1 Thessalonians 4:4-7

1 Thessalonians 4:4-7

That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour

The vessel of the body

1.

At best a vessel is only a frail thing; let it be of gold or silver, time and use make flaws in it, and its day is soon past.

2. It is a vile thing, being the creature and mere instrument of the hands.

3. To be of any use it must have an owner, and it must be always just what its maker chooses, and must ever do what its employer sets it to do. It may be employed for other purposes, but it does nothing suitably but that for which it was first intended. The putting of it to other work is generally the surest way of destroying it, as when a glass vessel is put on the fire.

I. Our bodies are vessels. They are frail enough--made of dust and returning to dust. They can do nothing of themselves; if there be not soul and spirit to put them to use, they are as lifeless and unserviceable as any other, and are put out of the way as useless.

II. But they are honourable and precious vessels. Made by the hand of God to contain the immortal soul, and with it the treasure of the knowledge of God. They were made to promote His honour and glory, and when put to any other service they are put out of shape, broken, and destroyed.

III. They have been degraded and injured by vile uses. Does not the commonest experience tell us this? Does not the employment of them in the service of the world, the flesh, and the devil deteriorate them? Do not anxiety, intemperance, impurity, passion, vanity, ambition, derange them with all manner of diseases?

IV. In Christ Jesus, who took our body on Him, these vessels have been restored to their former heavenly service. Christ is the Saviour of the body as well as of the soul. The Holy Spirit has been given to sanctify the body and keep it holy.

V. These vessels are characterized by endless variety, according to our different posts and gifts.

VI. Being redeemed and consecrated vessels, the bodies of believers must be used for God alone. This involves--

1. Carefulness.

2. Purity.

3. Temperance.

4. Holy employment. (R. W. Evans, B. D.)

A call unto holiness

I. The contrast.

1. Holiness is eternal and Divine--the ever lasting God is the holy God.

2. Man was created in the image of the holy God.

3. By the first transgression holiness was lost; the flesh became prone to all uncleanness, inward and outward.

4. Abounding uncleanness was in the world before the flood, in Gentile nations, and in Israel.

5. Uncleanness, public and private, shameless and hypocritical, is in this professedly Christian land.

6. The world winks at uncleanness, and even tries to justify it. Not so God (Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:7).

II. The call.

1. To Israel and the Church (Leviticus 20:7; 1 Peter 1:14-16).

2. Holiness was taught by outward purifications under the law (Exodus 28:36).

3. The reason for the call: God’s purpose is to make His children like Himself, to renew their lost holiness (Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 4:22-24).

III. The grace.

1. The God of holiness is the God of grace.

2. Grace to cleanse from uncleanness, by the atoning blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5).

3. Grace to sanctify, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which inspires holy desires and affections.

4. Grace to strengthen, by the Holy Spirit enabling us to keep under the body and to crucify the flesh.

IV. Warnings and exhortations.

1. The Word written uses great plainness of speech on this subject; so should the Word preached.

2. The judgment recorded in Holy Scripture on the unclean. In one day God gave twenty-three thousand proofs of His hatred of uncleanness and resolve to punish it (1 Corinthians 10:8).

3. To despise the call is to despise God, and to bring down His wrath here and hereafter.

4. Secret sinner, your sin will find you out. He who exposed David’s sin will expose yours.

5. The effects of despising the call and doing what the Holy One hates are defiling, debasing, deadening, destroying.

6. Your body is the temple of God. Guard it for Him against all profanation.

7. Strive by prayer to be like Jesus--like Him in holiness now, that you may be like Him in glory hereafter. (F. Cook, D. D.)

Purity of life

Having dealt with purity of heart in the first clause of 1 Thessalonians 4:3, the apostle now proceeds to deal with its correlative and manifestation.

I. Chastity. He writes to converts who but a short time before had been heathens. It was necessary to speak plainly and solemnly, for they had been accustomed to regard impurity almost as a thing indifferent. But the will of God, our sanctification, involves purity. Without it we cannot see God. God is light; in Him is no darkness at all. There is something awful in the stainless purity of the starry heavens. As we gaze into them we seem almost overwhelmed with a sense of our own uncleanness. It is a parable of the infinite purity of God. In His sight the heavens are not clean. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil; therefore only the pure in heart can see Him. That inner purity covers the whole spiritual life. It implies freedom from all the lower motives--all that is selfish, earthly, false, hypocritical; it is that transparency of character which flows from the consciousness of the perpetual presence of God. But that inner purity involves outward. Religion is not mortality, but it cannot exist without it. The religion which the Thessalonians abandoned admitted immorality. Their very gods were immoral. They were served by rites often leading to impurity. Hence the urgency of Paul’s appeal. Amid the evil surroundings and depraved public opinion of a heathen town the converts were exposed to constant danger.

