Conditions of Attaining to Holiness, Continued

To ascertain the conditions of entire sanctification in this life we need to consider what the temptations are that overcome us. When first converted we have seen that the heai’t or will consecrates itself and the whole being to God. We have also seen that this is a state of disinterested benevolence or a committal of the whole being to the promotion of the highest good of being. We have also seen that all sin is selfishness, or that all sin consists in the will’s seeking the indulgence or gratification of self; that it consists in the will’s yielding obedience to the propensities, instead of obeying God, as his law is revealed in liife x’aawi*

who can not see what needs to be done to break the power of temptation and let the soul go free? The fact is that the department of our sensibility as related to objects of time and sense, has received an enormous development and is tremblingly alive to all its correlated objects, while by reason of the blindness of the mind to spiritual objects, it is scarcely developed at all in its relations to them. Those objects are seldom thought of by the carnal mind, and when they are they are only thought of. They are not clearly seen, and of course they are not felt.

The thought of God, of Christ, of sin, of holiness, of heaven, and hell, excites little or no emotion in the carnal mind. The carnal mind is alive and awake to earthly and sensible objepts, but dead to spiritual realities. The spiritual world needs to be revealed to the soul. The soul needs to see and clearly apprehend its own spiritual condition, relations, wants. It needs to become acquainted withGod and Christy

EFFBCT8 OF SAlfCTmCATICm. S7

to have spiritual and eternal realities made plain, and present, and all-absorbing realities to the soul. It needs such discover- - ies of the eternal world, of the nature and guilt of sin, and of Christ, the Remedy of the soul, as to kill or greatly mortify lust, or the appetites and passions in their relations to objects of time and sense, and to thoroughly develop the sensibility in its relations to sin and to God, and to the whole circle of spiritual realities. This will greatly abate the frequency and power of temptation to self-gratification, an(jl break up the voluntary slavery of the will. The developments of the sensibility need to be thoroughly corrected. This can only be done by the revelation by the Holy Spirit, to the inward man, of those great and solemn and overpowering realities of the “spirit land,” that lie concealed from the eye of flesh.

We often see those around us whose sensibility is so developed in some one or more directions, that lhe^tfi«&^^’^^’^^

38 GUIDE TO THP 8AVIOR«

by appetite and passion in that direction in spite of reason and of God. The inebriate is an example of this. The glutton, the licentious, the avaricious man, &c., are examples of this kind.. We sometimes, on the other hand, see by some striking providence such a counter development of the sensibility produced as to slay and put down those particular tendencies, and the whole direction of the man’s life seems to be changed; and outwardly, at least, it is so. From being a perfect slave to his appetite for strong drink, he can not without the utmost loathing and disgust so much as hear the name of his once loved beverage mentioned. From being a most avaricious man be becomes deeply disgusted with wealth, and spurns and despises it. Now this has been effected by a counter development of the sensibility, for in the case supposed religion has nothing to do with it. Religion does not consist in the states of the sensibility, nor in the will’s being influenced by

XFFBOT ON THIB SENSIBILmr. 39

sensibility; but sin consists in the will’s being thus mfluenced. One great thing that needs to be done to confirm and settle the will in the attitude of entire consecration to God, is to bring about a counter development of the sensiUlity, so that It will not draw the will away from God. It needs to be mortified or crucified to the world, to objects of time and sense, by so deep, and clear, and powerful a revelation of self to self, and of Christ to the soul as to awaken and develop all its susceptibilities in their relations to him and to spiritual and divine realities. This can easily be done through and by the Holy Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us. He so reveals Christ that the soul receives him to the throne of the heart and to reign throughout the whole being. When the will, the intellect and the sensibility are yielded to him, he develops the mtelligence and the sensibility by dear revelations of himself in all his offices and relations to the soul» confirms the will, mellows and chastens the sensibility by these divine revelations to the intelligence.

First. It is plain that men are naturally able to be entirely sanctified in the sense of rendering entire and continual obedi* ence to God; for the ability is the condition of the obligation to do so. But what Is implied in ability to be holy as Gk)d requires us to be?

The ready and plaia answer to this. question is:

1. The possession of the powers and. susceptibilities of moral agents. 2. Suffixcient knowledge or light to reveal tons the whole of duty. 3. And also to reveal to. us clearly the way and means of overcom* ing any and every difficulty or temptation- that lies in our way.

The iBrst we all possess. The second we also possess, for jiothing strictly is or i canibe duty that is not revealed or.> made known to us.. The third is proflbrad .• to us upcm conditioRvthiitw reoeive tht

Holy Spirit who offers himself as an indwelling light and guide, and who is received by simple faith.

The light and grace which we need and which it is the office of the Holy Spirit to supply, respects mainly the following things:

First. Knowledge of. ourselves, our past sins, their nature, aggravation, guilt and desert of dire damnation.

Second. Knowledge of our spiritual helplessness or weakness in consequence of 1. The physical depravity of our natures. 2. Of the strength of selfish habit.. Because of the power of temptation •om the world, the flesh, and Satan. Third. We need the light of the Holy Virit to teach us the character of God, e nature of his government, the purity his law, the necessity and fact of nement.

‘’ouRTH. To teach us our need of Christ ill his offices and relations, governtal, spiritual, and mixed.

’42 GITIDE TO THE SAVIOR.

FiPTH.* If we would be led fully to the iSavior, we need a revelation of him to our souls in such power as to induce in us that appropriating faith without which he is not and cannot be our salvation.

Sixth. We need to know him in such relations as the following;

I. As King, to set up his government and write his law in our hearts; to establish his kingdom within us; to sway his sceptre over our whole being. As king he must be spiritually revealed and received.

II. As our Mediator, to stand between the offended justice of God and our guilty souls, to bring about a rfcconciliation between our souls and God. As Mediator he must be known and’ received.

III. As our Advocate, or Paracletos, our next or best friend, to plead our cause with the Father, our righteous and all-pervading Advocate to secure the triumph of our cause at the bar of God. In msLATtcfm OF ottBiflT. 43

this relation he must be apprehended and embraced.

rV. As our Redeemer, to redeem us from the curse of the law and from the power and dominion of sin; to pay the price demanded by public justice for our release, and to overcome and break up forever our spiritual bondage. In this relation also we must know and apprecdate him by faith.

v. .As our Justification, to procure our pardon and acceptance with Grod. To know him and embrace him in this relation is indispensable to peace of mind and to release from the condemnation of the law.

VI. As our Judge, to pronounce sentence of acceptance, and to award to us the victor’s crown.

VII. As the Repairer of the Breach, or as the one who makes good to the government of God our default, or in other words, who, by his obedience unto death, rendered to the public justice of

pd a full government a,

e infliction of the f^^ttiy

)on us.

VIII. As the propitiation y

offer himself as a propUCtsst^ c?

ig for our sins. The appr^^^

hrist as making an atonen^Q^^^

ns seems to be indispenfiable to s.

jrtaining of a healthy hope o “^A^^**-

fe. It certainly is not healthy fb^*^^

ml to apprehend the mercy ff

cercise. It does not sufficiently itnpi

le soul with the sense of the justice ni

:)liness of God, with the guilt and deetti

’ sin. It does not sufficiently awe tt

ml and humble it in the deepest dust to

igard God as extending pardon withom

)gard to the sternness of his justice, es

/inced in requiring that sin should be i

agnized in tlic universe as worthy of

rath and curse of God, as a condition of

B forgiveness. It is remarkable and weH

or thy of all consideration that those wbe r the atonement make sin a compara-* trifle, and seem to regard 6od*s bedence or love as good nature rather y as it is/* a consuming fire” to all the kers of iniquity. Nothing does or can luce that awe of God, that fear and ’ dread of sin, that sense of self-abaset, that self-abasing, God-justifying ty that a thorough apprehension of Bitonement of Christ will do. Nothing this can beget that spirit of self-renunion, of cleaving to Christ, of taking refin his blood. In these relations Christ t be revealed to and apprehended and •raced by us as the condition of our re sanctification.

&• As a surety of a better than the covenant, that is, as a surety of a uous covenant founded on better nises; as an underwriter or endorsor »ur obligation; as one who undertakes is and pledges himself as our security dfiU for and in us all the conditions of lalvation. To apprehend and appro*

46 OUmK TO THE SAYIOB.

priate Christ by faith in this relation is no doubt a condition of our entire sanctification. I should greatly delight to enlarge and write a whole course of lectures on the offices and relations of Christ, the ne« cessity of knowing and appropriating him in these relations as the condition of oar; entire, in the sense of continued sancti*.. cation. This would require a large ydl ume at least. All that I can do is to merely suggest a skeleton outline of this subject in its place-X. We need to apprehends and appro-, priate Christ as dying for our sins. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to thus reveal his death in its relations to our xniimdMial, sinst and as related to our sins as individuals. The soul needs to apprehend. Christ as crucified for us. It is one thing for the soul to regard the death of Christ, merely as the death of a martyr, and. an.> infinitely different thing, as every one.i knows wbothas hadtbeexpemnce, toap*- prahend his. death as a real and<veritable<’

