The fulness of blessing

by Sarah Frances Smiley

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The Creation Concept

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Contents

Introduction

I. The land of Promise

II. The failure of unbelief

III. Change of Leadership

IV. The Boundary Line

V. The Triple Preparation

VI. The Ark of the Covenant

VII. Memorial Stones

VIII. The Reproach of Egypt

IX. The Passover in Canaan

X. The New Corn And Fruit of the Land

XI. Seeing The Captain

XII. The Good Fight of Faith

XIII. Failure and Mistakes

XIV. Choice Possessions

XV. The Last Charge of Joshua

CHAPTER I.

THE LAND OF PROMISE.

"BEHOLD I HAVE SET THE LAND BEFORE YOU: GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND. " (Deut. i. 8).

"HE BROUGHT US OUT FROM THENCE, THAT HE MIGHT BRING US IN, TO GIVE US THE LAND." (Deut. vi. 23).

Before taking up the lessons of the Book of Joshua, we need to review the history which precedes it, so far as respects the promise made to the Israelites of the land of Canaan, and their failure to accept it.

The full scope of their redemption was two-fold--out of Egypt and into Canaan; but the latter was always the more prominent.

In the earliest promise made to Moses, we read, "I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land, into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." [1] When the first promise had been fulfilled, and they sang their song of deliverance upon the shores of the Red Sea, their faith rose at once to claim the second, as the completion of their triumph: "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of their inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." [2]

Yet, closely as the two events are linked in promise, there was an intermediate stage between them. Egypt did not border upon Canaan, and, therefore, it could not be a single experience to be brought out, and to be brought in. Furthermore, the Lord did not choose to lead His people by the shortest possible way. Long before their unbelief had caused the forty years of wandering, we see a wise delay which is fully explained. "And it came to pass that when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not thro' the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt; but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." [3]

And again, the Red Sea crossed, we do not yet find the shortest route to Caanan chosen. They were led down to the back side of the desert, nearly to the end of Arabia, to that mysterious land where God has chosen to train and discipline so many; where Moses spent his forty years of preparation; where Elijah went on his long journey, and where Paul also was sent for his secret training. This new-born nation had everything to learn, and Canaan would have been wasted upon its ignorance. So they were led down to Horeb, there to receive the Law from Sinai, and there to be trained as an encampment around the sacred Tabernacle.

The books of Exodus and Leviticus give us thirteen months of such a history. It is resumed in Numbers with the preparations for an advance "on the first day of the second month of the second year." [4] The voice of God now called them onward. "Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount; turn you and take your journey Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land." [5] The length of the journey before them is stated, with precision, as eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea, the place where they were to enter. [6]

But now began delays which God had not ordered. They lusted for flesh, and for two days they stopped to gather quails; and then for a whole month to dig the graves of them that lusted. Again, Miriam speaks against Moses; she is not prepared to see the low exalted in these patterns of grace, and the alien made as the home-born--much less to see her own brother stoop from the leadership of a great nation to place by his side an Ethiopian woman. Therefore she is smitten with leprosy, and the whole camp must wait seven days until she can rejoin them. In these and other ways the journey was prolonged for months, since, when they reached the land it was the time of the vintage. But while the delay was theirs, the way itself was God's, as we learn from the review of it which Moses gave:--"When we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness .... as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea." [7]

Standing at last upon the border of the land, they should have entered it at once. Instead of this, we find another delay which, begging for only forty days, was recompensed with forty years. In Numbers we read that the Lord spake unto Moses, directing him to send the spies. [8] But in Deuteronomy, we learn that it was only a command accommodated to their choice, as so carefully stated by Moses: "I said unto you, ' Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.' And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, 'We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land and bring us word again by what way we must go up and into what cities we shall come.'" [9] As afterwards, in giving them a king, God yielded to their choice since they would not accept His. [10]

The report of the spies resulted in the failure to enter the land, and thus, for a long season, their life became abnormal--outside of the true plan of God, though not beyond His merciful care. [11] Leaving this failure as the subject of the following chapter, and pausing at that point when the possession of the land was brought within their immediate reach, let us seek the lesson here signified; for "all these things happened unto them for ensamples."

