HOLY LIVING
Part II
THE MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION
The attainment of holiness is often treated, even by Christian writers, as a mere question of morals, or at most, of natural religion. Men are directed to control, by the force of reason, their vicious propensities; to set in array before the mind the motives to virtuous living, and to strengthen the will by acts of self-restraint. Conscience is summoned to sanction the dictates of reason, or to warn the sinner of the consequences of transgression. The doctrines of the presence and providence of God, and of future retribution, are more or less relied upon to prevent the indulgence of sin, and to stimulate to the practice of virtue. Special directions are given how to cultivate virtuous habits, or to correct those which are evil.
As we are rational beings, and were meant to be governed by reason in opposition to appetite and passion, there is much that is true and important in such disquisitions on the practice of virtue. But as we are depraved beings, destitute of any recuperative power (Power to recover ourselves--M.B.) in ourselves, such rules, and the efforts to which they lead, must, by themselves, be ineffectual. God has endowed the body with a restorative energy, which enables it to throw off what is noxious to the system, and to heal the wounds which accident or malice may have inflicted. But when the system itself is deranged, instead of correcting what is amiss, it aggravates what would otherwise be a mere temporary disorder. And if by external means the evil is checked in one part, it reappears in another. Though you amputate a decaying limb, the remaining portion may soon exhibit symptoms of mortification. So long as the system is deranged, such means are mere palliatives, concealing or diverting the evil, but leaving the source of it untouched. It is no less true, that so long as the heart is unrenewed, all that reason and conscience can do is of little avail. They may obstruct the stream, or divert it into secret channels, but they cannot reach the fountain. As we retain, since the fall, reason, the power of choice, conscience, the social affections, a sense of justice, fear, shame, etc., much may be done, by a skillful management of these principles of action, towards producing propriety of conduct, and even great amiability and worth of character. But it is impossible, by these means, to call into existence right views and feelings towards God and our neighbor, or to eradicate the selfishness, pride, and other forms of evil by which our nature is corrupted. A man may be brought, by reason and conscience, to change his conduct, but not to change his heart. A sense of duty may force him to give alms to a man he hates, but it cannot change hatred into love. The desire of happiness may induce him to engage externally in the service of God, but it cannot make that service a delight. The affections do not obey the dictates of reason, nor the commands of conscience. They may be measurably restrained in their manifestations, but cannot be changed in their nature. They follow their own law. They delight in what is suited to the disposition of him who exercises them. Holding up to them what they ought to delight in, cannot secure their devotion.
It is not meant to depreciate reason and conscience, but it is necessary that their true province should be known, that we may not rely upon inadequate means in our efforts to become holy. Though Scripture and experience teach us that our own unaided powers are insufficient to bring us to the knowledge and love of God, the rules which reason suggests for the culture of moral excellence are, for the renewed man, far from being destitute of value. It is, no doubt, of importance, that we should be acquainted with the counsels of the wise on this subject, and that we should habituate ourselves to the vigilant use of all these subordinate means of improvement; remembering, however, that it is not by the strength of our own purposes, nor by the force of moral considerations, nor by any rules of discipline, that the life of God in the soul can be either produced or sustained.
