The way to the kingdom of heaven and what to do to be saved in it . ause if it took much time we might not behere to perfect ourselves in it. We can see in aninstant that such a rule could not hold if time wererequired. The young die as well as the old, and tomany the necessary- time could never come. Every step in the spirit life is instantaneous. Wespeak of growth in grace; but that is in favor, andnot development. We may grow in the knowledgeand favor of God, but not in spirit. Men may graduallj^ reform their lives. For in-stance, one may cease to drink alcoholic liquors, andthereby reform
The way to the kingdom of heaven and what to do to be saved in it . ause if it took much time we might not behere to perfect ourselves in it. We can see in aninstant that such a rule could not hold if time wererequired. The young die as well as the old, and tomany the necessary- time could never come. Every step in the spirit life is instantaneous. Wespeak of growth in grace; but that is in favor, andnot development. We may grow in the knowledgeand favor of God, but not in spirit. Men may graduallj^ reform their lives. For in-stance, one may cease to drink alcoholic liquors, andthereby reform a life of drunkenness. One maycease to swear, another to steal, etc., reformingtheir lives in these particulars. Indeed, there are but few, if any, human faultsthat a man^cannot reform by desisting from them;and certainly to that extent he is a reformed man,in so far as his outer life evidences. There is nodoubt but that the sjurit of asceticism practicedin some of the ancient religions of the world broughttheir devotees to a very high state of right living. (45). BURNING THE BOOKS—AN EXAMPLE OF A TRUE CONVERSION. (Acts xix. 19.)(46) The Way to the Kingdom of Heaven. 47 Their lives to all liumau appearances were faultless^and those who excelled in these triumphs of thehuman will over the flesh reaped the highest honorsthat men could bestow upon them. On some werebestowed divine honors. It was the old heathen, Horace, who said, ^Who-so denies himself of the much that nature covetsshall have in recompense what God approves, show-ing that even the heathen mind, though benightedby spiritual darkness, could get hold of the truthwe now state. While this is all true, we have found in the moralman a higher and a different principle. A refor-mation here is instantaneous from the very natureof the quality of moral actions. In order to under-stand this clearly, let us see how the actions areconsidered under the moral law and the civil law. Our law books tell us that there can be no crim
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