The Theology of Holiness

fication as T

re, and that what he had given to the churches through his epistles, and left as a permanent legacy for the church universal, is to be received as gospel truth. And this will apply to his copious and frequent allusions to entire sanctification, as well as to the various other subjects treated of by his inspired pen. On the subject of holiness, therefore, Peter and Paul are as one; and we need not be surprised that in the very first sentence of his first epistle, he addresses the Christians of the Jewish dispersion in Asia Minor--though by no means excluding the Gentile converts--as elect according to the fore-knowledge (not predestination) of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, which must include entire as well as partial sanctification, unto (not unconditional happiness or misery,) but unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus, in one gran

rruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." What more natural than that those who are expecting to inherit a holy

o be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." Thus he quotes from the words of the great lawgiver in Leviticus--that Moses, whom all Jews have delighted to honor,

Him forever in that holy place, to be holy also? And in order to find an abundant entrance into that everlasting kingdom, we must be made holy while still clo

ter of such a one, naming him. She replied, with some surprise at the question, in the affirmative. "I knew you," said the gentleman, "by your resemblance to your father who was my particular friend twenty-five years ago, away bac

upon our conversation that all who know Him shall recognize His features in us? Oh, for more of the family

the striking exhortation, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one

et when thou writest under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, it is a

ut no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." The word "purify" is derived from a Greek root which means "fire." Souls are purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the result is a continual "obeying the truth," and (2), the positive sid

blessed teachings of the Lord Jesus, and he had been filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and without aiming at system or explanation, he h

nd hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby," and

nbred sin which doth so easily beset, and which so long as it exists, will be an insuperable hindrance to all rapid and symmetrical growth, and (2) desire, and of course, partake of the sincere milk of the word. Ah, here is wisdom, the secret of successful growth, in the spiritual as in the natural world, is first to become healthy, and then to take plenty of nourishment. Holiness is spiritual health, and implies the absence of inbred sin which is always spiritual disease. The child that is healthy and gets plenty of pure milk will grow and develop rapidly. The time will soon come when he can eat and digest meat and still strengthen and expand his physical organism on this richer diet, and thus he will finally become a large and strong man. But the child may be healthy

the Holy Scriptures. I do not forget that it is not the written word but the Eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is the bread of life.

bringing men to Christ, and in feeding and nourishing and strengthening and edifying the church which has thus been gathered to Him. And so both Peter in speaking about the "sincere milk of the word

are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Again, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal pries

gh the mediation of an outward priesthood. And the family of priests were chosen and ordained of

fering in His service, "the fruit of the lips giving thanks to His name," and the doing good and communicating, that is to say, a life rich in faith and good works, such are the sacrifices with which God is well pleased

no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously; who His own self bare ou

r the temptations which he may present to us. To be dead either to sin within us or to sins without us, implies holiness of heart, th

speaking through the Old Testament as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And here we have the best possible definition of inspiration, in regard to which volumes have been written, and very different views expressed by equally learned and candid men. But

e very reason why the sinful world has been spared so long is because of God's long suffering and mercy, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." And, then, having declared that the heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved unto fire, that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, that the elements

entire sanctification as taught by t