The reader will find little that is directly controversial in these papers. I have carefully abstained from naming modern teachers and modern books. I have been content to give the result of my own study of the Bible, my own private meditations, my own prayers for light, and my own reading of old divines. If in anything I am still in error, I hope I shall be shown it before I leave the world. We all see in part, and have a treasure in earthen vessels. I trust I am willing to learn.
I have had a deep conviction for many years that practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not sufficiently attended to by modern Christians in this country. Politics, or controversy, or party-spirit, or worldliness, have eaten out the heart of lively piety in too many of us. The subject of personal godliness has fallen sadly into the background. The standard of living has become painfully low in many quarters. The immense importance of "adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour" ( Titus 2:10), and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers, has been far too much overlooked. Worldly people sometimes complain with reason that "religious" persons, so-called, are not so amiable and unselfish and good-natured as others who make no profession of religion. Yet sanctification, in its place and proportion, is quite as important as justification. Sound Protestant and Evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse then useless; it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewd men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt. It is my firm impression that we want a thorough revival about Scriptural holiness. and I am deeply thankful that attention is being directed to the point.
It is, however, of great importance that the whole subject should be placed on right foundations, and that the movement about it should not be damaged by crude, disproportion, and one-sided statements. If such statements abound, we must not be surprised. Satan knows well the power of true holiness, and the immense injury which increased attention to it will do to his kingdom. It is his interest, therefore, to promote strife and controversy about this part of God's truth. Just as in time past he has succeeded in mystifying and confusing men's minds about justification, so he is labouring in the present day to make men "darken counsel by words without knowledge" about sanctification. May the Lord rebuke him! I can not however give up the hope that good will be brought out of evil, that discussion will elicit truth, and that variety of opinion will lead us all to search the Scriptures more, to pray more, and to become more diligent in trying to find out what is "the mind of the Spirit."
I now feel it a duty, in sending forth this volume, to offer a few introductory hints to those whose attention is specially directed to the subject of sanctification in the present day. I know that I do so at the risk of seeming presumptuous, and possibly of giving offence. But something must be ventured in the interests of God's truth. I shall therefore put my hints into the form of questions, and I shall request my readers to take them as "Cautions for the Times on the subject of holiness."
(1) I ask, in the first place, whether it is wise to speak of faith as the one thing needful, and the only thing required, as many seem to do now-a-days in handling the doctrine of sanctification? -Is it wise to proclaim in so bald, naked, and unqualified a way as many do, that holiness of converted people is by faith only, and not at all by personal exertion? Is it according to the proportion of God's Word? I doubt it.
That faith in Christ is the root of all holiness--that the first step towards a holy life is to believe on Christ--that until we believe we have not a jot of holiness--that union with Christ by faith is the secret of both beginning to be holy and continuing holy--that the life that we live in the flesh we must live by the faith of the Son of God--that faith purifies the heart-- that faith is the victory that overcomes the world--that by faith the elders obtained a good report--all these are truths which no well-instructed Christian will ever think of denying. But surely the Scriptures teach us that in following holiness the true Christian needs personal exertion and work as well as faith. The very same Apostle who says in one place, "The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God," says in another place, "I fight--I run--I keep under my body;" and in other places, "Let us cleanse ourselves--let us labour, let us lay aside every weight." ( Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 9:26; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 12:1.) Moreover, the Scriptures nowhere teach us that faith sanctifies us in the same sense, and in the same manner, that faith justifies us! Justifying faith is a grace that "worketh not," but simply trusts, rests, and leans on Christ. ( Romans 4:5.) Sanctifying faith is a grace of which the very life is action: it "worketh by love," and, like a main-spring, moves the whole inward man. ( Galatians 5:6.) After all, the precise phrase "sanctified by faith" is only found once in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus said to Saul, "I send thee, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me." Yet even there I agree with Alford that "by faith" belongs to the whole sentence, and must not be tied to the word "sanctified." The true sense is, "that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified." (Compare Acts 26:18 with Acts 20:32.)
