SPIRITUAL PHOTOGRAPHY. A Sermonette by Bro. John Rose, Aylesbury, Bucks. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is " (1 John iii. 2). God's love is crowned by His grace in the gift of His Son. That grace is glorified in our reconciliation with God. That reconciliation is consummated in our being made heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus. To be made sons of God is truly an amazing honour conferred upon the sons of men. We are afar off from God by nature and wicked works, but we are brought nigh by the blood of Christ, and a blood relationship made to exist between us, for we are made sons of God by faith in Him. Christ and all true believers are as really joined together as the head and the members are in the human body. Our sonship with God brings us into the nearest relationship with the highest Being; it contains the elements of the highest character; and it lays claim to the highest privileges. The believer has a consciousness that, however unworthy, however feeble, however defective he may be, he is a child of God. And being adopted into the family of God as sons, we are assured that there shall be another change wrought upon us-we shall be like Christ. The full perfection of this change is not to be realised in our mortal state, in this world; but, "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him." We must be like Him to see Him, and the sight of Him will change us into His perfect likeness. Dwelling with Christ will make us Christ-like. What we see we shall certainly show. Just as we set round a central light sparkling prisms, each of which catches the glow at its own angle, and flashes it back of its own colour, while the sovereign completeness of the perfect white radiance comes from the blending of all their separate rays, so they who stand round about the starry throne receive each the light in his own measure and manner, and give forth each a true and perfect, and altogether a complete image of Him that enlightens them all, and is above them all. Here Christ reveals Himself to all His servants in the measure of their desire after Him. Believers also reflect the image of Christ to others, according to the measure of grace they receive, and the holy lives they live. Look closely into a man's eye, and you will see in it little pictures of what he beholds at the moment. And if our hearts are beholding Christ, Christ will be mirrored and manifested in our hearts; and our characters will show what we are looking at. Let us call up a floral figure to our aid. There is but little in the bud of a plant to indicate the future glories of the flower, now concealed within its folds. Hidden away in the green casket, there may be brilliant JULY, 1881. hues and sweetest perfumes, yea, loveliness itself; but no one, by simply looking upon the exterior, can form any just conception of what the fallblown flower will be like. Nor, indeed, by inspecting the interior. Let any one indulge in the recreation of flower anatomy; let him take the dissecting knife and cut open the green shields which conceal the coming blossom, and display the tightly packed petals; but his skill will reveal no adequate conception of the form, the fragrance, or the many tints of the future flower. Could the bud speak for itself, we might imagine it saying, "I cannot see how any form of beauty can be developed from me. All I know is that I am held fast fettered by these green wrappers so tightly folded round me, and that within the centre of my being there is a cold, hard lump they call my heart. I am told I shall open out into a paragon of loveliness, but I see nothing within myself to warrant so happy an expectation." What, then, does the bud need, if not the dissecting knife, to force it open? All it requires is to see the sun. Let that bad but live for a little while in the sunlight, and the "parent of day," with its rosy fingers, shall do what the dissecting knife was powerless to accomplish. It will soon roll back the green shields, and give depth of colour to the opening leaves. Let the sun look down upon it, and all the hidden beauties of the bud shall greet its glance in the full-blown flower. So is it with the believer. "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." There is nothing in the believer to indicate the future glory that awaits him. Carefully analyse him, and the more you dissect him, the greater will the mystery become that he, of all men, should ever be like Christ. Did I say that if the bud could speak for itself it would declare its inability to understand how it could become anything glorious? Aye, and there are thousands of believers who are ready to confess that, as far as their own experience goes, it is limited to finding themselves shut tightly in with bands of worldliness, and feeling within the centre of their being, a cold, hard lump they call their heart; and however that is to be developed into beauty like to Christ's, they cannot understand. What then does the believer need? He only requires what the bud wanted: To see the sun-the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. That shall do it all; "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." It is seeing Christ as He is that makes the believer as Christ. One glimpse of the Saviour will open the bud. Then shall spring forth, in a moment, all the beauties of Christ that had been hidden and concealed for years. Remember, that when the bud we have adverted to, appeared most commonplace and devoid of beauty, it yet contained within itself— though hidden-every atom of the coming flower. Every petal, soon to spread its beauty, and send forth its fragrance, was already there. The bud is the flower, but undeveloped, and the frond contains the fern. So glory is but the full manifestation of grace. There is within the breast of every believer that which, shone upon by the Sun of Righteousness, shall open out into resplendent loveliness. Each child of God is actually a king, but over the imperial robe there is at present cast the peasant garb; and the crown yet waits on high. All believers are priests; but the glory of the sacerdotal garments is, in a great measure, concealed by everyday apparel, too often bearing earthly stains. When death these mortal eyes shall seal, and still this throbbing heart; when the rending veil reveals Christ in His heavenly beauty, then there shall be other veils rent as well; for all that hid the glory of my priestly robes, and concealed the brilliancy of my kingly garments, shall be done away, and "I shall be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is." By taking Christ as our example, and imitating Him in our thoughts and deeds, we shall be transformed into His blessed image. Just as the artist gazes upon the countenance of the person whose features he wishes. to delineate, and by touch after touch of his pencil brings the perfect likeness to view, so the Holy Spirit, by His sanctifying