"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death:I do not say that he shall pray for it" (1 John 5:16). The implication of this verse clearly is that sometimes_not always, but sometimes_ sickness comes to children of God as divine chastening, as a means of correction and discipline because of waywardness. Sometimes the discipline has the desired effect in the spiritual restoration of the one who had failed and the body is healed also; but at other times it does not seem to be the will of God to raise up the disciplined one and put him in the place of testing again. So we read, "There is sin unto death:I do not say that he shall pray for it." Of course it is physical death that is in question. He is not speaking of eternal death; he is not speaking of the soul, but of the death of the body under divine discipline. I think the indefinite article in this part of the verse might better be omitted. It is not that there is some specific sin that always results in death, but there is sin unto death.

Moses and Aaron sinned unto death when they became angry with the children of Israel and smote the rock in indignation, instead of speaking to it as they had been commanded; and the Lord said, "Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (Num. 20:12). Now there came almost immediate restoration. Moses besought the Lord that He would forgive him and permit him to enter the land, but the Lord said, "Speak no more unto Me of this matter" (Deut. 3:26). Moses had sinned unto death. If today every time Christians got angry they sinned unto death, how few of us would be here! I am afraid every one of us, unless there are some exceptionally sweet-dispositioned people here, would be at home in heaven. God would not have trusted us any longer. Why was He so severe with Moses? Moses was one who spoke with God face to face, and the greater the privilege the greater the responsibility. Do not forget that.

Turning to the New Testament, we find the Spirit of God was working in great power in the early Church, and among the professed converts were two, Ananias and Sapphira, upon whose eternal state we are not called to decide inasmuch as Scripture does not pronounce upon it. They sinned against the Holy Spirit in pretending to a devotedness that they did not possess, and when they were faced with the sin they told a lie. The result was that first Ananias and then Sapphira his wife fell down dead. They had sinned unto death. If God were dealing with all Christians that way now, how many of us would be here? How many Christians are there who have never pretended to a devotedness that they did not possess? How many Christians are there who have never permitted others to think that they were holier than they really are? And is there a Christian who has not sometimes so forgotten what should characterize the believer that he has been guilty of a lie? You say, "Oh, but we bitterly repented." But, you see, for Ananias and Sapphira there was no restoration to a place of trust and confidence on earth. They had sinned unto death when they pretended to be more spiritual than they were, and when they lied concerning it.

We find another incident in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. There was a great deal of laxity and carelessness of behavior at Corinth when they gathered together to take what we call today the communion, to observe the Lord’s Supper; and because of the laxity, because of the carelessness that marked them, the apostle by the Holy Spirit wrote like this:"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (1 Cor. 11:30), or are dead. Sleep is the term he used throughout that letter for the believer’s death. If every time a Christian took the bread and cup at the communion table carelessly God were to visit with temporal death, how often tragedy would follow the observance of the Lord’s Supper! So we cannot say of any particular sin that it is the sin unto death, but we say rather that there is sin unto death. God gives His people opportunity after opportunity, but if at last they deliberately go on refusing obedience to His Word, He says, "Now I am going to take you home; I won’t trust you in the world any longer. I will deal with you at the judgment-seat of Christ."

I can look back on my own childhood and remember a group of children playing in the evening, and by and by there would be a quarrel, for children so readily change from having a good time to fussing with one another. A mother would appear in the doorway calling one of her own, "Here, what does this mean? You behave yourself."

"Yes, Mother. I will try to do better."

"Well, if you don’t, you will have to come in." And in a little while there is a fuss again, and again angry voices raised. Once more Mother’s voice, "You come inside."

"Oh, Mother, I forgot myself. We are in the midst of a game. I will promise to be good."

"Very well, but you be careful."

The game goes on, and then once more a fuss, and the mother’s voice says, "Now you come in."

"But Mother

"Not another word; you come inside."

"But, Mother, I will try to behave myself."

"No, I can’t trust you any more tonight; come inside."

So it is with God and His children down here in this world. He gives them so many chances, He is so wonderfully gracious; and after a failure they repent and say, "Now I have learned my lesson." Perhaps a little later the same thing occurs, and then God says, "Now I am going to lay My hand upon you." Perhaps there is a long siege of illness, and they have an opportunity to bring it all to God in sincere confession, but the Lord says, "You have sinned unto death; I am going to take you home."

