before God-His acceptability now-His glory by-andby-this, truly, is something which only the heart of God could think of, and only His mighty power accomplish.

Well, reader, all this is involved in the conversion whereof we speak. Such is the magnificent grace of God, such the love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, enemies in our minds by wicked works, serving divers lusts and pleasures, worshipping idols, the blind, degraded, slaves of sin and Satan, children of wrath, and going straight to hell.

And the best of it all is, that it both glorifies the name, and gratifies the heart of God, to bring us into this place of inconceivable blessedness, love, and glory. It would not satisfy the love of His heart to give us any lower place than that of His own Son. Well might the inspired apostle exclaim, in view of all this stupendous grace, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Ephesians i.

What depth of love, what fulness of blessing, have we here! It is the purpose of God to glorify Himself,

throughout the countless ages of eternity, in His dealings with us. He will display, in view of all created intelligences, the riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, by Christ Jesus. Our forgiveness, our justification, our perfect deliverance, our acceptanceall the blessings bestowed upon us in Christ-are for the display of the divine glory throughout the vast universe, for ever. It would not meet the claims of God's glory, or answer the affections of His heart, to have us in any other position but that of His own wellbeloved and only-begotten Son.

It seems too good to be
God, and it is His good
This is enough for us.

All this is marvellous. true. But it is worthy of pleasure so to act toward us. It may be, and most assuredly is, too good for us to get, but it is not too good for God to give. He acts toward us according to the love of His heart, and on the ground of the worthiness of Christ. The prodigal might ask to be made as one of the hired servants, but this could not be. It would not be according to the Father's heart to have him in the house as a servant. It must be as a son, or not at all. If it were a question of desert, we do not deserve the place of a servant, any more than that of a son. But, blessed be God, it is not according to our deserts at all, but according to the boundless love of His heart, and to the glory of His holy name.

This, then, is conversion. Thus we are brought to God. Nothing short of this. We are not merely turned from our idols, whatever they were, but we are actually brought into the very presence of God, to find our delight in Him, to joy in Him; to walk with Him,

to find all our springs in Him, to draw upon His exhaustless resources, to find in Him a perfect answer to all our necessities, so that our souls are satisfied, and that for ever.

Have

Not if

Do we want to go back to the idols? Never! we any hankering after our former objects? our hearts are realising our place and portion in Christ. Had the prodigal any longings after the husks and the swine, when folded in the father's bosom, clothed in the father's house, and seated at the father's table? We do not, and cannot, believe it. We cannot imagine his heaving a single sigh after the far country, when once he found himself within the hallowed circle of that bright and blissful home of love.

We speak according to the divine standard. Alas! alas! many profess to be converted, and seem to go on for a season, but ere long they begin to grow cold, and get weary and dissatisfied. The work was not real. They were not really brought to God. Idols may have been given up for a time, but God Himself was never reached. They never found in Him a satisfying portion for their hearts-never knew the real meaning of communion with Him-never tasted heart-satisfaction, heart-rest, in Christ. Hence, in process of time, the poor heart began to long once more for the world, and back they went, and plunged into its follies and vanities with greater avidity than ever.

Such cases are very sad, very disappointing. They bring great reproach on the cause of Christ, and are used as a plea for the enemy, and as a stumbling-block for anxious inquirers. But they leave the question of divine conversion just where it was. The soul that is

truly converted is one who has not merely been turned from this present evil world, and all its promises and pretensions, but who has been led by the precious ministry of the Holy Ghost to find in the living God, and in His Son Jesus Christ, all he can possibly want for time and eternity. Such an one is divinely done with the world. He has broken with it for ever.

He has had his eyes opened to see, through and through, the whole thing. He has judged it in the light of the presence of God. He has measured it by the standard of the cross of Christ. He has weighed it in the

balances of the sanctuary, and turned his back upon it for ever, to find an absorbing and a commanding object in the Person of that blessed One who was nailed to the accursed tree, in order to deliver him, not only from everlasting burnings, but also from this present evil world.

(To be continued, if the Lord will.)

DIVINE LOVE.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." John iii. 1—3.

1

BEHOLD what love, what boundless love

The Father hath bestowed

On sinners lost, that we should be

Now called the sons of God.

In matchless grace, in wondrous love
He sent His blessed Son,

That He His scattered children thus
Might gather into one.

No longer far from Him, but now
By precious blood made nigh,
Accepted in the Well-beloved,
Near to God's heart we lie.

What we in glory soon shall be,
It doth not yet appear,

But when our precious Lord we see,
We shall His image bear.

With such a blessed hope in view
We would more holy be,

More like our risen, glorious Lord,
Whose face we soon shall see.

M. S. S.

St. Petersburg.

THE CROSS: WHAT IS IT? AND WHAT HAS

IT DONE FOR US?

WE would earnestly invite the christian reader to spend a few moments in meditating on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in its two grand fundamental aspects, namely, as the basis of our worship and our discipleship-our peace and our testimony-our relation to God and our bearing toward the world.

If, as a convicted sinner, I look at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, I behold in it the everlasting foundation of my peace. I see "sin" judged and condemned in its root; and I see my "sins" borne and put away. I see God to be, in very deed, "for me," and that,