The transmission of an allotment was regulated by certain customs. A holder could convey it to another, as Isaac did to Jacob, and such transfer- ence could not be cancelled or altered (Gn 27^^, He 12^'^). It was recognized that the son of a female slave could not share an allotment with the son of a free-born wife (Gn 21^", Gal 4^"). Hence gradually the children, just because they were the children, of the possessor (Ro 8^'') claimed the allotment on the death of the possessor as a thing to be divided among them (Lk 12'^). Because a child came to be looked upon as the holder of the KXijpos, and when he attained the proper age (Gal 4') entered on possession, KXrjpouo/xoi (kXtjpos + v^fjioixai, 'hold') came to mean what we call an ' heir ' (He IP).* In this sense the word is used proleptically in the expression, ' This is 6 KX-ripovdfios, let us kill him and the KXTjpoyo/Mia will become ours ' (Mt 2P^, Mk 12^ Lk 20"). Similarly the higher things of life came to be looked upon as something the kXtjpos of which a man could hold. Noah became the holder of the KXrjpoi of righteousness (He IV). Very sig- nificant as attaching excellency to a name, as a condensed form of the whole personality, is the expression that the Eternal Son dia^opwrepov KeKXrjpo- vd/MTjKev 6vo/j.a, had allotted to Him a more excellent name (He 1^), and thus became the One to whom all things were allotted (He 1-), KX7ipov6/j.ov ttclvtwi'. Salvation, whether as promised or bestowed, is, in its ultimate eschatological form, something allotted. St. Paul's mission to the Gentiles was to open the eyes that they might receive KXrjpov, an allotment, a thing falling to their lot, among them that are sanctified (Ac 26^^). God, who is able to give them a KXT]povofj.tav among all them that are sanctified (Ac 20^^),t Himself causes them to be- come partakers rod KXrjpov, of the allotment of the saints in light (cf. Ps 15 [IQf, Col V^), the dppa^Jjy, the arles of the allotment, being the gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1"), and the ministry of the angels (He 1"). The promises of God are given as an allotment to those who exhibit faith and patience (He 6'^), and Christian graciousness to others (1 P 3') ; while to him who overcomes temptation there is given as an allotment the blessing that only God can give (Rev 2V), and to those who comport themselves rightly to the home circle there is given as a recompense the allotment (Col 3-''). The saints in this way become, as Israel of old (Dt 420 9'^-^ 329), the allotment which belongs to God (Eph 1'^), iv (p Kal iKXripudrj/j-ev (a BKLP), and, being the riches of His glory (V^), are the heirs of all the promises (He 6'^). Just as the earth is an allotment made to the meek (Mt 5^), and eternal life an allotment to those who have left houses, etc. (Mt 19•-^ Mk 10", Lk lO"^ 18^8, Gal 5'-'), so there is a Kingdom in which the un- righteous (1 Co 69' ^"), in which flesh and blood (1 Co 15^"), in which fornicators, etc. (Eph 5'), cannot receive an allotment ; for it is an allotment [irepared only for the blessed of the Father (Mt 2.5"^). It is therefore a spiritual allotment, incor- ruptible, undefiled (1 P P). This possession passes to men not through force of a legal enactment, but through their showing themselves heirs to it by their ethical and spiritual conduct. Thus the allotment of this world, promised to Abraham, passes to those linked to him not by flesh and blood, but only by the righteousness of faith (Ro
* Cf. the remarks on feudal tenure in J. Hill Burton, The Scot Abroad, 1898, p. 4.
t Cf. Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, xii. : ' det vobia sortein et partem inter sanotos sues.'
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4^'- ^*), and only those who are thus in Christ are Abraham's progeny, and KXrjpovoixoi according to (.he promise (Gal 3^^). They are the heirs of eternal life, according to hope (Tit 3^), and because they have loved their Lord (Ja 2^). Hence it is that the Gentiles equally with the Jews are aw- K\i}pov6fioi, fellow heirs (Eph B*"), and wives are crvv- k\t]pov6/j.ois, joint heirs of the grace of life (1 P 3'').* The conception of salvation as something allotted to man may have tended to obscure the necessity for diligence and earnestness in the pursuit of the ('hristian ideal, and this again maj- account for the absence of the idea from the writings of the Apostolic Fatiiers. In actual life at least we are not unfamiliar with something similar.
While kleromancy, it is true, ' appeared to take the responsibility of decision out of the hands of man and vest it in the presiding deity,' t yet, in reality, its tendency is not to exalt the Divine will but to enervate the human mind. It thus tends to destroy our sense of responsibility, and the duty of patiently permitting God to enlighten our minds as to what is right. It thus robs us of the moral and spiritual discipline of acting according as conscience, enlightened by Him, dictates, and besides opens up inhnite possibilities of trickery and fraud. Through the action of the eleven, and age-long influences, Jewish and pagan, kleromancy continued to be practised in the Church. Augus- tine held that divisorj' lots were lawful in common things but not in.dirposing of ecclesiastical offices and lives of men, J and similar views continued to prevail till near the end of the 17th century. § Jeremy Taylor still thouglit it ' not improbable, and in most cases to be admitted, that God hath committed games of chance to the Devil's conduct. ' |1 Wesley believed in Divine guidance being given by lot, IT and in 1738 a journey to Bristol was finally decided on, after various appeals to the Sortes Sanctorum, by kleromancy.** Among the Moravi- ans, whose first ministers were chosen by lot, in 1467, and whose church life was at first completely regulated by kleromancy, its sphere was steadily and gradually limited, and it is now scarcely recog- nized, tt Though down to the end of the 16th cent, it was frequently practised, +J and the prevailing view was that ' lots may not be used, but with great re- verence, because the disposition of them cometh im- mediately from God,' yet the arguments of Gata- ker§§ that such Divine interposition was 'indeed mere superstition,' and that ' lots were governed by purely natural laws,' gradually influenced educated men. Among the more illiterate sects kleromancy long lingered, and the scene in Silas Marner (ch. 1) was true to life. Pious but ignorant people still resort to it in one form or another. The rule that when a lower type of religion is absorbed or superseded by a higher the ceremonies of the former finally become games, and then children's games, is illustrated by the fact that the casting of lots, once sacred and solemn, is now totally confined to games.