In the first edition of these Sermons I added a short review of two books that have lately excited some attention in the Church. I understand that their author is himself so much dissatisfied with them, that he has been for some time past engaged in re-writing them. It is, therefore, not worth my while to republish my review, and, instead of it, I have added the following Notes.

Some of them are of a controversial character; but my object is to promote agreement rather than controversy. Several excellent persons, both clergymen and laymen, have lately experienced a remarkable answer to their prayers for an increase of faith, and in consequence of the peculiarities of the channel through which the answer has been given, they have been supposed to have deviated from old paths, and to have embraced new opinions at variance with the Word of God. I fear that this may be the case in some instances, though I hope it is not so to any great extent, for I find that many of them have never read the books to which some of us have thought it our duty to object, and are as earnest for the old truths as ourselves. I have therefore drawn up these Notes, embodying what I believe to be the teaching of Scripture, in the hope that they may prove a basis of union amongst those who are of one heart and one mind in their common desire to exalt the name of their most blessed Saviour.

The texts quoted must be regarded as only specimens, and not supposed to contain the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

1. The only standard of holiness recognised in Scripture is the perfect character and will of God.

1 Peter, i. 15, 16; Rom. xii. 2.

There is no allusion in the Word of God to any lower standard of any kind whatever. We are never taught there that ‘We are not called to walk by the rule of angels, who excel, in strength,’ or that ‘our standard is not that which it will be in our glorified bodies.’ According to Scripture, our rule is exactly the same as that of angels: our standard is exactly the same as it will be after the resurrection: and our constant prayer is, ‘Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.’ It is not the object of the Gospel to lower God’s standard to man’s level, but in, and through, the Lord Jesus Christ, to raise us to His standard, and at length present us as faultless before His throne.

2. Personal holiness is the work of God.

Of God the Father.

Jer. xxxi. 33; John, xvii. 17.

Of God the Son.

Matt. i. 21; 1 Cor. i. 30.

Of God the Holy Ghost.

Acts, xv. 9; 2 Cor. iii. 18.

3. It is the action of the believer.

Heb. xii. 1; 1 John, iii. 3.

I have seen God’s work in holiness described as the same as God’s work in the pardon of sin. But there is this essential difference: Forgiveness is an act of God in His own mind alone; holiness is a work of God in the mind of man, controlling and directing all the activities of the mind. Forgiveness is, therefore, altogether external to man, and must be received in trust alone; but holiness is a power and principle of human action, and therefore is developed in human activities. The distinction may be illustrated by repentance and forgiveness. Both are the gifts of our exalted Saviour. (Acts, v. 31.) But God forgives, and man repents.4. It commences with a new creation in Christ Jesus.

2 Cor. v. 17; Eph. ii. 10.

5. It is the result of acceptance with God, and of the realization of His mercy.

1 John, iii. 2, 3; Rom. xii. 1.

6. The principle which God employs to produce it is faith.

Acts, xv. 9; 1 John, v. 4.

7. The instrument which He employs to produce it is the truth as revealed in His own Word.

John, xvii. 17.

8. The means by which it will be finally perfected will be the full view of Christ Himself.

1 John, iii. 2.

PRACTICAL RESULTS.

If there is any difference on the subject of Personal Holiness amongst those who hold the great principles of the Gospel, it is not likely to appear so much in General Principles as in their practical application to present life. It is, therefore, clearly important to ascertain what should be the extent, and what the limits, of the Believer’s expectation. If we do not expect all that He has promised, we cannot hope to rise to His standard; and if, on the other hand, we expect what He has not promised, we shall involve ourselves in either disappointment or delusion. It is well, therefore, to consider from the Word of God what we are taught to expect, and what we are not taught to expect.

WE ARE TAUGHT—

1. That when we are created in Christ Jesus old things will pass away, and all things become new.

2 Cor. v. 17, 18.

2. That the Holy Spirit will dwell in our hearts.

John, xiv. 17.

3. That He will purify them.

Acts, xv. 9.

4. That we shall love the Lord Jesus Christ, and acknowledge our love.

2 Cor. v. 14; 1 John, iv. 19.

5. That we shall love the law of God, and delight in it

Ps. cxix. 97; Rom. vii. 22.

6. That we shall be set free from the dominion of sin.

Rom. vi. 14.

