minds, their intentions, their "hearts." Consequently, from the moment they accept the grace of God in Christ and the forgiveness of their sins, and make a consecration of themselves to the Lord, they are counted as freed from those blemishes which were theirs naturally as children of Adam; they are counted as though their flesh were robed in the merits of Christ, hiding all of its defects. It is the new mind, the new will, that is the “New Creature" accepted of God and called, and it alone is being dealt with.

True, the new mind as it develops will show itself to be noble, honorable, upright, and gradually it will come more and more to have power and control over the flesh, so that those who recognize not the New Creatures, even as they did not recognize the Lord, may ultimately come to marvel at their good works and holy living and spirit of a sound mind, though even these may at times be attributed by them to some ignoble motives. And notwithstanding the gradual growth of the new mind more and more into harmony with the mind of the Lord, these may never get full control over the mortal bodies with which they are connected, although it will surely be their object and effort to glorify God in their bodies as well as in their spirits, their minds, which are his.-1 Cor. 6:20.

Let us notice some of these specifications and limitations as respects character in the "New Creation." The Apostle's exhortation to one of these called ones,—but applicable to all of them,-is, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called.” (1 Tim. 6: 12.) These New Creatures are not to expect to gain the victory and the great reward without a battle with the adversary, as well as with sin abounding in all their associations and the weakness of their own flesh, though the latter is covered by the merit of Christ's righteousness under the terms of the Grace Covenant. The Apostle again exhorts this class to "Walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory." (1 Thess. 2: 12.) The New Creature is not only to recognize his calling and its ulti

mate reward in the Kingdom and glory, but he is to remember that in the present life he has become a representative of God and of his righteousness, and he is to seek to walk in accord therewith. Thus we read, "As he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy."" (1 Pet. 1: 15, 16.) Again, in the same epistle (29) we read, "Ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Spiritual Israelites of the New Creation were not put under bondage to specific laws, as were the fleshly Israelites; but were put under "the law of liberty," that their love for the Lord might demonstrate itself, not only in respect to voluntarily avoiding the things recognized as disapproved of the Lord, but also in respect to voluntarily sacrificing human rights and interests in the service of truth and righteousness, for the Lord and for the brethren. It is in accord with this that the Apostle declares "God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness." (1 Thess. 4: 7.) He declares again, "Ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh" (Gal. 5: 13), an occasion to do evil: use your liberty rather in sacrificing present rights for the sake of the truth and its service;-that thus you may be sacrificing priests of the royal priesthood who, by and by, shall reign in God's Kingdom as joint-heirs with Christ to dispense divine blessings to the world.

Many are the Scriptures that point out that the call to be "New Creatures" is a call to glory, honor and immortality (Phil. 3:14; 2 Pet. I 3, etc.), but everywhere the Lord indicates that the path to this glory is a narrow one of trial, testing, sacrifice; so that only those who are begotten of his spirit, yea, filled with it, will be able to come off conquerors in the end and attain to the glorious things whereunto they are called, the way to which has been made possible to the called ones through him who has promised, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in your weakness." Nor are we to think of different calls, but are to remem

ber the declaration of the Apostle (Eph. 4: 4), "Ye are called in one hope of your calling." It is a mistake, therefore, for any to think that they have any choice in this matter. Indeed, so far as the world is concerned, in the next age there will be no call: God will not, during that age, be seeking to select a special class separate and distinct from others and to a special position. Instead of calling the world during the Millennial age, the Lord will command them,-command obedience to the laws and principles of righteousness; and every creature will be required (not requested) to render obedience to that Millennial government, otherwise he will receive stripes for his disobedience, and ultimately will be destroyed from amongst the people, as is written, "He that will not hear [obey] that prophet shall be cut off from amongst the people"-he shall die the Second Death, from which there will be no hope of recovery.

