From glory to glory; or, Degrees in spiritual life

Dedication

To her who first taught me that : "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever."

MY MOTHER

ELIZA SMITH,

Part I The Glory

CHAPTER I. — Glory. His. Ours. Honor. Delight. We to the Praise of His Glory. Philosophy of "Man's Chief End" 15

CHAPTER II. — Glory Concealed. "The Veil." Moses' Veil Symbolic. Blindness of Nature. Eclipse of Reason. Legalism. Jew, Christian, Marks of. Still in Sinai's Shadows 19

CHAPTER III.— Glory Revealed. "An Open Fare." What this Means. What it is to Turn to the Lord. From Self to Christ. Refined and Religious Self Hardest to Sacrifice 29

CHAPTER IV.— Glory Beheld. "Beholding as in a Glass." The Glass. Mistaking the Frame for the Glass. Analyzing the Glass, Instead of Beholding in the Mirror. The Beholding. What is a Perfect Faith?. 27

CHAPTER V.— The Glory of the Lord. It is in Himself. His Nature. His Outgiving. His Righteousness. His Cross. His Resurrection 47

Contents.

PAGE.

Part II — The Change

CHAPTER I. — Our Transmutation. "Into the Same Image:' Most Wonderful of All Truths. Change of Nature Needed. Depravity. Education vs. Transformation. Divestments and Investments. Unfathomed Depths. The Power of Change not in Us. Passive Subjects of a Transforming Power. Not Imitation but Reproduction of Christ 63

CHAPTER II. — The Process of Change. "From Glory to Glory." By Degrees. Errors Concerning Growth. Distinct and Definite Stages. New Testament Recognizes Classes of Christians. Three Dangers: (1) From Materialism; (2) From Emphasis of Conversion; (3) From Church Laxity. Six Things to be Remembered 71

CHAPTER III.— Into the Glory of Life. Difference Between Translation into Glory and Promotion in Glory. Justification. Regeneration. Abundant Life. Crown of Life. Christ's Resurrection the Type of a Complete Spiritual Life 78

CHAPTER IV.— Into the Glory of Righteousness. Not Our Own. Not Only His. His Made Ours. In Act

Contents.

PAGE.

and in Fact. Excessive Righteousness. Two Prepositions in Romans. Man a Convict and a Leper Both. Pardon. Purity. Power. Wedding Garment. Extent and Endurance of Righteousness 85

CHAPTER V.— Into the Glory of Sacrifice. Marks of Christ. Perfect to be as the Master. Analogies of Vicarious Sacrifice in Nature. The Glory of Saving Men. The Cross Practical. A Stumbling-block Like the Cross Doctrinal. Christianity Shorn of Strength by Shirking and Shrinking the Cross. Not the Common View of Cross Bearing. Providential Crosses. Voluntary Crucifixions 9$

CHAPTER VI.— Into the Glory of Sacrifice (continued). Crosses for Sake of Gospel. Persecutions not Ceased. The Dying of Jesus in Our Bodies. Service. Vicariousness of Pure Christian Sacrifice. Impotency of a Crossless Life 1 ic

CHAPTER VII.— In the Glory of Growth. Conversion and Sanctification Establish the Precedent and Illustrate the Law of Spiritual Progress. Complete Sanctification Necessary to Constant Growth. Apprehending Our Glorious Calling. Growth in Life, in

Holiness, in Sacrifice 117

Contents.

PAGE.

