Holiness Teachings: The Life and Work of B. T. Roberts

   * HOLINESS TEACHINGS
   * HOLINESS TEACHINGS
   * HOLINESS TEACHINGS
        o TABLE OF CONTENTS
        o PREFACE
        o CHAPTER 1
             + A SUMMARY
             + II. -- ITS NECESSITY
             + III. -- ITS ATTAINABLENESS
             + IV. -- HOW IT MAY BE ATTAINED
        o CHAPTER 2
             + HOLINESS NOT UNDERSTOOD
        o CHAPTER 3
             + NATURE OF HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 4
             + PROPERTIES OF HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 5
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- DELIVERANCE FROM PRIDE
        o CHAPTER 6
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- UNSELFISHNESS
        o CHAPTER 7
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- CONTROL OF APPETITES
        o CHAPTER 8
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE
        o CHAPTER 9
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- HATRED OF SIN
        o CHAPTER 10
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- HONESTY IN BUSINESS
        o CHAPTER 11
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- IMPARTIALITY
        o CHAPTER 12
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE TO GOD
        o CHAPTER 13
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- TRUST IN GOD
        o CHAPTER 14
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE TO MAN
        o CHAPTER 15
             + ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- JOY
        o CHAPTER 16
             + EXAMPLES OF HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 17
             + LIMITS OF SANCTIFICATION
        o CHAPTER 18
             + A PRESENT EXPERIENCE
        o CHAPTER 19
             + HOW OBTAINED
        o CHAPTER 20
             + HOW RETAINED
        o CHAPTER 21
             + HOW LOST
        o CHAPTER 22
             + PROFESSING HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 23
             + A POWERLESS PROFESSION
        o CHAPTER 24
             + KINDS OF HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 25
             + DEFECTIVE HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 26
             + FALSE HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 27
             + A FIGHTING HOLINESS -- "SANCTIFICATION IN STREAKS"
        o CHAPTER 28
             + HOLINESS BEFORE THE LORD
        o CHAPTER 29
             + PROMOTING HOLINESS
        o CHAPTER 30
             + HOLINESS OPPOSED
        o CHAPTER 31
             + JUSTIFICATION AND ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION DISCRIMINATED
        o CHAPTER 32
             + PERFECTION
        o CHAPTER 33
             + DEAD TO SIN
        o CHAPTER 34
             + ROOTS OF BITTERNESS
        o CHAPTER 35
             + BE YE HOLY
        o CHAPTER 36
             + ARE YOU HOLY?
        o CHAPTER 37
             + THE CARNAL MIND
        o CHAPTER 38
             + SEEKING HOLINESS

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                             HOLINESS TEACHINGS

From the editorial writings of the late:
                      Rev. Benjamin T. Roberts, A. M.,

            General Superintendent Of The Free Methodist Church,

     Editor Of "The Earnest Christian", Author Of "Fishers Of Men," Etc.

                                 Compiled By

                           Benson Howard Roberts,

     A. M. Principal of the A. M. Chesbrough Seminary, North Chili, NY:

                 "Earnest Christian" Publishing House 1893.

                          (c)1893 By B. H. Roberts

                             HOLINESS TEACHINGS

From the editorial writings of the late:
                      Rev. Benjamin T. Roberts, A. M.,

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                             HOLINESS TEACHINGS

                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

                           CHAPTER 1 -- A Summary

Sanctification and Holiness synonymous, what holiness implies, a sanctified
body, distinct from justification, holiness necessary to qualify for heaven,
to present happiness, to usefulness, its attainableness, commanded,
examples, how attained, confession, faith, presumption

CHAPTER 2 -- Holiness Not Understood

Difference of opinion as to meaning, not recognized in Job, in Christ, His
warning to His disciples, Wesley, Whitefield defamed, professors of holiness
condone popular sins, slavery, secretism, persecution of holy men, false
standard, not absolute perfection

CHAPTER 3 -- Nature Of Holiness

Edwards on holiness of God, of man derived, not the result of refinement, or
discipline, being not doing, Christ's order reversed, Wesley's "Almost
Christian," retrogression

CHAPTER 4 -- Properties Of Holiness

Negative characteristics, intolerant of false worship, consideration of
Scriptures commonly held to teach necessity of sin

CHAPTER 5 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Deliverance From Pride

Roman Catholic teaching, purity without pride, pride in children,
denominational pride

CHAPTER 6 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Unselfishness

Selfishness, self-love, regulated, selfishness sanctioned by pew renting,
church fairs, enabled by grace to take a stand against these, holiness and
selfishness cannot dwell together

CHAPTER 7 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Control Of Appetites

Holiness precludes unlawful and inordinate indulgence, saves from depraved
appetites, tobacco, opium, spirits, holiness gives deliverance

CHAPTER 8 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Love

Holiness frees from hatred, hostility, prejudice, envy

CHAPTER 9 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Hatred Of Sin

Slavery condoned by spurious holiness, also popular sins, true holiness
recognizes, hates, opposes sin in self, others, is aggressive, will ensure
persecution, and enable one to stand

CHAPTER 10 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Honesty In Business

Justice done in business, no advantage taken because of lack of knowledge or
because of position

CHAPTER 11 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Impartiality

Brotherhood of man recognized, in free seats in churches, in giving respect
to character, not rank or wealth

CHAPTER 12 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Love To God

This is supreme, shown by desires to please Him, to know His will revealed
in the Bible, in nature, by supporting only those who preach truth, by
obedience to all His commands, by a Spirit of devotion, by praises

CHAPTER 13 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Trust In God

For grace, in emergencies, for temporal help in trials

CHAPTER 14 -- Attributes Of Holiness -- Love To Man

Interest in others, especially in brethren in Christ, shown by early
Christians, not an indiscriminate love, love to enemies

CHAPTER 15 -- Joy

Not of earthly origin, undervalued, scripture instances, and teaching, also
of Wesley, Edwards, and hymns, essential

CHAPTER 16 -- Examples Of Holiness

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job

CHAPTER 17 -- Limits Of Sanctification

Sin in any form incapable of sanctification, money worship, pride, the
drama, the attempt, a cause of corruption to the church

CHAPTER 18 -- A Present Experience

Not placed in the future, present deliverance possible

CHAPTER 19 -- How Obtained

Determination, independence, self-sacrifice, "sanctify yourselves,"
confession, trust

CHAPTER 20 --How Retained

Respect to scriptural teachings, things to be done, kept by power and love
of God

CHAPTER 21 -- How Lost

Yielding to temptation, relationship of him who has lost holiness, doubts,
unbelief, experience of Fletcher, can one lose holiness without losing
justification, degrees of holiness

CHAPTER 22 -- Professing Holiness

Necessity, be definite, unfounded professions, lack in professors, not
temperate, conformed to the world in dress, humility, profess holiness if
you have it, a false holiness, Methodist Discipline condemns

CHAPTER 23 -- A Powerless Profession

Want of usefulness, seek perfect love, confess your lack

CHAPTER 24 -- Kinds Of Holiness

True holiness, characteristics, aristocratic, fanatical, covetous holiness

CHAPTER 25 -- Defective Holiness

Ineffective because defective, in spirituality, loyalty to church rather
than to God, early church, Luther, Wesley

CHAPTER 26 -- False Holiness

Based on false assumption, and teachings, sanctification a change not only
in relation but in nature, teaching of 1 Thess. 23-4

CHAPTER 27 -- A Fighting Holiness -- Sanctification In Streaks

Holiness not quarrelsome, not compromising, but unyielding to evil,
sanctified in streaks

CHAPTER 28 -- Holiness Before The Lord

Scripture warning of counterfeits, marks of the genuine

CHAPTER 29 -- Promoting Holiness

Reasons for little done, how it may be done, face the truth, point out
inconsistencies in professed Christians, knowledge of the doctrine, baptized
by the Holy Ghost

CHAPTER 30 -- Holiness Opposed

In the Church, reasons

CHAPTER 31 -- Justification And Entire Sanctification Discriminated

Explanation of 1 Cor. 1, 2, and chapter following, degrees of
sanctification, true works of grace,

definiteness, holiness, entire sanctification, perfect love

CHAPTER 32 -- Perfection

Prejudice against the term, New Testament use, meaning, progressive
perfection, not perfect by faith, perfection not sanctification, not sought
by prayer alone. Apostolic example, perfect service, always necessarily
imperfect in some things, perfect love not cross, unkind

CHAPTER 33 -- Dead To Sin

Lack of this death in professors of holiness shown by fear to speak against
popular sin, lack of love, self will, crucifixion to sin, how obtained,
results

CHAPTER 34 -- Roots Of Bitterness

Troublesome things in pulpit and church

CHAPTER 35 -- Be Ye Holy

God's command, importance, features examined, effects on life, possibility
of obedience

CHAPTER 36 -- Be Ye Holy

Importance of the question, provision made for holiness, the word of God

CHAPTER 37 -- The Carnal Mind

Consideration of Greek words rendered "mind," the carnal mind set on things
earthly, sanctification turns the affections heavenward

CHAPTER 38 -- Seeking Holiness

Omit the "if," put off the old, separation to God, the work of faith, the
result, dying daily, feeling not evidence, the refining fire

                                   PREFACE



    In January 1860 was issued at Buffalo, N. Y., the first number of The
   Earnest Christian by my beloved father. In the introductory article he
     states: "The doctrine of Christian Holiness as taught by Wesley and
   Fletcher, being as we conceive plainly enforced in the Word of God and
 constituting the real strength and power for good of the Church of Christ,
    will occupy a prominent place in our columns." Readers of The Earnest
Christian will testify that this promise was amply redeemed. For more than a
  quarter of a century his pen was busy with topics vital to godliness. The
            subject of Holiness was a constantly recurring theme.


     This book is a compilation of the editorials written in the interval of
the years 1860-1893. It necessarily must follow that there be some
repetition of illustration and phraseology in articles written during such
an extended period of time, without the logical connection that attaches to
a formal treatise.

     Immediately following the death of my father, Feb., 27, 1893, there
came a demand for the publication of a collection of his editorial writings.
The work has been undertaken amidst the exacting demands of school work, it
has been a labor of love, and of personal spiritual good. The reception
accorded this venture, will decide as to the publication of other volumes on
other topics.

     That this book may go forth to bless the world, with a fuller light and
knowledge of God's good will to man, is my hope, my prayer. Amen.



                         Benson Howard Roberts, A.M.

                   Chesbrough Seminary, North Chili, N. Y
                                  June 29, 1893


                                  CHAPTER 1

                                  A SUMMARY

 We propose to examine this all important subject in the light of the Bible.
     One plain text of the Scriptures proves more than a thousand human
                                 assertions.

The words sanctification and holiness, as used in the Bible, mean the same
thing. The same Greek word, hagiasmos, is translated in our Bible, sometimes
by the word, holiness, and sometimes by the word, sanctification. The same
is true of the word translated sometimes holy, and sometimes saint. The
original is one and the same word.

1. Holiness implies, in common with a state of justification, or pardon,
victory over outward sin. A person that is holy does not commit sin. This is
also true of one who lives justified before God. "For sin shall not have
dominion over you for ye are not under the law, but under grace." That is,
grace has the mastery over you. In the struggle between grace and sin, grace
triumphs.

     "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin."-- 1 John 3:9

But, "Sin is the transgression of the law." So that he who imagines that he
enjoys the blessing of holiness, and yet does what God in his word forbids,
or neglects to do what he commands, is deceived. His so-called faith is
fatal presumption.

2. Holiness is a state. It does not consist of a repetition of good acts,
but is the gracious condition of the soul which prompts to the performance
of all good actions. It is the pure fountain from which pure water
continually flows.

     Proof: "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." -- I
     Peter 1:16.

This does not say, Do holy things, but BE HOLY.

     "To the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness."
     - I Thess. 3:13

It is the heart that is to be established; then the habits will be right, of
course. These texts show that holiness is a state, and not merely good
habits, much less simply a relation.

