(1 Pet. 2:1-3.)

Before there is growth, there must be life. Man. having fallen away from God, is alienated from Him, and has no desire for fellowship with the Author of his being. Hence the need of new birth. So, in a higher sense than when " the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," there is need of a new in breathing from God to become spiritually a living soul, endowed with divine aspirations which render us capable of knowing, loving, and serving God. This is produced by the hearing of the gospel, wherein the love of God is revealed to the soul in the gift of His Son whilst we were in our sins and without love to Him.

But life does not develop and expand independently of sustenance from without. A plant does not grow, bloom and bear fruit independently of the sun, the rain, and the air. So with spiritual life. While it is divine, and therefore eternal and indestructible, to develop into maturity it needs to be fed with the " sincere milk of the Word." As the new-born child feeds upon milk, then needs instruction and guidance to develop into what is proper to manhood, so does the child of God need both to genuinely feed upon the precious Word of God, and be trained into spiritual ways, knowledge and strength, which the Holy Spirit delights to do for the " obedient children " who look to Him for guidance and instruction in the truth.

For to " grow in grace " is not solely by knowledge of the sacred text, or letter of the Word; the Holy Spirit must be honored; His guidance and enlightenment, in dependence upon Him, need to be sincerely sought. Yet the Spirit does not effect His work in the soul independently of the truth, but by its instrumentality. Thus the Spirit and the Word are together operative for the work of God in His people. They are alike essential for sound growth; they cannot be separated without falling into delusions and fanaticism on the one hand, or into mere intellectualism on the other. The first is seen in the vagaries of so-called " Pentecostal movements," " Faith-healing," etc., pretending to be led by the Spirit, while in subject to the Word ; and on the other, ignoring our dependence on the Holy Spirit inclines to self-reliance and rationalism.

But again, if we are to grow in grace, there must be a denial of self, and as Peter says, " a putting away of all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings ; " for if the Christian cherishes evil dispositions in his heart, the Spirit is grieved, and there is no advance in the way of holiness and true knowledge of God. It is not merely the gross evils, which offend even the moral man of the world, that the child of God is to lay entirely aside, but the hidden, the secret springs of evil. Be assured, dear Christian reader, that if self-pleasing and self-seeking, even in their fairest forms, bear sway -if they are not judged before God-the power of the Holy Spirit and joy in Christ cannot be fully known.

The Christian is to be subject to Christ. He owes Him his undivided allegiance. By the tenderest considerations he is called to serve Him who " gave Himself for us," and the path of obedience is the way of blessing, of joy, and true liberty.

And besides holiness of life and watchfulness against self, the spirit of child-like humility is to mark the disciple in the school of Christ. This spirit and its ways are lovely in the eyes of God. The little child is taken by the Lord Himself and held up as a sample of His kingdom :" Of such," of like spirit, " is the kingdom of heaven; " and the Lord took the little ones in His arms and put His hands upon them, and blessed them with a delighted heart (Mark 10:16). And this child-like spirit in which the Lord would have us abide, is the natural result of walking in communion with Himself; truly there is nothing so elevating and so humbling as the knowledge of God. The more we know of Him, the more we become sensible of our own nothingness, and the marvels of His grace.

Growth marks those who walk with God. The apostle lamented that the Hebrew converts could bear only that which belongs to babes, instead of food suited to maturity. How beautiful, in contrast, is the Psalmist's description of one who delights in the law of the Lord :" He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season . . . and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Ps. 1). The perfection of this was only in our Lord, surely, but what a delight to God to see us walking in Christ's steps, and what immeasurable blessing to us!