CHAPTER I. — Things of the Spirit. The Spirit's Strivings. Illumination. Birth. Witness 129

CHAPTER II. — Things of the Spirit (continued). The Sanctification of the Spirit, Process and Power of 137

CHAPTER III. — Things of the Spirit (concluded). Fulness of the Spirit. Help of the Spirit. Guidance of the Spirit 143

CHAPTER IV. — Relation of the Means of Grace to the Things of the Spirit. Dangers Concerning. Importance of Preference and Selection of Means of Grace. Supplemental or Irregular Means of Grace 152

Part IV The Glorious Appearing

CHAPTER I.— Present Glory a Profile. His Presence and Manifestation. The Glory of Saints vs. the Shame of Sinners. No Hope of Either Justification or Sanctification at His Coming. A Manifestation of His Kingdom, of His Righteousness, of Ourselves. Hope of Redemption, of Resurrection, of Reunion 165

Preface

The intense activities and the inconveniences of an evangelist's toil and travel furnish greater inspirations than facilities for book-writing. But from the times of the apostles it has evidently been the mind of the Spirit that the pen should supplement and aid the tongue in the ministry of the gospel. In writing this book I have been prompted by the same motives which impel me in the preaching of the gospel. And I have looked to the same sources for help. The Spirit of God, the Yvord of God, and the people of God have been steadily before me from beginning to end. I hope these pages may be blessed in their perusal as they have been in their preparation.

Please accept, then, this little book, "in His Name." It comes without much apology, though not without much defect. It has a mission, I have no doubt, and I trust it may fulfil it. Every page was written in the atmosphere of prayer; and every copy, I humbly trust, will go out as a benediction to some soul. May God grant it — to His glory!

PART I. CHAPTER I. (SMori)— IntrrjimrionK

Much revolves around this great round word, "glory." We read of the glory of the celestial, and of the glory of the terrestrial; and we are reminded that there is both a heavenly and an earthly hemisphere of glory. We have a desire to explore the one, and to peep at the other. We read, again, of the glory of man, which, as the flower of the field, passeth away; and we yearn for the glory of God, which abideth forever. It dawns upon us, in reading the gospel of grace and glory, that somehow, somewhere, the glory of God and the true glory of man converge into one. That they are some way identical. At first thought it seems fanciful, presumptuous, incredible, impossible. Not only because of the vast gulf between infinity and finiteness, but more because, also, of the vast distance between divine holiness and human depravity. Yet, fascinated by the thought, we linger, we look, we inquire,

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we pray. Yes, we even come now to believe that God, who has been sharing everything else with us, is disposed to share His glory, too. It is of this we want to learn in this little book.

Sorrow must flee at the joy of His presence. Shame must disappear before the honor of His name. Sin must recede before the glory of His righteousness. Glory is the displacement of death and darkness. Beasts might glory in brute force. Grass might glory in gay flowers. Birds might glory in gaudy plumage. Could there be sentient creatures without moral nature they might glory in intellect alone. But man — God's miniature counterpart — cannot glory but in righteousness, in holiness, in the divine image, in the divine environments; for God is man's element. "Therefore, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord!"

And as man's glory is in God, so God's glory is in man. No other creature represents so much of His wisdom. None but human nature is capable of so much of himself. Unless God be glorified in man, He will have no glory at all on earth. Hence, He speaks of our being "to the praise of His glory." Marvelous! But true.

"The chief end of man," and how to 16

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attain it, is the task we have undertaken. Man's highest honor, and his deepest delights (for these two are glory) is the subject of our meditation. And can he reach it? How?

We think we have an answer. Not an answ r er of our own, save only as we seek to emphasize and, in a measure, explain it. It is this:

"We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor. hi: 18). This text shall serve as the ground-work of this volume. For we want to speak as of the oracles of God, and not of our own understanding.

Our purpose is to present "the glory of the Lord," as the standard and as the source of the glory of man.

Our persuasion is that man may behold the one and fulfil the other, even here below.

Our presumption is that even amongst Christian people there may be formidable obstructions to the pure light of the Gospel, and that the removal of all hindrances to the purity, power and progress of believers is the chief obligation of the Christian ministry.

Our plan is, (i) To analyze this wondrous text, which gives the philosophy of man's chief end; (2) to bring out the leading steps or stages of a glorious life.

Our prayer is that glory may fill every chapter, page and paragraph; that every soul that reads may be changed into the same glory, and that this simple volume may be "to the praise of His glory."

