ts without the Spirit any more than there could be an orange
without the tree. And Christ says "Ye shall know them by their
fruits;" "for the tree is known by his fruits." Make the tree good,
and the fruit will be good. The only way to get the fruit is to have
the Spirit. That is the way to examine ourselves whether we are the
children of God.

Then there is another very striking passage. In Romans viii. 9, Paul
says: "Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His." That ought to settle the question, even though one may have
gone through all the external forms that are considered necessary by
some to constitute a member of a Church. Read Paul's life, and put
yours alongside of it. If your life resembles his, it is a proof that
you are born again--that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus.

But although you may be born again, it will require time to become a
full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous; but
sanctification is a life-work. We are to grow in wisdom. Peter says
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ" (2 Pet. iii. 18); and in the first chapter of his Second
Epistle, "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound they make
you that ye shall neither be barron nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ." So that we are to add grace to grace. A
tree may be perfect in its first year of growth; but it does not
attain its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of
God, but not a matured Christian. The eighth of Romans is very
important, and we should be very familiar with it. In the fourteenth
verse the apostle says: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God
they are the sons of God." Just as the soldier is led by his captain,
the pupil by his teacher, or the traveller by his guide; so the Holy
Spirit will be the guide of every true child of God.

Then let me call your attention to another fact. All Paul's teaching
in nearly every Epistle rings out the doctrine of assurance. He says
in 2 Corinthians v. 1: "For we _know_ that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He had a title to the
mansions above, and he says--_I know it