relationship. A man as a son bears the impress of the Divine nature, but he may not, as an obedient son, reflect the Divine character. He may not choose to think like his Father, feel like his Father, act like his Father. Generically he is a child, but morally he may be neither a loving nor a lovely child. His nature is high, but his character is low; and such, indeed, is the case wherever there is sin. Hence we have to say with Pearson, that there are degrees of sonship; or, rather, we have to say with the Bible, that a child may become a sinner, a prodigal, an alien, and therefore condemned, so that if ever, as a sinner, he is to be forgiven, and, as a prodigal, restored to the home-hearth, and, as an alien, enfranchised in the wider, holier freedom of the saved sons of God, there must be some wise, righteous way that secures his obedience while his guilt is forgiven.

We are here dealing with the subjective condition of a man's safety, a man's admission into the circle of the pardoned, saved sons of God. What is that condition? Or, how shall we answer in New Testament form the question which the Lord puts through Jeremiah,"How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage?"

The Old Testament form of the answer is, "Thou shalt call me My Father; and shalt not turn away from me." Such an answer, if we go deep enough to find it, implies the essential elements of faith, on which the Scriptures so universally insist. It is, then, by faith men are admitted into the Father's saved family. It is, of course, true that the saved family are characterised by truth, love, and high obedience; but we are not dealing just now with what a man becomes when he is admitted into the family, but how he may find his way there. We repeat, then, that it is by faith. Here, if anywhere, we may say, "Only believe."

But when we say that it is by faith, it is necessary to be definite, and intelligently apprehend the object of faith. Stumbling-stones lie thick around the footsteps of many minds as they wander over the ground it is necessary to traverse here. A man has faith in God as the Creator of the universe, as the Father of man, as the moral Ruler of the universe; but this is not what is meant by the faith that admits into the saved family. A man may assure himself that he has scientific ground for asserting his faith in theism, but that is a long way from the faith that saves the soul. To put manhood, or kinghood, or pope, or pro

gress, or church, or creed, before the mind as the object of faith, is simply to divert the mind from that which saves. Faith in the true, faith in the beautiful, faith in the good, faith in the nobler aspirations of the race, faith in the poetry and yearnings of a high humanitarianism, are interesting things to talk about; but to put them forth as the dark passages through which men are to find their way into the family, is to shut the door of hope in the face of the great sinning, sorrowing race. Not without meaning is Fichte's despair of raising men into the blessed life, since they are so far below the reach of his philosophy. The Apostle John, when he says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus Christ is born of God," opens the door of hope, and shows us how any man may become a new child of God. When Paul says, "Ye are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ," he fastens thought down upon the one condition of Christian childhood. When the Saviour Himself says, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me," we feel shut up to lay our hand in His hand, and let Him lead us to the Father. Not even to a lofty and full idea of the Father can we come by any other way than by Jesus. It is in His thought we get the rounded conception of the Father's

nature, character, relations, and will. No man can come back to the conscious favour of the Father but by Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Thought can only traverse the distance sin has made by taking Christ as the way. Coming between us and the Father, giving Himself to the Father for us, thought rises through Him to the forgiving Father. For not otherwise can a man come up into the loving and abiding relationship of child. For only in Christ can a man enjoy God. Thus it is that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

Thus, then, the condition of admission into the saved family is one which is demanded of all. Nationality cannot dispense with it. Culture cannot rise above it. Station is not independent of it. However vast the endowments which any man who is a sinner may otherwise. possess, however wide his experience, it is still demanded of him that he have faith in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. It is not demanded of him that he should compress all his thoughts of Jesus into a few words; it is not demanded of him that what he does say, he should say it as other men do. The apostles run their thoughts into different word-moulds, but none of them take a form that contradicts the great

truth, that through Jesus we get the forgiveness of sin and introduction into the saved family. It is this central thought that must regulate our thinkings, so that a man may be able consciously to say to himself, "I believe in Jesus." When he has said it to himself, he will say it to others. He will thus believe with his heart, and confess with his mouth, the Lord Jesus, and be saved.

The condition of admission into the family of the saved is thus adapted to all. If any high intellectual attainment were necessary, a great many men would be debarred, for it is only a minority that can reach, in the present state of things, high attainments. Scholars, philosophers, poets, men of science, statesmen, and men with means and leisure, might manage to find admission, but the majority of men would be shut out. If high moral attainments were necessary, the difficulty would be still greater, and the circle of the saved be made correspondingly small. For large minds do not always manifest lovely character. Power is not always pious. Genius does not always work in godly grooves. So that the number admitted would be a very small one. Would there be any? Who is the man so morally beautiful as to be able to stand up and say,