For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. It is freely offered to every person and not fixed to the elect by unalterable decree, so those who are lost fail only through their own willful refusal of the gift of life. That saving grace also teaches those who receive it to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly with self-control in this present world. It directs believers to look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ gave Himself to redeem people from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works, changing the natural disposition and making fallen people fit for heaven.
Grace Appeared to All
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. Its appearing works not merely by enjoining through force of command but by communicating divine knowledge to teach and train people. It is to be proclaimed in simplicity by uplifting the Man of Calvary higher and still higher, with watching, prayer, work, belief and waiting, and with no breath wasted in controversy.
That grace came through Christ the Majesty of heaven clothing His divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the human race. Through Him men and women are made partakers of the divine nature with power to overcome as He overcame. The grace in Jesus Christ that brings salvation also brings immortality and eternal life to light. Through it God's people are educated in salvation and godliness rather than in minor rules of etiquette, and prepared for immortality and continuing education in heaven.
Its appearing means the great day of salvation has come. The verse sets forth the mission of Christ. That mission is to give salvation to all who will be reconciled to God.
Instruction for Holy Living
The grace that saves also teaches those who receive it to turn away from ungodliness and worldly desires and to live with sobriety, righteousness, and godliness in this present world. That teaching is self-control and devotion to God rather than indulgence of the natural heart, a training in denying what is ungodly and ordering life aright now. The same instruction directs believers to keep looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It joins holy living in the present to expectancy of Christ's glorious personal appearing, so that sobriety and righteousness are lived out while awaiting Him.
Joined to the next verse, this training includes self-control and temperance as part of God's purpose for humanity. It lays out plain duty for young and old, rich and poor, that there is one path to travel and one Saviour to serve, love, honor, and obey. In doing so it presents the standard of true Christianity and a blameless character, calling for careful studying and practicing of the Word unto soundness in the faith and ever-increasing ability to defend and maintain the truth, with striving to win the imperishable, immortal crown of life.
Its instruction meets the believer at every step, teaching how to ascertain the will of the Lord and then to walk in harmony with it. That grace is sought by earnest labor and prayer, while remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and it is the privilege of following on to know the Lord, whom to know aright is life eternal. What it teaches is to be reflected in speech and conduct showing that truth has taken hold of the soul, in lives of faithful conduct and good works. Such conduct and good works adorn the teaching about God the Saviour, while professing Christ and yet denying Him by actions contradicts its teaching and calls for a changed life.
It is connected with godly self-denial in which true happiness comes from acting by principle rather than impulse or show. That self-denial puts duty and industry before pleasure as the way of happiness.
Christ's Redeeming Work
Christ gave Himself to redeem people from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. That redeeming gift cleanses from unrighteousness and makes believers His own, distinct from the world and eager and devoted to do good. The sacrifice of Christ is the price paid to save a perishing world, and those joined to Christ belong to God and are to honor Him in body and spirit.
Where sin reigned to death, grace abounds much more and reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Christ Jesus. By His death as the Lamb of God He takes away the sin of the world. Christian character is to be formed in this life so believers can represent Christ now rather than wait for His return to receive the needed virtue and grace.
Christ's grace brings salvation by creating enmity against Satan in the human heart. Without this converting grace and renewing power people remain Satan's captives ready to obey him, but the power Christ gives enables them to resist him and overcome sinful passions.
Salvation Freely Offered
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people, so salvation is freely offered to every person and not fixed to the elect by unalterable decree. The Spirit is freely given to enable every person to lay hold of salvation, and those who are lost fail only through their own willful refusal of the gift of life. It means God desires all to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth, and Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all. It refutes the doctrine of divine decrees unalterably fixing human character, and the excuses that the reprobate lack power to obey and the elect are irresistibly led to virtue.
Even a guilty, faultfinding sinner still has hope because God's saving grace has been made available to everyone. Where sin reigned to death, grace abounds much more and reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Christ Jesus, who by His death as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Yet to see heaven a person must be made new by the word of truth and changed to be like Christ in character.
