{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52274/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52274","id":"gutenberg_52274","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52274","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons","Sanctification","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1878, (third) Hatchards edition by David Price,\nemail ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Sanctification\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  BY THE\n                         REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.\n  _Vicar of Trinity_, _Tunbridge Wells_; _and Hon. Canon of Canterbury_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                         Third Edition, Enlarged.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                          HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.\n                                  1878.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                       PRINTED BY JOHN STRANGEWAYS,\n                         Castle St. Leicester Sq.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nTHE following pages contain the substance of some Sermons preached in the\ncourse of my parochial ministry, on the subject of Sanctification, and\nare published at the request of several members of my congregation.\n\nThey contain nothing new, and, being parochial sermons, they are not in\nthe form of a systematic treatise.  But I hope they exhibit the doctrine\nof Sanctification as revealed in Scripture, as embodied in the teaching\nof the Church of England, and as preached by those who are generally\ntermed the Evangelical Clergy.\n\nThey are not so much controversial as practical.  My desire has not been\nto discuss new opinions, but to bring out old truths.  I shall be truly\nthankful if this shall prove to have been done; and I commit them to God,\nwith the earnest prayer that He may make them useful, by the power of the\nHoly Spirit, to those who long for the fulfilment of the prayer of their\nmost blessed Saviour,\u2014\u2018Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is\ntruth.\u2019\n\n                                                                     E. H.\n\nTUNBRIDGE WELLS.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n                                                           PAGE\nSEPARATION UNTO GOD                                           1\nLEGAL CLEANSING:\n                        SANCTIFICATION THROUGH BLOOD         14\n                        THE CLEANSING BLOOD                  27\nPERSONAL HOLINESS:\n                        THE SANCTIFIED                       40\n                        PROGRESS                             50\n                        INFECTION OF NATURE                  64\n                        GRACE                                78\n                        HOLINESS THROUGH FAITH               91\n                        CONSECRATION                        103\n                        PRAYER                              117\nGOD\u2019S NAME SANCTIFIED                                       132\nEXPOSITORY NOTES:\n                        ROMANS, VII.                        143\n                        1 JOHN, III. 6                      146\n                        THE WORD \u2018PERFECT\u2019                  149\n                        TEMPTATION, HEB. IV. 15             152\nDOCTRINAL NOTES                                             154\n\n\n\n\nSEPARATION UNTO GOD.\n\n\n    \u2018Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through\n    sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the\n    blood of Jesus Christ; Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.\u2019\u20141\n    PET. i. 2.\n\nIt is one of the encouraging features of the present day that many of the\nLord\u2019s people are aiming at a higher standard of Christian holiness than\nthey have ever yet known, and are looking to the great grace of their\nmost blessed Saviour to raise them by His Spirit above the various\nhindrances which have hitherto impeded their progress.  They desire that\nthere should be no impediment in the service of their blessed Saviour.\nIn their worship they would draw very near to Him, and in their life they\nwould glorify His name.  But yet, when they seek to do so, and when they\nfairly look at God\u2019s character, God\u2019s claims, God\u2019s will, and God\u2019s\nglory, they find reason to be humbled to the dust; and the more they\nrealize His infinite mercy in Christ Jesus, the more they learn of the\nmagnitude and multitude of their own shortcomings.  Thus it sometimes\ncomes to pass that in many true believers their greatest discouragements\nare intimately connected with their efforts after holiness, and many of\ntheir doubts and difficulties arise from their real desire for true\nsanctification.  The more that they aim at the holiness of God, the more\nthey feel their sin, and the more earnestly that they strive to rise, the\nmore keenly do they feel the pain and humiliation of the ruin of their\nfallen nature.  It is important therefore for those who desire holiness\nto look carefully into the teaching of Scripture on the great subject of\nSanctification; to examine what is really promised, and to learn what the\nWord of God teaches us to expect.  Does it, or does it not, make\nprovision for such difficulties?  And if it does, what is the provision?\nThese are some of the questions which I desire now to consider, and I\nhope it may please God to fulfil to both writer and reader the prayer of\nthe Apostle: \u2018The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God\nyour whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the\ncoming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u2019\n\nNow one of the great difficulties of the subject is, that in all\nlanguages certain words are employed to express more than one idea, and\nthat the idea connected with the word often changes as time advances.  To\na certain extent this applies to the word \u2018sanctification\u2019 in sacred\nScripture.  It has no less than four distinct meanings in the Word of\nGod; and, if we treat them all as if they were the same, we are sure to\nbe confused.  It has its original sense, and three others that have grown\nout of it.  The original sense is separation unto God, or dedication; and\nthe three that have grown out of it are legal cleansing, personal\nholiness, and the exaltation of the holiness of God.  If therefore we\nwish to understand the teaching of Scripture, we must clearly examine the\nuse of the word in these four senses.  May the Lord Himself help us to do\nso!\n\nIf we turn then to the beginning, we shall find that the original sense\nof the word \u2018to sanctify\u2019 is to set apart unto God.\n\nSo in the Old Testament the Hebrew is frequently rendered \u2018to hallow,\u2019 or\nto set apart as a holy thing.\n\nIn this sense it is used of the Sabbath (Gen. ii. 3): \u2018God blessed the\nseventh day, and sanctified it.\u2019  He separated it from the ordinary\npurposes of common life, and set it apart as a day peculiar to Himself.\nSo again the first-born were set apart unto God, and therefore said to be\nsanctified; as we read, Exod. xiii. 2: \u2018Sanctify unto Me all the\nfirst-born\u2014both of man and of beast: it is mine.\u2019  So of the Temple, God\nsaid (2 Chron. vii. 16), \u2018I have chosen and sanctified this house, that\nmy name may be there for ever.\u2019  The same is said of the priests, the\nvessels of the sanctuary, and the lamb taken from the flock for\nsacrifice: they were all separated unto God, and thus said to be\nsanctified.  It is in this sense that our blessed Saviour made use of the\nword, when He said in John, xvii. 19, \u2018For their sakes I sanctify\nmyself.\u2019  No one can suppose for one moment that He made Himself more\nholy, or cleansed Himself from actual sin, for He had been from all\neternity holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.  There was\nno possibility of any increase of holiness in Him.  But He did, from the\ndeep love that filled His heart, set Himself apart unto God, to be the\none perfect sin-offering for man.  As the lamb was sanctified when it was\ntaken from the flock, and set apart for sacrifice, so did He sanctify\nHimself when He separated Himself from all human fellowship, and, as one\nset apart unto God, bore alone the whole burden of human guilt.\n\nNow, this is the sense in which the word is used whenever sanctification\nis spoken of as something past, or complete.  There are passages in which\nit is described as the past act of God, as, _e.g._ Jude, 1, where God\u2019s\npeople are spoken of as being, or having been, \u2018sanctified by God the\nFather;\u2019 and 2 Thess. ii. 13, where they are described as having been\n\u2018chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of\nthe truth.\u2019  The reason is, that they have already been set apart by the\nHoly Ghost as a peculiar people unto God.  They have been like a branch\nof the wild olive, cut out from the old tree, and engrafted into the new.\nThat grafting into Christ involved a separation, for it implied a cutting\nout as well as a grafting in; and therefore, whenever a soul has been\nincorporated into Christ, there has been in this sense an act of\nsanctification, or, in other words, of separation unto God.  Such\npassages do not refer to personal holiness; but to the past act of God in\nseparating His elect unto Himself.  I have no doubt that this is the\nmeaning of the text.  We all know that the work of holiness is the\nconsequence of the gift of pardon.  It is not till we are forgiven\nthrough the great blood-sprinkling that the real work of holiness begins.\nBut in these words sanctification comes before it, and the sprinkling of\nthe blood is described as the result of the sanctifying act.  The reason\nis, not that this verse is at variance with the rest of Scripture,\u2014God\nforbid the thought,\u2014but that the word sanctification does not here\nexpress our growth in personal holiness, but means God\u2019s great act of\nseparation unto Himself by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost.  As the\nSabbath was set apart unto God, so have we been set apart if we be in\nChrist Jesus: and it is both our privilege and duty to regard ourselves\nas chosen out of the world and now belonging, as a peculiar people, unto\nGod.  It is with reference to this act of separation that the Apostle\naddresses God\u2019s people in the words, \u2018Elect according to the\nforeknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit,\nunto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto\nyou, and peace be multiplied.\u2019\n\nIf we take the word in this sense the passage will throw a flood of light\non three important subjects: the origin of this separation, its result,\nand the power by which it is accomplished.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI.  Its ORIGIN.  This is very clearly the electing love of God.  The\nsanctification, or separation here described, is the application of God\u2019s\nelecting love to the individual.  Our Lord says (John, x. 16) of us\nGentiles, \u2018Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I\nmust bring.\u2019  In the loving purpose of God they were His when He spoke;\nbut they were at that time either not yet born, or still living in\nheathenism, He said, \u2018Them also I must bring.\u2019  In other words, those who\nwere His by the eternal covenant He must in due time separate unto\nHimself; and that separation, or that bringing, is the sanctification\nhere described.  It is that great act of God in which He carries into\neffect, or applies, His own eternal purpose.\n\nAnd think what a stability this gives to the work!  If it were the result\nof our own will it must be liable to all the failures inseparable from\nthe weakness of our will; but as it is the carrying out of His own\neternal purpose, it is unchangeable, because it is divine.  Man-made\nconversions soon fall to pieces; but when God calls and separates His own\nelect, it is for ever.  He incorporates them into Christ, and they are\none with Him for all eternity.\n\nAh, brethren, if you be in Him, you may be exposed to many, and strong\ntemptations; you may be obliged to tread in slippery places, and find\nyour feet very weak under their burden; but in the midst of it all you\nmay rely, not merely on daily mercy, but also on everlasting love; and\nmay take courage in the assurance that, as He changeth not, so you will\nbe kept by His power through faith unto salvation.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nII.  The passage teaches us also the RESULT.  This great result is\nconversion, as taught us in the words, \u2018unto obedience, and sprinkling of\nthe blood of Jesus Christ.\u2019  I can scarcely imagine a better description\nof the character and blessings of conversion than that contained in these\nwords, for they present it to us in a double aspect,\u2014on the one hand\nsurrender, and on the other pardon.\n\nSurrender.  This is the meaning of obedience, in the passage.  It must\nnot be confounded with the holy and loving obedience of the child of God\nwalking in his Father\u2019s footsteps, for it is rather the surrender of the\nonce rebellious heart when it receives Christ as its Saviour and King.\nIt is the obedience described in Acts, vi. 7, where it is said that \u2018a\ngreat company of the priests were obedient to the faith.\u2019  It was the\nfaith to which they were obedient: not the law.  They received the\nmessage of life, and yielded themselves unto the Lord.  It is the\nobedience of Saul of Tarsus, when, having hated, opposed, and persecuted,\nhe gave up in complete surrender, and said, \u2018Lord, what wilt Thou have me\nto do?\u2019  And here lies the great difficulty with a great number.  If\nthere be the true separation unto God, there must be surrender, for it is\na sanctification unto obedience; and there is no denying that the heart\noftentimes recoils from it.  Oh, how near have some come,\u2014how beautifully\nnear! almost like the young man whom Jesus loved.  But that young man\nwent back after all.  He went away very sorrowful; but still he went.  I\nhope you may not do the same!  But I stand in doubt of some of you, for\nthough almost, you are not yet altogether: though near, you are not\nwithin; though earnest, not yet safe.  And why?  There is no submission:\nyou cannot give up.  There are old prejudices, old thoughts, old likes\nand dislikes, old confidences; and you cannot make up your mind to give\nall up, and to surrender your whole soul into the hands of your Lord and\nSaviour.\n\nYet think what a blessing there is connected with such surrender: nothing\nless than \u2018the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.\u2019  That sprinkling\nis the personal application of the great atonement to the individual\nsoul.  The shedding of the blood was a public act, which might or might\nnot be effectual to individuals; but the sprinkling of it is altogether a\npersonal matter.  It is the application to the individual of the great\natonement made for every man.  So that those who are thus sanctified, or\nset apart unto God, are set apart unto the sacred privilege of having\ntheir sins blotted out for ever; and those who have been brought by the\nHoly Ghost to the obedience of the faith, are in their own souls\nsprinkled with the blood of Christ.  Not only do they know that there is\na fountain open for sin and for uncleanness, but they themselves are\ncleansed by it, and walk before God in the sacred peace of full\nforgiveness and perfect love.\n\nOh, how is it that there can be any backwardness in thus surrendering to\nChrist!  Do you not thirst for that sacred fellowship?  Do you not long\nto be able to say, \u2018Who hath washed me from my sins in His own blood?\u2019\nIs there any blessedness to be compared to that of having sin blotted out\nfor ever?  Why, then, do you still hold back?  Why not give up, and just\ncast yourself, ruined and helpless, into the arms of your Saviour, that\nHis own most precious blood may be sprinkled on your soul, and that by\nHis great grace you may be His, and His for ever?\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nIII.  But we must hasten to our last subject: the AUTHOR of this most\nblessed change.  This is distinctly said to be the Spirit.  \u2018The\nsanctification of the Spirit,\u2019 as in 2 Thess. ii. 14.\n\nObserve, in passing, how all the three persons of the Holy Trinity appear\nin the verse.  There is the foreknowledge of God the Father, the\nsprinkling of the blood of the Son, and the sanctifying power of the Holy\nGhost.\n\nIt is from such passages as these that the answer in the Church Catechism\nis derived: \u2018I believe in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all\nthe elect people of God.\u2019  Every branch or department of sanctification\nis His work.  The original call, the progressive struggle, and the final\nvictory, are all alike by His power.  It was when the Holy Ghost\ndescended at Pentecost that \u2018the Lord added to the Church daily such as\nshould be saved;\u2019 and it is just in proportion as the same Holy Ghost\nputs forth His power now that souls are separated unto God.  There is no\nreal sanctification of any kind whatever unless it be the sanctification\nof the Spirit.  If it is brought about by religious machinery, or any\ninferior agency, it is not the real thing, and will never lead to the\nreal result.  I am most anxious to press this upon you, for I think there\nis great danger of Christian people losing sight of it.  Some people seem\nto think that everything depends on certain men or certain plans: but you\ncannot save souls by planning.  We cannot bear this in mind too strongly\nwith reference to those missions and mission preachers which are now\nexciting the deep interest of multitudes.  I attach a very high value to\nthose mission efforts: I have engaged in them myself, and I believe the\nHoly Ghost gave His blessing.  But it is not a mission week, nor a\nmission preacher, that can sanctify or set apart souls unto God: it is\nGod the Holy Ghost working in the heart, breaking down the old man, and\nconstraining the soul to the obedience of the faith.  Let no one then\nwait for a mission week or a revivalist preacher, in looking out for\ngreat results.  The Holy Spirit is not limited, as some seem to think, to\nextraordinary means, or extraordinary agencies.  It was when the Churches\nhad settled down quietly in their quiet Christian life, that it was said\nof them that, \u2018Walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the\nHoly Ghost, they were multiplied.\u2019  So we may look for this sanctifying\npower of the Holy Ghost to accompany our quiet Christian work; and I do\nlook for it, and more than that, I thank God for having granted it in a\nmost remarkable manner in these latter days.  We will not wait then for\nsome future great occasion.  No, indeed: we will not wait even for the\nmorrow.  We will look for the mighty power of the Holy Ghost now; this\nday, this hour, before we part.  How many are there amongst us still\nunsaved!  How many that have not yet surrendered to their Lord!  Oh, come\nthen, Mighty Spirit: come!  Come in power: come at once!  Come to\nsubdue,\u2014come to quicken,\u2014come to sanctify,\u2014come to save!\n\n\n\n\nLEGAL CLEANSING.\n\n\nSANCTIFICATION THROUGH BLOOD.\n\n\n    \u2018For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer\n    sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:\n    how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal\n    Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience\n    from dead works to serve the living God?\u2019\u2014HEB. ix. 13, 14.\n\nIT is impossible to think too much of the most precious blood of our most\nblessed Lord and Saviour.  It throws its sacred power over every\ndepartment of our Christian life.  Our pardon, our peace, our communion,\nand our holiness, are all dependent on that most precious blood.  Lose\nsight of the blood of Christ, and you lose sight of the very essence of\nyour Christianity.\n\nOur subject to-day is Sanctification through blood.  There are three\npassages in the Epistle to the Hebrews in which we find a reference to\nsuch a sanctification: viz., x. 29,\u2014\u2018Hath counted the blood of the\ncovenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing;\u2019 xiii.\n12,\u2014\u2018Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own\nblood, suffered without the gate;\u2019 and ix. 13,\u2014\u2018If the blood of bulls and\nof goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth\nto the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ,\nwho through the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge\nyour conscience from dead works to serve the living God?\u2019\n\nI think we must all admit that these passages do not convey to us the\nidea of either separation unto God, or of imparted holiness by the\nindwelling of the Holy Ghost.  They seem rather to refer to the legal\nresult of blood-shedding, or sacrifice.  So I believe they do; and if we\nwould know the real meaning of sanctification in the Word of God, we must\nnot be carried away by the recurrence of a familiar word, but pause to\nstudy carefully its real use in this Epistle.\n\nOur first duty then will be to examine what is meant in these passages by\nthe Sanctification through blood.  And after having ascertained its\nmeaning, we may proceed to consider its wondrous power.\n\nFirst, then, what is meant by it?\n\nI am not aware that the expression is ever met with in any portion of the\nNew Testament except the Epistle to the Hebrews, and this may at once\nsuggest the idea that it has a Levitical signification.  The great object\nof that Epistle is to expound the types of the book of Leviticus, and to\nshow their fulfilment in our most blessed Saviour.  Accordingly in two\nout of the three passages there is a direct reference to the ancient\ntypes.  It is therefore only natural to expect that the phraseology\nemployed in the Book of Leviticus, respecting the types, will reappear in\nthe exposition of those types in the Epistle.  And if we would understand\nthe Epistle, we must learn from the Book of Leviticus what was the nature\nof that sanctification which was effected through blood in the law of\ntypes.\n\nSome people seem to think that these sacrifices produced no result except\nin so far as they pointed typically to the Lord Jesus.  But I do not\nthink they will find that opinion borne out in Scripture.  They will find\nthere that, in addition to their typical and prophetic character, these\nsacrifices were, at the time of their being offered, effectual in God\u2019s\npurpose for the bestowal of certain most important blessings.  Thus this\npassage says, \u2018If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an\nheifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the\nflesh:\u2019 the blood then of bulls and of goats did actually \u2018sanctify to\nthe purifying of the flesh.\u2019\n\nThere was a certain act of sanctification there and then wrought through\nthe application of that blood.  It was not merely that in it through\nfaith believers laid hold on the future atonement by the coming Saviour,\nbut there was something done for them at the time; so that after the\nsacrifice they were in a position different to that in which they stood\nbefore it.\n\nTake the two cases referred to in this verse.  First, there is the\nsprinkling of the blood of the bullock, as on the day of atonement.  On\nthat occasion the altar was sprinkled with the blood. (Levit. xvi. 19.)\nNow the altar was not actually purified by the sprinkling, as if it had\nbeen washed with water.  Yet you read, \u2018He shall sprinkle of the blood\nupon it\u2014and cleanse it, and hallow,\u2019 or sanctify, \u2018it from the\nuncleanness of the children of Israel.\u2019  In that case the altar was\ncleansed from legal guilt.  In consequence of its contact with the sin of\nguilty man it was regarded before God as an unclean thing, and by the\nsprinkling of blood it was sanctified, or legally cleansed.  Before the\nsprinkling it was polluted, but afterwards it was clean, or, in other\nwords, all legal impurity was removed.\n\nThe purifying of the flesh by the sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer\nwas of exactly the same character.  The clearest account of it is given\nin Num. xix., the passage to which the Apostle apparently refers.  There\nyou find the description of certain persons who were accounted unclean:\nas, _e.g._, those who had touched a dead body.  And those persons, being\nunclean, were cut off from the sanctuary.  But when, after seven days,\nthey were sprinkled with the ashes of the heifer, their legal uncleanness\nwas removed, and they were restored to the congregation as clean persons.\nThey were not really more pure than they were before, but they were no\nlonger accounted as defiled, and thus they were reinstated into all their\nprivileges.\n\nThe sprinkling of blood and of the ashes, therefore, did produce a real\nresult.  It did not change the inward state of the heart, but it did\nalter the position.  It was God\u2019s appointed ordinance for the removal of\nlegal guilt; and it did remove it.  It was effectual for its purpose, and\nafter it had taken place the uncleanness was no more: it might soon\naccumulate again, and become possibly worse than ever; but the past\ndefilement was gone, and the unclean man was clean.\n\nBut it did not touch the heart or conscience.  It was an outward act\naffecting the outward person, and restoring a man to the sanctuary and\ncongregation; but, if his heart was broken by the bitter sense of\nindwelling sin, it could not restore him to God: if his conscience was\ngrieved by the bitter memory of sad sin, the ashes of the heifer could\nnot heal that.  Suppose a man had something weighing on his conscience:\nhe might bring his kid to the altar; but unless he was able in that\nsacrifice to see the coming Christ, he would have the bitter pain of past\ntransgression still festering in his heart.  He might be sprinkled with\nthe ashes of the heifer, and take his place in the sanctuary of God as if\nall was right; but that would not take away his burden.  If that were all\nhe would go back from the sanctuary with a heavy heart.  He would be just\nlike thousands amongst ourselves who have experienced the utter failure\nof any external remedy for the wounded conscience.  They have been\nthrough the whole outward routine of a correct Christianity,\u2014prayers,\nBible reading, Church services, sacraments,\u2014and you may truly say they\nare sanctified according to the flesh.  But there is a heartache still\nwithin the soul; there is an uncleanness there too deep to be touched by\nanything external,\u2014so deep that it baffles every effort to cleanse it,\nand appears to rise with fresh power at the very time that they endeavour\nto apply their remedy.  It is this that has always been the great\ndifficulty in our endeavours to serve the living God, for till this\nburden is removed it is sure to keep us in a position of bondage and\ninability.  I once saw some poor prisoners driven to their work with a\nlong and heavy chain riveted on their ankles; and what heart or power\ncould they have for service?  And what power can he have who is toiling\non in dreary discouragement with the chain of unforgiven sin riveted on\nhis soul?  It is only the free man that can walk with God and serve Him.\n\nAnd now let us turn back to the text, and see how it deals with the\ndifficulty.  It draws the contrast between the purifying of the flesh and\nof the conscience, and it shows how the sprinkling of the ashes of the\nheifer could accomplish the one, but how the precious blood of the Lord\nJesus Christ could alone affect the other; for it is that, and that\nalone, that could \u2018purge the conscience from dead works to serve the\nliving God.\u2019  The reason is obvious.  That atonement wrought out by Him,\nwas the atonement planned in the eternal covenant of God, and, when the\ntime came, completed on purpose to meet the case of all sin,\u2014not merely\nof outward acts, but the deep inward corruption of the heart; not merely\nby external restoration, but by complete, internal restoration to God\u2019s\nlove.  It concerns the depths of the soul; and so completely blots out\nall sin, that the soul itself, whatever it has been, is now in Him\nspotless before God.  This is the one secret both of peace and service.\nTill your conscience is thus purged through the blood of Christ, you will\nnever know what it is really to serve the living God.\n\nAnd now look at the great contrast of the text, and mark well the\ndifference between those sacrifices and ours.\n\nThe sacrifice in the type was of very little value.  The poor kid was led\nto the altar, and no one mourned its death; the poor scapegoat was left\nalone in the wilderness, and no one gave it a thought: a few shillings,\nor even pence, would replace it with another.  It was picked out from the\nflock by what we should call mere chance, and no one missed it\nafterwards.\n\nBut how different is our Sacrifice!  Consider for a moment the\ndescription given of it in this verse.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n(1)  Our Lamb was \u2018Christ,\u2019 the Messiah, the Son of God!  As St. Peter\nsaid, \u2018Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u2019\n\n(2)  Our Sacrifice was offered in the eternal purpose of God; or,\naccording to the text, \u2018through the eternal Spirit.\u2019  It was not an\naccidental selection, but a gift predetermined in the counsel of Jehovah,\nso that He is described by St. Peter as \u2018the Lamb slain from the\nfoundation of the world.\u2019\n\n(3)  Our Sacrifice gave Himself as a freewill offering to God.  \u2018He\noffered Himself.\u2019  The calf, or the goat, was chosen by its owner, and,\nwhen chosen, had no knowledge of anything that was before it: it had no\nvoice in the whole transaction, and knew nothing of what it was to bear.\nBut our Blessed Saviour, He foresaw the whole.  He knew the whole burden;\nHe realised the whole sorrow; and keenly felt its bitterness.  In His\nhuman nature He shrank from the cup.  It was so oppressive to Him that He\nthrew himself before God \u2018with strong cryings and tears, and was heard in\nthat He feared.\u2019  And yet, with the whole horror of the dreadful burden\nfully before Him, and with the full and entire knowledge of what it was\nto be forsaken of God, He was so resolute in carrying out the great plan\nof the covenant of life, that He yielded up His own will, and offered\nHimself as a sin-offering to God.\n\n(4) Our Sacrifice was \u2018without spot.\u2019\n\nIt was required that the poor kid should be without blemish; partly to\nshow that God does not accept blemished gifts, but chiefly because it was\ntypical of the coming Christ.  But the fact that there was no spot,\neither within or without, did not add to its real value: the spotted kid\nwould have fetched as much as the unspotted, in the market.  But when it\nsays of our Sacrifice that He was \u2018a lamb without blemish and without\nspot,\u2019 what a tale it tells of His sinless holiness!  His perfect\nsinlessness had stood the test of the whole of pre-existent eternity.  We\nall know how first impressions of character become modified by time:\nimperfections, unseen at first, soon begin to crop up; there are very few\nof whom you can say that you have known them for twenty or thirty years,\nand never heard a word escape their lips that you would be sorry to speak\nin your dying hour.  But there was a oneness for all eternity between the\nFather and the Son; yet eternity itself could discover no flaw, so that\nwhen the time came for the great sacrifice, He was without spot, even\nbefore God.  He that was the sin-bearer was Himself sinless; and if you\nthink what is involved in the statement that \u2018He knew no sin,\u2019 then you\nmay form some idea of the great fact that sin, even our sin, was imputed\nto Him; or, in other words, that \u2018God made Him to be sin for us.\u2019\n\nLooking then at the contrast between the sacrifices, the one, in\ncomparison to the other, is infinitely little.  The poor calf, or kid,\nwas nothing,\u2014far less than nothing in comparison of the Son of God.\nThere was nothing in it that could stand comparison for a moment.  If you\nlook at the sacrifice of the Son of God, the voluntary offering through\nthe eternal Spirit of the spotless and Holy One, the sacrifice of the kid\nvanishes.  It disappears altogether; it is no more than a grain of dust\non the side of a mountain.\n\nYet those sprinklings under the law were effectual for their purpose.\nThere was no failure in them: they accomplished all for which they were\nintended; every promise made respecting them was fulfilled.  The legal\ncleansing in all cases was complete.\n\nNow then, I come to the point.  If these sacrifices, so insignificant, so\nvalueless, and to the eye of man so powerless, were effective for their\npurpose,\u2014shall not that most marvellous wonder in the whole history of\nthe Godhead, the sacrifice of the Son of God, be effective for His?  It\nis true their concern was with the flesh, His with the conscience; but is\nthere any one prepared to say, \u2018They never failed: but He may\u2019?  Can any\none of us admit for one moment, that the man who was sprinkled with the\nashes of an heifer was invariably reinstated as a clean man in the\nsanctuary; and that there can be the least shadow of the possibility of a\ndoubt that the blood of Christ is completely restored to fellowship with\nGod?\n\nLook at Him as the Son of God, as the anointed Messiah, as the Spotless\nLamb, as offering Himself in obedience to the Father\u2019s eternal will; and\ntell me, ye that cannot trust Him,\u2014Can such a sacrifice as that fail?\nShall that which is infinitely little succeed, and that which is\ninfinitely great fail?  Can you believe that the blood of a poor little\nkid was sufficient, but the blood of the Son of God insufficient?  Think\nthen of the ancient Jew walking home after his sacrifice, notwithstanding\nall that had passed, now clean and reinstated.  Then think of the most\nprecious blood of Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb slain before the\nfoundation of the world,\u2014slain too for those very sins that weigh on the\nconscience; and consider why should not you go home this day, as that Jew\ndid in ancient times, Free?\u2014in the position of those described by St.\nPaul, when he said, \u2018Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are\nsanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by\nthe Spirit of our God\u2019?\n\n\n\nTHE CLEANSING BLOOD.\n\n\n    \u2018But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have\n    fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son\n    cleanseth us from all sin.\u2019\u20141 JOHN, i. 7.\n\nIT should be the earnest desire of our hearts, in commemorating the great\nfacts of the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour, to know the fellowship\nof His sufferings, and realise all that He endured.  On this account it\nis well to dwell on His wounds, His sorrows, His tears, His prayers, and\nHis bitter cry: but it is well to look also at the power of His precious\nblood, and at the great results accomplished in the covenant of God by\nthat wonderful blood-shedding of the Son of Man.\n\nI scarcely know which branch of the subject is the more important of the\ntwo, and I propose to-day {27} to consider the latter, and to draw your\nthoughts to the power of the blood, as taught us in these familiar and\nmost sacred words, \u2018The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from\nall sin.\u2019  May God so teach us by His Spirit, that we may know in our own\nexperience the cleansing power of the blood of Christ!\n\nThere are two questions which will require our careful study, in order to\na right understanding of the text.  To whom do the words apply? and what\ndo they mean?\n\nTo whom do they apply?\n\nThey are often applied in a loose and haphazard way to all kinds of\ncharacters to whom they do not in the least belong, as drunkards,\nSabbath-breakers, and all descriptions of unconverted men.  But the most\ncursory glance at the text shows that it has no reference to such\ncharacters, and applies exclusively to those who are walking in the\nlight.  \u2018If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have\nfellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son\ncleanseth us from all sin.\u2019  The blessing is made in this text entirely\ndependent on our walking in the light; and if we are not walking in the\nlight, it does not belong to us.  The man who is still living the life of\nthe unconverted cannot claim it, for he has never known the light, and\nhis poor soul is still darkened by sin; nor can the backslider, who once\nsaw the light, and now has turned back into the darkness of the world;\nfor, though he was in the light once, he is not walking in it now.\n\nThere are other passages which apply to such persons, and invite them to\nreconciliation through the precious blood of Christ: but this text does\nnot.  It applies to those who have been brought into the light, and now\nare walking in it; not seeking it, nor groping after it, but in it,\u2014and\nenjoying a holy fellowship both with God\u2019s people and with God.  There\ncannot be a higher standard, or, to use modern terms, a higher life.  It\nis a life in the very presence of God Himself,\u2014a life in which every step\nis lightened by the sunbeam of His love.  Fellowship, light, love, and\njoy, abound through the whole of it.  The persons possessing it are\nhappy, loving, peaceful believers, rejoicing in the sacred privilege of\ncompanionship with God; and yet of them the text declares, \u2018The blood of\nJesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.\u2019\n\nAnd now, what is meant by the expression \u2018Cleanseth us from all sin?\u2019  I\nfind that it is sometimes supposed to mean, \u2018the inward cleansing of the\nsoul,\u2019 or the purifying of the heart by the Holy Ghost, as in Acts, xv.\n9: \u2018Purifying their hearts by faith.\u2019  But I know of no other passage of\nSacred Scripture in which this is the meaning of cleansing by blood;\nwhereas there are many in which it means the removal of all legal guilt,\nas in Heb. ix. 13, 14, where the blood of the Jewish sacrifice is said to\n\u2018sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,\u2019 and the blood of Christ \u2018to\npurge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.\u2019  The word\nin that passage in the Hebrews for \u2018purging,\u2019 is the same as here\nrendered \u2018cleanseth;\u2019 and, if there were nothing in the context to decide\nit, the general use of the language of Scripture would be sufficient.\nBut the context appears to leave no doubt on the subject.  The ninth\nverse clearly shows that the subject of the forgiveness of sin is the\nsubject of discussion: \u2018If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just\nto forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u2019  And\nthen in the opening of the next chapter you find the full explanation of\nthe text.  The first two verses are in fact little more than an expansion\nof it.  The first verse sets before us the highest possible standard of\nsinless holiness: \u2018My little children, these things write I unto you,\nthat ye sin not.\u2019  After which the Apostle proceeds to show the provision\nwhich God has made for us under the sense of sin: \u2018If any man sin we have\nan Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the\npropitiation for our sin.\u2019  This is an expansion of the short statement\nof the text: \u2018The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all\nsin.\u2019  It teaches of Christ Jesus, the righteous Advocate and the perfect\nPropitiation; it shows that the blood is the blood of atonement, and the\ncleansing the blotting out of the guilt of sin through the propitiation;\nit points the contrite believer, deeply humbled for sin, to what is now\npassing at the right hand of God, where the Son of God now stands as his\nAdvocate, having completed the sacrifice, and sprinkled the blood before\nthe mercy-seat.  That sprinkled blood is the cleansing power, and the\ncleansing is the blotting out of guilt so completely that the soul stands\nbefore God as free from all legal pollution as if it had never been\ndefiled.  It is perfectly true that there are other passages in which we\nread of inward holiness as a purification of the heart: as _e.g._, 1\nJohn, iii. 3.  But that is quite a different thing to the cleansing\nthrough blood described in our text, the real meaning of which is the\nremoval of all guilt from the guilty sinner by the transfer of it,\naccording to the covenant, to the great sin-bearer: \u2018The Lamb of God that\ntaketh away the sins of the world.\u2019\n\nNow, this being the case, it appears to me that there are two great\npractical conclusions which irresistibly follow:\u2014\n\nFirst, that those who are walking in the light have sin in them which\nneeds the cleansing blood.  I know very well, and thank God for the\nblessed assurance that \u2018Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are\nnot under the law, but under grace.\u2019  I know, too, that our blessed\nSaviour is the great deliverer, and that He will so surely and so\neffectually save His people from their sins, that every one of them,\nwithout a single exception, will finally be presented without a single\nspot, or stain, before His throne.  But that is not the question.  The\nquestion is whether in saving us it pleases Him to put an end, while we\nare in the flesh, to the deep corruption of our human nature, or to give\nus invariably such a victory that we shall never have reason to repent\nand deplore its power.  If this verse stood alone it would decide the\npoint, for it shows the deep need of the cleansing blood, even for those\nwho are walking in the light.  It describes two gifts as the sacred\nprivilege of their life in Christ Jesus: fellowship one with another, and\ncleansing through the power of His blood.  It proves, therefore, beyond\nthe possibility of doubt, that whatever meaning we attach to the word\n\u2018cleanseth,\u2019 there is sin which requires to be cleansed, even in those\nwho are walking in the light.  But it does not stand alone, for the 8th\nand the 10th verses explain to us the reason of the need: the one teaches\nthat we \u2018have sin,\u2019 and the other, that we \u2018have sinned;\u2019 the one speaks\nof the deep corruption of our nature, the other of the action to which\nthis corruption has given rise; and both teach the same thing,\u2014viz., that\nthose who are walking in the light have sin in themselves and in their\nconduct,\u2014sin which requires cleansing; that if \u2018they say they have no\nsin, they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them;\u2019 and \u2018if they\nsay they have not sinned, they make Him a liar, and His word is not in\nthem.\u2019\n\nI believe then that the compilers of our Articles were walking in the\nlight when they wrote that, \u2018The infection of nature doth remain, yea, in\nthem that are regenerated;\u2019 that the compilers of our Prayer-book were\nwalking in the light when they taught us to confess, \u2018We have left undone\nthose things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things\nwhich we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us;\u2019 and that\nold Hooker was writing in the light when he said, \u2018If God should yield\nunto us, not as unto Abraham, if fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, yea, or if\nten good persons could be found in a city, for their sakes this city\nshould not be destroyed; but and if He should make us an offer thus\nlarge; search all the generations of men since the fall of our father\nAdam, find one man that hath done one action which hath passed from him\npure, without any stain or blemish at all; and for that one man\u2019s only\naction, neither man nor angel shall feel the torments which are prepared\nfor both.  Do you think that this ransom to deliver men and angels could\nbe found to be among the sons of men?  The best things which we do have\nsomewhat in them to be pardoned.\u2019\n\nBut there is a second lesson: viz., that while there is the deep need,\nthere is the ample provision; for, although no ransom could be found\namong the sons of men, there is a perfect ransom in the most precious\nblood of the Son of God.  The propitiation is complete, and, through the\nwonderful mercy which God has shown in His covenant, that precious blood\ncleanseth from all sin.\n\nThere are two points in this sentence to which I would draw your special\nattention.\n\n (1.)  It is _all_ sin that is cleansed.  Sin after baptism, as well as\nsin before it; sin committed in the light, as well as sin in the days of\ndarkness; sin of omission, and sin of commission; sin of act, sin of\nword, sin of thought, sin of temper, sin of desire, sin of heart, sin in\nthe acts of religion, and sin in daily life; sin that is not noticed as\nit ought to be, and sin that leaves an inexpressible pain on the\nconscience.  It is all included in the one word \u2018_all_.\u2019  \u2018The blood of\nJesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from _all_ sin.\u2019\n\n(2.)  It is a continuous cleansing: that is, continued day by day as long\nas the walk lasts.  It is well explained by those words, John, xiii. 10:\n\u2018He that is,\u2019 or hath been, \u2018washed needeth not save to wash his feet,\nbut is clean every whit.\u2019  The first great washing took place when you\nwere first brought to Christ, as represented in your baptism; and now as\nyou are walking home through a defiling world, you require the continual\ncleansing of the feet.  And this is what is promised in the text.  We are\nwalking, and the blood is cleansing.  It might be rendered, \u2018If we are\nwalking in the light, the blood is cleansing us from all sin.\u2019  The walk\nis continuous, and the cleansing continuous likewise.  As we are taught\nin the Lord\u2019s Prayer to ask for daily forgiveness with the same\nregularity as we ask for daily bread; so we are taught to trust the\ncleansing power for every step of the daily life.  Day after day, and\nnight after night, we return to the same fountain, and there experience\nthe same power; and so it will be to the end, when all this earthly\nwalking shall cease, and the ransomed spirit shall appear spotless before\nGod.\n\nBut let us not speak of the blood, and its cleansing power, without\nremembering well what we mean by it.  We do not mean the material blood\nwhich flowed from the feet and hands, or trickled down his careworn face\nfrom beneath the crown of thorns; nor that which after death gushed from\nHis pierced side; for we can never be sprinkled by that.  Still less do\nwe mean what some suppose to be actual blood in the transubstantiated\ncup.  We mean nothing material: for nothing material can cleanse the\nsoul.  We mean the sacrifice of the life of the Son of God as an\nefficacious offering for the life of the sinner.\n\nIn the sacred history of that mysterious death, we read His bitter cry:\n\u2018My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u2019  This cry it is utterly\nimpossible to explain on any other principle than the imputation of sin.\nI am not one of those that would dare to speak of impossibilities with\nGod.  But when I think of the eternal and spotless holiness of the Lord\nJesus, of His perfect purity and His blameless life, I find it utterly\nimpossible to myself to imagine on what principle He could have been\nforsaken at such a moment by one with whom he had been one for eternity,\nif it had not been that sin, not His own, was imputed to Him; or in the\nwords of Sacred Scripture, that \u2018The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity\nof us all.\u2019  And then, when I turn to the dying cry, \u2018It is finished,\u2019 I\nsee the completion of the work.  What He had undertaken He had borne:\nwhat He covenanted to do was done.  The covenanted ransom was paid; the\ncovenanted sacrifice offered; the covenanted life given; and then, the\nburden being gone, He yielded up His soul into the Father\u2019s hands, and\nsaid, \u2018Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.\u2019  This explains what\nwe mean by the power of the cleansing blood.  We mean the full and\nperfect freedom given to all those who are in Christ Jesus; because He,\nas their Head, has paid their penalty.  We look on Him forsaken, and\nbelieve that we shall never be.  We look on Him bearing the full penalty\nof the law, and we know that because He has borne it, the awful curse\nwill never rest on us.  We listen to Him crying, \u2018It is finished,\u2019 and we\nknow that nothing more can be needed in sacrifice; that the whole\nredemption as planned in God\u2019s eternal purpose is complete; and that\ntherefore, as He did, so may we commend into a loving Father\u2019s hand all\nwe are, and all we care for, saying, \u2018Father, into Thy hands I commend my\nspirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.\u2019  We need no\npriest\u2019s absolution; and we cannot endure the thought of any\ncontinuation, or repetition, or any thing approaching to propitiatory\nsacrifice.  We believe that the whole work is finished according to the\npurpose of God Himself, and that \u2018the blood of Jesus Christ his Son,\u2019\nwithout any addition of any kind whatever,\u2014simply and alone,\u2014\u2018cleanseth\nfrom all sin.\u2019  Thus we agree, heart and soul, with the grand old words\nof HOOKER: \u2018Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever, it\nis our comfort, our wisdom; we care for no knowledge in the world but\nthis,\u2014that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made\nHimself the Son of Man, and that men are made the righteousness of God.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nPERSONAL HOLINESS.\n\n\nTHE SANCTIFIED.\n\n\n    \u2018Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are\n    sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in\n    every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their\u2019s\n    and our\u2019s.\u2019\u20141 COR. i. 2.\n\nI HOPE it has been made clear that the original meaning of the word \u2018to\nsanctify,\u2019 was \u2018to set apart as a holy thing unto God,\u2019 and that the\nLevitical meaning of sanctification through blood was the cleansing from\nall legal impurity.  It is obvious that both these divine acts clearly\ninvolve personal holiness.\n\nThat which is set apart by the call of God, and cleansed from all guilt,\nshould clearly be kept holy and undefiled from the pollution both of the\nheart and of the world.  Such persons should be like the vessels of the\nsanctuary: \u2018sanctified and meet for the Master\u2019s use.\u2019\n\nThis leads us to that which is the ordinary meaning of the term in\nreligious books: viz. personal holiness.  By personal holiness is meant\nthe sacred work of God the Holy Ghost within the soul; the reflection of\nthe character of our Blessed Lord; the law put into the inward part, and\nwritten on the heart by the Spirit of God.  This is the meaning of such\ntexts as 1 Thess. v. 23: \u2018The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and\nI pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless\nunto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u2019  The separation is a past act,\nfor if we are in Christ Jesus, we have been already separated unto God;\nbut this is an abiding condition, for real holiness is a present matter\nof daily life.  Now both these parts of sanctification are brought out in\nthe words which I have read as our text, for it is addressed \u2018to them\nthat are,\u2019 or have been, \u2018sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be\nsaints.\u2019  The first clause refers to the past act, and represents those\nbelievers as having been set apart unto God, or separated as a peculiar\npeople unto Himself; the second describes their present condition as\ninseparable from their high calling; for, having been set apart, they are\nnow called to be the saints of God.  I need not stop to point out that\nthe word \u2018saints,\u2019 is not limited in Sacred Scripture to those who are in\nheaven.  Still less has it to do with the canonization of Rome, or the\nseclusion of a monastery.  It describes the personal holiness of the\nChristian in common life, the habitual character of the man walking with\nGod; as in those words of the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. i. 15): \u2018Be ye holy;\u2019\nor be ye saints, \u2018in all manner of conversation.\u2019  So that our text means\nthe same as if it had been written, \u2018To them that have been set apart\nunto God in Christ Jesus their Saviour, and who, as the result of that\nsacred call, are now leading holy lives in His presence.