The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 499

APPLICATION OF SANCTIFICATION image

459

God until we arrive at the perfection proposed to us in a come" (Heidelberg Catechism, q. 115). And is this not

of

life to

Christ's

image?

To be

sanctified, then,

means

to

have Christ obtain stature in

us.

not a few confused signs of holiness, but an organic whole of pure desire and inclination stamped upon the soul, embracing all It is

human spirit and disposition. Hence its progmeasured or numbered, ten degrees now and It is the reflection of Christ's form upon the fifteen next year. mirror-surface of the soul; first in dim outlines, gradually more distinct, until the experienced eye recognizes in it the form of But even in the most advanced it is never more than a Jesus. the powers of the

ress can not be

daguerreotype J in

ImmanueV s per/ect image

will

be revealed in us only

and through death.

The holy

disposition is a "perfect

man,"

i.e.,

a form embracing

the saint's whole personality j an expression of Christ's complete

image, and therefore covering our entire

How foolish, When

effort.

How,

him?

human

being.

then, to speak of sanctification as a result of

human

the person disappears, does not his shadow go with

then, could Christ's image, form, or

us when in our wanderings the soul

is

shadow remain

separated from

in

Him? The

A shadow can not be reThis is why Immanuel is our sanctification in the fullest sense of the word. His form reflecting itself in the soul and the soul retaining that reflection is the whole work of sanctification. brightness disappears with the light. tained.

How can sanctification implant a holy depends upon the reflection of Jesus's form in the soul, since a denial or temporal apostasy separates us from Him? we answer: Can an inherent disposition not exist and continue Finally, to the question.

disposition,

if it

without being exercised?

One may have acquired

(habit) of speaking fluent English, but not speak

year. soul,

the disposition

for a whole So may the disposition or habit of holy desire cleave to the even tho the stream of unholiness cover it for a season. And

the soul science.

is

fully

If

aware of

this

it

by the inward struggle

of the con-

Jesus could lose His hold upon us, yea, then the holy

disposition could not remain.

But, since

amid the deepest

fall,

the soul remains unconsciously in His hand, the objection has no

weight.

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