II. Honour. The unclean life of the heathen cities was full of degradation. The Christian life is truly honourable. The Christian’s body is a holy thing. It has been dedicated to God (1 Corinthians 6:13). The Christian must acquire a mastery over it in honour by yielding its “members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” The Christian husband must give honour to his wife. Marriage must be honourable, for it is a parable of the mystical union between Christ and His Church. Those who honour holiness honour God, the fountain of holiness.

III. The knowledge of God (1 Thessalonians 4:5). The heathen knew not God. They might have known Him. He had manifested in creation His eternal power and Godhead. But they did not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:19-25). Men framed a conception of God from their own corrupt nature, and that conception reacted powerfully on their character. The Thessalonian Christians had learned a holier knowledge, and therefore their knowledge must act upon their life. They must be pure.

IV. Impurity is a sin against man. “Satan is transformed into an angel of light.” Impure desires assume the form of love; uncleanness usurps and degrades that sacred name. The sensualist ruins in body and soul those whom he professes to love. He cares not for the holiest ties. He sins against the sanctity of matrimony. He brings misery on families. The Lord who calls us in sanctification will punish with that awful vengeance which belongeth to Him all who, for their wicked pleasure, sin against their brethren.

V. It is a sin against God (1 Thessalonians 4:8). The indwelling of the Holy Ghost makes the sin of uncleanness one of exceeding awfulness. Of what punishment shall that man be thought worthy who does such despite against the Spirit of Grace. He cannot abide in an impure heart, but must depart, as He departed from Saul. Lessons:

1. Long after holiness, pray for it, struggle for it with the deepest yearnings and most earnest efforts.

2. Flee from the slightest touch of impurity--the thought, look, word. It is deadly poison, a loathsome serpent.

3. Remember the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. “Keep thyself pure.” (B. C. Cairn, M. A.)

How personal purity is to be maintained

The “vessel” is not a wife, but a man’s own body. If it meant a wife, it might be said that every one would be bound to marry. The wife is, no doubt, called the “weaker vessel,” the evident meaning of the comparison being that the husband is also “a vessel.”

I. How the body is to be used.

1. Negatively.

(1) It is not to be regarded as outside the pale of moral obligation, as antinomian perverters say, basing their error on “It is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”; “in me … dwelleth no good thing.”

(2) It is not to be injured or mutilated by asceticism after Romish example. The apostle condemns “the neglecting of the body” (Colossians 2:23).

(3) It is not to be made an instrument of unrighteousness through sensuality--“not in passion of lust.” Sensuality is quite inconsistent with the very idea of sanctification.

2. Positively.

(1) The body is to be kept under control; the Christian “must know how to possess himself of his own vessel.” He must “keep under the body”; he must make it a servant, not a master, and not allow its natural liberty to run into licentiousness.

(2) He must treat it with all due “honour.”

(a) Because it is God’s workmanship, “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

(b) Because it is “the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

(c) Because it is an heir of the resurrection.

(d) Because it is, and ought to be, like the believer himself, “a vessel unto honour,” sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, for the body has much to do in the economy of grace.

II. Dissuasives against personal impurity.

1. The knowledge of God received by the Christian ought to guard us against it. Paul here attributes Gentile impurity to ignorance of God (1 Thessalonians 4:5). The world by wisdom knew not God, was alienated from the life of God, and thus sunk into moral disorder (Romans 1:1-32).

2. The regard we ought to have for a brother’s family honour (1 Thessalonians 4:6). A breach upon family honour is a far worse offence than any breach upon property. The stain is indelibly deeper.

3. The Divine vengeance (1 Thessalonians 4:6). If vengeance does not reach men in this world it will in the next, when they will have: their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. They shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).

