What is Heaven?-Locality? Yea, doubtless. Absence of locality is not a "thinkable quantity," the old schoolmen would affirm. Yes, the inheritance of saints is real. "I go," said our Lord, "to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also." But whilst this is true, surely Heaven in its highest sense may be described as that condition and sphere in which every volition of the will, every motive, desire, thought, and action shall sweep on the line of perfect conformity to the will of the ever-blessed God. Oh! hallowed condition, when every power of our redeemed being shall be completely loyal to God, when "we shall be strong in Him and towards Him who holds the stars in their courses." Blessed, indeed, this glory, which is "ready to be revealed" "in us when our Lord and life appears" (1 John iii. 2).

The Glory which Excelleth.-Blessed and important as was the work of Christ in "putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," even this weighty fact gives place to the higher truth of our Lord's resurrection from the dead. His mighty Life has become the portion of every believer, and is intended to possess our whole being. This incorruptible life, Christ in all His endless and eternal variety, is ministered by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in the spirit, soul, and body of the believer as in a complex temple, whose every chamber, faculty, and sense is intended for His manifestation, subordinated to His rule, and filled with His life.

A Christian God's New Creation.-I do not believe that a greater difference exists between the highest and lowest forms of life on the earth than that which exists between the highest form of human life and the life of the Christian. As the man is far above the worm, so is the Christian far above the man. To make Christian life intellectual culture or high morality, or indeed anything less

or anything else than the revelation and impartation of the Christ to the believer, is deplorable. Christian life of course comprehends the highest morality, even as sunlight comprehends every variety of manifestation in form and colour. Splendid, and passing present comprehension, are the words: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph. ii. 10). Such is both the Genesis and the glory of the Gospel of Christ. Such the wonderful mystery of Christian life. As Paul expresses it, "Christ in you the hope (certainty) of glory" (Col. i. 27).

The New School of Religious Thought Illustrated. -One painful result of the teachings of the Broad Church party during the past thirty years is seen in the tendency which has existed amongst the students to go beyond the limits supposed to be laid down by the leaders of this school of thought. I say supposed limits, for where no standard exists, boundaries cannot be defined.

Leaders such as Robertson, Maurice, Stanley, Martineau, and others, may write concerning guiding principles. Nothing, however, in their experience has been more conclusively proved than this: their followers by hundreds have drifted into a shoreless sea of doubt, whose waters ever afterwards encom

passed their mental and spiritual career. It is willingly conceded that these leaders of thought have uttered much that is true, and that to a large extent their intention was to meet the spiritual difficulties which have perplexed many minds; but it is affirmed with equal confidence, that for every mind which has been helped and settled by them, at least scores have been hindered and unsettled; that for every man won by them to peace and rest, a large number have not only drifted into, but have also perished in, the black waters of this school of modern scepticism.

Nor is this fatal personal issue the only one. No thoughtful observer of the working of the Rationalistic school can have

failed to notice how the disciples cling to their prominent teachers-mount them mentally upon their shoulders, and herald them to the world as modern saviours, the pioneers of a new and readjusted Gospel. The greatness of these men is the shibboleth and rallying word of the party; and in proportion to the devotion of the disciples to the new and fascinating creed, so has been the drift from practical fellowship in the attempt to lessen the over-running cup of human ignorance, sin, and sorrow, which permeates our national life.

In no other spirit than that of deep sorrow do I record the history of one of the students of this modern school, whose companionship in past years was studded with pleasant experiences and striking facts.

The subject of my sketch was a young man of considerable natural ability and refinement, who shared the advantages which come of a liberal education and easy means. His position as the head of a large and lucrative business in London was united with that of pastor of a church, which numbered hundreds of believers, many of whom had been won to Christ by his loving ministry. His unselfish and devoted life was blessed both in its example and influence. Those who knew him, knew that his ready sympathy with human sorrow made large demands upon his time and purse. Money to him became a power wherewith to transform the gutter-boy and social outcast of the great city into a tailor, shoemaker, carpenter, or other honest workman.

