BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY Part 4
The wisdom of the fathers
BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY Part 4
Bishop Simpson -- "We are put here in this world to work for God, and for this work we need preparation. Take an iron tool that has become rusty and is unfit for use. You must remove the rust before it is fit for use. So God would take us and burn up the dross of sin, and cleanse us by the blood of Jesus, and then we are ready to work for him."
Purification will remove all our inclined alienation from God, all aversion to a holy life. It will secure the subjugation and right use of human passions, so that they become ''instruments of righteousness." While the passions are not destroyed, they may be cleansed from the dross of sin, and regulated and held within the bounds of their legitimate functions, under the reign of grace.
Purity will secure the abiding residence of the Holy Spirit in the heart, without a rival, and will make our growth in grace universal, uniform, and constant. In outward life and morality the regenerate and the wholly purified are the same; but, in the depth of their devotion, in the steadiness of their zeal, in the cheerfulness of their resignation, in the sweetness of their spirit, in the perfection of their love, and in the completeness of their devotion and purity, they widely differ.
A pure heart will sanctify the tongue, and nothing else can. As long as Christians live in a partially purified state, we shall see the inconsistency of "proceeding out of the same mouth blessing and cursing." "My brethren, these things ought not so to be: does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" The heart governs the tongue by a law of necessity. Jesus said, --- "How can you being evil speak good things?" The way, and only way, to cure an unruly tongue is to have the heart cleansed.
...When all impurity is washed from the soul, there is an end of "blessing and cursing," of "sweet water and bitter" flowing from the same heart. Unto the pure, all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is NOTHING PURE, but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Titus 1. 15. (from "Purity and Maturity" by J.A. Wood)