Neither is there a second call during this Gospel age, though, as we have previously seen, there is a second class of saved ones selected during this age-the Great Company (Rev. 7: 9-14) "whose number no man knoweth, out of every nation and kindred and tongue," who shall serve God in his temple and before the throne in contradistinction to the Bride, who will be in the throne and members, or living stones, of the temple. But these of this second company have no separate and distinct call. They might as easily, and with much more satisfaction, have attained to the glories of the divine nature had they rendered prompt and hearty obedience. They do come off victors in the end, as is shown by the fact that to them are granted the palm branches; but their lack of zeal hindered them from being accepted as of the overcoming class, thus preventing their eternal joint-heirship and glory as participants in the New Creation, as well as depriving them of much of the joy and peace and satisfaction which belongs to the overcomers and is enjoyed by them even in this present life. The place to which they will attain, as we have previously seen, will apparently be one similar in many respects to the estate or plane of the angels.

Another thought in connection with the call is that its time is limited, as the Apostle declares, “Now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation.” “To-day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts.” (2 Cor. 6: 2; Heb. 3: 15.) This acceptable day, or acceptable year or acceptable period or epoch, began with our Lord Jesus and his consecration. He was called. He took not the honor upon himself, and it has continued ever since “No man taketh this honor unto himself.” (Heb. 5:4.) Bold indeed would be the man who would assume the right to a change of nature from human to divine, and from being a member of the family of Adam and joint-heir in his lost and forfeited estate, to being a jointheir with Christ in all the riches and glory and honor of which he, in response to his call, became the rightful heir in perpetuity.

The close of this call, or "day of salvation,” or “acceptable time" will come no less certainly than it began. A definite, positive number were ordained of God to constitute the New Creation, and so soon as that number shall be completed the work of this Gospel age will be finished. We might observe also that as soon as the proper number shall have been called, the call itself must cease; because it would not be consistent for God to call even one individual more than he had predestinated, even though he foreknew how many of the called ones would fail of obedience, fail to make their calling and election sure, and, therefore, need to be replaced by others. Consistency seems to demand that the Almighty shall not even seem to trifle with his creatures by extending a single invitation which could not be made good if accepted. The Scriptures hold out the thought that for this limited, elect number of the Royal Priesthood a crown apiece has been provided; and that as each accepts the Lord's call and makes his consecration under it, one of the crowns is set apart for him. It is not, therefore, proper to suppose that the Lord would call any one who, on presenting himself and accepting the call, would need to be informed that no crown could be apportioned to him yet, but that he must wait until some one who

would prove unfaithful should forfeit his claim. Our Lord's exhortation, "Hold fast, that no man take thy crown,' seems to imply not only the limited number of crowns, but that ultimately, in the end of this age, there would come a time when those who had not faithfully lived up to their covenant would be rejected, and that others at that time would be in waiting for their crowns.-Rev. 3: 11.

To our understanding the general call to this jointheirship with our Redeemer as members of the New Creation of God, ceased in 1881. But we apprehend that a large number (in all the various denominations of Christendom-probably twenty or thirty thousand) who at that time had made full consecration of themselves, have not proven faithful to their covenant of selfsacrifice. These, one by one, as their full measure of testing is reached, if found unfaithful, are rejected from fellowship in the called company--to the intent that others who meantime have consecrated, though not under the call, may be admitted to full relationship in this fellowship with Christ and his joint-heirs, that they, in turn, may stand their testing and, if found unworthy, be similarly rejected and their places be filled by still others who will be waiting in an attitude of consecration. Evidently, by such arrangement, no necessity has existed for any general call since 1881. Those now admitted can as well be granted their privileges and opportunities without coming under the general call or invitation which ceased in 1881-they are admitted on application, as opportunity permits, to fill up the places of those who are going out. It is our expectation that this work of going out and coming in will continue until the last member of the new order of creation shall have been found worthy, and all the crowns everlastingly apportioned.

The Apostle declares, "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thess. 5:4.) In harmony with all the various precedents of Scripture, we are inclined to believe that in this harvest time of the Gospel age a knowledge of the truth respecting the divine plan of the ages, and the presence