MEMBERS OF CHRIST.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.eph5v30

Paul here speaks only of true believers, men and women who are quickened by divine grace and made alive unto God. Of them he says, not by way of romance, nor of poetic exaggeration, but as an undisputed matter of fact, "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." That there is a true union between Christ and His people is no fiction or dream of a heated imagination. Sin separted us from God, and in undoing what sin has done ,Christ joins us to Himself in a union more real than any other in the whole world.

This union is very near, and very dear, and very complete. We are so near to Christ that we cannot be nearer, for we are one with Him,we are very dear to Him. Consider how close and tender is the tie when it is true that Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us. It is a union more intimate than any other that exists amongst men, for " greater love, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." We were His enemies when Christ died for us, that He might save us, and make us so one with Himself, that from Him our life should be drawn, and that in Him our life should be hid. It is then a very near and dear union which Christ has established between Himself and His redeemed, and this union could not be more complete than it is.

It is also a most wonderful union. The more you think of it, the more you will be astonished, and stand in sacred awe before such a marvel of grace. Well did Kent say-

"O sacred union, firm and strong,

how great the grace, how sweet the song,

that worms of earth should ever be

one with incarnate Deity!"

But so it is. Even the incarnation of Christ is not more wonderful than His living union with His people. It is a thing to be thought upon often, it is the wonder of the skies, and is chief among those things which "the angels desire to look into." On the surfac of this truth you may not see very much, but the longer you gaze, the more The Holy Spirit assists you in your meditation, the more you will see in this wondrful sea of glass mingled with fire. My soul exults in the doctrine that Christ and His people are everlastingly one.

Once again it is a very cheering doctrine. He that understands it has an ocean of music in his soul. He that can truly grasp and feed upon it will often sit in the heavenly places with his Lord, and anticipate the day when he shall be with Him, and shall be like Him. Even now, since we are one with Him, there is no distance between us, we are nearer to Him than any thing else can ever be. The very word union makes us forget all distance,indeed, distance is altogether annihilated. Love joins us so closely with Christ, that He becomes more to us than our very selves, and though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

EVENING.

When the noise and turmoil of the day are over, it is sweet to commune with God, the cool and calm of eventide agree most delightfully with prayer and praise. The hours of the declining sun are so many quiet alleys in the garden of time wherein man may find his Maker waiting to commune with him, even as of old The Lord God walked with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day. It is meet that we should set apart a peaceful season ere the day has quite departed, a time of thanksgiving for grace abounding, of repentance for follies multiplied and for self examination for evils insinuating. To leap from day to day like a mad hunter scouring the fields, is an omen of being delivered over to destruction, but the solemn pause, the deliberate consideration, these are means of grace, and ensigns of an indwelling life.
The drops of the night come from the same fount as the dew of the morning, He who met Abraham at break of day communed with Isaac in the field at eventide. He who opens the doors of the day with the hand of mercy, draws around His people the curtains of the night, and by His shining presence makes the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice. A promise at dawn, and a sure word at sunset, crown the brow of the day with light, and sandal it's feet with love. To breakfast with Jesus, and to sup with Him also is to enjoy the days of heaven upon the earth. It is dangerous to fall asleep till the head is leaned on Jesu's bosom. When divine love puts it's finger on the weary eyelids, it is brave sleeping, but that The Lord's beloved may have such given to him, it is needful that he should make a near approach to the throne of grace, and unburthen his soul before the great preserver of mankind.

MORNING.

Poets have delighted to sing of the morning as " Mother of the dews," "sowing the earth with orient pearl," and many of the saints, upstarting from their beds at the first flush of dawn, have found the poetry of nature to be the reality of grace as they have felt the dews of heaven refreshing their spirits. Hence, morning exercises have ever been dear to enlightened, heaven-loving souls, and it has been their rule, never to see the face of man till they have first seen the face of God. The breath of morning redolent of the fragrance of flowers is incense ofered by earth to her Creator, and living men should never let the dead earth excel them. Truly living men tuning their hearts for song, like the birds, salute the radiant mercy which reveals itself in the east. The first fresh hour of every morning should be dedicated to The Lord whose mercy gladdens it with golden light. The eye of day openeth it's lids, and in so doing opens the eyes of hosts of heaven-protected slumberers, it is fitting that those eyes should first look up to the great Father of Lights, the fount and source of all of the good upon which the sunlight gleams. It augurs for us a day of grace when we begin betimes with God, the sanctifying influence of the season spent upon the mount operates upon each succeeding hour.
Morning devotion anchors the soul so that it will not very readily drift far away from God during the day, it perfumes the heart so that it smells fragrant with piety until nightfall, it girds up the soul's garments so that it is less apt to stumble, and feeds all it's powers so that it is not permitted to faint.
The morning is the gate of the day, and should be well guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt more the majesty of life, we should be more careful of it's mornings. He who rushes from his bed to his business, and waiteth not to worship, is as foolish as if he had not put on his clothes, or cleansed his face, and as unwise as though he dashed into battle without arms or armour. Be it ours to bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God, before the heat of the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to oppress us.

FULL ASSURANCE.