As to the phrase "holiness of faith," I find it nowhere in the New Testament. Without controversy, in the matter of our justification before God, faith in Christ is the one thing needful. All that simply believe are justified. Righteousness is imputed "to him that worketh not but believeth." ( Romans 4:5.) It is thoroughly Scriptural and right to say "faith alone justifies." But it is not equally Scriptural and right to say "faith alone sanctifies." The saying requires very large qualification. Let one fact suffice. We are frequently told that a man is "justified by faith without the works of the law," by St. Paul. But not once are we told that we are "sanctified by faith without the deeds of the law." On the contrary, we are expressly told by St. James that the faith whereby we are visibly and demonstratively justified before man, is a faith which "if it hath not works is dead, being alone." * ( James 2:17.) I may be told, in reply, that no one of course means to disparage "works" as an essential part of a holy life. It would be well, however, to make this more plain then many seem to make it in these days.
* "There is a double justification by God: the one authoritative, the other declarative or demonstrative."--The first is St. Paul's scope, when he speaks of justification by faith without the deeds of the law. The second is St. James' scope, when he speaks of justification by works." --T. Goodwin on Gospel Holiness. Works,, vol. vii, p. 181.
(2) I ask, in the second place, whether it is wise to make so little
as some appear to do, comparatively, of the many
That a life of daily self-consecration and daily communion with
God should be aimed at by everyone who professes to be a believer
--that we should strive to attain the hhabit of going to the Lord
Jesus Christ with everything we find a burden, whether great or
small, and casting it upon Him--all this, I repeat, no well-taught
child of God will dream of disputing. But surely the New
Testament teaches us that we want something more then generalities
about holy living, which often prick no conscience and give no
offence. The details and particular ingredients of which
holiness is composed in daily life, ought to be fully set forth and
pressed on believers by all who profess to handle the subject. True
holiness does not consist merely of believing and feeling, but of doing
and bearing, and a practical exhibition of active and passive grace.
Our tongues, our tempers, our natural passions and inclinations--
our conduct as parents and children, masters and servants, husbands
and wives, rulers and subjects--our dress, our employment of time,
our behaviour in business, our demeanour in sickness and health,
in riches and poverty--all, all these are matters which are fully
treated by inspired writers. They are not content with a general
statement of what we should believe and feel, and how we are to have
the roots of holiness planted in our hearts. They dig down lower.
They go into particulars. They specify minutely what a holy man
ought to do an be in his own family, and by his own fireside, if he
abides in Christ. I doubt whether this sort of teaching is sufficiently
attended to in the movement of the present day. When people
talk of having received "such a blessing," and of having found
"the higher life," after hearing some earnest advocate of "holiness
by faith and self-consecration," while their family and friends
see no improvement and no increased sanctity in their daily tempers
and behavior, immense harm is done to the cause of Christ. True
holiness, we surely ought to remember, does not consist merely of
inward sensations and impressions. It is much more then tears,
and sighs, and bodily excitement, and a quickened pulse, and a
passionate feeling of attachment to our favourite preachers
and our own religious party, and a readiness to quarrel with everyone
who does not agree with us. It is something of "the image of
Christ." which can be seen and observed by others in our private life,
and habits, and character, and doings. (
Romans 8:29.)
(3) I ask in the third place, whether it is wise to use vague
language about perfection, and to press on Christians a
standard of holiness, as attainable in this world for which there
is no warrant to be shown either in Scripture or experience? I doubt it.
That believers are exhorted to "perfect holiness in the fear of
God"--to "go on to perfection"--to "be perfect," no careful
reader of his Bible will ever think of denying. (
2 Corinthians 7:1;
Hebrews 6:1;
2 Corinthians 13:11.) But I have yet to learn that there is a
single passage in Scripture which teaches that a literal perfection,
a complete and entire freedom from sin, in thought, or word, or
deed, is attainable, or has ever been attained, by any child of Adam
in this world. A comparative perfection, a perfection in knowledge,
an all-around consistency in every relation of life, a through
soundness in every point of doctrine--this may be seen occasionally
in some of God's believing people. But as to an absolute literal
perfection, the most eminent saints of God in every age have
always been the very last to lay claim to it! On the contrary they
have always had the deepest sense of their own utter unworthiness
and imperfection. The more spiritual light they have enjoyed the
more they have seen their own countless defects and shortcomings.
