The Pursuit of Holiness, a Sequel to 'Thoughts on Personal Religion'

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: chapter{Section 4CHAPTER I. THAT HOLINESS IS ATTAINABLE. ( -lins tuns a man subjeet to like passions as tut art.? James v. 17. l fcrfiom fl)t totnlts teas not toortlj8, ?Heb. xi. 38. TT needed an Apostle to give us this assurance. If J- any saint ever seemed to rise above the infirmities of human nature, it was the Prophet Elijah. Elijah was a sort of anchorite or hermit, who dwelt apart from the haunts of men, except when some errand, on which God sent him, drew him for a time into their neighbourhood. He lived, as a rule, not by firesides, but in wildernesses and caverns; his costume was uncouth, his diet simple and austere. Then the power which he exerted over the elements clothes him in our eyes with a supernatural character. He shut up the windows of the sky by his prayers, and by his prayers re-opened them. And as he could call down the gracious rain, so could he bid tho vengeful fire fall from heaven, arid consume those who set themselves againsthim. And at the close of his career, as if to place a still greater gulf between him and ourselves, his lot was not the common lot of all men. It is appointed unto men once to die; but Elijah did not die. He was carried up to heaven by a whirlwind, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appearing as his escort. His was throughout a magnificent and superhuman career. Tet what is given us of Elijah's history amply bears out the Apostle's assertion that he was a man of like passions as we are. We read of his being weary of life, and requesting for himself that he might die; of his flying, in a sudden access of terror, from the wrath of Jezebel, though he had bravely confronted Ahab; and of his magnifying himself in prayer as being the only remaining witness for God in Israel, when there were seven thousand men wh...