I once knew a splendid young man who left his home in obedience to what he believed to be the call of God to engage in Christian work in a needy district. He had not been there long before a proposition for a very good temporal position came between him and the Lord. Then too the young woman whom he desired to marry declared that she would never marry a preacher, and so he decided to take the position. He settled down, made money, and got ahead, but inwardly was always very unhappy. He knew that he had sinned against the Lord because he had been called to a different service. By and by tuberculosis laid hold of him. He gave up his position and spent the earnings of years in a sanitarium, where he lay flat on his back. I was near by, and he sent for me and said, "My brother, I want you to pray with me, but not that the Lord will raise me up, unless He should make it very clear to you that it is His will. I have been facing a great many things here lately. I see my failure now as never before. I believe I have sinned unto death." I looked to the Lord asking, if it was His will, to lift him up, but if not, to give him great joy in departing. Two weeks later I saw him again and he said, "I will never see you on earth again. I have had two very wonderful weeks. The Lord has been very near to me, but He has told me that He is going to take me home, that I lost my opportunity, and that inasmuch as I chose my own comfort instead of His will He can’t trust me here any more. But, thank God, I am perfectly resigned to His will. I am going home!" And, sure enough, three days later he died. He had sinned unto death, and it was useless to pray for his healing, but he went home happy in Christ.

(Reprinted from Addresses on the Epistles of John.)

"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them:thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them:ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire" (Deut. 7:1-5).

Such were the instructions given by Jehovah to His people. They were clear and explicit. No mercy for the Canaanites, no covenant with them, no union, no fellowship of any kind, unsparing judgment, intense separation.

We know, alas! how soon and how completely Israel failed to carry out these instructions. Hardly had they planted their foot upon the land of Canaan before they made a covenant with the Gibeonites. Even Joshua himself fell into the snare. The tattered garments and moldy bread of those wily people beguiled the princes of the congregation, and caused them to act in direct opposition to the plain commandment of God. Had they been governed by the authority of the Word, they would have been preserved from the grave error of making a league with people who ought to have been utterly destroyed; but they judged by the sight of their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.

Implicit obedience is the grand moral safeguard against the wiles of the enemy.’ No doubt the story of the Gibeonites was very plausible, and their whole appearance gave a show of truth to their statements; but none of these things should have had the slightest moral weight with Joshua and the princes; nor would they, if they had but remembered the word of the Lord. But they failed in this. They reasoned on what they saw, instead of obeying what they had heard. Reason is no guide for the people of God; we must be, absolutely and completely, guided and governed by the Word of God.

This is a privilege of the very highest order, and it lies within the reach of the simplest and most unlettered child of God. the Father’s word, the Father’s voice, the Father’s eye, can guide the youngest, feeblest child in His family. All we need is the lowly and obedient heart. It does not demand great intellectual power or cleverness; if it did, what would become of the vast majority of Christians? If it were only the educated, the deep-thinking, and the far-seeing that were capable of meeting the wiles of the adversary, then verily most of us might give up in despair.

But, thanks be to God, it is not so; indeed, on the contrary, we find, in looking through the history of the people of God in all ages, that human wisdom, human learning, human cleverness, if not kept in their right place, have proved a positive snare, and rendered their possessors only the more efficient tools in the enemy’s hand. By whom have most, if not all, of the heresies been introduced which have disturbed the Church of God from age to age? Not by the simple and the unlearned, but by the educated and the intellectual. And in the passage to which we have just referred in the Book of Joshua, who was it that made a covenant with the Gibeonites? The common people? No, but the princes of the congregation. No doubt all were involved in the mischief, but it was the princes that led the way. The heads and leaders of the assembly fell into the snare of the devil through neglect of the plain word of God.