The scope of our redemption also is two-fold--"God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling." [12] This salvation and this calling are always coupled in the promises of God, and yet must be wrought out at separate stages. But as He brought them out that He might bring them in, [13] so we find the main stress of the Gospel falling upon this ultimate design. The Scriptures speak not so much of what we are saved from as of what we are saved unto; and even the very word salvation is sometimes limited to the latter meaning.

Such has not been, however, the most current teaching of the Church. Her efforts have been concentrated far more upon the conversion of sinners than the nurture of the saints. We have had, consequently, more fishers of men than shepherds who could feed the flock, and justification has been more frequently and fully presented than sanctification. [14] We have reversed the proportions which are so apparent in the Epistles. St. Paul does not tell us so much of his anxiety to reach the hardened, as he does of his desire to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Respecting that, he tells us, "Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working which worketh in me mightily." [15] He does not speak of the prayers of Epaphras for those without, but he writes of his fervent prayers for those within, that they "might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." [16] The five prayers of his own, which are given at some length, all have a common burden--that the Church may see and receive the fulness of Christ. So, also in the list of special gifts, he dwells in detail only upon those which have these objects--"the perfecting of the saints; the work of the ministry; the edifying of the body of Christ." [17]

As we turn to the words of Christ, we find in that one most precious prayer of His which is left us, that He says expressly, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;" [18] and what a prayer!--that they might have all His joy, His love, His glory!

It is not--God forbid the thought!--that the Scriptures slight the salvation of any soul. But as it would have been little to the glory of God to have merely brought the people out of Egypt without giving them a home, so are we shown that Christ is only fully glorified in the glory of His Church. The Household of Faith is regarded as a family in which the responsibilities are not ended by the birth of the children. That any of them should remain unfed, sickly, dwarfed, is not for a moment to be allowed. Their nurture and full development is the one great object of the true Father.

Again, we find a wrong impression prevalent as to what this Sanctification signifies. There are many who strongly urge its claims, but see in it only a further deliverance, as it is so often expressed, from the power as well as from the guilt of sin.

But Sanctification is not so much a removal as an impartation. That which Christ takes from us is as nothing to that which He gives us; and it is this positive, rather than the negative, side of the truth, which the Scriptures everywhere present, and which is most clearly set forth in this type of the call to Canaan. It was a bestowment, an inheritance, a foreshadowing of all those spiritual blessings with which God has blessed us in Jesus Christ.

Few Christians are without a vague sense of something good that is set before them. But there is immense gain in its clearer comprehension. Let us, therefore, look more definitely at that which the Holy Ghost has signified in this instance.

The entering of the Land of Promise is spoken of frequently as entering into Rest. Settlement was to take the place of constant change. It was to be a Home, which the desert could not be; for, apart from its failure to supply their needs, everything was transient, and it was useless to plant or build in a land through which they were only journeying. And the contrast was made stronger from'the fact that they were spared the weary waiting of preparation. God set before them, in His promise, a Home where all was ready for their coming,--"Great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive-trees which thou plantedst not." [19]

And in such rest as this might every one of those families of Israel have been found speedily; and not only in Rest, but in the satisfying Bounty which it implied. What a contrast was that which awaited them, from the old life of Egypt. Weary hands that made the bricks, tired feet that watered the dry land, now at rest with only healthy toil, and the poor slaves lifted up from the very dung-hill to sit like princes in their pleasant homes among the hills and valleys--their hunger satisfied with better things than the coarse food of Egypt--with better things than manna even--with corn and oil, and honey and wine, and all else that could strengthen, and enrich, and sweeten, and cheer their life.

It was true that enemies filled the Land, and that warfare also awaited them. But had not God promised to deal with these seven nations even as He dealt with Pharaoh, and would He not do it? So, then, it was not so much warfare as Victory of which God spoke. Therefore no fear, no discouragement was to dampen their ardent hopes as they passed on their way to Rest, and Wealth, and Triumph.

And to Rest, and unsearchable Riches, and a great Victory, are we also called, finding them all in the Lord Jesus. He is Himself the anti-type of that good land and large. Our calling is, to be "in Christ."

The first and deepest need of our being is rest. St. Augustine among all his sayings, has none sweeter or stronger than this, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it rests in Thee." [20]

But there is a saying that surpasses this; it is the call of Christ to all the children of men, soft and soothing as a mother's lullaby, "Come unto Me, and I will rest you." It is rest first, and after that all else that He holds for us.

