might ransom the many sons from sin, death, and the devil, and become the Author and source of eternal life to them. This election is also unchangeable. It is the choice of Him which is, and which was, and which is to come, who is not a man that he should change, nor the son of man that he should repent (Numbers xxiii. 19). "I am Jehovah ; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed (Mal. iii. 6). What can change this desire? Can our sins? No, for they caused our Lord to become Jesus-i. e., Jehovah the Saviour, that he might save his people from their sins. Can the devil change this choice? No, although he desires to do it, for the Lord hath destroyed him that had the power of death, and he can do nothing but as permitted. Yea, our Jesus says, 66 No one is able to pluck them out of my hand" (John x. 28). Then of his elect we may say, with boldness and without fear, "Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (see end of 8th of Romans). Election, then, is God's eternal purpose whereby He constantly decreed, before the foundation of the world, by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour (see 17th Article). But He who ordained the end hath also ordained the means to that end, and in no other way can the end be attained, than through the appointed means. The end of our faith is the salvation of our souls (1 Peter, i. 9) Faith is the means unto salvation which is the end, and unto which salvation we are chosen, as it is written (2 Thess. ii. 13). God hath from the beginning chosen us unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, whereunto he hath called you by our gospel. From this and other passages it plainly appears that the calling in time is consequent upon, and follows the choice in, eternity. The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call (Acts ii. 39). The means that our God employs to call is the gospel. By the foolishness of preaching he saves them that believe. He sends men now to preach just as much as he sent Paul to the Gentiles, in order that He might gather out of them a people for his name, who should thus be called from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that through faith in Christ Jesus they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified (Acts xxvi. 18). The gospel standard being unfurled, the Lord hisses (Is. v. 26) for his sons and daughters to come unto him, even from the ends of the world—i. e., God, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, by his power and wisdom, unseen indeed, and too often unacknowledged, and yet surely guiding all things and events, works upon men by means of

The expression, "By faith that is in me," does not belong to the word sanctified, but to the two clauses of the sentence-viz., that they may receive by faith that is in me, forgiveness of sins, and that they may receive by faith that is in me the inheritance; and they receive this inheritance among the sanctified ones (see He. ii. 11, with x. 10, 14). The right consideration of these passages in the Hebrews will tend to throw great light upon the doctrine of sanctification. To be sanctified is" to be set apart as holy unto the Lord

various motives and thoughts, to come and hear that word which is proclaimed. By the power of the Holy Spirit He guides the ministers to speak that which shall exactly suit and meet their peculiar and individual cases, so that the arrow of conviction is brought home to their hearts, and the Lord thus says, "Thou art the man who art thus condemned as a transgressor, and under the curse." He then thinks not of others, but rather of himself, and perhaps even supposes that every secret of his heart was known to the preacher. But it does not stop here. Ei her at the same time, or subsequently, the word comes to him; the Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die; and then, like the bird dipped in his fellow's blood, he is set free.* What a contrast when so called, and how correctly shown by the words darkness and light-captivity to the devil, and liberty as a child of God-dead in sins, and alive to God. We know nothing of election till called, and then we are taught to ascribe our calling to election, and not to anything in ourselves. But God calls us because He has elected us, "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began " (2 Tim. i. 9). When so called, we are manifested as those to whom belong all those blessings with which we are blessed in Christ-viz., sonship as adopted children-redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, an eternal and glorious inheritance, &c. (see Eph. i). As a called people, we are to "show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter ii. 9). And this leads us,

Secondly, to consider, what is this diligence we are to use. A natural man cannot receive the things of God, for they are only known when revealed by the Spirit to those born of the Spirit (1 Cor. ii. 12— . 14). And how can a man then, who knows not God and the things of God, serve Him aright? He is dead spiritually, and cannot act as a living child till he has life. What he does, is not from a right principle, and coming out of a heart estranged from God, and defiled, it cannot be acceptable with God. The end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart and conscience undefiled (1 Tim. i. 5). Where is this heart and conscience? Who has it but he on whose heart and con

