k of Life.' Only citizens are capable of entrance into the
city. Aliens are necessarily shut out. The Lord, when He writeth up His
people, shall count that this man was born there, though he never trod
its streets while on earth, and, therefore, can enter into his native
home.

Further, in one of the letters to the seven churches our Lord gives as a
promise to him that overcometh, 'I will not blot his name out of the
Book of Life, but I will confess his name.'

What need we care what other people may think about us, or whether the
'hollow wraith of dying fame' that comes like a nimbus round some men
may fade wholly or no, so long as we may be sure of acknowledgment and
praise from Him from whom acknowledgment and praise are precious indeed.

I have but one or two more words to add. Remember that Paul had no
hesitation in taking upon himself to declare that the names of these
anonymous saints in Philippi were written in the Book of Life. What
business had he to do that? Had he looked over the pages, and marked the
entries? He had simply the right of estimating their state by their
conduct. He saw their works; he knew that these works were the fruit of
their faith; and he knew that, therefore, their faith had united them to
Jesus Christ. So, Christian men and women, two things: show your faith
by your works, and make it impossible for anybody that looks at you to
doubt what King you serve, and to what city you belong. Again, do not
ask, 'Is my name there?' Ask, 'Have I faith, and does my faith work the
works that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven?'

Remember that names can be blotted out of the book. The metaphor has
often been pressed into the service of a doctrine of unconditional and
irreversible predestination. But rightly looked at, it points in the
opposite direction. Remember Moses's agonised cry, 'Blot me out of Thy
book'; and the Divine answer, 'Him that sinneth against Me, his name
will I blot out of My book.' And remember that it is only to 'him that
overcometh' that the promise is made, 'I will not blot him out.' We are
made partakers of Christ if we 'hold fast the beginning of our
confidence firm unto the end.'

Remember that it depends upon ourselves whether our names are there or
not. John Bunyan describes the armed man who came up to the table, where
the man with the book and the inkhorn was seated, and said: 'Set down
my name.' And you and I may do that. If we cast ourselves on Jesus
Christ and yield o