ne out
to the end of the world, and have reached even thyself. He calls thee,
oh! brother, sister, friend, that you and I may turn round to Him and
say, 'When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy
face, Lord, will I seek.' Amen.

PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE

'He hath given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that
by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust.'--2 Peter i. 4.

'Partakers of the Divine nature.' These are bold words, and may be so
understood as to excite the wildest and most presumptuous dreams. But
bold as they are, and startling as they may sound to some of us, they
are only putting into other language the teaching of which the whole New
Testament is full, that men may, and do, by their faith, receive into
their spirits a real communication of the life of God. What else does
the language about being 'the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty'
mean? What else does the teaching of regeneration mean? What else mean
Christ's frequent declarations that He dwells in us and we in Him, as
the branch in the vine, as the members in the body? What else does 'he
that is joined to the Lord in one spirit' mean? Do not all teach that in
some most real sense the very purpose of Christianity, for which God
has sent His Son, and His Son has come, is that we, poor, sinful, weak,
limited, ignorant creatures as we are, may be lifted up into that solemn
and awful elevation, and receive in our trembling and yet strengthened
souls a spark of God? 'That ye may be partakers of the Divine nature'
means more than 'that you may share in the blessings which that nature
bestows.' It means that into us may come the very God Himself.

I. So I want you to look with me, first, at this lofty purpose which is
here presented as being the very aim and end of God's gift in the
gospel.

The human nature and the Divine are both kindred and contrary. And the
whole Bible is remarkable for the emphasis with which it insists upon
both these elements of the comparison, declaring, on the one hand, as no
other religion has ever declared, the supreme sovereign, unapproachable
elevation of the infinite Being above all creatures, and on the other
hand, holding forth the hope, as no other religion has ever ventured to
do, of the possible union of the loftiest and the lowest, and the
lifting of the creature into union wit