The Remembrancer: 1899

" It is gloomy, and thick, and dark;
Alas wherever I turn my sight,
And seek for a faithful watcher's light,
I can scarcely discern a spark.
I hear the drunken reveler's cry,
The mocker's taunt, and the skeptic's lie;
But few believe that the Lord is nigh:
All is gloomy, and sad, and dark."

" Watchman, what of the night?"

" It is murky, and chill, and drear:
The lamps erst burning so clear and bright;
The hearts once glowing with warm delight,
At the hope that the Lord was near:
Many are quenched to burn no more;
Few are trimmed, and their luster pour;
Alas! in so many first-love is o'er;
All is murky, and chill, and drear."

" Watchman, what of the night? "

"Oh list!-'t is the midnight cry!
It fills the sleepers with joy or fright;
These cheeks grow pale, and those grow bright!
The Bridegroom, He draweth nigh!
The slumbering virgins from sleep awake;
The wise their lamps fresh-trimmed all take;
The knees of the foolish with terror quake,
At the sound of the midnight cry."

" Watchman, what of the night?"

" The night is fast passing away;
The Morning-Star, with effulgence bright,
Shall shortly burst on our raptured sight,
And usher the longed-for day.
He cometh! He cometh! awake! arise!
Behold! the Day-Star illumines the skies;
Ye slumbering virgins unveil your eyes,
The night is just passing away."

"Watchman, what of the night?"

The work of the watchman is o'er:

"The morning 's come and also the night,"

Eternity's darkness-eternity's light.

'Inquire ye,... inquire ye no more.'

His word is ended, and work is done;

The marriage-supper is e'en begun;

The conflict over, the victory won

The work of the watchman is o'er.

The Closing Days of Christendom

I have just been thinking how the great apostate systems, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are destined to advance in strength and magnificence, as their day of doom and judgment approaches. Witness the condition of the Woman in Rev. 18, and that of the Beast in Rev. 13 and 19.

And I ask, is not this present moment, through which we are passing, giving pledges of this? Do we not see the great apostate ecclesiastical system advancing to occupy itself of the world, with something of giant strides? And is not the world, as a civil or secular thing, spreading itself out in improvements and attainments, and cultivation of all desirable and proud things, beyond all precedent? Are not these things so, beyond the question of even the very least observant? And are they not pledges that all is now on the high road to the full display of the Woman and of the Beast, in their several forms of greatness and grandeur, which are, thus, according to God's word, destined to precede their judgment? These things, I own, are very plain and simple to me.

But again I ask-is there any notice in God's word, that the saints or the church are to rise to any condition of beauty or of strength befitting them, ere the hour of their translation come.? The apostate things, as we have seen, are to be great and magnificent just before their judgment-but ask, is the true thing to be eminent in its way, strong and beautiful in that strength and beauty that belong to it. ere its removal to glory? This-is an affecting inquiry. What answer do the oracles of God give us?

Paul, in 2nd Timothy, contemplates " the last days," in their perilous character, and the ruin of the church, which we have seen, and do see at this day, all around us. But what condition of things among the saints does he anticipate as following that ruin? I may say with all assurance, he does not contemplate the restoration of the church's order as a whole, any rebuilding of God's house, so to speak, any recovery of corporate beauty or strength worthy of this dispensation; but he exhorts those who find themselves in what has become as a " great house," if they would be vessels unto honor sanctified and meet for the-Master's use and prepared for every good work, to purge themselves from the vessels unto dishonor, and follow the virtues and cherish the graces which become them, calling on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Peter, in his 2nd epistle, contemplates " the last days" also, and very unclean abominations among professors, and very daring infidel scorning of divine promises in the world. But he gives no hint that there will be restored order and strength in the church, or in corporate spiritual action as a whole; but enjoins the saints to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, and to be assured that the promise of His coming and majesty is no cunningly devised fable. He speaks to them of an entrance into the everlasting kingdom, but not of a return to a restored order of things in the church on earth.

Jude, also, in like manner, anticipates " the last time," and many terrible corruptions, such as "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness." But what then? He promises nothing in the way of restored beauty and consistency as in earlier days, but encourages the " beloved " to build themselves up on their most holy faith, to pray in the Holy Ghost and to keep themselves in God's love; but he is so far from encouraging any hope of recovered order and strength in the church on earth, that he tells them to be looking out for another object—" the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life."

John, in his way, gives us the judgment of the seven churches in Asia, in Rev. 2 and 3. It is a very solemn scene. There is some good and much evil found in the midst of them. The voices of the Spirit, heard there, have healthful admonitions for us, both in our individual and gathered condition. Rut there is no promise that the judgment will work correction and recovery. The churches are judged, and they are left under the judgment; and we know no more of them on earth; the next sight we get of the elect is in heaven. (See chap. 4.)

All this is serious and yet happy; and all this is strikingly verified by the great moral phenomena around us, under our eye, or within our hearing, at this moment. For we know that the great apostate things, the things of the world, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are in the advance, ripening to full bloom of vigor and of beauty, while we see the true thing broken, enfeebled, and wasted, in no wise promising to regain what once it had in days of corporate order and power.

But it is well. It is gracious in the Lord, thus to cast up before us, in His word, the high road along which we were destined to travel, and the sights we were appointed to see. And it is happy to know, that our translation does not wait for a regained condition of dispensational order and strength; for, according to present appearances, we might have to wait long enough ere that could be. But mark, further, on this same truth.

At times, when the Lord Jesus was about to deliver the poor captive of Satan, the enemy at the very moment would put forth some fresh energy of evil, and his captive apparently be in its most grievous estate.

This was another form of the same thing that we notice throughout God's word-that the apostate thing is in peculiar strength and magnificence just at the time when its doom or judgment is at the door, and that Christ's thing is in weakness and brokenness, just as the deliverance He brings with Him is at hand.

Joseph, Moses and David, are samples of this also. One was taken from a prison, to feed and rule a nation; another was drawn forth from an unnoticed distant solitude, where he had the care of flocks and herds, to deliver a nation; another was raised up and manifested from under the neglect and contempt of his own kindred, to sustain, by his own single hand, a whole people and kingdom. And what may really amaze us in the midst of such things is this—that some of these were in the place of degradation and loss, through their own sin, and the judgment of God.

Thus it was with both Moses and David. Joseph was a martyr, I grant, and went from the sorrows of righteousness to the greatness of the rewards of grace. So was David in the days of Saul, when David at last reached the kingdom. But David in later times was not a martyr, but a penitent. He had brought on himself all the loss and sorrow and degradation of the rebellion of Absalom-and the sin that produced it all had this heavier judgment of righteousness resting upon it, "the sword shall never depart from thine house." Nor did it. And thus he was under judgment; he was in the ruins which his own iniquity brought on him; he was the witness of God's visitation in holiness, when suddenly his house, in the person of Solomon, broke forth in full luster and strength. And so Moses before him. Moses was a martyr, I grant, in his earlier days, in Midian, and comes forth from the place where his faith had cast him, into the honor and joy of being Israel's deliverer. But, like David, in later days, Moses was under judgment, judgment of God for his unbelief and sin. He trespassed, as we know, at the water of Meribah, and so trespassed as at once to forfeit all title to enter the land of promise. And nothing to the end could ever change that divine purpose. In that sense, the sword never departed from Moses' house, as it did not from David's. He besought the Lord again and again, but it was in vain. He never entered the land-and thus he was judged, and still under the judgment, when grace abounds; for he is (in principle) translated, borne to the top of the hill, and not to the fields of Canaan; to the heights of Pisgah, and not to the plains of Jericho and Jordan.

These things were so. But it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world; for the poor, weak, and judged thing is drawn forth in the light and redemption of God, while the proud and the strong bow under Him.

So, I say, there is no New Testament promise, that the church shall recover her consistency and beauty, ere her translation comes. She passes from her ruins to her glory, while the world goes from its magnificence to its judgment-ruins, too, I add, which witness the judgment of God. The sword has never departed from the house.

May I not say, beloved, in the light of these truths, comfort yourselves as you look abroad, and see what it is that is strong now-a-days, and what it is that is weak. But let me add-let not the weakness of which I speak, the corporate or church weakness of the saints, he the least occasion for personal moral relaxation. This would be a sad and terrible use to make of the truths we are speaking of, and gathering from Scripture. We are, most surely, to be separate from evil as distinctly as ever, and to cherish all the thoughts and ways of holiness as carefully as ever.

But further.-We may find some hesitation in knowing exactly how to speak of Israel's history, whether it be that of a martyr or a penitent. It has something of each in it-more, however, I judge of the latter. But whether or not, their recoveries and redemptions illustrate the mystery which we have now before us, that the apostate thing goes to judgment in the hour of its chiefest strength and greatness, and the true thing rises from amid its infirmities and ruins to its glory and blessedness.

They were in a low condition in Egypt, as brick kilns and taskmasters tell us, and the exacted tale of bricks without the accustomed straw, just as the Lord was sending Moses and his rod for their deliverance. So again in Babylon. The enemy was insulting their bonds, making merry in infidel despite of the captivity of Jerusalem and her Temple, when, that very night, the deliverer of Israel entered Babylon. So again in Persia. The decree had fixed a day for their destruction, and that decree would not, could not be changed. Their Amalekite persecutor was in power, and all, as far as the eye could reach, was utter destruction-but Haman fell, and the Jews were delivered. And so will it be again with the same people (Deut. 32:36 and Isa. 59:16). ''At evening time it shall be light." The city will be taken; all the peoples of the earth will be round it in its day of siege and straitness; half of it will go into captivity; the houses shall be rifled, and all will he waste and degradation-but the Lord from heaven shall, in that instant, plead their cause. '' At evening time it shall be light." The shadow of death shall be turned into the morning (Isa. 29:1-8; Zech. 14). And again, Caesar Augustus was in strength and majesty. His proconsuls were in far distant provinces, his decree had gone to the ends of the earth, and the whole Roman world was set in beauty and order, just as Jesus was born (Luke 2) But the remnant were feeble. The family of David lived at Nazareth, and not in Jerusalem. The Hope of the nation lay in a manger at Bethlehem. A devout, solitary, expectant saint or two frequented the temple, and it was shepherds during their nightly watches who had glories revealed to them Israel had thus fallen, together with the house of David; and fallen, each of them, by their iniquity and the judgment of God. The sovereignty of the Romans could command the chief-of Israel's sons from Galilee to Judea, to be taxed and estimated like the rest of Roman property. But the Lord was at hand. The Child, who was to be for the, fall and the rise of things and people, was just born.

Let us be emboldened according to God, and judge not according to flesh and blood, but by the light of the Lord. And again, I say, as the apostle teaches, it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world. Judgment has begun at the house of God. He abaseth the proud and exalteth them that are cast down. The candlesticks are visited in the keen and searching. power of Him whose " eyes were as a flame of fire "-and as far as we know them here on earth, there they are left—but the place of judgment proves itself to be next door to the place of glory (Rev. 1-4)

It is all right and comforting to faith; strange to the reasoning and religion of nature. The church will go from her ruins up to glory-the world will pass from its proudest moment of greatness to the judgment. God taketh the beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes.

Would that the saints of God were apart from the purposes and expectations of the world. " Come out of her, my people."

“The feeble saint shall win the day,
Though hell and death obstruct his way."

The Lord will vindicate His own principles, and establish His own thoughts forever and ever, though the voices that witness them be feeble, and well nigh lost in the din of the world's exultation.

May the heart of the humbled, broken saint be comforted in Him!

The Morning Star

REVELATION. 2:28.

"I will give him the morning star." And who is it that sees the morning star? He who watches while it is night. All see the sun in its brightness: but those only who are not of the night, yet knowing that morally that it is night, and are looking for the morning star-those, those only, see the morning star, and get it as their portion. They are children, not of the night, but of the day, and therefore look they for the day. When the star rose that hailed Jesus, who was born King of the Jews, there were Annas and Simeons waiting for the consolation of Israel. And who were Anna's friends in that day of darkness? Simply those who were looking for redemption in Israel, and to them she spake of Him. In them was made good that word in Malachi, "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another." We see they knew each other, and they enjoyed the comfort in spirit by the truth of Jesus of what follows in the prophet: "To you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings." These were a poor despised few, who were but little known, and less cared for; but they were "waiting" for redemption in Israel, sensible of the ruin and of the evil, because alive to God's glory and to the privilege of being His people. In them, feeble as they were, we find a much brighter mark of faith than we do in Elijah when he was calling down fire from heaven. They were not setting the temple right, but were speaking together of God's thoughts. Elijah was setting outward things to rights, but had not faith for inside things. In God's unfailing grace to the remnant he had no just confidence.

Law was the measure of his apprehension; but the Annas and Simeons had the secret of God in their souls (" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant"), and were walking in the narrow and silent path of faith; not setting the temple right, but speaking to all that were waiting for consolation in Israel. But were they content with the state of things? No; but in separation from evil they waited for the consolation of Israel, which alone could set the evil right. And just so it is in our day,' the Christian cannot change Jezebel, nor can he be mixed up with the mere temple-worshippers, the so-called religious systems of the day. He walks, while leaving them to the judgment of the Lord, far from violent attacks upon them, in quiet separation from all the evil, patiently waiting and watching during the long dark night of sorrow for the Morning Star of the day of glory. "To him that overcometh... will I give the Morning Star," and this Morning Star is Christ Himself. And He is in this way known to those who, though in the night, yet are not of the night, being children of the day. The morning star is gone before the world sees the sun, before the sun rises, before the day appears. But before the sun rises, there is the Morningstar for those who are watching in the night. The world will see the sun; but the morning star is gone, so far as the world is concerned, before the sun rises. So we shall be gone to be with the Morning Star before the day of Christ appears to the world; and when Christ shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.

There are three passages which refer to this morning star, to which it is important to refer you. In 2 Peter 1. he says: "We have also a more sure'' (that is, "confirmed ") "word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts." Israel's prophets had prophesied the full day of blessing on the earth, saying, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come." "A king shall reign in righteousness." And their testimony was confirmed to the disciples by the vision on the holy mount. They prophesied too, of events coming on the world which marked out its judgment in all its forms of rebellious wilt and power, of Nineveh and Babylon, and the beasts which should arise upon the earth-of Jerusalem and its portion as departed from God; and judgment was thus pointed out, so that there was a warning light which, in the midst of the darkness of this world itself, gave a light which recalled him that gave heed to it to avoid the crime of human will which led on to divine judgment. And this they did well to take heed to, until the daystar arose in their hearts, because it was the light in a dark place. But the daystar itself was something yet more excellent.

The prophecies, indeed, are plain; their warning clear. They guard me from being mixed up with the spirit of the world, whose judgment is announced. In Revelation, I read of unclean spirits like frogs going forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. If! do' not even exactly understand who and what the frogs mean, still the grand import of the prophecy is evident; they are not the power of good; they lead the kings of the earth to the battle of the' great day of God Almighty. It is thus a light shining in a dark place, the night of this world's. history in the absence of Christ. But the morning star is Christ Himself, as we see in Rev. 22 He is the bright and Morning Star. He will be the Sun of righteousness to the world when he appears; but then there will be judgment. The wicked shall be as ashes under the soles of the feet, as stubble, and the day of the Lord as fire. But the star appears to them that watch before the sun appears to the world; for as I can understand by the prophetical warning, that this dark place is going to be judged; that "the night is far spent, and the day is at hand;" yet so it is night now, whatever people may think. And I want the. Morning Star in my heart (the hope of Christ coming, before the day, to receive the church to Himself; for the Morning Star is given to them that overcome) to cheer my soul through the long and dreary night, which is yet darker now than it was then, but still far spent, as the darkness of the night always thickens till again the dawn of another day rise beyond on the other side of heaven, and the morning star appear to fix the eye of the watchful and waiting soul, and cheer the heart with a sure and certain hope. And what, then, do we want of the things of this dark place, which is now under judgment for having nailed God's Son on the cross? Do not you, therefore, be seeking the riches, the honors, the power of this world on which Christ is coming to execute judgment. One ray of the glory of Christ will at once wither up all the glory of this defiled world like an autumn leaf. Do not you, therefore, go on mixing yourself up with the world, heaping up riches. What will you do with them when Christ comes? Remember the Lord is at hand. But do I keep separate from this world merely because it is going to be judged?

Certainly not. My whole portion for time and eternity is in Christ; the day-star has arisen in my heart. I am separated from the world by affection, and not by fear.

We have the coming of Christ as the morning star, as a distinct thing from the sunrise; for when the sun rises upon the world, it will he judgment. (See Isa. 2; Mal. 4:1-3.) But beside and before all this we have our portion in Christ; we are not of this world, we are redeemed out of it, and belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall join Him on high before He is manifested for the judgment of this world; and, therefore, the thunders of judgment cannot touch us, because we are seated with Him in heaven, from whence the judgments come. In Rev. 4, we have a most blessed and comforting picture of the position of the church. There are the twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones, round about the throne from whence the thunders, the lightnings, and the voices come; and they continue perfectly unmoved. But was this insensibility? Certainly not; for when God Himself in. His holy character is mentioned, immediately they fall down and cast their crowns before Him. Neither is this holiness the cause of any fear, when the living creatures proclaim the threefold holiness of Him who sits upon the throne; it is their worship breaks forth, and they fall down and cast their crowns before Him in the full sense of the blessedness of Him who sits upon the throne. Christ, then, is this Morning Star; and if the day has dawned, and the daystar has arisen in our hearts, we know our association with Christ Himself, as within that place from which the judgment proceeds.

At the end of the Revelation we have the place of the star again (22:16). The Lord brings us back from the prophetic testimony to Himself" I Jesus have sent Mine angel "—" I am the Root and the Offspring of David" (this is in connection with His being Source of promise, and Heir of it, as king in Zion, 'Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies'), "and the bright and Morning Star." But the moment He presents Himself as the bright and Morning Star "the Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come;' the Holy Ghost in the Church says, 'Come.'" This response is what is connected with Himself; the mention of Himself attracts and awakens the answer of the Spirit. This is the character in which the, church herself has to say to His coming. God, in the love of His own heart, has associated the church with Jesus, and the very mention of His name awakens the cry, "Come.! " for it touches a chord which gives an immediate response; and therefore He does not say here, " Behold I come quickly! " The question here is not when He will come, but that it is Himself that is coming. He does not speak of His coming-blessed though that thought. is-but He reveals Himself.; and this it is that awakens the response of the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. We are for Himself, and shall be with Himself. It cannot be anything short of this, for He calls us " His body." What a glorious place this is! Not merely wonderful, but glorious identification with the Christ of God! No explanation of prophetic Scripture, however nice and true it may be, however useful as a solemn warning as regards this world, can ever take the place in the soul that is taught of God, of knowing its living union with a coming Jesus, of the present waiting for Himself. No mere explanation of His coming as a doctrine is the proper hope of the saint. That hope is not prophecy; it is the real, and blessed, and sanctifying expectancy of a soul that knows Jesus, and waits to see and be with Himself.

The bride hears the voice of the Bridegroom, which at once calls out the expression of her desire of His coming. To this He responds, assuring her of it, and then the revelation closes, leaving this as her own expectation, whatever He may have previously communicated to her concerning the judgment, to which she does not belong. The Lord Jesus is represented as departing Himself, and coming and taking His bride to be with Him. Then, when the world is saying, "Peace and safety," sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.

Paul closes (1 Thess. 4) with these words, "So shall we ever be with the Lord." And is that all? Yes, that is all; for to the heart that has learned to love Him He can say no more. Then he adds, "

Of the times and seasons ye have no need that I write unto you." Ye are the children of the day, you wait for that. No explanation of this as a doctrine can ever reach the heart. You cannot make a person understand a relationship; to understand it he must himself be in it. An unquickened soul may understand, in a manner, what prophecy means; but nothing short of the sense and taste of being connected with Christ Himself can give the desire of His own personal coming. And why? Because for this the relationship must be known. In Rev. 22:16,17, the relationship is known, affection is awakened, and there is the immediate response. Take a case: A woman is expecting her husband; he knocks at the door; not a word is uttered out of his mouth, but his wife knows already who is at the door; for it is he whom she loves that is there; and thus the natural feelings proper for a wife are awakened, when the chord is touched by that which acts on them. But then the link must be in the heart, the affection must be there to produce the response; the chord which vibrates with this blessed truth must be there to, be awakened by it. There is such a consciousness of union with Jesus, through the power of God's Spirit, that the very moment

He is spoken of in this character the chord is touched, and the instinctive cry is, "Come! " No amount of intelligence merely will produce this. And what a difference between expecting the Lord Jesus, because He has made me and His saints a part of Himself and His bride, and looking for His coming to judge poor sinners. Now mark the practical effect of this looking for Jesus. It takes. the heart clean out of the world up to heaven. If my heart is right in its affections for Him, I am looking too straight up on high to take notice of the things around me. Plenty of things there are around in the world, plenty of bustle and turmoil; but it does not disturb the blessed calm of my soul, because nothing can alter our indissoluble relationship with a coming Jesus, as nothing should divide us in hope.

To see this coming of the Lord Jesus for the church changes the character of a thousand Scriptures.

Take the Psalms, for instance, those which speak about judgment on the ungodly, such as "the righteous washing their feet in the blood of the wicked." We are not the persons who say this; it is the language of Jews, and of godly Jews too, who will be delivered through the rod of power smiting their enemies when all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. But do I want my enemies destroyed to get to Christ? Certainly not. I shall leave them to be with Him. (It is a sorrowful thought, indeed, though we recognize the just judgment of God, that such judgment will be accomplished upon those who despise Him and His grace.) But as for me, I am going straight up to Christ in heaven. My place is in Him while He is hid in God in the nearest and most intimate union. I belong to the bride, a member of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. When we have hold of this blessed center, Christ, and with Him, therefore, of God Himself, then every Scripture falls into its proper place, and we get a spiritual understanding by the Holy Ghost of things in heaven, and our connection with them, and things on earth and our separateness from them; and above all, our hearts get into their proper place; for, being set on Jesus Himself, we are waiting for Him. When He shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory; but we shall be forever with the Lord.

May the Lord give us such an apprehension of redemption, and of our position in Him, as may so fix our hearts on Himself, that we may be daily walking down here like unto men that wait for their Lord, who has promised to come and take us to Himself, watching in the midst of a night of darkness, aware that it is the night, although we are not of the night; but watching and waiting for the day, having the Morning Star arisen in our hearts. May the Lord keep us from idols; and, above all, from aught that savors of Jezebel, that we may be in dread for fear of grieving Him in any of those things which have come, in to spoil and corrupt that which He planted so beautiful, to be for the manifestation of His glory in this dark and evil world.

Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith

All the path the saints are treading,

Trodden by the Son of God:
All the sorrows they are feeling,

Felt by Him upon the road:
All the darkness and the sorrow,

All that here could test the heart;

All the joy and all the triumph,

He passed through, yet sin apart,

Now come forth in resurrection,

Passing onward to the. throne;

Having suffered all the judgment,

Borne the storm of wrath alone:

He is able thus to succor

Those who tread the desert sand,

Pressing on to resurrection,

Where He sits at God's right hand.

Now He praises, in th' assembly

Now the sorrow all is passed;

His, the earnest of our portion,

We must reach the goal at last;

Yes, He praises! grace recounting

All the path already trod,—

We associated with Him—

God, our Father and our God.

Join the singing that He leadeth,

Loud to God our voices raise;

Every step that we have trodden,

Is a triumph of His grace:

Whether joy, or whether trial,

All can only work for good,

For He healeth all-who loves us,

And hath bought us with His blood.

It is finished! It is finished!

Who can tell redemption's worth!
He who knows it leads the singing—

Full the joy, as fierce the wrath.

Taken up in resurrection,

Desert ways rehearsed above,

Tell the power of God's salvation,

And His never-failing love.

Some Considerations as to Our Part With Christ Now, and in Glory

There is not a believer who will. not rejoice in having his part with Christ when He appears in His glory; but in order to rejoice in our part with Him now, involving as it does suffering and loss as the world estimates such, we need to know God's riches in Him. Only thus can we gladly refuse the temptations of Satan in the world, which appeal to our lusts by the promise of satisfaction and gain; and whose power we only escape by giving ear to the many and precious promises of God, which tell of His coming glory. The way of peace and joy to the believer, then, is simple. We know God's treasures in His son; and there is not a believer who would not own that if they were fully known by him, the world with all its wealth, glory and pleasure would have no attraction at all. Well, the day is quickly coming when the brightness of the glory of God will fill every saved soul with worship and praise, while the heart will be kept by knowing that He, of whose worthiness every ray will speak, is Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is what we wait for-it is a hope, and we do not yet see anything of this glory; what we see is a world filled with every attraction that six thousand years have developed, in answer to the demands of the lusts of the flesh but, thank God, this is not all that we now have with us in the world: we have the precious word of God, which comes to us as His own voice, to declare The excellence of His Son, for we need a divine record as well as a divine estimate of His glory. We listen and are delighted, for we hear what was never from our hearts, but is from Himself. And the weapon of the Spirit is the word of God, even as His ministry is according to it. God, since the gift of His Son to man and his ignorance of Him has been fully manifested, has always sought "listeners" rather than " doers": " he that bath an ear" is the one who is blessed.

Thus and thus only does the joy of the truly rich man desire to testify to his wealth, by refusing all fellowship with the principles of lawlessness towards God and of association with man, which govern the world, straining every nerve to appear rich without God.

Let us consider but for a moment the blessed free result to us of the grace that led to the Lord's suffering when He took upon Himself the terrible consequences of what we had done, and our hearts must be stirred within, us at the greatness, richness and fullness of all that God has wrought for us and in all that He has laid up for us in Heaven, where Christ is.

We are no longer poor, but rich, for God's own treasure-house has been opened to show what He had for the wretched and undone sinner. In Christ every need has been met and God's own glory revealed. We may judge of the poverty of the world when we see that all its riches together cannot supply the soul's need of even one man; while every man in it shows himself in a state of beggary by his appeal to the world for satisfaction. Such is the world around us; and what, we may ask, is the state of the Christian who is in it? Ah! he knows the grace of the Lord Jesus-that though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. Let him consider the past, and he knows that his history of sins and misdeeds have forever been blotted out at God's own cost; or the present, and he can declare that Jesus Himself sits at God's right hand in glory, whom God has made unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption; and as to his future, it is fraught only with the brightest hope, in striking contrast to the dark and awful doom that surely awaits every unbeliever. Yet, it is in this hollow and worthless world, that God's riches have been displayed in His Son, that His love which gave His Son has found expression, and that His own glory and fullness have had their completes triumph. Let the world boast of itself until its end-everlasting shame; but let the Christian boast in his God and Savior Jesus Christ and wait for His appearing.

Thus, the riches of God in Christ have become the portion of every believer, but never can he forget that the cost was the poverty of the lord Jesus. He was rich (words which cannot be said of the world or of any creature in itself), yet He suffered Himself to be stripped of every right that was His due, or glory that He could claim as His title, and at last for our sake He laid down even His life as a ransom for us and was numbered with the dead. But His joy was to make known the riches of God in a world which knew nothing of them, and, having redeemed us by His blood, to bring us, too, to share His joy.

Our hearts are kept rejoicing as we ponder what God has made Him to us, and as we go on to learn the wealth that is ours through Him, and are kept steady and close to the Lord Jesus, remembering we owe it all to His poverty.

Thus the apostle could say, " My God steal abundantly supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus;" and again, as to the purpose of our salvation, that "He might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus."

Would that all we who are Christians, being rich, refused to live as poor men, allowing the selfish motives which alone actuate the world to govern us also. Are we not, if so doing, denying before the world the riches of Christ? For the Scripture says: " 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 principle which prompts the forming of every company and organization in the world is lust or desire. Man desires because he has not, and strenuously seeks to become the possessor of riches; and hence the rapid and marvelous development of civilization. At the root of all lies the wretched poverty of man, and so he is ever desiring greater things for himself. But God loves, and thus gave His only begotten Son to a thankless world. For love seeks not its own, but only the perfect good of its happy objects upon which it expends itself. This love is our present portion, and the full fruit of it will be seen when we are with Jesus in His glory.

And we, as beloved children, are called to walk in love and be imitators of God, so that we should be known as rich in Christ, not poor like the world, as giving (blessed privilege) rather than seeking to acquire; for “the love of money is the root of all evil."

Of course, it is no sin to be rich, but it is sin to seek to be, and it will bring upon such many temptations and snares. 1 Tim. 6:6-21, is a solemn but precious word to guide us as to this. Those to whom God has given riches can use them so as to lay up for themselves joy at the coming of the Lord. But by joining in the schemes of this world to become rich; or, what is worse, originating such and seeking its help and co-operation, we not only appear to the world to be in the same condition of poverty, dissatisfaction and self-interest as it itself is in, but also express fellowship with the world rather than with Christ.

For not only has God made us rich in Christ, He has also blessed us with Him.

The Lord Jesus has given us to know the desire of His own heart. He prayed that we might be where He is, and God has called us into the fellowship of His Son. Jesus ever had a title to glory: to reign over the earth was His due, but neither glory nor wealth nor power could satisfy His love—He must Himself become our title to the same place and position as He had. So in order that we might reign with Him, He accepts the crown of thorns as His diadem and the cross as His place of exaltation. When here in this world He was alone in His glory; and that glory, from the manger to the cross, which shone in all its varied and divine perfections, was the glory of His Person, the Only-begotten of the Father. In this glory He is alone and ever will be, and the manifestation of it fills our souls with worship before Him.

He could, moreover, at any time have received the kingdom and reigned, but He would have been alone also in that glory, and man, as His enemy, would have perished. Of the world there was not one who desired to be with Him, and the disciples whom He chose from it showed themselves unable to be. Man thus, by his will or his weakness, left Him; so He took that place where He would alone, by Himself, establish, for eternity, God's glory in the face of the full power of evil, and solve forever the issue between good and evil brought into the world by the entrance of sin. Then not only must He be lifted up from the earth, but drink the awful cup of God's anger against sin, and, in the hour of need and agony, be denied that joy and strength of communion with God which had been His portion while 'walking in the world. His suffering, if man is to be saved by God's grace and power, must not only be infinitely precious (that they ever were), but of atoning value, the answer to God's rod when dealing with Him, in our place as sin and about the question of our sins. On the cross Jesus is seen in all the moral glory and essential power of His Blessed Person. He sustains all the glory of God alone, unaided, in the darkness of God's face hidden from Him because of sin, and when the power of evil had reached its climax for this final issue. Nowhere can the glory of Jesus appear vaster or grander than at the cross; and it is this which gives it forever a special place in the remembrance of every believer. The glory of God in which He will appear before the world does but declare the glory God received from Him on the cross, where His name was revealed and upheld, by His Son when, as our substitute, God's judgment of sin was upon Him. For it was on the cross that God's character of perfect light and love was revealed to and for the sinner, yea, even for His very enemies; His righteousness sustained and manifested so that the simplest believer, though the recipient of undeserved grace, becomes the righteousness of God in Him; His power shown—not only to gain complete and eternal triumph over sin, but—to accomplish, in. spite of all, that work whereby God could bless (the joy of His heart) in the place where sin had prevailed over all; and His glory, as the living and true God, to whom alone belongs goodness with power manifested where the power of evil was unrestrained.

The glory found at the cross is that in which He is alone, and hence, as I have said, is peculiarly precious to every saint; hut the glory to be seen when He appears, He shares with us. And thus is His love satisfied, which desired for its object no less than blessing with Himself.

Yet it must be: Thy love had not its rest, Were Thy redeem'd not with Thee fully blest; That love that gives not as the world, but shares All it possesses with its loved coheirs! "

And at that time at least will every saint know, that fellowship with Him is the fruit of sovereign grace and is unalloyed blessing, though purchased at the cost of His deep sufferings of unmingled woe. But we have not to wait till then to be in fellowship with Him. Every saint of God is as truly united to Christ now as he ever will be, though the character and sphere in which this blessed union finds expression differ. Then shall we be seen with Him in His power and glory; but now we testify, in patience and suffering, that our portion is not with the world, but with Him.

The world seeks its glory now, and is now eager in its pursuit after wealth. The worldling's possessions are only in and of this world, whose end is to be burnt up with all its works, while he cannot, dare not, look into the future, for he knows he has nothing for that. He is without hope, without Christ, and without God in the world.

But the saint of God can wait and endure, for he knows that the glory of God is to be revealed and God's riches in Christ will be displayed; and he rejoices (or rather, as it should be, boasts)-not like the world, in an ephemeral gain, but-in the hope of the glory of God; and thus he can also boast in tribulations, having the privilege now of refusing the glory and wealth of the world, whose pride God will soon bring down, and display it in its true state of poverty and nakedness (see Isa. 24) because of being without God. This is a privilege of the Christian which belongs only to this day of faith; for there will be no desire with any saint to be associated with it in the day of its ruin: his joy and triumph will be that he is associated with Christ. Temptation will not then be known, but now the saint is beset by the wiles of Satan, who ever seeks to dishonor the precious name of Christ (with which he is called) through him. May the Lord stir up our hearts to remember His love, which desired to have us associated with Himself, so that by our words and walk our delight may be to own our lot is now with Him, and not to link ourselves in any way whatever with the world, as. if we had a common portion with unbelievers. (2 Cor. 6).

This brings me to my last consideration as to fellowship with the world in any of its various associations. The object of man's unions is to derive strength to carry out his will independently of-God; and in the present day, seeing that we are—in a world where a project to its advantage is no sooner mooted than a society is formed to carry-it out, we may almost ask whether it is possible to walk in this world in separation from evil. Certainly not, if left to ourselves or our resources even an instant; the world will love its own, its schemes are for its own, and its own can live-happily by them for the passing day. The worldling finds no difficulty in living in the world; but divine intervention alone can maintain the Christian in the path for God in this world, otherwise he would be devoured instantly, as a sheep-. amongst wolves. Yet God does keep His people, as long as He wills, against all His enemies: they are kept by the power of God through faith. If we-saw clearly the power of evil in the world, and the strengthlessness of the saint against it, would not our faith know more simple confidence in God, and find Him open a path for us through the trackless waste, in which relentless enemies oppose and subtle snares abound?

The history of man is simple and consistent. He refused God's will at the beginning, in order to try whether he could not find greater happiness and glory for himself in some other way; and thus, becoming alienated from God, he comes face to face with all the various needs which belong to a creature, together with those deeper and more extensive ones of a sinner; but instead of owning his inability to escape the ruin he has brought up-an himself, and giving God His place as God-One whose resources of grace are infinite,- he sets about to mend his own case as best he can. But here, again, individually, he preceives his own insufficiency and weakness, and therefore seeks the co-operation of his fellowman, in order the more successfully, as he thinks, to do without God and ignore His will.

" Sin is lawlessness," or independence, Scripture says (1 John 3:4, see Rev. Vers. and New Trans.), and every organization in the world is formed for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, or of supplying some want of which it has been made conscious.

The co-operation of man takes the place which God should have in the confidence of His heart. His trust is in man and not in God. It is hardly necessary to remark here that business carried on in the world in responsibility to the Lord is not the same thing as fellowship with the world in its schemes for the acquisition of wealth, without the least regard to the dues of Christ. Moreover, relationships existing because of God's order in creation are all honored by the word of God. All authority is of God, as well as every tie of nature as ordered by Him: the king and subject, the ruler and people, the father and child, the master and servant are all enumerated amongst those recognized by God. The Lord over all is God, and each is responsible to Him in his place as that which has been assigned 'to him by God. The one in authority may be unfaithful and abuse the power and position given to him to be a terror to evil doers, but man has no right to seek to correct him. The matter of injustice must be left in the 3-lands of God and is a test to faith (1 Peter 2:19-25). God has given such their position and will call each to give an account of himself to Him, and the Christian is assured that nothing passes unnoticed by Him, and while waiting for the day in which God's righteous judgment will be made manifest, is not troubled, for he knows that the flawlessness of man cannot proceed further than 'God permits; but to " despise dominion and speak evil of dignities " is the sign of a rapidly approaching apostate state, as being "without natural affection " is a sign of the last days. The effort of man to gain his fellow-man's strength, in order to carry out his will, has always called down God's final judgment, from the time of Babel, and will continue to do so till the last moment of the world's existence, when the nations as the sand of the sea shall be gathered by Satan to fight against the beloved city (Rev. 20:7-10).

Moreover, the many unions in this world not only declare the attempts of man to meet his own needs without reference to God, but also his total ignorance of Him. The Lord said to the reasoners of His day, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." And vainly may we look throughout this world for that confidence in God which can leave matters of vital importance to us quietly in His hands and await his action. Profession, pious phrases, religious expressions, and the like, there may be in abundance; but faith, which, when all is at stake, can wait upon God, there is not. Man, like Saul, unable to await the coming of God's prophet, will quickly betray that his confidence is in man,, and turn back to resources that are apparently at hand. The reason is simple-the aid of man is a tangible object to him; but God is unknown, and, therefore, cannot be trusted.

Let us turn for a little from the scene of dark dishonor to God's name which this world presents by its ignorance and independence of Him, and consider Jesus, the object of His delight.

He was the author and finisher of faith. In Him we see the path of faith initiated, as it was also completed; while from the word we know that Jesus sits crowned with glory and honor in the heavens, and we see in Him the sure and blessed result of trust in God and not man; for faith is the "substantiating of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen," and hence does not, seek one or the other. Man is ever looking about for some argument upon which he may build his, hopes and satisfy the many questions which must arise as to the unseen. Faith has no need of such, for the word of God, which is believed, gives the assurance. The believer, as the word signifies, is one who believes God and the testimony He gives, while the unbeliever on the contrary will not. The assurance the believer has is gained from the certainty that what God says is true; but that of the unbeliever, from his own estimate and judgment of what he sees, and from which he makes deductions as to what he cannot see. He may be sure enough in his deductions; but what if the phenomena change? Assurance is from the word of God. Faith, it is evident, does not exist in man credulity does, with which we must not confound it. With faith is connected the desire for foundation (hupostasis) as to the things hoped for, and also conviction (elegchos) of the truth. With credulity, which blindly accepts whatever tradition may teach, there is neither. But when there is faith, both are possessed, and therefore, as I have said, are not sought after.

The coming of the Son of God into the world brought the perfect test as to what was in man, and proved that not only was there no good thing for God, but also no faith in Him. His words bring the test, when Jesus says (Mark 11:22) “Have faith in God (pistin Theou). Verily I say-to you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that what he says takes place, whatever he shall say shall come to pass for him." God requires faith before-He can bless, because faith gives to Him His due; for how can God bless when He Himself is dishonored, by His divine attribute of grace and power being the object of doubt? Thus the Lord Jesus lays down the conditions on which God will act. But they are fulfilled only in Himself. The more man tries not to doubt, the stronger his doubts become, until he is dragged by them into distraction and darkness that completely overpower him. Faith is not in man, and his inability to give God His true place becomes the plainest evidence of his total ruin. For could any doubt God who know Him? No difficulty is found in trusting one whose grace and power are well known; and this gives the special character to the path of faith in God in which the Lord Jesus walked. He knew God, and came to reveal Him; but, precious grace, took the place of a servant to do so. He trusted God at all times to supply what was needed as He passed through the scene of His creation, though with Him there was no need of an object to produce and uphold His faith, as there is with us. With Him the words of prophecy are fulfilled: " Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast: I was cast upon Thee from the womb: Thou art my-God, from my mother's belly." With us it is the-gift of God, because we have it not by nature; and it is produced by the word of God (Eph. 2:8 Rom. 10:17). But the Son of God having become the Dependent One, and turning to God with the prayer, " Preserve me, O God," the word becomes His delight, accepting it as that which was sufficient to guide man in the path that God would', have him walk in. Well may we ponder in our soul the import of those words in Phil. 2, " He emptied Himself." He who personally was without need takes the place where he is dependent upon God for all, and receives all from His hand,, and in that path never once uses aught that was. His or that He could at any time have rightfully claimed to supply the needs which He found in His path, but His delight was that He learned God to be sufficient for Him in this world. It was this that made His faith and dependence upon God of infinite worth; He in it was the Object of heaven's wonder and of God's delight, while through it He has Himself become the Object which sustains us in our path. But not only do we see His confidence in God exercised in life, it was also in death. Not only did He know and prove in the face of this unbelieving and self-trusting world that we need God, and nothing else, to make our path blessed, but He also showed that God's power and resources sufficed for the one who trusted Him in the place where the consequences of alienation from God render a testimony to man's strengthlessness and resourcelessness in himself.

In the world we see an existing state of things in which man is apparently self-sufficient, or nearly so it is only through the utilization of what exists, but the result is that the world takes its course without God. In death there is a testimony to the consequences of it that man cannot alter, and so he vainly seeks to hide them under a marble tomb. And as man has never once believed God's power to act for him in his lifetime, so does he go into death without a hope of God 'ever keeping his body from seeing corruption. Again we turn to the Lord Jesus, and just listen to the simple, clear, and repeated testimony of the disciples that His flesh never saw corruption, and they were witnesses of it (Acts, 2:30-33; 4:33; 13: 35-37); and then turn to the precious prophetic words of David, which speak of this intervention of God's power in a manner contrary to every law that was ever known in creation, now de-fled by sin, as an answer to faith in God. Thus we cannot find a revelation of God in the laws of nature, neither can we see an adequate display of His government and justice in the course of the world. A full revelation of God has been brought to' us in the person of His Son, accredited by divine power, even in the place of death. The very words of Scripture express to us clearer than scan anything else the confidence of the Lord

Jesus in God and God's righteous answer to His faith:

I have set Jehovah always before me,

Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth;

My flesh also §hall rest in hope.

For THOU wilt not leave my soul in Hades,

Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Thou wilt show me the path of life,

In Thy presence is fullness of joy,

At Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

(Psa. 16)

The blessed testimony of the twelve deciples, who had been in the company of Jesus " from the baptism of John until the day in which He was taken up from them," and who had, moreover, been told that He was in like manner coming again, was completed by that of the apostle Paul, who found a MAN in glory now—the Man Christ Jesus, —he, too, receiving a special revelation that He was coming to take up His people to be forever with Himself (1 Thes, 4.), when death will be swallowed up in victory, and the triumph of God over sin and its consequences—death and corruption, —which are now brought to light through the Gospel, will then be manifest in glory.

In this boastful and arrogant age may each saint of God find a joy in owning, in his words and ways, that his faith is in God, who alone is his strength, even though the persistent and rapid development of the attempts of man at independence may render his path increasingly difficult—though this will but lead him to know that it is God Himself who maintains his lot in the world, and keeps him from the evil which fills it, and that the Lord Jesus, at the right hand of God, is an Object sufficient to sustain his faith in any circumstances. For it has only been through Him who gave Himself a ransom for us, who has been manifested at the end of the times, that we now believe in God, who has raised Him from among the dead and given Him glory, that our faith and hope should be in God.

N. B.—In the above there has been reference mainly to fellowship with the unions and companies in the world; but the references are also applicable, in most respects, to membership of a Church or any religious society or league; though by the latter the truths that "there is one body' on earth, and that the Holy Ghost personally is in the Church, are practically denied.

Fragments

"The more CHRIST is objectively our portion and occupation, the more shall we resemble Him subjectively."

"The eye on CHRIST always affords evidence of our position, and is the only true means of deliverance from every false way."

" Trying to right circumstances is waste of time. Christ did not seek it, Let faith be in exercise in the circumstances, and that will right yourself."

"To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice"

WHAT wouldst thou do? His praises sing,

To Him in gladsome worship bring

Earth's purest lays-earth's sweetest songs

To Whom all harmony belongs.

What wouldst thou do? Go, speak His name,

His wondrous love and grace proclaim;

Till hundreds, thousands, prostrate fall,

And own Him Savior, Lord of all.

What wouldst thou do? Go, work for Him

In fevered haunt, or alley dim;

Succor the poor, support the faint,

And cheer each sick and suffering saint.

What wouldst thou do? Go forth and fight,

Strong in His strength, His power my might;

Victorious then, my trophies lay

Down at His feet at close of day.

What wouldst thou do? Die for His sake.

Who died for me; Oh! let Him take

My life, my all, and let me be,

My Savior, always, all for Thee.

============================= =============================

He asks not these. He saith, " Obey
My voice and sit at home to-day;
I have a task for thee to learn,
If thou a meed of praise wouldst earn."

=============================

" Stay here, sit still, do naught for Thee,
My heart, that hounded forth so free,
Is now like some poor caged bird,
Since I Thy grave command have heard."

Obedience is a harder thing

Than anthems on the air to fling,

Than eloquence more arduous far,

Harder than labor or than war.

Thou canst not do one deed aright,

Not one act pleasing in His sight,

Except thou have His sure command,

Take all thy orders from His hand,

If He says, " Fight My battles here,"

Thou mayest go forth without a fear;

If lie bid sing, or speak, or do,

No matter what, He'll bring thee through.

But wouldst thou run, untaught, unsent,

Thy life itself were vainly spent;

Rather thy soul with patience nerve,

Until He saith, " Arise and serve."

Better than sacrifice is this,

Herein and here alone is bliss,

To catch His smile, to hear Him say,

"Thou hast fulfilled My will to-day."

To Be Doing and Not to Be Doing

Whatsoever is not of faith is sin."-Rom. 14:23.

All the teachers who merit the name of Christians, are agreed upon the point that there is nothing of greater practical worth than Christian diligence in those who are redeemed.

The shades of difference found among them chiefly consist in the manner of stimulating the children of God thereto, and in the nature and motive power of the action in question.

We know that there are in the redeemed, here below, two principles of action which are opposed one to the other; that of the flesh and that of the spirit of adoption. The flesh never willingly keeps quiet, even if the body itself is at rest. And yet there is such a thing as rest according to the Spirit. It is never without danger that the Christian follows the thoughts of the flesh, either in getting into action or in keeping still; but the danger is infinitely enhanced when be does either the one or the other, induced thereto by thoughts which have the sanction of religion. It is always well for the energy of the Spirit of God to subject the flesh, and to oblige it to keep still. Then only is it that faith acts in love and according to the will of God, that is, according to Scripture.

The heart of the wise discerns the times, and knows what is right. The spirit of adoption seeks the will of God in retirement, by prayer and in the study of the word. He is sure to find and to recognize what the will of God is, who has the sincere desire to do it, and desires nothing but it. But in seeking that will, we often find that faith and spirituality are more largely taxed by the study to be quiet, than by having somewhat to do.

For them that are spiritual, there is a time to be doing and a time of cessation from doing-of rest and hope. But the flesh cannot bear the latter, for it has neither the will nor the ability to subject itself to the will of God. There is a time to act and a time to think-" a time to castaway stones, and a time to gather stones together" (Eccl. 3:5). The Holy Spirit leads us as well to rest, to prayer, and to meditation, as to action. The Christian is a stranger and pilgrim, who, passing through the world, stays not, save at the resting-places which the Lord has prepared for him. And herein he only accomplishes the will of the good Shepherd who conducts him and guides, nourishes, refreshes, and tenderly cares for him. " I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psa. 4:8).

The only real happiness of the children of God consists in doing the will of the Father. If, at least, the heart is under the control of the spirit of adoption, Jesus incessantly provides them with occasions, means and strength to do that will, even as by the Spirit. He inspires them with the desire to do it. But if the Christian is deficient in intelligence, he will hourly run the risk, whether he is in action or at rest, of only following his own notions. That which we, above all things, need is a filial and spiritual apprehension of grace.

If it is said to me, " We must do, do, do," no principle of action connected with faith or love in me is awakened. It is but a law which stimulates the flesh, and thus encourages me to sow to the flesh. The reaping will, naturally, be of corruption.

But if, contrariwise, the love of God and my Father, or the grace and privileges of my heavenly calling in Christ Jesus be recalled to my soul—liberty is given to me to desire, to think, to love, auto act according to God, or if it be so, to be still according to God. It is the love of God toward us which is the sole spring of faith and the circumstance which gives to faith its activity. Touch this spring, originate a movement there, if you desire to awaken in the Lord's people divine or truly spiritual action. It is thus that we find exhortation set forth in the word by the Lord, and we have but to follow it, if we desire to be indeed His disciples. All the exhortations of the New Testament flow from the love of God, who has loved us and given us redemption, adoption and glory. How could we live, progress, and run toward the goal of our heavenly calling, if we were not nourished, abundantly and incessantly, with the grace of God, in Jesus Christ which is to us-ward.

The Lord Jesus Himself has said, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed " (John 6:27). Here the chief point in question is His flesh, given for the life of the world. That is, faith in the love of God is the sole true source, the only point to set out from, and alone the circle in which Christian activity unfolds itself. The work of faith, and labor of love consist, at bottom, in believing in the Son and in abiding in Him. In believing, I work for the nourishment which is unto eternal life. Whether I eat or whether I drink, whether I -am in active service, or whether I am in repine -from the moment that I am in communion with the. Author and Finisher of faith, I labor for the nourishment which is unto eternal life. Without Him we can do nothing, however laudable, in appearance, our activity may be. It is the Spirit which quickens; the flesh profits nothing. Moreover, constant mention is made of the fruit of the Spirit, and of the reaping of the Spirit, because, by our union with the Lord Jesus, " we have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life " (Rom. 6).

Now I will suppose that the father of a Christian family, thinking to act according to the Lord, devotes himself to the teaching of his children the best means of gaining gold and silver, or that he instructs them in the works of art, of the sciences, and of the fantasies of man's imagination. Such a father may, perhaps, do much, and acts through a lengthened period, with intentions most praiseworthy according to the world. But what fruit will be thence gathered, by himself and his children, in this life or in the life to come? We have no need to make the essay. Solomon, the wisest and the most successful of men, made the trial, and, after possessing all that a heart in nature could desire, he tells us:

" And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of all my labor. Then 1 looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun " (Eccl. 2:10,11). What a sad admission for an old man, who yet knew the Lord. The words of the Preacher, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hash a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation pass eth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth a out unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers con, thither they return again. All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there he any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. I the Preacher was King over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot he made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with mine own heart, saying, ` Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem:' yea, my heart had great ex perience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit." (Eccl. 1:1-17.)

Let us reckon carefully. Put aside from among all the fruits of our activity here below such as are really fruits of the Spirit, that is to say, those only which will abide unto eternal life and which will be reckoned to us before the judgment-seat of Christ. How many a loss shall we not then sustain? Our best intentions, our strongest resolves, our most boasted enterprises, our greatest efforts to attain these will be all mowed down as stubble. If these fruits grew not in the garden of faith, they will not endure the trial by fire; it will consume them. Yet, shalt we see in that day, some souls who were, perchance, simple and of no repute here below, crowned there on high, with the abiding fruits of the Spirit. Many a thousand fine sermons will be burnt up; and poor, pitiful prayers, by tens, will then glitter like the stars forever. God recognizes and rewards only blessings apprehended and realized by faith in Christ Jesus.

All this is a matter of spiritual intelligence and of communion with God.

The word speaks to us of ''fruit of the Spirit," contrasting such with " works of the flesh " (Gal. 5). Provided that he who sows and he who reaps does so only in the Spirit, he shall receive a reward, and shall gather fruit unto eternal life. All else will be burned up.

Christ has chosen us, even us also, as I judge, that we may bring forth fruit, and that our fruit may abide. But Jesus is not the vine whence grow our speculations, our resolutions, or our plans for campaigns here below. These thoughts of the natural man have no relationship with the branches of the true Vine, which draw from Christ alone their sap, their leaves, buds, flowers and fruit.

Lastly, ''the day " which draweth near will make known what the work of each is. It is therefore well and suitable, that we should mutually exhort one another unto love and good works, but only to those " which God bath before ordained that we should walk in them " (Eph. 2) Nothing can enable me to discern those works, save intimate communion, by the Spirit, with Him who has prepared them. If I see before me works which have not been prepared. by God, faith will not give me any impulse thereto. If they have been prepared of God, BUT no/for me, faith and the Spirit will both engage me to remain still. And He who. is my Judge in all these things is the Lord, to whose glory I desire to live and to die, to be occupied and to be still while I wait upon Him and await His return. I count continually upon the High priesthood of Jesus as to all my faults and failings in this precious service. For if I see that good works are those only which are wrought in God, I see also that the flesh is wily enough to make me miss my opportunities, either by acting after my own thoughts, or by abstaining from entering upon the path which God has prepared for me to walk in.

The last chapter of John's gospel gives us, briefly, various kinds of Christian activity, which were seen in the presence of the Risen Head of the church. John and Peter especially strike me in this point of view. The former remained quietly in the bosom of Jesus, when Peter would lay down his life for Him, who was to die for him. The crucifixion of the flesh is in practice a thing hard to find. Before the crucifixion, Peter had come towards Jesus in the flesh, and then had followed Him. But this Peter, with the best intention in the world, denied Jesus thrice. A flesh weak in itself without strength as to that which is good, and a natural mind, that is to say, one which is always ready to undertake the will of the flesh-was all that law itself could set in movement in man. And therefore also the law condemns the man who is subject to its rule.

But on the other side of the cross, and on the border of the Land of Promise, the calm, yet energetic spirituality of John, recognized at a distance the Lord. Would Peter have cast himself into the sea, if he had not heard John say, "It is the Lord"? John continues at work all the while he is going to meet Jesus. His spirituality is indeed the cause, or at least, the occasion, of Peter's activity, and yet (while everything here is exactly in its right place), John acts as much as Peter, and in a sense, he acts even more usefully. Yet the moment the Lord bids bring of the produce of the fishing, it is Simon Peter who, already refreshed and restored by the contemplation of the risen Jesus, boards the boat and puts the finishing stroke to the work of power.

Before the crucifixion, Peter was not able to follow Jesus, although, with his whole soul he was willing to pledge himself thereto. But the knowledge of the cross has, now, given to Peter the power of following Jesus with joy, even whither Peter had no will to go. The power to mortify their members which are upon the earth, and the spirit of childlike obedience are now, in grace, given to the redeemed, such being set apart to the obedience of Jesus Christ as well as to the sprinkling of His blood.

John followed Jesus without needing an order to do so. His happiness was to keep close to his Master. The Lord on His part, knowing how this faithful disciple counted upon His love, manifests His confidence in him in this very thing, that He gives not to him, as to Peter, an order to follow Him. Peter, on the contrary, just barely recovered from his fall, had need of all the visible proofs of the tender vigilance of Jesus; and the good Shepherd withholds them not from him.

In John we see the confidence and the simplicity of love. Though he makes little noise, he always follows Jesus. He incessantly expects Him, and thus he recognizes Him even before the most zealous disciple: it is only his intimate acquaintance with Jesus which gives him this advantage. Love is calm, and finds its enjoyment in its object. John passes through few painful experiences like those of Peter. The perfect love of Jesus banishes all fear from His disciple; it restrains also the activity of the flesh.

John is neither jealous of Peter nor restless about his brother, who is on his way to death. Peter, on the contrary, disquiets himself about John, who, the meanwhile, is occupied solely about Jesus, and remains perfectly calm and at rest, even while following the Master, whom it was his habit to listen to and gaze upon.

We are never adequately filled with the conviction that we are nothing, and that Jesus is all. And hence we commonly resemble scholars who display an immense diligence in tracing a quantity of lines, among which the master's eye will, with difficulty, accept two or three passably good uprights. Thus the beginning of the end is always in casting all the copy books aside, whereas by more alien-lively considering the model we should undertake fewer lines and fewer pages, but we should do more honor to the copy and to the teacher.

" When thou saidst, ` Seek ye my face; ' my heart said unto thee, `Thy face, Lord, will I seek "' (Psa. 27:8). "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that Z desire beside Thee" (Psa. 73:25)..

Lust

"Lust" is the stretching forth the hand to take something for self. If God say, " Take," it is no lust to take. But, if the very crown prepared by God for you were there, and you took it unbidden by Him, it would he lust. God has sheltered us-in Christ; " Walk in the Spirit," then, " and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Lust is the very essence of the world. " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God," was Christ's way. Wherever there is a "Thus saith the Lord," though it be-even going to he stake, you will find a joy, a calmness, which you will never find in stolen waters taken for yourself. A path utterly unblameable may be pursued, and yet God may say, I did not put you there; and this comes in to interfere with the sustainment of quiet peace in the heart. Is it with me, " Lord, what wouldest Thou have me to do?" "Lo I come to do Thy will? " recognizing obedience to God as the one great thing?

Usefulness

A question often arises about usefulness. Satan often beguiles by it. He may have suggested to John that he would be more useful if he were to compromise a little, and keep out of trouble for the sake of being free for his service to saints. Useful to whom? To God or to men? God may be able to show out more of His glory by laying men aside. The eyes of God rested on Paul a prisoner, seemingly useless

(not even always allowed to write), as the field for the display of some of the greatest privileges of truth. The very point when your weakness seems to make you useless is often the very way in which Cud shows forth His glory. People think it strange that old Christians, useless ones, etc., etc., should be left, and young, active ones taken. Do not you be trying to settle God's house for Him; do not say, "What a pity for John to get to Patmos." The, Lord wanted him there to communicate something that might serve His people to the end of time. A person many be in difficult circumstances, and you may have it in your power to get him out of them in the power of human nature. And you may do it, and find out that

God would have had him in them, because then he could have borne testimony; and you ought not to have measured things by your love for him and your comfort, hut by the light of God. We often act on a set of thoughts of which the cord is bound to our own humanity instead of God's glory.

Weakness and Strength

2 CORINTHIANS. 12:1-10.

Immediately upon redemption weakness comes in—" He was crucified through weakness."' `` Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and, die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." He could have gone up to heaven as the Son of David, but then He would have had no one with Him.

If the Spirit were given where atonement was not known it could only produce fearful conflict in the soul. There was no such thing as redemption, bringing hack, except by the humiliation of His Son. If He had not become Man, He could not have gone to death, He could not have been the Head of the Gentiles, He could not have been the One amongst men meeting every need. He came down to measure out everything in His own personal presence in grace. He did not stay in heaven and. do the work; He said (as it were), " I choose to recognize Satan's power, but I will go down and worst him on his own ground." But He was not only crucified through weakness; the great point is, He was raised from the dead-Himself the Resurrection and the Life; and we-can look into the grave and say, " I know Him as the resurrection and the life." How does this power work? It is resurrection from the dead; when known it brings in the taste of death into everything connected with- ourselves. Look at caul of Tarsus; he had everything planned in his own mind for his service, and the Lord Jesus speaks to him from heaven. His first word, " Who art Thou Lord?" shows that he was conscious of the entire end of everything connected with self. Then the next thing was, " What wilt Thou have me to do?" You will not find until Christ really looks into you that you will look at Him as the revelation of the glory of God. Then you say, "There is a Man up there in heaven raised from the dead, the One in whose face all the glory of God shines. If! want to know anything connected with God, I must learn it from that Man; the answer to every question, above, around, within, is found in the face of that One. God centralizes all in that Person! "

We often think of this passage as the experience of the apostle. True, it was so; but in it we get the principle of Christ's dealing with a soul. God shows me the Man in the glory, but after that I look up and see that One bearing me on His heart before God, and that He never forgets me. We get here the principle of God's dealing with a man down here. There is more than one principle on which the apostle was quite willing to have the fare of a pilgrim down here; but this is one, " My grace is sufficient for thee." If it be a question of service, of suffering, of any power at all, where do I get it? In Christ.

We get another ground in Phil. 3 There his heart was so entranced with Christ, that lie wanted in everything to be like Him; because Christ suffered, he wants to bear the marks of suffering too; to be like Him in every possible way, in moral character, in suffering, even in " being made conformable unto His death." Christ was down here as a pilgrim and a stranger, and so he wanted to have the marks of one of His disciples, in being conformed to His sufferings; and why? Because, "the love of Christ constraineth."

But here it is another thing, " My grace is sufficient for thee," etc. I mean to conform you as My disciple to that principle of death and resurrection that was made good in Me before you got any blessing from it, that in everyday life you may have My strength. Look at the bearing of this on a person down here, the light it casts on his face. It was not only a question of the danger Christ saw, hut He used Satan. People lose much when they forget that Christ uses Satan to guard them from sin i he is one of the powers by which He works. Satan gave Paul the thorn in the flesh. Christ's purpose is to perfect His strength in His servant's weakness. The whole scene down here is under His hand; and not only are the difficulties here for us to get through, but they are arranged by Christ that He may glorify Himself by taking you through them. Who made the wilderness? God. And had He any special purpose in making it as it was? Why did He not make it like Canaan? Because He wanted a place for His people where He would have to supply their need every day. The secret of quietness and peace of heart is not to look at things and say, I have got to face them; but Christ has prepared all things as they are that I may not be able to get along a single day without Himself. Have I no bread? no work? Am I sick? Where is Christ? All the things are not only overruled, hut 'used by Him that we may learn His strength of love that cripples us that He may be able to say, " My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

As I go along and see in my path a large rock, what do I think? How can I ever get over it? No; Christ has allowed it. He has put it in my path to try my faith, and somehow or other He will get me over it. You cannot say in ease and prosperity, " There is Christ "; but directly the storm begins, the weakness is felt, the sickness comes, we can certainly count on Christ. An extremity never takes Hun by surprise, though often it may be an extremity entirely opposed to His moral character. If He leaves a person to himself, it is not that He gives him up, but to prove his heart. If He see a man full of himself, even though his face may be beaming with the glory, He must leave him to himself a little if the heart will not bow to Christ it must be left to itself. If we do not learn in the quiet of the sanctuary, we shall find ourselves outside to learn what poor things we are. Christ would rather let His name he dishonored and Peter brought low, than have him " making a fair show in the flesh."

Look at John in Rev. 1 There, an exile in Patmos, he might have thought his apostleship ended; but Christ comes and gives him a book to write, unfolding things of deep moment to the church in all ages. What should we do without the Revelation? We get another instance in Rom. 8 I know not what to ask, but the Spirit makes intercession with groaning, and He that searcheth the heart knoweth it. Do I know what I want? No; hut we present our desires before Him, often unable to form them into sentences, but Christ is up there, He knows what the Spirit wants for us. It is only an instance of redemption, working through Almighty power, connecting God, Christ in heaven, with me, a little insignificant individual down here. That God is so occupied with me that He brings me into desires after spiritual things connected with the glory of Christ. I present the desire, Christ understands (take the figure in Psa. 107; the sailors at their wits' end, then they learn the poverty of nature). I am brought to a sense of weakness by this character of communion, by His "strength made perfect in weakness." A great deal of the defective Christianity nowadays is owing to the Lord's people coming short in seeing that. Do we understand that the whole wilderness is to be a book of death and resurrection to us? Very often sorrow is taken up from love to Christ; but here it is my lifetime all developed by Christ, and He acting upon all to develope the principle of death and resurrection, and that to let me know " My grace is sufficient." If you look at Satan as one of the powers by which God works, at the wilderness as the place prepared by Christ, where the tokens of His love are shown out, and at yourselves, crippled by Christ in order that you may have no strength but His to act on, you will find sweetness and refreshing of soul.

The Rivers of Living Water

JOHN 7:37-39,

When the water revives the wilderness itself, when the Son of man actually takes the world as

His inheritance, and the Spirit is poured out, shall it not then be glad, and rejoice, and blossom? `Veil, it fills the heart of God's people, of him that believeth in Jesus, now, and does so because he is in the wilderness: and shall he not rejoice and blossom? Yea, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; and though often the heartless sand may drink it in and give no return, but be parched, and arid, and fruitless as before, yet wherever the earth of God's hand and the seeds of God's planting are, there shall they also he refreshed and spring up through it. I feel it very important to remark here the individual character noticed before, because it is the saving principle in the midst of desolations and evil, whatever common good it may produce. It is not, They shall drink of the river from the rock,. or drink of some common river, but, '' Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; " it is the personal possession and indwelling of the Holy Ghost. (Extract.)

Grace

And if by grace, then is it no more works; otherwise grace is no more grace. "-Rom. 11:6.

He tells me WORDS whereby I'm saved,

He points to something done,

Accomplished on Mount Calvary,

By His beloved Son;

In which no works of mine have place;

Otherwise grace were no more grace.

Believing this, how can I wait,

And ask what shall I do

To make His gift more sure to me,

His loving words more true?

Since works of mine have here no place,

Otherwise grace is no more grace.

Ah, no, it is His finished work

On which my soul relies;

And if my unbelieving heart

Its preciousness denies,

That works of mine might have a place,

Then grace with works were no more grace.

But in that He is raised on high,

Who came our sins to bear;

I know that I am seen of God,

In oneness with Him there;

Where not a spot His eye can trace,

Or aught that mars His work of grace.

Oh, wondrous words! Oh, precious work,

By which the soul is saved!

And Thou who didst it, blessed Lord,

Hast in my heart engraved

A Name which must all names displace,

With me a lost one, saved by grace.

Righteousness Without Works: Part 1

I believe it will be found that the first and simplest truths of the Gospel become of growing value to our souls as we advance onward along the narrow road which leadeth unto life. Truths which are at first received authoritatively, because of the evidence of Scripture for them, become commended to us by their own beauty. And what we received at first, as it were by force of our own necessity, becomes in our progress that which manifests the glory of Christ; so that we are able in a measure to contemplate it apart from selfishness, and to see it in the light in which God Himself sees it. I think I discern this feature in apostolical teachings; while they unfold mysteries, or develop practical truth, they also designedly connect all with the primary truths of the Gospel—thus bringing them into constant prominence.

And this marks the teaching of the Holy Ghost. It is human to handle a particular truth as a subject; but the object of the Holy Ghost is to hold up prominently to view the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The soul becomes unsettled from its steadfastness when the mind takes the lead in learning even the truth of God. The Spirit who leads into all truth, connects everything in His teaching with those great primary truths, the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mind may get hold of something new, and be interested in it, as if it were more wonderful than the truth already received. I do not wonder at the apostle saying, " so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God "- there he saw the deepest truth; or, in after-times, saying to Timothy, " Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry; for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." It is an unhealthy symptom, when the simple gospel is not relished. It shows that the mind is rather at work than the conscience exercised before God, or the affections engaged with Christ. There are indeed wonderful discoveries made to us of the grace and purpose of God, and this too as that in which we are specially interested; yet when all is manifested and enjoyed without hindrance, then the primary truths of the gospel will be seen in all their brilliancy, even the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Object of adoration, admiration and praise throughout eternity. It is with these thoughts I now turn to the great fundamental truth of the gospel -"righteousness without works"—a doctrine we know which has not only been controverted by Christians, and sneered at by the wise and the moralist-but which many who hold it, have only become settled in, after much bitter experience of themselves. It is indeed needful for all to learn it in this school of experience. But we may also learn its beauty by looking forward to that day, when the righteousness of the one Man, as the Fountain of all blessedness to the redeemed, shall be as illustriously displayed in heaven and in earth, as the sin of the one man as the source of all misery has been sorrowfully displayed in the history of this world. But there is another light in which the doctrine of " righteousness without works" may be regarded, namely, as leading us into present intercourse with God, and enabling us to walk in His presence. It is the bearing of this great truth as a present influential principle, which the Spirit of God Himself has carried out in the Thirty-second Psalm. And the blessedness predicated of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works is a blessedness, not confined to the wondrous truths of " transgression forgiven, sin covered, and iniquity not imputed; " but this blessedness is carried on into the exercises of soul, which result from being freely and fully justified. I would now turn to the Psalm itself.

First, the great oracular declaration—" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." On this statement the Holy Ghost Himself, by the apostle Paul., has thus commented: "Even as David describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works" (Rom. 4:6). "The blessedness "—we almost need to have this English word translated to us; so slow of heart are we to believe His goodness, when God Himself proclaims it to us. Happiness, "our being's end and aim," is proclaimed by this oracle; and yet men are deaf to it. " Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven! " This is happiness—the alone happiness of which man as a sinner is capable; because nothing but this can bring a sinner to God, in whose presence there is fullness of joy. There is indeed a happiness proclaimed in the first Psalm, " Blessed is the man who bath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful." But where is such a man to be found? This blessedness only attached to the righteous One, the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was what He did; because He is what He is. But as for us, it is not anything that we can do which can make us happy, but that which God does for us. It is man's impossibility to make himself happy; it is God's possibility to make a sinner happy. And this oracle is the declaration of a sinner's happiness by means of the work of God Himself.

The distinction between transgression and sin is made sufficiently clear by the statements of the apostle in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Adam sinned by transgressing a positive commandment of God; and thereby incurred the penalty of death. Others were liable to the same penalty who had never sinned by transgressing a positive commandment of God; therefore, there may be sin where there is not such transgression. And the Holy Ghost announces this oracle, according to the usual order of the awakening of conscience. In most cases, it is awakened to a sense of positive acts of sin against the known commandments of God. And so the apostle, in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, adduces proof of the practical ungodliness and immorality of both Gentile and Jew, before he opens the source from whence it all proceeds: original and indwelling sin. Man may draw out a theory of christian doctrine; but the divine way is, not to teach a theory, but to grapple with the conscience, and to make man sensible of his wretched condition as in the presence of God, and that nothing short of God's own provision of Christ can meet his necessity. "Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to Me," says Christ. The oracle before us regards man as he is, ''an enemy to God in his mind by wicked works." Repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in the name of Christ among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. " Beginning at Jerusalem " shows the character of transgression which the Divine remedy can reach. There was acted out "the great transgression." The testimony against them was, that they had denied the Holy and the Just One, and had killed the Prince of Life. Yet, in the name of Jesus, whom they had crucified, whom God had raised up, there was forgiveness even for this great transgression. Who need despair of finding forgiveness in the same name, in which alone there is salvation? If we turn to a different and more frequent character of transgression, we find it written, " Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." It is to man, therefore, as a proved and convicted transgressor before God, as already condemned by the righteous judgment of God, and when awakened by the quickening power of God condemned in his own conscience, that forgiveness of transgression in the name of Jesus is proclaimed by God Himself. And blessed, by God's own testimony, is the man who has an ear to hear it.

I much question if the bare idea of forgiveness of transgression, apart from the solid groundwork on which it rests, viz., the infinite atonement of Christ—" forgiveness in His name "-would ever satisfy the conscience. The groveling thought of escape is, indeed, the careless thought of the unbelieving mass; without one just thought, either of the character of God, or of the evil of sin. But if such a manner of forgiveness were possible, it would leave the recipient of it in that state of uneasiness which a man feels who finds himself in the presence of one whom he had injured, yet who had forgiven him. He would be under the conscious sense of degradation. Such a condition would be the very opposite of being " blessed." It is the mode of the forgiveness, bringing the person forgiven to stand at ease in the presence of God, declared to be just, while He is the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, which constitutes the blessedness. The atonement of Christ is indeed the remedy, the only remedy, the divine remedy for the forgiveness of transgression; but it is more, it is the great medium of the display of the moral glory of God. " Angels look into these things," and learn the glory of their God by means of His, dealings with sinners. And it is a wondrous thought, that man's necessity as a sinner and the manifestation of the divine glory, find their one and only meeting point in the cross of Christ. Yea, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven; and so forgiven as that God is glorified. Oh, what riddance of anxiety to the soul, when its salvation is thus taken from off its own responsibility, and it is no longer the question, Shall I be saved? but, Shall God be glorified? Blessedpeace, indeed, surpassing all understanding, when God and the conscience are all alike satisfied!

" Blessed is the man whose sin is covered." It is not the manner of the Holy Ghost to use redundant expressions. We often use many words where few would suffice. But "the words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times." And man " liveth by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Now, I believe as the conscience becomes alive to God, and exercised before God, it necessarily draws the distinction between transgression and sin. Outward reformation is seen by others, but the soul itself cannot rest on this. There is a very wide difference between reformation of character and conversion to God. Reformation of character will necessarily follow conversion to God; but for a soul "to believe and turn to the Lord" is something far more deep than outward reformation of character: it brings us to Him with whom we have to do, before whom all is open and naked. And there it is that we learn the difference between transgression and sin. In human thought sin is an act; in divine judgment it is a principal. And this discovery is so appalling that transgressions appear thrown into the shade by the discovery of what sin really is—viz., a settled principle of insubjection to God; a desire to do what God has forbidden, because He has forbidden it, even when there is no positive act of disobedience; a reluctance to do what God has commanded, because He has commanded it. Yes, we have a will contrary to the good, perfect and acceptable will of God, and this is very experimentally known after we are made willing, by the grace of God, to come to Christ; so that to do the will of God is more or less connected with denying self. " Whose sin is covered." Who would not faint under the struggle, if it were not so? God Himself has covered sin up, out of His own sight. This is what we need. How man tries to cover the evil of his heart from his fellow-man; yet, even human sagacity can often pierce through the hollow covering. And man himself is ill satisfied with it; witness his round of religious duties to try to cover it, and his natural proneness to superstition. But it is the atonement of Christ which covers sin before God. It is God Himself who has set forth Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood. Here, when we discover sin, we can yet meet God, not in anger, but in mercy; for the sin which we have discovered is covered up before Him. I do not believe that there can be settled peace on the soul, till, taught of the Spirit, it finds the emphatic meaning of such texts as these: " Our old man has been crucified with Him "-" God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh "—God "hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." The mighty moral necessity of the Son of God becoming the substitute for a sinner alone meets the case of the conscience alive to what sin is. And I have admired the wisdom of divine teaching, as well as the infinite grace, that it is after shewing sin in the shape of transgression, sin in connection with death, sin as dwelling in us, the announcement follows-" There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Let the conscience be ever so alive to what sin is in its various phases, the moment Christ is regarded as the object held out by God Himself to faith-" No condemnation," is the answer.

This distinction between transgression and sin helps to solve a phenomenon not infrequently brought under the notice of those who are watching for souls. The deepest sense of sin is by no means always found where there has been the greatest amount of transgression. The transition from a state almost of remorse on account of transgression, to peace with God through faith in Christ, may well lead the soul to put its Amen to the apostolic declaration-" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Now, when such are led on in exercise of conscience before God, to know sin as a principle, they find that the outward conduct has but too faithfully represented the inward principle. They find, too, the need of not trusting in the outward reformation; and that the heart, from whence all evil proceeds, has to be diligently watched. But when persons who have been happily kept free from gross vice, gentle, kind and amiable, are awakened by the Spirit of God to a sense of sin, the judgment they form of sin is not so much by its injuriousness to themselves and others—which may, even apart from the quickening power of the Spirit of God, affect the conscience—but they measure sin by its contrariety to God; and instead of being able to rest complacently in the blamelessness of their lives, or in the praise bestowed on them by others, their very lives appear to them as one act of hypocrisy; the motives of action and conduct being now judged in the light of God's presence. And the result often is such self-loathing of sin, and needs the fullest application of all that Christ is to the conscience. There may be a measure of loathing oneself on account of transgressions committed, even from a generous impulse of nature; but to loath self because we have discovered what it is before God, marks the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, and will be found a deepening work as we go on.

" Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." How needed is this clause for the peace of an awakened soul. There is the consciousness of iniquity; and the announcement is, that although the Lord knows iniquity to be there, He does not impute it. And wherefore? Surely, because God bath imputed it to Jesus: " He hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." He hath seen it there, and judged it there. " The chastisement of our peace was upon Him (Jesus), and by His stripes we are healed." It is the greater wonder that God should have imputed iniquity where He only saw righteousness, than that He should not impute iniquity where He sees it to be. And I repeat again, that nothing short of the truth of the actual substitution of Christ for the sinner, gives full relief to an awakened conscience. The cross of Christ is to us the marked expression of the love of God towards sinners. God is love. “ In this was manifested the love of God toward. us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins " (1 John 4:8-10). The Cross, further, is the declaration to us of the righteousness of God. " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness " (Rom. 3:25).

Again, it shows the infinite hatefulness of sin in the judgment of God. The cup could not pass away from Jesus. He bowed His head and drank it. And God hid His face from Him, and made Him to know on the cross, in bitterest experience, what sin was—" God made Him to be sin for us " (2 Cor. 5:21).

The Cross is both the way for God to come nigh to man as a sinner without destroying him by His presence,—"And having made peace by-the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself" (Col. 1:20) -and the Cross is also the way for man as a sinner to come near to God." Ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ "' (Eph. 2:13). All these several aspects of the Cross, deeply important and interesting as they are, would fail of giving settled peace to the soul; if the truth of the actual substitution of Christ for the sinner were kept out of sight. "He loved me and gave Himself for me " (Gal. 2:20). Here we find such solid ground on which to rest our souls -the wonder of the Holy One of God being made sin on the Cross, is far greater, than the wonder that any measure of guilt should be answered by it to God.

( To be continued, D. V.)

Liberty

" Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." " Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."—Gal. 5:1, 13.

The Christian was called to liberty, the holy liberty of the new nature, but yet liberty. It is no longer a law which constrains, or rather vainly seeks to constrain, a nature whose will is contrary to it, to satisfy the obligations which accompany the relationships, in which, by the will of God, we find ourselves—a law imposed, forbidding evil to a nature that loves evil, and commanding the love for God and for one's neighbor, to a nature whose spring is selfishness. Had it been possible to take away Christ's moral liberty-which was not possible-it would have been by preventing Him from obeying the will of the Father. It was His food to do so (John 4). As a perfect Man, He lived by every word which came forth out of the mouth of God.

He chose to die, to drink the bitter cup which the Father had given Him rather than not obey Him, and glorify Him in drinking it. Christianity is the liberty of a new nature that loves to obey and to do the will of God. It is true that the flesh, if not kept in subjection, can use this liberty to satisfy its own desires, just as it used the law, which had been given to convict of sin, to try and work out righteousness. But the true liberty of the new man-Christ our life-is the liberty of a holy will, acquired through the deliverance of the heart from the power of sin-liberty to serve others in love. All the law is fulfilled in one word; “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self." The Christian can do still more-be can give himself for others; or, at the least, following the direction of the Spirit, he fulfills the law in love. But if they devoured one another in selfishness, contending about circumcision and the law, " take heed," says the apostle," that ye be not consumed one of another." The apostle here establishes the principles of holiness, of the christian walk, and brings in the Holy Ghost in place of the law: In the preceding part of the epistle he had set forth Christian justification by faith, in contrast with works of law. He here shows that God produces holiness, instead of exacting it, as did the law with regard to human righteousness, from the nature which loves sin; He produces it in the human heart, as wrought by the Spirit. When Christ had ascended up on high, and was set down on the right hand of God, having accomplished a perfect redemption for those who should believe on Him, He sent down the Holy Spirit to dwell in all such.. They were already children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and, because they were such, God gave them the Spirit of His Son. Born of God, cleansed by the blood of Christ, God seals them as His own by the gift of the Spirit until the day of redemption, that is, of glory. Having the new life, Christ as their life, they are to walk as Christ walked, and to manifest the life of Jesus down here in their mortal flesh.

This life, produced in us by the operation of the Holy Ghost through the word, is led by the Spirit which is given to believers; its rule is also in the word. Its fruits are the fruits of the Spirit. The christian walk is the manifestation of this new life, of Christ our life, in the midst of the world. H we follow this path-Christ Himself-if we walk in His steps, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flash. It is thus sin is avoided, not by taking the law to compel man to do what he does not like; the law has no power to compel the flesh to obey, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom. 8). The new life loves to obey, loves holiness, and Christ is its strength and wisdom by the Holy Ghost. The flesh is indeed there; it lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the flesh, to prevent the man walking as he would. But if we be led of the Spirit, we are not under the law; we are not as the man in Rom. 7, where, impelled by the new nature, the will desires to do good, but, a captive to sin, not yet knowing deliverance, he finds no way of doing what he desires; for the law gives neither strength nor life. Under law, even if life is there, there is no strength: man is the captive of sin (ver. 14).

But sealed by the Holy Spirit, the believer is free, he can perform the good he loves. If Christ is thus in him, the body is dead, the old man is crucified with Christ. The Spirit is life, and that Spirit, as a divine and mighty Person, works in him to bring forth good fruits. The flesh and the Spirit are in their nature opposed the one to the other; but if we are faithful in seeking grace, the power of the Spirit, Christ, by His Spirit in us, enables us to hold the flesh for dead, and to walk in the footsteps of Christ, bringing forth the fruits that suit Him.

There is not really any difficulty in distinguishing the fruits of the Spirit from the works of the flesh: the apostle names them, those at least which are characteristic of their respective actions. Of the sad works of the flesh, he positively declares that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God; but the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, etc. Against such there is no law: God cannot condemn the fruit of His own Spirit. Remark, that the first of these fruits are love, joy, peace. The Spirit will surely produce those practical fruits which manifest the life of Christ in the sight of men, but the inward fruits, the fruits Godward, come first, the condition of the soul needful for producing the others. Many converted persons seek for the practical fruits in order to assure themselves that they are born of the Spirit and accepted of God. But peace, love, joy are the first fruits of the presence of the Spirit; the others follow. In order to know what is in the heart of God, we need to see the fruit of His heart, the gift of Jesus.

If I believe in Him, and through Him in the love of God, sealed of God by the Spirit, I have the sense of His love-love shown in the death of Jesus is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who are washed from their sins through faith in His blood. By that Spirit we have the consciousness of our position before God, and love, joy, peace are in the soul. The fruits which follow are, moreover, the proof to others that my certainty and assurance are not false, that I am not deceived. But for myself it is what God has done which is the proof of what is in the heart of God, and through faith I set to my seal that God is true. Then, sealed by the gift of the Spirit, I rejoice in His goodness, and the fruits of the new life manifest to others that this life is there.

Moreover, "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." They have not got to die: Christ died for us, and He who died being our life, we hold ourselves for dead, crucified with Him, as though we ourselves had died upon the cross, since it was for us He suffered. Possessing another life, I do not own the flesh as `° I," but as sin which dwelleth in me, which I hold to be crucified. The faithful Christian realizes this continually. God declares us to be dead with Christ: He looks upon us thus (Col, 3:3). Faith, accepting God's declaration with thankfulness, holds the flesh, the old man, to be dead (Rom. 6), and through the Spirit, if he is faithful, he applies the cross in a practical way to the flesh, so that it may not act (2 Cor. 4.); besides this, God in His government sends that which is needful to test the Christian, and to effect this.

The apostle adds the exhortation, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." The law nourishes rather than destroys vain glory, for the law makes us think of self. When rightly applied, it is most useful for convincing of sin, not for producing righteousness.

Thus the operation of the law with regard to justification and holiness has been fully examined and set in a clear Tight. It does not produce righteousness, but exacts it. It cannot be linked with Christ as a means of justification: "If righteousness is by the law, Christ is dead in vain." Man ought surely to have kept the commandments of God, but that is not the real question. Man has not kept them, therefore upon that ground he is lost: Christ, on the other hand, brings salvation because we are guilty.

Then, as to holiness: it is not God's way to seek to produce holiness in the flesh through the law, for the flesh is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be. God gives a new life in Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to produce fruits which are acceptable to Him; and against these fruits there is certainly no divine law. God cannot condemn the fruits of His own Spirit. It is the new creature, the new life, with its fruits by the Spirit, which are acceptable to God; it is this new creature which seeks to please Him.

Strengthened by the Spirit, and instructed by Him according to the wisdom of God set forth in the word, let us seek to walk in the footsteps of Christ, that perfect example of the life of God in a Man which has been given to us,

Jesus on the Cross and on the Throne

" If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night upon the free, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is accursed of God), that thy land be not defiled." -Deut. 21:22,23.

" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."-Gal. 3:13.

Worthy, O Lord, of death am I,

The just award of sin;

Unfit to live beneath Thy sky:

'Tis right that I should hang, and die,

Guilty, condemned, unclean:

That cross of shame, that cursed tree,

Is the just doom of one like me.

Thy sun might justly seek to hide

His beams from eyes like mine,

Who in my God-renouncing pride,

His Maker day by day defied;

Thy stars refuse to shine

Yea, all good creatures might complain

Of one, like me, a loathsome stain,-

Unfit to live on Thy fair earth,

Unfit to breathe its air;

A tainted traitor from my birth,

A discord to all holy mirth,

A blight on all 'things fair;

Worthy alone of death must be

One that has sinned, O God, like me,

A hiding-place beneath its sod,

For one too vile to live;

That died beneath the curse of God,

Smitten by law's most righteous rod,

Is all that earth could give,

Till that tremendous judgment-day,

When earth itself shall pass away.

Thy angels, who delight to praise

And serve their glorious King,

Whose will at once Thy will obeys,

Look down with horror and amaze,

On such a guilty thing;

And ready stand with flaming sword,

To crush the scorners of their Lord.

Oh, wretched man! where can I go?

What arm can help, or save?

I look behind, around, below-

Naught see, or hear, but deep'ning woe

Before me yawns the grave;

Beyond the darkness of the tomb,

The horrors of eternal doom!

" Look unto Me," the Savior cries.

Behold! upon the tree,

Between two thieves, Emmanuel dies,

The Lamb of God, a sacrifice,

He bears the curse for me

Oh, love unsearchable, divine,

His life He gives to ransom mine!

Oh, hour most solemn! Hour alone,

In solitary might,

When God the Father's only Son,

As man, for sinners to atone,

Expires—amazing sight!

The Lord of glory crucified!

The Lord of life has bled and died,

Oh, mystery of mysteries!

Of life and death the tree;

Center of two eternities,

Which look with rapt, adoring eyes,

Onward and hack to Thee!

Oh, Cross of Christ, where all His pain

And death-is my eternal gain

Oh, how my inmost heart cloth move,

While gazing on that tree;

The death of the Incarnate Love!

What shame, what grief, what joy I prove,

That He should die for me!

My heart is broken by that cry,

" Eli, lama sabachthani?"

Worthy of death, O Lord, I am;

That vengeance was my due:

Thy grace upon Thy spotless Lamb,

Laid all my sins, and guilt and shame;

Justice my Surety slew;

With Him my Surety I have died,

With Him I there was crucified.

When Thou didst make Him " sin " for me,

Thy Son Thou didst not spare;

Oh, what exceeding agony,

All needed, Lord, to set me free,

Blest Jesus, Thou didst bear

Now peace and righteousness can meet,

And kiss Thy wounded hands and feet.

They bury, ere the setting- sun,

In the new rock-hewn cave,

The body of Thy Holy One;

They set the watch; they seal the stone,

To keep Him im in the grave:

Buried with Him myself I see,

So low He chose to lie for me.

But to! His grave is empty now,

He sits at Thy right hand

Honor and glory crown His brow,

Before Him all the angels bow,

And wait His high command

The Lamb of God for sinners slain,

Lives as the Lord of all to reign.

Thy righteousness the sentence spoke,

That sent Thy Son to die

Thy righteousness from death awoke,

And all the powers of darkness broke,

And raised Him up on high;

His spotless righteousness to own,

Thou hast exalted to Thy throne.

And now Thy mercy finds delight,

Right royally to prove

How precious He is in Thy sight;

And all the wondrous depth and height

Of Thy surpassing love

With Him, who bore our sins alone,

Thy grace has made His ransomed one.

Quickened with Him with life divine,

Raised with him from the dead,

His own-and all His own are Thine!-

Shall with Him in His glories shine,

His Church's living Head

We who were worthy hut to die,

Now with Him, " Abba Father," cry.

'' Unto HIM that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and bath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Hue be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."Rev. 1;6.

The Cross of Christ

If we come to the cross, we must come by our wants and sins. No one comes truly unless he comes as a sinner, whose sins brought him there. But when we pass through the rent veil into the presence of God in perfect peace through the efficacy of the work He accomplished, and look back at the cross by which we came, in contemplating it in a divine way, we find that the cross then has in it a glory and excellency all its own, of which everything in God's ways is the result, even the new heavens and the new earth. God was perfectly glorified in it. It was the climax of good and evil. All was met there. We must come to the cross as sinners to find the good of it; but if we have found peace by it, coming into God's presence reconciled, it is everything we shall see forever. We never shall forget the Lamb that was slain. But still we can contemplate it in a divine way. I get in the cross the perfectness of man's sins, positive enmity against God present in goodness. Nothing would do for man but to get rid of Him. " Him ...... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." " If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin," then they would have been justified in rejecting Him; "but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father "(Acts 2:23; John 15:22). There I get the extreme of man's wickedness. When God was presented in goodness, it only drew out his hatred. The power was present in Christ to meet all the effects of sin by His word. The manifestation of it drew out the enmity of man's heart against Him, and they crucified Him. There you get all that man is brought out in the presence of God. He had broken the law before, and now God had come in in perfect goodness and power (power that could remove all their distresses); but it was God's power, and they would not have it, they crucified Him. On the other hand, we see there all the power of Satan; therefore He says, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shalt the prince of this world be cast out "(John 12:31).. They were all led by him against Christ. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). He had overcome him in the temptation in the wilderness. It is said in Luke 4:13, "he departed from Him for a season." Now He says, '' The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me" (John 14:30). He who had power over the earth (for Satan was really the prince of this world) had come back, and succeeded in moving up the hatred of man's heart against Him.

But now see the absolute perfectness of the Second Man: "But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do" (John 14:31). I get in man (more than man) perfect love to the Father, and perfect obedience; and when He had the dreadful cup to drink (mark the absolute need there was of it) that perfect obedience and love to the Father made good in the very place where He stood as sin. On the other hand, in the cross I find God's infinite love and grace abounding over sin; perfect love, giving His Son for us; and then at the same time perfect righteousness judging against sin, and God's majesty vindicated. " It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings " (Heb. 2:10). I see thus perfect evil in man and Satan; perfect good in man (but He was God), and perfect love in God, and righteousness in God against sin when it was met as such, all brought out in the cross; evil and good meeting there. And it is what has laid the immutable foundation in righteousness for all that will come in in goodness and blessing in the new heavens and new earth, resting not upon responsibility, but upon the accomplishment of the work, the value of which never can be known.

The more we think of the cross (we have come as sinners needing it; but as Christians reconciled to God we can sit down and contemplate it) we see it stands totally alone in the history of eternity. Divine glory, man's sin, man's perfectness, Satan's evil, God's power and love and righteousness, all were brought out and met there. Accordingly it is the immutable foundation of man's blessing, and of everything that is good in heaven and earth. Then, when our souls are reconciled, we look at Him and learn of Him: " Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest " (Matt. 11:29). He sees that the world had given Him up, there was no rest upon earth. He searched with wonderful patience for a place of rest, but there was no such thing to be found. He knew it, and had tried it the Son of man had not where to lay (not merely outwardly) His head, but to rest His heart; no more than Noah's dove found rest for the sole of her foot. " I looked for some to take pity, but there was none " (Psa. 69:20). Yet feeling this, it is just there He says, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke.... and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

I desire then, that while we rest in the blessed efficacy of the sacrifice, our thoughts should be formed by the Blessed One-that is the practical secret of going through this world: " He that eateth Me, he shall live by Me" (John 6:57). No doubt the taste ought to grow continually in us. There are the two sides of christian life. If it is to give courage, victory over the world, I look at His glory as in Phil. 3 There it is the energy that runs after to win Christ at the end, counting all else loss and dung. In the second chapter it is the other side, not the object, but His lowliness in coming down is set before us.

Righteousness Without Works: Part 2

But there is more than this. The idea of simple pardon is at the best negative—blessed indeed, even in that view, that iniquity, although committed, is not imputed. Speaking humanly, we have the idea of a free pardon emanating from the grace of the Sovereign; we have the idea also of an amnesty; but we cannot get the idea of justification. It is the idea which God alone can present, because He alone can justify the ungodly; and this is the new and blessed idea here presented. David describeth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works, saying, " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." Now in these words we have not the actual statement of the imputation of righteousness. It could not be clearly and fully announced (although it was the only principle on which God had acted from the beginning), because the great groundwork, The Cross, was not an accomplished fact. However it may have been anticipated by faith, still there was all the difference as to perception, between a promise made and a promise accomplished. Everything was suspended on the death and resurrection of Christ. " We," says the apostle, speaking to the natural heirs of promise and natural children of the Kingdom, " declare unto you glad tidings., how that the promise which was made to the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same to us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus" (Acts 13). The proper person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection, is the key by which we are able to unlock all Scripture. The Holy Ghost, Himself the Inditer of all Scripture, the Spirit which moved the prophets, is especially known to us as " the Spirit of truth," and Glorifier of Jesus.. His great testimony is to the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. And as soon as the death and resurrection of Jesus became a matter of fact, the Holy Ghost brought it to bear on His own precious Scriptures; and in this light we clearly discern, that iniquity not imputed, is righteousness imputed. " God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5).. There is nothing simply negative in the Gospel. It is not a prohibitory system. It is a gracious system of conferring positive blessing. To forgive sin may be negative; but to give righteousness is a positive and inalienable blessing. This marks the genius of the Gospel. " Whosoever believeth in Him [Jesus] shall not perish;" it stops not here, " but have everlasting life"(John 3) "That they may receive forgiveness of sins,"—but it goes on, " and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me" (Acts 26). If we are " delivered from the power. of darkness," it is by translation into the Kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1). Alas, our narrow minds and dull hearts deprive the Gospel of its glory. It is "the glorious gospel of the blessed God" (1 Tim. 1.): it represents God in the gracious place of the Giver, and sets man in his only place of possible blessing, that of a simple recipient. Receiving Christ, i. e., " believing on His name," we receive from Him "power (authority) to become the sons of God" (John 1). We receive forgiveness of sins, abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness. We receive eternal life. Christian action follows on this reception of Christ. The teaching of the Holy Ghost unfolds to us what we have received in having received Christ. It is well to keep this principle constantly before the soul: it is not that which we renounce, any more than that which we do, which makes us Christians, but that which we receive. And this principle runs through the Christian life: it is a life which has its affections, sensibilities, energies and activities. Our Christian life is not a system of negation any more than is our natural life. This marks it so forcibly from the common notion of religion. It is said, " Abhor that which is evil "—it is added, " Cleave to that which is good."

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." " Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers (Rom. 12; Eph. 5). Hence arises the danger to Christians from misusing even the good, holy and righteous law of God. It is not for the righteous (1 Tim. 1). Their need is to have the life already received nurtured by the ministry of Christ, the true and living Head; in order that the energies of that life may be called forth in its varied and appropriate activities. We have Christ Himself for our standard, and the righteousness which we have in Him, as our standing before God, presented to us as our highest but certain final attainment. " Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after; if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Hence it is that the one hope of our calling, which is so certain, because according to the purpose of God, becomes so formative of the Christian character. To be conformed to the image of God's Son, as the Firstborn among many brethren, is the blessed destiny of those whom God has already justified. It is upon the certainty of this, that the Holy Ghost acts in our conscience and affections, not making what we shall be to depend on what we practically are, I mean as Christians; but, taking the divine certainty of what we shall be, as the mighty moral lever, now to elevate our affections; and even now beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and every man that bath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure " (1 John 3).

This hope, grounded on Christ, is the great power of present purification. " Desiring to he teachers of the law" (1 Tim. 1), was, in the apostle's judgment, the result of ignorance in those who undoubtedly thought to promote holiness thereby. And so there is even a way of pressing conduct and service, which, instead of strengthening the life of Christ in the saint, turns him back on the question of his own salvation. Such is not the way in which the Spirit leads. He glorifies Christ, and takes great care to establish the soul in Him, when leading it on into practical holiness. Such is the order of instruction for the most part in the Epistles. And I believe the wondrous truth of ''righteousness without works "to be the very groundwork of righteousness and true holiness. It is the positive blessing received, recognized and enjoyed—" God delivered Christ for our sins and raised Him for our justification," which calls the Christian life into activity.

Secondly, "And in whose spirit there is no guile." It is written of Jesus, " He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth "(1 Peter 2). Of all others the description is but too true—" With their tongues they have used deceit" (Rom. 3). This is indeed a humbling condition of being—to dissemble what we are, to pretend to be what we are not—to use the tongue, or to put on an outward demeanor, to conceal the thoughts of the heart—and at the same time, on every moment of serious reflection, to be conscious that we are not before God what we seem to be, or profess to be before others. This is a condition which makes the thought of God insupportable. It is too much of restraint for man always to be acting a character, and " the idle " off-hand word betrays the condition of the heart, which perhaps more studied speech had concealed. It was by the idle word "This man casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils "—that He, " who knew what was in man," made manifest from His very words what was in their hearts. Whence then the remedy for so evil a condition? Whence the blessedness of having no guile in the spirit? It is alone the result, the first and blessed result, of the great truth of "righteousness without works." This doctrine at once cuts off all effort at concealment, and all pretensions to be what we are not. The very groundwork of the doctrine is that the very God, before whom all things are naked and open, who knows us thoroughly (Heb. 4:12, 13; cf. Psa. 139:1-12), and has taught us to see ourselves in measure as He sees us, is the One who has covered up our sin—yea, He has covered -up all the sin which His omniscience knoweth to be in us; for He has not acted toward us on our estimate of sin, but on His own. None can condemn—since God Himself justifieth (Rom. 8:33, 34). God has not put us in the place of justifying ourselves; He does that Himself. And He takes our part much more effectually than we could take our own. Hence there is no guile in the spirit. So to speak, it is not needed. All anxiety about making out a case for ourselves is removed, since God Himself declares His righteousness in covering our sin, and making us righteous (Rom. 3:24-26). If we search ever so deeply (and it is. well to do so), as to what sin is, God knows it more deeply, and has dealt with it in judgment on the Cross of Christ according to His own estimate of it. There is no guile in the spirit, where there truly is faith; because the truthfulness of our own character, and the truthfulness of the character of God are alike maintained by the marvelous mode of God's dealing with us in and through Christ.

There is no guile in the spirit of him who at one-and the same time takes his place as the chief of sinners, and yet also as perfectly righteous in Christ. There is no guile in the spirit of him whose object is to glorify Christ and not himself. Hence it follows that when self-vindication becomes needful for a saint, which is but rarely, he is placed in the most humiliating position; because he has to speak of himself instead of Christ. The apostle was thus compelled to speak "as a foo " (2 Cor. 11.). But as a general rule confession and not self-vindication is the path of a saint. An over sensitiveness about our own character argues a state of soul little occupied with Christ. If our care be His glory, He will in due time vindicate us. And what is not cleared up now will be in that day (1 Cor. 4). And I do admire the grace of Christ in the apostle, which could make him turn all the aspersions cast on his own character to establish the faithfulness of God (2 Cor. 1.); and thus turn the thoughts of the Corinthians away from himself to a better object.

Thirdly, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long; for day andnight Thy hand was heavy upon me,; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." Where can a guilty conscience find relief? The very effort at concealment only aggravates the burthen. How many broken hearts are there, and how many heavy spirits, who dare not tell their sorrow to another. How many who have found bitter disappointments in everything, and in themselves also, who are ignorant of the real cause, because they are ignorant of their real condition as lost, and think their own case peculiar. They know not that God has thought upon their case and considered it; and provided the remedy. They think not of telling their case to God any more than to their fellows. God, they think, would spurn them for their unworthiness, and man ridicule them for their singularity. 'They keep their case to themselves. They keep silence, although it be only to aggravate the raging fever within, by being thus thrown on themselves. They know not that they are only realizing what the constitution of man as a moral creature is. He is insufficient for his own happiness; and the creature too is insufficient to make him happy. This may not in the ordinary acceptation be felt as though it were sin; yet, it is the deepest principle of sin, because it is in fact “worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever Amen." How many aching hearts are there, how many sensible of a void which refuses to be filled, where there is no conviction, properly speaking, of sin; nothing which makes manifest the need of an all-sufficientatonement. They think not of the Gospel as the remedy for them. They know not that Jesus, heartsick in a weary world and rejected by it, in the conscious possession of everything man needed either as a creature or a sinner, turned to such and said, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How has the Gospel been degraded in being regarded merely as a remedy for sin, which it assuredly is: but it is far more; it is the manifestation of God Himself in such a way to man as a sinner, as to make him happy in God, whilst God is glorified in thus making him supremely happy. The state above described is that which knows not God as the blessed One; and knows not the blessedness announced by the Oracle of God, " Blessed is he," etc. And herein is the crying evil of the professed Christianity of the world-a mere system of ordinances, nullifying the necessity of the Gospel. These broken-hearted ones are hindered from seeing that there is a remedy of God's own providing for their misery. They want the Gospel in its simplest form; but they hear it not. They attempt to act out Christian duties, or even to assume Christian privileges, without knowing its first principles—free intercourse with God on the ground of the propitiation of Christ.

There is no relief till the soul can tell out its sorrow to God. Even the very hand of God may be felt and acknowledged, and yet God Himself is regarded as inaccessible. The soul goes on bearing its own burden because it dare not cast it upon God. The whole spirit is gone, just as the natural moisture is dried up under a raging fever. In such a case it is sometimes found that the hand of God (acknowledged and felt, because it has touched some idol or other in which the soul was seeking rest or at least diversion from its misery, instead of graciously subduing the soul) produces fretfulness against God. God is regarded as an enemy, as having gone forth against the sufferer, at the very time He may only be removing the obstacles in the way of the desired relief. He "waits that He may be gracious,”—He "will be exalted that He may have mercy" (Isa. 30:18). Here is much of the controversy between God and man—whether the remedy for man's misery is to be found in man or in God. The first thing under all circumstances of misery is the acknowledgment of God. Man finds out many ways of accounting for his misery, and applies his various remedies; but until he acknowledges God, he always accounts for it on wrong ground, and never discovers the real remedy for it.

There are certain principles which apply with equal truth to man as a sinner, and to one born of God. And this is one—" When I kept silence," etc. It is a condition of exquisite misery to the sinner, because he is ignorant of the revealed character of God, and knows not the relief it would be to tell everything to God; and to the saint, because knowing God in grace, he does not use the truth aright to deepen himself in self knowledge. He has so far forgotten his standing, as to have guile in his spirit, by not being open with God. The statements of the apostle are generally applicable: " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1 John 1). When God is really known as the One who imputeth righteousness without works, any concealment from Him must necessarily produce heaviness of spirit. We cannot come near Him by reason of the concealment; and then conies on coldness. And how often in such a state of uneasiness of soul do we find the fault laid anywhere, even on God Himself, rather than on ourselves for keeping silence When we have been restless in spirit, downcast and unhappy, have we not often been unable to solve the difficulty? Frequently it arises from mortified pride. Our self-esteem has been lowered on discovering some unsuspected sin; as if our blessedness consisted in our character, instead of our having righteousness imputed to us without works. God will not allow us to have confidence in our character, or in our faithfulness to Him, but in His own revealed character and His faithfulness to us. This tendency in the saint to self-righteousness, accounts in very great measure for the misery found in Christians; when in any degree entertaining it in ever so subtle a form, they have departed from the real and only ground of their blessedness. But if there be sin unconfessed, or made light of in confession, or only generally, and not specially confessed, it must induce misery; if God has told out to us all His grace in forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, it is that in the knowledge of this, we may have no concealments, or rather attempts at concealment, from Him. He would have us look at ourselves as we really are, and justify Him in so dealing with us as He has done in the Gospel of His Son.

(Continued from page 74.)

(To be continued, D, V.)

The Divine Harp on Which the Praises of God Are to Be Sounded Forever

Oh Lord, we adore Thee and bless Thee,

That we in Thy hands of might

Are the chords whereupon Thou makest

The music of Thy delight;

Whereon Thou wilt sound forever

In wondrous and glorious tone,

The Name of Thy Son beloved,

His Name alone.

Angels are a witness rendered to the creative power of God. They excel in strength. We see in them creatures kept by God, so that they have not lost their first estate. Angels desire to fathom the wonderful ways of God with regard to man.

It is from the heart of man, descended to the lowest step in the scale of intelligent beings, resembling, alas! the beasts in his desires, Satan in his pride, a weak slave in his passions; strong, or at least proud, in his spirit and in his pretensions; having the knowledge of good and evil, but in a conscience which condemns him; by reason of sufferings, sighing after something better, but incapable of attaining it; having the want of some other world than this material one, but fearful of getting to it; having the feeling that we ought to be in relationship with God, the only Object worthy of an immortal soul, but at an infinite distance from God in his lusts, and animated by such a desire for independence that he is unwilling to admit God to the only place which becomes Him if He is God, and seeks consequently to prove that there is no God; it is from the heart of man, capable of the highest aspirations, with which his pride feeds itself, and of the most degrading lusts with which however his conscience becomes disgusted; it is from the heart of man that God forms the divine harp on which all the harmony of His praises can resound and will resound for evermore!

By the bringing in of grace and the divine power which unfolds itself in a new life communicated to man, and by the manifestation of the Son of God in human nature, fallen man is brought to judge all evil, according to divine affections formed in him by faith, and to enjoy good according to the perfect revelation of good in God Himself manifested in Christ; while man gives God His place with joy, because He is known as a God of love. Man also takes again the place of dependence-.-the only one which is suitable for a creature; but of a dependence which is exercised in the intelligence of all the perfections of God, on which he depends, and depends with joy, as a child on his father, like Christ Himself who has taken this place in order that we may enter into it.

The Grace of the Glory of God

We find that the great aim, all through Scripture, is to connect the soul with God personally. After the fall, it was the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden that accosted Adam; and it was from the presence of the Lord God that Adam hid himself—and so on;—the personal connection of the soul with God is given in how many instances I need not say, until we reach the culminating point of it in the gospel of glory committed to Paul c "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ " (2 Cor. 4:6). Here alone the soul is in true worship. There are other truths and other parts of the testimony for God; dispensational truth; principles, etc., all most important in their place, and valuable as far as they go; but this alone goes the whole way, as it were, and reaches the goal.

I may illustrate what I mean, as to these two lines of truth and testimony, by the prodigal in the Father's house. In order that he might not feel his unsuited condition to the house, the father summoned the servants and directed them to in-rest him with habiliments indicative and assuring of his high position. Very happy and interesting work for the servants this, and of an order which engages many amongst us now; but, however interesting, it does not reach the end of the father's purpose. If the prodigal were only dressed and decorated, and not then conducted into the house of the father, both son and father would have been deprived of the great end of fruition of their reconciliation.

In like manner, in Josh. 5, I have all the preparation for possessing the land; and a skilful servant might educate me earnestly and deeply in one and all of the details, from the circumcision to the corn of the land; but I should lose the real power and conscious title of entree, if I had not seen the Captain of the Lord's Host, and, as an unshod worshipper, known that it is with Him that I take possession. In 2 Cor. 4:6, the apostle has been showing how the reception of the gospel connects us with Christ in glory, as it had thus connected himself at first, when he was taught this gospel, and was enjoined to be a minister and a witness of the things that he had seen. Now it was a glorified Christ that he had seen; therefore, if any one sees not this light which is the ministration of righteousness, it is not salvation merely that he is rejecting,—but the " light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [or person] of Jesus Christ."

I have often felt, that, in preaching or teaching, the Person and presence of the Lord was not the chief point set before the soul. By some the gospel is preached by calling on sinners to present Christ to God as an all-sufficient atonement for their sins; others, more enlightened, proclaim the love of God declared in His Son giving eternal life to every believer. But both these fall short of the presentation of God establishing righteousness in His own Son, and through Him; leading the believing prodigal to His own House, and nearness to Himself forever, in full and unbroken joy to both. In the two former, though the gain of the sinner be largely insisted on, God's satisfaction—His gain, we may say in His joy—is not entered on at all. We little comprehend the gospel of the glory of Christ disclosed to Saul of Tarsus, who from thence became the witness of the things that he had seen.. The glory of God became the starting point of the sinner; as it was also the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Under the law, there were sacrifices, which, however, never saved the transgressors of the law from legal penalties. The gospel preached, even nowadays, is more the presentation of the sacrifice, proclaimed, I admit, as all-sufficient and satisfactory, and the call on sinners is to approach it; but this is not presenting to faith God's salvation, because to Him the sacrifice is full and endlessly satisfactory; Has satisfaction being the great subject-matter presented to faith. The reception of the Prodigal, great as was his rescue, does not derive its chief excellence from the completeness of his safety and the greatness of his deliverance, but from his happy and welcomed nearness to the Father.

We want a gospel which connects us with the presence of God in His joy; and we want an education in His word, which would connect us with our Lord personally as the living Transcript of the mind of God.

God's Precious Things

Our common moral sense of God will tell us that holiness and righteousness must be precious with Him: " Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord., forever" (Psa. 93:5). Purity and truth, and the maintenance of all the cares of order and integrity, must be infinitely according to Him. The conscience will bear this witness.

Faith knows that His grace is precious with Him. Faith knows that well. He delighteth in mercy. The gospel provides joy for the Divine mind. Faith understands this about God beyond. the thoughts of the conscience or the moral sense that is in us.

The Gospel is the Gospel of the blessed (or happy) God (1 Tim. 1:11). In the eyes of the Lord the feet of the preachers of it on the mountains are beautiful; and in the eyes of the Lord the garments, the mystic garments of the priests, the ministers of it, in the temple are beautiful—"Glory and beauty" (Rom. 10:15; Ex. 28:2; Heb. 2:7)

The Divine mind is thus disclosed to us. We apprehend it, thus far, with certainty. A meek

and quiet spirit is, with the Lord, of great price (1 Peter 3:4). There is also richest joy before Him in heaven in. the grace that welcomes a lost and returned sinner (Luke 15:7,10).

But, I ask, are not His counsels dear to Him? Are not the events of his bosom dear to Him?

The maintenance of righteousness and of godly order is of price to Him. The exercise of grace is joy to Him. Is not the purpose of His wisdom and the secret of His bosom alike dear to Him? Must it not be so? It cannot but be so. In the zeal of enforcing what is right, and in the publishing what is gracious, we may overlook this. Is it so that the Church was a peculiar bosom secret of God before the world was-a mystery kept secret from ages and generations but "hid in God"? (Eph. 3:4,5,9-12; Col. 1:24-26). And can we not give such a thing a place among the things that are precious with Him?

Let us ask the Spirit that so fervently moves the apostle in such a chapter as Eph. 1, whether the hope" and the " calling," which he there prays that the saints may discover and know, be of great price with God. Would He have the knowledge of it, so important with the saints, were it not high and dear in the thoughts of the mind of Christ?

The Church, as one has observed, opens and clears the volume. We have it shadowed in the man and woman of the Garden of Eden. We have it signalized in the Holy Jerusalem at the very close of the Apocalypse.

It is when the Spirit of Christ in I)avid had for a moment rapidly touched or awakened the mystery, that the worshipper exclaims, " How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!" (Psa. 139)

It cannot but be so, though our moral judgment or our conscience, and again our common evangelic faith, do not so quickly reach it. We know, as we have said, that godliness is precious with, Him. But again, I ask, are not His own eternal counsels, the secrets of His bosom, precious with Him?

Known unto Him are all His works from the foundation of the world. Redemption was no after-thought with Him. He planned it all. All passed in bright review before Him when as yet there was none of them. And all was precious. And the mystery of the Church that has given a body to Christ, and a partner in glory to the Son of His love, lay there the deepest, because the dearest, in the bosom of sovereign and eternal. counsels.

Righteousness Without Works: Part 3

Fourthly, " I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confess my trangressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."

What relief is here-full immediate relief; the sense of forgiveness accompanying the very act ofconfession. Silence was broken by confession —no longer is effort made at concealment. The very One whose hand was felt to be so heavy, is the One to whom the heart is opened and poured out; " I acknowledged my sin unto Thee. I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord." There is no " creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do " (Heb. 4:13). It is a solemn thought that we have to do with God; and when once this truth gets fast hold on the conscience, the effort at concealment from Him produces the exquisite misery described in the two preceding verses. Confession gives relief, because it at once puts us in the actual place of having to do with God. It practically acknowledges that all things are naked and opened unto His eyes, that He is the rightful and truthful Judge, that what His word says of the evil of our hearts is true. Then is God justified by confession. This is true if God were regarded only in the character of a Judge. But how much more is God justified, when confession is made, under the sense of His love as known in the Gospel of His grace. There is it deepest, and fullest, and most truthful; then the forgiveness of the iniquity of transgression, beads the same heart and lips which have confessed unto sin, to make confession unto salvation. And in this we find the deepestelements of the character of the saint. He had before but one subject of thought and study; that was himself: he has now another, the Christ of God. Has he to speak of the first, it is the language of confession, ever deepening as he advances in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ; but is he in his proper and happier element, has he to speak of Christ-it is to confess Him as all his salvation and all his desire. How 'happily do confession and praise unite; happily because truthfully; no language is sufficient to express the real degradation of a sinner; no language sufficient to tell out the grace and glories of the Savior. And when confession and praise are so united, what fervency they give toprayer and intercession.

Now, I doubt not that a great deal of the trial of spirit to which saints are subject arises from their not exercising themselves in self-judgment and confession, under shelter of the blessed truth of ''righteousness without works." It is the right apprehension of this blessed truth which puts us in the place of self-judgment—a place exceedingly high and wonderful. If God, the Judge of all, has become the Justifier of those who believe in Jesus, is it that they shall make light of sin? Far from it; it is that they may judge themselves. The blood of Jesus gives us access into the holiest; there we are in the light; there we are in the privileged place where Israel's High Priest could only enter once in theyear, but which is ever open to us by Jesus, our great High Priest. Entering into the very presence of God, with unshod feet consciously touching the sand of the desert-there it is we address ourselves to one part of our priestly ministry, self-judgment, separating between the precious and the vile; judging between things that differ. We are in the light, and the light in which we are detects that which is inconsistent with itself; and we could not stand there, unless under the shelter of that very blood which has introduced us there; and we learn there more and more the value of that precious blood. We have found in it remission of sins-it has washed us, and keeps us clean. Now, I believe " the uprightness of heart" mentioned in the last verse of this Psalm to be very intimately connected with self-judgment; for this eventually turns us back on the blessedness announced in the Psalm, that the very evil which we have only now detected God doth not impute to us-God has covered it. It is thus that the heart is kept humble, and the conscience tender and lively. I believe the uprightness and honesty of confession which may have been manifested at conversion, is frequently impaired from neglect of self-judgment before God. A saint may become too solicitous about his own character in the eyes of his fellow-saints, or of the world, and thus unconsciously be led to act a part, instead of getting his life strengthened from the Spring and Source of life. There was a truthfulness in the exercise of heart which led first to Christ, but this is impaired when the maintenance of our character becomes our object, instead of Christ. Now, by self-judgment truthfulness is maintained, and our need of Christ in new and various ways becomes manifest. Let the exercise of soul be ever so personally humbling, yet if it leads to Christ, it leads to a larger apprehension of the blessedness declared in this, Psalm: we are really strengthened. At times I marvel at the grace of God in permitting us to judge ourselves. He can never give up His title as ''Judge of all; " we have come to Him as such (Heb. 12:23), but so completely has He, by His grace, justified us through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, that He would have us arraign ourselves before the judgment-seat, and be the judges of our own selves. The right apprehension of standing in complete' righteousness before God in Christ can alone qualify us for this. Self-judgment may have been carried on by us in our ignorance on a different principle-viz., seeking to find some ground in ourselves for acceptance with God. But now it is to search and see how just and holy is the way of God in dealing with us, so as to make us debtors alone to grace, and yet this very grace reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ; since redemption displays the holiness, justice and truth of God in strict accordance with His mercy.

There are three characters of judgment with which the saint has to do—self-judgment—the judgment of the church—the judgment of the Lord. These are very distinct in their character. Attention to the first necessarily precludes an individual from falling under the judgment of the church,, whose province is to judge those within, while those who are without God judgeth (1 Cor. 5:12,13,) The failure of the church to exercise judgment, it its own proper province, on overt acts of evil-such as occurred at Corinth-brings on the judgment of the Lord in some outward and manifest form. " For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (1 Cot, 11:30). It is equally the province of the church to judge the doctrine of those within. The Lord had it againstThyatira-that Jezebel, which called herself a prophetess, was suffered to teach her seducing doctrine. And the Lord must judge in this case also, if the church tolerates evil doctrine. But the Judgment of the Lord is ever supreme, and we are always, individually and collectively, amenable to it. Self-judgment, indeed, would prevent us, as individuals, from falling under the Lord's judgment in a marked and manifest manner: " If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged,. but. when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:31,32). The rod for willful disobedience need not be applied, because self-judgment would prevent such outbreaks, the principle of which would have been secretly judged. But although the judgment of the Lord, in the shape of presentpunishment, would thus be avoided, this does not interfere with the general truth, that '' whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth " (Heb. 12:6). The difference of the Lord's dealing, even where there might be outward sorrow, would be very apprehensible to the conscience of those who came under it. To the soul exercised in self-judgment it would readily be interpreted as the interference of love, the wisdom of which would be discerned. To the careless saint it would be felt as punishment, and regarded as a warning to bring him to a sense of his actual condition. Nor must we forget how much the needed discipline of the Lord is preventive; and this, too, is learned in self-judgment, in the holiest of all. The " thorn in the flesh" might have been interpreted by the apostle very differently from what the Lord intended, had his soul been unexercised before God about it: " Lest should be exalted above measure " (2 Cor. 12). He had not been so exalted:; but there was the unsuspected danger and tendency to be guarded against; and this the apostle discovered, not by revelation, but by exercise of soul before the Lord. And have we not all had occasion, not only to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God for something positively wrong in our ways, but also to justify His love and wisdom in some special discipline the preventive character of which has been taught to us by Himself in the holiest of all? I feel increasingly the importance of deep searching self-judgment, under the shelter of the blessed oracle: " Transgression forgiven-sin covered-iniquity not imputed." I say not that we are always able to interpret the Lord's dealings with us, but I believe self-judgment as to the springs of evil, leading to confession before God, to be the means of attaining this interpretation. God is always right -a simple but deeply practical truth. We put God in the right by confession; and we not only get relief, but we actually learn that God is right, and understand His ways.. O if saints did know the toilsome process of self-vindication, and instead of justifying themselves were to justify God, what sorrow would they avoid. And it betrays so much want of confidence in God to be anxious to vindicate ourselves; as if, after all, it was our own character, and not His grace, which was the real power of blessing. I think we see- the design of the apostle in using the word " discern," not simply judge (in the Greek, 1 Cor. 11: 31). If we would " discern " ourselves, we should not be judged. Self-discernment, getting a positive insight into the real moving springs of the activity of the flesh. Who can bear to look too closely into it, unless he know the blessed truth that God had judged the flesh in the cross of Christ:” Our old man has been crucified with Him " (Rom. 6.. 6). The new evil which. we discern in it God had seen from the beginning, and allows us now to see., that we may justify Him in His. total judgment of it. The flesh cannot discern itself-it cannot stand before God. It is by the power of life, communicated directly from. Christ, brought into this exercise by the Holy Ghost Himself, that we thus. discern ourselves; and this in the immediate-presence of God Himself. " The natural man. receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned.

“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things " (1 Cor. 2:14, 15). It is a human aphorism that “ the proper study of mankind is man," but deeply fallacious. Man knows not himself by studying himself, but by studying God: " This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou past sent "(John 17:3). It is by this divine science that man really knows himself; not by measuring himself by himself (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12), but by measuring himself by God-by God as He is revealed in and through Christ. And I have often thought that the annals of history dark as they are, or the record of crime black as it is, would not together present such a picture of the depravity of man, as would the secret confessions of saints to God, if they were laid open to us as they are to Him. Nothing but the consciousness of complete justification could ever embolden the saint to confess before God those secret springs of evil which he detects when judging himself immediately in the presence of God. We wonder not at the most devoted saint speaking of himself as the chief of sinners.

"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely, in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." It is indeed a blessed encouragement to the soul to be assured that there is nothing we may not tell God. He has done everything to win our confidence, even delivering His " Son for our offenses, and raising Him again for our justification." And it is by confession that we practically maintain our confidence in Him. It is because of the connection between confession and forgiveness that every one that is godly can pray unto God in a time when He may be found. If sin fresh discovered in ourselves need not bar access to God—if He does not hide Himself away from us, but is always to be found—what can hinder? And, practically, what does hinder intercourse with God? It is not God Himself. It is not that either a sacrifice or a Priest are to be sought—all is ready. But the unreadiness is in ourselves. There the real hindrance is to be found. We often try anything rather than the right thing. We may become more diligent in outward service-more regular in outward worship —more keen in judging the evil of others—when the one thing needful is confession. It is indeed a bad state of soul, when things most blessed in their place are used by us to interrupt our intercourse with God. God requires truth in the inward parts; and if there be alienation of heart from God, the restoration must be truthful. God must be justified, no blame must be laid on Him, all must be taken on ourselves; and this is just what confession does. He who is godly must regard God as the only justifier, and must know Him, even when we have to go before Him with the confession of iniquity. And is it not in this way that we foil Satan as the accuser? If there be readiness of confession, is there not the consciousness that it is God who justifieth? Who, then, can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That which the accuser would lay to their charge they have already laid to their own charge before God—and it is forgiven. It is thus, by experience, that the exercised soul knows God Himself as its hiding-place—" Thou art my hiding-place." There may be many ways in which the blessedness of faith in Jesus may be experienced; but I question if any way is more vivid than the difference between hiding ourselves away from God, as Adam did in thegarden after he had sinned, and hiding ourselves in God. What a thought it is, that God should present Himself, as He does in the Gospel of His grace, as the only refuge for a sinner; as the alone One who is able to take his part, and can effectually take his part. Is not this one blessed aspect of the glory of God? He makes all His goodness to pass before us, and proclaims His own name as just, yet the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus-the only God-because He is a just God and a Savior; and has thus given His challenge that there is no God beside Him; because He is a Savior God. There is a refuge from the accusations of Satan—from the frowns of the world—from that which is more bitter than either, self-condemnation; and this refuge is in God Himself. He has laid Himself out to us as the Depository of our every woe, the Sympathizer with our every care, the One who pitieth every infirmity, the patient Listener to every complaint we have to make against ourselves. Ail this is learned under the knowledge of the blessedness of the truth of " Righteousness without works; " yea, is comprised in that blessedness, It is confidence in this divine way of righteousness which emboldens us to say, "Thou shalt preserve me from trouble." And is any trouble equal to soul trouble? How few are able to take the honorable place of suffering either for Jesus, or for righteousness' sake I such may rightfully rejoice. But spirit-broken, heartsick, self-weary, whither can we go? God is our hiding-place; He " comforteth those that are cast down; " He is "the Father of mercies (pitifulnesses) and the God of all comforts." (2 Cor. 7:6; 1:3); He can make us rejoice out, of our sorrow. And surely it is not right for the song of redemption to be sung once only on the shore of the Red Sea, and then the notes of praise to die away, and to be succeeded by murmurings. Alas, it is often so practically; the joy of conversion is frequently followed by murmuring and complaining. The beginning of our confidence is not held fast. The truth of the blessedness of God's imputing righteousness without works is let slip, as though we no longer needed it. Saints have to learn to justify the wisdom of God in redemption in all its fullness, by learning, in the progress of their own experience, that nothing short of it would meet their need. We do not, as we might expect, find saints singing the new song, new and ever varied, yet in substance the same. And wherefore? Because grace alone can he the ground work of our song; and if the heart be not established in grace, we have no heart for song. But when a saint goes on under the shelter of the blessedness of " righteousness without works," learning it as he goes on his way, how frequent the boast of thanksgiving—" Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." There is a "singing and making melody in the heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19); and this not publicly, but privately in the closet. For great, unquestionably, as is the transition from darkness to light, by faith in Christ Jesus, at the outset, yet, what is the experience of the saint afterward? Is it not constant deliverances? " He that is our God is the God of salvations " (Psa. 68:20). It is a happy school into which we are brought to learn God in the character in which He has revealed Himself to us. The history of each individual saint will tell out the same truth-that where "sin abounded grace has superabounded;" and the end of each saint individually will show forth the same truth as the church collectively, "to the praise of the glory of His grace." O that we may be honest and upright in heart with God, and then the marking His ways will issue in frequent songs of deliverance.

(Continued from page 100.)

(To be continued, D. V.)

The Lord Jesus in John 1:43 to John 2:25

The Lord may be traced in this scripture, as One who ranges, if I may so express it, through different regions of divine glory, in the calm and perfect sense of this, that they all belong to Him, and are fully and properly Ha own.

In His intercourse with Nathaniel, the Lord Jesus shows Himself to be the One who touches the deep springs that are in man, conversing in power with the spirits of all flesh, re-making man also, re-creating him after His own mind, and stamping a new character upon him, as for eternity. He lets this Israelite know, that He had been with him under the fig-tree, ere Philip had called him, and that He was there with him, remodeling his mind and character, giving him, as it were, a new condition of being, making him, according to the divine oracle in Psa. 32, " an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile."

It was the Spirit of God that alone could thus converse with Nathaniel's soul, and form him anew, as was done under the fig-tree. And thus it is, that Jesus here rises on the conscience of that Israelite in the glory of God; and under the weight and sense of that 'glory he worships Him.

This is a very wondrous moment. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus, the power which Jesus uses in divine sovereign grace. The Lord Jesus is before us here, as the Jehovah of the day of Gideon. Jehovah addressed Gideon according to His own counsel about him, or as such an one as His own Spirit was making Him. '' Thou mighty man of valor," says the Lord to Gideon, though at that time he was hut a poor man of Manasseh, threshing wheat in his father's threshing floor at Ophrah. But, in the counsel of God, and by the energy of the Spirit, Gideon was the leader of the host of Israel against Midian; and the angel spoke in divine intelligence to him, or as the One who knew the purpose of God respecting him. So is it here. Jesus addressed Nathaniel, as Nathaniel was under the operation of the Holy Ghost, imparting to him the character of a guileless Israelite. This operation had been going on with Nathaniel in the solitude of the fig-tree, and that operation Jesus was divinely acquainted with.

Jesus was thus visiting the soul as God alone can visit it. He was touching the very springs within, and forming man after anew model. And in this most blessed and wondrous way, we track Jesus through one peculiar region of divine glory, and see Him there, in the power of His own Spirit, doing divine work.. And He is there, as at home, as One who had the title to be there, without wrong or robbery. For what, I may ask, of divine prerogative is not His? What region of divine power may He not survey and measure as His own? Be they deep or high, be they where the Spirit of God alone can work, or be they where the finger of God alone can work, where the strength of God alone can be felt, or the wisdom of God alone can enter, Jesus will occupy them all, as all His own. And thus we find Him, as we pass on through this fine scripture.

There was a marriage in Cana, and Jesus is invited. He goes-and He is there in His despised, rejected form, as among men. Man has objects worthier of his regard, and Jesus is nobody in the presence of the bridegroom, and the guests, and the governor of the feast. But, though the world knew Him not, it was made by Him. And accordingly, He touches the springs of nature here, as afore, in the person of Nathaniel, He had touched the spirits of men. He re-creates, He reforms, the material found in the kingdom around, as He had already done with the materials found in the kingdom within. He turns the water into wine, at this marriage feast in Cana.

This was what the finger of God that once garnished the heavens, alone could do-the voice of God that once said, " Let there be light, and there was light." But in this, Jesus is seen in another region. He is God still, but God acting in another place or sphere of power, in the kingdom, of nature, and not in the secret place of the spirits of all flesh. But it is the same unspeakably blessed God of glory that we track, whether here or there, and Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Stranger on earth, Jesus the Guest of the marriage at Cana, is He.

But do we, I ask, delight to see the Lord Jesus thus traversing regions where God alone could find and know His way? Is this sight of His glories grateful to us? With all the grace which the thick veil of His humiliation casts over it, our spirits should have the same communion with the person of Jesus as with the presence of God. For it is God, though manifest in the flesh, we know in Him-and faith, therefore, worships. Man He was in deepest, fullest verity; of flesh and blood partaker; but He was the Word made flesh. And there is no region of the divine glory that He does not tread in the calm, assured power, and conscious right, which alone befit that only One to whom they all belong.

But, again, He purifies the Temple, His Father's house. But He does this as the God of the Temple: " Destroy this temple, and in three days will raise it up." This was building houses as God alone could build them: " Every house is builded of some man, but He that built all things is God." To build by creation, or by resurrection, as here, is divine architecture, and Jesus is a divine Builder: " He spake of the temple of His body."

He had touched, as we saw, the springs of the spirit of man, and of nature, and now He touches the very sources or foundations of the power of death. And this is another region which belongs to God -part of His dominions. And Jesus, after this 'manner, as we still track Him through this scripture, is still God, God in the mighty strength of 'God down in the place of death, as before 'He had ',been God with the voice or finger of God abroad in the realm of nature, or with the Spirit of God, in the place of the spirits of all flesh. "In John's Gospel," as one has said, ''Jesus is God come down from heaven." Nature is not too wide a region for Him, the spirit of man that is in him is not too secret a region for Him, or death and the grave too deep or profound or mighty a region. He visits each and all of them in divine grace, divine power, or divine triumph, and leaves everywhere the same witness that God Himself had been there.

We have, however, another path of the glory of Christ, still to follow in this scripture.

He had been doing miracles; and it is said, "Many believed on Him when they saw the miracles that He did "-but then it is added, "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men,, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man."

Here is God again. '' The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart."

Jesus did not know man, or the springs or energies of corrupt nature, by reason of any fellowship with them, for He had no such fellowship. The prince of this world had nothing in Him. He was " that holy thing "-" holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." But still, as this passage tells us, " He knew what was in man." He knew it all, and that it was deceitful above all things. He searched the hearts and tried the reins of the children of men. He knew all men, not one more than another, but he tried the reins; He knew what was in man. He, who by His prophet, had long ago declared that man was deceitful above all things, now (when He stood in the midst of men) "would not commit Himself unto them."

This was divine acquaintance with man. This was full, radical, perfect understanding of man,. after the manner of the divine mind. Jesus was God in His knowledge of man. What Jehovah declared Himself to be by His prophet, Jesus is now declared to be by the evangelist. Jesus knew nothing of revolted man, or of the heart's corruption by sympathy, but He knew it all as God, who searches the heart and tries the reins of the children of men, to give every man according to his ways; as He does here; for He denies man His confidence, as "deceitful above all things," and thus, according to his ways, unworthy of that confidence.

Here again, then, the Lord Jesus takes the way of God, and ranges again through another region that belongs only to God.

We see Him thus, beloved. God He is, where-ever God may be known or tracked. God, en the place of the spirits of all flesh; God, in the kingdom of nature; God, in victor-strength over death and the grave; God, as searching the hearts and reins of the children of men.

Jesus is there where God alone could be; there, in all the settled ease and certainty of One who knew those regions as His own. In grace unutterable He has known the homestead of the human family, and been an inhabitant of the village of Nazareth-the Son of man, He has lived and walked with the children of men, eaten of their bread and drunk of their cup, known their toils and their sorrows in all their reality, and at their hand suffered reproach and rejection and death, but He was equally at home where the Spirit of God alone could work, and where the voice of God alone could be heard and command, where the strength of God alone could prevail, and where the light or knowledge of God alone could enter and search.

He ranges all the dominions of God, and is no trespasser. There is no robbery of a glory that is another's; it is His own. He is the Former of light, the Creator of the ends of the earth; the One who touches the springs of nature, and they come forth in forms such as His fingers fashion and His voice commands.

This is so; and we can track it all here in this scripture, without doubt or difficulty. But in the midst of all this, there is a thing betrayed, though incidentally, which, in hope of further profit, I will notice.

The Mother, in a general sense, knew the glory and power of the Lord, but she knew not the season or the moral order of that glory; and this is, wherever it appears, a great evil. She said to Him at the feast, "they have no wine," desirous that He should display Himself. She was as one that said, "chew thyself to the world " (chap. 7:4). But she greatly erred. His time for this had not come. He will, indeed, manifest His power in the souls of His elect now; He will, by His Spirit, visit Nathaniel under the fig-tree; He will re-create a sinner, and give him a new character for eternity; and He will own such chosen ones, and know them, and address them in their new place, and read out to them, as it were, the writing that is written of them in the Book of Life, as here in His earliest welcome of the man of Cana. He will do all this now; but He will not as yet shine in a glory that the world can appreciate. "My time," says He, " is not yet come." The Mother, therefore, did greatly err. A common error, and never more common than in this day in which we live. " Show us a sign from heaven," was the craving of hearts that knew not the Christ, the Son of God, because the god of this world had blinded their eyes. But Jesus gave them another kind of sign altogether, "the sign of Jonas the prophet." He must be known in humiliation in such a world as this, if known aright. The Mother took the place and part of the world in this suggestion, ''they have no wine," and she is rebuked. " Woman, what have I to do with thee?" Her worldly-mindedness is rebuked. Jesus could have no sympathy with it.

Not only, however, is she rebuked, she fails also, to see the glory that the Lord will display; and this has great meaning in it for us.

He makes the water wine. He supplies the table as the divine Lord, or Creator, of the feast. But the governor of the feast knew nothing of this, the bridegroom knew nothing of it, the guests. knew nothing of it, the Mother was not in the secret or the vision of it; it was only the servants who had this secret in the midst of them, and the disciples who had this manifestation of glory made to them.

All this has great meaning in it for us. The Mother lost, in spirit, what she had, in the mind of the world sought after. And so with us. As far as we are, in spirit, one with the world, so far must we be left without discoveries of the glory of the Son of God, or communion with Him. For He is not of the world; His time for manifestation is not yet come; it must be judged and re-fashioned, ere that can be. And according to the moral of such a truth as that, the Mother, on this occasion, is rebuked, and is left without the manifestation of that glory in which the Son could shine and did shine. Those, and those only, who were in the due place, the servants and the disciples, are let into the secret and get the vision; for they filled, morally, the very opposite place of the Mother. She was of the world, but they are nobody in the scene. The governor of the feast had his dignity, the bridegroom his joy, the guests their good cheer, and the Mother a mother's vanity and expectations; but the servants and the disciples are nothing, and seek for nothing beyond what service or discipleship called them to, and they learn the secret of His power, and behold the manifestation of His glory.

What a lesson for us in the midst of these discoveries of Him that was " God manifest in the flesh! " We must awake, we that are sleeping with the world, if we would get more of “ the light of the Lord."

Righteousness Without Works: Part 4

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." Under the blessedness of transgression forgiven, sin covered, and iniquity not imputed, comes in a new order of guidance; the guidance of the eye of Him who has justified us freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

When it pleased Jehovah to redeem Israel out of Egypt He Himself became their Guide. Israel needed guidance; and Jehovah went before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. He thus went before them to search out a resting place for them in the wilderness: They pitched or struck their tents at the moving or settling of the Pillar of the cloud. "The cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys " (Ex. 40:38). This surely was blessed guidance-in strict keeping with the character of redemption then manifested—a shadow of a deeper reality—but it was not intelligent guidance. There was no communion of soul with Jehovah needed to apprehend this guidance: ''the cloud of the Lord was in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys."

But now the very end of redemption is to bring us into communion with the thoughts and ways of God, and such a guidance would not be suitable to our standing: "The servant knoweth not what his master doeth" (John 15:15). He goes and comes at his bidding, but he knows not the reason of either. Such a character of obedience would not suit those who know the blessedness of transgression forgiven, and are thereby admitted into the very thoughts and counsels of God. " We have the mind of Christ" '(1 Cor. 2:16). The obedience now suitable is intelligent obedience: " Understanding what the will of the Lord is "—" Proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Eph. 5:17; Rom. 12:2). Now just in proportion as the guidance is of a higher order, so is it more difficult; and there is ever a readiness in us from this very difficulty, to take the lower order of providential guidance, instead of the guidance of the eye. The " Directorship " practiced in the Romish church, may as readily be accounted for, on the principle of being a relief from the exercise of conscience before God, as on the principle of priestly domination. It is far more congenial to the natural heart to have the conscience kept by another, than to have it exercised before God. And the plea of infallibility has a charm in it, because it saves us the trouble of judging before God, what is truth, and what is error-what is right and what is wrong. If the real power against the fundamental doctrine of Popery is found alone in the doctrine of "righteousness without works," the practical use of this truth in leading our souls into habitual intercourse with God, is the alone preservative from the principle of " directorship." It is not the guidance of the eye of God, when we follow an individual Christian, or a congregation of Christians. The provision of God in the blessed truth of righteousness without works, is that the conscience of each individual should be in direct connection with Himself.And is there any instance on record where even Christian legislation for the Church has not trenched on God's prerogative, of having to do with the consciences of individuals. Apostolic authority dare not come in between God and the conscience. I utterly repudiate the idea of each man doing what is right in his own eyes, but I do most strenuously assert the truth of God's right to have to do with the conscience; and of the believer's privilege, I say not duty, to have his conscience exercised before God. " Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin " (Rom. 14:5,23). And is it not the necessary fault of every establishment, that it arrogates to itself the right to settle those things which God has left to be settled before Him. And thus the very obedience of saints is regulated not by God, but by the convention of the religious Society to which they belong. We are members of one body, and members one of another; and our healthful corporate action must be hindered, if we leave out the important truth, that we are members of Christ. How needed is intercourse with God to guide the conduct of a saint. And is it not for neglect of this that we bring much discipline on ourselves? God will have His way with us. But how often are we as the horse and mule, which have no understanding: not understanding the will of God because we study not the guidance of His eye. We are led by circumstances, and not by the Spirit. We walk in a large place when we walk before the Lord; but how apt are we to turn each one to his own way, and God has His bit and bridle for us. This He is wont to use for His enemies: “Because thy rage against Me, and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest " (Is. 37:29). And how constantly do we as His saints, to our shame be it spoken, need the bit and bridle to turn us back by the way we have come. Who is there who has not to confess that the right path has been reached by painful and humbling discipline, which would have been readily found had heed been given to the guidance of the eye. Amidst the manifold proofs of present conscious weakness, this appears to me very prominent, the little confidence which the saints have of spiritual guidance in their several paths. They walk not as those consciously led of the Spirit. Among many, indeed, such guidance is not acknowledged even as a principle; providential guidance, if so it may be called '(for providential control over circumstances, or even our own waywardness, can hardly be called guidance), is alone regarded. But where the principle of intelligent spiritual guidance is maintained as the privilege of the saint, how readily do we take hold of providential ordering as our ground of action. Hence we tread uncertainly: or we follow the steps of others; but this is walking by sight and not by faith. This arises from the habit of only using our blessedness as a shelter, and not as that which introduces us into the presence of God. It is a beautiful description of the Thessalonians, that their "work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ," was "in the sight of God and our Father."

To Israel God shewed His acts, but He made His ways known to Moses, the one with whom He conversed familiarly, as a man talked with his friend (Psa. 103:7; Ex. 33:11). Surely God has by His grace introduced us into intimacy with Himself that we too might know His ways. " Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."

Nothing can be more hollow than the mere conventional righteousness of men; it is based on human convenience or selfishness; without any regard to the holiness of God at all. It is simply character as man estimates character, the most fatal hindrance to the reception of the truth " How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor which cometh from God only" (John 5:44). And so strongly does this regard for character act, that even when the judgment is convinced of the truth of God, man is too cowardly to avow his conviction: " Nevertheless among the chief rulers also, many believed. on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God " (John 12:42,43). There is one way in which we find the word of God frequently detecting this hollowness, and that is, by the remarkable contrasts which it draws: “Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved;. But he that doeth the truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God " (John 3:20,21). Here the human contrast to doing evil, would be doing good; but that would simply be man's estimate of himself, by comparing himself with his fellow men; but God contrasts man with himself, and " he that doeth truth " forms his estimate of himself from God. This is the thing needed. The light lays man open to himself as he is; naked and open before God. So again, God will send strong delusion on many to believe a lie, because they loved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thes. 2:11, 12) And here in the Psalm before us we find “the wicked " contrasted with him " that trusteth in the Lord."

And surely the wicked is he who " hath not submitted himself unto the righteousness of God " (Rom. 10:3),-the one who will not submit to be saved as a sinner by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24), but seeks for righteousness in some other way. To trust in the Lord—how simple, yet how sure—how honoring to God, and yet how happy for ourselves—to give Him credit for having all in Himself which we find not in ourselves-to go out of ourselves for everything, and to find every craving answered in Christ. God knows our need as sinners, and He has provided for that need in Christ. Yes, “We are the circumcision, which worship God in (' by') the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3). Such have obtained mercy —such know their need of it. "God is rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4)—He is able not only to add mercy to mercy, but to multiply mercy; yea, to surround them with mercy; or, as it is beautifully expressed in another translation of the Psalms, " mercy embraceth him on every side." This is our truthful place. If we look back, it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5). And it is "according to His mercy " that He still deals with us; there will be discipline and correction by the way, because it is for our profit; but God's rule of dealing with us is according to that which is in Himself,—" His mercy." And if we look forward, does the thought arise of glory, as connected with our faithfulness or service?—and the thought does arise sometimes to dispirit, and sometimes to set us on a wrong ground of service—how suitable the word, "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21). We have earned no title to glory. Glory shall come to us in the shape of mercy. God will “make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He hath afore prepared unto glory “(Rom. 9:23). When Israel came into possession of houses full of all good things which they filled not, and wells digged which they digged not, vineyards and olive trees which they planted not-then the danger was of their forgetting the Lord (Deut. 6:10-12), and assuming that as their own right for which they were merely debtors to the grace of God. This is too true a picture of our own hearts. We take as a right that for which we are debtors to mercy alone. We rejoice in the blessing which we have reached by trusting in the Lord; and then we trust in the blessing and forget the Lord. We only and always stand in grace, we live by faith, we stand by faith, we are constant debtors to mercy; and in glory we shall know ourselves eternal debtors to mercy. And a great part of our most humbling discipline is designed to keep us in our right and no less blessed standing. " He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall, compass him about."

It is interesting to follow the line of thought of the Spirit of God—if the expression may be allowed —to see the connection between one part of His utterance and another. It is of great advantage to have a solid substratum of Christian doctrine, such as we frequently find in the Protestant confessions of faith. But this, however valuable to detect error and to prevent headiness and high-mindedness, does not meet the need of the soul. The soul is not satisfied with an accurate theory; it needs the truth to be applied in its wondrous variety. In this Psalm the Spirit of God is not treating a subject, but rather carrying out into its blessed results the oracle with which the Psalm commences. The “righteous" are not previously mentioned in the Psalm; and if we were to take our own thought of righteous, instead of the thought of the Spirit, we should sadly mistake. But the comment of the Holy Ghost Himself, by the mouth of His apostle in Rom. 4, immediately leads us to connect the last verse of the Psalm with the first verse, and to identify the righteous here spoken of with those whose blessedness is declared in the oracle with which this Psalm commences. And thus, too, we see that the Holy Ghost, throughout the Psalm, is describing the blessedness of those to whom God imputes "righteousness without works;” and closes all, with calling on such to "be glad in the Lord and rejoice." Just as, by the apostle, He says, "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4). There is a time coming when "all the earth” will be called upon to " rejoice before the Lord," even after He shall have made known His salvation, and after His righteousness shall have been openly shown to the heathen (Psa. 98). But we wait not for circumstances. Knowing the Lord, we can and ought to rejoice. And wherefore is it that others judge, through us, of the Gospel, as though it were a system of privation and renunciation, instead of one of the richest acquirements? Is it not that we try to be glad in ourselves, or in circumstances, instead of in the Lord?-and thus we are subject to much variableness, instead of living by faith in the Son of God; learning what He is of God made unto us: and what we are, and what we have, in Him. In the most truthful confession before God of what we are, we can still “rejoice in the Lord." Before He shows Himself publicly—before He manifests in glory to the eyes of all what the sons of God really are (Rom. 8:9)—believing, we can rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. And wherefore our deplorable lack of such joy? Is it not that we fail in discerning and carrying out the blessedness of "righteousness without works?" We do not know it experimentally; we do not see its moral beauty; it does not shine with increasing luster on our souls;—because they are not exercised as they should be before God. We are, somehow or other, more occupied with that which displays us before men, than that which displays God to us. Hence, we drink not at the Spring Head of joy. Oh that we could practically tell out to others that God Himself had made us happy, that we "joy in God" (Rom. 5:11).

And again, the upright in heart are connected with the blessedness declared in the first verses of this Psalm. We read of one whose " heart was not right in the sight of God "(Acts 8:21)'. He had the base thought—"that the gift of God` might be purchased with money." Now, no real Christian can entertain the thought that such a gift as Simon coveted is purchasable by money. But the base thought is in our hearts, to earn something from God, and this hinders uprightness of heart: Surely, uprightness of heart is to maintain our character before God as sinners saved by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and to carry with us that character before men. If we forget what we are in ourselves, or what grace has made us to be in Christ, we are not upright in heart. It is blessed, indeed, not, to have a part to act before God (for such is human religion), but to go before Him in the character which He has given to us, in the righteousness with which He Himself hath clothed us. To be upright in heart is not to draw a line between religions and other duties, but to come to the light to learn ourselves, and learn the glory of God in His grace. Where there is human sincerity and human uprightness and conscientiousness, it cannot perhaps well be said that there is hypocrisy; but, such natural uprightness is apart from God, and may exist, and has existed, where God has not been known or revealed. But now light has come into the world. Men may know their real character in the estimate of God. And the condemnation is, that he '' cometh not to the light" (John 3:20). And before God all will be found hypocrites—that is, acting a character—save those who, coming to the light, and learning what they are in God's judgment, have sheltered themselves under the blessedness of " righteousness without works." Such are upright in heart; in their spirit is no guile. They may "shout for joy."

(Concluded from page 120.)

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Approach to and Delight in God

I am not sure that I have sufficiently distinguished in the following article between the atonement and the sprinkling on the altar of incense. The blood of the bullock was sprinkled on the mercy seat for Aaron and his sons-the heavenly saints'; the blood of the goat also. This made an atonement for himself and for the holy place, and for the tabernacle of the congregation. He was alone within in doing it; the congregation of Israel being in view also, for God must have been glorified in order to bless them. Then he went out and sprinkled the altar of incense with the blood both of the bullock and of the goat. After all this was complete, he confessed the sins of Israel on the scapegoat, and it was sent away.

Controversy, where there is research after truth, has this advantage attending it, that it urges the spirit to more attention and diligent research, and, where the subjects are scriptural, to search the Scriptures; and these ever afford to the humble and inquiring soul, fresh and blessed inlets into the mind of God. Two points have been before me in consequence of recent controversy on the law and the righteousness of God. I would now bring them before the reader.

If we examine the order of the ceremonies of the great day of atonement, we shall perhaps find a more definite character in them than the reader has previously noticed. The blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat, and on the altar of incense, but on nothing else, according to the directions of Lev. 16; we may specially remark, not on the altar of burnt offering. But atonement is made for the holy place; I presume it is meant, by the sprinkling that did take place, but there was none on the candlestick or the chew bread. These aspersions of blood at once lead to the thought, that what was in view was approach to God in the sanctuary. There was clearly the great general fact, that the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, so that God's nature and character were glorified in Christ's shedding His blood; so that, His blood being thus presented to God, the gospel founded on that could be preached to every creature. It was the Lord's lot. But this I have spoken of elsewhere, as of the other aspect of Christ's sacrifice typified by the scapegoat, that is, bearing the sins of His people. I only note now the specific character of the offering.

The blood was sprinkled on the place connected with the drawing near of the priests in the sanctuary, and that as representing the whole people approaching God, coming into God's presence in the highest way, or a daily approaching in the same character. For us there is no veil; but the altar of incense, though without the veil, specially referred to what was within. God in the holy places was seen in His divine righteousness. It is such as He is that He must be approached. It is not merely how He deals with responsible man as such, but His own nature. If we approach Him, we must approach Him as He is in Himself. This is evidently the character of approaching Him in the sanctuary. This connects itself, I have no doubt, with the gold. All was gold in the sanctuary. In the court of the tabernacle the vessels were of brass, specially the laver and the brazen altar. This refers, as the place also shows, to God's dealing with sin in this world. Not that the court represented this world; but it was not the sanctuary. It referred to God's dealings with sinners in this world. Men came there as unclean, whether for sacrifice for their sins when in then:, or for cleansing; that is, to Christ as a sacrifice, or to have the washing of water by the word, which, without the sacrifice, they could not have had. Hence it was priests who washed; but it was washing.

The idea in all these cases was drawing near, whether as a sinner or a saint: only one, a drawing near about sin; the other, drawing near to God as cleansed, the laver being a washing to consecrate at the first, or cleanse for present service. But on the great day of atonement it was only in the holy places that the blood was sprinkled. But this gives it a very full character. A blessed thought it is for us that we draw nigh to God in His own nature and character, what He is in Himself. He is there in His own nature, in righteousness and holiness; and we., absolutely cleansed for that, and, in the new man, created therein after God (Eph. 4:24), draw near to Himself without having any question as to sin, now put away. Our delight is in holiness and righteousness, in God as He is; and we draw near according to the intrinsic value IN GOD'S SIGHT of the blood of Jesus. It is the enjoyment of what God is, in righteousness and true holiness; but Christ in His offering has been the glorifying of what He so is. This is very blessed. We approach God, and joy in God. This is divine righteousness as it is in itself, as it is in God, enjoyed by us as admitted through Christ. And, note here, it is in this way we specially know atonement, for peace and drawing near to God. Hence for the atonement for Aaron and his sons this only was done. The bullock was slain, and the blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat and the altar of incense. There was no confession of sins, no scape-bullock. Christ, raised from the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant, enters in according to the glory of the Father, according to the display of all His perfections brought out in the resurrection of Christ (for He was raised through the blood of the everlasting covenant, and by the glory of the Father,-Heb. 13:20; Rom. 6:4); so we, as associated with Him, draw nigh in the full acceptance which that blood has in the necessary righteousness of God as regards it. It is not merely that sins can be forgiven, and therefore I can have to say to God as a moral governor (which is also true—" There is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mightest be feared"); but I draw near in the positive and perfect acceptance in which God in His own nature receives, in righteousness, that which has glorified it absolutely; that is, according to His own nature. God is active in owning Christ thus in righteousness, in raising Him from the dead and setting Him at His own right hand; and thus we enter.

But there is another thing needed. The sacrifice of Christ is available for transgressions. There is not only its intrinsic value as the Lord's lot, but Christ is the bearer of the sins of His people as the scapegoat. God, as a governor that has to do with sins, has to do with us as responsible men, the Jews as a responsible nation, both in flesh. Christ has borne them in His own body on the tree, and they are gone. It is not and cannot be, of course, another sacrifice. The sacrifice must be suited to God, but it is another aspect of it than the one we have previously spoken of. It is the removing of sins that men may he received judicially in righteousness, not the entering into God's presence according to the intrinsic excellence of His nature, and Christ's acceptableness in it, and the enjoying that nature. (In the new nature we enter in. The transgressions belong to the old.) This is our proper and only present place, because we are risen, and in Christ, in the place of priests.

The bullock fully represents the character of Christ's sacrifice in this aspect for us. Then our sins, when we were alive in the flesh, have been put away, and we are reckoned dead, and he that has died is justified from sin (Rom. 6:7, 11.) The whole nature of the flesh and its deeds are viewed as a past existence, the moment Christ rose, which is actually realized when we put off the the old man and put on the new.

As all my sins were future when He died for them, so, when once I am not in the flesh, all that belongs to it faith looks on as past, as to atonement and righteousness, when He died. For so, and so only, could they be put away. But, as risen, I come into the holiest, not only because I am cleared from sins (a process which, in itself, went no farther than judicial acknowledgment of me where I was responsible), but according to all the value of that in which Christ is entered in. This, I repeat, is our only proper present position;. because the old man, who was the responsible man in this world, is viewed as dead and buried, so that we are not in the flesh (Rom. 8:9). Hence, though we were responsible, and the sins were borne and atoned for, we are not at all now in the place, and condition, or nature, in which• that government and dealing took place; it is over for us. The bullock, the fullest and highest value of Christ's sacrifice, is ours, and represents our present standing. The two goats clearly show that the same one sacrifice, of course, applies to both parts of His work; our being presented to God according to His nature, and the putting away of sin, which was inconsistent with our duty as children of Adam.

But the application is, in a measure, different when Israel comes in question: because they do not enter into the holiest through the rent veil, the new and living way. They know the value of Christ's sacrifice when He comes out, and they look on Him whom they have pierced. They are under the weight of multiplied transgressions as a nation, and stand on that ground, and in flesh-have not to do with Christ within the veil, but when He has come out. I need not say, it is no new sacrifice. Isaiah la presents to us their recognition of the One we already own. They ar'e not in heavenly places in Him; but He appears to and is with them, to bless them in the earth. They are accepted according to the righteousness of God as a moral governor. I do not say individuals, and all of them, as spared, are not viewed of God in His sight according to Christ's blood in heavenly places—I cannot doubt indeed they are; but it is not their dispensed place to stand there in their own souls before God. That moral government indeed continues as that under which they are as men in flesh on the earth.

Hence it was, after all the blood sprinkling was done-" When he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat, &c "—that the live goat was sent off into the wilderness with the sins of Israel on its head. I dare say the godly Israelite, thus at peace with God, may be learning the intrinsic value of the great sacrifice which has cleansed Him, so as to get in growing nearness into the knowledge of God; but his dispensational place is, according to sin-bearing, ours according to Christ's presence in heaven, our old man, in which we were connected with earth, having died in that by which our sins were put away.

It is this point I feel important—the character of the blood-sprinkling, as confined to the holy place and tabernacle itself. Israel's ordinary sacrifices were on the altar of burnt offering; the blood was sprinkled there; they came as from without there. It was all right; every sinner must do so. It is as blessed as it is needed that we can. The sins must be put away if we are to draw near to God. But it does not take into the sanctuary. And here multitudes of Christians rest, if indeed they know this: they rest in the putting away, or hoped for putting away of their sins. It must be the first approach, but they stay on Jewish ground; and indeed in every way; for they look for a new sprinkling with blood (a new sacrifice they dare not, and nothing else would do, for, as the apostle says, Christ must often have suffered from the foundation of the world-Heb. 9:26) every time they fail. It is not the value of the sacrifice in itself which is different. There is, we know, but one-never to be repeated, which has its own intrinsic, necessary value; but the sacrifice and sprinkling of blood on the brazen altar has a different character from sprinkling it on the mercy seat and on the altar of incense. This, the brazen altar, was judicial righteousness, as dealing with man as responsible to God, and in the exercise of moral government. Here the Israelites came to God. Christ met this claim on the cross, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, dying for the nation of Israel also. This bearing of sins was shown in the scape goat, but in a way which not only met our case in principle, but had, in its form, special reference to Israel in the last days after the church's time was over. But the sprinkling of blood on the day of atonement went further. It entered into that within the veil. It carries us up to God, where Christ is gone. It may be remarked that the offerings of the day of atonement, which gave it its special character, did not include burnt offerings. The bullock and the goat were both sin offerings. The burnt offering for himself and for the people were not offered till the last special service of the day—the letting loose the live goat into the wilderness—was concluded. All was properly sin offering. It placed Christ, and those associated with Him, in the sanctuary, and, as far as this world went, outside the camp. A religion of the world in flesh was not recognized in it, but the cross (i. e., Christ rejected on the earth, and His place in heaven). It is available for Israel but as bearing their sins and making a sacrifice of Himself, by which they could be blessed on earth. The burnt offerings were offered on the brazen altar. These prefigure Christ presenting Himself to God as a sacrifice here on earth, through the eternal Spirit. This was the perfection of Christ here on earth, and that indeed in which, consequent on our admission into the holy place, we have to follow Him here below. These things are presented as subjects for meditation, and will be found, if soberly followed out, for profit according to Scripture, and full of rich edification.

I turn to the second subject of which I spoke, introducing it by begging the reader to refer to the well known chapter John 3., as showing the way the Lord connects His life and death with the heavenly place, which He contemplates, but does not then speak of. A man must be born again, He assures Nicodemus, even to have a share in the earthly part of the kingdom of God, as taught by Ezekiel; but it was sovereign grace, and so went out, as the wind, whither it listed. But Christ spoke from His own knowledge, who came from heaven, yea, was in heaven, and it was a nature intrinsically capable—immense blessing!—of enjoying God; and the rejected Messiah was the Son of man lifted up, that whosoever believed in Him should have eternal life; not blessing, as life on earth. He died to all that was here, yea, even to His own Messiahship, as born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and opened the door by His death to those heavenly things of which He was able to speak. The life of the Spirit and the death of Christ, in their proper value, when known as death to this world, as seen in Christ, and glorifying God in His nature, are the entrance, as possessing life in Him risen, into the heavenly sanctuary.. Compare Col. 3 (where life aspiring after those heavenly things is the subject) and Ephesians (where the power of the Holy Ghost, uniting us to Christ, gives us the sitting of the saints in heavenly places in Him). In John 3 it is only opened out to us in vista. Thus, in the resurrection of Christ, as risen with Him, we pass up into the heavenly places, while Christ has died to the whole world, and sin, to everything which is in the world and connected with sin. It is passed and gone as non-existent. Christ is risen, and is the first fruits and beginning of a new state of things, of a new creation. Old things being passed away, God has quickened us together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses. Christ died to sin and for sins. The new covenant does not go beyond forgiveness, remembering sins and iniquities no more. But it never deals with any entrance into the presence of God in the sanctuary. This, as we have seen, is our place by redemption. This leads me to the second point I would refer to -the difference of sins and sin. It is not new, but I do not think that Christians have sufficiently remarked the force of Paul's reasonings on the subject.

Sins of course are fully recognized, wholly condemned, and atonement made for them. Nay, it. is by them that the conscience is first acted on and brought to repentance. The blood of Jesus, the cross, is the blessed answer to them. Not only so, but even where all are brought under the sin of Adam, the actual sins which affect the conscience, are introduced as that which is the added occasion of death (Rom. 5:12). Of course, where the law is alluded to, positive transgression is recognized. But we shall find, besides all this, and where this has been recognized, the great question treated, of a state of sin, and being in the flesh. Up to the end of Rom. 3 sins are dealt with, but the conclusion drawn that we are all under sin, in that state or condition, before God, as in Psa. 32.: "Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord doth not impute sin." This question Rom. 5 treats. But it goes farther; it chews sin entering into the world-a principle of evil in which man was alienated trom God. It has reigned. It is not merely that I have committed sins; but sin has reigned, death being the proof of it. Chapter 6 carries out this thought distinctly, and introduces death as that which closes the evil; that, our state being one of sin, as alive as children of Adam, death closes that state. We are crucified with Christ, do not any longer exist as before God, as alive in the flesh..But what was this death in Christ? Here we have no dying for sins but to sin.

We are all aware that there was in Christ no sin, but ever living in the midst of this scene of sinners, His obedience tried to the utmost, even unto death, and drinking the cup, tempted in alb points, like as we are, He died to that scene, died rather than fail in perfect and absolute obedience, in glorifying God. And He did so glorify Him, and, perfect in all things, closed all connection with this world, and with man as in a state of sin. He died to sin once, closed all connection of man with God, as on the ground of living in the flesh.

There was not a movement of His life which was not the perfection of the divine nature in man,, in the midst of the temptations through which we pass, and having completed and finished that obedience, He died to the whole sphere and scene of existence-really died to it, and in resurrection entered on another, which did not belong to that order or state of things, but which had its starting point, its womb of existence, in death to it.. Always morally separate from sinners,. His life proved that that divine display could not win man to association with it, or to come to Him to have life, and He died so as to make a final and judicial separation of divine life from the whole first Adam condition, because there was nothing but sin there in will, and transfers, so to speak, the divine life which was in Him to a new and heavenly sphere, where flesh or sin could not come-that resurrection state.

In this life of Christ as risen with Him, our sins are all atoned for, we live, He Himself being our righteousness, according to His acceptance in the value of His work. Rom. 6 therefore speaks no more of sins, save as past fruits of another state, from which we are freed. Christ has died unto sin once; we are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin, and alive unto God in Him. He that is dead is justified from sin; no state of sin can be charged on him, for as to that he is dead. He cannot be accused of being in that state, for he has died. Sin will not have dominion over us.

So, in chapter 7, we have died; when we were in the flesh, there were motions of sins, and the law only provoked them. Hence when by a new nature, as taught of God, we see the spirituality of the law, I discover this active principle of sin, and look to be delivered, and so I am in Christ. I die in the state I was in, and am now alive in Christ arisen. The law is seen here-not as working a course, but-as the means, when we are under it, of detecting the hopelessness of flesh, its sin being only detected, and made exceeding sinful by it. It is the body of death. We are delivered from it (not pardoned its fruits) through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin in the flesh is condemned, but in that in which Christ was for sin—a sacrifice for sin (chap. 8:3). And then the contrast of flesh and Spirit in their nature is dwelt upon and insisted on.

And where is the groundwork of deliverance?

Resurrection. I have passed, as dead with Christ, out of the flesh (" Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" chap. 8:9) into a new scene by resurrection, not as to our bodies (for the redemption of which we wait-chap. 8:23), but as to our state before God and our souls. It is the Spirit, because this is the power of life; but it is Christ risen, our life, and we alive in Him, and by the Holy Ghost united to Him, as sitting in the heavenly places, and so sitting there in Him. If I speak of being at the foot of the cross, I simply say that I have not died with Christ; I have not passed through the rent veil into the holiest of all. I am then before the cross in my old nature, with my sins upon me; for if I am dead with Christ and risen with Him, I have passed on through the cross, as the door of faith, without any sins into God's presence in light.

So, in Galatians, though not with the same development. I would draw some practical conclusions from this I get a double character of divine righteousness, typified by the gold and the brass. One, His own divine nature and delight; the other, judicial requirement from the creature, according to its place. The gold is divine righteousness as in the nature of God. According to this, Christ, having glorified God in all that He is, is received within as man, and sits at God's right hand, we, partakers of the divine nature, being of God in Christ Jesus, created after God in righteousness and true holiness, and renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created us, united to Him whom God has set on high, have our place (not personally of course) at God's right hand—that could not be but in Him—in that heavenly place according to the delight of God's nature, for that is in Christ. It is fellowship with this, or restoration to it, which is the character of our approach to 'God, as simply enjoying it in the new nature; it is not in contrast with evil, it is not forgiveness of what is past, sweet as that is in its place. I have, for faith—and shall have, in fact—entirely done with the nature which sinned, and the whole state of existence in which flesh moved. I exist only in the new creation. Hence the apostle says he did not even know Christ after the flesh any more. It is the joy of the new man in the presence and blessedness and glory of God.

The brazen altar is righteousness too, and divine righteousness, but in its claims on man's nature, not in the revelation of its own. Here the blood was sprinkled by which the sinner approaches God, and this will be the standing of Israel. How many of God's children remain here in fact! How little have they boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus! They remain outside, and hope, when the time comes, they will pass in judgment, and have a share in glory. They are in Egypt, looking to the blood to keep the holy Judge out; not in the wilderness redeemed out of the bondage they were in and passed the lied Sea. They do look to the blood as that which is the ground of their hope against judgment, but they have no thought of having been crucified with Christ, and risen. They hope in Christ, as in fear of the righteousness of God, instead of in a new nature and life as risen with Christ, enjoying God as in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. One thing we must remember: that even there, where we enter into the full blessedness of God's presence, the Lamb that was slain will he the Object in whose perfection we have learned that blessedness.

Romans 5-6

The lively and energetic style of the apostle in these chapters is very striking. He treats sin as a personas a king. He shows that he entered this world through the door of man's disobedience, and as soon as he entered, he took the seat of government, and death became the power of his kingdom, as well as its character. For man's departure from God let sin, the very opposite of God, who is the holy God, in; and sin brought death with it, being also the opposite of God, who is the living God. And this is the character of this present evil world. It is the place, or scene, of the reign of sin and death; and nothing in it is left untouched by the influence of it-it pervades all.

But there is another scene, of which the grace of God is the source, as the disobedience of man has been the source of this; and this grace has prepared the way for Christ-as disobedience prepared the way for sin-and Christ brings with Him righteousness and life, as Adam, through disobedience, opened the door to sin and death. Thus, Adam is the figure of Christ, of " Him who was to come " after. But righteousness enters the scene with a " much more," because grace is the source of it-and it was due to God's glory to bear this witness to that which had its source in Him. And having entered, it accordingly does " more" than merely measure the power of sin; for sin came in upon one offense or disobedience of Adam, but righteousness comes in and sweeps away from the scene thousands of offenses which followed the train of that one. And righteousness, accordingly, has now its kingdom here, as well as sin-life has its scene as well as death. But it is not visible as yet, like the other. The reign of sin is felt; the power of death is seen, all abroad; the reign of righteousness, which brings life with it, is only known to faith now.

And how has the law entered, and what has it done in this scene of these contending kingdoms? It has only magnified the offense of the disobedience of man, which let sin and death in. For it was holy, just and good, and served to expose the entire departure of man from God, the Author of the law. But still grace was triumphant. It had brought in a gift-a righteousness which could, through Jesus, assert itself, and be supreme over all this aggravated power of sin and death. But how was this? How could grace take it away? How could love enter to operate in a scene where sin was reigning unto death, and had title thus to reign?

By providing a victim. Sin reigned unto death. Sin had title to exercise its power even to death—for death was the wages it paid—the result of any man of the mere tribe of Adam entering its territory. And Jesus, the Son of the living God, entered its territory and received its wages; but having life in Himself—life untouched by Adam's disobedience—He survived the stroke; and thus really destroyed him that had the power of death and asserted a kingdom of righteousness and life, in which not only He reigns, but all those reign with Him who believe in Him—who rejoice with Him in His victory, and have no confidence in anything else.

Thus sin, as a tyrant, is overthrown. The Son of the living God has asserted His supremacy in the very region of the power of sin. Sin has paid its wages; sin reigned, it is true, unto death, even the death of Jesus on the cross; but sin was entitled to do no more. " He died unto sin." All that sin could demand—that is, death—it got; it exacted death; it rewarded its servants, its subjects, with death, and Jesus " died unto sin." His death owned the title of sin; but then He carried a life with Him that remained untouched by all this; and in that life, and the righteousness of God, in which it has its source, He and His saints forever reign together,

But if the Son of God thus " died unto sin"— that is, owned the demands or rights of sin by His death—it was God that He owned in His resurrection. For if He " died unto sin," it is equally true that " He liveth unto God;" so that His saints cannot continue in sin, for they have union with Him. If in death, so in resurrection; and as this union with Him in the one has delivered them from the tyranny and supremacy of sin, so their union with Him in the other has made them alive unto God. And however sin may still have to do with them, as it still dwells in their flesh, yet they should assert their place in the risen Son of God, and know that they have nothing to do with sin; they should count themselves dead to it; the connection between them and it is gone by the death and resurrection of Jesus, who has taken them rather into connection with Himself. Grace is the source of that kingdom in which they now move —it is not the other kingdom where law has aggravated, as we saw, the power of sin (6:14).

We have to see sin as an unclean creature now, that has sunk in its own element, the flesh, there to perish, while we ourselves are risen with Christ. It was once a king, but is now bound in the dungeon of the flesh. The judgment unto condemnation came upon one offense, but the justification unto life came upon, or after, many offenses. Death entered on the eating of the fruit of the tree; life is secured after sin, trespass, transgression, and offenses have been multiplied, by the application of the law, again and again,

Sin has reigned unto death-that is, death is the final stroke of the power of sin, the last exercise of his dominion over us (the judgment that follows being God's, not sin's, or Satan's action), so grace has reigned unto eternal life, i. e., eternal life will be the ever fresh, unfading witness of grace, the budding rods of its kingly power. Sin has exercised the final stroke of his power by putting Jesus to death, Sc) that if, by faith, we plead the death of Jesus, or are united in His death, we are freed from sin, or discharged from his service or bondage, and consequently from his wages. For " he that is dead is freed from sin." This is glorious triumph for the sinner. God said to Adam, "If thou doest sin, thou shalt die." Adam did sin, but CHRIST HAS DIED!

The True Token

" And size bound the scarlet line in the window." (Josh. 2:21.)

" When I see the blood, I will pass over you." (Ex. 12:13.)

Why do the priests their trumpets blow,

And round and round the city go;

While those who bear the Ark of God

Follow the track which they have trod,

And silently a message bear

Of wrath and judgment brooding there?

Because our God is slow to wrath,

And never pours His judgments forth

Before He seeks with warning word

To make His voice in mercy heard,

Saying to souls, " Why will ye die,
And madly pass the refuge by?"

The seventh day comes—then seven times round

And after that—O solemn sound!

A shout is heard that rends the air,

And fills the sinner with despair

While down all Satan's strongholds fall,

And death becomes the lot of all!

And yet not all; for there's a spot,

Which God in grace has not forgot;

It is a house which has a sign—

Oh, look ye—'tis the scarlet line!

By God esteemed a token true,

Which must with favor meet His view,

Oh, who is she that there abides,

And in the word of grace confides,

That none her shelter shall invade,

Or make her feel of death afraid,

Because the token will be seen

By Him in whom her faith has been?

Not one who rests on her own works,

Or in whom fancied goodness lurks,

That boasts of fasting twice a week,

Of tithes being paid—and she so meek,

Comparing self to others round,

To them is far superior found.

It is a stray, a lost one found,

Whose ear had heard the far-spread sound,

The true, yet terrible report

Of what by Israel's God was wrought;

Which true report her heart believed,

When she with peace the spies received.

Rahab, a sinner much despised,

By Him whom she believes, is prized

Who owns her faith, and lets her call

In freest love her kindred all,

The shelter of her house to share,

And find escape from judgment there.

Oh, happy souls! how blest your lot

Who prove that death can touch you not;

While those who've not your token known,

Find all their hopes of life o'erthrown;

Their works, though much esteemed by men,

As " filthy rags " will all seem then.

And say, dear reader, where art thou?

Oh! know you what's the token now,

And what for you in grace divine

Now answers to the scarlet line,

To make your fears and terrors cease,

And cause your soul to rest in peace?

The Blood is now the God-giv'n sign,

The ever precious scarlet line.

The blood of Him, e'en God's own Lamb,

Himself, though man, the great I AM;

Under its shelter safe am I,

For Jesus won the victory!

And when the Lord himself descends,

And at His shout the gravestone rends'

Making that blessed secret known,

That He has come to claim His own,

With joy He'll meet them in the air,

And greet them as His loved ones there.

Rahab;* or Safety, Salvation, Citizenship, Union

(JOSHUA 2 and 6.)

We are told (Eph. 2:7) that in the ages to come God is going to " show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." The Spirit of God, however, is careful to remind believers of the fact, that it is grace and nothing but grace, saying, "For by grace are ye saved through, Faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast," etc.

I know of no case in Scripture that (in type) illustrates the above more forcibly and fully than Rahab's history.

In Jericho we have a picture of this world. It was marked out for judgment; and so is this world. Jesus said when about to go to the cross, connecting it therewith, " Now is the judgment of this world," adding, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said, signifying what death He should die." The doom of the world was sealed at the cross. We are told also (2 Peter 3), that the heavens and the earth are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men; and that the present interval is the period of long-suffering on God's part, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

What was it that was used of God in blessing to Rahab? She tells us herself in chap. 2:10, that they had heard what Jehovah had done at the Red Sea, which was the place where the power of God was displayed; a type of the death and resurrection of Christ. Acts 17:30,31, informs us that " now God commandeth all men everywhere to repent; because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He bath raised Him from the dead." Many in Jericho heard it besides Rahab, and how many there are now that know of the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ, etc. What then is the difference? Let Scripture answer: " By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not." Ah! there was faith in Rahab, and "faith cometh by hearing." Whereas on the part of them that believed not, "the word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it (Heb. 4:2).

Never had Jericho seemed more secure. To all appearance it was impregnable. So with this poor world in these days of progress and advancement in learning-vaunting itself and going on, on, on, to judgment, heedless of what God says.

But "faith is the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1), and so Rahab (let appearances be what they may) says, "I know that Jehovah bath given you the land" (ver. g). What then? She. wants a place of safety when the judgment falls for herself and her father's house, and a true token (vers. 12, 13). "Our life for yours," if she acts on the word spoken (" obedience of faith," Rom. 2:5; 16:26); and, "bind this line of scarlet thread in the window." How preciously he faith shows itself. She did not put off, saying, "Oh! there's plenty of time, They have to hide for three days at least, and then they have got to go over to the other side of the Jordan and get all the men of war ready, and it will take them some time before they will be ready," etc., etc. No. God's word says (and if any unconverted person reads these lines let him hearken), " Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2), " And she said, According unto your words, SO be it. And she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet line in the window" (ver. 21). Not a moment did she lose putting the Scarlet line in the window. She was then safe. Let the judgment fall on Jericho, she was perfectly safe. That " scarlet line" is a type of " the precious blood of Christ," and God says " the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Like Israel of old in Ex. 12, where Jehovah said, " And the blood shall be to you for a token... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you."

But she thought also of the blessing of others: " And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters," etc. (ver. 13). She is heard, but there must be a test for them: " thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home unto thee" (ver. 19). What, be found under the roof of such an one, one who had been a disgrace to the family! Yes, dear reader, there is not one platform for the thief and the harlot to be saved, and another for the moral respectable person. " There is no difference; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:22,23). " Ye must be born again" (John 3) was said to the moral, upright, religious ruler, and not to the immoral woman of chap. 4. (though of course she needed to be born again). Ah, how many have stumbled at this stumbling-stone!

Pride in the heart, self-sufficiency and utter ignorance of the awful havoc that sin has made, have led many to reject God's way of being saved. Simon, the Pharisee in Luke 7, and the elder brother, in Luke 15, are illustrations of this. If this meets the eye of any one out of Christ, I pray you don't turn away and reject God's great salvation. In the governmental ways of God in this world, it is much better to be honest, upright, etc.; but, if it is a question of the soul's salvation and where you will spend eternity, remember the words of Peter filled with the Holy Ghost," in Acts 4, where, referring to Jesus Christ who had been crucified, but whom God had raised from the dead: " Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Chapter 6:23 shows us that Rahab's family availed themselves of God's way of safety from the judgment about to fall. Though safe under the shelter of the "scarlet line," the power of God had not yet acted in their behalf. We are told "the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16), sheaving that salvation (or "deliverance") is connected with the display of power. We see it in the types as well as in the antitype. In Exod: 12. we get the blood of the lamb as the ground of security, but when we come to Ex. 14 we find God's power displayed against the enemies of God's people and in their favor, placing them on the other side of the Red Sea. We see God's love shown in giving His own beloved Son to be the Lamb who shed His precious blood on Calvary's cross, but there the enemy's power was displayed in leading on man (and every class was there represented-kings, ecclesiastics, religious people, educated people, soldiers, common people, thieves) to reject the blessed Lord. God refrained from displaying His power (Matt. 26:53) to deliver His Son. Man, blinded and led on by Satan, even went so far as to use what God had placed in his hands against His Son. God had given His law to the Jew. Not only did he break it himself, but actually used it to condemn God's Son. "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die" (John 19:7). Power in connection with governmental authority was also given to man, "the minister of God.... to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil (Rom. 13:4). This power, which had been connected with Jehovah's throne in Jerusalem, was transferred into the hands of the Gentiles in the person of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:37,38). Pilate, the representative in Jerusalem of this power in the hands of the Gentiles, used it against Jesus (Luke 23:24,25; John 19:15). Thus man used the two things with which he was entrusted by God against His Son. But in the resurrection the power of God was displayed (Rom. 1:4; 2 Cor. 13:4; Eph. 1:19, etc.). Paul desired that the saints may know that they stand before God according to the display of His power which was put forth when He raised Jesus from the dead; see Eph. 1:19,20, and 2:6. For the important place that the resurrection holds, and what is connected with it, see Rom. 4:24 to 5:1; 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:16,17; 1 Peter 1:3-5. And so in Rahab's case when the power of God had been displayed against the enemy and on her behalf, then (and not before) it is said, " And Joshua saved Rahab, etc., bringing her out of what had been judged and putting her in an entirely different place. And so it is now with the believer, before God and for faith: He is no longer seen as " In Adam," where death holds universal sway, but " In Christ," where there is " no condemnation," and all " made alive" (Rom. 8:1; 1 Cor. 15:22. See also Col. 3:1). Rahab was safe when " she bound the scarlet line in the window" (chap. 2: 21), but she was not " saved " till the action in chap. 6. had taken place (see ver. 25).

But that is not all, for we read, " and she dwelleth in Israel " (chap. 6:25); so now, instead of being a dweller in, or citizen of, Jericho, she becomes a dweller in Israel-her citizenship is entirely of a new order and a new country. And so when we turn to the. New Testament we find that we who were once " dead in trespasses and sins,... walking according to the course of this world," not only have peace and are saved (by grace), but are " no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God " (Eph. 2:19). Our relationships and responsibilities are wholly changed. We be- long to an entirely new order of things, as it is written, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature (or 'it is a new creation '); old things are passed away; behold all things are become new; and all things are of God," etc. (2 Cor. 5:17,18). We are "strangers and pilgrims " (1 Pet. 2:11) as to this world, and "our conversation (or rather 'citizenship' or 'commonwealth ') is in heaven "(Phil. 3:20).

But that is not all in the history of Rahab. If we turn to 1 Chronicles 2, we get from the fourth verse the genealogical register of Judah, the Royal tribe. Comparing verse 11 with Ruth 4:21, and Matt. 1:5, we find that she was married to Salma (or Salmon), the prince of the royal tribe. Now turn to Rom. 7:4 and 1 Cor. 6:17, 19, 20, and what wondrous and precious truth is brought before us, and how calculated to speak to the heart! Ah, beloved fellow-believer, you and I are not only safe and saved, but are citizens of heaven, yea more than that, "joined to the Lord" " married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."

Just think of, and ponder over, the contrast between the "harlot of Jericho" and the "wife of the prince of the Royal tribe," and see therein a wondrous picture of what GRACE hath done for you and me!!! Surely our hearts may well exclaim:

"What heights and depths of love divine,
Will there through endless ages shine!"

What manner, of person ought Rahab to be now and how ought she to conduct herself? Not only old things were passed away and all things were become new, but she was a wife—her affections had been won. How would she prove that her heart had been won? Surely by seeking to please the one who won it. Dear reader, do you "know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich?" HAS JESUS WON YOUR HEART? Then He gives you and me an opportunity of proving it, here in this scene where He once was, but has been cast out of; and He tells us, "If a man love Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23). Amongst the "all things new" is the motive of the heart, for it says, "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live (have you and I got life at such cost to Him?) should not henceforth live unto themselves (we did that long enough. when we were citizens of Jericho), but unto HIM which died for them and rose again'" (2 Cor. 5:14,15). It is thus, having been united to the Other who has been raised from the dead, and the affections of the heart in exerciser that we "bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4). How sweetly then, to one walking in that spirit, come His precious words, "If any serve Me (not a cause' or a ‘sect' but ‘ Me’), let him follow Me (what was His path in this world?); and where I am, there shall also my servant be; if any man serve Me, (he wont get any honor in this Jericho but) him will My Father honor" (John 12:26). Finally, let us remember, that "no man can serve two masters," and—

"We've now to please but One."

"And WHATSOEVER ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to

God and the Father by Him " (Col. 3:17). We shall then be able truthfully to sing,

Oh worldly pomp and glory!

Your charms are spread in vain!

I've heard a sweeter story!

I've found a truer gain!

Where Christ a place prepareth,

There is my heart's abode,

There shall I gaze on Jesus!

There shall I dwell with God!

The Child of the Bridechamber

The conversion of Matthew, the publican, will not, I believe, be fully enjoyed, if we do not continue with it in our view to the end of ver. 17. For I regard Mathew as being at that moment in the thoughts of the Lord, a new bottle with new wine in it.

The Lord met him in the place where the world had put him. He was a publican, and was sitting

at the receipt of custom. But He passed by, and it was " a day of power," and Matthew was "made willing." He " hearkened diligently" to Christ, and his soul at once "delighted itself in fatness." For he arose and followed the Lord, and then spread a feast for Him.

This was joy and liberty. And Jesus sanctioned it. He sat at Matthew's table. This was done suddenly, it is true. But though sudden it was not premature—though unbidden it did not remain unsanctioned. The Eunuch, in his day, went on his way rejoicing, and that rejoicing, like this of Matthew, was early and sudden, but it was not premature.

And in Matthew there was light, and the mind of Christ, as well as liberty and the joy of Christ.

He seated at the same table the publicans and sinners who had been following Jesus—the very people who had brought the Lord of Glory from heaven, and the very people whom the Lord Himself will have at His own table in the day of the marriage-supper; a company of sinners redeemed and washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Matthew thus justly and beautifully understood the mind of Christ. He knew Him, though he had but just then been introduced to Him. Like the dying thief. For a short moment is time enough to carry the light and liberty of Christ into the dark and distant heart of either a thief or a publican.

Matthew was in Christ's presence in joy. He was a child of the bridechamber. He feasted the Lord. The King was sitting at his table—because, in spirit, Jesus had already brought Matthew to his banqueting-house. This was the time of "the kindness of his youth," or, "the love of his espousals;" and in that joy, he had risen up, left all and followed Christ. The world might, therefore, be to him, "a wilderness, a land not sown" (Jer. 2:2); but with Jesus he feasted. The word of power, the invitation of grace, he had listened to, and to his soul it had been " a feast of fat things," wine and milk of the King's providing. It was as a bridegroom, as a lover of his soul, Matthew had apprehended Christ, and was now entertaining Him at his table; and because of this new-found liberty and joy, Matthew is among the children of the bridechamber, a new bottle with the new wine in it.

Neither Moses, nor John the Baptist, could have made such a bottle as this. The word of Christ, heard in the light and energy of the Holy Ghost, could alone have provided it. On Him only, all the vessels of the Lord's house hang, the "flagons" and the "cups." The Pharisees and the disciples of John do not even understand this. The one object to the feast with sinners—the other, that the feast is not a fast. The legalist and the religionist, neither of them, can brook the publican's, that is the sinner's, feast. The elder brother complains of the fatted calf. The music and the dancing, as the cheerful sound reaches him in his outside place, vex him-as the sight of the table and the company in the house of our Levi, irritates the Pharisees as they look on and will not sit.

The good Lord, however, vindicates both the feast and the guests. He lets be heard, there on the spot and at the moment, that He had come to gather such a scene. And He thereby vindicates the host as having done the part of a child of the bridechamber, and as having done it well.

A simple sweet story of grace! Would that one's heart realized the joy that the mind is tracing! Jesus found a publican, a sinner, just at his place in this wretched self-seeking world; he took him up at once, made him a new bottle, and filled him with new wine, like the Samaritan at Jacob's well. She-was taken up just as she was and where she was; and, as another child of the bridechamber, she was sent on her way rejoicing. The world will "fret itself," and "be driven to darkness," as the prophet speaks. The heart of the Pharisees is rent by vexation at such a sight. The publican's feast is lost upon them, the new wine is spilled;' as the Lord adds, "No man putteth a new piece of cloth upon an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse: neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish."

But then, days of absence, and therefore days of sorrow of heart, were to come, after these feast-days of His presence; but they had not come then.

That day in Matthew's house was "one of the days of the Son of Man." But the heart that can feast a present Jesus will mourn an absent Jesus. The children of the bridechamber will fast during the Bridegroom's, absence, because He is dear to them. It is not the Pharisee's fast of religious service and merit, but the fast of a heart that has been weaned away from other objects, and for the present has lost the presence of its own.

The Wise Virgins are as children of the bride-chamber, fasting while the Bridgroom has not as yet returned. The oil in their vessels tells us that they are waiting and watching for Him, with hearts separated to the desire of His return; and the Matthew who, upon the revelation of the Lord to His soul and in His presence, could spread a table, would be the Wise Virgin that would wait and watch, in separation and desire, during His absence. The oil in the vessel would well suit the soul that in other circumstances had spread the table.

It is not from experience but from desire only, one's heart traces the path of a child of the bride-chamber. Of such a soul some of us will say, "I see from far the beauteous light." There are occasions and seasons when the state of the affections to Christ are sorrowfully discovered; and sure I am, we need more earnest eye for Him. Our look at Him has need to be a nearer one, more fixed and personal. Our sight of Him is too commonly conducted as by the light of others. We are prone to have Him in company, in the reflections and by the help of the scene and circumstances in which we place ourselves. I covet a more earnest look at Him; a look that can reach Him very closely and personally, without aid, or countenance, or company. The single eye knows Him only, the earnest eye enjoys Him deeply.

Mary at the sepulcher had it, when she could pass by the shining ones, while looking for Him. The sinner of the city had it, when she could let the scorn of the Pharisee pass over her without moving her. The Samaritan had it, when she could forget her water-pot; and the Eunuch, when he went on heedless of the loss of Philip. Our Matthew had it. And it is this which not only realizes Christ, but puts Him in His due supreme place, and chief room both of attraction and authority.

Paul: A Good Conscience Before God

(Acts 22)

The Holy Spirit often puts Paul forward because in him are manifested the ways of the heart, and this under grace. He displayed a patience truly admirable in caring for the church. We can sound the ways of God and of the human heart in the history that the Holy Spirit has given us of Paul. He had an immense activity and great force of character. This chapter contains circumstances which show what a good conscience before God is.

If the conscience is not good, the Holy Spirit is grieved, and some, having put it away, have even made shipwreck concerning faith. If a child has offended his father, he is no more at ease before him, and cannot open his heart.

In the history of Paul we see his conversion in verses 3-16. Then he is in a trance or ecstacy (vs. 77-21), in which the Lord commands him to depart from Jerusalem. It is for Him to regulate these things. Paul in his answer says to the Lord that he is precisely the man suited to bear witness for Him at Jerusalem. I have persecuted Thee, and they know it; will they not see in me the efficacy of Thy grace P Such was the reasoning of Paul. But the Lord takes no account of it.

That which strikes one most is that Paul recalls to the Lord all his iniquity; and this, because his conscience was perfectly purged before God. It is necessary that it should be thus if one would dare to speak to God in detail of all our offenses, of all our sins. There is a false repose in a child of God when the conscience is not perfectly good and opened out before God. Paul replaces before the eyes of the Lord all the detail of his sin. He does not confine himself to saying, Thou knowest all; he puts all before God, without having the idea that anything can be imputed to him. He talks about his sins as of an affair irrevocably settled. He can even present these sins as being a motive for an apostle, for bearing testimony to Jesus in Jerusalem. Paul reasons with the Lord as a, person with his intimate friend. This is what Ananias also does (Acts 9:13-16).

When God has purified the conscience for us by His perfect grace, the interests of Jesus are ours. Jesus is no longer our judge; He has taken our sins, He has united us to Himself, having taken our cause in hand. Instead of seeing in Jesus our judge, we see in Him a friend. Instead of being affrighted at Christ, we are full of confidence in Him, because we are assured of His love. There is in the heart a complete change.

The reasoning of Paul was true, as we see in 1 Tim. 1:15. God had prepared Paul in that he had been the greatest enemy of the Lord Jesus, and chief of sinners; because if Paul had spoken of other things than God's righteousness by faith and man's perfect pardon on believing God's testimony concerning His Son, his mouth must have been closed.

Peter was prepared by denying Christ, which is even worse than being His enemy. That closed his mouth for every other thing than preaching grace. They had, the one and the other, a profound conviction of sin. If we would be strong and bear testimony to grace, we need to have the sense of the evil whence God has taken us up. If the occasion presents itself, we can speak before men of our sins, provided that all has been laid clearly before God. The Christian converts at Ephesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, brought their books of magic and confessed all their actions, If the love of God is shed about in our hearts, we have more shame for our sins before God than before men. To have a good conscience we must keep the conscience pure. Paul exercised himself to have in everything a conscience without offense toward God and man. When we have grieved the Holy Spirit, we do not feel the love of God in the same way. A conscience defiled cannot be at its ease before God; and when God enters, there are dark corners that one hides from Him. Impossible then to have that perfect confidence in reasoning with God as with a friend (see 1 John 3:19-21). If we have before hand the sense of our feebleness, we shall be forced to seek strength in God.

Can we with boldness recall before God all we have thought, said and done? To be unable to do so, is not to be in the presence of God; to do so is to recall to God His immense grace in having pardoned us. Without Christ, who would venture such things? Sin hidden corrupts the heart, hardens the conscience, and renders us blind and proud. It is of all moment for us that our conscience should be entirely emptied before God. We can afterward forget these things; we shall not be judged because of it. Be faithful in this sense-to have a pure conscience before God and men.

Canaan and the Armor of God

( Read Eph. 6:10-20).

PH 6:10-20{It might seem strange at first sight that in this epistle, where there is the fullest unfolding of the privileges of the children of God, conflict should be brought out; but we are often not aware of the character of the conflict from not knowing our privileges. Here it is found we are specially in conflict, and in a conflict that is neither known nor got into until we realize the privileges which this epistle specially unfolds.

In Galatians there is conflict, but it is a conflict between flesh and Spirit-the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; but in Ephesians it is not flesh, but spiritual wickedness in high places (or " wicked spirits in the heavenly places " margin). We have to overcome flesh, and there is a very close connection between these two conflicts; `still they are distinct.

In Ephesians it is a new creation. Christ has ascended up on high—" He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." So completely has He taken us out of the power of Satan that He can make us the vessels of His service. He has taken us out of the world, and then sent us into it; and if we thus stand associated with Christ (which is the privilege of every Christian, though all do not realize it), we must expect all the conflict associated with the place into, which we are brought. In proportion as we realize that we are the vessels of heavenly service, we get this special character of conflict.

You cannot cross Jordan without finding the Canaanite and the Perizzite in the land. There are the trials and perils of the wilderness, which test our hearts-all know more or less of the weary way testing Our hearts and discovering what is in them; but wilderness experience is not the same as conflict in the land. When Joshua got into the place of the privileges of the people of God, he was in the place of conflict. God has set Christ as a Man in the glory, because He (as a Man) has perfectly glorified God as to sin. Christ has not only died for our sins, but we have died with Him (dead with Christ is what Jordan is), and we are raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; thus associated, dead and risen, with Him, we are brought into the place where all the conflict is. It is most valuable and precious to get distinctly hold of this. Many a Christian has not realized it. There is many a one still in Egypt, holding the value of the blood on the door-posts, but knowing nothing of the deliverance accomplished at the Red Sea. Israel had to stand still and see the salvation of God; this answers to the death and resurrection of Christ. I am out of Egypt; the judgment which fell on the Egyptians has saved me. God has raised up Christ and given Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in Gad. Just as every poor sinner has been driven out of the earthly paradise because sin is complete in the first Adam, so am I taken out of this world into the heavenly paradise in the last Adam because righteousness is complete. God raising up Christ and giving Him glory proves that the question of sin has been all settled in Christ on the cross, and in virtue of this He is sitting where He is, at the right hand of God. The passage through the wilderness is to humble and prove us. Our perseverance is tested by God leading us through the path in which Christ was found implicitly faithful. Israel went through that great and terrible wilderness where were the fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water. God brought them water out of the rock of flint, fed them with the manna to humble them and prove them, to do them good at their latter end. They come to Jordan, they pass it, they get into the land, they eat the old corn, and the land is theirs.

In the wilderness and Canaan we get two characters of Christian experience-one, the life down here; the other, the position in the heavenlies. We are not only a testimony to the world, but also to principalities and powers in the heavenlies—" To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God." He " hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places; " but though that is all true as to title, as to fact, the Canaanite and the Perizzite are still in the land to dispute the possession. We have our place in the power of the Spirit of God.

Christ having gone before, our place is sure to faith; but the Canaanite is not yet destroyed—Christ's enemies are not yet put under His feet, so conflict characterizes the place of the Lord's redeemed people. When Joshua got into the land, he met a man with a drawn sword. Fighting was to characterize their possession of the land, and when Joshua asks, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? " the answer was, Nay, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." They were the redeemed of the Lord-the Lord's host-so completely the Lord's, that He uses them as His servants in conflict to subdue His enemies.

They must " be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," and they cannot fight the Lord's battles if the flesh is at work. With an Achan in the camp there can be no victory, and therefore we must he practically dead to fight successfully; not merely reckoning ourselves dead, but be always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body.

Paul, as a servant, always carried with him the sense of this, not as a title merely, but " Paul " was kept completely down, always bearing about in his body the dying of Jesus; nothing of Paul appeared, it was Jesus only. As soon as they crossed the Jordan (Jordan is death and resurrection with Christ), they were circumcised-death is practically applied; and in like manner after they had crossed the Red Sea they had to drink of the bitter water-really the salt water; they had been saved by it, they must now drink it. " By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit " (Isa. 38:16).

As soon as we get in heavenly places we get the “old corn "-we find Christ there, we feed on Him; but we have to be circumcised, practically putting of the body of the flesh. Israel got into the land, and had to be circumcised; their title they knew, but they had not taken the ground of being practically dead and risen (from Egypt). If a man is practically dead and risen, what has he to do with this world? A man dead, and thus taken out of the world, has to go through the world and live in it again if God so will it. We have to rune across the wilderness to glory. As one associated with the Lord, I am the witness and testimony to the world of what a heavenly Christ is. I am to be an imitator of God. I shall be seeking other souls to enjoy it with me. If we are endeavoring to serve the Lord, shall we not find hindrances? if seeking to maintain the Lord's people in the place of fidelity to all this, do you think Satan will let you alone? There will be the wiles of Satan: to get saints into his power, and we have to withstand his stratagems even more than his power.

Infidelity, superstition in its various forms, are opposed to us, consequently we need the whole armor of God the moment we come in. We shall not get through in our own strength; we need the strength of the Lord, and the power of His might; we need the whole armor, not one piece must be wanting. The armor must be of God, human armor will not ward off the attacks of Satan; confidence in that armor will engage us in the combat to make us fall before an enemy stronger and more crafty than we. Let us see what this complete armor is.

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." This is the first thing, looking at what we call the subjective part. Our state comes first, and there is no divine activity until the heart is perfectly in order. The loins are the seat of strength when duly girt, but represent the intimate affections and movements of the heart. The figure is taken from the habits of the country where these instructions were given; they wore long garments, which hindered their working unless girded up. We get the expression in Job 38:3, "Gird up now thy loins like a man; " that is, to see what he had to say to God. It is the power of truth applied to everything that takes place in the heart; it is not doctrine, but truth practically applied. The Lord said, "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." God has sent into the midst of the world all that can judge man according to what God is. Christ is the center of the word; He was the light of the world, He revealed the thoughts of many hearts. He was here as a man, and revealed what God was, and the world was judged by it. He comes, and brings all that is divine and heavenly in a man (Christ) in direct contact with all that is contrary to God in this world. Satan, as the God of this world, led man against Christ. Some fancy that he has ceased to be the god and prince of this world; but though the cross broke his title, it was not until the cross (where man openly. ranged himself under Satan against God) that he became its prince. Truth came into the world-Christ Himself, the truth. The truth of God brought right to men's hearts discovers their thoughts and intents. Now, when I get this word effectually applied to me, I get the girdle of truth.

When all that God has said in His word, and the unseen realities He reveals, have their true force and application to my heart, my loins are girt, my garments are not dragging in the mire of this world, my thoughts are not wandering, and the condition of my heart is, so to speak, tucked up ready for service, whatever that may be. We do not get into this conflict until we get into this place. We get the conflict of the old man, but that is Egypt. In order to get the victory over Satan, and carry on the Lord's, battles, I must realize my position according to the truth, just as Israel overcame by realizing the promises of God.

First thing of all, my heart must be completely tested and subjected to a heavenly word. The Lord said, " No man hath ascended up to heaven." Christ brings this heavenly truth before us, and says, Does what is in your heart correspond with this? When this word becomes a positive delight to us, we get the taste and appreciation of heavenly things-the things that are lovely, and of good report-which He has brought to us. I get on the one hand judgment of all flesh in me, and on the other the blessedness of what Christ is. Wherever the loins are girt about with truth, there will be confidence of heart, and the soul will be steadfast, there will be no turning back in the conflict to judge ourselves; our souls, so to speak, will be naturally with God, there will be occupation of heart with Christ, and there will be the Holy Ghost taking of the things which are Christ's, and showing them to us.

The result of this girding of the loins is, that a man's condition is the effect of truth. It was Christ's condition. He was the truth, and my condition will be like Christ's in proportion as the truth is in effect on my heart; the affections and heart right, I pass through the world in spirit with Him. " Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness." All this, mark, is practical righteousness; we do not want armor with God, we want it against Satan.

If I am an inconsistent man, going to serve God without the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left-without practical godliness-Satan will be sure to bring it up. In preaching, for instance, if your walk is not consistent, the world will say you are no better than they, and Satan will then have power against you.

If you are walking according to Christ because your heart is according to Christ, you have on the breastplate of righteousness; but unless a man has a good conscience, he will be a coward, and afraid of being detected. With a good conscience we can go on boldly; the condition of the soul where Christ is revealed is truth, and the walk of the man is all right-there is nothing for Satan to lay hold of. The loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, I have then to see that my feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I pass through the world with my feet shod. " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace." In this path there is no selfishness; selfishness is for maintaining its rights, but that is not having my feet shod with peace. Self is subdued if I am following Christ. "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." Learning of Christ, He carries peace with Him—the soul is at peace with God, the conscience at rest, His feet are shod with peace, and He carries through the world the spirit and character of Christ.

He has on the breastplate of righteousness. What was the path of the blessed Lord? There was nothing in question as to His state? He went untouched with all that man could bring against Him; His feet were shod so with him who follows Christ; he can bring out the spirit and character of Christ wherever he goes. It may raise hatred, as it did with Christ-His perfect love brought out the hatred of man; but a subdued, godly, upright man will be a peaceful man in passing through the world, and although man may not speak peaceably to him, as much as lieth in him, he is to live peaceably with all men. Thus we get it in both aspects-the path is characterized by the spirit of grace and peace, and there is righteousness and truth. The state of the heart first right, loins girt with truth, righteousness for a breastplate, and feet shod with peace, the soul subjectively right, I can then take up the shield of faith. Subjectively right, I have not to think of myself. A man walking with nothing on his conscience is free; if not walking right, he will be occupied with himself. The mere existence of an evil nature does not suppose a bad conscience, but yielding to it does. We are not told to confess sin, but sins. It is easy to confess sin, easy to say, " I am a poor sinful creature," but that generally is to excuse sins. I have failed to keep the flesh down. Of course I can never say I have no sin, but if I am not bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, practically dead, the flesh will surely play me false. We want these first three elements of the armor, and then we have not to think about ourselves. Practically in the light, as He is in the light, the heart right, I then get the shield of faith, wherewith I shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. This shield supposes I can look up with entire blessed confidence in God. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.... He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day."

God is above Satan. Satan may shoot his arrows, but they cannot break through the shield of faith. In Christ the victory has been won in man and for man. Satan did his worst against Christ-first to seduce and afterward to deter Him -but he was completely overcome. All the power of Satan is broken and gone. Christ has gone through death and conquered him who had the power of death. Christ has not only put away our sins, but as a man standing for us, He has completely overcome the devil. We are not told to overcome, but to " resist" the devil, and he will flee from us. If resisted, he meets Christ in us, and runs away. Human nature cannot resist, it will acquiesce. It is not a question of power on our part, but of simple faithfulness and looking to Christ; it is not that we are strong, but strength is made perfect in weakness. What was ever so weak as Christ-Christ crucified through weakness? but then the weakness of God is stronger than men, and the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Nothing could be more weak and foolish in man's eyes than the cross, but we know, nevertheless, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God'.

Whenever we are content to own ourselves weak, there is the strength that enables us to overcome. Satan is very subtle. If Satan deals with man (apart from God), it is all over with him. How is it possible-that wise and learned men of this world give way to such follies as ritualism and the like? Satan, more clever than they, is behind it all, and laughs to see them trusting their own wisdom. The simple soul that has his heart right cannot go wrong. Satan has no kind of power while the soul is walking in obedience, that is the secret of it all. If walking inconsistently, the shield of faith will be down, and I shall be open to all the fiery darts. There should be that blessed confidence in God which reckons on Christ having completely overcome the world and the devil, and that all the power of evil now in the world will soon be putt down. We are to be exercised in the conflict. The Lord has said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world."

We have as yet no activities brought out; so far it is defensive. The defensive armor comes first. We are slow to understand this, and we often get into activities when we ought to be quiet. The shield is defensive. Satan is active. The Lord may bless and help us, in His grace, but there are many who get into activities without knowing themselves. The helmet of salvation is still defensive; we have the conscious, blessed, and full certainty of being in heavenly places in Christ—the soul walking in the full confidence that I have Christ there, who has delivered me out of the power of the devil. Christ has fought my battle, and overcome. I can hold my head up, because I have got salvation. The blessed certainty that I am in Christ and Christ is for me is my helmet. I can now be active. Having judged the flesh, godly in walk, peaceful in my path through the world, with confidence in God, and salvation assured, I can take up the sword of the Spirit—I can fight, sheltered in the inner man, and shielded from all attacks from without. I take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We do not always look to see that it is so—that there is nothing between God and our souls, so that He is practically with us in the conflict. Are we walking in the practical sense of God being with us? If there is an Achan in the camp, as there was with Israel, God will not go up. It is of all-importance we should be clear as to this. Paul kept under his body, and brought it into subjection. If we are to be active in the service of the Lord, we must go out from the presence of the Lord according to what His presence gives. Paul said, " Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and men." Always self-judgment, always keeping close to God, and then you can go out in service to others; not always, perhaps, in public ministry, but in the path of everyday life.

You will have the secret of the Lord with you, the consciousness of God with you, clearness of judgment, and not distracted or dismayed by half a dozen thoughts. You have the secret of the Lord; going on quietly, it may be, but going on with God. Then comes, no matter how active I may be, the inward preparation—" praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." We have had the inward affection and the sword of the Spirit, but now it is entire dependence—the word of God and prayer. These two things are found running together through Scripture: the word of God and prayer. Mary sat at the Lord's feet and heard His word. The Lord said, " Mary bath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." In the next verses, the Lord teaches His disciples to pray. When deacons were chosen, the reason assigned by the apostles was that they might give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6). When there is to be service carried on against the wiles of the devil, half the battle is to be fought out in God's presence beforehand in prayer. When the prince of this world came to the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane, he found Him agonizing in prayer. Peter slept while the Lord prayed: the result was that Peter denied Him, but the blessed Lord witnessed a good confession.

Nothing can, or ever will, take the place of that earnestness in prayer: if we are to have God with us, we must pray. It is marked by perfect calmness. If we have God with us, we must be with God, who is sovereign in love and goodness, and has associated us with His own interests. Does not my heart yearn after the conversion of poor sinners? do I not pray that hearts may know more of Christ? that saints may walk, more faithfully? God desires this, and He has given us a path in the world associated with His interests. There is to be perseverance and supplication for all saints. If I see a soul in danger of going astray, I go with all perseverance and supplication to God about him: my heart is in it.

The very same word used of the Lord in Gethsemane is used of Epaphras, who labored fervently in prayer (Col. 4). It is conflict of heart. He craves the blessing of God with all his heart—craving for it earnestly, and entering into it because it is in the interests of God in the world. This has to be carried on in opposition to Satan, who will bring all his craft and power against us. We have consequently to be with God. What a blessed thing to know that I get power and wisdom from God, grace and wisdom in practice! If I use a sword, I must get wisdom for it. What a place of blessing it would be if we were all practically with God!

For our own souls it is so helpful, because prayer is the expression of entire dependence, but at the same time of confidence in God. A person like Paul, in weakness and trembling, fightings without and fears within, going about getting victories! He says to the Corinthians, " I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." It is always good to be conscious of weakness provided there is faith in God. Constant dependence is the constant expression of faith in God the soul goes to God with God's affairs, we realize how much they are our own. The blessed Lord has gone down into the dust of death. Satan's power was exercised to the fullest, but it was all broken. He comes up again and sits at the right hand of God, takes His people, whom He has completely delivered from the hand of Satan, and uses them for conflict against him-the instruments of His service in the world-a wondrously blessed place if we only knew how to hold it-blessed to be made the Lord's host against Satan. The more you are in the forefront of the battle, the more you will be exposed to the fiery darts. The more you bear testimony to God's thoughts, God's mind, the place the saints have in God's mind, the more you will be the object of Satan's attacks. You will necessarily be exposed to more snares and dangers than those who lag behind, and there is no place where dependence is more needed and felt.

There is more strength provided for those in the forefront to bear witness to Christ's title against Satan, and Satan will never let it pass without opposition. When I have all the armor on, and come to wield the sword, I am not to be thinking of the armor, but of God and His purposes, " watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Oh, how little we know of this! Supposing we pass through a day, was all that happened turned into prayer? If I am walking maintaining Christ's cause, it all turns to prayer. It is a wondrous test of the state of our souls. Do you think you can intercede much for others? Do you find earnestness in intercession for all saints? Is my heart so in the interests of Christ that I can have a lasting and continual interest for others? If my heart is in a bad state, and the presence of God is revealed to me, I think of myself-I am not free to intercede for others. " And for me,” says the apostle, " that utterance may he given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly... as I ought to speak." How is it with us, beloved friends? It is an amazing blessing to be doing this, but we cannot if our own souls are not right—if I am not in the presence of God. As far only as I keep on this armor, I am useful; all is founded on being in a settled place before God. The blood on the doorpost, the Red Sea crossed, Jordan passed, circumcised, and the reproach of Egypt roiled away-then comes conflict in. the land all is founded on redemption.

Be assured we shall meet the wiles of Satan. Our own state and conscience are easily detected if our hearts are simple in the truth. It is not that we are to be learning Satan's wiles, but if our hearts are simple, we shall be more than a match for him. Satan is a good deal cleverer than we are, and wherever redemption is not fully known, there Satan plays his tricks. The moment that redemption is really believed in, all the systems of superstition so prevalent in the world are gone. You may have old things lingering, but you will never find a person under the power of superstition who has the consciousness in himself that Christ has died and suffered for him. We see wise and learned men going away to ritualism, and the devil behind it all but the moment redemption is really known, the devil's power is gone. The system of ritualism proceeds on the footing that Christ can have to say to man in the flesh that he is not lost and dead in his sins, and consequently a complete and accomplished redemption is denied. The moment I have my soul established in Christ, this snare of the devil will not prevail. A man may know the truth of the incarnation, and may speak more beautifully of the person of the Lord than even Christians, but all the time be ignorant of redemption. I have the witness of Christ in me;. I know Christ. They may try to persuade me that Christ is such and such, hut I know Him; I have got Him; He dwells in my heart, so that I am not to be turned by such follies as ritualism and the like. The Lord keep us in a constant sense of dependence, in a sense of what He is, dependent on Him every moment, that we may never get out of the presence of God, for when we are out of His presence there is danger.

The Conqueror

The Lord God, of old, entered on His rest, or Sabbath, as Creator. He had ended His work, and on the seventh day He rested. We know that this Sabbath has been lost by man, and the rest of God disturbed. We know, also, that another rest, or the keeping of a Sabbath, is in prospect (Heb. 4.). In what character, we may ask, will it be entered?

Scripture tells us, by a Conqueror (see Psa. 47-48; 92-100.; Rev. 19). These Psalms, etc., intimate that the Lord had just displayed Himself as a Man of war, stilling the noise of waves or the tumults of the peoples, and was now keeping the Sabbath of a Conqueror, or enjoying a triumphant rest.

David making way for Solomon is the type of this. Solomon was the Peaceful-a name which implies not abstract rest, but rest after conflict.

In such a dignity the Lord enters His second rest, or Sabbath. The first had not been the rest of the Peaceful. It was the rest simply of the Creator—of One who had ended a work. It was not a triumphant rest. It was not a rest that bespoke previous glorious warfare. It could not have had the presence of a Conqueror to adorn and gladden it.

But still more. Heaven has anticipated this joy and this ornament; for it has already received a Conqueror. Jesus is there in this character, though never till He ascended had heaven known such a character. The Lord God had filled the heavens, and the angels that excel in strength had attended. Some may have been cast down who kept not their first estate, and others have sung together, as when the earth's foundations were laid. But never, we may say, had a Conqueror been there till Jesus ascended. But He, through death, had destroyed him that had the power of death (Heb. 2:14); He had led captivity captive (Eph. 4:8); He had made a show of principalities (Col. 2:15)2 After the type" of Samson, He had borne the hostile gates to the top of the hill. He had overcome ere He sat down on the Father's throne (Rev. 3:21). The grave clothes had been left in the empty sepulcher (John 20:6,7). As Conqueror, therefore, Jesus ascended. Heaven had already known the Living God, but now it had to know the Living God in victory. The Lott returned as in triumph, and filled heaven with a new song, " The Conqueror's Song." And in spirit this song is sung every day by all the saints now gathering.

And we enter heaven and the Kingdom, as conquerors also. " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne! (Rev. 3:21). We rise as shouting, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?-thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through, our Lord Jesus Christ! " (1 Cor. 15:55-57). This is the language of conquer, ors, as the rising ascending saints will be in their day and way and measure-as their ascended

Lord has already been in His day and way and measureless glory.

It is the Kingdom of Conquerors that is to be thus displayed and established; and it will be therefore an irreversible Kingdom. Unlike the Garden of Eden; for Adam entered it in order to be assayed-that the serpent might try a question with him, and put creature integrity to the proof. The Kingdom is to be entered and taken by conquerors-by those who have been proved, and not who are to be proved.

And the earthly places will be of the same character, for Israel will already have been proved, and refined, and brought forth, and stablished in the faith of the victory of Christ; they will have been already made His "goodly horse" and " weapons of war" (Zech. 10:3; Jer. 51:20).

This is, indeed, " a new song," the Conqueror's song: and heaven and earth will witness and celebrate it; their history must have taught it to therm.

The old song, like the old work, was not a Conqueror's. The Morning Stars sang over the work of Creation; but that was not, as I have said, a Conqueror's work. It was not victory, but creation. It was not glorious peace after warfare, like Solomon's, but simply rest and refreshing after labor. And therefore the song of the Morning Stars-the old song-was according to that, simple joy over the grand foundations of the earth being laid. But the song which ushers in the Kingdom will be that of Conquerors, and thus new in its strain and burthen. The first " cornerstone" was simply "laid " by a Creator (Job 38:6,), and angels sang: the second "Corner-stone" shall be brought in as Victor, and Israel shall shout!!! (Psa. 118).

Coming!

" What I say unto you I say unto all, WATCH. "

Mark. 13:37.

It may be in the evening;

When the work of day is done,

And you've time to sit in the twilight

And watch the setting sun,

While the long bright day dies slowly

Over the sea,—

And the hour grows quiet and holy

With thoughts of Me,—

When you hear the village children

Passing along the street,

Among the thronging footsteps,

May come the sound of My feet.

Therefore I tell you " Watch!"

Let the door be on the latch

In your home—

For it may be through the gloaming

I will come!

It may be in the midnight

When 'tis heavy on the land,

And the black waves lying dumbly

Along the sand

When the moonless night draws close,

And the lights are out in the house;

When the fire burns low and red,

And the watch is ticking slowly

Beside the bed;—

Though you sleep tired on your couch,

Yet your heart must wake and watch

In the dark room;—

For it may be that at midnight

I will come!

It may be at the cockcrow:

When the night is dying slowly

In the sky;—

And the sea looks calm and holy,

Waiting for the dawn of the golden sun

Which draweth nigh;

When the mists are on the valleys shading

The rivers chill,

And my morning-star is fading, fading

Over the hill:—

Behold I say unto you " Watch!"

Let the door be on the latch

In your home,—

In the chill before the dawning

I may come!

It may be in the morning:

When the sun is bright and strong,

And the dew is glistening sharply

Over the little lawn

When the waves are laughing loudly

Along the shore;

And the little birds are singing sweetly

About the door;

With the long day's work before you,

You are up with the sun,

And the neighbors come to talk a little

Of all that must be done

But remember, I may be the next

To come in at the door,

To call you from your busy work

For evermore!

As you work your hearts must watch,

For the door is on the latch

In your room—

And it may be in the morning

I will come!

So I am watching quietly

Every day:

Whenever the sun shines brightly

I rise and say,

"Surely it is the shining of His face"—

And look unto the portals of His High Place

Beyond the sea;

For I know He is coming shortly

To summon me.

And when the shadow falls across

The window of the room

Where I am working my appointed task,

I lift my head to watch the door and ask

If He is come—

And the spirit answers softly,

In my room:

"Only a few more shadows
And He will come! "

The Coming of the Lord That Which Characterizes the Christian Life

I purpose to take up a subject which I feel to be deeply important—the coming of the Lord Jesus; and to take it up, not proving it as a doctrine, but showing that it was originally a substantial part of Christianity itself. The groundwork is Christ's first coming, and His atoning death; but when we look beyond the foundation, then we see that the coming of the Lord Jesus is not merely a bit of knowledge, but a substantive part of the faith of the church of God, and that on which the moral state of the saints, and indeed of the church of God, depends. You will see, in going through the passages which I will now quote, that it connects itself and is mixed with every part of Christianity, characterizes it, and connects itself with every thought and feeling of the Christian. A person could not read the Scriptures with an unprejudiced mind without seeing it.

I take conversion: people say, what has that to do with the Lord's coming? That is part of what they were converted to: “to wait for God's Son from heaven." This waiting for God's Son from heaven characterized their conversion; they were converted to serve God, surely; but, also, “to wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1:10).

There are two subjects with which Scripture is occupied, when personal salvation is settled: one is the sovereign grace, which makes us, redeemed from sin, like Christ in the glory: this is the blessed portion of the church of God; and the other is the government of God in this world. (Deut. 32:8.) " When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people[s], according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." There we get, in the government of the world, Israel as the center. Israel would not have Christ, and so was set aside for the time. God's throne was taken from Jerusalem at the Babylonish captivity, but a remnant was spared and brought back, that the king might be presented to them; but Him they refused, and are now set aside till His return. There are only sixty-nine weeks of Daniel definitely fulfilled.

The last week is not fulfilled; it is not come. So as to the great feasts. You have got the Passover fulfilled: "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;" and the feast of Pentecost has its fulfillment in the descent of the Holy Ghost but the feast of Tabernacles is not fulfilled at all you 'have no antitype yet whatever. But here the other blessed work of God comes in, that meanwhile God is calling out poor sinners to have a part with His Son, and be like His Son; for we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He may be the First-born among many brethren. He has taken us poor sinners to have us in the same glory as His Son. That is another thing from prophecy, which gives us the portion of this world and the Jewish people. When He shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory.

The Christian's position as to the coming of the Lord is, that he is waiting for Christ to come according to His promise. People say He comes at death. I reply, Do you make death the same as Christ? If this were the case we should have him coming hundreds and hundreds of times, where as we only read of His coming twice. (Heb. 9:28.) Shall I tell you what will happen when Christ comes? Resurrection! This is quite a different thing from death. The coming of Christ is, for the saint, to be the end of death—exactly the opposite. I believe nobody can find a trace of the thought in Scripture that Christ comes at death. Instead of Christ's coming being death, it is resurrection we go to Christ at death, it is not Christ who comes to us. Blessed it is "to depart and be with Christ.;" " absent from the body, present with the Lord." But I am to show that this thought of the coming of Christ mixes itself with and characterizes every part of Christian life.

In the first place we have it in conversion, as already said. They were converted to wait for 'God's Son from heaven. I will turn to other passages in support of it, but I will go through Thessalonians first. In the 2nd chapter of the 1st epistle, at the end, the apostle speaks of what his comfort and joy in service were. He had been driven away by, persecution from the midst of the "Thessalonians., and writing 'to them speaks of his comfort in thinking of them. But how? "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" He cannot speak of his interest in them and joy without bringing in the coming of the Lord Jesus. Again, as regards holiness (chap. 3:12, 13): " The Lord make you to increase and abound in love..... to the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." As to the death of a saint, they were so thoroughly looking for the Lord that if a person died they thought he would not be there, ready to go to meet Him. They were wrong in this, and the apostle corrects their mistake: But now people say, when a saint dies, we shall go after him, we shall follow him Here there is not a word about it. Suppose 1 were to go and say to a Christian now, who had lost some one dear to him; " Do not be uneasy, Christ will bring him with Him," he would think me wild, or find it utterly unintelligible;" and yet that is the way the apostle does comfort them: "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (chap. 4), He then shows the way He will do it "We which are alive... shall not prevent then which are asleep." " Prevent" is an old word for anticipate or go before. The first thing the Lord: will do when He descends is to raise the sleeping saints. He is going to bring them with Him. If they have fallen asleep in Him, their spirits will have been with Him meanwhile; but then they will receive glory, be raised in glory, be like Him, and, going to meet Him in the air, will be forever with Him; and when He appears He will bring them with Him, and they will appear with Him in glory. You get it in a general way in the 5th chapter, where he desires their whole spirit and soul and: body may be preserved. "blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This hope, then, is a part of the Christian state in every aspect. Conversion, joy in service, holiness, a believer's death, the goal of blamelessness, all are connected with the coming of the Lord.

Turn now to Matt. 25 The wise virgins take oil in their vessels, but they all go to sleep and forget that the Bridegroom was coming. But what I have specially to inquire here is, What was the original calling? The statement, clear and positive, is, that they went forth to meet the Bridegroom, but while He tarried they "all "slumbered and slept-they all forgot His coming, the wise as well as the foolish. They got into some comfortable place; bivouacking in the open air is not comfortable to the flesh. But at midnight the cry is heard, " Behold, the Bridegroom I " The thing that roused them up from their sleep was the cry, " Behold the Bridegroom! " The original object then of the church was to go to meet Him who came; but even true believers forgot 'it. And, further, what awakes them from their sleep is their being again called out to meet Him at His coming. Then you get in "the talents " the same thing in regard to service and responsibility: He takes His journey and tells them, " Occupy till I come."

Another very strking fact as to this truth is, it is always presented as a present operative expectation. You will never find the Lord nor the apostles speaking of the Lord's coming, with the supposition that it would be delayed beyond the life of those to whom they spoke. It might be at' cockcrowing, or in the morning; but they were to be waiting for God's Son from heaven. In the parables referred to, the virgins who went to sleep were the same virgins as those who woke up; the servants to whom the talents were entrusted, were the servants who rendered an account of them at His return. We know centuries have passed, but He will not allow any thought of delay. "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." Again, what was the cause of the church's ruin?' It was, "My Lord delayeth His coming." It was not saying, "He will not come;" but "He delayeth His coming." Then the servant began to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; and this` brings on his judgment. If the bride loves the Bridegroom, she cannot but wish to see Him. Her heart is where He is. When the church lost this, she settled down to enjoyment where she was; she got worldly; she did not care about the Lord's return.

