In what, beyond their title to the inheritance, does meetness for it consist? Evidently, they must be saints if they obtain the inheritance of saints; but that they are as believers, and as soon as they believe, they are sanctified by that very blood in which they have the forgiveness of sins. Evidently, also, they must be children of light who obtain the inheritance in light; but that also they are, by the very fact that they are believers: "Ye are all the children of light and of the day, we are not of the night nor of darkness." But these may appear very vague and general statements of their qualifications, and we may willingly meet the most minute investigation. It is further evident, that in order to the enjoyment of an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away,—an everlasting kingdom, a crown of unfading glory,-we must have eternal life; but that also the believer has in the very act of believing; for we are assured that "he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life." This, in fact, is the very record which God gave of his Son, "that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son;" so that "he that hath the Son, hath life." But that new life which the believer has in Christ is not a restoration of the life we had lost; it is nothing less than the life of Christ. "He is our life," as truly as our righteousness, the infinite fountain of life from which every stream is filled. But is its perpetuity its only characteristic in which we can now rejoice? Is it, as yet, a feeble spark which must be fanned into a flame; an infantile life, which must be cherished and nursed to maturity? There is, indeed, a body of sin and death through which its presence is now manifested, and the manifestation of it may be feeble, infantile, and obscure, like the sunbeam making its way through an opaque medium; the sunbeam itself is not dim, though it may be dimmed in its shining; and the removal of the opaque body

would at once make it manifest in its perfection.

So, also,

If He is

of this everlasting life which the believer has. our life, there can be no defect in the life itself, though its manifestation may be obstructed by a mortal body. It is,

in itself, as perfect as it can ever be, and he who hath life in the Son of God, is made meet to be a partaker of an in-▲ heritance which is its proper sphere.

We have already seen that only the sons of God can obtain the inheritance, and we have seen that believers are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Can it be supposed that they are sons in name, but not in nature? Then it might be supposed that a man had a claim to the inheritance without meetness for it; but, then, that would be to suppose that sonship was a mockery, and not a reality. This is very far from being the teaching of the word of God; for there we are taught that we become sons of God by being born again. This does not mean a gradual improvement or purification of the old nature, but the communication of a new nature. It is styled "a new creation." The Almighty agent of it is the Spirit of God, the means employed in it is the word of God, which is His testimony of Christ, and we thus come to the same point as before-faith in Christ; for we are taught "to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They are born of God-born of the Spirit. Now, does any man suppose that that which is born of God requires to be gradually purified or perfected? Will any man speak of sanctification as a progressive work in this new man, this son of God? It is indeed true, that the old nature remains what it ever was, and opposes all the desires, tendencies, and affections of the new nature; for "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," neither more

nor less; and so the believer, so long as he is in the flesh, is called upon, "through the Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the body." But it is none the less true, that "that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." The new life is of the same nature as its source. The child partakes of the nature of his Father. Many a weary conflict, indeed, must the Spirit maintain against the flesh; and many an humbling occasion of confession may the Christian have, who finds in his experience that nature is nature still. But that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit also, unaffected and uncontami nated by the vileness in the midst of which it exists, and which it seeks continually to renounce and subdue. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. He cannot sin, because he is born of God." The new nature is not only in itself perfect, so that no motion of sin can proceed from it; but it cannot be defiled from without. It is true, that we still bear outwardly the image of the earthy. The body is dead, because of the sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. We are now the sons of God, though it doth not appear what we shall be. The real, with the believer, is not the apparent; but it is not the less real. So, by the very fact that, as soon as we have, in Christ, a title to the inheritance, we are also, as sons, made meet for the inheritance. The real will, at last, be the apparent there will be a manifestation of the sons of God; we shall bear the image of the heavenly; when He “shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Yes, we are now sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and the spirit of adoption is the earnest of the inheritance. We are one with Christ, and joint-heirs with Him. The inheritance is His kingdom; and though it is now true that He has gone to receive a kingdom and to return, it is true now that He is a King; all the usurpations of Satan can

not invalidate His title. But if we are one with Him, then it is true of believers that they are made kings and priests unto God, though they do not now reign, nor enjoy the inheritance. When the glorious destiny of the saints is considered, it cannot for a moment be supposed that any conceivable improvement of nature could qualify them for occupying the exalted place in which they shall be Christ's partners. Adam, in the perfection of his nature, would no more have been qualified for that exalted destiny, than he could, by any perfection of his own obedience, have deserved it. And, in looking forward to that destiny of glory, we can only expect to fill it as we receive from Christ's fulness. The soul would shrink from that exceeding great and eternal weight of glory which angels could not sustain, were it not that our completeness is in Christ, "who, of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." But surely He who has made Him all this to us, hath, by the very fact, made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. We do not undervalue the importance of our present growth in knowledge and in grace, when we say that no attainment of ours can qualify us, any more than it can entitle us to reign with Him. No, as it is His joy and glory we shall share, His throne on which we shall sit, and with Him we shall reign, so it is in His holiness we shall be arrayed, and in His wisdom and His strength we shall fill our places in the administration of His kingdom. But for the present, knowing all this, and rejoicing in all this, we should seek to "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."

MAN'S RELIGION,

AMONG the works of Horatius Bonar, D. D., the circulation of which has been blessed to the edification of thousands in this land, we would commend as especially adapted to the present exigencies of the Church, a little volume on "Man, his Religion, and his World," from which we subjoin a brief extract:

"Man's religion keeps God at a distance-God's brings Him nigh. Homage to God, but not communion with Him, is the object of the former; nearness of fellowship and companionship, coupled with lowliest reverence, is the aim of the latter. Man says, 'God is my enemy, and must be appeased; or, He is at the best a doubtful friend, and must be kept at a distance: He is incomprehensible and unapproachable, and therefore can have no common sympathies with me: I will lay my gift upon His altar, and retire out of His presence.' God says, 'Man is my creature, and though he is a sinner, dreading, but not loving me, I will not leave him to his misery; I will come nigh; I will speak with him in love; I will win back his confidence, and teach him to love me; I will make him feel that I am not his enemy, but his friend; I will show him that in my favor is life, and that companionship with me is the joy and health of his being.'

"Man's religion begins by enjoining worship-God's by preparing the worshipper. And here the difference is as wide as it is striking. The main idea that man has in