Is an entirely sanctified state a blissful one?
Holiness is bliss itself! -- conscious purity -- soul harmony! Supreme delight in God, and the object of its delight always present. Loving God with all the heart and soul is the highest bliss of which our nature is capable. The pure heart can triumphantly say
"I love thee so, I know not how, My transports to control
Thy love is like a burning fire Within my very soul. "
In reading the gospels and epistles we are struck with the joyousness, hope, and triumph, mentioned of believers everywhere. The words which we see most frequently are "Love," "Joy," "Peace," "Praise," "Thanksgiving," "Joy unspeakable and full of Glory." The primitive church was a "royal priesthood," "a holy nation," going to Mount Zion with songs and triumph and not a company of weeping, doubting, fearing, trembling, groaning professors.
O the blessedness of full communion with Christ, and his lovely image shining upon our hearts! Holiness secures a moral standpoint, where "Immanuel," "God with us," "The Rose Of Sharon," "The Lily of the Valley," "the brightness of the Father's glory" is clearly apprehended, and his charming glories are poured upon the soul. The life of Christ in the entirely sanctified, is a life of love, pure, boundless, changeless love. This experience once possessed and established in the soul, carries the peace, the triumph, the serenity of heaven with it. It has been beautifully said, "The opening of the streets of heaven are upon the earth." Even here we may enjoy many a sweet foretaste of coming bliss.
"God is love," -- infinite love! Who can fathom it?
"Yes, measure love, when thou canst tell The lands where seraphs have not trod, The heights of heaven, the depths of hell, And lay thy finite measuring rod
On the infinitude of God."
Holiness is bliss itself! -- conscious purity -- soul harmony! Supreme delight in God, and the object of its delight always present. Loving God with all the heart and soul is the highest bliss of which our nature is capable. The pure heart can triumphantly say
"I love thee so, I know not how, My transports to control
Thy love is like a burning fire Within my very soul. "
In reading the gospels and epistles we are struck with the joyousness, hope, and triumph, mentioned of believers everywhere. The words which we see most frequently are "Love," "Joy," "Peace," "Praise," "Thanksgiving," "Joy unspeakable and full of Glory." The primitive church was a "royal priesthood," "a holy nation," going to Mount Zion with songs and triumph and not a company of weeping, doubting, fearing, trembling, groaning professors.
O the blessedness of full communion with Christ, and his lovely image shining upon our hearts! Holiness secures a moral standpoint, where "Immanuel," "God with us," "The Rose Of Sharon," "The Lily of the Valley," "the brightness of the Father's glory" is clearly apprehended, and his charming glories are poured upon the soul. The life of Christ in the entirely sanctified, is a life of love, pure, boundless, changeless love. This experience once possessed and established in the soul, carries the peace, the triumph, the serenity of heaven with it. It has been beautifully said, "The opening of the streets of heaven are upon the earth." Even here we may enjoy many a sweet foretaste of coming bliss.
"God is love," -- infinite love! Who can fathom it?
"Yes, measure love, when thou canst tell The lands where seraphs have not trod, The heights of heaven, the depths of hell, And lay thy finite measuring rod
On the infinitude of God."
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