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sons of God." (Rom. viii. 15-19; 1 John iii. 1, 2.) And this is what the apostle means when he says, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (1 Thess. iv. 14.) When He comes in His glory, we shall be in the train of that glory. The moment after He had purged our sins He could take His place on the throne of God, the pledge of the Church's final glory (chap. vi. 20); the moment He comes again, we shall be made practically to know the result of His work, in the glory. Intermingled with our experience of glory, now there must be a trembling, for glory is always terrible to nature, the judgments of God terrible to human feelings. But we are told, that when He comes again, when we are brought into the glory, we shall be made like unto Himself; and this by God's transforming power: He is able to make us like unto Christ, and that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Cor. xv. 49-53.) We shall have none of the feelings of our present nature, of old humanity then. All that is of mere nature will be broken off and laid aside, and we shall be like Christ.

"Of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.* But unto the SON He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.+ And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail," &c.‡ (vv. 7-14.) Who is this displayed as King on his throne-worshipped by angels-around whom all things are gathered? The living and eternal God. Christ Jesus may have been under the power of Satan and of death for a season-wondrous thought!—yet is He unchangeably God. Nothing can alter or affect His essential and eternal Godhead and glory.

And we are spoken of as "His fellows." We cannot understand the nature of our union with Christ. Godhead is not ours, nor ever can be; and yet we shall have capacities * Quoting Psalm civ. 4. + Quoting Psalm cii. 25, 26.

Quoting Psalm xlv. 6, 7.

and powers resulting from union with Him in all that He is, even as God.

It is said that He is anointed with the oil of gladness "above" His fellows, and when that is said, all is said. It is true we are but the receivers, while He is the Source; in Him that is essential which in us is derived; yet in every felt blessing we are to be one with Him. And we shall not desire that it should be otherwise; we shall rejoice to say, 'Let all things be of God.' (2 Cor. v. 18.) We shall see the fitness of our being but receivers, and of His being the Source, as it is said, "His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

The being anointed with the "oil of gladness" is spoken of in connection with what He was here, as loving righteousness and hating iniquity. We can easily understand that joy -it is a peculiar spring of joy to the heart of Jesus. But we may enter a little into the same character of gladness; and this we shall in proportion as, while here, we also love righteousness and hate iniquity.

The thought conveyed by the word, "a sceptre of righteousness," is that of the shepherd's rod. A king should be to his people what a shepherd is to his flock. Now Christ will hold the "rod" in that day as a Shepherd King, and it will be a "sceptre of righteousness." And we shall share in His rule. But then he holds it now (though not for the world, yet) for His Church. Do we recognize this rod? Truth becomes practically blessed to us when looked at, not abstractedly, but as connected with ourselves.

When we read this chapter, we can say, 'This is what our inheritance is.' If it sets us above angels, how much more so above the flesh, whether in ourselves or in others! How lovely soever the flesh may appear, we are far above it. With such a portion and such a glory, can we desire station or dignity here? It gives contentment to those who are low in the world, and abasement to those who are great. These are the inward feelings produced in saints by the knowledge of the glory. In outward things there are two lines of difference between those who are one in Christ, and with Christ. First, as regards gifts in the Church; these the Holy Ghost divides. to each severally as He wills. Secondly, as to natural arrangements and relationships appointed of God; these things are right and good, and we find them so, when received in the Spirit. If they act on the flesh, they bring sorrow.

Paul

and Onesimus as to inward feelings were on a level, but in the Church they had different places and gifts; so also as men.

These are great things respecting the glory of Jesus, and our union with Him, but it is God's word, and not man's. The same word which tells us of Adam and his sin, tells us of this. We did not see Adam sin, yet we believe that he sinned, and we feel the consequences of his sin. Why should we not as fully receive the testimony of God, when He speaks of our union with His Son, and of the glory into which we shall be brought, as heirs together with Him?

WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.