The grace that brings salvation had appeared to France in the light of truth revealing its power and holiness and divine beauty, so that thousands were drawn and cities and hamlets were illuminated by its radiance. France beheld that light and then turned away, choosing darkness rather than light and putting from them the heavenly gift when it was offered. By calling evil good and good evil they fell victims to willful self-deception, leaving the nation in terrible darkness. Though they believed they were doing God service in persecuting His people, their sincerity did not render them guiltless, because they had willfully rejected the light that would have saved them from deception and from staining their souls with blood-guiltiness.
God's saving grace had appeared in Jerusalem through Christ, and when the city rejected His love and mercy that grace would no longer be heard there, and its rejection brought desolation. Every soul must make the decision for the grace of Jesus Christ in this life, which fixes destiny in the future life. It calls for an intelligent, pure, and cordial belief in that grace, which places the feet on the eternal Rock.
Power That Transforms
The grace that brings salvation leads into a sanctified life shaped by Jesus and lived through daily faith in Him. It works within all who receive and believe, and where opposing influences press against it, love masters every competing motive until through faith and prayerful reliance the believer is transformed and lifted into fellowship with Christ above the world's corrupting influences.
It changes the natural disposition by subduing the desires that control the natural heart and makes fallen people fit to enter heaven and enjoy the company of holy angels. Without this refining change heaven would hold no attraction for the carnal-minded. When a person dies to sin and receives life in Christ, divine love fills the heart and the sanctified understanding finds lasting joy and knowledge in God's light. Restoration from sin requires God's supernatural power through Jesus Christ, for only His power can break evil's hold, cleanse from sin through the blood of the Crucified One, and enable people to resist and subdue the tendencies of fallen human nature.
The Spirit makes this salvation effective by giving life to those dead in sin, freeing them from sin's slavery and the law's condemnation, and bringing conversion, peace, and lasting assurance, so that those made free become obedient children who delight in God's law. It has power to transform the whole being of body, soul, and spirit. Those who receive it reveal Christ's character of love, are set apart from the world, and are covered by their Redeemer's righteousness. Schools and sanitariums are to reveal that transforming power and so be centers of light and blessing in every true reform and important factors in spreading temperance principles, with those who have light on true reform accountable to let it shine by standing in the front ranks of temperance.
Its saving power restores people's lost kingship and gives them mastery over themselves, and living out its principles makes the gospel's saving power visible to the world in Christlike lives. It works as an abiding principle in the heart that transforms people and enables true temperance and health reform, which pledges and dietary restrictions alone cannot produce. That grace is broader than is commonly conceived, including an education Christ gives to all who will follow on to know the Lord, working through each person's individuality rather than through one human plan alone. It takes people as they are and educates them steadily after Christ's methods, working through the Spirit on fierce passions and defective traits of character until people are filled with the Holy Spirit and formed in the likeness of God.
It blends the life with the life of Christ while preserving individuality, making the person one with Him and reconciled to God through the obedience and death of His Son. It is received by entire surrender in becoming His little children, where His gentleness makes great, and every soul must make the decision for it in this life that fixes destiny in the future life. Those who recognize their spiritual poverty and know they cannot save themselves or do anything righteous on their own long for this grace and value Christ's help and righteousness, while pride and self-satisfaction keep people from seeking and receiving it. When God's people humble themselves before Him and adhere to His principles of justice, He reveals His love and grace through them, and when felt it produces results that seem supernatural: brethren loving one another, hearts overflowing with Christlike compassion, and unworldly actions which grace alone can produce.
The gospel refines and ennobles those who receive it: faith works through love, purifies the soul, and makes spirit and character Christlike, meek, and humble. It sanctifies judgment and shapes the whole life rather than making coarse or discourteous. Christ's saving grace brings spiritual refreshment that waters souls dried up by selfishness, and giving willingly and wholeheartedly to support missionary work brings blessing to the giver.
Sharing Grace With Others
God brings saving grace to the world through His chosen people, whom He calls to become agents in saving others, for His purpose in adopting them is not only to make them His children but to make them the means by which the nations receive saving grace, as Abraham's calling to share God's blessings illustrates. Grace brings redemption, regeneration, and adoption as heirs with Jesus Christ and is to be revealed to others, and Christ uses even those who seem hopeless and have been debased by Satan, making them subjects of His grace and delivering them from suffering and coming wrath. Those made His children become agents in this work and find reward in its success even in this life.
The grace that has appeared to all teaches a changed life that does not use God's blessings for selfish pleasure but imparts divine knowledge to those who do not see their danger and responsibility, earnestly warning them and using knowledge in harmony with the Redeemer's will. It requires the soul cleansed from all self-indulgence, pride, and vanity, the powers of the whole being consecrated to God's service in denying ungodliness and worldly lust, firm defense of pure holy principles of right, obedience to the great Teacher with the will conformed to His will, and refusal to be led away by the enemy's temptations. It cherishes constant thanksgiving and gratitude, praising God by patience, tenderness, thoughtfulness, and eagerness to help others, working in Christ's lines to show genuine love for Him and improving every privilege as faithful minute-men. The knowledge of salvation is to be plainly taught to everyone, high or low and rich or poor, including knowledge of sin and redemption from sin's fearful effects, bondage, and defilement.
Its intended reach to all gives reason to use resources faithfully and generously so salvation's message can go to every region, and giving willingly and wholeheartedly to missionary work brings blessing to the giver while watering souls dried up by selfishness with spiritual refreshment. Evidence that this grace has wrought upon the heart is ground for heartily receiving all who confess faith into the church without regard to poverty, rank, tribe, nationality, name, position, or wealth. Where that grace has wrought, men and women become sons and daughters of God who deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, take their stand on the Lord's side, and as branches of the True Vine receive nourishment to bear like fruit, cooperating with God according to ability by exercising themselves unto godliness and walking in newness of life in daily repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
The verse clearly outlines the work of all who hold positions of responsibility, requiring life and character to undergo education with heart and mind brought under God's control, and requiring those in trust to educate and train young men and women to be channels of light to the world. Through this grace in Jesus Christ, which brings salvation and brings immortality and eternal life to light, God's people are educated in salvation and godliness rather than in minor rules of etiquette and prepared for immortality and continuing education in heaven. Teachers can work with God to educate in salvation and godliness and help prepare for the final transformation into immortal life. It belongs to the education that trains all powers to glorify God in consecrated service, teaching youth and the church how to rightly use time, money, and holidays in the training needed to be ready for the day of trial coming as a thief in the night. Ministers need to receive its grace and power daily so they can labor faithfully for souls, since it is not only the means of salvation but teaches rejecting ungodliness and worldly desires to live soberly, righteously, and godly.
Schools and sanitariums are to reveal its transforming power over the whole being of body, soul, and spirit and so be centers of light and blessing in every true reform, with an important duty in spreading temperance principles and standing in the front ranks of temperance by those who have light on true reform. In these last days that grace is cleaving out a people from the world and purifying them unto God, which requires leaving pride and unhealthful fashions and love of display and desire for approbation with the world in order to be renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator. It sets forth duty to God and His claims, calling to obey God, leave worldly ways, come out and be separate, lift the cross in obeying God's commandments instead of living for pleasure, dancing, and amusement, while looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ who gave Himself to redeem from all iniquity and purify a peculiar people zealous of good works.
It calls God's people in the last days to remain distinct from the world rather than mingle with it as ancient Israel did in rebellion, and holds its appearing as a precious promise to youth who seek the Saviour early, calling them to warfare with a daily cross in coming out of the world and imitating Christ's life. It calls every family to leave the Laodicean condition, change position, reform the church in the home, keep conversation pure and elevating, and calls parents to be aroused and converted so sanctification shines in clear rays, warning against continuing in transgression and promising that all who humble themselves in repentance, confession, and drawing near to God will have God draw near to them and all who see the Son and believe on Him will have everlasting life, for the great day of salvation has come. It calls sleeping churches to be aroused to understand the great work to be done and calls believers to press together. It presses striving to win the imperishable, immortal crown of life and calls for carefully studying and practicing the Word, which gives blameless character, soundness in the faith, and ever-increasing ability to defend and maintain the truth, laying out plain duty for young and old, rich and poor that there is one path to travel and one Saviour to serve, love, honor, and obey. This calls for seeking right principles and purposes, praying more and talking less, and speaking pure, sanctified, unselfish words bearing God's approval. This instruction is to be known by experience through Christ clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race and make men and women partakers of the divine nature with power to overcome as He overcame, and imparted to worn, weary souls longing for light and life.
