course likely to get it very soon, much less now. The rightly informed believer, who expects it now, and accordingly believes in Christ as his sanctification, cannot, according to the truth of God, and the nature of new covenant things, remain any longer without it.

Babes must become young men by the growth of progression; young men, or growing Christians, soon, by spiritual progression, attain to manhood, and deserve the name of fathers in the church. We may be long in getting up to this, or we may be very short in doing so. An enlightened, convinced, and previously prepared person, whose faith reaches out to a perfect sanctification as well as a perfect justification, is there immediately. Some justified persons who are either very dull, or who stop by reasoning and calculating, as though they were about some secular or literary matter, may be a long while in their imperceptible creeping before they reach the mark of full salvation. Others who are neither dull, nor unbelievingly calculating, but ready for the promise, and resolute in the act of faith for its fulfilment, fly to the standard. "The vegetable and animal world give us to see a great variety of quick and slow progressiveness, Every philosopher knows that a mushroom passes through as many degrees of vegetative life in six hours as an oak does in two hundred years. And those animalcula which frisk into life in a summer's morning, propagate their species at noon, are old at four o'clock, and dead at six, measure the length of animal life as really as Methuselah did." And in the moral and spiritual world of grace, quick transitions from stage to stage, from degree to degree, are made, according to the character of faith. Some who are at ease after conversion are sixty years, some fifty, some forty, some thirty, some twenty, some ten, in getting to spiritual manhood. Others, who search eagerly after the truth, seek out their duty and privileges, are made per

fect in five years, some in four, some in three, some in two, some in one, some in a month, some in less. Why not immediately? Are their understandings open? Do they understand the nature of the blessing? What it will do for them? Do they see the promise wherein God gives them a pledge of success? Do they hear the injunction, “ Believe only ?" Then let them open their hearts, and say in faith,

""Tis done! thou dost this moment save,

With full salvation bless;

Redemption through thy blood I have,

And spotless love and peace."

We should always bear in mind the fact that, there is a difference between growth in grace and growth in flesh and bones. Physical growth is the natural work of years,— spiritual growth is the supernatural work of faith. To one we say, "If you wish to be a strong natural man, you must breathe, eat, drink, and exercise yourself for thirty years, or nearly so." To another we say, "If you would be a strong spiritual man, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.' 'If thou wilt believe thou shalt see the glory of God.'"

"Obedient faith that waits on thee,

Thou never wilt reprove;

But thou wilt form thy Son in me,
And perfect me in love."

The apostle Paul, anxious for the exercise of a perfect faith in the Thessalonians, says to them, "For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before God: night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?" They were young men in

grace, partly but not "wholly sanctified." In order to perfect their faith, he holds up the blessing of perfect Christianity before the eye thereof, assuring them of success. This is the well known object of the epistle. The blessing of entire sanctification associated with the promises, willingness and faithfulness of God, and the fervent prayer of their inspired teacher, would produce a corresponding desire, and draw out a corresponding act of faith. And thus a perfect object, like that in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses of the fifth chapter, would render their faith perfect.

Should a justified believer or a babe in Christ die in the faith by which he was justified, God, of course would cut short his work of qualification for heaven, and receive him. to himself. It is impossible for a man to be damned who dies possessed of justifying faith, because God has accepted him. But it is awfully possible for a justified person, whose life is lengthened, to lose his justification, by standing still when God says go on. God expects different things from

God deals with men

a living man than from a dying man. according to circumstances. A dying justified believer has not the privilege of longer life-a living one has. If a penitent be justified to-day and die immediately, God, who knows how to deal aright in such a case, would shortly refine such a soul for his temple above. But on the other hand, if another be justified to-day, and be spared to live long, and is negligent in growing from the spiritual infancy of a justified believer to the spiritual manhood of a wholly sanctified Christian, he will grieve the Holy Spirit, will soon lose his evidence of acceptance, his roll will be lost, and if he goes to the gate of eternal happiness without it, he will be refused admittance. A dying babe in Christ is not favoured with the great privileges of life, growth in grace, and practical holiness on earth like a living babe in Christ. The former is taken where he is beyond the possibility of

falling away-But the latter and more favoured person is left to enjoy the privilege of rising in holiness and usefulness on earth, and if faithful, will stand far nearer the throne in heaven than the former. God calls you to perfect holiness. Be as anxious about it as you would if you knew you were about soon to deliver up your soul; take Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour, and he will also cut short his work in righteousness, and qualify you for witnessing that he has sanctified you wholly; then let holy living, and useful living too, be your aim, and at the last you shall have a far, very far brighter crown than you otherwise could have had, if you had died immediately after being born again. If you neglect this, instead of answering the end of lengthened life, you forfeit the favour of God, lose your spirituality, become like the man of the world, and, though you retain your outward membership, are nothing better than a backslider in heart. You must then return to recover your roll, or die hopeless.

"Let us go on unto perfection." The way is clear. The blessing may be soon obtained. Embrace Christ as a COMPLETE SAVIOUR, and you are COMPLETE in him. And when the mark is reached, keep it by doing all things to the glory of God. Exhibit it to all around by a consistent life, and your path shall shine more and more unto the day of Christ's appearing.

"Thy favour, and thy nature too,

To me, to all restore;

Forgive, and after God renew,
And keep me evermore.

"That all-comprising peace bestow

On me, through grace forgiven;
The joys of holiness below,

And then the joys of heaven!"

Let it suffice, that we were "babes" when regenerated, without being babes in Christ when we ought to be "fathers and mothers in Israel."

CHAPTER XVII.

FAITH.

WHAT an important thing is faith! How essential to salvation! "Without faith it is impossible to please God." "He that believeth not shall be damned."

What an astonishing thing is faith! What feats it can really accomplish! It has, does, and shall strike both the church and the world, yes, and angels and devils too, with wonder! It is so strong a thing that nothing can stand before it, for "all things are possible to him that believeth.”

And what a remarkably simple thing is faith! It is, in substance, taking God at his word! Who that knows what kind of a character God is, cannot do this? It is said of one, "And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way." Faith is so easy a matter, that all serious and anxious persons, whether learned or unlearned, may possess it, and therewith work the wonders of salvation. It is most certainly within the reach of all who are convinced of their real sinful state, and are concerned about holiness and heaven; and it can and will meet the case of every individual who will honour God by dependence on his word!

The Bible is full of the most instructive anecdotes, and by its remarkable incidental occurrences, preaches faith to us, in the most interesting and successful manner. But who