself as an increasing simplicity\n     and self-forgetfulness, accompanied by the restful and most\n     blessed assurance that God has complete possession of us and\n     will use us. We pass from the stage in which work presses as an\n     obligation; it becomes the joy of fruit-bearing; faith's\n     assurance that He is working out His will through us.\n\n  2. It has sometimes been said that people might be better employed\n     in working for God than attending Holiness Conventions. This is\n     surely a misunderstanding. It was before the throne of the\n     Thrice Holy One, and as he heard the Seraphim sing of God's\n     Holiness, that the prophet said, 'Here am I, send me.' As the\n     mission of Moses, and Isaiah, and the Son, whom the Father\n     _sanctified and sent_, each had its origin in the revelation of\n     God's Holiness, our missions will receive new power as they are\n     more directly born out of the worship of God as the Holy One,\n     and baptized into the Spirit of Holiness.\n\n  3. Let every worker take time to hear God's double call. If you\n     would work, be very holy. If you would be holy, give yourself\n     to God to use in His work.\n\n  4. Note the connection between 'sanctified' and 'meet for _the\n     Master's use_.' True holiness is being possessed of God; true\n     service being used of God. How much service there is in which\n     we are the chief agents, and ask God to help and to bless us.\n     True service is being yielded up to the Master _for Him to\n     use_. Then the Holy Ghost is the Agent, and we are the\n     Instruments of His will. Such service is Holiness.\n\n  5. 'I sanctify _Myself_, that _they also_:' a reference to others\n     is the root principle of all true holiness.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-eighth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Way into the Holiest.\n\n  'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into _the Holiest_\n  by _the blood_ of Jesus, by _the way_ which He dedicated, a new\n  and living way, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh: and\n  having a _great Priest_ over the house of God; let us draw near\n  with a true heart, in fulness of faith.'--Heb. x. 19-22.\n\n\nWhen the High Priest once a year entered into the second tabernacle\nwithin the veil, it was, we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'the\nHoly Ghost signifying that the way into _the Holiest of all_ was not yet\nmade manifest.' When Christ died, the veil was rent; all who were\nserving in the holy place had free access at once into the Most Holy;\nthe way into the Holiest of all was opened up. When the Epistle passes\nover to its practical application (x. 19), all its teaching is summed up\nin the words: 'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into _the\nHoliest_, let us draw near.' Christ's redemption has opened the way to\nthe Holiest of all: our acceptance of it must lead to nothing less than\nour drawing near and entering in. The words of our text suggest to us\nfour very precious thoughts in regard to the place of access, the right\nof access, the way of access, the power of access.\n\n_The place of access._ Whither are we invited to draw nigh? 'Having\nboldness to enter into _the Holiest_.' The priests in Israel might enter\nthe holy place, but were always kept excluded from the Holiest, God's\nimmediate presence. The rent veil proclaimed liberty of access into that\nPresence. It is there that believers as a royal priesthood are now to\nlive and walk. Within the veil, in the very Holiest of all, in the same\nplace, the heavenlies, in which God dwells, in God's very Presence, is\nto be our abode--our home. Some speak as if the, 'Let us draw near,'\nmeant prayer, and that in our special approach to God in acts of worship\nwe enter the Holiest. No; great as this privilege is, God has meant\nsomething for us infinitely greater. We are to draw near, and dwell\nalways, to live our life and do our work within the sphere, the\natmosphere, of the inner sanctuary. It is God's Presence makes holy\nground; God's immediate Presence in Christ makes any place the Holiest\nof all: and this is it into which we are to draw nigh, and in which we\nare to abide. There is not a single moment of the day, there is not a\ncircumstance or surrounding, in which the believer may not be kept\ndwelling in the secret place of the Most High. As by faith he enters\ninto the completeness of his reconciliation with God, and the reality\nof his oneness with Christ, as he thus, abiding in Christ, yields to the\nHoly Spirit to reveal within the Presence of the Holy One, the Holiest\nof all is around him, he is indeed in it. With an uninterrupted access\nhe draws near.[13]\n\n_The right of access._ The thought comes up, and the question is asked:\nIs this not simply an ideal? can it be a reality, an experience in daily\nlife to those who know how sinful their nature is? Blessed be God! it is\nmeant to be. It is possible, because our right of access rests not in\nwhat we are, but in the blood of Jesus. 'Having _boldness_ to enter into\nthe Holiest _by the blood_ of Jesus, let us draw near.' In the Passover\nwe saw how redemption, and the holiness it aimed at, were dependent on\nthe blood. In the sanctuary, God's dwelling, we know how in each part,\nthe court, the holy place, the Most Holy, the sprinkling of blood was\nwhat alone secured access to God. And now that the blood of Jesus has\nbeen shed--oh! in what Divine power, what intense reality, what\neverlasting efficacy, we now have access into the Holiest of all, the\nMost Holy of God's heart and His love! We are indeed brought nigh by the\nblood. We have boldness to enter by the blood. 'The worshippers, being\nonce cleansed, have no more conscience of sins.' Walking in the light,\nthe blood of Jesus cleanses in the power of an endless life, with a\ncleansing that never ceases. No consciousness of unworthiness or\nremaining sinfulness need hinder the boldness of access: the liberty to\ndraw near rests in the never-failing, ever-acting, ever-living efficacy\nof the Precious Blood. It is possible for a believer to dwell in the\nHoliest of all.\n\n_The way of access._ It is often thought that what is said of _the new\nand living way_, dedicated for us by Jesus, means nothing different from\nthe boldness through His blood. This is not the case. The words mean a\ngreat deal more. 'Having boldness _by the blood_ of Jesus, let us draw\nnear _by the way_ which He dedicated for us.' That is, He opened for us\na way to walk in, as He walked in it, 'a new and living way, through the\nveil, that is to say, His flesh.' The way in which Christ walked when He\ngave His blood, is the very same in which we must walk too. That way is\nthe way of the Cross. There must not only be faith in Christ's\nsacrifice, but fellowship with Him in it. That way led to the rending of\nthe veil of the flesh, and so through the rent veil of the flesh, in to\nGod. And was the veil of Christ's holy flesh rent that the veil of our\nsinful flesh might be spared? Verily, no. He meant us to walk in the\nvery same way in which He did, following closely after Himself. He\ndedicated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is, His\nflesh. As we go in through the rent veil of _His flesh_, we find in it\nat once the need and the power for our flesh being rent too: following\nJesus ever means conformity to Jesus. It is Jesus with the rent flesh,\nin whom we are, in whom we walk.[14] There is no way to God but through\nthe rending of the flesh. In acceptance of Christ's life and death by\nfaith as the power that works in us, in the power of the Spirit which\nmakes us truly one with Christ, we all follow Christ as He passes on\nthrough the rent veil, that is, His flesh, and become partakers with Him\nof His crucifixion and death. The way of the cross, 'by which I have\nbeen crucified,' is the way through the rent veil. Man's destiny,\nfellowship with God in the power of the Holy Spirit, is only reached\nthrough the sacrifice of the flesh.\n\nAnd here we find now the solution of a great mystery--why so many\nChristians remain standing afar off, and never enter this Holiest of\nall; why the holiness of God's Presence is so little seen on them. They\nthought that it was only in Christ that the flesh needed to be rent, not\nin themselves. They thought that the liberty they had in the blood was\nthe new and living way. They knew not that the way into true and full\nholiness, into the Holiest of all, that the full entrance into the\nfellowship of the holiness of the Great High Priest, was only to be\nreached through the rent veil of the flesh, through conformity to the\ndeath of Jesus. This is in very deed the way He dedicated for us. He is\nHimself the way; into His self-denial, His self-sacrifice, His\ncrucifixion, He takes up all who long to be holy with His Holiness, holy\nas He is holy.\n\n_The power of access._ Does any one shrink back from entering the very\nHoliest for fear of this rending of the flesh, because he doubts whether\nhe could bear it, whether he could indeed walk in such a path? Let him\nlisten once more. Hear what follows: 'And _having a Great Priest_ over\nthe House of God, let us draw near.' We have not only the Holiest of all\ninviting us, and the blood giving us boldness, and the way through the\nrent veil consecrated for us, but the Great Priest over the House of\nGod, the Blessed Living Saviour, to draw, to help, and to welcome us. He\nis our Aaron. On His heart we see our name, because He only lives to\nthink of us, and pray for us. On His forehead we see God's name, 'Holy\nto the Lord,' because in His Holiness the sins of our holy things are\ncovered. _In Him_ we are accepted and sanctified; God receives us as\nholy ones. In the power of His love and His Spirit, in the power of Him\nthe Holy One, in the joy of drawing nearer to Him and being drawn by\nHim, we gladly accept the way He has dedicated, and walk in His holy\nfootsteps of self-denial and self-sacrifice. We see how the flesh is the\nthick veil that separates from the Holy One who is a Spirit, and it\nbecomes an unceasing and most fervent prayer, that the crucifixion of\nthe flesh may, in the power of the Holy Spirit, be in us a blessed\nreality. With the glory of the Holiest of all shining out on us through\nthe opened veil, and the Precious Blood speaking so loudly of boldness\nof access, and the Great Priest beckoning us with His loving Presence to\ndraw near and be blessed,--with all this, we dare no longer fear, but\nchoose the way of the rent veil as the path we love to tread, and give\nourselves to enter in and dwell within the veil, in the very Holiest of\nall.\n\nAnd so our life here will be the earnest of the glory that is to come,\nas it is written--note how we have the four great thoughts of our text\nover again--'These are they which came out of great tribulation,' that\nis, by the way of the rent flesh; 'and they washed their robes, and made\nthem white in the blood of the Lamb,' their boldness through the blood;\n'therefore are they before the throne of God,' their dwelling in the\nHoliest of all; 'the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall be\ntheir Shepherd,' the Great Priest still the Shepherd, Jesus Himself\ntheir all in all.\n\nBrother! do you see what holiness is, and how it is to be found? It is\nnot something wrought in yourself. It is not something put on you from\nwithout. Holiness is the Presence of God resting on you. Holiness comes\nas you consciously abide in that Presence, doing all your work, and\nliving all your life as a sacrifice to Him, acceptable through Jesus\nChrist, sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Oh, be no longer fearful, as if\nthis life were not for you! Look to Jesus; having a Great Priest over\nthe House of God, let us draw near. Be occupied with Jesus. Our Brother\nhas charge of the Temple; He has liberty to show us all, to lead us into\nthe secret of the Father's presence. The entire management of the Temple\nhas been given into His hands with this very purpose, that all the\nfeeble and doubting ones might come with confidence. Only trust yourself\nto Jesus, to His leading and keeping. Only trust Jesus, God's Holy One,\nyour Holy One; it is His delight to reveal to you what He has purchased\nwith His blood. Trust Him to teach you the ordinances of the sanctuary.\n'That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House\nof God,' He has been given. _Having a Great Priest_, let us enter in,\nlet us dwell in the Holiest of all. In the power of the blood, in the\npower of the new and living way, in the power of the Living Jesus, let\nthe Holiest of all, the Presence of God, be the home of our soul. You\nare 'Holy in Christ;' in Christ you are in God's Holy Presence and Love;\njust stay there.