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. It is freely offered to every person and not fixed to the elect by unalterable decree, so those who are lost fail only through their own willful refusal of the gift of life. That saving grace also teaches those who receive it to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly with self-control in this present world. It directs believers to look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ gave Himself to redeem people from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works, changing the natural disposition and making fallen people fit for heaven.
Grace Appeared to All
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. Its appearing works not merely by enjoining through force of command but by communicating divine knowledge to teach and train people. It is to be proclaimed in simplicity by uplifting the Man of Calvary higher and still higher, with watching, prayer, work, belief and waiting, and with no breath wasted in controversy.
That grace came through Christ the Majesty of heaven clothing His divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the human race. Through Him men and women are made partakers of the divine nature with power to overcome as He overcame. The grace in Jesus Christ that brings salvation also brings immortality and eternal life to light. Through it God's people are educated in salvation and godliness rather than in minor rules of etiquette, and prepared for immortality and continuing education in heaven.
Its appearing means the great day of salvation has come. The verse sets forth the mission of Christ. That mission is to give salvation to all who will be reconciled to God.
Instruction for Holy Living
The grace that saves also teaches those who receive it to turn away from ungodliness and worldly desires and to live with sobriety, righteousness, and godliness in this present world. That teaching is self-control and devotion to God rather than indulgence of the natural heart, a training in denying what is ungodly and ordering life aright now. The same instruction directs believers to keep looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It joins holy living in the present to expectancy of Christ's glorious personal appearing, so that sobriety and righteousness are lived out while awaiting Him.
Joined to the next verse, this training includes self-control and temperance as part of God's purpose for humanity. It lays out plain duty for young and old, rich and poor, that there is one path to travel and one Saviour to serve, love, honor, and obey. In doing so it presents the standard of true Christianity and a blameless character, calling for careful studying and practicing of the Word unto soundness in the faith and ever-increasing ability to defend and maintain the truth, with striving to win the imperishable, immortal crown of life.
Its instruction meets the believer at every step, teaching how to ascertain the will of the Lord and then to walk in harmony with it. That grace is sought by earnest labor and prayer, while remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and it is the privilege of following on to know the Lord, whom to know aright is life eternal. What it teaches is to be reflected in speech and conduct showing that truth has taken hold of the soul, in lives of faithful conduct and good works. Such conduct and good works adorn the teaching about God the Saviour, while professing Christ and yet denying Him by actions contradicts its teaching and calls for a changed life.
It is connected with godly self-denial in which true happiness comes from acting by principle rather than impulse or show. That self-denial puts duty and industry before pleasure as the way of happiness.
Christ's Redeeming Work
Christ gave Himself to redeem people from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. That redeeming gift cleanses from unrighteousness and makes believers His own, distinct from the world and eager and devoted to do good. The sacrifice of Christ is the price paid to save a perishing world, and those joined to Christ belong to God and are to honor Him in body and spirit.
Where sin reigned to death, grace abounds much more and reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Christ Jesus. By His death as the Lamb of God He takes away the sin of the world. Christian character is to be formed in this life so believers can represent Christ now rather than wait for His return to receive the needed virtue and grace.
Christ's grace brings salvation by creating enmity against Satan in the human heart. Without this converting grace and renewing power people remain Satan's captives ready to obey him, but the power Christ gives enables them to resist him and overcome sinful passions.
Salvation Freely Offered
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people, so salvation is freely offered to every person and not fixed to the elect by unalterable decree. The Spirit is freely given to enable every person to lay hold of salvation, and those who are lost fail only through their own willful refusal of the gift of life. It means God desires all to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth, and Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all. It refutes the doctrine of divine decrees unalterably fixing human character, and the excuses that the reprobate lack power to obey and the elect are irresistibly led to virtue.
Even a guilty, faultfinding sinner still has hope because God's saving grace has been made available to everyone. Where sin reigned to death, grace abounds much more and reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Christ Jesus, who by His death as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Yet to see heaven a person must be made new by the word of truth and changed to be like Christ in character.
