^[ The promises of men are often lightly given. " A canvassing party," says Sir Wilfrid Lawson, " went to the house of an elector in Manchester, but only his wife was at home. They explained to her what they had come for, and on leaving said : ' You know
what we want, we want your husband's vote for Mr. ; do you
think he'll promise ? ' 'Oh yes,' she said, ' I think he'll promise, he's promised every one who came yet.' " x God promises nothing but what He knows He can perform, nothing but what He means to perform.
A living, loving, lasting word, My listening ear believing heard,
While bending down in prayer; Like a sweet breeze that none can stay, It passed my soul upon its way,
And left a blessing there.
Then joyful thoughts that come and go, By paths the holy angels know,
Encamped around my soul; As in a dream of blest repose, 'Mid withered reeds a river rose,
And through the desert stole.
I lifted up my eyes to see — The wilderness was glad for me,
Its thorns were bright with bloom; And onward travellers, still in sight, Marked out a path of shining light
And shade unmixed with gloom.
1 G. W. E. Russell's Memoir of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 97.
ROMANS viii. 17 497
Oh, sweet the strains of those before, The weary knees are weak no more,
The faithful heart is strong. But sweeter, nearer, from above, That word of everlasting love,
The promise and the song.1
(2) We are heirs of God's Possessions. When God gives Himself to us, He gives us with Himself all that He has. And this means treasures vast and immeasurable. The stars in their glittering splendour are the dust of His feet. The kingdoms of the world are to Him the small dust of the balance. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul says : " All things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours."
Tf I stood one time with a big-hearted friend of mine who has been for twenty years minister of a small church in a humble community where most of the people were fisher-folk winning their livelihood from the sea. The veranda of this man's humble home overlooked the harbour and the ocean beyond. It was evening, and the lights were appearing one by one on the fleet of boats in the harbour. We had been speaking about the city, with its advantages and its enticements. My friend had grown meditative, and was evidently thinking of what he had missed in these twenty years of isolation. He said, "Sometimes I think I ought to go away from here — ought to have gone years ago. I should probably be more of a man if I had." And then with an impulsive and indescribable gesture he stretched his hands out as if to embrace the harbour and the ocean itself, and said, "That compensates for all." For a moment he made me feel my own poverty. He owned the ocean because he loved it.2
(3) We are heirs of God's Attributes. Is He omnipotent ? His omnipotence is ours, to be our defence. Is He omniscient ? His infinite wisdom is ours, to guide us. Is He eternal? His eternity is ours, that we may ever be preserved. Is He full of love and grace ? Then all His love, as though there were not another to be loved, is mine, and all His grace, as though there were never another sinner to partake of it, is mine. " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." " God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
1 A. L. Waring. a F. 0. Hall.
ACTS & ROM. — 32
498 JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST
My eyes for beauty pine, My soul for Goddes grace: No other care nor hope is mine; To heaven I turn my face.
One splendour thence is shed From all the stars above: 'Tis named where God's name is said, 'Tis Love, 'tis heavenly Love.
And every gentle heart, That burns with true desire, Is lit from eyes that mirror part Of that celestial fire.1
3. But if the Inheritance which is God — God in all His promises, possessions, attributes — God Himself, is ours, when may we enter upon it ? In its fulness, in the supremacy of its bliss, we must wait till the suffering is ended. But in some measure we may enter into possession here and now.
Tf Our estates are not all beyond the river we call death. That is where we make an impoverishing mistake. We are heirs not only of "great expectations" but of great possessions. Super- latively rich are our expectations, but we have more than a competency by the way. Devonshire is a peculiarly rich and fruitful county, but it overflows into Somersetshire, and we are in the enjoyment of some of the glory before we reach the coveted spot. And so it is of heaven and ultimate glory.
There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain.
But the glory overflows ! There is something of the coveted country even in the highway of time —