and procured a press, which were sent out under the care of Mr. John Berlin, a student of divinity, who had learned the art of printing in the Orphan House,-the first mission press in the world from which a translation of the New Testament was soon issued.

THE CRUSE THAT FAILETH NOT.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Is thy cruse of comfort wasting? rise and share it with another, And through all the years of famine, it shall serve thee and thy brother:

Love divine will fill thy storehouse, or thy handful still renew;
Scanty fare for one will often make a royal feast for two.

For the heart grows rich in giving; all its wealth is living grain;
Seeds, which mildew in the garner, scattered, fill with gold the plain.
Is thy burden hard and heavy? Do thy steps drag wearily?
Help to bear thy brother's burden; God will bear both it and thee.

Numb and weary on the mountains, wouldst thou sleep amidst the snow?

Chafe that frozen form beside thee, and together both shall glow. Art thou stricken in life's battle; many wounded round thee moan; Lavish on their wounds thy balsams, and that balm shall heal thine

own.

Is the heart a well left empty? None but God its void can fill;
Nothing but a ceaseless fountain can its ceaseless longing still.
Is the heart a living power? Self-entwin'd, its strength sinks low;
It can only live in loving, and by serving love will grow.

69

"RIPE FOR HEAVEN."

MANY of the children of God, who ought to be rejoicing in the liberty of the Gospel, are enthralled in some form of legal bondage. Comparatively few of these are exulting in a finished salvation, with the self-abasing, but soul-satisfying consciousness that "we are complete in Him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." If the only consequences of this were the over-clouding of their joy and the disturbance of their peace, the evil would be worthy of every effort to correct it. How much more, when, in addition to this, it dishonors their Lord, while it cramps all their energies, obscures their graces, and leaves their position in the world uncertain both to themselves and others.

One of the most subtle forms of the evil may be thus stated, even when there is a distinct knowledge of the grounds on which God justifies the ungodly, after the soul has tasted the blessedness of "the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered," and has rejoiced in hope of the glory of God, there is an impression that much remains to be done before the soul is, to use a common expression, "ripe for heaven." The impression seems to be that, after his justification, the believer must undergo a process of sanctification, and that for this reason he is left for a time amid the trials and conflicts of a hostile world. The wide prevalence of this notion appears in public teaching and in the mutual exhortations of Christians, and, if

possible, more distinctly in their prayers; for they may very often be heard pleading that they may be made meet, but are rarely heard giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

One might suppose that those who are toiling on under this impression, would be staggered by their experience and observation. Their progress must at the best be unsatisfactory. They cannot know when the process is completed. They see others, in whose Christian character they have the fullest confidence, cut off apparently in very various stages of the process; and if the completion of it be what men style "perfect sanctification," in how few cases, so far as we can judge, is any such state of preparation for glory attained? On their death-beds, the most eminent saints appear most humbled in view of their own attainments, most dissatisfied with all that they are in themselves. There, self is most completely renounced, and their parting triumph is not in what they are, but in what Christ is. Besides, how can we with confidence say to a man-to a dying man-"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," when we do not know if his life may be prolonged beyond the instant of believing? "Justification," they say, "is an act completed at once, but sanctification is a progressive work ;" and there can be no objection to the expression in speaking of our growth in holiness, and the manifestation of it in this life. with reference to our preparation for preparation be the grand object of the believer's life in the flesh, then it is difficult to know how Paul could say, me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But, if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall chose I wot not; for I am in a straight betwixt two; having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better;

But if this be said glory, and if such a

"To

nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And, having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith." Especially difficult is it to know how Paul could use such language when in a subsequent portion of the same epistle he says, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." How, in short, could believers either have a desire to depart, or long for the coming of the Lord, while the very fact that they are in the body was the proof that the process was not completed which would fit them for His coming? A person who had spent a lifetime in reaching a boasted consciousness of perfect sanctification, upon a death-bed, was betrayed into a fit of ungoverned anger. She found the labor of so many years frustrated in a moment, and would have died in despair had not the Spirit of God, in her extremity, brought home this truth to her heart, 'Jesus Christ is of God, made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.""

The confusion and vagueness of prevailing views on this subject, which is of unspeakable moment to us, warrant us in inviting a patient consideration of a passage in the Epistle to the Colossians, which seems to give an unambiguous answer to all inquiries regarding the believer's preparation for glory. "Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." (Col. i. 12). The apostle tells these "saints and faithful brethren at Colosse," of his unceasing prayers for them; and the matter of his prayers shows that he was very far from regarding them as perfect either in knowledge or in grace, yet he does not pray that they may be made meet for the inheritance, but speaks of himself and them as already "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." From the manner in which this occasion of thanksgiving is introduced, it appears that Paul considered, or rather the

Holy Spirit teaches, that their gratitude for such meetness was intimately connected with their advancement in grace, knowledge and spiritual fertility. For he does not inform them that he gave thanks for them on this behalf, but that he does not cease to pray that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing-giving thanks to the Father for what he had actually accomplished in them. At any rate, whether it be regarded as a statement of Paul's thanksgiving, or of Paul's prayer that their gratitude might be awakened, this much is clear, that the occasion of thanksgiving is that the Father had actually made Paul and the saints at Colosse meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. We may, therefore, at once proceed to inquire: In what does our meetness to be partakers of that inheritance consist? and then we shall see how it is an occasion of gratitude to believers that such meetness is actually bestowed upon them, and not an occasion of prayerful solicitude that they may yet attain it.

But it will clear our way to the consideration of these questions, if we inquire first of all, what is the inheritance spoken of? An inheritance is a profession or dignity which we do not acquire by our labor or merits, nor purchase with money, but to which we lawfully succeed in virtue of our relationship to another. Primarily, it is that to which a child succeeds in virtue of his relationship to his father, as a son inherits the estate of his father, or as the son of a king inherits the crown. In this case the inheritance becomes ours in virtue of our being sons of God. speaks of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ having begotten us again unto a lively hope, to an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. So Paul speaks of the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God-and then he argues, "if sons, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ."

So Peter