The grace that brings salvation had appeared to France in the light of truth revealing its power and holiness and divine beauty, so that thousands were drawn and cities and hamlets were illuminated by its radiance. France beheld that light and then turned away, choosing darkness rather than light and putting from them the heavenly gift when it was offered. By calling evil good and good evil they fell victims to willful self-deception, leaving the nation in terrible darkness. Though they believed they were doing God service in persecuting His people, their sincerity did not render them guiltless, because they had willfully rejected the light that would have saved them from deception and from staining their souls with blood-guiltiness.
God's saving grace had appeared in Jerusalem through Christ, and when the city rejected His love and mercy that grace would no longer be heard there, and its rejection brought desolation. Every soul must make the decision for the grace of Jesus Christ in this life, which fixes destiny in the future life. It calls for an intelligent, pure, and cordial belief in that grace, which places the feet on the eternal Rock.
Power That Transforms
The grace that brings salvation leads into a sanctified life shaped by Jesus and lived through daily faith in Him. It works within all who receive and believe, and where opposing influences press against it, love masters every competing motive until through faith and prayerful reliance the believer is transformed and lifted into fellowship with Christ above the world's corrupting influences.
It changes the natural disposition by subduing the desires that control the natural heart and makes fallen people fit to enter heaven and enjoy the company of holy angels. Without this refining change heaven would hold no attraction for the carnal-minded. When a person dies to sin and receives life in Christ, divine love fills the heart and the sanctified understanding finds lasting joy and knowledge in God's light. Restoration from sin requires God's supernatural power through Jesus Christ, for only His power can break evil's hold, cleanse from sin through the blood of the Crucified One, and enable people to resist and subdue the tendencies of fallen human nature.
The Spirit makes this salvation effective by giving life to those dead in sin, freeing them from sin's slavery and the law's condemnation, and bringing conversion, peace, and lasting assurance, so that those made free become obedient children who delight in God's law. It has power to transform the whole being of body, soul, and spirit. Those who receive it reveal Christ's character of love, are set apart from the world, and are covered by their Redeemer's righteousness. Schools and sanitariums are to reveal that transforming power and so be centers of light and blessing in every true reform and important factors in spreading temperance principles, with those who have light on true reform accountable to let it shine by standing in the front ranks of temperance.
Its saving power restores people's lost kingship and gives them mastery over themselves, and living out its principles makes the gospel's saving power visible to the world in Christlike lives. It works as an abiding principle in the heart that transforms people and enables true temperance and health reform, which pledges and dietary restrictions alone cannot produce. That grace is broader than is commonly conceived, including an education Christ gives to all who will follow on to know the Lord, working through each person's individuality rather than through one human plan alone. It takes people as they are and educates them steadily after Christ's methods, working through the Spirit on fierce passions and defective traits of character until people are filled with the Holy Spirit and formed in the likeness of God.
It blends the life with the life of Christ while preserving individuality, making the person one with Him and reconciled to God through the obedience and death of His Son. It is received by entire surrender in becoming His little children, where His gentleness makes great, and every soul must make the decision for it in this life that fixes destiny in the future life. Those who recognize their spiritual poverty and know they cannot save themselves or do anything righteous on their own long for this grace and value Christ's help and righteousness, while pride and self-satisfaction keep people from seeking and receiving it. When God's people humble themselves before Him and adhere to His principles of justice, He reveals His love and grace through them, and when felt it produces results that seem supernatural: brethren loving one another, hearts overflowing with Christlike compassion, and unworldly actions which grace alone can produce.
The gospel refines and ennobles those who receive it: faith works through love, purifies the soul, and makes spirit and character Christlike, meek, and humble. It sanctifies judgment and shapes the whole life rather than making coarse or discourteous. Christ's saving grace brings spiritual refreshment that waters souls dried up by selfishness, and giving willingly and wholeheartedly to support missionary work brings blessing to the giver.
Sharing Grace With Others
God brings saving grace to the world through His chosen people, whom He calls to become agents in saving others, for His purpose in adopting them is not only to make them His children but to make them the means by which the nations receive saving grace, as Abraham's calling to share God's blessings illustrates. Grace brings redemption, regeneration, and adoption as heirs with Jesus Christ and is to be revealed to others, and Christ uses even those who seem hopeless and have been debased by Satan, making them subjects of His grace and delivering them from suffering and coming wrath. Those made His children become agents in this work and find reward in its success even in this life.
