^ Dean Stanley recalls a well-known German picture repre- senting a young man playing at chess with the Tempter of his soul. There he sits, intent upon the game; he sees only the moves of the pieces immediately before him ; he thinks he will still win the game. Opposite to him sits the Fiend, exulting over an easy prey. Already piece after piece has been taken ; here a good deed gone, there a prayer removed ; a few more successful moves on the Tempter's part, and the game is won — and the soul is lost. But there is yet another figure in the picture, which gives to the scene at once a deeper pathos and also a ray of hope. Behind the young man, unseen by him, unnoticed by the Tempter, stands the Guardian Angel of his soul. The wings are already spread for flight : the face is already turning away. " It is a face not of anger, not of disappointment, not of despair, not of resist- ance, but of profound compassion and grief."
III.
The Great Motive for not Grieving the Spirit.
We stand in a high relationship to Him. We have been sealed in Him unto the day of redemption.
220 GRIEVING THE SPIRIT
1. In what does this sealing consist ? — The Apostle explains elsewhere. "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." From which we learn that it is a " seal " which has, if one may so speak, two sides, which make two impressions, which together complete the spiritual " sealing." The one, God's electing grace — " The Lord knoweth them that are his " ; and the other, our own personal progress in holiness — "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." And God's election, and our sanctification, the consequence of election, make the " seal."
That this is the " seal " of which the Apostle is speaking to the Ephesians is confirmed by the words that he adds — " unto the day of redemption " — implying that it then ceases. For, as soon as the redeemed soul takes its redeemed body, the danger will be all over ; the Proprietor will be come back, and He will unseal the casket, and take out the jewel, because He wants it for His own crown.
^ If we can learn aright how Christ was sealed, we shall learn how we are sealed. The sealing of Christ by the Father is the communication of the Holy Spirit in fulness to Him, authorizing Him unto and acting His Divine power in all the acts and duties of His office, so as to evidence the presence of God with Him and approbation of Him. God's sealing of believers then is His gracious communication of the Holy Spirit unto them so to act His divine power in them as to enable them unto all the duties of their holy calling, evidencing them to be accepted with Him both for themselves and others, and asserting their preservation unto eternal life.^
2. The seal is the mark of ownership. — When men put their mark upon an article, it is to show that it is their own. The farmer brands his tools that they may not be stolen. They are his. The shepherd marks his sheep that they may be recognized as belonging to his flock. So the Holy Spirit puts His mark of ownership upon the hearts of all His people. He seals us. " They shall be mine," saith the Lord of Hosts, " in the day that I make up my jewels." And then the Spirit puts God's seal upon us to signify that we are God's reserved inheritance — His peculiar people, the portion in which His soul delights.
^ John Owen, Discourse Concerning the Spi/rit.
EPHESIANS IV. 30 221
What is said here to be sealed is not any external promise or assurance, however rich, however infallible : it is the Christian himself, his own actual personality, that is the recipient of the sealing. And here, perhaps, we may be reminded that in the great discourse in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, our Lord, having to prove that He can give to His followers the food that endureth to eternal life, affirms that He Himself was " sealed " by the Father, that is, was solemnly declared by the Father to be the true Christ. Yet we may discern the idea of ownership as recur- ring, though less distinctly, in this passage also ; for in the context our Lord asserts a special Sonship as inhering in Himself, " My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven," as if the funda- mental thought, in regard to the sealing connected with His Incarnate Person, were just this, that He was attested as God's own Son.
^ " How hot it is ! " cried a stick of sealing-wax. " It's positively exhausting. I can't stand much more of this ! " And thereupon the poor thing began to bend and twist under the heat. But it grew hotter and hotter still, as a cruel hand kept it re- morselessly in the flame of a candle. Then the wax began to melt, and portions dropped off on to a sheet of paper placed to receive them; and these were moulded into shape under pressure of a signet. " Eeally," said the sealing-wax, " I didn't know I could look so splendid. Just see this crest ! " Adversity tends to the development of character. Fire makes the Divine crest beautiful. The marble of the Christian character gleams the whiter, the gold and silver and precious stones flash the brighter, the colours glow the more beautiful, because of the fierce lights of time. Eeserved by Divine love and grace unto the day of redemption,