the glorious consequences of His previous identification with them. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on His throne.' The whole life of Jesus, so far as we know it, is proof of this identity. He possessed a power of relief and healing which was always available for others, and which was always exercised in case of need, but which was never employed for Himself; so that He who fed the multitude lest they should be weary and faint by the way, sat weary on the well till His disciples returned with the purchased food. In the fierce agony of the garden, He, like all His brethren, had no means of relief but prayer. He who was to bring many sons to glory could only be perfectly equipped for this work by suffering, as many of His disciples can only enter the heavenly kingdom through much tribulation. He also, like them, needed the gift of the Holy Spirit without measure, to enable Him to finish the work the Father had given Him to do. Seeing, therefore, we have proof of the perfect equality of our Redeemer with us, both on the physical and moral sides of our nature, we may take Him as the

true measure of our union with God. Thus we find in the accomplished Incarnation the mightiest power of improvement and sanctification which can operate on man, which, while a quickening light in all, is able to raise every man who accepts and uses it to the throne of God. Let us see how the promise has been fulfilled.

We need not dwell on the decay of morals, and the loss of manliness, which had overtaken the world before the advent of the Redeemer, producing the conviction that unless some integrating force were found, the bonds of society would be broken, and anarchy become supreme. These are facts universally admitted, as also that from the Lord Jesus came a power by which men were bound to each other in pure and brotherly ties, on the basis of a kingdom not of this world, and therefore not opposed to true human rule,a kingdom which had its origin from heaven, and was therefore competent to perfect the present order of human life, as a preparation for the higher life in which this terminates. How strong the bond, and how complete the harmony of human interests which it secured, is seen on the first occasion of its operation on

the day of Pentecost, in the brotherliness of the primitive churches, and in the hearty consecration of property, learning, genius, and life to the interests of others. The unquenchable charity, the full, pure, and high morality, and the laborious diligence of Paul, which were so full of improvement to men, are universally acknowledged to have been the fruit of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord,' and of the constraint of the love of Christ. Nor can there be doubt but this knowledge and love are competent to produce the same results in all who attain to them.

From this point, therefore, the world is divided into two distinct camps. In the one, the Christian brotherhood, which has its origin in a Divine birth, and derives its continued vitality from conscious fellowship with the fountain of life. In the other, old heathenism, which no longer knows anything of a common origin, of one God, nor of a supreme service, but is the embodiment of selfishness, and the offspring of spurious gods of human creation, true idols, having no real existence, and incapable of any influence not polluting and deceiving. There is no doubt as to the issue

long before the battle is joined. The Gospel meets the deepest needs and the highest aspirations of our nature, by an object which surpasses our loftiest ideal, with an infinite repletion of transforming power, yet with human naturalness which is open to the lowliest apprehension, which brings to all an infinite power and tenderness, while the process of union is simple as sight and easy as tasting (Ps. xxxiv. 8). This is the character of the revelation of Himself which the Maker and Upholder of all things has made to the world by the Gospel, after by its vain efforts of wisdom it was unable to find Him. When the Divine fatherliness was thus revealed through the only-begotten Son, with the Holy Spirit to imprint the lesson, it was no wonder that those who had trusted in 'lying vanities' should embrace the truth, and that those who were perishing should eagerly seize on the bread of life, that they might live for ever. What had the old dead paganism to offer in comparison with this? It had no vital force when first called to contend with the power of God in the Gospel; hence it fell everywhere, and has ever since been incapable of resuscitation. There has never been a form of heathen

ism able to stand against the Gospel, or capable of resurrection when once slain.

An important testimony to the naturalness of the Gospel is that all men are able to receive it. There are many to whom it is presented who refuse its terms of obedience and submission to God, or reject its claims as a means of reconciliation, or, blinded by the god of this world, see nothing of the Divine glory which it so fully reveals. But never has a man come to it with a sincere desire to improve his own character, and to be on terms of friendliness with his Maker, and has failed so to understand and receive it as to accomplish both purposes. The formal reason of this ability of man to receive the Gospel, is to be found in its being only a statement of facts, as at the first it was their enactment. Anything within the ability of man to do, his fellow-man can understand. But the marvel here is, that these facts should not only have been understood and accepted, but that they should have been felt, by those who have accepted them, to be the only but sufficient means of satisfying their deepest need. This is as much the case in our own time as in the days of the Apostles. Nothing can more fully