The Substance and Test of Christianity
By Uriah Smith
PAUL, in Heb. 12:14, lays upon us two solemn injunctions, to which these descriptive terms may be applied. These are his words: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” More fully expressed, his words would read as follows: Pursue peace with all men, and pursue holiness; for without this holiness, or apart from it, no man shall see the Lord. This double exhortation from the apostle, to follow peace, or live peaceably with all men, and follow holiness, contains the whole substance and test of the Christian life. The element, “holiness,” is so essential that without it no one can be permitted to look upon the face of his Lord. This is why these exhortations comprise the whole real substance and test of the Christian life. In his model sermon on the mount, our Lord himself included these two ideas. His words will at once occur to every Bible reader: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matt. 5:9. And again, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8. Such scriptures, and many parallel passages scattered all through the Bible, are, to the true Christian, pearls of great price. Christians desire to leave behind them a path which will shine as a thread of light through all the dark shadows of the earth, and finally they wish to be admitted with a blessed welcome into the presence of their Lord. Matt. 25:34. The apostle tells us how to secure this. Be peacemakers; “follow peace with all men;” and follow after that holiness without which no man shall see God, and with which, it follows, that all shall see him. And thus the way is pointed out whereby, if we have such a desire in our hearts as that which stirred the heart of the patriarch Job, it may be gratified: “Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!” Job 23:3. Following the course here marked out, the Christian will be faithful to God and his truth. His testimony will be always against sin and unbelief, against unfaithfulness and hypocrisy in the church. Love is the element of his life, and peace is his characteristic. He loves his brethren, and all men, and can deal with them tenderly and calmly, always praising the4boundless grace of God in which he stands, and by which he acquires that holiness which will admit him at last to the blessed vision of God. The holiness referred to must be the holiness of Christ. “Be ye holy; for I am holy;” and, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” is the standard held up for us by the two highest Beings in the universe. 1 Peter 1:16; Matt. 5:48. Thus it is seen that holiness is an indispensable qualification for heaven; but, as Bishop Huntington observes: “Holiness is not to be confounded with virtue.” And it is no disparagement to virtue to affirm this distinction. “They are names of two things, not one and the same. They do not express the same quality of character. They are fed from different fountains—virtue from moral principle; holiness from communion with God in Christ. Holiness requires virtue; for no man can be holy without being virtuous. But holiness is the essential root; virtue, the essential fruit. And holiness was never obtained by a few desultory snatches of sober reflection, hastily dismissed—a few vague impressions in churches or cemeteries. It must be treated like an interest, a pursuit, a profession. It is the great livelihood of your hearts, the vocation of your souls. It must be begun, followed, and never ended. Resolve, deliberation, and continuous effort are its motive powers. All your members are its flexile instruments. The Bible is its text-book. Morning, noon, and evening are its periods of exercise. Prayer is its rehearsal. God, answering, is its teacher. Christ is its pattern. Special, express, intentional, must the striving after holiness be, in order to secure it.” The man who has not holiness cannot lay the flattering unction to his soul that he is “about right;” for all his work partakes of his own character as a stream betrays the nature of the fountain, or the fruit the kind of tree that produces it. If a man is not holy, his doings are not holy; and the more of that kind of work he does, the more undone he is. The apostle speaks to the sinner as treasuring up to himself, after the hardness of his impenitent heart, wrath against the day of wrath. Rom. 2:5. But the same apostle speaks of another class who sow to the Spirit, and of the Spirit reap life everlasting. These are they who follow after holiness. And this is the result to which the Lord calls them; “for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” For he hath “called us . . . unto holiness.” 1 Thess. 5:9; 4:7. U. S.