The more grace they have had the more they been "clothed with
humility." (
1 Peter 5:5.)
What saint can be named in God's Word, of whose life many
details are recorded, who was literally and absolutely perfect?
Which of them all, when writing about himself, ever talks of
feeling free from imperfection? On the contrary, men like David, and
St. Paul, and St. John, declare in the strongest language that they
feel in their own hearts weakness and sin. The holiest men of
modern times have always been remarkable for deep humility.
Have we ever seen holier men then the martyred John Bradford,
or Hooker, or Usher, or Baxter, or Rutherford, or M'Cheyne?
Yet no one can read the writings and letters of these men without
seeing that they felt themselves "debtors to mercy and grace"
every day, and the very last thing they ever laid claim to was
perfection!
In face of such facts as these I must protest against the language
used in many quarters, in these last days, about perfection.
I must think that those who use it either know very little of the nature
of sin, or the attributes of God, or of their own hearts, or of the
Bible, or of the meaning of words. When a professing Christian
coolly tells me that he has got beyond such hymns as "Just as I am,"
and that they are below his present experience, though they
suited him when he first took up religion, I must think his soul is
in a very unhealthy state! When a man can talk coolly of the
possibility of "living without sin" while in the body, and can
actually say that he has "never had an evil thought for three
months," I can only say that in my opinion he is a very ignorant
Christian! I protest against such teaching as this. It not only
does no good, but does immense harm. It disgusts and alienates
from religion far-seeing men of the world, who know it is incorrect
and untrue. It depresses some of the best of God's children, who
feel they never can attain to "perfection" of this kind. It puffs
up many weak brethren, who fancy they are something when they
are nothing. In short, it is a dangerous delusion.
(4) In the fourth place, is it wise to assert so positively and
violently, as many do, that
the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans does not describe the experience of the advanced saint, but
the experience of the unregenerate man, or of the weak and
unestablished believer? I doubt it.
I admit fully that the point has been a disputed one for eighteen
centuries, in fact ever since the days of St. Paul. I admit fully
that eminent Christians like John and Charles Wesley, and Fletcher, a
hundred years ago, to say nothing of some able writers of our own
time, maintain firmly that St. Paul was not describing his own
present experience when he wrote this seventh chapter. I admit
fully that many cannot see what I and many others do see: viz,
that Paul says nothing in this chapter which does not precisely
tally with the recorded experience of the most eminent saints in
every age, and that he does say several things which no unregenerate
man or weak believer would ever think of saying, and cannot say.
So, at any rate, it appears to me. But I will not enter into any
detailed discussion of the chapter. *
What I do lay stress upon is the broad fact that the best commentators
in every era of the Church have almost invariably applied the
seventh chapter of Romans to advanced believers. The commentators
who do not take this view have been, with a few bright exceptions,
the Romanists, the Socinians, and the Arminians. Against them is
arrayed the judgment of almost all the Reformers, almost all the
Puritans, and the best modern Evangelical divines. I shall be told,
of course, that no man is infallible, that the Reformers, Puritans,
and modern divines I refer to may have been entirely mistaken, and
the Romanists, Socinians, and Arminians may have been quite right!
Our Lord has taught us, no doubt, to "call no man master." But while
I ask no man to call the Reformers and Puritans "masters," I do ask
people to read what they say on this subject, and answer their
arguments, if they can. This has not been done yet! To say, as
some do, that they do not want human "dogmas" and "doctrines," is
no reply at all. The whole point at issue is, "What is the
meaning of a passage of Scripture? How is the Seventh chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans to be interpreted? What is the true sense of
its words?" At any rate let us remember that there is a great
fact which cannot be got over. On one side stand the opinions and
interpretation of Reformers and Puritans, and on the other the
opinions and interpretations of Romanists, Socinians, and Arminians.
Let that be distinctly understood.
In the face of such a fact as this I must enter my protest against
the sneering, taunting, contemptuous language which has been
frequently used of late by some of the advocates of what I must
call the Arminian view of the Seventh of romans, in speaking
of the opinions of their opponents. To say the least, such language
is unseemly, and only defeats its own end. A cause which is
defended by such language is deservedly suspicious. Truth needs
no such weapons. If we cannot agree with men, we need not
speak of their views with discourtesy and contempt. An opinion
which is backed and supported by such men as the best Reformers
and Puritans may not carry conviction to all minds in the nineteenth
century, but at any rate it would be well to speak of it with respect.
(5) In the fifth place, is it wise to use the language which is
often used in the present day about the doctrine of "Christ in us"?
I doubt it. Is not this doctrine often exalted to a position which
it does not occupy in Scripture? I am afraid that it is.
That the true believer is one with Christ and Christ in him,
no careful reader of the New Testament will think of denying for
a moment. There is, no doubt, a mystical union between Christ
and the believer. With Him we died, with Him we were buried,
with Him we rose again, with Him we sit in heavenly places. We
have five plain texts where we are distinctly taught that Christ is
"in us." (
Romans 8:10;
Galatians 2:20;
4:19;
Ephesians 3:17;
Colossians 3:11.) But we must be careful that we understand what we
mean by the expression. That "Christ dwells in our hearts by faith," and
carries on His inward work by His Spirit, is clear and plain. But
if we mean to say that beside, and over, and above this there is some
mysterious indwelling of Christ in a believer, we must be careful
what we are about. Unless we take care, we shall find ourselves
ignoring the work of the Holy Ghost. We shall be forgetting
that in the Divine economy of man's salvation election is the special
work of God the Father--atonement, mediation, and intercession,
the special work of God the Son--and sanctification, the special
work of God the Holy Ghost. We shall be forgetting that our Lord said,
when He went away, that He would send us another Comforter, who
should "abide with us" for ever, and, as it were, take His Place. (
John 14:16.) In short, under the idea that we are honouring
Christ, we shall find that we are dishonouring His special and
peculiar gift--the Holy Ghost. Christ, no doubt, as God, is
everywhere--in our hearts, in heaven, in the place where two or
three are meet together in His name. But we really must remember
that Christ, as our risen Head and High Priest, is specially
at God's right hand interceding for us until He comes the second time:
and that Christ carries on His work in the hearts of His people
by the special work of His Spirit, whom He promised to send when
He left the world. (
John 15:26.) A comparison of the ninth and tenth verses of the
eighth chapter of Romans seems to me to show this plainly. It
convinces me that "Christ in us" means Christ in us "by His Spirit."
Above all, the words of St. John are most distinct and express:
"Hereby we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He
hath given us." (
1 John 3:24.)
In saying all this, I hope no one will misunderstand me. I do
not say that the expression, "Christ in us" is unscriptural. But
I do say that I see great danger of giving extravagant and unscriptural
importance to the idea contained in the expression; and I
do fear that many use it now-a-days without exactly knowing what
they mean, and unwittingly, perhaps, dishonour the mighty work
of the Holy Ghost. If any reader think that I am needlessly
scrupulous about the point, I recommend to their notice a curious
book by Samuel Rutherford (author of the well-known letters),
called "The Spiritual Antichrist." They will see there that two
centuries ago the wildest heresies arose out of an extravagant
teaching of this very doctrine of the "indwelling of Christ" in
believers. They will find that Saltmarsh, and Dell, and Towne,
and other false teachers, against whom good Samuel Rutherford
contended, began with strange notions of "Christ in us," and then
proceeded to build on the doctrine antinomianism, and fanaticism
of the worst description and vilest tendency. They maintained that
the separate, personal life of the believer was so completely gone,
that it was Christ living in him who repented, and believed,
and acted! The root of this huge error was a forced and unscriptural
interpretation of such texts as "I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me." (
Galatians 2:20.) And the natural result of it was that many
of the unhappy followers of this school came to the comfortable
conclusion that believers were not responsible, whatever they might
do! Believers, forsooth, were dead and buried; and only Christ
lived in them, and undertook everything for them! The ultimate
consequence was, that some thought they might sit still in a carnal
security, their personal accountableness being entirely gone, and
might commit any kind of sin without fear! Let us never forget
that truth, distorted and exaggerated, can become the mother
of the most dangerous heresies. When we speak of "Christ being
in us," let us take care to explain what we mean. I fear some
neglect this in the present day.