CHAPTER II. ©lorn (ffontcalib. (The Veil Upon the Heart.)

It is not by mere accident that men fail to behold the glory of the Lord. Neither is it by defect of natural capability, nor by deprivation of advantages simply. There are dispensational and judicial concealings of the divine glory. After giving us the symbolic significance of the veil over Moses' face, Paul plainly asserts, that "even unto this day, when Moses is read, this veil is upon their heart." We wish then to notice:

The blindness of the natural heart;

The eclipse of human reason, and

The veil of legalism.

By either of these the revelation of God's glory may be shut out from a man's soul, notwithstanding the effulgence of His shining. And as well expect a rose to advance, from step to step, to its queenly glory amongst the flowers of the field, without any sunshine to lift

From Glory To Glory.

it, as to look for a man to rise to his glory amongst the creatures without the revelation of the Lord's glory to his soul. No wonder the masses of men are glorying in vanity, and some even glorying in their shame, when so few have ever beheld the glory of the Lord; for

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God . . . neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Would we know why this man cannot see? There are various causes and kinds of blindness; and skilful is that oculist who, with his ophthalmoscope, can properly diagnose this patient's condition, and tell why it is that, notwithstanding the splendor of noonday sunlight, the poor man abides in darkness. More skilful yet and more powerful the instrument of the great apostle when turning his X-rays upon not only the psychology but the moral nature of an unregenerate man, he gives us the photograph of his mind, which we find in Ephesians iv: 17-19. Analyzing which we find the following effectual barriers to light, not in circumstances, but in the mind itself: "vanity," "darkness,"

The Glory.

"ignorance," "blindness of heart," and "absence of feeling" or true moral sense. No wonder he could not see. No wonder we seemed to have come into quite a new world when this darkness was past, and the true light shone upon us. For this man, w T hom Paul pictured, is but a representative of the race; as it is written: "The whole world lieth in darkness." And it is no wonder that conversion is termed a "deliverance from the kingdom of darkness," and that the effect of the Gospel is proclaimed that "the people which sat in darkness have seen a great light."

But we must remember that another source of darkness is the eclipse of human reason. "The world, by wisdom, knew not God." "Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent." A judicial darkness conceals the knowledge of the glory of God from the worldly wise. The drift of much modern learning is away from God. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." Not only is there a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish; but there is much knowledge which graduates men into dense ignorance of God. Pride of human reason puffs men up into a boasted independence of God. The

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Christless learned, and those who want a godless Christ, stand or stoop with their backs toward the sun of righteousness, and see nothing save in their own shadow. The Nature explored by the scientist and philosopher is full of God on every hand, and yet, when he glorified Him not as a God, though "professing to be wise, he became a fool." That learning of our own times, which promises an ideal man, while professing a gospel without a cross, and a Christ without infinite merits and divine power, is learning under the shadow of a judicial night which shut out the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Christians are not so invulnerable against the sophistries of an insinuating Unitarianism, or an arrogant materialism, but that they need the apostolic admonition: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceits, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; for in Him dwell eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians ii: 8, 9).

But there is, thirdly, the veil of legalism. "Till this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart" (II Cor. iii: 15). The first lesson Paul has taught us about the symbolic veil over Moses' face

The Glory.

is that a partial blindness, of a dispensational character, characterized Judaism. That is to say, the revelation of God's glory by the law was partial and not intended to be permanent, on account of the more glorious revelation which was to supersede it. And he teaches us, secondly, that, though men may live under the privileges of this more glorious dispensation, the veil of Moses will remain upon their hearts as long as their seeking or service of God is by the works of the law. How jealously and how vigilantly did Paul, in his times, strive to protect young Christians from the Judaizing teachers of those days! And will it surprise the reader to be told that these Judaizing tendencies are by no means extinct from the Church life of this day? It is manifest in some place in the obtrusion of ceremonialism, the presence of sacramentarism (or dependence upon the sacraments for salvation) and in the substitution of ritualism for the simple worship of Christianity. And this to the subordination of preaching, as well as to the grieving and quenching of the Spirit, without whom we cannot worship God in spirit and in truth.

