distinction between sin and purity. We live too much by compromise. We need to learn more of the absolute claims of righteousness. Ver. 28.-Taking God as an Inheritance. The priests wero to have no share in the partition of the land. They were to be supported by means of the sacrificial offerings C1f the people; aad in so living they were said to take God for their Inheritance. Viewing their position from the lowest point of view, we have the thought that they were dependent on what W1I.S dedicated to God, as their livelihood was derived from God's share of the produce of the land; a higher consideration would lead them to seo that it was through God's relation to his people that they received their main- tenance; and the highest view to which they could attain would be to regard God himself as their real Inheritance, and the sacrificial offerings merely as necessary means of living. Let us see how God m~y be regarded as an Inheritance and a Possession. L Gon MAY nE RECEIVED. An inheritance is not some distant ten·itory that one simply knows of or beholds at a distonce. We may believe in God, and even look towards him from afar, and yet not think of having any inheritance in him. But it is possible to have more close relations with him. 1. The inheritance is received as a. birthright. The priests had a hereditary claim on their portion. All men are by nature children of God. By new birth we recover our original birthright. 'l'he Christian is an heir of God. 2. 'l'he inheritance is received throu,;h death. One.dies, and another receives his inheritance. That was seen in Old Testament times in the succession of the priests. To us it is remarkable, as witnessed in the great fact that Christ died to give us our heavenly inheritance. II. Gon MAY BE OWNED. When we receive God as an Inheritance, we take him as our Possession. There is thus a certain ownership in God established. But in the most complete way he owns us. How, then, can we also own God? There is a spiritual appropriation by which we personally accept God as our God, and hold to him in faith. It is much to be able to say from the heart, "0 God, thou art my God! " All religion centres in that experience. The prie8ts were to enjoy special Divine privileges in the Jewish system ; all Christians are now to own God as their peculiar Possession. IIL Gon MAY BE ENJOYED. The inheritance is made use of and ·valued for what it gives, and on its own account. 1. When God is our Inheritance, Divine blessings are (J'IJ,r portion. A rich inheritance contains many treasures-acres of fertile soil, well-timbered land, farms and orchards, perhaps mines and houses. He who takes God f.or his Portion has all the wealth of God to supply his need. It is true he may still rtceive but little of this world's goods; that is because God sees that it is best for him to be tried with poverty, But he will have a true sufficiency. If he trusts in G,x!, and does what is right, he has the promise that he shall be fed (Pa. xxxvii. 3). Ultimately he will have great possessions. "All things are yours" (1 Cor. iii. 22). 2. God is himself the greatest Blessing for his people. '£he inheritance itself ill more valuable than all that it is the means of procuring for us. To own God is to be rich indeed. When the Lord is our Portion we have a wealth of treasures for our souls. His presence, his love, his truth, his life, he himself dwelling within, make those who own him rich in the highest good.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1--3.-The prerogative of the prince. The regulation prescribed in these verses h very remarkable, and is not free from difficulties. It appears that a peculiar sanctity attached to the eai;tern gate of the temple, owing to the fact that it was by this gate that the glory of the Lord entered, and by this same gate that the glory of the Lord had previously forsaken, the sacred precincts. To mark this sacredness, the gate was kept shut, and no one was permitted to pass through it, except the prince. He, as the head, the representative, the ruler, of Israel, was pe1mitted to enter and to depart by this gate.. And further, it was ap?ointed that he should in this gateway eat bread-whother by this be meant the meat offering or the shewbread. 'l'his was a priestly privilege, ou. nrv. 1-31.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 399