The type referred to above, together with that of the scape-goat, is thus beautifully explained by Cowper in one of his hymns :

science the blood of Jesus Christ hath been sprinkled by the Eternal Spirit. When so cleansed, and love engendered in the heart by the Holy Spirit's revealing to us the love of God towards us; then we are taught how we can serve our God acceptably. But even then the child of God is not independent, so that he can do anything of himself. "Without me (says Christ) ye can do nothing;" for it is only as living branches, and living because united to, and one with, Him, the living Vine, that we can bring forth fruit to God. Paul says of himself, when renewed in the spirit of his mind, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a good thought as of ourselves. We have certainly, then, no power of ourselves to use any diligence, and yet we are exhorted to do so. How is this to be understood? In Phil. ii 13, the exhortation is given, and also the grounds on which the child of God, weak and helpless as he is, is exhorted-" Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." If, then, God works in me both to will and to do, I can work; and yet not I, but God in me. When God works in, we can work out. This solves the difficulty. I am assured that, as a child of God, I am Lot left to my own strength, which is perfect weakness, but that the Lord dwells in me, and enables me to live to the glory of God. Thus all things are possible to him that believeth. And if we are not found striving earnestly to avoid that which is evil, and to follow that which is good, we are dishonouring our God, and grieving the Holy Spirit, by whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph. iv. 30). The true Christian is then a paradox; he is weak and strong; powerless even to think aright, and yet able to give all diligence. If he stood alone, he would then have some ground to remain still and inactive; but, as God works in him, he is to be blamed if he is not found a diligent child, doing his Father's will, and working those good works which he is created in Christ Jesus to bring forth. We say not that there is no mystery in this, for there is much mystery, which will all be made plain when we shall know as we are known. We speak now as the oracles of God do, and beseech you to suffer the word of exhortation. At the same time, if you do suffer it, it is because our God works in you both to will and to do. We must not expect every thing to be made so clear that there will be nothing of difficulty in it. If so, what room for faith? We are to take God's word as we find it, and remember that what He has not revealed is secret, and belongs to Him. Exhortations are undoubtedly to be given to the children, and undoubtedly we have no power of ourselves to obey them; stil, they must be given, and we are to seek from God grace whereby we may give heed to them. When we are brought to this spirit-viz., conscious of our own weakness to seek strength from our God, to obey that which He exhorts us to, then cavilling will cease. Some, perhaps, will cry out-too legal. We would exhort them to take care how they quarrel with the Lord's appointed means, and not to think that they can set up a more consistent way. If they do, they will find it is a bitter and an evil thing to depart from God. How, then,