Again, it crops out, in a Pharisaic exactness as to outward righteousness, par-

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ticularly with respect to those lighter matters, wherein the grace of God allows some elasticity for accommodation to possible exigency. But this Jewish rigidity is specially manifest in a hasty and severe condemnation of others without tolerance or excuse, and in self-congratulation for a superiority over other men in such details.

Another exhibition of modern legalism takes the form of an undue exaltation of the means of grace. Now, that it is far from our purpose to disparage the means of grace, or to weaken their value and importance, will certainly be seen in a later chapter; but that some mistake the means of grace for grace itself, and that some fail, despite their adherence to these means, to reach the chief and only effectual means of obtaining grace which is faith, must be evident to all who give it attention. And this is nothing more than legalism in a modern form.

To many now, as to the Galatians in Paul's time, these words need to be addressed: "Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye made perfect by the flesh?" For it is most extensively with reference to the higher Christian attainments that this dependence upon works prevails. Though

The Glory.

men have been truly converted, and have run well for a season, and though all converted men recognize that there is a perfection beyond, a fulness held out to them, an entire conformity to the will and mind of God; yet, strange to say, by a force of habit, and of influence as well, they so often settle down to 'expect this state by the works of the law, and not by the hearing of faith. There is another strange thing before our eyes, and that is the preference which some such Christians manifest for the Old Testament, and how little of the real water of life they seem to find in the New. Moses and the prophets gain ascendancy with them over Jesus and the apostles. Like Peter on the mount they would at least accord to each of these an equal tabernacle with their Lord. They have not yet come to where they "see no more any man save Jesus only." This fondness for the Old Testament shows itself, too, in the names of deity which thev adopt, as "Almighty," "Jehovah," "Ruler of all the World," "Judge," etc., rather than the more 'endearing "Father," "Friend" and "Brother" of love's vocabulary in the Gospel. Indeed, such "familiarity" with God comes to be repulsive to them. They are under the shad-

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ows of Sinai. They hear the thunderings and see the lightnings.

This Jew in the Christian Church bears other identification marks. In proportion to his intensity on these lines, he, himself, becomes austere, rigorous and repulsive in his cast of religion. 'Twas he that gave Christianity a bad name for hardness and severity in the receding generation. His countenance and the tone of his voice, if they did not exactly repeat the mutterings and the clouds of the mount, served to recall the sadness and the suffering of the wilderness. He is conscience-lashed, and the broken tables of the law are ever at his feet. His is not a glad religion, neither is it a victorious salvation. Instead of the triumphant note of a conquering faith, his dejecting doubts steal the language of hope to piece out its vocabulary, and talks of "things to come in God's own good time," which will never come at all, unless they reach the heart by a present faith.

Fatalism is instinctive to this state of mind, and elements of superstition, together with torturous twists of Bible doctrine concerning Providence, election, etc., are apt to pass for piety and be accepted as orthodoxy. Thus the

The Glory.

Word of God is made void by his traditions.

And not only the Pharisee, but the Sadducee, likewise, is found in our Christian communion. Maybe, indeed, this sect predominates over the other class of Jews in the Church just now. They are skeptical concerning the resurrection and angels and spiritual things. The supernatural in personal experience, as w r ell as in the Book of Revelation, is eliminated by their materialism and rationalism. They have no place for the lowly Nazarene.

