The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-09-07
AT THE CHURCHES.

At the Methodist church the pastor
preached from I'd Cor. 7th Chapter lst.
verse.
"Having therefore these promises dear
ly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from
all tllthiness of the flesh and spirit per-
fecting holiness in the fear of God"
The preacher called the text further
on" sign and after a brief introduction
took up and discussed the promises of
God referred to by Paul, and said:
ave notice that the word is in the plu-
raj, which leads us to think that Paul re-
ferred to ali the promises which God has
given.to His workers here below. Some
of these promises we cannot understand
they are not in line with our reason. The
same can be said of many things in our
Bible, but God understands all about
them, "his ways are higher than our
ways and his thoughts are higher than
our thoughts, and He is able TO perform
all that He has promised. Back in
Isaiah we find the promise Fear not I"
when thou passest through the
waters l will be with thee" Again in
Mathew "Lo l am with you always !"
Are these promised fulfilled? Yes, and in
their fulfillment Alfred Goodman was
able to say when dying 81 am sweeping
through the gates washed in the blood of
the Lamb" And Toplady, author of that
beautiful song, "Rock of Ages" was also
able to say THE sky is clear there is no
cloud" Let us compare these words with
those of Hobbs the infidel philosopher who
said when dying "If | had the world to
dispose of l would give it to live one
day." Then listen to Gibbon, the histori-
an, noted sceptic, "The' present is a
fleeting moment the past is no more and
my prospect of futurity is dark and
doubtful" How great the contrast, Cook
man sweeping through the gates"
Toplady going out under clear skies;
Hobbs wishing for more time and Gibbon
going out surrounded by clouds. Ah!
prefer to walk in the way that promises
clear skies, and a rod and staff to sup
port me when l make my exit from this
life."
After further consideration of this
part of his subject the speaker took up
cleansing and said
sin an enemy's country it is not strange
that we should receive wounds occasion
ally, and these wounds must be healed
with the balm provided or they soon be-
come fostering sore, which destroys
life. But it is mistake to think that
anyone can at will go over to the enemy,
get all covered with wounds, and then
come and get healed only in turn to go
again. Such action is desertion besides
trespassing on Gods goodness Ezekiel
1920 We must keep in sight our colors,
continue in the march and visit often the
cleansing pool What does
Paul mean by fllthiness of the flesh? 1t
must be that he refers to sinful lusts
while pride, envy, avarice and hatred may
be called filthiness of the spirit. Are we
fully cleansed from all these? If upon
self examination we find one or more of
these things in our heart let us apply, by
faith, the cleansing blood
The speaker took up the last part of
his text by saying that it was delicate
subject and on account of limited time
could only briefly consider it, continuing
and closing as follows:
sour text seems to teach perfect holi-
ness or as some call it entire sanctifica.
ton. What is it? The simplest definition
| have ever found is given by Wakefield
in his Theology when he says THAT II
may be defined to be an entire conformi
ty of heart and life to the will of God as
it is made known to us in His word tha
it must mean "the maturity or perfection
of all the fruits of the Spirit which com
pose the Christian character and these al,
love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentle
ness, goodness, faith, meekness ant
temperance"
Can this state be reached? Certainly i
can and is expressly commanded. Blu
this state does not imply state of indie
fectibility, neither does 1t exclude tn
possibility of temptation for Adam mad
as pure and free from sin as the angel
was tempted and fell. We are to b,
cleansed from all unrighteousness, lov
God with all our heart and our neighbo
as ourself. All this may not be brough
about in day but it is certainly withi
our reach and having the many promise
of God let us invoke the aid of the thir,
person in the Trinity and perfect the worl