Now, the Christian may look forward to the glorification of this intellectual feature of resemblance between himself and his Maker as a source of pure and exalted happiness. He may anticipate a rich enjoyment from all the inspiring prospects of heaven's magnificent materialism. He may expect to find counterpart objects for some of his intellectual tendencies in the beautiful forms and enchanting harmonies of heaven's transporting scenery; and gratification for others in a knowledge sufficient to meet the lawful yearnings of the human mind for some profounder acquaintance with the wonderful works of God, as well as some distincter insight into those eternal laws which maintain the order and the harmony of the whole material universe, than is given to man in his present condition; while he may look for the indulgence of others still in a clearer perception than he possesses at present of the nature of his own being, intellectual, moral, and spiritual—of those sublimer truths of Divine revelation which he now sees but through a glass darkly-of those mysteries of providence which, in his present state, appear perplexing, but which he dismisses from his thoughts on the faith of the promise, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter"—and of those grander features of redemption which only the final consummation of all things can fully exemplify. Oh, it must be that, since we are to know even as also we shall be known, the light of heaven-the light that comes directly, and through no obscuring medium, from the Source of all light-shall irradiate the understanding of every glorified believer, and enable him, through an intelligent apprehension of all that inspires the songs of wonder and worship and joy that constitute the choruses of heaven, to join his voice with those angelic harmonies that proclaim, Glory to God in the highest, and to magnify for ever“ Him first, Him last, Him midst, and Him without end." But the sense in which pre-eminently, and so preeminently that it came to be considered as exclusively, the sense in which man was made in the image of God, is, beyond all doubt, moral and spiritual. That idolatry of mere intellect which distinguishes so many, especially in this generation, is founded on an utter mistake of what it is that constitutes the true dignity of man in his highest condition. There are traces of mere intelligence in the very lowest orders of all the living creation, and of something approaching even to human intelligence in those animals which man admits into his companionship; but of the moral sentiments (at all events the highest), where can we find any clear illustration whatsoever on this earth but in the human species? Gratitude and fidelity are, no doubt, the attributes of a dog; but what animal except man can be supposed to have a sense of justice and a sense of religion? If we grant that there are infernal spirits of vast intelligence, are we to grant also that they stand higher in the ranks of creatureship than man, however humble his intellectual capacity? Surely, on the supposition that such spiritual beings exist at all, we must suppose that they exist in a state of degradation? They are destitute of the truest element of greatness; and a desire to resemble them would be not only a sinful but a foolish and perverse ambition. We would be men, not monsters. We would be as God-not as knowing good and evil, but as the word God in our own Anglo-Saxon tongue denotes, that is, the good, the glorious Being in whom there exists no approach to evil -the holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! God, then, is pre-eminently goodness; not intellectthough this He is also in perfection-but goodness distinctively; and if man was verily made in His image, then it must have been in this especially that the likeness consisted. Our sublimest conception of the Supreme Being is that of One who is pure and holy to a degree that admits not of human expression; and the first lesson that we are to learn in the school of Christ and His Apostles is, that "Not in mental, but in moral worth, God excellence hath placed; and to the good- Since, then, it is only rational to conclude that the moral sentiments occupy a far more important place in the mental economy than the intellectual faculties, it is rational also to conclude that the education of the former rather than of the latter should be the main purpose of all true religion; and the fact that, in this respect, Christianity stands almost alone among the creeds of mankind, is an evidence of its incomparable superiority to any other religious system whatsoever. With our Saviour and His Apostles, the cultivation of the heart, rather than that of the understanding, is the point of importance; and thus it is that St. Paul, speaking of the image of God, makes it just what it is in its very spirit and essence, and that is, righteousness and true holiness. Unless, then, we have learned to admire and to value the humblest, most unpretending, most unintellectual, and most unlettered of all those who belong to Christ, simply because his heart is right before God, more than the profoundest philosopher who, notwithstanding the wondrous powers of his comprehensive intellect, lives without God in the world, we have yet to learn the very rudiments of Christianity. Now, there is a certain kind of righteousness which has survived the Fall, and may be taken-along with that intellectual resemblance already noticed as evidence, even to the unbeliever (provided he be a Theist), that man might have been the image of his Creator. There are sentiments of benevolence, justice, and mercy, which man, even in his natural state, exhibits; and these, in infinite perfection, are the attributes of Deity. But the righteousness and true holiness to which the apostle refers, have been wholly lost; and Christianity teaches us that they are regained only by those who are renewed in the spirit of their minds after the image of God who created them. None, then, but those who have undergone this great change which most of all assimilates them to the Deity, can be said, in the most important sense of these words, to be in His image. They only who resemble Him, more or less, in His goodness, may be said, comparatively speaking, to resemble Him at all. The image of God, then, as it existed in the first of our race, was a voluntary assimilation of his heart and will to the mind of his Maker. It was not the resem blance of a lifeless picture to its original, but the conscious and intentional conformity of a free creature to his great Creator. It was a cordial desire to have a similar character to that of the great Exemplar before him, to be like whom was at once his duty and his happiness. He would glorify God, because God would be glorified by the creatures He had made, and to whose enjoyment He was ministering; and he would obey, because conformity of will in the creature to will in the Creator is evidenced by obedience. The resemblance, therefore, was not that unconscious and automatic likeness that one piece of ingenious mechanism may bear in its structure and operations to another, but the far sublimer correspondence of an intelligent and voluntary agent to a model from which he was free to differ, but which he chose to resemble. The image of God was, consequently, godliness. It was to love God with all the heart, and mind, and will, and strength-His will, His works, His ways, His laws, His character; to have Him in all his thoughts, and endeavour to imitate His infinite perfections. It was an image that would work out its own similarity to its glorious original, and be like Him most in the features that were most characteristic. It was the godliness, accordingly, of exalted goodness; the moral, and therefore the highest, attributes of Divinity-especially love, for God is love. Of all the descriptions that have ever yet been given of the Supreme, this is surely the most rational; and, therefore, "he that dwelleth in love. dwelleth in God, and God in him." Now, it is the distinguishing characteristic of all the |