(Continued from p. 331)

"And what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

Here is the second thing that the Apostle prays we may know. But how to know? Not merely intellectually, and not merely emotionally, but both intellectually and emotionally,

"That mind and heart according well
May make one music as before."

We are to know through enlightenment of the "eyes of the heart," and if somebody reminds me that "heart" in the New Testament does not mean "affections," that alters not the fact that it includes the "affections." It is "the inner man" which comprises both. And the inner man will also control the "outer" man, and in this way "body, soul and spirit" will be played upon by the three moving words:"riches," "glory," "inheritance."

Beheld from the viewpoint of mind and listening to the theologians, the whole verse becomes a battleground. We need but listen at the door "to hear the household jar within."

If, however, we add the "heart," it is no longer the disputings of the theologians that we hear; the theologians are transformed into musicians, wooing music from various sets of tuneful bells, making melody to Christ. For there is a certain reasonableness in each interpretation of the verse, and each interpretation expresses a truth, and each truth should bring us closer to God. Let us enumerate some of them then.

A great preacher believes that the inheritance here is God. The reader who is not acquainted with the original might think that impossible, but in Greek the "his" might be "of him;" and the "in the saints," "among the saints," and then we could scarcely interpret otherwise. What a grand thought it is! We have already considered it a little, so will simply let the preacher put and answer a question as to it:"We asked a minute or two ago how God belonged to men. The answer to the converse question is almost identical. A man belongs to God by the affection of his heart, by the submission of his will, by the reference of his actions to Him; and he who thus belongs to God receives God as his possession. The thing must be reciprocal.'All mine is Thine,' and God answers, 'And all Mine is thine.' He ever meets our 'O Lord, I yield myself to Thee' with His 'And, My child, I give Myself to thee.' It is so in regard of our earthly love. It is so in regard of our relations to Him."Surely this is a beautiful reciprocity.

Then there is a second view that "God inherits the saints." Ellicott calls this exegetically possible, but grammatically doubtful, while W. Kelly pronounces it "impossible," assuring us that Scripture never speaks thus. He apparently forgets the very probable correctness of the Revised Translation, "In whom we were made a heritage," of Ephesians 1:11. When too we think how these "saints" are robed in the glory of Christ Himself, how rich the glory of that "inheritance" which is all the fruit of Christ's atoning work. A third interpreter says:"Even so the inheritance of the whole universe, when it shall be filled with glory, belongs to Him, but He inherits it in the saints. It is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. He will fill all things with His glory, and it is in the saints that He will inherit them." This is certainly a magnificent prospect. It seems to be almost too wonderful to be .true, yet the interpretation is ably supported, and it makes very grand and beautiful music with which to set the heart singing. Moreover it has been connected with the closing verse of the chapter, in which the Church is represented as the "fulness" or "completion" of Him who filleth all in all. The two conceptions then correspond in measure with each other.

But how much do we know of it all? How much do these thoughts fill our lives? How much do they control our actions? How much do they color our horizon with the roseate hues of a coming, heavenly morning?

A German litterateur, a long time sick, exclaimed:"Oh that some great, new thought would come and pierce me through and through, and I should be well." Scripture is just full of such health-giving thoughts. Are we then ever sick? If so, why? F. C. Grant