4. The nature of the Divine call (1 Thessalonians 4:7). They had received a “holy calling,” a “high calling,” and although “called unto liberty,” they were “created unto good works.” They were “called to be saints,” for God says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”

5. The sin involves a despisal of God, who hath given us His Spirit that we may attain sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:8). God has ordered all our family relations, and any dishonour done to them involves a contempt of His authority. Conclusion: We have in this passage God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--interested in man’s salvation and holiness. (Prof. Croskery.)

A caution against impurity

Fornication is a sin directly contrary to sanctification, or that holy walking the apostle so earnestly exhorts the Thessalonians to observe.

I. The caution is definitely expressed. “That ye should abstain from fornication;” by which words we are to understand all uncleanness soever, either in a married or unmarried state: to be sure adultery is here included, though fornication is specially mentioned. Other sorts of uncleanness are also forbidden, of which it is “a shame even to speak,” though such Evils are perpetrated by too many in secret. Alas for those who do such things! They are an abomination to their species! All that is contrary to chastity in heart, in speech, and in behaviour, is alike contrary to the command of Jehovah in the decalogue, and the holiness the gospel requireth.

II. The arguments to strengthen the caution.

1. This branch of sanctification in particular “is the will of God.” Not only is it the will of God in general that we should be holy, because “He float called us is holy,” and because we are chosen unto salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit; and not only doth God require holiness in the heart, but also purity in our bodies, and that we should “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit.” Wherever the body is, as it ought to be, devoted to God, and set apart for Him, it should be kept pure for His service; and as chastity is one branch of sanctification, so this is one thing Jehovah commands in His law, and what His grace effects in all true believers.

2. This will be greatly for our honour; for this is “knowing how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honour;” whereas the contrary will be a great dishonour--“And his reproach shall not be wiped away.” The body is the vessel of the soul that dwells therein, so 1 Samuel 21:5; and that must be kept pure from defiling lusts. What can be more dishonourable than for a rational soul to be enslaved by bodily affections and brutal appetites?

3. To indulge the lusts of concupiscence is to live and act like heathens; “Even as the Gentiles which knew not God.” The Gentiles, especially the Grecians, were commonly guilty of some sins of uncleanness which were not so evidently forbidden by the Light of Nature. But they did not know God, nor His mind and will, so well as Christians do. It is not so much to be wondered at, therefore, if the Gentiles indulge their fleshly desires; but Christians should not walk as unconverted heathens, “in lasciviousness, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and other like evil ways,” because they that are in Christ “have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.” (R. Fergusson.)

Licentiousness

was the besetting sin of the Roman world. Except by miracle it was impossible that the new converts could be at once and wholly freed from it. It lingered in the flesh when the spirit had cast it off. It had interwoven itself in the pagan religions, and was ever reappearing on the confines of the Church in the earliest heresies. Even within the Church it might assume the form of a mystic Christianity. The very ecstasy of conversion would often lead to a reaction. Nothing is more natural than that in a licentious city, like Corinth or Ephesus, those who were impressed by St. Paul’s teaching should have gone their way and returned to their former life. In this case it would seldom happen that they apostatized into the ranks of the heathen; the same impulse which led them to the gospel would lead them also to bridge the gulf which separated them from its purer morality. Many may have sinned and repented again and again, unable to stand themselves in the general corruption, yet unable to cast aside utterly the image of innocence and goodness which the apostle had set before them. There were those, again, who consciously sought to lead the double life, and imagined themselves to have found in licentiousness the true freedom of the gospel. The tone which the apostle adopts respecting sins of the flesh differs in many ways from the manner of speaking of them among modern moralists. He says nothing of the poison which they infuse into society, or the consequences to the individual himself. Neither does he appeal to public opinion as condemning, or dwell on the ruin they inflict on one half of the race. True and forcible as these aspects of such sins are, they are the result of modern reflection, not the first instincts of reason and conscience. They strengthen the moral principles of mankind, but are not of a kind to touch the individual soul. They are a good defence for the existing order of society, but they will not purify the nature of man or extinguish the flames of lust. Moral evils in the New Testament are always spoken of as spiritual. They corrupt the soul, defile the temple of the Holy Ghost, and cut men off from the body of Christ. Of morality, as distinct from religion, there is hardly a trace in the Epistles of St. Paul. What he seeks to penetrate is the inward nature of sin, not its outward effects. Even in its consequences in another state of being are but slightly touched upon, in comparison with that living death which itself is. It is not merely a vice or crime, or even an offence against the law of God, to be punished here and hereafter. It is more than this. It is what men feel within, not what they observe without them; not what shall be, but what is; a terrible consciousness, a mystery of iniquity, a communion with unseen powers of evil. All sin is spoken of in St. Paul’s Epistles as rooted in human nature, and quickened by the consciousness of law; but especially is this the case with the sin which is more than any other the type of sin in general--fornication. It is, in a peculiar sense, the sin of the flesh, with which the very idea of the corruption of the flesh is closely connected, just as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, the idea of holiness is regarded as almost equivalent to abstinence from it. It is a sin against a man’s own body, distinguished from all other sins by its personal and individual nature. No other is at the same time so gross and insidious; no other partakes so much of the slavery of sin. As marriage is the type of the communion of Christ and His Church, as the body is the member of Christ, so the sin of fornication is a strange and mysterious communion with evil. But although such is the tone of the apostle, there is no violence to human nature in his commands respecting it. He knew how easily extremes meet, how hard it is for asceticism to make clean that which is within, how quickly it might itself pass into its opposite. Nothing can be more different from the spirit of early ecclesiastical history on this subject than the moderation of St. Paul. The remedy for sin is not celibacy, but marriage. Even second marriages are, for the prevention of sin, to be encouraged. Even the incestuous person at Corinth was to be forgiven on repentance. Above all other things, the apostle insisted on purity as the first note of the Christian character; and yet the very earnestness and frequency of his warnings show that he is speaking, not of a sin hardly named among saints, but one the victory over which was the greatest and most difficult triumph of the Cross of Christ. (Prof. Jowett.)

Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter--

Commercial morality

I. Be righteous in buying. Take heed lest thou layest out thy money to purchase endless misery. Some have bought places to bury their bodies in, but more have bought those commodities which have swallowed up their souls. Injustice in buying is a canker which will eat up the most durable wares. An unjust chapman, like Phocion, payeth for that poison which kills him, buyeth his own bane. A true Christian in buying will use a conscience. Augustine relates a story of a mountebank, who, to gain spectators, promised, if they would come the next day, he would tell them what every one’s heart desired. When they all flocked about him at the time appointed he said “This is the desire of every one of your hearts, to sell dear and buy cheap.” But the good man desires to buy as dear as he sells. His buying and selling are like scales that hang in equal poise.

1. In buying do not take advantage of the seller’s ignorance. This would be as bad as to lead the blind out of the way, and, as the text saith, those who overreach men are within the reach of a sin-revenging God. Some will boast of their going beyond others in bargains, but they have more cause to bewail it, unless they could go beyond the line of God’s power and anger. Augustine tells us a certain man was offered a book by an unskilful stationer at a price not half the worth of it. He took the book, but gave him the just price, according to its full value. Wares that are half bought through out witting a silly tradesman are half stolen (Proverbs 20:14; cf. 1 Chronicles 21:22-24). Ahab never bought a dearer purchase than Naboth’s vineyard, for which he paid not a penny.

2. Do not work upon the seller’s poverty. This is to grind the faces of the poor, and great oppression. It is no mean sin in many rich citizens who take advantage of the necessity of poor tradesmen. The poor man must sell or his family starve: the rich man knoweth it, and will not buy but at such a rate as that the other shall not earn his bread. God made the rich to relieve, not to rob the poor. Some tell us there is no wrong herein; for if poor men will not take their money they may let it alone: they do not force them. But is this to love thy neighbour as thyself? Put thyself in his place, and read Nehemiah 5:2-4; Nehemiah 5:12-13.

II. Be righteous in thy payments.

1. Pay what thou contractest for. If thou buyest with an intention not to pay thou stealiest, and such ill-gotten goods will melt like wax before the sun. Mark how honest Jacob was in this particular (Genesis 43:12). How many would have concealed the money, stopped the mouths of their consciences with the first payment, and kept it now as lawful prize.

2. Let thy payments be in good money. It is treason against the king to make bad money and it is treason against the King of kings to pass it. He that makes light payments may expect heavy judgments.

III. Be righteous in selling. Be careful whilst thou sellest thy wares to men thou sellest not thy soul to Satan.

1. Be righteous in regard of quality. Put not bad ware for good into any man’s hand, God can see the rottenness of thy stuffs, and heart too, under thy false glosses. Thou sayest “Let the buyer beware”; but God saith “Let the seller be careful that he keep a good conscience.” To sell men what is full of flaws will make a greater flaw in thy conscience than thou art aware of. If thou partest with thy goods and thy honesty, though for a great sum, thou wilt be but a poor gainer. But is a man bound to reveal the faults of what he sells? Yes, or else to take no more for it but what it is worth. Put thyself in the buyer’s place.

