that it may bring forth more fruit, (John xv. 1, 2,) from which words it appears that man is capable of indefinite purgation, or purification. No one, therefore, can pretend to say that he has attained a state of absolutely pure good, which is incapable of further purification; for none but the Lord Himself ever attained such a state of good. It is wisdom to make this acknowledgment, and to be content to submit to the means of purification which the Lord hath appointed, from a conviction, that if we were to stand still in any state of good already attained, we should defile it, and it would thus become like the manna in the wilderness, when it was kept till the morning, concerning which it is written, that it bred worms and stank. (Exod. xvi. 20.)
126. Jesus Christ said to the Pharisees, who told Him of Herod’s intention to kill Him, Go ye, and tell that fox, behold I cast out devils, and do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected, (Luke xiii. 32,) to instruct us, that from eternity it has been, and to eternity it will be, His divine purpose, to deliver man from evil and the powers of darkness, to gift him with all heavenly goods and truths, and thus to introduce him into heaven, or to an eternal conjunction with Himself. This purpose too is the purpose of every follower of this Incarnate God, only with this difference, that the follower opposes evil and the powers of darkness, not in his own strength, but in the strength of his Divine Lord, from whom also he is gifted with all heavenly goods and truths, and introduced into heaven.