Ir is impossible to separate true spiritual worship and communion from the perfect offering of Christ to God. The moment our worship separates itself from this, its efficacy, and the consciousness of that infinite acceptance of Jesus before the Father, it becomes carnal, and either form or delight of the flesh. When the Holy Spirit leads us into real spiritual worship, it leads us into communion with God, into the presence of God, and then, necessarily, all the infinite acceptability to Him of the offering of Christ is present to our spirit; the acceptance of that sweet savour is that in which we go to Him. We are associated with it, it forms an integral and necessary part of our communion and worship. We cannot be in the presence of God in communion without finding there the perfect favour of God in which an offered Jesus is. It is, indeed, the ground of our acceptance, as well as of our communion. Apart from this, then, our worship falls back into the flesh; our prayers form what is sometimes called a gift of prayer, than which nothing often is more sorrowful; a fluent rehearsal of known truths and principles, instead of communion and the expression of our wants in the unction of the Spirit; our singing, pleasure of the ear, the taste in music and expression in which we sympathize, all a form in the flesh and not communion in the Spirit. All this is evil; the Spirit of God owns it not; it is not in Spirit and in truth; it is really iniquity.

NOTES ON JOHN XVII.

THIS chapter has a very peculiar character, in that it is not the address of the Lord Jesus to His disciples even, much less to the world. It is their admission to hear Him address His Father about them. And we can easily understand that, where such a privilege is given them, we should be let into the fullest possible apprehension of the place in which He has set us. When He spoke to the world, Christ suited Himself to their capacity; and we, in our measure, ought to seek to do the same. But when He was addressing His Father, we can naturally understand that He would speak freely of what He had on His heart about His disciples. But still, as it concerned them (now, through grace, we have received the Spirit who communicates these things to our souls), He spoke it in the audience of the disciples, so that they should hear and know what His heart felt about them. Let me ask you this: If we find that Christ has an interest in us, and that He is speaking to His Father, and speaking of us—of what He has on His heart for our blessing-do our hearts turn with interest to listen and to know what He feels about us? We have wretched cold hearts, it is true-nothing is worse than their deadness and indifference to God. An openly bad, vile man of the world is bad enough; but if I saw a son do what was wrong, and if his father went out and intreated him with all the tender affection of a father, and he did not trouble his heart about what he said, I should say there is no hope now.

Therefore, when I find this first truth, that Christ has us on His heart, and can speak to His Father about us—that we are become the object of their common interest, surely our hearts should turn to it. "These things," He said, "I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." The character of Christ's love being perfect, was to bring us into the same blessing with Himself. It is very true, but it is not all the truth, that we are blessed through Christ: we are blessed with Him, and that was the perfection of His love. He loves us enough to have us near Him, and have us all in the perfectness of His own heart;

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and having opened our understandings to see what He is, and to delight in what He is, He gives us the consciousness of His own perfect love. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." If I always saw perfect blessedness before me, with the consciousness at the same time that I never should have it, that would not give comfort to my heart; but if I have a perfect object before me, with a certainty that I shall possess it, I shall be occupied with that object. Whilst here below we have the consciousness, in looking at our blessing in Christ, that we are not perfectly like what He is; we desire it, we long to be conformed to the image of Christ. But still, if we have in any measure tasted the loveliness of Christ, what distresses the heart is that we are not like Him. But here Christ engages the affections, and brings the heart to this point-the consciousness that this is our place in Him before God, and that all the blessedness that He has is ours. Does it become us to say no? Is it humbleness to be short of that, to say we are unworthy? Is God right? But it is no humbleness to refuse grace. And then, when it is seen to be such grace-unmingled grace—it is no humbleness to speak of not being fit to have such things. If I talk about not being guite worthy, there is the thought that if I were worthier I should be fit to have these blessings. Here is just where the want of humbleness is. You ought to be on the right ground with the Lord. That which enables us to have this thought and desire of being brought into the presence and blessing of God, and to be like Christ, is, that all is grace. We are nothing. If we look at the glory that is before us, it at once puts out the thought of all worthiness in ourselves.

Here, then, the Lord is just setting us in His own place upon earth. Poor feeble creatures we are for it; but He is setting us in His place on earth. "Father," he says, "I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. This chapter is often spoken of as being a prayer. The half is a prayer; but all the other part is a plain and full exposition of the ground on which He places us, beginning with His going up to heaven, and then going on to the glory which He will give us. There is the prayer, too-a prayer for us while we are passing through the trials and difficulties of this world. Christ gives us this place with Himself above; but He speaks while still in the world,