3. Holiness implies deliverance from all wrong dispositions, tempers and
desires; and from all inclination to indulge those that are right, in an
unlawful manner, or to an inordinate degree. There are dispositions of the
soul that are wrong in themselves, such as anger, pride, and covetousness.
From all wrong tempers a holy person is so far delivered that be not only
does not yield to them, but he does not feel them. Other desires become
sinful only when indulged in an unlawful manner, or to an inordinate degree.
Our Saviour hungered. In this he did not sin, but he would have sinned, if
he had yielded to the temptations of Satan to satisfy His hunger in an
unlawful manner. Enoch walked with God, and begat sons and daughters. In a
holy person all his powers of body and mind are brought into harmony with
the will of God.

     "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God
     your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
     the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." -- I Thess. 5:23.

This prayer teaches:

1. That the body is so far sanctified as to be blameless. For it must be so,
before it can be preserved in that state. Hence, when the victim of the use
of tobacco, or of strong drink, is sanctified, his body undergoes such a
change, through the power of the Spirit of God, that he no longer feels the
terrible cravings for indulgences, which were fast hastening him on to
destruction.

2. The affections, passions, desires, and propensities are so subdued that
they are the occasion of good, and not of harm.

3. The intellect, the judgment, the will and the imagination, are made pure
and holy in all their exercises.

     "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
     ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
     holiness in the fear of God." -- II Cor. 7:1.

Here we see that holiness is opposed to all filthiness, either of body or
mind. It removes from soul and body everything that defiles.

     "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live
     after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but
     if ye through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
     shall live." -- Rom. 8:12, 13.

He that does not live after the flesh, does not bring forth the works of the
flesh.

     These are: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
     idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
     seditious, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,
     and such like: . . . they which do such things shall not inherit
     the kingdom of God." -- Gal. 5 :19-21.

They who are holy are led by the Spirit, and bring forth the fruit of the
Spirit, which is:

     "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
     meekness, temperance." -- Gal. 5:22, 23.

4. Holiness is distinct from justification, and subsequent to it. When one
is converted, he is so far made holy that he has victory over sin. But sin
remains, though it does not reign.

     "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but
     as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." -- I Cor. 3:1.

These persons were "brethren," "babes in Christ." Therefore they were
justified, they were not sinners, or backsliders, yet they were carnal --
not yet made holy. A celebrated minister of the Gospel, suddenly attacked by
disease, was recommended to drink brandy. He took a small quantity, and
being unused to it, its effects were painfully visible. He was drunk, yet
not a drunkard. So these believers were carnal -- there were divisions among
them, as is too often the case, over the respective merits of their favorite
preachers -- yet they were not carnally minded. In the main, their lives
were in accordance with the precept of the Gospel.

     "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." -- I Thess. 5:23.

This language implies that they were sanctified in part. Paul says that he
remembered, without ceasing, their "work of faith and labor of love, and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." He says they were worthy of
imitation by believers in the regions around,

     "So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and
     Achaia." -- I Thess. 1:7.

Therefore they were not deluded, self-deceived, unconverted men and women
who had crept into the church for the sake of popularity. Nor were they
backslidden from God. Yet they needed to have God do a farther work for them
-- to sanctify them wholly.

     "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
     us go on unto perfection." -- Heb. 6:1.

These persons were living in the principles of the doctrine of Christ. They
were justified believers. Paul exhorts them to go on to a perfection of
holiness.

Do not these plain passages abundantly sustain all we have said as to the
nature of holiness?

                            II. -- ITS NECESSITY

  1. It is indispensably necessary to qualify us for heaven. We cannot get
            there without it. None ever did, and none ever will.

     "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man
     shall see the Lord." -- Heb. 12:14.

"To see God," is to be in His presence, to enjoy the bliss He alone can
impart. So that, unless he "Follows peace with all men and holiness," no
one, no matter what his church or his creed, can stand before the throne of
God.

     "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
     washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
     -- Rev. 7:14.

But "white robes" are the emblem of purity (Rev. 19:8).

     "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in
     his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who
     hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."
     -- Ps. 24:3, 4.

God's holy place is heaven. But only those who are pure in heart, and clean
in life shall dwell there.

2. Holiness is indispensable to present happiness. The unholy person cannot
be happy. He may enjoy pleasure; but pleasure is not happiness. People seek
after pleasure because the are unhappy. The pleasures of the world are
short-lived and unsatisfactory. But he who is holy has a never-failing
spring of enjoyment within.

     "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
     with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." -- I Peter 1:8.

     "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the
     righteous." -- Ps. 118:15.

3. Holiness is essential to usefulness. Unholy men may spread Christianity,
but they pervert it as they spread. it. Their "riches are corrupted," and
they corrupt Christianity when employed for its support. Perhaps no man ever
devoted so much wealth for the spread of the Gospel as Constantine; and no
one ever did so much to corrupt it. An impure channel will foul the purest
water. Colored glass imparts its own hue to the light that passes through
it. A holy soul alone is qualified to lead others into holiness.

     "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
     within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy
     holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and
     uphold me with thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
     thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." -- Ps.
     51:10-13.

One may, without a clean heart, or the joy of salvation, convert people to
the church, but it is to be feared that few of them will be found to be
converted to the Lord.

     "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
     with other tongues. Then they that gladly received his word were
     baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three
     thousand souls." -- Acts 2:4,41.

Holiness is power. He that possesses it can do good.

     "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." -- I Cor.
     4:20.

                         III. -- ITS ATTAINABLENESS

                            1. God commands it.

     "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord
     your God." -- Lev. 20:7.

     "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
     manner of conversation." -- I Pet. 1:15.

God never commands that which is impossible. To affirm that he does is
blasphemous. It would make him out a tyrant.

2. To sanctify the soul or make it holy, is God's work. If this can be
proved, then it follows that holiness is possible. With Him things are easy
that are impossible for men.

     "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean:
     from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will 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 a heart of flesh, and I will put my
     Spirit within you, an cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
     shall keep my judgments and do them." Ezek. 36:25-27.

Here God says He will do the work, and do it thoroughly.

1. He will cleanse -- not from some, -- but from ALL idols, and from ALL
filthiness.

2. He will give a new heart and a new spirit.

3. He will cause us to walk in His statutes and judgments. He will impart
the spirit of obedience, and with it the power to obey.

     "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." -- John
     17:17.

     "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. " -- I Thess.
     5:23.

These passages plainly imply that it is God's work to make believers holy.

3. Some have attained to holiness.

     "Enoch walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years."
     -- Gen. 5:21, 22. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his
     generations, and Noah walked with God." -- Gen. 6:9. "Job was
     perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil."
     -- Job 1:1.

In the New Testament, the disciples of Jesus are called Christians but three
times, never Methodists, Baptists, or Presbyterians. Over sixty times they
are called Saints, or the holy ones.

                        IV. -- HOW IT MAY BE ATTAINED

 If it is by the power of God that we are sanctified, then why are not all,
and especially all professing Christians, holy? Because they do not meet the
                           conditions. These are:

1. Giving one's self fully to God. All of time, talent, property, reputation
influence, yea life itself, must be handed over to God to be His for ever.

     "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
     present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
     which is your reasonable service." -- Rom. 12:1.

The body includes all. A living sacrifice is a constant, perpetual one.

     "For I am the Lord your God; ye shall therefore sanctify
     yourselves, and ye shall be holy: for I am holy." -- Lev. 11:44.

That is, set yourselves apart for God's service, and he will make you holy.

     "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever
     will lose his life for my sake shall save it." -- Matt. 16:25.

2. Confession of all sin actual or inbred.

     "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
     sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -- I John 1:9.

If we confess our actual sins he is faithful and just to forgive us. If we
confess our inbred sins he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.

3. Faith in Christ as our sanctifier.

     "God put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts
     by faith." -- Acts 15:9.
     "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
     them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." -- Acts 26:18.

But beware that your so-called faith is not presumption. Otherwise you may
become a self-conceited Pharisee, instead of a humble, meek, holy follower
of Jesus.

     "How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek
     not the honor that cometh from God only." -- John 5:44.

In both these passages faith is spoken of as the medium through which
sanctification is received.

Reader, what do you think of these passages of Scripture that we have
brought before you? Do they not show you the necessity and the attainability
of holiness? Do you live in this state of grace? If so, thank God, and press
forward. If not, make no delay to obtain it. You have too much at stake to
live without it a single day. Resolve that you will be holy. Ask God to
search you. If, in the light of the Spirit, you see, as is often the case,
that you are not justified, have the courage and honesty to confess your
condition. If in a backslidden state you seek for holiness, you will, in all
probability, take up with something short of reality.

Be thorough! Confess as fully as the word and the Spirit of God direct. Give
yourself up without the least reserve to obey the Lord in everything. Look
to Jesus as your present Saviour from all sin. Plead His promises. Rely upon
His grace to save you to the uttermost. Thus you shall soon feel the
sanctifying power the Spirit of God all through soul and body. You will
then, in your daily life, have your fruit unto holiness; and the witness of
the Spirit will be given, to assure you of your present gracious state, and
to give you a pledge of untold glories to be enjoyed in the world to come.

     "Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit
     which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely
     given to us of God." -- I Cor. 2:12

                                  CHAPTER 2

                           HOLINESS NOT UNDERSTOOD

       The Bible has much to say about holiness. It is an attribute of God.
 (Ps. 60:6 ; Rev. 4:8, et al). We are commanded to follow it. (Heb. 12:14).
   To worship God in the beauty of holiness. (Ps. 29:2). Without it no man
  shall see the Lord. (Heb. 12:14). It is the one thing needful. There are
many things which are convenient and useful; but this alone is indispensable
        to our welfare both in this world and in the world to come.


     It is important, then, that we have correct ideas of its nature. If we
would hit a mark we must know where to aim. If we would attain an excellence
we must know what it is. He who would search for diamonds, must know
diamonds when he finds them.

     Upon first view, it may seem that men are pretty well agreed as to what
constitutes holiness. But, on reflection this will be seen to be a mistake.
Upon this point there is a wide diversity of opinion. Such is the
imperfection of language and such the constitution of particular minds that
the same words often fail to express the same idea to different persons,
even when they are equally candid. But take holiness in its most tangible
form -- take it as exemplified in the lives of holy persons, and it is not
generally acknowledged to be holiness. It is usually called by almost any
other name than holiness. In God's sight, Job was a holy person. He says,


     "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him
     in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God
     and escheweth evil?" -- Job 1:8.



But even his friends labored to convince him that he was a wicked man.
Eliphaz says to him,


     "They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same." --
     Job 4:8.



Bildad takes up the accusation and reminds him that

     "The hypocrite's hope shall perish." -- Job 8:13

Zophar asks him,

     "Should thy lies make men hold their peace?" -- Job 11:3

And even Elihu exclaims,

     "What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water? Which
     goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with
     wicked men." -- Job 34:7-8.

This was the opinion which his friends had of him, as expressed to his face.
Of course the judgment of his enemies was much more unfavorable.

     Our Saviour exemplified holiness in its most perfect form. In His life,
His conversation His spirit, and in all His actions He was holiness
personified. He gave the most unmistakable proofs of disinterested love to
all mankind. Yet the popular verdict concerning Him was,


     "Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans
     and sinners." -- Matt. 11:19.

     Christ told his disciples that they must not expect to be appreciated
any better than He was.


     "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much
     more shall they call them of his household?" -- Matt. 10:25



From that day down to the present, holiness in the disciples of Christ has
been recognized by but few, even of those who call themselves Christians.
John Wesley stated clearly, defended ably, and exemplified in his life the
doctrine of holiness. Whitefield for burning zeal, and simple devotion to
the cause of Christ, has not had a superior since the days of St. Paul; yet
the Rev. Sidney Smith, a clergyman of the same church as that to which
Wesley and Whitefield belonged, and a writer of great celebrity, but
expressed the estimate in which they were held by their fellow clergymen,
when he said: "They were men of considerable talent; they observed the
common decorums of life; they did not run naked into the streets or pretend
to the prophetical character; and therefore they were not committed to
Newgate. They preached with great energy to weak people, who first stared,
then listened -- then believed -- then felt the inward feeling of grace, and
became as foolish as their teachers could possibly wish them to be; -- in
short, folly ran its ancient course; -- and human nature evinced itself to
be what it always has been, under similar circumstances. The great and
permanent cause, therefore, of Methodism, is the cause which has given birth
to fanaticism in all ages -- the facility of mingling human errors with the
fundamental truths of religion."

