Get audio books from MP3 Book Download Winning A Crown By C. W. Naylor Preface Life is a series of problems. None of these problems are of more importance than those which relate to the spiritual life. Upon their proper solution rest both our present and future happiness. It has been the author's purpose throughout this book to set forth in as practical a way as possible some of the things that he has learned in his twenty-five years of Christian life, the greater part of which has been spent in preaching and writing of the things of the kingdom of God. For the past nine years he has been a shut-in as the result of a serious injury, but these years upon his bed, with Pain for his constant companion, have taught him many things that might have escaped him in the busy days of a more active life. The subject matter of this treatise falls naturally into three parts. The first is intended to show men how to find God and enter into the enjoyment of true sonship with its attendant blessing. The second deals with some of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith from the standpoint of their practical bearing on human life. The third deals with problems that sooner or later present themselves to every Christian for his solution. Upon their correct solution hangs the prosperity and happiness of his life. This part of the book will be to the Christian the richest and most beneficial of all. He may find herein an answer to many of his heart's questionings and a "lamp to his feet" in some of life's dark hours. With a prayer that every reader may be enriched and that God may be glorified, the author commits his work to the public with the confident expectation that the divine blessing that has rested upon him in its preparation will follow it to bless its readers and inspire in their hearts fresh hope and courage to press on to win the crown waiting at life's goal. Yours in His joyful service, C. W, Naylor Introduction The Christian life is not all sunshine and roses; neither is it all shadows and brambles. All our skies can not be cloudless; neither can all our roses be without thorns. The pilgrim's way to the Celestial City does not lie across a low, flat plain: instead, it leads through a great variety of scenery. Now we walk a smooth way, sunlit and bright, with a splendid vista outspread before us. Further along we pass into the foothills and our pathway rises and falls. Now we stand upon the summit and feast our eyes on the broad expanse and the glowing hilltops around us, basking in the sunshine of noonday. Again we go slowly down into the valley and walk beside the still waters, amid the green grass, and breathe the air perfumed by the flowers and hear the carols of the birds as they merrily pass the hours. Farther on we have a bit of steep climbing, with perchance many stones along the way, and here and there a thorn bush catches our garments and pricks our feet. Sometimes the way is toilsome, but presently we reach the top, and there in the clear air, under the dome of heaven, our souls are hushed and awed and filled with holy inspiration. Down from the mountain sooner or later we must go, sometimes over crags and where it seems no feet have trodden before us. With the outlook of the mountaintop left behind, our vision becomes narrow, and we make our way slowly and painfully down into the darkened valley. There are shadows in the valley. Sometimes a great cloud sails overhead and the sunlight disappears. The bird-songs resound no more. The warmth is gone, and the chill of the evening comes on apace. The night falls; but the Celestial City lies still far away, and we must walk in the night as well as in the day. Sometimes then our footsteps falter. Sometimes strange shapes appear, and we hear voices that can not be interpreted; but we must walk on. When the daylight comes again, there is joy and sunshine once more. So is the journey of life - infinite in its variety. No matter how much of the old, there is always something new. No matter how much we understand, there is always that which is mysterious. Whether upon the mountain or in the valley, whether by the silent waters or by the gushing waterfall, whether in the calm sunshine or in the beating storm, we must press ever onward. Now and then we may stand upon some mountain of transfiguration and see all things illuminated with a heavenly glory and hear words impossible for man to utter. But we must come down from that mountain and go upon our way again. Sometimes we may catch a faint distant glimpse of the Celestial City, which is the goal of all our hopes; but much of the time it will be beyond our vision, and much of the time we shall see only the ordinary things of every-day life. The path of life has, as it were, two sides - one bright and attractive; the other with its shadows, from which we instinctively shrink. But it takes both these to make up life's pathway. As children of God, we are still human. And with others we must bear the things that belong to human life - its cares, its perplexities, its unsolved problems, its frailties, in fact all those things which fall to the lot of other mortals. So it would seem best in this volume that I should walk upon the shadowy side of the path, rather than upon that which lies in the sunshine, if perchance the rays of my lantern shall fall upon some of the dark places and shall make the footsteps of the pilgrim more certain and help him to define some of those shadowy shapes that trouble him. The bright side of life needs no illumination, and when the pilgrim walks through the sunshine on a plain path he needs no instructor, he needs no one to interpret life to him. It is when the shadows fall and perplexing things come, when he hears strange voices, and when he feels his need of counsel and of comfort, that he welcomes some one to interpret for him the things of life, and to point out a safe and sure pathway. And so, reader, I offer to walk with you through some of these places, and I trust that we shall be congenial companions and that at last we shall both safely reach the Celestial City and join the white-robed throng in everlasting praises before the Majesty that sitteth upon the throne eternal. What is Man We are surrounded by mysteries, and not the least of these is the mystery of our own being. "Whence did I come?" "Where am I going?" and - greatest mystery of all - "What am I?" are questions that have arisen again and again in the minds of many persons. If we try to solve the question, What am I? by our own understanding and reason, it remains but a question. There are within us the stirrings of strange emotions, a reaching out after things not seen, unutterable things that we can not interpret. Is man only a material being? Is he a beast of the field? Was he created only to eat and drink and to enjoy material things? or is he something more and something higher, with relationships more profound and far-reaching than those of the mere material? The Psalmist viewed this question and exclaimed: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Psalms 8:4-6). To him, man was something more than an animal; he stood only a little lower than that celestial host that surrounds God's throne. And man is something more, something higher, indeed, than those creatures which are his servants in this time world. When the Psalmist speaks of their death, he says, "Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust" (Psalms 124:29). Of man it is said, "If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, ... man shall turn again unto dust" (Job 34:14, 15). Man is a trinity, possessing the spiritual, the mental, and the physical. He has a body like the animal, in its functions and desires. He has reason and intelligence, and, above and beyond all these, he has a moral nature. This he alone of all the inhabitants of earth possesses. And it is with this moral nature that man is most concerned. His life in this world is of few days and full of trouble, and all the races of man look forward confidently to another and higher and better life when this life has come to an end. Animals are creatures of instinct. They have implanted in them certain primary elements of knowledge or consciousness that guide them where their intelligence does not reach. And man also has instincts, higher than those of the beast, but no less significant. He feels intuitively that there is a power above him which is greater than his own power. It takes no argument to convince him of this, unless he has destroyed this primary intuition through the subtilities of his reasoning. He is also conscious that he is responsible to this higher power; that in some way he has some relation with that power that gives moral value to his actions; and that these actions are worthy of the praise of this higher power or else merit retribution as being evil. He instinctively places a moral value upon his conduct, and feels that somehow, somewhere he must give an account. He feels within him the stirrings of a life that is not merely animal life. He feels capabilities and powers which are undeveloped here and now, and to which he finds himself incapable of giving more than partial expression; and this consciousness speaks to him of a future life full of greatest possibilities. All these instincts have a substantial basis of reality. The squirrel that has never seen a winter is led by instinct to hoard a store of nuts for the days to come. The bird that knows nothing of climate save the summer, wings its way in the autumn to a more genial climate, led by unerring instinct. The bird which has been reared in captivity in an artificial nest, if given its liberty will build a nest like those of its kind, though it has never been taught. These instincts do not mislead the unreasoning creatures. They are safe guides. Man's instinct is no less true, and if followed will guide him in the fundamentals of his life as it guides the lower creatures. Only man disregards these instincts. He defies his reason, and it leads him in devious paths. He sets it up as the guide of his life and bows down and worships it, but alas! how often it causes him to disregard that which the truest wisdom would lead him to value most highly! How many people live as though they were only animals! "Eat, drink, and be merry," say they. They neglect that higher and better self. They silence the voice of conscience. They shut their ears to God. They close their eyes to their own knowledge. They live as though they were no better than the brute. They are concerned only with this world. They may recognize that there is a life beyond, but how little do they consider it! Reader, you are more than a horse. There is in you that which is higher and better and nobler; and there is something better for you than to give your attention, your time, and your powers for this world alone. As you consider yourself higher than the beast, so should your life be higher than his. I beg of you, consider. How much higher is it? Are you living for eternity, or does your life-plan reach only to the satisfying of your own temporary and temporal desires? The True Purpose of Life The Bible tells us that God created man and clearly implies that all the rest of the material creation of earth was for his benefit and for his use. But what purpose had God in creating man? Did God make him simply to gratify a desire to make something new? Is his existence the result of some mere whim? When God created him, did he expect to give him no farther attention? The Bible tells us plainly that God had a distinct purpose, and that his creation was for God's own purpose, not simply that man might exist. Speaking of man, he says, "The work of my hands, that I may be glorified" (Isaiah 60:21). Again, he says, "For I have created him for my glory" (Isaiah 43:7). That man was endowed with natural faculties that make it possible for him to know God and to communicate with him, to understand his will, and to obey him, and to find his highest pleasure in all these, shows that the purpose of man's life is something very exalted. It is possible for him to debase his powers, to put them to ignoble purposes, and to fail entirely of the true purpose of his life. He may develop his physical being and bring it to a high state of perfection, so that he is an athlete. He may be in perfect health. He may conform to the law of his physical being and be worthy of the admiration of his fellows. He may develop his mind until he reaches out into the starry heavens and reads the secrets of the planets. He may delve into philosophy and into science until his mental faculties are enriched and highly developed. He may grapple with the great problems of life and solve them. He may fill the chair of some great university. Men may