+III. The happy consequence of their faith.+--They were "sealed with the Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." They became partakers of such a Divine influence as sanctified them to a meetness for heaven, and thus evidenced their title to it. 1. _The sealing of the Spirit._--Sealing literally signifies the impression of the image or likeness of one thing upon another. A seal impressed on wax leaves there its own image. Instruction is said to be sealed when it is so impressed on the heart as to have an abiding influence. So, the sealing of believers is their receiving on their hearts the Divine image and character by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The Word of truth is here considered as the seal, the believing heart as the subject, the Holy Spirit as the agent or sealer, and the effect produced as a Divine likeness. By a like metaphor Christians are represented as cast in the mould of the Gospel. The same idea is conveyed by the metaphor of writing the Word on the heart. 2. _The earnest of the Spirit._--The Spirit, having sealed believers or sanctified them after God's image, becomes an earnest of their inheritance. The firstfruits were pledges of the ensuing harvest; earnest-money in a contract is a pledge of the fulfilment of it. So, the graces and comforts of religion are to Christians the anticipations and foretastes of the happiness which awaits them in heaven. (1) The virtues of the Christian temper, which are the fruits of the Spirit, are to believers an earnest of their inheritance because they are in part a fulfilment of the promise which conveys the inheritance. (2) They are an earnest as they are preparatives for it. (3) The sealing and sanctifying influence of the Spirit is especially called an earnest of the inheritance because it is a part of the inheritance given beforehand. It is the earnest till the redemption of the purchased possession. When we actually possess the inheritance the earnest will be no longer needed. +Lessons.+--1. _All the operations of the Spirit on the minds of men are of a holy nature and tendency._ 2. _We are strongly encouraged to apply to God for the needful influences of His grace._ 3. _We can have no conclusive evidence of a title to heaven without the experience of a holy temper._ 4. _Christians are under indispensable obligations to universal holiness.--Lathrop._ _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15-18. _Prayer for Higher Spiritual Knowledge_--