(6) In the sixth place, is it wise to draw such a deep, wide, and
distinct line of separation between conversion and consecration, or
the higher life, so called, as many do draw in the present day? Is
this according to the proportion of God's Word? I doubt it.
There is, unquestionably, nothing new in this teaching. It
is well known that Romish writers often maintain that the Church
is divided into three classes--sinners, penitents, and saints. The
modern teachers of this day who tell us that professing Christians
are of three sorts--the unconverted, the converted, and the partakers
of the "higher life" of complete consecration--appear to me to
occupy very much the same ground! But whether the idea be old
or new, Romish or English, I am utterly unable to see that it has
any warrant of Scripture. The Word of God always speaks of the living
and the dead in sin--the believer and the unbeliever--the converted
and the unconverted--the travellers in the narrow way and the
travellers in the broad--the wise and the foolish--the children of
God and the children of the devil. Withen each of these two
great classes there are, doubtless, various measures of sin and grace;
but it only the difference between the higher and lower end of an
inclined plane. Between these two great classes there is an
enormous gulf; they are as distinct as life and death, light and darkness,
heaven and hell. But of a division into three classes the Word
of God says nothing at all! I question the wisdom of making
new-fangled divisions which the Bible has not made, and I
thoroughly dislike the notion of a second conversion.
That there is a vast difference between one degree of grace and
another--that spiritual life admits of growth, and that believers
should be continually urged on every account to grow in grace--all
this I fully concede. But the theory of a sudden, mysterious
transition of a believer into a state of blessedness and entire
consecration, at one mighty bound, I cannot receive. It appears
to me to be a man made invention; and I do not see a single plain text
to prove it in Scripture. Gradual growth in grace, growth in
knowledge, growth in faith, growth in love, growth in holiness,
growth in humility, growth in spiritual-mindedness--all this I see
clearly taught and urged in Scripture, and clearly exemplified in the
lives of many of God's saints. But sudden, instantaneous leaps
from conversion to consecration I fail to see in the Bible.
I doubt, indeed, whether we have any warrant for saying that a man can
possibly be converted without being consecrated to God! More
consecrated he doubtless can be, and will be as his grace increases;
but if he was not consecrated to God in the very day that he was
converted and born again, I do not know what conversion means.
Are not men in danger of undervaluing and underrating the immense
blessedness of conversion? Are they not, when they urge on believers
the "higher life" as a second conversion, underrating the
length, and breadth, and depth, and height, of that great first change
which Scripture calls the new birth, the new creation, the spiritual
resurrection? I may be mistaken. But I have sometimes thought,
while reading the strong language used by many about "consecration,"
in the last few years, that those who use it must have had
previously a singularly low and inadequate view of "conversion,"
if indeed they knew anything about conversion at all. In short,
I have almost suspected that when they were consecrated,
they were in reality converted for the first time!
I frankly confess I prefer the old paths. I think it wiser and
safer to press on all converted people the possibility of continual
growth in grace, and the absolute necessity of going forward,
increasing more and more, and in every year dedicating and consecrating
themselves more, in spirit, soul, and body to Christ. By all means
let us teach that there is more holiness to be attained, and
more of heaven to be enjoyed upon earth then most believers now
experience. But I decline to tell any converted man that he needs
a second conversion, and that he may some day or other pass by
one enormous step into a state of entire consecration. I
decline to teach it, because I think the tendency of the doctrine
is thoroughly mischievous, depressing the humble-minded and meek,
and puffing up the shallow, the ignorant, and the self-conceited,
to a most dangerous extent.
(7) In the seventh and last place, is it wise to teach believers
that they ought not to think so much of fighting and struggling
against sin, but ought rather to "yield themselves to God," and
be passive in the hands of Christ? Is this according to the proportion
of God's Word? I doubt it.
