m to
do, are probably heart-backsliders, and in a fair way to backslide
altogether.

I tell you, God has called you, not unto uncleanness, not to remain in
a state of impurity, but to Holiness; and he that despiseth that
calling despiseth not man, but God. Therefore, I beg of you not to
imagine that, with clear light as to your duty, and the possibility of
Full Salvation, you can either take it or leave it, and yet remain in
the favour of God.

Then these verses are very useful because they _set the standard for
our personal spiritual condition_. Need I explain what I mean by this?
Let your minds turn to weights and measures, and you will see my
meaning exactly. If you went to a draper's shop, and asked for so many
yards of material, you would not be satisfied by his guessing the
quantity--you would want it measured by the yard-stick, the proper
standard of measurement. So with weights. If you ask for so many pounds
of sugar or potatoes, it would not be for the shopman to say to you,
'Will that do for you? Put another in? All right! Will that do?' You
would say, 'Please weigh them properly according to standard'.

Now it seems to me that in spiritual character we must have something
by which we can measure and compare ourselves, and Peter gives us just
such a standard when he says, 'As He which hath called you is holy, so
be ye holy'. The standard is the character of God.

If Peter had said, 'As He is almighty, so be ye almighty', or, 'As He
is infallible, so be ye infallible', then at once you would know that
the standard was altogether out of your reach, and could not be
realized. But, if you are a Christian at all, your inmost conviction
tells you that to be holy is a reasonable requirement, and the law of
consistency endorses it.

As you study your Bibles you will find many references to this standard
of conformity with the Divine character, and will quickly see that
nothing short of that can satisfy. It is not only the standard that
exists in the Divine mind, but the world rightly expects that we, as
Christian men and women, shall be holy. I know the world is very often
disappointed, and that, unfortunately, the failures of some so-called
Christian people are used as an excuse for disregarding the claims of
God, but the world is right in expecting us to live holy lives.

That passage of Peter's contains a significant reminder in the
sentence, 'Be ye holy in all manner of conversation'. Now, that word,
'conv