The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-19
THE WILMINGTON MESSENGER, tt

striving to do good, to be good, to get
good,-why shall these fear anything?
They are members of Christ" in a
most solemn, holy, and true sense.
They a been born of the Holy
Ghost, and have the u~nmistakable evil
dence Of acceptance, having the wit
ness Of the Spirit, the witness of their
own spirits. None of this nunber-the
saved, the chosen Of God-need to fear,
and should be ashamed to doubt. God
has given Himself every assurance Of
their acceptance, and hence they have
a perfect right to believe that God is
theirs and they are Gods and Heaven
is theirs. What says the Word as TO
the evidence of conversion, regenera-
ton, and heirship of Heaven? and
hereby we do know that we know Him,
If we keep His commandments" I
John, 2:3. For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the Sons Of
God" Rom, STA. The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children Of God" Rom,
8, Is, IS. "Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sim" / John, 3:9. "I
know whom / have believed" II Tim,
lip. Now if we believe Gods promises,
His assurance, His declarations of
love, we cannot but obey and o
Him. We cannot possibly owe sin or
rest in sin or be of the world if we are
Gods chosen disciples. If we sincere
ly, truly accept God in our souls and
if Christ abide in US as the Holy Scrip
lures declareth, we cannot continue to
fix our hearts affections upon the
world and be of the world. How can
d person spiritually grovel in the earth
because of the earth? If we live unto
the world we may be positively sure
we are none of His. Surely, surely if
we have really accepted Christ as u
Redeemer, and been born into the
Kingdom of. Righteousness which He
came to establish in mems hearts, we
have our hearts affections
earthward, for we shall have been
sealed With that holy Spirit of
promise" (yerse 49, which is the earn
est of our inheritance until the re-
demption of the purchased possession,
INTO the praise of His glory" Verse
14.) What is this earnest of our in
heritance" the apostle writes of? 1t is
the pledge + our inheritance, "a
consisting of a part of it, a por-
ton of our inheritance itself, in order
to assure US that we shall receive the
This is what the Holy Spirit of
promise is. This is what the Holy
Ghost is, hat Spirit which is promised
to all who pray for a gift so excellent.
THE grace He imparts, the holiness He
helps us to obtain, the faith and hope,
charity, which now, through His
help, abide in us, these are a part of
the possession purchased for us by
Christ" These are the words of a min
Of the Established Church, long
since dead and yet alive, Rev. Charles
GirdlestOne. He with piOus fervor in
that Heavenly inheri-
lance for the saints here and those
zone before, exclaims: "Oh, how excel
lent then must Heaven be itself! How
holy, how pure, how good, the joys Of
our Heavenly Inheritance! Oh, 20
earnestly must we strive to attain
the full possession! Oh, how yet
more diligently must we persevere out
Of regard to the honor of our Lord, for
the praise of the glory of Christ" Amer
and amen all piOus saints must say.
Another Church of England divine
who wrote long ago, said: Grace is
and glory is purchased by
the blood OF Christ" Lord! what will
that glory come to!