'The portion of Jacob is not like them--for He is the former of all
things: and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of Hosts
is His name.'--JER. x. 16, R.V.
Here we have set forth a reciprocal possession. We possess God, He
possesses us. We are His inheritance, He is our portion. I am His; He
is mine.
This mutual ownership is the very living centre of all religion.
Without it there is no relation of any depth between God and us. How
much profounder such a conception is than the shallow notions about
religion which so many men have! It is not a round of observance; not a
painful effort at obedience, not a dim reverence for some vague
supernatural, not a far-off bowing before Omnipotence, not the mere
acceptance of a creed, but a life in which God and the soul blend in
the intimacies of mutual possession.