of the redeemed should be absorbed and lost in the infinite being of God. Whatever is to be the condition of man hereafter, it is certain he will be man still. He is ever to have a distinct, individual existence as man. He will never lose his personal identity. On the other hand, to interpret the text so as to make its whole meaning consist simply in a participation of the moral perfections of God, that is, that man shall become perfectly free from sin, and think and feel and act in entire accord with the will of God, is absolutely to destroy the force of language; for the expression, "that ye may become partakers of the divine nature," is as precise as it is extraordinary and cogent. This is no participation of the divine nature at all. It is neither more nor less than the latent spirit of rationalism working in us, which induces us, most unwisely and most injuriously, to the interests of true godliness, thus to temper down the most august utterances of the divine word. If "to become a partaker of the divine nature" is nothing more than the restoration of man to his primeval integrity, though in another sphere of being and activity, then indeed is language a nose of wax, to be twisted at will, and the accurate communication of thought an impossibility. Least of all will it be possible to communicate to man the high thoughts and purposes of God. When the limited experience of three-score years and ten, or of a score of generations, and human reason and power in their highest development, are made the measure of every thing, legends and myths and allegories and blank denials become the natural and ready engines of wholesale destructiveness, and even when these are abjured, the grandest mysteries of the Christian faith may be obscured, or may fail to be apprehended at all, by reason of a covert unwillingness to accept the thought language gives. To resolve the expression under consideration into a synonym to perfect moral excellence, implies a principle of criticism as really destructive of the integrity of the divine word as myths and allegories. Avoiding, then, extremes on the one hand and the other, and allowing to language its just force, what meaning ought to be attached to the phrase "to become partakers of the divine nature?" So far is it from implying an absorption of the human in the divine, that it fairly implies that the human is the principal subject of discourse and the divine something which it shares in with another; just as

when Christ is said to have partaken of flesh and blood, the mind reverts to his divine nature as the principal subject, and conceives of human nature as something joined to that. And the Incarnation is the very illustration which the Scriptures supply, whereby we can obtain some suitable conception of the glorious destiny appointed to the redeemed of earth. Christ brought down the divine nature into union with the human, that he might lift up the latter and bring it into union with the divine. In the Incarnation there is no absorption of the one nature by the other; no blending of the one with the other; but a most intimate union, without conversion, composition, or confusion. In a manner analogous to this, man becomes a partaker of the divine nature by the actual indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Godhead. There is no absorption or transmutation of his essence; he is man still, soul and body. But every power and every fiber of his being is permeated and interpenetrated by the Spirit of the Lord; and in virtue thereof, a divine glory and energy exhibited in his whole being and activity, which furnish to the universe the supreme and overwhelming demonstration of the existence, presence and power of the great Jehovah. Man is made like unto his exalted Saviour, who is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. The image of the glorified Son of man is stamped on the glorified sons of men. A divine majesty and glory evince the inhabitation of God through the Spirit. The human essence abides, but in, with, and through it, there is ever a manifestation of divine virtues. God is brought as nearly face to face with the universe as seems possible. His eternal power and godhead stand forth in the material creation, but the glory thereof has been obscured, and matter itself declared to be eternal; yea, to be God himself. In glorified humanity we have the manifestation of deity in a living, thinking, self-conscious agent, with a glory incapable of obscuration; with an evidence that necessitates conviction. All but the essence of the absolute personal Deity may here be gazed upon by created intelligences. In confirmation of what is now said, and at the same time to guard against the error of supposing that man partakes of the essential nature of the Godhead, the apostle does not write. φύσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, but θείας φύσεως. It is not θεότης that presente itself to the gaze of the universe in redeemed humanity-that