That goodly Home in yonder street was maintained by my friend. Many a cheering word and loving appeal has fallen from him as he sought to help and encourage the young rough lives, whom for Christ's sake he welcomed there. With what self-consuming energy and zeal the wealthy young merchant spent time, money, and strength in yonder village, whither for a whole week he has gone with well-stocked head, and heart, and purse, making all contributors in the blessed work of winning souls to right, and truth, and God.

Fresh to this day is memory's record of a fervent prayer

uttered by my friend, eighteen summers since, at a crowded meeting in one of our London houses of assembly.

Time wore on, and who shall tell the changes wrought? M. S. was absent from the usual Christian gathering. His love and care began to decline, the fires of holy zeal burned low, and the whisper went round, "Something is wrong! Do not mistake me, nor think that mere absence from our set or circle means other than sincere and manly sorrow. The thinning of the ranks at home for the world's wide mission-field I glory in, but for servants of Christ to enter the fascinating school of broad theology, this I deprecate more strongly than words can tell. A few weeks only had elapsed, and the poison of this modern scepticism was working with a vigour its dispensers little dreamed of. M. S. first gave up his confidence in the testimony of God's Word concerning the solemn fact of everlasting punishment; next followed the rejection of the great truth of the atonement effected by Jesus Christ; then the denial of man's immortality. One brief twelve months sufficed for as complete a wreckage of faith as I can recall. How well I remember meeting M. S. In kind but honest words I asked the truth concerning certain statements which had reached "Whether he had really imbibed these views, and whether his present view of humanity had led to the closing of his Home and the disbanding of the boys?" Substantially he admitted all, for "why should money be expended on mere lumps of dishonoured clay which were soon to die out into nothingness; why should labour and care be expended on such beings? further they were so ungrateful;" and, "besides all this, it was part of a system full of delusion, etc." I ventured quietly to say, "Brother, think me not harsh; but, as an outside observer, permit me to remark that a system which can thus separate you from all interest in your fellowmen, and leave them to perish, must be utterly corrupt. Your own testimony, the closing of your Home, the forsaking of the brethren, and your former usefulness, are conclusive proofs that you are all wrong, and off the main line."

me.

Our converse was plain, but perhaps not pleasant. My friend broke away from me, and almost the last shake of the hand I ever had with him was on that bright sunshiny morning when he darted across Oxford Street and entered Hyde Park with quick impulsive stride.

Some months passed by, and a matter of business brought us together again. I shall never forget that last, and, to me, awful interview, for it was nothing less. The burden of his converse was, The progress he had made (?), the ill-disguised contempt which he expressed for "our leading-strings," "the band of refined and cultured men that he now associated with," "their broad, manly, and worthy views," "the reason of things," the remarkable thinkers they were, "leaders of thought shaping truth for smaller minds," "inspired men, as much and more so than the Bible itself." I ventured a personal test, comparing the present experience with the days when he met with us for prayer and acknowledged his dependence upon the grace, wisdom, and strength of God. He laughed. “Ha! ha!” he said. "I suppose that Being you call God will be having me before Him one of these days." Such was his ribald jest. Nor must my reader think the picture overdrawn. There is nought set down save truth, and that in order to solemn warning, and, I may add, in deep sorrow. One who knew him well said to me at that time, "I am literally oppressed, cast down, and crushed. I cannot help meeting M. S., but he makes me afraid. He can swear and use bad language now. Novels, smoking, pleasure, and the round of selfish gratification make up his life. The change is terrible." Sunday mornings till noon were spent in bed, reading foolish literature; the afternoons found him in the Park, the evenings at an hotel near Fleet Street, where a select party of the disciples of the modern thinkers dined Sunday after Sunday. Launched on their shoreless sea of doubt, they talked and talked until the universe became a mere mass either of dead material or living matter, with room for endless speculation concerning "the survival of the fittest,”