III. Are we to use this diligence to make our calling and election

sure, or stedfast, or firm? for such seems to be the meaning of the word here. A tree is known by its fruits; and when we see the fruit to be good, we at once pronounce the tree to be good, although the fruit does not make the tree good. The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree, which tree, being planted by the rivers, the more the sun shines on it, and the older it grows, the more fruit does it bear. So it is with the renewed child of God. His roots extend to those streams of that river of love which makes glad the city of God (Ps. xlvi. 4). The Sun of Righteousness has arisen with healing in his wings, and shines upon him, and therefore there will and must be drawn out those fruits, the sweet odours from which will be manifested abroad. Thus it is said of the saints, that they are living epistles, written by the Holy Spirit, and known and read of all men. Our calling is unto holiness, for it is written, in Romans vi. 22, "Now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness." As a people separated from the world by the truth brought home and applied by the Spirit of truth, they should and will remember that they are holy or sanctified; and therefore as vessels made unto glory, meet for the Master's use, they will endeavour to be employed in His service, and for His glory. True indeed they are and will be sore let and hindered in running this race that is set before them, for, besides the temptations of the devil and the world, we have a body unrenewed, and also the mind of that body, with which we serve the law of sin and death. Still, as being born of God, we have another nature, even that which is born of the Spirit, and which is spirit, with which we serve the law of God by love out of a pure heart, and conscience undefiled. Thus the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and though we have much to mourn over, still, compared with what we were or what those are who are unrenewed, and therefore guided and led by the flesh alone, we live and walk as a new creation in Christ Jesus. Knowing our need of and dependance on the Holy Spirit for his blessed guidance, teaching, and strengthening, we shall ask of our Heavenly Father, and shall receive as it is written, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." It is by such like tokens of childship from our heavenly Father, that our calling and election are made sure or stedfast. The two grand evidences of childship given us in the word of God arefirst, "the Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God" (Rom. viii. 16), and teacheth us to cry Abba, Father. We have this witness of our being children, and therefore elected, when the word comes with power, with the Holy Ghost, and bringing that full assurance of its being God Almighty's word—a word of reality and not of vanity (1 Thess. i. 5). Thus we are also taught by the Spirit that we have access to God, as a Father gracious and compassionate, who is pacified unto us, for all that we have done, in the Son of his love, (who bore our sins in his own body on the cross, and put them away; and thus our Father has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west), and that our Father, thus tender and pitiful towards us, has ever compassion upon us, and hath put on us glorious apparel, even that raiment of needlework which Christ took such pains to work out and provide for His people. Thus clothed, our renown goeth forth

among the heathen, or world, for our beauty, being comely through the comeliness put upon us (see Ps ciii. and xlv, and Ezekiel xvi. 14). The other grand evidence of childship is, "Hereby we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John iii. 14), All men, in this sense, are not our brethren, but those who can appropriate that seven-fold bond of union in Eph. iv. 1-4. Love to the brethren as brethren is the distinctive new commandment given by our Saviour to his disciples, and this is a precious token of childship. It climbs over all human barriers; it knows no distinction of Jew or Greek, Scythian, barbarian, bond or free, male or female-no, nor either of church or dissent, or of any other human distinction. Where the truth in Christ is manifested in the heart, and apparent in the conversation of any, whether rich or poor, it is owned and acknowledged by the love-drawn, love-encompassed, love-saved child of God. And this love going forth toward those that love the truth, is as it were reflected back to our own souls to assure us that thereby we have a sure token that we ourselves are children, called and elected. Shall we not then give all diligence to add to our faith those various fruits of the Spirit mentioned in the context, for thereby we become more confirmed and established in the hope of the gospel! and so, being strengthened with all might by His Spirit in the inner man, are the better enabled, by God's grace, to withstand the assaults of the enemy, and to pass through the various trials we are called to endure. Although indeed if called and elected, our own folly cannot affect our eternal salvation, since, though we believe not, He abideth faithful, and cannot deny Himself, yet we shall suffer loss if we are not thus found diligent, and if saved, it will be as though by fire, for the wood, hay, and stubble must be consumed. Therefore it is the Apostle says, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence." We are not to speculate about how little we may show of the true Christian character, and yet be the Lord's. God forbid. No, we are rather constrained by every motive to live to the honour and glory of Him who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. I know of no greater mark of a reprobate mind than the justifying of ungodliness by the doctrines of free and sovereign grace. If any of those who are the Lord's are even tending to such an opinion, we tell them that they are asleep, and on the enemy's ground. We would snatch them from the danger, but hate the polluted garments. We would address them in the forcible words of the Holy Ghost, and seek his blessing in the work to arouse them from their danger, from their carnal security. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light ;* and then thou wilt humble thyself in dust and ashes," that thou ever didst presume so to blaspheme that holy name, by the which ye are called.

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It is important in this passage to remember that it is "light," and not life, that is promised, and that the exhortation is certainly addressed to the children of God, who, through sleepiness, have become too much associated with the children of the dead. We certainly consider it an unwarrantable application of this passage to address it to the world at large.