because they have no materialism to hamper them and drag them down. Angels are spirits without material bodies, and they obey God, hearkening to his commandments; but a perfected saint is a creature in which the material is linked with the spiritual. Such are we now, and I suppose, in a measure, such shall we abide, and yet there will be no sin in us, no violation of the divine command. Man is a strange mixture. He is next akin to Deity, and yet he is brother to the worm. We are partakers of the divine nature, and the children of God; and yet as to our bodies we are linked to rocks and stones, and grosser things. Man renewed by grace touches the centre in Christ Jesus, but being still man he sweeps the circumference of creatureship, and includes within himself a summary of the whole creation. He has been called a microcosm, or a little world, and so indeed he is. Such a creature God is now perfecting. A being in whom dust and Deity each own a kindred. Such a being, purified from taint of evil, shall greatly glorify God.

Think, again, dear friends. There once stood a bright spirit in heaven, leader of the angels, but the place was too high for him, and the son of the morning fell from heaven and dragged others with him. God is making, by his grace, beings who will stand next his throne, but will remain reverently loyal for ever. They will be peers in his kingdom, but they will never be proud or ambitious. We, my brethren, though in full possession of our free agency, shall never fall from our eternal glory, but shall be faithful for ever. We shall have passed through such an experience of sin, we shall so intensely feel our indebtedness to grace, we shall so fervently love the dear Redeemer, that we shall cast our crowns at his feet, and we shall ascribe our joy to him alone, and so shall never dream of revolting from him. God is thus making beings whom it will be safe to exalt to honours so near his own: will not this be a triumph of power and goodness? Can you think of it, that you will be one of such favoured creatures, if indeed you are a believer?

How

These beings will have known evil. Think of that. The unfallen angels have never actually known evil, but in restored man shall be fulfilled the devil's lie made into God's truth,-"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." They shall hate evil as the burnt child dreads the fire, and they shall love righteousness because by righteousness they have been saved, and in righteousness they have been created anew. wonderful will that creature be which has known sin, and remains a free agent, and yet will never yield to folly, but abide for ever in holiness, held by bonds of love. Oh, when I think of the destiny of a child of God, my eyes sparkle, but my tongue refuses to utter what I think. What a being art thou, O man! What art thou that God should visit thee? He has made thee "a little lower than the angels," but in Christ Jesus he has crowned thee with glory and honour, and given thee dominion over all the works of his hands, yea, in Christ he has raised thee up and made thee to sit with him in the heavenly places, far above principalities and powers, and thy time to reign and triumph for ever is hard at hand. How glorious is God in his people! God in Christ Jesus, seen in the church, who is like unto thee?

Now, the point is, that if this be the riches of God's glory in his inheritance in the saints, you may read it in another way, and say, "This is the riches of our inheritance too, for what shall we be if God is to have

us for an inheritance ?" Will you miss it? Will you miss it? Will you miss it? If this be a dream, I could wish to die rather than have the illusion dispelled. But it is fact, as God's word is true. Will you miss it, then? Oh, if there were crowns to be scrambled for, most men are ambitious enough to seek for one, though it might be a curse to them. If there be gold, or if there be fame, men have but to hear the chink of the metal or the blast of the trumpet, and many stir themselves to win; but here is honour, and glory, and immortality in Christ, and it is to be had for the asking; it is to be had by simply believing and trusting in Jesus Christ,-Will you not have it? Oh, false hand that is not stretched out to receive it! Oh, false heart that does not pray for it! God grant you to know what is the "riches of his inheritance in the saints," that you may seek to be a part in that inheritance and seek it now.

Now, the third "what": "What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." I thought I heard somebody saying, "Woe is me! Woe is me! I hear of what man may be, I hear of what God may make of him, but woe is me; it will never come to my lot. I am so weak, so fickle, so irresolute, so frail. Woe is me; I am undone. I have no strength." Now, the third "what" is this: "that ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward, who believe."

