Every Christian should understand that which concerns his position and privileges while in the world, in order that he may walk here in a way well pleasing to God.

This position and privilege, and the practice consistent therewith, are presented in various ways in the Scriptures. All of these should be studied by us in order that we may be fully informed in that which is agreeable to the vocation which is ours.

For the sake of conciseness, I purpose to limit the few remarks I make to those aspects of our calling which are brought before us by the Apostle Peter in his epistles.

Let us consider first of all how that it is God Himself who calls us; "As he that calleth you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation."

CALLED TO HOLINESS

As truly as God called Abram of old, so truly has He called us. The patriarch was to leave his country, his kith and his kin, and to go forth to a land which Jehovah would show him. And we read, "He arose and went."

Today the call is to holiness, to be separate in spirit from the ways of the men of the world and from the whole condition in which man lives away from God. God is holy, and all those who are brought near to Him are called to be holy, to answer in character to Him who has separated them from the rest of the world. And this, "in all manner of conversation." That is, in words and ways they were to seek to be suitable to the position which was theirs as the people of God who had now a high, a heavenly, a holy place of privilege. They were a chosen race, a people for a possession, that they might set forth the excellencies of Him who had called them.

CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS

They had been in spiritual darkness. Although of Israel, the nation so richly privileged by God and brought by Him into a place no other people had enjoyed, yet they had only an external nearness to God. Their hearts had been darkened by sin and they were in ignorance of God. Satisfied with the outside position, they had been far from understanding what the will of the Lord was. But the gospel had been sounded in their ears. Their eyes had been opened to see their sin in rejecting the true Messiah, Jesus the Son of God, and they had realized that, great as their favors had been from God, they were but sinners before Him, needing His so-great salvation. Then believing the gospel message which had been proclaimed by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, they had been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love.

CALLED INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT
God has been fully manifested. He has been displayed in all that He is. His majesty, His truth, His faithfulness, His holiness, His hatred of evil-and with these His grace, and kindness, and mercy and love-all that He is in His nature and attributes has shone out in His beloved Son and at the cross of Calvary. God is in the light of revelation. Into that light-"marvelous light," "His marvelous light"-He has called us. And there we can be without a misgiving, for we know the cleansing value of the blood of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son; and we have a new nature which is of God Himself. We are born again. We are redeemed. We are made part of a holy and royal priesthood. Our new place and privileges eclipse altogether those which had been known by Israel. Thus we can offer up to God "spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

CALLED TO SUFFERING

But while all this is blessedly true, we find ourselves in a world where Christ has been cast out. He has suffered here. Every chapter of the first epistle shows this.

Chap. 1:11:"The sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow."

2:21:"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps."

3:18:"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

4:1:"Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh; arm yourselves likewise with the same mind."

5:1:"A witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."

In His atoning sufferings our Lord was alone. None could be with Him there. No angel or man could share with Him in those awful hours.

But in His suffering for righteousness at the hands of men, He has become a model for us to copy, and we are called to follow Him.

He has put away our sins, bearing them in His own body on the tree, in order that being dead to sins, having done with our previous life altogether, we should live to righteousness, to accord with the will of God for us in all our pathway. We were like sheep going astray, we have now returned unto the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, and are to be directed by Himself alone.

In Chap. 3:9 we have brought before us the fact that we are

CALLED TO INHERIT BLESSING

The expression may take us back in thought to Abram. When he was called the promise was made to him, "I will bless thee . . . and thou shalt be a blessing." Enriched by God Himself, "full of the blessing of the Lord," he was in his turn to be made a blessing to others. In him all generations of the earth were to be blessed. Christ, the Promised One, was to come of Abraham's seed. To-day the blessing of Abraham has come upon us who believe. And we are blessed indeed. Thus it is inheriting blessing, and blessing alone, the judgment which we deserved having been removed, the curse having been borne by Christ.

Thus blessed, we are to bless others. We are to live up to our income. So rich is our inheritance of blessing that we can use part of our abundant wealth in our dealings with others, and so follow our Lord Jesus in some measure. Thus the exhortation is given:"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing:but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing" (Chap. 3:8, 9). Compassion, love, pity, courtesy, blessing-that which came out in Christ in its perfection is produced in part in the Christian as he walks in the Spirit.

The Lord prayed for His murderers while on the cross. So Stephen cried, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," while his body was being battered by the stones of his martyrdom.

Wonderful indeed that we should be taken up by God's grace, so that in the power of the Holy Spirit Christ may be expressed by us in this world.

In Chap. 5:10 we have the great ultimate before us. We are

CALLED TO GLORY

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

"The God of all grace." It is the only time this title is used. Peter delighted in the grace which had met him at the first, restored him when he wandered, and kept him on his way. And "grace begun shall end in glory," in God's glory, in His eternal glory. And as the headstone is placed there will be shoutings of "Grace! grace unto it!" Happy prospect!

"Who grace has brought shall glory bring,
And we shall reign with Him."

Our calling is not an earthly one like Israel's, but a heavenly one. The "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away" is "reserved in heaven for" us, and we are preserved for the inheritance, "kept by the power of God through faith."

The suffering we may have to know is but for "a while," the glory is "eternal." And the sufferings are used to perfect, to stablish, to strengthen, and to settle us. Let us remember amid every trial, that it is the God of all grace who is working out His pleasure in us, that everything, everywhere, is under His supreme control, that all things are made to work together for our good, and that "the glory shines before" us while grace supplies our every need while on the way to the glorious terminus. We need faith and patience to inherit promises. Thus, finally, we are

CALLED TO GLORY AND VIRTUE

"According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Pet. 1:3).

The goal lies before us, but we have to walk the pilgrim path. And on our way we need virtue (moral courage) to refuse the evil and cleave to the good. And all things that are necessary are provided for us. We have not to go at our own charges. Divine power has fully equipped us for the whole journey. The Lord Himself on high, the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the Word of God in our hands, the company of fellow-pilgrims as "through the waste we roam"-these are some of the things provided for a consistent Christian life. But "all things" are in the great commissariat on our behalf.

As we contemplate our Christian calling thus, well may our hearts turn to God in praise and worship. We join in the doxology, and cry:

"To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Inglis Fleming
'BEHOLD, I COME QUICKLY"