The Sanctification of the Spirit

“Through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” — z PETER i, 2.

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HERE are two stages of sanctification — the obedience to Christ and the
sprinkling with the blood of Christ.

That is ever the order of the Spirit. We begin

with compulsion from without and we end with

impulsion from within; we begin with imposed service and we end with sacrificial love. So was it with the man who wrote these words;

Peter was drawing from his own experience.

There was a time when he thought the stage

of obedience was the only stage. ‘“Bid me that

I come to Thee on the weters,” he cries; he

thought that the virtue of the act lay in the

struggle it would cost him to do it. ‘‘ How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” he wanted an arithmetical command which he could count and keep like the books of his fisherman’s craft. And his Lord gave him a command which was not. arithmetical — the sprinkling of the blood. He gave him His own spirit of sacrifice, His own love of humanity, His own necessity to give Himself. Henceforth, it became impossible to count the commands of duty; the sprinkling of the blood means love and the demand of love is infinite. It is not measured by numbers; it is not bounded by precepts; it is not defined by statutes; it is not compassed by laws. Its measurement is life; its requirement is the whole life; its boundary is the end of life; its climax is the fulness of life; it is exhausted only in the sprinkling of the last blood.

O Thou Divine Spirit, that hast led this world over the face of the waters into the haven of peace, lead my soul from the tossing of enforced obedience into the rest of a surrendered will. Sprinkle me with the blood, the sacrificial love of Jesus. Give me His divine necessity to suffer — the necessity of love. Impel me to bear my brother’s cross by obedience from within, by submission to the dictates of the pitying heart. Translate me into the new bondage — the bondage that makes me free, the golden chain of love. Lift me into the new service — the service that makes me master, the devotion to a pure desire. Raise me into the new law — -the law that makes me dead to force and fear, the liberty of a spirit whose will is Thy will. I shall help my Lord to bear His cross when I have passed from outward obedience into the sprinkling of His blood.

Restored from a scan of the 1888 edition, with page headers and numbers removed and words rejoined across line breaks. Scan-derived text, still being proofread; compare the original scan before quoting.