A formula, a receipt for Sanctification--can one seriously speak of
this mighty change as if the process were as definite as for the
production of so many volts of electricity?

It is impossible to doubt it. Shall a mechanical experiment succeed
infallibly, and the one vital experiment of humanity remain a chance?
Is corn to grow by method, and character by caprice? If we cannot
calculate to a certainty that the forces of religion will do their
work, then is religion vain. And if we cannot express the law of these
forces in simple words, then is Christianity not the world's religion,
but the world's conundrum.

Where, then, shall one look for such a formula? Where one would look
for any formula--among the text-books. And if we turn to the
text-books of Christianity we shall find a formula for this problem as
clear and precise as any in the mechanical sciences. If this simple
rule, moreover, be but followed fearlessly, it will yield the result
of a perfect character as surely as any result that is guaranteed by
the laws of nature.

The finest expression of this rule in Scripture, or indeed in any
literature, is probably one drawn up and condensed into a single verse
by Paul. You will find it in a letter--the second to the
Corinthians--written by him to some Christian people who, in a city
which was a byword for depravity and licentiousness, were seeking the
higher life. To see the point of the words we must take them from the
immensely improved rendering of the Revised translation, for the older
Version in this case greatly obscures the sense. They are these: