(4) The fellowship of faith is a fourth conviction of perseverance. ' By this shall all men know,' said Christ, ' that ye are my disciples, that ye love one another ' (Jn 13^^). That vindication of their standing in grace is never absent from the apostolic a.ssurance. ' Love the brotherhood,' enjoins St. Peter (1 P 2"). ' Beloved, let us love one another,' urges St. John (1 Jn 4'). 'Brethren, speak not evil one of another,' pleads St. James (Ja 4") ; ' Have not the faith with re.spect of per-sons' (2') ; ' Make perfect your faith in works to the brethren ' (2"- ^-). ' Let us consider one another to pro- voke unto love and good works ; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,' teaches Hebrews (He lO'"- =* ; cf. 13')- St. Paul asserts that sin against brethren is sin against Christ (1 Co S'^'; cf. Ro 121"), i\-^^^ disregard of one another is division of the Body and the Spirit (1 Co 12'- '" '=■), that the household of God must in unity keep itself fitly framed together (Eph 2'"- -^ ; cf. Ac 2^-). Saintly e.xperience is not all in one mould, but all ditl'erences, however great, may serve to manifest the power and the plenitude of the sanctifying Spirit of grace, the innumerable varieties corroborating one another, and in their cumulative etlect enhancing the impression made by each. ' The glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of the martyrs, the milder bands of the mystics' perfect each other (cf. He ll*), as each proves ' his conversation to be in heaven ' (Ph 3'-'"),* and the fellowship of believers to be truly ' the fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ' (1 Jn 1»).
(5) The heavenly inheritance provides a fifth support. It occupies a remarkable space on the apostolic horizon. It gives dehnite body to thought, purpose, and desire as the great hope (Ro 5-, Eph jie. ID 44_ Col P- ■", I Th 4'3 58, 2 Th 2'3-i', Tit V
* Cf. Edvpin Hatch'8 well-known hymn, 'All Saints,' in his Towards Fields 0/ Light : Sacred Poems, London, 1890.
2'3- », He 6"*- •» V\ 1 P H- ••■ " 3", 1 Jn 3" ») in which the disci]ile rejoices, since it is life eternal (Ko 6'^, Eph !•'■ 'S 2 Ti 4», Tit 3', He (>"), the long-striven- for and appropriate culmination and consumma- tion of this present life, according to God's will (1 Co 9-», 2 Ti 48, Ja 1'-, 1 P 5*, liev 2'" 3", 'crown of life '), life eternal which stands de facto realized in Christ, 'which is our hope' (I 'ti 1'), who is crowned with glory and honour (He 2*- "•), with many crowns (llev I'J'-'). Thiougli the ascension of Christ Christian hope has a limitless reach.* It reaches outwardly into eternity, inwardly into the sanctuary on high. It looks to a hidden Kingdom of Glory — 'a salvation yet to be revealed' — into which it casts its anchor, keeping the soul lirni and tranquil. It contemplates Him who wears its crown and sees in Him its own surety. His being tliei'e and thus renders the hope of entrance a certainty. It is a living hope (1 P P), yielding vital stimulus to the whole nature it inhabits — sentiment, thought, will. The purpose of God, the character of Christ, the soul's growth in good- ness, the varieties of saintly experience, the hope of heaven — these are the dynamics of the redeemed and regenerated life, the pledges of holy attain- ment. Can we wonder if those who most felt their attraction and learned their strength claimed to possess in them a tive-fold cord that could not be broken, a basis of spiritual existence irremov- able and unshakable, wliose sufficiency was wholly of God and filled life itself with an unquenchable joy (cf. Ro 5-, Ph 4^ 1 Th 5'", 1 P P, He 38, Rev 12'-) or that any attempt to claim for man ability or sufficiency should not appear other than religious illiteracy ?
2. The moral endeaYonr. — The principles of per- severance, in virtue of their very nature as active impulse in union with hxed conviction, are preg- nant with moral life. They are the reservoirs of the highest moral life and inspiration ; they reveal to the persevering soul its exalted moral ideal and the rigorous method of realizing it ; the acceptance of which is the probation of faith in steadfastness ; its rejection, apostasy.
(1) The moral ideal regulating the virtue of per- severance is not vague ; it is definite. The life of perseverance is a specific culture of the positive contents of the will of God, and that throughout their whole extent. To this the saints are ' called ' ; it is the ' heavenly calling' of which they are par- takers (1 Co l\ 1 Th 4', Gal 5'3, 2 P P, 2 Th 2", He 3'). Their icX^ffis is into a Kingdom of the Divine design, of positive order, ruled in righteous- ness by and according to His will, a sovereignty in fact as well as in idea, not a domain but a dominion, through its citizens gi'owing in righteousness (Ro 5" 8", Eph 5» 6", I Ti 6", 1 Jn 2-», 1 P 1'^ Rev 19'). Its content is Christ, and the righteousness is Hisactuiil life (1 Co P", 2 Co 5"\ Ph 3"). Its end is 'to be found in him' (Ph 3") and 'by him to be presented blameless, unreproached, without spot' in the end (1 Co P, 2 P 3", Col V^). There is then a Divine order of life in which the Divine aim is fulfilled, its cardinal power being God's holiness. That holiness, manifested in Christ's Person, presents man's nature in Him as it is in that order. Consequently, all moral effort of believers must be directed towards realizing His mind, imitating His example. His relation to God expresses the whole fullness of the human spirit's energy of which it is competent. Out of His strength of belief in God's holy sovereignty was born His dauntless perseverance. His path His saints pursue. They contemplate the holiness of God in Him, and ' perfect themselves in holiness in the fear of God' (2 Co 7'); they 'obey the