the divine nature." It implies something very exalted, and very blessed ; much more so than if it had merely been told us that God's aim was to " make us holy." Partakers of his own very holiness, — his very nature ! This is more than angels can glory in. It is something pe- culiar to " the redeemed from among men," — • the members of the body of Christ. And it is in this way that Jesus speaks to us. It is not merely " peace " that he promises to us, but his own peace, — " my peace." It is not merely joy he bestows, but his own joy. — " my joy." So here it is not merely holiness he is confer- ring upon us, but his own holiness. His wish is to make us partakers of that. And oh ! how much does that imply !
A goodly prize this ! One for the obtaining of which we may well count all things but loss. It is well for us when we come to see it in all its value and excellency, and to set our hearts upon it. Until we do so there will be strife between us and God ; for this is the blessing which above all others he desires for us, and which he is bent on conferring upon us. When, however, we come to be perfectly at one with him as to this, then the struggle ceases. He gets his own way, and this is best for us. How
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blessed, when his desire to deliver us from sin, and ours to be delivered from it, meet together; when his purpose to make us holy is cordially responded to by our fervent longings to be so! Then it is that the Divine fulness flows into the soul without a check, and, notwithstanding the bitterness of the outward process by which this is effected, joy unspeakable and full of glory, possesses the consecrated soul.
" Wherefore, laying aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race set before us, look- ing unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him en- dured the cross, despising the shame." And there is nothing like affliction for teaching us this. It acts like the wind upon the trees, making them take deeper root. It is the mowing of the grass, that it may shoot up thicker and greener. It is the shaking of the torch that it may blaze the brighter.
CHAPTER X.
THE AROUSING.
( IT may have been long since the Holy Spirit awoke us from our sleep of death. Into that same deep sleep we know that we shall never fall again. He who awoke us will keep us awake until Jesus come. In that sense we shall sleep no more.
But still much of our drowsiness remains. We are not wholly awake, and oftentimes much of our former sleep returns. Dwelling on the world's enchanted ground, our eyes close, our senses are bewildered, our conscience loses its sensitiveness, and our faculties their energy ; we fall asleep even upon our watch- tower, forgetful that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand.
While thus asleep, or half-asleep, all goes wrong. Our movements are sluggish and life- less. Our faith waxes feeble ; our love is chilled ; our zeal cools down. The freshness of other years is gone. Our boldness has forsaken us. Our schemes are carelessly devised and
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drowsily executed. The work of Go;! is hin- dered by us instead of being helped forward. We are a drag upon it. We mar it.
But God will not have it so. Neither for his work's sake, nor for his saints' sake, can he suffer this to continue. We must be aroused at whatsoever cost. We are not to be allowed to sleep as do others. We must watch and be sober, for we are children of the light and of the day, not of the night nor of darkness. God cannot permit us thus to waste life, as if its only use were to be sported with or trifled away. Duties lazily and lifelessly performed : half-hearted prayers ; a deportment, blameless enough perhaps, but tame and unexpressive, and, therefore uninfluential ; words well and wisely spoken perhaps, but without depth and intensity, and, therefore, without weight, — these are not things which God can tolerate in a saint. It is either the coldness of Sardis, to which he says, " If thou shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Or it is the lukewarmness of Laodicea, to which he says, " Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
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