\n\n  BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy God! how shall I praise Thee for the liberty to enter into the\nHoliest of all, and dwell there? And for the precious Blood, that brings\nus nigh? And for the new and living way, through the rent veil of that\nflesh which had separated us from Thee, in which my flesh now too has\nbeen crucified? And for the Great Priest over the House of God, our\nLiving Lord Jesus, with Whom and in Whom we appear before Thee? Glory be\nto Thy Holy Name for this wonderful and most complete redemption.\n\nI beseech Thee, O my God! give me, and all Thy children, some right\nsense of how really and surely we may live each day, may spend our whole\nlife, within the veil, in Thine own Immediate Presence. Give us the\nspirit of revelation, I pray Thee, that we may see how, through the rent\nveil, the glory of Thy Presence streameth forth from the Most Holy into\nthe holy place; how, in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom\nof heaven came to earth, and all who yield themselves to that Spirit may\nknow that in Christ they are indeed so near, so very near to Thee.\nO Blessed Father! let Thy Spirit teach us that this indeed is the holy\nlife: a life in Christ the Holy One, always in the Light and the\nPresence of Thy Holy Majesty.\n\nMost Holy God! I draw nigh. In the power of the Holy Spirit I enter in.\nI am now in the Holiest of all. And here I would abide in Jesus, my\nGreat Priest--here, in the Holiest of all. Amen.\n\n\n  1. To abide in Christ is to dwell in the Holiest of all. Christ is\n     not only the Sacrifice, and the Way, and the Great Priest, but\n     also Himself the Temple. 'The Lamb is the Temple.' As the Holy\n     Spirit reveals my union to Christ more clearly, and heart and\n     will lose themselves in Him, I dwell in the Holy Presence,\n     which is the Holiest of all. You are 'holy in Christ'--draw\n     near, enter in with boldness, and take possession--have no home\n     but in the Holiest of all.\n\n  2. 'Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He\n     might sanctify it.' _He gave Himself!_ Have you caught the\n     force of that word? Because He would have no one else do it,\n     because none could do it; to sanctify His Church, _He gave\n     Himself_ to do it. And so it is His own special beloved work to\n     sanctify the Church He loved. Just accept Himself to do it. He\n     can and will make you holy, that He may present you to\n     _Himself_ glorious, without spot or wrinkle. Let that word\n     _Himself_ live in you. The whole life and walk in the House of\n     God is in His charge. _Having_ a Great Priest, let us draw\n     near.\n\n  3. This entrance into the Holiest of all--an ever fresh and ever\n     deeper entrance--is, at the same time, an ever blessed resting\n     in the Father's Presence. Faith in the blood, following in the\n     way of the rent flesh, and fellowship with the Living Jesus,\n     are the three chief steps.\n\n  4. Enter into the Holiest of all, and dwell there. It will enter\n     into thee, and transform thee, and dwell in thee. And thy heart\n     will be the Holiest of all, in which He dwells.\n\n  5. Have we not at times been lifted, by an effort of thought and\n     will, or in the fellowship of the saints, into what seemed the\n     Holiest of all, and speedily felt that the flesh had entered\n     there too? It was because we entered not by the new way of\n     life--the way through death to life--the way of the rent veil\n     of the flesh. O our crucified Lord! teach us what this means;\n     give it us; be it Thyself to us.\n\n  6. Let me remember that my access into the Holiest is as a Priest.\n     Let me dwell before the Lord all the day as an Intercessor,\n     offering, unceasingly, pleadings which are acceptable in\n     Christ. May God's Church be like her of whom it is written,\n     'She departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings\n     and prayers night and day.' It is for this we have access to\n     the Holiest of all.\n\n\n   [13] So near, so very near to God,\n          I cannot nearer be;\n        For in the person of His Son,\n          I am as near as He.\n\n   [14] 'Christ suffered, that He might bring us to God, being put to\n        death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit.' 'Forasmuch\n        then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also\n        with the same mind.' The flesh and the Spirit are antagonistic:\n        as the flesh dies, the Spirit lives.\n\n\n\n\nTwenty-ninth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Chastisement.\n\n  'He chasteneth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of _His\n  holiness_. Follow after _sanctification_, without which no man\n  shall see the Lord.'--Heb. xii. 10, 14.\n\n\nThere is perhaps no part of God's word which sheds such Divine light\nupon suffering as the Epistle to the Hebrews. It does this because it\nteaches us what suffering was to the Son of God. It perfected His\nhumanity. It so fitted Him for His work as the Compassionate High\nPriest. It proved that He, who had fulfilled God's will in suffering\nobedience, was indeed worthy to be its executor in glory, and to sit\ndown on the right hand of the Majesty on high. 'It became God, in\nbringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation\n_perfect_ through _sufferings_.' 'Though He was a Son, yet _learned_ He\n_obedience_ by the things which He _suffered_, and having been made\n_perfect_, became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey\nHim.' As He said Himself of His suffering, 'I sanctify myself,' so we\nsee here that His sufferings were indeed to Him the pathway to\nperfection and holiness.\n\nWhat Christ was and won was all for us. The power which suffering was\nproved to have in Him to work out perfection, the power which He\nimparted to it in sanctifying Himself through suffering, is the power of\nthe new life that comes from Him to us. In the light of His example we\ncan see, in the faith of His power we too can prove, that suffering is\nto God's child the token of the Father's love, and the channel of His\nrichest blessing. To such faith the apparent mystery of suffering is\nseen to be nothing but a Divine need--the light affliction that works\nout--yea, _works out_ and actually effects the exceeding weight of\nglory. We agree not only to what is written, 'It _became_ Him to make\nthe Author of salvation perfect through suffering,' but understand\nsomewhat how Divinely becoming and meet it is that we too should be\nsanctified by suffering.\n\n'He chasteneth us for our profit, that we should be made partakers of\nHis holiness.' Of all the precious words Holy Scripture has for the\nsorrowful, there is hardly one that leads us more directly and more\ndeeply into the fulness of blessing that suffering is meant to bring. It\nis _His Holiness_, God's own Holiness, we are to be made partakers of.\nThe Epistle had spoken very clearly of our sanctification from its\nDivine side, as wrought out for us, and to be wrought in us, by Jesus\nHimself. 'He which sanctifieth and they which are sanctified are all of\none.' 'We have been sanctified by the one offering of Christ.' In our\ntext we have the other side, the progressive work by which we are\npersonally to accept and voluntarily to appropriate this Divine\nHoliness. In view of all there is in us that is at variance with God's\nwill, and that must be discovered and broken down, before we understand\nwhat it is to give up our will and delight in God's; in view of the\npersonal fellowship of suffering which alone can lead to the full\nappreciation of what Jesus bore and did for us; in view, too, of the\nfull personal entrance into and satisfaction with the love of God as our\nsufficient portion; chastisement and suffering are indispensable\nelements in God's work of making holy. In these three aspects we shall\nsee how what the Son needed is what we need, how what was of such\nunspeakable value to the Son will to us be no less rich in blessing.\n\n_Chastisement leads to the acceptance of God's will._ We have seen how\nGod's will is our sanctification; how it is in the will of God Christ\nhas sanctified us; yea more, how He found the power to sanctify us in\nsanctifying Himself by the entire surrender of His will to God. His 'I\ndelight to do Thy will' derived its worth from His continual 'Not my\nwill.' And wherever God comes with chastisement or suffering, the very\nfirst object He has in view is, to ask and to work in us union with His\nown blessed will, that through it we may have union with Himself and\nHis love. He comes in some one single point in which His will crosses\nour most cherished affection or desire, and asks the surrender of what\nwe will to what He wills. When this is done willingly and lovingly, He\nleads the soul on to see how the claim for the sacrifice in the\nindividual matter is the assertion of a principle--that in everything\nHis will is to be our one desire. Happy the soul to whom affliction is\nnot a series of single acts of conflict and submission to single acts of\nHis will, but an entrance into the school where we prove and approve all\nthe good and perfect and acceptable will of God.\n\nIt has sometimes appeared, even to God's children, as if affliction were\nnot a blessing: it so rouses the evil nature, and calls forth all the\nopposition of the heart against God's will, that it has brought the loss\nof the peace and the piety that once appeared to reign. Even in such\ncases it is working out God's purpose. 'That He might humble thee, to\nprove thee, to know what was in thine heart,' is still His object in\nleading into the wilderness. To an extent we are not aware of, our\nreligion is often selfish and superficial: when we accept the teaching\nof chastisement in discovering the self-will and love of the world which\nstill prevails, we have learnt one of its first and most needful\nlessons.\n\nThis lesson has special difficulty when the trial does not come direct\nfrom God, but through men or circumstances. In looking at second\ncauses, and in seeking for their removal, in the feeling of indignation\nor of grief, we often entirely forget to see God's will in everything\nHis Providence allows. As long as we do so, the chastisement is\nfruitless; and perhaps only hardens the more. If, in our study of the\npathway of Holiness, there has been awakened in us the desire to accept\nand adore, and stand complete in, _all the will_ of God, let us in the\nvery first place seek to recognise that will in everything that comes on\nus. The sin of him who vexes us is not God's will. But it is God's will\nthat we should be in that position of difficulty to be tried and tested.\nLet our first thought be: this position of difficulty is my Father's\nwill for me: I accept that will as my place now where He sees it fit to\ntry me. Such acceptance of the trial is the way to turn it into\nblessing. It will lead on to an ever clearer abiding in all the will of\nGod all the day.\n\n_Chastisement leads to the fellowship of God's Son._ The will of God out\nof Christ is a law we cannot fulfil. The will of God in Christ is a life\nthat fills us. He came in the name of our fallen humanity, and accepted\nall God's will as it rested on us, both in the demands of the law, and\nin the consequences which sin had brought upon man. He gave Himself\nentirely to God's will, whatever it cost Him. And so He paved for us a\nway through suffering, not only through it in the sense of past it and\nout of it, but by means and in virtue of it, into the love and glory of\nthe Father. And it is in the power which Christ gives in fellowship\nwith Himself that we too can love the way of the Cross, as the best and\nmost blessed way to the Crown. Scripture says that the will of God is\nour sanctification, and also that Christ is our Sanctification. It is\nonly in Christ that we have the power to love and rejoice in the will of\nGod. In Him we have the power. He became our Sanctification once for all\nby delighting to do that will; He becomes our Sanctification in personal\nexperience, by teaching us to delight to do it. He learned to do it; He\ncould not become perfect in doing it otherwise than by suffering. In\nsuffering He draws nigh; He makes our suffering the fellowship of His\nsuffering; and in it makes Himself, who was perfected through suffering,\nour Sanctification.\n\nO ye suffering ones! all ye whom the Father is chastening! come and see\nJesus suffering, giving up His will, being made perfect, sanctifying\nHimself. _His suffering is the secret of His Holiness, of His Glory, of\nHis Life._ Will you not thank God for anything that can admit you into\nthe nearer fellowship of your blessed Lord? Shall we not accept every\ntrial, great or small, as the call of His love to be one with Himself in\nliving only for God's will. This is Holiness, to be one with Jesus as He\ndoes the will of God, to abide in Jesus who was made perfect through\nsuffering.\n\n_Chastisement leads to the enjoyment of God's love._ Many a father has\nbeen surprised as he made his first experience of how a child, after\nbeing punished in love, began to cling to him more tenderly than\nbefore. Even so, while to those who live at a distance from their\nFather, the misery in this world appears to be the one thing that shakes\ntheir faith in God's Love, it is just through suffering that His\nchildren learn to know the Reality of that Love. The chastening is so\ndistinctly a father's prerogative; it leads so directly to the\nconfession of its needfulness and its lovingness; it wakens so\npowerfully the longing for pardon and comfort and deliverance, that it\ndoes indeed become, strange though this may seem, one of the surest\nguides into the deeper experience of the Divine Love. Chastening is the\nschool in which the blessed lesson is learnt that the will of God is all\nLove, and that Holiness is the fire of Love, consuming that it may\npurify, destroying the dross only that it may assimilate into its own\nperfect purity all that yields itself to the wondrous change.\n\n'We know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love:\nand he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in Him.' Man's\ndestiny is fellowship with God, the fellowship, the mutual indwelling of\nlove. It is only by faith that this Love of God can be known. And faith\ncan only grow by exercise, can only thrive in trial: when visible things\nfail, its energy is roused to yield itself to be possessed by the\nInvisible, by the Divine. Chastisement is the nurse of faith; one of its\nchosen attendants, to lead deeper into the Love of God. This is the new\nand living way, the way of the rent flesh in fellowship with Jesus\nleading up into the Holiest of all. There it is seen how the Justice\nthat will not spare the child, and the Love that sustains and sanctifies\nit, are both one in the Holiness of God.\n\n0 ye chastened saints! who are so specially being led in the way that\ngoes through the rent veil of the flesh, you have boldness to enter in.\nDraw near; come and dwell in the Holiest of all. Make your abode in the\nHoliest of all: there you are made partakers of _His_ Holiness.\nChastisement is bringing your heart into unity with God's Will, God's\nSon, God's Love. Abide in God's Will. Abide in God's Son. Abide in God's\nLove. Dwell, within the veil, in the Holiest of all.\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy God! once again I bless Thee for the wondrous revelation of\nThy Holiness. Not only have I heard Thee speak, 'I am holy,' but Thou\nhast invited me to fellowship with Thyself: 'Be holy, as I am holy.'\nBlessed be Thy name! I have heard more even: 'I make holy,' is Thy word\nof promise, pledging Thine own Power to work out the purpose of Thy\nLove. I do thank Thee for what Thou hast revealed in Thy Son, in Thy\nSpirit, in Thy Word, of the path of Holiness. But how shall I bless Thee\nfor the lesson of this day, that there is not a loss or sorrow, not a\npain or care, not a temptation or trial, but Thy love also means it, and\nmakes it, to be a help in working out the holiness of Thy people.\nThrough each Thou drawest to Thyself, that they may taste how, in\naccepting Thy Will of Love, there is blessing and deliverance.\n\nBlessed Father! Thou knowest how often I have looked upon the\ncircumstances and the difficulties of this life as hindrances. Oh, let\nthem all, in the light of Thy holy purpose to make us partakers of Thy\nHoliness, in the light of Thy Will and Thy Love, from this hour be\nhelps. Let, above all, the path of Thy Blessed Son, proving how\nsuffering is the discipline of a Father's love, and surrender the secret\nof holiness, and sacrifice the entrance to the Holiest of all, be so\nrevealed that in the power of His Spirit and His grace that path may\nbecome mine. Let even chastening, even the least, be from Thine own\nhand, making me partaker of Thy Holiness. Amen.\n\n\n  1. How wonderful the revelation in the Epistle to the Hebrews of\n     the holiness and the holy making power of suffering, as seen in\n     the Son of God! 'He _learned obedience_ by the things which He\n     suffered.' 'It became God to make the Author of our salvation\n     _perfect_ through suffering, for both He that sanctifieth and\n     they who are sanctified are all of one.' 'In that He Himself\n     hath suffered, He is _able to succour_.' 'We behold Jesus,\n     because of the suffering of death, _crowned with glory_ and\n     honour.' Suffering is the way of the rent veil, the new and\n     living way Jesus walked in and opened for us. Let all sufferers\n     study this. Let all who are 'holy in Christ' here learn to know\n     the Christ _in whom_ they are holy, and the way in which He\n     sanctified Himself and sanctifies us.\n\n  2. If we begin by realizing the sympathy of Jesus with us in our\n     suffering, it will lead us on to what is more: sympathy with\n     Jesus in His suffering, fellowship with Him to suffer even as\n     He did.\n\n  3. Let suffering and holiness be inseparably linked, as in God's\n     mind and in Christ's person, so in your life through the\n     Spirit. 'It became God to make Him perfect through suffering;\n     for both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are\n     all of one.' Let _every trial_, small or great, be the touch of\n     God's hand, laying hold on you, to lead you to holiness. Give\n     yourself into that hand.\n\n  4. 'Insomuch as ye are partakers of _Christ's sufferings_,\n     rejoice; for _the Spirit of glory_ and of God resteth on you.'\n\n\n\n\nThirtieth Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nThe Unction from the Holy One.\n\n  'And ye have _an anointing from the Holy One_, and ye know all\n  things. And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him\n  abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His\n  anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is\n  no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.'--1 John ii.\n  20, 27.\n\n\nIn the revelation by Moses of God's Holiness and His way of making holy,\nthe priests, and specially the high priests, were the chief expression\nof God's Holiness in man. In the priests themselves, the holy anointing\noil was the one great symbol of the grace that made holy. Moses was to\nmake an holy anointing oil: 'And thou shalt take of the anointing oil,\nand sprinkle it upon Aaron and upon his sons, and he shall be hallowed,\nand his sons with him.' 'This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me.\nUpon man's flesh shall it not be poured; neither shall ye make any other\nlike it; it is holy, it shall be holy unto you' (Exod. xxix. 21, xxx.\n25-32). With this the priests, and specially the high priests, were to\nbe anointed and consecrated: 'He that is the high priest among you, upon\nwhose head the anointing oil was poured, shall not go out of the holy\nplace, nor profane the holy place of his God; for _the crown of the\nanointing oil of his God_ is upon him' (Lev. xxi. 10, 12). And even so\nit is said of David, as type of the Messiah, 'Our king is _of the Holy\nOne of Israel_. I have found David, my servant; with my _holy oil_ have\nI anointed him.'\n\nWe know how the Hebrew name _Messiah_, and the Greek _Christ_, has\nreference to this. So, in the passage just quoted, the Hebrew is, 'with\nmy holy oil I have _messiahed_ him.' And so in a passage like Acts x.\n38: 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, whom God _christed_ with the Holy\nGhost and with power.' Or Ps. xlv.: 'God hath _messiahed_ thee with the\noil of gladness above thy fellows;' in Heb. i. 9, 'Thy God hath\n_christed_ thee with the oil of gladness.' And so (as one of our\nReformed Catechisms, the Heidelberg, has it, in answer to the question,\nWhy art thou called a Christian?) we are called Christians, because we\nare fellow-partakers with Him of His christing, His anointing. This is\nthe anointing of which John speaks, the chrisma or christing of the Holy\nOne. The Holy Spirit is the holy anointing which every believer\nreceives: what God did to His Son to make Him the Christ, He does to me\nto make me a Christian. 'Ye have the anointing of the Holy One.'\n\n1. _Ye have an anointing from the Holy One._ It is as the Holy One that\nthe Father gives the anointing: that wherewith He anoints is called the\noil of holiness, the Holy Spirit. Holiness is indeed a Divine ointment.\nJust as there is nothing so subtle and penetrating as the odour with\nwhich the ointment fills a house, so holiness is an indescribable,\nall-pervading breath of heavenliness which pervades the man on whom the\nanointing rests. Holiness does not consist in certain actions: this is\nrighteousness. Holiness is the unseen and yet manifest presence of the\nHoly One resting on His anointed. Direct from the Holy One, the\nanointing is alone received, or rather, only in the abiding fellowship\nwith Him in Christ, who is the Holy One of God.\n\nAnd who receives it? Only he who has given himself entirely to be holy\nas God is holy. It was the priest, who was separated to be holy to the\nLord, who received the anointing: upon other men's flesh it was not to\nbe poured. How many would fain have the precious ointment for the sake\nof its perfume to themselves! No, only he who is wholly consecrated to\nthe service of the Holy One, to the work of the sanctuary, may receive\nit. If any one had said: I would fain have the anointing, but not be\nmade a priest; I am not ready to go and always be at the call of sinners\nseeking their God, he could have no share in it. Holiness is the energy\nthat only lives to make holy, and to bless in so doing: the anointing of\nthe Holy One is for the priest, the servant of God Most High. It is only\nin the intensity of a soul truly roused and given up to God's glory,\nGod's kingdom, God's work, that holiness becomes a reality. The holy\ngarments were only prepared for priests and their service. In all our\nseekings after holiness, let us remember this. As we beware of the error\nof thinking that work for Christ will make holy, let us also watch\nagainst the other, the straining after holiness without work. It is the\npriest who is set apart for the service of the holy place and the Holy\nOne, it is the believer who is ready to live and die that the Holiness\nof God may triumph among men around him, who will receive the anointing.\n\n2. '_The anointing teacheth you._' The new man is created in\n_knowledge_, as well as in righteousness and holiness. Christ is made to\nus _wisdom_, as well as righteousness and sanctification. God's service\nand our holiness are above all to be a free and full, an intelligent and\nmost willing, approval of His blessed will. And so the anointing, to fit\nus for the service of the sanctuary, teaches us to know all things. Just\nas the perfume of the ointment is the most subtle essence, something\nthat has never yet been found or felt, except as it is smelt, so the\nspiritual faculty which the anointing gives is the most subtle there can\nbe. It makes 'quick of scent in the fear of the Lord:' it teaches us by\na Divine instinct, by which the anointed one recognises what has the\nheavenly fragrance in it, and what is of earth. It is the anointing that\nmakes the Word and the name of Jesus in the Word to be indeed as\nointment poured forth.\n\nThe great mark of the anointing is thus, teachableness. It is the great\nmark of Christ, the Holy One of God, the Anointed One, that He listens:\n'I speak not of myself; as I hear, so I speak.' And so it is of the Holy\nSpirit too: 'He shall not speak out of Himself: whatsoever He shall\nhear, that shall He speak.' It cannot be otherwise: one anointed with\nthe anointing of this Christ, with this Holy Spirit, will be teachable,\nwill listen to be taught. 'The anointing teacheth.' 'And ye need not\nthat any one teach you: but the anointing teacheth you concerning all\nthings.' 'They shall be all taught of God,' includes every believer. The\nsecret of true holiness is a very direct and personal relation to the\nHoly One: all the teaching through the word or men made entirely\ndependent on and subordinate to the personal teaching of the Holy Ghost.\nThe teaching comes through the anointing. Not, in the first place, in\nthe thoughts or feelings, but in that all-pervading fragrance which\ncomes from the fresh oil having penetrated the whole inner man.\n\n3. '_And the anointing abideth in you._' '_In you._' In the spiritual\nlife it is of deep importance ever to maintain the harmony between the\nobjective and the subjective: God in Christ above me, God in the Spirit\nwithin me. In us, not as in a locality, but _in us_, as one with us,\nentering into the most secret part of our being, and pervading all,\ndwelling in our very body, the anointing abideth _in us_, forming part\nof our very selves. And this just in proportion as we know it and yield\nourselves to it, as we wait and are still to let the secret fragrance\npermeate our whole being. And this, again, not interruptedly, but as a\ncontinuous and unvarying experience. Above circumstances and feelings,\n'the anointing abideth.' Not, indeed, as a fixed state or as something\nin our own possession; but, according to the law of the new life, in the\ndependence of faith on the Holy One, and in the fellowship of Jesus. 'I\nam anointed with fresh oil,'--this is the objective side; every new\nmorning the believer waits for the renewal of the Divine gift from the\nFather. 'The anointing abideth in you,'--this is the subjective side;\nthe holy life, the life of faith and fellowship, the anointing, is\nalways, from moment to moment, a spiritual reality. The holy anointing\noil, always fresh, the anointing abiding always, is the secret of\nholiness.\n\n4. '_And even as it taught you, ye abide in Him._' Here we have again\nthe Holy Trinity: the Holy One, from whom the holy anointing comes; the\nHoly Spirit, who is Himself the anointing; and Christ, the Holy One of\nGod, in whom the anointing teaches us to abide. In Christ the unseen\nholiness of God was set before us, and brought nigh: it became human,\nvested in a human nature, that it might be communicated to us. Within us\ndwells and works the Holy Spirit, drawing us out to the Christ of God,\nuniting us in heart and will to Him, revealing Him, forming Him within\nus, so that His likeness and mind are embodied in us. It is thus we\nabide in Christ: the holy anointing of the Holy One teacheth it to us.\nIt is this that is the test of the true anointing: abiding in Christ, as\nHe meant it, becomes truth in us. Here is the life of holiness as the\nThrice Holy gives it: the Father, the first, the Holy One, making holy;\nthe Son, the second, His Holy One, in whom we are; the Spirit, the\nthird, who dwells in us, and through whom we abide in Christ, and Christ\nin us. Thus it is that the Thrice Holy makes us holy.\n\nLet us study the Divine anointing. It comes from the Holy One. There is\nno other like it. It is God's way of making us holy--His holy priests.\nIt is God's way of making us partakers of holiness in Christ. The\nanointing, received of Him day by day, abiding in us, teaching us all\nthings, especially teaching us to abide in Christ, must be on us every\nday. Its subtle, all-pervading power must go through our whole life: the\nodour of the ointment must fill the house. Blessed be God, it can do so!\nThe anointing that abideth makes the abiding in Christ a reality and a\ncertainty; and God Himself, the Holy One, makes the abiding anointing a\nreality and a certainty too. To His Holy Name be the praise!\n\n  BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.\n\n\nO Thou, who art the Holy One, I come to Thee now for the renewed\nanointing. O Father! this is the one gift Thy child may most surely\ncount on--the gift of Thy Holy Spirit. Grant me now to sing, 'Thou\nanointest my head;' 'I am anointed with fresh oil.'\n\nI desire to confess with deep shame that Thy Spirit has been sorely\ngrieved and dishonoured. How often the fleshly mind has usurped His\nplace in Thy worship! How much the fleshly will has sought to do His\nwork! O my Father! let Thy light shine through me to convince me very\ndeeply of this. Let Thy judgment come on all that there is of human\nwilling and running.\n\nBlessed Father! grant me, according to the riches of Thy glory, even now\nto be strengthened with might by Thy Spirit in the inner man. Strengthen\nmy faith to believe in Christ for a full share in His anointing. Oh,\nteach me day by day to wait for and receive the anointing with fresh\noil!\n\nO my Father! draw me and all Thy children to see that for the abiding in\nChrist we need the abiding anointing. Father! we would walk humbly, in\nthe dependence of faith, counting upon the inner and ever-abiding\nanointing. May we so be a sweet savour of Christ to all. Amen.\n\n\n  1. I think I know now the reason why at times we fail in the\n     abiding. We think and read, we listen and pray, we try to\n     believe and strive to look to Jesus only, and yet we fail. What\n     was wanting was this: 'His anointing teacheth you; _even as_ it\n     taught you, ye abide in him;' so far, and no farther.\n\n  2. The washing always precedes the anointing: we cannot have the\n     anointing if we fail in the cleansing. When cleansed and\n     anointed we are fit for use.\n\n  3. Would you have the abiding anointing? Yield yourself wholly\n     to be sanctified and made meet for the Master's use: dwell in\n     the Holiest of all, in God's presence: accept every\n     chastisement as a fellowship in the way of the rent flesh: be\n     sure the anointing will flow in union with Jesus. 'It is like\n     the precious ointment upon the head of Aaron, that went down to\n     the skirts of his garments.'\n\n  4. The anointing is the Divine eye-salve, opening the eyes of the\n     heart to know Jesus. So it teaches to abide in Him. I am sure\n     most Christians have no conception of the danger and\n     deceitfulness of a thought religion, with sweet and precious\n     thoughts coming to us in books and preaching, and little power.\n     The teaching of the Holy Spirit is in the heart first; man's\n     teaching in the mind. Let all our thinking ever lead us to\n     cease from thought, and to open the heart and will to the\n     Spirit to teach there in His own Divine way, deeper than\n     thought and feeling. Unseen, within the veil, the Holy Spirit\n     abideth. Be silent and still, believe and expect, and cling to\n     Jesus.\n\n  5. Oh that God would visit His Church, and teach His children what\n     it is to wait for, and receive, and walk in the full anointing,\n     the anointing that abideth and teacheth to abide! Oh that the\n     truth of the personal leading of the Holy Spirit in every\n     believer were restored in the Church! He is doing it; He will\n     do it.\n\n\n\n\nThirty-first Day.\n\n\nHOLY IN CHRIST.\n\nHoliness and Heaven.\n\n  'Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of\n  men ought ye to be in all _holy_ living and godliness?'--2 Pet.\n  iii. 11.\n\n  'Follow after _the sanctification_ without which no man shall see\n  the Lord.'--Heb. xii. 14.\n\n  'He that is _holy_, let him be made _holy_ still.... The grace of\n  the Lord Jesus be with the _holy ones_. Amen.'--Rev. xxii. 11, 21.\n\n\nO my brother, we are on our way to see God. We have been invited to meet\nthe Holy One face to face. The infinite mystery of holiness, the glory\nof the Invisible God, before which the seraphim veil their faces, is to\nbe unveiled, to be revealed to us. And that not as a thing we are to\nlook upon and to study. But we are to see the Thrice Holy One, the\nLiving God Himself. God, the Holy One, will show Himself to us: we are\nto see God. Oh, the infinite grace, the inconceivable blessedness! we\nare to see God.\n\nWe are to see God, the Holy One. And all our schooling here in the life\nof holiness is simply the preparation for that meeting and that vision.\n'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' 'Follow after\nthe sanctification, without which no man shall see the Lord.' Since the\ntime when God said to Israel, 'Be ye holy, as I am holy,' Holiness was\nrevealed as the only meeting-place between God and His people. To be\nholy was to be the common ground on which they were to stand with Him;\nthe one attribute in which they were to be like God; the one thing that\nwas to prepare them for the glorious time when He would no longer need\nto keep them away, but would admit them to the full fellowship of His\nglory, to have the word fulfilled in them: 'He that is holy, let him be\nmade yet more holy.'\n\nIn his second epistle, Peter reminds believers that the coming of the\nday of the Lord is to be preceded and accompanied by the most tremendous\ncatastrophe--the dissolution of the heavens and the earth. He makes it a\nplea with them to give diligence that they may be found without spot and\nblameless in His sight. And he asks them to think and say, under the\ndeep sense of what the coming of the day of God would be and would\nbring, what the life of those ought to be who look for such things:\n'What manner of person ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness?'\nHoliness must be its one, its universal characteristic. At the close of\nour meditations on God's call to Holiness, we may take Peter's question,\nand in the light of all that God has revealed of His Holiness, and all\nthat waits still to be revealed, ask ourselves, 'What manner of men\nought we to be in all holy living and godliness?'\n\nNote first the meaning of the question. In the original Greek, the words\nliving and godliness are plural. Alford says, '_In holy behaviours and\npieties_; the plurals mark the holy behaviour and piety _in all its\nforms and examples_.' Peter would plead for a life of holiness pervading\nthe whole man: our behaviours towards men, and our pieties towards God.\nTrue holiness cannot be found in anything less. Holiness must be the\none, the universal characteristic of our Christian life. In God we have\nseen that holiness is the central attribute, the comprehensive\nexpression for Divine perfection, the attribute of all the attributes,\nthe all-including epithet by which He Himself, as Redeemer and Father,\nHis Son and His Spirit, His Day, His House, His Law, His Servants, His\nPeople, His Name, are marked and known. Always and in everything, in\nJudgment as in Mercy, in His Exaltation and His Condescension, in His\nHiddenness and His Revelation, always and in everything, God is the Holy\nOne. And the Word would teach us that the reign of Holiness, to be true\nand pleasing to God, must be supreme, must be in all holy living and\ngodliness. There must not be a moment of the day, nor a relation in\nlife; there must be nothing in the outer conduct, nor in the inmost\nrecesses of the heart; there must be nothing belonging to us, whether\nin worship or in business, that is not holy. The Holiness of Jesus, the\nHoliness which comes of the Spirit's anointing, must cover and pervade\nall. Nothing, nothing may be excluded, if we are to be holy; it must be\nas Peter said when he spoke of God's call--holy in all manner of living;\nit must be as he says here--'in all holy living and godliness.' To use\nthe significant language of the Holy Spirit: Everything must be done,\n'worthily of the holy ones,' 'as becometh holy ones' (Rom. xvi. 3; Eph.\nv. 3).\n\nNote, too, the force of the question. Peter says, 'Wherefore, beloved,\nseeing that ye look for these things.' Yes, let us think what that\nmeans. We have been studying, down through the course of Revelation,\nthe wondrous grace and patience with which God has made known and made\npartaker of His holiness, all in preparation for what is to come. We\nhave heard God, the Holy One, calling us, pleading with us, commanding\nus to be holy, as He is holy. And we expect to meet Him, and to dwell\nthrough eternity in His Light, holy as He is holy. It is not a dream; it\nis a living reality; we are looking forward to it, as the only one thing\nthat makes life worth living. We are looking forward to Love to welcome\nus, as with the confidence of childlike love we come as His holy ones to\ncry, Holy Father!\n\nWe have learnt to know Jesus, the Holy One of God, our Sanctification.\nWe are living in Him, day by day, as those who are holy in Christ Jesus.\nWe are drawing on His Holiness without ceasing. We are walking in that\nwill of God which He did, and which He enables us to do. And we are\nlooking forward to meet Him with great joy, 'when He shall come to be\nglorified in the holy ones, and to be admired in all them that believe.'\nWe have within us the Holy Spirit, the Holiness of God in Christ come\ndown to be at home within us, as the earnest of our inheritance. He, the\nSpirit of Holiness, is secretly transforming us within, sanctifying our\nspirit, soul, and body, to be blameless at His coming, and making us\nmeet for the inheritance of the holy ones in light. We are looking\nforward to the time when He shall have completed His work, when the body\nof Christ shall be perfected, and the bride, all filled and streaming\nwith the life and glory of the Spirit within her, shall be set with Him\non His throne, even as He sat with the Father on His throne. We hope\nthrough eternity to worship and adore the mystery of the Thrice Holy\nOne. Even here it fills our souls with trembling joy and wonder: when\nGod's work of making holy is complete, how we shall join in the song,\n'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which wast, and art, and art to\ncome!'\n\nIn preparation for all this the most wonderful events are to take place.\nThe Lord Jesus Himself is to appear, the power of sin and the world is\nto be destroyed; this visible system of things is to be broken up; the\npower of the Spirit is to triumph through all creation; there is to be a\nnew heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And holiness\nis then to be unfolded in ever-growing blessedness and glory in the\nfellowship of the Thrice Holy: 'He that is holy, let him be holy yet\nmore.' Surely it but needs the question to be put for each believer to\nfeel and acknowledge its force: 'Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look\nfor these things, what manner of men ought ye to be in all holy living\nand godliness?'\n\nAnd note now the need and the point of the question. 'What manner of\npersons ought ye to be?' But is such a question needed? Can it be that\nGod's holy ones, made holy in Christ Jesus, with the very spirit of\nholiness dwelling with them, on the way to meet the Holy One in His\nGlory and Love, can it be that they need the question? Alas! alas! it\nwas so in the time of Peter; it is but too much so in our days too.\nAlas! how many Christians there are to whom the very word Holy, though\nit be the name by which the Father, in His New Testament, loves to call\nHis children more than any other, is strange and unintelligible. And\nagain, alas! for how many Christians there are for whom, when the word\nis heard, it has but little attraction, because it has never yet been\nshown to them as a life that is indeed possible, and unutterably\nblessed. And yet again, alas! for how many are there not, even workers\nin the Master's service, to whom the 'all holy living and godliness' is\nyet a secret and a burden, because they have not yet consented to give\nup all, both their will and their work, for the Holy One to take and\nfill with His Holy Spirit. And yet once more, alas! as the cry comes,\neven from those who do know the power of a holy life, lamenting their\nunfaithfulness and unbelief, as they see how much richer their entrance\ninto the Holy Life might have been, and how much fuller the blessing\nthey still feel so feeble to communicate to others. Oh, the question is\nneeded! Shall not each of us take it, and keep it, and answer it by the\nHoly Spirit through whom it came, and then pass it on to our brethren,\nthat we and they may help each other in faith, and live in joy and hope\nto give the answer our God would have?\n\n'Seeing that these things are, then, all to be dissolved, what manner of\npersons ought we to be in all holy living and godliness?' Brethren! the\ntime is short. The world is passing away. The heathen are perishing.\nChristians are sleeping. Satan is active and mighty. God's holy ones are\nthe hope of the Church and the world. It is they their Lord can use.\n'What manner of persons shall we be in all holy living and godliness!'\nShall we not seek to be such as the Father commands, 'Holy, as He is\nholy'? Shall we not yield ourselves afresh and undividedly to Him who is\nour Sanctification, and to His Blessed Spirit, to make us holy in all\nbehaviours and pieties? Oh! shall we not, in thought of the love of our\nLord Jesus, in thought of the coming glory, in view of the coming end,\nof the need of the Church and the world, give ourselves to be holy as He\nis holy, that we may have power to bless each believer we meet with the\nmessage of what God will do, and that in concert with them we may be a\nlight and a blessing to this perishing world?\n\nI close with the closing words of God's Blessed Book, 'He which\ntestifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. Amen: Come, Lord\nJesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the holy ones. Amen.'\n\n  BE YE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY.\n\n\nMost Holy God! who hast called us to be holy, we have heard Thy voice\nasking, What manner of persons we ought to be in all holy living and\ngodliness? With our whole soul we answer in deep contrition and\nhumility: Holy Father! we ought to be so different from what we have\nbeen. In faith and love, in zeal and devotion, in Christlike humility\nand holiness, O Father! we have not been, before Thee and the world,\nwhat we ought to be, what we could be. Holy Father! we now pray for all\nwho unite with us in this prayer, and implore of Thee to grant a great\nrevival of True Holiness in us and in all Thy Church. Visit, we beseech\nThee, visit all ministers of Thy word, that in view of Thy coming they\nmay take up and sound abroad the question, What manner of persons ought\nye to be? Lay upon them, and all Thy people, such a burden under\nsurrounding unholiness and worldliness, that they may not cease to cry\nto Thee. Grant them such a vision of the highway of holiness, the new\nand living way in Christ, that they may preach Christ our Sanctification\nin the power and the joy of the Holy Ghost, with the confident and\ntriumphant voice of witnesses who rejoice in what Thou dost for them.\nO God! roll away the reproach of Thy people, that their profession does\nnot make them humbler or holier, more loving, and more heavenly than\nothers.\n\nO Holy God! give Thou Thyself the answer to Thy question, and teach us\nand the world what manner of persons Thy people can be, in the day of\nThy power, in the beauty of holiness. We bow our knee to Thee, O Father,\nthat Thou wouldst grant us, according to the riches of Thy glory, to be\nmightily strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of Holiness. Amen.\n\n\n  1. What manner of men ought ye to be in all the holy living? This\n     is a question God has written down for us. Might it not help us\n     if we were to write down the answer, and say how holy we think\n     we ought to be? The clearer and more distinct our views are of\n     what God wishes, of what He has made possible, of what in\n     reality _ought_ to be, the more definite our acts of\n     confession, of surrender, and of faith can become.\n\n  2. Let every believer, who longs to be holy, join in the daily\n     prayer that God would visit His people with a great outpouring\n     of the Spirit of Holiness. Pray without ceasing that every\n     believer may live as a holy one.\n\n  3. 'Seeing that _ye look for_ these things.' Our life depends, in\n     more than one sense, upon what we look at. 'We look not at the\n     things which are seen.' It is only as we look at the Invisible\n     and Spiritual, and come under its power, that we shall be what\n     we ought to be in all holy living and godliness.\n\n  4. _Holy in Christ._ Let this be our parting word. However\n     strong the branch becomes, however far away it reaches round\n     the home, out of sight of the vine, all its beauty and all its\n     fruitfulness ever depend upon that one point of contact where\n     it grows out of the vine. So be it with us too. All the outer\n     circumference of my life has its centre in the ego--the living,\n     conscious I myself, in which my being roots. And this I is\n     rooted in Christ. Down in the depths of my inner life, there is\n     Christ holding, bearing, guiding, quickening me into holiness\n     and fruitfulness. In Him I am, In Him I will abide. His will\n     and commands will I keep; His Love and Power will I trust. And\n     I will daily seek to praise God that I am Holy in Christ.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n\nNOTE A.\n\nHoliness as Proprietorship.\n\n\nIn a little book--_Holiness, as understood by the Writers of the Bible;\nA Bible Study by Joseph Agar Beet_--the thought that by Holiness is\nmeant our relation to God, and the claim He has upon us, has been very\ncarefully worked out. Holy ground was such because 'it stood in _special\nrelation_ to Himself.' The first-born 'were to stand _in a special\nrelation to God as His property_.' So with the entire nation; when God\ndeclares that they shall be holy, He means 'that they shall render to\nHim the devotion He requires.' 'All holy objects stand in a special\nrelation to God as His property.' The priests are said to sanctify\nthemselves; they did this 'by formally placing themselves at God's\ndisposal, or by separating themselves from whatever was inconsistent\nwith the service of God.' 'When God declares He is holy, the word must\nrepresent the same idea in the hundreds of passages in which it is\npredicated of men and things.' 'Holiness is _God's claim to the\nownership_ of men and things; and the objects claimed were called holy.\nNow, _God's claim_ was a new and wondrous revelation of His nature. To\nAaron God was now the Great Being who had claimed from him a lifelong\nand exclusive service. _This claim_ was a new era, not only in his\neveryday life, but in his conception of God. Consequently the word\n_holy_, which expressed _Aaron's relation to God_, was suitably used to\nexpress _God's relation to Aaron_. In other words, to Aaron and Israel\nGod was holy in the sense that He claimed the exclusive ownership of the\nentire nation. When men yielded to God the devotion He claimed, they\nwere said to sanctify God.' 'Jehovah and Israel stood in special\nrelation to each other; therefore Jehovah was _the Holy One of Israel_,\nand Israel was _Holy to Jehovah_. This mutual relation rested upon God's\nclaim that Israel should specially be His; and this claim implied that\nin a special manner He would belong to Israel. This claim was a\nmanifestation of the nature of God.' 'The peculiar relation arises from\nGod's own claim, in consequence of which they stand in a new and solemn\nrelation to Him. This may be called objective holiness. This is the most\ncommon sense of the word. In this sense God sanctified these objects for\nHimself. But since some of these objects were intelligent beings, and\nthe others were in control of such, the word sanctify denotes these\nones' formal surrender of themselves and their possessions to God. This\nmay be called subjective holiness. From the word holy predicated of God,\nwe learn that God's claim was not merely occasional, but an outflow of\nHis Essence. As the one Being who claims unlimited and absolute\nownership and supreme devotion, God is the Holy One.'\n\nIn the New Testament the Spirit of God claims the epithet holy 'as being\nin a very special manner the source and influence of which God is the\none and only aim.' Here 'our conception of the holiness of God increases\nwith our increasing perception of the greatness of His claim upon us,\nand that this claim springs from the very essence of God. In the\nincarnate Son of God we see the full development and realization of the\nBiblical idea of holiness. We find Him standing in a special relation to\nGod, and living a life of which the one and only aim is to advance the\npurposes of God.' We see in Him 'holiness in its highest degree, _i.e._\nthe highest conceivable devotion to God and to the advancement of His\nkingdom.' 'In virtue of His intelligent, hearty, continued\nappropriation of the Father's purpose, and in virtue of its realization\nin all the details of the Saviour's life, He was called _the Holy One of\nGod_.'\n\n'The word _saint_ is very appropriate as a designation of the followers\nof Christ; for it declares what God requires them to be. By calling His\npeople _saints_, God declares His will that we live a life of which He\nis the one and only aim. This is the objective holiness of the Church of\nChrist. In some passages holiness is set before the people of God as a\nstandard for their attainment. In these passages _holy_ denotes a\nrealization in man of God's purpose that he live a life of which God is\nthe one and only aim. This is the subjective holiness of God's people.\n\n'Holiness is God's claim that His creatures use all their powers and\nopportunities to work out His purposes. Holiness, thus understood, is an\nattribute of God. For His claim springs from His nature, even from that\nlove which is the very essence of God. His love to us moves Him to claim\nour devotion; for only by absolute devotion to Him can we attain our\nhighest happiness.'