\u2019\n\nMy object this morning will be simply to trace the connexion between\nthese two steps of God\u2019s sacred work: the past separation unto Him, and\nthe present personal holiness of character.  And all I can say is, may\nthe Lord help us in our own experience to understand both of them, and\nthen we shall have no difficulty in perceiving how they are bound\ntogether in the work of Salvation!\n\nWe shall find them connected by a principle and a power.\n\nI.  A PRINCIPLE.  It is perfectly clear, as a matter of principle, that\nthere ought to be holiness in all that is consecrated to God.  He\nconsecrated, or set apart unto Himself, the Sabbath day, and so He says,\n\u2018Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.\u2019  The Temple, like our own\nchurches, was consecrated to God, and therefore we read, \u2018Holiness\nbecometh Thine house for ever.\u2019  The vessels of the Temple were\ndedicated, or sanctified to His service, and therefore they should not be\ntouched by unhallowed hands, and the words of sacred Scripture are, \u2018Be\nye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.\u2019  On these principles we\nnone like to see a neglected church, a dishonoured Bible, or a careless\nattitude, in the house of God.  On the same principles, we should all be\nprofoundly humbled when unhallowed thoughts,\u2014thoughts of the world,\nthoughts of vanity, of jealousy, or of self,\u2014in any shape intrude into\nholy things, and corrupt those sacred hours which are set apart\nexclusively to God.  But if this applies to consecration generally, how\npre-eminently does it apply to such a consecration as that described in\nthe text, in which we are said to be \u2018sanctified in Christ Jesus.\u2019  That\nsanctification is the introduction of the ruined sinner into a covenant\nunion with the Son of God.  If you have been thus sanctified in Christ\nJesus, you no longer stand alone, to bear your own burden, or plead your\nown cause.  You have been separated from the ruined world, and identified\nwith the Lord Jesus; so that He represented you in bearing your curse\nwhen He suffered, and He now represents you at the right hand of the\nthrone of God, while He pleads on your behalf.  Thus you are cleansed\nfrom all legal guilt.  You are sanctified by blood, and charged with no\ndefilement.  By the eternal covenant of God He is become your Head, so\nthat in His death you died; in His life you live; in His acceptance you\nare justified; and in His glory you are glorified.\n\nBut, if you are thus separated unto such a union with Him, is there any\nroom left for one moment\u2019s doubt as to what ought to be your character?\nIf you are set apart by Him into this covenant union with Himself, you\nare set apart into a oneness of mind, of will, and of interest.  He\nrepresents you in heaven, and you represent Him on earth; as God sees you\nin Him, so the world sees Him in you.  You bear His name; you are sealed\nwith the seal of the covenant; you are made a peculiar people unto the\nSon of God: and I am sure we must all see the justice of those words of\nthe Apostle Peter, \u2018As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in\nall manner of conversation.\u2019\n\nII.  POWER.  But here lies the difficulty.  You really wish to be holy,\nbut you are not; you have endeavoured to overcome your temper, but it is\nstill there; you have striven against wandering thoughts in prayer, but\nthey still interfere most mournfully with your most sacred acts of\nworship; you wish, and you mean to be, unselfish, but you find\nselfishness continually cropping up, to your sorrow and vexation of\nspirit.  Now, the question is,\u2014How is this to be overcome?  Your resolves\nwill not do it, for you have made hundreds, and failed in them all; and\nno man on earth can do it for you, for the evil lies far too deep for the\nreach of man.  What then is to be done?  We may turn back to our text,\nand there learn the secret, for in those words, \u2018In Christ Jesus,\u2019 we are\ntaught the power.\n\nWe learned, in studying the first act of separation, that it was the work\nof God the Holy Ghost: here it is said to be in Christ Jesus.  Some\npeople dwell more on the distinction than I am myself disposed to do:\nthere is such a perfect oneness in the infinite God, that I confess I\nhave but little heart for these refined distinctions.  As the Father and\nthe Son are one, so God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are one; and when\nthe Lord Jesus saves the sinner, it is the Holy Ghost that applies that\nsalvation to the soul.  Without stopping, therefore, to study any such\ndistinction, let us rather hasten to the practical lesson that\nsanctification, or consecration, here described, is a sanctification in\nJesus Christ.  You may look thus to your covenant union with Him, and\ntrust Him by the in-breathing of His own Spirit to make you holy.  You\nmay remember that He came to save you from your sins, and not merely from\ntheir curse; and that holiness is just as much a gift of the covenant as\npardon.\n\nYou remember those words, 1 Cor. i. 30: \u2018But of Him are ye in Christ\nJesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and\nsanctification, and redemption.\u2019  They teach us that the Lord Jesus is\nthe source of all practical wisdom and holiness, just as much as of\nimputed righteousness and redemption.  The passage is clearly not\nspeaking of an imputed wisdom, and we have no right to apply it to an\nimputed sanctification.  It refers to the practical wisdom and personal\nholiness of the man who by God\u2019s grace is wise and holy; and teaches that\nboth one and the other are found exclusively in Christ Jesus.\n\nYou may, therefore, trust the Lord Jesus Christ for your sanctification\njust as much as for your justification; for your personal holiness in\ndaily life, as well as for your safety in the great day of judgment.\nLook carefully then unto your covenant union with Christ, and think on\nHim as your covenant Head: then spread out all your difficulties and\ntemptations before Him as your Head.  Acknowledge before Him how you have\ndishonoured His headship by your evil thoughts, your evil words, and your\nconstant failures; and trust Him, as your Head, to form in you His image,\nand by His own most Holy Spirit to give you the victory.  Do not stand at\na distance, thinking it your duty to doubt your union, for by so doing\nyou will never overcome.  Without that union you will never know what\nvictory means.  I am assuming now that in the secret of your own souls\nyou have been verily engrafted into Christ.  I know you were\nsacramentally in baptism, but I am looking deeper than that, for many who\nare baptized are never saved, and I am speaking now of the real saving\nunion of your soul with Christ Himself.  Now, if that is yours through\nHis wonderful grace, accept it, act upon it, trust Him as your living\nHead; and you will find, as time goes on, that though you cannot\novercome, He can; and that He will finally present you, \u2018holy and\nunblameable before Him at His coming.\u2019  But here we are brought to the\nold difficulty,\u2014that you have no real evidence in your soul of the\nexistence of such a union with Christ.  You know there is your baptismal\nunion, but still you cannot feel safe, and you greatly doubt whether you\nare amongst those who have been \u2018Sanctified in Christ Jesus: called to be\nsaints.\u2019  This is the reason why many of you cannot come to the sacred\nfeast of the Supper of the Lord, and why many others, who do come, come\nwith a heavy heart.  Would to God we might see those absent ones brought\nnear, and those heavy hearts gladdened by the Lord!  But in order to that\nyou must grapple at once with the great question of your own personal\nsalvation,\u2014your separation unto God.  Till that is settled you will be\npowerless against yourself.  Till you are in Christ, and sanctified in\nChrist Jesus, you will never be sanctified at all.  If you really desire\nto be really holy, for the sake of that holiness begin at the beginning,\nand never rest till you are safe.  Your safety must come before your\nholiness, or you will wait for it for ever.  Begin therefore with the\nprayer, \u2018Lord, save me: I perish.\u2019  Throw yourself into His hand for\npardon, for acceptance, for life.  Never rest till you can appropriate\nthe language of St. Paul: \u2018Who hath saved me, and called me with an holy\ncalling.\u2019  And, when that is given, you may go on to those other words of\nthe same Apostle, and say, \u2018According as He hath chosen us in Him before\nthe foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame\nbefore Him in love.\u2019\n\n\n\nPROGRESS.\n\n\n    \u2018But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the\n    Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by\n    the Spirit of the Lord.\u2019\u20142 COR. iii. 18.\n\nTHE subject of personal holiness is one of overwhelming interest to all\nthose who really desire to walk with God; it is also one which requires\nour most careful study, for in it lies the chief difficulty of the daily\nChristian life of the greater number of true believers.  They know the\ntruth, and love it; they prize their Saviour far above all that the world\ncan give; they are ready either to live or die in His service; but yet\nthey are so conscious of the power of indwelling sin that sometimes they\nare led almost to doubt the reality of their Christianity, and begin to\nquestion whether they really love their Lord at all.  For the help of\nsuch persons it seems clearly a duty to look carefully into the subject,\nand I pray God that He may help us to do so this morning.\n\nThis text will supply us with so much instruction that we will not\nattempt to examine other passages, but will endeavour to gather from it\nthe standard, the progress, the means, and the power of Christian\nholiness.  May God so bless His word, as to make us holy by His Spirit!\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI.  THE STANDARD.  How many a noble ship has been lost through some\ninaccuracy in the compass!  If the compass points too much to the east or\nto the west, the most careful commander may wreck his vessel.  And if the\ncompass of the soul is in a wrong direction you will find it very hard to\nwalk in a right path.  Now, in this text the one standard is the image of\nthe Lord Jesus.  We are said to behold the glory of the Lord, and to be\nchanged into His image.  There cannot be a doubt that this refers to the\nLord Jesus Christ, and that by His glory is meant His grace.  If there\nwere, it would be settled by these words in John, i. 14: \u2018The Word was\nmade flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of\nthe only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.\u2019  The great\nmanifestation of the glory of God is in the grace and truth of the\nincarnate Word.  If, then, we would be holy, as God is holy, we must be\nchanged into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we are like Him we\nshall be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; but not\nbefore.  So you will find that, when persons speak about their\nsinlessness, it may generally be traced to their adopting a low standard\nof holiness.  Sometimes people will set up their own experience as a\nstandard, and really seem to think that we are to receive their accounts\nof their own experience as if it were another Bible.  Sometimes we read\nof a perfection, not absolute, but \u2018up to the measure of to-day\u2019s\nconsciousness.\u2019  Accordingly I have read of one described as an eminent\nChristian, who \u2018said that a few days more would make twenty-one years\nthat his obedience had been kept at the extreme verge of his light.\u2019  I\nam not sure that I know what the writer means, and I may possibly\nmisunderstand his words; but, if they mean what they seem to mean, I can\nscarcely imagine anything more delusive.  We know very well how the eyes\nmay be blinded, the heart deadened, and the conscience seared by sin; we\nknow that the deeper a man is sunk in sin the less he feels it, and the\nlower his fall the more profound his want of feeling; and only imagine\nwhat must be the result if a deadened, thickened, darkened conscience\nwere to be accepted as the measure of a sinless life.  The idea reminds\none of these words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. x. 12: \u2018They measuring themselves\nby themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.\u2019\nNay: they go further, and point to the tremendous danger pointed out by\nour Lord Himself: \u2018If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is\nthat darkness.\u2019 (Matt. vi. 23.)  No: we must have a standard rising high\nabove either consciousness, conscience, or our own light; a standard that\nnever varies; a standard that does not go up and down with our changes of\nfeeling or opinion; a standard as unchanging as the perfect character of\nGod Himself!  This is the standard which we find in the Lord Jesus\nChrist,\u2014in God manifest in the flesh: and what is more, thanks be to God,\nthis is the standard which we shall one day reach!  For, though there are\nmany things still hidden, there is one thing we most assuredly know, and\nthat is, that \u2018when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall\nsee Him as He is.\u2019\n\nII.  THE PROGRESS.  As I have just said, when we see the Lord as He is we\nshall be like Him; and when that comes to pass we shall see the\nperfection of the promise, He \u2018shall save His people from their sins.\u2019\nHe will so completely save them that whereas He finds them corrupt,\nruined, and enemies to God by wicked works, He will finally present them\nholy and unblameable, without spot and without blemish before the throne.\nIt is impossible to imagine anything more blessed, more wonderful, more\ndivine, than such a change.  Now it becomes a question of the deepest\ninterest whether this mighty change is accomplished by one instantaneous\nact, or gradually.  Is it, like justification, a completed thing? or is\nit a progressive work, commenced at the new birth, but not complete till\nwe see Him as He is?  There cannot be a more important practical inquiry.\nAnd now you may see the importance of the distinction drawn between the\ndifferent senses of the word \u2018sanctification;\u2019 or, as it might be better\nexpressed, the different parts of that blessed work.  If you speak of\nsanctification as the original act of God in separating us unto Himself,\nthen it is a completed thing, for we are described as \u2018having been\nsanctified in Christ Jesus.\u2019  If, again, you speak of it as a legal\ncleansing from all past guilt, it is complete, for being washed in the\nprecious blood we are already clean.  But if you regard it as the\npersonal holiness of daily life, the purifying the heart through faith by\nthe indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, then I am prepared to maintain\nfrom the whole testimony of the whole Word of God from one end to the\nother, that so long as we are in this world of conflict the sacred work\nis not complete, but progressive.  How people can speak of sanctification\nin this sense as an immediate work, I am at a loss to understand.\nHundreds of passages might be quoted to prove its progressive character,\nand to show the reason of its present incompleteness: viz., the abiding\npower of indwelling sin.  I have only time to refer to two.  In the first\nplace, this verse describes us as changed, or being changed, from glory\nto glory.  We are described as in the process of transformation, or\nmetamorphosis; by His grace passing from glory to glory, or from one\ndegree of grace to another.  The work is in progress, thanks be to God!\nand we have the bright hope of the completed likeness of the Lord.  But\nthat bright hope is not yet realized, nor will it be till we see Him as\nHe is.  I will take only one other passage, and select it because it\ncorresponds very closely to the text.  It is a passage addressed to the\nbelievers in Rome,\u2014to persons who are described as being \u2018beloved of God\ncalled to be saints.\u2019 (Rom. i. 7.)  There can be no doubt then that the\nwork of personal holiness was begun in them: yet what does St. Paul say\nto them? (Rom. xii. 2.)  \u2018Be not conformed to this world: but be ye\ntransformed (or metamorphosized) by the renewing of your mind, that ye\nmay prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.\u2019\nIs it not clear then that those persons who were beloved of God, and\ncalled to be saints, were still to be reaching forth after higher\nattainments?  There was so much evil in them that they still required to\nbe warned against conformity to the world, and so far were they from\ntheir high standard, that they required nothing less than a\ntransformation or metamorphosis (it is the same word as in the text), in\norder to bring them into a personal experience \u2018of the good, and\nacceptable, and perfect will of God.\u2019  Be sure then there is no\nresting-place in Christian holiness for the saints of God.  The Lord may\nhave done great things for us, whereof we are glad.  He may have given us\nsuch an insight into His grace that we now love that which we once cared\nnothing for, and hate that which we once loved: He may have led us to say\nfrom the bottom of our hearts, \u2018I delight to do Thy will, O my God.\u2019  But\nour motto must still be, \u2018Forgetting those things that are behind, and\nreaching forth unto those things that are before, I press towards the\nmark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\u2019  The more\nwe love Christ, the more must we be deeply humbled that we love Him so\nlittle; and the more we look at the blessed prospect of a real and\nperfect sinlessness, the more must we be ready to say, as St. Paul did,\n\u2018Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I\nfollow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am\napprehended of Christ Jesus.\u2019\n\nIII.  But some of you will be ready to say that that is just where your\ndifficulty lies.  You do really desire to be going forward, and to be\nmaking progress, but it seems as if you could not.  You are like a person\nin a nightmare, who wishes to run, but cannot.  Let us then consider what\nis God\u2019s great instrument, whereby He imparts progress to the soul.  On\nthis subject this text is quite decisive, for it shows that God\u2019s great\ninstrument is the view of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith.  In the\npassage to which I have already referred in 1 John, iii. 2, we find that\nthe perfect view of the Lord Jesus will lead to perfect likeness, so in\nthese words the partial view leads to progressive likeness.  When the\nview is perfect the likeness will be perfect too; now that the view is\nimperfect, only as through a glass, the likeness is imperfect likewise.\nBut still it is growing more and more; for \u2018we all,\u2019\u2014not merely special\nChristians, who have attained what they call \u2018the higher\nlife,\u2019\u2014\u2018beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into\nthe same image from glory to glory.\u2019  Now I believe it is impossible to\npress this too strongly on all those who desire holiness, for there is a\nperpetual tendency in every one of us to turn the eye inward on\nourselves, instead of keeping it fixed on Him.  Some are occupied with\nwhat they feel, or do not feel, or wish to feel, or wish they did not\nfeel; and some by what they do, or mean to do, or think they ought to\ndo,\u2014till the whole mind becomes bewildered, and the whole soul entangled.\nRemember that you may be entangled by your religious efforts, as well as\nby your sins: nothing indeed entangles people more than confused and\nmistaken religion.  So that if you really want to be like Him, you must\nsweep away all your entanglements like so many cobwebs, and, just as you\nare, look straight at Him.  For example, you say you do not feel sin, and\nyou do not feel anything like the sorrow for it that you know you ought\nto do.  I have no doubt you are perfectly right, and it is very\nsorrowful, very sinful, and very sad.  But how is it to be overcome?  I\nknow of only one way, and that is a very simple one, too simple for many\nof you,\u2014and that is a look: you must behold Christ.  Remember the case of\nthe Jews.  Nothing yet has melted their hearts: their great national\nafflictions have utterly failed: but in God\u2019s time there will be a\nchange.  We shall see those people mourning,\u2014so mourning that they will\nbe led with broken hearts to the Fountain open for sin and for\nuncleanness.  And what will be God\u2019s instrument for producing such a\nchange?  By what means will He effect it?  By a look: a simple look!  You\nfind it described in Zech. xii. 10: \u2018They shall look on Me whom they have\npierced, and shall mourn for him.\u2019  That one look will accomplish more\nthan 1800 years of bitter, and most afflictive, discipline.  And it is\njust the same with ourselves.  One look at our loving and living Saviour\nwill do more towards softening the heart than hours spent in the scrutiny\nof feeling, or whole books of self-examination.  If you want to grow in\ngrace, in tenderness of conscience, in holy abhorrence of sin, in purity\nof heart, in lowliness of spirit, and in thankful love for your blessed\nSaviour,\u2014then look on Him, keep your eyes on Him.  Think on His Cross,\nhow He died for you; on His life, how He lived for you; on His advocacy,\nhow He pleads for you; on His perfect character, His love, His holiness,\nHis purity, His power, His grace, His truth: for by such a look, and such\na look alone, can you ever hope to be changed into His image.\n\nBut remember one expression in the text: viz. those three words, \u2018With\nopen face.\u2019  The look that transforms is a look with an open face: there\nmust be nothing between.  There must not be a veil over it, as there is\nover the Jews, as you read in verse 15.  Every barrier must be removed.\nThe great barrier of the curse is gone, through the blood of atonement;\nand we must not now set up fresh barriers of our own creation.  We must\nremember the hymn:\u2014\n\n    \u2018Just as I am: Thy love alone\n    Has broken every barrier down;\u2019\n\nand just as we are,\u2014humbled, unworthy, cold, and unfeeling, but yet\nadmitted into the very presence of the Lord,\u2014we must look with open face\nat the Son of God Himself; and I hope we may be able to say, as David\ndid, \u2018They looked to Him, and were lightened, and their faces were not\nashamed.\u2019\n\nIV.  But the look is not enough; for besides all means there must be a\npower.  We cannot will ourselves into the likeness of our Saviour, any\nmore than an animal can will itself into a man: the great transformation\nmust be by the power of a life-creating agent.  So, when I turn again to\nthis text, I find that it is not the look alone which effects the change,\nbut that it is God the Holy Ghost making use of the look, and by divine\nomnipotence transforming the soul into the image of the Lord Jesus.  In\nthe last words of the text it is all ascribed to Him, as in the words,\n\u2018Even as by the Spirit of the Lord,\u2019 or, as the margin has it, \u2018Even as\nby the Lord the Spirit.\u2019  I have no time to dwell on this subject as I\nshould like to do; but I cannot conclude without begging the careful\nattention of all those who are almost tempted to think that there is\nsomething in their constitution which blocks the way against their\nprogress.  They see others going forward while they stand still; they\nhear of others filled with peace in believing, while they are still\nhampered by doubt, so that they begin to think they shall never rise, and\nare never intended to rise, above their present condition.  I quite admit\nthat it may be perfectly true, that there is something peculiar in your\ncase; something peculiar, it may be, in your habits, in your disposition,\nin your temper, in your temptation.  Let us admit it, for most people\nhave their peculiar difficulties.  But, admitting it, I pray you to\nconsider whether there is not a Divine power in the Lord the Spirit,\nwhich is quite sufficient to overcome that peculiarity.  Is any thing too\nhard for the Lord?  Think then on God the Holy Ghost: think of Him as\nworking out the great salvation purchased for us through the precious\nblood of the Son of God, and then reflect whether it is possible that\nyour difficulties are beyond His power.  They are beyond your own: you\nhave learned that.  But are they beyond His?  If you have failed, is that\nany reason why He should?  Trust Him then, and behold Christ Jesus.\nRemember you are dealing with One mighty to save, and that, while you are\nlooking to Jesus, He, working within, may heal your soul.  Trust Him then\nto do it.  You know He can; trust Him that He will: and never again admit\nthe thought, that, notwithstanding all you have discovered in your soul,\nthere is any thing there too hard for the Son of God,\u2014anything which may\nnot be overcome by the indwelling power of God the Holy Ghost.\n\n\n\nINFECTION OF NATURE.\n\n\n    \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I\n    myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.\u2019\u2014ROM.\n    vii. 25. {64}\n\nTHERE are few passages in the whole word of God that have excited a\ndeeper interest amongst truly Christian people than the latter part of\nthe seventh of Romans.  It is so closely connected with the practical\nexperience of Christian life, and at the same time it is so much opposed\nto the beautiful theories of some Christian people, that it has always\nexcited an earnest spirit of inquiry, and engaged the deepest interests\nof the students of Scripture.  I propose to make it the subject of our\nstudy this morning: to endeavour to find out what the Scripture really\nteaches.  And in the outset of our study I should wish to give one\ncaution, which I believe to be of the utmost importance for us all: viz.,\nwe must not bring the sacred Scriptures to the test of our theories, but\nmust be prepared, if need be, to give up those theories to the authority\nof Scripture.  If we want to live in God\u2019s truth, we must be subject to\nGod\u2019s Word, and must be content to receive what He teaches as He teaches\nit.  