     In our day we see that which we deem essential to holiness purposely
omitted in instructions upon this subject. Popular sins are, to say the
least, silently tolerated. During the war of the rebellion, [Civil War] in a
popular meeting for the promotion of holiness, in the city of New York, Rev.
D. F. Newton thanked the Lord for President Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation. He was at once called to order for introducing a topic
calculated to disturb the harmony of the meeting. There are many works on
the subject of holiness, written in the days of slave-holding to circulate
among slave-holders, and not a word to be found in them condemning the
practice. The same spirit which led to silence respecting the sin of
slave-holding in the days when all the popular churches welcomed
slave-holders to their communion, today utterly ignores the existence of
sins which God's word plainly condemns; but which the leading churches
openly tolerate. That which encourages what God forbids is not holiness. The
name of a thing does not give it its nature.

     There is a powerful secret society, spreading itself throughout the
country, composed largely of unbelievers, to which, however, many ministers
and church-members belong. This society is thoroughly anti-Christian in its
character. To pray in the lodge in the name of Christ is declared by the
highest Masonic authority, to be a violation of the fundamental principles
of Masonry. The members bind themselves by the most horrid oaths to submit
to be murdered, and to conceal, and even commit murder under certain
circumstances. Of these facts any intelligent person can easily satisfy
himself beyond the shadow of a doubt. Yet in many meetings held for the
promotion of holiness, to point out these hindrances to the work of holiness
would be considered impertinent and fanatical.

     Again the persecution to which the saints of God have always been
subjected shows that holiness is not recognized when seen. The word
declares,


     "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
     persecution." -- II Tim. 3:12



This persecution varies in its form with the prevailing spirit of the age.
But whatever shape it assumes, persecution never assigns as its reason, the
godliness of its victims. Their obstinacy, or contumacy, or disloyalty, or
heresy is assigned as the cause of their sufferings. Christ was put to death
as an impostor. Luther was excommunicated as a heretic, and Wesley and
Whitefield were hunted as fanatics. Their persecutors were the professed
children of God, and they believed it to be a zeal for holiness which
instigated their opposition to those who furnished bright examples of
holiness in their lives.

     On the other hand, there are those who make holiness comprise
attributes which are entirely beyond the reach of a human being in our
present condition. They give a meaning to the term which the Scriptures do
not warrant. According to their standard, a holy person cannot make a
mistake in judgment, either through ignorance or misapprehension. He must
not only do right as he understands it, but do right as they understand it,
under all circumstances. They measure others by their own infallibility.
They make no allowance for lack of judgment or for imperfect training. He
who professes holiness, must be according to their views, beyond the reach
of unfriendly criticism. In addition to all this, he must never fall. Should
he ever afterward manifest any disposition contrary to his profession, it is
then assumed that all along he was either deceived or hypocritical. If he
lost holiness, the conclusion is not only that he never had holiness, but
that no one ever did or ever will! In short holiness is pronounced
unattainable because some who appeared once to have attained it did not
persevere to the end.

     Thus a false standard of holiness is raised, and then holiness is
declared to be an impossibility, because no one is found to come up to this
imaginary standard. We are told to aim our arrow at the sun, and then are
ridiculed because we fall short of the mark. The moral perfections of God
are presented as our standard, and then we are gravely told that we cannot
attain it


                                  CHAPTER 3



                             NATURE OF HOLINESS

      God is a Being of infinite power. He is dependent upon none. All power
                            is derived from Him.


     He is also a Being of infinite holiness. This includes all moral
perfections. Says Tillotson, "In him there can be no malice, or envy, or
hatred, or revenge, or pride, or cruelty, or tyranny, or injustice, or
falsehood, or unfaithfulness; and if there be any thing besides which
implies sin, and vice, and moral imperfection, holiness signifies that the
divine nature is at an infinite distance from it."

     "The holiness of God," says Edwards, "is the same with the moral
excellence of the divine nature, or his purity and beauty as a moral agent,
comprehending all his moral perfections, his righteousness, faithfulness,
and goodness." His superiority to all false gods, or imaginary deities is
found in His moral perfections.


     "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee,
     glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" -- Ex.
     15:11. "There is none Holy as the Lord." -- I Sam. 2:2. "The Lord
     is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." -- Ps.
     145:17. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is
     full of his glory." -- Isa. 6:3.



This is the nature of the God we worship.

     Holiness in man is derived. It is not original, nor innate. It is the
image of God's holiness. It resembles His holiness, though it falls
infinitely short of it. A tumbler of water taken from the ocean, possesses
the same chemical properties as that which remains, though it has not the
sublimity, or grandeur, or power of the ocean; so a holy man possesses in a
limited degree, the hatred of sin, the sincerity, the veracity, the justice,
the love, the goodness, and all the other virtues which constitute in all
their fullness the holiness of God.


     "Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness
     and true holiness." -- Eph. 4:24.



"What then," says John Wesley, "is that holiness, which is the only
qualification for glory? In Christ Jesus;" (that is according to the
Christian Institution, whatever be the case of the heathen world,) "neither
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision." It first, through the
energy of God, worketh love to God and all mankind; and by this love, every
holy and heavenly temper -- in particular lowliness, meekness, gentleness,
temperance, and long-suffering. It is neither circumcision -- the attending
on all the Christian ordinances, nor uncircumcision -- the fulfilling of all
heathen morality, -- but the keeping the commandments of God; particularly
this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor
as thyself;" in a word, holiness is having the mind that was in Christ, and
walking as Christ walked."

     No matter how much refinement or self-government a man may acquire by
discipline, self-control is not true holiness. Some of the old heathen
philosophers lived according to the most rigid rules of morality.

     Here is found one fault of much that is taught for holiness in these
days. It strives to make men do better, without telling them how to be
better. It lays great stress upon their doing holy things, without insisting
upon their being holy. The practical part of Christianity is required of
men, without their being taught that they must have its inward experience.
The order that Christ established is reversed. The effort is perseveringly
put forth to make an evil tree bring forth good fruit. The person whom
Wesley describes as an "almost Christian" would, according to the modern
theology, be readily accepted as in the enjoyment of holiness. Wesley
himself, before he was, according to his own statement, converted to God,
might sit as the model for the modern saint. He gave largely; he was strict
in his devotional exercises, and denied himself very rigidly, that he might
have to give to the poor. Said a popular Methodist preacher from the pulpit
in our hearing: "I thank God the time has come when men's piety is
estimated, not by what they profess, but by what they give." In the middle
ages warriors, whose hands were red with blood, who had plundered cities by
the score, and laid whole countries waste, endeavored to atone for their
crimes, by building magnificent cathedrals; and these were accepted by the
priesthood as acts and evidences of piety. We are going back to the theology
of the tenth century. In the largest denomination of the land, their chief
Theological Seminary for the instruction of the future preachers of the
church, was built and endowed by one who is notorious as a stock gambler,
and whose business transactions are condemned by even the lax, Wall Street
morality. In the next largest denomination, the most popular female college
was, in like manner, built and endowed by one of the heaviest brewers of the
country. The influence of these illustrious examples, is felt in almost
every country church. Property controls the pew, and property controls the
pulpit. Mammon is the chief minister in Christ's kingdom. The affairs of the
church are conducted upon the same business principles as those which
control other successful corporations. Experimental piety is branded as
fanaticism, which in the poor is not to be endured, and in the rich is only
tolerated as a necessary evil.

     All this comes from the efforts to build a Christian character with
self as the foundation. The seeming success is but a splendid failure. The
glittering structure will not stand the first flash of the fires of
eternity.

     A holy nature comes from God. -- Wesley expresses the true sentiment
when he sings:

     "I want thy life, thy purity, Thy righteousness brought in."

     It must be "brought in" to the heart by power divine; it is not there
by nature. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven hid in the meal."


                                  CHAPTER 4



                           PROPERTIES OF HOLINESS

      Gold has the same properties in all countries, by whatever name it may
 be called. The nature of love and of hatred never changes with the lapse of
      time. Holiness may present different manifestations in different
 circumstances, but its qualities are as unchanging as its Author. The views
 of men may vary, but it never varies. Examine it in detail or view it as a
                     whole, its qualities never change.


     The indistinct notions which many entertain of holiness, are owing to
the fact, that they have never seriously considered what it is which
constitutes holiness. They are like one who knows nothing of gold but its
color, and is therefore ready to call every thing gold which looks like it.
He who has any skill in the metals, is not so imposed upon. If he finds one
of the required qualities, he searches for another, and not until he finds
that a metal possesses all the properties that it should, does he pronounce
it gold. So if you have holiness, you have all those moral qualities, which
taken together, form that grand total of Christian graces, which the word of
God denominates holiness. Let us look at some of these qualities.

     We will first notice some of the things from which holiness implies
deliverance. This is the more necessary, because the self-indulgent spirit
which wealth and luxury always beget, Jays stress upon a few of the positive
properties of holiness; without insisting upon laying aside every thing
which is inconsistent with it. But the Bible has quite as much to say about
the negative, as about the positive side of holiness. The first commandment
reads,


     "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." -- Ex. 20:3.



It was not enough to worship the true God-this, Solomon did, even in his
backslidden state; but no false god must be worshipped. Of the ten
commandments, nine contain negative provisions. They tell us what we shall
not do. Nine prohibitions in the Ten Commandments, and but two positive
precepts! From this we might infer that God sees that there is much greater
difficulty in keeping us from doing wrong, than there is in leading us, in
other respects, to do right. "Herod heard John gladly and did many things,"
but he would not put away the woman with whom be was unlawfully living.

     "Cease to do evil; learn to do well" (Isa. 1:16), is God's order. To
require this, makes trouble. The Romans never scrupled to add another go to
their Pantheon. They would readily have admitted Christ to that honor. But
when the uncompromising Apostles demanded that their false gods should first
be dethroned, Christ was rejected, and his disciples thrown to the wild
beasts and to the flames. It was not the purity. so much as the intolerance
of Christianity, that stirred up the fierce opposition which it encountered.
The martyrs would have avoided their fate, if in addition to worshipping
Christ they would have consented to worship Jupiter and Minerva. But they
not only maintained that Christianity was true, but that it was exclusively
true. They not only preached that, "He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved;" but that "he that believeth not shall be damned." They were bold
to declare, "Neither is there salvation in any other." No terrors could
induce them to join in the cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians," or swear
by the image of Csar. It was this opposition to all that was false, that
brought them into trouble wherever they went.

     In general, then, holiness implies deliverance from sin. It is the
opposite of sin, as light is of darkness.

     The Bible teaches us the possibility of having every wrong propensity
of the soul destroyed. We are aware that some passages look, at the first
view, as though the continuance of sin in the soul was unavoidable. Let us
give the more prominent of these a careful and candid examination. The first
to which we call attention is found in I Kings 8:46. -- " If they sin
against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not.)" In the original
Hebrew, the word that is translated "sinneth," is in the future tense. "This
tense," says Stuart, in his Hebrew Grammar, page 207, designates all those
shades of meaning which we express in English by the auxiliaries may, can,
must, might, could, should, would," etc. Thus "We may eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden." -- Gen. 3:2. The term "may eat,." is, in the
original, in the future tense. So, also,


     "That they may fear thee." -- I Kings 8:40.



The phrase, "may fear," is in the future tense in the Hebrew. The same is
true of the phrase, "may know," in the forty-third verse, "That all the
people of the earth may know thy name." Hence, a literal translation of the
forty-sixth verse would read: "If they sin against thee, (for there is no
man that may not sin.)" This teaches, not that every man does actually and
necessarily sin, but that every one is liable to sin. It is possible that he
may, but not necessary that he should sin. So, also, the supposition, "if
they sin," implies that they might sin, or they might not. It expresses a
contingency that could not exist if sin were unavoidable. That they might
not sin, is clearly implied in the declaration that if they did, God would
be angry with them, and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, so
that they should be carried into captivity. But as this was not necessary,
it follows that it was not necessary that they should sin.

     Most of the above remarks will apply to the passage found in Eccl.
7:20,-"For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not." The word, "sinneth," is, in the original, in the future tense, and
should also be rendered, "may sin." This passage teaches the doctrine that
runs all through the Bible, that we are never secure from the danger of
falling. In our best estate, when grace has done the most for us, we have
great need to "watch that we enter not into temptation," to "keep our bodies
under, and bring them into subjection," lest we should "become castaways."


