For the Lord’s Day – Take Time to be Holy

1. Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
   Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
   Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
   Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
2. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
   Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
   By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
   Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
3. Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
   And run not before Him, whatever betide.
   In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
   And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
4. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
   Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
   Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
   Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

William Dunn Longstaff

1822-1894

Born: No­vem­ber 26, 1822, Sun­der­land, Dur­ham, Eng­land.

Died: Ap­ril 2, 1894, Cam­bridge Ter­race, Sun­der­land, Dur­ham, Eng­land.

Longstaff was trea­sur­er of the Be­thes­da Free Cha­pel in Sun­der­land. He was friends with Sal­va­tion Ar­my foun­der Will­iam Booth, and evan­gel­ists Dwight Moo­dy and Ira Sank­ey. A number of his hymns were ap­par­ent­ly pub­lished in the Sal­va­tion Ar­my’s War Cry in the 1880’s.

 

William Longstaff was an active member of the church at New  Brighton, England. One day a preacher said the following words that left a  lasting impression on Mr. Longstaff. He said:

  My text is found in I Peter 1:16,  ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy.’ If you will turn in your Bibles to the Old  Testament, and read Leviticus 11:44, you will find the words which St. Peter  quoted in his first letter in the New Testament. For the writer of the third  Book of Moses said these words in that passage, ‘For I am the Lord your God;  consecrate yourselves, therefore and be holy, for I am holy.’ The forty-fifth  verse concludes with the very same admonition, couched in these words, ‘For I  am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: you  shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.’

As he thought about the sermon, He came to this conclusion:

  Since holiness is the life of God  in the life of man, surely we need not scream and shout as if God were deaf,  nor make fools of ourselves in our services of public worship as if God Himself  were a fool …. We are not to be holy as idiots are holy, or as drunkards and  fools are holy, but we are to be holy as God Himself is holy.

{bereanbibleheritage.org}

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I have been unable to locate a picture of William D. Longstaff, but that’s OK – we will meet in heaven.  I beseech you to look carefully at the words of this hymn – for they are deep.  Holiness is a choice we make – it is not an automatic condition of being a Christian.

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13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15 But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:13-16

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