Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-11-20
7 COUNTY, MISSOURI, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1879.


every regenerate soul.
2nd. God commands His people
to be holy.
3rd. Without holiness no man
can see the Lord. |
The moment soul believes it is
,jndicidlly perfect, for such an one
there is no condemnation. He has
passed from death unto life. Christ
is made unto him wisdom, righteous
ness, sanctiication and redemption.
If any man be in Christ he is new
creature old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are new! Over such
an one sin shall not have dominion.
For he is not under law, as the con-
dition Of life, but under grace; and
Christ is the end of the law for right
eousness for the believer. The saliva
ton provided by Christ is perfect, and
every man whose life is hid with
Christ in God IS legally perfect. Mr..
Wesley, in his "Hymns and Spiritual
Songs" expresses it thus:
''JOn, earth and heaven, to bless
The Lord, our righteousness;
The mystery of redemption this,
This the Sayior's strange design.
Mans offence was counted His,
Ours, His righteousness divine;
In Him. complete. we shine.
His death, His life, is mine;
FuIIy am justified,
Free from sin, and more than free,
Gultless, since for me he died,
Righteous since he lived for me-
Hence, therefore, every believer
lives IN Christ, and His life is their
life-every justified person is judici-
ally perfect. Whenever the law utters
its voice, Christ, the mediator and
advocate, answers. The creature de-
livered from bondage is brought into
the glorious liberty of the children of
God. The soul through Christ is
free-that is, perfect.
But not only is Judicial perfection
taught in the scriptures, but the word
of God enjoins personal holiness.
BE ye holy" is the voice of the law,
and this voice is echoed by the gos-
pei. And it is tue purpose of God
that every believer shall be holy in
heart before he enters glory. The
Omnipotent governor of the universe
leaves no work Of His hands incom-
plete; He carries on as well as begins.
The creature is no sooner justified,
than sanctitication sets in. In justi-
| fication, all the relations of the believ-
er are changed; instead Of being an
outcast, a slave under condemnation.
he is a child of God, assured OF His
love, Of His tenderness and His care !;
He sits with Christ in heavenly places,
and the work Of education for glory
and immortality proceeds. The spirit
of grace descends into the believer 5
heart, and he "grows in grace,
goes from strength TO strength, !"
"addS 10 his faith virtue, and to vir-
tue knowledge" and thus presses
toward the mark for the prize Of the
high calling Of God in Christ Jesus.
Such an one, after years of running
and lighting" may confess like Paul,
III his Old age, that "ha has not at
tained'' and us not already perfect,
but with the same spirit which ami
mated the great apostle, he will ''for-
get those things which are behind
and reach forth unto those things
which are before, and press toward
the mark for tie prize of the higL
calling of God i'll Christ jesus
, While Jesus prays the Father that
He would eanctify His disciples
, through the truth, it is a remarkable
; fact, if perfection of character can be
obtained, that not a promise is made
: in the old or new testament to sin
less man; neither does any believer
, in any dispensation, claim to be with
: out SIN. Abraham. Isaac aud JacOt
all sinncd so did David and Moses
Job said: II abhor myself, and re-
} Dent in dust and ashes" ISAIAH con
, fessed to uncleanliness. Paul said OF
/ Peter, ''that he was to be blamed
and of himself that he was not ''already
, perfect And such has been the
| testimony of the foremost saints ant
? worthless of all ages. The holier the
t man the deeper the sense of unwor
= thness.
: BY perfection is meant works
, which, both in the matter and design
of th I'm and the motives of the agent
5 are what the law requires. In othe
r words, work is good when there il
4 nothing either in the agent or in thu
act which the law condemns. Ii
e this senGe not even the works of tn,
= holiest Of Gods people are good. N
f man is ever, since the fall, in thi
l life, in such an inward state, that b,
; can stand before God and be accept
ed on the ground of what he is or O
: what he does. All our Righteousness
2 Is as filthy rags. (See Hodges
4 Theol: pg, 232, vol. 3.) "rhe patl
e of the just is as the shining ligh
e that shines more and more unto tn
;, perfect day" The christian grow
}. in grace. He first feeds on milk
!. and the meat Of the word. Coo
+ ''leads the blind by way they kne,
> not" 1t is with the spiritual ma
F as with the physical. The babe pos
e sesses faculties that must be develop
Y ed and trained before the period O
: manhood comes. No child that i
+, born to-day, can become man TO
Il morrow. Years of nurture and ex
r pericnce must intervene. Their
+ must be guardians and tutors t
e guide and educate. And so Go,
e ''gave some apostles, and som
e prophets, and some evangelists, ant
b some pastors and teachers, for tn
> perfecting of the saints, for the wor
# of the ministry, for the edifying @
t the body of Christ, till we all com
o in the unity of the faith and of tn
II knowledge of the Son of God unto
o perfect man, unto the measure O
, the stature of the fullness of Christ.
!, Jehovah might easily have led tn
Y Israelites from Egypt TO Canaan in
e months time, but He chose to lea,
It item forty years in the wilderness
h before they reached the promised