     "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin."
     -- Prov. 20:9


     This passage is intended to reprove the boasting of a self-righteous,
conceited Pharisee, who not only claims a goodness he does not possess, but
ascribes his fancied purity to himself. If we offer up, in fervent desire,
and a faith that will not be denied, the prayer of David: "Create in me a
clean heart, O God," who shall say this prayer will not be answered? God
alone is able to unify the soul. It is only by coming to Him in importunate
supplication that we can obey the Apostle's direction,


     "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye
     double-minded." -- James 4:8



In this way alone can God's command be met. -

     "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be
     saved." -- Jer. 4:14.

     "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me; if I say I am
     perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." -- Job 9:20


     In this chapter Job treats of the majesty and holiness of God. In the
15th verse he says: "Whom though I were righteous, yet would I not answer,
but I would make supplication to my Judge." Before the purity of God he
counted his righteousness as nothing, however he might lift up his head in
the presence of his fellow man. Thus, in the verse above, we understand Job
to say: "If I justify myself (before God) ; mine own mouth," in the prayers
that I make for the mercy of the Lord, "shall condemn me." He did justify
himself most triumphantly before man, and repelled the accusations which his
friends, unable to reconcile his afflictions with the supposition of his
innocence, had brought against him. If I say, "I am perfect" in God's sight,
of myself, "it shall also prove me perverse." His perfect humility, here
manifested, justifies the testimony that the Lord, who cannot be deceived,
gives in his favor.


     "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him
     in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God,
     and escheweth evil." -- Job 1:8 "Who can bring a clean thing out
     of an unclean? Not one." -- Job 14:4


     This text refers to the natural depravity that belongs to every one
that is born into the world-to what is commonly termed original sin. It
teaches that all are by nature depraved, not that this depravity -cannot be
removed by grace.

     The Septuagint-the Greek version of the Old Testament, from which our
Saviour and the Apostles generally quoted, thus renders it: "For who is pure
from corruption? Not one, although his life upon earth be one day."


     "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips."
     -- Isa. 6:5


     This is true of all while in their natural, unsanctified condition, yet
let us read on and we shall see that the SPIRIT OF GOD, represented by "a
live coal" "from off the altar" touched his lips, "so that his iniquity was
taken away," and his "sin was purged."


     "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. 64:6


     The Jews were exceedingly corrupted in the days of Isaiah. The prophet
being humbled and alarmed at the general wickedness of his people, confesses
it in the first person, as ministers generally do on such occasions. It is
the hypocritical professions of the Jews -- a strict observance of the forms
and ceremonies of religion while living in sin -- that the prophet compares
to filthy rags.


     "I am carnal, sold under sin." -- Rom. 7: 14


     In this connection, the Apostle speaks of his inward experience:

1. As an unawakened Jew: "I was alive without the law once."

2. As a converted sinner: "But when the commandment. came" to my
comprehension, "sin revive, and I died;" my hopes perished.

3. As a believer in Christ: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Now, "being made
free from sin," and become truly the "servant of God," he had his "fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

     That the Apostle, in the above passage, refers to himself prior to his
conversion, is the opinion of President Edwards, a Congregationalist divine,
who for learning and piety, and philosophical acumen, never had a superior
in this country; who says: "The Apostle Paul, speaking of what he was
naturally, says, 'I am carnal, sold under sin."'


     "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
     truth is not in us." I John 1:8


     That this refers to man in his natural condition, is evident. The
apostle is speaking about the power of Jesus' blood that cleanses us from
all sin. It is those who, falsely and dangerously trusting to their own
morality and their naturally amiable dispositions, say that they do not need
to be "cleansed from sin," to whom the Apostle applies the above verse. But,
being convinced that we are sinners, both by nature and by practice, he
assures us that,


     "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
     sins, and to CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS." -- I John 1:9


     These we believe are the strongest passages ever brought forward to
prove the necessary continuance of sin. Look at them candidly, and you will
be satisfied that we have given their true meaning. Let us ask, beloved
reader, are you at the present time saved from sin? You may have been once.
That cannot help you now. It only makes your condition still more
deplorable, if you are still under the dominion of sin. Seek deliverance at
once. Give no quarters. Let every sin die. That is a false holiness which
does not deliver from all sin. Salvation from sin can alone secure salvation
in Heaven.


                                  CHAPTER 5



              ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- DELIVERANCE FROM PRIDE



 The heart is the seat of sin. Actions derive their moral character from the
 disposition with which they are performed To give a sum of money may be an
   act of benevolence, or it may be bribery, -- it may spring from love to
                 Christ, or from love of the praise of men.


     "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
     adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
     wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
     foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile
     the man." -- Mark 7: 21-24.


     A justified soul does not yield to sin.


     "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin." I John 3:9


     A soul sanctified to God wholly does not have sin.


     "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
     fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
     cleanseth us from all sin." -- I John 1:7



True holiness will save one from sins that are popular, just as readily as
from those that are disgraceful. It is the work of the Spirit. With God, the
standard of right does not vary. Selfish considerations lead men to
tolerate, sometimes one sin, and sometimes another. A few years ago, many of
the advocates of holiness had nothing to say against the sin of
slave-holding. The Church gained by it in numbers and resources. How, many
take no decided stand against pride and worldly conformity. They have not a
word to utter in condemnation of conspiracies of the strong against the
weak. But those who really aim at being right with God, turn from every
thing which He has forbidden, even though it is encouraged by the Church.

     Holiness implies deliverance from pride. A holy person cannot feel
proud. A holy Church cannot indulge in pride. Pride cannot dwell in a holy
soul.


     "Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer."
     -- Ps. 101:5

     "Be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud and giveth
     grace to the humble." -- I Peter 5:5


     In this particular, the Roman Catholics are a reproof to the
Protestants. To all who are loyal to the Church, the Catholics give the
largest latitude of word and action -- of business and pleasure. To keep
within the bonds of decency and morality is all that is required of the
ordinary members of her communion. You will find among them, ladies as gaily
dressed as any that the times can furnish. But they do not profess holiness.
Their priests may err in many things, but they do not encourage their people
to think that they can become saints, while indulging in pride to the
fullest extent that their means will allow. They are taught that if they
would become holy, pride must be renounced, and all appearance of pride must
be laid aside. But in Protestant churches, you will find persons advocating
holiness, whose appearance unmistakably declares that pride reigns within.
Their costly apparel, their ornaments of gold, their affected tones, their
whole bearing, proclaim that there has been no real renunciation of the vain
pomp and glory of the world. This is all wrong, and altogether wrong.

     It may be urged that such a course recommends holiness; that it leads
the rich and the refined to embrace it. But this is a mistake. It may lead
them to embrace a delusion, -- to believe that they are sanctified, when
they are not even scripturally awakened. That, which is thus recommended, is
not holiness. It may have some of its properties, but the essentials are
wanting. To make people believe that they can so put on Christ's
righteousness as to set off their own purple and fine linen to better
advantage, is to make them believe a ruinous lie. Contraries cannot dwell
together. Pride and humility can not reign at once in the same heart. Then
do not deceive, even for so good an object as the promotion of holiness. The
Saviour has commanded us to count the cost. Until men can see that holiness
is more to be desired than all which they are required to give up, they will
never obtain it.

     "But," many urge, "we should have pride enough to be decent." There is
no pride in Heaven. But there is purity. So we may have inward and outward
purity, without pride. Pride is a result of the fall. It had no place in
Eden. It should have none in all our hearts. Seek then for that holiness
which roots it out entirely.

     You may make a consecration to the Lord ever so full in other respects,
but if it does not include the giving up of your pride in all its forms, you
will not get an experience which will enable you to do the will of God. And
just in proportion as you give up pride and long for deliverance from it,
just in that proportion will God take it from your heart. It is a dangerous
foe -- give it no quarter. It is a subtle foe, lying in ambush for your
overthrow -- give it no place for concealment.

     Holiness implies deliverance from pride, as manifested in the provision
which we make for our children. Pride is one of the sad effects of the fall.
It will manifest itself in some form or other in our children, until they
are brought completely under the influence of divine grace. But parents, who
are wholly sanctified to God, will not give it any encouragement. It needs
no fostering. Do what you can to prevent it; from the atmosphere around, it
will drink in enough nourishment to grow with alarming rapidity. Cut it back
all you may, and with each coming season it will put forth new vigor, and
manifest the utmost tenacity of life. As long as you find in yourself a
disposition to encourage display in your children, -- to fit them up to
shine with worldly splendor, you may rest assured that the work of holiness
in yourself is not yet complete. You are not fully delivered from pride.

     Holiness implies deliverance from denominational pride. There are many
who dress plain, and who furnish their houses plain, who will nevertheless
give their thousands towards the construction of a church, when every
accommodation could be secured for one-third the amount paid for its
construction. Two-thirds of all that is paid for our fine houses of worship,
is expended for display, and answers no purpose except to gratify pride. One
denomination builds a fine church. The next one that builds puts forth every
possible exertion to surpass it in magnificence. To raise money, festivals
and lotteries are resorted to, and in some cases, downright dishonesty is
practiced. The fine church must be filled with finely dressed people, and so
pride and extravagance are encouraged and the poor virtually excluded from
the house of worship. If the true Gospel course were taken by all who call
themselves by the Christian name, -- if the money expended to gratify pride
were judiciously employed in spreading the truth as it is in Jesus, the time
would soon come when it could be said in all parts of the world,


     "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." -- Matt. 11:5.

                                  CHAPTER 6

                   ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- UNSELFISHNESS



        When the angel announced the coming of the Saviour, he said,



     "Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from
     their sins." -- Matt. 1:21



This, then, is the grand peculiarity of the disciples of Christ, they are a
saved people. By nature they are no better than others. Grace makes them to
differ. And the grand distinction is found in what they are saved from.
There are dispositions and appetites which in themselves are sinful. They
answer no good purpose. They were not a part of man's nature at the
beginning. They result from the fall. No one is sanctified wholly till he is
saved from these depraved dispositions and appetites.

     Holiness implies deliverance from selfishness. A selfish person cannot,
at the same time, be a holy person. Selfishness is that disposition which
prompts us to seek our own interests or our own gratification without due
regard to the rights or happiness of others. The second great commandment
is,


     "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." -- Matt. 19:19



This certainly supposes that we are, within proper limits, to love
ourselves. The Scriptures not only allow, but command us, to have a due
regard for our own happiness. Every promise of the Bible is based upon the
principle that it is right for us, within proper limitations, to pursue our
own welfare. Abraham, in going out from his father's house,


     "Looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
     is God." -- Heb. 11:10



Moses, in giving up the treasures and honors of Egypt, "had respect to the
recompense of reward." -- Heb. 11:26

     But this principle so proper in itself must be carefully regulated and
kept within the bounds which God has prescribed or it becomes sinful and
pernicious. Self-love takes into account the whole of our existence for time
and for eternity. Selfishness looks at present interest and present
gratification. Self-love has due respect for the happiness of others;
selfishness inclines us to seek our own gratification without regard to the
duties which we owe, either to God or to our neighbor. Self-love is a
principle which God gave man for his own preservation: selfishness is the
sinful substitute which man at the fall adopted. The one is the alcohol
which maddens: the other is the corn that gives strength and the delicious
grape that gives health to man.

     There is scarcely a crime which man commits, or a sin of which he is
guilty, which does not originate in selfishness. It is the bitter fountain
in which every corrupt stream has its source. It is the evil tree which
bears every manner of pernicious fruit. It is a vice that is never
satisfied; it grows by what it feeds upon. The more it is gratified, the
more inordinate are its cravings. It becomes most intense when there is
least apology for its existence. It has the utmost tenacity of life, and
never dies a natural death. It can be slain, only by the Sword of the Spirit
-- it can be destroyed only by the fire of the Holy Ghost. It can wear out
the strongest constitution, but it is never worn out itself. It exists under
a thousand different forms, and in every state of society. The most refined,
and the most highly educated, are as much under its influence as the most
ignorant and uncultivated.