were impossible,-but story, and that with a surpassing fullness and efficacy.*

The other passage is Heb. xii: 10: "For they (fathers of our flesh) verily for a few days chastened, us for their own pleasure; but he (the Father of spirits) for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness (τῆς ἁγιότητος αὐτοῦ).” Here again is an expression every way peculiar and remarkable. It is not partakers of holiness in general, in the abstract, but partakers of his holiness-the holiness of God. If it be compared with Paul's frequently recurring phrase, righteousness of God, the righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, the thought at once occurs that this is a divine righteousnessthe righteousness of him who is "JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS," imputed to us and received by faith. It is not a creature righteousness; it is not righteousness in the abstract, but a most peculiar and special righteousness, even that wrought out by the obedience of the incarnate Son of God. Here also, then, to interpret the phrase, "partakers of his holiness," as nothing more than an equivalent to moral purity, is to do violence to both the native force of language and the analogy of Scripture. It can not be fully or fairly expounded by a reference to those texts in which the terms holy and holiness may be supposed to denote simply freedom from all stain of sin, or perfect rectitude of heart and conduct. There is a broader and higher sense of holiness, in which sense God is said to be "glorious in holiness." It is that infinite lustre of the divine perfections which shone in Jehovah-Jesus as revealed to the prophet Isaiah. Before its matchless splendors the Seraphim covered their faces and cried one unto another, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." It is the summation of the infinite excellences of God, which imparts an infinite glory to his character; by which he swears; by which he is distinguished, and wills above all things else to be distinguished, from all other beings. In this sense the epithet holy is applied by Hannah in her prayersong (1 Sam. ii: 2): "There is none holy as Jehovah;" by the victorious ones who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb

*The reader is referred to the second article in Trench's Synonyms of the New Testament, as an appropriate conclusion to these remarks on 2 Pet. i: 4.

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(Rev. xv: 4): "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy;" and by the four beasts (Rev. iv : 8), who "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' In this sense the psalmist uses it, when he says, "Exalt ye Jehovah our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy." Holiness is that in God to which the most profound reverence in creatures is the corresponding affection. Holy and reverend is his name." To be a partaker, therefore, of the holiness of God, is nothing less than to share in the glory of divine perfections. The elect sinner is predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, and therefore is "filled unto (up to) all the fullness of God;" that is, filled as God is filled,-the immense perfections of the divine essence filling, and shining through, redeemed humanity. The. glorified saint becomes the Shekinah of Deity. Let it be observed, too, it is to the image of the Son he is conformed, who is himself declared to be "the image of the invisible God." Bengal says, “an image invisible according to the divine nature; visible according to the human" yet in the human nature he so imaged the invisible personal God, that Nathaniel exclaimed, “Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." When Christ comes "to be glorified in his saints," their sonship will be attested by their bearing the image of him who is the image of God. There is this difference, however, as to the ground of the representation: to Christ belongs the actual essentia of the Godhead, the real Ocóry deitas; to the saints, ecóry only, divinitas. He, therefore, is an object of worship; they But by the indwelling of God, the Holy Ghost, the divine efficient agent alike in creation and redemption, and through whom Christ offered himself without spot to God, the glorified saint is filled with the fullness of God. The The perfections of deity shine forth in and through him with a transcendant effulgence and power. Every element of his being is instinct with the life of God. The glory of a divine sanetitude rests upon him. In this way, and in the broadest and most exalted sense of the word holiness, man is made a partaker of the holiness of God. And in this consummation of

his being and destiny, he reaches the ultimate limit and glory of a created existence.

It only remains to point out, in a concluding part, the relation of the New Life of the Redeemed to some of the distinctive doctrines of the faith.

ART. VI.-The Nation and the Insurgents.- With Special Reference to the Political, Military, Material, and Financial Condition of the Country, to the State of the Insurgent War, and to the Foreign Relations of the United States, at the End of the Year 1863.

THE Nation has just manifested one of those popular reactions which distinguish all great commotions among men, and which operate with vehement force in all great revolutions. From the election of Mr. Lincoln till the autumn of 1862, the Government and the people of the loyal States, moving in concert, and marching in a direction which was itself a reaction against the extreme opinions which had prevailed in the Northern States, presented such an aspect of justice, moderation, and power, as seemed to leave no doubt of the early and complete extinction of the Rebellion. At that period a great and most critical division of the loyal people manifested itself. The popular elections which occurred in the autumn of 1862, exhibited a powerful and, as far as those elections permitted, a triumphant popular reaction against the newly-avowed principles of the Federal Administration. We have discussed the causes of that reaction, as it was manifested in the Papers of the President, and the votes of the people, and we were convinced it would grow, and become permanent, if it were honestly directed to the avowed objects of it.* It was not so directed. It was attempted to be diverted into a party, instead of a national movement. It was abused for the purpose of restoring the Democratic party to power, instead of preserving the nation and the constitution. Nay, it was pros

* See Danville Review, December, 1862, pp. 670-712.