transcending universe. Our spirit must be uplifted by fellowship with God, made sensitive by purity, refined by love, kept steady by a great hope and confidence, or it cannot reflect and realize eternal verities. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God"; and seeing Him, the whole universe becomes like unto clear glass. "Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man," are revealed in the pure heart by the Holy Spirit. It is not so much by intellectual acuteness as by truth and purity in the inward parts that we lay hold of the things of God. Keep, then, the soul bright and fair, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe."

To apprehend justly and influentially eternal truths our life must be lofty in its spirit and aim. Infidelity and pessimism just now are rampant amongst us, and we need not wonder at this when we remember the prevalence of a worldly and selfish temper. The real explanation of our dubiety and despair is not to be sought in our intellectual defects and limitations, but rather in the narrowness, egotism, and debasement of our thoughts, ideals, and strivings. We need to get on a higher plane of thinking, sympathy, and purpose. "Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." The Almighty could not unveil to John eternal spheres, realities, and relations whilst

he continued on the depressed levels where men ordinarily live; only was this possible as the seer attained a vaster horizon and breathed an ampler air. "Come up hither, and I will show thee." Is not that the call of God to us? Come up out of that yellow fog of covetousness, that tinted vapour of vanity, that blinding smoke of pride and self-will, that sandstorm of worldliness, that enveloping cloud of animal appetite and passion, and you shall know the glorious things freely given you of God. In the elevated mood, which becomes an elevated habit, He grants a comforting and transforming consciousness of Himself; He gives delicate interpretations of His will; He reveals His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus; He makes us to taste the powers of the world to come. It is only through the high life of entire consecration, of constant communion with the skies, of intense and sustained spiritual sympathy, that we get insight into the deep things of God. We are told that from the bottom of a pit the stars are visible at noonday, but to those who are content to dwell in the murky depths of low thinking, feeling, and action, the lights of the upper universe are lost in impenetrable obscuration. "Come up hither, and I will show thee."

What is our response to this invitation? Are we willing to renounce all the attractions of the lower life, to yield ourselves to our noblest impulses and dare the life of thoroughgoing holiness, to frame our ways after the purest patterns and standards, to delight ourselves in the Lord and in His commandments and service? If we are thus responsive to the heavenly call, we shall rejoice in an inner light and assurance

that will fill our heart with peace, such as no polemical volume or debating society could secure us. Practical purity is the best medium for supernatural revelation. If our souls are to gain light and certainty, we must live more nearly as we pray. Character is the chief source of illumination; noble conduct best augments the inner light; life aspiring to high standards rather than logic divines the secrets of eternity. If we consent to live higher, purer, worthier lives, it will do far more for the clearness and certitude of our faith than a whole world of controversy. Standing by our Master's side in the heavenlies He whispers us in the ear, and we saints know.

XXIV

ELEVATION AND STRENGTH

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.-EPH. i. 3.

That ye may know . the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places.-EPH. i. 18-20.

E

VERY spiritual blessing is the gift of Christ,

but these blessings are realized only as we live in the "heavenlies." "He has raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." Words implying habitual, permanent elevation. We are not "caught up into paradise" for a fugitive moment, it is not an ecstasy, but in Him we are privileged to live on a high plane of thought and sentiment, of experience and achievement; our affections being "set" on things above, the whole character of our mind, heart, and life transcending the terrestrial. The highest blessings are attained only as we live lives of distinct spirituality and consecration. The special gift we now contemplate is that of power, and our duplicated text teaches that elevation is the condition of moral strength and efficiency.

Nothing in our day is more thought about, written about, sought after, than power, the discovery of any new kind of force being hailed with universal satisfaction. The way in which we have learned to use various manifestations of physical energy is the chief distinction of our age. But no force is comparable in its preciousness to that spiritual might by which we reach the ideal of character, attain victory over our foes, and find ourselves competent for the discharge of every duty. Humanity needs the power to fulfil its highest ideals more than it needs any other power whatever. This is the power of Pentecost, the most glorious gift we may covet; and it is ours only as we aspire to a life of elevated purpose, experience, and action.

Scientists and philosophers have much to say about a kind of force that they distinguish as "energy of position." There is a certain locked-up motion in an elevated body: a force which demonstrates itself when the body is released, energy of position being converted into energy of motion. We get an exemplification of this theory in pile-driving machines: slowly the ram creeps to the top of the machine, attaining energy of position; then the releasing hook frees the massive. body, which falls with accumulated force on the pilehead. The tourist step by step pushes his machine along the steep mountain-side, but having reached the crest has no more trouble, he has won energy of position, and sweeps down succeeding slopes in triumph. Niagara supplies an apt illustration of the doctrine of energy of position. The deep fall of the mighty river creates or liberates an amazing force which, when duly conserved, is capable of effecting immense results