     Popular churches sanction and foster this selfish spirit, in selling,
or renting the seats in their houses of worship. The rich man, if saved from
selfishness, would not want, on account of his riches, better accommodations
in the house of God, than his poorer brother. The rich and the poor would
meet together as brethren, feeling that the Lord is the Maker of us all.

     Every effort to raise money for religious or benevolent purposes by
means of fairs, festivals, or similar contrivances, is an appeal to
selfishness. Thus the sanction of the Church is given to a corrupt principle
which underlies all wickedness and saps the very foundation of the Christian
character. It fosters that for the extirpation of which it should put forth
its mightiest energies.

     Years ago, when we were first brought into the experience of the
blessing of holiness, and began to realize something of its importance, we
saw clearly that the enjoyment of this grace could never become general in a
church, so long as pews were rented, and fairs held for the benefit of the
finances of the church. We took our stand firmly against all these appeals
to selfishness, as standing in the way of the great work of the Church of
Christ -- the spreading of Scriptural holiness throughout the land.

     Holiness and Selfishness cannot dwell together. When the Spirit was
poured out, upon the opening of the Christian dispensation, the selfish
spirit was utterly rooted out,


     "And all that believed had all things common; and sold their
     possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man
     had need." Acts 2:44, 45.



Whether this is, or is not, to be regarded as a model for Christians, in all
ages, to follow, it is certainly a specimen of the spirit which Christian
holiness is to produce. It is an extirpation of the selfish principle.

     To this end are such precepts and declarations as these:


     "Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
     on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." --
     Phil. 2:3, 4. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth
     to himself." -- Rom. 14:7 "But to do good and to communicate,
     forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." -- Heb.
     13:1 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of
     Christ." -- Gal. 6:2 "Set your affection on things above, not on
     things on the earth." -- Col. 3:2

                                  CHAPTER 7

               ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- CONTROL OF APPETITES



 True holiness has its influence on every part of our nature. It affects for
  good every member of the body, and every faculty of the mind. It produces
                           symmetry of character.


     Holiness gives to its possessor control over all his bodily appetites.
He has appetites. The Saviour, who was holiness itself in bodily form, had
them. He was hungry and thirsty. The natural appetites were given us for a
good purpose. They are not in themselves sinful. But they are to be kept
within proper bounds. They were not intended to be our masters. They must be
regulated and controlled. They are to be brought into subjection to reason,
to conscience and the word of God. No holy person can be under the dominion
of appetite. He is delivered from this bondage.

     One who is holy never indulges his appetites in an unlawful manner. He
will starve before he will steal.


     "I know," says the Apostle, "both how to be abased, and I know how
     to abound, every where and in all things I am instructed both to
     be full and to be hungry; both to abound and to suffer need." --
     Phil. 4:12.



The Saviour, when he was hungry after having fasted forty days, would not
obtain bread in the manner suggested by the devil. We should follow this
example. No matter how strong may be the cravings of appetite, or to what
straits we may be reduced, we should remember that there is something more
to be considered than simply whether what is presented will assuage hunger,
or satisfy thirst. Have I the right to it? Can I obtain the right on
conditions with which I may lawfully comply? Esau did not steal, but he sold
his birthright to obtain means to gratify his hunger. Many do the same
today. The bodily appetites clamor for indulgence. Satan offers to gratify
them on condition of some service rendered to him, -- as breaking the
Sabbath, catering to the vices of others, preaching the Gospel in such a
manner as to throw out of sight the cross and the self-denial. A holy person
will suffer the pangs of hunger before he will obtain his bread by any of
these methods. If he will not resort to these means to keep from starving,
of course he will not for any other purpose.

     True holiness will give one such control over his appetites that he
will not indulge them in an inordinate degree. He eats to live, but does not
live to eat. His tastes are simple and natural. His wants are easily
satisfied. He who spends large sums of money to gratify his own pampered
tastes, while so many are perishing of want, may be orthodox and polite, but
he is not holy. No matter though he can afford to be "clothed in purple and
fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day," yet he sees representatives of
Christ in the destitute around him, and he denies himself of luxuries that
he may minister to their necessities. Church festivals, to raise money, are
open to this, among other objections. They educate the people to make
self-gratification a stronger motive to action than duty to God, and to our
fellow men. They assume that Christians will do more for their stomachs'
sake than they will for conscience' sake. They take it for granted that they
care more for their own sensual enjoyment, than they do for the claims of
God, or the sufferings of their fellow men.

     True holiness saves those who enjoy it from all unnatural, depraved
appetites which have been formed by a course of sinful indulgence. Such is
man's depravity that he forms appetites at which his physical nature at
first revolts. After a time the indulgence of these appetites is attended
with momentary enjoyment. Such is the use of opium, tobacco and ardent
spirits. No one likes them at first. They frequently make beginners sick.
But they stimulate the nervous system, and create an excitement which
affords a certain degree of pleasure. When this excitement passes off, it is
followed by a corresponding degree of languor and depression. This soon
becomes so insupportable that the stimulant must be had at any cost. An
appetite is formed that the victims will gratify at the expense of every
thing which men hold dear. Property, friends, reputation, standing, health,
and even life itself are sacrificed to gratify an appetite which brutalizes
and enslaves. The only safe course is to avoid the beginning. But for those
who sincerely repent of their wickedness in forming and feeding such an
appetite, God provides a remedy. The promise,


     "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our
     sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," -- I John 1:9



covers this ground. The appetite for either of the stimulants named, cannot
be godly -- this no one contends. It cannot be indifferent, -- it is of too
positive a character. It is an unrighteousness, -- both its nature and its
effects proclaim this. That it is true of the appetite for opium and the
appetite for ardent spirits is generally conceded. No one will maintain that
a drunkard is holy.


     "This ye know, that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God."
     -- I Cor. 10:6



But an habitual tobacco user is as clearly condemned by the Scriptures, as
is the one who habitually uses ardent spirits as a beverage. His habit
involves, of necessity, personal filthiness. But we are commanded to cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and of the Spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of the Lord. We readily admit that the works of
holiness may be begun in the heart of a person who uses tobacco. But it
cannot go on and this habit continue. One or the other will cease. He will
cease to advance in holiness, or he will abandon his unholy habits. No
person can perfect holiness without cleansing himself from all filthiness of
the flesh, as well as of the Spirit.

     Again, we are commanded to eat and drink to the glory of God (I Cor.
10:31). We do this when we eat temperately, and such things as do not injure
us or others. But it is a fact, as clearly established as any fact can be,
that the habitual use of tobacco breaks down the nervous system, and brings
on many diseases. No man,. immoderately addicted to the use of tobacco, can
retain his mental vigor, and his bodily soundness, as he could without it.
No one, seeing a professed Christian smoking or chewing, will think any more
highly of the Christian religion on that account. It is an act, to say the
least, in which God is not glorified.

     No man has the right to spend the Lord's money in this way. It is God
who gives the power to get wealth. It should be used to advance His cause,
-- to make men better, -- to relieve their wants and instruct them in the
way of life. A Christian man cannot spend his money as he wills, but must
use it as the Lord wills.

     But there is little use in multiplying words on this subject. Those who
are really in earnest to gain Heaven, and who are willing to meet the
conditions of salvation, cannot fail to see the necessity of denying
themselves of the gratification of an appetite formed in sin, the indulgence
of which can do no good, but must eventually result in much harm. Those who
make religion a mere matter of convenience, or fashion, would not be
convinced any way, and it would do no good if they were. It is useless to
talk against idols, to men who are joined to their idols. But to those who
have formed this appetite, and wish to be delivered from it, we say holiness
will do it. Seek earnestly to be delivered from bondage to your animal
nature, and you shall be delivered. You will become spiritual by becoming
holy.


     "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
     God." -- Rom. 8:14.


     But if you are a slave to your appetites, do not profess holiness. If
you do, you have no reason to expect that your profession will be received.
Holiness is a radical work. It changes us in our appetites. The things that
we once loved we now hate. Old things are passed away and behold all things
are become new.

     Give yourself no rest until this thorough work is wrought in you. Seek
to have the blood of cleansing applied to every part of your nature. Look to
be sanctified wholly, and believe that


     "Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it." -- I Thess.
     5:24.

                                  CHAPTER 8

                       ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE



  Holiness implies deliverance from all hatred of any human being. Personal
 enmities -- either open or avowed, or subtle and secret have a place, to a
     greater or less extent, in the hearts of men generally. Professing
  Christians scarcely form an exception. One interferes with our plans and
  purposes, and defeats our projects. As long as any selfishness remains in
  the soul, dislike is sure to follow. His actions are commented upon with
severity, an unfavorable construction is put upon whatever he does and says,
  until he comes to be regarded with feelings of positive aversion. A truly
sanctified soul has no sympathy with sin, -- he abhors it; but he looks upon
                     the sinner with sincere compassion.


     In this respect, the supernatural character of Christianity is
manifested. It is natural to return hatred for hatred. But holiness causes
one to return good for evil, blessing for cursing, love for hatred. The
teachings of Christ on this point are plain and unequivocal. --


     "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
     neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
     enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
     and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;
     That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for
     he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
     his rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which
     love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
     And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others
     Do not even the publican so? Be ye therefore perfect even as your
     Father which is in heaven is perfect." -- Matt. 5:43-48


     This implies deliverance from all active hostility. It is deserving of
notice that when the Apostle prays for the sanctification of believers, his
prayer is addressed to the God of peace.


     "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." -- I Thess. 5:23



The God of peace never gives the spirit of war. Whoever He sanctifies is
made partaker of His peace. All animosities are buried. -- Old enmities are
forgotten. If you are thus made holy, you will forgive those who have
wronged you. And what is still harder, you forgive those whom you have
wronged. Instead of attempting to justify yourself by making them appear,
both to yourself and others, as bad as possible, you take the blame to
yourself, and confess it, and make everything right as far as it is in your
power to do so. While you are by no means cowardly, you are no longer full
of fight. You do not avail yourself of every opportunity to assail others
when it can apparently be done to advantage. You do not strive for the
mastery over others. If they assail you the assault is not returned. You do
not return railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing.

     A holy person is saved from that modification of hatred usually
denominated prejudice. It matters not whether it be individual, sectarian,
or national, holiness removes it from the heart. At a camp-meeting which we
attended, a young lady at the opening of the meeting, made a clear
profession of holiness. She was active, but not forward. The light shone
clearly, and she welcomed the light. In a short time she was among the most
earnest seekers of a clean heart. She felt right in every particular but
one. She had a prejudice against her stepmother, whom she had said she never
would like. -- But when the blessing came, it removed this feeling entirely.
There was none of it left. She was willing to reciprocate the love which had
been proffered her from one whom she ought to love.

     A young man who had warmly espoused the Southern cause, and served in
the Southern army, became convicted for the blessing of holiness from
reading some numbers of THE EARNEST CHRISTIAN, which providentially fell
into his hands. He sought and found full salvation through the blood of the
Lamb. At a large, outdoor meeting, where hundreds were assembled, he felt
called to confess what God had done for him. Among other things he said that
holiness took away all prejudice against the Yankees. This was said, not
only a the risk of his personal popularity, but at the risk of his life. But
he had to make and stand by the declaration.

     At one of our large meetings in Western New York, a stranger arose and
said he was a preacher from the central part of the State. He said he had
heard a great many things against this people, but was determined to know
about them for himself. Such was the prejudice that he did not dare to let
his nearest friends -- not even his wife -- know where he was going. "But,"
said he, "I am satisfied that God is with you. If any Christian comes among
you, he is sure to love you. If he would keep up his prejudices, he must
stay away and hate you."

     Another modification of hatred is envy. This is a malignant feeling
toward others because of their prosperity. It manifests itself in little
things -- such as detracting from the merits of others; making efforts to
impair their reputation; attributing their success to anything that looks
plausible, rather than to their own good conduct. This spirit is often
manifested among professed Christians, ministers not excepted. They cannot
bear to hear their rival well spoken of. But holiness takes this feeling
away. We can rejoice with those that do rejoice.

     Many are not saved from their enmities, because they do not want to be.
They hold on to their prejudices as they would to life itself. Yet they
profess holiness. Such persons are evidently deceived. There can be no
mistake in the matter. They need to have the Lord circumcise their hearts.
They are holding on to that which will work their ruin. "A little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump." If grace does not root out malice, malice will
kill out grace. The two cannot live together.