Turn now to Luke 12, and you will find how his waiting for Christ characterizes the Christian, and therewith the serving Him while He is away. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." They were to have their loins girded, their lights burning. Such was the characteristic of a Christian. They were to be as men that waited for their Lord, to open to Him immediately; their affections in order and full profession of Christ, but watching for their Lord's return. It is not merely having the Lord's coming as a doctrine. The blessing rests on those who are watching, "like men that wait for their Lord." "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." They must be girded, and have their lights bright while He is away, and watch for His return; and then He makes them sit down to meat, and girds Himself, and comes forth and serves them. Now they must be girded and watch; our rest is not here. "But," says the Lord, "when I have things all My own way, you shall sit down to meat, and I will gird Myself and come forth and serve you. I will make you enjoy all the best that I have in heaven, and I will minister it to you; only be found watching.

Christ is forever in grace a servant according to the form He has taken. He is girded now according to John 13 They would naturally think that if He were gone to heaven in glory there was an end of His service to them; but He tells them, "I am going away; I cannot stay here with you, yet I cannot give you up; but as I cannot remain on earth with you, I must make you fit for Me in heaven. 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.' " It is water here, not blood. " He that is washed (or, more correctly 'bathed') needeth not, save to wash his feet." Life giving conversion, as well as salvation, is fully wrought; but if we pick up dirt in the way, even as to communion and the walk, grace and advocacy are there to wash our feet and have us pratically fit for being with God where Christ has gone. Growth there is, or ought to be; and, as to the unchangeable cleanness of the new man, this is certain. But if I have not been watchful, I shall pick up dirt in my path. I cannot have this in heaven, nor in communion with what is there; and the Lord says in effect, "I am: not going to give you up because lam going to God and glory, and so I must have you in a state suitable to that, and washed as you are ( though not all, for Judas was there), keep you fit, restoring you when you fall. But you must be watching while I am away."

It is a comfort to me to know that all the virgins woke up in time, and I believe all His saints will wake up before the Lord comes. The difficulty to the heart in looking around is that so many do not receive it. But the true service of the Lord is connected with watching. That is the state to which the blessing and the heavenly feast are attached. Then you find another thing-serving while He is away; and the result of this is, " Of a truth I will make him ruler over all I have." It is far better to eat, as is said of Israel,. of the finest of the wheat, and that in the Father's house; but if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. With the serving in His absence, I get the ruling; as the heavenly feast with watching. The Lord then goes on to what we had in Matthew, the saying, " My Lord delayeth. His coming."

What the Lord is pressing as to watching and serving is, " I am coming again. You must be watching for Me, as men that wait for their lord." That was to be their character as Christians. Supposing all the people in this town were actually watching, waiting for the Lord from heaven, not knowing the moment He would come, do you think the whole town would not be changed? A person once said to me that if everybody believed that, the world could not go on at all; and the Christian cannot, in a worldly way.

If people were waiting for the Lord from heaven, the whole tone and character of their life would be changed. I may have the doctrine of Christ's coming, when I am really not looking for Him; but I should not like to be heaping money together when the Lord comes. I should, if possible, huddle it away out of His sight.

Turn now to Phil. 3 Paul was running a race. " 'Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark (or goal ') for the prize of the high calling (or rather ',calling on high ') of God in Christ Jesus." And how does he speak of Christ at the close of that chapter? -" Brethren, be followers together of me... for our conversation" (our living association) " is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus 'Christ," etc. He had seen Christ, and would not be content till he was like Him in glory. To be with Him then, was, no doubt, far better; but it was not the goal of his heart. People talk of going to glory when they die. There is no such thought in Scripture as being in glory, when we depart to be with Christ. Most blessed and happy to be with Him! This I would surely press; but it is when He comes that He will change these vile bodies (or ruttier 'bodies of humiliation') and fashion them like unto His glorious body (or rather 'His body of glory'). I am waiting till I get my body changed, to be like Christ in glory; and, what is more, Christ is waiting too.

The Lord's coming affects all the truths of Christianity. Christ is not now on His own throne at all. He is sitting now, according to the word in Heb. 10 (and also in Psa. 110), at God's right hand, sitting on the Father's throne, as He says Himself in the promise in Laodicea. He has set-fled the question of sin for them at His first coming, and they have no more conscience of sins; they are perfected forever. And to them that look for Him shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation. He is expecting in the heavens till His enemies be made His footstool. Why does' He say " His enemies"? Because He is sitting down after He has finished all for His friends; that is, those that believe in Him. Have all your sins been put away out of God's sight? If not, when will it be done? That you grow in hatred of them all-all right! But if they are not borne and put away on the cross, when will it be done? Can you get Christ to die again? Can you get anyone else to do it? If it is not done, it will never be done at all. Beloved friends, if the work is not finished, it will never be done at all. But it is done, and therefore lie says, the worshippers once purged " have no more conscience of sins.. For by one offering He bath perfected forever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10:2,14.)

If you look now at Col. 3, you will find the same thing in its full result held out as our hope. " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." The first promise He gave the disciples when going away was His coming again. Do not be troubled (as they naturally would be on losing the One for whom they had given up all), I am not going to be all alone in My Father's house. There, there are many mansions, I am going to prepare a place for you. Do not be uneasy, I cannot stay with you, so I must have you up there with Me; and the first thing is, " I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." It is not one by one by death, but by resurrection for the dead, and change for the living, His actual coming to receive them, raised or changed, to be with Himself where He was gone, and like Himself, that we shall be in glory with Him.

Again, at His departing from His disciples left down here, what was the last they saw. of Him?

They saw Him go up before their eyes, and the angel said to them, "Why stand ye gazing tip into heaven? This same Jesus.., shall so come in like manner." His coming is wrought into the whole texture of the Christian life:

What is Scripture's last word? "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." In the same way you get it at the beginning (of Revelation), with warning and threatening, Jesus Christ, Faithful. Witness, the First-begotten, etc. " Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Then at the end (prophetic instructions are over, I do not enter into them), "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel," etc. "I am the bright and morning star." Now I get what these saints who were watching, and those only, see. There is no star to be seen when the sun is risen; they see the morning star while it is yet early dawning, for the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Here He calls Himself "the root and offspring of David; the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come." If the bride has got the sense of being the bride of Christ, she must desire to be with the Bridegroom; 'there is not proper love to Christ unless she wants to be with Him. Abram said of his wife, "'She is my sister;" then the Egyptians-the world-took her into their house.

I just add that you get here the whole circle of the church's affections. "The Spirit and the

bride say, Come" (this is to the Bridegroom); "and let him that heareth say, Come." That is, the Christian who has heard the word of his salvation joins in the cry. Then those who thirst for some living water are called to come. The saints of the church can say, though they have not yet the Bridegroom in glory, that they have the living water, and so call, " I.et him that is athirst, come," and then address the call universally, " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." This they have, though not the Bridegroom. What I find then is, that in the word of God the thoughts and feelings and conduct and doings and affections of Christians are identified with the coming of Christ. Take all these things, and you will find that they are all identified with the coming of the Lord.

Take the first epistle of John, chapter 3., " Behold, what manner of love," etc. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God" (that is settled), " and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Beloved friends, we are " predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son." This is what God has purposed for us. When are we to be like Christ in the glory? When He comes. It is not when a person dies, and the spirit goes to be with Christ; for then he is like Christ when Christ was in the grave; and I do not want to be like Christ when Christ was in the grave. But if I die I shall be like Christ as to that, but this is not what I want, though blessed in itself. I want to be like Him in the glory. When will that be? When He comes He will change our vile bodies (or 'bodies of humiliation'), and fashion them like to His glorious body (or, 'body of glory '); so here it doth not yet appear what we shall be,. but when He shall appear we shall be like Him'. Now mark the practical consequences upon the man that has been in his faith brought up to God's purposes "He that bath this hope in Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure." I know T am going to be perfectly like Christ in the glory, therefore I want to be as like Him as possible down here. You find here again what the Holy Scriptures are explicit in teaching, that holiness also is always referred to conformity to Christ in glory. I shall have that likeness to Christ in glory, and nothing else is my standard. You will find one passage already quoted, "To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our rather, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." The perfection of the Christian is to be like Him when He comes. What again I find as to Christians in 1 Cor. 15. is, " It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory." We have the blessed, assurance that accompanies true assured hope of the first resurrection, and its results.

We shall be perfectly like Christ when we are raised from the dead. We give an account of ourselves, hut it is when we are like the Person to whom we are to give an account. The full efficacy of His first coming has been lost, and therefore people are not comfortable when thinking of His second coming. But for the saint " Christ is the first-fruits, then they that are Christ's at His coming." Is Christ the first-fruits of the wicked? Surely not. Just as Christ's resurrection was the public testimony of God's approval of Himself and His work, the resurrection of the saints will be a testimony of God's approval of them as in Him. As we find in Luke 20:35, 36. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: but are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection?

Could anybody show me a single passage about a general resurrection? There is no such thought in Scripture. You get the 25th chapter of Matthew quoted for it, that the goats and sheep represent the two classes; but He has come in His glory down here. He i not sitting on the great white throne, before which heaven and earth flee away. Here He is come, and sits on His throne. When He does come, and sits there, He gathers all the Gentiles—the nations—to judge them. It is the judgment of the quick or the living. You have three sets of people, not two; and you have nothing of resurrection. You have sheep, goats, and brethren. (Matt. 25:40.) So far from its being a general resurrection, there is no reference to resurrection at all; it is quite a different subject. Further, the only question is, How have they treated his brethren? The ground of judgment does not apply to ninety-nine out of a hundred of those who are to be judged, if it were a general judgment. Those that have had the testimony of the kingdom before He comes to judge the quick will be treated according as they have received God's messengers, but such only are in judgment.

And now the point I return to is, that the corn, ing of the Lord influences and forms the whole life of the Christian. You cannot separate anything in the whole course and ways of the Christian from the coming of, the Lord Jesus; and there are but the first coming, and the second coming. He has appeared once in the end of the world, and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time unto salvation. It is true that He cones and dwells in us; but we speak with Scripture of actual coming. If you take holiness, or service, or conversion, or ministry, or a person who has died, they are all connected with Christ's coming. He warns them to be found watching.

I might quote other passages, but I have quoted enough to show that the Lord's coming is connected with everything in the Christian life. When we see Him as He is, then, and then only, shall we be like Him, according to God's purpose. And now I only ask, Are you waiting for God's Son from heaven?

His bearing the sins of many is the only ground of hope for any sinner; that is, the finished work which enables us, through faith, to look for Him when sealed by the Holy Ghost. Then, I say, what am I waiting for? I am waiting for God's Son from heaven. Can you say, "I am watching for Christ"? I do not know when He will come. "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." I do not ask you, "Do you understand about the coming of the Lord? " To wait for Him was the thing they were converted to. The thing that woke the virgins up was, "Behold, the Bridegroom!" Are you actually waiting for God's Son from heaven? Would you like Him to come tonight? Peter explains the delay. He says His long-suffering is salvation, not willing that any should perish. What would you think if He were to come to-night? Would it just be what your soul was looking for? I am going to sit down to table, and He is going to gird Himself and come forth and serve me. People think that it would stop the gospel to be waiting for God's Son from heaven. Did the acceptance by Noah of God's testimony about the deluge stop his preaching? Far from hindering, it was what gave edge to all. May the Lord give us to be ready when He comes-found WATCHING FOR HIM.

Jesus Ever Near

"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

( HEBREWS. 13:5.)

O JESUS CHRIST, the Savior,

We only look to Thee;

'Tis in Thy love and favor

Our souls find liberty.

When Satan seeks to sift us,

And shipwreck we might fear,—

'Tis this o'er all will lift us,

That Thou art ever near.

Yes, though the tempest round us

Seems safety to defy;

Though rocks and shoals surround us,

And billows swell on high—

Thou dost from all protect us,

And cheer us by Thy love;

Thy counsels still direct us

Safe to the rest above.

There with what joy reviewing

Past conflicts, dangers, fears,—

Thy hand our foes subduing,

And drying all our tears,—

Our hearts with rapture burning,

The path we shall retrace,

Where now our souls are learning

The riches of Thy grace.

Law and Priestly Grace

(NUMBERS. 17; 20)

Putting these two chapters together, we see the grace of God in priestly government, to bring His redeemed through the wilderness, and also the contrast between law and priestly grace.

This grace is drawn out by Israel's sin; but grace does not, of course, allow sin. Law could not bring the people into the land. Law must have kept the whole nation out, except Joshua and Caleb, who followed the Lord fully. We see its actings in chapter 16., in the judgment that fell on Korah and his company. If when redeemed we were put under the law, we should be no better off than before. Still, God cannot allow sin. Neither could He give the people up; for had He not redeemed them? as Moses pleaded with Him' (Num. 14:13-16), " And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians shall hear it (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them), and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land..... saying, Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He bath slain them in the wilderness." He cannot give them up; He cannot allow sin, and therefore He brings in priestly grace to meet the difficulty. To take away their murmurings, He does not use the rod of Moses, hut that of Aaron. The rod of Moses could only judge them for their sin, and thus take away their murmurings by judgment. But Aaron's does it by priestly grace.

God makes it very manifest by whom He will act. Aaron's rod is chosen out of the twelve, and the remarkable sign of its blossoming and yielding fruit, skewed that priesthood was connected with life-giving power, as well as with intercession. Both are needed to uphold them, and to raise them when failing. "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." This is the care and authority by which we are led through the wilderness. God will allow no other, and no other, would do. The priesthood of Christ alone can carry us through.

It is the rod of authority too; for " Christ is a son over His own house." But we see that unbelief cannot avail itself of this. " And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we be consumed with dying? " (17:12, 13). God had shown them that there was this grace, and they ought to have trusted in it, especially as they had seen the power in Aaron's remaining in among the congregation, and staying the plague. They had ground for full assurance; but unbelief prevailed. They were insensible to the value of the priesthood, and their conscience was still under law. For they did not know God, though at the very moment He was acting for them in priestly grace.

The circumstances of chapter 20. put them to the test: the outward power, too, that had brought them out of Egypt was passing away from their minds. Miriam, the expression of it, had died. When apparent power decays, faith is put to the test. Afterward Moses passed away too. Unbelief does not get the refreshment that faith does. There is no water. They were in a terrible state of mind-wishing they had shared the judgment that had fallen on their brethren;. for there was no confidence in Jehovah. Yet they called themselves the congregation of Jehovah. They had the pride, but not the comfort, of it. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces. There seemed no remedy. But Jehovah appeared. He was the, only remedy. And He makes Aaron's rod the means of the application of that remedy. It had already been appointed before the occasion for its exercise occurred. There was real need, and God never denies this. He never says it is not real need; but He will have us go to Christ to meet the need. It was not to be Moses's rod, for then it must be judgment. Nor was the rock to he smitten again. That water could be had now without smiting the rock was the result of its having been smitten before by the rod of judgment.

So it is with us. Everything comes to us through Christ's having been on the cross; and we do not need the cross again, but the priestly work. It was now, ".Speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water." Speak the word only, and the water shall flow. All things are ours; we draw nigh now, not for acceptance, but to have our need supplied. In verses 9, 10, we see that Moses was vexed, and spake unadvisedly. He could not rise to the height of God's grace; and that was why he could not enter the land. He was in a better mind the first time Israel murmured. Then he said, "Your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah" (Ex. 16:8); now he says, " Must we fetch you water out of this rock? " setting up Aaron and himself, and using Jehovah's authority to do it. He smites the rock too. There would really have been more glory to Moses if he had spoken instead of smiting, but he did not see this.

God called Aaron's rod "the rod." The other was set aside. They were never under that rod again. It is Christ for us, or nothing. Any other principle must have dealt with them as with Korah. It is only a word now, and every blessing flows. To smite the rock again would be the same as saying, because we fail Christ must die again. It is denying grace to say that anything is needed now except intercession. To "sanctify Him " would be to give Him credit for all that He is, as He has revealed Himself. To " sanctify Him in our hearts" is to attach to Him all that He is. But Moses did not do this. He did not count upon God's grace, which was all that was needed. But does God stop His grace 'because of this? Does He stop the outflowing of the water to quench their thirst? No, He does not! If Moses failed to sanctify Him before the people, He will only the more sanctify Himself before them. He comes in Himself when the one who should act fails. Just as when the disciples, who ought to have been able to cast the evil spirit out of the child, failed in doing so, Jesus, coming down from the mount of transfiguration, said, " Bring him to Me." It was wrong that they could not cast him out, but His own personal interference was gained through it. He gives the people the water they need, in spite of Moses's unbelief and their murmuring. He will act according to the rod of His appointing, if Moses does not.

Thus Christ never fails in carrying on that which as Priest He has undertaken. Israel should have walked under the power and comfort of that rod. They saw the blossoms and the fruit, and should have counted on it. If there is anything we want, and we doubt of getting it, because we say we do not deserve it, that is putting ourselves under law. It is forgetting that there is "the rod and that it is, "speak the word

only." God takes away the murmurings by grace. He deals with all our evil, as His children, in grace. Look at Peter's case. Was it because he repented that Jesus prayed for him that his faith should not fail? We know it was not. And was. it because Peter wept that the Lord turned and looked upon him? It was afterward that he wept. When we do wrong, priestly grace acts for u~, and obtains for us grace to see, and, confess, and put it away. Christ probes the heart of Peter, but does not leave him in the evil. This is the privilege of His children. Grace sends the gospel to the world. Grace gives priesthood to the church. It all originates in God. If I sin, it is not I who go to the Priest, but He goes to God for me. It is not said, If a man repents, but it he sins, "we have an advocate with the Father." When, through the action of priestly grace, a sense of my sin is given me, I go to God for strength against it. It is He who obtains that for me which brings me back to God. All this is the fruit of His unsolicited grace. It was God who appointed the rod. He is "the God of all grace," in spite of all our evil; and when we see it we are confounded. Carrying us through the wilderness is as much grace as redemption and forgiveness. Even when Israel strove with God, He was "sanctified in them." It is very sad to have "meribah" (chiding, or strife) written on any part of our history-sad a' to us-but He makes it an opportunity for His grace. They get just what they want, though Moses is shut out from Canaan. He would make them know the extent of His grace. Another time grace might act in a different way-in chastening, perhaps, if needed; but this taught them what the character and extent of the grace was. Just the same grace that spoke in Isa. 43:22: "Thou hast been weary of me." I have not wearied thee, but "Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." What language for God to use! Yet He goes on: "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake" (vs. 24, 25). Nothing can make us more ashamed of our unbelief than this astonishing grace. And all because of Christ. Nothing makes us hate sin like this.

Two Warnings and an Example

We have here-an example in the case of Jesus, and two warnings in Peter and in Judas.

In Peter we may learn the weakness, and in Judas the dreadful wickedness, of the flesh. We get in Jesus what we should aim after.

In Judas we see the mere professor, in Peter the saint sifted. All three are before us in a time of searching trial, and the result of trial is seen in each.

We ought to remember that now we who are believers have received the Holy Ghost, which Peter had not when he denied the Lord; yet, having the Holy Ghost, we may still learn a lesson from Peter's flesh. And is not the entire worthlessness of the flesh among the last things we learn? In Peter we see what the flesh is.

There is no real living upon the hope of the glory, except in the measure as the flesh is mortified and brought under subjection.

I would dwell, first, upon Judas's apostasy. He had all the appearance to men of being as the other disciples; he had companied with the Lord, he had been one of those sent forth to preach the gospel and work miracles; but his conscience never was before God. He might have truth in his understanding (and, indeed, the understanding does not generally receive truth so readily where' the conscience is affected). Again, Judas could not have walked three years with Jesus, and seen His grace and not have had his affections moved. But then his conscience had never been brought into exercise before God. So it is with many. If we watch the saint receiving truth, we shall often find him slow of apprehension. There is 'something to be judged before God; something which condemns him, and which involves sacrifice. For instance, we see most clearly that the precious blood cleanses from all sin; but only let us commit sin-and how slowly do we apprehend that blessed truth so as to get the comfort of it! In the latter case the conscience is at work. In like manner the affections of the unconverted may be moved-a great company of women followed Christ at the crucifixion, bewailing and lamenting Him! So we read of " Anon with joy receiving, and by and by (or ` anon,' for it is the same word), when tribulation arises, turning away."

The natural man wants something to satisfy self before God; and, until he has done with himself, he will be looking for a certain measure of righteousness before God. He may have been, in connection with this want, instructed in the gospel, and thus the understanding may be clear, and the affections moved; but, unless the conscience be bare before God, there is no life.

Judas loved money-no uncommon lust. And the love of money in a saint now-a-days is as bad, or worse, as being done more in the light.

There was sin in Judas's nature: which sin skewed itself in the shape of the love of money. The next thing was, Satan suggesting a way of gratifying this lust, for he loved money more than he loved Jesus. And now we find the result of outward nearness to the Lord while the conscience is unaffected:-it was to make Judas reason upon circumstances. He thought, probably, the Lord would deliver Himself, as He had done before; for, when he found it not so, he threw down the money, and said, " I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." He continues in this nearness to Christ, until, thirdly, we read that " after the sop Satan entered into him." In the condition of hypocrisy he gets his heart hardened; and then Satan gets between his conscience and all hope of pardon. Many a natural man would not betray his friend with a kiss, as Judas soon after did. His nearness served to harden him.; and he actually took the sop from the hand of the Lord! Even natural feeling was silenced. So it is when the unconverted man gets into a similar position. He becomes more vile than ever. His heart is hardened. Hypocrisy, and at length despair, ensues. Such is the flesh and its end. And the flesh cannot be bettered by ordinances, even where Christ Himself is. Such is the flesh-I can hardly say, when left to itself, for man is never left to himself, he is never really independent. He has the will to be so; therefore he is perfectly a sinner, but if disobedient, he is servant to his lust, 4‘ disobedient and deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures," and slave to Satan. A natural man has a conscience and shame. He will not do in the light what he would in the dark. But the outward form of Christianity, where it has not touched the heart, only makes this difference, that his conscience is seared, and he is only more subtly the slave of Satan.

I now turn to the contrast afforded by what is seen in Peter with what is seen in our blessed Lord. In Jesus we see the obedient, the dependent One, expressing His entire dependence by His praying. And there was seen an angel from heaven strengthening Him. He felt the weakness which He had given Himself up to bear; He was "crucified through weakness." " All my bones," He says, "are out of joint; my heart is like wax, t is melted in the midst of my bowels." "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with me." So in the earlier temptation, we hear Him answering the devil out of the word of God. Jesus might have sent Satan away by divine power, but this would have been no example to us. So, in this chapter, we see the Lord praying!

If you compare what Peter is doing with what the Lord is doing, you learn the secret of Peter's weakness and the Lord's strength. What was the effect of trial upon the weakness of Peter's flesh? He had said, "I will go with thee to prison and to death; " but the Lord has to say to him, "could ye not watch with me one hour?" They were sleeping for sorrow. Here was neither prison nor death! "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (not merely that there be no transgression). Peter entered into temptation; Jesus never did at all. Yet the trial was far greater to Jesus. Jew and Gentile were against Him, and behind them the power of Satan. "This," said He, "is your hour, and the power of darkness," and again, "my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Where does He take all this? The Lord does not sleep and seek to forget His sorrow. He goes and prays to the Father. His eye rested not on the circumstances to think of them. He looked to His Father. Not That He did not feel; for He said, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." It was weakness here as man, and that is real strength.

Remember, if we are in entire dependence, the temptation does not meet us at all. Jesus does not say, " shall I not go through all these trials?" but "the cup which my Father bath given me, shall I not drink it? " He does not see Pilate or Judas in it; it was not Satan that had given Him the cup, but His Father. So with us; if in a frame of entire dependence, temptation does not touch us at all! Trial comes; but, like Jesus, we can say of it, "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? " Every trial becomes a blessed occasion for perfecting obedience, if near God; if otherwise, a temptation! Jesus was walking with God. It was not that He did not feel weakness. "Tarry ye here, and watch with me," shows the weakness of human nature fully felt. As in Psa. 22:14, referring to the cross, He says, " I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." And yet He shrank not from suffering alone when love to His disciples called for it. " If ye seek me, let these go their way." But being in an agony, He prays the more earnestly; it drives Him to His Father; and that before the trial comes. Then what is the next thing? When the trial actually comes, it is already gone through with God! He presents Himself before them, saying, " whom seek ye? " as calmly as if going to work a miracle. Whether before Caiaphas or Pontius Pilate, He makes a good confession; owns Himself Son of God before the Jews, and King before Pilate!

How comes this difference? In the first place, with Peter the flesh is sleeping; he goes to sleep to get rid of the pressure of circumstances. Peter has not gone through the trial with the Father. At the moment when Jesus is going to be led away, the energy of the flesh wakes up, and Peter draws the sword. The flesh has just energy enough, to carry us into the danger where it cannot stand-that energy deserts us then. How little real communion is here! When Christ was praying, Peter was sleeping; when Christ was submitting as a lamb led to the slaughter, Peter was fighting; when Christ was confessing in suffering, Peter was denying Him with cursing and swearing. This is just the flesh:: sleeping where it ought to be waking; in energy when it ought to be still; and then denying the Lord when the time of trial comes. With Christ it was agony with the Father, but perfect peace when the trial came: Oh, if we knew how to goon in all circumstances in communion with the Father, there would be no temptation that would not be an occasion of glorifying Him!

The great thing was, Peter had not learned what the flesh is he did not keep in memory the weakness of the flesh; and thus the condition of dependence was hindered. He seems to be sincere in wishing to own the Lord Jesus and not deny Him. There was more energy of natural and very true affection in Peter than in those who forsook the Lord and fled. He really loved the Lord. Peter fails, not from self-will, not from willingness to sin, but through the weakness of the flesh. In Christ there was no possible moral weakness, because He always walked in the place of weakness in communion with His Father. Jesus goes—through agony itself—with the Father. Peter fails, though but the shadow of temptation comes to him. All Peter's fall began by want of dependence, and by neglecting prayer. We must be watching " unto prayer; " not merely ready tm pray when temptation comes, but walking with God, and so meeting it in the power of previous communion and prayer. Without continual prayer, and constant sense of entire weakness in self, the more 'love to Christ, and the more good-will to serve Him are in a saint, the more certainly will 'he, by that very good-will, be led into the place in which he will dishonor Christ.! The other disciples that fled did not so much dishonor the name of their Master as Peter did.

It was thus Peter had to learn the evil of the flesh. Jesus, on the contrary, ever walked in the confession of dependence-always praying. And what use did the Lord make of His knowledge of Satan's purpose to sift Peter? He prayed for him! The more knowledge, dear fellow-believer, the more prayer! " I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." As the result of this intercession, Peter learned the evil of the flesh more deeply than the others, and was able to " strengthen his brethren."

We are incapable of ministering truth to our brethren unless we are conscious of weakness in ourselves. Without the prayer of Jesus, where would Peter have been? He was running nearly like Judas. Oh, what a blessed thing to be kept in entire consciousness of our weakness, instead of running on like Peter into a place where we cannot stand! How good to be afraid to take a single step without the Lord's guidance! The flesh is ever playing us false—it is good for nothing. The effect of keeping it in the Lord's presence is to have done with it—to be cast on the Father. There is no wisdom that will stand us in any stead but the wisdom that is from above. The Lord knew what the flesh was, and what Paul needed, when he had been caught up into the third heaven. To be taken up into a fourth? No; but a messenger of Satan to buffet: that is, he needed to be brought down. There is the thorn in the flesh given him; there is to be the consciousness that the flesh is worth nothing.

We may notice that there are three ways of learning the power and wretchedness of the flesh prior to peace, often in desperate struggles (for knowledge and conscience are distinct things); when we have peace before the Lord in prayer and communion, not daring to take a step till He leads us, and then He is glorified in us in grace and obedience, whatever the trial; or in the bitter experience in which Peter learned it, when flesh is not judged in communion with God. This last will be the way, so long as we are judging of things instead of judging ourselves. When we are faithfully judging ourselves and walking with God, we shall enter into no temptation. Trial may come, but there will be ful' preparation ' to meet it; not that we may be able to say, " now I am prepared for this or that temptation." We are in no certainty from one moment to another as to what trial may be coming; but we shall have the strength of God with us in it. Therefore our only safe place is watching and prayer-yes, prayer before the assault-prayer that may amount to agony; for so Jesus prayed!

We must expect to have our souls much exercised; often, it may he, when trial is there, casting about as to why this trial is sent. It may be for a fault; it may be for some careless or hard state of soul. It may be, as Paul's, to keep down the flesh; it may be preparatory to some coming conflict. But in these exercises of soul we must keep before the Lord: then, when the trial comes for which the Father has been training us, there will be perfect peace. The Lord will make you bear in spirit with Him, when exercised, the burden which He will make you bear in strength in the battle. Do not shrink from inward exercise;

settle it with Him. There is no limit to our strength for obedience when our strength is the Lord's.

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." None of our souls can estimate what that cup was for One who had dwelt essentially in the Father's love; but the most spiritual will most acknowledge it. Then holiness itself was made sin; no one gleam of light on the soul of Jesus. At the thought of it, when pressed by Satan on His soul, we see Him sweating as it were great drops of blood. He did not think lightly of sin! The Prince of life was brought into the dust of death:

“All thy billows passed over me." At the cross Jesus bore what you (who are believers) will never be called to bear. Beware of denying Him. Many do so in detail who in the main acknowledge Him. Our happy privilege is, not to be occupied with the trial as a trial, but to see in every trial an opportunity of obeying God, and to say of each, as Jesus did, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? "

"NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING ('STUMBLING'), AND TO PRESENT YOU FAULTLESS BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY WITH EXCEEDING JOY, TO THE ONLY WISE GOD OUR Savior, BE GLORY AND MAJESTY, DOMINION AND POWER, BOTH NOW AND EVER! AMEN." (Jude, 24, 25.)

The Remembrancer: 1899

Table of Contents

The Watchman's Cry

The Closing Days of Christendom

The Morning Star

Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith

Some Considerations as to Our Part With Christ Now, and in Glory

Fragments

"To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice"

To Be Doing and Not to Be Doing

Lust

Usefulness

Weakness and Strength

The Rivers of Living Water

Grace

Righteousness Without Works: Part 1

Liberty

Jesus on the Cross and on the Throne

The Cross of Christ

Righteousness Without Works: Part 2

The Divine Harp on Which the Praises of God Are to Be Sounded Forever

The Grace of the Glory of God

God's Precious Things

Righteousness Without Works: Part 3

The Lord Jesus in John 1:43 to John 2:25

Righteousness Without Works: Part 4

Approach to and Delight in God

Romans 5-6

The True Token

Rahab;* or Safety, Salvation, Citizenship, Union

The Child of the Bridechamber

Paul: A Good Conscience Before God

Canaan and the Armor of God

The Conqueror

Coming!

The Coming of the Lord That Which Characterizes the Christian Life

Jesus Ever Near

Law and Priestly Grace

Two Warnings and an Example