"Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" -- Ex. 15:11. "There is none Holy as the Lord." -- I Sam. 2:2. "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." -- Ps. 145:17. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." -- Isa. 6:3.
This is the nature of the God we worship.
Holiness in man is derived. It is not original,
nor innate. It is the image of God's holiness. It resembles His holiness,
though it falls infinitely short of it. A tumbler of water taken from the
ocean, possesses the same chemical properties as that which remains, though it
has not the sublimity, or grandeur, or power of the ocean; so a holy man
possesses in a limited degree, the hatred of sin, the sincerity, the veracity,
the justice, the love, the goodness, and all the other virtues which constitute
in all their fullness the holiness of God.
"Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." -- Eph. 4:24.
"What then," says John Wesley, "is that holiness, which is the only
qualification for glory? In Christ Jesus;" (that is according to the Christian
Institution, whatever be the case of the heathen world,) "neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision." It first, through the energy of God,
worketh love to God and all mankind; and by this love, every holy and heavenly
temper -- in particular lowliness, meekness, gentleness, temperance, and
long-suffering. It is neither circumcision -- the attending on all the
Christian ordinances, nor uncircumcision -- the fulfilling of all heathen
morality, -- but the keeping the commandments of God; particularly this: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself;"
in a word, holiness is having the mind that was in Christ, and walking as
Christ walked."
No matter how much refinement or self-government
a man may acquire by discipline, self-control is not true holiness. Some of
the old heathen philosophers lived according to the most rigid rules of
morality.
Here is found one fault of much that is taught
for holiness in these days. It strives to make men do better, without telling
them how to be better. It lays great stress upon their doing holy things,
without insisting upon their being holy. The practical part of Christianity is
required of men, without their being taught that they must have its inward
experience. The order that Christ established is reversed. The effort is
perseveringly put forth to make an evil tree bring forth good fruit. The
person whom Wesley describes as an "almost Christian" would, according to the
modern theology, be readily accepted as in the enjoyment of holiness. Wesley
himself, before he was, according to his own statement, converted to God, might
sit as the model for the modern saint. He gave largely; he was strict in his
devotional exercises, and denied himself very rigidly, that he might have to
give to the poor. Said a popular Methodist preacher from the pulpit in our
hearing: "I thank God the time has come when men's piety is estimated, not by
what they profess, but by what they give." In the middle ages warriors, whose
hands were red with blood, who had plundered cities by the score, and laid
whole countries waste, endeavored to atone for their crimes, by building
magnificent cathedrals; and these were accepted by the priesthood as acts and
evidences of piety. We are going back to the theology of the tenth century.
In the largest denomination of the land, their chief Theological Seminary for
the instruction of the future preachers of the church, was built and endowed by
one who is notorious as a stock gambler, and whose business transactions are
condemned by even the lax, Wall Street morality. In the next largest
denomination, the most popular female college was, in like manner, built and
endowed by one of the heaviest brewers of the country. The influence of these
illustrious examples, is felt in almost every country church. Property
controls the pew, and property controls the pulpit. Mammon is the chief
minister in Christ's kingdom. The affairs of the church are conducted upon the
same business principles as those which control other successful corporations.
Experimental piety is branded as fanaticism, which in the poor is not to be
endured, and in the rich is only tolerated as a necessary evil.
All this comes from the efforts to build a
Christian character with self as the foundation. The seeming success is but a
splendid failure. The glittering structure will not stand the first flash of
the fires of eternity.
A holy nature comes from God. -- Wesley
expresses the true sentiment when he sings:
"I want thy life, thy purity, Thy righteousness
brought in."
It must be "brought in" to the heart by power
divine; it is not there by nature. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven
hid in the meal."