7. That we shall overcome external temptation.

1 John, v. 4, 5.

8. That we shall habitually live righteously in practical conduct.

Tit. ii. 12; 1 John, iii. 4–10.

9. That we shall be continually growing in grace.

2 Pet. iii. 18.

10. That in this present life, though we fail to fulfil God’s perfect law, we may have the joy of pleasing God, and of actually bringing glory to His name.

John, xv. 8; Col. i. 10; Heb. xiii. 16.

WE ARE NOT TAUGHT—

1. That the most eminent believers will be sinless.

1 John, i. 7–10.

From that passage we learn that those who are walking in the light, as He is in the light,—

(1) Are continuously being cleansed from sin (ver. 7).

(2) ‘Have sin’ (ver. 8), ‘and have sinned’ (ver. 10).

(3) ‘Have sin to confess, for which they need forgiveness’ (ver. 9).

2. That original sin will ever in this present life be either ‘destroyed,’ ‘dead,’ or ‘rendered inert.’

Rom. vi. 12.

The words, ‘Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof,’ are addressed to those who are to ‘reckon themselves dead unto sin and alive unto God.’ It is clear, therefore, that sin was still alive in them, or else it would have been quite needless to exhort them not to let it reign, and not to obey its lusts.

Compare also Rom. viii. 13; Col. iii. 5.3. That sin is not sin till we discern it. So that ‘to-morrow I may discern evil in things in which to-day I am living without condemnation.’ Sin is the transgression of the law, and what will be wrong to-morrow is wrong to-day, whatever we may think of it. If the conscience is so deadened, or seared, or perverted, that it does not perceive sin, that deadness of conscience does not take away the sinfulness of sin, but only adds the sin of not feeling sin to the sin of committing it. The insensibility of a deadened conscience amongst those who have received the Gospel must never be confounded with the ignorance of those who never heard it

4. That believers attain to ‘perfection up to the measure of to-day’s consciousness.’ As nothing of the kind is found in Scripture, it is difficult to understand exactly what the expression means. But if it mean that believers are kept so holy that there is nothing in either their hearts or lives which their own conscience condemns, the statement is directly opposed to such passages as Heb. ix. 14, x. 2, &c., which show that one great purpose of the precious blood of Christ is to provide a continuous purging of the conscience. If there is never anything on the conscience which requires purging I cannot see that we have any need for the purging blood.5. That we are to be assured of the existence of our personal holiness through faith, as we are of our justification. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, and, therefore, the only direct evidence of our justification: but personal holiness is within sight of conscience, and it would be an abuse of faith to reckon ourselves holy when conscience shows us that we are not really so. We believe ourselves to be accounted righteous, though we know that we are really guilty; but we must not believe ourselves to be actually holy when our own conscience condemns us of sin.

1 John, iii. 19–24.

6. That our believing reception of the promise of holiness from the Lord Jesus will supersede prayer.

Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, 36.

7. That our trust in the Lord Jesus for holiness will supersede personal exertion and the diligent use of the means of grace.

Acts, xxiv. 16; 1 Cor. ix. 27; Jude, 21, 24.

8. That there is a higher life distinct from that of which we are made partakers when first brought into union with the ‘Lord Jesus Christ,’ into which we may enter by a definite act of entire consecration.

No Scripture on this subject.9. That entire consecration is the means whereby we are to attain to union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The consecration of Scripture follows that union, and does not precede it. The Christians at Rome were first ‘baptized into Jesus Christ,’ and afterwards, when they were ‘alive from the dead,’ were exhorted to ‘yield themselves to God.’

Rom. vi. 3, 13.

There can be no doubt that the enjoyment of that blessed union is marred and hindered by any reserve within the soul. But if we are not to rest in it until we are satisfied that our consecration is entire, I see not, for my part, how the heart can ever be at rest unless the conscience is lulled to sleep by shallow and superficial views of sin. All who look at the self-consecration of our most blessed Saviour must be convinced that their own consecration, whatever it is, falls utterly short of such a standard; and if we are to wait for the enjoyment of our union with Him until our consecration is entire, or, in other words, till it is equal to His, that enjoyment seems to be placed at an infinite distance from our reach. Surely the teaching of Scripture is that we are admitted to the union as we are, through His free grace; and then, because we live in Him, we ‘live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose again.’