     "But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, filthy
     communication out of your mouth." -- Col. 3:8

                                  CHAPTER 9

                  ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- HATRED OF SIN



  Holiness is not indifference. One who is truly holy does not feel that he
 has done his duty by simply abstaining from sin. True Holiness is not that
    easy, good-natured disposition that smiles at sin, and gives it ample
 toleration, especially if it is fashionable or popular, or capable of being
    turned to account in "building up the church," that is, adding to its
    numbers or influence. There was a great deal of this spurious kind of
holiness in this country in the palmy days of slavery. You may search volume
after volume of its literature deigned for circulation in the South, without
  finding one bold, and outspoken denunciation of the sin of slave-holding.
  You might have attended the "holiness meeting," week after week, without
     hearing one prayer offered for the liberation of the slaves, or one
 testimony borne against the "sum of all villainies." No farther south than
the city of New York, at no later a date than soon after President Lincoln's
emancipation proclamation, you might have heard a brother called to order in
 the leading "holiness meeting" for thanking God for this proclamation which
             struck the fetters from three millions of bondmen.


     The same kind of holiness is popular today. It valorously kicks the
dead lion, but is very careful not to excite the anger of the living jackal.
It hardly gives a passing notice to some of the greatest obstacles to the
work of holiness in this country. If it mentions them, it is done so faintly
as scarcely to attract attention. If it objects to them, it is in such weak
tones as not to displease their most ardent votaries. We have attended a
holiness camp-meeting without hearing one word said in condemnation of the
practice now so common among professed Christians, of adorning themselves
''in gold and pearls and costly array." Everything was said in commendation
of the beauty of holiness and of its exalting influence upon human
character, but nothing to show the incongruity with it, of that pride which
the Bible so strongly condemns. It is no uncommon thing to see even
advocates of holiness adorned in a style that would, fifty years ago, have
excluded them from the Church whose interests they are now laboring so
zealously to promote.

     True holiness is not blind. It has eyes to see, and ears to hear. While
not obtrusive, it is observing. If it does not act the part of a detective:
it does not assume the ignorance of an accessory. While not skeptical, it is
not credulous. It does not call every thing gold that glitters. It tries
those who say they are apostles, and readily consents to be tried in turn.
It does not accept professions merely because the manners are pleasing, and
the words are faultless.

     Scriptural holiness implies hatred of sin. This is one of the points in
which it differs from mere natural amiability. It is not that easy, good
nature that smiles at vices it would not itself commit. It offers a stern
resistance to sin in all its guises. It stands like a rock against the
popular waves of iniquity. It does not give place to the devil. Satan cannot
have his way undisputed in the presence of holiness. It maintains its ground
against all odds and under all circumstances.


     "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." -- Prov. 8:13 "Ye that
     love the Lord hate evil." -- Ps. 97:10


     One who is truly holy hates the first appearance of sin in himself. His
conscience is as quick as the apple of the eye. A sinful thought, even when
suggested by Satan and instantly repelled by the mind, gives him more
uneasiness than a sinful action did before his conscience was purged from
dead works. The one evil which he dreads above all others is sin. He shuns
it as he would the open pit to which it leads. He cries out with the
Psalmist:


     "I hate every false way." -- Ps. 119:104.



And again,

     "I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. -- Ps. 119:113

So Bunyan truly says, "Where the grace of God is in the heart it shows
itself by inclining the soul to abhor sin."

     He hates sin in others. No matter with what talents, or
accomplishments, or position it may be joined, he abhors it utterly. The
popularity of the sinner does not mitigate the repugnance which he feels on
account of his sins. There is no malice in his hatred, but the holy soul
feels an instinctive aversion to sin, no matter how polished may be its
appearance.


     "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved
     with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect
     hatred: I count them mine enemies." -- Ps. 1.39:21, 22



This does not imply angry, malevolent feelings, but a settled aversion of
soul toward the haters of God. As to his chosen companions, the Psalmist
says,


     "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that
     keep thy precepts." -- Ps. 119:63


     Hatred of sin is essential to the aggressiveness that belongs to the
Christian character. No disciple of Christ can settle down, and enjoy
himself, without making any effort to do good to others. He that has found
Christ will proclaim Christ.


     "Let him that heareth say, Come." -- Rev. 22:17

     "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not
     with me scattereth abroad." -- Matt. 12:30



But unless one feels a hatred to sin he will not make war upon sin. A man
who goes to the bar and drinks water, while his friend drinks whiskey may be
personally temperate; but he certainly cannot be a very warm advocate of
temperance. It was when Paul saw that the city was wholly given, to idolatry
that his spirit was stirred within him, and he preached to them the true and
living God. Luther would never have been a reformer, had not his indignation
been aroused against the sinful practices of the Church. He made war upon
the sale of indulgences because he hated the sins that were thus encouraged.
One who sees little or no harm in pride will not insist upon humility. He
who thinks that a conspiracy of the strong against the weak, the union of
believers with unbelievers, cemented by the most awful oaths and penalties,
is a matter of so little importance as not to be worthy to be looked into,
will not oppose secret societies with any earnestness.

     So of sin in all its manifestations; until it is seen to be "exceeding
sinful," and hateful, no vigorous effort will be made for its overthrow.
Revivals will dwindle down into periodical efforts to promote the interests
of each particular sect, and the converts, instead of being made happy in
God, will become at best only the zealous proselytes of the favorite
opinion.

     Hatred of sin will necessarily expose a person to persecution. It
cannot be otherwise. Satan will never surrender without a struggle. If he is
attacked he will attack in turn. He will return blow for blow. He has no
scruples and feels no pity. No lie, if only it is clothed with probability,
will be too great or glaring for him to employ. No character can be too well
established for him to assail. When he cannot use violence he will make the
most of defamation; of all the arts of which he is a most consummate master.
He is ever the relentless enemy of all good. Hence the Apostle declares,


     "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
     persecution." II Tim. 3:12



This is a general declaration. It applies to all time and all places. It
must hold good as long as holiness is opposed to sin. No degree of wisdom or
prudence can enable one to escape this consequence of a godly life. If you
have met with no persecution it is an alarming symptom. It shows that there
is an essential element wanting in your religious experience. You do not
hate sin.

     Hatred to sin secures the comfort of the Holy Ghost. There is no joy
like that which He imparts.

     "A peace to sensual minds unknown, A joy unspeakable."

     With this in the heart one can go through any thing that in the
Providence of God he is called upon to suffer or endure. "The joy of the
Lord is your strength." Yet many professed Christians know nothing about
this joy. They have never felt it themselves and when they witness it in
others it looks to them like fanaticism or wild-fire. The reason they have
never felt it is, they have never been sufficiently given up to God to obey
Him in every thing, to secure the comfort of the Holy Ghost.


     "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God,
     thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
     fellows." -- Ps. 45:7



Heb. 1:9. To be "anointed with the oil of gladness" it is not enough to love
righteousness. If you stop there you will not receive it. You must go a step
farther and become a partaker of so much of the divine holiness as will make
you hate wickedness. Then, when you take your stand against it; when you
meet, unmovable as a rock, the billows of wickedness, God will pour up on
you the oil of gladness to that degree that you will not heed the sufferings
you will endure for your fidelity to Christ. You will have the martyr
spirit.

     Hatred to sin will enable you to stand true to God under all
circumstances. You will not backslide. As long as sin looks odious you will
not embrace it. While you fight sin in real earnest, because it is sin
against God, you will not become its friend. It is the half-hearted
renunciation of sin which causes so many to fall away. Lot, in Sodom,
maintained his integrity because

     "in seeing and hearing, he vexed his righteous soul from day to
     day with their unlawful deeds." -- II Pet. 2:8

                                 CHAPTER 10

               ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- HONESTY IN BUSINESS

      Honesty is that disposition which prompts us to give to every one his
 due. It makes us thoughtful of the rights of others. Its influence is felt
  in all the relations of life. It makes us more anxious to give to others
their rights, than we are to insist upon our own. We would infinitely prefer
  to be the victims of injustice, than to be unjust. A holy person would a
thousand times rather suffer wrong, than do wrong. He watches carefully lest
   others be the losers through his fault. He never takes advantage of the
  ignorance of another. In buying he does not decry an article in order to
 obtain it for less than it is worth in selling, he does not conceal defects
in order to obtain more for a thing than its real value. He freely gives all
the information necessary to form a correct judgment in the matter. Even the
 heathen standard of honesty did not allow one man to take advantage of the
      ignorance of another. Cicero proposes a case as follows. He says,
    "Antisthenes brings a ship-load of grain to Rhode at a time of great
   scarcity. The Rhodians flock about him to buy. He knows that five other
    ships, laden with grain, will be there tomorrow. Ought he to tell the
     Rhodians this, before he sells his own grain? Undoubtedly he ought,
  otherwise he makes a gain of their ignorance, and so is no better than a
   thief or a robber." You may say, "Business is business, and religion is
 religion," but that does not relieve the matter. The Bible demands honesty
in business. A holy man regulates and controls his business according to the
   principles of justice. Yet many who profess the holy religion of Jesus
 purposely take advantage of the ignorance of others, and so "are no better
                         than thieves and robbers."


     One takes advantage of the necessities of others. Some labor must be
done or service performed. The want is urgent. Yet he who takes advantage of
this necessity and extorts an unreasonable price for the service rendered,
acts precisely upon the principle of the highwayman who takes advantage of
the traveler's helpless condition and demands his money or his life. When we
undertake to assist another, though there be no stipulation as to the
compensation to be received, our obligations to God will not allow us to be
unreasonable in our requirements. We must do as we would be done by.

     Holiness implies honesty between employers and the employed. If I sell
my time and skill to another; to fail in rendering him the service for which
I am paid, is, as really an act of dishonesty as to rob his till, or steal
his goods. So the apostle commands those who are working for others to do it



     "in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with
     eye-service, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing
     the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as
     to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing
     any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord." -- Eph. 6:6


     The employers are to give servants their due, of taking advantage of
their wants and getting their service for less than its value; nor paying
them in that which they do not want. An eminent minister hired a young man
to work for him through the season. When they settled the minister gave him
his note. This was satisfactory at the time. But circumstances soon after
rendered it necessary for the young man to return to his friends quite a
distance away. The minister, as the expression is, "shaved his own note." As
far as honesty is concerned he might as well have stolen from him that
amount.

     In the family relations, in the every day occurrences of life, there is
need for the constant exercise of this principle. We must "follow holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord," not only in the Church, but in the
family, in the treatment of companion, and children, and dependents, in the
workshop and on the farm, behind the counter and in the office, in meeting
obligations and in making bargains, on the streets and in the cars, and in
all our intercourse with our fellowmen.


                                 CHAPTER 11

                   ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- IMPARTIALITY



God is no respecter of persons. This does not mean that He regards the
righteous and the wicked with the same degree of favor. But it does mean
that He loves a poor man who is truly pious, just as much as He does a
millionaire or a king who serves Him no better. In the ranks of an army, in
time of war, are men from every position in life; but there are for all the
same duties and the same dangers. The road to preferment is open to all
alike. What is true, in theory at least, in the army, is true in fact in the
Church of Jesus Christ. The same spirit of obedience and self-renunciation
is required of all.


     "So whosoever of you he be, that forsaketh not all that he hath,
     he cannot be my disciple" -- Luke 14:3



was not spoken to those only who have not much to forsake. It applies with
equal force to the prince as to the pauper.

     In proportion as we become holy we become partakers of the mind that
was in Christ. A holy person will not claim, and accept any privilege in the
house of God which is conceded to him on account of his wealth, but is
denied to his poor but equally deserving brother, To him there is a depth of
meaning in the words of our Saviour;


     "How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek
     not the honor that cometh from God only?" -- John 5:44



He is "a companion" -- an equal -- "of all them that fear God," (Ps. 119:
6), and he does not accept any honor bestowed upon him on account of the
superior worldly advantages he may enjoy.

     Consequently a holy person should not buy or rent a seat in a house of
worship. To do this would be to give his sanction to a practice which shuts
the poor out of the house of God, and which introduces into the Church an
aristocracy based on money.

     Christ says,

     "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." -- Matt. 11:5



This is the standing miracle of the Gospel. False religions seek their
votaries among the rich and powerful. The Gospel was made for the poor. It
is adapted to their capacities and their wants. If the rich receive it they
must come down to a level with the poor. They must lay aside their "gold and
pearls and costly array" and be clothed upon with humility. In all ages the
greatest triumphs of the Gospel have been won among the poor. Paul, writing
to the saints at Corinth, one of the proudest cities of his times, said,

     "Ye see your calling; brethren, how that not many wise men after
     the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God
     hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
     and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
     things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things
     which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
     to bring to nought things that are." -- I Cor. 1:26-28.

     John Wesley commenced his wonderful career among the poor, and his
followers were mainly of this class. Were the churches holy, their houses of
worship would be open for the poor just as freely as for the rich, and there
would be one communion for all; as there is one God and Father of us. An
individual who is holy cannot consistently belong to a Church that despises
the poor. But if grading a congregation according to its wealth -- giving to
the one, who is able and willing to pay the most, the best seat,
irrespective of his Christian, or even moral character, and giving the poor
seats by themselves, is not manifesting contempt for the poor, we know not
how it can be manifested in the house of God. True holiness would correct
all this. It honors those whom God honors. It would make trouble, for those
professing holiness: -- to refuse to give their sanction to the selling of
the right to hear the Gospel. But this is the nature of holiness -- to make
trouble wherever it comes in contact with sin. Light has no communion with
darkness, and where one prevails it is to the exclusion of the other.

     God has nowhere promised that holy men should enjoy exemption from
troubles. But they are promised a final and glorious deliverance.

     If you steadfastly refuse to show respect of persons in judgment, you
may bring upon yourself persecution; but in no other way can you keep clear
in your soul. There is a sterling integrity about holiness, which refuses to
be swerved from righteous judgment by any apprehension of danger or
expectation of reward. It chooses to


     "suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy
     the pleasures of sin for a season." -- Heb. 11:25



Job says, "The cause which I knew not I searched out." He did not accept the
popular voice as his verdict. He examined carefully, weighed impartially the
evidence, and gave a just decision.

     "Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the
     person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy
     neighbor." -- Lev. 19:15

                                 CHAPTER 12

                    ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE TO GOD

      There can be no such thing as Christian holiness without supreme love
  to God. This is its very substance. It may be summed up in this. A being
 possessed of the proper intelligence, and actuated at all times by supreme
  love to God, would never be wanting in an duty. Every obligation would be
                    fulfilled The GREAT COMMANDMENT is,


     "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
     thy soul, and with all thy mind." -- Matt. 22:37



A failure here involves failure everywhere. Who is pleased with professions
of love when convinced that the affection is wanting? So Christ assures us
that acts of devotion are unutterably loathsome unless they spring from
love.

     "So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I
     will spew thee out of my mouth." -- Rev. 3:16

     Love to God does not differ in its nature from love to our fellows. The
more pure are our conceptions of the object of our affections, the more
exalted is the sentiment. God is infinite in all the wonderful attributes of
His nature; and hence, love to Him is the most exalted and ennobling
affection of which the human mind is capable. It includes delight in Him,
desire to enjoy His presence and His approbation, and a determination to do
His will.


     "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." -- I
     John 5:3


     It is manifested by a desire to please Him. Anything we feel satisfied
will be pleasing to God, we are anxious to do, although it may involve
painstaking and self-denial. David's men loved him; and when he expressed a
longing for water from a well which was within the lines of the enemy, and
carefully guarded, they sallied forth, and sword in hand, obtained it at the
risk of their lives. So one who truly loves God, will rejoice at any
intimation of his ability to perform any service acceptable to Him. Many of
the martyrs went rejoicing to the stake, because an opportunity was given
them to demonstrate to the world that the love of God is stronger than the
love of life. He who chooses a religious life because it will add to his
reputation among men, instead of its being attended with any serious
interference with his love of ease, and of worldly pleasures, and of worldly
popularity, is utterly wanting in the very first element of a holy
character. Unless our first aim is to please God, we need inquire no
farther. There is a fundamental lack. She who puts on apparel to please men
rather than God should make no pretensions to sanctity. There can be none.
To profess it is absurd.

     He who truly loves God will honestly and carefully endeavor to
ascertain His will.


     "O how I love thy Law! it is my meditation all the day." -- Ps.
     119:97



And again,

     "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against
     thee. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in
     all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto
     thy ways." -- Ps. 119:11, 14, 15.

This is the language of one who loves God. He studies the Bible -- not as a
literary critic, but with a sincere desire to know the will of God
concerning him. There was never a saint who did not love the word of God.
The knowledge that a holy person desires above all other, is a knowledge of
God's will. So he studies the sacred writings -- not to establish a doctrine
or to prove a disputed point; but to really find out what God requires of
him. He would not pervert it, nor make it bend to his convenience or his
prejudices. But let one lose the love of God out of his heart, and the
relish for the Bible is g one. It is generally neglected. If read, as it may
be when the light becomes darkness, it is that its meaning may be perverted
so as to form an excuse for an unholy life. There are many now, as in the
Apostle's day, "who handle the word of God deceitfully."

     A holy person has his ear open to the voice of God in the soul. There
is a still, small voice, that one who loves God does not fail to hear. He
who formed the ear can speak to the ear. In many things respecting which the
word of God is silent, or speaks only in general terms, we need specific
directions by the Holy Spirit.


     "As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of
     God." -- Rom. 8:14



If we love God, we delight to hear Him speak to us. Even if reproof is
given, we rejoice to hear it. We are glad to listen even to the warnings
that our Heavenly Father gives. But his voice of approbation compensates a
thousand times for any hardships we may have undergone, or any sacrifices we
may have made. In whatever way God speaks, or whatever may be the import of
His message, He always finds in those who love Him attentive listeners. They
are so thankful for the condescension showed that they listen with the
utmost reverence and attention. In their hearts they say, "Speak, Lord, for
thy servant heareth."

     The truly devout also take delight in ascertaining the will of God as
shown in the physical laws by which our bodies and other material substances
are governed. A lover of God is likely to be a lover of nature.

     If we love God we have a high relish for that preaching and that
reading which most plainly discloses, and most strongly enforces the will of
God. We try those who say they are apostles. It was to embodied spirits, --
to preachers and teachers of the Gospel -- that the Apostle refers when he
says, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God:" for he assigns as a reason,


     "because many false prophets are gone out into the world." -- I
     John 4:1



We shall hear and support preachers -- not because they are talented or
eloquent -- but because they speak the word of God faithfully. This will be
to us of prime importance. No amount of polished oratory will be accepted as
a substitute for fidelity to God. A holy person cannot give encouragement to
compromisers and trimmers. He cannot bid them God-speed who bring another
Gospel. He does not help false prophets -- no matter though they may belong
to his own denomination -- by giving them his presence and his money. This,
again, will make trouble. But holiness, in a sinful world, has always been a
troublesome thing. It is so because it is holiness.

     Again, if we love God we shall manifest it by unquestioning obedience
to all His commands. There can be no real love to God without the spirit of
obedience. Our Saviour makes obedience the test of love.


     "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that
     loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and
     I will love him and will manifest myself to him." -- John 14:21



This is clear and conclusive. Professions of love to God, when attended by
manifest disobedience to His commands, show how easy it is to be deceived.
Christ cannot be mistaken; but the most intelligent among us may be very
much out of the way, especially in the opinion which we entertain of our own
state of grace. We are safe only as we measure ourselves by the standard
which God gives. And He repeatedly gives obedience as the test of love.

     We must have respect to all of His commands. It will not do for us to
make choice of those which it is fashionable to obey, and disregard those
that are commonly disregarded. Such a course would prove that we are the
slaves of fashion, instead of being the servants of God. This was what
brought upon the Pharisees the severest denunciations the Saviour ever
uttered.

     Finally, he who loves God has a spirit of devotion. He loves the
worship of God, secret, social and, public. The saints have always been a
praying people. They talk a great deal to God. If they cannot use the
enticing words of man's wisdom, they can plead before the throne with
"groanings that cannot be uttered," and their prayers avail. They know that
they have the things they ask for. They love the mercy-seat. Those who have
been mighty on earth for God, were mighty in prayer. David was a valiant
warrior; but his fiercest battles were fought out in his closet. Elijah, was
too strong for his king, had power over the elements, and openly conquered
death, because he prevailed in prayer.

     Prayer answered turns to praise. -- Hence one who loves God delights in
His praises. With the Psalmist he says,


     "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually
     be in my mouth." -- Ps. 34:1



See how full the Psalms are of the praises of God. In the New Testament we
are commanded to "rejoice in the Lord always." Now if we love God, we shall
delight to do this. We would as soon think of hiring others to eat our
necessary food for us, as to hire them to praise God for us while our own
tongues are silent. A holy people will never employ others to worship God
for them Never! -- Acts of worship performed by the ungodly or indifferent,
even though they be done decently and in order, and paid for by the church,
are but open mockery and not worship. Mere sound, though it be pleasant to
the ear, is not worship.


     "God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in
     spirit and in truth." -- John 4:24

                                 CHAPTER 13

                   ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- TRUST IN GOD

     True holiness brings man into the most intimate relations with His
Creator. He is a child of God. Of this he is assured by the direct witness
of the Spirit. Those terms which express the greatest solicitude which one
human being can feel in another, are employed to represent the care which
our Heavenly Father has over those who walk before Him in the beauty of
holiness. Can any thing exceed the care which a father has for a son whom he
tenderly loves? How he endeavors to give him the education which will best
fit him for the duties of life! What self-denial does he often practice that
this may be accomplished! How he watches over his disposition, and labors to
correct his faults! He watches against such associations as may work to his
injury! But God says,


     "I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
     daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." -- II Cor. 6:18



Yet the love of a mother, if not stronger, is more enduring than a father's
love. It follows her child with ceaseless anxiety to the ends of the earth,
and to the close of life. It survives the loss of character, and the wreck
of hope. It goes, with tearful eye and ardent sympathy, and trembling step,
with the criminal to his cell, and the murderer to the gallows. But a mother
may forget her child, but God will never forget those who separate
themselves to His service. They are said to be graven upon the palms of His
hands to be continually before Him.

     A holy person, then, trusts in God. All his interests, for time and
eternity, are committed to the keeping of Him who never wearies. He has
confidence in God. A loving child is not always exacting promises -- he
trusts his parents for all his needs. So a holy person trusts in God
himself. He has confidence in the ability and in the willingness of His
Heavenly Father to do for him the very best that his circumstances call for.
He may not always see how it is coming out. He does not ask to. He feels the
utmost assurance that all things work together for good to them that love
God. With that he is satisfied.

     He trusts God in particular:

     For all the grace that he needs. He knows that God can carry him
through. The channel supplied from a mighty river, may be small but it is
always full. The source of the supply is inexhaustible. So is it with the
fountain of all goodness. There is grace for us for any emergency. We never
need be overcome. No matter how sudden may be the attack, our Protector is
ever at hand. The darts thrown at us may be fiery, and hurled with
tremendous force, but they can never penetrate our shield. The enemies that
assail us may be legion, but more are they that are for us. Thus a holy
person, while not presumptuous, is confident in God. He knows in whom he
trusts, and that He is able to keep, in perfect security, that which He has
committed to His care. Whatever may be his duties, whatever God may call
upon him to do, He will give him grace to perform. Increasing loads of care,
and labor, and responsibility may be laid upon him, but his strength is so
multiplied that he is able always to testify that Christ's yoke is easy, and
His burden light. Temptations most furious, most subtle, and nicely adapted
to accomplish their end may assail him, but he always finds that with the
temptation, God provides a way of escape, that he may be able to bear it. So
his confidence in God that He will give him increased strength, as his wants
require, never fails. He is not discouraged, ever ready to give up the
battle; but he boldly renews it from time to time, and goes in for new
conquests, and an extension of Christ's kingdom. He knows that the battle is
the Lord's, and he never expects defeat.