Now, what we wish to impress is that when Judaism overlaps on Christianity, the same veil is over the heart as was over the dispensation of Moses. Legalism and this Jewish type of Christianity disqualify for either the perfect revelation of the glory of the Lord or the perfect reflection of that glory. The standard of some churches and the state of many Christians make the fulfilment of man's chief end impossible; for until this day that veil is over the face when Moses is read — or when men look to the law for salvation. Is there any hope of a more evangelical type of piety for these? None! None whatever! Unless they "turn to the Lord." "When it shall turn

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to the Lord it shall be saved." "Strange to talk to men, who seem so godly, about 'turning to the Lord.' " Yes, this was the stumbling-block in the way of the Jews then. So it is now. Especially as the religion of these Church Jews can make so much better an outward showing than that of many who "make a higher profession." But, nevertheless, a complete turning from self in even these most refined and religious forms is prerequisite to a beholding of the glory of the Lord.

CHAPTER III. ©lorg Unwxkb

or, "An Open Face"

Only casual attention is needed to tell us the meaning of "an open face." The margin says it should be "an unveiled face." So does the connection in which we find the phrase. It stands in contrast with Paul's symbolic interpretation of Moses' veil. This he calls "blindness of mind," and "a veil upon the heart." He has explained it as the dispensational darkness of legalism. He has shown us that it remains still upon the heart of those who seek salvation by the law. He tells us there is one way of having it taken away. That is by turning to the Lord. Some have evidently gotten rid of it and are now in the clear light where they see the glory of the Lord. These are the "We," the "We all" of this text. Who are they? How came they thus?

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Am I one of their number? Or may I be? Let us see:

I. What it is to have an open or unveiled face.

II. What it is to turn to the Lord. And it will serve us a good purpose,

both now and later, when we come to consider "the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, " to keep in mind that Paul locates the face referred to in the "mind." He has carried the analogy of Moses' veil inward from his face to their hearts. So he says: "their minds were blinded/' "the veil is upon their hearts/' And "the children of Israel could not look to the end." Hence, by the simplest possible reasoning, we can see that "the open face" is a heart without clouds or shadows, or a veil of a dispensational, judicial or carnal character. It is a mind whose "blindness" has been healed. It is a state of soul qualification to "look steadfastly unto the end." Mental and moral healing may sum it up in a word. It is not, mark you, the perfect knowledge of God; but it is the perfect qualification for knowing God. It is neither the object nor the telescope, but the eyesight capacitated for using the telescope and beholding the object. Thus, in the text, the "open face" is distinct from the

The Glory.

"glory of the Lord," from the transformation "into the same image," from "the glass" and from the "beholding." But it is that fitness of mind and heart to behold, which stands in contrast with the darkness of Nature's night and with the shadows of preceding dispensations. For three kinds of darkness must be recognized by the seeker after spiritual light. The darkness in which the whole world lieth, individual darkness of a penal character for personal sins, and dispensational darkness, in w r hich God withheld the full and final revelation of His glory until this Gospel day. This darkness partakes both of the nature of the withholding or withdrawal of light and of defect or deprivation of vision. It dims all vision, but pertains chiefly to things spiritual, eternal and divine. It is especially dense with reference to the Gospel and its grand central object, and results practically in a failure and forfeiture of the glory of man's being.

How blessed, then, the taking away of this veil ! Now we have the light of life ! Now we are able to declare, Jesus is the Light, the Way! Now we see light in His light! Now we behold wondrous things out of His law! Now He manifests Himself unto us as He does not unto

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the world! Now things which are hidden from the wise and prudent He has revealed unto us babes! The darkness is now passed, and the true light shineth! Glory !

Does this sound like a vain boast? Does it discriminate between us and others? Well, Christ does that when He says: "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to others it is not given." And He declared of some that they "should not taste of death until they had seen the kingdom of God come with power." Hence, we are justified in speaking thus of a vision of God and of glory which antedates death. The apostles, too, not only teach and pray that believers may have "the spirit of revelation," and "be filled with the knowledge of His will," but they testify of some that they are no longer of the night nor of darkness, but are "children of the light and of the day." An anointing, they say, has been given them which abides, and whereby they discern all things. Truly, this is glorious. And, moreover, to-day there are those to be found, both learned and unlearned, who realize a present fulfilment of the promise, "They shall see God." We humbly join them, and swell the chorus to declare that "We all, with

The Glory.

open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Glory!

