CHRISTIAN HOLINESS by Hannah More

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 9, 1861

CHRISTIAN HOLINESS.

By Hannah More

CHRISTIANITY then, exhibits no different standards of goodness applicable to different stations or characters. No one can be allowed to rest in a low degree and plead his exemption for aiming no higher. No one can be secure in any state of piety below that state which would not have been enjoined on all, had not all been entitled to the means of attaining it.

Those who keep their pattern in their eye, though they may fail of the highest attainments,

will not be satisfied with such as are low. The striking inferiority will excite compunction; compunction will stimulate them to press on, which those never do, who, losing sight of their standard, are satisfied with the height they have reached.

He is not likely to be the object of God's favor, who takes his determined stand on the very lowest step in the scale of perfection; who does not even aspire above it, whose aim seems to be, not so much to please God as to escape punishment. Many however will doubtless be accepted though their progress has been small; their difficulties may have been great, their natural capacity weak, their temptation strong, and their instruction defective.

Revelation has not only furnished injunctions, but motives to holiness; not only motives, but examples and authorities. "Be ye therefore perfect (according to your measure and degree) as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And what says the Old Testament? It accords with the New—"Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."

This was the injunction of God himself, not given exclusively to Moses, to the leader and legislator, or to a few distinguished officers, or to a selection of eminent men, but to an immense body of people, even to the whole assembled host of Israel; to men of all ranks, professions, capacities, and characters, to the minister of religion, and to the uninstructed, to enlightened rulers, and to feeble women. "God," says an excellent writer, "had antecedently given to his people particular laws suited to their several exigencies, and various conditions, but the command to be holy was a general (might he not have said a universal) law."

"Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" This is perhaps the sublimest apostrophe of praise (rendered more striking by its interrogatory form) which the Scriptures have recorded. It makes a part of the first song of gratulation which is to be found in the treasury of sacred poetry. This epithet of holy is more frequently affixed to the name of God than any other. His mighty name is less often invoked than his holy name. To offend against this attribute is represented as more heinous than to oppose any other. It has been remarked that the impiety of the Assyrian monarch is not described by his hostility against the great, the Almighty God, but it is made an aggravation of his crime that he had committed it against the Holy One of Israel.

When God condescended to give a pledge for the performance of his promise, he swears by his holiness, as if it were the distinguishing quality which was more especially binding. It seems connected and interwoven with all the divine perfections. Which of his excellences can we contemplate as separated from this? Is not his justice stamped with sanctity? It is free from any tincture of vindictiveness, and is therefore a holy justice. His mercy has none of the partiality, or favoritism, or capricious fondness of human kindness, but is a holy mercy. His holiness is not more the source of his mercies than of his punishments. If his holiness in his severities to us wanted a justification, there cannot be at once a more substantial and more splendid illustration of it than the noble passage already quoted, for he is called "glorious in holiness" immediately after he had vindicated the honor of his name, by the miraculous destruction of the army of Pharaoh.

Is it not then a necessary consequence growing out of his perfections, "that a righteous God loveth righteousness," that he will of course require in his creatures a desire to imitate as well as to adore that attribute by which he himself loves to be distinguished? We cannot indeed, like God, be essentially holy. In an infinite being it is a substance, in a created being it is only an accident. God is the essence of holiness, but we can have no holiness, nor any other good thing, but what we derive from him—It is his prerogative, but our privilege.

If God loves holiness because it is his image, he must consequently hate sin because it defaces his image. If he glorifies his own mercy and goodness in rewarding virtue, he no less vindicates the honor of his holiness in the punishment of vice. A perfect God can no more approve of sin in his creatures than he can commit it himself. He may forgive sin on his own conditions, but there are no conditions on which he can be reconciled to it. The infinite goodness of God may delight in the beneficial purposes to which his infinite wisdom has made the sins of his creatures subservient, but sin itself will always be abhorrent to his nature. His wisdom may turn to a merciful end, but his indignation at the offence cannot be diminished. He loves man, for he cannot but love his own work; he hates sin for that was man's own invention, and no part of the work which God had made. Even in the imperfect administration of human laws, impunity of crimes would be construed into approbation of them.

