Words of Faith: Volume 3

This chapter gives us the way in which the believer is delivered from the law, and from the state, as in the flesh, to which the law applies; together with the experience of a quickened soul, learning what the flesh is in its sinfulness and helplessness, before being delivered from the law.

It is a regenerate person, using this term to express the possession of eternal life, but one in whom, as yet, the Holy Ghost does not dwell. The state is the effect of life, divine life in the soul, but without the power of the Holy Ghost giving deliverance from the bondage of sin, because still under law in the conscience. Two distinct natures are at work, and in conflict the one with the other. An unconverted, natural man has no such conflict, nor can he delight in the law of God. Such an one not only is not subject to the law of God, but he hates God Himself. He may put himself under law, to satisfy his pride and self-righteousness, whilst hating Christ with an his heart, as Saul of Tarsus did up to the time of his meeting with the Lord on his way to Damascus, but allow that he is " carnal, sold under sin," he never will. On the contrary, the more a man is really under law, apart from grace working in the soul, the more he justifies himself, and judges his neighbor. (Luke 18) He trusts in himself that he is righteous, and never allows that he is " sold under sin," and therefore under condemnation.

Now, it is all-important to distinguish between the possession of eternal life-a soul quickened by the Holy Ghost, and the indwelling in one thus quickened, of the Holy Ghost Himself. The evidences, with the effects that flow from it, of the one, are quite distinct, and in contrast with those that accompany the other. In the one case there is, because of life, right feeling, but entire bondage to sin; for though Christ personally is looked to, His work on the cross is not fully known, and the soul, under legal workings to obtain righteousness and holiness, is occupied with itself and its doings-it is all " I," " I," " I." In the other case, because of the Spirit Himself personally dwelling in the believer, there is liberty, " for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17); and with this the fruits of the Spirit-" love, joy, peace." (Gal. 5:22.) The heart and conscience have now Christ and His work in view, consequently self and its doings are lost sight of.

In the chapter we are considering, it is not guilt on the conscience before God in view of judgment to come, that is troubling the soul, but a sinful nature, and the inability to rise above the power of evil within and follow what the renewed mind knows to be good, that is the cause of distress. Christ is believed in, and His blood, as cleansing from sin, may be more or less relied on, but Christ dead and risen, as delivering entirely from the law, is not known. Walk is in question, and the law is before the soul, claiming on God's part righteousness, and judging sin. The more divine life works in the soul, and the conscience is awakened under the spiritual power of the law, the more intolerable is the misery, for the more complete is " the captivity to the law of sin" felt to be.

Christ, dead and risen, delivers from this state by delivering from the law, and the apostle states the ground, in these words: " Ye are also all become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God;" adding, " We are delivered from the law, being dead to that in which we were held." The question then is asked, seeing it is a matter of deliverance from the law, Is the law sin? As if the law were something bad in itself. Quite the contrary, is the answer. So far from the law being sin, it tells what sin itself is. Looking back upon this state, after having been delivered from it, and recognizing what had been going on, the one speaking says, " I had no sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." The lust was there, but unknown as sin, and the law brought it to light in the conscience. Sin was there in the nature, lying dormant, as it were, the law came, and only stirred up its energies. " Sin," says he, " taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of con cupimence. For without law sin was dead." Thus he learned that the law has only the effect of quickening sin into action. In his conscience, till the law came, he was alive, and sin was quiet; " The commandment came, sin revived, and I died," he states. By the law sin was discovered, and stirred into activity, so that, in. his conscience, he died-was made conscious that death, instead of life, according to law, was his state before God. Sin had deceived him, and slain him by the law. " The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." The question now asked, is, " Was, then, that which is good made death to me?" Not at all. Why, then,, had the law been sent? Just for this purpose; that sin might appear to be sin, working death by a good thing, and that sin might be thoroughly brought to light-" that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."

The law was given by God to man, to show him, in his own conscience, his state as simply a sinner, helplessly under death and judgment, but never to bring him out of that state. Not ordained to give life, righteousness, or deliverance, it can only work in the conscience of a truly quickened soul, when spiritually applied, the sense of sin, bondage, death, and judgment. " By the law is the ` knowledge of sin;" " the law entered that the offense might abound;" and " the strength of sin is the law."

This is what the soul under law alone can learn, and the conclusion come to, is, that the law is spiritual, but " I am carnal, sold under sin." The discovery is made that, though there be entire hatred of sin, and full desire after good, the practical state, while under law, is one of utter inability to follow what is good, and complete captivity to what is evil. The mind is renewed, a new nature being there; life and holiness are working powerfully in the soul, but it is wrapped tightly round by a thick mantle of darkness. A "law of sin" holds it captive under the power of sin: the misery is complete, and then the agonizing cry bursts forth, " 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The law has blessedly done its work, and the Spirit now takes up the question, and gives the divine answer to the divinely-wrought appeal for help, by presenting Christ to the soul in all the efficacy of His work for it on the cross, sealing it in the peace and power of that work by His own indwelling presence. The soul is at once set free; joy and peace take the place of the previous misery, and the believer consciously delivered from law, and thus from bondage to sin, is able to praise God with a full heart: " I thank God, through Christ Jesus our Lord." No longer occupied with himself, the " I " and " me" drop out,. and Christ, by the Spirit, fills the scene. Intelligent now as to the real state of the case, as one born of God, he recognized that two natures had been in conflict one with the other, and concludes, " So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin." He distinguishes them characteristically. Delivered from the law, and " the body of this death," by fully apprehending the efficacy of Christ's death, through the Spirit, he now not only understands clearly his practical state, but realizes that his standing before God is no longer in the flesh, but in Christ risen.

It is as knowing deliverance, consequent upon having received the Spirit as the seal of our acceptance of Christ's work for us on the cross, that we can adopt the language of the earlier part of this chapter, and say, as looking back upon a past state, " When we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death;" and it is of great moment to see clearly that, while all is based on Christ and His work, it is only as possessing the Spirit Himself that we are no longer " in the flesh." The statement of scripture on this point is absolute: " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you." (Rom. 8:9.) C. W.

The Character of the Ministry of the Gospel: Notes of a Lecture on 2 Cor. 4:5

NOTES OF A. LECTURE ON 2 Cor. 4:5.

THE character of the ministry of the gospel, is, that the things are possessed for ourselves, before they can be ministered to others. In the Old Testament it was not for themselves, but for us, "did they minister the things." (See 1 Peter 1:10-12.) We stand between the suffering and the glory, with the Holy Ghost, come down from heaven, shining in our hearts, to give out the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. " When it pleased God," says Paul, " who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles." (Gal. 1:15,18.) Mark, Christ was revealed, not to, but -in, Paul. It is the light of the gospel of the glory of God, called the gospel of the glory-Christ is speaking from heaven. We have got the last things, the last revelations, connected with the glory of God in the Man Christ Jesus, now in heaven. "Therefore, having this ministry, we faint not," &c. (2 Cor. 4:1-6.) He is speaking of the contrast with Moses, who put a veil over his face.

There is no glory to be compared with that in the face of Christ. Man could not look at it, if it came with a legal claim on the heart of man. You never get the light of the glory of God shining into the heart of man, without the conscience being awakened, if under law. I cannot stand in the presence of God; it tells me what I ought to be, and if I am not that, I cannot look at the glory-He must hide Moses in the cleft. But when I see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, where do I see it? It is in heaven, in a Man, in the Man that hung on the cross for my sins. The meaning of the glory seen there, is, that sin, death, and Satan have all been put away together. He, being made sin, died, and went into the grave, was raised, and is gone into heaven, and the only part in it man had was sin, and hatred to Himself.

The glory of God is the witness that there is the complete cleansing away of all sin. That Person at God's right hand, who was made sin, went under death, went into the grave, and has passed it all, and is now in glory; and, in virtue of the work being accomplished, the testimony comes to me, the One who bore my sins is in glory, and all is done with. There we get the full testimony of the glory of Christ-the testimony of God's value of it. All this I get in the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Having been brought by Him to believe in God, I see the glory of God-I can look, and delight in it. The testimony of my salvation is the glory, and seeing it with an open face, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory.

I say, Let me see that my Sin-bearer is in the glory of God, and I have the certainty that all sin has been put away, and then the Holy Ghost comes down, and, because I am thus cleansed, I am sealed by Him. A Christian stands, and looks at the accomplished sufferings; looks back at the accomplishment of the work that has put away sin; looks up, and sees the One who did it all in glory, and that is the way the glory attains its full effect in the heart. It is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It confounds one when first one sees it; but what am I waiting for, if He owns me as one with Himself? I am waiting for Him to come and take me there-to bring me into the thing He has made mine.

Power has come into this place of death; I do not want to die, but to be clothed upon-death swallowed up in life. I do not want to die, I want to be changed into-the body of glory, without dying at all. It is a present living power. We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed; the power of death is broken. If I go up to the judgment-seat, in what state shall I go? The Lord will come, and take me there. Christ, having such deight in me, comes for me; changes me; and takes me there glorified, and I shall have to give an account of myself there, and a very great blessing it will be to have all brought out in the light-how Christ kept me when. I fell; how He lifted me up. The fullness of redemption is manifested when we go up to the judgment-seat in glorified bodies. When He appears, we shall be like Him, and what can I fear in regard to judgment now? My Sin-bearer is at the right hand of God, having put away sin at His first coming, and He appears the second time, without sin, unto salvation, to take us to Himself, as made like Him.

The wise virgins were asleep, as well as the foolish.. What changed it? The midnight cry waked them-the testimony of the Lord's coming; they had oil (grace), and awakening at the cry, they were ready, and went in. When asleep they had given up expecting the Bridegroom, and when the cry came, they woke up. At first, they went out full of the thought of His coming, and then got into ease and comfort, and went to sleep, more or less, in the world.

If the Lord Jesus came to-night, would you all be found, with bright lamps, ready for Him? It is the state of your souls.. We are to expect, in the last days, perilous times, but great blessings, in the midst of it all, in the path of faith. We find the form of Christianity, but denying the power. In Timothy it is the scriptures I am directed to, because, if I say, " The church, teaches thin, or that," the question is, What is the church? But if I say, " The scripture says it," I know where I have learned it-." From a child thou halt known the scriptures," &c.

The word of God is "sharper than any two-edged sword," &c.; it deals with the conscience, not with the intellect. If I touch it, it deals with my conscience; it comes in with invisible power, and, like the woman of Samaria, I can. say, " Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did." Faith's root is in the conscience.

1 People talk of apostolic succession; there is no succession in. God's word. Just before Laodicea is spued out of Christ's mouth, the word to Philadelphia is, " Behold, I have set before thee an open door, which no man can shut." Not a great deal to say about Philadelphia, but it is characterized by what God delights in-the word of Christ has authority on their hearts and consciences, they hold to His name, and are looking for the promise, "Behold, I come quickly." He is waiting, sitting at the right hand of God, till His enemies become His footstool. His friends are perfected forever, and He is coming to rceeive them. He does not take a bit of the inheritance till He has gathered up the fellow-heirs; then all things in heaven and earth are to be gathered together in one, and all to be under Christ.

Our place is a peculiar one, like Eve's. She was not lord of the earth, she was, in all the creation of which man was lord, his helpmeet. The being associated with the Lord Jesus Christ is the one thing marking our peculiar place. He is given to be Head over all to the church,which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, and we, the joint-heirs of Christ, we wait for Him-the Eternal lover of our souls!

The thing that characterizes Christianity, is, the knowledge of the unveiled glory of God in the face of Jesus ' Christ, and " if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." A veil may be on man's heart, but the fact of man being in the glory of God remains equally true, and when the veil is taken away, there is nothing to come but Christ coming in judgment to the world. Then the trials and afflictions of the present time are all connected with the earthen vessel-its weakness. If—an apostle, you can only be kept, day by day, by the power of God,

The vessel is one thing, the treasure is another. The vessel must be nothing, if the treasure there is to shine iput. The old man is judged, and crucified with Christ; I have to look at myself as a dead man. I may light up a lantern, but if the glass be not kept perfectly clean, the light will not shine out. I have a glorified Christ in my soul, and if my flesh rules me, that is not the treasure shining out; I must ever reckon myself dead before God.

A Christian stands a new man in God's sight. To reckon myself dead is a privilege for myself, and a necessity for my testimony, to put it simply. Suppose a mother heard her son was half-killed, would she stop on her way to him to look at the shops? So, if a Christian is, full of Christ, he will not be distracted by anything of the world. Where the earthen vessel is right, the light will shine out. There must be no rest for the flesh; nothing but sorrows and trials-always "delivered unto death," and bearing about in the body the dying," &c. The Lord put the apostle through all sorts of circumstances. If anything of the flesh sprang up, the red-hot iron must be put to it, to destroy the sprouts; death wrought in him, that nothing but the life of Christ might appear.

There is such a thing as a man being superior to all the circumstances he may be passed through; Paul gets the sentence of death welling through everything, yet "bold to preach," &e. We find the most complete superiority to circumstances in Stephen. Whilst the stones are flying about, he kneels down, and prays for his murderers; he is a copy of Christ, of life in the midst of death.-J. N. D.

Paul needed to know his entire dependence upon God, •so God suffered Satan to drive a thorn into his flesh. Paul prays three times to have it removed, but the reply comes, " My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul adds, " most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

A Letter on Hindrances to Communion and Service

Yours difficulties are, I doubt not, the difficulties of many a dear child of God, and I feel as if to point you to the word that would meet your case, would be to settle the question for myself also, for what you say, I can say too; and often have I found myself engaged. on this point, instead of enjoying pure and simple communion with God. I have not, however, found it difficult to find the word suitable to me, but subjection to that word was what I found lacking. The word very plainly told me to cease looking for anything in myself; and to look for all in Christ. 1 Cor. 1:29 is plain enough on the one point, namely, " That no flesh should glory in his presence:" and verse 31 is plain enough on the other point, " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Now I am pretty sure that what lies at the root of our trouble is this-the flesh wants to glory in His presence. It has a wily and subtle way of doing it; taking its stand on responsibility and the need of a good conscience._ Now these things are of weighty importance, but flesh has nothing to do with them; if it has, it is under law, and, it, of course, condemns.. If I have truly apprehended grace, I have seen the end of the flesh at the cross, and reckon myself dead; after that there can be no place for flesh in my responsibility, &c.

But it seems to me that we must go beyond the cross to realize, power. The cross shows me the end of myself, and is the foundation of all blessing to me, as a sinner. But does not Phil. 3 chew us that it is the knowledge of Christ in glory that enables one to count all the excellences of the flesh as dung. Of course, the Holy Spirit is the power of life within us-that is, every action of the new life is by the energy of the Holy Spirit. But there is also the way the Spirit acts; and does He not present to us the glory of Christ, and by that give the power to count flesh in its best form as utterly worthless.

Thus we have two things to help us against the flesh: the cross, which shows God's utter condemnation of it; and the glory, which reveals something infinitely superior to it; so much so as to make " good flesh" to be really bad, and refuse. But we know all this as, truth, yet fail in great measure to walk in it, and then, in mourning over our failures, slip back into the flesh-that is, the effort to be good in the flesh, to glory in His presence; or rather, we mourn, and., regret that we have failed to glory in His presence. This keeps us. dwelling on them, and so we are self-occupied. Is carelessness to take the place of this? Far from it. Nearness to God gives a truer and deeper judgment of self than any amount of failures seen and mourned over. When near Him, we condemn the sin, and turn, from it, glad to know He has put it away, not to be remembered, and instead of self and evil occupying us there, He engages our hearts with Himself.

There is a point I have not noticed yet, but it is one I have found in myself in these exercises, and it is this: my will is yet unbroken (pretty much the same thing as not reckoning oneself dead practically); but this is the way flesh acts, by will, and so it covers this wilfulness by regrets, and mourning the lack of power to walk aright; whereas, the fact is, I do not want the power-my will is against it. I would like the joy of communion with God, but I really shirk the cross, the self-denial, the pains, and sorrows of a path of devotedness and faithfulness to God and Christ. So that, to be honest with myself, I am very insincere in all my regrets and mournings. It is easier to sit and cry over one's faults, than to rise up, and " trust in the Lord, and do good." So I have found it, and I discovered this too: I did not like to go contrary to the known will of God, but I-that is, my flesh-took care to keep far enough away from God, that His will might not be too clearly known. I can see no other way in God's word than honestly, and in simple faith, to go into His presence, as having " no confidence in the flesh„" but owning Christ as all, and self nothing. Even our service, we cannot bring that into His presence. Nothing but Christ.

How often we have talked about putting the cart before the horse, works before life, &c. &c. Yet, while we blame it, practically we are often at it. How can there be any true and happy service for the Lord, if there is not peaceful and happy communion with Him? Yet how anxious we are to have our service right, and constantly exercised about this, and our communion, we seem to think, suffers because we are not right. The fact is, our service suffers because there is no communion to be the spring of it. Of course, I do not refer now to the interruption of communion by the allowance of sin; this is another thing.

The first important thing is to realize our fellowship with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ. (See 1 John 1) This is the order: That which was from the beginning declared, and the result fellowship. Then the effect of this fellowship. Walk in. the light, and in righteousness, and in love. All the epistles give us our portion in grace, in Christ, first; after this the service. I must be happy in God's presence, before I can be happy in service. Now observe Satan's wile. He says, This is true, but you ought not to be happy in God's presence while you fail in your service. This looks all right, but it denies God's grace. True, I cannot be happy about my failure in service, but my happiness in God's presence was founded upon something apart from my service, or my doing; indeed we are made happy there before service begins. Shall my failure undo that which it had nothing to do with? Rather let me hold fast my place first, and being in it, the failure will be seen in its true light, and judged more sincerely and deeply, than if I allowed it to keep me out of my true place of peace and joy before God. In fact, it will be found that the failure took place as the result of having forgotten the true spring of service, and some other motive was at work.

Now, dear brother, I have sought to help you, not so much by meeting your case, but giving some of my experience, and the lessons learned from the word of God, which you, or rather the Spirit of God, may apply as is suitable. May we both take more simply and boldly our true place in His presence, and surely the result will be, our good, and His glory. though very likely not in just the practical way our wills have looked for.

G. G.

The Shepherd's Voice, and Over the River

IT is the last portion of this chapter that I just want to lay before you: " They sought again to take him; but he escaped out of their hands, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode." And I would refer you to verse 28 of Luke 7 " For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John;" and, in verse 35, " Wisdom is justified of all her children."

You see the thing that we have often noticed, and cannot notice too often, is, the thing that characterizes the sheep, and that is, that they hear the voice of the Shepherd (the true sheep of the Shepherd, at all events). Then the answer to that is, " I know them." They are, moreover, known of Him, and it is a higher thing for Him to know them, than for them to know Him; and their answer to this is, they follow Him. That is the real attitude of the sheep of the pasture, of the sheep upon earth; nothing can be more blessed, more distinct, more concise, or more separate. It is entirely outside of all organizations or confederations, or the results of the ideas or thoughts of men.

It is a company separated by faith, and faith is the link; faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word: therefore it is a following of the Shepherd, the result of hearing the voice of the Shepherd. It is very distinct, very marked, very blessed, and unmistakable. We would not, of course, make any limit to that in any company, in the form of a sect, or such like, but any sheep, no matter where he is; but there is nothing so blessed as the sensitiveness of the ear that hears the voice, and follows Him. The thing is not only to hear the voice, but to act on it, and follow.

Then, in verse 28, comes in, " I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." There is the security of the place, and we must take in every sheep, but the effect of hearing is following. Many may hear, yet they do not know, perhaps, the security, because they have not acted upon it: the sense of the gift is lost sight of, yet there is security, perfect security, nevertheless. When the voice is not continuously heard, they lose sight of the gift; therefore we find uncertainty in the soul so rife amongst Christians; they do not know the voice, because they have not acted on it in following.

"I give eternal life, and they shall never perish." You see the security, notwithstanding the adverse circumstances and opposing forces. The opposition of the enemy lies in the previously occupied ground, and all this is a displacing power, because it takes you out of human organizations. The Shepherd is not in the organizations and the order of the world, and the people that hear are entirely outside too. The old religion that occupies the ground, therefore, is displaced, and is nowhere, so to speak, and that raises opposition on its part, urged on by the enemy. Those to whom the word of God came, those who were administrators of the word, were called " gods;" how much more Him whom "the Father hath sanctified," and Him they called a blasphemer, and sought to stone!

Well, then comes what I wanted to call your attention to more especially. We come to another order of things: lie leaves that part, and goes " where John at first baptized, and there abode." Now we move into smother place altogether. We find a gathering-place entirely outside of what we had before. The Gatherer is removed, the Gatherer is not where He was, and we have got to seize hold of that, and what is so marked, is, He went beyond Jordan; that is, the other side of the river, and that is of all importance. We shall not find ourselves truly gathered, except on the other side of the river. If our souls have not gone through the river, we shall find the outward gathering-place is rather a source of stumbling to our souls, and nowhere will you find such discomfort. We are not gathered here rightly on earth, if our souls have not gone through the river.

In Rev. 5 all have crossed the river then. The Lord Himself has crossed the river; He has passed through death; He is alive there, and there is no living Christ, except across the river. He is alive for evermore and where? The other side of the river. A powerful truth. We shall not carry the clothes of this world on the other side of the river, we shall all be clothed with incorruytibility.

When the pressure came upon Him, He quietly retired to the only place on earth He could retire to-across the river. There He abode, and many resorted unto Him there. That brings in what comes home to our souls -'—the justifying of God. The justifying in that day was the baptism of John; the baptism of John made an end of all distinctions, and all the pride of the Pharisee, and the Sadducee, and the lawyers, and the scribes. Baptism was the mark that justified God; that was the mark that gave them a standpoint; the thing that gave the ground was not being scribe or Pharisee, lawyer or Sadducee, or being this, that, or the other, or being men of mark (it does not do to be men of mark); the thing that marked any here, was, that they came to be baptized of John, confessing their sins, which justified God, and that is the real thing; to justify God, that is what God puts His seal to. There are different ways of justifying God. I do not justify God now by baptism, but I do by confessing myself a sinner, and lost, but in their case it was -coming to John, and the result was, God was justified, and calls that wisdom, and them, " wisdom's children."

The Shepherd leaves the existing circle, being pressed out of it, and goes over the river, and gathers there, and there abides. It is only for us to abide where He abides, And that is the secret for our souls, waiting the next step; in the meantime praising His name for His goodness in gathering us here-over the river, and that is, having the " sentence of death in ourselves." W. B.

Jottings of a Lecture on Luke 12:31-53

ON Luke 12:31-53.

'THE heart always follows the treasure, and that wherever it may be. We get here the positive objects of faith set before us, and with this the characteristics of a Christian.

We must have motive and power to overcome the world-something on which to set faith; and for this God has given us Christ. Law could not give life, nor an object, to govern the heart. The Object on which we look gives perfect rest to heart and conscience. We know God's perfect love, as seen in His Son, Jesus Christ, though ours are poor hearts to know it. Not only has Christ satisfied the Father's heart, but He has met all the claims of God's righteousness. Hence we start on our Christian course, having a perfect heart and perfect conscience before God. Our relationship and standing-that in which we walk and stand-are entirely based upon what Christ has done. Law puts judgment at the end of our course, Christianity puts redemption at the beginning of our course. We cannot see Christ sitting at God's tight hand, without saying, " He has put away our sins."

Here the Christian course commences, for the Christian is a redeemed person.

Christ has given Himself, He kept nothing back. All has been given and done that could be given and done, to that we have not even to think of what Christ has brought us out of, but what He has brought us into. We are only to look at the things before us, that we " may win Christ." If we would win Him, Christ must be applied to everything that passes in our hearts; and if we are indeed bent on winning the prize, we are glad to have all judged by the word, which, sharper than any two-edged sword, pierces " even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." If the one Object is before us, we judge all by it. In its light' all weights are to be laid aside; gold and silver to be counted as dung and dross; and the most precious things on earth vile and worthless. We have a perfect rule for everything in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we have not the power of Christ within-" lights burning" (ver. 35), we cannot bear a true testimony, nor witness for Him. We have here the power of truth in the heart, and its open profession, with the attitude suited to it. Christ is to characterize us, and we are to be waiting for Him (ver. 36); it should be the stamp on the Christian's character; not only "waiting," but "watching."

Blessed promises to us, and Christ waiting till He can come and fetch us, when He will gird Himself and come forth to serve His own, are set before us in verse 37. Most wonderful the place He takes here. When His time comes, He will bring us into the fullness of joy in heaven; not only give us the best of the table, the richest and most costly, but He Himself, taking the most lowly place, will serve us. No longer shall we have loins girt for Him, but He will have His girt for us. As He delights to love and have us with Him, so does He delight to come forth, and serve us. His heart is set upon this. Are our hearts set upon Him?

Having become Man, He learned the lesson of lowliness down here; devoted Himself wholly to us, and forever has His ears bored for us. (Compare Ex. 21) Hence He will come forth girded, ready to serve, for His heart will not be perfectly happy until He makes known the perfect result of His own love above.

This is the first part of the Christian life-the true state of the affections. Then, in verses 41-43, comes the second part; we are called to serve as His stewards during His absence, and His love should constrain as to it. Are our hearts so nourished in Christ, that we can say that it is His love that is carrying us through this world? Are we thus living to Christ, and yielding ourselves up to His service with ready delight? The true state of heart for the Christian is in verse 36; and the true state of service in verse 43.

In the second chapter of this gospel, we learn that it was God's mind that the coming of Christ to this world should bring " peace and good-will toward men," and peace was in the Person of His Son, but He was utterly rejected. It is beautiful to notice the unselfish joy of the angels, in singing forth praises that men should become the objects of God's love, instead of themselves. God had angels to serve Him, but He wanted men to love Him; and yet, for His love towards men, He got hatred, and His Son was crucified. Thus verse 51 shows us, that if we really take Christ's part, the world will surely hate us; while, if we love the world, we are the enemies of God. Christ took nothing but the lowest place here in this world, beginning His history in the manger, and closing, it on the cross. There is not a snare, a cross, trial, temptation, persecution, peril of any kind, in which we may not give the world proof that we love the Christ it has cast out, and that we are His. If we follow Christ in all that He puts before us in our path, there will surely be the cross, but we shall have the full outflowing blessing of God's own heart and presence.

Consult Christ as to your walk, service, and state of heart, for it will decide everything in the secret of your soul. Only so can you go with Him in communion, and learn the largeness of His heart.

This supposes we are in the place of the Christian; having the duties, blessings, and privileges of a Christian. This is all founded on Christ's work, and God will never disclaim Christ's work, for it perfectly glorified Him. The Lord keep us very humble before Him, ever walking in the blessed sense of His love, and our perfect acceptance before Him in Christ. F. G. B.

READY.

READY feet to do Thy will,

Ready hands to serve Thee still,

Ready mind Thy voice to hear,

Ready drooping hearts to cheer.

Ready every foe to face,

Ready still to chew Thy grace,

Ready every need to meet,

Ready to wash erring feet.

Ready still to watch and pray,

Ready all the livelong day,

Ready if to lose or gain,

Ready if 'tis joy or pain.

Ready when the Savior's near,

Ready when dark clouds appear,

Ready when the storm is high,

Ready through a cloudless sky;

Ready, Lord, to meet with Thee,

Ready for eternity. W. E. (Hull.)

" HERE AM I, SEND ME."

IN the prophet Isaiah we have a beautiful and touching instance of the way in which the renewed heart responds to God's desires as to others, when once all question between itself and God are settled, not merely according to man's sense of need, but according to the claims of God's holiness. Servant and prophet of Jehovah, as Isaiah was, the revelation of His glory according to the claims of His holiness paralyzed all action in him, and left him with nothing but the sense of his own uncleanness, as well as of that of the people of God amongst whom he served and prophesied. Until the " live coal " from off the altar, that stood before the Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts, touched his lips he had not properly realized the relation in which Jehovah stood to His people, and to himself as one of them. That relation was one of sovereign grace, founded upon the sacrifice that was ever under Jehovah's eye. A sacrifice that had once for all met every claim of God against His people. The efficacy of that sacrifice had now reached the prophet's.conscience, and it set his heart free to serve the One whose perfect grace he tasted. We must come as sinners to the cross to get peace, and start as saints from the cross to serve. When fully ready in conscience for the-glory, we are alone truly ready in heart for service. C.W.

Comments on "The Church in a City"*

I DESIRE to say a word or two on a recent paper in "Words of Faith." The thought of assemblies in a city has all scripture against it. Wherever it is said of a city, it is always spoken of as one-" the assembly." This expression so used then, is unknown now. But shall scripture guide us? And if so, is not its testimony sufficient authority for the doctrine, that we have long held, that, any number of assemblies in a city should be, as then,, practically one? Was it not so said of the thousands of saints who once met, surely not in one building, in the city of Jerusalem? (Acts 8;11;15) By " practically," I mean as to " reception" and " putting away" (if necessary) which are the functions of the assembly.

Moreover, if there are twenty-six assemblies in a city gathered on true ground, and ten thousand (as in London) other assemblies which are not practically one with them, is it not clear that you cannot speak of " the assembly" in that place? for such a thing is unknown. And if any one of these twenty-six assemblies on true ground assume to exercise the functions of the whole on true ground, that assembly has forgotten that there is " one body;" it has practically joined the ten thousand, and so increased their number. That there are other assemblies of saints in the place not with us, is a difficulty we have long;known, and it explains why we cannot say as to ourselves in any town or village " the assembly. But why not? Simply because the assemblies of Christians in that place are practically disunited. Nor is there, in any of the towns or villages smaller than London, one whereof it can be said of any gatherings of Christians in it, though they may be numerous, and practically one among themselves, they are " the assembly ' in the place, because all assemblies are not locally with them. They are practically disunited, and the scriptural doctrine of the " one body"—one assembly in a town, has no practical manifestation now.

Now, this state of things, proof of the selfwill of man, it is sought, by the paper referred to, to establish among us as a right condition of things! Christians in the systems of men have lost the sense of the " one body " on earth, and so have given up the thought of its expression as one assembly in a town or village. When the one was lost, it was easy to slip into the other; but has God in His mercy opened our eyes to these things merely to have them given up again? or will difficulties of detail nullify the truth of God? We lament over the disunion, caused by the selfwill of man, and well we may, but we do not join it. There is no reason for that, nor does the paper I refer to furnish one, though difficulties of detail in this day, we must all admit.

We ought to be able to speak of "the assembly" in London, or in any other place, and it ought to be possible to address now a letter to " the assembly of God in London," as it was possible once at Corinth or at Jerusalem, but we know that this state of the assembly will never more be found on this earth. But what, then, is our wisdom? Is it not to hold fast to what ought to be, and to what was? We are but a feeble folk, but we desire to cleave only to that which was from the beginning, to what existed before the finger of man came in to mar and spoil all.

And as to the one assembly in a village, or town, on divine ground, or the twenty-six in a city on divine ground, both the one and the other are bound to act as one, and as the one assembly would have acted in a place, and did before division came in. For though not assuming to be " THE assembly," to the exclusion of the other Christian assemblies in the place, they know that to act in any other way is but to accept and join. what the self-will of man has introduced.

The statement in the paper, that " the moment there are more assemblies than one (on divine ground) in a city, these become no longer representatives of the body at large, nor even of that which is the representation; the practical representation of the church has ceased to be (in each assembly)," I entirely reject. Each one is as much a representative of the body at large now they are. twenty-six as that one was before the other twenty-five existed, and is really maintaining it, but only so, as long as each refuses to act in independency, or without the concurrence of all the others in the actions of the assembly.

The Lord give to us an increase of energy at this time to " hold fast " to that which we have; the instruction as to which was surely His own work by the Spirit, and for the blessing of His people, and began now nearly half a century ago; in doing which we may surely count on His continuing to instruct us. IL C. A.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Working for the Lord

MY DEAR BROTHER, G., who told me that you are now settled in -, begged me to write you a few lines, which I do very willingly; indeed it was on my asking him for news of you that he spoke to me of you, and told me that you had some thought of applying yourself. more directly to the work of the Lord. Nothing is more desirable, dear brother; there is the greatest need of laborers, and when our blessed Savior raises them up, it is a sign that He would do a work Himself in this world of darkness. France presents a field, at this moment, blessed in several ways by the Lord.

For me, the near coming of the Savior, the gathering together of' His own, and the sanctification and joy of those who are manifested, are always the thoughts predominant in my soul. There is every appearance that the Lord is hastening the time; for the rest, our duty is certain.

It is for you, dear brother, before God, to determine whether the Lord calls you certainly to this work of faith. The more devoted, ness there. is, the more trials there will be, but a hundred times more will there be of happiness and of joy, and when the Lord returns, the crown of glory that fadeth not away. From the circumstances in which you are placed, it is difficult for me to speak, and probably those in which you will be placed would occupy your thoughts. This is a matter of faith. G. committed himself to the Lord, and the Lord, has sustained him, and he has been always maintained without difficulty, and has even provided for the wants of those who had trusted men. In any case, such a step is always an act of faith, and one ought never to induce any one-to follow it.

If for example, it will be always my delight to help the brethren, whether in England or abroad, as our brethren do, according to their power; but if I undertook to do such or such a thing, all that I have might fail me, through the providence of God; or a more pressing need might present itself, and I, already bound, should fail, either as to the will of God, or my engagements; and, further, I have a very strong objection-I am, in fact, entirely opposed to sending any one into the Lord's field with a salary of so much per annum. I can only say that it will be my joy, by the grace of God, to relieve the need of my brethren, according to my power, but to engage any one to work, is, it seems to me, to take the place of faith-at least, if there were not some special direction. I wish to make you understand at least the interest I should take in helping you, if God call you to the work, on one side, and on the other, to prevent you from counting on me, or on any man whatever.