Ticarious sacrifice for our sins, as being truly a substitute for our death. The soul needs to apprehend Christ as suffering on the cross for «/, or as its substitute; so that it can sayi that sacrifice is for me* that suffering and that death are for my sins. That blessed Lamb is slain for my sins. If thus fully to apprehend and to appropriate Christy can not kill sin in us, what can?

XL We need also to know Christ as ri$enfor our justification. He arose and lives to procure our certain acquittal or our complete pardon and acceptance with God. That he lives, and is our justification we need to know, to break the bondage of legal motives and to slay all selfish fear; to break and destroy the power of temptation from this source. The dearly,, convinced soul Is often tempted to de spondency and unbelief, to despair of its OM^n acceptance with God, and it would surely fall into the bondage of fear, were it not for the faith of Christ as a risen, living, justifying Savior. In tluti relation

48 omm to the sa.v/

the soul needs clearly to a/)^:^^ fully to appropriate Christ! ri li ness, as a condition of abid/fl^ yy of disinterested consecration K^;^^ XII. We need also to li?cre C5^^ c, vealed to us as bearing our griei ^^’’^

carrying our sorrows. The de

hension of Christ as being made sox^J^ ,^

for us, and as bending under sorrow/^ ‘”^ griefs that in justice belonged to us, t^T^ at once to render sin unspeakably odion, and Christ infinitely precious to our souls The idea of Christ our substitute needs to be thoroughly developed In our minds. And this relation of Christ needs to be so clearly revealed to us as to become an every where present reality to us. ly need to have Christ so revealed as to so completely ravish and engross our aifec. tions that we would sooner cut our own throats or suffer others to cut them, than to sin against him. Is such a thing im. possible? Indeed it is not. Is not the Holy Spirit able, and willing, and ready

REIiATIONS OF CHRIST. 49

to thus reveal him upon condition of our asking it in faith 7 Surely he is.

XIIL We also need to apprehend Christ as the one by whose stripes we are healed. We need to know him as relieving our pains and sufferings by his own, as preventing our death by his own, as sorrowing that we might eternally rejoice, as grieving that we might be un* speakaUy and eternally glad, as dying in unspeakable agony that we might die in deep peace and In unspeakable triumph.

XIV.” As being made sin for us.** We need to apprehend him as being treated as a sinner, and even as the chief of sinners, on our account, or for us. This is the representation of scripture, that Christ on our account was treated as if he were a sinner. He was made’sin for us, that is, he was treated as a sinner, or rather as being the representative, or as it were the embodiment of sin for us. 01 this the soul needs to apprehend — the

holy Jesus treated as a sinner, and as if 5

50 GUIDF Ta THE 8AVIOK.

all sin were conseerated in him, on oar account! We procured this treatment of him. He consented to take our place in such a sense as to endure the cross, and the curse of the law for us. When tke soul apprehends this, it is re»dy to die with grief and love. O, how infinite! jit loathes itself under such an apprehension as this! In this relation he must not only be apprehended, but appropriated hj faith.

XV. We need also to apprehend the fact that **^He was made rin for us that wt might be made the righteousness of Qui in him ;** that Christ was treated as a sinner that we might be treated as righteous; that we might also be made personally righteous by faith in him; that we might be made the righteousness of Chi in him; that we might inherit and be made partakers of 6od*s righteoosness ai that righteousness exists and is revealed in Christ; that we might in and by ISm be made righteous as God is tighter

REtiATIONS OF CHRIST. M

The soul needs to see thai his being made sin for us, was in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It needs to embrace and lay hold by faith upon that righteousness of God which is brought home to saints in Christ through the atonement and indwelling Spirit,

XVI. We also need him revealed to the soul as one upon whose shoulders is the government of the world; who administers the government moral and providential of this world for the protection, discipline and benefit of believers. This revelation has a most sin-subduing tendency. That all events are directly or indirectly controlled by Him who has so loved us as to die for us; that all things absolutely are designed for and will surely result in our good — these and such like considerations when revealed to the soul and made living realities to the Holy Spirit tend to kill selfishness and confirm the love of God in the souU