The law of holiness then, is a law binding on all persons without distinction, not limited to the period nor to the people to whom it was given. It reaches through the whole Jewish dispensation and extends with wider demands and higher sanctions to every Christian, of every denomination, of every age, and every country.

A more sublime motive cannot be assigned why we should be holy than because "the Lord our God is holy." Men of the world have no objection to the terms virtue, morality, integrity, rectitude, but they associate something overacted, not to say hypocritical, with the term holiness, and neither use it in a good sense when applied to others, nor would wish to have it applied to themselves, but make it over, with a little suspicion, and not a little decision, to puritans and enthusiasts.

This suspected epithet, however, is surely rescued from every injurious association, if we consider it as the chosen attribute of the Most High. We do not presume to apply the terms virtue, probity, morality to God, but we ascribe holiness to him because he first ascribed it to himself, as the aggregate and consummation of all his perfections.

Shall so imperfect a being as man then, ridicule the application of this term to others, or be ashamed of it himself? There is a cause indeed which should make him ashamed of the appropriation, that of not deserving it. This comprehensive appellation includes all the christian graces, all the virtues in their just proportion, order, and harmony; in all their bearings, relations and dependencies. And as in God, glory and holiness are united, so the Apostle combines "sanctification and honor" as the glory of man.

Traces more or less of the holiness of God may be found in his works, to those who view them with the eye of faith. They are more plainly visible in his providences; but it is in his word that we must chiefly look for the manifestations of his holiness. He is everywhere described as perfectly holy in himself, as a model to be imitated by his creatures, and, though with an interval immeasurable, as imitable by them.

The great doctrine of redemption is inseparably connected with the doctrine of sanctification. As an admirable writer has observed, "If the blood of Christ reconcile us to the justice of God, the Spirit of Christ is to reconcile us to the holiness of God." When we are told therefore that Christ is made unto us "righteousness," we are in the same place taught that he is made unto us sanctification; that is, he is both justifier and sanctifier. In vain shall we deceive ourselves by resting on his sacrifice, while we neglect to imitate his example.

The glorious spirits which surround the throne of God are not represented as singing hallelujahs to his omnipotence, nor even to his mercy, but to that attribute which, as with a glory, encircles all the rest. They perpetually cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, and it is observable, that the angels which adore him for his holiness are the ministers of his justice. Those pure intelligences perceive, no doubt, that this union of attributes constitutes the divine perfection.

This infinitely blessed Being then, to whom all the hosts of heaven are continually ascribing holiness, has commanded us to be holy. To be holy because God is holy, is both an argument and a command. An argument founded on the perfections of God, and a command to imitate him. This command is given to creatures, fallen indeed, but to whom God graciously promises strength for the imitation. If in God holiness implies an aggregate of perfections; in man, even in his low degree, it is an incorporation of the christian graces.

The holiness of God indeed is confined by no limitation; ours is bounded, finite, imperfect. Yet let us be sedulous to extend our little sphere. Let our desires be large, though our capacities are contracted. Let our aims be lofty, though our attainments are low. Let us be solicitous that no day pass without some augmentation of our holiness, some added height in our aspirations, some wider expansion in the compass of our virtues. Let us strive every day for some superiority to the preceding day, something that shall distinctly mark the passing scene with progress; something that shall inspire an humble hope that we are rather less unfit for heaven to-day, than we were yesterday. The celebrated artist who has recorded that he passed no day without drawing a line, drew it not for repetition, but for progress; not to produce a given number of strokes, but to forward his work, to complete his design. The Christian, like the painter, does not draw his lines at random, he has a model to imitate, as well as an outline to fill. Every touch conforms him more and more to the great original. He who has transfused most of the life of God into his soul, has copied it most successfully.