In other words, we must not twist Scripture so as to make it fit our\nown opinions, but must receive it as from God, and make all our opinions\nbend before its high authority.\n\nWith this caution before us, there are three subjects to be considered.\nFirst, of whom is the Apostle speaking: of himself, or some other man?\nSecondly, of what period in his Christian life is he speaking: does he\nrefer to the past or to the present?  And thirdly, what does the passage\nteach respecting his spiritual condition at the time he wrote the words?\n\nAnd now, may God the Holy Ghost, who inspired the Word, lead us all\nreverently to study, and rightly to understand, His teaching!\n\nI.  To whom does it refer?  I feel persuaded that we shall all admit\nthat, if any person were to read the chapter without having some previous\nopinion to support, he would believe that the Apostle was speaking of\nhimself.  The word \u2018I\u2019 occurs no less than twenty-eight times in the\npassage.  Such expressions as \u2018I do,\u2019 \u2018I consent,\u2019 \u2018I allow,\u2019 \u2018I\ndelight,\u2019 are found continually; and certainly the natural conclusion\nwould be that when he said, \u2018I,\u2019 he meant himself.  I know that it is\nsometimes said that he personated some other person; a legalist, or one\nin a lower Christian life.  But there is not the least evidence of any\nsuch personation in the passage, and he says not one word to lead us to\nsuppose that such was his intention.  In iii. 5, he does thus personate\nan objector; and says, \u2018But if our unrighteousness commend,\u2019 &c.  But\nthen he distinctly states that he is doing so in the words, \u2018I speak as a\nman.\u2019  But there is nothing of the kind here.  There is a plain, simple\nstatement in his own name; passing from the \u2018I,\u2019 which pervades the\nchapter, to \u2018I, myself,\u2019 in the last verse; and I am utterly at a loss to\nunderstand on what principle these plain words, \u2018I myself,\u2019 can be\nsupposed to express the personation of some other man.\n\nII.  In answer then to our first question, I am brought to the conclusion\nthat when he spoke of \u2018I myself,\u2019 he meant himself, and not another: and\nwe may pass to our second question.  To what period of his spiritual\nhistory did he refer: did he speak of the past, or of the present?  Was\nhe describing some period of past anxiety out of which he had been\ndelivered, so as to enter on the joys of the eighth chapter?  Or was he\nspeaking of his state of mind at the very time, that he was writing the\neighth chapter, and declaring, \u2018Ye have not received the spirit of\nbondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption,\nwhereby we cry, Abba, Father?\u2019  In answer to this I have not the smallest\nhesitation in saying that, according to every principle of sound\nexposition, the seventh chapter refers to exactly the same period as the\neighth; that it is a description of his own experience at the time he\nwrote the words; and that we should have just as much authority for\nsaying that the eighth chapter referred only to the future, as that the\nseventh referred only to the past.  For this I give three reasons:\u2014\n\n(1.)  If we wish to understand the Word of God we must receive plain\nwords as we find them in sacred Scripture.  We have no right to assume\nthat the present tense stands for the past; that \u2018I am,\u2019 means \u2018I was;\u2019\nthat \u2018I do,\u2019 means \u2018I used to do;\u2019 that \u2018I hate,\u2019 means \u2018I used to hate;\u2019\nand \u2018I delight,\u2019 means \u2018I used to delight.\u2019  If we once begin thus to\nhandle Scripture there is an end to exposition; and if people who thus\ntwist Scripture would be consistent, they ought to go on, and say that\nthe beginning of this verse, \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,\u2019\nmeans, \u2018I used to thank Him, but I do not now.\u2019\n\n(2.)  Again, the transition from the past to the present is clearly\nmarked in the passage.  In the parenthesis which extends from the seventh\nverse to the end of the chapter, we find the three tenses,\u2014past, present,\nand future.  From verse seven to verse thirteen it is all in the past,\nand is a description of a certain portion of his past life.  \u2018I was\nalive;\u2019 \u2018the commandment came;\u2019 \u2018sin revived;\u2019 \u2018I died;\u2019 \u2018I found it to\nbe unto death;\u2019 and \u2018sin deceived me, and by it slew me.\u2019  It is a\ndescription of the great work of God in breaking down his pharisaism, and\nbringing him to Christ.  I believe it all took place during those solemn\nthree days at Damascus.  But from the fourteenth verse to the end, all is\nchanged, and the present tense is employed.  \u2018I am;\u2019 \u2018I do;\u2019 \u2018I allow;\u2019\n\u2018I delight;\u2019 \u2018I hate;\u2019 \u2018I thank God;\u2019 \u2018I serve.\u2019  The only exception is\nin the twenty-fourth verse, where we find the future: \u2018who shall deliver\nme from the body of this death?\u2019  This distinction of the tenses is alone\nenough to prove the point, for it would be just as reasonable to maintain\nthat the past means the present, as that the present means the past.\n\n(3.)  Once more.  The noble thanksgiving of verse twenty-five is supposed\nto be the point of transition from the sadness of the seventh chapter to\nthe joys of the eighth; the conclusion of his conflict in the discovery\nof the Lord Jesus.  There can be no doubt that this passage does describe\nthe act of faith rejoicing in the Divine Deliverer.  It describes the\nbeliever grasping the victory, and rising through grace above the\nconflict within his soul.  We quite admit it, and fully accept that\nexplanation of the words.  But now, here is the remarkable point: this\naccount of a struggle within the soul is found\u2014where?  Not only before\nthe thanksgiving of victory, but also after it; proving thereby that it\nis deeply felt, even by those who can give thanks for an overcoming\nSaviour.  And more than that.  People draw a distinction between what\nthey call the unhappy seventh and the happy eighth; but this verse comes\nbetween the thanksgiving of the seventh chapter and the assurance of no\ncondemnation in the eighth.  It follows the thanksgiving, and leads on\nimmediately to the grand, and most blessed declaration, with which the\neighth chapter opens: \u2018There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them\nwhich are in Christ Jesus.\u2019\n\nOn the whole, therefore, I conclude that the Apostle was speaking of\nhimself, and not of another: and that he spoke of himself at the very\ntime that he was assured of no condemnation in the present, and no\nseparation for all eternity: of a perfect safety in his union with the\nLord Jesus Christ.  We may pass then to our last subject.\n\nIII.  What does the passage teach us respecting the experience of the\nApostle at the time when he wrote the Epistle?  Perhaps I ought to limit\nthe question by rather saying, What was his experience with reference to\nthe law?  For the whole object of the passage is to bring out the\nholiness of the law, and to prove from his own case that the \u2018commandment\nwas holy, and just, and good.\u2019\n\n(1.)  The first thing that is conspicuously clear is that he had\ndiscovered its true character.  When he was a legalist he had no idea of\nits exalted standard; but, when God called him, his eyes were opened to\nbehold its perfection.  It is a curious fact that those who hope to save\nthemselves by their doings are almost certain to entertain but low and\nlimited notions of the law: they think of it as some low standard within\ntheir own reach; so they are always endeavouring to fulfil it, and though\nalways failing, are never really troubled at their failure; but, when God\nopens their heart, they discover its exalted holiness, and find\nthemselves to be nothing better than dead men before it.  This is just\nwhat had happened to St. Paul.  He lived in early life as an earnest,\nreligious, and well-conducted young man, and he was satisfied with\nhimself.  \u2018Touching the righteousness which is in the law,\u2019 as he says\nhimself (Phil. iii. 6), he was \u2018blameless.\u2019  He went through all the\nJewish worship as correctly as possible, and omitted nothing: but he knew\nnothing of the claims of the law on his whole heart and all his powers;\nhe simply regarded it as a collection of rules,\u2014and he thought he did\nwell.  So he says, in verse nine, \u2018I was alive without the law once.\u2019\nHis ignorance of the law made him think himself alive; but God had after\na time opened his eyes, and he discovered its exalted holiness.  He saw\nit expounded in the teaching of our Lord, and exhibited in His life; he\nfound it was nothing less than the perfect will of a perfect God; and all\nhis own poor, feeble, miserable doings shrank away as dead things before\nthe holiness of God; and thus he adds, \u2018The commandment came, and I\ndied.\u2019\n\nNow this change had taken place when he wrote the Epistle, so that the\nlaw was no longer to him a mere skeleton of form, but had appeared before\nhim as the great expression of the mind of God.  And now how did he\nregard it?  This leads to a second point.\n\n(2.)  He approved it, and delighted in it.  He approved it, for he said,\n\u2018I consent unto the law, that it is good.\u2019  Nor did he regard it as a\nyoke of bondage about his soul.  It was not a rigid code by which he was\nforced against his will.  How any person can suppose that this passage is\nthe language of an unregenerate, or unconverted man, I cannot imagine.\nDid you ever know an unconverted man to delight in the perfect holiness\nof God?  Such holiness condemns, restrains, and frightens him.  But St.\nPaul said, \u2018I delight in the law of God after the inner man.\u2019  The fact\nwas he had experienced the great promise of the New Covenant: \u2018I will put\nmy law in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts.\u2019  God, the\nHoly Ghost, had written the law on his heart, and now he loved it.  To\nplease God was his greatest joy, and to do His will was the chief desire\nof his soul.  He could say, as David did, \u2018Oh, how I love Thy love: it is\nmy meditation all the day!\u2019  He was not content with the measure of his\nown consciousness, or the standard of his fellow-men, or a vain idea of\ndoing his best, or doing no harm to any one.  He did not split hairs\nabout the distinction between being blameless and being faultless.  He\nhad seen the Lord in His beauty, and adored Him in His holiness, so now\nit was the whole mind and will of God that filled his soul, and the great\ndesire of his heart was expressed in such words as those of the Psalmist,\n\u2018Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead\nme into the land of uprightness.\u2019  And does not this teach us a lesson of\ninexpressible importance respecting ourselves?  In Christ Jesus we are\nnot driven by a slave master, and compelled by the lash into obedience.\nWe \u2018love the law,\u2019 because we \u2018love the Lord.\u2019  We find His will, and His\nword, to be dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver; and we\nexperience the blessedness described by our blessed Saviour when He said,\n\u2018Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for\nthey shall be filled.\u2019\n\n(3.)  But all this while he was painfully conscious that he was\ninfinitely below its standard.  The very fact of hungering and thirsting\nafter righteousness implies in itself that your hunger is not yet\nsupplied: so in this passage St. Paul teaches us that he was still very\nfar from what he most earnestly desired to be.  He felt what I may term\nthe bitter provocation of shortcoming: \u2018The good that I would I do not,\nbut the evil that I would not that I do.\u2019  There was the unceasing\nconsciousness of falling utterly short of the high standard set before\nhim in the law.  He does not say this to justify sin, for he tells us how\nhe hated it; but he teaches us, as plainly as words can teach anything,\nthat at the very time when God had by His great grace so changed his\nheart that he had discovered the law and was delighting in it, there was\nstill in him what the ninth Article describes, when it says, \u2018The\ninfection of nature doth remain yet in them that are regenerate.\u2019  The\nold, fallen, sinful human nature was not extinct in him, and this ruin of\nhis fallen nature was acting as a clog and drawback on his holy longings\nafter the perfect holiness of God.  Thus in his one self there was a\ncontest between grace and nature, between the new man and the old.  Of\nthe one he says, \u2018I delight in the law of God after the inward man;\u2019 and\nof the other, \u2018I know that in me (_i.e._, in my flesh) dwelleth no good\nthing.\u2019  By the power of the Holy Ghost he could say, \u2018To will is present\nwith me;\u2019 but through the power of the old nature he was obliged to add,\n\u2018How to perform that which is good I find not.\u2019  It was this bitter pain\nof thus failing to reach the standard of his heart\u2019s desire, that drew\nfrom him the cry, \u2018Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from\nthe body of this death?\u2019  Some people think that such language could not\nhave come from an enlightened believer, led by the Spirit, and walking in\nthe sunlight of the eighth chapter.  They seem to forget the twenty-third\nverse of that very chapter, in which he says, \u2018Ourselves also, which have\nthe first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,\nwaiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.\u2019 (viii.\n23.)  For my own part, I believe it was the leading of the Spirit that\ncalled it forth, inasmuch as that leading led him to aim at the true\nstandard of the holiness of God.  I agree with the wise commentary of old\nScott:\u2014\n\n\u2018This energetic language, which many imagine to describe an unestablished\nbeliever\u2019s experience, or even that of an unconverted person, seems to\nhave resulted from the extraordinary degree of St. Paul\u2019s sanctification,\nand the depth of his self-abasement, and hatred of sin; and the reason of\nour not readily understanding him seems to be that we are so far beneath\nhim in holiness, humility, acquaintance with the spirituality of God\u2019s\nlaw, and the evil of our own hearts, and in our degree of abhorrence of\nmoral evil.\u2019\n\nI have not then the smallest hesitation in taking the passage as I find\nit, and regarding it as descriptive of the Apostle\u2019s own sense of\nshortcoming before the standard of the law, at the very time of his most\npeaceful, Christian experience.  I wish I had time to follow out the\nsubject, and show how in the midst of his conflict a hallowed peace was\nflowing into his soul: but that I must leave to another day.  But you\nmust not wait till next Sunday, seeking peace, and finding none; you must\nremember at once that, though you fail, the Lord Jesus Christ never does.\nYou must remember at once that it is with especial reference to this very\nstruggle that we are taught that \u2018the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,\ncleanseth us from all sin.\u2019  You must remember at once that in the midst\nof all your difficulties you have a living Advocate at the right hand of\nGod; and therefore at once, with God\u2019s holiness as your standard, God\u2019s\natonement as your righteousness, and God\u2019s Spirit as your guide,\nnotwithstanding all shortcomings, you may say as St. Paul did in the\nmidst of his struggle, \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.\u2019\n\n\n\nGRACE.\n\n\n    \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I\n    myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.\u2019\u2014ROM.\n    vii. 25.\n\n    \u2018There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus\n    Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\u2019\u2014ROM.\n    viii. 1.\n\nI HOPE that your study of this passage during the week has confirmed the\nconclusions at which we arrived last Sunday,\u2014that St. Paul was speaking\nof himself, not of another; and that he was describing his experience at\nthe very time he wrote the Epistle.  I trust also you have seen from his\nwords that the Lord had opened his eyes to discover the holiness of the\nlaw, and changed his heart, so that with his whole soul he loved it.  I\nhope also that it has been clear to you that this exclamation, \u2018Oh,\nwretched man that I am!\u2019 was the expression of his profound humiliation,\nunder the painful sense of his own shortcoming when measured by the high\nstandard of the holiness of God.\n\nNow, I believe that if, instead of adopting some artificial standard of\nour own, we aim at the perfection of God\u2019s holiness, as taught in the\nWord of God and exhibited in the life of the Son of God, we are sure thus\npainfully to feel the contrast between what we are and what we ought to\nbe.  Of course if we measure ourselves by ourselves we may be easily\nsatisfied; but then we know we are not wise, and our satisfaction may be\nnothing more than delusion.  But if we bring ourselves to the test of\nperfect, spotless, eternal holiness, and honestly look into the workings\nof our own fallen heart, I cannot imagine why we should shrink from such\nwords as those in our confession, \u2018We have left undone those things which\nwe ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not\nto have done.\u2019\n\nAre we to understand then that there is nothing but conflict and\ndisappointment before the Christian man, and that the only effect of the\nopening of the heart by the Holy Ghost, is to lead us to discover, and\nfeel the pain of, sin?  If so, I could almost say, \u2018Let the eye remain\nclosed,\u2019 for I verily believe there is no state of mind so painful as\nwhen there is the sight of sin without the sight of Christ Jesus.  When\nyou know neither sin nor a Saviour, you can be content in the world; when\nyou know sin alone without a Saviour, you have all the anxiety of\nreligion without the joy: but it is when you know both, that you may be\nsorrowful yet always rejoicing; deeply conscious of your own defects, and\nyet resting peacefully in the right hand of the blessed Lord who has\nredeemed you by His blood.\n\nThis morning, therefore, if God permit, we will endeavour to study what\nit is in the Saviour that can give us a peaceful, thankful joy, at the\nvery time that we feel most profoundly humbled before the holiness of\nGod.  I have not nearly time to discuss the whole subject as I should\nlike to do, and, therefore, must confine your attention to these two\nverses; standing as they do in immediate connexion with the description\nof the struggle, they will supply us with exactly the information we\nrequire, and teach us how in the midst of the sharpest conflict with sin\nthe believer may enjoy the most perfect peace in Christ Jesus.\n\nThere appear to be three lessons plainly taught us.\n\nI.  We have the triumphant hope of final victory.  Along with the deepest\nsense of unsatisfied longings after holiness there is the peaceful spirit\nof thanksgiving in the assurance of a coming triumph.  The passage does\nnot refer to a deliverance that had already taken place, but to one still\nfuture; and the thanksgiving was not for any thing past, but for a great\nwork still remaining to be accomplished.  So the deliverance from the\ntext is not a deliverance from the curse, for that had taken place\nalready; nor a deliverance from the sentence of the law, for from that\nthe Apostle was already free; but a deliverance from the power of\nindwelling sin, which kept him back from the holiness at which he aimed.\nHe said, therefore, \u2018Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?\u2019\nHe had found by experience that he could not deliver himself; but in the\nmidst of his own failure he could look up to the great Deliverer, and\nwith profound thanksgiving bless God for the undoubting assurance that in\nGod\u2019s own time he would be completely transformed into the very likeness\nof his Lord.  His language is explained by his own words, in Phil. iii.\n20, 21: \u2018From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ;\nwho shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His\nglorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all\nthings to Himself.\u2019  \u2018The body of this death,\u2019 in the text, is the same\nas the \u2018vile body,\u2019 or \u2018body of humiliation,\u2019 in the Philippians; and the\ndeliverance of the text is the transformation of that body into the\nlikeness of the Lord Christ Jesus, at the appearing of our Blessed\nSaviour.  This is exactly the same as what the Apostle John expected when\nhe said (1 John, iii. 2), \u2018Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it\ndoth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall\nappear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.\u2019  So that,\non the whole, we are taught that the time is most undoubtedly coming when\nthose who are thirsting after the holiness of God will be perfectly\nsatisfied; when the vile body shall be changed; and when not a spot, or\nblemish, will remain in any one of the saints of God.\n\nYe then who are humbled and cast down because of your infinite\nshortcomings, ye must not be disheartened, but must trust your Saviour.\nHe came to save His people from their sins, and in His own time He will\ndo it.  If you be in Him, He has already set you free from the curse; He\nhas already given you the earnest desire to do His will; He has already\nso far secured the victory that, \u2018Sin shall not have the dominion over\nyou.\u2019  And the time is soon coming when He will Himself appear in His\nglory, and then all conflicts will be over, and you will be like Him, for\nyou shall see Him as He is.  Like St. Paul, therefore, you may begin at\nonce to give Him thanks.  You remember the case of Jehoshaphat, and how\nhe put the singers in front of his little army, to praise God for the\npromised victory, even when the enemy stood there in the fulness of his\nstrength.  So you too may rise at once in the spirit of thanksgiving: for\nin Christ Jesus your victory is far more certain than that of\nJehoshaphat.  You may press on, therefore, with the utmost vigour, with a\nvictory full in view; and, though as yet you fall infinitely short of His\nmost perfect character, you need not wait till you have overcome your\ndifficulties, but may even now say, as St. Paul did, \u2018I thank God through\nJesus Christ our Lord.\u2019\n\nII.  But you could not do this if all the while the power of sin were\nshutting you out from God.  And this leads us to a second point of the\nutmost possible importance: viz., that now, in the midst of the struggle,\nand during the time of imperfection, in Christ Jesus we are free from all\ncondemnation.  If, as we pursue our course, we were to be condemned for\nall the sin of which we are guilty in either omission or commission, in\neither thought, word, or act, there could be no peace or hope in our\nstruggle.  I am not surprised that poor people who do not know the Gospel\ngo to priests for absolution, or resort to any other man-made expedient\nin order to endeavour to escape from the misery of the perpetual\nexclusion from God of which they must be conscious.  But in Christ Jesus\nyou need nothing of the kind, for \u2018there is now no condemnation for them\nthat are in Christ Jesus.\u2019  Observe the force of the \u2018now\u2019 in contrast\nwith the \u2018shall\u2019 of the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter.  The\ncomplete deliverance is future: so he said, \u2018Who _shall_ deliver me?\u2019\nBut the perfect freedom from all condemnation is present: and therefore\nhe says, \u2018There is _now_ no condemnation.\u2019  The \u2018therefore now\u2019 of that\nverse depends on the sixth verse of the seventh chapter, the intermediate\npassage being a parenthesis, so that the connexion is as follows: \u2018Now we\nare delivered from the law, . . . there is therefore now no\ncondemnation.\u2019  The battle is not over, and you have still to fight a\nhard fight with sin; but now that sin cannot cut you off from God, for\nyou are no longer under the law: you are in Christ Jesus, and He has\nsatisfied the law in your behalf.  Your sin undoubtedly deserves\ncondemnation, and you have not a word to say in its defence: but He has\nalready borne that condemnation, so that in Him you are free; and nothing\ncan separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.\nNow, think for one moment of the unspeakable blessedness of this most\nprecious truth.  You may review all that has occurred through the\nday,\u2014your prayers, your praises, your wandering thoughts, your\nconversation, your motives, and your heart\u2019s desires,\u2014and oh, how far\nthey will all fall short of the holiness of God!  If you are not in\nChrist Jesus, the thought of them must fill you with anxiety, doubt, and\na sense of distance from God; but if you are enabled by His grace to take\nhome to your heart the blessed truth, that _now_, even _now_, before you\nhave gained the victory, there is no condemnation,\u2014then that sin does not\nseparate you from Him.  It humbles you, it is true, and deeply grieves\nyou; but it cannot cut you off from God: you are sheltered in the\ncovenant of Grace.  \u2018The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth you\nfrom all sin,\u2019 and you may kneel before Him in the peaceful enjoyment of\na true and uninterrupted fellowship with God.  In the spirit of adoption\nyou may cry Abba, Father; and with the happy trust of a child in its\nfather\u2019s arms, you may say, \u2018I will lay me down in peace, and sleep; for\nthou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.\u2019\n\nIII.  But that is not all; for besides this we have the unspeakable\nprivilege of the unceasing leading of God the Holy Ghost.  If we were\nleft to ourselves to fight out our battle with sin, to rely on our own\njudgment, and to overcome by our own powers, we should be overcome before\nwe had struck a single blow.  But not only is there a final victory\npromised to us in the future, and a complete freedom from all\ncondemnation in the present, but there is also another most sacred gift\nat once enjoyed by all who are in Christ Jesus: viz., the present\nindwelling of God the Holy Ghost within the soul.  This belongs not to\nthe future, but to the present: it is not connected with the \u2018shall\u2019 of\nverse twenty-four, but with the \u2018now\u2019 of verse one.  \u2018There is now no\ncondemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk,\u2019 or who are\nwalking, \u2018not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\u2019  So, in verse\nfourteen, we read of a present leading as the privilege of a present\nsonship: \u2018As many as are led,\u2019 or being led, \u2018by the Spirit of God, they\nare the sons of God.\u2019  It is impossible to attempt to unfold all the\nblessings which follow from this most sacred privilege: it conveys to us\nall that is connected both with companionship and power.  Companionship,\nbecause He is not one afar off to be reached only occasionally, and that\nafter special efforts: but dwelling within the soul as a Leader, a\nComforter, a Witness, an Advocate, a Friend.  And a power: for He is not\nlike a mighty arm afar off, omnipotent if we could but reach it; but a\nvery present help: one that knows our weakness better than we do, and\nperceives our danger before we know it ourselves.  One that, dwelling\nwithin, can so act on the conscience, and so move the secret springs of\nthe will, that He does not merely make use of us as machines, but\nconstrains us to hate sin and to love holiness; while He Himself imparts\na power to shake off our fetters, and as free men to walk with God.\n\nSurely, then, we may understand the apparent contradiction in the\nApostle\u2019s words, and see why it was that he was thanking God, although he\ncalled himself a wretched man.  He called himself a wretched man, because\nthere was that in his ruined nature which kept him back from the exalted\nholiness at which he aimed: but he could still thank God, for he was sure\nthat before long he would be transformed into the likeness of Christ\nHimself; and, more than that, he knew that even now, in the days of his\nconflict, there was a freedom from all condemnation for his failures, and\nthe sacred assurance of the Holy Ghost abiding in his soul to lead him on\nto victory.  Therefore it was that he could give thanks.  And, dear\nbrethren, if you are in Christ Jesus, may not you do the same?  Is there\nnot the same hope for you?  Are not you equally free from condemnation?\nIs not the indwelling Spirit equally effectual for you?  How is it then\nthat your whole souls are not filled with bright hope, and profound\nthanksgiving?  How is it that we do not all unite more heartily and\nunreservedly in the spirit of the text, \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ\nour Lord?\u2019\n\n\n\nHOLINESS THROUGH FAITH.\n\n\n    \u2018And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by\n    faith.\u2019\u2014ACTS, xv. 9.\n\nI FEAR that I may have almost wearied some of you by dwelling so long as\nI have on the subject of sanctification, or Christian holiness; but it is\none of such overwhelming practical importance, and so intimately\nconnected with the glory of God, that I am persuaded we ought none to\ngrudge any time spent on the study of it.  I must ask your attention,\ntherefore, to a phrase which has lately become familiar to some of you,\nviz. \u2018holiness through faith.\u2019  I like the expression thoroughly, and\nbelieve it to be full of truth; for there can be no true holiness except\nby faith, and no real faith that does not lead to holiness.  If we are\nholy at all we may be perfectly certain that the holiness will be through\nfaith; and if we are real believers we may be equally sure that we shall\nbe holy; therefore it is that in this passage, when the Apostle is\nspeaking of the sacred work of divine purity wrought in the soul by the\nHoly Ghost, he described Him as \u2018purifying the heart by faith.\u2019  This\nthen shall be our subject for this morning, and I hope we may learn two\ngreat truths: first, that holiness is not known by faith; and next, that\nfaith is the power by which it pleases God to produce holiness in the\nsoul.\n\nI.  Holiness is not known by faith.  This seems so obvious that it may be\nscarcely thought to require consideration, but from what I have read\nlately, I am inclined to think it does.  Let us then bear well in mind\nthat faith is entirely occupied with things future or unseen.  \u2018Faith is\nthe substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.\u2019  The\nmoment that we can see anything, that thing ceases to be an object of\nfaith.  There is an old saying, that \u2018seeing is believing;\u2019 but that is\nthe creed of the materialist, who says he can only believe what he sees;\nbut it will not do for the Christian, or even for the philosopher, for\nsight supersedes faith, and the very essence of faith is to believe when\nwe cannot see.  So our Lord said to Thomas, \u2018Blessed are they which have\nnot seen, and yet have believed.\u2019  You believe that the Lord Jesus is now\nat the right hand of the Father, and will shortly come again; but when\nyou stand before Him and behold Him on His throne, it will no longer be a\nmatter of faith, but of sight.  So our justification through imputed\nrighteousness is a matter of faith: it is a divine act of the hidden mind\nof God, and perfectly invisible to the eye of man.  You cannot see your\nname in the book of life; you cannot see the counsel of God blotting out\nyour sin because of the finished sacrifice, or accounting you righteous\nin Christ Jesus even at the very time that you know yourself to be a\nruined sinner.  You cannot see it, for the whole transaction is out of\nsight: it takes place in heaven, not on earth; in the council-chamber of\nGod, and not within the reach of human vision.  This, therefore, is an\nobject of faith, and can only be known by faith.  You cannot hope to see\nyour justification, or the imputation of righteousness to your soul; all\nthat you can do is to trust God for it.  He has declared in His Word that\nHe has \u2018made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made\nthe righteousness of God in Him.\u2019  So that we may trust in His assurance,\nand believe that, the Lord Jesus having been made sin for us, we are\naccounted righteous in Him, even with the righteousness of God.  Yes: and\nthanks be to God! we may believe it at once, for the Covenant of God is\nas perfect now as it can be if we wait a hundred years.  There is\nnothing, therefore, to prevent a present and immediate faith in the\nfinished Work, and perfect Word, of a Blessed Saviour.  Believe Him, and\nthere is peace; and believe Him now.\n\nBut it is not so with sanctification, or holiness.  The seat of holiness,\nor sanctification, is in our own souls.  It is not like the name written\nin the Book of Life which no man can see; for it is the law written by\nthe Holy Ghost upon the fleshy tables of the heart, and therefore within\nview of conscience.  God has placed a conscience within every one of us:\nan eye that looks inward, and can see all that is passing within the\nsoul.  Are there bad acts, bad words, or bad thoughts?  Conscience may\nsee them all.  Is there a deep desire to walk with God, and do His Will?\nConscience discovers it.  So says the Apostle John (1 John, iii. 20, 21):\n\u2018If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all\nthings.  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence\ntowards God.\u2019  Conscience therefore must decide as to the existence of\nsanctification, or personal holiness.  Justification, or imputed\nrighteousness, is known by faith, not sight: sanctification, or inwrought\nrighteousness, is known by sight, not faith.  We should be acting in\nunbelief if we were to doubt the perfection of imputed righteousness\nbecause we cannot see it, for faith is concerned with the unseen; but we\nshould be putting faith into altogether a false position if we were to\npresume to believe in the perfection of our holiness so long as\nconscience convinces us that sin is still abiding in the heart.  If we\nare conscious of indwelling sin, and find it ready to break out like a\nfire at any moment, it is not the office of faith to reckon it dead.  No,\ndear brethren: true holiness is a practical change of heart wrought in us\nby the Holy Ghost, and perceptible; it is a new character wrought in us\nby a new power, and springing from new principles.  It is not an\ninvisible change, but one known by its results; it is not a matter of\nfaith, but of experience; and so St. John says in his Epistle (1 John,\niii. 24): \u2018Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He\nhath given us.\u2019\n\nII.  But, though holiness is not known by faith, faith is the power by\nwhich it pleases God to produce it, and therefore it is well called\n\u2018Holiness through faith.\u2019  Some people seem to speak of this subject as\nif they had made a great religious discovery.  I often wonder what books\nthey had read, or what sermons they had heard, before they discovered it.\nThey could not have been those of the great divines of the Church of\nEngland,\u2014such as Hooker, Bishop Reynolds, or Archbishop Leighton; nor of\nthe great Evangelical Fathers in the Church of England,\u2014such as Venn,\nCecil, and Simeon; for holiness through faith is the keynote of all their\nwritings.  Over and over again have sermons been preached and books\nwritten on such great, full, plain texts as this: \u2018Put no difference\nbetween us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.\u2019\n\nBut, leaving such discussions, let us consider the office of faith in\nproducing holiness, and examine in what way it pleases God to purify the\nheart through faith.\n\nWe shall find that He does it in two ways.\n\n(1.)  By the introduction of new motives and principles.  He does not\ndeal with us as though we were without mind, but by the use of the mind\nwhich He Himself has given.  The refiner refines the silver, but the\nsilver has no voice in the transaction: it is simply acted upon as\nlifeless matter.  But it is not so with the soul: the soul can think, can\nfeel, can sorrow, can rejoice, can love; and when God refines it He calls\ninto activity all its faculties.  In purifying the heart He makes use of\nits powers, and so consecrates them to His most sacred service.  For\nexample, there is no greater power in the whole mind of man than love.\nPeople will make any sacrifices under the influence of a powerful\naffection; God therefore takes that faculty of love, and so consecrates\nit to His own sacred service, that the people of God may say, \u2018The love\nof Christ constraineth us.\u2019  And now you see in a moment the office of\nfaith.  How is that love to grow up within the soul if there be no faith\npreceding it?  If you have no trust in His reconciling grace,\u2014if it is\nall a matter of uncertainty to you whether He is loving you as a child,\nor about to cast you as a condemned criminal into hell,\u2014I cannot see what\nthere is to call forth any love within your heart.  St. John says, \u2018We\nlove Him because He first loved us;\u2019 so that if there is no trust in His\nfirst love the motive is gone, and there is no power by which love in us\ncan be produced.  But when, on the other hand, we can believe His\nboundless grace,\u2014believe that He gave Himself to be sin for us with as\nlittle doubt as if we actually saw Him on the cross,\u2014believe that we are\nalready forgiven through His blood, and, though so unworthy, made the\nrighteousness of God in Him,\u2014believe, in short, that He is fulfilling to\nus that most precious promise in Hosea, \u2018I will love them freely, for\nmine anger is turned away from him,\u2019 and all because the Son of God was\ncontent in our place to die,\u2014then there is something to call forth love\nin the hardest heart that ever beat; something that must make sin in all\nits forms inexpressibly hateful; something to produce those sacred\nresults of constraining love described by St. Paul, when he said, \u2018That\nthey which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him\nthat died for them, and rose again.\u2019\n\nIf therefore you earnestly desire holiness, remember it must be holiness\nthrough faith.  Do not fall into the common error of supposing it must be\nfaith through holiness; but keep close to what is taught you in the text:\nviz., that God purifies the heart through faith.  First, get a fast hold\non His love to you.  Realise that, and you may safely leave your love to\nHim to follow.  But, till you know that, you will never be really holy,\nfor you can never be under the power of the great governing principle of\nlove.\n\n(2.)  But this is not all, for true holiness is a Divine gift as much as\npardon.  It is not an uncommon thing to find a kind of vague idea that we\nare to find the holiness, and God the pardon; the certain result of which\nis that there is no progress in the one, and no joy in the other.  But\nthat is not the teaching of the Gospel.  According to the Sacred\nScripture all the Three Persons of the one Godhead are engaged in our\nsanctification.  In this passage, _e.g._, it is ascribed to God the\nFather, as its author, and God the Holy Ghost as the agent; in the first\nEpistle to the Corinthians, our Lord and Saviour is said to be \u2018made unto\nus sanctification:\u2019 so that He bears the very title of Jesus, because it\nis His office to \u2018save His people from their sins.\u2019  If, therefore, we\nare made holy, it is by the power of the Holy Ghost carrying out the\npurpose of the Father, and dwelling within the soul through the mediation\nof the Son; it is the sacred act of Divine power carrying into effect the\nDivine Covenant through the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ.\nAnd here you see in a moment the office of faith.  Faith is the act of\nthe soul casting itself on the Covenant, and on the Lord Jesus Christ\nrevealed in Scripture as the Mediator of the Covenant.  If you fight your\nown battle for holiness you may struggle hard, and struggle long, but you\nare sure to fail.  You may try any expedient you please,\u2014rules of life,\nbooks of self-examination, anything; but it won\u2019t do.  The old sin of\nyour fallen heart will keep cropping up just as strong as ever; and you\nwill find yourself a year hence no nearer to the mark than you are now,\nfor the holiness at which you are aiming is not holiness through faith.\nIf you thirst for holiness, you must throw yourself into the arms of the\nSon of God, that He, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, may do that\nwhich you cannot do,\u2014make you holy; or, according to the text, purify\nyour heart by faith.  There is a great danger of our being partial in our\ntrust: of trusting Him for pardon, but not for holiness.  But He teaches\nus to trust Him equally for both.  The promise, \u2018I will put my law into\ntheir inward parts, and write it in their hearts,\u2019 is just as much a\npromise of the Covenant as that other promise, \u2018I will forgive their\niniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.\u2019  You may therefore\ntrust Him to write His law on your heart just as much as you may trust\nHim for the forgiveness of your sin.\n\nIt does not follow from this that the two gifts will be completed at the\nsame time, or in the same way: the writing of the law on the heart is\nthrough a gradual process of Divine education; the blotting out of sin,\nan immediate act complete at once in the mind of God: but both are acts\nof the great Deliverer, and for both equally it is the joy of our hearts\nto trust Him.  Trust Him, therefore, to work out a holiness in your soul\njust as you trust Him to have given you the forgiveness of your sin.  If\nyou are trusting Him for imputed righteousness,\u2014that is, trusting Him for\nhaving wrought out such a work in your behalf that you are already \u2018made\nthe righteousness of God in Him,\u2019\u2014trust Him also for personal holiness;\nthat by the power of the Holy Ghost your character may be conformed to\nyour position.  There are many powers by which you may gain many\nvictories, but there is only one by which you can overcome the world:\nviz., that described by St. John when he said, \u2018This is the victory that\nover-cometh the world, even our faith.\u2019  Be sure, then, that that power\nis sufficient; so that, trusting Christ, you may rest assured of victory.\nYou are not condemned to toil on in a condition of disheartening\nhopelessness; but you may enter on each day of your life in the happy and\npeaceful assurance, not that you are perfect, but that you have\nperpetually at hand a loving Lord fully able by His own omnipotence to\novercome in you your besetting sin.  So you may go up from the wilderness\nleaning on the Beloved, and by God\u2019s grace may walk with Him to victory.\nPast failures must teach you your own most terrible corruption; but God\u2019s\ntruth may assure you of His sufficiency: so that at the very moment of\nyour own most utter helplessness, when you are ready to cry, \u2018Oh,\nwretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this\ndeath?\u2019 you may reply to your own question in the triumphant language of\nthe Apostle, \u2018I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.\u2019\n\n\n\nCONSECRATION.\n\n\n    \u2018I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye\n    present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,\n    which is your reasonable service.\u2019\u2014ROM. xii. 1.\n\nA GREAT deal has been lately said on the subject of consecration; and we\nmay all rejoice in having our attention directed to it, as we all require\na much higher standard than we have ever yet known of self-abandoning\ndedication to the Lord.  We all need to know more fully and more\nexperimentally the real meaning of such words as these: \u2018Whether we live,\nwe live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether\nwe live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord\u2019s.\u2019  It is most important\nthen that we understand what we mean by consecration.  It is clearly\nquite distinct from that Divine act of separation in which God, by the\npower of the Holy Ghost, separates His own elect, and incorporates them\ninto Christ.  It is also quite distinct from the submission of the soul\nwhen it ceases to go about to establish its own righteousness, and\nsubmits itself unto the righteousness of God, though in the inaccurate\nphraseology of some modern writings it sometimes appears to be confounded\nwith it.  To consecrate any thing is to set it apart as a holy gift unto\nthe Lord; and, therefore, when we speak of consecration, or\nself-consecration, we mean that which St. Paul described of the Churches\nof Macedonia, when he said, \u2018They first gave their own selves to the\nLord.\u2019  It is the voluntary act of the loving and believing heart\nyielding itself up to a blessed Saviour, to be henceforth holy unto God.\nIt is in this sense that I am about to speak of it now,\u2014not considering\nthe word so much as the thing,\u2014and hoping that, by God\u2019s great grace, all\namongst us who know the Lord may be enabled to yield ourselves, as we\nhave never yet done, to His service.\n\nThere are few passages of sacred Scripture which will give us a better\nsummary of the subject than this verse.  It contains four points, to\nwhich I would draw your particular attention.\n\nI.  This consecration is a sacrifice.  I need not say that it is not a\nsacrifice for the blotting out of sin: it cost more to redeem our souls,\nso we must let that alone for ever.  It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving,\ncorresponding to the meat-offering in the law of types,\u2014the sacrifice of\nthe thankful heart presenting its thank-offering to God.  Regarding it\nthen as prefigured by the meat-offering, we may learn two lessons\nrespecting it.\n\n(1.)  It implies complete surrender.  Under the ancient law every\nsacrifice was wholly given up to God.  Whatever was brought to the altar\nwas given up without reserve.  No part of it was taken back to the home\nof the offerer.  People might give what they pleased, but when it was\ngiven it was no longer their own, but God\u2019s.  And so it is with us.  If\nwe have given ourselves to the Lord, we are no longer our own: \u2018Whether\nwe live or die, we are the Lord\u2019s.\u2019  There is, however, this difference\nbetween the Jewish sacrifice and ours.  In the case of the ancient\nsacrifices, when the sacrifice was a living animal, it was always put to\ndeath, and part of it burned as a sweet savour unto God: but it is not so\nwith us.  According to this text, it is a living sacrifice that we are\ncalled to offer; it is the continued life that we are to surrender.  We\nare not now called to die for Him, as martyrs and many of our\nmissionaries have done, but to live for Him in that state of life in\nwhich it has pleased God to call us.  The sweet savour that is to rise\nfrom our sacrifice is to be the sweet savour of Christian holiness, the\nholy fragrance of Christian character.\n\n(2.)  This sacrifice is well pleasing to God.  The meat-offering was\ndescribed as \u2018an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord:\u2019\nso this sacrifice is said in the text to be \u2018acceptable unto God.\u2019  It\ndoes not say that it can fulfil the law, or be perfect before God; for\nthere is a vast difference between that which can fulfil the law and that\nwhich can please Him.  Nothing imperfect can fulfil the law, but the\nutterly imperfect service of a loving heart may be well-pleasing in His\nsight.  Thus it is that He declares our sacrifice to be acceptable to\nHimself; and while we seek to yield all we have to Him, and for His sake\n\u2018to do good and to communicate,\u2019 we may have the delight and\nencouragement of knowing that \u2018with such sacrifices God is well pleased.\u2019\n(Heb. xiii. 16.)\n\nII.  It is a sacrifice of the whole man.  In the first verse the body\nonly is mentioned: \u2018Present your bodies a living sacrifice;\u2019 which\nevidently has reference to the Jewish type, and teaches that we are not\nto offer the body of a lamb, or a goat, or a heifer, but our own.  But\nthe next verse teaches us that the appeal is not limited to the offering\nof the body, for there we read that we are to be \u2018transformed by the\nrenewing of our _mind_, that we may prove what is that good, and\nacceptable, and perfect will of God.\u2019  It is clear, therefore, that the\nwhole man is to be included in the gift.  Now I sometimes meet with\nsubtle distinctions between the soul and the spirit, and the emotions and\nthe will, and I am quite ready to admit that they may be all correct and\nvery interesting: but I do not care to stop to distinguish between the\ndifferent parts or faculties, for God\u2019s call lays claim to them all.\nWhatever they are, and whereinsoever they differ, the desire of our heart\nshould be that they should all as one whole be given up to Him.  In\nwhatever position He has placed us,\u2014whether that of parents, children,\nmasters, servants, men of business, men of wealth, tradesmen, labourers,\nor clergymen,\u2014that position is to be occupied for Him; and whatever\nfaculties He has given us,\u2014whether a powerful intellect, a good memory, a\nwarm heart, a tender conscience, a vigorous body, a good constitution, or\nan ample fortune,\u2014all, all belong to Him who has redeemed us by His own\nmost precious blood.  When we give up ourselves we give up\neverything,\u2014our wills, and emotions, and powers, and energies, our\nhearts, and heads, and hands,\u2014to be yielded up to Him, and employed by\nHim and for Him, as He sees best for His own glory.\n\nIII.  This consecration is the result of mercy.  The latter words of the\ntext show that it is \u2018a reasonable service;\u2019 or, in other words, that it\nis not the result of mere feeling, impulse, or emotion, but the\ndeliberate and well-considered decision of a thoughtful mind.  The\npassage corresponds to those words in 2 Cor. v. 14: \u2018The love of Christ\nconstraineth us because we thus judge;\u2019 where you see the union between\nthe heart and the head.  The constraining love is the result of the\njudgment, the blessed fruit of the deep convictions of the understanding:\nso that those who feel it may give a reason, not only for the hope that\nis in them, but also for the love that fills their heart.  There are\ncertain great facts on which the judgment rests, and the believing\nassurance of these facts is the means employed by the Holy Spirit to call\nforth the devotedness of love.\n\nNow what are these facts?  What is it that possesses this love-producing\npower?  In the passage from the Corinthians there is one great fact\nmentioned: viz., the propitiatory death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  \u2018If\none died for all, then were all dead,\u2019 \u2018or died.\u2019  They died in Him,\ninasmuch as they were represented by Him; and it is that great fact which\nis said to produce the constraining love.  In this passage no one fact is\nmentioned, but the appeal is made to the whole multitude of His mercies:\n\u2018I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your\nbodies a living sacrifice.\u2019  Throughout the Epistle St. Paul had been\nshowing that we are all saved by mercy.  In the eleventh chapter he had\nenlarged on the mercy by which we Gentiles are now saved in Christ Jesus\nand the mercy about to be manifested towards the Jews, till he arrives at\nthe conclusion that \u2018God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might\nhave mercy upon all.\u2019  Then he bursts forth in the exclamation, \u2018Oh the\ndepth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!\u2019 and follows\nit up by the appeal of the text: \u2018I beseech you therefore, brethren, by\nthe mercies of God.\u2019  If such mercy has been shown you, if,\nnotwithstanding all your unbelief, by boundless and unmerited mercy you\nhave been saved and made one even with Christ Himself, is it now too much\nto ask of you that, without delay and without reserve, you yield your\nwhole lives to His service?\n\nI believe it is impossible for us to be too careful in observing this\nconnexion between consecration and mercy, for in the very vague theology\nof the present day there is a great deal which certainly has the\nappearance of teaching that the blessed peace of a union with Christ is\nto be the result of entire consecration.  But we are here taught, not\nthat we are to reach mercy as the result of the completeness of our\nconsecration, but that, having realized mercy, we should yield ourselves\nin consecration to God.  