marvel at his learning. He may be eloquent until he can sway the multitudes. He may rise to eminence in the political world and be famous. Men may admire and respect and honor him, but the perfect body and the highly developed mind, or these two united, do not make a perfect man. Sooner or later disease will seize upon that body. Sooner or later that mind will lose its brilliance and its power. The end is but the grave. What then? Shall we say that a man who has lived only for his body and for his mind has truly lived, has truly fulfilled the purpose of his creation? Not so. He has omitted from his life that which is highest and best. He has failed to develop that spiritual element which is his real self, that element which will live on forever. He has starved and neglected it, and it has withered away, overshadowed by the other parts of his being. If a man forgets his soul, if he makes no preparation for the life that is life indeed, there is no symmetry in his life. It is unbalanced and incomplete. No matter what his success in other lines, his life is a failure. No matter how much wealth he may amass, how much he may win, nor how much of anything of earth may be his, it must end with the word "failure," for he has not lived for God. He was created for God's glory, but how much has his life sub served that glory? Has he honored God? Has he served him? Has he fitted himself for his society in the world to come? The man who fails to develop his mind and then is brought into the society of men of learning feels at once and feels most keenly how he has neglected himself and how hampered he is in his associations with them, how unfit he is to enjoy their society, and how little such society can really mean to him. So the man who neglects his spiritual life, when he shall come into the presence of God will find himself wholly unfit to mingle in the society of heaven. His soul-faculties will not be able to respond to the influences of that place. In fact, it would be torment to him to be there and constantly feel his unfitness. There is but one true purpose in life. All other things are subsidiary to it. If we fill our life with trifles, with things that amount to nothing, shall we not reap the trifler's reward? God desires our services. He desires union with us. He desires to be honored and worshipped by us - not simply for some selfish interest; for when we give to him that which belongs to him, we do for ourselves that which is best and highest. And when we refuse to give him that which belongs to him and that which he has a right to expect of us, we are injuring ourselves and are placing barriers before our own souls. We are destroying our own selves. Reader, what is the purpose of your life? What is your life amounting to? Are you spending it for God? Are you developing your soul, your spiritual faculties and powers? What will your life profit you if you are not? Shall you endure the things of this life, its cares, its sorrows, its heartaches, toil on till its end, only to have "Failure" written over it at the last? Be wise. God has given you intelligence. Use it for his glory. Neglect not your soul, that priceless treasure which must somewhere spend eternity, the eternity for which you are now preparing it. The Moral State of Man Back in the world's springtime, when nature was dressed in her pristine glory, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Of nothing else of his creation is this said. Man is marked out as separate and distinct from all the rest of creation. He is of the creation, but rises to a higher plane, and possesses a something seen in nothing else. We read further, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27). This was not a physical image and likeness, for such it could not be, inasmuch as God is not physical and does not possess physical organs. It must, then, relate to his mental and moral being. In reason, judgment, choice, conscience, etc., he is in God's image but we are concerned at present only with his attribute of holiness. As he came from the hand of God he was pure and holy. There was not in him a single element of defilement. God looked upon him and pronounced him very good, and was well pleased. The wise man, speaking of man's original state, says, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). It was as natural for him to love God as to love anything else. He was blameless, and though without experience he could readily yield himself to all God's will. There was no barrier between himself and God. There was no hindrance to fellowship and intercourse. His pure soul shrank not from God. He knew no fear, but in the presence of his Maker walked as a son with his father. What halcyon days were those! But alas! that happy state did not continue. One thing had been prohibited. That prohibition was violated, and in consequence a cloud overspread the heavens. His conscience knew for the first time the sense of guilt and shame. The sweet, sympathetic fellowship between his soul and God was broken. He trembled and shrank in fear. His innocence was gone - that greatest charm, that which endeared him to the Father-heart. Then followed a life of sin, and when he begat a son, the child was in his father's own image. From that time on the current of human life has been a dark and murky stream. Some tell us that man has never fallen, that he is now in as high a position as he has ever occupied in the moral scale. This, however, is contrary to the Scriptures, as well as to reason. When we look at his present condition and compare that with what the Bible shows him to have been at his creation, we rather marvel that he has fallen so far. The Bible deals with him everywhere as a fallen creature, one who is corrupt and defiled. Thus the record expresses it: "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12). God manifested his displeasure by destroying the old world. The posterity of Noah traveled the same path. Hosea, viewing the situation in his day, exclaimed, "They have deeply corrupted themselves" (Hosea 9:9). So the current flows on. Paul draws a dark picture in the first chapter of Romans and elsewhere. It is true that man did not lose all. There is in him yet some elements of nobility, some godlike qualities; but these are, as it were, only a few good things that have survived the wreck of his life. And when God looks upon him, he sees not one holy element; and when he begins to make something of him, he must begin at the beginning and make of him a new creature. The Motive Purpose of His Life Man's character is the opposite of God's. God is essentially benevolent; man is essentially selfish. The natural man does not inquire what is the will of God regarding him. He is not concerned in pleasing God. The thing that he desires most of all is to please himself. If he may do this, he asks nothing more. He lives for this alone. If he may but gratify all his own desires, he asks for nothing more. He does not believe that he is moved by such a motive; he does not stop to consider it. In fact, he is likely to suppose that he is moved by very different considerations. God says, "Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations" (Isaiah 66:3). Again he says, "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof" (Proverbs 1:29,30). His Attitude Toward God Man ordinarily supposes that he is on quite friendly terms with God, at least so far as his own feelings are concerned. He looks upon the law of God and recognizes it as a very high and worthy law. He assents that man should give to it a ready obedience. Very often he is pleased to see others turn from sin to righteousness. Like Paul, he may delight in the law of God after the inward man. He may approve of it as being most excellent. He may even praise it most highly. He may sit in the congregation of the righteous and find much pleasure in listening to the Word of God. There may be many things in it that he is glad to see reflected in his own life; but when it comes to submitting himself to this law and making it the law of his life and conforming himself to it in detail, another element immediately asserts itself. He finds at once a great reluctance, and if pressed, this reluctance shows itself in rebellion. So long as he can do just as he likes and still fulfill the Word of God, he is pleased to do so. As long as his desires run parallel with the desires of God, he delights in that law; but when his desires are crossed, when he is required to forego them, he at once rebels. And the more God's claims are pressed upon him, the more determined does his rebellion become. His obedience, so far as he does obey, is essentially selfish. He obeys only because it pleases him to obey. Paul, speaking to the Colossians, tells them their former state, saying, "You...were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works" (Colossians 1;21). To the Romans he says, "We were enemies" (Romans 5:10). Speaking of the unregenerate, he says that they are "haters of God" (Romans 1:30). This is the verdict of God. He knows the true state of their hearts. His verdict is true and it is final. There is no element in the sinful man that is truly friendly toward God, at least before his heart begins to yield to God. He is everywhere pictured as a rebel, one who has defied the authority of God and is standing in open hostility to him. And this, unless he repents, will be his attitude through life, and through the ceaseless ages of eternity. The best unsaved man is not at heart better than this. God's Attitude Toward the Sinner But what is God's attitude toward unregenerate man? It has been said that God hates sin, but he loves the sinner. Is this true? Let us hear the voice of inspiration, "Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity...The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man" (Psalms 5:5, 6). Does that express an attitude of affection? Again, we read, "The wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness" (Psalms 11:5-7). Read also the following texts: Leviticus 20:23; 26:30; Deuteronomy 32:19. We read further, "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalms 7:11). God is not so meek and indulgent that nothing will arouse his indignation. He hates all that is hateful. He could not love righteousness without hating iniquity. He could not love the righteous without hating the wicked. To love both would be to abolish a all moral distinctions. Of the impenitent sinner it is said, "The wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). We are not to understand that God hates the sinner as an individual apart from his sins and his sinful disposition. It is only sin that renders him hateful, but man is responsible for his state of sinfulness and chooses to be what he knows he ought not to be; therefore to deal with the sin God must deal with the man. Not only does God hate man's sin, every sinful word, thought, and deed, but he also hates every evil desire. The natural man loves evil. That love of evil, which is a part of his nature, God abhors. All desire that runs out after impurity or for that which is unholy merits and excites God's indignation and abhorrence. Every evil ambition that arises in his soul repels God. Every evil disposition, every evil feeling, hatred, envy, malice, revenge, selfishness, pride, jealousy, deceit, hypocrisy, and all the long catalog of evil things, of which man's heart is the source, are obnoxious to God. All tendency to resist the Holy Spirit, or to array oneself against the will of God, all rebellion at his providences, can excite in God only hatred. How often man rejects his own reason and stifles his conscience! how often he hardens his heart! Can God love the thing in him that causes him to do this? He can love only what is lovable; and only what is pure and holy can appear lovable to a holy God. All else he hates and must hate with all the strength of his character. Sinner, look this squarely in the face. Your self-complacency may suffer, your conscience may be troubled, your fears be aroused, but the picture is not overdrawn. Look over it again carefully. Look at yourself in the mirror of God's Word, and think what it means to have God for your enemy. Think what it will mean before the great judgment-seat, think what it will mean in eternity, and turn from your sins before the day of wrath. God is just and can treat sin and the sinner only as justice demands, or at least can not go contrary to those demands. He is also merciful and loving. And his attitude toward the sinner, an attitude different from that just considered, is expressed thus: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:16,17). Again, we read, "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Thou art ... a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy" (Psalms 86 :5,15). God is so full of love that John calls him love. He is "our Father which art in heaven." His mercy endureth forever. He loves the sinner. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God loves men because they are his sons, the work of his own creative power, even though they have gone astray. He loves them because of his own benevolence; he loves them because of the sacrifice he has made for them. He loves all the lovable qualities that he sees in them. He loves all the possibilities for good and nobility and holiness, and he pities them as "a father pitieth his children." And so God's hand of mercy is outstretched toward sinners. His heart yearns over them. He invites them to come back from their wanderings, to turn away from their sins, and holds out to them the promise of a full pardon and a glorious reconciliation. These two widely different attitudes God holds toward every sinner. So long as the sinner is impenitent, love can not reach him, and mercy can not save; but as soon as the heart is softened into penitence and turns away from self to God, a welcome a waits him, the arms of love enfold him, and the past is all forgiven. God does not desire to hate the sinner. He is compelled to do so. But as soon as the sinner gives him opportunity by changing his attitude toward God from rebellion to submission, God changes his attitude toward him into one of tenderest love and pity. How To find God The prodigal has wandered far; he is in a strange land. Things there are not as they are in Father's house. As long as he is satisfied in this strange country, the charms of home appeal to him but little. Before the sinner can find God he must, as the prodigal of old, come to himself. He must realize what his situation means. He must become conscious of his true state as a sinner. He must see his sins in their naked reality; and he has only to see them so to abhor them. The pleasures of sin may satisfy for a season. His heart may have no longing after God; but when he comes to himself, he begins to think of better things. Sin loses its attraction. He begins to eat the bitter bread of remorse. He thinks of the outraged father, and there arises in his heart a desire for reconciliation. He is conscious that he has transgressed, that he has deeply wounded the paternal love. He is deeply conscious of the fact that he deserves nothing better of the Father than permanent rejection. The language of his heart is, "I am no more worthy to be called thy son." No man can ever find God who does not first become thoroughly dissatisfied with his own condition; for so long as he is satisfied in sin, he has no desire to be reconciled to God, he does not wish to be in God's presence. But when once he begins to abhor his sin, and to desire to be something better than he is, he instinctively turns Godward, and says, "I will arise and go to my Father." Reconciliation with God is not hard to obtain if there be first this turning away from sin and self. But without it there can never be peace. There can be no salvation while there remains self-satisfaction or rebellion. Seeking God It is not hard to become a Christian. It is not difficult to find God. The difficult part is to leave self and to gain the consent of mind and heart to begin seeking. God is not far away. We do not need to take a long journey to find him. He "is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" (Psalms 34:18). Yea, he is "not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27), and he has said, "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one ... that seeketh findeth" (Luke 11:9,10). There is, however, a way in which we must seek in order to be successful. We must not seek carelessly nor indifferently. "But if ... thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29). God never hides himself from those who seek him with right desires and pure purposes. The seeker should come humbly and simply and trustingly. He should come as one who expects to find, and, having found the desire his heart, to turn back no more to his former life. But if we desire to find God, we must seek for him where he is. The prodigal would have sought long and vainly for his father in the land where in he was a prodigal. Knowing this, he said, "I will arise and go to my father." So, we must arise and go from the land of our sinful service, from the country of our evil master. God is not to be found there. In vain do we look for him there. He is not found in the way of earthly pleasure. So long as our hearts and affections are set upon the things of this world, so long as we care for them, we can not find God. It is only when we turn to him with our whole hearts and with a full purpose to serve him that we can find him. Sometimes people desire to be Christians, and they make up their minds that they are going to do better. That is their thought of being a Christian - just doing better. But that is not enough; there must be something more than that. How can a man who is evil do good? Nor is it enough to join with people who are Christians, or who are professing to be Christians. We may unite with some organization of people called a church, but that of itself may not make us either better or worse. Turning over a new leaf and taking up new habits, becoming interested in church work and various benevolences, will never bring us to God. Our souls must become hungry for him. We must desire him more than anything else and search for him until we find him. That is one thing - we must find God. We must become his. We must have a new life, new purposes, and a new relationship with God. This demands a severance of old relations, a forsaking of old habits and life, of the old ways and desires. Do not suppose that you can find God as your Savior unless you turn to him with your whole heart, giving up once and for all time everything that displeases him. He will not be a partner with you in anything that is unholy; therefore all that is unholy must be given up. God has said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). These are God's terms, and he will not change them. David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalms 66:18). God tells us the result if we seek him while we still hold to sin. "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isaiah 1:15). What, then, must we do? His answer is, "Put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes; cease to do evil" (verse 16). If we will do this, the gracious promise is given, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (verse 18). As long as the soul clings to one sin, it cannot find God. All must be forsaken. The old life must have "Finish" written under it. When we fully turn from sin, then, and then only, can we turn to God. We are told to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin. If we do this, our relation to it will be the same as that of a literally dead man to the activities of this life. Sin must end before righteousness can begin. Repentance God's message to sinners has always been that they should repent. This was the burden of the message of the Prophets, of John the Baptist, and of the Son of God when he came, as it has been the message through the ages. But what is repentance? In its practical sense as respecting the sinner, it means regret or sorrow for sin, accompanied by a turning away from sin. The word sometimes means no more than a change of mind, but much besides. It means that change accompanied by or produced by real sorrow for sin, that godly sorrow which works repentance and leads to salvation. One of the most important points involved in this subject is the direction in which repentance acts, or the object toward which it acts. Much repentance is essentially selfish in its nature. Sometimes people grow very sorry because of what they have done when they see the effects upon themselves. When they see disease brought upon their bodies and realize that they are languishing under its touch because of what they have done, they are filled with regret. The prisoner behind the bars often is repentant because he is suffering punishment. He is sorry for what he has done, but sorry only because of its effects upon himself. Sin often brings shame, and this shame is not easily borne, and often brings self-reproaches and sorrow, not because the evil was done, but because of the fruit of that evil. All such repentance is essentially selfish. It leads to no change in the individual, in his attitude toward God, nor in God's attitude toward him. He may have wronged friends and later may come to feel very bad over having done so; he may wish that he had the opportunity to change matters and would be glad if he had not done as he did. In this case his friends are the object of his repentance. Any effectual repentance must have God for its object. It must be directed toward him. The individual must be genuinely repentant because he has wronged God. He must look at his sins from God's standpoint, not from his own. He must consider that he has wronged God, that he has transgressed his law; and he must consider the character of God - how infinitely just and holy he is and how exceedingly wrong has been his conduct in thus breaking the holy law of that holy God. It is only when he views his sins from this standpoint that he can have any adequate idea of their deserts, and only then can he have any proper idea of his own guilt and his own need of repentance. Repentance implies a turning away from sin with a full purpose never to repeat the sinful deeds. Anything that does not produce such a result is not real repentance. Those who claim to have repented and still go on in their sinful ways, doing what pleases them rather than what pleases God, have never truly repented; for if one is truly sorry for sin, is truly sorry that he has grieved God, he will once and forever turn away from doing such a thing. God says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." That is an essential part of repentance, and if omitted, the repentance can not be unto salvation. God says that the wicked shall "give again that which he hath robbed" (Ezekiel 33:15). One characteristic of true repentance is the disposition of the individual to repair the injuries that he has done others, so far as it lies in his power. If he has stolen from another, he desires no longer to have that property in his possession. If we have taken from our fellow man by fraud or in any other way things that were his, the things are still his, and if we truly repent, we shall feel an earnest and sincere desire in our souls to restore them. Repentance that leaves the individual in possession of that which has been wrongfully gotten, is not genuine repentance, for genuine repentance wants to make right any wrong that has been done. It takes no argument to convince any one who really repents that he ought to confess to those whom he has wronged and to make restitution to them to the extent of his ability and opportunity. The thousands of professors of religion who have things in their possession that are not theirs will have a hard task getting inside the pearly gates, as they have now a hard task of convincing those who know of the facts that they are true Christians. It is not enough to be sorry that we have done wrong; we must go far enough to be thoroughly sorry that we have that which is not ours, so sorry that we will not keep it. It is just as truly natural for the penitent sinner to make his wrongs right and to ask the forgiveness of those wronged and to make thorough confession as it is for his soul to reach out after God's mercy. Having truly repented, the soul is then upon the threshold of God's mercy and can reach out expectantly to find him. Submission The sinner is a rebel against God. He has lived in open rebellion all his sinful days; but if he will find God, if he will be reconciled to him, then he must submit himself to God in whole-hearted surrender. "Submit yourselves therefore to God" (James 4:7). Self has been the king upon the throne of the heart. Self must be dethroned. All its rule must be overthrown, its government entirely demolished. Christ must be enthroned, he must be above all and through all. His will must be law. The soul must yield true allegiance to him. It must yield glad and full obedience. He must be supreme and the soul rejoices to have it so. The yielding must be not only a passive submission, but an active submission. It is good if we shall say, "Not my will, but thine, be done." But this is not enough. We must dedicate ourselves to the fulfillment of his will, to the task of carrying out his will. "I delight to do thy will" is the language of the submitted heart. We are not fully surrendered