. XVIL We alsp need Christ revest to the inward being as Head over aUthin to the church. All these relations are ’ no avail to our sanctification only in i far forth as they are directly arid inward and personally revealed to the soul by tl Holy Spirit. It is one thing to ha thoughts and ideas and opinions concer ing Christy and an entirely different tbii to know Christ as he is revealed by tl Holy Spirit. All the relations of Chri imply corresponding necessities in i When the Holy Spirit has revealed to the necessity and Christ as exactly suit to fully meet that necessity, and urged 1 acceptance in that relation until we ha appropriated him by faith, a great wo Is done. But until we are thus reveal to ourselves and Christ is thus revealed us and accepted by us, nothing is do: more than to store our heads with notid or opinions and theories, while our heai are becoming more and more, at eve moment, like an adamant stone.

I have often feared that many professed Christians knew Christ only after the flesh, that iS| they hav6 no other knowledge of Christ than what they obtain by reading and hearing about him without any special revelation of him to the inward being by the Holy Spirit. I do not wonder that such professors and ministers should be totally in the dark upon the subject of entire sanctiiication in this life. They regard sanctiiication as brought about by the formation of holy habits instead of resulting fi*om the revelation of Christ to the soul in all his fullness and relations, and the soul’s renunciation of self and appropriation of Christ in all these relations. Christ is represented in the Bible -as the Head of the church. The church is represented as his body. He is to the church what the head is to the body. The head is the seat of intelligence, the will, and in short of the living soul. Consider what the body would be without the head, and you may under-

54 GUIDE TO THJg IdAVlOtt.

stand what the church would be without Christ. But as the church would be without Christ, so each believer wouU be without Christ. But we need to have our necessities in this respect clearly revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, and this relation of Christ made plain to our apprehension. The utter darkness of the human mind in regard to its own spiritoal state and wants, and in regard to the relations and fullness of Christ is trulv wonderful. His relations as mentioned in the Bible are overlooked almost entirely until our wants are discovered. When these are made known and the soul begins in earnest to inquire after a remedy, it needs not inquire in vain. “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend up to heaven? that is, to bring down Christ from above; or, Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.*’

REIiATIOlVS OF CHRIST. 53

XVIII. Christ as having all poioer or atUhority in heaven and earthy needs also to be revealed to the soul, and received by faiths to dwell in and rule over it. The corresponding want must of necessity be first known to the mind before it can apprehend and appropriate Christ by faith ia this or any other relation. The soul needs to see and feel its weakness, its need of protection, of being defended, and watched over, and controlled. It needs to see this, and also the power of its spiritual enemies, its besetments, its dangers and its certain ruin, unless the Almighty One interpose in its behalf. It needs thus truly and deeply to know itself, and then to inspire it with confidence, it needs a revelation of Christ as God, as the Almighty God, to the soul, as one who possesses absolute and infinite power, and as presented to the soul to be accepted as its strength and as all it needs of power.

Oh, how infinitely blind he is to i

fullness and glory of Christ, who does n<

know himself and know Christ as bol

are revealed by the Holy Spirit. Whe

we are led by the Holy Spirit to loc

down into the abyss of our own emptness — to behold the horrible pit and mil

clay of our own habits, and fleshly, an

,: worldly, and infernal entanglement!

j when we see in the light of God that oi

;|| emptiness and necessities are infinit(

then, and not till then, arp we prepare

ii wholly to cast off self and to put c

f:; Christ. The glory and’fullness of Chrii

^:i are not discovered to the soul until it dl

j covers its need of him. But when se

^1 in all its loathsomeness and helplessness

‘jl is fully revealed, until hope is utterly e

tinct as it respects every kind and degre

J of help in ourselves; and when Chris

: the all in all, is revealed to the soul as 11

all-sufficient portion and salvation, the

and not till then, does the soul know it

li salvation. This knowledge is the indispensable condition of appropriating faith, or of the act of receiving Christ, or that committal of all to him that takes Christ home to dwell in the heart by faith, and to preside over all its states and actions. Oh, such a knowledge and such a reception and putting on of Christ is blessed. Happy is he who knows it by his own experience.

It is indispensable to a steady and implicit faith that the soul should have a spiritual apprehension of what is implied in the saying of Christ that all power wns delivered unto him. The ability of yhrist to do all and even exceeding abunantly above all that we ask or think, is hat the soul needs clearly to apprehend a spiritual sense, that is, to apprehend not merely as a theory or a proposin, but to see the true spiritual import this saying. This is also equally true ill that is said in the Bible about Christ, ill his offices and relalioii.. V^ 3* thing to theorize and speculate and opine about Christ, and an infinitely different thing to know him as he is revealed by the Holy Spirit. When Christ is fully revealed to the soul by the Comforter, it will never again doubt the attainability and reality of entire sanctification in this life.

XIX. Another necessity of the soul is to know Christ spiritually as the Prince of Peac. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I we unto you,” said Christ What is this peace 7 And who is Christ in the relation of the Prince of Peace t What is it to possess the peace of Christ — to have the peace of God rule in your hearts t Without the revelation of Christ to the soul by the Holy Spirit, it has no spiritual apprehension of the meaning of this Ian* guage. Nor can it lay hold on and appropriate Christ as its peace, as the Prince of Peace. Whoever knows and has em-* braced Christ as his peace and as the Prince of Peace, knows what it is to have

RifiLilTIONS OF CHRIST. 59

the peace of God rule in his heart. But none else at all understand the true spiritual import of this language, nor can it be so explained to them as that they will apprehend it unless it be explained by the Holy Spirit.

XX. The soul needs also to know Christ as the Captain of Salvation as the skillful conductor, guide and captain of the soul in all its conflicts with its spiritual enemies, as one who is ever at hand to lead the soul on to victory and make it nore than a conqueror in all its conflicts with the world, the flesh, and Satan, low indispensable to a living and effiient faith it is, and must be for the soul clearly apprehend by the Holy Spirit, is relation of Captain of Salvation and iptain of the Lord’s Host. Without nfidence in the Leader and Captain, w shall the soul put itself under his dance and protection in the hour of ’ flict? It can not.

The fact is that when the soul is ignorant of Christ as a Captain or Leader, it will surely fall in battle. If the church as a body but knew the Captain of the Lord’s Host; if he were but truly and spiritually known to them in that relation, no more confusion would be seen in the ranks of God’s elect. All would be order and streng; h and conquest. They would soon go up and take possession of the whole territory that has been promised to Christ. The heathen would soon be given to him for an inheritance and the uttermost part of the world for a possession. Joshua knew Christ as the Captain of the Lord’s Host. Consequently he had more courage, and efficiency, and prowess, than all Israel besides. Even so it is now. When a soul can be found who thoroughly knows and has embraced and appropriated Christ, he is a host of himself. That is, he has appropriated the attributes of Christ to himself; and his influence is felt in heaven, and earth, and hell.

XXI. Another aflecting and important relation in which the soul needs to know Christ, is that of our Passover.

It needs to understand that the only reason why it has not been’ or will not assuredly be slain for sin is that Christ has sprinkled, as our Paschal Lamb, the lintel and door-posts of our souls with his own Uood, and that therefore the destroying angel passes us by. There is a most deep and sin-subduing, or rather temptatiqnsubduing spirituality in. this relation of Christ to the soul when revealed by the Holy Spirit. We must apprehend our sins as slaying the Lamb, and apply his blood to our souls by faith — his blood as being our protection and our only trust. We need to know the security there is in this being sprinkled with his blood, and the certain and speedy destruction of all who have not taken refuge under it. We need to know also that it will not do for a moment to venture out into the streets and from under its protection, lest we be slain there.

XXII. To know Christ as our Wisdom in the true spiritual sense is doubtless indispensable to our entire, in the sense of continued, sanctification. He is our Wisdom in the sense of being the whole of our religion. That is, when separated from him we have no spiritual life whatever. He is at the bottom of, or the inducing cause of all our obedience. This we need clearly to apprehend. Until the soul clearly understands this, it has learned nothing to the purpose of its helplessness and of Christ’s spiritual relations to it.

XXIII. Very nearly allied to this is Christ’s relation to the soul as its Sanctification. I have been amazed at the ignorance of the church and of the ministry respecting Christ as its Sanctification, He is not its Sanctifier in the sense that he does something to the soul that enables it to stand and persevere in holiness in

