“When we were children,” we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world. No one who has the slightest acquaintance with the Lord needs to be told that the rudiments of the world have nothing in common with Him, and do not proceed from Him. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” 1 John 2:16, 17. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. It is from “this present evil world” that Christ came to deliver us. We are warned to “take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col. 2:8. The bondage to the rudiments of the world is the condition of walking “according to the course of this world,” “in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;” being “by nature the children of wrath.” Eph. 2:1-3. It is the same bondage that is described in Gal. 3:22-24, before faith came, when we were under the law, “under sin.” It is the condition of men who are “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Eph. 2:12. [Sidenote: All Men Possible Heirs.] It may be asked, If such is the condition of those here referred to as “children,” how can they be spoken of as heirs? The answer is plain. It is on the principle that it is not manifest who constitute the seed, until the harvest. God has not cast off the human race; therefore, since the first man created was called “the son of God,” it follows that all men are heirs in the sense that they are in their minority. As already learned, “before faith came,” although all were wanderers from God, we were kept under the law, guarded by a severe master, “shut up,” in order that we might be led to accept the promise. What a blessed thing it is that God counts even the ungodly, those who are in the bondage of sin, as His children,—wandering, prodigal sons, but still children. God has made all men “accepted in the Beloved.” This probationary life is given us for the purpose of giving us a chance to acknowledge Him as Father, and to become sons indeed. But, unless we come back to Him, we shall die as slaves of sin. [Sidenote: “The Fulness of the Time.”]