Leviticus 20:26 And you shall be holy to me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that you should be mine. In elocution there is what rhetoricians term a "second voice." It comes after an orator has been speaking sufficiently long for his lungs to become thoroughly warmed. The diversified ligaments and muscles and membranes which compose or influence his vocal organs then take on a more perfectly adjusted action, and the voice grows flexible and full and rich, able to express "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." There is a vision known to opticians as "second sight." In their later years many people come into possession of this. They can lay aside their spectacles, worn perhaps for a quarter of a century, and with the naked eye read the finest print. I have seen octogenarians whose eyesight was apparently as good as in the palmiest days of their youth. There is a mental perception enjoyed by multitudes of thinkers which seems to them like a "second intellectuality." It is broader, clearer, and more satisfying than was the first. It is reached after a night-time of doubt and darkness, during which one's theories seem like chaos and one's beliefs like desperate guesses. It comes after a transition period, when, like Noah's ark, the mind can find no Ararat on which to anchor. Then breaks in a new light; the shadows flee, the heterogeneous mass of speculations begin to crystallise; a form appears, and he who had well-nigh become Diogenes the Cynic begins to develop into Socrates the Philosopher. So there is a "second religious experience," deeper than the first. It lies beyond the surf of unbelief and partial consecration, and is reached by launching out into the deep of an unreserved dedication to God. Many have attained unto it and enjoy "the rest of faith." Others are hungering after this more perfect righteousness, and will not hunger long in vain. Multitudes more are wishing for but making no determined efforts to secure it. They are like travellers ascending the valley of Chamounix, who catch glimpses of Mont Blanc, and though longing to stand on its glittering summit, have no expectation of ever doing so. I recall a memorable Sunday afternoon when, from an hotel window in Geneva, seventy miles distant, I caught my first view of that celebrated landmark. The setting sun was transmuting, as no other alchemist ever could, its whole immense top into one gorgeous mass of burnished gold, and the desire to visit it came upon me like a spell. But the city of Geneva, with its bright stores and historic church and marvellous watch factories, its bridges across the crystal river, and its romantic lake, lay at my feet, and I fingered; and when at last I sought the shining mount, like most tourists I was satisfied to reach its base and gaze upon it from below. So it is with thousands of Christians. Before their raptured vision rises, in their best moments, the Mount of Holiness. They sigh for its lofty experiences, but still view it from afar, or journey no farther than its foot-hills. Would they but climb its rising footways and scale its magnificent peaks, a second and deeper experience would be theirs. (Sunday School Record.). Parallel Verses KJV: And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. |
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