such
an one that we are dead to sin, for the blood of Jesus in this
sin-offering will most certainly effect this cleansing.

But a true Bible consecration includes something more than a yielding up
of the heart for the cleansing out of this sin principle. In the type,
we see there was another animal sacrificed in this consecration service.
It was the one for the "burnt offering." The blood of this sacrifice
corresponds with the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus which also provides
for the cleansing of that part of our nature that clings to the things
of life which in themselves are not sinful but are God-given blessings.
Our unsanctified affections must also become purified from every taint
of depravity. That this may be accomplished, it becomes necessary that
the heart yield up to the death every cherished object, even though it
be a God-given blessing; it must be yielded up and laid upon the altar
as a "burnt offering." The affections cannot be purified until the
object of the affections is yielded. We cannot perfectly obey the first
and great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength," until every affection is fully taken off from every object of
earth and placed upon God exclusively. This means that we willingly lay
upon the altar our loved ones, no matter how sacred or precious they may
be--father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, children, home,
property, reputation, and everything within the scope of our earthly
existence. All henceforth and forever yielded up to God, no more to be
ours, as really and as perfectly as though we were breathing our last
upon our death-bed, and then in due time we were laid into our coffin,
the lid fastened down, and lowered into the grave, the grave filled up
and nothing left but a mound to mark where our earthly remains lie. Or,
to view the subject from another standpoint, this yielding up must be
as real as though our loved ones and every cherished treasure of earth
were laid upon the altar, to be offered up a burnt sacrifice. In due
time the fire will be kindled, and our cherished objects will one by one
be consumed into smoke and finally all will disappear, a consumed
sacrifice unto the Lord.

A quarter of a century ago my own precious mother was brought to this
consecration. She was shown by the Holy Spirit that she did not have her
children perfectly yielded up to the Lord.