and degraded by man—­justification by faith:  while all they mean is, justification not by faith, but by mere assent; assenting to certain doctrines; keeping certain religious watch-words in your mouth, and, over and above, leading a tolerably respectable life.  But what says our Lord?  “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  Not merely—­not dwell in it for ever, but not even enter it, not even get through the very gate, and cross the very threshold, of it.  The merely assenting, merely respectable, even the so-called religious and orthodox life will not let you into the kingdom of heaven, either in this life or the life to come.  No.  That requires the noble life, the pure life, the just life, the gentle life, the generous life, the heroic life, the Godlike life, which is perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, because He lets His sun shine on the evil and on the good, and His rain fall on the just and on the unjust.  But how will this help you to rise in life?  Our Lord Himself answers—­and our Lord should surely know—­“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  Have faith in God, and in His promise; and your faith in God shall be rewarded.  You shall find that your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things; and has arranged His kingdom, and the whole universe, accordingly.  The very good things of this world—­wealth, honour, power, and the rest, for the sake of which worldly men quarrel, and envy, and slander, and bully, and cringe, and commit all basenesses and crimes—­all these shall come to you of their own accord by the providence of your Father in heaven and by His everlasting Laws, if you will but learn and do God’s will, and lead the Christlike and the Godlike life.  Honour and power, wealth and prosperity, as much of them as is justly good for you, and as much of them as you deserve—­that is, earn and merit by your own ability and self-control—­shall come to you by the very laws of the universe and by the very providence of God.  You shall find that godliness hath the promise of this life, as well as of the life which is to come.  You shall find that God’s kingdom is a well-made and well-ordered kingdom; and that His laws are life, and are far more worth trusting in than the maxims of that ill-made and ill-ordered world of man, which you all renounced at your baptism.  You shall find that the promises of Scripture are no dreams, but actual practical living truths, which come true, and fulfil themselves, in the lives and histories of men.