While one class of men place their chief reliance for moral improvement upon reason and conscience, another, and perhaps a larger class, rely upon means which, though they have no tendency in themselves to produce holiness, are falsely assumed to have, in virtue of the appointment of God, an inherent efficacy for that purpose. Such are not only the absolutions, pilgrimages, and penances of the heathen, but the multiplied rites of corrupt Christian churches. Sprinkling the body with consecrated water, the repetition of forms of prayer, attendance upon religious services not understood, anointing with oil, the imposition of hands, receiving, though without faith, the holy sacraments--are supposed to convey grace to the soul. Great reliance is placed on retirement from the world; on praying at particular times or places, or in a particular posture, and on the whole routine of ascetic discipline. With what laborious and unavailing diligence these means of destroying sin have been employed, the history of the church gives melancholy evidence. Even in the days of the apostles, the disposition to rely on such means for attaining holiness had begun to manifest itself. There were even then men who commanded to abstain from meats, who forbade marriage, who said, "Touch not; taste not; handle not" "which things," says the apostle, " have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body," and yet only served to satisfy the flesh. (Col.2.21-23)
The Scriptures teach us a different doctrine. They teach, that believers are so united to Christ, that they are not only partakers of the merit of his death, but also of his Holy Spirit, which dwells in them as a principle of life, bringing them more and more into conformity with the image of God, and working in them both to will and to do, according to his own good pleasure. They teach, that so long as men are under the law--that is, are bound to satisfy its demands as the ground of their acceptance with God, and are governed by a legal spirit, or a mere sense of duty and fear of punishment, they are in the condition of slaves, incapable of right feelings towards God, or of producing the fruits of holiness. But when, by the death of Christ, they are freed from the law, in the sense above stated, their whole relation to God is changed. They are no longer slaves, but children. Being united to Christ in his death, they are partakers of his life, and in virtue of this union they bring forth fruit unto God. They are henceforth led by the Spirit which dwells in them; and this Spirit is a source of life, not only to the soul, but also to the body; for if the Spirit of him that raised Christ from the dead dwell in us, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us. (Rom. 8.11) The doctrine of sanctification, therefore, as taught in the Bible, is, that we are made holy not by the force of conscience, or of moral motives, nor by acts of discipline, but by being united to Christ so as to become reconciled to God, and partakers of the Holy Ghost. Christ is made unto us sanctification as well as justification. He not only frees from the penalty of the law, but he makes holy. There is, therefore, according to the gospel, no such thing as sanctification without or before justification. Those who are out of Christ are under the power, as well as under the condemnation, of sin. And those who are in Christ are not only free from condemnation, but are also delivered from the dominion of sin.
The nature of the union between Christ and his people, on which so much depends, is confessedly mysterious. Paul having said, "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones," immediately adds, " This is a great mystery." (Eph. 5.30,32) It is vain, therefore, to attempt to bring this subject down to the level of our comprehension. The mode in which God is present, and operates throughout the universe, is to us an impenetrable secret. We cannot even understand how our own souls are present and operate in the bodies which they occupy. We need not, then, expect to comprehend the mode in which Christ dwells by his Spirit in the hearts of his people. The fact that such union exists is clearly revealed; its effects are explicitly stated, and its nature is set forth, as far as it can be made known, by the most striking illustrations. In his intercessory prayer, our Savior said, " I pray--that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.--I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." (Jn. 17.21-23) "He that keepeth his commandments'' says the apostle John, "dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." (1 Jn. 3.24) "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ;" but if Christ be in you, the body, adds the apostle, may die, but the soul shall live. (Rom. 8.9-11) "Know ye not," asks Paul, "that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own." (1 Cor. 6.19) And to the same effect, ''Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"(1 Cor. 3.16)
The Scriptures are filled with this doctrine. The great promise of the Old Testament in connexion with the advent of the Messiah was, that the Holy Spirit should then be abundantly communicated to men. Christ is said to have redeemed us in order that we might receive this promised Spirit. (Gal. 3.13, 14) And the only evidence of a participation of the benefits of redemption, recognized by the apostles, was the participation of the Holy Ghost, manifesting itself either in the extraordinary powers which he then communicated, or in those lovely fruits of holiness which never fail to mark his presence.
The effects ascribed to this union, as already stated, are an interest in the merits of Christ, in order to our justification, and the indwelling of his Spirit, in order to our sanctification. Its nature is variously illustrated. It is compared to that union which subsists between a representative and those for whom he acts. In this view Adam is said to be like Christ, and Christ is said to be the second Adam; "for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. 15.22) This idea is also presented whenever Christ is said to have died for his sheep, or in their place; or when they are said to have died with him, his death being virtually their death, satisfying in their behalf the demands of justice, and redeeming them from the curse of the law. It is compared to the union between the head and members of the same body. The meaning of this illustration is by no means exhausted by saying that Christ governs his people, or that there is a community of feeling and interest between them. The main idea is, that there is a community of life; that the same Spirit dwells in him and in them. As the body is everywhere animated by one soul, which makes it one, and communicates a common life to all its parts, so the Holy Ghost, who dwells in Christ, is by him communicated to all his people, and makes them, in a peculiar sense, one with him, and one among themselves, and imparts to all that life which has its seat and source in him. "As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body;-and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Cor. 12.12,13) Another illustration, but of the same import, is employed by Christ, when he says, " I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." (Jn. 15.5) As the branches are so united to the vine as to partake of its life, and to be absolutely dependent upon it, so believers are so united to Christ as to partake of his life, and to be absolutely dependent on him. The Holy Spirit communicated by him to them, is in them the principle of life and fruitfulness.
