The Stages of Christian Perfection
“Holy, harmless, undefiled.” — Hxs. vii. 26.
DO not look upon these words as meaning
the same thing. I think they stand in a designed order and mark distinct stages of development. I believe that the course of a pure life must always be in three successive steps — holiness, harmlessness, undefiledness. It begins with holiness — the purity of the individual soul. It is that grace of God which dwells within the silent heart — the peace which comes from communing with the Father of spirits. Then there comes a second stage — harmlessness. It might seem more prosaic than holiness, but it is not. Holiness may exist in solitude; harmlessness demands companionship. Holiness belongs to the garden; harmlessness is for the city. Holiness refuses
to eat the apple; harmlessness refuses to tempt STAGES OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION 321
Adam to eat. At last there dawns a final stage which leaves harmlessness itself behind; it is undefiledness. To be undefiled also demands companionship; it implies the meeting with corruption. But it is a more complete conquest of corruption than is harmlessness. Harmlessness is only the refusal to do wrong; but undefiledness is the insistence to do right. To be undefiled is to touch the world’s pollution and remain pure, to touch the sinner’s stain and remain sinless. It is the climax of all holiness, the summer of the soul. Beautiful is the whiteness of the untempted heart; more beautiful still is the whiteness that can turn from the miry clay; but methinks the whiteness most beautiful of all is that which can touch the clay and keep the fleece undimmed.
Son of Man, this whiteness was Thine. Three times I see the curtain raised, and each reveals a phase of Thy beauty. At first Thou art the holy child Jesus, growing up in the home of Nazareth, nourished in the temple of Thy Father. Then I see a change — the hour of temptation comes. Thou passest from the home into the wilderness — from spontaneous virtue to tried virtue. The world tempts Thee to do wrong; but Thou refrainest Thy hand from evil. Thou refusest the bread of selfishness; Thou avoidest the leap of recklessness; Thou abjurest the prize of covetousness — inward holiness has flowered into social harmlessness. But I see Thee, once more, wearing a flower more beauteous still — undefiledness. It is a great thing to be in the world and do no wrong; but it is a greater thing to be in the world and bloom. A plant may fail to poison which yet may have lost its beauty. Thou hast kept Thy best wine to the last. In Nazareth Thou wert inwardly holy; in the wilderness Thou wert outwardly harmless; but Thy third hour is the grandest — in Thy contact with the sinner Thou wert stainless, “undefiled.” All life pressed on Thee. Lepers thronged Thee, demoniacs touched Thee, outcasts waited on Thee; but they breathed not on Thy bloom. It is a glorious thing to be morally harmless; but it is more glorious to be morally unharmed. I should like to bask, O Lord, in this Thy final glory. I may be untempted in the hour of solitude; I may fly from temptation in the hour of companionship; but Thy climax surpassed both of these — it was, to meet the hour of temptation and be unsullied still. Raise me to that climax, O Christ! The purity of the untried heart is not enough for me. The restraint of the tied hand is not enough for me. I want my heart to see the world; I want my hand to touch the world. I would be unrestrained and yet stainless. I would walk through the cornfields and yet keep Thy Sabbath. I would join the feast of Cana and yet keep Thy Sacrament. I would tread the coasts of Sidon and yet love Thine Israel. I would touch the cloud and be clear. I would bear the load and be light. I would meet the sinner and be saintly. I would lift the fallen and be fadeless. I shall reach Thy summer glory when I can meet sin with garments undefiled.