God. The symbolical rites and the laws for personal purification inculcated the doctrine of holiness, and the necessity of "clean hands and a pure heart" in everyone who would approach unto God (Psa. xxiv, 3, 4). In these and many other ways the scriptures of the Old Testament afford instruction in divine truth; but we find the teaching embodied in the New Testament a still fuller and clearer revelation of the word of God. Jesus himself is the supreme Teacher. His parable of the sower and the seed illustrates the nature of the "word of the kingdom," and how differently it is received by different human hearts. His parable of the good seed and the tares is even more suggestive. "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man," and his coming into the world was a going forth to sow. The enemy sows evil seed, and the different sowings produce "sons of the kingdom," and "sons of the evil one." It is, therefore, a matter of the greatest possible moment how we hear and what we hear and receive as the word of God. The incarnation, life, teaching, ministry, miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus are a revelation of "the good word of God and the powers of the age to come" (Heb. vi, 5). Every manifestation of divine truth from the beginning is in some sense the word of God, who has spoken at sundry times, in diverse manners and by different portions (Heb. i, 1). Thus the gospel, the word of the kingdom, the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph. iv, 21), who himself is "the way and the truth and the life" (John xiv, 6)— even the eternal WORD who was in the beginning with God and was God-this word of God, so inexhaustible in depth and fullness, is the light of the world, and a most efficient instrument for building up the child of God in righteousness and in all virtues. Great zeal in religious life may often display itself without correct knowledge of the truth (Rom. x, 2), and a fervent piety is often seen in persons who are lamentably deficient in their acquaintance with "the word of the kingdom." But such facts admonish us the more that all sound and commendable Christian growth must be according to faithful instruction in the truth. The ancient priests of Israel were required to teach the statutes which Jehovah had spoken (Lev. x, 10, 11). "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth" (Mal. ii, 7). Wise and useful proverbs were sought out and set in order that men might "know wisdom and instruction, and discern the words of understanding" (Prov. i, 2). In accordance with the great Teacher's example and counsels the apostles of the early church gave great attention to teaching (Acts ii, 42) and "the ministry of the word" (vi, 4). "Paul and Barnabas tarried in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord" (xv, 35). Paul in

founding the church of Corinth "dwelt there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (xviii, 11), and for the space of three years he labored in Ephesus, "teaching publicly and from house to house," and "shrinking not from declaring the whole counsel of God" (xx, 20, 27). He wrote the Corinthians about his supreme desire to profit them by speaking to them "either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching" (1 Cor. xiv, 6). He admonished the churches of Galatia that he received the gospel through revelation of Jesus. Christ, and made the same known unto them in the ministrations of his divine apostleship, and he emphasized the work of religious instruction by saying, "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things" (Gal. vi, 6). He wrote Timothy and Titus that the minister of Christ must be "apt to teach," "speak the things which befit the sound teaching," "hold to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound teaching, and to convince the gainsayers" (1 Tim. iii, 2; 2 Tim. ii, 2; Titus i, 9; ii, 2). Luke wrote his gospel that Theophilus might be informed "concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach," and "might know the certainty concerning the words wherein he had been instructed" (Acts i, 1; Luke i, 4). And thus it appears that without diligent instruction and study in the truth of God there can be no healthful growth "in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. iii, 18).

4. Exercises of Practical Godliness. Numerous forms of religious activity may be viewed as means of promoting spiritual life and cultivating the virtues of Christian character. A vigilant guarding of oneself against all kinds of evil is an essential accompaniment of the petition, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Such vigilance should care to keep the body from all defilement (1 Cor. vi, 19, 20; ix, 27; 2 Cor. vii, 1; 1 Pet. ii, 11); to practice faithfulness with an erring brother (Matt. xviii, 15-17; Gal. vi, 1), to bear the infirmities of the weak (Rom. xv, 1; Gal. vi, 2), to give of one's means liberally and distribute readily according as one is prospered (1 Cor. xvi, 2; 2 Cor. vii, 2, 7; 1 Tim. vi, 18), to show love and hospitality to the stranger (Heb.. xiii, 2; Rom. xii, 13), to redeem the time and observe diligence in business (Eph. v, 16; Col. iv, 5; Prov. xxii, 29), and to be faithful in the discharge of all duties in the family and household (Eph. v, 22-vi, 9; Col. iii, 18-iv, 1; 1 Pet. ii, 18-iii, 7). All these and other like activities of practical godliness are essential to a strong and beautiful development of the Christian life; but they are all implied in what has already been said of the elements.

of growth and the cultivation of every personal excellency in Christian perfection.