That union with the Lord Jesus must be given\nthrough the personal appropriation of the mercy of God in Him; and we\nshould regard with the utmost jealousy any teaching which, either\nintentionally or unintentionally, turns the thoughts inwards to analyze\nthe extent of consecration, with a view to obtaining the blessing of that\nunion, instead of rather diverting all thoughts to the fulness of mercy\nin Christ Jesus, and so calling forth out of His fulness the abounding\nlove of a consecrated heart.\n\nThis great truth is well brought out in our Communion Service.  You\nremember those words of self-consecration in which we have so often\nunited, words founded on this very text: \u2018Here we offer and present unto\nThee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy,\nand lively sacrifice unto Thee.\u2019  Now in the first Prayer-book of Edward\nVI. that prayer stood before the reception of the Lord\u2019s Supper, as if we\nwere first to complete an act of self-consecration, and then upon the\nstrength of it feed on Christ: so our Reformers changed its position, and\nput the prayer after the reception instead of before it, in order to show\nthat when we want to feed on Christ Jesus, to dwell in Him and He in us,\nwe must come to His footstool as poor sinners, forgiven and accepted\nthrough His most precious blood; and that when we have been thus\npermitted to \u2018sit under His shadow with great delight, and to find His\nfruit sweet to our taste,\u2019 the next thing for us all to do is to kneel\ndown with a full and thankful heart, and yield ourselves, body, soul, and\nspirit, to His service.\n\nIV.  This consecration should be continually renewed and deepened.  In\nour Communion Service we renew our self-dedication every time that we\nreceive the Lord\u2019s Supper, for every time we say the same words: \u2018Here we\noffer and present ourselves . . . to be a reasonable, holy, and lively\nsacrifice unto Thee.\u2019  In doing this I firmly believe we are right; and\nthat we are so seems clearly proved by the text.  The Romans, to whom\nthese words were addressed, were \u2018beloved of God, called to be saints\u2019\n(i. 7); they had \u2018become servants of God\u2019 and had \u2018their fruit unto\nholiness.\u2019 (vi. 22.)  There can be no doubt, therefore, as to their past\nsurrender to His service; but, notwithstanding that, they were exhorted\nafresh to \u2018present their bodies a living sacrifice,\u2019 and afresh to \u2018yield\nthemselves unto God.\u2019 (vi. 13.)  So we are not to look on our\nconsecration as a single act, completed at a certain moment, and\nafterwards to be regarded as a finished thing; but rather as a habit and\nattitude of mind, deepening with our depth, strengthening with our\nstrength, and growing with our growth.  As we grow in grace and in the\nknowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we shall grow also in the\ndeep sense of mercy.  His love passeth knowledge, and it will take\neternity to learn its fulness.  And His mercy corresponds with His love:\nit is \u2018from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him;\u2019 it is\n\u2018high as the heaven is above the earth;\u2019 and as no astronomer can measure\nthe height of the fixed stars, and as no finite mind can take in the idea\nof an infinite eternity, so none of us, no, not even the most advanced\nbeliever, can fathom the depths or scan the heights of the free,\nunfettered, everlasting mercy of our God.  But as we grow in the\nknowledge of Him and of ourselves, we shall learn more and more of it.\nThe more we know of the covenant of God,\u2014the more we see of the Lord\nJesus, in His person, His character, and His work,\u2014the more we know of\nour own hearts, and discover the exceeding sinfulness of our ruined\nnature, and the more we see of the perfect adaptation to our utmost wants\nof the Divine salvation wrought out for us in Christ Jesus,\u2014so much the\nmore shall we know of mercy.  Every day in the believer\u2019s life brings\nwith it a fresh lesson in mercy, and every prayer that we pray to a\nreconciled Father should bring home to us with fresh power the deep debt\nwe owe to mercy.\n\nAnd now you see in a moment how it is that there should be a continued\nand constantly repeated renewal of self-consecration.  Every fresh\ndiscovery of mercy should lead at once to fresh surrender.  If you are\nlooking on mercy as some distant thing, which you have often heard of and\nwish to reach, but cannot, I see not, for my part, how it should have any\ngreat power over your life; for, though it looks very beautiful, you\ncannot say that it has brought any benefit to you.  If you have never\nfelt your own deep need of it, and never learned your utter ruin, and\nhave therefore never realised your condemnation before God, I see not how\nthe tidings of mercy should have any great power upon you, for no man\nreally cares for the remedy until he has been taught by God\u2019s Spirit to\nfeel his need.  But if you have discovered yourself to be utterly and\nhopelessly lost, condemned alike by your own conscience and by the law of\nGod; and if in the midst of your ruin you have, by God\u2019s rich love in\nChrist Jesus, \u2018obtained mercy;\u2019 if you can look on His mercy in having\nredeemed you by His blood, in having called you by His Spirit, in having\nsaved you by His grace, in having given you a blessed hope of His\neverlasting kingdom,\u2014then indeed I cannot doubt that God has long since\ncalled you to a real consecration to His service.  But if this be so, and\nif God has since been bringing you to a deeper sense of sin, and at the\nsame time opening your heart to understand more of His mercy; if He is\nstep by step making manifest to you \u2018the depth, and length, and breadth,\nand height,\u2019 and causing you to \u2018know the love of Christ that passeth\nknowledge:\u2019 then I can see very clearly that all past consecration must\nappear to your own heart as nothing, and that, \u2018forgetting those things\nthat are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before,\u2019\nyou will be ready again to kneel down at His feet, and with fresh love\nand fresh thanksgiving, yield yourselves afresh to Him, to be His, and\nHis for ever.  You may have long since given yourself to the Lord; but if\nyou are this day really permitted \u2018to feed on Him\u2014in your heart\u2014by\nfaith\u2014with thanksgiving, you will be prepared to kneel down afterwards\nand say, \u2018Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our\nsouls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto\nThee.\u2019\n\n\n\nPRAYER.\n\n\n    \u2018I am Thine, save me; for I have sought Thy precepts.\u2019\u2014PSALM cxix.\n    94.\n\nWE studied last Sunday the subject of consecration as taught us in the\nwords of the Apostle Paul, in which he exhorted us to \u2018present our bodies\na living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.\u2019  I trust the result\nhas been that many amongst us have so realised the multitude of God\u2019s\nmercies that, under the deep sense of profound thanksgiving, we have\nknelt down before Him, afresh to yield ourselves to His service.  If so,\nthe question arises, What next?  If the sacrifice of ourselves has been\noffered by us and accepted by God, into what position have we been\nbrought, and what are we to expect in our future life?  Are we to expect\nto be so set free from the impediments of sin, and so filled with holy\nlove and joy that we shall be gently wafted heavenward, without either a\nconflict or a difficulty? or, are we to expect a stiff, hard warfare to\nthe end, with a certain hope of victory through the perfection of our\nLeader\u2019s power, but with all the accompaniments of a deadly struggle\nuntil the victory is won and Satan bruised under our feet for ever?  I\nregard this question as one of the utmost importance, for if we look for\nthat which God has not promised, our very faith will lead to\ndisappointment; whereas if we do not look for that which He has really\npromised, we shall clearly never rise to the high standard of His Word.\nTo this question then I purpose to turn your thoughts this morning, and I\npray God that the Holy Spirit may teach us all, and lead us rightly to\nunderstand, and truly to act on, His Word.\n\nThis text appears to throw great light on the subject, for in the first\nclause the Psalmist actually pleads before God the recognised fact of a\npast and present consecration.  He does not say, \u2018I wish to be Thine,\u2019 or\n\u2018I hope to be Thine,\u2019 or \u2018I pray Thee to make me Thine,\u2019 but he says,\n\u2018Lord, I am Thine,\u2019 and no one could say that unless he had already\nyielded himself to God.  But it is not consecration only that is\nexpressed when the believer says, \u2018Lord, I am Thine;\u2019 for the\nconsecration of which I was speaking last Sunday is a human act,\u2014it is\nour own surrender of our own powers to God; and when we look closely at\nanything we do we may well remember the words of the prophet, \u2018How weak\nis thine heart!\u2019  If we can truly say in faith, \u2018Lord, I am Thine,\u2019 we\nmust rely on something a great deal better than our own consecration of\nourselves.  We belong to the Lord Jesus by virtue of the eternal covenant\nto which He referred when He said, \u2018My Father which gave them Me is\ngreater than all;\u2019 we belong to Him because we have been made His own by\nredemption, so as to be parts of the \u2018Church which He has purchased with\nHis own blood;\u2019 we belong to Him because we have been separated unto Him\nby the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, and so been \u2018sanctified unto\nobedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ;\u2019 we belong to Him,\nfor we have been made His own children by adoption, so that He speaks of\nus, saying, \u2018I and the children whom Thou hast given Me;\u2019 and we belong\nto Him, for we have been solemnly signed and sealed unto Him in our\nbaptism, and in our own persons have deliberately ratified the covenant.\nSo that when we say, \u2018Lord, I am Thine,\u2019 we do not merely refer to some\none particular transaction of our own at some one particular time, but we\nlook at the whole counsel and covenant of God,\u2014at the great and perfect\nwork of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost,\u2014before which\nany feeble effort of our own minds is absolutely nothing; and, reviewing\nit all, we kneel down, with our hearts full of praise, and wonder, and\nsay with the deepest thanksgiving, \u2018Lord, I am Thine.\u2019\n\nIt is clear, therefore, that these words, while they include personal\nconsecration on our own part, express that which is infinitely greater:\nnamely, the great grace of God Himself in redeeming us by the precious\nblood of the Lamb, and separating us as a holy people unto Himself.  And\nnow follows the question: When in this highest sense we can kneel down\nand really say with truth, \u2018Lord, I am Thine,\u2019 what is to follow?  The\nwords of the text supply us with a most important answer; for they teach\nthat one of the great results will be believing prayer, and they show\nthat when we are really His, and when we know that we are His, we are not\nto rest content with that sacred and unspeakable privilege, but to kneel\ndown afresh and say, \u2018Lord, I am Thine: save me.\u2019\n\nIt is clear from this passage that there was something which David still\nwanted, although he was the Lord\u2019s.  He was safe, but he still prayed to\nbe saved; he had been made the Lord\u2019s own dear child, but he still\nprayed, \u2018Save me.\u2019  Let us consider, then, what he wanted, and what he\ndid; and may God the Holy Ghost so apply the passage to our souls, that\nwe may know the double blessing of being His and being saved through His\ngrace!\n\nI.  WHAT HE WANTED; or, in other words, what he prayed for when he prayed\nthat he might be saved.  There appears to be no reference in the psalm to\ntemporal deliverance, so we need not consider the prayer as referring to\nit.  It was for spiritual gifts that he prayed, and from spiritual\ndifficulties that he desired to be saved.  And when we consider these\nspiritual gifts it is very clear that it was not acceptance, or\nreconciliation, for which he prayed, for his mind must have been quite at\nrest upon that point when he said, \u2018Lord, I am Thine.\u2019  What he was\nlonging for was personal holiness,\u2014that is, a complete conformity to the\nperfect will of that holy God to whom he belonged and whom he loved.  You\nsee this throughout the psalm.  He does not pray, \u2018Pardon me,\u2019 \u2018Receive\nme,\u2019 or \u2018Blot out my transgressions,\u2019 as he does in some other psalms;\nbut he does pray again and again that God\u2019s statutes might be written on\nhis heart: \u2018Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes:\u2019 \u2018Teach\nme Thy statutes;\u2019 \u2018Deal bountifully with Thy servant, that I may live and\nkeep Thy word;\u2019 \u2018Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep\nthe testimony of Thy mouth.\u2019  The whole psalm is full of such prayers,\nand they show us perfectly clearly that the salvation for which he prayed\nwas the power for holiness from God.  So the psalm also teaches us what\nwas the difficulty in the attainment of his wish.  There are some\nallusions to enemies, from which we may infer that there were persons\nabout him who hindered his progress.  But the psalm shows clearly that\nthe real difficulty lay in himself, and in the deadness of his own heart.\nNo less than nine times does he pray, \u2018Quicken me.\u2019  And what did that\nprayer imply?  Was it not that he was conscious of a dead, cold state of\nheart, and was longing for life and warmth?  Had there been no element of\ndeadness in his soul, he would not have required to be quickened; but\nthere was that element of deadness, and he himself urged it as a reason\nfor his prayer, when he said (verse 25), \u2018My soul cleaveth unto the dust:\nquicken Thou me according to Thy word.\u2019  It was the deep corruption of\nhis human nature which continued to cling to him, even when he was the\nLord\u2019s, against which he prayed when he said, \u2018Lord, I am Thine: save\nme.\u2019\n\nAnd now arises the most deeply important practical question: Are we, as\nbelievers in the Lord Jesus Christ, at the very time that we can truly\nsay \u2018Lord, I am Thine,\u2019 to be prepared to meet the same difficulty?  In\nanswer to that question, I have not one moment\u2019s hesitation in replying\nthat we are.  I have read and heard that original sin in certain persons\nis \u2018destroyed,\u2019 is \u2018dead, though capable of revival;\u2019 is \u2018rendered\ninert,\u2019 and is \u2018in suspense;\u2019 but I do not believe one word of it.  It is\nfar too large a subject for me to attempt to discuss fully in one short\nsermon: I have not time to give you more than two passages, but I hope\nthey will be sufficient.  In Romans viii.,\u2014that grand chapter, so full of\nthe grand tidings of safety, beginning with no condemnation and ending\nwith no separation,\u2014the chapter which some claim as descriptive of what\nthey term \u2018the higher life,\u2019\u2014in the middle of that chapter we find a\ndescription of the sons of God who are led by the Spirit.  Now observe\ncarefully the effect of that leading of God\u2019s children by the Holy Ghost.\nWe find it in verse 13: \u2018If ye do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall\nlive: for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of\nGod.\u2019  The word rendered \u2018do mortify\u2019 means \u2018are habitually putting to\ndeath\u2019 (\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b5).  But if original sin were dead already, or inert, why\nshould the children of God, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be habitually\nputting to death its deeds?  The fact that its deeds are to be habitually\nput to death is a perfectly clear proof that the root of the evil is not\ndead already.\n\nOne passage more, and I have chosen it because I think it of peculiar\nimportance in its bearing on what is called the \u2018higher life.\u2019  You\nremember that wonderful insight into heaven which St. Paul describes in 2\nCor. xii., and you remember how it was followed up by the thorn in the\nflesh,\u2014\u2018the messenger of Satan,\u2019 given \u2018to buffet him.\u2019  Now why was it\nthus followed?  Why was this messenger of Satan let loose upon God\u2019s\nchosen servant immediately after this wonderful blessing?  He himself\ntells us the reason: \u2018Lest I should be exalted beyond measure.\u2019  In other\nwords, he was in danger of pride of heart.  He was caught up into the\nthird heaven, but he carried with him even there so much of the old evil\nof his fallen nature that when he came down he was in such danger of\nbeing puffed up with pride that it was an act of mercy in God even to\npermit him to be buffeted by Satan\u2019s messenger, in order to keep him in a\nhumble spirit, depending upon grace.  Surely we learn the lesson that,\nwhatever be our spiritual attainments, and whatever God has taught us of\nHis mercy, we have still to strive as David did against the active\nworking of indwelling sin, and to pray as he did, \u2018Lord, I am Thine: save\nme.\u2019\n\nII.  We see then what the Psalmist WANTED; let us consider next WHAT HE\nDID.\n\n(1.)  When he was conscious that his soul was cleaving to the dust, he\nwas not content to leave it there.  He did not say that it could not be\nhelped, and so make it an excuse for sin.  He did not do as some people\ndo with reference to their temper,\u2014say they have the misfortune of a bad\ntemper, and therefore consider themselves not to be blamed when they\nbreak out in a passion, or settle down in a sulky fit.  He resolutely,\ndeterminately, and prayerfully grappled with the difficulty.  He was\nconscious of sin, but he could not endure the thought of it.  He could\nsay from the bottom of his heart, \u2018I hate and abhor lying; but Thy law do\nI love and it was because he loved the law, and hated the sin, that he\ncame before God with the cry, \u2018Lord, I am Thine: save me!\u2019  So we may be\nperfectly sure that if a person be really born of God, the knowledge of\nindwelling sin will never lead him to settle down in the apathy of\nhopelessness; but will arouse him, by the sense of danger, to watch, to\npray, to trust, to strive, to conquer, in the name of the Lord Jesus and\nby the power of the Holy Ghost.\n\n(2.)  But while David was thus energetic in his struggle, and allowed no\ncompromise with sin, he was evidently brought to the acknowledgment of\nhis own helplessness.  With reference to the past he could say, \u2018I have\nsought Thy precepts;\u2019 and with reference to the present, \u2018I love Thy\ncommandments above gold: yea, than much fine gold.\u2019  But notwithstanding\nall his painstaking, he found he could not raise his own heart above the\ndust, and was still obliged to acknowledge the truth of the words, \u2018No\nman hath quickened his own soul.\u2019  Thus the words, \u2018Lord, save me!\u2019\nimplied that he had given up all hope of saving himself; and when we\noffer the same prayer, there is the same act of self-renunciation as well\nas faith.  I do not say that we shall give up the most diligent and\ndevout endeavours after holiness, for we shall \u2018press towards the mark\nfor the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;\u2019 but that in\nthe midst of it all we shall both know and acknowledge our own utter\nhelplessness; and thank God for that passage in Rom. v. 6, in which we\nare taught that \u2018when we were _yet_ without strength, in due time Christ\ndied for the ungodly.\u2019  I commend that \u2018yet\u2019 to the careful consideration\nof all those who are painfully conscious of their own inability to rise.\n\n(3.)  But while this prayer implied self-renunciation as well as trust,\nit implied on the other hand trust as well as self-renunciation.  When we\npray, \u2018Lord, save me,\u2019 we clearly recognise His saving power.  We know\n(as we are taught in Heb. vii. 25) that \u2018He is able to save to the\nuttermost all that come unto God by Him and therefore we come to God by\nHim that we may be saved.  The saving in that sense is exactly the same\nas the saving in the text.  It is not the first acceptance of the\nrepentant sinner seeking salvation, but it is the habitual saving\nthroughout the life; for the point of the text is that it is continued to\nthe uttermost, or to the end.  It is a saving carried on after the first\ngreat saving act is complete.  I am anxious to press this on your\nattention, because I am inclined to think that it is the secret of the\nfresh help which many persons appear to have lately received.  I cannot\nsay I am sure of it; for the statements on the subject are so confused,\nthat it is almost impossible to disentangle them.  It is possible\ntherefore that I may be entirely mistaken.  But, whether it is or not,\nyou will see in a moment the vast difference between knowing that there\nis a Saviour able to save, and resting in a Saviour who is actually and\ncontinually engaged in saving you; between being anxious to obtain the\nhelp of a certain physician, and being under that physician\u2019s care;\nbetween hanging on a wreck and seeing a life-boat near you, and being in\nthe life-boat, and, though still beaten by the storm, safe in the strong\narm of the Deliverer.  Now this is our position in Christ Jesus.  We are\nnot seeking to reach the life-boat, for we are in it, as David was when\nhe said, \u2018Lord, I am Thine.\u2019  The storm is not over, the harbour is not\nyet reached; but the harbour is in sight, and our Father is at the helm.\nDavid clearly prayed to Him as to one who had already begun His saving\nwork, as you will clearly see if you compare the 88th and 93rd verses.\nIn the 88th he prays, \u2018Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness;\u2019 and in the\n93rd he shows that the quickening was already begun, for he says, \u2018I will\nnever forget Thy precepts, for with them Thou hast quickened me.\u2019  You\nwill see in a moment what an enormous difference this distinction must\nmake in daily life.  If you are looking up to Him as one from whom you\nare only seeking help, you may be perfectly sure of His sufficiency, but\nit will not satisfy the anxieties of your soul: but if you are actually\nenjoying His help, so that you can say, as the Psalmist did, \u2018My heart\ntrusted in Him, and I am helped,\u2019 then you may add, as he did, \u2018Therefore\nmy heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him.\u2019  Look on\nHim then as one who is engaged in bearing you home; acknowledge what He\nhas done in the past, trust Him for what He will do in the future, and\nmeanwhile rest in what He is doing now,\u2014just as St. Paul did when,\nspeaking of temporal deliverance, he said (2 Cor. i. 10), \u2018Who delivered\nus from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will\nyet deliver.\u2019  That one verse brings before us the past, present, and\nfuture,\u2014the \u2018yesterday, to-day, and for ever,\u2019\u2014the Lord Jesus a very\npresent help, and a help to the end.  He has redeemed you by His own most\nprecious blood, and saved you from all condemnation of the law: that is\ndone and perfected for ever.  He has sanctified, or separated, you in\nChrist Jesus, to be a purchased possession unto God: that is done\nlikewise, and done for ever.  He has begun a good work in you, and made\nyou new creatures in Christ Jesus: that, too, is done, thanks to His\nmercy!  He is now holding you in His hand, guiding you by His counsel,\nhelping you by His power, and giving you the victory even over the\nindwelling sin which still lives, though He will not let it reign, within\nyour heart.  This is going on now: so that now, even now, He is\nquickening you, and when you are deeply and profoundly humbled for all\nthat you have done and left undone, and when, under the painful\nconviction of indwelling sin, you are compelled to acknowledge that your\n\u2018soul cleaveth unto the dust,\u2019 you may still in happy, peaceful, loving\ntrust, look up to Him who is even now bearing you in His arm, and say,\n\u2018Lord, I am Thine: save me.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOLY NAME SANCTIFIED.\n\n\n    \u2018And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in\n    heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.\u2019\u2014LUKE, xi. 2.\n\nWE are all in the habit of using this prayer every day,\u2014for I hope that\nthere is not one amongst us who presumes to think that he has reached a\nspiritual life beyond it.  We use it with the utmost thankfulness,\u2014for it\nexpresses the deep and unceasing wants of the human heart; and, as far as\nI myself am concerned, I do not think that it occurs too often in our\nliturgy.  This clause may be called \u2018The child\u2019s first prayer.\u2019  It is\nthe first desire of the child of God, poured forth morning by morning\ninto his Father\u2019s ear.  But have you ever considered how it bears on the\nsubject of Sanctification, which we have been recently considering?  Are\nyou aware that the two words, to \u2018hallow\u2019 and to \u2018sanctify,\u2019 mean the\nsame thing, and may be interchanged one with another, so that exactly the\nsame idea would have been expressed had the clause been rendered,\n\u2018Sanctified be Thy name?\u2019  But so it is: and therefore in this prayer we\npray every day of our lives that God\u2019s own name may be \u2018sanctified.\u2019\n\nNow it will be clear in a moment to every one of you, that when the\nexpression is thus applied to God Himself, and to His name, it must mean\nsomething very different to what it does when it is applied to ourselves.\nIt cannot mean separation unto God, for it is applied to Him who from all\neternity has been essentially separate.  Nor can it be used in the sense\nof \u2018making holy,\u2019 for perfect and unblemished holiness is the very\nessence of His Godhead.  What then does it mean?  It means that the\nholiness of His name should be known and honoured; and that whenever His\nname is named, there should be the recognition and exhibition of His\nholiness.  It is a prayer, in fact, that His holiness may be glorified,\nand that throughout the world He may be obeyed and revered as a holy God.\n\nThis sanctifying, or hallowing, of the name of God Himself shall be our\nsubject for this morning.  And may He Himself grant that His name may be\nsanctified in this very sermon!  Let our prayer be, \u2018Our Father which art\nin heaven, hallowed be Thy name.\u2019\n\nThe first point to which I would draw your attention is that He is\nsanctified in His people.  His power is manifest in the world: His\nholiness in His Church.  It is by the Church that is to be known, even to\nprincipalities and powers in heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God.\nThe Church of God is gathered from a rebel world in order that God in it\nmay display His holiness, and so make proof of His character.  He\nmanifests himself amongst His people, and this manifestation is witnessed\nby the world.  You see this very clearly in such a passage as Ezek.\nxxxvi. 23: \u2018The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord\nGod, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.\u2019  God would be\nso sanctified in His people that the heathen should be persuaded of His\nGodhead.  So you read in Levit. x. 3: \u2018I will be sanctified in them that\ncome nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.\u2019  Now mark\nwhat a lesson there is in this for ourselves.  In one sense we are all\ncome nigh to God, for we have all been baptized into His name.  We all\nmeet in His house as His worshippers; and many of us delight in the\nsacred privilege of drawing near to Him in His sacramental feast.  I hope\nit may be said of many in the reality of their souls\u2019 salvation, as it\nmay certainly be said of all in the externals of their Christianity,\u2014that\nthey are \u2018a people nigh unto Him.\u2019  But if so, He is to be sanctified in\nus.  We who draw nigh unto Him, are to be like the glass reflecting His\nimage: it is in us that His character is to be exhibited, and His\nholiness made manifest before the world.  We are to be changed into His\nimage, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, so that in us ought to be seen\nthat image, and in us the holiness of His name should be exalted amongst\nmen.\n\nBut now follows the question,\u2014In what way and by whom, must His name be\nhallowed, or sanctified, in His people?  In answer to this we shall find,\nif we study Scripture, that it will be sanctified by His people, and also\nby Himself.  It will be however sufficient for our present purpose if we\nconfine our attention to its sanctification by His people, as described\nin these words of the prophet Isaiah: \u2018They shall sanctify my name, and\nsanctify the Holy One of Jacob.\u2019\n\nThe great question, therefore, for us to consider is, In what way may we\nglorify God?  And the answer is given in the words of our Lord Himself,\nas written in John, xv. 8: \u2018Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear\nmuch fruit.\u2019  You will observe that it is not merely by feeling, or even\nby communion with God, but by fruit.  I know that joy and peace are\namongst the first-fruits of the Spirit, and God forbid that I should say\none word that could possibly be understood as spoken lightly of such a\ngift as communion with God!  It is the most sacred privilege that it is\npossible for a ransomed spirit to enjoy, and nothing but the finished\nransom could ever admit us to it.  But we must not confound it with the\nfruit that springs from it, or suppose that to enjoy communion is the\nsame as to be holy.  The sap is essential to the life of the tree, but\nthe sap is not the fruit, and there is a great deal of sap in many trees\nwhere there is no fruit at all.  The fruit is something practical,\nsomething contributed, and if it glorifies God, it will be visible to our\nfellow-men.  So our Lord said (Matt. v. 16), \u2018Let your light so shine\nbefore men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father\nwhich is in heaven.\u2019\n\nNor must we confine it to a victory over sin.  I sometimes meet with\nbooks in which this victory appears to be described as the sum and\nsubstance of holiness.  Now I do not doubt for one moment that it is a\npart of it; but it is only a part: the negative side, and not the\npositive.  It would not satisfy your mind to be assured there were no\nthorns on your roses, or no poisonous berries on your vines; you want\nflowers on the rose, and grapes on the vine.  I do not know that there\nwas any harm in the fig-tree that stood by the way-side from Bethany: I\nnever read that it yielded poison; but it bore no fruit, and the Lord\nwithered it.  So it is that we stop utterly short of the true character\nof Christian holiness if we describe it simply as a victory over sin.\nSuppose that we really had overcome, and that there had been such a\nconquest in deed, in word, and in thought, that we should have no\noccasion for the confession, \u2018We have done those things which we ought\nnot to have done;\u2019 we might still be as fruitless as the barren fig-tree,\nand have reason to throw ourselves, in the deepest and most profound\nrepentance, before His feet, and cry, \u2018We have left undone those things\nwhich we ought to have done.\u2019  True fruit is positive service: something\nthat pervades our life.  Thus of the fruits of the Spirit, as described\nin Gal. v. 22,\u2014\u2018Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,\nfaith, meekness, temperance,\u2019\u2014by far the greater number relate to our\npractical conduct amongst our fellow-men.  In the account of heavenly\nwisdom given by St. James they are all of the same character: \u2018The wisdom\nthat is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be\nentreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without\nhypocrisy.\u2019  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that\nmake peace.\u2019\n\nTrue fruit again is something yielded up to God.  When a missionary gives\nup home, and life itself for the Gospel, that is fruit.  When the\nSunday-school teacher devotes the day of rest to labour for God, that is\nfruit.  When people bring freely of their substance, and throw large\ngifts into the treasury of God, that is fruit.  When people in family\nlife, heads of families, servants, young people, lay themselves out to\nmake all happy around them, and by their loving, gentle conduct, commend\nthe Gospel to all with whom they are brought in contact, that is fruit.\nIt may not be the fruit of the hot-house, enjoyed only by the rich; or\nlike some of those fruits which look so beautiful aloft on our orchard\ntrees, that all admire: for we must remember that some of our best fruits\ngrow in the cottage gardens, close to the ground.  So God is often best\nglorified by the holy, humble, and self-denying zeal of the humble\nbeliever, keeping alow by the ground, and there, in humble life,\n\u2018adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.\u2019\n\nBut you will observe in our Lord\u2019s words, that it is not merely by fruit,\nbut by much fruit, that God is glorified.  All trees of the same kind are\nnot equally fruitful, nor are all believers; thus it by no means follows\nthat all believers glorify God, or that those who do so, do so equally.\nOur Lord Himself describes four degrees in His parable of the sower.\nFirst, there are those who are choked by the cares, and pleasures, and\nriches, of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  The plant is not\naltogether dead, and there may be a little fruit formed; but there is\nnone ripened, nothing worth having, nothing that glorifies God.  I fear\nthere is a terrible number of those choked-up Christians in the Church of\nGod.  Then where there is real fruitfulness, there are different degrees.\nSome yield their thirty, some their sixty, and some their hundred-fold.\nHow earnest ought we to be that every one may be what I may term,\nhundred-fold Christians,\u2014people abounding in the fruits of the Spirit,\nspending and being spent for God!\n\nAnd why not?  The sacred privilege of glorifying God does not belong to\nsome peculiar class of Christians,\u2014to persons who have been suddenly\nlifted into what they term \u2018the higher life,\u2019\u2014but to all those who are\nabiding in Christ Jesus, and have Him abiding in them; for He says, \u2018He\nthat abideth in Me, and I in him; the same bringeth forth much fruit.\u2019\nYou may have reason therefore to be most deeply humbled under the\nconviction of indwelling sin, and to be most heartily grieved for the\nmixed thoughts and motives that have intruded themselves into the holiest\nacts of your whole lives; you may be utterly displeased with yourselves\nfor the utter poverty of your best services; you may be so convinced of\nwhat you consider the peculiar difficulties of your own character, that\nyou may think it quite impossible that you yourselves should ever rise to\na high standard of Christian holiness: but there is a power in the Lord\nJesus so to raise you above your difficulties that you may not only be\nsaved, but actually raised to such a standard that, though you may not\nknow it, you may bring glory to His name.  Nothing could be more\nhopelessly dead than Aaron\u2019s rod, but in one night it \u2018budded and brought\nforth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded fruit.\u2019  Nothing could be\nmore hopeless than the case of David when he was in the horrible pit and\nthe miry clay; but the Lord \u2018set his feet on a rock and established his\ngoings, and put a new song into his mouth, even praise unto his God,\u2019 and\nthe result was that God was glorified in his deliverance; for he adds,\n\u2018Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.\u2019  So you may\nsay that you are dead, that you cannot rise, that there is no hope,\u2014and\nthere is no hope in your own efforts at self-quickening,\u2014but He who\nraised the dead to life can so triumph even over your deadness as to\nbring out of your dead heart such an abundance of beautiful fruit,\nthrough the power of His own grace, that He Himself may be pleased with\nyour loving and faithful service.  Nay, more!  Though you may never be\nable to see it, and though you may to the last be humbled to the dust for\nyour shortcomings, He may still fulfil in you, and towards you, the\nprayer which St. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians: \u2018That the name of our\nLord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him, according to the\ngrace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.\u2019\n\nAim then at the highest possible standard.  Never settle down contented\nwith anything that falls short of it.  Never consider that your case is\ntoo difficult for the Lord, the Deliverer, but trust Him so to abide in\nyou with power, that His own words may be fulfilled: \u2018Herein is my Father\nglorified, that ye bear much fruit.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nEXPOSITORY NOTES.\n\n\nNOTE A.\u2014ROMANS, VII.\n\n\nI BELIEVE that a great deal of the difficulty felt respecting the seventh\nchapter of the Epistle to the Romans, arises from a mistaken idea that\nthe different chapters are descriptive of consecutive periods of the\nChristian life.  Persons are supposed to be justified in the fifth,\nbrought to a new life in the sixth, and to be living in perfect peace in\nthe eighth, and thus the conflict of the seventh is thought to be out of\nplace.  But surely there is no such consecutiveness to be found in the\npassage.\n\nBoth the sixth and seventh chapters are an answer to the question in the\nfirst verse of the sixth, \u2018Shall we continue in sin?\u2019  And this answer is\nfounded on the principle that we must not do so, because such conduct\nwould be inconsistent with the great change that has taken place in us.\nThis change is then described under three figures.\n\n(1.)  A death unto sin through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ch.\nvi. 3\u201315.)\n\n(2.)  A change of service. (Ch. vi. 16\u201323.)\n\n(3.)  A release from the law, as a woman is loosed from the law of her\nhusband when he dies (Ch. vii. 1\u20136); the result of which is that,\ntherefore, we are now free from condemnation, etc. (Ch. viii. 1).  The\n\u2018therefore\u2019 of this verse depends on the deliverance described in ch.\nvii. 6, and the intermediate passage (ver. 7\u201325) is a parenthesis.  It is\nin the parenthesis that the difficulty is supposed to lie; and by the\nplace which that parenthesis occupies in the argument that it must be\nexplained.\n\nIn his argument the Apostle had connected sin with the law, which of\ncourse suggested the idea that the law was sinful; an idea which would\nhave been shocking to Jewish minds, and was entirely contrary to his own.\nIn accordance, therefore, with his usual style, he broke off from the\ndirect line of his argument, in order to protect the truth against any\nsuch objection; and thus introduced the parenthesis.\n\nThis consists of two questions, with their respective answers.\n\nThe first is in the seventh verse: \u2018What shall we say then?  Is the law\nsin?  God forbid.\u2019  This he answers by a reference to his own history,\nand by showing that the law, so far from being sin, had served to\ndiscover and develope it; and by doing so had slain him. (Ver. 7\u201312.)\nThus far the passage is clearly historical, and the \u2018I\u2019 is his own\nhistorical self, as I believe it to be throughout.\n\nBut this answer suggested a further difficulty: viz., that a good thing\nhad been the means of slaying him; and this led to the second question\n(ver. 13): \u2018Was then that which is good made death unto me?  God forbid.\u2019\nTo this the answer was that the fault was not in the law, but in himself;\nfor even in his new condition, when he heartily loved the law, the old\nnature of the flesh was still so powerful that he could not fulfil it as\nhe would. (Ver. 14\u201324.)\n\nThis explains the strong language of the fourteenth verse,\u2014\u2018I am carnal,\nsold under sin,\u2019\u2014which people find it difficult to reconcile with the\naccount of complete deliverance in the sixth verse.\n\nFor my own part I have no difficulty, for\n\n(1.)  The explanation is suggested by the account he gives of the \u2018me\u2019 in\nthe eighteenth verse.  \u2018In me, _that is_, _in my flesh_, dwelleth no good\nthing.\u2019  It is clear that he is speaking there of his fallen human\nnature; and it is not unreasonable to believe that the explanation there\ngiven covers the fourteenth verse as well.\n\n(2.)  This is the only meaning that the words can bear in the context.\nHe is showing that his death under the law was not the fault of the law,\nbut of his own nature.  And, therefore, he says, \u2018The law is spiritual,\nbut I am\u2019 (by nature, that is) \u2018carnal, sold under sin.\u2019  He does not\ncontradict his own words in ch. vi. 11, where he directs his readers to\n\u2018reckon themselves alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,\u2019 for he\nis not speaking of his position in Christ Jesus, but asserting that by\nnature he was carnal; so that the law was not to blame for having been\nmade death unto him.  There is no difficulty in the use of the present\ntense if we bear in mind that the old nature is not eradicated by the new\nbirth.  He, so far as his nature was concerned, was as bad as ever to the\nlast day of his life.\n\nThe remainder of the parenthesis is a proof of this corruption of his\nnature derived from his present experience.  And the exclamation of the\ntwenty-fourth verse is the cry of a holy man who, being regenerate, loved\nthe law, and longed to be set free from that power of a fallen nature\nwhich kept him back from its complete fulfilment.  He had been delivered\nfrom the law as a condemning power; but he delighted in it as a rule of\nlife, and longed to be free from his evil nature, that so he might obey\nit without impediment.\n\n\n\nNOTE B.\u20141 JOHN, III. 6.\n\n\n                 _Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not_.\n\nTHESE words, if detached from their context and from the remainder of the\nEpistle, apparently teach the absolute and perfect sinlessness of all\nthose who abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.  And if the words, \u2018sinneth\nnot,\u2019 describe an entire freedom from all sin, they clearly do so.\n\nBut this cannot possibly be their meaning; for if it were,\n\n(1.)  The remainder of the verse would teach us that if any person should\never sin in thought, word, or deed, he would be thereby proved never to\nhave seen or known Christ.  \u2018He that sinneth hath not seen Him, neither\nknown Him.\u2019\n\n(2.)  In the same manner the eighth and ninth verses would teach us that\nif any person ever did wrong in any way whatever, he would be of the\ndevil, and not born of God.  \u2018He that committeth sin is of the devil.\u2019\n(Ver. 8.)  \u2018Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.\u2019 (Ver. 9.)\n\n(3.)  This passage would be in direct contradiction to the first chapter,\nin the seventh verse of which those who are walking in the light are\ndescribed as being cleansed from sin; in the eighth, as having sin; in\nthe ninth, as confessing it, and being forgiven; and in the tenth, as\nhaving sinned.\n\nSome other meaning, therefore, must be sought for the expression,\n\u2018sinneth not.\u2019  What this meaning is may be gathered from the great\nobject of the Epistle: which was to correct the leading heresies of the\nday. (See ch. ii. 26.)  Of these heresies one of the most prominent was\nthat of the Gnostics, who taught that if a man had the knowledge, or the\nlight, he might live as he pleased in practical life.  Against that\ncorrupt notion this passage is directed; and its great object is to show\nthat if there be the new birth, or a union with the Lord Jesus, there is\ncertain to be a practical change of life and character.  That this is the\nmeaning is plain from the context.  It is there proved that he is\nspeaking of practical and habitual religion.\n\nI.  OF PRACTICAL RELIGION.\n\nIn the seventh verse he shows that all true religion is practical: \u2018He\nthat _doeth_ righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.\u2019  Our\nBlessed Lord was practically righteous, so His people will be the same.\n\nIn the eighth verse he shows that the practice of sin is of the Devil:\n\u2018He that _committeth_ sin is of the Devil.\u2019\n\nIn ver. 5\u20138 he teaches that to destroy the works of the Devil was the\ngreat object of the manifestation of our Blessed Redeemer: \u2018For this\npurpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the _works_\nof the Devil.\u2019\n\nIn the tenth verse he asserts that this practical righteousness is the\ndistinguishing test between the children of God and the children of the\nDevil.  It was clearly such conduct as was visible to other men, or the\ndistinction would not have been manifest.  \u2018In this the children of God\nare manifest, and the children of the Devil.\u2019\n\nII.  OF HABITUAL RELIGION.\n\nThe present tense, indicating a continued habit, is employed throughout\nthe passage.  So the word sometimes rendered \u2018committeth,\u2019 and sometimes\n\u2018doeth,\u2019 is used to express the habit.  This may be seen from the use of\nit in these words of our Blessed Saviour (John, ix. 19): \u2018None of you\nkeepeth the law.\u2019  If we adopt the rendering of that verse, and\nsubstitute \u2018keepeth\u2019 for \u2018committeth\u2019 in this passage there will be very\nlittle difficulty in understanding the meaning of the Apostle.  The\nfourth verse would then be, \u2018He that keepeth sin transgresseth also the\nlaw;\u2019 and the eighth, \u2018He that keepeth sin is of the Devil.\u2019\n\nThe whole passage teaches us the great importance of being most earnest\nin urging the necessity of a practically consistent life on the children\nof God, and in showing that there must be a change in heart, in\nprinciple, and in habitual practice, whenever a person is born of God;\nbut it has no reference whatever to the secret heart-struggles of the\ntrue believer in his earnest conflict with indwelling sin.  They are not\nthe subject of the passage.  There are other Scriptures which speak of\nthem, but this refers to practical and habitual conduct.\n\n\n\nNOTE C.\u2014ON THE WORD \u2018PERFECT.\u2019\n\n\nThe word \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 is of so frequent occurrence in Scripture that it\nrequires our careful study.\n\nIts original sense is \u2018complete,\u2019 and the corresponding verb \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03cc\u03c9 is\nto complete, or finish.  The derived senses will vary with the subjects\nto which it applied.\n\n(1.)  In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, it stands for\nsincere, upright, undivided in heart.\n\n\u2018Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked\nwith God.\u2019 (Gen. vi. 9.)\n\nAmaziah had a great deal of religion about him, but he was inconsistent;\nand, therefore, it says of him, \u2018He did that which was right in the sight\nof the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.\u2019 (2 Chron. xxv. 2.)\n\n(2.)  In Matt. v. 48, it means complete, or comprehensive, as opposed to\nbeing limited and partial.\n\nOur Lord is exhorting His disciples to love their enemies as well as\ntheir friends (verses 43, 44); and says, \u2018That ye may be the children of\nyour Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil\nand on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.\u2019\n\nHe then goes on to show that there is no value in merely partial love\n(46, 47); and concludes with the words, \u2018Be ye therefore perfect, even as\nyour Father which is in heaven is perfect.\u2019  That is, like Him; show your\nlove to your opponents as well as to your brethren.\n\n(3.)  In Heb. v. 14, it is used of those who are \u2018of full age,\u2019 or\ncomplete in their growth, and therefore capable of strong meat; as\ncontrasted with those who are babes, and therefore fed on milk.  It is\nthe same in Eph. iv. 13, 14; and 1 Cor. xiv. 20.\n\n(4.)  In 1 Cor. ii. 6, it means \u2018fully initiated.\u2019  A mystery was\nsomething not known to the world, but revealed to those who were\ninitiated, and those who were initiated were called \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9.  So here St.\nPaul says, \u2018We speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect,\u2019 or the\ninitiated: \u2018yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this\nworld, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,\neven the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our\nglory.\u2019\n\nI am not sure whether Phil. iii. 15, expresses full initiation, or full\nmanhood.  I am inclined to think that it means initiation, as the verse\nspeaks of a yet further manifestation of God\u2019s will.  \u2018Let us therefore,\nas many as be perfect,\u2019 or initiated, \u2018be thus minded: and if in anything\nyou be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.\u2019\n\nAt all events it is perfectly clear that it does not mean personal\nperfection, for St. Paul says, verse 12, \u2018Not as though I had already\nattained, either were already perfect.\u2019\n\n(5.)  In Heb. x. 1, it means the complete removal of the guilt of sin\nthrough the sprinkling of blood.  The law by its sacrifices could never\n\u2018make the comers thereunto perfect.\u2019  If they could have done so those\nsacrifices would have ceased to be offered, \u2018because that the worshippers\nonce purged should have had no more conscience of sins.\u2019  It should be\nobserved that the passage is not speaking of the purifying of the heart,\nbut of the purging of the conscience.  To purify the heart, is to render\nit so pure that it will love only pure things; to purge the conscience is\nto remove from it the guilt of which it is conscious in consequence of\nthe impurity of the heart.  Thanks be to God, this purifying is complete\nthrough the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ once for all; and the\ncomers thereunto are through it perfect before God!\n\nI know of no passage in which the word is applied to a present\nsinlessness, or a present perfect purifying of the heart.\n\n\n\nNOTE D.\u2014TEMPTATION.  HEB. IV. 15.\n\n\nIt is said of our Blessed Saviour, \u2018For we have not an High Priest which\ncannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all\npoints tempted like as we are, yet without sin.\u2019  And it has been argued\nthat because He was tempted, yet without sin, therefore there is no sin\nin temptation.  I can scarcely imagine a more dangerous fallacy.\n\nThe meaning of the word, \u2018to tempt,\u2019 is to test, or to try.  So \u2018God\ntempted Abraham,\u2019 or put him to the test. (Gen. xxii. 1.)  Thus our Lord\nwas in all points tried, or tested, like as we are: that is, by the\nsinless infirmities of the body; by the surrounding circumstances of\nlife; by the influence of man, both friends and foes; by the Devil; and\neven, we may reverently say it, by God Himself, when He called Him to\nbear a burden much more heavy than that laid on Abraham.  But He was\nnever tempted by any corruption in His own heart or nature, for if He had\nbeen He would not have been \u2018without sin,\u2019 even though He had resisted\nit.  There was clearly no sin in being thus tested, nor did He ever sin\nin yielding.\n\nTemptation to evil must always be considered in its origin, as well as in\nits effect.  In daily life we think worse of the author of the temptation\nthan of the victim.  But no temptation originated in the heart of our\nblessed Redeemer.  According to this text He was \u2018without sin;\u2019 for not\nonly did He never yield, but there was no evil in His heart in which sin\ncould originate.  We are not, therefore, justified in quoting the\ntemptation of our sinless Saviour, that came upon Him from without, as\nproving that there is no sin in those temptations which arise out of the\nevil of our own hearts.  There is certainly sin in such temptation as\nthat described by our Lord Himself, when He said, \u2018Out of the heart\nproceed evil thoughts, murders,\u2019 etc., (Matt. xv. 19); and in that\ncondemned by St. James in the words, \u2018Every man is tempted when he is\ndrawn away of his own lust, and enticed.\u2019 (James, i. 14.)  In no such\ncases are we covered by our Lord\u2019s example; for, even if we are preserved\nfrom falling, the temptation itself is sin, and the result of sin within\nthe soul.\n\n\n\n\nDOCTRINAL NOTES.\n\n\nIN the first edition of these Sermons I added a short review of two books\nthat have lately excited some attention in the Church.  