Christ and his people are one. He is the Foundation, they are the building. He is the Vine, they are the branches. He is the Head, they are the body. Because he lives, they shall live also; for it is not they that live, but Christ that liveth in them. The Holy Spirit, concerning which he said to his disciples, "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you," (Jn. 14.17) is to them not only the source of spiritual life, but of all its manifestations. They are baptized by the Spirit; (Lk.3.16) they are born of the Spirit; (Jn. 3.5) they are called spiritual, because the Spirit of God dwells in them; (1 Cor. 3.16) whereas, the unregenerate are called natural, or sensual, "having not the Spirit." (Rom. 8.14) Believers are sanctified by the Spirit; (1 Cor. 6.11) they are led by the Spirit; they live in the Spirit; (Gal. 5.25) they are strengthened by the Spirit; (Eph. 3.16) they are filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5.18) By the Spirit they mortify sin; ((Rom. 8.13) through the Spirit they wait for the hope of righteousness; (Gal. 5.5) they have access to God by the Spirit; (Eph..2.18) they pray and sing in the Spirit.(Jn. 4.24; Jude 20) The Spirit is to them a source of knowledge, (Eph. 1.17) of joy, (Thess. 1.6) Of love, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. (Gal. 5.22) This doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is so wrought into the texture of the gospel as to be absolutely essential to it. It ceases to be the gospel if we abstract from it the great truth, that the Spirit of God, as the purchase and gift of Christ, is ever present with his people, guiding their inward exercises and outward conduct, and bringing them at last, without spot or blemish, to the purity and blessedness of heaven.
The secret of holy living lies in this doctrine of the union of the believer with Christ. This is not only the ground of his hope of pardon, but the source of the strength whereby he dies unto sin and lives unto righteousness. It is by being rooted and grounded in Christ that he is strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, and is enabled to comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the mystery of redemption, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, and is filled with all the fulness of God. It is this doctrine which sustains him under all his trials, and enables him to triumph over all his enemies; for it is not he that lives, but Christ that lives in him, giving him grace sufficient for his day, and purifying him unto himself, as one of his peculiar people zealous of good works.
As union with Christ is the source of spiritual life, the means by which that life is to be maintained and promoted are all related to this doctrine, and derive from it all their efficacy. Thus we are said to be purified by faith, (Acts 15.9) l to be sanctified by faith, (Acts 26.18) to live by faith, (Gal. 2.20) to be saved by faith. (Eph.. 2.8) Faith has this important agency, because it is the bond of our union with Christ. It not only gives us the right to plead his merits for our justification, but it makes us partakers of his Holy Spirit. Christ has promised, that all, who come to him shall receive the water of life, by which the apostle tells us is meant the Holy Spirit. It is by faith, and in the persuasion of our consequent union with Christ, that we have confidence to draw near to God, and to open our souls to the sanctifying influence of his love, It is by faith that we receive of his fulness, and grace for grace. It is by faith that we look to him for strength to overcome temptations and to discharge our duties. It is by faith that we receive those exceeding great and precious promises, whereby we are made partakers of the Divine nature.
All Christians know from experience, that faith in Christ is the source of their holiness and peace. When beset with temptations to despondency or sin, if they look to him for support, they are conscious of a strength to resist, or to endure, which no effort of will and no influence of motives ever could impart. When they draw near to God as the members of Christ, they have freedom of access, and experience a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. When pressed down by afflictions, if they remember that they are one with him who suffered for them, leaving them an example, they rejoice in their tribulations, knowing that if they suffer they shall also reign with him.
Moreover, as in virtue of union with Christ we receive the Holy Spirit as the source of spiritual life, to maintain that life we must avoid everything which may provoke the Spirit to withdraw from us. The Bible teaches us, that the Spirit may be grieved; that his influences may be quenched; that God, in judgment, often withdraws them from those who thus offend. Evil thoughts, unholy tempers, acts of transgression, are to be avoided not merely as sins, but as offences against the Holy Spirit. We must remember, that to defile the soul with sin, or the body by intemperance or impurity, is sacrilege, because we are the members of Christ, and our bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, right thoughts, just purposes, holy desires, are to be cherished, not only as right in themselves, but as proceeding from that heavenly Agent on whom we are dependent for sanctification.
This is a very different thing from opposing sin and cultivating right feelings on mere moral considerations, and in dependence on our own strength. This may be what the world calls morality, but it is not what the bible calls religion. Such considerations ought to have, and ever will have, with the Christian, their due weight; but they are not his dependence in his efforts to become holy, nor is his reliance upon his own resources. The life which he leads is by faith in Jesus Christ; and it is by constant reference to the Holy Spirit, and dependence on him, that that life is maintained. For it is as inconsistent with the religion of the gospel, to suppose that we can make ourselves holy by our own strength, as that we can be justified by our own works.
It is principally through the efficacy of prayer that we receive the communications of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is not a mere instinct of a dependent nature, seeking help from the Author of its being: nor is it to be viewed simply as a natural expression of faith and desire, or as a mode of communion with the Father of our spirits; but it is also to be regarded as the appointed means of obtaining the Holy Ghost. "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Lk. 11.13) Hence we are urged to be constant and importunate in prayer, praying especially for those communications of Divine influence by which the life of God in the soul is maintained and promoted.
The doctrine that the Holy Spirit works in the people of God both to will and to do according to his own good pleasure, is not inconsistent with the diligent use of all rational and scriptural means, on our part, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. For though the mode of the Spirit's influence is inscrutable, it is described as an enlightening, teaching, persuading process, all which terms suppose a rational subject rationally affected. The indwelling of the Spirit, therefore, in the people of God, does not supersede their own agency. He acts by leading them to act. Thus we are commanded to do, and in fact must do, what he is said to do for us.
We believe, though faith is of the operation of God; we repent, though repentance is the gift of Christ; we love, though love, gentleness, goodness, and all other graces, are the fruits of the Spirit. The work of sanctification is carried on by our being thus led under this Divine influence to exercise right dispositions and feelings. For the law of our nature, which connects an increase of strength with the repeated exercise of any of our powers, is not suspended with regard to the holy disposition of the renewed soul. Philosophers say that the vibrations imparted to the atmosphere by the utterance of a word never cease. However this may be, it is certain every pious emotion strengthens the principle of piety, and leaves the soul permanently better. The good derived from that influence, or from those services which call our love, faith, or gratitude into exercise, is not transient as the exercises themselves. Far from it. One hour's communion with God produces an impression never to be effaced; it renders the soul for ever less susceptible of evil, and more susceptible of good. And as the Holy Spirit is ever exciting the soul to the exercise of holiness, and bringing it into communion with God, he thus renders it more and more holy, and better fitted for the unchanging and perfect holiness of heaven.
It is principally by the contemplation of the truth, the worship of God, and the discharge of duty that these holy exercises are called into being. All thought and affection suppose an object on which they terminate, and which, when presented, tends to call them forth. We cannot fear God, unless his holiness and power be present to the mind; we cannot love him, except in view of his excellence and goodness; we cannot believe, except in contemplation of his word, nor hope, unless in view of his promises. As these affections suppose their appropriate objects, so these objects tend to excite the affections. Were it not for our depravity, they never could be brought into view without the corresponding affection rising to meet them. And notwithstanding our depravity, their tendency, resulting from their inherent nature, remains, and as that depravity is corrected or removed by the Holy Spirit, these objects exert on the soul their appropriate influence. We are, therefore, said to be sanctified by the truth; (Jn. 17.19) to be made clean through the word of Christ; (Jn. 15) to be born again by the word of truth; (Ja. 1.18) to be changed into the image of God by beholding his glory. (2 Cor. 3.18)
It is most unreasonable to expect to be conformed to the image of God, unless the truth concerning God be made to operate often and continuously upon the mind. How can a heart that is filled with the thoughts and cares of the world, and especially one which is often moved to evil by the thoughts or sight of sin, expect that the affections which answer to the holiness, goodness, or greatness of God, should gather strength within it? How can the love of Christ increase in the bosoms of those who hardly ever think of him or of his work? This cannot be without a change in the very nature of things; and, therefore, we cannot make progress in holiness unless we devote much time to the reading, hearing, and meditating upon the word of God, which is the truth whereby we are sanctified. The more this truth is brought before the mind; the more we commune with it, entering into its import, applying it to our own case, appropriating its principles, appreciating its motives, rejoicing in its promises, trembling at its threatenings, rising by its influence from what is seen and temporal to what is unseen and eternal, the more may we expect to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so as to approve and love whatever is holy, just, and good. Men distinguished for their piety have ever been men of meditation as well as men of prayer; men accustomed to withdraw the mind from the influence of the world with its thousand joys and sorrows, and to bring it under the influence of the doctrines, precepts, and promises of the word of God. Besides the contemplation of the truth, the worship of God is an important means of growing in grace. It not only includes the exercise and expression of all pious feelings, which are necessarily strengthened by the exercise, but it is the appointed means of holding communion with God, and receiving the communications of his grace. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." (Isa. 11.31) "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God."(Psa. 84.4, 7) This is a matter of experience as well as revelation. The people of God have ever found in the private, social, and public worship of the Father of their spirits, the chief means of renewing their spiritual strength. The sanctuary is the temple of God on earth, whose services are preparatory to those of the temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is here, too, that the sacraments, as means of grace, have their appropriate place. They are to us what the sacrifices and rites of the old dispensation were to the Israelites. They exhibit and seal the truth and promises of God, and convey to those who worthily receive them the blessings which they represent. The Christian, therefore, who is desirous of increasing in the knowledge and love of God, will be a faithful attendant on all the appointed forms and occasions of Divine worship, He will be much in his closet, he will be punctual in the sanctuary and at the table of the Lord. He will seek opportunities of fellowship with God, as a friend seeks intercourse with his friend; and the more he can enjoy of this communion, the better will he be prepared for that perfect fellowship with the Father of lights which constitutes the blessedness of heaven.
Finally, to be good, we must do good. It has been falsely said, that action is the whole of oratory, and as falsely supposed, that action is the whole of religion. There is no eloquence in action except as it is expressive of thought and feeling, and there is no religion in outward acts except as they are informed and guided by a pious spirit. It is only by maintaining such a spirit that external works can have any significance or value. It is, perhaps, one of the evil tendencies of our age, to push religion out of doors; to allow her no home but the street or public assembly; to withhold from her all food except the excitement of loud professions and external manifestations. This is to destroy her power. It is to cut her off from the source of her strength, and to transform the meek and holy visitor from heaven into the noisy and bustling inhabitant of the earth. It is so much easier to be religious outwardly than inwardly, to be active in church duties than to keep the heart with all diligence, that we are in danger of preferring the form of religion to its power. The same love of excitement and desire to be busy which make men active in worldly pursuits may, without changing their character, make them active in religious exercises. But if there is danger on this side, there is quite as much on the either. Although religion does not consist in outward acts, it always produces them. " Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" (1 Jn. 3.17) The love of God can no more fail to produce obedience to his commands, than a mother's love can fail to produce watchfulness and care for her infant. That man's religion therefore, is vain, which expends itself in exercises that relate exclusively to his own salvation. And doubtless many Christians go halting all their days, because they confine their attention too much to themselves. It is only by the harmonious exercise of all the graces, of faith and love towards God, and of justice and benevolence towards men, that the health of the soul can be maintained or promoted. It is not merely because the exercise of benevolence strengthens the principle of benevolence that doing good tends to make men better, but God has ordained that he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He distills his grace on those who labor for the temporal and spiritual benefit of their fellow men, and who follow the example of the blessed Redeemer, walking with God while they go about doing good.
True religion, as we find it described in the Bible, is neither an external show, nor a fitful ebullition of feeling. It is a permanent, spontaneous, and progressive principle of spiritual life, influencing the whole man, and producing all the fruits of righteousness. It is not any one good disposition, but the root and spring of all right feelings and actions, manifesting itself in love and obedience towards God, in justice and benevolence towards man, and in the proper government of ourselves. This divine life can neither be obtained nor continued by any mere efforts of reason or conscience, or by any superstitious observances, but flows from our union with Christ, who causes his Holy Spirit to dwell in all his members. In order to promote this divine life, it is our business to avoid everything which has a tendency to grieve the Spirit of all grace, and to do everything by which his sacred influence on the heart may be cherished. It is by this influence that we are sanctified, for it leads us to exercise all holy dispositions in the contemplation of the truth, in the worship of God, and in the discharge of all our relative duties.