Nor is it rest as opposed only to the toil of sin, but also the unrest of Christian activity. Our Rest should be like our Sabbath, a beginning of the days. Under the Law, as still under all Legality, the order was, work at the first, and day after day until the seventh, when the labor shall end in rest. But when Christ rose from the dead, that first day of the week became the hallowed one, consecrated to rest, and life, and joy. And from that living, joyful rest in Him, the whole being energized and fitted for its task, the soul can go on to serve Him to the end. It has found rest because it has ceased from working in its own strength, ceased from its own will, and now God worketh in it to will and to do of His good pleasure. Practically, it makes the widest possible difference whether we work up to rest or from it.

When this rest has preceded our work, it will also permeate it, and will render it calm, undistracted, unoppressive. It has been said, "Faith rests while it works. This is a peculiarity of the true Gospel. No false religion could teach it. Many professed disciples of Christ Himself--men to whom the name of religious persons can not be denied--never learn it. True faith rests habitually, rests in working. It is a paradox; but a paradox full of truth, full of beauty, full of admonition." [21]

This rest can be ours in no other way than as a gift from Christ. Such deep repose of soul is neither found in man, nor can be evolved out of any of his powers. Only as the strong and loving arms of Jesus are folded around it, shall the tired and tossed soul be rested.

Is the heart burdened still at times with the weight of old sins? Are there seasons when "the spirit of fret and fuss" disorder it? Is it strained with anxieties? Is its work ever a weariness? Above all, has it wandered like a wayward child into forbidden paths, and found no shelter? Such a soul needs not that any should tell it that it has not yet come to the rest which God has promised--that, more or less, it is falling short of it. How far short, we can tell best by looking at the Divine copy of it--Jesus Himself.

In studying that life in its human aspects, we do not behold the favorite of Fortune, nor the creature of circumstances. The rest of Jesus was conditioned by nothing outward. But we trace a silent power that ruled His whole being, the poise of a human spirit in perfect harmony with the will of God--ever going forth to meet that will, and never waiting to be overtaken by it. Calm in His most crowded work, calm in every peril, calm in His utmost suffering and agony, never for a moment excited, unbalanced, fevered or fretted--this is He who still calls, "Come unto Me, and I will rest you." How much is signified in that promise we can not know, except as Christian expectation passes into experience.

But rest is not the only hope of our calling. We are promised the supply of all our need; not only of such wants as we now feel, but of those also which shall be first awakened by the sight of unbounded treasure. Certainly if anything is clear in the Word of God it is this bounty. The "Unsearchable Riches of Christ" is a cognomen of the Gospel. All riches of the full assurance of understanding, all that can nourish and adorn, encompass with comforts and develop this new spiritual life, all possible wealth of grace and love,--all these spiritual blessings are given us "in the heavenlies" in Christ Jesus. Nor is the least portion of this wealth the privilege of sharing it with others, and of making it even more blessed to give than to receive--by such a law excluding all possible satiety, and providing ever-enlarged powers of enjoyment. In brief, the promise runs, "All things are yours;" and the eager soul, escaping from the poverty of its bondage, looks on confidently to a day nigh at hand when it shall have no want unsatisfied.

But with these promises of Rest and Riches there is linked a third--of Victory. At first the soul has little thought of enemies, save such as it has already known. Pharaoh and the hosts of Egypt, from these it fled; from the despotism of Satan and the low bondage of this world. God, ordinarily, shields the newly-converted soul from the sight of struggles beyond, leading it about by other easier ways, and letting its thought be concentrated, for a time, on the great facts of forgiveness and deliverance. Its first fears come from the pursuing foes; but so signal is the overthrow of these, that even the certainty of seven mightier nations before it can bring no terror. To Faith, the future is as sure as the past, and the whole process of victory appears like one continuous work of God. Like Israel upon the seashore, even while we are singing to the Lord who hath triumphed gloriously, we go on to celebrate the whole. "The people shall hear and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina--all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away." [22] That God should save us from the hands of one enemy to let us fall into the hands of another, is simply inconceivable to a child-like faith.

The completeness of this victory has been described for us in one of the holy songs that heralded the coming of Christ, when Zacharias tells us that God would grant us--"that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life." [23] And this he calls, first, God's promise, and then, His covenant, and, finally, His oath, [24] so giving us three immutable securities.