It is a simple fact that the expression "yield yourselves" is
only to be found in one place in the New Testament, as a duty
urged upon believers. That place is in the sixth chapter of Romans,
and there within six verses the expression occurs five times. (See
Romans 6:13-19.) But even there the word will not bear the sense
of "placing ourselves passively in the hands of another." Any
Greek student can tell us that the sense is rather that of actively
"presenting" ourselves for use, employment, and service. (See
Romans 12:1.) The expression therefore stands alone. But, on
the other hand, it would not be difficult to point out at least
twenty-five or thirty distinct passages in the Epistles where believers
are plainly taught to use active personal exertion, and are addressed
as responsible for doing energetically what Christ would have them
do, and are not told to "yield themselves" up as passive agents
and sit still, but to arise and work. A holy violence, a conflict, a
warfare, a fight, a soldier's life, a wrestling, are spoken of as
characteristic of the true Christian. The account of "the armour
of God" in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, one might think,
settles the question.*
I leave the subject of my introduction here, and hasten to a
conclusion. I confess that I lay down my pen with feelings of
sorrow and anxiety. There is much in the attitude of professing
Christians in this day which fills me with concern, and makes me
full fear for the future.
There is an amazing ignorance of Scriptures among many, and
a consequent want of established, solid religion. In no other way
can I account for the ease with which people are, like children,
"tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine."
(
Ephesians 4:14.) There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad, and a
morbid distaste for anything old and regular, and in the beaten
path of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice
and a new doctrine, without considering for a moment whether
what they hear is true.--There is an incessant craving after any
teaching which is sensational, and exciting, and rousing to the
feelings.--There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic
and hysterical Christianity. The religious life of many is little
better then spiritual dram-drinking, and the "meek and quiet
spirit" which St. Peter commends is clean forgotten. (
1 Peter 3:4.) Crowds, and crying, and hot rooms, and high-flown singing,
and an incessant rousing of the emotions, are the only things which
many care for.--Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is
spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is "clever" and
"earnest," hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call
you dreadfully "narrow and uncharitable" if you hint that he is
unsound! Moody and Hawies, Dean Stanley and Canon Liddon,
Mackonochie and Pearsill Smith, all seem to be alike in the eyes
of such people. All this is sad, very sad. But if, in addition to
this, the true-hearted advocates of increased holiness are going to
fall out by the way and misunderstand one another, it will be sadder
still. We shall indeed be in evil plight.
For myself, I am aware that I am no longer a young minister.
My mind perhaps stiffens, and I cannot easily receive any new
doctrine. "The old is better." I suppose I belong to the old
school of Evangelical theology, and I am therefore content with
such teachings about sanctification as I find in the Life of Faith
of Sibbes and Manton, and in The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith
of William Romaine. But I must express a hope that my younger
brethren who have taken up new views of holiness will beware of
multiplying causeless divisions. Do they think that a higher
standard of Christian is needed in the present day? So do
I.--Do they think that clearer, stronger, fuller teaching about
holiness is needed? So do I.--Do they think that Christ ought
to be more exalted as the root and author of sanctification as well
as justification? So do I.--Do they think that believers should be
urged more and more to live by faith? So do I.--Do they think
that a very close walk with God should be more pressed on believers
as the secret of happiness and usefulness? So do I.--In
all these things we agree. But if they want to go further, then I ask
ask them to take care where they tread, and to explain very clearly
and distinctly what they mean.
Finally, I must deprecate, and I do it in love, the use of uncouth
and new-fangled terms and phrases in teaching sanctification. I
plead that a movement in favour of holiness cannot be advanced
by new-coined phraseology, or by disproportioned and one-sided
statements--or by overstraining and isolating particular texts--or
by exalting one truth at the expense of another--or by allegorizing
and accommodating texts, and squeezing out of them meanings
which the Holy Ghost never put in them--or by speaking contemptuously
and bitterly of those who do not entirely see things with
our eyes, and do not work exactly in our ways. These things do
not make for peace: they rather repel many and keep them at a
distance. The cause of true sanctification is not helped, but
hindered, by such weapons as these. A movement in aid of
holiness which produces strife and dispute among God's children
is somewhat suspicious. For Christ's sake, and in the name of
truth and charity, let us endeavour to follow after peace as well
as holiness. "What God has joined together let not man put
asunder."
It is my heart's desire, and prayer to God daily, that personal
holiness may increase greatly among professing Christians in
England. But I trust that all who endeavour to promote it will
adhere closely to the proportion of Scripture, will carefully
distinguish things that differ, and will separate "the precious
from the vile." (
Jeremiah 15:19.)
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