5. Prayer. But among all the means of grace the direct personal approach of the soul to God in prayer is preeminent. It is a sort of instinct in the religious nature of man to "cry out unto the living God," and this fact is an evidence that we are the offspring of God. The Scriptures abound with examples of prayer, and no ritual of worship, no offering of sacrifices, no intercession of priests ever seem to have proved sufficient to release the individual heart from the sense of need and of obligation to seek personally unto God. Prayer in the broadest sense includes acknowledgment of past mercies and thanksgiving for all divine favors, confession of sin and unworthiness, supplication for all manner of temporal and spiritual benefits, and ascription of praise to God. In the Hebrew Psalter we meet with all these forms of prayer and praise, and not a few of them are examples of the deepest and most thorough searching of heart before God. The supplications of Moses, as recorded in Exod. xxxiii, 12-16, and Num. xi, 11-15, are remarkable for the boldness of their appeals to Jehovah. Abraham's intercession for Sodom (Gen. xviii, 23-32) is no less notable. The struggle of Jacob at Peniel is unsurpassed as a picture of prevailing prayer alone with God (Gen. xxxii, 24-30). Jesus taught his disciples to pray and enhanced his teaching by his own example. He supplied a model prayer, and uttered parables to show that men ought always to pray. "What man is there," he argued, "who, if his son ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Hence his own command: "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. vii, 7-11; comp. xviii, 19; xxi, 22; Mark xi, 24; Luke xxi, 36; John xv, 7; xvi, 23, 24). The apostolic teaching on this subject is no less explicit. According to James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting." "Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working" (i, 5; v, 16). "Be ye of sound mind," says Peter, "and be sober unto prayers" (1 Pet. iv, 7). And John writes: "This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John v, 14). "Brethren, pray for us," says Paul;

"pray without ceasing; in nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God; praying at all seasons with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (1 Thess. v, 17, 25; Phil. iv, 6; Eph. vi, 18). From these scriptures and others of a like nature it is evident that God is a living presence in the world. He even notices the sparrow that falleth on the ground and numbers the hairs of our head (Matt. x, 29). The uniformities we see in nature can offer no valid objection to the doctrine of prayer, for those uniformities are themselves of his ordaining and have in him their permanent support. His infinite wisdom and power are doubtless competent to make all things work together for good to them that love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. viii, 28). We may often pray unwisely; "we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth our infirmity" (ver. 26). David prayed for the life of the child, and his desire was not granted him (2 Sam. xii, 16-18). Jesus prayed in Gethsemane that the cup might pass, but he drank it in amazement of soul, sweating drops of blood. Paul besought the Lord thrice that the thorn in his flesh might depart (2 Cor. xii, 8), but the weakness remained. Yet no such intensely fervent prayer of the heart to God goes without some blessed answer. The child is not spared, but comfort of soul is given. The cup of Gethsemane is not taken away, but an angel comes to strengthen. The thorn in the flesh remains, but there comes the sweet assurance, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness." The true idea of prayer implies that in the nature of the act we defer to an infinite intelligence above us, whose wisdom and goodness may often answer our supplication in ways we thought not of. The thing for which we ask may be conditioned on other wills whose free action we cannot influence, and God himself will not coerce. Or we may ask for a seeming and real good which, if given, would effectually prevent our subsequent attainment of a higher boon. And so the human heart, with its ineradicable impulse to pray, may come to God in boldness, and in confidence, nothing doubting, and may ask for any good thing. No such earnest "supplication in the Spirit" goes unanswered. It may not be the specific answer we desire; for the Infinite Wisdom has his ways and his thoughts, which are far above ours (Isa. lv, 9). But the Infinite Wisdom is also the Infinite love, who "withholdeth no good thing from them that walk uprightly" (Psa. lxxxiv, 11). If that good thing for which we pray seems to be withholden, some other and greater good is given in ways we do

not comprehend. The spiritual nature that seeks the presence and help of God with a pure longing must needs receive of the infinite fullness, for such the Father seeks to be his worshipers (John iv, 23). And thousands of thousands of such true worshipers have received most blessed answers to their prayers. The heart is enlarged in its sympathies by the habit of prayer. Its hunger and thirst after righteousness receive thereby the deeper satisfaction. The consciousness of a personal fellowship and communion with the living God exalts the spiritual life and prepares it for the fuller vision of God.

6. The Sevenfold Exhortation of Hebrews x, 19-25. In all these means of grace we surely recognize a divine provision for the cultivation of the spiritual life of man. The child of the kingdom, born from above, a new creation in Christ, receiving the spirit of adoption, holy and without blame, perfected in love, is certainly an ideal worthy of all possible struggle to attain. The exhortation of Heb. x, 19-25, in which the writer passes from the doctrinal to the practical part of his epistle, contains a sevenfold admonition. Those who would enter into what this writer conceives as the heavenly Holy of holies in the house of God must have (1) a true and purified heart, (2) a body washed from all defilement, (3) a full assurance of faith, (4) an unwavering confession of hope, (5) a watching of one another for good, (6) assembling together for worship and fellowship, and (7) faithful exhortation. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh."