Chapter 5

When the waters reached her shoulders the offer was repeated. To one and all she replied something like this: 'No, I will not draw back! I will not deny my Lord!' And as the rising tide came in she bowed her head, and poured her soul out unto death rather than deny her Master. She bound her sacrifice to the altar, and died in the faith.

Some of those who hear my words are disappointed and sad at heart, for they have gone back on Jesus Christ; not perhaps to save their lives, but for a mere trifle. Why these neglected vows? Why these defiled sacrifices? Why these broken consecrations? If they were ever really put on the altar they were not, I am afraid, bound there. Impulse, sentiment, desire, intention may have induced the offering, but it was not bound with 'cords of submission, cords of determination'. Companionships, some secret indulgence, some selfish pleasure, some act of reversal, carried off the sacrifice.

Alas! how many have never seriously and sincerely approached the Divine altar to make the full surrender of themselves to God. The love of sin, the selfish gratifications which are so precious to them, have kept them back, though often convicted about their duty.

But the act of dedication is very simple, and can be made or renewed now. While we bow before God around the altar of consecration, bring yourselves and the sacrifice again and put it on that altar in an unchangeable covenant, and with a simple faith that will bring from God that holy fire which makes it possible to maintain it there for ever.

_A willing sacrifice at last Myself to Thee I give; The weary, painful strife is past-- I die that I may live._

_I yield Thee all my hallowed powers, Thine only will I be, Contented if I may but know Thou giv'st Thyself to me._

X

'Why Should I?'

'_Thou saidst, What advantage will it be? What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee._' (Job xxxv. 3, 4.)

In reading these words I have no wish to enter into the controversy between Job and his friends as to the relationship of physical suffering to sin, but to emphasize a certain mental attitude which they indicate, and which often expresses itself in relation to other things.

The human mind is so constituted that men will not commit themselves to a course suggested by another unless it is proved to be worth their while. When we want to move people to do that which does not at the moment fit in with their desires, we have to urge motives upon their consideration. Very few actions are performed without there being some personal motive. It seems born in us to ask, 'Is it worth while? Why should I do, or go and accept what I do not want?' and so we hang back until some motive carries our judgment or feelings.

We find the same attitude in men's minds towards Salvation and those spiritual blessings and conditions of life in which the Lord wants men to live. The immediate gratification of the flesh, or love of selfish indulgence, lies in the opposite direction to the Altar of Consecration; so that when the call to surrender and Holiness comes, naturally, and at once, the cry springs up, 'Why should I? Where is the advantage? What profit shall I have?' It seems, therefore, absolutely necessary to find some personal motives by which to urge people to be saved, or seek a clean heart, and pursue those lines of sacred duty to which redeemed men should be consecrated.

Speaking from personal experience, I would say that whilst soul-saving is hard work, it appears equally difficult to persuade professors of religion to definitely seek deliverance from inward sin, and to attain those spiritual realizations which we speak of as 'Full Salvation' or 'The Blessing of Holiness'. As evidence of this difficulty, I may point to the state of soul and spiritual experience in which even some of you are now found: receiving light and instruction about Holiness, but continuing unsanctified; singing of the Cleansing Blood, but yet remaining uncleansed by it; praying, 'Baptize me with the Holy Ghost', and yet resisting His gracious leadings to the higher life of Holiness.

In one of my Meetings my subject was 'Out-and-Out Consecration'. I was attracted by a man who seemed intensely interested. I spoke with him afterwards, when he said, 'I was much pleased with your address--I entirely approve of the sentiments you expressed'. And yet I could not induce the man to give himself to God. Thus we have to seek for motives by which to move the hearts of people in this vital matter.

1. Let me again set before you those motives which should lead you to seek the blessing. I place first among them the fact which Paul stated thus, 'This is the will of God, even your sanctification'. I put this first because the highest motive stimulating the soul of the child of God should be _the knowledge of his Father's will_. One would think that to know God's will should be enough to provoke the determination to do it. To hear the Father's voice should stir the heart in responsive desire and effort.

We had a little daughter who, before she went to Heaven, was the joy of our hearts and the light of our home. The child had a passion for cleanliness, and as the evening hour came on, she gave the maid no peace until she was washed and dressed in clean clothes. Then, running to her mother, she would ask, 'Mamma, am I clean, clean enough for father?' Soon after my return from business, the child would climb on my knee, put a little hand on each side of my face, to compel me to look at her, and then ask, 'Am I clean, papa, am I clean?' Nothing would delight that child more than for me to say, 'Yes, my darling, you are clean, even clean enough for father'.

Let us ask ourselves, 'What does the will of God count for with us? We know what He wants, and the claims of gratitude and sincere regard for His glory should influence our attitude, and lead us to say, 'Lo! I come to do Thy will, O my God!'

_He wills that I should holy be: That Holiness I long to feel; That full, Divine conformity To all my Saviour's righteous will._

2. A second motive to Holiness may be found in _the urgent need of the people around us_. We all know something of God's plan for saving the world. It is, broadly speaking, on the line of using one man to save another. Co-operation on this line is rightly expected from all professing Christians.

Personally, I hold that professors of religion who are not moved by a concern for the souls of others, and a willingness to use all possible efforts to seek their Salvation, can hardly claim to be properly saved themselves. The need of saved men and women to act on these lines of consecrated effort is, indeed, very great, and the knowledge of this fact should urge us to the fullest consecration. But we need to see more clearly that unless we exhibit in our own characters and lives the true fruits of Holiness, we shall either fail in our own consecration, or our influence will be greatly reduced.

What do you think will be the effect of a man's words about the Christian's 'separateness', and about Christ being the satisfying portion of the human heart, if people see him seeking satisfaction with the multitude that go to do evil? How will the world be influenced by Christian talkers who sacrifice honour, truth, and perhaps honesty, in their daily associations? How often people's tongues are tied, when they ought to speak and act? They are half paralysed through a sense of their personal inconsistency.

Holiness is not only the inspiration to holy effort; it is a necessary qualification. The power of a holy life is the best evidence of what God can do. Platform and Meeting-Holiness, or glass-case sanctity, are feeble when compared with the exhibition of the blessing in daily association. Therefore, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven'. These words indicate my meaning when I urge you to seek and maintain the blessing of Holiness in the interests of those around you. Holy lives are the most convincing sermons and testimonies. We often say 'Holiness is power'; and I am sure that you need all the power which can be obtained to influence the world around for God and Salvation.

3. Then, as a last motive to stimulate you in the pursuit of Holiness, I will name _self-interest_. That may seem rather a low-down motive, seeing that Holiness, which is perfect love, is the extreme opposite of that selfishness which is the essence or root of all sin. It seems like a paradox or contradiction to say that self-denial can harmonize with enjoyment; and yet it is true. A man does advance his highest interests and truest well-being when he submits to the sanctifying conditions of the Holy Ghost; for what the world counts loss, he finds to be gain.

I would point out that we find God Himself appealing to men just at that point of self-interest. What a chapter is that fifty-fifth of Isaiah, beginning, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters', and so on, the second verse finishing, 'Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness'. As much as to say, 'You will find it worth while to come into right relations with Me'.

There is no doubt that people are moved when they properly understand the fact which Paul set forth in the words: 'Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come'; 'Godliness with contentment is great gain'. And I want you to see that to have the blessing of Full Salvation will be worth your while, because it will meet the deep needs of your individual life.

If I am asked to define what you must be in order that your religious life may be happy and successful, I would state the case thus.

First, you need to be in right and happy relationship with God. There must be no enmity there; no clouds in that sky; no closed doors between you and your Heavenly Father. Salvation does nothing for you if it does not bring that.

Second, you need to be delivered from those inward evils which have darkened your mind, polluted your soul, and will be like roots of bitterness springing up to trouble you if they are not removed.

Third, you want power to live up to your own ideals; that is, up to the standards of life upon which your consecrated heart will be set. You do not want to be in the position of the man who exclaims, 'The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do'. You want power to live 'unspotted from the world', to walk in Divine fellowship, to triumph over temptation, and to have victory and success in your service. These are the things you must have to meet your deepest need, and they are all secured to you in the blessing of Holiness which we urge you to seek.

Believe me, nothing spoils a man's happiness so much as sin in the heart, and nothing helps in human happiness so much as a holy, sanctified condition. You see the supreme advantage when you remember the open fellowship possible to the fully sanctified; the perfect peace in which God keeps the man whose mind is stayed on Him; the perfect love which casteth out fear, and the joy unspeakable and full of glory realized by one filled with the Holy Ghost.

On the other hand, how much unhappiness and disappointment is caused by the remains of sin in the heart! Look, for instance, at ill-tempers and their effect. You may have found a certain amount of gratification in letting your temper display itself; you have 'spoken your mind', and so forth, and, perhaps, caused pain to somebody in so doing; but you know how unhappy and humiliated you have been upon reflection.

Take also the case of the envious man. We all know that it is wrong to be envious; but who is the chief sufferer? Why, the envious man himself. So with grumbling and discontent: it is very unpleasant for those around; but how unhappy are the grumblers themselves! Similarly with pride; it may be very self-satisfying, until one sees somebody better, or something which cuts one out; then comes disappointment. And so I might go on with other illustrations, but I have said enough to show what I mean.

Now look at these motives which I have named; they all appeal to you in regard to Holiness. It is the will of God concerning you. It is desirable and necessary to give your religion power with those around you. It is also to your own happiness and interest to get your nature sanctified and your own heart and mind and life brought into harmony with God. To those whose experience includes the enjoyment of the blessing, I say let these motives influence you in maintaining the conditions. And to those who have not got the blessing, let these motives constrain you to seek the blessing without delay.

_Lord, my will I here present Thee Gladly, now no longer mine; Let no evil thing prevent me Blending it with Thine. Lord, my life I lay before Thee, Hear this hour the sacred vow! All Thine own I now restore Thee, Thine for ever now._

XI

Judged by Fruit

'_A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes._' (Luke vi. 43, 44.)

Jesus Christ, in the few sentences quoted, indicates the true secret or principle of holy living. They show that holy living works from the heart of things--beginning within--to the outside.

Many judge their religion the other way about. They take up religious duties, attend religious Meetings, sing hymns, say prayers, put on what may be called the outward things of religion. Perhaps they adopt a dress, make a profession, or assume a religious manner, and hope to grow good in the process. But really it does not work out that way. I do not say that the things are not good. Far from that; but what I want to make plain is this: in none of these things does the secret of true religion lie, and you will be a failure if you rely upon the outward form.

You have the secret, the principle of religion, in the words of Jesus: 'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh'. You see, that which is in will come out, and you cannot bring out that which is not in.

In these words Jesus tries to enforce a great truth in human life, by showing how the principle works out in the action of a tree. Nature cannot teach us everything about God, nor everything about religion; but Nature does supply us with a great many beautiful illustrations. Jesus makes use of one when He says, 'Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. Every tree is known by his own fruit.' You see, not only is the fruit according to the tree, but the quality of the tree is to be judged according to its fruits.

That is the way by which ordinary people identify a tree. There are some who are highly skilled in forestry, who can tell you all about a tree by looking at the bark or the leaves or the blossoms, or even by its general appearance. But we cannot all do that. I have sometimes stood in a company, and listened to an argument as to what kind a particular tree really was. But no arguments are required when the fruit hangs on the branches. Everybody can tell the apple tree then, and knows what a pear or a plum tree is when they see the fruit hanging upon it. You can see the bearing of this upon personal religion and character. By our fruit, then, we shall be known and judged.

In the fifth chapter of Galatians you will find a commentary upon this natural law. Shall we read it? 'Now the works of the flesh'--the fruit of the flesh, if you like to put it that way--'are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance', or self-control. The two sets of verses taken together not only show in detail a cluster of virtues which are like luscious fruit in a beautiful garden, but also a cluster of evils, which are like poisoned berries upon the roadside bushes.

The contrast between the two clusters indicates how great is the difference when one is changed from being a proud, fleshly, corrupt man into a clean, holy, spiritual person; but the contrast also marks the grace of God as the transforming power. No matter what change was wrought in you at conversion, you cannot properly call yourselves fully sanctified until the transformation is complete; that is, until you are delivered from the works or fruit of the flesh, and produce the fruit of the Spirit, and by your fruits you shall be known. Profession of Holiness without appropriate fruit is no good. That would be just like the tree to which the Saviour turned on one occasion when He found nothing but leaves.

Let me put the matter very simply, but very definitely. Here is a man, we will suppose, who says, 'I am saved'. That is good. I like to hear men who are able to stand up and say, 'I am saved'. But if in that man's dealings with those around him he tells lies--black ones or white ones--well, then it is obvious that the man still needs Salvation.

