in
the fear of God, and the fear of self, the more surely will He
lift us up in due time to praise Him.

Seventh Day.

HOLY IN CHRIST.

Holiness and Obedience.

'Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on
eagles' wings, and brought you _unto myself_. Now therefore, if ye
will _obey my voice indeed_, and keep my covenant, ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto me above all people: ye shall be unto me an
_holy_ nation.'--Ex. xix. 4-6.

Israel has reached Horeb. The law is to be given and the covenant made.
Here are God's first words to the people; He speaks of redemption and
its blessing, fellowship with Himself: 'Ye have seen how I brought you
_unto myself_.' He speaks of holiness as His purpose in redemption: 'Ye
shall be unto me an _holy_ nation.' And as the link between the two He
places obedience: 'If ye will indeed _obey_ my voice, ye shall be unto
me an _holy_ nation.' God's will is the expression of His holiness; as
we do His will, we come into contact with His holiness. The link between
Redemption and Holiness is Obedience.

This takes us back to what we saw in Paradise. God sanctified the
seventh day as the time for sanctifying man. And what was the first
thing He did with this purpose? He gave him a commandment. Obedience to
that commandment would have opened the door, would have been the
entrance, into the Holiness of God. Holiness is a moral attribute; and
moral is that which a free will chooses and determines for itself. What
God creates and gives is only naturally good; what man wills to have of
God and His will, and really appropriates, has moral worth, and leads to
holiness. In creation God manifested His wise and good will. His holy
will He speaks in His commands. As that holy will enters man's will, as
man's will accepts and unites itself with God's will, he becomes holy.
After creation, in the seventh day, God took man up into His work of
sanctification to make him holy. Obedience is the path to holiness,
because it is the path to union with God's holy will; with man unfallen,
as with fallen man, in redemption here and in glory above, in all the
holy angels, in Christ the Holy One of God Himself, obedience is the
path of holiness. It is not itself holiness: but as the will opens
itself to accept and to do the will of God, God communicates Himself and
His Holiness. To obey His voice is to follow Him as He leads in the way
to the full revelation an