“They think there is some fatal necessity laid upon them to sin—­at least a little, or just now and then.  They think that God cannot, or that He will not, or that He has not arranged to save them altogether from their inward evils.  They know that the Bible says, over and over again, in a thousand different ways, that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin; and they read God’s promise again and again, that He will pour out His Spirit upon them, to save them from all their idols and filthiness; but they doubt whether it is strictly true, or anyway, whether it applies to them.  And so, tossed to and fro by doubts about this holy experience, no wonder that they do not seek to realise it in their own hearts.

     “Other Officers are kept back from climbing this mountain by the
     idea that the experience is not possible for them.

“They say, ’Oh, yes, it is good, it is beautiful.  I wish I lived up there.  How delightful it must be to have peace flow like a river, and righteousness abound as the waves of the sea, and to be filled with the Spirit!  But such a life is not for me.’  They admit the possibility of Holiness in those about them, and occasionally they push it on their acceptance; but they fancy that there is something about their own case that makes it impossible, or, at least, overwhelmingly difficult, for them to attain it.

“They imagine that there is something in their nature that makes it peculiarly difficult for them to be holy.  Some peculiar twist in their minds.  Some disagreeable disposition.  Some bad, awkward temper.  Some unbelieving tendency.  Or, they are hindered by something that they suppose to be specially unfavourable in their circumstances—­their family.  Or, there is something in their history that they think is opposed to their living pure lives—­they have failed in their past efforts, etc.

“Anyway, there is, they imagine, some insurmountable obstacle to their walking with Christ in white, and, instead of striking out for the summit of the Holy Mountain in desperate and determined search, relying on God’s word that all things are possible to him that believeth, they give up, and settle down to the notion that Holiness of heart and life is not for them.

     “Then, other Officers do not reach this experience because they do
     not seek it; that is, they do not seek it with all their hearts.

     “They do not climb.

“They know that their Bible most emphatically asserts that those who seek heavenly blessings shall find them.  No passage is more familiar to their minds or much more frequently on their lips, than the one spoken by Jesus Christ:  ‘Seek, and ye shall find.’  And they condemn the poor sinner who lies rotting in the sins which will carry him to Hell, because he won’t put forth a little effort to find deliverance.  And yet, do not some Officers act