"Thou shalt make no covenant with them." Could anything be plainer than this? Could tattered garments, old shoes, and moldy bread alter the meaning of the divine command, or do away with the urgent necessity for strict obedience on the part of the congregation? Assuredly not. Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering, the breadth of a hair, the standard of obedience to the Word of God. If there are difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us, if things crop up for which we are not prepared, and as to which we are unable to form a judgment, what are we to do? Reason? Jump to conclusions? Act on our own or on any human judgment? Most certainly not. What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly, and He will assuredly counsel and guide. "The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way" (Psalm 25:9). Had Joshua and the princes acted thus, they never would have made a league with the Gibeonites; and if the reader acts thus, he will be delivered from every evil work and preserved unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(From Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Vol. 2.)

"Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb; and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, … All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (Matt. 12:22-32).

This was a dispensational sin, and we may say definitely cannot be committed, at least in exactly the same way, by individuals today. Jesus had come in the power of the Holy Spirit, presenting Himself to Israel as their rightful King. His mighty works, as we have seen, accredited His testimony. The only way in which men could refuse to own His grace and yet recognize His power was by attributing all His mighty works to the devil. Those who did this gave evidence that they had sinned until their consciences were seared as with a hot iron. They had gone beyond Redemption Point, if I may use a well-known figure; not because God would not have been merciful to them if they had repented, but because they had so persisted in their sin that there was on their part no evidence of nor desire for repentance. Had they simply spoken against the Son of Man, Jesus said it would have been forgiven them; but He solemnly added that those who speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come. The Lord was speaking of two ages_the age that was just closing, and the age to come which is, properly speaking, the millennium. The present age was hidden at that time in the mind of God; but even so one might apply His words to this age also, for those who deliberately refuse the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Christ could be forgiven neither in the Jewish age, nor in this or any other age to follow.

Many dear souls have tormented themselves, or have been tormented by the devil, with the awful thought that they are guilty of the sin here described; whereas deep in their hearts they fully recognize the Deity of the Lord Jesus and have no thought of attributing to the devil the power that wrought in Him.

(Reprinted from Notes on the Gospel of Matthew.)

Thank God we are under grace. But does this blessed fact weaken, in any way, the truth that "Holiness becometh [God’s] house … for ever"? (Psa. 93:5). Has it ceased to be true that "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him"? (Psa. 89:7). Is the standard of holiness lower for the Church of God now than it was for Israel of old? Has it ceased to be true that "our God is a consuming fire"? (Heb. 12:29). Is evil to be tolerated because "we are not under law, but under grace"? Why were many of the Corinthians weak and sickly? Why did many of them die? Why were Ananias and Sapphira struck dead in a moment? Did that solemn judgment touch the truth that the Church was under grace? Assuredly not. But neither did grace hinder the action of judgment. God can no more tolerate evil in His assembly now than He could in the days of Achan (Josh. 7).

The assembly at Corinth was commanded_woe be unto them if they had refused_to put away from among them the wicked person, to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. True, they were not called to stone him or to burn him, but they had to put him out from among them if they would have the divine presence in their midst. "Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever." Can you not praise him for the holiness as well as the grace? Can you not, as the standard of holiness rises before you, add your doxology, "Blessed be His glorious name forever;. . . Amen and amen"? (Psa. 72:19). We trust you can.

We must never forget that, while we stand in grace, we are to walk in holiness; and, as regards the assembly, if we refuse to judge bad doctrine and bad morals, we are not on the ground of the assembly of God at all. People say we must not judge; God says we must. "Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Cor. 5:12,13). If the assembly at Corinth had refused to judge that wicked person, it would have forfeited all title to be regarded as the assembly of God; and all who feared the Lord would have had to leave it. It is a very solemn matter indeed to take the ground of the assembly of God. All who do so have to bear in mind that it is not at all a question of whom we can receive, or what we can tolerate, but what is worthy of God. We hear a great deal these days about the "broad" and the "narrow"; we have just to be as broad and as narrow as the Word of God.

(From Short Papers, Vol. 2, by C.H. Mackintosh.)

"Holiness has been described as ‘a nature that delights in purity, and which repels evil.’ Adam and Eve were ‘innocent,’ not holy; for though they might have delighted in purity, they did not repel the evil of Satan. God is ever holy; in heaven there is no evil to separate from, and He was holy, consistent with His perfection in everything, before there was any evil" (Morrish’s New and Concise Bible Dictionary). Our thoughts as to holiness are very incomplete compared to God’s. We have grown so used to the unholiness in ourselves and all around us that we have little comprehension of what true holiness is. But when we are exhorted to "abhor that which is evil" (Rom. 12:9), we can be sure that holiness goes far beyond the simple absence or avoidance of sin or uncleanness or evil. God is holy; He cannot tolerate sin in His presence (although, praise His name! He is frequently longsuffering toward the sinner); He abhors sin; He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13).

God’s holiness is clearly manifested in connection with the atoning death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Psalm 22:1-2 we have, prophetically, Christ crying out:"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent." Why did God forsake Him? Why did He not hear the cries of His own Son? The answer is found in verse 3:"But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." God laid upon His Son_the holy, spotless, sinless Lamb of God_"the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). God "made [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). And since God is holy, and "of purer eyes than to behold evil," He had to turn His back on His Son while He was making atonement for our sin. The more we grow in the knowledge of God’s infinite holiness, the more we will come to appreciate His equally infinite love to us in pouring out His holy wrath and judgment upon His own Son and letting us_ the real sinners_go free.

Let us consider some more Scriptures that attest to the holiness of God.

"And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good" (Josh. 24:19-20). The people rose to this challenge laid down by their departing leader by responding, "Nay, but we will serve the Lord . . . and His voice will we obey" (verses 21,24).

"There is none holy as the Lord" (1 Sam. 2:2).

"Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness" (Psa. 30:4; also 97:12).

"God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness" (Psa. 47:8).

"Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me" (Psa. 89:35-36).

"The Lord is great in Zion; and He is high above all the people. Let them praise Thy great and terrible name; for it is holy. . . . Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy" (Psa. 99:2-5,9).

"He sent redemption unto His people; He hath commanded His covenant for ever; holy and reverend is His name" (Psa. 111:9).

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims . . . and one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isa. 6:1-3). And notice the effect this scene had upon the prophet Isaiah:"Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (verse 5). However holy Isaiah may have been in relation to his fellow Israelites, in the presence of God and His holiness he became thoroughly conscious of His own utter unholiness. In a similar way will we gain a more realistic appreciation of our own sinfulness and lack of holiness as we learn to compare ourselves against the standard of God’s perfect holiness.

The Lord Jesus testifies to the holiness of His Father in His prayer:"Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me" (John 17:11).

The proclamation of the holiness of God will ring out in heaven throughout eternity:"And the four beasts . . . rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Rev. 4:8).

Just as God the Father is holy, so is His Son holy. His holiness as the eternal Son of God did not cease at His incarnation:"And the angel answered and said unto her, . . . that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Peter proclaimed to the Jews, "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just" (Acts 3:14). And even the demons recognized who Jesus was:"A man with an unclean spirit. . . cried out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God" (Mark 1:23,24).

The third person of the Trinity, while possessing the same attributes as God the Father and God the Son, is hardly ever referred to apart from His attribute of being ‘holy.’ Have you ever wondered why He is referred to as the ‘Holy’ Spirit rather than the ‘Loving’ Spirit, the ‘Righteous’ Spirit, the ‘Good’ Spirit, the ‘Truthful’ Spirit, etc.? I would suggest a possible explanation:Since He indwells all believers and communicates with our human spirits, that moral attribute that most sets Him apart from and above our own spirits is his intrinsic holiness. Perhaps another reason is that the primary work of the indwelling Spirit is to produce God’s holiness in us.

This last point brings us to the application of all this to ourselves. Several times in the Scriptures we are exhorted to be holy because God is holy. For example, "I am the Lord your God:ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44; also 11:45; 19:2; 20:26; 21:8). This is reiterated in the New Testament:"As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16). In his second letter, Peter again urges the believers to holy behavior, this time in consideration of the judgment that will soon fall upon the earth:"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy [behavior] and godliness" (3:11).

We are further exhorted to holiness in the writings of the apostle Paul:"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1). "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" (2 Cor. 7:1). "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

Who among us can claim to have attained even one-tenth of God’s standard of holiness? May we all become more concerned about how far short of God’s standard we fall in this regard. Then, let our continual prayer be, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psa. 139:23-24).

"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2).

It is essential for the true character of our path as Christians that we should lay hold of what this obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ was. The character of Christ’s obedience was different from legal obedience. If my child wants to do something, and I forbid it, and the child promptly obeys, I speak of its ready obedience. Christ never obeyed in this way; He never had a desire checked by an imposed law. It was never needed to say to Him, "Thou shalt not," when He willed to do something. He acted because the Father willed it. That was His motive, the only cause of His acting. He lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. When there was none, He had nothing to do. Hence the will of God, whatever it was, was His rule.

This is the true character of the obedience of Jesus Christ and of our obedience as Christians_that the will of God is the reason, the motive, for doing a thing. We are sanctified to the obedience of Jesus Christ, to obey as He obeyed. When Satan came and said to Him, "Command that these stones be made bread" (Matt. 4:3), He answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word … of God" (verse 4). His actual life, as carried out in conduct, flowed from the Word of God, which was His motive for doing it; if He had not that, He had no motive. If I have no motive but my Father’s will, how astonishingly it simplifies everything! If you never thought of doing a thing unless it was God’s positive will that you should do it, surely three-quarters of your questions and perplexities would at once disappear! This is the practical truth as to ourselves; yet we clearly see that such was the obedience of Christ.

This, too, is the principle of real godliness, because it keeps us in constant dependence upon God, and constant reference to God. It is an amazing comfort for my soul to think that there is not a single thing all through my life in which God as my Father has not a positive will about me to direct me; that there is not a step from the moment I am born (though while we are unconverted we understand nothing about it) in which there is not a positive path or will of God to direct me here. I may forget it and fail, but we have in the Word and will of God that which keeps the soul, not in a constant struggle against one thing and another, but in the quiet consciousness that the grace of God has provided for everything_that I do not take a step that His love has not provided for. It keeps the soul in the sweet sense of divine favor and in dependence upon God, so that like David we can say, "Thy right hand upholdeth me" (Psalm 63:8). Moses does not say, "Show me a way through the wilderness," but "Show me now Thy way" (Exod. 33:13). A man’s ways reveal what he is; God’s way shows what He is.

In its path the heart gets separated more and more intelligently to God, and gets to understand what God is. If I know that God likes this and likes that along my path, it is because I know what He is; and besides its being the right path and causing us thus to grow in intelligent holiness of life, there is godliness in it too. The constant referring of the heart affectionately to God is real godliness and we have to look for that. We have it perfectly in our Lord:"I knew," He said, "that Thou hearest Me always" (John 11:42). There is the confidence of power and reference to God with confiding affection. If I know that it is His path of goodness, His will that is the source of everything to me, there is then the cultivation of a life consistent in its ways with God; communion is uninterrupted because the Spirit is not grieved. This is the obedience of Jesus Christ to which we are set apart.

(From "The Path and Character of the Christian," in Collected Writings, Vol. 16.)

"As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:14-16).

Apart from simple faith in God and the consciousness that the Spirit of God is still guardian in the Church, one would not know how or what to speak in these days. If you speak of grace, and dwell upon the fulness and freeness of it, there are so many hearts that will delight in it after a carnal manner, and use it for a cloak of evil. Such persons turn "the grace of our God into lasciviousness" (Jude 4); they cover over a deep spirit of worldliness and excuse themselves much obedience on the ground of grace. Indeed, this is a prevailing evil of these days. It is the root of that latitudinarian spirit which is tolerant of many evils and much disobedience. On the other hand, if you speak of holiness of walk, many souls will put themselves under legal bondage, which robs them of their joy and peace, or at best makes them slaves of their own feelings, or promotes that self-righteous spirit which fills the heart with intolerable pride.

Still the truth must be told; and it will have its fruit in some hearts. In the passage above we see the most touching appeal to the heart of a saint; and these two principles, grace and holiness, are exactly in unison. The appeal is not to bondmen or servants, but to children; and it is from Him "which hath called you." Grace has brightly shone in these two facts:(1) He has called us; and (2) "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). Thus, He has called us and has made us His children. The appeal is this:seeing He who has thus acted in such grace, and brought us into such relationship, is Himself holy, so should we be holy. And there is grace in this appeal, for He desires that we should be before Him in joy and love, which could not be without holiness. This our God has secured to us in Jesus, having "chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (Eph. 1:4). But God has now separated us unto Himself from an evil world, and from our own evil too; hence the present appeal to be "as obedient children." The principle is this:the children should be as the parent. God is holy; hence His children are to be holy. As holiness is a characteristic of the Father, it should also be a characteristic of the children.

