Another mistake to be carefully guarded against is this, making "cleansing" to be an _end_ instead of a _means_ to an end. "Cleansing" is not the blessing that we are seeking; it is only a means. The end is the "Filling of the Holy Ghost." "Cleansing" is a negative blessing, the separating from sin; but we can only be satisfied with a positive blessing. When the housewife cleans the house, does she then go out and live in the yard? Not so. She cleans the house that it may be the more fit for her to inhabit. God cleanses, "empties, sweeps, and garnishes" (Matt. xii. 44), that He may come in to dwell; and if He, the Holy One, does come in and take up His abode, He will _keep_ His dwelling place "clean." This "cleansing" of which we have been speaking is one of the steps into the Blessed Life; but there is not much likelihood of any one living the Life unless they first take the necessary steps into the Life. It is a Life of Purity, and it is lived, as it is entered upon, by faith in the Son of God; hence the name by which the Spirit-filled Life is sometimes called--the Life of Faith. CHAPTER XII. _CONSECRATION: WHAT IS IT?_ The second step that must needs be taken by those of us who have been living without the Fullness, before it can be obtained, is Consecration, a word that is very common and popular; much more common and popular, it is feared, than the thing itself. In order to be filled with the Holy Ghost one must first be "cleansed," and then one must be "consecrated". Consecration follows cleansing, and not _vice versa_. Intelligent apprehension of what consecration is, and of what it involves, is necessary to an intelligent consecration of oneself. _1. Sanctification._