so long as we require one condition. Christ can not be master so long as we offer terms. Our surrender must be unconditional, or it is not real. Here is where many fail. They have their way mapped out before them, and have their ideas of just what kind of Christians they want to be and what they want to do. That leaves them the masters, and if their terms were accepted, they would never be submissive. Some will not yield to God lest he should call them to preach; others, lest they should have to be missionaries, leave home, testify, pray in public, or do some similar thing. Others have plans that they wish to carry out, or things which they desire to continue in, such as dancing, taking part in worldly amusements, and the like. God will let us have a form of godliness, if that is what we want, and he may let us be pretty well satisfied with it, even if we are not really surrendered; but if it is real salvation that we want, that is to be had only on condition of an absolute surrender so far as we can understand what that means. We must throw away our maps and plans, and say: "Here I am, Lord, body, mind and soul. All I am or ever shall be is thine unreservedly forever. Not my will, but thine, be done." This must be said, not with the lips alone, but from the heart's remotest depths. This, and this alone, is surrender. This is real submission, and this is one of the steps in finding God. Believing In reply to the jailer's question, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). Faith is the hand that reaches out to God and lays hold upon him through his promises. Without it we can not find God; without it we can not be saved from our sins; but by believing we may be saved. There are, however, two kinds of believing, and both are necessary to our salvation. Jesus said to the Jews, "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). Many people believe in Christ as a historical character, as a great and glorious teacher, even the Son of God; but that faith affects nothing for their salvation. It is, however, the ground of the other and more important faith. We "must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Many people believe in Christ who never receive him as their Savior. We must not only believe in him, but believe on him, that is, confidently rely upon him for our salvation, trusting him to forgive our sins and make us all that he has promised to make us. Believing is no hard thing. It is not something that is strained, not something that is forced. It is something that operates naturally and easily. The soul that has done what has already been noted under the previous steps, is in a position to rely upon Christ for his salvation; that is, to confidently trust in him that he does now save him. It requires no effort of will, no straining to do this; it is natural, just as natural as breathing. He has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Is this true, or is it false? If it is true, then it is true for you, and for everyone else who will come to him in the way of his truth. His promise is, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1st John 1:9). Is this true? If it is true for anyone, it is true for you. Just simply believe it, and you will know that his word is true; you will within you have the consciousness of that fact. But until you do believe it, that is, until you accept it not only as being true but as being true for you, it will count nothing. But when you do so accept it, it will count all, and you will find that your soul reaches out and finds God true and knows him for itself. Assurance Belief brings assurance. Peter said, "We believe and are sure" (John 6:69). Effectual faith, that is, faith that reaches out and appropriates God's promises for salvation, brings to the heart a knowledge of the forgiveness of sin. We are not left to uncertainty as some suppose. John says, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself" (1st John 5:10). What is this witness? Paul tells us in Galatians 4:6. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father." The work of the Spirit in witnessing is stated in Romans 8:16. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." The Christian has a twofold witness of his acceptance with God. First, this witness of the Spirit, who testifies to him of his acceptance. This is the voice of God himself to the soul. It speaks in the believer's inner consciousness in language that can not be misunderstood. He knows that he is God's child. He realizes from the testimony of that sacred Spirit that the work of God has been wrought and that he is now a child of the divine Father. He is no more a rebel, but a son. Secondly, there is that inner consciousness known and realized as any other definite fact of the human experience. He knows that he is no more what he was; he knows that he is no more a rebel against God, but is at peace with him. He no longer feels the guilt of his sin. He is conscious that a great change has taken place. Everyone who truly becomes a Christian, has this inner consciousness that he is God's. This is a sure product of saving grace. This twofold witness within our souls continues as long as our faith continues. Only doubts can silence its voice. When faith fails, the voice of this testimony becomes weakened and finally silenced. It is dependent upon faith, and as long as we believe we may expect its testimony; but we must believe in order to retain this glorious realization of divine sonship. John was very positive in his knowledge and assertion on this point. He said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life" (1st John 3:14). Again, he says, "We know that we are of God" (1st John 5:19). In every case, however, saving faith must precede this witnessing, and saving faith must always accompany it, or it is made void. Regeneration The Bible does not observe the hair-splitting methods and fine theological distinctions of either modern or ancient theologians. These methods may be necessary to philosophic study; but when we interpret the Bible by them, we narrow it down and lose its real significance. It speaks many times in broad generalizations. Often the thing meant is broader than the term used. Sometimes part is put for all, sometimes all is put for part; and we have need to use our judgment and intelligence most carefully in order to arrive at the true meaning. This is true of the subject of Regeneration. For the work of God's grace in saving the sinner from his guilt there are many terms, most of which respectively apply strictly to only one particular phase of the work, but which, because of their necessary connection in operation and in time with other parts of the work, are used to represent the whole. As instances of this the following may be noted: Redemption‚ - "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things ... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1st Peter 1:18, 19). Forgiveness - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins" (1st John 1:9). The new birth - "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (verse 6). Reconciliation - "God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2nd Corinthians 5:18, 19). Isaiah thus expresses this reconciliation: "Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me" (chapter 12:1). Adoption - "That we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:5). We "received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15). All these are but differing phases of the one great work of divine grace. By this means we are brought nigh unto God. We are made his dear children; we partake of his Spirit, of his love, of his goodness, and we rejoice in him with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." SONSHIP Of all the wonderful and gracious promises of God, none are more wonderful nor more gracious than his promise of fatherhood. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2nd Corinthians 6:17, 18). John says, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1st John 3:1). What infinite condescension that God should permit us who were once so sinful and vile to bear his name, to be called the sons of God, and not simply to be called the sons of God, but actually to be such, for John says in the next verse, "Now are we the sons of God." Jesus said to the wicked Pharisees, "Ye are of your father the devil" (John 8:44); but "now are we the sons of God." What a marvelous change! How glorious the thought - the sons of the Most High! And now that we are sons, we can say in the language of our Lord, "Our Father who art in heaven." This is then to us not mere words, but the outpouring of our hearts, the answering of our spirits to his. Have you not heard prayers beginning somewhat as follows: "All wise and Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth"? We may speak to God in such formal language, but we can never draw close to him in this way. The great God, the Creator, the Mighty One who inhabiteth Eternity, he who stretched out the heavens and placed their galaxies, he whose splendor and majesty are too great for human vision - what can we do before such a one but fall down in awe and fear. It is not such a one that we can love, in whose presence we can come with rejoicing and to whom we can make known our petitions; but it is to "our Father who art in heaven" that we can come, before whom we can bow and up into whose face we can look and make known our wants. It is he whom we can love; it is he to whom we may come boldly in every time of need to receive help and grace and mercy. When a king sits upon the throne, who may approach him familiarly? All must recognize his majesty and his honor; but when he comes down off the throne and goes into the nursery, the children may play about his knees and climb upon his lap and put their arms about his neck and caress him and receive his caresses in return. To them, he is not the King, he is not His Majesty; he is Father. Such God would be to you and me. He wants to be our Father; he will be our Father; he is our Father. He wants to bestow upon us all the affection and tenderness that a father feels for his dear children. This is the relation into which we are brought when we become his sons. All the riches of his love will he lavish upon us, all the tenderness of his fatherly affection. We may approach him with the utmost confidence and the utmost freedom. He loves for us to pour out our hearts in tender devotion to him. He loves to know what troubles us. He loves to minister comfort and help to us in all our needs. Can our hearts today say "Our Father" instead of "Almighty God"? He is the Almighty God, and as such we reverence and adore and fear him. But he is still our Father and we draw near, forgetting his majesty and greatness in the realization of his loving-kindness. "I will be a father unto you," he said. Whatever he may be to others, whatever terrors his presence may inspire in them, whatever fears they may have, it shall not be so with us, for he is our Father and we are the children of his love. THE NEW HEART "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:25, 26). The heart of the sinner is truly stony, and especially in its attitude toward God. How often the same is true in regard to its attitude toward man's fellow creatures. The story of this world is largely made up of what has been termed "man's inhumanity to man" - unspeakable cruelties bring oceans of tears, hatred of God and of his creatures. Yes, man's heart is naturally a stony heart. But God promises here to take away that stony heart and give a heart of flesh, even a new heart. What a change this expresses! Out of the natural heart flows a stream of wickedness, vile and degrading. It is a very fountain of iniquity. As Jeremiah declares, it is "desperately wicked." But regeneration changes all this, and God gives us, as he has promised, a heart of flesh. Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" (Matthew 12:35). According to this, the difference between a good man and an evil man is in the condition of his heart. A good man's heart is like a treasure-house filled with good things, which he brings out in the acts of his life; whereas of the evil man, the opposite is true: he has an evil treasure, out of which flows an evil life. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (chapter 15:19). In order for the evil man to become good, there must of necessity be a change in the condition of that treasure of his heart. And so the Lord said, "I will give you a new heart." This signifies an entire renovation of the heart - a new creation, as it were, in Christ Jesus. Out of this new heart flows new life. Instead of impurity, there comes forth purity. Instead of hatred for God, there is love of God and of all that is good. The new heart is the heart of pity, kindness, compassion, and sympathy. The old hard feelings are gone, the old cruelties are now no more; and there comes into the life a tenderness and a gentleness never known there before. The whole aspect of the life is altered because he is altered. He no longer loves anything that is evil: he loves instead that which is good, pure, holy, noble, and uplifting. His desires are to do right, to please God, and to be a real example of his grace before his fellows. This same truth Jesus set forth when he said that a good tree could not bring forth corrupt fruit. If the life that flows from our hearts when we profess to be Christians is not a pure, godly, virtuous life, it is because there has not been a cleansing of that inner fountain. In vain do we try to live right until we are made right; but when we are once cleansed within, when once the fountain of our heart is purified, we can then live "soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus 2:12). God dwells in that new heart. It is the place of his sanctuary - the place in which he delights to manifest himself, and out from which he speaks through our tongues, and looks in kindness through our eyes, and spreads forth his hand through us in pity and compassion and helpfulness. Of us then it may be said, "It is God which worketh in you." Without this change of heart there may be morality, but there can never be Christianity. THE NEW LIFE "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2nd Corinthians 5:17, 18). According to this text, all things in the new life are of God; that is, they are wrought in righteousness. We can not live partly for God and partly for self and Satan. The life must bear one complexion throughout. God looks upon it as a whole and expects us to live it as a whole for him. He will accept nothing else. He has said that we are either for him or against him, and that we can not serve two masters, for we shall either love one and hate the other or cleave to one and despise the other. If we truly love God and are truly living for him, our lives are godly. Scripture says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (1st John 3:9), and, "He that committeth sin is of the devil" (verse 8). Our sinning or not sinning shows to which master we belong. Therefore if we are Christ's, there is not seen in our lives the practice of sin, but we delight to do his will. We delight in that which is right and just and noble. People looking upon us can be able to say with real conviction that Christ liveth in us. The distinction between the Christian and the sinner is neither superficial nor imaginary, but reaches to the utmost depths of the heart and life. The line of separation is clean-cut and absolute. It is not simply a difference of profession, or of acts, or of association, nor even of character. It is more than all this; it is the possession of a new life divinely implanted - a new life that controls and actuates the being. NEW IDEALS AND PURPOSES When the heart is changed from sin to grace, the old ideals give place to new and better ones. The old purposes cease to sway us. Instead of being essentially selfish and living for our own pleasure, we begin to seek God's pleasure and earnestly to desire to do his will - that which pleases him. Whatever may have been our ideals before, they are now much exalted and must be so to be compatible with our new state. God becomes the ideal of our life, and it is our earnest desire that those qualities and characteristics which are manifested in him may be manifested in us. We abhor that which is low and debasing, and we reach out to that which is high and noble. These new ideals and purposes dominate our life and make it one of which we need not be ashamed. EFFECT ON MORAL ATTRIBUTES AND FACULTIES The effect of regeneration upon man's moral attributes and faculties is most profound. It amounts to a complete transformation. His conscience, his will, his perceptions and sensibilities are all revolutionized. His faculties are quickened and changed. He finds himself different in a thousand ways, and these differences show to him that he is indeed a new creature. The conscience of the sinner is defiled. "But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, there is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Titus 1:15). Paul, speaking on this point, says that they have "their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1st Timothy 4:2). This state of the conscience, however, need not be permanent. No matter how defiled it may have become, no matter how unclean, no matter how scarred, when the soul turns to God there is a remedy. "How much more shall the blood of Christ ... purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14). Again, it is said, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" (chapter 10:22). The result of this purification through the blood of Christ is told in chapter 12:2. "Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." When our iniquities are blotted out, the guilt upon our conscience is removed and we are free. We are before the Lord as though we had never committed sin, so far as any sense of present guilt is concerned. We are brought into a blessed state of peace, which is thus expressed: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). This state may be maintained. Paul said, "Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16). Among other things which we are to do is to hold "the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (1st Timothy 3:9). There is nothing that can give us more inward satisfaction than a conscience void of offense, one that approves our conduct and our state. Nothing can be more harassing than the stings of a defiled conscience. God has promised us that we should have his peace, and we can have this peace only as we have a peaceful conscience. This is the Christian's heritage; this is his glorious portion. We can so maintain our lives before God that we shall have the approval of our conscience and a continued realization that the things we are doing are done with the single purpose of pleasing God. We can be conscious that we are following him as his dear children and yielding our all to him. This inner consciousness is a joy indeed and a satisfaction that can come from no other source. The sinner is fully bent on doing as he pleases, in following out his own purposes and desires. He does not take God into his consideration. He asks only, "What do I wish to do?" He feels that he is master of himself. He gives allegiance to none. Self sits upon the throne of his life and rules there. In regeneration all this is changed. The will submits to God. It takes its orders from him, as it were. The regenerated person yields his will to carry out the purpose of his Maker. This yielding is not forced; it is willing and ready. The regenerated will delights to do the will of God, delights to carry out his purpose. That charity which is from above "seeketh not her own." Instead of opposing God, the will actively cooperates with him. The one-time rebel has become a dutiful and obedient son. The moral perceptions are also now greatly changed. We see things in a new light. Instead of seeing in God qualities that make us fear him and dread him and shrink from contact with him, we see those things which attract us and draw out our love toward him. God becomes, as it were, a new God. We find him entirely different from what we supposed him to be. We find his attitude toward us different from what it seemed to be. His love, which we never really knew before, becomes a glorious reality to us. His Word becomes as a new book, and we read it eagerly and enjoy it greatly. Our perception of moral qualities in actions is also very different from what it was before. It was abnormal. We looked at things through the obscurity of our sinfulness. But now we see things face to face. We see them in their true colors, in their true perspective. Our sensibilities, too, are vitally changed. There is, in fact, a complete reversal of the effect of the causes which excite our sensibilities, the effect upon our feelings of things involving moral questions being quite the opposite of what it was before. Sinful things repel instead of attracting, excite our disgust and disapproval instead of producing in us a sense of pleasure. The company of our former wicked associates brings to us now a feeling different from what it did before. The things of the world have lost their charm. We are strongly drawn to holy things. Contemplation of God and our relation to him instead of causing feelings of fear and distress, stir emotions of joy and thankfulness. New emotions arise and are sometimes very powerful. Spiritual joy, peace, contentment, and satisfaction unite to uplift the soul to new heights. Different persons have different emotions, depending upon their natural temperaments. There is a wide variation even in the same person at different times. Emotion is not salvation or any part of it, but it often accompanies the work of God in us and follows in the life. We are profoundly conscious of the reversal of the effect of outside things upon our emotions. This is the most important thing in regard to them in our new life. In this particular they become an evidence of the change wrought in us. This subject will be treated more at length in a succeeding chapter. Our natural faculties also are vitally affected. In the sinful life we may reverence God in a way, but not as when we are saved. We might worship him in form as we see others doing, but we can not worship him in spirit and in truth until our hearts are in harmony with him. In the new life we need no command to praise him or to worship him, for it is natural to do so. Praise flows from our hearts unto him as water from a fountain, and the flow is quickened by every consideration of his goodness to us. The contemplation of his being and character arouses a reverence in us that we could never have felt before. The wisdom and justice of his law excite our highest admiration. Faith is another thing that is profoundly affected. It passes from the passive to the active state in the individual, and not only so, but it is greatly increased in degree. As sinners we may believe in God; but when we are converted, when we become God's children, our faith is active then, and we trust, we rely in him and believe him, and this faith brings us into and keeps us in vital relation with him. The sinner is pictured as being without hope and without God in the world. He has nothing to look forward to. Hope brings him no blessings from the spiritual realm. He looks forward to the future, and all is dark and disappointing. He has no foundation for hope. But with a Christian it is quite different. Hope is born anew in him. Hope looks forward and sees its pathway illuminated with a heavenly light. It looks beyond this life and sees the future glorious with expectation. The Christian's hope is based upon a sure foundation. He knows that he will not be disappointed. He knows that hope reaches within the veil and grasps hold of that which God has in store for him in the years of eternity. The Christian has hope in his present life and in his death and in God's glorious kingdom of heaven. No wonder that Paul spoke of it as being the "anchor of the soul." The sinner has no anchor for his soul. He is tossed about wherever the storms of life may throw him, while the Christian rests serene and calm and untroubled. The faculty of love also is greatly changed, or manifests itself in a greatly different way. The sinner does not and can not really love God. He may have an admiration for the character of God and for the laws of God, but this can never rise to love. He may love himself; he may love his friends and the things about him; he may love and does love his sins, or he would not persist in them. This selfish love and the love of sin must be destroyed out of the heart and is destroyed in regeneration. The new-born soul loves God. He knows not when he began or how it is, but he feels his heart drawn out in tenderest love toward God. His capacity to love seems to be increased, and all its strength seems to go out toward God. Not that he does not love those about him nor the things that are lovely; he still loves these, but he loves them as they ought to be loved, and he loves God more than they all. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1st John 4:19), and a contemplation of his love for us begets more and more of love toward him in return. Our sense of justice and fair play is likewise greatly affected. If we are treated unfairly, we no longer feel vindictive. We no longer feel disposed to take vengeance on those who do us ill, but rather to say, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." The disposition to enforce our rights by carnal means is taken away. We are willing to let God rule in our lives and rule in the things that concern us. Hatred, bitterness, envy, malice and all such things have their end, and in their stead come kindness and mercy and justice. Abnormal self-esteem, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, and all such things give way to meekness, quietness, and consideration of others. We learn to value others at their true worth and by the same standard by which we value ourselves. EFFECTS ON MENTAL CONDITION The effect of regeneration on man's mental constitution is important. Not only is his mental point of view changed, but the general course of his thoughts run in a different direction. When we are in the valley of sin, the prospect is quite different from what it is when we are on the mountain-top of salvation. Things do not appear the same to us as they did before. Our horizon is widened, and we view things more truly in their relation ship to other things. The mind is often strongly affected by the general course of the sinful life. It runs in the channels of sin and upon the things of sin. It delights in the things of the world and of sin. The converted person thinks rather of the things of God and of the things that are pure and noble and uplifting. His thoughts are turned into new channels and upon new objects. The Holy Spirit illuminates his mind, so that many things that were once dark and mysterious now seem plain and clear. He understands the Bible as he could not understand it before. He understands God, and he understands himself. He sees them in a new light. His understanding may be only partial; he may not understand clearly; but things appear quite different from what they did before. The effect on his reasoning faculties is very marked. He is now in a position where God can reveal to him through his Spirit many truths wholly unknown before, and his reason is quickened so that he may readily understand the philosophy of many things that he did not know before and that he could not understand even when he heard others speak of them. The problems of life have a new meaning to him, and one by one he finds their solution. He finds the laws and purposes of God such as to excite the admiration of his reason and to lead it on to deeper and deeper understanding. Sinners have deified reason and bowed down to and worshipped it, but man's unaided reason is not a safe guide. Too often it has led him astray into bogs from which he could not easily make his way. Reason, under the direction of the Spirit of God, finds its way into the path of truth and rejoices therein. We may well say that the whole course of man's thoughts, so far as they relate to moral things, is changed. He thinks now as a son of God; he thinks now with his reason illuminated. He delights to have his mind dwell on that which is right and just and noble and good, that which will bless him and his fellows, and that which will please and honor his God. EFFECTS ON PHYSICAL BEING The effect of regeneration on man's physical being must of necessity be less than that on the other parts of his being. Its greatest physical effects are probably obtained through the cessation of injurious habits that the person followed in his sinful days. His natural functions are not affected by regeneration. They are necessary to his being; they are parts, as it were, of his physical being. It does, however, oftentimes have a profound effect upon his appetites, especially such as are acquired and unnatural. In most instances the appetite for intoxicating liquors disappears as if by magic. The same is often true of the appetite for tobacco and narcotic drugs and other unnatural things. However, experiences are not always uniform in this regard. But in all cases where the appetite leads to sinfulness, the grace of God will be found sufficient to overcome it, God himself intervening usually to destroy the unnatural appetite. The effect on natural appetites is less marked. In fact, these are left to be controlled by the mental and moral constitution of man, according to wisdom and to will. The least that we can say of the work of God in the human nature and being is that it brings us into a place where we can serve God in holiness and righteousness, in a manner that is acceptable to him and glorifying to his name. We should stop nothing short of this, for nothing short of this will enable us to live a real Christian life. The Christian Life BABES IN CHRIST We must not expect to come into the Christian life in a mature state. This is indicated by the figure of being born. We are at first immature in all our spiritual faculties. We comprehend the things in the kingdom of God with the comprehension of a child and not with that of an adult. Our knowledge at best is only fragmentary. Of experience we have nothing at all. Since we have no data from which to draw our conclusions, our views and conclusions will often be imperfect. We may hear others talk and see them act in a way that seems not to correspond to our views. Their more developed reason may make things appear differently to them from what they now appear to us, and things will later appear to us quite differently in many respects from what they do now. Then, also, we know and understand little of God in the beginning. We must be patient. We must be willing to learn. We must be willing to be taught. We must be willing to grow and develop according to the laws of spiritual development. If we try to hurry things too much, we shall only do ourselves injury. All we need to do is just to live normally, to live and trust and serve God, letting him take care of the growth, not taking thought about it nor worrying over it, but letting it be in his hands and concerning ourselves with the affairs of life that belong to us. In the natural life the child is subject to many dangers to which an adult is not subject. The same is true in the spiritual life. One of these dangers is that we shall overestimate our strength, shall suppose we can resist temptation, and therefore we may become careless and go into the way of temptation and at last find ourselves entrapped. The Lord taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." The babe in Christ often has need to pray that prayer and to watch lest he does himself enter into temptation. By their unwisdom people often bring serious temptations upon themselves, temptations that too often they are unable to overcome. It is wise to keep on the safe side; to keep where we shall not be tempted above our strength. God will help us to overcome those temptations that can not be avoided; he will see to it that we have grace to meet those if we will trust him. But if we throw ourselves into a position to be tempted, then we may have too great a battle and instead of being victorious, be vanquished. Another danger to which young converts are exposed is their liability to be overconfident and undertake things too great for them, things which only more mature Christians can accomplish. When such is the case and they fail in their undertaking, the result is often serious discouragement. Many battles have to be fought because they reach out too far. It is best to wait on God and let him direct our undertakings. It is best to be sufficiently modest not to push ourselves forward, especially beyond those who are older in experience in the Christian life. Young converts often have more zeal than wisdom, and this zeal often carries them into things that end sadly unless they are careful and unless they are willing to receive and heed advice and counsel. They are too often prone to estimate too highly their own judgments and wisdom, and therefore not to value as they should the wisdom and the guidance of older Christians. The best advice that can be given such an individual is to "make haste slowly." Another danger is that of becoming exalted, or proud of one's own self, one's abilities, and one's accomplishments. What we do seems to be greater than what others do. We are so likely to place too high a value upon it. This is true especially of the inexperienced beginner. This pride of self is very destructive of spirituality. We can not prosper if we give place to it, and sooner or later we shall find ourselves far away from God. The wise man said, "Before honor is humility" (Proverbs 15:33). We should therefore, as beginners be willing to do the little things, and to fill a small place until we grow up to man's stature. Then and then only can we do a man's work. Still another danger of the young convert is that of being deceived by false doctrines. His judgment is immature, but he often does not realize it, but feels himself capable of determining the truth or falsity of almost anything he hears, and that oftentimes with very little investigation. I have known scores of young converts who started out well, seemed spiritual, seemed to love God, but who, because of negligence in this regard, were led into false doctrines from which they never escaped or from which they escaped at last after much difficulty and with much loss to their spirituality. The Bible says, "Take heed that no man deceive you" (Matthew 24:4), and this is wise advice to every beginner in the Christian race. Prove all things and hold fast only to that which you are assured is the truth and that which other spiritual Christians accept. There is also much danger of being led into something that will destroy spirituality. Frivolous and foolish conversation, worldly amusements, too much of the society of worldly people, or anything of this sort, is likely to dull the spiritual sensibilities, and to draw the heart away from God. Satan has many traps for the young convert's feet, and he will do well to watch carefully his path and follow only those things which will tend to uplift and make him better. He must carefully cultivate the tender plants of God's planting in his soul lest they should die from inattention. Another thing of which the babe in Christ must beware is placing too much confidence in those who may not be worthy of his confidence. There are many who have a form of godliness, even many who pose as teachers, whose private lives are not worthy. There are some who wear the garb of religion who would gladly lead him astray. There are others who are deceived themselves and would lead him into their error. Let him remember that he is but a babe; that he must watch his steps carefully; that he must keep close to God; that he must trust in him for all things; and that only by this means can he develop into a strong, useful, Christian man. WHY SOME HAVE BETTER EXPERIENCE THAN OTHERS It is a fact commonly observed that some Christians have better experiences than others. This is true even from the beginning of their Christian life. The difference may be due to a number of things, but the most important cause for anyone's experiencing a lack of that abundance of grace all should have is no doubt found in the fact that he fails to yield himself to God as fully as he should. This, of course, does not imply a refusal to yield fully, for that would be rebellion; and the soul could not be saved at all under such conditions. But in most instances it is undoubtedly due to the fact that the person does not comprehend the meaning and the necessity of complete surrender. He goes as far as he can see, and stops there, even though there are great fields of his nature that are as yet not fully yielded. Should rebellion spring from any of these, it would prove fatal to his soul life. When a question arises that involves this unyielded territory, he must immediately make a decision. He must either yield to God's will, or become a rebel. He can not consciously refuse to conform himself to the will of God without grieving the Holy Spirit. God yields himself to us as we yield to him and open the channel for grace. A full and complete yielding of ourselves opens wide this channel, and then grace flows into our hearts in abundance. It is in our power to close this channel and thereby hinder the flow of grace. Any reluctance on our part, therefore, to submit to the whole will of God obstructs the channel of grace, and results in a lack of spirituality in our lives. The Spirit works freely where there are no hindrances. Self-surrender is the hardest but most necessary thing. The more complete that surrender is, the more perfect is the working of God in the soul, and the more Christ-like we become. It is not enough to surrender self to God; but surrender must be maintained. We must carefully guard ourselves lest we permit the channel of grace to become obstructed. It may become obstructed at