F., who was at T... went lately to P... where G. works, because of the urgency that several villages showed for meetings. I see that D. went there also.

Perhaps you will be surprised that I have said so much; but I know that this was on the heart of G. I hope that the work of God prospers in your hands, that the Lord may raise up many workmen, and send them out into His harvest. This is the earnest desire of my heart. May God grant to me to devote myself to it with all my strength, and may He strengthen the faith of all His servants, so that they may not distrust His goodness.

For myself, I can bear witness that He has never failed me, feeble and faithless as I have found. myself to be, but always sustained, beyond my expectation, by His goodness. You will find it the same, clear brother, if you feel yourself called to work for the Lord. My faith has been feeble, and the Lord has been good to me; if your faith is stronger, you will gather a more abundant harvest. May God bless you, and keep you, and direct your thoughts and your steps. May He ever increase your faith, and make you feel His abundant love. May the Lord reveal Himself, more and more, to your soul. I think of re-visiting Geneva. I do not know exactly the time. I shall be here a fortnight.

Your affectionate brother in Christ Jesus,

Neuchatel, 1839. J. N. D.

(From the French.)

VERY DEAR BROTHER, I was rejoiced to receive your letter, and to see that you are, in fact, working in the Lord's field, and for the Lord. Specially that you are able to trust yourself to the Lord, to sustain you in your path, and to maintain you as to the things of this world. You have already, dear brother, made proof of His faithfulness, as you told me. Be very sure that He will never fail you in it. Oh, for more faith, that we might be able to trust ourselves to His incomparable faithfulness and His love, which will make us pass, without doubt, through testings for our good, but which, at least, never wearies.

Dear brother, in the midst of much unfaithfulness, I have always, found Him faithful-I can bear witness to it-and more than faithful, always full of mercy and goodness. It is a happy thing to be able to bear witness to one's God, though in humbling oneself for all one's own wretchedness. When the goodness and the will of our God have forced us out into His harvest, we have always need to be well on our guard against the wiles of the enemy, specially when we leave, even ever so little, the ordinary path of Christians. One is so accustomed to trust oneself to men., the habit of it is so rooted in the ways of Christians, and in their manner of working, as to the gospel, that Satan is extremely jealous of those who separate themselves from it, and who trust themselves to our God, and he lays for them all possible snares, and even Christians look constantly to see them fall, and so much so, that if we do not keep our spirit carefully we are always in danger.

There are many Christians who withdrew from us from the first, saying that it is pride that prompts us to walk alone, when, in fact, they desert us in spite of ourselves; and this increases the danger, because the isolation in which we sometimes are, exposes us to the arrows of the enemy, either by the ordinary trials of life, or by the temptation of thinking too much of ourselves, and of leaning, either to pride on the one side, or to depression on the other.

Do I desire, dear brother, to discourage you in saying these things? Far from it, but only to remind you that it is a life of faith, and that we cannot pass through this world of sin, when we are put ever so little forward, without constant communion of our souls with God. As you advance in your path of service-as I hope that you will advance-you will find that, if you do not walk in the ordinary paths, a very great number of Christians will be opposed to you, an opposition much more painful than that of the world, which we ought to expect. And this, because this question is agitated greatly at this moment, whether one ought to walk by faith, or not. May God keep you in humility, and give you a firm and quiet faith, which, recognizing the duty put upon you, of serving Him, has nothing to do but to obey Him, and to do His will. As to your temporal circumstances, dear brother, it will always be to me a great delight to help you. I am not very rich, but what I have, I hope, through the grace of our God, will be always devoted to His work.

There is still one thing, dear brother, that has come upon my spirit. I suppose that you have continued relations with the Established Church; perhaps I am mistaken, but I discern the possibility that these relations might be enfeebled, if you follow the call to evangelization, which you think you have received from God. If this come to pass, I hope, with all my heart, that you will not throw yourself, on the other hand, into narrowness; it is this which has been one of the sores of Swiss Christians. I have nothing to hide from you in my Christian habits (habitudes). It is my joy and my privilege to find myself in the midst of brethren who know one another in Christ, and to rejoice in the blessedness of brotherly communion, in all the feebleness in which it may be found at present; but I could not recognize an assembly that does not receive all the children of God, because I know that Christ receives them. I see the church in ruins; I follow my conscience according to the light that I have received from the word, but I desire to bear with the feebleness, or the lack of light, that I may find in other Christians, and do all that I can to unite those who love the Lord. The liberty of your ministry, if God blesses it, may be a means to this desirable result, and I, according to the light that I have received, find it impossible to remain in Nationalism, but I would rather remain alone, and isolated-a position, I admit, not at all desirable-than to restrict the limits of the church of Christ to some brethren, even though they may be more correct in their thoughts than others, and to enfeeble the action of the Spirit of God in uniting the Lord's sheep, scattered by our wretchedness and by our sins.

I have ventured to say these things to you, dear brother, in all frankness, because, in all my weakness, I have at least the good of the beloved church of my Savior at heart; and further, because I love, and I ought to love in a special manner, the dear Swiss brethren, in the midst of whom I have received so many blessings, and so much of love in Christ.

I hope that God will keep you from every bond, save the bonds of 'Christ, and that He will rivet these bonds of security and joy more and more. If you are able not entirely to give up your calling, so much the better; the workman is worthy of his hire, but it is my experience, that, in the existing circumstances of the church, the more one is independent of men, the better one is circumstanced. If you were able to apply yourself to it in leisure moments, or to work alone, and could sell what you made, even if you are not in an establishment, I do not know that the thing is possible, but for you even, I am persuaded that it would be very desirable. I write in haste, dear brother, but I did not wish to delay my letter any longer.

Be assured of the cordial and sincere love of your affectionate brother in Christ, J. N. D.

Geneva, 1840.

(From the French.)

DEAR, BROTHER, I was very glad and thankful to receive your letter, and I bless God for having led you as He has done, in His goodness, and am quite relieved to find that our brethren of Lam. 5.. have edified themselves together. It is a favor from God. When we are doing the will of God, God will help those that are cast down, and He takes care of them, and the result is, that they are greatly strength-ened, because they (make) experience of the faithfulness of God. I knew that St. E... was a little cast down (as you know) by F-'s letter.

Remember, dear brother, that it is dangerous to be lifted up all at once into a pulpit. It is not that I do not believe it to be the will of God, but you know that when St. Paul had been caught up even into heaven, for the work of God, that would have been a snare to him, because of his flesh, but God is faithful to keep us. Man's acceptation is not God's approbation, although God can give it us, to favor the propagation of the truth; but if we stop at the result, we are at a distance from the source, and that becomes a snare to wither up our soul, instead of a means to lead us to those upon whom we ought to pour out His riches. I believe that God has, in His mercy, -allowed you to be tested at G..., that you may know how little and feeble you are, before introducing you to the work. As for LaV.. although I hope it will never lose its charms in our eyes, if God give you for a time a work to do elsewhere, and that His will is clear to you, you ought to entrust these dear souls to Him who alone can-whether you are absent or present-feed and nourish them. None will go further, I hope, than their faith will lead them. If they progress in your absence, it will be a lesson-often very necessary-that God can act without us, but up to the present no one has visited them. B. is still in France, and I do not know if he will be able to visit them much when he returns. F. G. finds a work to do at Paris, where already the hearts of the brethren are opening and enlarging. They have received the Lord's supper from an unconsecrated man, the pastor having received it also,

As to your debts, it is clear you ought to pay them, and a minister of the gospel ought not to suffer the reproach that he is going to work, or rather, according to them, to lead an idle life, instead of paying his debts. I shall be very glad to help you in carrying out this duty, but until I return to England, I should hardly be able to do so.

I must stop. May God keep you in simplicity of heart, and always in the sense of your littleness before Him. All our joy is destroyed the moment we lose sight of what we are before Him, and our natural strength-for there is that-becomes to us the means of leading us to some fall, like St. Peter. He truly loved the Lord, but he had confidence in that love for Jesus, and in his integrity, which, however, was sincere. He could say, " thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee;" and he fell terribly, led by that very love, from the moment that he confided in himself and it in the time of temptation. I do not suppose such things of you, dear brother, but I tell you these things out of love to you, in confidence that they will not happen. I trust in God for that, assured of His faithfulness. Only be watchful, and pray. Beware of the traditions of men, and of the spirit of the clergy; all that dries up the soul, dishonors the Lord, and nourishes the flesh, by the sense of human respectability, " the pride of life;" but at the same time honor fully all the gifts which God has given to whoever it may be.

What you tell me of the B.-'s interests me greatly, only, dear brother, in acknowledging the truth of these hopes in general-for probably there are incorrect thoughts as to details-do not depart from the foundation with them. God has been merciful in giving you access to this people; may it be to bring in, with all regard to their condition, and with all prudence, the whole truth. Perhaps you will find that fundamental truth will stumble some among them, and you will have some testing in this direction. May God give you all the wisdom, gentleness, meekness, and firmness, that you will need. You will accept, I am persuaded, all these remarks that I make, knowing well my weakness, for the love of Christ.

Affectionately yours, in the work and the hope of this Beloved One, our only Savior, J. N, D.

Lausanne, 1840.

Answers to Correspondents: Only Begotten; Living Stone; Bitter Herbs; The Lord's Body;

Q.-In the Gospel of John, and again in the 1st Epistle of John, the Lord Jesus is called the " only-begotten Son of God," and yet in 1 John 5:1 and 18 believers are spoken of as " begotten of God," which would seem to imply that the Lord is not now the " only " begotten; is this so? S. R.

A.- "The only-begotten Son of God" is a title of special affection, and of personal glory, peculiar to the Lord Jesus Himself, and one which, we believe, He will ever retain. Moreover, as such, He actually stood alone when God in His love gave Him to be our life and propitiation. Believers, as having Christ for their life, are truly " begotten " of God, but this in no wise touches the place which alone Christ has as the " only-begotten " One.

Q.-The Apostle Peter speaks of our blessed Lord as the "living stone;" does this refer to His having been once dead?s. K.

A.-We think the reference here is undoubtedly to Christ's own inherent life as the Son of God. He had been revealed to Peter by the Father according to His own personal glory, so he witnessed to Him as " the Son of the living God;" and it was in this connection that Peter was told by the Lord that He would build His church upon " this rock," meaning thereby Himself as Peter had confessed Him. Christ was manifested in resurrection as Son of the living God, but He was this before death in His own Person. Believers are built on Him as living stones because they have His life, and they once, so to speak, were dead stones, but in no sense was this true of Christ. Peter says of Him, in Acts 2:24, " Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Christ had " life in himself." See John 5:26.

Q.-Should we keep the " bitter herbs " in view at the Lord's table? and shall we remember them when in the glory? S. IL

A.-"Bitter herbs" typify self-judgment or repentance, and they were to be eaten with the passover (EL xii. 8); hence we quite think that at the Lord's supper, which now answers to the passover, as bringing His death before us, they should have their place. Self-judgment is quite fitting to our remembrance of the blessed Lord's death for us, however free in heart and conscience we may be in virtue of what it has brought us into.

The thought of the " bitter herbs " seems clearly before the apostle's mind, when, in 1 Cor. 11:28, he says, "Let a. man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." We cannot conceive though,however sweet and real the remembrance of that death will be in glory, that the " bitter herbs " will have any place there.

4. Q.-Would you please explain what the Holy Ghost means when we read, " not discerning the Lord's body, and " being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord;" and how would you compare, " Take, eat, this is my body," with the construction Romanists put on the above two texts?

W. R. S.

A.-The context makes it plain that the apostle was warning the Corinthian believers against taking the bread and wine, that present to faith " the body and blood of the Lord " -the food of the soul-as simple bread and wine to satisfy the natural hunger and thirst of the body. By so doing they would be guilty before God of contempt for the Lord Himself and His love in dying for them. A solemn warning surely, but one containing blessed instruction for souls in our day when, if the abuse be not quite of the same nature, the danger of taking with lightness and indifference the Lord's supper is the same. The Romanist makes the actual body and blood of Christ to be in the wafer after its consecration, thus making it a purely material thing apart altogether from faith, which would, if it were true, render the apostle's warning meaningless; for if the bread itself be really the Lord's body, in seeing it I do discern, or see, the Lord's body necessarily, whereas what the apostle meant was that what to the natural eye was only bread was to be discerned by faith as the Lord's body. At the moment when the Lord instituted the supper, and used the words, " Take, eat, this is my body," He was Himself actually holding a piece of bread in His hand, and the disciples were to eat it as His body then, which, according to the Romanist view, would make the Lord Himself then in the piece of bread He held in His hand, for whatever those words meant then they mean now. Moreover at the time of the Lord's speaking to His disciples He had not died for them, and yet He said of the wine, " this is my blood which is shed for you." If the wine meant the actual thing, instead of what He plainly intended it to set forth, He was actually dead at the moment He spoke to them. To state things in this way is to show their fallacy. C. W.

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 1

THIS chapter has a character peculiarly its own, and very different to that of any of those which precede and follow it. Its keynote, so to speak, is the statement made at the close of the previous chapter, "The just shall live by faith;" on which, as it were, it is a practical commentary.

In a general way, we may say that the Epistle to the Hebrews is the introduction of the believer into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and we would remark, in passing, that there is nothing so difficult to hold fast to, as that, as believers, we may go into the Holiest boldly at all times, and in all circumstances. Often believers stand at the door, so to speak, thinking they are not fit to go in, but this only gives time and opportunity for Satan and the world to act. You have failed? Well, flee to the Holiest. You feel you are not fit? Well, faith goes right in with the blood of Jesus. Are you in trouble-your own evil heart, and the world too much for you? Flee right into the Holiest, there alone is safety and rest. When we are at home there, we are not at home in the world. The world cannot do much with us If we have Christ. Faith in the Son of God gives entire victory over the world, as John tells us, and we find in the previous chapter, that early believers took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had " in heaven, a better and an enduring substance." Just think, let the world take everything you have-your goods, your life, everything-could you say, " Thank you!" In the reckoning of faith, it is the best thing the world can do for the believer, or if you will, the worst.

Another important feature of this epistle is the way the Spirit of God, while unfolding in detail the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, gives special prominence to His Person as the Son of God. It is " Jesus the Son of God" that is " the great High Priest, passed into the heavens.,' This is specially the apostle Paul's way of presenting Christ. Immediately after his conversion " he preaches Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God " (Acts 9:20); and in his Epistle to the Galatians, says, " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." Would not " the Lord Jesus" have done just as well? No, it would not. That would have told'us only of Jesus as man exalted to the right hand of God, the same blessed Person surely, but there is immense power in the fact that it is " the Son of God" who is our life and object.

But to return to our chapter. The first verse is a statement of faith in its practical power and effect. It is that by which we lay hold of " things hoped " for as substantial realities, and that which gives present demonstrations to our souls of " things not seen."

The second verse teaches us that faith was the inward energy by which saints in past ages lived before God and obtained " a good report," of which the rest of this chapter gives us a series of characteristic instances, arranged in a special order.

In the third verse faith gives us what the ancients, with all their wisdom, had not; and what the philosophers of the present day, with all their boasted and scientific acquirements, do not understand. We know how the worlds were made. God's word tells us all we want to know about a world out of which we are waiting to go. The world was made by the simple fiat of God; it was deluged by God; and now it is sustained by the word of God to be burnt up. Oh dear friends, surely if we believe it is all going to be burnt up, we shall not care for anything in it; our one aim will be to get out of it. Philosophers will speculate clay and night, as to how the world was made and as to its end, but bring in the name of God, and tell them you know how it was made-God spake, and it was clone, and that now it only waits God's word to be burnt up; there is silence at once, they do not like it.

In the fourth verse we have faith as what constitutes a true worshipper, in contrast with one who was not one.

Cain, brought an offering of the fruits of the earth, thinking that because it pleased himself it must please God; but God rejected him. And what, let us ask, are all the elaborate forms and ceremonies in the so-called places of worship now but just the same thing? These things please the senses of men, and, therefore, it is argued that God must be pleased with them too. It spews God's wisdom in a marked way, I think, that when He is speaking of worship, He tells us in one short verse what it is. Abel, a poor good-for-nothing sinner, brought a dead lamb, its blood poured out; as a sinner under death and judgment, he put the death blood of a victim between himself and God. He brought (typically of course) the death of Christ. Thus coming, Abel had the testimony from God that " he was righteous." God only gives this testimony to those who come into His presence with the blood of His Son. Whatever else you may do, or bring, you will not have the testimony that you are righteous. (Compare Rom. 3:24,26.)

In verse 5 faith,, as in Enoch, gives us the most perfect example of godly walk in the Bible (the Lord Jesus of course excepted). A great deal is said about David, Solomon, Josiah, and many other saints, but all we hear about Enoch is, that " he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him;" and before his translation he had this testimony, "that he pleased God." Doubtless he had his failures, as we all have, but the characteristic feature of his life was, " he walked with God." And it is this that the Holy Ghost records. Beloved friends, is this what we are doing? What appears to me so very beautiful in this narrative is, that Enoch is not a man soaring far above our heads in circumstances we know nothing about, but one who walked with.God in all the realities of every-day life-in his business and his family. Very likely he led about his flocks as a simple shepherd; certainly, for God's word tells us so, " he begat sons and daughters," and it was in these relationships " he walked with God."

There is a vast difference between my being in the world with the knowledge that God is for me, and my being down here simply for God! To show what I mean: just look at Abraham and Enoch together, for a moment. Abraham knew God was for him in all his interests down here; and the consequence was, instead of being occupied with the " God of glory," he was almost always in some trouble or other. God tells him to leave his country and his kindred; but he does not fully get away until Terah his father is dead. Then when he is in the land there is a famine, and Abraham fears for his life because of the beautiful wife whom God hath given him, so he makes up a lie in the land, and goes and tells it down in Egypt. Then God gives him great promises, but he cannot wait, and goes and gets into a mess about Ishmael. Enoch, on the other hand, appears to have been down in this world simply for God. Doubtless God had told him, He was going to translate him. And with this before him, we can believe that the burden of his prayer was not, " Lord God, give me this or that, or the other," but, " Lord God, help me to please Thee! As Thou art going to translate me, help me while I am here to please Thee." And, beloved, this is very simple; if God pleases us, if He fills our hearts, do you not think it is natural enough that we shall want to please Him? Surely this ought to be our only object! And mark, Enoch follows close upon Abel. He starts, as it were, from Abel's lamb, to enter the glory above that connected itself with it-the cross of Christ here, and the Lamb in the midst of the throne there-in the interim walking with God and pleasing Him.

Oh! beloved, had we more before our souls, the cross of Christ as our starting-point, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to fetch us to Himself, we should really care for nothing but to please Him. This is more than conversion and being happy in the Lord. There are some here who have but recently found joy in Christ, and I would warn them, as I would myself and all, of resting in their joy. What I would say to such is, cling to Christ, cleave to Jesus, but do not get occupied with your joy. Suppose you lose this experience of joy, what will you do then? Hold fast to Christ, you cannot lose Him; He cannot break down. Hold fast to Him; walk with Him; and if this is not joy, nothing is. If you look at Jesus, your heart will be so filled with joy, that words shall fail to express it. This is beautifully put before us in 1 Peter 1:8, " Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

What a thing it is to be in the world without an anxiety, a care, or a wish, and with only one thing to do, and that to walk in faith, and thus to " please God," and " without [or apart from] faith it is impossible to please him"! It is not to be faith and something else; no, it is faith, and faith alone, that pleases God. What are all the decorations in the churches and chapels for? " Oh!" you say, " God's house must be beautiful, and surely God would have it so, for look at the temple. It must please Him to see His house beautiful now, as then." You had better by far say at once, " We like it, and therefore God does too." But you say again, " Look at the temple t" Well, where is that temple now? Not one stone left upon another. What is God going to do with this whole world presently? Scripture tells us, He will burn it up. And not only the wood, hay, and stubble, but all the fine structures and edifices men are building, and all the pleasant pictures men are making. Does that look as if these things pleased God, and do you think if people believed all was going to be burnt up, they would do all they are doing? If we had anything that particularly pleased us, do you think we should burn it? We should be thought mad, if we did. It would really be the last thing we should do with what pleased us.

And what about the pealing organs, and grand music, that are so much used to render the worship of God more acceptable? Does God like music, and science, and art? " Surely He does," you say. Well, who instituted them? Did God? On the contrary, we read that Jubal " was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ," and Tubal-cain was " the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." Both descendants of Cain, who was a fugitive and a vagabond driven from the presence of God, and he made himself as comfortable and happy as he could away from God. Just what the world is doing now! You ask again, " Does not God like flowers? He made them, and surely He must like to have them offered to Him." Well, but you have forgotten He has cursed the earth on account of man's sin. You may look at them, and admire them, and God's wisdom in making them, but we must ever remember that they are under a curse, and we cannot bring them to present to the Lord. God will accept nothing but the slain lamb of Abel, as the ground of our acceptance before Him.

But we must not only have faith in God Himself to please Him, but we must know He is the rewarder of them that " diligently seek him," and this does not mean taking only huge troubles and trials, or great joys to Him, and leaving small things out as if they were no matter. No! God will be sought to about the smallest everyday occurrences of our lives. It is "In everything," as we read in Phil. 4:6. We must take everything to Him, and then we shall indeed find that " God is a rewarder " of them that do this. If God has given us eternal life, do not you think He will not give us a pin, or a cup of cold water, if we ask Him? To be sure He will, and that, too, as dignifiedly as if He were giving us a throne. Beloved, do we believe it? Do we diligently seek Him? Do we take everything to Him?

Why do people get into debt? Why do people steal? Just because they do not believe God. If we believed He would give us whatever we wanted, do you believe we should take it from our neighbors? Of course we should not. Take for example a man or a woman acting from an impulse of love, not in willful sin. A father has seven little children, and nothing in the house, there is no work to be had, and the poor little children are starving. Well, he goes out, sees a loaf of bread, the baker's back is turned, he snatches it up, and takes it to his children. If he believed God, and that he had only

to ask Him for bread, do you think he would do that? Why, if he asked God for one loaf, God would give him a dozen if needed, for He can as easily send a hundred as one. See how God speaks to Israel in Malach 4: 10. " Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to conceive it."

Some years ago, up in the north of Scotland, there was a dear old woman, who when asked, " Was God good to her," said, " Guid, aye so guid, I could a' most think He had na another child i’ the world, He taks such care o' me." That was simple faith, and she pleased God. She had nothing but a poor cottage, and an empty cupboard, but her faith knew it had the living God and all His resources at its command. She did not want great riches here; thieves might break through and steal, or rust might spoil. Was not it far better God should keep them, and give her out, day by day, what she needed? Why do men put their money into banks? So that it shall not be stolen. Well, God is our bank, and if we have faith in Him, He will give us everything we need, and when one has faith for one's self one can count on Him for others; and so Paul says, " My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus!"

Oh! to know more of what it is diligently to seek Him in believing prayer. c. w.

( To be continued, the Lord willing.)

A FRAGMENT.

THE presence of Christ is distinct from the presence of the Spirit. All believers have the Holy Spirit, but all have not the presence of Christ. If you have not the presence of Christ, you are an orphan Christian. The Holy Spirit is in our midst, and the Lord Jesus also-in spirit, of course, not His bodily presence, but personally-apart from, and distinct from, the presence of the Holy Spirit. W. B.

The Full Import of Conversion

IT should ever be borne in mind that the Lord Himself must be the center in testimony, however blessed it is to put forth the gospel of God's grace. Here, in Thessalonica, these souls were brought out to serve the living and true God. The whole man turned to God-a totally new state from beginning to end; not merely getting relief to conscience, but God Himself in Christ become the object before the soul. This is the full import of conversion, as we get it in 1 Thess. 1:9,10-a man being turned round to God; there is repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

When you believe, you get an entirely new life and you judge the past-you repent because you believe; it all comes together, like the prodigal, when he turned to his father's house, there is a totally new life, state, and object. " They who are of the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit," &c., and " Our conversation is in heaven," &c., is the doctrinal statement of this. You must get such a knowledge of self as to get rid of it. If you faithfully said," I am dead," Satan could not tempt you. You may not always be able to do this, but it is yours to say, as one " born of water and of the Spirit." The water cleanses, but being born of the Spirit gives a new position and a new life.

We know we are born of God-that eternal life that was with the Father is my life, and that is Christ; He has become my life. The Lord breathing on the disciples was not the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. When Christ ascended to heaven, He received the Holy Ghost afresh for us. He had it before, but He received it for us when He went up on high. It is through the second Man, gone into glory, after having put away our sins, that we get the Spirit. God comes down to us in our sins as Man, and as Man He goes up, and receives the Holy Ghost for us. Man in Christ takes a new place in resurrection.

The work of Christ on the cross clears the conscience then Christ Himself becomes our life. This is a totally new state-a new creation.

The first thing needed, is to have the question of sin settled, and to know that all our sins were borne by Christ, and put away. If you charge me with my sins, God declares that the blood that cleansed me is always under His eye; He cannot impute my sins to me, their imputation was to Christ. It is what God sees that clears me, not that I have accepted Christ, but that God has. What gives peace, is, that the work of Christ has perfectly settled the question of sin.

Practically, if I sin, not only am I miserably failing, but I am doing the thing that caused Christ's agony, but if it did that, it cannot be imputed to me. We have the teaching connected with our practical state in the type of the red heifer. (Num. 19) The ashes-sin consumed on the cross-with the running water, were sprinkled on the unclean person. The ashes are applied to the soul in testimony of the whole thing having been consumed-sin put away. If I indulge a foolish thought even the Holy Spirit is grieved, and I am uncomfortable, but I cannot judge myself for sin, unless I am certain that it is not imputed. The answer to everything is the work done on the cross. That work sets us in the presence of God, in the light, without a stain, our sin having been laid on Christ, according to God's knowledge of it.

Nothing tests the heart so much as realizing that the -worshipper " once cleansed, has no more conscience of sins." There can be no real or right sanctification till a man is clear about sin. Until I know my perfect acceptance, and am perfectly assured of salvation, through all sin being gone, I am mingling up my state with my standing. The holy nature is there, but there can be no proper sanctification till I see that Christ has not borne my sins up to such a day, but that all my sins are gone, end, besides that, I have a perfect acceptance in Christ.

There are three things: peace as to sins; present grace; and glory to come. Not merely no condemnation

as in Christ Jesus, all sin having been cleared away, but a position-a new place in Christ Himself-is ours. All, as to the first Adam, was settled on the cross, and I have a new place in Christ, and I am called to walk now as Christ walked, but I am to be conformed to God's Son in glory. I am to walk as Christ walked, not to be as Christ was. He was without sin in Him, we have sin in us, but sin in our walk is never to be allowed.

" We all, with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." Not only are my sins cleared away, but I see a Man gone into glory, and now, not only I would not sin, but I want to be like that Christ in glory-I press on towards the mark. " 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." I see Christ in glory by faith now; I know I am to be like Him by-and-by, and I want to be as like Him as ever I can be, even now. It is like a light at the end of a tunnel, the nearer-I get, the brighter the light. I see the flesh in me never changes, only appears worse and worse; but if my eye is. fixed, and my mind is occupied with, and full of Christ, I shall get more like Him at every step-" changed into the same image from glory to glory."

There must be nothing in the heart or walk not like. Christ-all must be given up to Him; and, as to walk, I am to walk as Christ did. The account we get of the flesh is lawlessness, before the flood; then, under law it makes a golden calf; then, Christ, come in grace, is rejected and crucified; then, the Holy Ghost is rejected through Stephen; and lastly, if a man goes into the third heavens, as soon as he comes down the flesh must have a thorn. There is no changing it, but that is no reason why we should let it act; there is no present consciousness that the flesh is acting at all if the soul is full of Christ. I am not thinking of it if I am thinking of Christ, I reckon the flesh dead. If a man is dead, you cannot charge him with a wicked will and lusts. Not only Christ was crucified, but I have been crucified with Him. I have always that death of the cross to bring in, and I have Christ as my life-" If we be dead with Christ, we shall also live with him." I get the power of Christ acting in me with this new life. The sin I find in my flesh was put to death in Christ, and I have done. with it. But another point, I get Christ as the object of my life-" The life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

You find many who know their sins are forgiven, yet do not know what it is to have been crucified with Christ. You can never get rid of self till you know this. In Rom. 7 the soul is quickened, but not delivered it is under the first husband, renewed, because of knowing the spirituality of the law, but it is learning that it has no strength. It is harder to learn that you have no strength, than that you are ungodly. The last stage is, "I thank my God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is deliverance. The moment Christ comes in there is power, but I must learn my weakness not a balance between flesh and Spirit. God in Christ having condemned sin in the flesh, I am dead to it. If I am told of a fine concert, or anything else, I say, " I am dead to it." A gardener has no idea of pruning a crab-apple tree, he cuts it down, and grafts with a new thing altogether.

People do not recognize the fact of their having died with Christ, as well as of Christ having died for them. Many a quickened soul does not know the full value of the work of Christ, and that " as he is, so are we in this world." When the blood was on the lintels and doorposts the Israelites were safe, but when they came to the Red Sea, and were told to stand still, and see " the salvation of God," there was positive deliverance-they were taken out of one place, and put into another.

My standing is, that I am not in the flesh, but in the Spirit: " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his "—is not in a right standing at all. " Ye in me, and I in you," that is where I get my standing in Christ before God. I am quite peifeet, if I am in Him,. and He in vie; and I have, as to the body, to reckon it. dead.

The way the Thessalonians lived, as to testimony, was most blessed. One can never present it by trying to do it. If my heart be full of Christ, I shall not merely be avoiding evil, but, as Paul prays in connection with the Philippians, desiring to be filled with the fruits of righteousness; and, having got God's mind, I shall yield my body as a living sacrifice to Him. Paul did but one thing; he ran after Christ in glory. This is what conversion really is-Christ everything to the soul.

J. N. D.

Martyrdom and Rest

It is pretty well known now to believers that Psa. 69 gives us the sufferings of Christ from man-as one might so say, as a martyr,.-and it is important to be distinct as to this. He came to the earth, and He was a Witness for God on the earth, as well as being a Victim-the One who died for us. We hardly understand the position we hold if we do not understand that, because, Christians, we hold Christ's position here.

The Holy Ghost is the One sent down to occupy the ground, that is, God's ground; therefore, where the Holy Ghost is, the ground is occupied, and it does not matter what He displaces. It is of all importance to know where the Holy Ghost is, and to recognize the ground. that He holds, and what He occupies; and well to know what the witness of God is, and what it is to be a martyr in this world-witnessing, as we pass through this life. The stake is only the close of the martyr's existence. The Lord did not suffer martyrdom on the cross only, He was a Martyr from the time He occupied God's ground, and that is the place we have to occupy in this world, and that is what the apostle meant by " filling up what was behind of the sufferings of Christ."

If one martyr is burnt, it does not follow that all the martyrs are gone; it does not take away the distinctiveness of the martyrdom at the stake, that there should be others left who do not go to the stake. It does not take away from the martyrdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, that there are some left to fill up His sufferings. There are martyrs in the present day, though there are no fires at Smithfield. One is not a Christian at all, if one is not a martyr; not that one would seek to be a martyr. The only real martyrdom is to be for Christ, and occupy the ground Christ occupied, and then you will be a martyr, whether you like it or not. To occupy His ground in this world is martyrdom itself. In Psa. 69 the Lord Jesus Christ is a Martyr.

The Thessalonians were suffering martyrdom, but from whom were they suffering? Did they suffer from God? They were in trials and sufferings, and they were so taken in by false teaching, that they were completely deceived, and thought what they were suffering from man was from God, and that the day of the Lord was come. Now, the apostle tells them that the day of the Lord is the execution of the judgment upon those who were troubling them, the very reverse of martyrdom. Suffering is the right thing in this world; it is the result of association with Christ. In this psalm the Lord Himself looks for retribution, that is, God's righteous judgment. That is where Christendom fails in understanding and applying the Psalms. The true Christian spirit in this day is the suffering of martyrdom, and not crying for vengeance. Verse 22 does not refer to Christianity, of course, but in principle it is carried out in Christendom. There is no greater snare to the soul than what Christianity has become, namely, man in the flesh having put on Christ—put on Christianity; that very thing becomes a snare. But Christ makes a difference, and separates, calling the poor and needy, such as hear His voice, and gathers His own together.

Well, now all that being distinctly before the soul, what comes out of it all, is, that when the trouble is

over, there is rest. There is no rest here, though the soul has rest in Christ. He says, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." There is the rest, and the only rest, for the soul-Christ. He is our peace; nothing can be more plain, distinct, blessed, or secure than that. It is the portion of every soul that has faith in God. It is entirely beyond the past dispensation; the whole thing is set at rest in the soul. But as to circumstances we wait for rest; it is well not to look for rest now. No doubt we like to see things go smoothly, and would try to cause them to go smoothly, and it is very blessed to have things go smoothly; the object is, however, to have no more trouble, but the Christian without trouble is no Christian at all. It is a pity to be on the look-out for having things perfectly smooth religiously, or any other way-to make that your object; if you are on the look-out for that, you will not get it. If we think we are going to have rest here, we are very much mistaken ' this is not a world to rest in; looking for rest here is not Christianity; it is anything but that. Not that we have got to look for the trouble, it will come fast enough. The rest is where He is, where He rests on the throne, and that for us is by-and-by.

In 2 Thess. 1:7 we read, " And to you who are troubled, rest with us: when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." That is the time, and the vengeance must come before that. If you are looking out for rest, you are looking out for something beyond the vengeance; so therefore let us be quiet, let us learn to know how things are, and so wait. The day of the Lord will not come until that which hinders shall be taken away.