Now, learn ye this and know it-that in the conversion, preservation, and salvation of any one person God exhibits as great power as he manifested when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. The salvation of no man in the world is by his own strength. It is by the power of God, " for we are his workmanship." This fact should greatly relieve you who are discouraged: the thing is impossible with you, but it is not impossible, or even hard, with God. He that has wrought us to the selfsame thing is God, and he is quite as able to work it in you, my dear hearer, as to work it in the apostle Paul himself. God can do all things. Now, when our Lord Jesus lay in the tomb he was dead, but God quickened him. Jesus was imprisoned in the sepulchre, and the stone at the grave's mouth was sealed and guarded; but the stone was rolled away and the guards were affrighted, and the Lord of life rose from among the dead. Every sinner is shut up in the tomb of sin by evil habit, but Christ can roll away the stone, and the sinner can come forth a living man. Our Lord continued on earth among men for several days; but, despite human enmity, no man hurt him, for he had received a life and a glory which they could not approach. The saints also abide here among men, and many seek to destroy them, but God has given them a new life, which can never be destroyed, for he hath hedged it about from all its adversaries. All the powers of darkness fought against the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet through the power of God he conquered them all. I think I see him now ascending up on high leading captivity captive in the power of God. So, my brother, you will be opposed by the powers of darkness, and by your own evil heart; but you shall conquer, for God will put forth the same power in you which he manifested in his dear Son, and you, too,

:

shall lead captivity captive. I see the Lord Jesus entering the pearly gates and climbing to his throne, and there he sits, and none can pluck him down and you, too, believing in Jesus, shall have the same power to tread down all your foes, your sins, your temptations, till you shall rise and sit where Jesus sits at the right hand of God. The very same power which raised Christ is waiting to raise the drunkard from his drunkenness, to raise the thief from his dishonesty, to raise the Pharisee from his self-righteousness, to raise the Sadducee from his unbelief. God has power among the sons of men, and this power he puts forth in making them to be a people that shall show forth his praise. Oh, that you knew what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, because then you would fling away despair. There remains nothing for you in this case but to submit to the divine power. God will work in you; be willing to be worked upon. O, Spirit of the Lord, work in our hearers this good will. Drop yourselves like plastic clay, at the potter's feet, and he will put you on the wheel and mould you at his pleasure. Be willing, it is all he asks you; be trustful, it is all his gospel requires of you, and indeed, both will and trust he gives you. "If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land." Be willing to let go the sin which ruins you, be willing to learn the truth which will renew you; be willing to sit at Jesus' feet, be willing to accept a finished salvation at his hands; and all the power that is wanted to lift you from this place to the starry gates of heaven is waiting to be shed upon you. God give you to know this, and so to rest in Jesus and

be saved.

II. The last word is to be upon the second head: WHY WE WISH YOU TO SEE AND KNOW ALL THIS. I have in effect been all along enforcing this second head as the sermon has progressed, and so I shall not need to detain you many minutes, except with a practical recapitulation.

We want you to know the hope of his calling that you may not neglect it, nor set anything in competition with it. I tried, as my poor words enabled me to tell you, what a hope the calling of God gives the Christian. I charge you, do not let it go. I shall, probably, never meet the most of you again, and if any shall say to you afterwards, "Well, what said the man?" I would like you to be compelled to say, "He said this-that there is a future before us of such glory that he charged us not to lose it. There are the possibilities of such intense delight for ever and ever that he besought us to ensure that delight by accepting Christ and his way of salvation."

Next we want you to believe the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, that you may see where your hope lies. Your hope lies in not being your own any more, but in being the Lord's, and so realizing "the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints." The saints belong to their Lord: your salvation will be found in experimentally knowing that you are not your own, because you are bought with a price; yea, in admitting at this moment that your honour and happiness is found in being the Lord's. If you are your own you will spend yourself and be ruined, but if you are Christ's he will take care of you. Oh, if I thought that I had a hair of this head that belonged to myself alone I would tear it out; but to be owned by Jesus altogether, spirit, soul, and body; to be Christ's man in the entireness

of my being, this is glory, and immortality, and eternal life. Be your own, and you will be lost: be Christ's, and you are saved.

The closing thought is this. We want you to know the exceeding greatness of God's power, that you may not doubt, or despond, or despair, but come now and cast yourselves upon the incarnate God, and let him save you. Yield yourselves unto him, that the great glory of his power may be manifest in you as in the rest of his people. I am loth that you should go till you have really hidden these things in your hearts to ponder them in after days. I set bread before you, do not merely look at it, but eat a portion now and carry the rest home to eat in secret. Our preaching is often too much like a fiddler's playing: People come to see how it is done, and then they pass round the question, "What think ye of him?" Now, I do not care two straws what you think of me, but I do care a whole world what you think of Christ and of yourselves, and of your future state. I pray you forget the way in which I put things, for that may be very blundering and faulty; but if there be anything in the things themselves consider them with care. If you judge the Bible to be a fraud, and that there is no heaven to be had, then go, sport and laugh as you please, for you will only act consistently with your erroneous imagination; but if you believe God's word to be true, and that there is a glorious hope connected with the Christian's high calling, then in the name of prudence and common sense why do you not seek it? Give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids till you find it. I ask the Lord's people here present, and I know that there are many such in the audience to-night, to pray that this appeal may have an effect upon many in this great crowd, that they may seek the Lord at once with full purpose of heart. O Spirit of God, work it, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Ephesians i., and chapter ii. 1st verse.

HYMNS FROM 66

OUR OWN HYMN BOOK "-176, 757, 728.

LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON.

DEAR FRIENDS,-Accept my most loving salutations. May all grace abound towards each one of you, and may your joy and peace be multiplied thereby. I feel daily improving in health and strength; only my knees remain feeble. I still adhere to my determination, if the Lord will, to preach on Lord's-day, April 13. May his presence then be with us.

I earnestly entreat the prayers of all who know how to plead with God that when I return among you it may be in the fulness of the power of the Holy Spirit, and that my usefulness may be increased a hundredfold. Surely all the suffering I have endured, and all the rest I have enjoyed, should bring forth some fruit unto God. Yet so feeble are we that we profit nothing unless the Spirit of the Lord quicken us. By all the affectionate interest which you have hitherto shown in my ministry, intercede for me, I beseech you, that I be made a blessing to myriads. Yours in heartiest love,

Mentone, March 27.

may yet

C. II. SPURGEON.

"And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed."—2 Kings iv. 6.

So long as there were vessels to be filled the miraculous flow of the oil continued, and it only ceased when there were no more jars to contain it. The prophet spoke no word to stay the multiplying process, and the Lord did not set any bound to the bountiful marvel; the poor widow was not straitened in God, but in her supply of empty vessels. Nothing else in the universe restrained the flow of the oil: but the want of vessels to receive it stayed it at once. The vessels failed before the oil; our powers of receiving will give out long before God's power of bestowing.

So

This is true in reference to OUR PROVIDENTIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. long as we have needs we shall have supplies, and we shall find our necessities exhausted far sooner than the divine bounty. In the wilderness there fell more manna than the tribes could eat, and there flowed more water than the hosts could drink, and so long as they were in a desert land and required this provision it was continued to them: when they reached Canaan and fed on the old corn of the land the special supplies ceased, but not till then. In the same manner also the Lord will feed his people till they need no more.

The widow's apparent source of supply was only one pot of oil, but this continued to stream forth as vessel by vessel was placed underneath it; so shall the little with which the Lord endows his poor people continue to furnish sufficient from day to day, till the last day of life, like the last vessel, shall have been filled. Some are not content with this, but would have the oil run beyond the last vessel, even after their deaths, never resting till they have hoarded their thousands, and have buried their hearts in gold dust. If the oil will but run till the last vessel is full, what more do we want? If providence secures us food and raiment till we end this mortal life, what more can we require?

Doubtless in the dispensation of wealth and other talents to his servants the Lord considers their capacities. If they had more vessels they should have more oil. The infinitely wise God knows that it is better for some men to be poor than rich; they would not be able to bear prosperity, and so the oil does not flow, because there is not a vessel to fill. If we are able to receive an earthly gift, it will then be a No. 1,467.