The grace that has appeared to all teaches a changed life that does not use God's blessings for selfish pleasure but imparts divine knowledge to those who do not see their danger and responsibility, earnestly warning them and using knowledge in harmony with the Redeemer's will. It requires the soul cleansed from all self-indulgence, pride, and vanity, the powers of the whole being consecrated to God's service in denying ungodliness and worldly lust, firm defense of pure holy principles of right, obedience to the great Teacher with the will conformed to His will, and refusal to be led away by the enemy's temptations. It cherishes constant thanksgiving and gratitude, praising God by patience, tenderness, thoughtfulness, and eagerness to help others, working in Christ's lines to show genuine love for Him and improving every privilege as faithful minute-men. The knowledge of salvation is to be plainly taught to everyone, high or low and rich or poor, including knowledge of sin and redemption from sin's fearful effects, bondage, and defilement.
Its intended reach to all gives reason to use resources faithfully and generously so salvation's message can go to every region, and giving willingly and wholeheartedly to missionary work brings blessing to the giver while watering souls dried up by selfishness with spiritual refreshment. Evidence that this grace has wrought upon the heart is ground for heartily receiving all who confess faith into the church without regard to poverty, rank, tribe, nationality, name, position, or wealth. Where that grace has wrought, men and women become sons and daughters of God who deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, take their stand on the Lord's side, and as branches of the True Vine receive nourishment to bear like fruit, cooperating with God according to ability by exercising themselves unto godliness and walking in newness of life in daily repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
The verse clearly outlines the work of all who hold positions of responsibility, requiring life and character to undergo education with heart and mind brought under God's control, and requiring those in trust to educate and train young men and women to be channels of light to the world. Through this grace in Jesus Christ, which brings salvation and brings immortality and eternal life to light, God's people are educated in salvation and godliness rather than in minor rules of etiquette and prepared for immortality and continuing education in heaven. Teachers can work with God to educate in salvation and godliness and help prepare for the final transformation into immortal life. It belongs to the education that trains all powers to glorify God in consecrated service, teaching youth and the church how to rightly use time, money, and holidays in the training needed to be ready for the day of trial coming as a thief in the night. Ministers need to receive its grace and power daily so they can labor faithfully for souls, since it is not only the means of salvation but teaches rejecting ungodliness and worldly desires to live soberly, righteously, and godly.
Schools and sanitariums are to reveal its transforming power over the whole being of body, soul, and spirit and so be centers of light and blessing in every true reform, with an important duty in spreading temperance principles and standing in the front ranks of temperance by those who have light on true reform. In these last days that grace is cleaving out a people from the world and purifying them unto God, which requires leaving pride and unhealthful fashions and love of display and desire for approbation with the world in order to be renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator. It sets forth duty to God and His claims, calling to obey God, leave worldly ways, come out and be separate, lift the cross in obeying God's commandments instead of living for pleasure, dancing, and amusement, while looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ who gave Himself to redeem from all iniquity and purify a peculiar people zealous of good works.
It calls God's people in the last days to remain distinct from the world rather than mingle with it as ancient Israel did in rebellion, and holds its appearing as a precious promise to youth who seek the Saviour early, calling them to warfare with a daily cross in coming out of the world and imitating Christ's life. It calls every family to leave the Laodicean condition, change position, reform the church in the home, keep conversation pure and elevating, and calls parents to be aroused and converted so sanctification shines in clear rays, warning against continuing in transgression and promising that all who humble themselves in repentance, confession, and drawing near to God will have God draw near to them and all who see the Son and believe on Him will have everlasting life, for the great day of salvation has come. It calls sleeping churches to be aroused to understand the great work to be done and calls believers to press together. It presses striving to win the imperishable, immortal crown of life and calls for carefully studying and practicing the Word, which gives blameless character, soundness in the faith, and ever-increasing ability to defend and maintain the truth, laying out plain duty for young and old, rich and poor that there is one path to travel and one Saviour to serve, love, honor, and obey. This calls for seeking right principles and purposes, praying more and talking less, and speaking pure, sanctified, unselfish words bearing God's approval. This instruction is to be known by experience through Christ clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race and make men and women partakers of the divine nature with power to overcome as He overcame, and imparted to worn, weary souls longing for light and life.