May the Lord, in His grace, keep our souls occupied with Himself. " Occupy till I come," He says; in the meantime praising, for His name's sake. W. B.

God Is Love

THE expression, repeated over and over in verse 7 of John 4, is "love; ' and in verse 8 it is repeated again, winding up with, " God is love."

It is very important to enter into the truth, not only that love is of God, and that He dwells in us who believe, but to understand that the love here spoken of is the character of God Himself: " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." (Ver. 16.) This is something exceedingly beautiful to those who know it, and, " He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love."

What the Spirit of God speaks of in chapter i. of this epistle, as to our relationship with the Father, is sur- passingly marvelous, and we can only know it by knowing what Christ came for; knowing it, we are identified with that Son, who came into the world that we might have life in Him, and God sent His Son that we might have life. What sort of life is it? A life that brings a believer into direct connection with the Father and the Son. Not only am I a son, but, being born of God, I have a new nature; and He tells me I am in His Son, who was before all worlds, and He in me. Think what a place He sees me in; and, mark, all God's springs are in Himself. He saw nothing in man but hatred, and it was love, divine love, that led Him to give His Son, and love that led that Son to come into this world, that God's love might be manifested to His creatures; His own nature and heart led Him to do it. He drew His own motive from within Himself, and He puts this same love into the heart of him that tastes it. It is love that brings us into the presence of God Himself, a love that communicates the life of His Son to those dead in trespasses and sins, and they have a life that is locked up in the Son, and never can be touched. Is it true that you can turn round, and say, That is the manner of life I have got —life hid with Christ in God? If Christ Himself, up there, is my life, it links me up with Him, in whom is the whole bundle of life. The Head cannot say to the feet, " I have no need of thee." It cannot say to the feeblest member, passing through the difficulties and sorrows of the wilderness down here, " I have no need of thee." Why? Because of its being bound up in the bundle of life. Not only is that life brought out in all beauty in Him, who was with the Father, but that life has been communicated by the Father to us, and is so in us, that Christ cannot say He has no need of us.

Did you ever look up into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ with the consciousness of having one life with Him? If so, you cannot entertain a single question about the place you are in before God. In Eden all was very beautiful, and, looking round, man might have said,. " What a large Giver God is." But what can we say, as those to whom this life has been given, and whose fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ? Surely, we can turn round with deeper feeling, and say, "What a blessed Giver our God is 1" When I wandered in sins, He found me and gave me a life that has brought me into fellowship with Himself and His Son.

The eleven, at the day of Pentecost, saw the stream of life flowing to this and that one, and even to men that had dipped their hands in the blood of God's own Son. But did it cease then? No, it has flowed for eighteen hundred years into the dead souls of sinners; and, when we look, we find it has connected us with another scene altogether. Well may you say, I am very unlike Him whose life I have. If you have it, you have found out, and will be finding out till He comes to take you to Himself in a glorified body, what a contrast you are to Him; but it is not a question of what you are, but of a portion that has flowed to you from the Father. You will find your dearest relations turning from you, as those whom the Father has given to Christ out of the world. The Lord said, " The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of it." The world cannot understand that principle in you-a certain affection in

the heart of God that found its expression in the Son, and we find those whom God has given to Him so connected with Him, that the love wherewith He is loved 'is inz them, and they are able to walk in the power of His life, unto His praise and glory, as dear children. Neither you or I can say, " We love God with all our hearts and souls," but, "He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins"-" Not that we loved him, but he loved us." If I begin with self, there is nothing but ruin. Is there anything to be got out of the ruin? Any want felt there for God? Impossible that there could be. Well, then, " Herein is love," God says, " not your love to me, but mine to you; turn your eye to Christ, to see how I loved you, and gave my Son for you."

Under the law, in connection with propitiation, or atonement, a victim was brought, but the blood of bulls and goats never could put away sin, the blot remained, and though the blood was sprinkled, and put on the mercy-seat,its effect was so far from being eternal, that before the end of the year, sin being there, it again; but Christ, by one kering, forever has put our sins away. Not, only love comes out on the cross, but all He did was the expression of the love of God, and the meeting of the Father's mind. He was as completely one with the Father as it was possible to be. I have to begin with God, not myself. What has God done? He has put before the soul the ground on which it can rest in His presence-given His Son as the propitiation for our sins; and we can sing, "Unto him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; to him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen."

In Rom. 2;3. the Spirit of God traces out the awful condition of man by nature, but God has commended His love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not only God has given His Son as a, propitia- tion for us, but He has introduced us to a higher order of existence than man in Adam ever was in; He has given us the eternal life that is in His Son-an entirely new and divine order of being, What I have is just the life of that One Person in whom is all God's delight. By the work of Christ on the cross all question of sin was once and forever settled, and we have peace with God, and, now, out of His fullness we receive grace upon grace, and when He comes He will present us, without spot or wrinkle, to Himself. Is it difficult to say whether or not we have tasted what it is to be in such a place? I get this light shining in me, because He has given me of His Spirit. Has not God a right to speak? Does He not know how to use human language so as to carry it right home to our souls? To be sure He does, and He says, " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."

The Lord Jesus declares about His sheep, that they have eternal life, and none can pluck them out of His hand, or out of the Father's hand; but human nature says, " How can I know it to be true?" How can you know it! A pretty word for a creature to put forth! Far better for the creature to say, " Let God be true, and every man a liar." It is by faith in Him who cannot lie that we know this, and His testimony is, that " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."

Then, in describing the experience of a soul led by the Spirit of Christ and what should be the mark of it, God says His love was so displayed in that work of His Son, that it dwells in the hearts of believers, and they in it. If God uses your sin to skew the virtue of His Son's blood, are you to say, " My leanness, my leanness "? Your leanness! How came you to be calculating on anything of yourself? If you bring an empty vessel, even if there be a crack or flaw in it, you can keep it full to overflowing, if you put it into a cistern of water.

The proper expression of God's will has come out; the deepest, highest, brightest, fullest, most blessed counsels of God getting their expression in Rim who said, " Lo, I come to do thy will." Who was that Babe, laid there in a manger? What could it mean, those angels saying, " Glory to God in the highest?" Ah! God said, Your ways are not my ways, nor your thoughts my thoughts I shall bring out of my own bosom One who was there before all worlds, and thus will come out to light, through that Son of my love, what I am-my character will be seen; He will declare what I am; I can let the brightest expression of heaven's delight shine out upon something on earth now. God could look down on that Babe, and see there the perfect expression of His glory. All God's glories came out in connection with that Person, who said, " No one knoweth the Father but the Son;" and, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also."

Looking to be manifested at Christ's judgment-seat, we have no cause to have any uncertainty as to results. And why? Because, " as he is, so are we in this world "; and I can say this, " If Christ has taken the place of the smitten Rock, and has become my life, will He find fault with His own life in me?" He will find fault with our practical inconsistencies, but the life of a believer is what Christ is; and not only have we life in Him, but He is the propitiation for our sins. He did the whole will of God, and He was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We can take our place in God's presence, and our confidence cannot be shaken, if the heart is simple and true, because there is the blood that cleanses from all sin, and we take our place there as those who are cleansed. If it is the question of your getting into His love, you cannot get in; but if it is the question of Christ's having brought you into it by washing you from your sins in His own blood, there can be no fear, "perfect love casteth out fear," and We love him, because he first loved us." Would you have liked Christ to have left out of His word all desire for the expression of your love?

God cannot receive anything from a ruined creature, because it comes with a taint of sin and selfishness, but as accepted ones in the Beloved, is it not an expression of His love to put it into our heart to say, " We love him, because be first loved us?" All the ruin and sin of the first Adam became the very occasion for all the love of God to flow out. If able to say, " I am a believer and a pilgrim," I ought to be able to say, " I know what manner of love God has bestowed upon me." The real claim of God's love over them is never answered by the children of God, if they are not standing in it as the expression of it. What have Ito do with bringing water down from the rock? The water is there, and if it has,come down to me, was there any virtue or power in self to bring it down? No! As a creature I am ruined, and if I should say to God, " What can I, a ruined creature, do?" His answer is, " It is not the question of your doing, but of mine. I gave my Son to be the propitiation for your sins, and you will find that he that honors that work has found the ground on which to stand in My presence with perfect acceptance."

I am in a world where all are scrambling after what they can get for self. " Well," I say, " I have nothing, but poor and little as I am the Father gave His Son for me, and I have the heart of that Son of His occupied with all that concerns me, and counting the beatings of this heart of mine down here, and after all Christ's self-'denial for me is there to be none from me to Him?" When Christ says, " I bought you with my own blood; I charged myself with all your guilt," are we to do or say anything that is not for the glory of that Christ? If God is working in us, having given us life in His Son, and says, " Now I am looking to see you walk like Christ," are we never to think of His side? Surely not in the thought of paying Christ. One once spoke to me of suffering for Christ, and said, " If I love, I must expect to suffer a great deal more." " What!" I said, " you do not want to pay Christ, do you?" " No; but I do wish to have my love to Him going out in some other way than in cold expressions of gratitude." How beautiful to be on those terms with God that we find in the word certain individuals were! Oh, believe me, you can only plead with God as you know Christ. He alone is the channel by which God can bless you and answer every desire of your heart. " God is love," but it is in and through Christ that He is this for us. G. V. W.

Walk Worthy: Part 1

IT is interesting and instructive to note the three distinct ways in which the Apostle Paul presses upon Christians that they should " walk worthy " of their Christian. position.

In Eph. 4:1 they are to " walk worthy of the vocation with which ye are called."

In Col. 1:10 they are to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing."

In 1 Thessalonians H. 12 they are to " walk worthy 'of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

On the surface it is plain that the object put before the mind, with reference to which the walk is to be worthy, is different in each case, and it is of great moment to mark this difference.

In the first case it is the " habitation of God through the Spirit " that is in view. This is plainly seen if the fact that chapter 3. is a parenthesis be noted, and thus, that the exhortation, with which chapter iv. commences, is connected with the last verse of chapter 2. In this verse Paul tells the Ephesian saints that they, with other believers, " are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit"-or "God in Spirit." Sovereign grace had called them into this blessed, yet solemn, position, they were to walk worthy of it and all it involved. Now while, doubtless, other things enter into this "calling," yet the great fact, that is here put prominently before the mind, is that all Christians form together the house of God on earth-that aspect of the church, of which Paul, in writing to his son Timothy, says, " That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Tim. 3:15.)

What we have then specially to notice here is, that it is as worthy of God's house, which in. fact they form, Christians are exhorted to walk; and thus, while all the range of blessing and responsibility in which saints stand in this present dispensation are in question, the eye is directed inwards to God Himself; and seeing that it is the Holy Ghost who actually dwells in the house, He gets special prominence before our minds in this first " walk worthy," and in two ways. On the one side we are in relation with Him as God dwelling in the midst of believers; on the other, as the One who forms and maintains the unity into which they have been introduced. In order then to walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called, we have primarily to walk in what is suited to God Himself, in His nature and ways, and hence it is that " all lowliness and meekness " are the first things requisite; just how Jesus walked-" meek and lowly in heart," as we read in Matt. 11 The foot that falls worthy of God in His own house must be a meek and lowly one; and, whatever we may think, we are not walking worthy of our vocation, and really maintaining the truth of the church, unless the lowliness and meekness that characterized Jesus before God is characterizing us.

This is the first grand essential in our walk at all times, and without it we are walking unworthily; God Himself is not before the mind, for if truly before Him we must be meek and lowly, and to talk of walking worthily with others while the first essentials of all godly walk are wanting is folly and worse, for it is the evidence of hardness of heart and want of conscience. Moreover, the second part of this walk-" with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavor- ing to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace "-is impossible if " lowliness and meekness " before God be not there, for unless we are walking right with God, we cannot walk rightly with one another. But if in " lowliness and meekness " we are walking with God, what God is in His nature and ways towards ourselves. will be found in us towards others. God's character, in long-suffering and forbearing love, will be expressed through us; and, with this, there will be the true endeavor " to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The blessed and holy ways of God must be found in our own hearts before Him in secret before they can flow out of us in our walk with others; and, especially for those who would lead others, it is well to remember that of Him, who " made known his ways unto Moses, and his acts unto the children of Israel," it is said, " the meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach

his ways. 5)

C. w.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Private Worship or Only Assembly Worship?

DEAR BROTHER,... The Saturday meeting had for its object, that those interested in the various gatherings should have an opportunity of fellowship or consultation, so as to effect convenient action. That they bound anything is an utterly false accusation, and the way the enemy has sought to assail this meeting, through unprincipled attacks or personal feeling, is a proof to me that it is of God. The reading out the names, even in the gatherings, concludes nothing for the very object is, that if there be objection it may be mentioned.... But it was long ago felt that it was desirable that a name should not be publicly given out until all practical inquiry was made, as it was very disagreeable to have a name publicly mentioned, and demur made thereto on. moral grounds, when it could be avoided. Hence the previous inquiry and consultation. Till they are announced to be received nothing is officially done, but the previous inquiry is the-ground on which that takes place. Now in 99 cases out of 100, the testimony of the local gatherings must be relied on, and that is to be desired; but it would not be, if the others were precluded from saying anything where they may very possibly have something. And, surely, if I am to give out people's names, I must have liberty to make a difficulty if I have one; and the case has arisen, and the previous inquiry is just what gives efficiency to this process. If brethren who care for the saints were present from all the gatherings, mutual consultation. and godly care would take place, and, while they could not and are not meant to decide anything, they could bring the names, or anything else, before all the gatherings, with adequate previous, inquiry, so that things should not be done rashly. Confidence would be produced in common action.

The action of I totally repudiate. L is not as large as.

Galatia. It is utterly false, and there was no agglomerated population, where a person could walk on a Sunday morning to another pah-of the town, perhaps when under questions of discipline where

he resided.... But I go on the facts; the analogy is wholly and practically false. The difficulties are practically great in L, but with cordial co-operation they disappear, and I believe in the power of the Spirit of God, to overcome the difficulties which arise from the immense size of the town, and produce common action. If everyone will go his own way it cannot be: but you have independent churches and members of them. In Galatia, a man was of a local church, and if he went to another place took a letter of commendation. Could I take one, say from the P, every Sunday morning I went down to G or K, and we are necessarily one body in L, and with grace can so walk I mourn these efforts to dislocate the united action hitherto carried.out, but as yet will hope that we may not have the testimony that we have not enough of the power of God's Spirit to overcome the practical difficulties, but are obliged to confess that we give up the testimony to the unity of God's church in L —'s practical independency, or congregationalism., I repudiate with every energy I am capable of. What I earnestly desire is, the cordial co-operation of brethren to maintain common action in one body according to the scriptures, and the unity of the Spirit of God; and I earnestly pray that the beloved brethren in L ' may be kept in grace seeking it, in the faithful desire of union, and service in lowliness of heart; and I am sure of the faithfulness of God. to help them, and carry it out in grace for them. May the Lord bless and keep them. I have labored with them, and suffered with them, and trust the Lord that He will bless them in the unity of the Spirit of God. May they remember that " there is one Spirit and one body."

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

1863. a-. N. D.

DEAR —.— I have long had the conviction, and expressed it, that half the gatherings on the paper should be off. Some since then are. This has been the real evil; the thing was cumbersome, and, what was worse, factitious and fictitious. C... (now I believe off), for example is not L...; so M..., P... (also I believe off), D..., G...; also your own of P...; F... and B..., might very well go too. In a word, all that is not really L.... W... I think took itself off. I should not think of hindering any brother from these places coming on Saturday •evening if he wished. In many cases it might be desirable, as so near L... people move more about. At the beginning of these meetings, when they were young and weak desiring the help of older brethren in L..., and there were only one or two gatherings, it was all well; but they are grown up, and letters of commendation, as from any other gathering, should be given. W... and B... might be struck out too.

As to the printing I am indifferent. I should prefer writing, be-,cause more connected with personal intercourse in giving the in, and less routine; because, too, if sent to M... then they are without any consultation at all, and if the visitors do not come, which is then very likely, they must be given out without more, or struck out without, communication with those who send them. But all these are merely instrumental means of getting things done, and if it all works well I am content. Let F... and B..., if not struck out, as not L..., write them if they like, I do not see what rule has to do with it. The printing is to gain time; if all non-L... meetings were off half the time would be saved, and more real work done; and the casting of the responsibility on the different gatherings in each place I believe to be most important.

In L... we are all in one place, however large. I never could have said, " If the papers are given up"... I might have said that if they were made independent churches I could not go with them. The papers were a real means of hindering this, and with all defects they had worked well.... The meeting had lost its true character, it had ceased to be real. If brethren who cared for the saints in each gathering in L... met to carry out that care in unity, as servants to the different gatherings, it would be a most useful meeting, while admission and exclusion I hold to be the act of the whole assembly and not rightly done otherwise. Practically, as I said in the letter you sent me, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is the local gathering which has to come to the conclusion, but unity is maintained by intercommunion in it; and in such a place as L... it is a great safeguard, and in special cases all are actually concerned in it together-a person may have been teaching false doctrine in many gatherings or troubling them in other ways.... A little patience, and weighing the matter before God, and all would be straight.

Your proposal for Friday to get it ready would be excellent, only that people have not time: but if two or three would undertake it, and the names and notices could he sent in to them, and then brethren came from the different gatherings in L... to weigh things together that it might all come before the gatherings on Lord's Day, it would be excellent. Perhaps, two or three ready and willing to start it, it might be done. It is not by much discussion, but readiness to serve, and wisdom as to practical plans, that such things are carried out, for instance, those who labor much in evening meetings could hardly do it in the evening time; others not in the day. But if two or three met and prepared the papers of those really in L..., the Saturday meetings could confer and bring the cases mentioned before the gatherings. I would do all I could if in L..., which I had hoped to be before winter, but have been delayed. But it is not so much plans as work in love that is required. There might be the danger of those sending in the names and notices neglecting the Saturday meeting; but at least we should have in this case those only who really cared for the gatherings. My old letter (I do mot know who printed it) I still believe perfectly just.

Your affectEonate brother in Christ, J. N. D.

DEAR It is fair to tell you that reflection has made me much more averse to printed papers than I was. I have not heard anything new from others which acted on me; the grounds of my increased objection have arisen in my own mind. I do not enter into details, for my difficulty has arisen from details in the first instance, and then from the whole tone and bearing of the thing. The mere fact of printing or writing is still nothing in itself to me. I still insist on all being put off the list who are not within L itself-I have long done so.

Not doing so was all very well to help little assemblies, newly formed, where no principle was concerned in it in any one's mind; but it subverts, as it stands now, the whole principle of local unity; which is the scriptural one as to localities-holding the unity of all saints, as gathered into one, with that local unity. Helping, as a matter of grace, an assembly that was weak, was all.very well, and all that thoroughly maintains general unity. Now the question as to the principle has been raised, and it is quite clear that C... H..., and B..., and C..., and P..., and W..., and M..., are not in If counsel had been taken they might have dropped off, and the work might have gone on without any question being raised; but it has been and perhaps so best. Grace will settle it peacefully. But my objection to the printed papers is quite other than it was when I wrote the reply to your letter.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

J. N. D.

He had been asked, "Is there such a thing in these days (of Christianity) as private, or individual, worship, or is everything, properly so-called, confined to the gathered assembly?" and as a collateral point, " Can a person, forming part of a meeting for worship retire from it mentally, if he feels it is below his own state, or the like, and go on alone with God, as it were, though in the meeting actually?"

MY DEAR BROTHER, I remember the same question arising in my mind at least thirty years ago, when writing in French the tract " On 'Worship." There is one thing which may facilitate your inquiry, John's writings always refer to the individual. Chapter 4 spews that individual worship is recognized. But if this was in intentional separation from all saints it would be another thing. Love to all the saints is a necessary ingredient in the heart's going up to God. But.worship together has a distinct and peculiar character, because there is Christ's promise to be there. " In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." But I do not doubt that if I am alone I can worship God alone. Still, scripture is full of joint worship, and so it will be in heaven.

But in an assembly I should think it an unhappy thing for one to' set himself apart as superior to others. Our part is to esteem others better than ourselves, and whereto we have already attained, to mind the same thing. If it is something that positively grieved the Spirit, it is another thing. I cannot in Spirit have communion with what is contrary to the Spirit, But while I admit a low estate of soul will be painful to a spiritually minded person, yet in the case you put, the persons have not learned to esteem others better than themselves. " Let each" it is said.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

3.880. .1. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Benjamin Destroying the Israelites?

5. Q.-Why did God allow the Benjamites to destroy in one battle twenty-two thousand Israelites, and in another eighteen thousand, seeing that they were judging a great sin committed by the Benjamites, and seeing, also, that the Israelites had first asked counsel of God as to whether they should go to battle against their brethren? (Judg. 20:1;2-48.) J. w.

A.-The first thing to. notice, in this solemn and instructive episode in Israel's history, is the general state of the nation before God, of which this particular sin of Benjamin's was but one sad fruit. It was quite in accordance with God's mind that Benjamin's terrible sin should be judged, and all Israel had to do this, but the state of the nation as a whole, in connection with this particular sin, had to be judged too, and this was done by God Himself in allowing the first two defeats, which show us that the power of evil cannot be dealt with unless God Himself be with His people. Now, this He cannot 'be if His people be in a state unsuited to His presence. To.secure His presence, a true estimate of their own condition before Him, in weakness and failure, is requisite; moreover, if collectively the condition of His people give rise to.sin, that brings chastisement from God, the whole people fall under this chastisement, in order that their hearts and consciences may be reached by it, and that they may judge their condition and own it before Him.

Now, the state of Israel at this time was very bad, as we read, " In those days there was no king in Israel: every man,did that which was right in his own eyes." God, and what was due to Him, had no place in their thoughts, and the nation, as a whole, was morally far from Him. Benjamin's sin) shocked their natural consciences, and aroused their indignation at first in simply a fleshly way; nor did they at the beginning take any counsel of God, as to how, or when, they should deal with the evil. They had arranged all this before they went to Him, and then it was merely to inquire who should " go up first." The Lord indicated Judah, and on them the heaviest blow fell. Perhaps Judah had already taken the lead in the matter without God, for God is just in all His judgments. On the second occasion the inquiry was whether they should go up again against Benjamin, but before doing, this they " encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array, in the place where they put themselves in array the first day they again make all their arrangements before going to the Lord. Beaten a second time, when they more than before expected victory, they cease altogether from themselves and their own plans; and now we read, "Then all the children of Israel, and all the people went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day till even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord." The lesson was learned, and Israel truly humbled and broken before God, and taking ground before Him in connection with His altar, inquire again, and they get the answer that leads to victory. God could be with them now, and He says, " Go up, for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand." The judgment inflicted on Benjamin was terrible and complete; for though the men of Gibeah alone had committed the sin, all the Benjamites had taken sides with those who were guilty of it, and God judged the associates with the guilty as severely as He did those directly guilty.

All these ways of God in government are deeply instructive, and surely have a special voice for the people of God. at this moment. C. w.

" God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." (Psa. 89:7.) " Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness becometh thine house, 0 Lord, forever." (Psa. 94:5.)

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 2

(Continued from page 35.)

IN verse 7, faith, as the energy by which we enter in salvation, is simply and forcibly set before us. And here it is important to note, that faith is no part of man's inheritance as a child of Adam or mere creature; it is the distinct effect of revelation, and only possessed by those who bow to this revelation. "All men have not faith," Paul states; and tells us, in Romans, " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Noah is a striking example of one who bowed his whole soul to the revelation God gave him, and this wrought in him that saving faith which is called in scripture, " the obedience of faith." He was " saved through faith " as the divinely-given energy by which he did what God told him. God had revealed to him that He was going to drown the whole world, and the fear of judgment to come thus produced wrought, doubtless, in him, as in the case of the Philippian jailor, the inquiry, " What must I do to be saved?" and then, when God says, " Build an ark," he unquestioningly does it-he believes, fears, and obeys. Now it was quite different with Enoch; God tells him He will translate him. Enoch, believing, is moved by hope, and lived in all the details of life, with the fact before him, that God was going to translate him. You and I would put fear first; not so God, He speaks of hope first, not fear. It is ever His way.

We must not overlook here, in connection with salvation, the gracious thoughts of God for all those dear to our hearts naturally. God told Noah to build an ark for himself and his house, and his faith took them all in-" Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him." The world might laugh, and think him mad. Very likely they said, " Why, Noah, what are you doing? What a fool you are to be building that immense ship; it will never be wanted. Where will all the water come from to float it; and so far, too, above the level of the sea?" In spite of their unbelieving jeers, he quietly goes on with his work, for an hundred and twenty years by word and act preaching righteousness to them. Every nail Noah put into the ark condemned them; every act of his life, every utterance of his lips, told them he was looking out for judgment for the world and salvation for himself.

Beloved friends, is this what we are doing? It is no use reading the word of God, if we do not take it home to ourselves, it only puffs us up, as head knowledge ever does, in self-conceit. We must come right into the light of God's holiness, and there let His word be sharper than any two-edged sword. What have we been doing to-day? It is vain to be going to the world, and saying, I am saved. We must let them know it by our every word and action. And, we remark again, Noah was not told to build the ark only for himself, it was to be for his,house as well.

I do not believe much in the man who says, I am saved, and then sits down, with folded arms, and says, " If my children are to be saved, they will be." It must be a hard, horrible heart that can leave his children to be saved, or not saved, as a matter in which he has no care or responsibility. What should we think, if Noah had left his sons, while himself building the ark, to make themselves comfortable and prosperous in the world, as if what he was himself doing had no concern for them, and would not affect them? We should think he did not believe the world was going to be drowned. No; we can quite suppose Noah had his sons with him, doing what he was doing-building the ark. Is this what we are doing? Or are we, being saved ourselves, content to see our children, and those dear to us, going on unsaved? Beloved friends, I have my interests in this matter, and you have yours. This is why I speak of it.

In verses 8, 9, faith, as the energy by which the believer follows God in the path of blessing, is depicted.

It is the path of faith, and Abraham its bright exemplar. In Gen. 12 we get the historical fact of Abraham's call. The way Stephen presents it, in Acts 7, throws additional light on the subject. Abram, who comes after the flood when Satan had usurped God's place in the minds of His creatures, was a dark idolater, worshipping stocks and stones. Abel, Noah, and Enoch did know God, but here was a man who did not know a word about God, till He personally revealed Himself and told him to go to the land He would show him. He did not even tell him what land at first; God would have Abram follow without knowing where. This needed confidence in the One who was to lead. Just think, beloved friends, suppose an utter stranger were to ask you to follow him, without telling you where, would it not need great confidence in this person to enable you to do it? Abram's faith was weak and faltering at first, certainly-he stayed till Terah was dead, but, after all, he went simply out with God, he did not know where.

Very likely his neighbors thought him very foolish, and said to him, "Abram, where are you going?" Abram could only tell them he was following God; and then, when they told him they could not see God, Abram's answer must still have been-" I do not know where I am going, but I am following God;" and we may be quite sure the world did not understand him. If the world understands us, depend upon it, it is because we are so much like it. A reviewer of a periodical writes: " Christians! I do not see any difference in them from the rest of the world. They do just the same things, only, perhaps, they are a little more earnest in them."

Oh! beloved friends, we ought to bring faith into our daily life in all its details, and the world then would not have to say such sad things of us. I ask you, as I ask my own soul, Are you an Abel, bringing an acceptable sacrifice to God? Are you an Enoch, walking with God? Are you a Noah, condemning the world? Are you, like Abram, a testimony for God; or like the Thessalonians who (as he did) " turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven"? (Compare Josh. 24:2-14; 1 Thess. 1:9,10.)

I do not think we at all sufficiently bear in our hearts what it is to be a Christian. We like to know ourselves saved from hell, and to know of blessing in heaven at the last. But what about our heavenly calling? We have one, as much as Abram had, and God will have reality in us. If we say, " our citizenship is in heaven," He will not let us have one down here. He will have us pilgrims and strangers. We like to make our plans, and have everything very comfortable; God turns everything upside down. When we pray, " Conform us to thyself, 0 God," do we mean, " Strip us of everything, 0 God, that hinders this"? He will have us real in what we pray for. Abram went out, not knowing whither he went—he went with God alone. This is what we have to do, and we need simple faith for it.

In verse 9 Abraham's faith shines out very touchingly, and in a way that often rebukes ourselves, for we are very apt to leave our children out of the blessing. Heb. 11 gives us two very good examples of their being brought into the same place as their parents. Noah builds for himself and his house; Abram dwells in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, heirs 'with him; and note, it speaks here, not only of the son, but of the grandson also. What we want is, to take God at His word. Then what should we not have? Blessings, dear friends, for ourselves and others without number.

It was the consciousness of God's presence and leading that enabled Abraham to go out to a land he knew not, and to take all his family with him. Are we more conscious of God's presence than of anything else? Are we more conscious of His being with us than of the ground on which we stand, or of the sun that throws his rays around us? Alas! we know it is often not so; at least, I can speak for myself. Let me ask you: Has there been one hour, half-an-hour-say five minutes-this day that you have been lost to all consciousness but that of the presence of God? Surely, what we all want, more and more, beloved, is to cultivate the sense of God's presence always, and in all things.

We shall find increasingly, as we go through this chapter, how faith takes everything from the hand of God, even the simplest and most natural things. Neither man nor Satan ever originated anything. It is well to bear this in mind in reading verse 10. But you may say, Did God originate such-and-such a thing, that is now so contrary to Him? Yes, He did. The thing becomes bad in its use; it is abused and made contrary to Him by man. Now God was the Originator of cities. It was a 'divine idea that planned cities, and not a human one, and so Abram could look for a city, but it was one " which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." When men began to build a city, they did it, so to speak, in defiance of God. It was against His express command to do the contrary. It was to make themselves a name, and not be scattered over the earth to replenish it, as God had told them they were to. God's time to build a city had not then come, and He confounded their Ianguacre, and they were not able to finish.

God had no city then, so Abram would have none, and he dwelt in tents; he would wait for God's city. It would have been very wrong for Abram to have taken part in the concerns of a city. This I feel to be very practical. Are we willing to be city] ess and citizenshipless; or do we want to have a name down here? The world always records in its chronicles men who have made themselves great in its eyes; but God has a chronicle too, and He records in it all we do, good or bad. He has given us, in the four Gospels, a sample of what His chronicles are composed of. We have there the record of the Lord Jesus, as far as God has been pleased to give it to us for our blessing and present joy. The rest we shall know by-and-by in heaven-nothing has been lost or overlooked; God knows, and has treasured up, all His beloved Son ever did or said; how full is that treasury we may imagine from John 21:25. And God, beloved

friends, keeps, too, a record of all our acts, and words, and thoughts, and according to what is found in His book will be our place of dignity in heaven.

Do not misunderstand me, it is not here a matter of salvation, but of reward. To illustrate what I mean: Mr. Gladstone is not prime minister because he is an Englishman, but because he has earned the place by service. All who are saved will be in heaven, but all will not have the same place there. I believe Abram will have a very distinguished one. The Lord Jesus, of course, will have the highest of all, and that, not only as Son of God, but because He ever took the lowest place here, and served God perfectly. It is not the greatest here that will be highest there; and some that have been poorest here, will be richest there. I do not mean we are, as it were, to buy a place in heaven by our works here, but it is certain " we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body;" and as " one star differeth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." Those who, for Christ's sake, have had least here, will have most there. The Spanish martyr, Matamoros, when cast into prison, and bereft of wife, child, everything, could take it all joyfully, and say, " They cannot take away Christ? I am happier than ever," and his reward will be great.

In verse 11 we have faith as the true spring of domestic life. Sarah is found in God's record, for what we should call the most natural thing, her faith takes only from God, and God lets it be seen that it is from Him, for He waits to act, till all hope from natural power is gone. He had promised them a seed-promised Abram that he should become a great nation-and as yet they had no son. How could it be? Faith takes the answer from God, and, in a sense, Sarah becomes the mother of Christ, for from Isaac springs Judah, and out of Judah arises Christ. And it is beautiful to notice how God, in His record, passes by the many blots and failures we know were to be found with Abram and Sarah; passes by even Sarah's laugh, and records only her faith.

Then (ver. 13) " these all died in faith." Natural death

even was the act of faith. It is not, in the faith, or according to faith, but in faith. Their faith laid hold of things distant and unseen, and in the certainty of possessing these things they died. Their death was not "the debt of nature" paid, but an energy of divine life that acted in death.

It is one thing to see afar off; it is another to be per'suaded about anything; and quite another to embrace it. A kiss speaks of peace, but embracing is much more; it is throwing one's arms round a person, even as the father did to the prodigal. It was Abram's embracing the promises that made him a pilgrim, and it is not till we can truly say, as that beautiful hymn has it, "'Tis the treasure I've found in His love

Which has made me a pilgrim below."

that we can be such. It is not that it is wrong to have a house, and dwell in a city; it may be all right for us in one way, but it is the hold these things have on our hearts that is the trouble. I do not mean we are to be " transcendental," or " unnatural," but are we confessing, in all our ways down here, that we are strangers? Are we declaring plainly that we seek a country? One can tell directly one enters a house, where the heart of the one to whom it belongs is. In fact, it is shown in the dress, in the bonnet or cloak, and in ten thousand little ways. Ofcourse, we must have earthly things, but are our hearts occupied with them? Yet very little things have power to upset us, and draw the soul out of communion with the Lord, for the placing of a spoon on the table, the way chairs are put, ever such little things, have power to make us angry, and speak hastily. When Lot wanted to go the way Abram might have preferred, Abram could give it up. He simply says, " Well! you go one way, and I will go the other, only do not let us have strife." The thing had no lold upon his heart, and he could say, he would rather anything than contention.

