_ it by the washing of water with the word.' 'If a man
_cleanse_ himself from these, he shall be a vessel _sanctified_.' The
cleansing is the negative side, the being separate and not touching the
unclean thing, the removal of impurity; the sanctifying is the positive
union and fellowship with God, and the participation of the graces of
the Divine life and holiness (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18). So we read too of the
altar, that God spake to Moses: 'Thou shalt _cleanse_ the altar, when
thou makest atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to _sanctify_
it' (Ex. xxix. 36). Cleansing must ever prepare the way, and ought
always to lead on to holiness.

Paul speaks of a twofold defilement, of flesh and spirit, from which we
must cleanse ourselves. The connection between the two is so close, that
in every sin both are partakers. The lowest and most carnal form of sin
will enter the spirit, and, dragging it down into partnership in crime,
will defile and degrade it. And so will all defilement of spirit in
course of time show its power in the flesh. Still we may speak of the
two classes of sins as they owe their origin more directly to the flesh
or the spirit.

'_Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh._' The functions
of our body may be classed under the three heads of the nourishment, the
propagation, and the protection of our life. Through the first the world
daily solicits our appetite with its food and drink. As the fruit good
for food was the temptation that overcame Eve, so the pleasures of
eating and drinking are among the earliest forms of defilement of the
flesh. Closely connected with this is what we named second, and which is
in Scripture specially connected with the word flesh. We know how in
Paradise the sinful eating was at once followed by the awakening of
sinful lust and of shame. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul
closely connects the two (1 Cor. vi. 13, 15), as he also links
drunkenness and impurity (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10). Then comes the third form
in which the vitality of the body displays itself: the instinct of
self-preservation, setting itself against everything that interferes
with our pleasures and comfort. What is called temper, with its fruits
of anger and strife, has its roots in the physical constitution, and is
one among the sins of the flesh. From all this, the Christian, who would
be holy, must most determinedly cleanse himself. He must yield himself
to the searching of God's Spiri