I understand that\ntheir author is himself so much dissatisfied with them, that he has been\nfor some time past engaged in re-writing them.  It is, therefore, not\nworth my while to republish my review, and, instead of it, I have added\nthe following Notes.\n\nSome of them are of a controversial character; but my object is to\npromote agreement rather than controversy.  Several excellent persons,\nboth clergymen and laymen, have lately experienced a remarkable answer to\ntheir prayers for an increase of faith, and in consequence of the\npeculiarities of the channel through which the answer has been given,\nthey have been supposed to have deviated from old paths, and to have\nembraced new opinions at variance with the Word of God.  I fear that this\nmay be the case in some instances, though I hope it is not so to any\ngreat extent, for I find that many of them have never read the books to\nwhich some of us have thought it our duty to object, and are as earnest\nfor the old truths as ourselves.  I have therefore drawn up these Notes,\nembodying what I believe to be the teaching of Scripture, in the hope\nthat they may prove a basis of union amongst those who are of one heart\nand one mind in their common desire to exalt the name of their most\nblessed Saviour.\n\nThe texts quoted must be regarded as only specimens, and not supposed to\ncontain the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject.\n\n\n\nGENERAL PRINCIPLES.\n\n\n1.  The only standard of holiness recognised in Scripture is the perfect\ncharacter and will of God.\n\n                                          1 Peter, i. 15, 16; Rom. xii. 2.\n\n  There is no allusion in the Word of God to any lower standard of any\n  kind whatever.  We are never taught there that \u2018We are not called to\n  walk by the rule of angels, who excel, in strength,\u2019 or that \u2018our\n  standard is not that which it will be in our glorified bodies.\u2019\n  According to Scripture, our rule is exactly the same as that of angels:\n  our standard is exactly the same as it will be after the resurrection:\n  and our constant prayer is, \u2018Thy will be done in earth as it is in\n  heaven.\u2019  It is not the object of the Gospel to lower God\u2019s standard to\n  man\u2019s level, but in, and through, the Lord Jesus Christ, to raise us to\n  His standard, and at length present us as faultless before His throne.\n\n2.  Personal holiness is the work of God.\n\n  Of God the Father.\n\n                                            Jer. xxxi. 33; John, xvii. 17.\n\n  Of God the Son.\n\n                                                Matt. i. 21; 1 Cor. i. 30.\n\n  Of God the Holy Ghost.\n\n                                              Acts, xv. 9; 2 Cor. iii. 18.\n\n3.  It is the action of the believer.\n\n                                              Heb. xii. 1; 1 John, iii. 3.\n\n  I have seen God\u2019s work in holiness described as the same as God\u2019s work\n  in the pardon of sin.  But there is this essential difference:\n  Forgiveness is an act of God in His own mind alone; holiness is a work\n  of God in the mind of man, controlling and directing all the activities\n  of the mind.  Forgiveness is, therefore, altogether external to man,\n  and must be received in trust alone; but holiness is a power and\n  principle of human action, and therefore is developed in human\n  activities.  The distinction may be illustrated by repentance and\n  forgiveness.  Both are the gifts of our exalted Saviour. (Acts, v. 31.)\n  But God forgives, and man repents.\n\n4.  It commences with a new creation in Christ Jesus.\n\n                                                2 Cor. v. 17; Eph. ii. 10.\n\n5.  It is the result of acceptance with God, and of the realization of\nHis mercy.\n\n                                           1 John, iii. 2, 3; Rom. xii. 1.\n\n6.  The principle which God employs to produce it is faith.\n\n                                                Acts, xv. 9; 1 John, v. 4.\n\n7.  The instrument which He employs to produce it is the truth as\nrevealed in His own Word.\n\n                                                           John, xvii. 17.\n\n8.  The means by which it will be finally perfected will be the full view\nof Christ Himself.\n\n                                                           1 John, iii. 2.\n\n\n\nPRACTICAL RESULTS.\n\n\nIf there is any difference on the subject of Personal Holiness amongst\nthose who hold the great principles of the Gospel, it is not likely to\nappear so much in General Principles as in their practical application to\npresent life.  It is, therefore, clearly important to ascertain what\nshould be the extent, and what the limits, of the Believer\u2019s expectation.\nIf we do not expect all that He has promised, we cannot hope to rise to\nHis standard; and if, on the other hand, we expect what He has not\npromised, we shall involve ourselves in either disappointment or\ndelusion.  It is well, therefore, to consider from the Word of God what\nwe are taught to expect, and what we are not taught to expect.\n\n                              WE ARE TAUGHT\u2014\n\n1.  That when we are created in Christ Jesus old things will pass away,\nand all things become new.\n\n                                                         2 Cor. v. 17, 18.\n\n2.  That the Holy Spirit will dwell in our hearts.\n\n                                                            John, xiv. 17.\n\n3.  That He will purify them.\n\n                                                              Acts, xv. 9.\n\n4.  That we shall love the Lord Jesus Christ, and acknowledge our love.\n\n                                             2 Cor. v. 14; 1 John, iv. 19.\n\n5.  That we shall love the law of God, and delight in it\n\n                                               Ps. cxix. 97; Rom. vii. 22.\n\n6.  That we shall be set free from the dominion of sin.\n\n                                                              Rom. vi. 14.\n\n7.  That we shall overcome external temptation.\n\n                                                          1 John, v. 4, 5.\n\n8.  That we shall habitually live righteously in practical conduct.\n\n                                           Tit. ii. 12; 1 John, iii. 4\u201310.\n\n9.  That we shall be continually growing in grace.\n\n                                                           2 Pet. iii. 18.\n\n10.  That in this present life, though we fail to fulfil God\u2019s perfect\nlaw, we may have the joy of pleasing God, and of actually bringing glory\nto His name.\n\n                                   John, xv. 8; Col. i. 10; Heb. xiii. 16.\n\n                            WE ARE NOT TAUGHT\u2014\n\n1.  That the most eminent believers will be sinless.\n\n                                                          1 John, i. 7\u201310.\n\n  From that passage we learn that those who are walking in the light, as\n  He is in the light,\u2014\n\n  (1)  Are continuously being cleansed from sin (ver. 7).\n\n  (2)  \u2018Have sin\u2019 (ver. 8), \u2018and have sinned\u2019 (ver. 10).\n\n  (3)  \u2018Have sin to confess, for which they need forgiveness\u2019 (ver. 9).\n\n2.  That original sin will ever in this present life be either\n\u2018destroyed,\u2019 \u2018dead,\u2019 or \u2018rendered inert.\u2019\n\n                                                              Rom. vi. 12.\n\n  The words, \u2018Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey\n  it in the lusts thereof,\u2019 are addressed to those who are to \u2018reckon\n  themselves dead unto sin and alive unto God.\u2019  It is clear, therefore,\n  that sin was still alive in them, or else it would have been quite\n  needless to exhort them not to let it reign, and not to obey its lusts.\n\n                                  Compare also Rom. viii. 13; Col. iii. 5.\n\n3.  That sin is not sin till we discern it.  So that \u2018to-morrow I may\ndiscern evil in things in which to-day I am living without condemnation.\u2019\nSin is the transgression of the law, and what will be wrong to-morrow is\nwrong to-day, whatever we may think of it.  If the conscience is so\ndeadened, or seared, or perverted, that it does not perceive sin, that\ndeadness of conscience does not take away the sinfulness of sin, but only\nadds the sin of not feeling sin to the sin of committing it.  The\ninsensibility of a deadened conscience amongst those who have received\nthe Gospel must never be confounded with the ignorance of those who never\nheard it\n\n4.  That believers attain to \u2018perfection up to the measure of to-day\u2019s\nconsciousness.\u2019  As nothing of the kind is found in Scripture, it is\ndifficult to understand exactly what the expression means.  But if it\nmean that believers are kept so holy that there is nothing in either\ntheir hearts or lives which their own conscience condemns, the statement\nis directly opposed to such passages as Heb. ix. 14, x. 2, &c., which\nshow that one great purpose of the precious blood of Christ is to provide\na continuous purging of the conscience.  If there is never anything on\nthe conscience which requires purging I cannot see that we have any need\nfor the purging blood.\n\n5.  That we are to be assured of the existence of our personal holiness\nthrough faith, as we are of our justification.  Faith is the evidence of\nthings not seen, and, therefore, the only direct evidence of our\njustification: but personal holiness is within sight of conscience, and\nit would be an abuse of faith to reckon ourselves holy when conscience\nshows us that we are not really so.  We believe ourselves to be accounted\nrighteous, though we know that we are really guilty; but we must not\nbelieve ourselves to be actually holy when our own conscience condemns us\nof sin.\n\n                                                       1 John, iii. 19\u201324.\n\n6.  That our believing reception of the promise of holiness from the Lord\nJesus will supersede prayer.\n\n                                                  Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, 36.\n\n7.  That our trust in the Lord Jesus for holiness will supersede personal\nexertion and the diligent use of the means of grace.\n\n                              Acts, xxiv. 16; 1 Cor. ix. 27; Jude, 21, 24.\n\n8.  That there is a higher life distinct from that of which we are made\npartakers when first brought into union with the \u2018Lord Jesus Christ,\u2019\ninto which we may enter by a definite act of entire consecration.\n\n                                             No Scripture on this subject.\n\n9.  That entire consecration is the means whereby we are to attain to\nunion with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The consecration of Scripture follows\nthat union, and does not precede it.  The Christians at Rome were first\n\u2018baptized into Jesus Christ,\u2019 and afterwards, when they were \u2018alive from\nthe dead,\u2019 were exhorted to \u2018yield themselves to God.\u2019\n\n                                                           Rom. vi. 3, 13.\n\nThere can be no doubt that the enjoyment of that blessed union is marred\nand hindered by any reserve within the soul.  But if we are not to rest\nin it until we are satisfied that our consecration is entire, I see not,\nfor my part, how the heart can ever be at rest unless the conscience is\nlulled to sleep by shallow and superficial views of sin.  All who look at\nthe self-consecration of our most blessed Saviour must be convinced that\ntheir own consecration, whatever it is, falls utterly short of such a\nstandard; and if we are to wait for the enjoyment of our union with Him\nuntil our consecration is entire, or, in other words, till it is equal to\nHis, that enjoyment seems to be placed at an infinite distance from our\nreach.  Surely the teaching of Scripture is that we are admitted to the\nunion as we are, through His free grace; and then, because we live in\nHim, we \u2018live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose\nagain.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nADVERTISEMENTS.\n\n\nWORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.\n\n\n1.  Redemption.\n\n  A Companion Volume to _Sanctification_.\n\n  Just published, in square fcap. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n2.  Palestine and Russia.\n\n  5th Thousand.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n3.  Rome, Turkey, and Jerusalem.\n\n  17th Thousand.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Mr. Hoare argues on the broad, simple lines of prophecy, in a way\n    which, to our mind, must bring irresistible conviction.\u2019\u2014_Clergyman\u2019s\n    Magazine_.\n\n4.  Conformity to the World.\n\n  New Edition, revised.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018An admirable parochial book.\u2019\u2014_Evangelical Magazine_.\n\n5.  Inspiration: its Nature and Extent.\n\n  New Edition, revised.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Selects several important points of a wide subject, and treats them\n    soundly.\u2019\u2014_Christian Observer_.\n\n6.  The Doctrine of the Lord\u2019s Supper,\n\n  AS TAUGHT IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.  Fcap. 8vo. sewed, 6_d._\n\n7.  The Communion and Communicant.\n\n  New Cheap Edition, revised and enlarged.\n\n  18mo. sewed, 3_d._; or 2_s._ 6_d._ per dozen.\n\n8.  Baptism,\n\n  AS TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE AND PRAYER-BOOK.\n\n  Sixth Edition.  Fcap. 8vo. sewed, 4_d._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n        Just published, the Second Revised and Cheaper Edition of\n\n                 The Family Commentary on the Holy Bible.\n\n  By the Rev. CHARLES GIRDLESTONE, M.A.\n\n  In 6 vols.  Imp. 8vo.  Lg. Type, 10_s._ 6_d._ each; or the set in 6\n  vols. or 3 vols. 3_l._ 3_s._\n\n    VOL. I.  GENESIS TO DEUTERONOMY.       VOL. IV.  ISAIAH TO\n                                                     MALACHI.\n      \u201e II.  JOSHUA TO ESTHER.                ,, V.  MATTHEW TO JOHN.\n    ,, III.  JOB TO SONG OF SOLOMON.          \u201e VI.  ACTS TO\n                                                     REVELATION.\n\n            The _only_ Family Commentary on the _whole_ Bible.\n\n    _Prospectus_, _giving Specimen of Type_, _Opinions of the Press_,\n                                _Clergy_,\n                   _and others_, _sent on application_.\n\n The Author has just placed this work in Messrs. HATCHARD\u2019S hands, owing\n to the retirement from business of the late publishers, Messrs. SUTER &\n                                   Co.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n            Just published, in small crown 8vo. 420 pp. 6_s._\n\nThorough:\n\n  Being an attempt to show the value of Thoroughness in several\n  departments of Christian Life and Practice.\n\n  By Rev. Sir EMILIUS BAYLEY, Bart., B.D., Vicar of St. John\u2019s,\n  Paddington.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n            Just published, in square crown 8vo. 450 pp. 6_s._\n\nPleasant Memories:\n\n  A Woman\u2019s Thoughts and Life-work.\n\n  By JOHN BAILLIE, D.D., Author of \u2018Memoirs of Adelaide Newton,\u2019 &c.\n\n    \u2018Dr. Baillie\u2019s skill as a biographer is attested by the popularity of\n    his works; the present volume, although shorter and more condensed,\n    might, in point of interest, take its place with \u2018The Memorials of a\n    Quiet Life,\u2019 which have attained so much celebrity.  There are over\n    twenty-three chapters, and any one of them may be taken up and read\n    with the confidence that it will disclose matter both of interest and\n    of solid value.  The whole may be described as rightly termed\n    \u201cpleasant memories\u201d for the author, and \u201cprecious\u201d also for his\n    readers.\u2014_Record_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n         Just published, in square fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nThe Church and the World:\n\n  Their Mutual Relations, God\u2019s Retributive Righteousness in His dealings\n  with them; the Key to Sacred History, Past, Present, and to Come.\n\n  By Rev. A. R. FAUSSET (of York), Joint Author of \u2018The Critical\n  Commentary.\u2019\n\n    \u2018A remarkably able and interesting work.\u2019\u2014_English Churchman_.\n\n    \u2018We have reaped much profit from the perusal of this book, and would\n    heartily recommend it to all who love to look into the teaching of\n    the pure word as to the matters on which it treats.\u2019\u2014_Word and Work_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n     Just published, in square fcap. 8vo. cloth antique, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nTemptation: its Nature and Limits.\n\n  By the Rev. DANIEL MOORE, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Paddington.\n\n\n\nMESSRS. HATCHARD\u2019S NEW SERIES.\n\n\n _In Small_ 8_vo._ _cloth_, _bevelled_, 1_s._ 6_d._; _paper cover_, 1_s._\n\nThe Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.\n\n  By the Very Rev. DANIEL BAGOT, D.D., late Dean of Dromore.  1_s._ 6_d._\n  & 1_s._\n\n    \u2018The general scope is highly satisfactory.\u2019\u2014_Record_.\n\nThe Immortality of the Soul.\n\n  By the Rev. CANON GARBETT.  1_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n    \u2018One of the ablest refutations we have yet seen of the erroneous\n    doctrines now afloat concerning the eternity of punishment.\u2019\u2014_English\n    Churchman_.\n\nThoughts on the Parental Character of God.\n\n  By the late Rear-Admiral Sir EDWARD W. PARRY.  New Edition.\n\n  With Preface by his Son, EDWARD, Bishop Suffragan of Dover.  1_s._\n  6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Practical and devotional, and especially comforting to all who are\n    in sorrow, trouble, or any other adversity.\u2019\u2014_English Churchman_.\n\nThoughts about Salvation for Thinking Men.\n\n  By the Rev. JOHN RICHARDSON, of Camberwell.  1_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Suggestive and interesting.\u2019\u2014_Christian Observer_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n      By E. J. WHATELY, Author of \u2018Life of Archbishop Whately,\u2019 &c.\n\n1.  Plymouth Brethrenism.\n\n  3rd Thousand, revised.  1_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Admirable . . . The errors are calmly and clearly pointed out, and\n    ably refuted.\u2019\u2014_Rock_.\n\n2.  Maude; or, The Anglican Sister of Mercy.\n\n  New Cheap Edition.  1_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n    \u2018A valuable little work.  No more useful book could be put in the\n    hands of those who are in danger of being led away from the obvious\n    duties of home and every-day life into a state that has a specious\n    appearance of higher religious life.\u2019\u2014_Record_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nThe Sons of Eli.\n\n  By the Rev. C. H. RAMSDEN, M.A.  1_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._\n\n  Words of Caution, Counsel, &c., addressed to the Children of Godly\n  Parents.\n\n    \u2018A wise and understanding guide.\u2019\u2014_Christian Observer_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                    BY THE REV. BOURCHIER WREY SAVILE.\n\n1.  Turkey;\n\n  Or, THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON APOSTATE CHRISTENDOM.  1_s._ 6_d._ & 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Eminently interesting and suggestive.\u2019\u2014_Record_.\n\n2.  The Bride of Christ.\n\n  With a Reply to the Bishop of Lincoln\u2019s Work on the Millennium.  1_s._\n  6_d._ & 1_s._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\nWORKS BY A. M. JAMES.\n\n\n         Just published, in square fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n1.  The Life of Fellowship.\n\n  Meditations on the First Part of St. John, xv.\n\n  By A. M. JAMES, Author of \u2018True Consecration,\u2019 \u2018Service of Love,\u2019 &c.\n  &c.\n\n    \u2018Its tone is reverential and admirable.\u2019\u2014_Clergyman\u2019s Shilling\n    Magazine_.\n\n    \u2018An excellent series of devotional meditations.\u2019\u2014_English Churchman_.\n\n    \u2018The tone throughout is just what that of such a work should be\u2014quiet\n    and thoughtful.\u2019\u2014_Rock_.\n\n  Just published.  New Cheap Edition, enlarged, 16mo cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._;\n                               paper, 1_s._\n\n2.  The Covenant of Love.\n\n  Being 31 Readings.  A Manual of Devotion for the Sick and Suffering.\n\n  By A. M. JAMES, Author of \u2018True Consecration,\u2019 \u2018Service of Love,\u2019 &c.\n  &c.\n\n    \u2018Gentle, soothing, and at the same time ardently religious, it\n    supplies just the special groove of thought which is needed for the\n    sick-room.\u2019\u2014_Literary Churchman_.\n\n3.  True Consecration.\n\n  Or, CLOSE ABIDING OF THE HEART IN GOD.\n\n  Just published.  Square fcap. 8vo. cloth antique, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018A complete manual or illustration of the Christian life in all its\n    stages and aspects.  Sound, scriptural, and edifying.\u2019\u2014_Record_.\n\n4.  The City which hath Foundations;\n\n  Or, THOUGHTS ON A FUTURE STATE.\n\n  Introductory Letter by the Rt. Hon. SIR JOHN COLERIDGE.\n\n  Cheap Edition, revised and enlarged.  Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Written to counteract some erroneous notions respecting a future\n    state.  Its tone is thoughtful and scriptural.\u2019\u2014_Church of England\n    Magazine_.\n\n5.  The Service of Love;\n\n  Or, MINISTRY FOR CHRIST IN OUR DAILY LIFE.\n\n  New Edition.  Square 18mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018A really good book, enforcing ministry for Christ in bur daily\n    life.\u2019\n\n                                                               _Guardian_.\n\n6.  A Selection of Prayers for Family Use.\n\n  With an Address by EDWARD JAMES, M.A., Canon of Winchester.\n\n  Edited by A. M. JAMES.  New Edition.  Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Not only the well-chosen prayers, but his practical address on the\n    value of family devotion, will be acceptable in many\n    cases.\u2019\u2014_Churchman\u2019s Magazine_.\n\n7.  Strength made Perfect in Weakness.\n\n  Second Thousand.  Square 18mo. sewed, 2_d._; or 1_s._ 6_d._ per dozen.\n\nDies Ir\u00e6;\n\n  THE FINAL JUDGMENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MANKIND.\n\n  By the Rev. R. B. GIRDLESTONE, M.A.\n\n  Revised and Cheaper Edition.  Square fcap. 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018The topics discussed are solemn and important beyond all others, and\n    have been handled by the author in a very careful and reverent\n    spirit.\u2019\n\n                                                     _Christian Observer_.\n\nScripture and Science not at Variance.\n\n  By the late Ven. JOHN H. PRATT, Archdeacon of Calcutta.\n\n  Seventh Edition, revised.  Small crown 8vo. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018The Archdeacon\u2019s reply is firm and candid, and has one great quality\n    which we earnestly recommend, that it is decided in tone.\u2019\n\n                                                     _Christian Advocate_.\n\nChristian Certainty.\n\n  By the Rev. SAMUEL WAINWRIGHT, D.D., of Dalston.\n\n  8vo. cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018\u201cA Synopsis of the Christian Evidences\u201d would be no untrue title for\n    this work.\u2014_Christian Observer_.\n\nThe Modern Avernus.\n\n  THE DESCENT OF ENGLAND.  HOW FAR?\n\n  A Question for Parliament and the Constituencies.\n\n  By JUNIUS JUNIOR.  Third Edition.  Crown 8vo. cloth, 6_s._\n\n    \u2018A book which every effort should be made to circulate, and which\n    should especially be placed in public libraries, and the libraries of\n    institutions frequented by the working classes and the general body\n    of electors.\u2019\n\n                                                     _Christian Advocate_.\n\nChrist our Example.\n\n  By CAROLINE FRY.\n\n  Preface by the Rev. A. M. W. CHRISTOPHER.\n\n  Fifteenth Edition.  Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n    \u2018Earnest and practical in its character, this will long remain a\n    favourite with Christian readers.\u2019\u2014_Rock_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\nFOR THE SICK, SORROWFUL, AND AGED.\n\n\nSleep in Jesus, and Blessing in Sorrow.\n\n  Edited by Mrs. HENRY F. BROCK, of Doncaster.\n\n  With Photo Frontispiece.  16mo. cloth limp, 2_s._ 6_d._; gilt edges,\n  3_s._\n\n    \u2018A very appropriate present to those who are in any sorrow; full of\n    human sympathy, and always directing the sufferer to the\n    loving-kindness of the Lord.\u2019\u2014_Christian_.\n\nThe Sheltering Vine.\n\n  Selections by the late COUNTESS OF NORTHESK.\n\n  With an Introduction by the Most Rev. R. C. TRENCH, D.D., Archbishop of\n  Dublin.\n\n  9th Thousand.  2 vols. small 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._  Volume I. 6_s._; Volume\n  II. (on the Loss of Friends), 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nThe object of this work is to afford consolation under the various trials\nof mind and body to which all are exposed, by a Selection of Texts and\nPassages from Holy Scripture, and Extracts from Old and Modern Authors,\nin Prose and Poetry, with a Selection of Prayers adapted to the same.\n\nSongs in the Night;\n\n  Or, HYMNS OF HOPE AND TRUST FOR WEARY WATCHERS.\n\n  Selected and Arranged by ANNA CLOWES.\n\n  Crown 8vo. very large type, paper cover, 1_s._; limp cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018Will no doubt prove a welcome companion.\u2019\u2014_Record_.\n\nThe Name of Jesus, and other Poems,\n\n  FOR THE SICK AND LONELY.  By C. M. NOEL.\n\n  15th Thous.  New Edition, with Memoir.  Fcap. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nWords of Consolation, Pardon, and Hope.\n\n  By Author of \u2018Words of Mercy and Peace,\u2019 &c.\n\n  14th Thousand.  Fcap. 8vo. very large type, limp, 1_s._; in packet,\n  6_d._\n\n    \u2018Very suitable for the poor and sick.  Thoroughly evangelical,\n    earnest, and faithful.\u2019\u2014_Sword and Trowel_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n              HATCHARDS, PUBLISHERS, 187 PICCADILLY, LONDON.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{27}  Preached on Good Friday.\n\n{64}  See Note A.","title":"Sanctification","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36178}