HOW PURITY MAY BE FORFEITED

     To properly locate the point of transition from any given state of experience to a lower is an important and delicate matter, but one that must be settled before a person can feel safe in any attainment; for, until he thoroughly understands the weakness as well as the strength of his position and the manner in which present grace may be forfeited he will be constantly harassed by accusations which he will be unable readily to dismiss.

     Both temptation and carnality are beyond or independent of our wills, and the control of their primary manifestations is not in our power. There is this difference, temptation is an evil suggestion coming from without, while carnality is an involuntary principle within.

     In conversion, past transgressions are forgiven. It also regenerates and gives power to keep from evil. Holiness is complete cleansing of the soul. The latter makes no change in our judicial attitude toward God; it is a local transaction, having reference to the condition of the heart and not the candidate's acceptance with God. To retain justification one must do those things which are necessary for the continued favor of God and abstain from doing those things that are displeasing to Him; while to retain entire sanctification one must do those things which keep his soul clean and refrain from doing those things which would harbor any uncleanness. One has reference to favor, while the other has reference to condition. One has reference to the attitude of the Lord toward the recipient, while the other has reference to the condition of the soul relative to the purity which God desires. A person can readily see that the former grace is forfeited by transgressing those laws which must necessarily be kept in order to retain the favor of God; while the latter grace is forfeited by transgressing those additional laws that must necessarily be kept if the soul remains clean.

     We are saved by faith and we are wholly sanctified by faith. Faith as a saving act is the same in either case, but differs in its object or purpose. The faith that saves initially asks and receives the forgiveness of sins and the favor of God, while the faith that receives the latter grace encompasses the additional and deeper work of cleansing. Justification is retained by the continued exercise of the faith that saves, while cleansing is retained by the continued exercise of the faith that cleanses. "We are not cleansed for believing but while believing."

     The life of holiness is preeminently a life of faith. Since cleansing is retained by continual exercise of the faith that cleanses, when for any reason this faith ceases to operate, cleansing is forfeited.

     Again, there is a line of self-denial necessary in order to the retention of the favor of God, while the obligations that must be fulfilled in a holy life demand a much higher degree. As the proper degree of self-denial differs with each individual case, owing to difference in constitution, amount of light, etc., it would be impossible to draw an inflexible rule to suit all cases, and hence each person must fix his own bearings and the measure of his own responsibility by the assistance and light of the Holy Ghost.

     Thus the heart admits carnality at the point where it allows or yields to temptation to such an extent as to transgress those close laws that purity demands.

     While it is true that when the heart is cleansed all carnality is destroyed, yet sin must be carefully guarded against or it will be reestablished. It succeeded in polluting the pure soul of Adam and we must beware. If you ask the manner in which the heart again becomes unclean, we would reply that we only know that it does become unclean and some of the means by which this impurity is brought about. There are some things that God only knows. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut. 29:29).

     Evil suggestions fill the air, evil tendencies must be guarded against. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

     Suppose that for the moment the guards are taken down; the enemy, who is always on the alert, seeing his opportunity, injects one of his suggestions; the temptation is noticed, and, for the time being, the mind may be taken from its center of power; at that moment, the soul not being properly guarded, carnality is reinstated. From this it is but a step to actual sin. To illustrate: The enemy says, "Why do you trust God? He is a hard master, He will not reward you in the end." If the soul in an unguarded moment, and in the least, allows such a suggestion, sin enters. Or he may say, "Why do you so persistently deny your fleshly appetites? Do you not wish that you could gratify yourself and retain the grace of God?" If this suggestion is allowed, no matter if the act is not committed, carnality enters. Or if a secret questioning as to the dealings of God, or inclination to doubt the wisdom of God or to desire that His leadings were not as rigid as they are is allowed, carnality enters.

     Not every case of indulgence pollutes the soul thus. This effect is produced when the allowed desire is the acceptation, not only of a natural desire for gratification, but of a suggestion which is backed up by an unholy principle. Indulgence may be simply the following out of the logical demands of a natural appetite, warped it may be, but yet natural; while the "act" which results in the establishing of the principle of carnality is the allowing of an inclination which sets itself in opposition to the pure desires of the heart. While the first does not answer the strict rule of doing all to the glory of God, and, as a consequence, if fostered will eventually defile the soul; on the other hand, the second is allowing a suggestion that takes sides immediately against purity of heart, and of necessity it would forfeit purity.

     Again, by a lack of prayer and the proper carefulness a person may so gradually slip over the line that he will scarcely, if at all, realize a loss until he awakes to the fact that his old enemies are reinstated. This is not an imaginary case, but one which is often brought to our notice.

     The idea in the above is not to show that holiness can be lost and justification retained, but to show by what means carnality again pollutes a cleansed soul, and that it takes less to forfeit the precious grace of purity than it does justification; or, at least, that the act which forfeits such grace is not always the same.