2. Be righteous in regard of quantity. Weight and measure are heaven’s treasure (Proverbs 11:1; Leviticus 19:35-36; Deuteronomy 25:13-15).

3. Be righteous in thy manner of selling. The seller may not exact on a buyer’s necessity but sell by the rule of equity. It is wicked by keeping in commodities to raise the market (Proverbs 11:26). Conclusion: In all thy contracts, purchases and sales cast an eye on the golden rule (Mat 7:12; 1 Corinthians 10:24; Galatians 5:24). (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

Conscientiousness

The late Mr. Labouchere had made an agreement previous to his decease, with the Eastern Counties Railway for a passage through his estate near Chelmsford, for which the company were to pay £35,000. When the money had been paid and the passage made, the son of Mr. Labouchere, finding that the property was much less deteriorated than had been expected, voluntarily returned £15,000 to the company. (Quarterly Review.)

The curse of fraud

Perhaps you may once or twice in your life have passed a person whose countenance struck you with a painful amazement. It was the face of a man with features as of flesh and blood, but all hue of flesh and blood was gone, and the whole visage was overspread with a dull silver grey, and a mysterious metallic gloss. You felt wonder, you felt curiosity; but a deep impression of the unnatural made pain the strongest feeling of all which the spectacle excited. You found it was a poor man who, in disease, had taken mercury till it transferred itself through his skin, and glistened in his face. Now, go where he will, he exhibits the proof of his disorder and of the large quantity of metal he has consumed. If you had an eye to see the souls that are about you, many would see--alas! too many--who are just like that; they have swallowed doses of metal--ill-gotten, cankered, rusted metal--till all purity and beauty are destroyed. The metal is in them, throughout them, turning their complexion, attesting their disorder, rendering them shocking to look upon for all eyes that can see souls. If you have unjust gains they do not disfigure the countenance on which we short-sighted creatures look; but they do make your soul a pitiful sight to the great open Eye that does see. Of all poisons and plagues, the deadliest you can admit to your heart is gain which fraud has won. The curse of the Judge is in it; the curse of the Judge will never leave it. It is woe, and withering, and death to you; it will eat you up as fire; it will witness against you--ay, were that poor soul of yours, at this precise moment, to pass into the presence of its Judge, the proof of its money worship would be as clear on its visage as the proof that the man we have described had taken mercury is plain upon his. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Refusing to defraud

A young man stood behind the counter in New York selling silks to a lady, and he said before the sale was consummated: “I see there is a flaw in that silk.” She recognized it and the sale was not consummated. The head of the firm saw the interview and he wrote home to the father of the young man, living in the country, saying: “Dear sir, Come and take your boy; he will never make a merchant.” The father came down from his country home in great consternation, as any father would, wondering what his boy had done. He came into the store and the merchant said to him: “Why your son pointed out a flaw in some silk the other day and spoiled the sale, and we will never have that lady, probably, again for a customer, and your son never will make a merchant.” “Is that all?” said the father. “I am proud of him. I wouldn’t for the world have him another day under your influence. John, get your hat and come--let us start.” There are hundreds of young men under the pressure, under the fascinations thrown around about commercial iniquity. Thousands of young men have gone down under the pressure, other thousands have maintained their integrity. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness--

The Divine call

I. To what does God call?

1. Negatively: “Not unto uncleanness.”

(1) Of mind. Let this warn us against impure imaginations, conceptions, reflections which will make the memory one day a sink of infamy.

(2) Of heart. Let us beware of impure loves, desires.

(3) Of tongue. Away the obscene anecdote or illusion.

(4) Of life. Eschew the licentious associate, the unchaste deed.

2. Positively: “Unto holiness.”

(1) Let your thoughts be holy and be set on good subjects, such as are worth treasuring and will cause no pain in recollection.

(2) Let your feelings be pure. Cherish worthy objects, and aspire after noble ends.

(3) Let your words be clean, such as dignify the instrument and edify the hearer.

(4) Let your life be spent in the society of the good and in compassing righteous ends by righteous deeds.