\n\n'Though without purity we cannot be subjectively holy, yet holiness is\nmuch more than purity. Purity is a mere negative excellence; holiness\nimplies the most intense mental and bodily activity of which we are\ncapable. For it is the employment of all our powers and opportunities to\nadvance God's purposes.'\n\nThe question 'How we become holy,' is answered thus: 'Our devotion to\nGod is a result of inward spiritual contact with Him who once lived a\nhuman life on earth, and now lives a glorified human life on the throne,\nsimply and only to work out the Father's purposes. We live for God\nbecause Christ does so, and because Christ lives in us, and we in Him:\nthe Spirit of Christ is the Agent of the spiritual contact with Christ\nwhich imparts to us His life, and reproduces in us His life. He is the\nbearer of the power as well as of the holiness of Christ.'\n\n'That God claims from His people unreserved devotion to Himself, and\nthat what He claims He works in all who believe it, by His own power\noperating through the inward presence of the Holy Spirit, placing us in\nspiritual contact with Christ, is the great doctrine of sanctification\nby faith.'\n\nThe same view, that holiness is a relation, had previously been worked\nout very elaborately by Diestel. In what has been said on redemption and\nproprietorship as related to holiness (see 'Sixth Day'), we have seen\nwhat truth there is in the thought. But holiness is something more. What\nis holy is not only God-devoted, but God-accepted, God-appropriated,\nGod-possessed. God not only possesses the heart, but absolutely occupies\nand fills it with His life. It is this makes it holy.\n\nHowever much truth there be in the above exposition, it hardly meets our\ndesire for an insight into what is one of the highest attributes of the\nvery Being of God. When the seraphs worship Him as the Holy One, and in\ntheir Thrice Holy reflect something of the deepest mystery of Godhead,\nit surely means more than merely the expression of God's claim as\nSovereign Proprietor of all.\n\nThe mistake appears to originate in taking first the meaning of the word\n_holy_ from earthly objects, and then from that deducing that holiness\nin God cannot mean more than it does when applied to men. The Scriptures\npoint to the opposite way. When Old and New Testaments say, 'Be ye holy,\nfor I am holy, I make holy,' they point to God's Holiness as the first,\nboth the reason and the source of ours. We ought first to discover what\nholiness in God is. When we read at creation of God's _sanctifying_ the\nSabbath day, we have to do, not with a thought or word of Moses as to\nwhat God had done, but with a Divine revelation of a Power in God\ngreater and more wonderful than creation, the Power which is later on\nrevealed as the deepest mystery of the Divine Being.\n\nThis Holiness in God, as it appears to me, cannot be a mere relation.\nTo indicate a relation, tells me nothing positively about the personal\ncharacter or worth of the related parties. To say that when God\nsanctifies men He claims them as His own, does not say what the nature\nis of the work He does for them and in them, or what the Power by which\nHe does it. And yet that word ought to reveal to me what it is that God\nbestows. To say that that claim has its root in His very nature, and in\nHis love, and that holiness is therefore an attribute, makes it an\nattribute, not like love or wisdom, immanent in the Divine Being, ere\ncreatures were, but simply an effect of Love, moving God to claim His\ncreatures as His special possession. We should then have no attribute\nexpressive of God's moral perfection. Nor would the word holy of the Son\nand the Spirit any longer indicate that deep and mysterious\ncommunication of the very nature and life of God in which sanctification\nhas its glory. In the Divine holiness we have the highest and\ninconceivably glorious revelation of the very essence of the Divine\nBeing; in the holiness of the saints the deepest revelation of the\nchange by which their inmost nature is renewed into the likeness of God.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE B.\n\nOn the Word for Holiness.\n\n\nThe proper meaning of the Hebrew word for holy, _kadosh_, is matter of\nuncertainty. It may come from a root signifying to shine. (So Gesenius,\nOehler, F\u00fcrst, and formerly Delitzsch, on Heb. ii. 11.) Or from another\ndenoting new and bright (Diestel), or an Arabic form meaning to cut, to\nseparate. (So Delitzsch now, on Ps. xxii. 4.) Whatever the root be, the\nchief idea appears to be not only separate or set apart, for which the\nHebrew has entirely different words, but that by which a thing that is\nseparated from others for its worth is distinguished above them. It\nindicates not only separation as an act or fact, but the superiority or\nexcellence in virtue of which, either as already possessed or sought\nafter, the separation takes place.\n\nIn his _Lexicon of New Testament Greek_, Cremer has an exhaustive\narticle on the Greek _hagios_, pointing out how holiness is an entirely\nBiblical idea, and 'how the scriptural conceptions of God's Holiness,\nnotwithstanding the original affinity, is diametrically opposite to all\nthe Greek notions; and how, whereas these very views of holiness exclude\nfrom the gods all possibility of love, the scriptural conception of\nholiness unfolds itself only when in closest connection with Divine\nlove.' It is a most suggestive thought that we owe both the word and the\nthought distinctly to revelation. Every other attribute of God has some\nnotion to correspond with it in the human mind: the thought of holiness\nis distinctly Divine. Is not this the reason that, though God has so\ndistinctly in the New Testament called His people holy ones, the word\n_holy_ has so little entered into the daily language and life of the\nChristian Church?\n\n\n\n\nNOTE C.\n\nThe Holiness of God.\n\n\nThere is not a word so exclusively scriptural, so distinctly Divine, as\nthe word holy in its revelation and its meaning. As a consequence of\nthis its Divine origin, it is a word of inexhaustible significance.\nThere is not one of the attributes of God which theologians have found\nit so difficult to define, or concerning which they differ so much. A\nshort survey of the various views that have been taken may teach us how\nlittle the idea of the Divine Holiness can be comprehended or exhausted\nby human definition, and how it is only in the life of fellowship and\nadoration that the holiness which passes all understanding can, as a\ntruth and a reality, be apprehended.\n\n1. The most external view, in which the ethical was very much lost sight\nof, is that in which holiness is identified with God's Separateness from\nthe creation, and elevation above it. Holiness was defined as the\nincomparable Glory of God, His exclusive adorableness, His infinite\nMajesty. Sufficient attention was not paid to the fact that though all\nthese thoughts are closely connected with God's Holiness, they are but a\nformal definition of the results and surroundings of the Holiness, but\ndo not lead us to the apprehension of that wherein its real essence\nconsists.\n\n2. Another view, which also commences from the external, and makes that\nthe basis of its interpretation, regards holiness simply as the\nexpression of a relation. Because what was set apart for God's service\nwas called holy, the idea of separation, of consecration, of ownership,\nis taken as the starting-point. And so, because we are said to be holy,\nas belonging to God, God is holy as claiming us and belonging to us too.\nInstead of regarding holiness as a positive reality in the Divine\nnature, from which our holiness is to be derived, our holiness is made\nthe starting-point for expounding the Holiness of God. 'God is holy as\nbeing, within the covenant, not only the Proprietor, but the Property of\nHis people, their highest good and their only rule' (Diestel). Of this\nview mention has already been made in the note to 'Sixth Day,' on\nHoliness as Proprietorship.\n\n3. Passing over to the views of those who regard holiness as being a\nmoral attribute, the most common one is that of purity, freedom from\nsin. 'Holiness is a general term for the moral excellence of God. There\nis none holy as the Lord: no other being absolutely pure and free from\nall limitations in His moral perfection. Holiness, on the one hand,\nimplies entire freedom from moral evil; and, upon the other, absolute\nmoral perfection.' (Hodge, _Syst. Theol._) The idea of holiness as the\ninfinite Purity which is free from all sin, which hates and punishes\nit, is what in the popular conception is the most prominent idea. The\nnegative stands more in the foreground than the positive. The view has\nits truth and its value from the fact that in our sinful state the first\nimpression the Holiness of God must make is that of fear and dread in\nthe consciousness of our sinfulness and unholiness. But it does not tell\nus wherein this moral excellence or perfection of God really consists.\n\n4. It is an advance on this view when the attempt is made to define what\nthis perfection of God is. A thing is perfect when it is in everything\nas it ought to be. It is easy thus to define perfection, but not so easy\nto define what the perfection of any special object is: this needs the\nknowledge of what its nature is. And we have to rest content with very\ngeneral terms defining God's Holiness as the essential and absolute\ngood. 'Holiness is the free, deliberate, calm, and immutable affirmation\nof Himself, who is goodness, or of goodness, which is Himself' (Godet\n_on John_ xvii. 11). 'Holiness is that attribute in virtue of which\nJehovah makes Himself the absolute standard of Himself, of His being and\nrevelation.' (Kubel.)\n\n5. Closely allied to this is the view that holiness is not so much an\nattribute, but the 'whole complex of that which we are wont to look at\nand represent singly in the individual attributes of God.' So Bengel\nlooked upon holiness as the Divine nature, in which all the attributes\nare contained. In the same spirit what Howe says of holiness as the\nDivine beauty, the result of the perfect harmony of all the attributes,\n'Holiness is intellectual beauty. Divine holiness is the most perfect\nbeauty, and the measure of all other. The Divine Holiness is the most\nperfect pulchritude, the ineffable and immortal pulchritude, that cannot\nbe declared by words, or seen by eyes. This may therefore be called a\ntranscendental attribute that, as it were, runs through the rest, and\ncasts a glory upon every one. It is an attribute of attributes. These\nare fit predications, _holy_ power, _holy_ love. And so it is the very\nlustre and glory of His other perfections. He is glorious in holiness.'\n(Howe in _Whyte's Shorter Catechism_.) This was the aspect of the Divine\nHoliness on which Jonathan Edwards delighted to dwell. 'The mutual love\nof the Father and the Son makes the third, the personal Holy Spirit, or\nthe Holiness of God, which is His infinite beauty.' 'By the\ncommunication of God's Holiness the creature partakes of God's moral\nexcellence, which is perfection, the beauty of the Divine nature.'\n'Holiness comprehends all the true moral excellence of intelligent\nbeings. So the Holiness of God is the same with the moral excellency of\nthe Divine nature, comprehending all His perfections, His righteousness,\nfaithfulness, and goodness. There are two kinds of attributes in God,\naccording to our way of conceiving Him: His _moral_ attributes, which\nare summed up in His Holiness, and His _natural_, as strength,\nknowledge, etc., which constitute His greatness. Holy persons, in the\nexercise of holy affection, love God in the first place for the beauty\nof His Holiness.' 'The holiness of an intelligent creature is that which\ngives beauty to all his natural perfections. And so it is in God:\nholiness is in a peculiar manner the beauty of the Divine being. Hence\nwe often read of the beauty of holiness (Ps. xxix. 2, xcvi. 9, cx. 3).\nThis renders all the other attributes glorious and lovely.' 'Therefore,\nif the true loveliness of God's perfections arise from the loveliness of\nHis Holiness, the true love of all His perfections will arise from the\nlove of His Holiness. And as the beauty of the Divine nature primarily\nconsists in God's Holiness, so does the beauty of all Divine things.'