"To seek happiness," says one of the fathers, "is to desire God, and to find him is that happiness." Our very happiness therefore is not our independent property. It flows from that eternal mind which is the source and sum of happiness. In vain we look for felicity in all around us. It can only be found in that original fountain, whence we, and all we are and have, are derived. Where then is the imaginary wise man of the school of Zeno? What is the perfection of virtue supposed by Aristotle? They have no existence but in the romance of philosophy. Happiness must be imperfect in an imperfect state. Religion, it is true, is initial happiness, and points to its perfection; but as the best men possess it but imperfectly, they cannot be perfectly happy. Nothing can confer completeness which is itself incomplete. "With thee, O Lord, is the fountain of life, and in thy light only we shall see light."

Whatever shall still remain wanting in our attainments, and much will still remain, let this last, greatest, highest consideration stimulate our languid exertions, that God has negatively promised the beatific vision, the enjoyment of his presence, to this attainment, by specifically proclaiming that without holiness none shall see his face. To know God is the rudiments of that eternal life which will hereafter be perfected by seeing him. As there is no stronger reason why we must not look for perfect happiness in this life than because there is no perfect holiness, so the nearer advances we make to the one, the greater progress we shall make toward the other; we must cultivate here those tendencies and tempers which must be carried to perfection in a happier clime. But as holiness is the concomitant of happiness, so must it be its precursor. As sin has destroyed our happiness, so sin must be destroyed before our happiness can be restored. Our nature must be renovated before our felicity can be established. This is according to the nature of things as well as agreeable to the law and will of God. Let us then carefully look to the subduing in our inmost hearts all those dispositions that are unlike God, all those actions,

thoughts, and tendencies that are contrary to God.

Independently therefore of all the other motives to holiness which religion suggests; independently of the fear of punishment, independently even of the hope of glory, let us be holy from this ennobling, elevating motive, because the Lord our God is holy. And when our virtue flags, let it be renovated by this imperative injunction, backed by this irresistible argument. The motive for imitation, and the Being to be imitated seem almost to identify us with infinity. It is a connection which endears, an assimilation which dignifies, a resemblance which elevates. The Apostle has added to the prophet an assurance which makes the crown and consummation of the promise, "that though we know not yet what we shall be, yet we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

In what a beautiful variety of glowing expressions, and admiring strains, do the scripture worthies delight to represent God; not only in relation to what he is to them, but to the supreme excellence of his own transcendent perfections! They expatiate, they amplify, they dwell with unwearied iteration on the adorable theme; they ransack language, they exhaust all the expressions of praise, and wonder, and admiration, all the images of astonishment and delight to laud and magnify his glorious name. They praise him, they bless him, they worship him, they glorify him, they give thanks to him for his great glory, saying, "holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory."

They glorify him relatively to themselves.—"I will magnify thee, O Lord my strength—My help cometh of God—the Lord himself is the portion of my inheritance." At another time soaring with a noble disinterestedness, and quite losing sight of self and all created glories, they adore him for his own incommunicable excellences; "Be thou exalted, O God, in thine own strength." "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Then bursting to a rapture of adoration, and burning with a more intense flame, they cluster his attributes.—"To the king eternal, immortal, invisible, be honor and glory forever and ever." One is lost in admiration of his wisdom—his ascription is "to the only wise God." Another in triumphant strains overflows with transport at the consideration of the attribute on which we have been descanting; "O Lord, who is like unto thee, there is none holy as the Lord." "Sing praises unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks unto him for a remembrance of his holiness."

The prophets and apostles were not deterred from pouring out the overflowings of their fervent spirits, they were not restrained from celebrating the perfections of their Creator, through the cold-hearted fear of being reckoned enthusiasts. The saints of old were not prevented from breathing out their rapturous hosannas to the King of saints, through the coward dread of being branded as fanatical. The conceptions of their minds dilating with the view of the glorious constellations of the divine attributes; and the affections of their hearts warming with the thought that those attributes were all concentrated in Mercy—they display a sublime oblivion of themselves, they forget everything but God. Their own wants dwindle to a point. Their own concerns, nay, the universe itself, shrink into nothing. They seem absorbed in the effulgence of deity, lost, in the radiant beams of infinite glory.—Hannah More.