'As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy, in all manner
of conversation.'--1 Peter i. 15.
That is the sum of religion--an all-comprehensive precept which includes
a great deal more than the world's morality, and which changes the
coldness of that into something blessed, by referring all our purity to
the Lord that called us. One may well wonder where a Galilean fisherman
got the impulse that lifted him to such a height; one may well wonder
that he ventured to address such wide, absolute commandments to the
handful of people just dragged from the very slough and filth of
heathenism to whom he spoke. But he had dwelt with Christ, and they had
Christ in their hearts. So for him to command and for them to obey, and
to aim after even so wide and wonderful an attainment as perfecting like
God's was the most natural thing in the world. 'Be ye holy as He that
hath called you is holy, and that in all manner of conversation.' The
maximum of possible attainment, the minimum of imperative duty!
So, then, there are three things here--the pattern, the field, and the
inspiration or motive of holiness.