This, then, is the spirit of the passage:-A law holds wherever the reason of it holds. Wherever union in the highest cannot be, wherever idem velle, atque idem nolle, is impossible, there friendship and intimate partnership must not be tried. One word, however, as to the mode of this separation. It is not to be attained by an affectation of outward separateness. The spirit of vanity and worldly pride is not avoided by the outward plainness of Quakerism. Beneath the Quaker's sober, unworldly garb, there may be the canker of the love of gain; and beneath the guise of peace, there may be the combative spirit, which is worse than War. Nor can you get rid of worldliness by placing a ban on particular places of entertainment, and particular societies. The world is a spirit rather than a form; and just as it is true that wherever two or three are met together in His name, God is in the midst of them, so if your heart is at one with His Spirit, you may, in the midst of worldly amusements yet not without great danger, for you will have multiplied temptations- keep yourself unspotted from the World.

LECTURE XLVIII.

2 CORINTHIANS, vii. 1.

JANUARY 2, 1853.

Having therefore these promises, dearly be loved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

THE recompense which St. Paul asked in return for his exuberant affection towards the Corinthians, was defined in our last lecture in two particulars: 1. Separation from the world. 2. Separation from all uncleanness. These were to be his reward; it was these the Apostle longed for. It was not affection for himself that he desired, but devotion to God. We took the first part last Sunday, - unworldliness, or separation from the world. To-day we will consider the second part of the recompense he asked, - Personal Purifi

cation.

First, then, as to the ground of the request: "Having these promises." Now these promises are: the In-dwelling of God; His free reception of us; His Fatherhood and our sonship: and they are contained in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth verses of the sixth chapter. But, first, observe the Gospel principle of action: it is not, Separate yourself from all uncleanness in order that you may get a right of sonship; but, Because ye are sons of God, therefore be pure. It is not, Work in order to be saved; but, Because you are saved, therefore work out your salvation. It is not, Labor that you may be accepted; but, Labor, because you are accepted in the Beloved. Christian action advances from the right of the sonship, to the fact of sonship, and not vice versa. In other words: Ye are the sons of God: here are God's promises; therefore become what you are reckoned to be let the righteousness which is imputed to you become righteousness in you. "Ye are the temple

:

God is your

of God:" therefore cleanse yourself. Father, therefore be pure. Thus we see that St. Paul first lays down Christian privileges, and then demands Christian action; and in this the mode of the Law is reversed. The Law says: "This do, and thou shalt live." The Gospel says: "This do, because thou art redeemed." We are to work, not in order to win life, but because life is already given. Only so far as we teach this principle, do we teach Christ's Gospel: it is salvation by grace, salvation by free grace, salvation by sovereign grace; it is God's favor freely given, without money and without price; not for worth, or goodness, or merit of ours. So speaks St. Paul: "After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."

We all know the power and force of this kind of appeal. You know there are some things a soldier will not do, because he is a soldier: he is in uniform, and he cannot disgrace his corps. There are some things of which a man of high birth and lineage is incapable: a long line of ancestry is a guarantee for his conduct : he has a character to sustain. Precisely on this ground is the Gospel appeal made to us. Ye are priests and kings to God: will you forget your office, and fall from your kingship? Shall an heir of glory disgrace his heavenly lineage? Ye are God's temple, in which He dwells will you pollute that? Observe on what strong grounds we stand when we appeal to men as having been baptized. St. Paul spoke to all the Corinthians as being the temple of God. Now, if baptism were a magical ceremony, or if it were a conditional blessing, so that a baptized child were only God's child hypothetically, how could I appeal to this congregation? But since I am certain and sure, that every man whom I address is God's child, that his baptism declared a fact which already existed, and that he is a recipient of God's loving influences, I, as Christ's minister, can and must say: "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and

spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." I can say to every one of you: "Ye are the temple of God, therefore keep God's dwelling pure."

Secondly, let us consider the request itself. St. Paul demanded their holiness, that is, their separation from impurity; for holiness, or sanctification meant, in the Jewish language, separation. In Jewish literalness, it meant separation from external defilement. But the thing implied by this typical separation was that inward holiness of which St. Paul here speaks. We must keep ourselves apart, then, not only from sensual, but also from spiritual defilement. The Jewish law required only the purification of the flesh; the Gospel, which is the inner spirit of the Law, demands the purification of the spirit. The distinction is made in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Concerning the former, I will say but little now. There is a contamination which passes through the avenue of the senses, and sinks into the spirit. Who shall dislodge it thence? Hear," said Christ, "and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." The heart-the heart - there is the evil! The imagination, which was given to spiritualize the senses, is often turned into a means of sensualizing the spirit. Beware of reverie, and indulgence in forbidden images, unless you would introduce your bosom a serpent, which will creep, and crawl, and leave the venom of its windings in your heart.

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And now what is the remedy for this? How shall we avoid evil thoughts? First: By the fear of God. "Our God is a consuming fire." Compare with this: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the

dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." An awful thought! a Living God, infinitely pure, is conscious of your contaminated thoughts! So the only true courage sometimes comes from fear. We cannot do without awe: there is no depth of character without it. Tender motives are not enough to restrain from sin; yet awe is not enough. Love and Hope will keep us strong against passion, as they kept our Saviour strong in suffering, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.”

Secondly: By the promises of God. Think of what you are —a child of God, an heir of Heaven. Realize the grandeur of saintliness, and you will shrink from degrading your soul and debasing your spirit. It is in reading saintly lives, that we are ashamed of grovelling desires. To come down, however, from these sublime motives to simple rules, I say, first of all, then, cultivate all generous and high feelings. A base appetite may be expelled by a nobler passion; the invasion of a country has sometimes waked men from low sensuality, has roused them to deeds of self-sacrifice, and left no access for the baser passions. An honorable affection can quench low and indiscriminate vice. "This I say, then, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." I say, secondly, Seek exercise and occupation. If a man finds himself haunted by evil desires and unholy images, which will generally be at periodical hours, let him commit to memory passages of Scripture, or passages from the best writers in verse or prose. Let him store his mind with these, as safeguards to repeat, when he lies awake in some resttess night, or when despairing imaginations, or gloomy, suicidal thoughts, beset him. Let these be to him the sword, turning everywhere to keep the way of the Garden of Life from the intrusion of profaner footsteps.

Lastly: Observe the entireness of this severance from evil" perfecting holiness." Perfection means,