II. Whom does God call? “Us.” Everybody in general--you in particular. God calls--

1. The young. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the early cultivation of habits of purity. The Holy Being says: “My son, give me thy heart.” All will follow if this be done. If the spring be pure so will the stream be.

2. Women. Christian women are the salt of the earth without whose influence the world had perished in its corruption. And a false delicacy should not seal the lips of those whose duty it is to remind them of their responsibility in this particular. And she whose very presence is sufficient to abash the profligate should be very tenacious and careful of her social power.

3. Men.

(1) Public men are called by God to give effect to the commandment which is “holy and just and good” in the national and provincial parliaments, to make virtue easy and vice difficult.

(2) Private men are called by God to purify society by precept and example.

III. How does God call?

1. By His Word which reflects His holy nature and reveals His holy laws. All its legislation, narrative, biography, poetry, prophecy, doctrine, are summed up in this: “Be ye holy.”

2. By His works. They were made very good. In an elaborate argument (Romans 1:20-32) the apostle shows that the natural order of things is holiness, and that men guilty of impurity sin against nature as well as God.

3. By the course of His government. History affirms the existence and administration of “a Power above us, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness.” Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, perished by their own corruptions--a judgment in each case no less real than that which overtook the cities of the plain. It would be difficult to find a nation that was overthrown until all that was worth preserving was dead. “Righteousness exalteth a nation,” etc.

4. By His economy of redemption. The Cross of Christ and the mission of the Spirit are loud protests against uncleanness and calls to holiness. “Ye are bought with a price.” “Your bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost.”

5. By the witness of conscience which is an echo of the voice of God.

IV. Where is the call to be obeyed?

1. At home. Let that be guarded against desecration as sacredly as a church. Watch with scrupulous care the course of conversation, and the literature upon the table.

2. In the state.

3. In society.

4. In trade. (J. W. Burn.)

Purity

Have you ever reflected upon all that is meant by these words? St. Paul was speaking to those who had but lately been heathens, who were young in the faith, natives of a heathen city, encompassed about with all the sights and sounds, the customs and habits, the fulness of the Pagan life. And what that life was, what those sights and sounds were, I suppose scarcely one of us, certainly none who have not made a special study of those times and of those customs, can even conceive. And we must remember, that it was not only an open external thing, a plague spot in society which people could shun with horror and be left uncontaminated. For the deadliness of this sin is its depths of corruption, the way in which it lays hold of everything, and the external act a sight a sound becomes an inward principle, leaving nothing free. In the midst of this world of impurity, Christianity raised the standard of absolute undoubting purity; and that standard the Church has never lowered. Other sins it may, with some colour of truth, perhaps, be said she has not always repressed; religion may have tended to produce hatred and malice; the Church may have wavered at times from the strict duty of veracity; she may have become corrupted by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches; but one sin she has never touched, one sin has obtained no foothold in the Christian character, one sin has only lifted its head to be detected and denounced and defied, and that is the sin of lust and impurity. We forget what Christianity has done for us because it has done so much; we forget how natural impurity seemed to the heathen world, how they honoured it, and even deified it; and we forget too, or we have not yet become fully aware, how, with all our Christian experience and civilization, irreligion, and even perverted religion, tend to drag men back into that corruption, from which we are preserved by the protection of the Church’s faith and discipline. And this protection is given us above all by the ideal which Christianity holds up to us, the ideal of purity in the Person of Christ. Nor was the purity of Christ the purity of an anchorite; but of One whose work lay among men, and with men, and for men. He who was Purity itself, by His Divine humility condescended to men, not only of low estate, but of sinfulness, impurity, corruption. In this we may see in Him the model for us, whose lives are in the world, who also have to deal with sin, and who also can only be saved by the protecting power of an instinctive purity. But there is a yet further meaning in this active purity. “Unto the pure all things are pure,” not only because he cannot be touched and corrupted by what is impure, but because he himself makes them pure. The true Christian saint has been able to go forth into the world of sin and shame, and by the mere unconscious force of his instinctive purity, turn the corrupted and the impure from powers of evil into living manifestations of Christ’s grace. Nor is it only our fellow men that we have power to cleanse by means of our own purity and innocence: even the impure things of which the world is full are often, when brought into contact with a stainless mind, turned into means, if not of edification, at least of harmless and innocent pleasure. Remember the noble words of one of the purest of poets (Milton) who reading, as he says, the “lofty fables and romances” of knighthood, saw there “in the oath of every knight, that he should defend to the expense of his best blood, or of his life if it so befell him, the honour and chastity of virgin or matron; from whence even then I learnt what a noble virtue chastity must be to the defence of which so many worthies, by such a dear adventure of themselves, had sworn only this my mind gave me, that every free and gentle spirit, without that oath, ought to be born a knight, nor needed to expect the gilt spur or the laying of a sword upon his shoulder, to stir him up both by his counsel and his arm to secure and protect the weakness of any attempted chastity. So that even those books, which to many others have been the fuel of wantonness and loose living, I cannot think how, unless by Divine indulgence, proved to me so many incitements to the love and steadfast observation of virtue.” Such is the reflection of the ideal purity which Christ has shown us, the ideal which we have to aim at. Not a selfish isolated habit of mind, a bare freedom from corrupt thoughts and foul deeds, which is only preserved by careful separation from the things of the world, but an energising spiritual motive, an impetuous, undoubting living principle of action, which can go with us into the sin-stained world, and by the strength of its own innocence, by the glad assumption of the purity of others can make even the sinner a holy penitent. Every life should be a priestly life. Whatever may be your profession, you will be brought into contact with the sins of impurity, and unless you will share in them or at least condone, you must by your personal example fight against them. (A. T. Lyttelton, M. A.)