Here is another who stands up and says, 'I have a clean heart'. That is a testimony in which I glory. But if you see that man's bodily appetites master him, or see him fall into uncleanness of speech or of act, you know very well what even those who want to be charitable will say, 'Either that man fails to understand the meaning of the words he uses, or his profession of Holiness is a false one'.

Another person says, 'I love God with all my heart'--or as many do say, 'There is nothing between my soul and God'. But if you see the same person running after those things which he knows God is against, however charitable you may feel, you cannot help judging by what he does rather than by what he says.

One may stand up and speak about being sanctified; but if his actions indicate in some form or another that he is jealous, or ill-tempered, or selfish, everybody will say, 'No matter what that person may say about himself, testimony or no testimony, profession or no profession, he still needs the blessing of Full Salvation!'

Let me, by an illustration or two, help you to see what I mean--the fruits of the sanctified heart.

A university professor was afflicted with an ungovernable temper. One day he went to the house of a relative with a view to adjusting some property matters in dispute. Now, the man to whom he went not only made unjust claims, but put forth these claims in a way to provoke his Christian relative to anger. He did it on purpose; he was determined to show that this man's religion made him no different from the people round about him. As a consequence, high words arose, and the professor left the house in a rage, slamming the door behind him.

When he got into the street calm reflection came, and in the place of anger and bitterness a sense of humiliation and shame and defeat. He went straight home, up to his room, fastened the door, got down on his knees, and spent the night pleading that God would not only forgive him for his display of temper, but would deliver him from those angry passions which made him such a discredit to his profession of religion. As morning dawned, peace came to his soul, the power of the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and a sense of deliverance pervaded his whole being.

He went to the house of his relative, and found him at breakfast. With deep humility, and in the presence of the family, he confessed his sin, said not a word about provocation, and only pleaded that they would forgive him for his display of anger. Thirty years subsequent to this that professor, who became famous as a man of God, stated that no temptation or provocation received had ever stirred the emotion of evil temper within him since that memorable night. He had been delivered. Instead of the fruit of the flesh, there grew the fruit of the Spirit.

Take the case of a certain mother with several unconverted children. She was a fretting, chafing woman, and by her impatience, fault-finding, and nagging she fretted and vexed the whole family. When she got the blessing she became so even in her disposition that she was kept in such 'perfect peace' that, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the domestic circle became like a little heaven below.

Resentful and revengeful persons are so changed that the spirit of forgiveness and forbearance which they exhibit in their lives is the admiration of all who know them. Self-seeking Christians are made into self-sacrificing, cross-bearing saints and soldiers, where formerly they would only be content if they were having their own way.

Now, what does this mean? This: that such open professors of religion as we are must justify our profession by bringing forth fruit unto Holiness. If the condition of your mind and heart, if the state of your disposition (I will put it that way) is not such as brings forth this fruit, you must earnestly and sincerely ask the Lord to cleanse and sanctify and anoint you with the Holy Ghost, so that instead of bringing forth the fruit of the flesh, everybody shall see displayed and exhibited by you the fruit of the Spirit.

Do not say the standard is too high, for it is simply a case of your experience being too low. We want the whole thing not 'levelled down', but 'levelled up'. Let God take full possession of you; let the Divine power be exerted upon your particular difficulty; and seek to be wholly anointed with that Holy Spirit who can not only cleanse, but keep you, making you fruitful in every good word and work.

XII

Perpetual Covenants

'_Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten._' (Jeremiah 1. 5.)

We find in our Meetings persons who are perplexed by the doctrinal statements about Holiness or entire Sanctification and equivalent terms. Some take our words to mean more than we intend; others think the statements imply less than we mean; some put the standard too high, whilst others put it altogether too low.

At the close of a recent Meeting a gentleman said to me, 'I greatly enjoyed your address, but I am sure you will never get people to follow that line, because you advocate an abnormal life. It cannot be lived.' Equally I find men who in an indefinite way imagine that high states of emotion dispense with standards of morality such as truth, honour, and rectitude in business. And it is with great difficulty that we make the Bible standard plainly understood.

I think, however, that very few are perplexed as to what we mean by the consecration side of Holiness. There is, in all who are moderately well instructed in Bible truth, a living sense of God's claims, a recognition of what I may call the law of consistency, and a feeling that, as a matter of duty, we really ought to yield to those claims, and devote ourselves to doing His will. That is what Jeremiah meant when he called upon the people to join themselves unto the Lord in '_a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten_'.