The nature of these enemies and the secret of this victory, will need to be considered in another connection; but, meanwhile, this may be assumed as the proper position in which the Gospel places us.--"Now thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ."

Such is the Land of Promise set before us. It is, indeed, the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Probably no Christian ever entered at once upon such an inheritance. Apart from the gracious shielding from our foes, already alluded to, there are still other reasons why the Lord for awhile should lead us about. Some one has said that it takes God much longer to prepare us for a blessing, than it does to give it when we are ready to receive it. It is in perfect harmony with the processes of all lower life, that our spiritual life should have a space allowed for development and training. When Jesus had compassion on the shepherdless multitude, all that even He could do for them was to begin to teach them many things. And He had taught His own disciples for years when He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now."

As they stood around Sinai to receive the Law, so do we need to gather around Jesus as He sits upon another mountain, making that old Law new, and giving us, not the curse, but the blessing. All knowledge requires time for its acquisition; but Christian knowledge demands it still more, since it is valueless until it becomes experimental.

Again, there are certain steps which we must take before any marked advance can be made. The lessons in the first chapter of Numbers are full of meaning to us. The people were required to declare their pedigree, [25] and to be enrolled under their proper standards. Before we attempt to reach this fulness of blessing, our sonship must become an established fad--the Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and as distinctly must we have accepted the warfare and the service to which He calls us. None can be counted in that army till he can say, "Whose I am and whom I serve."

The importance of this can not be,too strongly stated, so large is the proportion of those who are in doubt, at times, as to their being really the children of God.

But, again, how true to the history of Israel are the hindrances which we ourselves occasion--true even to their very character. It is still by demanding the visible in the place of the Invisible, that we begin to fall from our faith. And then it is by the lust of other things entering in--the revival of some old desire. And yet again by presuming to speak against those whom God has set over us.

But none of these begin to compare, in their consequences, with that sin of unbelief by which the Land was forfeited. And that sin, as we see in the type, began by what might be termed  experimenting upon God's word--looking at the human chances for His promise holding good. They overlooked the fact made so clear in this promise, that the redemption and the inheritance were equally God's work and gift. "They soon forgot His word;" and at the root of this forgetfulness lay that self-sufficiency which was finally to issue in despair. Such has ever been the working of the human heart; and because of this tendency such care is taken in the presentation of the Gospel to convince us that, as forgiveness is not of the Law, no more is our righteousness, but equally with that a gift, and by grace.

Sanctification is by faith as truly and fully as is justification. The voice that lifted Luther from his weary climbing of the stair-way, saying, "The just shall live by faith," was a voice calling to all Christendom through him. And it needs that same voice of God to rouse the weary climbers up their arduous way, and to make the bowed spirits of thousands exultant with hope. Yet it needs no new message; for of the life more abundantly, as well as of the least that can be called life, is it true that "the just shall live by faith." "Through faith that is in Me," was the sole condition announced by the Lord Jesus, as covering not only "forgiveness of sins," but an "inheritance among them which are sanctified." [26]

This Land of Promise to which we are thus so clearly called in the Lord Jesus Christ--this fulness of blessing--is it, or is it not, the prevalent experience of Christians? Have they so believed, that while looking on to the glorious appearing of Christ as the completion of their hope, and the final triumph, they have in the meantime entered into this rest?

And if in answer to this a charge must be brought against not a few of the children of God, let it be done in the charity that hopeth all things, and that seeks only to help those whom an enemy hath hindered.

A leading divine in the Church of England has said plainly, what is, doubtless, quite as applicable to our own land as to his, "The impression has been that people knew everything about Christian duty, and have no need to be enlightened on that head. And if by Christian duty be meant simply the moral law of God, in its outward, literal aspect, perhaps the impression is, more or less, correct, at least as regards the educated classes. But if by Christian duty be meant sanctity of life and character, and a growing conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus, we must be pardoned for expressing our conviction, that our best and most respectable congregations have very little insight into the thing itself, and still less into the method of its attainment." [27]

Such shortcoming as is here spoken of, is the less likely to be usually regretted, as the true standard is so rarely presented. But seeking that standard in the Scriptures, turning fresh from its glowing presentation of Christ and His fulness, surely all will admit that it is not merely an exception, but a rare one, to see any such state of blessedness in actual life.