I speak affectionately to the weaker ones, who cannot yet say that they know they have believed. I speak not to your condemnation, but to comfort you. Full assurance is not essential to salvation, but it is essential to satisfaction. May you get it-may you get it at once, at any rate, may you never be satisfied to live without it. You may have full assurance. You may have it without personal revelations, it is wrought in us by the Word of God. These things are written that you may have it, and we can be sure that the means used by the Spirit are equal to the effect which He desires. Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, John so wrote as to attain his end in writing. What, then, has he written with the design of making us know that we have eternal life? Go through the of his whole epistle, and you will see that it all presses in that direction.
He begins thus, " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is The Christ is born of God." Do you believe that Jesus is the anointed of God? Is He so to you? Is He anointed as your prophet, priest and king? Have you realised His anointing so as to put your trust in Him? Do you recieve Jesus as appointed of God to be the mediator, the propitiation for sin, the Saviour of men? If so then you are born of God. "How may I know this " Brethren, our evidence is the witness of God Himself as here recorded. We need no other witness. Suppose an angel were to tell you that you were born of God, would that be a more sure testimony than the infallible scripture? If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God. John has thus positively declared the truth, that you may know that you have eternal life. Can anything be more clear than this?
The loving spirit of John leads him to say, " everyone that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him." Do you love God? Do you love His only begotten Son? You can answer these two questions surely. I knew a dear christian woman who would sometimes say, " I know that I love Jesus, but my fear is that He does not love me." Her doubt used to make me smile, for it never could have occurred to me. If I love Him, I know it is because He first loved me. Love to God in us is always the work of God's love towards us. Jesus loved us, and gave Himself for us, and therefore we love Him in return. Love to Jesus is an effect which proves existence of the cause. Do you love Jesus? Do you feel a delight in Him? Is His name as music to your ear and honey to your tongue? Do you love to hear Him praised? Ah dear friends! I know that to many of you a sermon full of His dear name is as a royal banquet, and if there is no Christ in a discourse, it is empty and void and vain to you. Is it not so? If you do indeed love Him that begat and Him that is begotten of Him, then this is one of the things that is written, " that ye may know that ye have eternal life."

C.H.S. PICTURES

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON

FAITH AND FEELING.

We are saved by faith and not by feeling, yet there is a relation between holy faith and hallowed feeling like that between the root and the flower. Faith is as permanent as the root which is ever embedded in the soil, feeling is casual and has it's seasons. The bulb does not always shoot up the green stem, far less is it always crowned with it's many flowers. Faith is the tree, the essential tree, our feelings are like the appearance of that tree during the different seasons of the year. Sometimes our soul is full of bloom and blossom, and the bees hum pleasantly and gather honey within our hearts. It is then that our feelings bear witness to the life of our faith, just as the buds of spring bear witness to the life of the tree. Anon, our feelings gather still greater vigour, and after we come to the summer of our delights, again perhaps, we begin to wither into the sear and yellow leaf of autumn, nay sometimes into the winter of our despondancy and despair will strip away every leaf from the tree, and our poor faith stands like a blasted stem without a sign of verdure. And yet, so long as the tree of faith is there, we are saved. Whether faith blossom or not, whether it bring forth joyous fruit in our experience or not, so long as it be there in all it's permanence, we are saved, Yet should we have the gravest reason to distrust the life of our faith if it did not sometimes blossom with joy and often bring forth fruit unto holiness.

FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST.

The needs of spiritual men are very great, but they are not greater than the power of the Divine Trinity to meet. We have one God-Father, Son and Holy Ghost,-One in Three and Three in One, and that blessed Trinity in unity gives Himself to sinners that they may be saved. In the first place, every good thing that a sinner wants is in The Father. The prodigal son was wise when he said, " I will arise and go to my father." Every good and perfect gift comes from God The Father, the first Person of the blessed Trinity, because every good and perfect gift can only be found in Him. But the needy soul says, " how shall I reach The Father? He is infinitely above me, how shall I get to Him?" In order that you may obtain the blessings of grace, God was in Christ Jesus, the second ever-blessed Person of the sacred Trinity. Jesus said " All things that The Father hath are Mine." So you see that everything is in The Father first, and The Father puts all things into Christ, for, " it pleased The Father, that in Him should all fulness dwell." Now you can get to Christ because He is man as well as God. He is " over all, God blessed forever." But He came into this world, was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, was buried. He is the conduit-pipe, conveying to us all the blessings from The Father. In the gospel of John we read, " of His fulness have all we recieved, and grace for grace." Thus you see The Father, with every good thing in Himself, putting all fulness into the mediator, the Man Christ Jesus who is also the Son of God.
Now I hear a poor soul say, " but I cannot even get to Christ, I am lame and blind. If I could get to Him , He would open my eyes, but I am so lame that I cannot run or even walk to Him. If I could get to Him, He would give me strength, but I lie as one dead. I cannot see Christ or tell where to find Him." Here comes the work of The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the blessed Trinity. It is His office to take the things of Christ, and show them to saints and sinners alike. We cannot see them, but we shall see them fast enough when He shows them unto us. Our sins put a veil between ourselves and Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and takes the veil away from our hearts, and then we see Christ. It is The Holy Spirits office to come between us and Christ, even as the Son of God comes between us and The Father, to lead us to The Father. So that we have the whole Trinity uniting to save a sinner, the Triune God bowing down out of heaven for the salvation of rebellious men.
Every time we dismiss you from this house of prayer, we pronounce upon you the blessing of The Sacred Trinity. " May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of The Holy Ghost be with you." And you want all that to make a sinner into a saint, and to keep the saint from going back to being a sinner again. The whole blessed Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost must work upon every soul that is to be saved. See how divinely they work together, how The Father glorifies The Son, how The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus, how both The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus glorify The Father? These Three are One, sweetly uniting in the salvation of the holy seed.