     He trusts God for temporal blessings. If God is the giver of every good
and perfect gift, we should naturally expect that He would provide for His
children. So His word declares that He will "withhold no good thing from
them that walk uprightly." He knows best what is good for us. We take the
remedies which a doctor in whom we have confidence prescribes, without
knowing before hand what their effects may be; and shall we not as
cheerfully accept from our Father's hand whatever temporal dispensations He
may order? Disappointment may be bitter, but it may be just the remedy we
need to sharpen the appetite for spiritual food. Toils and privations may be
grievous to the flesh, but they may be necessary to purify our spirits of
their grossness and fit them for their upward flight. But whatever is best
God will give us if we walk before Him in the light of holiness. Every holy
person has the most unbounded confidence in the declaration,


     "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
     these things shall be added unto you." -- Matt. 6:33



This does not make him indolent or improvident. Quite the contrary. He
labors unweariedly because he labors in hope. He is

     "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."
     Rom. 12:11

He does the best he can, dismisses all anxiety, and commits all to the hands
of God, for soul and body, for time and eternity. He who can trust God for
his happiness in another world, certainly can have no hesitation in trusting
Him to have his necessary wants supplied for the few fleeting years of his
probationary existence. If God cares for the oxen, and cares for the grass
of the field, He will care for His children. Their wants will be provided
for if they do their duty. He can send manna in the desert, and bring water
from the flinty rock. So a holy person rests in the promise, "Your bread
shall be given you, and your water shall be sure." His Protector is always
at hand: his Provider is always near. The Lord is his refuge: the Most High
is his habitation.

     "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot
     be removed, but abideth forever." -- Ps. 125:1

                                 CHAPTER 14

                    ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- LOVE TO MAN



  We have seen that there can be no true holiness without the love of God.
  Neither can there be without love for our fellow men. The two are joined
                 together. The second great commandment is,


     "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." -- Matt. 22:39


     Our Saviour, in the account which he gives of the good Samaritan, (Luke
10:30), teaches us that our neighbor is any one, even though belonging to an
unfriendly nation, who stands in need of our sympathy and assistance. A holy
person feels a lively interest in the well-being of his fellow men. His
heart is large -- it takes in mankind. His arms are long -- they carry
assistance to the perishing in the ends of the earth. He enters into the
spirit of the great commission,


     "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
     creature." -- Mark 16:15



His law knows no boundary lines. His efforts to do good are not confined to
any territorial limits. His righteousness goeth forth


     "as a lamp that burneth." -- Isa. 62:1


     In addition to active good-will towards all mankind, holiness implies a
special love for our brethren, the children of God. The New Testament is
very explicit on this point.


     "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a, liar:
     for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
     love God whom he hath not seen?" -- I John 4:20



Comment can make these words no plainer.

     "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love
     the brethren." -- I John 3:14

This love is not bare sentiment. It is an ardent affection. It makes us care
for each other's interest and welfare. We take pleasure in each other's
company,

     "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together; . . . but
     exhorting one another daily." -- Heb. 10:25

If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. If one soul is in
destitution, those who have, are ready to supply his necessities.

     "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need,
     and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth
     the love of God in him?" -- I John 3:17

If one is in peril, others share his danger. This is the spirit of true
holiness. It was exemplified fully in the primitive Christians. Paul says:

     "After ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of
     afflictions; partly while ye were made a gazing-stock both by
     reproaches and afflictions; and partly while ye became companions
     of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my
     bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in
     yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring
     substance." -- Heb. 10:32-34.

Lucian, a Roman writer, says of the early Christians: "It is incredible what
expedition they use when any of their friends are known to be in trouble. In
a word, they spare nothing on such an occasion, -- for those miserable men
have no doubt they shall be immortal and live forever; therefore they
contemn death and many surrender themselves to sufferings. Moreover, their
first lawgiver has taught them they are all brethren, when once they have
turned, and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship this Master of
theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according to His laws. They
have also a sovereign contempt for all the things of this world, and look
upon them as common." This is the testimony borne by an enemy.

     A holy person does not love indiscriminately and blindly those who
profess to be Christians, simply because they belong to the same church that
he does. This displays a partisan spirit. He tries those who say they are
apostles. His love is not the result of any reasonings; nor is it based on
natural qualities nor acquired gifts. It springs from the love of Christ. We
love Him so greatly that we instinctively love His true friends. Those who
walk in the light have fellowship for each other. They find each other out,
and their hearts naturally run together. Rays of light, coming from the same
source, easily mingle. Living streams, however widely separated, unite at
last in the ocean. Holy persons feel that union of spirit, which is properly
called, the communion of saints.

     Holiness implies love for our enemies. It is impossible to have true
holiness without having enemies. Christ had them. He told His disciples they
should have them.

     "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but
     because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
     world, therefore the world hateth you." -- John 15:19

     If you belong to Christ, His enemies will be your enemies. They will
hate you. Their hostility will sometimes assume an active form. They will go
just as far as the law will allow them to go in manifesting this hostility.
They will traduce you, misrepresent your actions, and impugn your motives.
But what must you do? Stand still and see the salvation of God. You must
feel the compassion for them that you would for an insane person. Neglect no
opportunity to do them good. Never get tried with them, nor attempt to repay
them evil for evil. Our Saviour's command is very plain:


     "Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you; do good to them
     that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
     persecute you." -- Matt. 5:44



This is Bible holiness. No other religion but that of Jesus will enable a
person to do this. There may be the semblance. Anger may be suppressed by
force of resolution. But God alone is able to make us really love our
enemies, and honestly strive to promote their welfare. The Holy Spirit will
enable us to hate sin, and love the sinner. It will make us kind to them,
but not indulgent to their faults. Holiness is not blind. It has eyes as
well as heart. It never mistakes darkness for light. To one who has true
holiness it is not hard to obey the command,


     "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink;
     for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." --
     Rom. 12:20

                                 CHAPTER 15

                        ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS -- JOY



Joy forms an essential element of true holiness. As caloric pervades matter,
so joy is interfused through every sanctified soul. It may be developed more
on some occasions than on others but it is always there. Not that a saint of
 God is exempt from sorrows, but in the midst of sufferings he can say with
                                the Apostle,


     "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." -- II Cor. 6:10.



Vessels floating on a river are driven up stream by the wind, but
underneath, the current flows steadily on to the ocean. So the sad
occurrences of life occasion grief to the saint, while down deep in the
heart joy reigns undisturbed. This joy is not of earthly origin. It does not
stand connected with temporal prosperity. Prosperity does not create it;
adversity does not destroy it. The good opinion of our fellow-men does not
set it in motion, nor their persecutions stop its steady flow. It does not
spring from the consciousness of the possession of any gifts, natural or
gracious. It is supernatural in its origin; pure and holy in its nature. It
comes from God as directly as pardon comes from God. It is imparted to the
soul by the direct power of the Spirit. Hence it is called the joy of the
Holy Ghost. That is, the joy which the Holy Ghost imparts. It is a God-given
happiness -- happiness intensified. It is not levity. It is a solid joy.

     There is a strong tendency to undervalue this joy. It is spoken of
frequently by professed Christians in a contemptuous manner, as emotional,
affecting only weak-minded persons, and short-lived in its continuance. That
it is emotional, we admit. So is the compassion which leads us to relieve
the suffering, without which, we are as


     "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." -- I Cor. 13:1.



And whoever reads his Bible will find that some very strong-minded persons
have been affected with joy to an overpowering degree. David was a mighty
man. But so great was his gladness when the ark of the Lord was brought up
into his city, that "he danced before the Lord with all his might." When his
proud wife "saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised
him in her heart." (II Sam. 6:14, 16.) But God cursed her and blessed the
king. As to its duration, holy joy is to last forever.

     "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with
     songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
     and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." -- Isa.
     35:10.


     That this joy is an essential element of true holiness, we prove from
the Scriptures.


     "Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me
     full of joy with thy countenance." -- Acts 2:28


     The way of life is a saving knowledge of God. A look of approbation
from Him fills the soul with joy.


     "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy
     no man taketh from you." -- John 16:22.



The disciples were sad at the prospect that Jesus was about to leave them.
He consoled them with the promise that He would manifest Himself to them
spiritually -- would be with them always, and this would afford them a joy
that no man could deprive them of. This joy is just as free for the
disciples of Jesus now as it was then. More than this, it is positively
promised.

     "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that
     loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and
     I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." -- John 14:21

Every holy soul obeys Christ, and so Christ gives him a joy that man cannot
take from him.

     "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness,
     and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." -- Rom. 14:17


     Here holiness is said to consist of three elements. We have just as
much right to conclude that we have it when we are destitute of the
righteousness as we have, when destitute of the joy. God has joined the
three together. Let no man put them asunder.


     "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost."
     -- Acts 13:52



This, too, was in the midst of a violent persecution.


     "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
     gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. -- Gal. 5:22.


     No one can have true holiness without having the Spirit of God. But
wherever the Spirit of God is, it will bring forth its appropriate fruits,
-- not one, but all, -- not in some favorite localities, merely, -- but in
all places -- not occasionally, but constantly. Joy is just as really one of
the fruits of the Spirit as love or peace. Whoever has the Spirit of God has
joy.


     "In whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with
     joy unspeakable and full of glory." -- I Peter 1:8



Whoever enjoys true holiness is a believer in Jesus. But all believers have
joy unspeakable and full of glory.

     How explicit are the Scriptures on this point. They show plainly that
wherever holiness is, there is joy. We might go on at an indefinite length,
for the Scriptures are as full, as they are plain; but if these passages
which we have quoted do not carry conviction, no amount of proof will avail.
The difficulty is beyond the reach of argument -- it lies in the heart and
not in the intellect.

     But we are not alone in our opinion of the teaching of the Bible in
this matter. John Wesley says, "True religion, or a heart right towards God
and man, implies happiness as well as holiness. It is not only
righteousness, but also peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy wrought in the
heart by the Holy Ghost, by the ever blessed Spirit of God. This peace, joy,
love -- this change from glory to glory is what the wisdom of the world has
voted to be madness, mere enthusiasm, utter distraction. But thou, O man of
God, regard them not; be thou moved by none of those things. See that no man
take thy crown.

     "Joy in the Holy Ghost will far more effectually purify the soul, than
the want of that joy; and the peace of God is the best means of refining the
soul from the dross of earthly affections. Without doubt our joy in the Lord
will increase as our love increases."

     President Edwards was a rigid Calvinist -- a man of gigantic intellect,
great learning and solid piety. He says, "The Scriptures speak of holy joy,
as a great part of true religion. So it is represented.

     "And as an important part of religion, exhorted to and pressed with
great earnestness.


     'Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires
     of thine heart.' -- Ps. 37:4 'Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous.'
     -- Ps. 97:12 So, 'Rejoice in the Lord, O, ye righteous.' -- Ps.
     33:1 'Rejoice and be exceeding glad.' -- Matt. 5:12 'Finally, my
     brethren, rejoice in the Lord.' -- Phil. 3:1 'Rejoice in the Lord
     alway; and again I say, Rejoice.' -- Phil. 4:4 'Rejoice evermore.'
     -- I Thess. 5:16 'Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the
     children of Zion be joyful in the King.' -- Ps. 149:2



This is mentioned among the principal fruits of the Spirit of grace. (Gal.
5:22.) The Psalmist mentions his holy joy as an evidence of his sincerity.

     'I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all
     riches.' -- Ps. 119:14.

     "He who has no religious affection, is in a state of spiritual death,
and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of
the Spirit of God upon his heart."

     The hymns that are sung by all denominations present precisely the view
of joy as forming an essential element of true holiness which we have here
set forth. In many a church they sing with Watts,


          "The men of grace have found, Glory begun below."



If glory is not begun in your heart, there is a serious lack in your
experience. In like manner, we sing with Charles Wesley,

          "How happy every child of grace, Who knows his sins forgiven."


     But similar sentiments are found in every orthodox hymn book. If they
are not true, why sing them? Is it right to sing lies? If they are true, why
settle down in your religious experience without this joy, as though an
essential element of holiness were of no consequence? Many not only do this,
but even oppose and persecute those who are enabled, through grace, to

     "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." -- I Peter 1:8


Others who do not go so far, treat these rejoicing ones in a patronizing
kind of way, as though they were to be tolerated and pitied. True hol