\n\n6. In speaking of God's Holiness as denoting the essential good, the\nabsolute excellence of His nature, some press very strongly the\n_ethical_ aspect. The good in God must not be from mere natural impulse\nonly, flowing from the necessity of His nature, without being freely\nwilled by Himself. 'What is naturally good is not the true realization\nof the good. The actual and living will to be the good He is, must also\nhave its place in God, otherwise God would only be naturally ethical.\nOnly in the will which consciously determines itself, is there the\npossibility given of the ethical. The ethical has such a power in God\nthat He is the holy Power, who cannot and will not renounce Himself, who\nmust be, and would be thought to be, the holy necessity of the goodness\nwhich is Himself,--to be the Holy. The love of God is essentially holy;\nit desires and preserves the ethically necessary or holy, which God is.'\n(Dorner, _System_, vol. i.)\n\n7. It was felt in such views that there was not a sufficient\nacknowledgment of the truth that it is especially as the Holy One that\nGod is called the Redeemer, and that He does the work of love to make\nholy. This led to the view that holiness and love are, if not identical,\nat least correlated expressions. 'God is holy, exalted above all the\npraise of the creature in His incomparable praise-worthiness, on account\nof His free and loving condescension to the creature, to manifest in it\nthe glory of His love.' 'God is holy, inasmuch as love in Him has\nrestrained and conquered the righteous wrath (as Hosea says, xi. 9), and\njudgment is exercised only after every way of mercy has been tried. This\nholiness is disclosed in the New Testament name, as exalted as it is\ncondescending, of Father.' (Stier _on John_ xvii.)\n\n8. The large measure of truth in this view is met by an expression in\nwhich the true aspects of the Holiness of God are combined. It is\ndefined as being the harmony of self-preservation and\nself-communication. As the Holy One, God hates sin, and seeks to destroy\nit. As the Holy One, He makes the sinner holy, and then takes him up\ninto His love. In maintaining His love, He never for a moment loses His\nDivine purity and perfection; in maintaining His righteousness, He still\ncommunicates Himself to the fallen creature. Holiness is the Divine\nglory, of which love and righteousness are the two sides, and which in\ntheir work on earth they reveal.\n\n'Holiness is the self-preservation of God, whereby He keeps Himself\nfree from the world without Him, and remains consistent with Himself and\nfaithful to His Being, and whereby He, with this view, creates a Divine\nworld that lives for Himself alone in the organization of His Church.'\n(Lange.)\n\n'The Holiness of God is God's self-preservation, or keeping to Himself,\nin virtue of which He remains the same in all relationships which exist\nwithin His Deity, or into which He enters, never sacrifices what is\nDivine, or admits what is not Divine. But this is only one aspect. God's\nHoliness would not be holiness, but exclusiveness, if it did not provide\nfor God's entering into manifold relations, and so revealing and\ncommunicating Himself. Holiness is therefore the union and\ninterpretation of God's keeping to Himself and communicating Himself; of\nHis nearness and His distance; of His exclusiveness and His\nself-revelation; of separateness and fellowship.' (Schmieder.)\n\n'The Divine Holiness is mainly seclusion from the impurity and\nsinfulness of the creature, or, expressed positively, the cleanness and\npurity of the Divine nature, which excludes all connection with the\nwicked. In harmony with this, the Divine Holiness, as an attribute of\nrevelation, is not merely an abstract power, but is the Divine\nself-representation and self-testimony for the purpose of giving to the\nworld the participation in the Divine life.' (Oehler, _Theol. of O. T._\ni. 160.)\n\n'Opposition to sin is the first impression which man receives of God's\nHoliness. Exclusion, election, cleansing, redemption--these are the four\nforms in which God's Holiness appears in the sphere of humanity; and we\nmay say that God's Holiness signifies _His opposition to sin manifesting\nitself in atonement and redemption, or in judgment_. Or as holiness, so\nfar as it is embodied in law, must be the highest moral perfection, we\nmay say, \"_holiness is the purity of God manifesting itself in atonement\nand redemption, and correspondingly in judgment_.\" By this view all the\nabove elements are done justice to; holiness asserts itself in judging\nrighteousness, and in electing, purifying, and redeeming love, and thus\nit appears as the impelling and formative principle of the revelation of\nredemption, without a knowledge of which an understanding of the\nrevelation is impossible, and by the perception of which it is seen in\nits full, clear light. God is light: this is a full and exhaustive New\nTestament phrase for God's Holiness' (1 John i. 5). (Cremer.)\n\nThis view is brought out with special distinctness in the writings of J.\nT. Beck. 'It is God's Holiness which, taking the good which was given in\ncreation in strict faithfulness to that good and perfect will of God, as\nthe eternal life-purpose of love, in righteousness and mercy carried out\nto its completion in God Himself to a life of perfection. God does this\nas the Alone Holy. In the world of sin Divine _love_ can only bring\ndeliverance by a mediation in which it is reconciled to the Divine\n_wrath_ within _their common centre, the Holiness of God_, in such a way\nthat while wrath manifests its destroying reality, love shall prove its\nrestoring power in the life it gives.' (Beck, _Lehrwissenschaft_, 168,\n547.)\n\n'Holiness is the sum and substance of the Divine life, as, in comparison\nwith all that is created, it exists as a perfect life, but as it, at the\nsame time, opens itself to the creature to take it up into a Godlike\nperfection--that is, to be holy as God is holy. Holiness is thus so far\nfrom being in opposition to the Divine love that it is its essential\nfeature or norm, and the actual contents of love. In holiness there is\ncombined the Divine self-existence as a perfection of life, and the\nDivine self-exertion in the realizing a Godlike perfection of life in\nthe world. Holiness as an attribute of the Divine Being is His pure and\ninviolably self-contained personality in its absolute perfection. Hence\nit is that in holiness, as the absolute unity and purity of the Divine\nBeing and working, all the attributes of Divine revelation centre. And\nso holiness, as expressive of the Being of God, qualifies the love as\nessentially Divine.\n\n'Love is the groundform of the Divine will, but as such it receives its\nDivine filling and character from the Divine Holiness, as the Divine\nself-existence and self-exertion. As such the Divine will manifests\nitself in two modes--in its pure love as _Goodness_, in its holy harmony\nas _Righteousness_. These two do not exist separately, but permeate each\nother in reciprocal immanence, just as God in His Holiness is love, and\nin His love is holiness. In goodness the Divine love shows itself as the\npleasure in well-being. But in this goodness the righteousness of God,\nto secure the well-doing, also acts.' (J. T. Beck, _Glaubenslehre_.)\n\n'God is holy, separate from all darkness and sin, but not in isolated\nmajesty banishing the imperfect and the sinful from His presence: for\nGod is light, God is love. It is the nature of light to communicate\nitself. Remaining pure and bright, undiminished and unsullied, it\novercomes darkness and kindles light. The Holiness of God is likewise\nmentioned in Scripture, mostly in connection with love, communicating\nitself and drawing into itself. \"I am holy\"--but God does not remain\nalone, separate--\"be ye also holy.\"' (Saphir _on Hebrews_ xii.)\n\n'When we think of God as light and love, we realize most fully the idea\nof holiness, combining _separateness_ and _purity_ with _communion_.'\n(Saphir, _The Lord's Prayer_, p. 128.)\n\n'It is especially as the spirit of His Church, and as dwelling in the\nhuman heart, that God is the Holy One.' (Nitsch.)\n\nThat in the Holiness of God we have the union of love and righteousness,\nhas been perhaps put by no one more clearly than Godet. In his\n_Commentary on Romans_ iii. 25, 26, he writes:--\n\n'The necessity of the expiatory sacrifice arises from His whole Divine\ncharacter; in other words, from His Holiness, the principle at once of\nHis love and righteousness, and not of His righteousness exclusively.'\n\n'In this question we have to do not with God in His essence, but with\nGod in His relation to free man. Now the latter is not holy to begin\nwith; the use which he makes of his liberty is not yet regulated by\nlove. The attribute of righteousness, and the firm resolution to\nmaintain the Divine _holiness_, must therefore appear as a necessary\nsafeguard as soon as liberty comes on the stage, and with it the\npossibility of disorder; and this attribute must remain in exercise as\nlong as the educational period of the creature lasts--that is to say,\nuntil he has reached perfection in love. Then all these factors--right,\nlaw, justice--will return to their latent state....\n\n'It is common to regard _love_ as the fundamental feature of the Divine\ncharacter; in this way it is very difficult to reach the attribute of\nrighteousness. Most thinkers, indeed, do not reach it at all. This one\nfact should show the error in which they are entangled. _Holy, holy,\nholy_, say the creatures nearest to God, and not _Good, good, good_.\nHoliness, such is the essence of God; and holiness is the absolute love\nof the good, the absolute horror of the evil. From this it is not\ndifficult to deduce both love and righteousness. Love is the goodwill of\nGod toward all free beings who are destined to realize the good. Love\ngoes out to the individuals, as holiness itself to the good which they\nought to produce. Righteousness, on the other hand, is the firm purpose\nof God to maintain the normal relations between all these creatures by\nHis blessings and punishments. It is obvious that righteousness is\nincluded, no less than love itself, in the fundamental feature of the\nDivine character, holiness. It is no offence, therefore, by God to speak\nof His justice and His rights. It is, on the contrary, a glory to God,\nwho knows that in preserving His place He is securing the good of\nothers. For God, in maintaining His supreme dignity, preserves to His\ncreatures _their most precious treasure_, a God worthy of their respect\nand love.'\n\nAnd in his _Defence of the Christian Faith_ Godet writes, on 'The\nPerfect Holiness of Jesus Christ,' as follows:--\n\n'The supernatural in its highest form is not the miraculous, it is\nholiness. In the miraculous we see Omnipotence breaking forth to act\nupon the material world in the interests of the moral order. But\nholiness is morality itself in its sublimest manifestation. What is\ngoodness? It has recently been said, with a precision which leaves\nnothing to be desired, Goodness is not an entity--a thing. It is a law\ndetermining the relations between things, relations which have to be\nrealized by free wills. Perfect good is therefore the realization, at\nonce normal and free, of the right relations to one another of all\nbeings; each being occupying, by virtue of this relation, that place in\nthe great whole, and playing that part in it, which befits it.\n\n'Now, just as in a human family there is one central relation on which\nall the rest depend,--that of the father to all the members of this\nlittle whole,--so is there in the universe one supreme position, which\nis the support of all the rest, and which, in the interest of all\nbeings, must be above all others preserved intact--that of God. And just\nhere, in the general sphere of good, is the special domain of holiness.