If this principle had more weight in our minds, our chastenings would be found much more fruitful; for surely the soul that longs after holiness will profit more than a careless soul by the various chastenings of the Father’s hand. "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Heb. 12:10).

Many are apt to contrast grace and holiness, but there can be no contrast among any of the attributes of God. All His attributes express Himself, and He is One. Grace, indeed, shines most in this, that we sinners of the Gentiles should be reconciled unto God, and built up with the Jews a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:11-22). "Grace [reigns] through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21).

I am sure of this:if we would serve the Lord, we must be holy. Not in self-righteousness, but as "obedient children," as those who wish to be as He is. Every exhortation to His children and every recognition of them is full of this principle_holiness.

One could dwell very much on this important subject, and I trust the Lord may lead our souls more into it. It is evident, from the Word and from past experience, that God’s work is accomplished by means of holy and godly people. A true position and clear knowledge of the truth will not suffice; holiness is what God looks for. The reason is evident, since to do God’s work He must have the soul walking with Himself, in communion with His mind. Witness the contrast between Abraham and Lot.

Let brethren in Christ everywhere look well to this, for while there is much truth abroad it seems to have little power in separating souls from evil. For when we see light spreading, if that "light [in them] be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6:23). There seems to be a lack of power for obedience to the truth when it is seen. Why is this?

Let us remember this, "The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19). I doubt not that the Lord is doing a work among souls; and if we would share the reward of such work, we must see to it that we are found "as workers together with Him . . . giving no offence in anything, … in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God" (2 Cor. 6:1-4).

(From The Present Testimony, Vol. 6.)

Our true wisdom is being subject to the will of our Lord. To human eyes no plan of taking Jericho could have been more foolish than that which Joshua adopted; but it was God’s plan, and hence it was completely successful.

"If any one desire to practice His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God or [that] I speak from myself" (John 7:17 JND). We learn in this passage that honest obedience to God’s will is one way to obtain clear spiritual knowledge.

The difficulty of finding out what the truth is in religion is a common subject of complaint among men. They point to many differences which prevail among Christians on matters of doctrine and profess to be unable to decide who is right. In thousands of cases this professed inability to find out the truth becomes an excuse for living without any religion at all.

The saying of our Lord before us is one that demands the serious attention of persons in this state of mind. It supplies an argument whose edge and point they will find it hard to evade. It teaches that one secret of getting the key of knowledge is to practice honestly what we know and that if we conscientiously use the light we now have, we shall soon have more light coming into our minds. In short, there is a sense in which it is true, that by doing we shall come to knowing.

There is a mine of truth in this principle. Well would it be for men if they would act upon it. Instead of saying as some do, "I must first know everything clearly, and then I will act," we should say, "I will diligently use such knowledge as I possess, and believe that in the using, fresh knowledge will be given to me." How many mysteries this simple plan would solve! How many difficult things would soon become plain if men would honestly live up to their light, and "follow on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3).

It should never be forgotten that God deals with us as moral beings and not as beasts or stones. He loves to encourage us to self-exertion and diligent use of such means as we have in our hands. The plain things in the Word of God are undeniably very many. Let a man honestly attend to them and he shall be taught the deep things of God. Whatever some may say about their inability to find out truth, you will rarely find one of them who does not know better than he practices. Then if he is sincere, let him begin here at once. Let him humbly use what little knowledge he has, and God will soon give him more.

FRAGMENT Standing before the grave of Lazarus whose body was corrupting, the Lord demands something of those who longed for a miracle:"Take ye away the stone" (John 11:39). They might have questioned, "But Lord, You are going to raise the dead, why can’t You move this heavy stone with but a word, a thought?" Herein lies a great principle:the Lord will not do by a miracle what we are to do by obedience. Are you looking for a miracle today? Is there a stone He wants you to roll away first? Some hard unyielding attitude; someone you will not forgive; some unconfessed sin; some step of obedience He awaits? It is ours to obey, it is His to do the miracles.