II. THE PROGRESS. As I have just said, when we see the Lord as He is we shall be like Him; and when that comes to pass we shall see the perfection of the promise, He ‘shall save His people from their sins.’ He will so completely save them that whereas He finds them corrupt, ruined, and enemies to God by wicked works, He will finally present them holy and unblameable, without spot and without blemish before the throne. It is impossible to imagine anything more blessed, more wonderful, more divine, than such a change. Now it becomes a question of the deepest interest whether this mighty change is accomplished by one instantaneous act, or gradually. Is it, like justification, a completed thing? or is it a progressive work, commenced at the new birth, but not complete till we see Him as He is? There cannot be a more important practical inquiry. And now you may see the importance of the distinction drawn between the different senses of the word ‘sanctification;’ or, as it might be better expressed, the different parts of that blessed work. If you speak of sanctification as the original act of God in separating us unto Himself, then it is a completed thing, for we are described as ‘having been sanctified in Christ Jesus.’ If, again, you speak of it as a legal cleansing from all past guilt, it is complete, for being washed in the precious blood we are already clean. But if you regard it as the personal holiness of daily life, the purifying the heart through faith by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, then I am prepared to maintain from the whole testimony of the whole Word of God from one end to the other, that so long as we are in this world of conflict the sacred work is not complete, but progressive. How people can speak of sanctification in this sense as an immediate work, I am at a loss to understand. Hundreds of passages might be quoted to prove its progressive character, and to show the reason of its present incompleteness: viz., the abiding power of indwelling sin. I have only time to refer to two. In the first place, this verse describes us as changed, or being changed, from glory to glory. We are described as in the process of transformation, or metamorphosis; by His grace passing from glory to glory, or from one degree of grace to another. The work is in progress, thanks be to God! and we have the bright hope of the completed likeness of the Lord. But that bright hope is not yet realized, nor will it be till we see Him as He is. I will take only one other passage, and select it because it corresponds very closely to the text. It is a passage addressed to the believers in Rome,—to persons who are described as being ‘beloved of God called to be saints.’ (Rom. i. 7.) There can be no doubt then that the work of personal holiness was begun in them: yet what does St. Paul say to them? (Rom. xii. 2.) ‘Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (or metamorphosized) by the renewing of your mind, that ye