influence, makes the believer like Christ. He, the Spiritual Artist, is continually working in us, and ruling over us, making us more loving, more meek, more holy, more self-denying, and more devoted in His service; touching this part by adversity, and that by His goodness, and the other by His energy, until the outline of Christ's likeness becomes visibly manifest. Just as the plates of the photographic artist are immersed in the chemicals, so the mind of the believer becomes immersed in the depths of Divine influence, and thus the Spirit of God, like the sun, brings out the image of the living God upon him. Our likeness to Christ will embrace our whole being, body, soul, and spirit. We shall have a physical likeness. Our purified humanity will bear the image of our blessed Saviour. He" shall change our vile bodies like unto His glorious body." As our personal Saviour we shall see Him; and it will be a family likeness, for we shall see Him. Christ came to destroy the works of the enemy; and " the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death; " so that, in Christ, we look for a physical triumph over our final foe, and to be raised higher, and to appear grander, and more glorious than we should have been had man never fallen. Our humanity will be transformed into the likeness of Christ, like unto His glorified body. Our bodies will shine in their full-orbed lustre. We look in vain to infantile or senile age for perfect manhood. Our glorified bodies will, doubtless, bear no mark of either the beginning or the end of the present state of existence. Christ was taken away in the prime of life, in the vigour of His humanity, in the fullness of His strength, when He was thirty-three years old. And "we shall be like Him." There shall be no marks of child-like weakness, nor of feebleness of age, but we shall shine in all the vigour and glory of perfect life. Our likeness to Christ will also embrace an intellectual resemblance. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." Our thoughts form our character, and make us what we are. "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine." Thoughts of beauty, power, and grandeur, make the eye to sparkle with intelligence, and the countenance to exhibit wisdom. A man rises in mental stature in proportion to the magnitude of his thoughts. Let a man drink in the thoughts of God, as revealed in His Word, and he will become more like God. One of the purposes of Divine revelation is thus to "sanctify us through the truth." When we see Him as He is," we shall so mentally comprehend His grand and glorious purposes, as to be anxious to do all we can to fulfil those purposes for the glory of His Name. Our whole nature will be absorbed into the outlines of Divine wisdom, and our souls will drink in His likeness, until our nature will become like Christ's nature. Christ's image will also be seen in our spiritual nature. Perfect holiness, intense emotion, supreme joy, and profound sympathy with the Divine Will, are the characteristics that will beautify our every feature, and mark our every step. An inextinguishable blaze of light will radiate from us. Our life will be animated with immortal vigour. Love will be in us a ruling passion. Here, on earth, the spiritual nature is ever yearning after the establishment of Christ's kingdom. The heart most like Christ is ever thinking Christ's thoughts, and ready to do Christ's work; ready to make others like Christ, and to bring all intelligent creation into harmony with the purposes of Divine mercy. And he who is thus heartily engaged in such works, even here, is being changed and transformed by the Spirit of God into Christ's image and likeness. Seeing Him here, by the eye of faith, we are gradually changed into His likeness: Beholding Him hereafter, with the eye of spiritual sense, we shall be completely transformed into His image; and shall Bask in His beams with eternal delight; With crowns of glory, and robes of light; GOOD WOMEN OF SCRIPTURE MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISJUDGED. No. VI.-JEPHTHAH'S Daughter. THE father of this lady is in the list of Paul's worthies (Heb. xi. 32), of whom the apostle says, that they "through faith subdued kingdoms AND WROUGHT RIGHTEOUSNESS." And yet, such has been the perversity of human intellect that, until lately, the prevailing opinion among commentators has been that Jephthah actually killed his daughter, and offered her up to Jehovah literally as a burnt sacrifice upon the altar! Let us look at the facts as recorded (Judges xi. 29-40). Jephthah had been chosen chief captain of the Israelites, and peaceful negotiations with the Ammonites having failed-as they generally do when both parties have arms in their hands-"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If Thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." The marginal note to our Bibles substitutes the word "or for "and" in the last clause; so making the vow to read that whatever met him first should be the Lord's, or he would offer it up for a burnt offering. What could he expect to meet him coming out of the doors of his house but some member of his family, wife or daughter, or favoured servant, or some one near of kin to him? No matter who it might be, so full of self-denial was he under the influence of "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD," that he vowed it-devoted it-as a sacred sacrifice to God. Bat so well read was he in the books of Moses, as we may gather from his message to the Ammonites, that he well knew how a singular vow was to be paid (see Lev. xxvii). Thirty shekels of silver would redeem a female from the consequences of an ordinary vow; but from such an absolute devotement, as in his heart he purposed, there was no redemption (verse 28); the devoted one must belong thenceforth to the service of the tabernacle, as Samuel subsequently did; who was, in like manner, vowed or devoted by his mother Hannah. "And Jephthah (victorious) came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: " (as Miriam did on the borders of the Red Sea); "and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back." It is commonly so, much easier to make a vow than to pay it; and what seems easy under some powerful inspiration of the Spirit, proves very hard of performance when that Spirit is withdrawn. "Vow and pay unto the Lord thy vows, for it is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." Jephthah felt the burden which his vow had cast upon him, and upon his much-loved only child; but, although he was scarcely able to bear its weight, and exhibited the utmost tokens of regret, his daughter, with the true spirit of a heroine, said, "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon." And when she knew that the vow of devotement would dedicate her to God's service, and to a single life, she said, "Let this thing be done for me let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the |