any time and in a great variety of ways. Self is liable to assert itself; and since it is possible at any time for us to withdraw our submission to God, no matter how spiritual we may have been or how much God may have worked in us, we must therefore be on our guard. We are so constituted that we naturally like our own ways; and if we are not careful, we shall unconsciously choose our ways in preference to God's. But doing so can not but react upon our spirituality. Some are more spiritual than others because they exercise more diligence in their endeavor to conform themselves more perfectly to the will of God. Some grow very careless in this respect, and just drift along any way. They take it for granted that they are the Lord's. They seem little concerned about becoming more perfectly his, or about conforming themselves more perfectly to him. They allow their attention to be taken up by the daily round of duties, by business affairs, by the ordinary things of life; and they give little thought to their drawing nearer to God. They, therefore, make little progress in the divine life. Many people are now not as spiritual as they were when they first began the Christian life. They have professed for years; but today they bear less of the fruits of the Spirit than they bore years ago. They have less of earnestness and power, and experience fewer of the manifestations of God's grace. Their zeal and their love have grown cold. What is the trouble? Is not the grace of God able to cause them to abound in all these qualities? It is not God's fault if they are not prospering - it is their own, because they have let the channel of grace be filled up. Keep open this channel in your soul. Seek day by day to get closer to God and to conform yourself more perfectly to him; then you may increase and develop, and be enriched in God. But the keynote of spirituality is ever and always self-surrender. THE RETENTION OF GRACE In order to retain natural life, we must conform to the laws of life. We can not violate them without reaping the consequences. The principle here involved is a truly applicable to our spiritual life. There are certain laws we must obey, or spiritual death will ensue. Grace can be retained only by one's living a holy life. Sin is fatal to spiritual life; sin brings us under the condemnation of God's law and Spirit. "The wages of sin is death," both spiritual death and eternal death, death now and hereafter. Now, what is the true standard of the justified life? John says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (1st John 3:9). To be justified means to be accounted free from guilt, or innocent. Is one who commits sins free from guilt, or innocent? There are many people who point to the seventh chapter of Romans and say it represents the Christian life, or is the true standard of the justified life. Many say, "I do not expect to have a better experience than the Apostle Paul had." The fact is, however, that what he relates in the seventh chapter of Romans is not a narration of his Christian experience. Let him tell in his own words what his experience was. "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe" (1st Thessalonians 2:10). Shall we receive or reject his testimony? The picture drawn in the seventh chapter of Romans is not the standard of the Christian life. Paul neither asserts nor suggests that he is speaking of a Christian's experience. Throughout the New Testament we find, both in precept and example, some thing very different from this. I called your attention to Paul's life and to his testimony of his Christian living. Let us now hear the voice of inspiration: "That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus 2:10-12). Again: "That he would grant unto us that we ... might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1:74,75). Now, God is not an idealist; he does not hold up before us a standard impossible to be reached and then expect us to aim at it only to miss. He does not demand us to try, when he knows we should fall short continually. He does not require too much of us; nor does he place the standard of right living higher than he will help us to live up to, if we trust him and use the grace he offers us . We should avoid the idealism that represents the Christian life as a constant, onward-and-upward progress, accompanied with a cloudless sky and most blissful emotions. Such idealism is incapable of being translated into life. The Bible is essentially practical. It raises no such standard. Life in no condition is always cloudless, nor are the emotions always joyous. Life is made up of sunshine and clouds, of joys and sorrows. There will be tears and sighs as well as joys and smiles. There will be temptations and trials as well as victories and exultations. We should, however, avoid the extreme of presenting life as being a series of dark and sinful days or as being composed mostly of shortcomings. It is not such. The normal life of a regenerated person is one in which God reigns, and in which grace to live above sin abounds. This life will not be without its temptations, its perplexities, its cares, and its disappointments. Its pathway will sometimes be rugged and thorny. But God will ever uphold us and give us grace to be obedient to him if we trust him. No man is compelled to sin. If he sins, it is because he chooses to do so. And when he sins, the relation of his soul to God is changed. He is brought under condemnation. His conscience accuses him; he knows that he has done wrong, and he knows what he has done. His peace and joy are gone. A cloud is between him and God. It is true that if he will repent God will be merciful and will restore him; but God does not expect him to disobey over and over again. He expects us to live right; and we can do so if we will. Those who plead for sin dishonor both themselves and God. The language of the regenerate heart is, "I delight to do thy will, O God." Can we even conceive of one's holding such an attitude toward God and his law, and then breaking that law continually? If we will be God's, we must live above sin; and this we can do by his grace. Native Depravity There are already so many treatises on this subject that it need be considered here only as it relates to the practical side of the Christian life in the regenerate state. The doctrine is held in some form by most theologians. The Augustinian and Calvinistic view, that man is guilty and is fit only for damnation because of having partaken of Adam's sin, and the more modified view held by most Armenians, do not concern us here. We wish to consider depravity only as it relates to and affects the nature of man after he is born again. That man's nature does contain depravity in some form is generally admitted. The Bible does not give us a scientific or philosophical treatment of the subject. Man's natural depravity is one of the many things that are assumed to be so much a fact of human consciousness as to need no proof. Since the Bible so treats the matter, and man is left to form his own conclusion on this, as well as many other points, it is not strange that there are many different ideas. Regarding the universality of the doctrine, I quote from Miley: "The doctrine of entire sanctification in regeneration was new with Zinzendorff and wholly unknown before him." -Theology Volume II, page 367. This can have no meaning except that the doctrine of the existence of depravity in those regenerated was previously universal, as it practically is today. From the Scriptural standpoint, it is only necessary to show that believers are promised a sanctification subsequent to their becoming believers. Jesus prayed for the Twelve in these words: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth" (John 17:16, 17). Again, "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified" (verse 19). For the Thessalonian Christians, Paul prayed thus" "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (1st Thessalonians 5:23). There are two general theories as to the origin of depravity. The first is that it is generic, being a corruption of the nature transmitted through all the race from Adam. This is the most commonly accepted idea. The second, held by Mr. Finney and others, is that depravity is not transmissible but results from the order of development of the child. The physical develops before the mental, and the mental before the spiritual, so that the physical and mental habits form and become wholly selfish before the spiritual is developed enough for it to have a proper moral sense; and thus the nature is depraved. Which of these theories may be correct has no practical bearing on the fact of its existence, so does not demand more than passing attention here. For my part, I am inclined to adopt a middle ground, that is, that depravity is transmissible and transmitted and that it may be increased by the individual's own conduct, and also that it is invariable as a transmitted quality, being dependent upon the same laws as are the transmission of mental and physical qualities. That depravity is a constant in all, I am not prepared to accept, as observation certainly shows the opposite to be true. One thing is certainly true of it. It is not an entity or tangible thing, such as a stump, by which it is sometimes illustrated. Nor is it a plant planted by Satan. He has no power to plant in man any such thing. The human will is free, and can not be coerced by man or the devil, nor even by God himself. Depravity was not a new thing that entered Adam when he sinned. It was only a perversion or corruption of what he already was. It is not a sort of motor that Satan connects with our human nature and by which he operates us. It is not a thing that can be subtracted bodily from a person. It is a corruption that must be cleansed. It is an overdevelopment, or rather an abnormal development, of the natural faculties or propensities which in their normal state are pure and necessary. Self-esteem when corrupted becomes pride. The sense of justice becomes vindictiveness and reveals itself in wrath, malice, hatred and revenge. Love of the beautiful becomes vanity. Amativeness becomes lust. Acquisitiveness becomes covetousness. This seems to me the only rational explanation that can be given to the subject. The question is often asked: "If depravity is transmissible, how can the children of sanctified parents possess this depravity?" The fact that it is so should seem no stranger than the well-known fact that mental and physical diseases or malformations and abnormalities are transmitted through healthy links. It is undeniable that such diseases as scrofula, insanity, craving for liquor, and many like things are transmitted through parents who show no trace of such things, the diseases breaking out in descendants removed the second, third, or even fourth generation from grandparents who have been so afflicted or diseased. It is the life-current that is defiled. The sanctification of the parent is only as an accidental thing; that is, it is like the amputation of a limb or the removal of an eye in the physical. Parents who have suffered such mutilations do not transmit these to their children. We may not understand some of the laws of transmission; but our lack of comprehension does not prevent them from being true in human experience, neither does it disprove them. The transmission of depravity is only an example of the law of persistence of type - a law which, in natural things, is left unquestioned. REVERSION TO TYPE The animal and vegetable kingdoms are alike subject to man's control. He may produce new varieties and develop them to a high degree; but when once they are left to themselves, removed from man's care, they all revert to their former types. The different varieties of pigeons, of all colors and characters, would, if taken and placed by themselves, out of the reach of man, revert to the one type from which they were derived. This same law acts all through nature; and we ought not to be surprised on finding that the same law acts as truly in the moral sphere. It is not strange that children revert to the type of their ancestors, no matter what was the condition of their parents. People who have been sanctified may at any time become depraved by unlawfully indulging desires or by going into rebellion against God. In this manner Adam became depraved; and so may we. In our case, however, we can not call the resulting depravity Adamic; it is the same as Adam's in essence; but we, not he, are responsible. Depravity is, as already stated, not something planted by Satan, but is a corruption, progressive in its nature and capable of being greatly increased by our sinful actions. It can also be minimized by careful cultivation; and by thus repressing