Holiness on its negative side is a state of heart purity;
it is heart cleanness--cleanness of thought and temper and
disposition, cleanness of intention and purpose and wish; it is a
state of freedom from all sin, both inward and outward (Romans
vi. 18). On the positive side it is a state of union with God in
Christ, in which the whole man becomes a temple of God and filled
with the fruit of the Spirit, which is "love, joy, peace, long-
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." It
is moral and spiritual sympathy and harmony with God in the
holiness of His nature.
We must not, however, confound purity with maturity. Purity is a
matter of the heart, and is secured by an instantaneous act of
the Holy Spirit; maturity is largely a matter of the head and
results from growth in knowledge and experience. In one, the
heart is made clean, and is filled with love; in the other, the
head is gradually corrected and filled with light, and so the
heart is enlarged and more firmly established in faith;
consequently, the experience deepens and becomes stronger and
more robust in every way. It is for this reason that we need
teachers after we are sanctified, and to this end we are exhorted
to humbleness of mind.
Importance of the Doctrine.
With a heart full of sympathy and love for his father my little
boy may voluntarily go into the garden to weed the vegetables;
but, being yet ignorant, lacking light in his head, he pulls up
my sweet corn with the grass and weeds.
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