\nHoliness in God Himself is His fixed determination to maintain intact\nthe order which ought to reign among all beings that exist, and to bring\nthem to realize that relation to each other which ought to bind them\ntogether in a great unity, and consequently to preserve, above all,\nintact and in its proper dignity, His own position relatively to free\nbeings. The Holiness of God thus understood comprehends two things--the\nimportation of all the wealth of His own Divine life to each free being\nwho is willing to acknowledge His sovereignty, and who sincerely\nacquiesces in it; and the withholding or the withdrawal of that perfect\nlife from every being who either attacks or denies that sovereignty, and\nwho seeks to shake off that bond of dependence by which he ought to be\nbound to God. Holiness in the creature is its own voluntary acquiescence\nin the supremacy of God. The man who, with all the powers of his nature,\ndoes homage to God as the Supreme, the absolute Being, the only One who\nveritably is; the man who, in His presence, voluntarily prostrates\nhimself in the sense of his own nothingness, and seeks to draw all his\nfellow-creatures into the same voluntary self-annihilation, in so doing\nputs on the character of holiness. This holiness comprehends in him, as\nit does in God, love and righteousness; love by which he rejoices in\nrecognising God, and all beings who surround God, as placed where they\nare by Him. He loves them and wills their existence, because he loves\nand wills the existence of God, and at the same time of all that God\nwills and loves; and righteousness, by which he respects and, as much as\nin him lies, causes others to respect God, and the sphere assigned by\nGod to each being. Such is holiness as it exists in God and in man: in\nGod it is His own inflexible self-assertion; in man it is his inflexible\nassertion of God.\n\n'It is in Jesus that human nature sees how man can assert God and all\nthat God asserts, not only humbly, but joyously and filially, with all\nthe powers of his being, and even to the complete sacrifice of\n_himself_.'\n\nCareful reflection will show us that in each of the above views there is\na measure of truth. It will convince us how the very difficulty of\nformulating to human thought the conception of the Divine Holiness\nproves that it is the highest expression for that ineffable and\ninconceivable glory of the Divine Being which constitutes Him the\nInfinite and Glorious God. Every attribute of God--wisdom and power,\nrighteousness and love--has its image in human nature, and was in the\nreligion or the philosophy of the heathen connected with the idea of\nGod. From ourselves, when we take away the idea of imperfection, we can\nform some conception of what God is. But holiness is that which is\ncharacteristically Divine, the special contents of a Divine revelation.\nLet us learn to confess that however much we may seek, now from one,\nthen from another side, to grasp the thought, the holiness of God is\nsomething that transcends all thought, a glory not so much to be\nthought, as to be known, in adoration and fellowship. Scripture speaks\nnot so much of holiness, as the Holy One. It is as we worship and fear,\nobey and love; it is in a life with God, that something of the mystery\nof His glory will be unfolded. As the Divine light shines in us and\nthrough us, will the Holy One be revealed.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE D.\n\n'Our holiness does not consist in our changing and becoming better\nourselves: it is rather _He_, He Himself, born and growing in us, in\nsuch a way as to fill our hearts, and to drive out our natural self,\n\"our old man,\" which cannot itself improve, and whose destiny is only to\nperish.\n\n'And how is this kind of incarnation effected, by which Christ Himself\nbecomes our new self? By a process of a free and moral nature, described\nby Jesus in words which surprise, because they place His sanctification\nupon nearly the same footing as our own: \"As the living Father hath sent\nme, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me.\"\n\n'Jesus derived the nourishment of His life from the Father who had sent\nHim: He lived by the Father. The meaning of that, doubtless, is, that\nevery time He had to act or speak, He first effaced Himself; then left\nit to the Father to think, to will, to act, to be everything in Him.\nSimilarly, when we are called upon to do any act, or speak any word, we\nmust first efface ourselves in presence of Jesus; and after having\nsuppressed in ourselves, by an act of the will, every wish, every\nthought, every act of our own self, we are to leave it to Jesus to\nmanifest in us His will, His wisdom, His power. Then it is that we live\nby Him, as He lives by the Father. The process is identical in Jesus and\nin us. Only in Jesus it was carried on with God directly, because He was\nin immediate communion with Him; whilst in our case the transaction is\nwith Jesus, because it is with Him that the believer holds direct\ncommunication, and through Him that we can find and possess the living\nFather. In that lies _the secret_, generally so little understood, _of\nChristian sanctification_.' (Godet, _Biblical Studies, N. T._, p. 190.)\n\n\n\n\nNOTE E.\n\nLet me once more refer all students of holiness to Marshall on\nSanctification, and specially his third and fourth chapters. If they\nwill compare him with our modern works--say, for instance, _God's Way of\nHoliness_, by so eminent an author as Dr. H. Bonar--they cannot but be\nstruck by the prominence which Marshall gives to the one thought, that\nour holiness, a holy nature, is provided in Jesus, and that as faith\naccepts and maintains our union with Jesus in personal intercourse,\nsanctification is by faith. While, in other works, the union to Jesus,\nand faith in Him, are but incidentally mentioned, and the chief stress\nis laid upon duties and the motives which urge to their performance,\nMarshall points out how motives never can supply the strength we need:\nit is the power of Christ's life in us, it is Christ Himself, as we by\nfaith are rooted in Him, who works all our works in us.\n\nAn abridgment of the work, for popular use, is published by Nisbet & Co.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE F.\n\nNote from Bengel on Rom. i. 4.\n\n\n'_According to the Spirit of Holiness._ The word _hagios_, holy, when\nGod is spoken of, not only denotes the blameless rectitude in action,\nbut the very Godhead, or to speak more properly, the _divinity_, or\nexcellence of the Divine nature. Hence _hagiosune_ (the word here used)\nhas a kind of middle sense between _hagiotes_, holiness, and\n_hagiasmos_, sanctification. Comp. Heb. xii. 10 (_hagiotes_ or\nholiness), v. 14 (_hagiasmos_ or sanctification). So that there are, as\nit were, three degrees: _sanctification_, _sanctity of life_,\n_holiness_. Holiness is ascribed to the Father, the Son, and the Holy\nGhost. And since here the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, but the spirit\nof holiness (prop. sanctity, _hagiosune_), we must further inquire what\nthis remarkable expression denotes. The name spirit is expressly and\nvery frequently given to the Holy Spirit; but God is also called a\nspirit; and the Lord Jesus Christ is called a spirit, but in contrast to\nthe latter. (2 Cor. iii. 17.) With this we must compare the fact that,\nas in this passage, so often the antithesis of flesh and spirit is found\nwhere Christ is spoken of. (1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 Pet. iii. 18.) In these\npassages the Spirit is applied to whatever belongs to Christ (apart from\nthe flesh, although this was pure and holy, and above the flesh),\nthrough His generation of the Father, who sanctified Him: in short, His\nGodhead itself. For here, _flesh_ and _spirit_, and chap. ix. 5, _flesh_\nand _Godhead_, stand in mutual contrast. This spirit is here called not\nthe spirit of holiness, the usual title of the Holy Spirit; but it is\ncalled in this passage _the spirit of sanctity_, to suggest at once the\nefficacy of that holiness or divinity, which led of necessity to the\nSaviour's resurrection, and by which it was most forcibly illustrated,\nand also that spiritual and holy, or Divine power of Jesus who has been\nglorified and yet retained a spiritual body. Before the resurrection the\nspirit was concealed under the flesh; after the resurrection the spirit\nof sanctity concealed the flesh. In reference to the former, He was wont\nto call Himself the Son of man; in reference to the latter, He is known\nas the Son of God.'\n\nBeck, in his _Lehrwissenschaft_, p. 604, puts it very clearly, thus--\n\n'Inasmuch as the innocence and purity of Christ were not present in His\nsufferings and death as a quiescent attribute, but were in full action\nin the indestructible life-power of the Spirit, as He sanctified His own\nself to God for us (\"through the eternal spirit,\" Heb. ix.\n14--therefore, in Rom. i. 4, _hagiosune_, the habit of holiness in its\naction or sanctity, not _hagiotes_, only an inner attribute, or\n_hagiasmos_, holiness in its formation)--His suffering effected an\neverlasting redemption.'\n\n\n\n\nNOTE G.\n\n'Freed' and 'Possessed'--The Twofold Result of\nRedemption.\n\n(_From an address by Pastor Stockmaiev._)\n\n\n'Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and\npurify unto Himself _a people for His own possession_, zealous of good\nworks.'\n\n'In the redemption work of our Saviour Jesus Christ, there are two\ndefinite parts. You will never find the secret of abiding in Christ, so\nlong as you cannot see these two definite distinct parts. The first is\n\"Jesus for me,\" the other \"I for Jesus.\" Blessed be our Saviour that He\ncame for sinners. _He for us._ Blessed be the Lord that there is\nredemption from penalty; but that is not yet all that redemption means.\nYou must have a clear apprehension of the second part of redemption, by\nthat same Holy Ghost who is the guide to introduce us into the full\npossession of all that Christ, living and dying, has wrought out for us.\nHe gave Himself that He might redeem us from all iniquity--not that we\nmight have the pleasure of being pleased with our own purity or\nholiness, or such things; but that He might have us altogether for\nHimself, to purify _unto Himself_, for Himself, not for Himself and\nthemselves, but _unto Himself_, a people of His own possession.\n\n'What is now redemption?--freedom from self, even spiritual self. We are\nnot to be our own centre, the centre of our joy, our progress, having in\nour poor weak hands the threads of our spiritual life. There is no real\nspiritual life but Christ's life, and He must have the care of it\naltogether from the beginning to the end. Lift up your eyes, dear\nbrethren, you who were creeping on the ground. We are made for the glory\nof God, to be possessed by Jesus. The Lord God found a way, in giving\nHis Son, the Lamb of God, His Lamb, to get such selfish people, who even\nin the line of the Christian life found means to seek and to nourish\nself, to get such people into His own real practical possession, to be\npossessed by Jesus. That is redemption, and that only; that is liberty,\nand that is reality; that is what satisfies, not to be satisfied with\nany experiences of your own, but to let go your experiences, and to say,\nI am free, so free as the people of Israel were coming out of Egypt,\nfree to serve God. \"Let my people go, that they may serve me.\" You are\nfree, free through the blood of Christ, free through the power of the\nHoly Ghost--no flesh, no hand, no self being able to keep you back. The\nLord has stretched out His arms upon all the powers who had kept us in\nthe bondage of Egypt, and He triumphed over them. You are free as the\nbird of the air to live in Jesus--that is freedom; you are free in your\ndaily life, free in the deepest, inmost depths of your being, free for\nJesus, possessed by Him, a people of His own possession. Let my people\ngo, said God. So, I have given my blood, said Jesus; and no flesh, no\nsin, no self can claim against the blood of Jesus. He has redeemed unto\nHimself, not for us, a people of His own possession....\n\n'You are inquiring about the secret of abiding in Jesus. Have you not\nseen this in the 15th of John, that abiding and bearing fruit are\ninseparable? You cannot abide in Jesus for His joy, _and your inward\nsatisfaction_. The secret of abiding is to stand as a redeemed one, as\nfirmly in the second part of redemption as the first. I am now living\nfor Jesus, and I have only to ask, Lord, what wilt Thou have done now? I\nam for Thee. I am for Jesus. I have only to follow, to follow as a\nsanctified one, as a possessed one, as one who is no more living for\nhimself, who has given his life up into the hands of Jesus. Oh, how\nthese questions of abiding become simple! It is not mysticism; it is not\nsome special experience. It is simply a fact. I need Jesus for every\nmoment, and my temptations as well as my duties become opportunities of\nrealizing this life of fellowship with Christ. Oh, yes, this is\nredemption! Oh, mighty power of God the Father, God the Son, God the\nHoly Ghost, engaged to keep such a weak, helpless, unfaithful thing as\nyou and myself in the centre of life! Sealed by the Holy Ghost, and God\nwill never break His own seal.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\nMORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.","title":"Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":84158}