But how, it is asked, must men "turn to the Lord" to come into this light? Oh, that we might be simple, clear and helpful here! And, oh, that just at this line some earnest seeker after the light of God might turn with all the desire, and all the hope, and all the will unto Him! To us the matter reduces itself simply into a turning from, and a turning to. From self to the Lord. But perhaps it is necessary to state this a little more fully. Turning from self embraces a repudiation of sin as the practice of life, a rejection of worldly wisdom as the standard of light, and a renunciation of the law as the hope of salvation. The first is repentance pure and simple; the second is a turning from the idolatry of brains to Christ, the wisdom of God, and the third is the surrender of legalism for the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free. Self cleaves to sin, looks to reason, and leans on works of righteousness. Christ condemns sin, puts a premium on simplicity, and fulfils the law. It is harder to turn from a refined self than from a reprobate self, and harder still to

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turn from a religious self. Yet this latter is the turning Paul claims, in Philippians, third, to have made when, after rehearsing his religious -effects, he says: "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ/'

Beloved, you may have to turn from things which have given you a reputation for religion, not simply because the reputation may have pampered pride, but because the things themselves may be legalistic rather than evangelical. You will have to turn from all dependence not only upon your works of morality, but your almsgiving, your Christian service, your prayers and other means of grace, which have stealthily usurped the throne of Christ that can rest only on an utter self-abnegation.

Or, my dear reader, your turning to the Lord may probably involve a turning from your literary standards and your educational leaders. The inspiration of Christ's word, the authenticity of His miracles, the efficacy of His atonement, all demand a better, bigger place than the arrogance of nineteenth century culture is disposed to grant. There is a place where not only what is called "society," but where even that more fascinating and more reasonable thing called

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"learning" becomes the Belshazzar palace of self-gratification and the towering Babel of selfish pride. Nor will you find resolute turning from these so easy as it looks, when it proves to be turning against the tide of fashionable drift and the course of boasting reason. But to come into the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, we must — absolutely must — turn from self in its refined and in its religious forms, and from the sin of our hearts, as well as the sins of our lives.

But it is, on the other hand, a turning to the Lord; to the people of the Lord — those who bear the marks of the true spiritual Israel ; to the Word of the Lord — not simply the literature of the Scriptures, but to the marrow of His truth; to the Spirit of the Lord, as teacher, leader, helper into the way of light; to the Cross of the Lord, as the propitiation for guilt and the fountain for cleansing; to the Lord Himself, as the one altogether lovely, inviting and accepting the adoration of the soul and the affection of the heart, the worthy Object of our confidence, the sufficient Source of our salvation, the lawful Sovereign of our wills.

This, in brief, is "turning to the Lord." It includes both repentance and conse-

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cration; and it is evident, from the facts of common observation amongst Christians, and the scriptural incitements to a perfect turning such as this, that the conversion — if you are pleased to so call it — of many is not complete, and this defectiveness in the souls turning to the Lord is surely the explanation of why the veil remains, and why it is so difficult, so impossible to see. It is God's part to take away the veil. It is our part to turn unto the Lord.

CHAPTER IV. ©lorg Bttyib. "Beholding as in a Glass."

There are two thoughts couched in this clause. The "glass/' and the "beholding." The medium of the revelation, and the act or attitude of receiving it. Let us first look at the "Glass/' and then consider the "Beholding."

THE GLASS.

Many are the learned, and many the fanciful theories advanced concerning the nature and the qualities of this wonderful glass. Men in their zeal, and men in their bewilderment, have, from the multiplicity of modern inventions, put all sorts of glasses into the text, many of which, very probably, Paul never saw nor thought of. At least three times in the New Testament is the figure of a glass used by apostles in picturing spirit-