it, men become more moral than they otherwise would. Independent of the grace of God, therefore, we can to a considerable extent limit and restrain this inward element. It is, however, capable of complete elimination by the Spirit of God. STATE OF THOSE POSSESSING DEPRAVITY Among the practical effects of depravity in a regenerated person, is that he can not love God perfectly. There is a frequent assertion of the self-life. It is so easy for him to think that his way is right and best. And in spite of his desire to please and serve God, there is, nevertheless, within him a something that causes him to want his own way, to want to gratify his own personal desires. There is a twofoldness about his desires. There is a something that desires to please God, and at the same time another something that desires to please himself. This latter is sometimes very strong, and may occasion him no little difficulty when he endeavors to submit himself to the will of God. Through grace he may overcome this and submit to God, but he can not of himself destroy it. It is quite true that we can never become automatically unselfish; but it is also true that the strength of the self-life is depravity, and that, when this is destroyed, we can much more easily and more naturally be unselfish. Temptation more forcefully takes hold of one when he is in the regenerate state than it does when he is in the wholly sanctified state, because under the former conditions it receives cooperation from depravity. A brother in telling of his personal experience spoke on this wise: "Temptations used to seem to get right up close to me and to take hold upon me. I used, oftentimes, to have a terrible battle with them; but now it seems that things are changed. Temptations do not get close to me as they did then. There seems to be a something that holds them off at a distance from me so that they do not have the power that they used to have; nor does it take the struggle to overcome them that it used to take." This brother's experience has been duplicated by the experiences of the writer and thousands of others. There is something within the regenerate man that seems to answer to temptation; and he must resist, not only the temptation, but also that something within himself upon which the temptation takes hold. I refer, not simply to his natural propensities (for these natural propensities will persist in the sanctified state), but rather to the depraved state of these natural propensities. When we are in the regenerated state, our natural desires are more inclined to run in unlawful channels and are harder to restrain than they are when we are in the wholly sanctified state. The more grace we have, the more our desires are restrained without apparent effort. Grace overwhelms many desires or tendencies in our natural being, making it the more possible for us to guide ourselves in the way of God with ease. The more grace we have, the more easily we can keep ourselves in perfect standing before God and more perfectly conform to his will. The less grace we have, the less of power we have to do this. The warfare between grace and depravity in a regenerated person uses up spiritual strength, and consequently limits his activities in other directions. We can not accomplish things for God as we might, if we have to use so much of our strength upon ourselves, and so, for this reason the obtaining of release from depravity enables us more fully to throw our energies into the life of salvation and the work of God; the greater grace that we possess when sanctified, increases our spiritual powers and makes us very much more able to accomplish work for God than we otherwise could be. We can thus glorify him in a greater degree. Regenerated people are to a degree conscious of this inner conflict; but they can not be as conscious of the distinction between the two different states of grace as can the one who has entered the higher state. They must have the personal experience in order to know for themselves. THE REMEDY Two remedies for this depraved state have been proposed. One of them is a palliative and the other a specific. The first is the repression remedy; that is, depravity must be kept in subjection through life by the will. Those teaching this theory hold that there can be no elimination of this element, no cleansing from it, but that it is of such a nature that it will ever be with us through the journey of life and that we must continually watch and guard against its asserting itself, lest it should overthrow us and lead us astray from God. According to this theory, life is a continued and unending warfare against it. Their only hope of ending this warfare is in death; they expect to be sanctified at death and not to take this element with them into heaven. Such as these are ready to exclaim with the apostle Paul, "Oh, wretched man that I am!" but are not able to join with him in the song of deliverance. The other remedy, that of eradication, is taught by people who believe in a second work of divine grace. The teaching of these, however, frequently runs into an idealism that leaves nothing whatever to repress in our natures. According to this extreme position, we should become practically automatons. Advocates of such teaching like to picture sanctification as making us a sort of angelic beings; and they would have us live in an ecstatic state, high above the practical affairs of life. They can tell us just how glorious we should feel on all occasions; how rapturous it is to dwell in that condition. Their teaching is idealism pure and simple. The true idea, it seems to me, can not be expressed by the extreme teachings of either of these theories. As is usually the case, the middle ground between the two extremes is the most tenable. Our human nature is a creation of God, and as such, it is a necessary part of us; and God will never destroy it, in fact, he can not destroy it without destroying us. Sanctification, therefore, is not the destruction of this nature, but is the purification of it. It corrects the abnormal spiritual condition and brings the natural into a condition in which it may regain a proper balance. Paul said, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection" (1st Corinthians 9:27). All the faculties and propensities of our nature are for our service and use. We are to master them. The will is to rule them and have them in subjection to itself and, as a result, to righteousness also. This subject will be discussed at length under the heading Our Natural Propensities. Entire Sanctification (Holiness, a Bible Doctrine) In our English Bible we have the two words "holiness" and "sanctification" in their various forms; but they are translated from a single word in the Greek text, and consequently the two words meant the same thing. It matters not, then, which word is used in the English translation; for the meaning is always the same, and the words are perfectly interchangeable. If we would understand what the Bible says about the subject, we must keep this fact in view. That it is God's plan that we should be holy, has already been shown; but it will probably be well to quote the Scriptures again. "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2nd Thessalonians 2:13). "He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Ephesians 1:4). "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:28,29). Now, this image of Christ, to which we are to conform, is the same as the image in which man was originally created. This pertains especially to his moral image. It is God's will that we be like his Son so that he shall not be ashamed to call us brethren. Christ became like us and took upon himself mortal flesh and the nature of man that we might bear His image, and in nature be like him. That we be in nature like Christ has from the beginning been God's plan and purpose. He has made all necessary provision that it may be so; and we may now be holy like our great high priest, Jesus Christ; of him the Bible says, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26). And in Hebrews 12:14 we find the following words, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Concerning the purpose of Christ's death, we read, "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). Again, we read, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will" (verses 20, 21). When God called us by his grace, he did not call us to an unholy service, nor to an unholy life. "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (1st Thessalonians 4:7). He has made it possible for us to be holy and to live holy. "That he would grant unto us, that we ... might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1:74, 75). God wants us to be holy because he is holy. He can find pleasure in nothing but what is holy. Listen to what he has said: "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1st Peter 1:15, 16). And Jesus prayed thus: "Sanctify them through thy truth: ... and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified" (John 17:17-19). In this prayer he did not make his request merely for the Twelve , for he continued: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word" (verse 20). Many have supposed that holiness is something to be obtained only after death. The Scriptures, however, speak of it as a present experience. When Paul wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he addressed them thus: "To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus" (chapter 1:2). Jude addresses his Epistle to "them that are sanctified by God the Father" (verse 1). Neither of these apostles was writing to persons in heaven or to persons who were dead. On the contrary, they were writing to persons who were alive and were then in this world. Those addressed in the Hebrew epistle are called "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" (chapter 3:1). Paul calls the Colossian Christians "holy and beloved" (Colossians 3:12). In 1st Corinthians 3:16, 17 Paul says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? ... For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Surely language could not make anything plainer. Holiness is for us, now and here. Concerning the purified man, Paul said, "He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2nd Timothy 2:21). And here is a picture that Peter drew, describing the sanctified state: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2nd Peter 1:4). The reader can, if he will consult his Bible, easily find many other texts bearing on this subject. Two Phases of Sanctification There are two phases, or two steps, in the work, of sanctification. In the Scriptures just quoted no attempt was made to distinguish between these phases; but we shall now proceed to note that there are some distinctions. We have before shown, by Hebrews 13:12, that Jesus suffered and shed his blood that he might sanctify the people. All cleansing, therefore, of whatsoever sort, that is wrought by the work of Christ comes properly under the term "sanctification." John tells us that "the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1st John 1:7). The Revelator speaks of Christ thus: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Revelations 1:5). In Hebrews 1:3 it is written of him: "When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." All who are truly Christians have been thus purified in the blood of Christ; the guilt of their sins has all been washed away. They have yielded themselves to Christ and have become holy through his blood. The cleansing from guilt, however, is not all that the Scriptures promise. Under a previous heading it has been shown that there is a remedy for that inner depravity that still remains in the believer. To the Thessalonian Christians, Paul said, "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (1st Thessalonians 5:23). This language was not addressed to sinners. In verse 27 he speaks of them as being "holy brethren." If the reader will turn to the first chapter of the Epistle, he will find that they were neither sinners nor backsliders, but Christians in a very commendable state of grace. They had need, however, of still further attainment, and so he prayed that they might be sanctified wholly. This is in perfect harmony with Christ's praying for the apostles that they might be sanctified. In 2nd Corinthians 7:1 Paul mentions "perfecting holiness in the fear of God," and defines it as being a cleansing from "all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." It will serve no good purpose to multiply texts here, though it might easily be done; for if any one will reject these, he would reject a thousand, whereas, if he will accept these and submit himself to God, he may know in his own soul the truth of them.