CHKIflT OUR SAHCTIFUSR. ’ 63

its own strength. He does not change the structure of the soul, but he watches over and works in it to will and to do continuaUyt and thus becomes its Sanctu fication* His influence is not exerted once for all, but constantly. When he is apprehended and embraced as the soul’s sanctification, he rules in and reigns over the soul in so high a sense that he, as it were, develops his own holiness in us. He, as it were swallows us up, so enfolds (if I may so say,) our wills and our soub in his, that we are willingly led captive by him. We will and do as he wills within us. He charms the will into a universal bending to his will. He so establishes his throne in, and his authority over us that be subdues us to himself. He becomes our sanctification only in so far forth as we are revealed to ourselves, and he revealed to us, and as we receive him and put him on. What! has it come to this, that the church doubt and reject the doc« trine of entire sanctification in this life 7

Then, it must be that they have lost sight of Christ as their sanctlfication. Is not Christ perfect in all his relations? Is there not a completeness and fullness in himt When embraced by us are we not complete in him? The secret of all this doubting about and opposition to the doctrine of entire sanctification is to be found in th(t fact that Christ is not apprehended and embraced as our sanctlfication. The Holy Spirit sanctifies only by revealing Christ to us as our sanctification. He does not speak of himself, but takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us.

Two among the most prominent ministers of the Presbyterian church have said to me within a few years that they had never heard of Christ as the sanctification of the soul. O, how many of the minis* try of the present day overlook the true spiritual gospel of Christ!

XXIV. Another of Christ’s spiritual relations is that of the Redemption of the »ou; not merely at the Redeemer consid*

CHRIST OUR RBDEMFEtON. 65

I’ed in his governmental relation but as present Redemption. To apprehend nd receive Christ in this relation, the soul eeds to apprehend itself as sold under in; as being the voluntary but real slave f lust and appetite, except as Christ connually delivers us from its power by :rengthening and confirming our wills in isisting and overcoming the flesh.

XXV. Christ our Prophet is another nportant spiritual relation in which we Bed to apprehend Christ by the Holy pirit as a condition of entire sancti- 3ation. He must be received as the reat teacher of our souls, so that every ord of his will be received as God speakg to us. This will render the Bible recious, and all the words of life efficient i the sanctification of our souls.

XXVI. As our High Priest we need Iso to know Christ. I say we need to low him in this relation as really ever ving and sustaining thla Te>Xwv Vi xsn

oflfering up, as it were, by a continual offering, his own blood and himself, as a propitiation for our sins; as being entered within the veil and as ever living to make intercession for us. Much precious instruction is to be gathered from this relation of Christ. We need, perishingly need, to know Christ in this relation, as a condition of a right dependence upon him. I all the while feel embarassed with the consideration that 1 am not able in this course of instruction to give a fuller account of Christ in these relations. We need a distinct revelation of him in each of these relations in order to a thorough understanding and clear apprehension oi that which is implied in each and all of the relations of Christ.

When we sin, it is because of our ignorance of Christ. That is, whenever temptation overcomes us, it is because we do not know and avail ourselves ol that relation of Christ that would meet at the time our necessities. One great

CHRIST OUR man priest. 67

thing that needs to be done is to correct the developments of our sensibility The appetites and passions are enormously developed in their relations to earthly objects. In relation to things of time and sense our propensities are greatly developed and are alive; but in relation to spiritual truths and objects and eternal realities, we are naturally as dead as stones. When first converted, if we knew enough of oui’selves and of Christ to thoroughly develop and correct the action of the sensibility and confirm our wills in a state of entire consecration, we should not fall. In proportion as the law-work preceding conversion has been thorough and the revelation of Christ at or immediately subsequent to conversion full and clear, just in that proportion do we witness stability in converts. In most, if not in all instances, however, the convert is too ignorant of himself, and, of course, knows too little about Christ, to be established in permaueul obdli<^^*

68 omra: to thb savior.

He needs renewed conviction of sin, to be revealed to himself and to have Christ revealed to him, and be formed in him the hope of glory, before he will be steadfisut, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Before I close this chapter, 1 must remark and shall have occasion to repeat the remark, that from what has been said, it must not be inferred that the knowledge of Christ in all these relations is a condition of our coming into our state of entire consecration to God or of present sanctification. The thing insisted on is that the soul will abide in this state in the hour of temptation only so far forth as it betakes itself to Christ in such circumstances of trial, and apprehends and appropriates Him by faith, from time to time in those relations that meet the present and pressing necessities of the soul. The temptation is the occasion of revealing the necessity, and the Holy Spirit I* always ready to reveal Ohtial/m lUe ipar-BBIfATIONS OF CHRIST. OU

relation suited to the newly de- 1 necessity. The perception and •riation of ‘Him in this relation, these circumstances of trial, is the a non of our remaining in the state re consecration.