How Retained

It is one thing to be healed and another to retain health and develop growth and strength. The Double Cure is not designed to be an end, but the means to a greater end. If the soul health it brings is not preserved then its benefits are lost. If they are preserved then the soul will grow in grace and increase in strength, enjoyment and usefulness forever. Certain spiritual laws had to be complied with to experience the Double Cure. Likewise there must be to retain it and secure the development and maturity which should follow. May the following hints for preserving soul health prove helpful:

I. Beware of self-confidence. Lean hard on Jesus; He only can keep you.

Of Satan, he is not dead, and will do his utmost to sever your union with Christ.

Of a censorious spirit, it will sour you and alienate you from those whom you might win.

Of evil speaking, it will deaden you and damage others.

Of doubtful indulgences, companionship, and places. they will ensnare you.

Of marriage with the ungodly, it will hamper you and displease God.

Of looseness in your engagements, it will hurt yourself, injure you with others, and be a

reproach to the church.

Of too great intimacy with those of the opposite sex, this has shorn many a Samson of his

strength, ruined many for this world and the next, and caused the enemies of the kingdom to deride.

Of uniting with worldly clubs and lodges, you will regret it.

Of mistaking your own opinions or those of other people for the will of God.

Of endorsing worldliness in the church. The wrongs existing there need your protest, not your endorsement.

Of compromise, it will let you down.

Of poison literature, it will sap your spiritual life.

Of neglect of the means of grace, you need them and they need you.

Of leaving the church because some in it are unsanctified. Better stay and tell them of the

Double Cure.

Of condemning all who differ from you. Sanctification makes people love alike, but not

always to think alike. Possibly you may be the one mistaken.

Of harsh judgments. When tempted to utter them it is well to remember that Jesus said: "Judge ye not." That there may be a mistake somewhere. That the person, if wrong, may have been under sore temptation, and have since repented. That he may have been in a weak, nervous condition, which God will take into account even if you don't. That it is better to pray for him than to pound him. You do the praying, and let the Lord do the pounding, if there is any to be done.

Of being led by sudden ridiculous impressions. They will come to you.

Of making a hobby of some one phase of holiness. It will weaken you.

Of underrating regeneration or other doctrines of the Bible. They are essential parts of the

great holiness temple.

Of talking and praying too long in meeting. It wrongs others, and cultivates verbosity and

conceit.

Of thinking you are above temptation or liability of falling. It is a snare of Satan.

Of even the appearance of evil.

Of complicity with the rum power, or sin o any kind, by voice, vote or silence.

Of levity and foolish jokes. Religious joy is one thing and worldly fun, mirth, and jokes

quite another. The first is sunlight, the last, fox fire.

Of worldly conformity in regard to dress and worldly society.

Of secret habits that sap the soul life.

Of harboring evil thoughts and imaginations. You can not help their knocking at the door of

your soul, but you can tell them begone, and trust Jesus to drive them away.

Of grieving the Holy Spirit, for only He can guide you into all truth.

Of taking your eyes off from Jesus, if you do, Peter-like, you will begin to sink.

Of complaining about your trials and persecutions, for in them you should "rejoice and be

exceeding glad."

In addition to the above warnings it will be wise for you to

II. Remember that all must be kept on God's altar.

That you must continually confide in the promises and the Sanctifier.

That you must keep the two facts of consecration and confiding established and then stick to

the facts and not go by the feeling. "We walk by faith."

That while these two facts remain you have the Double Cure, and God will give you all the

feeling that will be for your good and His glory.

That the Double Cure is a permanent blessing, spiritual ecstasies variable.

That it is a higher spiritual state to walk by faith than by feeling.

That if your faith should lapse, or Satan trip you up, you should at once fly to the Blood.

That if no one knows it but you and God, you need confess it to none but Him. Confession

needs to be as near as possible, co-extensive with the knowledge of the lapse.

That temptation must be resisted, and Jesus trusted to defeat the devil.

That secret prayer, meditation, Bible reading and fasting should be maintained.

That Satan will seek to get your eyes off from Christ and upon yourself, or good people, or

great ones, or bad ones.

That public worship should be attended.

That the Double Cure should be frequently confessed, and its Author publicly praised. Shut

the damper of confession and you will smother the fire of sanctification.

That loyalty to the church does not compel you to endorse worldly schemes in it for raising

money or furnishing amusement.

That you should cultivate a spirit of liberality.

That "whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving

thanks to God and the Father by him." (Col. 3:17.)

That you should "abstain from all appearance of evil."

That special meetings for the promotion of holiness are honored of God, and that they need

your presence and you need their influence.

That Satan will seek to silence your testimony and rob you of your experience by accusing

you of hypocrisy, by pointing to some that may have fallen, and by suggesting that the less you say

about it the less harm done should you fall.

That the failure of others should incite you not to throw away your life-preserver, but to

greater watchfulness, aggressiveness and prayer.

That Satan will try to tone you down and cool you off into an ice-box, or else ran you off

into the ditch of fanaticism.

That any impression that is not right, reasonable, in harmony with God's providences and

Scriptural, is not from above.

That if you would be intelligent and get all the holiness help that God has for you, you must

study the Bible and read holiness books and papers.

That if Satan can not puff you up with presumption he will try to defeat you by

discouragement.

That to retain the Double Cure you must advertise it, and do all you can to spread it and

lead others into the experience.

That your "sufficiency is of God."

That you should "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with

thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all

understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6, 7.)

That "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all

sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." (2 Cor. 9:8.)

That "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

(Phil. 4:194)

That He "Is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to

the power that worketh in us." (Eph. 8:20.)

That God "Is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence

of his glory with exceeding joy..... to whom be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now

and ever. Amen." (Jude 24, 25.)

KEPT

Kept for Jesus and His glory,

I may every moment be

Kept by Jesus through His power,

Freely flowing unto me.

Kept from sin and needless sighing,

Kept from fear and doubt and pride,

Kept thro' trials sharp and many,

Kept by Jesus crucified

Kept 'mid all the world's allurements,

Kept when passions strongly plead;

Kept 'mid storm and persecution,

Kept in every time of need.

Kept when all around seems failing,

Kept when friends unfaithful prove;

Kept, and sweetly kept, by Jesus,

Happy in His perfect love.

-- M. W. Knapp, in Tears and Triumph