There are many who believe in such fulness, and dare not let go their faith in it; but they are compelled to confess that they have not found it. There are many who have seen it with their eyes, am reached out eager hands to it; but they do not hold it. They strive, they wrestle; but it seems ever to elude them. The ideal does not become the real, and "the there is never here.''

Christians grow reconciled to a state which has become so common, and then from concluding it to be a universal experience, they end by regarding it as a necessity.

But such can never be the earliest expectation of a soul that has heard for itself, and from Jesus, the call to come unto Him. Every one who has heard that call, knew that it was "to glory and virtue;" and that as surely as the land of Canaan was set before the Israelites, while God said, "Go up and possess it," so surely has His Voice come to our hearts, saying, "Go up into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, where I will bless you with all spiritual blessings. Go up and possess the peace that passeth understanding, even perfect peace. Go up and dwell in Christ, and, therefore, dwell in love, a perfect love, that casteth out all fear. Go up and be filled with all the fulness of God. Go up and always triumph in Christ Jesus."

And now falling back upon our allegory, let us venture, for the sake of an illustration, to add to it a simple fable.

Suli, an Egyptian philosopher, is returning home from a long journey, and in crossing the desert, suddenly comes upon the camp of the Israelites. It is a little over a year since they left his own land, but he has not heard of it, and is full of wonder. In no unfriendly spirit he enters the tent of a man whom he had once known as a slave, now a prince among his people, Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the head of the tribe of Judah. [28] He sits down and listens with profound interest to the account of the plagues; of the last fearful night; the sprinkled blood and the Passover Lamb; the crossing of the Red Sea on foot, and the drowning of all their pursuers. He is told also of the discipline and training of the people. The giving of the Law at Sinai is described, and the significance of their worship. Full of astonishment, it is now his turn to speak.

"Marvel not, O Nahshon, that thy servant is wellnigh silent with astonishment. No tale like this hath mine ear ever heard. And not the least wonderful of all is that which mine own eyes can see, the change in the people themselves. I doubt not these words of thine concerning any of those great wonders. And yet this is the miracle to me: When I set out from Egypt but two years since, you were, as thou thyself knowest, a most abject people. And I find you here a well-governed nation--an army trained for the battle. Truly, O Nahshon, thy people deserve this freedom. But now let me ask of thee your purpose for the future. You can not surely live always in this desert, and I see you are still journeying.

"I have yet to tell thee of this, O Suli," replies the Prince, "as the chief thing of all. A good land and large has been given us. The land of Canaan was promised to our father Abraham hundreds of years since, and the promise repeated to his heirs Isaac and Jacob. And when the Lord first spake of our deliverance to Moses, He told him precisely how He would first bring us out of Egypt, and then into Canaan. Having performed the one, He is now preparing for the other; and though we have by our waywardness hindered Him, yet we are now upon the very eve of entering the Land."

"But art thou, O Nahshon, sure of this? Dost thou not fear the struggle? I have myself passed through the land, and the tribes holding it are fierce and strong. They are well-armed, and have walled cities. It is true, the country is exceedingly fair and fertile. It could not well be better suited to your wants, but pardon thy servant, O Nahshon, if he can but doubt if you ever come to possess it. What, then, if you should fail? What other plan have you to fall back upon? Is there still any other country where you could get a foothold?"

"We were never promised any other, and as we have so long been promised this, we can see no possible reason why we should not get it. It is not at all more impossible than our rescue from Egypt. And were it, O Suli, even tenfold harder than thou thinkest, it would matter naught, for our God never makes a promise which He can not keep."

"But still, in case you should fail, which wouldst thou judge to be wisest--to go back to Egypt, or attempt to live in this desert?"

"We shall never return to Egypt. Thinkest thou, O Suli, that we could at all endure its bondage now? And as for this desert, it is only a place to pass through. We have learned from its hardships both self-denial and faith in God. But surely we could never become what we are told we shall be, with such surroundings. Besides, it would be out of all keeping with the ways of our God. However, we need not consider such a case. Verily, O Suli, I do wrong to even suppose it. As our father Abraham has said, 'What God has promised He is able also to perform!'"

"This, then, is thy thought, O Nahshon, that your Helper is so mighty that there is no need to think at all of your own weakness. Thy trust in thy God is sublime indeed. But tell thy servant,--are there no conditions? Is there nothing left to yourselves to fulfil, so that a chance of "failure remaineth after all?"

"Yes, Suli, there are conditions, yet not of our strength, but simply of our faith in God. He might delay His promise, or even break it if we failed to trust Him. But how could that ever happen? We have had so many proofs of what He is and of what He does, that to begin now to doubt whether He will keep His word or not, were to deny almost His very being--a God of Truth and a God of all Power. As I said before, so say I now again, O Suli, 'What God has promised he is able also to perform.'"

Notes

1. Exodus iii. 8.

2. Exodus xv. 17.

3. Exodus xiii. 17, 18.

4. Numbers i. 1.

5. Deut. i. 6-8.

6. Deut. i. 2.

7. Deut. i. 19.

8. Numbers xiii. 1, 2.

9. Deut. i. 20-22.

10. 1 Sam. viii. 9.

11. "If the Israelites had gone on to Canaan without inquiry, their confidence had possessed it. Now they send to espy the land; six hundred thousand never lived to see it: and yet I see God enjoining it upon them to send; but enjoining it upon their instance. Some things God allows in judgment: their importunity and distrust extorted from God this occasion of their overthrow. That which the Lord moves unto prospers; but that which we move Him to first seldom succeedeth. What needed they doubt of the goodness of that land which God told them did flow with milk and honey? What needed they doubt obtaining that which God promised to give? When we will send forth our senses to be our scouts in the matters of faith, and rather dare trust men than God, we are worthy to be deceived."-- Bishop Hairs Contemplations.

12. 2 Tim. i. 9.

13. Deut. vi. 23.

14. Dr. Crawford, in his able work on the "Atonement," thus writes: "The mediatorial work and sufferings of Jesus Christ were intended, not only to obtain for us redemption from the guilt and penal consequences of sin, but also to secure our personal sanctification.

"This is a truth which has too frequently been overlooked. In speaking or thinking of the salvation which Christ has purchased, there are many who seem to attach to it no further idea than that of mere deliverance from condemnation. They forget that deliverance from sin--the cause of condemnation--is a no less important blessing comprehended in it...

"Nay, it would seem as if the former of these deliverances-- that is to say, our deliverance from sin itself--were represented in some passages of Scriptures as the grand and ultimate consummation of redeeming grace, to which the latter, though in itself inestimably precious and important, is preparatory. Witness these plain and forcible declarations: 'He died for all, that they who live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.' 'Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, and that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.' 'You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight.' 'He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.' 'The blood of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himt self without spot unto God, shall purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.' 'Who His ownself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness.' These statements seem to indicate that our redemption from the guilt and penal consequences of sin, was intended to be the means to an ulterior end--that end being our personal sanctification."--The Doctrine of Holy Scripture respecting the Atonement, pp. 194, 195.

15. Col. i. 28, 29.

16. Col. iv. 12.

17. Eph. iv. 12.

18. John xvii. 9.

19. Deut. vi. 10, 11.

20. Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum donee requies cat in te Quies est apud te valde et vita imperturbabilis. Qui intrat in te, intrat ingandium Domini Sui; et non timebit, et habebit se optime in optimo.--Confess., Lib. I. I, and II. 18.

21. Voices of the Prophets, C. J.Vaughan, D.D., p. 81.

22. Exodus xv. ix. 15.

23. Luke i. 74, 75.

24. Luke i. 72, 73.

25. "Can I declare my pedigree? It is greatly to be feared there are hundreds, if not thousands, of professing Christians who are wholly incompetent to do so. They can not say with clearness and decision, 'Now are we the sons of God' (1 John iii. 2). 'Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise' (Gal. iii. 26-29). 'For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God' (Rom. viii. |I4, 16).

"This is the Christian's 'pedigree,' and it is his privilege to be able to 'declare' it. He is born from above--born again--born of water and the spirit; i. e., by the word and by the Holy Ghost (compare, diligently, John iii. 5; James i. 18; 1 Peter i. 23; Eph. v. 26). The believer traces his pedigree directly up to a risen Christ in glory. This is Christian genealogy."--Notes on the Book of Numbers, by C. H. M., pp. 8, 9.

26. Acts xxvi. 18.

27. "Thoughts on Personal Religion," by Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., p. 12.

28. Num. i. 7.