hteousness sanctifying
and transforming us which follows in a Christian course, as its
indispensable accompaniment and characteristic, and that is realised by
daily and continuous effort.

And one word about the manner, the effort as set forth here; twofold, as
I have already pointed out--a negative and positive. We are not
concerned here with the relations of these amongst themselves, but I may
remark that there is no growth in holiness possible without the constant
accompanying process of excision and crucifixion of the old. If you want
to grow purer and liker Christ, you must slay yourselves. You cannot
gird on 'righteousness' above the old self, as some beggar might buckle
to himself royal velvet with its ermine over his filthy tatters. There
must be a putting off in order to and accompanying the putting on. Strip
yourselves of yourselves, and then you 'shall not be found naked,' but
clothed with the garments of salvation, as the bride with the robe which
is the token of the bridegroom's love, and the pledge of her espousals
to him.

And let nobody wonder that the Apostle here commands us, as by our own
efforts, to put on and make ours what is in many other places of
Scripture treated as God's gift. These earnest exhortations are
perfectly consistent with the belief that all comes from God. Our
faithful adherence to our Lord and Master, our honest efforts in His
strength to secure more and more of His likeness, determine the extent
to which we shall possess that likeness. The new nature is God's gift,
and it is given to us according to His own fulness indeed, but also
according to the measure of our faith. Blessed be His name! we have
nothing to do but to accept His gift. The garment with which He clothes
our nakedness and hides our filth is woven in no earthly looms. As with
the first sinful pair, so with all their children since, 'the Lord God
made them' the covering which they cannot make for themselves. But we
have to accept it, and we have by daily toil, all our lives long, to
gather it more and more closely around us, to wrap ourselves more and
more completely in its ample folds. We have by effort and longing, by
self-abnegation and aspiration, by prayer and work, by communion and
service, to increase our possession of that likeness to God which lives
in Jesus Christ, and from Him is stamped ever more and more deeply on
the heart. For the strengthening of our confidence and our gratitude, we
have to remember