Called to holiness

Remark the force of the apostle’s expression, we are “called to holiness”: in modern language we should express the same idea by saying, that holiness was our profession. It is thus we say that divinity is the profession of a clergyman, that medicine is the profession of a physician, and that arms are the profession of a soldier; and it is readily understood and allowed, that whatever is a man’s profession, to that he is bound to devote his time and attention, and in that it is expected he has made a proficiency. And precisely in this sense does the Scripture represent holiness to be the profession of a Christian; not merely that his profession is a holy profession, but that the very object and essence of the profession is holiness. To this Christians are called, this is their business, this they are to cultivate continually, this is the mark to which all their endeavours should be directed. (Jones’ Bampton Lectures.)

Desire for holiness

A group of little children were talking together. Presently this question was started: “What is the thing you wish for most?” Some said one thing and some said another. At last it came to the turn of a little boy, ten years old, to speak. This was his answer: “I wish to live without sinning.” What an excellent answer that was! King Solomon, in all his glory and with all his wisdom, could not have given a better.

A holy atmosphere

The spider is said to weave about him a web which is invisible, yet strong, through which the water or air cannot pass. This is filled with air, and surrounded and sustained by this tiny bubble, he descends beneath the surface of the water and lives where another creature would speedily perish. So it is in the power of the Christian to surround himself with a holy atmosphere, and thus nourished, to live unharmed amid a world that is full of sin. (Dr. Williams.)

The importance of purity

By the ancients courage was regarded as practically the main part of virtue: by us, though I hope we are none the less brave, purity is so regarded now. The former is evidently an animal excellence, a thing not to be left out when we are balancing the one against the other. Still the following considerations weigh more with me. Courage, when not an instinct, is the creation of society, depending for occasions of action on outward circumstances, and deriving much both of its character and motives from popular opinion and esteem. But purity is inward, secret, self-suffering, harmless, and, to crown all, thoroughly and intimately personal. It is, indeed, a nature rather than a virtue; and, like other natures, when most perfect is least conscious of itself and its perfection. In a word, courage, however kindled, is fanned by the breath of man; purity lives and derives its life from the Spirit of God. (Guesses at Truth.)

Holiness

is not abstinence from outward deeds of profligacy alone; it is not a mere recoil from impurity in thought. It is that quick and sensitive delicacy to which even the very conception of evil is offensive; it is a virtue which has its residence within, which takes guardianship of the heart, as of a citadel or inviolated sanctuary, in which no wrong or worthless imagination is permitted to dwell. It is not purity of action that we contend for: it is the exalted purity of the heart, the ethereal purity of the third heaven; and if it is at once settled in the heart, it brings the peace, the triumph, and the untroubled serenity of heaven along with it; I had almost said, the pride of a great moral victory over the infirmities of an earthly and accursed nature. There is health and harmony in the soul; a beauty, which, though it effloresees in the countenance and outward path, is itself so thoroughly internal as to make purity of heart the most distinctive evidence of a character that is ripening and expanding for the glories of eternity. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)