Sanctification

Is it by labouring to purify the conduct , that we can reasonably expect to remove the ungodliness in which we are involved ; that we can render ourselves holy and acceptable in the sight of the Lord ; that we can obtain a mastery over all the unhallowed desires and propensities which bind us to a wicked and transient world , which obscure from our view the surpassing glory of eternity , and which are carrying thousands forward to the grave in a state of estrangement from God , and in a state of disobedience to the Gospel; of his Son ; and in short , is it by outward purification , that we can be turned into vessels fit for the masters use , or temples prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ? Of a truth , it were entirely in vain to confine our desires to external reformation ; to begin , to continue , and to end , with the lopping away of a few of these barren and unfruitful and evil branches , which are obvious to the world around us , or to seek to secure the favour of Jehovah by carefully resembling a whited sepulchre . For from within , out of the heart of man , proceed evil thoughts , adultries , fornications , murders , thefts , covetousness , wickedness etc ; all these come from within and defile the man ; and as you can neither make the stream cease to flow , nor decrease its polluted waters , without sealing up or purifying the fountain ; so neither can you adorn your lives in the beauties of holiness , without in the first place submitting your hearts to the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit , and without being renewed in the spirit of your minds . Our inward depravity and estrangement from God , and our enmity to his holy law , is the true cause of our outward defilement The cause must be removed before the effects can cease to be exhibited ; and we ought to be assured , that the wickedness of the life of the greatest profligate that treads upon the earth , is , when compared to the wickedness of his heart , like a partly uncultured field when compared with a wide and unbroken wilderness of briars and thorns and unprofitable weeds . . And we would therefore exhort you , to seek for the agency of the Holy Spirit , to subdue your hard and your stubborn hearts , and make you willing and obedient in a day of his power . Let us ask ,and it shall be given us ; let us seek , and we shall find ; let us knock , and it shall be opened unto us .

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