Father; but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' The light and the grace which God has bestowed upon His spiritual children in Christ Jesus should make them ready to do all the good they can and to shun every form of sin and evildoing, according as it is written: 'The ¹ grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.' And so also in another passage we read: 'Finally, ² brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' Walking in accordance with these heavenly precepts and led by God's Holy Spirit, the true Christian advances day by day in holiness, in knowledge of God, and in outward and inward perfectness, according as it is written: 'We ³ all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are

transformed ¹ into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.'

V. Another favourable outcome of the remission of sins is love of one's neighbour, that is of all men. It should be noticed that the poison of self-love and self-pleasing has through sin become so thoroughly infused into man's heart that its evil fervour has there dried up the roots of the tree of love to God and to our fellow-creatures. Men, too, often show friendship to others only to gain some personal advantage from them. Such pretended friendship is merely outward and hypocritical, flowing from the fountain of selfishness and self-pleasing. The latter is such a fountain of evil that all envy, hatred, quarrelling and strife that occur among men proceed from it. But the forgiveness of sin, through the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation which He freely offers, stops up that poisoned spring, and causes to flow in the believer's heart the refreshing and fertilizing stream of God's love. Because of God's love to us and ours to Him in return, goodwill towards our neighbour also springs up. For the man who heartily loves God will also love those whom God has made his brothers and fellow-servants, and he will know that in God's sight he himself is not greater than or superior to others of the sons of Adam. He will also gladly obey those commandments which enjoin love of our neighbours. For