We ought to be declaring plainly, in every little detail Hof life, that we seek a country. Dear friends, are we 'doing so? Does the world see a difference in us to themselves in everything? It ought to be so. c.w.

To Me to Live is Christ

Phil. 1:21.

IT is a wonderful thing that we should be let into the thoughts of the apostle he innocently tells us about himself. He was taken up with Christ, and could say, " To me to live is Christ." He thought of nothing but Christ; if it was a question of himself, to him " to die was gain." But he did not think of himself at all; he left everything to the Lord. If we think of ourselves, and take ourselves in hand, we take upon ourselves the responsibility which God keeps Himself if we leave all to Him, The vantage ground of a Christian, is, that he has not to think of himself. The apostle could say, " To me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Some have tried to say that on a death-bed, but they left out the first part altogether he was in a strait, he was sorry he had to stay, though he was willing to stop a little longer, for their sakes; to die was positive gain to him. Nor did he speak of going to a place; it was a Person he was going to. Nor was it a relief, as some say, when the body is racked with pain (even a worldly man can say that); it was no relief to him, but positive gain, to be with that Person, though, even then, not yet in the state of perfection, for that would not be till he had his glorified body.

Which of us could say that? We have not only an example to follow in Christ, but to follow a man with like passions as ourselves. " Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ." W. B.

FAITH, we may say, is synonymous with life; faith is not life, but if you have faith, you have life, and if you have life, you have faith. What characterizes those who are of the world is, that they have no faith. The world is at daggers drawn with God; association with the world is association with the devil, as he is its prince. Real prayer brings a man into direct communication with God. If you really had on the whole armor of God, you would be unassailable, for God is. W. B.

The Books of the Bible: Part 1, Genesis - 2 Kings

THE Bible is the oldest book in existence, and its Greek and Hebrew manuscripts are the most ancient. The earliest portions of the Bible were written fourteen centuries and a half B.C.; thus, several centuries before: the first known of human productions-the Greek poems of Homer and Hesiod-and about a thousand years before Herodotus published his celebrated history. The former, according to some, date from the times of Elijah, and the latter from the days of Malachi. Hence, Moses was the first of all inspired or uninspired writers. The Pentateuch was extant in the days of the godly king, Josiah, about eight hundred years after it was penned by the hand of Moses. (2 Chron. 34)

It is very probable that the original inspired documents of the early books of scripture perished in the destruction of the temple, in the year 588 B.C., and a month after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans_ (2 Kings 25) This we gather from the fact that the temple was the sacred depository of the holy writings. It is also very likely that the writings of the prophets were destroyed during the reign of the Syrian monarch, Antiochus Epiphanes, a man of infamous memory amongst ancient and modern Jews. If so, it would be about two hundred and fifty years after the canon of the Old Testament was completed, and thus about a hundred years after the translation of the whole into Greek, termed the Septuagint, was begun, if not finished.

The New Testament was completed a few years before the death of the apostle John. The three oldest New Testament manuscripts are respectively deposited in St. Petersburg, Rome, and London. Two are believed to date from the fourth century, the third from the fifth century. It is supposed that the original document of the New Testament perished during the reign of Diocletian. The external form in which the Bible as a whole, and its separate books, have come down to us, is deeply interesting, but the faith of the Christian is founded on what God has written. The scriptures are inspired, and from that fact flows their authority over the soul.

The Bible contains a greater variety and rangeof subjects than will be found in any human production whatever. Take a few chapters in the book of Genesis as illustrative of our statement.

Chapter 1 is the basis of geology and kindred sciences. Chapter 2 reveals the source of all our moral relationships. Chapter 3 details the entrance of sin into the world, and unfolds its governmental effects. Chapter 4 shows the earliest attempt to make a comfortable world apart from God, the earliest attempt to approach Him on the ground of works, as also the divinely-revealed ground on which a sinner can meet God in grace and righteousness. Chapter 5 is the basis of all true systems of chronology-the first date recorded in scripture is found here. Chapter 6 gives the moral characteristics of the times preceding the /universal deluge. Chapter 7 shows the baptism unto death and judgment of the old wor] d-the traditions concerning which are universal; here only have we the true account. Chapter 8 reveals the new (present) world, as founded on sacrifice, and on the ground of which the seasons are to continue, and harvests promised by the diligent use of agricultural means. Chapter 9 reveals the institution of civil government, God's covenant of goodness with creation, and the respective sources of the various branches of the human family. Chapter 10 unfolds the origin of every nation on the earth, tracing all up to the sons of Noah; thus this highly important chapter is not only the basis of all history-universal, general, or particular-but is the only and authoritative source on which the science of ethnology is founded. Chapter 11 morally accounts for the distribution of the one family of mankind into distinct nationalities, and now speaking more than two thousand six hundred known languages and dialects. Chapter 12 begins the biographical section of the Bible.

What, however, lends such a wonderful charm and interest to the Bible, is its one object, which is to glorify CHRIST. Beloved readers, take care of mere occupation with the letter of scripture. Never allow the question of who wrote the various sacred books to set aside the more vital one of what is written. God in His word speaks to your soul. May we hear and read in growing simplicity and deepening faith.

We will, in as brief terms as possible, indicate, what appear to us to be the general character and leading divisions of the books of the Bible.

GENESIS is the " seed-plot" of the Bible, as it contains in germ every subject developed in the succeeding books of scripture. Chapters 1.-8. 19-history of the old world, a period of sixteen hundred and fifty-six years; chapters 8: 20-11—governmental dealings with the world at large; chapters 12.-l.—God's ways with His people in grace, discipline, government, and glory.

EXODUS unfolds, in numerous types, the great truth of redemption, and of the consequent relationships of the redeemed to God. Chapters 1-18-grace taking up the people in misery, and setting them down (in type) in millennial glory; chapters 11-10-1-Israel in relationship with Jehovah, on the ground of law, then of grace, and the revelation of heavenly truths, in the construction of the tabernacle and institution of priesthood.

LEVITTCUS has the tabernacle as its center; and sacrifice, priesthood, and holiness as its characteristic truths. Chapters 1-15.-Christ's work, priesthood, and man's necessity as a sinner in nature and practice; chapters 16.-27.-the holiness becoming God's house and people, and all on the basis of redemption. (Chapter 16)

NUMBERS exhibits the service, trials, and testings of the people in the wilderness; it chews the constant and unwearied care of God over the journeying host, as also over each member of the pilgrim band. Chapters1-10. 10 -Jehovah numbering, guarding, and gathering the people around Himself before they journey; chapters 10. 11- 36-the people journey, under the care and guidance of Jehovah.

DEUTERONOMY insists upon obedience to the commandments of the Lord, as the practical ground of blessing, and also morally reviews the wilderness. Chapters 1. -16. 17 detail the religious life of the nation when in Canaan; chapters 16. 18-34.-the civil life of the people when in the promised land.

JOSHUA records the wars of Canaan, figuring the spiritual conflicts of the church with wicked spirits in heavenly places. (Eph. 6) Chapters1.-5.—Jordan crossed, and 'preparation for the wars of Jehovah; chapters 6.-12.-victories and defeats; chapters 13.- 22.-Canaan portioned out amongst the tribes; chapters 23.,24.-Joshua's dying charge.

JUDGES unfolds the utter failure and corruption of all classes of the nation. Chapters 1.—3. 8-Jehovah forsaken for idols, the failure of the people in being God's instrument of judgment upon the Canaanites • chapters

9-16.-Israel under the government of the thirteen Judges, or saviors of the people, from Othniel to Samson; chapters 17.-21.-Israel's moral condition.

Ruth-Israel's past, present, and future history typically presented; the origin of David's family, and of Christ, according to the flesh will be found here.

FIRST SAMUEL contains the main subjects: the complete break-down of the priesthood as the national and normal means of maintaining the people in their varied relationships to Jehovah, the institution of the prophetic order in Samuel (Acts 3:24), by which God could address a failed people, and direct the gaze of the faithful on to the coming glory; then the establishment of monarchy-God's last resource in blessing for Israel and the earth. Chapters 1.-8.-failure of the priesthood, and rejection by Israel of the theocracy; chapters 9.-15.- the kingdom in responsibility, and its utter collapse; chapters 16 -31.—David, the chosen of Jehovah, his life and sorrows as Israel's rejected king.

SECOND SAMUEL chews the kingdom established in the house of David, according to the sovereign choice of Jehovah, as also the sovereign choice of Zion as the seat

of royalty and grace Chapters 1.-4.-David's reign at Hebron over part of the nation; chapters 5.-12.-David king over all Israel-Jerusalem and the ark, or royalgovernment and priestly grace; chapters13.-24. Absalom, the usurper, and David, the true king.

FIRST KINGS traces the public history of the kingdom from the death of David till the death of Jehoshaphat, embracing also the ministry of Elijah. Chapters 1-10 the throne and temple in connection with the reign of Solomon; chapters 11-16-the united kingdom divided, and its history, from Rehoboam till Ahab; chapters 17-22—the prophetic ministry of Elijah and Elisha amongst the apostate ten tribes of Israel. SECOND KINGS continues the public history of the kingdom till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, noting especially the ministry of Elisha. Chapters 1.-8. 15-the prophetic service of Elisha; chapters 8. 16-18.—history till the Assyrian captivity; chapters18.-25.-history till the Chaldean captivity.

w. s.

( To be continued, the Lord willing.)

The Sacrifices of God Are a Broken Spirit

I FIND Lev. 26:40-45 most blessed in this day. Mark well the 41st verse-if they be " humbled" and accept it." Note, too, Deut. 30:1-20; and again 1 Sam. 12, especially verses 19-25.

I desire unfeignedly to accept at the Lord's hand my ecclesiastical circumstances, ruined and broken all around as they are, and to go on with Him; accepting things as they are; recognizing all as broken, oneself ruined, but God personally present and caring, as He most surely does, for the honor of His Son, the Lord Jesus, and that His saints should purify themselves from evil-" Cease to do evil, learn to do well "-God everything and man nothing. That was the root of the blessing at -. I thank God you felt God was there.

I have long passed through in soul the burden you refer to; felt it upon me; and yet I have confidence in God about it, if we will leave Him to work; and I remark that " bitter herbs " and " leaven " were at the Paschal. Supper. God can stem any torrent. A Jonathan walking alone (but that was a sore task) proved it. Be alone with God as he was, and He will guide each step, and the road He, also, will mark for you.

As to confession, I can only say for myself that, first, the want of individual spirituality (in its divine and heavenly character), of singleness of eye, and of full purpose of heart, and, secondly, the presence of unjudged flesh and worldliness (shown in mixed motives and intentions, in planning’s, and oft in an energy not of God, as well as in ways and doings), press on my own heart as being among existing obstacles to the Father's working fully and freely for the honor of the Lord Jesus in the present day in England. I take my full share in the blame and shame. But if conscious that the glory of God and the honor of Christ alone must be sought by one who is to be honored of God, may one not seek by humbling oneself " under the mighty hand of God," that He may, by His own Spirit's working, set more honor down here on earth upon the blessed name of the Lord Jesus.

May He work, and so that we may know more practically what is the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, and that God's testimony in the last of these days, committed to our hands, may be made good by Him, in and through us.

1854. G. V. W.

IT is surely a wonderfully blessed thing to be like the Lord; but I think latterly I have felt the blessing of it to be more in the full capacity to dwell in Himself unhindered, which it will give those, in the fact of being like Himself. J. N. D.

Notes of a Reading on Worship

SOME desire to have a definite thought as to what worship really is. First let me say that preaching the gospel and hearing a lecture are quite distinct from worship, but one thing I would remark in passing, salvation is first needed for it.

In this chapter the Lord says, " Salvation is of the Jews "-amongst them the true God was known; there was no true knowledge of God save among the Jews. Wherever God put His name, there was the place of worship. Now Christ declares, " Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." It can only be in His name. Paul says to the Athenians, " Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." Only those who know God can worship. This chapter takes the place of worship away from amongst the Jews, and it supposes accomplished redemption. I get into the place of perfect acceptance through the work of Jesus Christ, and there I can worship; none can worship unless in this place of divine favor; if I can sing in the sense of the acceptance of Christ, I cannot be out of tune.

The essence of worship is that the Holy Ghost can take up our praises and prayers to God in perfect association with Christ. In the wave offering in Deut. 26, we find a beautiful picture of holy worship offered by the individual, but worship in the assembly supposes the Holy Ghost uniting all together in joy and praise" they lifted up their voice to God with one accord."

In Deut. 16 we get three feasts: the Passover; Pentecost; and the feast of Tabernacles, which is not yet accomplished. The passover is the sacrifice of Christ for us, and Pentecost is the Holy Ghost already given us, but the feast of tabernacles is still future. There is very little joy in the Passover; as soon as it was done they returned to their tents. At Pentecost I find, " Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord and remember," &c.; but in the feast of tabernacles there is something more, they here have got into the fullest blessing, and worship flows because of being in that fullness of blessing.

In worship you will find often exclusively the notion in hymns of our having escaped judgment through the blood, but what is so beautiful, is the thought that, "praise waiteth for thee, 0 God"-their voices all ready, and their hearts all tuned to praise. Certainly I must get my conscience cleansed first, but Christ wants children to be with the Father. Is all I know of God this, that He is satisfied about my sins-satisfied with the blood? No, He wants to get my soul into the sense of relationship with Himself when I worship, and this, too, as the Father. In Luke 15 I get God's own joy, " Let us eat, and be merry," &c. When I come up to the cross I do so only about my sins, but when I have passed through the rent veil I have got to God's side of the cross, that is, God is Himself known as well as the blessed truth that " the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ."

My place of worship is the holiest, where all the value of Christ is put upon me. In Ex. 12 they feed upon the sacrifice-redemption accomplished. Worship is the return of the heart to God for all His blessings in Christ. The Holy Ghost gives me God's feelings about the sacrifice of His Son, and worship goes up to the Father. All our joy and peace flows up to God in praise.

Worship is the best part. When we get to heaven we shall not want gifts. I do not like lectures at worship meetings; such meetings suppose the Holy Ghost there to lead our praises and prayers. If my state of heart is not up to praise it will not do at the Lord's table; it is not in a right state. All who praise ought to walk so that praise should readily burst out-God must have worship in truth; and there must be unity-all one loaf.

We cannot worship without prayer, because desire goes ever beyond our present ability to worship; restricting it to mere praise is impossible, it is never unmixed with prayer; it is not the place properly for prayer, but you cannot separate it, it would not be genuine, and that is the thing God wants.

You never get the Father in the Psalms or in Revelation. Our place is that of children with the Father, and our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Praise belongs to both. If all do not come into the unity of the body praise is imperfect. Christ's heart ought to move mine, and He never leaves out any. It is the first circle, and love must flow to all the saints in it. Some may be going wrong, but I am to love them still.

What I get by the Holy Ghost, is a child worshipping the Father. I am standing with the Holy Ghost dwelling in me, between the first and second coming of Christ-a worshipper waiting for His coming. The table is the center of all worship. The force of that word in 1 Cor. 10:22, " provoking the Lord to jealousy," is, that if one went with heretics it would provoke Him, or if one were to admit evil persons to the table it would do this. J. N. D.

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My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

WE never find such a thought in scripture as the Father's wrath being on the Son of His love. The great force to me of Psa. 22 is this: that the Son of man did not forsake, or forget to vindicate God's [Elohim's] glory, just when God, on account of His taking upon Him our judgment-made sin for us forsook Him. The scene was in no sense one of enjoying anything, as far as the Lord Jesus was concerned, but not to forsake God, when God for our sin's sake had to forsake Him, proved that He was God and that the everlasting springs were in Himself. He knew who He was, and knew that none but Himself, as Man, could go through what He had undertaken to pass through. He was still " the only-begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father." Therefore it could not be said that " the face of the Father, as the Father, was hidden from His own Son." G. V. W.

Walk Worthy: Part 2

IN the second case in which the believer is exhorted to " walk worthy," it is the Lord Himself that is brought exclusively before the mind. In walking worthy of our vocation in Ephesians it is, as we have seen, the position in which we are set before God in a corporate relation with others that is in question. Lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearing in love, have others in view, as those with whom we have to walk in a way becoming the relations in which we stand to God as His house. Here, in Colossians, others have no place, it is our individual walk with the Lord, in a world that is opposed to Him, that alone engages the attention; we are to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." It is the path that Enoch trod, who, before he was translated, had this testimony " that he pleased God;" and above all it is

the path of Him, who, in His own personal perfectness could say, as to His Father, " I do always those things that please him."

If there be not another Christian in the world, I am to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." This is very precious, and throws out into relief, what it is of all-importance ever to bear in mind, that whatever the corporate relations of saints, their first and commanding obligation is to walk individually with the Lord in all that is pleasing to Him. The depth and gravity of this " walk worthy," as compared with the one we have already considered, is, we think, strikingly apparent in the way it occupied the apostle's mind.

In connection with the former he expresses the earnestness of his own feelings in the form of an exhortation to saints, but here his heart refers itself to God for them, and this he tells out in language of great force and beauty. " We do not cease," says he, " to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." And not only have we prayer instead of exhortation, but the requisites for the walk here are very different from those for the other.

The gracious dispositions of the soul-lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another in love-that are essential for our worthy walk with other saints are not directly in question here. To walk worthy, or becomingly, of the Lord unto all pleasing, requires that we should first be filled with the knowledge of His will, and that not as a law outside of us that we strive after, but as that which intelligently fills us inwardly, so that every thought and feeling is prompted by His will made known to us by His Spirit that dwells in us. The wisdom and understanding of the believer are formed by the will of God, known and delighted in by the affections, so that it is the only spring of thought and action.

This was perfect in Jesus-" I delight to do thy will, 0 my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Out of this flowed the practical expression of the divine and heavenly life He lived as a man on earth in which all was pleasing to God. He walked here in entire dependence on God or in perfect obedience to His will.

It is into this practical path, in which the character of God is expressed in all the Christian does and says -where all is suited to, or " worthy " of Him, that the apostle prays that saints may enter. That they might so walk, they must know what is suited to the Lord-be filled with the knowledge of His will: and walking in accordance with it, all they did would be well pleasing to Him.

Such is the high and holy walk that alone becomes the believer in Christ. It was the path in which the apostle himself walked, and which he expresses as to himself in these words, " therefore we labor, that whether present or absent we may be well pleasing to him." Oh, that our unceasing prayer, for ourselves as well as for all saints, be that we may all " walk worthy of the Lord."—c. w.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

As Many as I Love I Rebuke and Chasten

IT is still true, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." You may be quite sure you needed all you have passed through, for He loved you too well to let you suffer more than needful, or less than was for your good. When we reach home we shall look back and see how perfectly wisdom and love worked together in allowing all that happened to us on the way. But it is well for us not to leave the unraveling of the " why " and " wherefore " till " that day," for it is meant for our present profit; and I believe we may save ourselves from many a sore trial by more readiness to learn the lesson and yield to the discipline.

There are two things that help us to discern what our Father is doing: One thing is the knowledge of ourselves; for instance, if I am of a grasping, covetous disposition, I may for a long time be deceiving myself by thinking it is prudence and thrift, Sic., and so never dis cover that He who loves me and knows me so well is. seeking to bring me to judge this covetous disposition. But as soon as I have my eyes open to the truth about myself, I see what my Father is about with me. The other thing is a knowledge of Christ, and that all God's ways with us are forwarding the one end, to conform us to Christ, and we may be sure that all in us contrary to Christ or unlike Him will not be allowed to pass; there-will be patience and long-suffering, but no indifference on these points. So the more we learn of Christ, the wiser we shall be as to God's dealings with us.

Then there is another thing we might mention. The thorough surrender of our wills; we are more slow to do, this than we think we are. We are given to all kinds of shifts and schemes to have our own way without seeming to go against God's will. We deceive ourselves in this, but we cannot deceive Him. So He is ever teaching us. that His will alone is the " good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." G. G.

The Pilgrim's Rest

OH the rest that awaits the loved ones below,

From care and from sorrow, from toil and from woe;

To bask in the sunshine of the glory above,

Where Christ is the center and sum of all love.

The thought of such love is the pilgrim's delight,

With the armor of God he fights the good fight,

And presses with zeal and full purpose of heart

, From the start to the goal, with Christ to have part.

From this scene of rejection, the one which He trod,

To the realms of bliss in the presence of God;

With Christ, and he like Him, His glory to share,

0 God of all comfort, what with this can compare?

To think of such rest is the spirit's delight;

Afresh, love is kindled the heart to incite

To glorify Him whom we're waiting to see,

And look for His promise, " I'll come unto thee."

All scorn and reproach, how they vanish away

At the hope of His coming, the heart's only stay,

As our souls mount on wings, to His glory above,

As we dwell in the rest we find in His love.

C. A. C.

I FOLLOW with sympathy, with an associated heart, all the path of Jesus by the Holy Ghost, in meek, lowly, devotedness to God. I ought to follow actually, even to Laying down my life for the brethren. Having Him as my life, I can feel with Him, however infinitely more perfect He may be. I may present my body a living-sacrifice: my heart goes with Him, however poorly I follow; even in Gethsemane I ought to watch with Him. But when dealt with by God, and I speak only of the burnt-offering, where the fire of the altar tested all fully (which is not merely offering Himself, but what met Him to test the perfectness of the offering), then I only look on and adore. I bow my head and adore. J. N. D

(Continued from page 51.)

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Unity of the Body and Separation from Evil

has never got out of his head local constituted order; and the unity of the body I doubt he ever really got into it. The Lord will, I trust, direct the brethren, and still more, the matter itself in L.... It may be that common action, there may not be spirituality enough for.—acts on his own views sometimes when I should not; that is, presses them, as in his mind, without sufficiently weighing the state of places he does not know, or the feelings of those who are locally at work. It is the effect of strong personal views. Independent churches would drive many out of communion who are yet uneasy at L... B.... I am not prepared to say it would not exclude me entirely. At any rate, the whole question is one of great import, and any rash action in it, or pressure of principles, unadvised. But I only take action in it as an element in God's ways.

The communication of lists would be an outrage on common sense if the gatherings are independent; the non-communication a door to the relaxing of all discipline. The case at present is a practical difficulty; a rash solution of it might break up the brethren (if God. allowed it) everywhere. For myself I await the result, quietly trusting God, and, as far as I may be given to do it, laboring for real unity. There is a tendency from circumstances to independent action. If independent churches were formed, of course I should not belong to them, or I should never have met at all as I have. Some have driven at this, but it was from the enemy. But serious brethren should weigh the consequences of a given course. Suppose independent churches were formed in L..., and a considerable body of serious brethren declined_ forming part of them, as a long settled conviction, the question would arise before all the gatherings in England, Could they be received, or could. those churches be owned by them?... Affectionately yours,

Lausanne, 1860. J. N. D.

DEAREST —-, The L... B... meeting has been for some time on my mind, and I judge that something must be done. Several causes contribute to its want of influence, and even jealousy as to it, which exists in certain gatherings. Formerly there were many brethren, as -, -, and others who exercised a pastoral care which had a great in- fluence on individual blessing and calmness. Souls were thought of more, decisions of assemblies less, though arrived at when needed.

The number of brethren and meetings was less, and the great body of brethren more in one meeting-in R... Street, the rest being succursal, so to speak. Now, there are many almost equally important meetings. Hence the difficulty of maintaining the common action is a real one. But if there is a hearty loving desire to do it, it can be effected, surely, with God's gracious help.

These affairs of Mr.—have increased the prejudice against L... B.... I regret altogether still the course of—and your own. The more I reflect, the more I feel that it did not rise above the circumstances to act with God in them, but was under their influence. The last act of—finished the matter, and though the brethren at L... B... did not go with you two, the public effect was the same.

seeing this, did his best to destroy its influence and awaken jealousy. But I am satisfied that in those most uneasy as to the action of L... B... there is no desire for independent churches, but quite the contrary, nor do I see any great difficulty save in the case of discipline. I should take the ground, not of contesting the duty of the local gathering to investigate and form its judgment-it must be-practically so done, and you do so I am persuaded at K...,-but that if they hold there is one body in L..., they ought not to impose their judgment without giving an opportunity to others to know what decision they had come to, and make their representations if they bad any to make, which might often arise.

What seems to me ought to be done, would be to invite the chief men among the brethren from every gathering, writing to one only, to propose their coming together to confer upon the case; not forming a decision to be announced, but what could be proposed to all the gatherings when it had been laid before the assembled brothers. Thus, suppose I wrote to—or—at D..., to propose that the brethren there, who were interested in the general course of the gathering, should come, so to say, to -, at the P..., and the same to the rest, and then they consulted and arranged that the brethren really interested in the gatherings, should meet in any given place on Saturday evenings, the place being agreed on by all, and that the. responsibility of these brethren should be felt, it would then have to be considered, how in cases of discipline (in receptions it would go. on, I suppose, as usual) matters should be arranged.

My impression is that the local gatherings must come to a decision; nothing would hinder consultation on Saturday evening, but they owe it to the others to certify it before it is finally executed. They can come to the decision and then communicate it through the Saturday meeting to all the others, and like a person proposed, it would be final if nothing were said. If any who heard it had any difficulty, they would communicate with the brethren of the gathering who had come to the decision. But this would be considered when together. You must remember there is not a body formed and grown up in one gathering, nor any practical body of elders acting together among the saints as a whole. One must look therefore to

God, to draw out of what materials exist-what He can form to help the saints. And if they help one another, all will be well.

The brethren, on consultation, will see what is to be done in ordinary cases of discipline, but they should remember that in sending the names of others as put out, they impose on other brethren the task of registering their act without any power even of objecting, if there be no intercommunication, and then we have independent churches, or at least are on the way to them. You may regret the young men, but you must look at the main point, the union of brethren who care for the saints in common care. In our former Friday morning meetings they were not there, and if one may regret their absence, the union of service in the gatherings is first to be considered.

Do not feel uneasy at young brethren growing up into service. We were all young once. I am delighted when I see them getting into serious service, but I do look for pastoral care. The regular work of evangelization is more to me than excited meetings, but if the Lord converts He converts, and we must rejoice. The excitement of the moment will pass away; what is solid will remain. One has to go through it, like all else, with God. The power of God is shown in all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness...,

Affectionately yours, beloved brother,

St. Agrive, 1860. J. N. D.

[These two letters are now printed for the first time. The practical principle they contain, regarding the constitution of " an assembly in a city," are of suggestive value for to-day, though the local circumstances which called them forth are not now what they were at the time when these letters were written.]

1884.

DEAREST BROTHER,I should have been very glad indeed to have been with the saints around you in July. My spirit looks to some human rest in Europe a little, though I trust to serve on to the end; but it will be hardly possible for me to be there at that epoch. We have our meeting at Guelph Jnne 27th, which will itself run on into July, and then I have some unfinished work at present and the voyage to boot. May the gracious Lord be with you.

I am glad you have found edification in studying the sufferings of the blessed Lord. I have found the very greatest. And for me it is wholly a matter of edification. I am not aware of any particular doctrine at all in what I have said, nor have I any intention of making it a matter of controversy, but feed on the truth as I hope brethren may-not contending about words to no profit. Give my kindest love to the brethren. I shall be glad to see them when the Lord brings me to Europe again.

It is a great thing to have thorough separation of walk in the Marrow path, and a large heart for Christ's saints and poor sinners too. I do look for devotedness and seeking the souls of the poor. The poor have the Gospel preached unto them, they should be sought out and cared for too. There is largeness, not of heart but of way, which is disliking the narrow way for one's conscience-for one's feet. Christ does not suffice us, and we want something to fill up a void. I admit the danger in defending one's walking in. the narrow way, to be occupied with the evil we cannot walk in, and so judge, and get shut up. But a deep sense of the evil is very important, but then that is always felt with Christ, which makes the heart tender and large for those dear to Him, even if going wrong. The eager condemnation of others in what is wrong may be connected with -vexation at their not going with us. So perhaps they ought-surely if they have light; but the heart will grieve over the persons as dear to Christ if walking with Him, and not merely judge the path as unfaithfulness, or their unfaithfulness in walking in it.

Peace be with you, dear brother. At T... they seem diligent in service and helped.

Affectionately yours in the Lord,

Boston, 1867. J. N. D.

MY DEAR BROTHER, As regards truth of position I have never hesitated a moment. I or others may have been unwise or misled in particular acts. Had I thought of people alleging it to be a kind of threat, I might never have put in, in my original letter of warnine. (long since withdrawn -the only thing I ever wrote on B...) the declaration that I could not go where they were knowingly received. I might have acted on it and not said so. But the foundation and principle of action, I have never doubted in it. I had expressed my conviction years before in the case of N-. America has largely confirmed me in the principle. Here the N-s, and those connected with B..., prop up and are in connection with the worst form of heretical infidelity-the denial of the immortality of the soul; some, with an open denial that truth can be known so as to be acted. on as such, and it withers everywhere uprightness and Christian integrity. We have had to fight the battle of it at N... B..., N..., and the Lord has blessed and sustained us and wrought clear blessing by it. In B..., and N... Y..., it was directly connected with what are called N-s. In M... simply the evil in itself. Here we have it merely casually through emigrants, which occasionally brings it up as to individuals. Even so they have never heartily broken with the world.

But in these days the unity of the body and separation from evil.are vital points of testimony for Christians. One is the original and. abiding principle of the church's existence; the other, faithfulness to its nature, and characterizing that faithfulness in a special manner in the last days. To me it is that-both or nothing. One is the special purpose of God as to us connected with Christ, the other His nature. The notion that one can be wittingly associated with evil, and be undefiled, is an unholy notion-a denial of the nature of holiness. And in the world the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.

The character of Christ with Philadelphia is -" He that is holy, he that is true;'' the keeping His word and the word of His patience, what is commended in the saints; an open door and only a little strength, but special association with Christ-the Holy One and the True, in the midst of a degenerate people. And things are going on so rapidly in these last days that Christians will be east on their own ground, and we shall need the word to be our authority, and it is a divine one.

I have been struck in the Acts lately with the evidence of antagonistic powers. We know it, but it came out distinctly. Apostolic power of the Spirit might overcome and be greater than what was in the world-so it was, and it delivered; but the power was there, and even when seemingly masses seemed anxious for the word of grace, rose up and drove the truth away, and remained in possession of the world-of all that did not overcome by personal faith. When this ceased to be the case, the church itself became corrupt. Satan would cast some into prison; Antipas, a faithful witness, be slain where Satan dwelt, and there the witness was. Soon it became Thyatira, and Jezebel the mother of children, and then had to abide the Lord's coming and being replaced. by the kingdom, and the Morning Star ours.

Here we have blessing, gathering in souls, getting peace, and the truth spreading, so that I have stayed longer than I thought. Nothing externally striking, but still, weekly, souls brought on in different states. But it is always exercise and conflict, a service where the flesh, Satan, and the world are ready to mar, if we are not vigilant. Still we have to thank God at present here. Our Guelph meeting was more than usually blessed, and has borne its fruits.

I have been let into increased apprehension of the perfectness of Christ and His true humanity, by seeing in Luke more distress in Gethsemane, and in the same Gospel no suffering on the cross. It is precious to have Him daily more unfolded before our eyes.

Give my affectionate love to all the brethren; the older ones in L... I have seen, but they are all His. Peace, grace be with you, dear brother.

Very affectionately sours in the Lord, Toronto, 1867, s. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: House of God and Church Identical?; Matt. 9:13 and 12:7; Luke 15:23; JOhn 20:23

Q.-Do we gather from 1 Tim. 3:15, that the house of God, and the church are, or ever were, identical

A. J. M.

A.-In scripture " the church" is presented to us under two aspects:-In Eph. 1:22,23, we have " The church which is his body;" and in 1 Tim. 3:15, we have " The house of God which is the church of the living God." Both " the body" and " the house," it will be noted, are called " the church." Originally " the house" and " the body" were identical, but now " the house," which includes all professing Christians, is much wider than "the body," which includes only true believers united to the Head in heaven by the Holy Ghost.

Q. Will you kindly explain Matt. 9:13, and Matt. 12:7 " I will have mercy and not sacrifice"?-R. D.

A.-This expression, twice used by the Lord as a rejoinder to the Pharisees, is a quotation from the book of Hos. 6:6, where Israel having turned from God, and in every way outraged His goodness, the prophet touchingly pleads with them to return to the Lord, upon the ground of His mercy. " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," is Jehovah's own statement of how He could receive any that returned to Him. This would be His answer to the moral state of the heart that turned to Him in repentance. The outward forms and sacrifices of their religion were nothing to Him. The moral state that owned sin, and sought refuge in His mercy, was what He was looking for. Had the Pharisees understood God's ways in mercy towards His failing people, they would not have misjudged the Lord, or " condemned the guiltless." God's mercy is always the resource of faith when under chastisement. The Lord Jesus was acting in mercy towards a people who had failed, and thus brought themselves under God's judgment. The proud self-righteous Pharisees failed to see this, and rejected Him in consequence. Poor sinners, moved by divine grace, gladly drank at mercy's spring. It was the true " knowledge of God." The knowledge of God, according to this blessed attribute of mercy, is touchingly expressed by the prophet Micah " Who is a God like unto thee,

that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage; he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy." (Chapter 7:18.)

Q.-Will you please give an exposition of Luke 15:23?

A. O.

A.-We think that, in addition to the general idea of feasting and communion in joy, the expression of the father's delight in. the recovery of his son, the fatted calf points to Christ as the true sacrifice of peace-offering. In this light it would be God's delight in the sacrifice of Christ shared with His people. Not as the sin-offering, but as a sweet savor offering. The true ground of peace and communion between God and the saved sinner. Eating the fatted calf is thus emblematical of free and happy worship before the Father; where Christ, in the perfectness of his love, as having offered Himself to God for us as " a sacrifice of a sweet savor," is the enjoyed ground of communion with God.

Q.-What is the meaning of John 20:23? Were others gathered with the apostles on that occasion, and if so were these words addressed exclusively to the apostles? F. B. K.

A.-We have no doubt ourselves that this is the general commission of the disciples to bear the testimony of remission of sins to the world. Jesus, rejected as the Messiah, had made peace by the blood of the cross for all who would take that ground before God. He appears in the midst of His disciples and having first set their own souls in the enjoyment of this peace, He sends them forth to proclaim it to others-to " whosoever" would accept it. We do not think it has anything to do with the discipline of the assembly or forgiveness of sins under the government of God in this way. It is pretty plain, from John 20, that others besides the apostles-the disciples generally-were present. But Luke 24:33 puts this beyond doubt, where we read of " the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them." There is nothing in the text to confine the words used " exclusively to the

it appears to have been a general commission to all present; and this is more apparent if the account in Luke be taken in connection with it, as it is clearly to all there the Lord says, " That repentance and remission of sins should be Preached in his name among all nations," adding, " and ye are witnesses of these things." c. w.

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 3

BEFORE passing on let us look again at verse 13, because it has often struck me what a different thing death is to believers now to what it was to the Old Testament saints. " These all died in faith, not having received the promises." A blessed thing surely, but we have what is far better than promises and better than dying in the faith of those promises, blessed as that was; we have Christ Himself, and " all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen." (1 Cor. 1:20) Then, too, how differently death came to one of them to what it comes to one of us! It was the thing of all others they could but dread and avoid, if possible. And why? Because sin had not then been put away, and there was therefore a sting in death-" The sting of death is sin."

Now, how different! Death to a believer, if he be truly living by faith, is the blessedest thing that can possibly happen to him, save of course the coming of the Lord to make good all His word. Yet one often finds believers terribly upset at the thought of death. It is very sad that those who have, not only promises, but God's beloved Son, that they should be so upset and terrified at death. It proves two things: 1st, that the effects of redemption are not fully known; and 2nd, how little is known of Christ Himself and how little He only is loved. If I love my Savior much, I shall not care by what means I get to Him; and if I know fully what redemption is, and has done for me, I shall not fear death; for how can I? Sin is put away-the cross has put away, not only my sins, but sin.. There is then now no sting; and more, death is ours! (1 Cor. 3:22.) We once belonged to death, now death belongs to us; it is part of our possessions—a gift to us as much as eternal life.

Beloved friends, suppose God gave us power to use this possession of ours, and He does so far as our hearts are concerned, how would we use it? I believe most of us, if we were honest, would say, " I would not use it at all;" but this is very sad, for it shows how little Christ is the object of the heart, If I want very much to be with Him, I shall not care how I get to Him. Some say, " Oh, I would like to be with Jesus, but I should not like to die to get to Him." They do not like the way. God has given us death-it is ours as part of what belongs to us in Christ, not that we may use it as we will, but by it test our hearts, I believe, how far they are right as to Christ.

Suppose I had put a hundred pounds in the bank for my child, it would belong to her, but she might not have the power to use it as she liked, as she might do something foolish with it, and hurt or injure herself; but, as I want to know what she would do if she could use it, I say to her, " My child, that money is yours, what will you like to do with it?" I get a secret at once out of my child's heart. If she is occupied with herself, she will say, " I should like so-and-so "-something that will gratify herself; but if she is occupied with me, she will say, " I should like to get so-and-so, for you "-selecting according to her intelligence, that which would best please me. That is the child that satisfies a father's heart.

Well, if you had your choice to live, or die, which would it be? Paul could say, " Willing rather to be absent from the body;" but while longing to go, he says also, " To me to live is Christ "-in the kingdom by serving longer here, he would have a greater reward, and so to live was gain to him, still he adds, " to die is gain." If we are longing to be with Christ, we shall not think so much of what we shall get there. I know there will be a kingdom, and all sorts of blessed things, but it is Himself I long to be with. Do I want to rejoice the heart of God?-precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints-then I shall want to die; though, of course, DEATH is not what I look for-I look for the Lord Jesus!

Beloved, how has it been with us to-day? Have we

been looking out eagerly, watching earnestly for Him all day, so that we can, as it were, say, We wonder He has not come; we have been so looking for and expecting Him, that we are astonished He has not yet come? Have we been declaring plainly that we expect the Lord Jesus? Ah, you say, it makes one so unsettled to be always expecting. Not so. I believe no one will be so thorough in doing things in all the relationships of daily life as the one who looks out really for the Lord. If I believe He is coming, I shall want every single thing I do to meet His approbation. I shall want to have everything in order, and be then just waiting.

Verse 15 of our chapter brings before us the solemn thought that there is such a thing as " going back;" and I believe that for each fresh measure of light and blessing God gives, He gives also the opportunity to go back if we will. Do not misunderstand me, I do not mean He ever gives a believer the opportunity to be lost, but that, as He leads on the believer, He gives the opportunity for the heart to chew itself as to the world, that He has in grace brought us out of. He saves once, and forever, but then, as it were, He leaves us free to follow our inclinations. He does not bind us to follow Him. We can do so or not. It was so with blind Bartimeus; the Lord Jesus opens his eyes, and then says, " Go thy way;" but what do we find? " He followed Jesus in the way." He might have gone on with the multitude, but no! Jesus had given him his sight, and he would follow Him. So with the Old Testament saints, they did not go back, but went on seeking a country. And yet, as to heart and ways, Christians now, who have got Christ, often go back; actually back into the world, as belonging to it, they never can, any more than the Israelites could to Egypt, for the same thing which delivers from hell delivers also from the world-the cross, I mean. What is it that is directly behind me? The cross of Christ. Then I must, so to speak, tread over the cross to go back. It is a very solemn thought.

If the Old Testament saints held on so truly to the promises, how much more should we, who have a living Lord, who ever intercedes for us! They desired a better country, wherefore God was " not ashamed to be called their God." How blessed! Abram trusted God for 2, city, and God was not ashamed to be called his God, for He had prepared for him a city.

Were it not for His sovereign grace, I think God might very often be ashamed of His people now, ashamed to be called on by them, not but that He owns them as His children, He must do that for His Son's sake, but may He not often be much ashamed of our ways? You know what it is to be ashamed of some brother, or sister, who has behaved very badly, and how, if you are with one, for whose good opinion you care much, and meet that brother, or sister, you will pass them as though you had no connection with them, and if asked who it is, you will let out as little as possible what you know about them.

Was not God so ashamed of Lot, as not to go to him Himself? He sent His angels, and even they were ashamed, and would not go in at first, and when they did, it was only to get Lot out as fast as they could. " Come out, come out," they said, and then they left him as soon as possible. They were ashamed of him. How different the case of Abram! " Abram is my friend," said God, " and shall I hide from him the thing which I do?" How few of us there are whom God can thus own! We are so taken up with ourselves and our own affairs that we do not leave room, so to speak, for God to walk with us and make us His friends.

With such thoughts passing through our minds, how blessed to remember, that though God has often to be ashamed of His people, He 'never takes back what He has once given them. When He saves He saves to the uttermost. Look for a moment at Peter; he failed, and failed terribly. Does the Lord take the keys of the kingdom from him? No; He restores his soul and then gives him in addition, even what was more precious than His kingdom, the care of His lambs and His sheep.

In verses 17, 18, 19, faith, as the power of true devotedness to God, is strikingly exhibited, and thus these three verses are entirely different to any of those we have been looking at up till now. The others have been skewing what God gave to Abram; these three chew us Abram giving back to God a little of what God had in love given him. Abram had a son, and one, too, quite different to his other sons, this one had come to him not at all in the usual course of nature, but had been given simply and solely in answer to faith; and God told him that in, Isaac his seed should be called; so to speak, with Isaac everything rose and fell. God tells him He will give him a son, Abram believes it, and gets one, and that, too, when he was well stricken in years, and Sarah past age -he gets Isaac altogether outside nature; God. tells him also that, " in Isaac," He would make of him " a great nation;" and then we find Him tempting Abram-trying his faith and putting it to the test.

Let us here notice, it is not when God first calls Abram that He tries his faith. No; He first calls him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and leads him on step by step, until He has strengthened him; then He gives him a gift, and afterward comes and asks for it back again. God found Abram ready and willing to give up Isaac, notwithstanding that in him was centered and contained every blessing. How little we know of this! We give up, so to speak, our sins, glad enough to be rid of them, because we know they would damn us, but how little we know of giving up our blessings!

God had been filling Abram to the full-He could give him no more. Abram had been walking with God, in the familiar intercourse of a friend, and now God is willing, as it were, to take a little return of what He had given. He calls " Abraham," and he at once answers, " Behold here am I." There is no questioning as to whether God meant him, or called him, but he replies at once, as one who is in friendly intercourse with another would. How simply he speaks-" Here am I." We often hear people speak to one another in one tone, then turn and speak to God in quite another. Why is it? There is want of

simplicity. Ought we not all to be able to say, " There is no one to whom I can speak so freely as to God"? I find, for myself, there is no one so simple and real as God.

You see people go into places of worship, so called, with bowed heads and bated breath. What does it spew? They have not been consciously and habitually walking in God's presence in their daily life. God looks not at a bowed head; He looks at a bowed heart. We must be humble. He is " the High and Holy One," who dwells with " the humble," as we read in Isa. 57:15. We may be sure Abram was humble, and that his heart was contrite, still he was simple; and the more, beloved, we have to do with God, the simpler we shall be. Did God answer the Pharisee who stood making long prayers, amid all the outward symbols of religion in the temple? But just see how God really speaks to His creatures, all sinners as they are, if only simple and real. See the lowly Jesus of Nazareth talking with Peter the fisherman, or with James or John. See Him, too, at Bethany, sitting with all kinds of people at the feast; Martha serving; Mary sitting at His feet. Look again at Abram, he asks God to dine with him. Well, He does it. All this is God holding simple intercourse with His children. Jesus talking to Peter the fisherman is God in intercourse with working men, for Jesus was God.

If man had had Abram's story to tell, he would have put in a deal of needless details and coloring to exalt Abraham. How simple is God's narrative! It is just " Abraham," and Abram's answer, " Here am I." God goes on to say, " Take now thy son," (He did not regard. Ishmael as his son at all), " Take now thy son, thine only son"-how it must have proved Abram's heart! that "only son whom thou lovest "-and offer him up. Abraham, however, says not a word; he asks not how God is going to fulfill His promises; he does not even say, "Why?" but just simply and unquestionably gives him up. He does not do it in a hurry, he knows he must get to the place God had told him of, and so he goes a three days'

journey. He gets up early; then he saddles an ass; takes two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and a knife, and wood, and sets off quietly and calmly. Faith could do all this, but nature had no place there.

The three days' journey is more, I believe, than Abraham leading along Isaac his son in faith to the place of offering; I believe it is a type of God Himself leading His own well-beloved Son to give Him up " for us all." But here we see a difference, " He who spared not his own Son," spared Abraham's to him. What must God's heart have felt during those three years that He was leading His Son along on this earth to the cross!

On the third day Abram lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and he speaks to the young men, and bids them tarry there, while he goes yonder to worship; and Isaac and he go on alone. Here, I think, we get the secret of the whole thing. It is all worship; and the truest worship, let me say, is that which no eye sees, no ear hears but God's. There is nothing so abominable to God as worship done for man to hear and to see.

Abraham and Isaac going together to Mount Moriah seem to me rather like Gethsemane, and I have no doubt that Abram passed through, in measure, during those three days what Christ did in Gethsemane. He takes the wood and lays Isaac upon it; he takes the knife to slay his son-he does God's will, and then it is all over; God has got what He wanted out of Abram, and He gives him back his son. (Gen. 22:2.)

Beloved, how is it with ourselves? Are we treading in Abraham's footsteps? We have some precious possession that God has given us. He gave it to us in His love, and now He asks us for it back again. Do we willingly, joyfully give it up? It may be the dearest, sweetest, most loved object of our heart? If by grace we surrender it, what a testimony to the power of faith! It is what we shall not have in heaven; it is here on this earth only that we have faith, and God tests and tries it for His own glory and our blessing. He tries the faith of His people to prove whether they can trust Him, and when He sees they can He ever gives back much more than He has taken.

The treasury of God is being enriched by the faith of His people, and He passes His people through manifold trials, as Peter tells us, " That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

The Lord give us all to know more of the power of that faith which, with open heart, takes every blessing God can give us, and with open hand gives back to Him, in the spirit of worship, whatever He may ask from us.

c. W. (Continued front page 63.)

"CONSIDER HIM."

WHEN the storm is raging high,

When the tempest rends the sky,

When my eyes with tears are dim,

Then, my soul, " consider Him."

When my plans are in the dust,

When my dearest hopes are crush'd,

When is pass'd each foolish whim,

Then, my soul, " consider Him."

When with dearest friends I part,

When deep sorrow fills my heart,

When pain racks each weary limb,

Then, my soul, " consider Him."

When I track my weary way,

When fresh trials come each day,

When my faith and hope are dim,

Then, my soul, " consider Him."

Cloud or sunshine, dark or bright,

Evening shades, or morning light,

When my cup flows o'er the brim,

Then, my soul, " consider Him."

W. B.

The Atonement: Part 1

THERE is, in John 3, a two-fold aspect of Christ presented to us, as the object of faith; through which we do not perish, but have everlasting life. As Son of man, He must be lifted up; as only-begotten Son of God, He is given by the infinite love of God.

Many souls stop at the first, the Son of man's meeting the necessity in which men stood as sinners before God, and do not look on to that infinite love of God which gave His only-begotten Son-the love which provided the needed Lamb, the true source of all this work of grace, which stamps on it its true character and effect, and without which it could not be.

Hence such souls have not true peace and liberty with God. Practically for them the love is only in Christ, and God remains a just and unbending Judge. They do not really know Him, the God of love, our Savior.

Others, alas! will make of it fatal error; false as to their own state and God's holiness; with no true or adequate sense of sin, they reject all true propitiation. The "must be lifted up " has no moral place for them, nothing that the conscience, with a true sense of sin, needs.

The former has one great defect of the Reformation, the other comes of modern infidelity, for such it really is. Alas! that defect of the Reformation, as a system of doctrine, is the habitual state of many sincere souls now. But it is sad. Righteousness may reign for them with hope; but it is not grace reigning through righteousness. I repeat, God is not known in His nature of love, nor indeed the present completeness of redemption.

The statement of John 3 begins with the need of man in view of what God is, as indeed it must be, but it gives as the source and result of it for the soul, its measure too in grace, that which was in the heart of God towards a ruined world. As in Heb. 10, to give us boldness to enter into the holiest, the origin is, " Lo! I come, to do thy will;" " by the which will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all." The offering was the means, but He was accomplishing the will of God in grace, and by the exercise of the same grace in which He came to do it; for " hereby know we love, that he laid down his life for us." So in Rom. 10, " God commends his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It is summed up in the full saying; grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We cannot present too simply the value of Christ's blood, and redemption and forgiveness through it, to the awakened sinner whom that love may have drawn to feel. His need; for by need, and because of need, the sinner must come-it is his only place before God. The love of God, and even His love announced in forgiveness through the work of Christ, may, through the power of the Holy Ghost, awaken the sense of need; still having the forgiveness is another thing. That love, brought home to the soul through grace, produces confidence, rest, peace; but it does produce confidence. Hence we come into the light. God is light and God is love.

Christ in the world was the light of the world, and He was there in divine love. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. When God reveals Himself He must be both light and love. The love draws and produces confidence, as with the woman in the city who was a sinner, the prodigal; Peter in the boat. The light shows us our sinfulness. We are before God according to the truth of what He is, and the truth of what we are. But the atonement does more than show this; it meets, and is the answer to our case when known. It is the ground through faith, of forgiveness and peace, (See Luke 7:47,50.) Christ could anticipate His work, and the child of wisdom go in peace. The law may by grace reach the conscience and make us feel our guilt, but it does not reveal God in love. But that love has done what was needed for our sinful state-" Hereby perceive we love, because be laid down his life for us;" " who was delivered for our offenses;" "died for our sins according to the scriptures;" is " the propitiation for our sins;" " set forth as a mercy-seat

through faith in his blood;" which " cleanses us from all sin;" " with his stripes we are healed." 1 might multiply passages; I only now cite these, that the simple basis of the gospel in divine love on the one side, and on the other the work that love has brought to purge our sins, and withal our consciences, so that we may be in peace before a holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, may be simply and fully before us.

We must come as sinners to God, because we are sinners; and we can only come in virtue of that which, while it is the fruit of God's love, meets according to His holy nature the sins we are guilty of. But then, while it is true that our sins are removed far from us, who believe through grace, as they were carried into a land not inhabited by the scapegoat in Israel, yet we have only an imperfect view of the matter in seeing our sins put away. On the great day of atonement the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat and before it, just as it was sprinkled on the, lintel and two door-posts to meet God's eye; " When I see the blood," He says, " I will pass over."

It was in view of the sin of Israel, but as presented to God, that the goat whose blood was shed on the great day of atonement, was called " Jehovah's lot." The blood was carried within; so it was with the bullock, and with the bullock it was exclusively this. The testimony was there, blessed be God, that as dwelling on the earth our sins have been carried of where none shall find them; but what characterized the day, was putting the blood on the mercy-seat-presenting it to God. On this day only, too, it was done. In the case of the sin of the congregation, or of the high priest, it was sprinkled on the altar outside the veil; but on the great day of atonement alone on the mercy-seat within. Now, though the sinner must come as guilty, and because of his need, and can come rightly in no other way, as the poor prodigal, and so many other actual cases, yet this does not reach to the full character of propitiation, or atonement, though in fact involving it; the divine glory and nature are in question.

In coming, we come by our need and wants: but if we have passed in through the veil, we can contemplate the work of Christ in peace, as viewed in connection with God's nature, though on our part referring to sin. The sins, thus, were carried away on the scapegoat, but what God is, was specially in view in the blood carried within the veil. The sins were totally and forever taken off the believers, and never found; but there was much more in that which did it, and much more even for us. God's character and nature were met in the atonement, and through this we have boldness to enter into the holiest. This distinction appears in the ordinary sacrifices. They were offered on the brazen altar, and the blood sprinkled there. Man's responsibility was the measure of what was required. His case was met as to guilt; but if he was to come to God-into His presence, he must be fit for the holiness of that presence.

Christ has not only borne our sins, but He has perfectly glorified God on the cross, and the veil is rent, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest. The blood, therefore, of the bullock or of the goat, which was Jehovah's lot, was brought into the holiest. The other goat was the people's lot; this Jehovah's. He was dishonored by sin; and Christ the Holy One was made sin for us, was before God according to what God was in His holy and righteous nature.

" Now," says the Lord, " is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him;" and man entered into the holiest, into heaven itself. Having glorified God in the very place of sin, as made it before God, He enters into that glory on high. Love to God His Father, and absolute obedience at all costs was perfected, when He stood as sin before God. All that God is was glorified here, and here only. His Majesty -it became Him to maintain His glory in the moral universe, and thus in bringing many sons to glory, that. He should make the Captain of our salvation, perfect through suffering-and His truth were made good; perfect righteous judgment against sin, yet perfect love to the sinner. Had God cut off man for sin, there was no love; had He simply forgiven and passed over all sins, there would have been no righteousness. People might have sinned on without its being any matter. There would have been no moral government. Man must have stayed away from God, and misery and allowed sin have had their fling; or he must have been admitted into God's presence in sin, and sin been allowed there; man incapable withal of enjoying God, and as sensible of good and evil, more miserable than ever. J. N. D.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

The Secret of Rest

THERE was one man whom men would not have; that man was standing, as Son of the Father, in the light, with the consciousness of the Father's eye brightly beaming on Him, and that man said, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He alone had the secret of rest, and if there was that divine inexhaustible fullness in Him, all the divine glory being in Him, and we having it revealed to us (for He says, " he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father") to whom could He not, and to whom would He not give rest? It is not the question how much you have to bear, but of the Lord's eye upon hindrances. When He looks on any one, even if it be a little child who does not yet feel its burden, He sees it and knows all that is connected with conflict. He sees the burden within each heart; sees everything that is against us. I may be like a ship wrecked between two seas; well, He says, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." How can you get away from that word? Is anything beyond His power? It is just there that we get the very essence of the gospel. He goes on: " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." How was it that Christ found such perfect rest in the midst of all that was against Him? Ever quiet and at home, in the midst of it all; and He says, " Learn of me."

It is one thing to own Christ as the one who can give rest, and another thing to walk with Christ under the yoke, so that we find rest ourselves when all is against us; to walk with Him in everything, saying, " I have got nothing to do, save to please my master;" and I have to walk so that whatever occurs, I can say, " I thank Thee, 0 Father." This is not the case with us. We have ways and plans of our own, and we do not like Christ to pass us through them under His yoke. He would have His light so to shine in us, as to bring out all that is in us, and that we should so walk according to the light that the world should reject us, even as it rejected Him. The more closely I am bound up with Him, the more I shall feel the contrast between His ways and my own. If I am under His yoke, do you suppose He will allow self-will-" I like and I do not like"? If Christ has given me rest, and yoked me up with Himself, He does not let me go my own way, but His way. Christ set Himself in service, as the perfect servant of God; He could see in every step of the way something that called His heart to the Father. It was sweet to His heart to prove what a perfect servant He was; His rejection marking His oneness with the Father.

It was not only Him they hated, but the Father also. He would not, as a servant, have any association save only with God; and He tasted the rest that flowed from that in all its perfection. That which is the most bitter sorrow to us, the breaking of our will, the Lord never got, for He had no will but the Father's. We have a will that must constantly be broken, because it will not bend. It is very solemn to think that we do not know how to bend our will to the will of God; with Christ it was always, " not my will, but Thine:" as He passed from one thing and followed into another, it was always, " God and my Father."

The thing through life which has caused the most intense bitterness to the heart, has been this self-will thwarted: " I do not want to do that, and I do not like to do this; I must go hither, and I would rather go

thither." Ah! I have got to learn what His will is, by this very breaking. If you take a bullock, and bind a weaker animal under the same yoke with it, the weaker Must go the same way and pace with the stronger. Elijah, Peter, and Paul, found it no use trying to avoid the fellows of the yoke. They were bound up with Christ in it, and must walk where He walked; and Peter was brought up in the end to receive a crown of martyrdom. If we walk willingly where Christ leads, and seek to learn of Him, seeing in everything that may happen the hand of "God and our Father," all will be easy.

I am meek and lowly in heart," says Jesus. Where do we learn this meekness and lowliness of Christ more than when under the yoke with Him? Oh, how gentle He has been l He will not turn aside from His purpose, but with what patience has He borne with our manners! Cannot you recall times without number when the dearest friend you have would have shaken you off and said, " I have done with you forever"? Whilst that Christ in heaven quietly acted out His purposes of love for you! If you were left in the hand of the brightest saint on earth, what a contrast there would be (you can feel it) with this Christ, who could lift up His face to heaven and say, "No one knows me but my Father," and then could turn to a feeble thing like you or me and say, " Take my yoke upon you and learn of me."

If we could put down self in every way and entirely, we should find rest in all circumstances. If we walked as Christ did, we should see God and our Father in everything. Privations, temptations, difficulties-God and our Father in all. Subjection to His word in everything-saying, " It is written"-makes the bitterest thing sweet. Christ has pledged Himself that I shall have rest; He reveals the Father to me, that is the blessing He has shut me up to. All blessing comes from Christ teaching me every day to find rest by seeing God and my Father in everything. G. V. w.

The Books of the Bible: Part 2, 1 Chronicles - Jeremiah

FIRST CHRONICLES contains genealogical records of God's earthly elect people from the days of Adam till the captivity in Babylon, so that all classes of the returned remnants of Judah from their 70 years' exile might be able to verify their claims in resuming their place in the nation; the reign of David is the other main subject of the book. Chapters 1-9, genealogies of the kings, priests, Levites, and people from Adam to the captivity; chapters 10-21, history of the kingdom of Judah from the death of Saul and accession of David till the purchase of the threshing-floor of Oman; chapters 22-29, David's preparations for building the temple and arrangements of its services.

SECOND CHRONICLES continues the kingdom history of Judah from Solomon to the Chaldean capture of Jerusalem. Chapters 1-9, life and reign of Solomon; chapters 10-36, royal Judean history from Rehoboam till the destruction of Jerusalem.

EZRA is occupied with the religious life and bright faith of the remnants who returned to Palestine from the Chaldean captivity. Chapters 1-6, return of a remnant under the leadership of Zerubbabel, and their temple work and worship: chapters 7-10, return of a company under the leadership of Ezra, and the energy of faith of the remnant.

NEHEMIAH is the last historical book of the Old Testament, and records the civil state and condition amongst the returned remnants to the land of their fathers. Chapters 1, 2., Nehemiah's spiritual exercise and his commission to rebuild the city; chapters 3-7. 4., the work proceeded in spite of all opposition without or within, for God was with the people: chapters 7. 5-8, genealogies verified and all duly regulated according to the written word.

ESTHER manifests the care of God over His people,

but secretly exercised because of their utter indifference to His glory and interests. The mass of the Jewish people preferred remaining in the land of their exile under the easy sway of the Persian rule, when they might have returned under the edicts of Cyrus. Chapters 1., 2., the Gentile and Jewish queens-the former degraded, the latter exalted; chapters 3.-7., the Lord frustrating the devices of the wicked against His people; chapters 8.-10., the Jew in the end exalted to power and the people blest.

JOB is a book upon the moral government of God with a godly, upright man, and apart from any revelation of the law or of the cross; in the end man and God are brought together-the former humbled and broken, and the latter proved to be righteous in all His dealings and ways, as also most pitiful and of tender mercy. Chapters 1., 2., Jehovah raises the question of the integrity of Job with Satan; chapters 3-37., a discussion in eighteen speeches between Job and his friends, on the great subject of God's earthly dealings and ways with man; chapters 38-42., here Jehovah reveals His holiness and power, and in presence of which Job abhors-himself and repents; the object is gained, man is broken, and God owned to be righteous.

BOOK OF PSALMS is a marvelous collection of 150 prophetic prayers, praises, and utterances, written during a period of about 1000 years, and probably compiled by Ezra on the return to Palestine from the Chaldean captivity. These sacred odes or compositions are divided by Jewish and Christian writers into five distinct books or divisions, ending respectively with Nos. 41; 72; 89; 106; 150.

THE PROVERBS contains a mine of wisdom. Whoever regulates his life and path through earth by these-wise and gracious maxims may count, under the government of God, upon a happy and prosperous life. Chapters 1-9, the great principles of God's moral government;. chapters 10.-24., application of these principles to the details of daily life; chapters 25.-29., a collection of

wise sayings truly expressed; chapters 30.,31. contain the words and instructions of Agur, very rich in moral truth, and of King Lemuel on the character of a virtuous woman.

ECCLESIASTES was probably written by Solomon at the close of his life, as the " Song" was composed at the commencement of his reign, and the " Proverbs " uttered during his years of royalty. This book records the experience of one who has fully tried the world, but in vain, for a heart-satisfying object-all beneath the sun is pronounced " vanity." Chapters i.-vi., everything beneath the sun pronounced " vanity and vexation of spirit chapters 7-12., the path of wisdom and of counsel through the world.

SONG OF SOLOMON, besides its prophetic application, has, as its moral themes, love and communion, as developed in the intercourse between the spouse and her bridegroom. Chapters 1-2, 16, " my beloved is mine," or " what a treasure I possess;" this is the first stage in Christian experience; chapters 2. 17-6. 3, " I am my beloved's," or " I am his object;" this is the second stage in Christian experience; chapters 6. 4-8. 14, " His desire is toward me," here self is done with, and the soul rests in the consciousness of His love and thoughts resting upon us; this is the third stage in our Christian experience.

The strictly prophetic section of the Old Testament consists of sixteen books, from Isaiah to Malachi-the Lamentations being regarded as a supplement to the prophecy and book of Jeremiah. The earthly glory of Christ is the special design of this important section of the holy scriptures. This glory will be publicly manifested in connection with Israel and subordinately the Gentiles, first in their judgment and then in millennial blessing.

ISAIAH in style, grandeur of language, comprehensiveness of treatment, and copiousness of subjects is unequaled amongst the prophetic books. Chapters 1-12., Christ's connection with Judah, and the character and doom of " The Assyrian "-Israel's latter-day political enemy; chapters13-27., the judgment of the nations and of the whole earth; the Lord will confound the pride and power of man and " break the arm of the wicked "- all needful for the re-establishment of Israel on the earth and her headship over the nations, as also that the glory of Jehovah through Israel should be published throughout the earth; chapters 28.-35., the historical circumstances connected with Israel in her latter days is here described; chapters 36 -39., this, the only strictly historical section of our prophet is most needful, as furnishing the main subjects on which the whole prophecy is based; chapters 40-48., here Jehovah discusses the relationship of Israel to Babylon and her idolatry; chapters 49.-57., Israel's rejection of Christ is the main question here; chapters 58.-66., Jehovah's last pleadings of love with guilty Israel, and the certainty of His intervention on their behalf.

24. JEREMIAH naturally follows his great predecessor Isaiah, and whose earnest and heart-broken remonstrances with Judah prior to and subsequent to the capture of the city of Jerusalem, are touching in the extreme. Jeremiah wore the prophetic mantle for about forty years; his services, sufferings, and personal circumstances are interwoven in the very texture of his prophecies, and in this and in other respects he closely resembles the great Gentile Apostle Paul. Chapters 1-24, a series of moral appeals addressed to the heart and conscience of Judah, in view of their national guilt and near approach of judgment to be executed by the Chaldeans; chapters 25.-52., Jerusalem besieged and captured after a stubborn defense of about eighteen months, with numerous interesting particulars prior to and subsequent to the destruction of the city and temple in the year 588 B.C„ as also judgments announced upon the near and distant nations, and prophetic blessing intimated for all Israel. The last chapter forms an appendix to the book. w, s.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

(Continued from page 69.)

Walk Worthy: Part 3

IN the third instance in which the believer has to " walk worthy," it is " God, who calls us to his kingdom and glory, that comes before the soul, supplying a motive to the heart for our walk, by what His grace is bringing us into. It is not said we are to walk worthy simply of God Himself, as this would be but a repetition of the -truth of Colossians, nor is it exactly that we are to walk worthy of the kingdom and glory, as this would give too great a prominence to the position itself, but of God, as associating us with Himself in what He is about to establish for His own glory. When God displays Himself in His power and glory, He will have us with Him in that display.

Such was the wondrous and mighty, yet touching, motive that Paul, as a father, brought to bear upon the Thessalonian saints, to form their walk in this world while waiting for God's Son from heaven.

Here again we must note, that it is the individual walk of the saint that is in question. Each one having his own place in God's kingdom and glory, the walk of each, irrespective of others, is to be suited to God according to the exalted position His grace is bringing His people into.

The appeal of God to our hearts (for it is His appeal through His servant Paul) is most affecting. As of old, God could say as to His earthly people Israel, " what could I have done more to my vineyard than I have done?" so surely He may appeal to us in deeper tones and say, " What more can I give you than I have given you-in My own kingdom and glory I will have you with Myself to share all I possess with the Son of My love? And now while down in this world, where all is away from Me and dishonors Him, I want you to walk in a manner suited to the grace and dignity I am conferring on you."

As a motive for our walk, second only to the cross itself, that infinite revelation of His love, and foundation of all our blessing, which lies behind us, and which has saved us and started us on our way to heaven, is the revelation of the glory we are going on to. Nor is it merely glory, God Himself awaits us in that glory: He " calls us to His own kingdom and glory."

What a difference it would make to us in every way if that "kingdom and glory" were ever before our eyes as the near future of our pilgrimages How would the vanities of this world lose their power over us in view of the exalted position we are about to occupy! Satan is the god and prince of this world, and the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them are all at his disposal, and to have any place or portion here we must take it from his hand and have it in association with him. A terrible thought, but is it not a true one?

All our portion, as believers, is in that future world, and there God has all the power and glory, but we must " walk worthy" of Him in this present world. What is suited to Him, as those who are to share with Him that future power and glory, must have its display in us now; Heaven will afford no opportunity of a worthy walk.

By grace, let us make those of this world know that none of the motives that govern their hearts and control their actions govern or control ours. Thus only will it be manifest that we " walk worthy of him who calls us to his own kingdom and glory." But this alone is possible to us as we humbly follow and rely on Him who has trodden the path before us. As he did, we must meet Satan and all his seductions, as dependent and obedient ones, with the word, " It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve;' and we must let the world find in us what it found in Him who could say, " that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do." c. w.

(Concluded from page 75.)

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF J. N. D. ON SUBJECTS OF GENERAL INTEREST.

BELOVED BROTHER, The ground taken by your dear son.... is not, I think, a happy one. What I mean is this. It is not exercise of conscience for himself, but reasoning for others; and finding a defect of argument, or a supposed defect, the ground of putting them in the wrong, and even sheaving them on their own principles they ought to go further. This is argument, not conscience and thought for Christ's glory. Supposing that it proves that they ought to go further and that they are inconsistent, let them go further, it has nothing to do with its being right or not, but whether A. B. is consistent or not.

In many cases I judge that they are inconsistent. I should make a difference between misleaders and misled for the Lord's table sake, but they must not have a false flag-false to Christ. But in my personal conduct, though I could not have communion in religious things as. members of the same body, true Christian kindness would seek to make them feel their false position. Yet I should make a great difference between such and those who, untrue to Christ, sought to pervert-" Of some have compassion, and others save with fear." I see Satan's work, and would fain deliver. Satan's instruments are a horror to me, though even they may be delivered. If there is bona fide ignorance of facts-not willful, for some refuse to know to save the trouble of having their consciences exercised-and they are not true to Christ (and bond fide ignorance is more rare than is imagined), their conscience is not bad. If they had been connected in ignorance with meetings, I should inquire and see if they were so on principle. If so, they are also false to Christ, they accept Christ and Belial going together. If they say no, and if that be so, I should not walk with them on any account, but I should not refuse them, only warning them that we knew they were so, and could not have communion with gatherings which were thus loose, and if they went back after warning, the case would be altered. Ignorance, where they have never had to say to Bethesda and her followers, is sufficient to preclude all further question; but ignorance alleged, when they have been connected with such gatherings, is saying that they do not know on what principle they were gathered, which may be, but which is strange; and at any rate they imbibe the spirit and tone of looseness, which is exactly opposite to all the scriptural directions for the last days.

All that is said of " ad infinitum" is only the repetition of what we have too often heard, and has no real sense the moment the church is known to be one. The question is, Does a person come from a place which, has identified itself with the refusal to judge evil? It little matters to me how many steps a person is from the first in the country who had the typhus fever; five or fifty are all alike if a man has got it. Evil is judged as evil wherever it is, and this argument is simply the denial of the church and the unity of the body. If a gathering accept the fellowship of those (one or fifty) who have refused to maintain the glory of Christ, it is contaminated as such would have left..; would he have gone to or to both in communion with Bethesda, and receiving from it, yea, because they were of it, and whose members went there? This was the real case we had.

When there was intercommunion, there was moral identity, cases of bona fide ignorance excepted. They have turned to independency to avoid the evident consequences themselves, as I stated to you in a former letter; they have found this evil and are now willing to exclude heresies, but I hear nothing of unity, so that there is no guarantee for what others may do, or security, so that gatherings may be owned. If they are faithful and honest in this (in excluding heresies) the reason for excluding persons belonging to them might fail, but the gathering itself denies unity and its responsibility as to other gatherings, nor is there honest confession. They would not be bound by a discipline common to all. Each person would have to be received by brethren individually; belonging to a gathering thus faithful would not of itself be a ground of exclusion; their connection with others remaining to be inquired into. Only where they have been in communion with and those associated with it, one has a right and a duty to ask if they have given it up. If they refuse to say, they are not honest and have not done so. They maintain this unholy liberty to do evil, and have not judged evil in themselves.

The making a difference between misleaders and misled, has nothing to do with its being a question of Christ and of principle.

All this reasoning is very sad. It tastes of ... . and those who sustain it. In this country ... . we have acted on the principle of refusing those belonging to bodies who allowed heresies, having nothing to do with ... . but denying the immortality of the soul; and the results have been blessing. And the state of things around us every way confirmed us in the need of faithfulness. I shall own no gathering once in connection ... . with and its supporters, which has not given it up. Nothing more simple, they are indeed formally inside the camp. I have already spoken of cases of ignorance, but if a person deliberately chose to continue in connection with loose principles, I could not own him; he has not a pure heart in his worship, and it is a mercy to himself that he should learn it. It soon comes out distinctly if there is faithfulness.

One of the most striking things in my late labors in the United States has been that everywhere, by being faithful and holding the word, persons esteemed and active in union prayer meetings and the like have professed themselves infidels. Socinians, deniers of the immortality of the soul, of the inspiration of the word of God and the like. They were strange and trying scenes, but useful; but I felt I had the immense comfort of having only to bring forward scripture. It had not got so far in the loose gatherings everywhere, but it had got very far indeed; only many have been frightened, but those of the loose gatherings who came to this country, are in full fellowship with this state of things-lead the meetings, &c. They have gone back into the camp just when the saints are being called out of it. I know one of the nicest of them boasting that he had succeeded in contaminating a young saint, so that now he could not be received among us; the latter is now grown worldly and flourishing in the religious world.

I seek to separate to Christ from evil; they will not. I never heard an argument which was not for more or less tolerating evil; where forced, they would leave it where it discredited them, but retain as much liberty as they could under the plea of charity. Such a person's conscience is not purged, he cannot but defile others if allowed.

A passage that gave me a clue on my first starting, was in that wonderful chapter, Jer. 15, " If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth; let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." Take the Epistles, or chapters which refer to the last days, and see if in all, separation from evil is not pressed. Patience and grace are required, but no acceptance of evil. It is Christ, it is principle, it is faithfulness and obedience to God which are in question. It is whether the church of God is bound to confess and maintain the truth with Him that is holy, Him that is true, and whether there is one church to be found upon the earth-that is the question.

If a person comes from a gathering which has been connected with ... . I am entitled and bound to ask him, "Have you broken with it?" If the person says, " No;" I ask him, How is that? He may be ignorant, though it be very rare. I say we cannot walk with that gathering because it is unfaithful. If he says, “I prefer going with as it is," he judges himself, he is unclean. I would tell him what was the principle of action, and sufficient of the facts to show him the application of the principle. If he honestly says, " If the facts are so, I would not walk with them a moment;'' I am in a great measure relieved. If he says, "I had rather wait and inquire," one has only to leave it. If he refuse to hear the facts or be informed, he has a bad conscience, he prefers walking loosely to taking a little trouble for Christ's glory, his heart is unsound, as a man who would refuse to be examined by a priest for leprosy, he condemns himself. All this requires patience and toil of heart, but the grace of Christ is sufficient for us, and quiet firmness will meet its sure reward.

A work of Satan has been going on; alleging evil doctrine was no 311 after; people have been mixed up with it; I must know if they are clear where they have, or are accepting the evil as no matter. I do

not expect to carry on the work of the Lord without Satan seeking to throw difficulties in the way, but I do count on the blessed Lord's faithfulness to be with us, and difficulties are gain if that be the effect.

I accept the principles of grace fully, but grace which is not holiness is not God's grace, and holiness is by truth. " Sanctify them by thy truth." Thus saith " He that is holy, he that is true."

Canada, 1873. J. N. D.

MY DEAR -, I am glad. for your own sake that your tract is withdrawn; you will perhaps, ere I write, have received a letter from me; its effect I had no fear of, for the simple reason that it wholly gave up all the principles brethren meet on, and would be judged by every intelligent brother.

The ... .. brethren have done so pretty generally. I could give you, very easily, an account of all those you speak of, but feel it is better to avoid speaking of individuals. The question is not whether they are logically in precisely the same position as the blasphemers, but whether their position justifies their not being received to communion. They are not according to scripture a new lump if they acquiesce in evil in their midst-not clear of the committed sin. So jealous is the apostle as to the truth, that a simple friendly " adieu" makes a man partaker of his evil deeds; how much more a willful, determined reception of them into communion, one of the pastor's holding most of the blasphemous doctrines, and when the brethren

pretended that ... ..had changed, and acted in discipline, declared they had not, and that as far as he knew they would do the same in like case, and that he did not know a single person at who held. Mr.... for a heretic. This was Mr....'s published statement long after the matter had happened. It was the open support of blasphemy, and the breach took place by an effort on the part of neutrals to force us to go on with, as they openly stated, and I personally know. There is no such thing as members of a church local or not local in scripture, but members of Christ, a totally different idea; he speaks of foot, hand, eye, &c.; you have only to read the whole passage (1 Cor. 12) and not a shadow of doubt can remain.

Members are members of Christ, whatever may mean, but it cannot have the meaning you put upon it, as it does not apply to what they were members of. Now as regards the seven churches, they are neither the unity of the body, nor directions how to act from the Head by the apostle, but judgment by Christ on their state (I get positive directions for my conduct in 2 Timothy)-Christ's judicial estimate of the whole, and what He will do if they do not repent; and this has been used to chew we are to acquiesce in things as they are-if so, with everything and exercise no discipline at all, for none is spoken of. But it is Christ's judgment of the state of things. That is found very clearly stated elsewhere. Hence it is commonly taken, and I doubt not partly for a history of the church at large, to the end of Popery, and the end of Protestantism. Your use of it would go to allow all evil in an assembly, fornication, communion with idols, and all else; and so it has been used. As 10 "ad infinitum" it is a mere bugbear; whatever associates itself with evil, be it three or three thousand or three millions, is on the same ground. If I associate myself with a principle of action, what matter how many assemblies are engaged in it, if they are so Besides, it is a denial of the unity of the body. I know of so many assemblies; discipline in one is discipline in all, and the denial of this skews plainly enough where you have all got. This is the whole question. is partaker thus in the guilt in question, if another gathering is in communion with it, receives from it as it is, goes to it, they are one; if fifty do it, they are one. I cannot own them as assemblies of God as a guarantee for integrity in one coming from them. I can make a difference between misleaders and misled, and allow for ignorance, but that is not the question. I sigh over those ensnared by the unfaithfulness of others, but I find them soon corrupted in principle. I have seen none where integrity has not suffered by having to say to it. Mr ... . urging reconciliation writes a pamphlet blaming us, and told me that Mr— was a decided heretic and ought to have been put out; and when I said, " Why then do you blame me for not going there, when he was not put out?" I do not blame you at all," he replied, and then goes on to do his best to condemn us I I sigh over ensnared ones, but I am sick of this falseness which characterizes all that are in it. says Popery is all wrong, and stays in it. Episcopal and Presbyterian ministers say the state of things is all wrong, and stay in it. This is a system destructive to conscience, and the habit of excusing evil is ruinous to the soul. " Holy," " true," (Rev. 3:7) I find characterizes Christ in His relationship to the church. He approves to the end. The whole question is, Is the church of God to maintain the truth in unity? My experience of the opposite system in the States, in all shapes, has made me firmer than ever in the path of what is called exclusiveness-exclusion of false doctrine and false practice. in contrast to protecting and excusing it.

Yours affectionately in the Lord.

J. N. D.

I do not, the least, confine discipline to the table; where persony, deliberately take up the loose principle, I have nothing to say to them in divine things anywhere-could not say grace at table with them, and am, of course, blamed for exclusiveness. Canada, 1873.

Answers to Correspondents: Women Praying/Prophesying; Character of Samuel's Priesthood

10. Q.-Will you please explain the passage in 1 Corinthians

i. 5:—" Every woman praying or prophesying with her I Lead uncovered dishonoureth her head;" and verse 13, " Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?" J. G.

J.—In order to understand the force of the teachings of the apostle in these verses attention must be given to verse 3, which forms the groundwork, so to speak, of what succeeds it. “ I would have you know," he says, " that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man: and the head of Christ is God." We have given us here the divine order, and relative position of man and woman, which was to have its recognition and display in the assembly. Man praying and prophesying in the assembly, did it in the presence of his risible Head-Christ, and whom he represented, and to have covered his head would have been to dishonor Christ as his Head; for, a covering being the visible sign of subjection to another, it would have looked as if he were praying or prophesying in recognition of some other head than Christ, and was not conscious of representing Him.

Now the woman's head is man, and in praying or prophesying she was to recognize her visible head, and thus a visible sign of her subjection to him was to be worn. This is the meaning of verse 10, where it is said, "For this cause ought the woman t o have power (the sign of subjection to man) on her head, because of the angels." Angels who are the observers of God",,, ways in the assembly, as well as in creation, should see i the woman, the intelligent recognition of the position in which God has placed her with reference to the man.

The point here is not whether the woman may actually pray or prophesy in public, but the outward appearance she is to bear in the presence of men in the assembly while praying and prophesying are going on. To find in these passages authority for women praying and speaking in public, as is often done, is to pervert the plain teaching of the passage, as it might with a much reason be inferred that it was only while man was actually praying or speaking he was to take off his hat, or in other words that all the men in the assembly were to be there with their heads covered save the one actually praying or speaking. The simple meaning of the apostle, we believe, to he this, that when assembled before God with Christ in

their midst, all the men were to be uncovered as the sign of their recognition of His presence as their Head; and in like manner all the women, when so gathered, were to have their heads covered, as a recognition of their sense of being in the. presence of their head.

Having laid down authoritatively the divine order on this point in verse 13, he appeals to the Corinthians to judge for themselves from the analogy of nature whether it was comely that women should when in the assembly, where God was recognized and looked to in prayer, have their heads uncovered. And here again, " pray unto God," does not mean audibly addressing God. Women silently lifting their hearts to God, or when joining in the Spirit-given prayer that some man, as the mouth-piece for all, is uttering, are surely praying to God, and therefore should be covered with something in addition to their hair, which according to nature was given them apart from any question of God's presence in the assembly, as a veil or covering before men. From nature itself, then, they should have learned what was fitting in the assembly without the apostle having formally to prescribe it in teaching.

Though we have only touched upon these principles as they apply to the assembly, we do not think they are to be limited to this, but have also a more general application, and should regulate the conduct of women when ostensibly before God in the presence of men anywhere, and this we gather from 1 Tim. 2:8-14.

11. Q.-What was the character of Samuel's priesthood? I suppose 1 Sam. 2:35, had a partial fulfillment in Samuel's. history? 0. J. M.

A.-Samuel was not a priest, but was a prophet raised up on the breakdown, and consequent temporary setting aside of the priesthood, to maintain in grace communications between God and the people, when the normal relationship between Him and them was interrupted, under His judgment of their state. How could there be priesthood when the ark of the covenant, the ground of all their relationship with God and the basis of priesthood, was lost to them, and in the hands of the Philistines? 1 Sam. 2:35, according to the type, had its fulfillment under Solomon. (See 1 Kings 2:27,35.) It will have its complete and final fulfillment when Christ shall be King in Jerusalem, and Ezek. 44:15 has reference to the establish ment of the priesthood according to this prophecy.

Assembly and Assemblies

THERE is a tendency in our minds, natural to us all and one that we cannot too sedulously seek to avoid, and that is, to go to scripture to substantiate some thought already existing in our minds, or to find in scripture the grounds on which to support a line of conduct on which we have already entered. We think none of our readers will deny this, or how great the watchfulness required to preserve us from falling into this snare. Nor is it enough to have this danger before us; nothing but divine power -God's answer to a willess and truly dependent heart -can save us, even unconsciously to ourselves, from falling into it.

It is with such thoughts, and looking to the Lord to be ourselves preserved from this tendency, we would take up our pen, to say a few words to our readers on the important subject that heads our paper; having this encouragement for ourselves and them, that if we honestly lend our ears to Him who has said, " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me; if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself," He will surely give certainty to our minds, and, with this, decision of action as to the important question that is before us. May God help us, one and all, to desire only " to do his will."

We cannot refrain from saying here, that, to our mind, a recent paper in our pages, and another with remarks on it, bear very plain marks of the tendency we have referred to; and (though unintentionally and unconsciously in both instances, we quite believe) scripture has been brought forward to justify a supposed line of conduct, or to prove a foregone conclusion of the mind. It is not our intention to criticize these papers, or to show where we think that both fail-though in different directions -to present the true teaching of God's word on the subject taken up; as we believe it will best serve the only desire of our heart-namely, the edification of our readers-to trace from scripture the way in which the Spirit of God respectively uses the term, " assembly," and " assemblies."

When divine principles, which never can be set aside, possess the soul, the details of conduct in carrying out these principles, however important in themselves, and surely matters of sorrow and shame when failure enters into them, are of secondary importance, nor are we concerned to justify all the details if the principle that underlies them is maintained. In saying this, we by no means wish to make light of failure in details of conduct, but merely bring into relief the importance of the principle involved over the manner of carrying it out. The real strength of any position is found in its principle, though failure in the detail of carrying it out lays the principle open to attack, and the importance of the detail lies in this fact, and in this way. Not only does the failure in detail give the enemy a positive advantage, but seeing that the failure in detail has flowed from want of waiting on God and being subject to His word, in His righteous ways, though He will surely vindicate His own principles and thus in the end those who have stood for them, He must chasten them for their failures, for their own good as well as His own glory. " God," we read, "made known his ways unto Moses," but as to them Moses failed in detail to " sanctify " God " before the people." He was chastened for it, how unsparingly we all know. This is a solemn thought.

When great issues are at stake, those who are governed by principle are thrown together to maintain it, while those who are occupied mainly with details are often in anxiety and distress, a source of weakness to the others, and may even ally themselves with those who are attacking the principle and opposing those who, right in principle, may have failed in their manner of carrying it out. This is a very subtle and successful maneuver of the enemy, by which he enlists in the ranks of those who are his direct instruments of evil even true-hearted and conscientious souls. The scriptures themselves, with lowliness of heart, are our safeguard against this kind of thing, and thus only shall we be able to say with the One, who is at once our Guide and Pattern, " concerning the works of men, by the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." (Psa. 17:4.)

But to return to the subject in hand. Writing, as we do, for those who know and rejoice in the oneness of the body-the assembly-and who stand together upon this ground, and bow to the responsibility of manifesting this oneness in their communion and discipline, we shall not take up the scriptures that touch upon this general truth, but only those that plainly refer to the gathering together of believers in distinct localities-cities or towns, and in districts. The point to seize is, how does God regard them, and speak of them in His word? This settled, questions of communion and discipline come in, subsidiary to this fundamental point.

Beginning with Jerusalem, where the church began, and got its first general as well as local expression, and where there were at least five thousand saints gathered to the Lord's name, we read in Acts 8:1, " The assembly that was at Jerusalem;" Acts 11:22, " the assembly which was in Jerusalem;" Acts 15:4, " When they were come to Jerusalem they were received of the assembly," and verse 22, " then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole assembly."

Passing on to Antioch, the Gentile center of God's ways, we read Acts 13:1, " There were in the assembly that was at Antioch;" Acts 14:27, " when they were come, and had gathered the assembly together;" Acts 15:3, " being brought on their way by the assembly."

Then as to other places, we read Acts 20:17, " Re sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the assembly;" Revelation ii. 1, " unto the angel of the assembly of Ephesus."

Rom. 16:1, " Servant of the assembly which is at Cenchrea."

1 Cor. 1:2, " the assembly of God which is at

Corinth;" 2 Cor. 2:1, " unto the assembly of God which is at Corinth."

Colossians iv, 16, "read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans;" Rev. 3:14, " unto the angel of the assembly of the Laodiceans."

1 Thess. 1:1, " unto the assembly of the Thessalonians;" 2 Thess. 1:1, " unto the assembly of the Thessalonians."

Rev. 2:8, " unto the angel of the assembly in Smyrna."

Rev. 2:12, " unto the angel of the assembly in Pergamos."

Rev. 2:18, " unto the angel of the assembly in Thyatira."

Rev. 3:1, " unto the angel of the assembly of Sardis."

Rev. 3:7, " unto the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia."

So far as we have gone it has been a question of cities or towns, and uniformly the term "assembly " has been used in every case. We will now look at how they are viewed when districts or countries are in question, and in Acts 9:31 we read, " Then had the assemblies rest throughout all Judaea, and Galilee and Samaria."

Acts 15:41, " he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies."

1 Cor. 16:1, " as I have given order to the assemblies of Galatia;" Gal. 1:2, " unto the assemblies of Galatia."

1 Cor. 16:19, " the assemblies of Asia salute you;" Rev. 1:4, " John, to the seven assemblies which are in Asia;" and verse 11, " unto the seven assemblies which are in Asia."

2 Cor. 8:1, " the grace of God bestowed on the assemblies of Macedonia."

Gal. 1:22, " unto the assemblies of Judaea;" 1 Thess. 2:14, " of the assemblies of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus."

In every case where districts or countries are spoken of, " assemblies " is the term used; as before, in every case where cities or towns are spoken of, " assembly " is the term used. The voice of scripture is plain and undeviating on this point. It is no question of founding a theory or deducing a doctrine as to the use of these terms. The facts are unmistakable:-all the children of God in a city are viewed as one " assembly," and, as a consequence, where districts containing many cities are in question, " assemblies " are spoken of. The distinction is as simple as it is inevitable. Never in one instance does scripture speak of " assemblies " in a city or town.

Now, as another has observed, " assemblies are the administrative form;" while " the assembly, as a body on the earth, is the vital unity," and consequently wherever found " the assembly of God " is one; but in saying that " assemblies are the administrative form," as in contrast with the body-the assembly, it is not meant that " assemblies " are merely the local gatherings of the one assembly of God for worship, communion, and edification, into which the question of numbers and distance may enter, as hindering all the saints in a city or town assembling in one room. For these purposes there may be many gatherings together of believers in one city, but as representing Christ's authority there, and thus " the assembly " as a whole, there is but " the assembly " in a city.

It is of all importance, in order to get the true force of the assembly in a city, to see this distinction. It is in this connection that the teaching of the Lord in Matt. 18 comes in, not only as providing for the practical gathering together of saints for worship, communion, and edification, but specially as laying the ground for saints, gathered together to Christ's name in unity by the Spirit's power, to maintain His authority on earth as ruling in •God's house, even though there might be only " two or three " who have faith to take this place. " Tell it to the assembly," is to the assembly in the town or city where the offender resided, because the authority and power of Christ, and thus the authority for discipline was vested in the assembly as constituted in this form-that is, as acting for Christ in that town or city; and with this, there being but one Lord and one Spirit, its decisions would have force everywhere.

The application, by the apostle Paul, of the ground given in Matt. 18 to the assembly at Corinth, for the purpose of discipline, is beyond question. He says, " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ," as giving them authority and power to deal with evil, they were to put from amongst themselves the wicked person. And be it noted here, that it is no question of arriving at a judgment as to whether the person ought to be put away, but of doing it to one whose case was decided upon. If a person is judged to be a wicked person (and that is a question of proof), the assembly has to put him away, and for this they have the Lord's authority, as acting in His name in the unity of the Spirit, and simple obedience to His word.

It is plain from this that Matt. 18 attaches the authority to bind and loose to those gathered to Christ as His assembly in every distinct locality. The decision or judgment as to whether any one ought to be put away is another question, and might be arrived at by saints, in any local gathering of the saints called for this purpose; and of course this would be where the evidence and facts concerning the case were best known and most conveniently arrived at, and so far as deciding that the case ought to be dealt with might be arrived at entirely amongst those who, for convenience sake, were meeting anywhere in the city or town for this purpose; but the power to actually put away belongs to the assembly as a whole, and can only be done by the assembly as such. In speaking of a " local gathering of saints," we do not mean merely what is termed " a brothers' meeting," but of saints gathered locally to the Lord's, name and having Him in their midst to guide them to a right judgment, which judgment would subsequently be communicated to the whole assembly and then acted upon.

The detail of how the whole of an assembly in a city. or at least-now that ruin has come in so that none can claim to be " the one assembly " to the exclusion of all other believers in the place-of those truly acting on this ground, may be carried into effect, does not affect the principle in question, and that is, that the one assembly in a place, or all those acting on this ground, alone can put away. We may remark here that two or three even, taking this ground, as acting in Christ's name for the " assembly " in a city, make no claim to be " the one assembly" there, for the totality of the saints in a city constitute " the assembly " in the full sense of the word; and moreover saints are not ever members of the local assembly, but of " the body-the assembly." There being two or more gatherings in a city for purposes of worship, communion, and edification does not affect or trench upon the authority for discipline that is vested in the one assembly which these two or more gatherings, as a mere matter of numbers or convenience, make up.

Another thing it is necessary to be clear upon, and that is, that when there are several gatherings in a city, none of these gatherings in their individuality, or separately, represents the whole assembly in the city, and much less the assembly at large, whether as acting separately or with the concurrence of the others; independency or concurrence is not the point. The assembly in the city as a whole, acting as one and at the same time, alone does this; and the confusion and division that Satan and man in his self will have introduced into the assembly, do not touch this principle, nor is the power gone to make good this principle. The Holy Ghost, who gathers saints together in a city to the name of Jesus, is with those so gathered, in power as well as grace, to make good the fact that they are one assembly. In a large city where there may be a number of gatherings and some at a distance from one another, there may be difficulties as to details of ac Lion, but God has power over all difficulties, and therefore all that is wanted is faith and obedience as looking towards Him, and patience and waiting on one another, as looking towards saints.

That all the saints at Jerusalem were one assembly, and acted as one assembly in discipline, no one reading, with a subject mind, the account given in the Acts of its formation and growth, and specially its practical actings as given us in chapter 15. can entertain a doubt, and yet that, for the general purposes of worship, communion and edification, they met separately is pretty plain from chapter 2. 46. Whether in Corinth there were many separate gatherings we know not, but that all the saints there formed but one assembly, and thus, as such, represented the whole church, the two epistles to the Corinthians are too plain a proof to be gainsaid.

Whilst attempting to define the principle of " the assembly in a city " and, so far as it goes, one detail in connection with it, we feel it necessary to guard against a wrong application of what we have said. Things are not, as we have already observed, in the state they were when these principles had their first expression, and 2 Tim. 2-the whole church having " become a great house," and as a whole corrupted-lays down a principle in connection with this subject that takes precedence of every other; that is, that God being the center of all unity, His holiness, and thus separation to Himself from all evil, must be the basis of all gathering to Christ's name. Now it might happen that the whole assembly in a city, or those gathered on this principle, had become so corrupted, or involved in evil by the inability or refusal of any part to act in a case of evil, that it would become necessary for the saints by individual gatherings, or, if none were to be found to act together, for the saints individually to separate from it so as to keep with God, and then reconstitute the assembly upon the immutable principles of God's house.

The question for saints now is this, Are we, in order to solve a difficulty, to give up all that scripture so plainly teaches, and the ground, too, that, by grace, those truly gathered to the Lord's name have for the last fifty years stood upon; and has some new light dawned upon us, setting aside these scriptures and the interpretation, that for so many years those most instructed in the things and ways of God, had put upon them?

In conclusion, we feel it due to the Lord, as well as to our readers, to say that we think it was a grave mistake to insert any of the papers on " the church in a city " in our pages. However simple and sincere our own motives in doing so, we feel it has laid us open to the charge of propagating what is erroneous, or at least doubtful, in order to arrive at the truth. We see that we have thus raised questions instead of simply edifying our readers, and this humbles and saddens, but at the same time casts us more entirely upon Him who, in His tender grace, can turn all our mistakes, at least where the will does not enter, to His own glory and the lasting blessing of His own. c. w.

The True Power of Gathering to the Name of Jesus

IT is with God we have to do when we meet in the name of Jesus, and in dependence on His blessed Spirit as present among us. We may meet on this or that principle, seen as a principle, embraced as a principle, sought to be acted on as a principle, without seeing or having to do with God in it at all. This I fear has too often been done, and thus when trouble has arisen, principle has been no defense, security, or comfort; discouragement has ensued, and by- and-by a return to former things has taken place. On the other hand, where it has been done in faith to God-where it has really been the meeting Him, and leaning upon Him-He has kept down the forwardness of the flesh, or if it has appeared, saints have not been dismayed, but have the more cried to Him, who is in the midst of every two or three gathered in His name, and have had their faith in Him strengthened, by seeing His hand correct the evil, instead of seeking to correct it themselves by plans and arrangements of their own.

My own experience and observations have been very limited; but within that sphere I have never known any abuse of the open door for ministry amongst us, except in two or three instances, in which a little patient waiting on God soon brought the remedy, through God's marvelous grace. W. T.

The Atonement: Part 2

BUT in the cross perfect righteousness against sin is displayed and exercised, and infinite love to the sinner. God is glorified in His nature, and salvation to the vilest and access to God, according to the holiness of that nature, provided for and made good, and this in the knowledge, as the conscious object of it, of the love that had brought it there; a perfect and cleansing work in which that love was known. Thus, while the sins were put away, and could only be by the cross, God was revealed in love; God holy and righteous against sin, while the sins of the sinner were put away, his conscience purged, and, by grace, his heart renewed in the knowledge of a, love beyond all his thoughts; himself reconciled to God, and God glorified in all that He is, as He could not else be perfect access to God in the holiest, where that blood the testimony to all this, has been presented to God, and the sins gone forever, according to God's righteousness; while the sinner has the consciousness of being accepted according to the value of that sacrifice, in which God has been perfectly glorified, so that the glory of God and the sinner's presence there were identified. Angels would learn, and principalities, and powers, what they could learn nowhere else.

And this marks the two parts of propitiation-man's responsibility, and access to God, given according to His glory and nature; in the sin borne, and put away, the scapegoat, God judging evil according to what man ought to be; and access to God according to what He is. The last specifically characterizes the Christian; but the former was necessary, and accomplished for every one that believes; both by the same work of the cross, but each distinct. Judicial dealing, according to man's responsibility; access to God, according to His nature and holiness. The law itself was the 'measure of the former— the child of Adam's duty; the nature of God the latter; so that we have the infinite blessedness of being with God, according to His nature and perfection, partaking of the divine nature, so as to be able to enjoy it, holy, and without blame before Him in love. Of this, Christ as man, and, we must add, as Son withal, is the measure and perfection; and let it not be said that, if we partake of this nature, we need not this propitiation and substitution. This can only be said, or supposed, by those who have not got it, because, if we partake of the divine nature, we judge of sin, in principle, as God does, we have His mind as to it, and, as upright, of ourselves as in it, and so come, as I have said, first in lowliness, in our need, to the cross; and thus, purged in conscience, comprehend the glory of God in it. These two points, in their general aspect, are clearly presented in Heb. 9:26-28 " Christ appeared once, in the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." It is carried out in application in chapter 10., where we have no more conscience of sins, and boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus

But this leads us to a still wider bearing of the work of the cross. The whole question of good and evil was brought to an issue there. Man, in absolute wickedness, and hatred against God manifested in goodness and love; Satan's whole power as prince of this world, and having the power of death; man in perfect goodness in Christ, obedience and love to His Father, and this in the place of sin as made it, for it was there the need was for God's glory and eternal redemption; God in perfect righteousness and majesty, and in perfect love. So that all was perfectly settled, morally and forever. The fruits will be only complete in the new heavens and new earth, though the value of that work be now known to faith; but what is eternal is settled forever by it, for its value is such, and cannot change.

Propitiation, then, meets our sins through grace, according to God's holy nature, to which it is presented, and which has been fully glorified in it. It meets the requirements of that nature, yet is it perfect love to us -love indeed, only thus known as wrought between Christ and God alone, the only part we had in it being our sins, and the hatred to God which killed Christ.

But it does more, being according to God's nature, and all that nature is in every respect, it not only judicially meets what is required by reason of our sins-man's failure in duty, and his guilt, but it opens access into the presence of God Himself, known in that nature which has been glorified in it. Love, God in love working unsought, has, through grace, made us love, and we are reconciled to God Himself, according to all that He is, our conscience having been purged, according to His glory, so that love may be in unhindered confidence.

Man sits at the right hand of God in virtue of it, and our souls can delight in all that God is, our conscience being made perfect by that which has been wrought. No enfeebling or lowering the holiness of God in His judicial estimate of, and dealing with, sin: on the contrary, all that He is thus glorified; no pleading goodness to make sin light, but God, in the will and love of salvation, met in that judgment and holiness, and the soul brought to walk in the light, as He is in the light, and in the love which is His being and nature, without blame before Him; a perfect conscience, so as to be free before Him, but a purged one, which has judged of sin as He does, but learned what sin is in the putting of it away. Without the atonement or propitiation of Christ this is impossible. God is not brought in, it is but human goodness, -which drops holiness, and overlooks sin, or estimates it according to mere natural conscience. Christ has died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.

It is not innocence, for the knowledge of good and evil is there, but the slighting of God, and an unpurged conscience, not even the return to the former state of Adam (not knowing good and evil-innocent), but God fully revealed, and known in majesty, and light, and love, and we brought to Him, according to that revelation, in perfect peace and joy, by a work done for us, which has met and glorified His majesty, and light, and love, in the place of sin, as made it, by Him who knew no sin.

The full result will only be in the new heavens and new earth, the eternal state of blessedness, a condition of happiness not dependent on fulfilling the responsibility in which he who enjoyed it was placed, and in which he failed, but based on a finished work, accomplished to the glory of God, in the very place of ruin, the value of which can never in the nature of things change; it is according to the nature and character of God it is done, and is always what it is, and all is eternally stable. Righteousness, not innocence, dwells in the new heavens and the new earth, not feeble man responsible, but God glorified for evermore.

The result is not all there yet; but we know that the work is done, through the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and wait as believers for our position in the rest when all shall be accomplished, accepted in the Beloved.

Judgment is according to man's responsibility, shut out, then, judicially into that exclusion from God into which man has cast himself. Blessing is according to the thoughts, and purpose, and nature of God, in the exceeding riches of His grace, displayed in our salvation through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, come to bring us into His presence as sons.

Sin and sins are before God in the cross, and propitiation wrought. There sin and sins met God but in the work of love, according to holiness and righteousness, which brings to God, according to His nature, those who come to Him by it, cleared from them all forever.-J. N. D.

(Concluded from page 97.)

The Books of the Bible: Part 3, Lamentations - Malachi

LAMENTATIONS of Jeremiah anciently formed an appendix to the book of that prophet. The utter desolation of Judah, especially of Jerusalem, is expressed in touching strains of grief and anguish, every letter is written with a tear, and every word is the sound of a broken heart. The immediate occasion on which these lamentations were composed was the death of the last godly king of Judah, Josiah; in his death the national hopes were for the time being lost. (2 Chron. 35:25.) Chapter 1, Jerusalem utterly desolate; chapter 2., not the sword of the Chaldean, but Jehovah the author of Jerusalem's ruin; chapter EL, the prophet identifying himself with the afflicted people, because they are Jehovah's; chapter 4, Jehovah has judged His people and will assuredly judge their and His enemies. Chapter 5., Jehovah's gracious character appealed to in the confidence of faith. The alphabetical structure of these chapters according to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, save the last chapter, is not marked in our English bibles.

EZEKIEL resided with his family at Tel Abil, on the banks of the river Chebar. His house became a favorite resort for his exiled countrymen. (See chap. 8,14,21.) The prophecies contained in this book are arranged in chronological order, unlike those in Jeremiah, in which the moral order is that adopted by the Spirit. These striking prophecies were uttered during a period of 22 years, and in the land of Mesopotamia, where large numbers of both Israel and Judah were located: the former by the Assyrians, the latter at a later epoch by the Babylonians; chapters 1-24, chronologically arranged prophecies bearing upon the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans chapters 25-39, judgment upon those nations who assisted or sympathized in the ruin of Judah: this judgment goes on embracing Gog and her allies in the closing days; chapters 40.-48., Israel's millennial arrangements as to her land, city, and temple.

DANIEL, of the seed-royal of Judah, was taken captive at the first Babylonian invasion of Judea, and was quickly raised to the exalted position of prime minister, which office he continued to occupy through successive reigns, surviving the Babylonian dynasty, and on to the third year of Cyrus the Persian. In these prophecies, which were uttered in and about the royal court, the rise, course, and doom of Gentile power is calmly and solemnly announced, as also the connection between Daniel's people, the Jews, and the Gentiles in the latter day. Chapters 1-7, " the times of the Gentiles," or general history of the four universal empires, but in their connection with the Jews; chapters 8-12, the latter day circumstances of apostate Judah and of apostate Gentile power. (Read chapters 2. and 7. with chapters13. and 27. of the Revelation.)

HOSEA wore the prophetic mantle for about sixty years, and it will be observed from the opening verse of the book, the time, length, and persons embraced in his prophetic ministry. Both houses of Israel, and not the Gentiles at all, are the subjects of these signs and stirring appeals to the conscience. Chapters 1-3, God's dispensational ways set forth under striking prophetic signs and symbols; chapters 4-14, all Israel, as also Ephraim and Judah severally, morally appealed to, and their sins faithfully declared.

JOEL enlarges upon " the day of the Lord," making Jerusalem the center, and certain local judgments the historical ground-work. These prophecies suppose Israel, or at least Judah, restored to her land, and the northeastern Gentiles gathering with one accord against the ancient people as before; but Jehovah roars out of Zion, and speaks from Jerusalem in awful judgment upon the nations, and Judah is remembered in everlasting mercy. Yea, " all flesh " of which Pentecost was a pledge and sample, will share in the heavenly blessing.

Amos has his great burden-judgment upon all Israel, as also upon those nations bordering upon Immanuel's land and which are to be incorporated within the territory prophetically assigned to Israel, but in the end glory breaks for Jehovah's people, beloved for the fathers' sake; and the ruined tabernacle of David will be raised up and glory once again fill the land. Chapters judgment upon Israel, Judah, Tire, Moab, Edom, &c., but with special reference to the former; chapters 7-9, symbolic visions and signs, first of judgment, then of rich blessing upon all Israel.

OBADIAH is a short prophecy of about 21 verses; announces the doom of Edom-a mountainous country of but 100 miles in length, and inhabited by the warlike descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. The perpetual hatred of this people to Israel is presented as the cause of their utter destruction, whose country then becomes the everlasting possession of Israel.

JONAH was one of the earliest of the Judah prophets (2 Kings 14:25), and no doubt the Gentile mission on which he was sent-so distasteful to a Jew-was the reason of his vain attempt to get outside the range of God's presence and action. God's governmental ways with nations as witnessed in His dealings with Nineveh, the proud capital of the Assyrian kingdom, as also the personal history and circumstances of the prophet, make the book an exceedingly important and valuable one. Jehovah, Jonah, and Nineveh are so wrought up that it is scarcely possible to divide the book-it requires to be read as a whole.

MICAH was a contemporary with Isaiah and describes millennial blessedness in almost the same terms as that sublime prophet. (See 4. 1-3 with Isa. 2:2-4.) Jerusalem and Samaria, the respective capitals of the two kingdoms, are specially singled out as objects of divine judgment. Here also the place of the Savior's birth is named. Chapters 1,2, Jehovah's universal summons and judgment announced, especially on Judah; chapters 3-5., the civil and ecclesiastical leaders of Israel are here addressed, yet in this section the prophetic intimation of blessing and glory are in grandeur and fullness unequaled in the sure word of prophecy; chapters vi., vii., the Lord's controversy with His people.

NAHUM announces the certain doom of Nineveh, which had been spared for nigh a century and a half because of its repentance under the preaching of Jonah. That wonderful city, of immense size and strength, sustained a siege of about two years under the combined forces of the Medes and Babylonians. Its utter destruction however was decreed by God, and so it fell to rise no more in the year 625, B.C. Chapter 1, the character of Jehovah is grandly celebrated and Judah remembered in blessing; chapters ii. And 3., character of Nineveh " the bloody city," with details of its lengthened siege and capture.

HABAKKUK intimates the impending ruin of Judah by the Chaldeans, who in turn become the object of divine judgment; the character of these northern invaders of Palestine, as also the prophet's personal identification with the people, impart a peculiar charm to this book. Chapter 1, the prophet in trouble as he contemplates the march of the ravaging Chaldean through the land; chapter 2. the prophet in faith ascends his, watch-tower, and from thence beheld the judgment of the Chaldean; chapter 3., the prophet's sublime and fervent prayer to Jehovah.

ZEPHANIAH has as his text the expression " day of the Lord," which occurs fourteen times in the first chapter. The judgments here announced are universal in extent, yet most minute-none escape. Iniquity, judgment, and glory, are the themes of our prophet. Chapter 1, the whole land devoured by the fire of the Lord's jealousy; chapter 2., the God-fearing exhorted to seek the Lord, so that they may be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger upon the heathen; chapter 3., latter-day judgment upon the assembled heathen, and rich blessings for Israel.

HAGGAI is one of the post-captive prophets, and contains four messages carefully dated hi each case.

Chapter 1, or message one, the people's indifference to Jehovah and His interests; chapter 2. 1-9, or message two, the latter glory, or the millennial temple, Israel's encouragement; chapter 2. 10-19, or messages three, the people called to consider their ways; chapter 2. 20-23, or message four, Jehovah will overturn all opposing powers and kingdoms.

ZECHARIAH has Jerusalem in the fore front of these prophecies and details connected with the last days of Gentile supremacy over Judah. Chapters 1-6, blessing of Jerusalem and Judah, with judgment upon the Gentile opposers of God's people, presented in a series As remarkable visions-all seen in one night; chapters 7-14, this pre-eminently millennial section concerns Jews and Gentiles alike, both for judgment and blessing, Jerusalem being prominent.

MALACHI unfolds the moral condition of all classes of the returned remnants of Judah from the Babylon exile, and leaves them thus till the coming of John Baptist. Chapters 1,2, the sin of the people, and of the priests, in view of Jehovah's grace and claims, chapters 3,4, Jehovah coming in grace (chap.3), thus in judgment (chap. 4.), and a godly remnant separated from the mass distinguished. w. S.

(Concluded from page 103.)

A Weighty Word on the Praise of Men

My Dear Friend and Brother in Jesus Christ

It gives me much pleasure to see your translation of I reserve the pleasure of reading it, or rather of having it read to me, for moments in which the Lord says to us, as He did to the apostles," Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile." But I cannot refrain from telling you, my dear friend, that the pleasure that the appearance of your work gave me has been some what abated by the far too favorable opinion which you have expressed in your preface respecting me. Before I had read a word of your translation, I made a present of a copy to a very dear and sincere friend of mine, who brought me word that you had spoken in praise of my piety in your preface. The passage produced the same effect on my friend that it did on me, when I afterward saw it. I hope, therefore, that you will not take it in ill-part what I am about to say to you on the subject, and which is the fruit of a tolerably long experience.

Pride is the greatest of all evils that beset us, and, of all our enemies, it is that which dies the slowest and hardest even the children of the world are able to discern this. Madame De Stael said, on her death-bed, " Do you know what is the last to die in man? It is self-love." God hates pride above all things, because it gives to man the place that belongs to Him who is above, exalted over all. Pride intercepts communion with God, and draws down His chastisement, for God resists the proud. He will destroy the name of the proud, and we are told that there is a day appointed when the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man laid low. I am sure, then, you will feel, my dear friend, that one man cannot do another a greater injury than by praising him, and feeding his pride. " He that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a snare for his feet," and " a flattering mouth worketh ruin." Be assured, moreover, that we are far too short-sighted to be able to judge of the degree of our brother's piety; we are not able to judge it aright without the balance of the sanctuary, and that is in the hand of Him who searches the heart. Judge nothing, therefore, before the time, until the Lord come, and makes manifest the counsels of the heart, and renders to every man his praise. Till then, let us not judge of our brethren, whether for good or for evil, but with becoming moderation, and remember that the surest and best judgment is what we form of ourselves when we esteem others better than ourselves.

If I were to ask you how you know that I am one of the most advanced in the Christian career, and an eminent servant of God, you would, no doubt, be at a great loss to reply. You would, perhaps, cite my published works, but do you not know, my dear friend and brother, you, who can preach an edifying sermon as well as I can, that the eyes see further than the feet go, and that, unhappily, we are not always, nor in all things, what our sermons are; that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. I will not tell you the opinion I have of myself, for, in doing so, I shall probably, all the while, be seeking my own glory; and while seeking my own glory, appear humble, which I am not. I had rather tell you what our Master thinks of me-He that searches the heart, and speaks the truth, who is the Amen, the faithful Witness, and has often spoken in my inmost soul, and I thank Him for it; but, believe me, He has never told me I am an " eminent Christian, and advanced in the ways of godliness." On the contrary, He tells me very plainly that if I knew my own place, I should find it that of the chief of sinners, and least of all saints. His judgment, surely, my dear friend, I should take rather than yours.

The most eminent Christian is one of those of whom no one has ever heard speak, some poor laborer, or servant, whose whole is Christ, and who does all for His eye, and His alone. The first shall be last. Let us be persuaded, my dear friend, to praise the Lord alone. He only is worthy of being praised, revered, and adored. His goodness is never sufficiently celebrated. The song of the blessed (Rev. 5) praises none but Him who redeemed them with His blood. It contains not one word of praise for any of their own number-not a word that classes them into eminent, or not eminent-all distinctions are lost in the common title, the redeemed, which is the happiness and glory of their whole body. Let us strive to bring our hearts into unison with that song in which we all hope that our feeble voices will one day mingle. This will be our happiness, even here below, and contribute to God's glory, which is wronged by the praise that Christians the often bestow on each other. We cannot have two mouths-one for God's praise, and one for man's. May we, then, do now what the seraphim do above, who with two wings cover their faces, as a token of their confusion before the holy presence of the Lord; with two cover their feet, as if to hide their steps from themselves; and with the remaining two fly to execute their Lord's will, while they cry, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, all the earth is full of thy glory."

Excuse these few lines of Christian exhortation, which I am sure will, sooner or later, become useful to you, by becoming part of your own experience. Remember me in your prayers, as I pray that the blessing of the Lord may rest upon you and your labors. If ever you print another edition-as I hope you will-strike out, if you please, the two passages to which I have drawn your attention; and call me simply " a brother, and minister in the Lord."

This is honor enough, and needs no addition.

Your friend and brother,

1847. J. N. D.

The New Creation and the Ministry

ONE can only say that such a scripture as this, and such a record of the devotedness and self-surrender of the ministry of those days, makes us look very small, if, on the other hand, it makes us great, by the place in which it sets us; but it is always that way; it is the small people that are great, and the great people that are small, and if there be any attempt at being great in ourselves, we only prove ourselves to be small. God cannot allow man to boast, and we travel much nearer to man in that form than we are, perhaps, aware of.

We have before us here, in the opening part, " the love of Christ constraineth us," &c., and " henceforth know we no man after the flesh," &c. Now in what way are we accustomed to look at mankind? We might put it very near home in this way. We are influenced by the different relationships we are in in this world, and we are accustomed to make differences between one man and another in approaching them. The apostle says, " know no man after the flesh," therefore all that we really know as servants of Christ, is, a man in Christ; or, a man out of Christ; just a soul to be saved.

The world at large before the Christian that is in his true place, can only be looked at as composed of those associated with Christ, or just simply souls to be saved. To recognize no one after the flesh, to ignore that ground altogether, puts a weapon in our hand; it puts us in this attitude towards each: is he a saved soul, or a lost soul? has he peace, or not? and that alone is the ground of action towards him. As to ourselves, the conscience is just the thing to be kept, if you have got peace in your soul; on the ground of that peace, if you keep a good conscience, you will be in the right place. It is want of keeping a good conscience that has put so many Christians in a wrong place, but if you keep a good conscience, you will be found in the true place, along with those who are keeping the truth, and walking in truth.

Therefore the apostle is careful to put it before us-"know no man after the flesh"-a different order, so to speak. And what is the order? Where all things are of God; God the source of everything-a new creation.. God was in Christ, reconciling to Himself, and then, in advance, is committed unto them the word of this reconciliation-Christ having been made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Then comes in the character of the ministry, the manner and way of the bearers of it; a wonderful thing this ministry; that is what makes us small, the contrast with what, we know ourselves to be; we came so very far behind practically. It was a wonderful ministry in those days, and the result of entire separation to God.

At the end of the chapter we have two things brought, out in a very marked way-the conditional and the unconditional. All that we have and are in Christ is unconditional; all strength, and support, and enjoyment here, conditional. God reveal ed Himself unconditionally, when He brought His people out of Egypt, as Jehovah. He was then a deliverer-God. He came down to deliver them; there could be no condition in that. But to Abraham He said, " Walk before me, and be thou perfect," &c.; there is the condition. Nevertheless, it is association with God as the Almighty God, so there is no lack of power. How so? Because God has not changed. A wonderful thing to think that we are in the place where we want for nothing, because in the place of power, knowing that the power is there, whether we realize it, or not. Why, then, are we always wanting something, morally, or secularly, or religiously, or what not? God says, " Walk before me, and be thou perfect; I am the Almighty God:" and so to us; " Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

May the Lord, in His infinite grace, keep us so conscious of the place He has brought us into unconditionally, that we may walk worthy of it, and thus enjoy, in their fullest extent, all the conditional blessings that belong to it. W. F. B.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: The Influence of a Wife

DEAR —, Be assured you shall have my prayers, as I am sure you will of many other saints.... It is a serious position in which you are placed, not only, as it ever is, the influence that a wife exercises on a Christian in danger (as the apostle teaches us) of caring for the things of the world to please his wife, but the rather in the case of a workman of the Lord, and who has been blessed as such, you may be blessed to your husband if God graciously leave you together in this poor world, as strengthening and comforting and encouraging him, and praying for him in the weariness and trials which accompany the service. But do not seek to relax his energy. A wife sometimes likes to have her husband for herself, and when her husband is the Lord's laborer, it is a great evil. I have known a wife spoil a laborer, and a husband as to herself too, in this way. A husband is bound to care for his wife, consider her, and do anything but neglect her; it is surely most evil and sad when he does. But the wife of a laborer for the Lord must put his work and labor before herself; or rather it should be herself too, and this can only be when she lives with and for the Lord. The world claims it, and officers' wives must take their chance, so to speak, and cannot help themselves. But sometimes we grudge so much to the Lord. But a wise wife, who seeks first the Lord herself, puts Him first for her husband, and does not love him the less. It is a bond, and her husband will honor and value her, and so will the Lord too.

Another danger is when a wife likes to see her husband made much of. Very natural; but I have seen laborers wholly spoiled by this, creating ill-feeling in his mind, because he had not the importance she thinks he ought to have, and irritating him against others. Let her honor him-all right-and minister to his service all she can, but remember he is the Lord's servant, and keep peacefully in her own place, not meddling with his relationships to his labor in a flock amongst whom he may be, only helping as she may very much in it, and leaving there. Women often see things or motives clearer than men; °but if they act by insinuations or small means in these things, it is ruinous. Let them be with the Lord for themselves if their own pride is wounded (for it is their own) in their husband.

Having said these two or three words, with the privilege of an old man before whom many things, and sometimes sorrowful ones, have passed, I have only to beg you to be assured that I have done so, as I now write, really in sincere sympathy and desire of a full blessing. May He be with you! Many and rich blessings flow from Him in these channels, if we look to Him in them. Trials? Yes. God sanctions fully all these natural relationships; hut sin being in the world, sorrow will follow in their track. But the gracious Lord is come where sin and sorrow had come, no doubt to raise us to far higher blessings, but not to forget us in the path of trial in which we walk down here. He could be moved with compassion when He saw the sorrow, and He has learned His lesson well, and can look to and feel for us now.

But your privilege is to live with your husband as heirs together of the grace of life; and then all will be well even in a world of sorrow; and I can only trust you may find abundant communion with him and joy, and joy together in it. Make, and may he make, the Lord. the first object, the real bond, and the rest will come. And remember, a laborer's wife (as indeed any) must be first with the Lord, and then not be curious about his labor, and all that passes; but his comfort and encouragement, his cheer in it, and sharer in his sorrows because she lives with the Lord.

Very truly yours in Him,

J. N. D.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D: An Answer to a Question About Divorce

My DEAR BROTHER, Thank you very much for your letter and account of Ireland. I bless God with all my heart for the blessing He has given and for the part you have had in it through grace. Be assured of my unfeigned sympathy in your proposed union. Always a serious thing, it is doubly so for you, occupied as you have been in the Lord's work; for it is, and specially in such cases, a help or a great hindrance, even where there is genuine affection, and the Lord is not individually the first object, because each will have the other for themselves. I pray you may be blessed. It is a serious thing beginning, when in. the work, life afresh, so to speak; but it may be a help-meet and a resource in solitary labor. I am passing out of the world even humanly, though at present gradually, for though fagged, I am very well, but have only to say, my salvation is nearer than when I believed. You are, so to speak, entering into it, for it is a new life. To carry your wife to a home, be she ever so devoted, is another thing than going as a preacher. This is a serious thing, I do not mean not a right thing: it may be the very best thing possible for you. I only say a serious thing-makes me think of you and pray for you, as I do, that God may make it minister in much blessing to you, and even to your work. If you go to Australia and New Zealand, it may be a great thing for you. The gracious Lord guide and bless you abundantly in your soul and in your work!..

Ever, dear brother, affectionately yours,

1872. J. N. D.

MY DEAR BROTHER, I write to reply to your question at the close of your letter, though most thankful to get your account of the work. The only difficulty with me is the question whether the law of C... does not require a formal divorce in these cases. If it does not, I should just leave the matter where it is. In the first place what was done originally was before her conversion, but when the unbeliever leaves, the other party is free according to 1 Cor. 7 and if a divorce be not required she is free according to the law of man (if it be, there is irregularity which perhaps may be rectified). As the man had left her she practically entered. the church of God as a lone woman, and I do not occupy myself with what was before, unless sin to be repented of When I meet her now I meet her as one whom the law considers free, and the previous desertion left her free when deliberately done, if I take Christian ground. I may regret her doing it, and do as to the manner of it. But as unconverted I recognize nothing before unless sin: say a heathen, he may as such have had and left twenty wives, I ignore it all when he is converted. Being abandoned, she did not stand as a married woman, when she married-unless a formal divorce was required.

In England the courts hold a woman free after seven years, the husband not being heard of, but there is no law to say so. I know not how it is in C.... I question it a little unless it be known to be so. But I do not think a deserted woman could be held to perpetual celibacy where the law recognized her as free. Many questions would arise as to her conduct. Did she tell her present husband before she was married? What oath or equivalent assertion. was made to get married? I suppose there is some as in civil marriage, and publishing banns? Did she say there was no impediment when, if a formal divorce was required, there was?

A person in London was kept out on this ground, he had sworn or solemnly declared there was no obstacle as they went, and it was his- wife's sister, not allowed in England. But if a formal divorce is not required by law, but the woman held free, ipso facto, after seven years, I should say she stood as a free woman, though I may regret her path and inquire, as I have said, as to the circumstances. If taken on profession as a Christian, she was free according to 1 Cor. 8; if looked at as merely of the world, she had no husband. It was all before conversion. And legally (if divorce be not required) she was free when she married, only I should look to where her conscience was in doing it. The passage in Romans does not exactly apply. The word ' married is not in the Greek at all. The woman is supposed to be in full connection with and under the authority of the husband, and then is to another man, that is faithless to the existing bond. Here the question is whether the bond was not dissolved and an actual marriage a lawful one. I should fear if her conscience had been clear, she would have spoken to brethren. But that is another question.

Things are in too moving and uncertain a state to say much of Chicago. I have plenty to hear. The brethren are getting on very happily and several have been added. Kindest love to the brethren.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

J. N. D.

There is a worse case of this kind at Chicago, only the person is not married but wants to be, and another at St. Louis. We had often worse in England, but when happening before conversion we took them as they were to begin with.

Chicago.

BELOVED BROTHER, My meaning in saying the tie was broken was this, that God never allowed the Christian to break the tie, but when adultery was committed the one doing so had broken the tie, and the Lord allowed the other party to hold it to be broken and act on it by formal divorce-did not require it, but allowed it. The legalization of it is submission to the powers that be, for common order, just as the divorce was in Jewish law. Things are so loose in many parts of the States, as in Illinois, that Christians should be very particular. A person having left and being a long time away is not sufficient, as

he may come back and the tie had not been broken, only that as to criminality after some seven years in England the courts would not hold a person guilty of bigamy.

On the other hand, according to 1 Cor. 7, I cannot doubt that the Christian deliberately deserted by the unchristian partner was in every way free, free that is to marry, but it assumes deliberate forsaking by the one who went away. The Christian was never to do it, and, if obliged to leave, to remain unmarried or return. Rom. 7:3 has nothing, I think, to do with it; the case supposed is of being "married " to another man while the tie subsists, then she is guilty of adultery; not, if the husband be dead. Divorce is not in question, but acts of sin while the marriage subsists. This is evident. Mark 10 does not annul Matthew 19, a man putting away his wife is looked at as his act or will. If he puts away he has broken a tie God formed, by his own will; then marrying another is adultery. By act of sin the tie was broken already, and judicial divorce allowed.

If all had passed before conversion, I should take it as I found it, but when a person has merely gone off, now when a person is a Christian, I should be very slow to accept a marriage as in the Lord. Have they sought them out, or proof of the unfaithfulness? If so, let them obtain a divorce, and then they are free to marry. But if not, I could not accept their doing their own will any more than the unfaithful one doing his. The marriage is not in the Lord, and it says even of widows-only in the Lord. Matt. 5 is to me equally clear with chapter 19, but I think the person should obtain a divorce, otherwise they remain legally married, and the new connection is concubine. In any ease forgiveness is allowed.

I was aware of the state of H..., but it had got a good deal better, in one family I knew there was still a feeling of rancor. It was partly baptism working on partially healed griefs. One has to work on in grace seeing the evil to be overcome, even if the more we love the less we are loved. We work for Christ, and His love was perfect. I am afraid I take it sometimes too much for granted that we are so to work on, for Paul cultivated the affections of the saints much. Here, thank God, with such trials as are incident to working where the world and temptation and flesh is, there is blessing and progress. Though we are far short of what we might be, and I look for more, still we have much to be thankful for. Here in the west where I was somewhat downhearted, I find things much better than I '' thought.

As to my translation, it is all printed these two or three months, but a new edition of the French was transferring the notes and emendations, and in doing it they corrected errata, and we waited till they had gone through it to publish it, but I have the last sheet of French in hand, so that it will be soon out now. But I have no satisfaction in critical labors. K- wanted to publish an edition of what my translation has adopted as the reading to be accepted, but I declined. I feel no sufficient competency, though I have done the best I could, and am satisfied they have no adequate history of the text. I shall be glad, if the Lord permit, to see you all, but at past 70 such of course is on every ground uncertain. Kindest love to all.

Ever affectionately yours. j. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Difference Between Persons in Rev. 1:5-6 and 7:14-17; Satan Prince of World

Q.-What is the difference, as to the persons referred to, between Rev. 1:5,6, and Rev. 7:14-17? F. W.

A.-We believe those referred to in the first of these scriptures are heavenly, the saints of the present dispensation, those who compose the church, but here speaking according to their individual place before God in heavenly blessing; when Christ is announced as " the prince of the kings of the earth," a place and glory He has yet to assume, they greet Him, as they already know Him and in the special relations in which they stand to Him. Those referred to in the latter scripture are the earthly saints who have their blessing under Christ in the the millennium; they have been converted after the church has gone to glory, and, as believers in Christ and His blood, have gone through great tribulation on earth, and have their. place and portion subsequently on the earth. o. w.

Q.-How do you reconcile the scriptures which speak of Satan's being " the prince of this world " with those which tells us " the powers that be are ordained of God "? o. J. M.

A.-The prince of this world stands in contrast with Christ as the true Prince under God, as the scriptures, John 13:31;14. 30;17. 11, plainly show. Satan has usurped authority over man, and he proved himself to be the world's prince by leading the world to crucify God's Christ. "The powers that be " have to say to the government of the world; and “ordained- of God " looks back to God who put the sword of government in man's hand, and still, so far as its source and real strength is concerned, maintains it there. Government on the earth was first committed to man's hand in Gen. 9, and hence Rom. 13 looks at the source of government-God, and the purpose with which it was instituted-" wrath upon him that doeth evil," and man as God's minister still " beareth not the sword in vain." Satan inducing man to use the sword wrongly does not touch this, and providentially God. is over all this and uses it for His own ends. 0. W.

The Coming of the Lord: Part 1

My purpose this evening is to speak of the coming of the Lord, but not in order to prove it from scripture, but to show how it is interwoven with the whole fabric of Christian thought, so that if you take it out you rend the whole fabric to pieces. I do not say that there may not be saints resting on the foundation that do not see it; but if I come to the word of God, it is interwoven with the whole scheme (I do not like the word), and that all scripture, in the various thoughts, feelings, and affections of the Christian, are woven and mixed up with it.

You see that the Lord Jesus, beloved friends, has been rejected in the world, and that cannot go on forever, every knee must bow to Him. Just take the fact as it is: He has been rejected by the world altogether, the world through which we are passing is a world that has rejected the Son of God, whom God has taken to His right hand. The Holy Ghost has come down consequent upon His exaltation, as the Comforter, but the closing of all that state of things is that the Lord comes again and takes His power and glory; therefore the coming and exaltation of the Lord is that without which Christianity is not complete; I cannot believe in His first coming and not see clearly the necessity of the other.

As an illustration, we have the passover and the pass-over fulfilled; " Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us;" and the feast of Pentecost fulfilled too-the Holy Ghost came down; but when you come to the feast of tabernacles, where do you get it fulfilled? it is not fulfilled, and is yet to come. That is the real meaning of John 7; the feast of tabernacles is there, but He cannot go up to it. His brethren said to Him, " If thou do these things show thyself unto the world " (John 7:4), but He said, My time is not yet come;" then at the end of the feast He says, " If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink; he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." That is, that He substitutes for the time the presence of the Holy Ghost instead of His being revealed to the world, and that is what we have in Christianity, the Holy Ghost come down from heaven and dwelling in the saints.

The Christian looks back upon what has been done, and looks forward for Christ to come to take him up to heaven; if you leave that out you leave out the thing that completes it all. The Holy Ghost points us forward to Christ, and leads the soul out to the thought and apprehension of His coming. The world having rejected Christ, the Holy Ghost comes down meanwhile; " we see not yet all things put under him." There is this double aspect of it-the world has rejected the Son of God; He must come and execute judgment consequent on His rejection.

But there is another, and blessed side of it, that when He was rejected He accomplished redemption, and having clone this, and given the Holy Ghost to those that believe, He is not coming to execute judgment, but to take us to be with Him to execute the judgment with Him. The more we look into scripture, the more we shall see the way in which this expectation of the Lord's return is identified with the thoughts and feelings of the Christian. You may get the general thought if you look at the end of Titus 2, " the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared.... looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory," &c.; the grace of God has appeared and brings salvation, teaching us to walk soberly, that is in self-restraint; righteousness towards others; and godly-with God; it embraces the whole Christian life. Grace has appeared; glory, which is the hope, has not. We are saved in hope, not we hope to be saved; we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness, that is the hope that belongs to faith. Grace hath appeared and brought the salvation, thus showing us how to walk in this present world, it teaches us this blessed hope, the appearing of the glory.

In Heb. 9 we see the same thing; verse 24 we find that "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." I look at Christ as in God's presence for me. " Nor yet that he should offer himself often... but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The cross was the end of the world, morally speaking God had finished with man, and therefore He says, "Now is the judgment of this world," &c.; it was the end of the world in that moral sense, the tryings and testings whether righteousness could be got from man are over; the righteousness has come down to us in the gospel. The apostle says he is not ashamed of the gospel, because the righteousness of God is revealed; that made it the end of the world.

Then you see how he speaks of it, " As it is appointed unto men once to die... so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him. Shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Just as grace has appeared once for the putting away of sin, so as regards us, as Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, so to them that look for HIM He will appear the second time without sin-He has done with sin the first time, that is all over, so completely done with it that to those that look for Him He will appear the second time without sin. What for? To take us to glory-" unto salvation." In Heb. 2 it puts in a distinct way what we find as to His present position, " One in a certain place testified, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him... thou crownest him with glory and honor." We do not see that He has got the power, but we do see Him crowned with glory and honor, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool, and we are waiting for Him.

I just say here, Suppose people die before the Lord come, well, they are with Christ waiting; " absent from the body, present with the Lord," " to depart and be with Christ which is far better," they are waiting too. The promise we have got is to be conformed to the image of

Christ, when He comes. The body is to be raised and changed, to be conformed to the same image. " As is the earthly such are they also that are earthly... and as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." I turn to these passages to show you that what characterizes the Christian is, we are waiting for Him.

In John 14, when the Lord was comforting the disciples when He was going away, they had given up everything for Him, and now they were losing Him, He says, " believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you." I am not going back to glory as Man and leave you in the lurch down here. I cannot stay with you (chap. 13.), but I am not going to give you up, and therefore I must have you with me. In chapter.13. Peter would not let the Lord wash his feet, it was what slaves did in great houses; then He says, " If I wash thee not thou halt no part with me." Peter was rejecting it, but then He says, I am not going to give you up, but if I go to God you must be fit to be there. They were really converted and clean through the word (Judas, of course, excepted); He says I have not given up serving you, I must have you to be with me. In John 14 He tells them not to be troubled meanwhile, the Comforter was coming then He goes on, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." He was going to prepare a place up there, not being able to stay with them here, but would come back again to take them to be with Him. " Unto myself;" that word " myself " is everything. He does not say " to heaven " or " the Father's house."

The coming of the Lord has this special blessing, that it does not leave heaven a vague place. I have found the greatest blessing in the doctrine of the Lord's coming as it brings the Person of Christ before one, He is the object before the eye. This is the way scripture always presents Him. " To depart and to be with Christ is far better." I am speaking of the way the Person of Christ is what fills the eye. " Absent from the body, present with the Lord," and again "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." It is perfectly true, but it is not the vague thought of going to heaven, it is going to Christ; it is of course going to heaven too, but what fills the soul, is that Christ who loved them, who won their hearts through grace (they had given up everything for Him), says, I shall not be satisfied till I bring you up there.

That is the first way He comforts them, and they had seen the Father by seeing Him; then the rest of the chapter speaks of the Holy Ghost who would come and show that they were in Christ, and Christ in them. When the disciples went out to Bethany to see Him going to heaven, the angels said, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner," &e. (Acts 1:11.) There it is His appearing, it is the same general truth, though not His coming to receive us. You cannot talk of death there, Christ is coming in like manner as He went, " so coming," is not a person dying; the angels say He is coming. The Lord was imprinting all this upon their hearts, that when He was gone, the Holy Ghost was here, but what they were looking for was His coming; meanwhile they would be taught by the Holy Ghost, and have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, crying, " Abba Father," by the Holy Ghost, but what the Holy Ghost brings specially before souls is His coming again.

In 1 Thessalonians we have " they themselves show of us... ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." The world was saying," here are these people, a new thing that has come, they have left all their idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait," &c.; they were converted not to hold the doctrine merely of His coming but to wait, &c. They had learned of Him, by the Holy Ghost, testifying of Him in the gospel, and therefore they loved Him; there was no conversion then except to wait for God's Son from heaven. Where do we find that now?

Many hold it, and see it thoroughly but who ever talks now of being converted to wait for God's Son? and yet the apostle had not been more than three or four weeks there. In chapter 2., notice the way it is connected with the thoughts and feelings of the Christian, "We, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart,.... 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?" "Crown of rejoicing," (they were won to God)-" in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now it is his ministry, he cannot even rejoice in that without thinking of the coming of Christ.

Now, take another thing which belongs to the Christian, that is holiness, " the Lord make you to increase and abound in love... unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c. (1 Thess. 3:12,13), in holiness, when? Now? No, at His coming. At His coming it will all appear, and be manifested.

Let us look at the first Epistle of John, it is also in connection with holiness, chapter 3., " Behold what manner of love.... [puts us in Christ's place], we know that, when he shall appear we shall be like him," &c., we have not seen the glory yet, " it does not yet appear what we shall be," &c., " but we know," &c. If we know that we are to be like Christ (conformity to Christ is in the glory, we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son) we are to walk as He walked, but there is no full conformity till then; it is not being conformed when the body is in the tomb, and the spirit in paradise; the time to be conformed to Him is when we get to the glory, and see Him as He is. " He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." If I know that when Christ appears, I shall be like Him, I try to be as like Him as I can now-purifieth himself even as he is pure-it is according to that standard. It is very important thus to see as regards holiness, that it is directly connected with the coming of the Lord. J. N. D.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

Remarks Upon John 1

IN this chapter " the disciple whom Jesus loved " has furnished us with a collection of the personal names and titles of Christ-magnificent in their grandeur, of vast range and extent, stretching from eternity (the Word) to the kingdom (Son of man), and so comprehensive that every personal glory and dignity is embraced.

The eternity of His being, His personality, His deity, His equality with God are the profound truths of the first twenty-five words of the gospel. There never was penned or uttered a more exact or wonderful collocation of words. It was God-like to state these truths in a few pregnant sentences; it would have been human to have supported them with labored proofs, but God is God, and man is man. Enough, God has spoken, and it is for faith to implicitly receive and worship in presence of such an astonishing revelation-a revelation which scatters the ancient and modern heathen philosophies as chaff before the wind.

But " the word" was not the expression of a thought— an " it," but a living and eternal person, for the third verse, which coincides in time with the first verse of the Bible, says, " All things were made by Him," that is, the word; nor did the Lord Himself come into being, or begin to exist, as taught by the Gnostics in John's day, " for without him was not anything made that was made." Then comes the precious sentence-the characteristic truth of " the gospel of the Son:" " in him was life." (Ver. 4.) We have, through grace, life in Him. He had it in Himself. He is fountain and source. He was life, and sheaved its character and blessedness in His ways amongst men. "And the life was the light of men." All previous and preparatory dealings, as conscience, government, promise and law, had as their main design the testing and proving of man. Was there recovery for the race? Was there an atom of goodness in the creature such as God could accept? Could man, the Jew even, earn a title to life on the ground of a legal righteousness? "He," is the emphatic answer proclaimed at each point of human history and notably so at the close. Man under Adam is a sinner, under Moses he is a transgressor, under Christ he is an enemy to God. But " eternal life " is God's gift, sovereignly bestowed on the believer; not revealed although it existed in Old Testament times (only twice mentioned in the former oracles, Psa. 133:3; Dan. 12:2). It was God's eternal promise to Christ (Titus 1:2) and hence a treasure too precious to be deposited in a prophet of the Old Testament, or an apostle of the New. The Son must have the priceless boon, and manifest it too: yea, He will hold it for the heirs of glory through eternal ages.

But, he adds, " And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." The life was the light of men, not of angels, fallen or unfallen; nor of other orbs, and there are millions, vaster and grander than ours. " The light of men:" what a marvelous blessing to shine in the midst of our human circumstances-sorrows, griefs, tears and death; yea more, it " shineth in darkness," fit and expressive emblem of man's state, which is not one of guilt merely. As guilty he needs justification; as dead he needs life; as darkness he needs light. Carefully note the tenses, " the light shineth"-the present; " the darkness comprehended it not "-the historical past. Here God who knows the end from the beginning gives in one sentence the result of the light's bright beams in the darkness. It shone beneath the eye of God and in presence of wretchedness and sin. Bring a light into a dark room and at once the darkness comprehends the light and disappears; but when the " true light " shone, the moral darkness on the soul of man, and Israel, was so dense and settled that it, refused to "apprehend" the light; such is the word used by the Holy Ghost. Who could " comprehend" the light? Could man, saint, or angel? " No man knoweth the Son but the Father." You may " apprehend" what you cannot possibly " comprehend.' (See also Eph. 3:18, read "apprehend.")

We have merely indicated what and where these wonderful verities are to be found, and to assist in further study, we add the following divisions of the chapter. Its four main parts are, first, God revealed, verses 1-18; second, the Baptist, a " voice" announcing the coming of Jehovah, verses 19-28; third, Christ's twofold work-on the cross dealing with sin as God's Lamb, on the throne, baptizing with the Holy Ghost, verses 29-34; fourth, the gathering, of the church, and of Israel to the Person of the Lord, on distinct occasions, on different days, and in various ways, verses 35-51.

The following subdivisions will also be found useful:

Christ as the " Word" and " God" in the majesty and perfection of His being. (Vers. 1-5.)

John's testimony to Him as the light, and His reception only by those born of God. (Vers. 6-13.)

His manifestation in flesh, and its gracious character. (Vers. 14-18.)

John's testimony to Christ as Jehovah, according to prophecy. (Vers. 19-28.)

John's testimony to Christ as Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. (Vers. 29-31.)

John's testimony to Christ as sealed with the Holy Ghost. (Vers. 32-34.)

7, Gathering of the church to Christ, and following Him to His dwelling-place. (Vers. 35-42.)

8. Gathering of Israel to Christ as Son of God and king of Israel. (Vers. 43-51.) w. S.

IT is beautiful to see (in John 12) bow Jesus veiled the glory that was due to Him on earth as David's Son. He received it with the pall of death hanging over Him and it. He veiled the glory by death! In chapter 11. we have another scene, we have death veiled. And how is it veiled? By resurrection! Death to the saint is only a quieter, to the world it is a disturber. w. F. B.

God With Us, God for Us, God in Us: Part 1

THESE passages are linked together naturally for all our hearts, and I may say divinely. We find in them, God with us, God for us, and God in us; lastly, we get the fullest, deepest result of all this manifestation of God in privilege-where we are brought by it: we dwell in God.

First, there is Emmanuel, God with us; a more wonderful sight than that which attracted Moses in the wilderness, when he turned aside to see the bush that burned with fire, and yet was not consumed, and when God called to him out of the midst of the bush—.a sight infinitely more wonderful, and yet the world passes on unmoved, indifferent to such a Presence; the same world to-day that had no room for Him in its inn-His first resting-place a manger, His last a sepulcher; and what came in between " God was in Christ," sheaving forth all His grace, the manner of His coming into it so characteristic of the grace in which He came, the only answer of our hearts to all, " Away with him; crucify him, crucify him." The deliberate choice of men was, " Not this man, but Barabbas," the name signifying " Son of Abba," Satan's counterfeit, a robber and a murderer; that is what suited the world. But how wonderful to think of it! How blessed the grace of God should come into it knowing it to be such! Was ever an ambassage of peace more manifestly declared in the way He came? He might have shone into the rebel world in all the majesty of His glory. Who could have borne His presence? It would have been our destruction. But no! He veils the glory of His Person in the lower garb of humanity. In human weakness He is born into the world. What more perfect expression of it than a babe? Yet it is thus we see this wonderful manifestation of God-nay, God Himself manifested: " the Word was God," " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us;" ".God was manifest in the flesh." All the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in that lowly Babe.

But there were two sides to this wonderful coming in of Emmanuel. We may look at His presence here, as the last of a long series of tests to which man (in Israel) had been subjected, to bring out to himself, that is to us each, the full truth of our condition.

God had given promises; they were despised. Then the law was given by the disposition of angels; it was broken before ever it was brought into the camp. Prophets were raised up; they were persecuted and slain who " showed before the coming of the Just One, of whom " (as Stephen tells us, who gives us this inspired summary of God's ways) " ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." Or, as it is in the Lord's parable that brings us to the same point, " Having yet, therefore, one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him. And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard "-the last answer of our hearts to the last test God had to apply to them-the solemn proof, not merely of individual acts by which we were guilty, but of a condition in which we were all alike involved, and were lost. This is one aspect of the presence of Emmanuel, and more especially brought before us in the first three Gospels, needed as it is to bring into our souls the full conviction of our total ruin. But there is another side of the truth: it comes before us fully in the Gospel of John. It opens with the result of all the previous testing. " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not; he came unto his own, and his own received him not." God Himself has come into the world, and " God is love." If He is here, then, we shall find perfect love. But He is light also, so that we shall find perfect light in His presence, too. Yes, the full light of all that God is in love revealed and shining. But " the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Morally, there is found what is physically impossible; the tiniest ray of morning light dispels the

darkness of the night. But here the shining of the light has no effect whatever; it shines in darkness. The darkness remains as profound, as intense as ever, totally unaffected by it. But what brought in the light but infinite love? Then it has not come simply to shine, showing out the full character of the darkness. As surely as divine love has come into this lost world it has come to work, to bring in the light to transpierce the conscience, to lay bare the heart, to reveal us to ourselves, and thus to reveal God to us.

We see a beautiful illustration of this wonderful work of divine love in John 4 Who sits by the side of the well, wearied with His journey? God had stooped down to human weariness, weakness, and even thirst. And now He becomes beholden (at least He asks-for we do not know that He ever got it) to a poor creature for a drink of water, Himself the Creator of every spring and source in this world. Why was He there? That He might reveal her to herself, and shine on in the revelation of God Himself to her soul. But, having set her at ease in His presence by asking a drink of her, He goes on to open out what He came to give. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." (John 4:10.) But no ray of spiritual intelligence is there to answer to such communications; " the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." (1 Cor. 2:14.) She talks of the well, its depth, of how Jacob gave it to them and drank thereof himself, his children, and his cattle. That is all she makes of these richest divine and heavenly things of His grace. Patiently He waits upon her ignorance, and goes on to unfold more fully to her the living water that He gives, but with as little effect. We can see, indeed, that she is attracted by the lowly condescension of the supposed Jew in speaking to her, a woman of Samaria; and in spite of seeming impossibility His word carries authority, and is not discredited. " Sir, give me this water." Solemn it is to see that there may be all this and no real divine work in the soul. What then must still be done if this heart is to be won for God? He turns the light in upon her conscience. " Go, call thy husband, and come hither." How intelligent she becomes all in a moment. " Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." She is herself searched out in the presence of One who knows her life, her sin-stained history; nothing in her heart is hid from the One with whom she has to do; God is present in perfect love to bring it out, as perfectly as it would have had to come out in the day of judgment. She does not go away from Him, like Adam, to seek a hiding-place in the trees of the garden, Light is doing its own solemn work, convicting her of nothing but sin; but love that makes the light binds her to the spot where she is convicted, that He may reveal Himself as nothing but love to the poor sinner. She makes one little effort to parry the blow that was telling in her conscience. If she had no religion of her own to boast in, at least " Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that at Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." How natural it is-how often to be met with! That when truth is working, this question of a place of worship is raised by the soul, ill at ease tinder the effect of it. But how unreal! What did He want with her worship? He had come to seek, not hers, but her. When sought and found, and infinitely blessed, and all the need of conscience and heart met and satisfied, then would be the time for worship; not till then. Jesus delivers her from this blind of Satan, and judges all the hollow, false religion of the flesh's effort by one little word, " Woman, believe me, the hour corned' when ye shall neither, in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." Worship flows from the formed relationship of children. " The Father seeketh such to worship him." Well may He have it then! He never sought aught from us until He had given all that His love could give, and we had our place before Him according to the perfection of what He gave.

Thus we see God manifested, not in the majesty of His

glory (that would have repelled us), but bringing near the light even into our own consciences, that He may shine into them in all the fullness of His love. There is no real work of God at all in the soul till the conscience is reached, and I am found out in all I have clone in the presence of God, whose light is shining on me, whose heart is bent upon having me.

We might go from scene to scene in the Gospels and never have exhausted this infinite subject of the ways of divine love, winning the heart to confide in Him, that divine light might search the conscience, and bring us into the truth as to ourselves and as to God. But if the truth be that I am guilty and lost in my sins, how can I be at rest in the presence of a holy God? This brings us to the second great part of our subject, expressed in the verse read in Rom. 8, " God for us." It is the summing up of the work that has been wrought for us, to meet all the need of our condition, as the Epistle unfolds both to us. When the effect of the presence of God has been to bring out in us, in our consciences, that we were only fit to be cast out of His presence forever, we find Him giving His Son to accomplish the work for us, that puts us into the presence of God at perfect rest because in righteousness. And we find God, who we thought was against us, because we were against Him, proved in not sparing His Son, to be for us. True, He had given Himself to carry out this work, as it is written in the volume of the book, " Lo, I come. I delight to do thy will, 0 my God." (Psa.11. 7, 8.) And we have seen Him in the lowly path of its accomplishment when the heavens opened over Him, and the Father's voice declared, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But " He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." Nothing short of such a sacrifice could meet the exigencies of our lost condition, according to the glory of God. But see how perfectly this work of Christ has done it.

What words are heard in Paul's—the chief of sinners—lips? " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" What a challenge to all the ingenuity of Satan, to bring up one single sin to charge against the believer. Will Satan take up the challenge? Can anything be found against us before God? Impossible " It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died-yea, rather that is risen again." What makes the challenge so unanswerable is, that the God against whom we have sinned is the very One who gave Him thus to answer for all our guilt. As surely as we have been convicted of having nothing but sins, of being nothing but guilty and lost sinners, it is all for us. He " was delivered for our offenses." There He met the charge of them; the Judge Himself came down from the throne of judgment in infinite grace, He took His place at the bar, where we stood as poor, guilty, convicted sinners in conscience. Bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, He met the charge of them, enduring the judgment of divine holiness and righteousness against sin, so as infinitely to glorify God, and to bring out God's character in holiness and righteousness against sin as it never had been manifested before, in perfect love, too. And when the work was done, " He was raised for our justification." Thus we have a risen Christ in the glory of God as our justification. Has the eye that has been opened on self and sins turned away to Jesus? Have we seen Him by faith as the One who endured the judgment of God to the infinite depths of the sorrow expressed in His cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" " It is finished." And now God He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. We believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; and a risen Christ in the glory of God as our justification fills the eye of faith, instead of sins or self any more.

But the blessedness and security of it all to the soul is the more enhanced, when we see that it is not simply Paul, but God Himself that lays down this challenge-God who, as it were, thus calls attention to the absolute way in which He Himself, against whom all our sins have been, has justified us beyond the possibility of charge. Still, even this does not bring out the full force of the wonderful words. They are quoted from Isa. 1:8, " He is near that justifieth me... Who is he that shall condemn me?" The preceding verses leave no doubt as to who is the speaker; it is Christ Himself thus in the believer's place to bear his sins and endure their judgment, now stands out of it all to raise the question, Can aught of all that was once laid to His account be now found against Him? God has justified the absolute perfection of His work by raising Him from the dead; who is he that shall condemn Christ? " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Faith can take up the very words of Christ—nay, the Holy Ghost makes them our own. If it is impossible that one charge can he brought against Christ, it is impossible that it can be brought against us.

We are in Him who came up out of the depths of the condemnation He went into for us, and where He made an end, not merely of our sins, but of us who sinned-not of the fruit only, but of the root that produced it (Rom. 8:3), and we are in all the impossibility of condemnation for Christ. He once identified Himself in grace with our position in sins and judgment, and now the feeblest believer is identified with Him in the whole of His position as the risen Christ before God; though here in Romans this is mainly applied to the more negative aspects of our forgiveness, and deliverance from sin's power. But how full and complete the answer of divine love to all the need that the light disclosed of our guilt, sins, and state of sin, and in which God has been proved for us, and the only measure of His love that He spared not His own Son. " How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" and, " If God be for us, who. can be against us?"

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

Extracts from Letters of J. N. D.: Hidden Power; Peace with God; Knowledge of Self

IT is very blessed to see how God the Father, and the Son, are one all through these chapters of John as in v. 17-24, but in the opening of chapter 28. there is a remarkable thing for us to note, and that is the place of retirement the Lord had in this world. There was a garden which He entered and His disciples, though as we read, He retired constantly alone, still what is so marked here is, that He was alone with His own (His disciples).

There is such a thing as discipleship, and the true disciple will always be found in the place of retirement with the Lord Himself, that is one great characteristic of the disciple; and there is no trouble to the disciple to find the place of retirement, the true place is where the Lord. is Himself. That is a contrast to the Christian who is not a disciple, and ignorant of the place, whereas the true disciple has not got to beat about to find the place, it is well to be very clear about this.

It is a very important thing at all times, and especially at the present day to recognize, that there is a place of retirement for the disciple, and that, the place where the Lord is,-where He retires to, He had them in an upper room in the crowded city, but it is entirely shut out from the world, and its noise. He had them all at the supper, and we must not forget the assembling of ourselves together, all that is perfectly true in its place; also another word in another place comes in and tells us He had His own places of mountain retirement for prayer where He often retired by Himself, and at one time on such occasions sent His disciples off on the sea by themselves, but that is not what we have here. It is the place where He was wont to retire with His disciples; and now comes in another thing, and that is, " Judas also which betrayed him knew the place."

It is a very sad thing to reflect that the devil knows the place better than the Christian who is not a disciple.

The devil first tempted Judas, then entered into him, and now we find him fully possessed of the devil, and he goes straight to the place. You may be very certain that the devil knows the place, and it is a shame, in a certain sense, if Christians do not know the place. And now Jesus stands forward and says, " Whom seek ye?" The person whom they sought was named Jesus of Nazareth. They sought Jesus the Nazarene a name to them of „contempt.

It is remarkable that though this is His Name, He would not accept the name from them. There is a marked feature in this, that Jesus will not accept it from the people that came at that time-wicked people. And why? Was it that He wanted to be great before men? Was it because He would assert Himself? No! The reason seemingly is this, that He was there pledged to His disciples, and so He was there in face of the sword, in the face of man and of the devil-in protecting;" " I am -' and so immediate was the effect that they went backward and fell to the ground-perfect safety for the disciples, all the powers of the devil subdued-He did not accept the name of Nazarene. That is the one that we are associated with here outwardly on earth, in this world, and associated with in heaven too one may say, but in the place where He is wont to resort, it is the Son of God in power! We have got to have our feet firmly set. We are a sorry thing to look at, and the more we see the sorry ness the better-but it is nevertheless the place of power, for He is there, and as Son of God. He was ready when it came to Himself only to be nothing but Jesus of Nazareth, and so yields Himself to them.

Then we find poor Peter (notwithstanding the arm that was thrown about him) with his sword; and what sorry things our swords are, they are sure to be wielded the wrong way, and at the wrong time; the Lord has to mend that for him, and he heals the ear of Malchus. Peter was anxious to go in to see the end, he tells a lie to enter, and then tells another when he is in. At the end of the chapter we find Jesus asserts Himself as Son. of God with Pilate.

There is nothing worse than policy. Policy is tantamount to having no principle-the difficulty is to have a principle now-a-days. Pilate here is found full of policy, he does all he can to get this man off. He was put in, this responsible place by the Romans, but not to quarrel with the people, but to hold the reins and still keep the-Jews in good humor if he can. The thought strikes him, and he says, " It is customary to release one," that is policy-the people on the other hand never act on policy, but always on a principle, myself-that is their principle —with the governors it must be policy, or they are soon " removed." Art thou the king? Aye, but not of this world-policy is excluded in His kingdom. Jesus says, " Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Again we have Jesus asserting Himself when the truth is in question.

We may be a little shy of the truth, may we not? It is cast in the street in these days, may it be for us to pick it up, and hold it. There is one thing to note, it is no use mincing the matter. The one that heareth, or is of " the truth," heareth His voice, His voice gathers out of the world in the first instance, and then gathers here,. and then together there (in the clouds), all together. May we always have an ear for his voice, and so we shall be always ready, for His name's sake. W. F. B.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF J. N. D. ON SUBJECTS OF GENERAL INTEREST.

DEAR —,You must not be surprised at the seeming long delay in answer-. ing your letter, as it has followed me to Lausanne and Geneva. Perhaps the good Lord has given you peace already-at least before you receive this; but, in case it be not so, I answer according to the light God has given me. In the first place, I beseech you to count on the goodness of God, of our God, as He has revealed Himself in Christ, and that notwithstanding feelings which may arise; indeed,

I see that He has already given you to do it in a measure. I know it is difficult-impossible to us-not to judge of God by what we feel in ourselves, but it is evident it is not the truth. Our feelings are not the measure of what He is towards us, but to us they often are (when in the state your mind is in).

In the next place, I admit freely that when the conscience is powerfully wrought upon, it is quite possible that many physical and nervous sentiments may accompany them, which to the world, and perhaps to doctors, appear the whole matter, while they are really (while I quite admit the possibility of their existence) but the mere indices of deeper and much more important feelings; and it is of these that I desire to speak. It is sad indeed to smother up our feelings towards God, which concern our eternal interests, because they produce certain passing, painful effects.

And here I will say a word as to -. I feel thankful that you are fallen into the hands of one who recognizes as he does the word of God. There is a measure of truth in what he says: it is true that we have to rest on the written word; there he is quite right, but he does not-for I know well the system in which his mind has been taught-recognize the effects and working of the Spirit of God in the soul as the revelation of God. teaches and requires that we should; so that, though he be quite right in exhorting you to rest on the written, word, he could not rightly interpret what passes in your soul, nor make sufficient allowance for the work of the Holy Ghost. Nor could you, perhaps, distinguish now quite between what was a physical effort and the real inward truth. Praying God to give you peace and calm as to this even outward physical part, I will apply myself to that which is of God. It is not surprising when the Spirit -of God takes a soul in hand to convince it of sin, to change its whole course and object, to give it a life it had not before, and judge thereon every thought which has had a place in it previously-it is not surprising that in such a case there should be wonderful upsetting and havoc. It is astonishing, when one comes to knew what is really done, that so many are brought peacefully to know themselves, the Lord and His grace.

And here suffer me to add, dear — not as a reproach, but, on the contrary, as confirming the hope that it is the Lord's own work in your soul, that called, as you had been, long before, and that call dropped, as it were, for so long a season, that when the Lord re-visits a soul, and takes up His work which has been neglected (I will not say slighted), it is generally with much more painful convictions-with a hand which acts in love, but as forced to make the soul feet the urgency of the case, and that it must pay attention to God’s hand and call. And when the Lord acts thus in grace-is forced by our folly thus to act-Satan would seek the occasion to tell us it is too late, that the Lord is hard, and acts harshly-first, because We have forced Him to act in a manner to make us feel the position we are in, and our need.

But, be of good cheer, the Lord makes all work together for good to them that love Him. Your case is not extraordinary. Often souls are attracted by the grace of Jesus, or some religious impression, but the conscience slightly touched. A season of neglect ensues, and then the passages which speak of turning back are strongly applied to the conscience, instead of those which speak of ordinary evil, as is the case when the conscience is reached at the beginning. The enemy always seeks to profit by these convictions, when he can no longer hold the soul in bondage by carelessness, and would drive it to despair, and hard thoughts of God. The Lord does not hinder this, for it adds to the seriousness of the convictions, but He is faithful in the end to bring us out of it, If our imagination or feelings are at work, our joys and distress will be more apparent and acute, for the flesh mingles with this also, though the groundwork be real.

When you know Christ and yourself better, you will be better able to discern between what is accessory merely, and real; but it is of little importance to you now, and God is faithful, though you know that when Peter denied Christ with execrations, Christ had prayed for him that his faith might not fail. It was permitted, because Peter had need of this sad lesson as to himself, and this painfully-acquired knowledge of himself was the means of his being able even to strengthen even his brethren-for all that humbles us is good. But I desire to remark, in the case of Peter, that behind all this scene there was the intercession of Christ, which secured the recovery of Peter, and the maintenance of his faith, his confidence and reliance on the goodness of God, instead of falling into despair, as Judas; as he says afterward, " If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

But there is a deeper work than all these feelings, not so acute, perhaps, but which judges sin in the light of God's grace. Further, until the mind gets based upon the truth that all is grace, and that thus it is by the obedience of One that many are made righteous, the soul which is sincere is necessarily under the taw, and occupied with itself, thinks as you, that it is unworthy to follow Him, and the like. Surely you are unworthy to follow Him and the Lord is pleased to lead you to make the discovery of this humbling truth, seeing that we are lost (and you will be tormented till you are completely convinced of that); we think that there is no hope, when it is exactly there that the gospel begins, for the Son of man came to seek and to save those that are lost, and He has done the whole work that saves them.

You must not attach too much importance to your joy, though it were real, for it never reached the height of its object-nor to your distress, though it may have been an effect of the operation of the Spirit convincing you of sin, which, after all, you cannot measure more than the joy-nor to your indifference, more painful, in some sort, than the distress, and by which the enemy often tempts us. God has weighed all that joy shall be for us; He has weighed all that sin is-all your thoughts seen beforehand, all your indifference-miserable as all this proves us to be-and knowing beforehand all that we are, and all our sin, He has given Christ for us, who has charged Himself with all, and us, such as we are, and has accomplished without us all that was needed by the justice and love of God. It is absolutely accomplished; you can add nothing, by joy or sorrow, to the perfect work of Christ.

All these exercises of soul may be very useful to bring us to the point of acknowledging our own nothingness so that Christ may have His first place in our minds by faith, but they can add nothing to Him. Your peace will come from a calm and holy conviction that you are nothing, and that He is all, and that the Lord knew all that you were, and because you were all this, took your place in responsibility, and suffered for you.

You will say, but I have neglected Christ after being awakened. It is possible, and it is very sad; nay more, as I have said, this gives a handle to the enemy to torment us, but does not change the efficacy of the blood and work of Christ in God's eyes, and that is what gives peace. It is not what you think of Christ's work, but what God thinks of it that saves. Your knowledge of what God thinks of it, by faith gives peace. God says to Israel in Egypt, not when you see the blood, I will pass over, but " When I see the blood." He it is that has been offended. He it is that judges, and He it is that has accepted the ransom in justice, as He gave it in love. He is faithful and just to forgive us.

As we may confound the acuteness of our feelings with the spiritual judgment of sin, almost always at the outset we confound the work of the Spirit and the work of Christ. Each have their place in the saved, but they must not be confounded. The Spirit of God may humble, convict us, reprove within and thus distress us, or give us joy, and often we set about to judge of all this in order to know our acceptance with God. But these things though they have their place in the mind of the redeemed, are not the ground of his peace. Christ has made peace by the blood of the cross. Christ has done all, and has left us nothing but thanksgiving and praise. If some one has paid my debts, my sorrow at the folly that contracted them, nor my joy at their being discharged adds nothing whatever to the payment of the debt, though both be natural and just.

It is sometimes hard to esteem all our feelings as nothing, but it is only a remains of self; but only think what it cost the Son of God in undergoing the wrath of God, and we shall feel on the cue hand the perfect security of our justification, and the nothingness of all our feelings compared with what our sin really was in the sight of God; but He remembers it no more, as He has said. If Christ had not completely discharged and effaced it, He could not be in heaven, for He could not sit at the right hand of God charged with our sins, though He was charged with them on the cross.

If your heart demands, " But how do I know that I have part in all this?" I answer, with the word of the Lord which abides forever, that whoso believeth in Him-that all might be grace—God has willed that it should be by faith, and though faith produces immense effects, it adds nothing to the thing it believes. Christ, and the efficacy of His work, must be, and be before God all that I am. called to believe them to be, before I believe it. The feelings and distress through which we pass are very important, but only in order to bring us to this; and peace and joy are found in a humble lowly sense of sin and of the infinite.

Yours sincerely in the Lord,

1848. J. N. D.

DEAR -, I dare say you are a nervous person, and your mind upset by it, and this doctor's word thus took possession of it. But if you had peace with God, it would give you a rest and quietness of spirit which would greatly relieve you. Now I do not doubt that God has wrought in your soul, and therefore all is yours, but the first effect of His working is to distress and trouble us, because we cannot say that all is ours, and then look to our state and our fruits and our feelings to know if we are His; that is, we look to the work of the Spirit in us, and so to the imperfect fruits in us of His working, which cannot give us rest, and ought not. Jesus does not say, find. out your state and you shall have rest, but " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden," as you are, " and I will give' you rest."

Our rest comes not from our being what He wants, but His being what we want. He has made peace by the blood of the cross. That is all settled for those who believe in Him, as you do; but then besides that He has a tender, gracious care over, and interest in us, can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. As to our conscience, He has done what purges our sins and so our conscience. As it is written, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no sin: and for this God will have nothing but Christ's work known by faith, no feelings or fruits or anything; we believe it only that it may be by grace. Otherwise we should have our part, and be able to boast; but then the tender loving-kindness of Christ enters into all our trial and weakness.

Now you want to have done with looking to yourself-" In us, that is in our flesh, dwells no good thing"-and know that the Lord imputes nothing to you, and it is not till we submit to God's righteousness that we get strength. You look to getting the victory in order to get peace. We must get peace to get victory, peace already made by Christ's work, then you will get strength; we do not find it till we see we have none. Conflict we shall still find. You may remain possibly a nervous person, but you will know that God is for you, and that changes everything. He has proved it in giving His Son who died for us when we were mere sinners.

Look simply to Him who has died for us and finished His work. " For herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he „first loved 'us." I do not ask you to accept anything, but to believe that God has given and accepted His Son for you-" They looked unto him -end were lightened.".... Look to Him who is God's wisdom and He will give you rest.

Yours sincerely in the Lord,

1848. J. N. D.

My DEAR The Lord is graciously doing what was and is always needed, making you know yourself. We may often accept the gospel not insincerely, and yet not have the least learned what we are, that is sin in the flesh. As regards confession (Jam. v. 16)-the form this distress takes with you, I agree with-it is not a command imposed, but a means afforded for walking fully in. the light, a relief if I cannot get rid of something that presses on my conscience; nay, even if I have done from time to time what keeps my spirit fretful, and out of communion, it is given as a means of relief, in order to my spirit's being conscious of being in the truth, to find some one worthy of such confidence and opening the matter to them. It is a relief to open the heart, only not to be done with levity, but in the true sense of the evil, and gives occasion to the other to pray for us. This is connected with the government of God, and has nothing to do with deliverance. Its true character is lost if we look on it as an imposed obligation, but we make what is called a clean breast of it, and all sense of guile and false appearance is taken away.

Sometimes the desire to confess is a mere effort to get the mind at ease without a thorough dealing with God which goes to the root.

Rom. 5 is simply forgiveness, faith that Christ has been delivered for our offenses. If that be so, God must despise Christ's work before He imputes sin to me: and not only is that impossible, but God has given proof to the contrary in raising Him from the -dead, and setting Him as man in glory; and He has not got my sins there. The work God has wrought in Christ has blotted out my sins: the Lord imputes no sin. Then comes another source of distress, even if I am clear that believing in Jesus I am justified from all things: I find my old man, nay flesh, produces the evil fruit still.And this perplexes the mind if it has learned forgiveness, and brings •doubts and deep distress where it has not. It is always in its nature legal, that is, refers God's estimate of us to what we are; and His -thoughts towards us are dependent on our state before Him. Whereas our state depends on His thoughts. See the prodigal when he found his father. (Compare Num. 23:21.)

Now our peace as to our sins is simply that they are forgiven and -put away: Christ has borne them. if I believe in Him God has declared this; I am justified from all things. But for the discovery of our sinful state and getting deliverance, there is an experimental process in us. The doctrine is that we died with Christ; that is Rom. 6 But the resting on the truth found there as a doctrine is connected with the experience found in chapter vii.: the result then being chapter 8. Now this experience is the painful learning -that we have no strength to make good. what we would in what is right. There is a point in this experience which often helps, but is not deliverance-that, in hating the evil which yet works in me, it is not I for I hate the evil, and I am not what I hate. But after this I find what I hate too strong for me, and I am brought to the consciousness of my being without strength, the point to which God was leading me by it all. When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Your anxiety about confession, and distress of soul will all disappear when you have the deliverance which follows this full breaking down. We are conscious then of being in Christ as Rom. 8:1; and then Christ is in us as the power of life. (Vers. 2, 3.) Christ is substituted for self before God. for us as righteousness. What am I before God? Christ. And He having died, and risen again, and received by faith, lives in us; and the flesh is treated as not me, but sin that dwells in me; and we have by the Holy Ghost, the sense of being children. In a word Christ is submitted for self before God, -and yet as living in us-" as he is so are we in this world." This is God's teaching; it belongs to every one who believes in Christ, but we do not get it experimentally till the self for which Christ is substituted, is thoroughly judged and broken down-no good in it, and no means of getting into a better state, however much we desire it. And this is the process we are going through, with a pretty strong will to be broken by it. I add it is of moment in this conflict to avoid all evil, not that this will give us peace, that comes from being dead. with Christ; but if we are not watchful it gives a handle the enemy.

Christ came to save the lost, and we must get to see we are lost as to our state in order to get deliverance; yet in the grace that came to save us when such. God knows when self is really judged, and then gives peace. In yourself, in the flesh, you are lost; but we get out of this standing through being dead. with Christ. The sin in our flesh was judged on the cross. We hear nothing more of the prodigal son once lie found his father; all is what his father was to him.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,

1881. J. N. D.

MY DEAR —, It is experimentally we learn what we are, and very humbling it is, but it casts us on the Lord, so that we find He is righteousness, not anything we are or our state; and then we get strength too, for where sin has abounded grace did much much more abound. You have a strong will, not accustomed to govern yourself, and hence the struggle is more painful; but the Lord is faithful to bring you through it. You must feel that deliverance is not for you till you get it. Our will mixes itself up much more than we think with the flesh, but it is much better to suffer under it, than take it easy as you speak of. When you feel it pressing on your will, look away to Christ at once, and the new man being then in operation the heart gets elsewhere. It is not direct conflict with it, for this being under law, the motions of sin are by it. Then Satan uses it to bring sin on the conscience and discourage us. Resist him, and I do not say you will overcome, but he will flee from you, for Christ has overcome him for us. Then get healthful, active occupations. There is plenty to do in this world, if we have the heart for it; above all, believe Me-" My grace is sufficient for thee." When the heart gets on Christ, all is easy; it is away from what is a snare to us. Once we let the devil inside, so that the mind is occupied with what the flesh tempts us with, it is far harder to get it out than to keep it out. When you speak of gleams of light sometimes, it is what always happens when God is carrying through the process of self-knowledge. He gives us occasional deliverance so to speak, so that we know there is such a thing; like a man rising head above water and getting breath or he would. be drowned, yet goes under again when he has got enough, to show there is such a thing as being out. Understand that God does this, because while He must make you know yourself because it is yourself, He is above, and can and will deliver. But you will find Christ faithful, and what He chews you then that you may not despair, He will accomplish fully. Cry to Him-we ought always to do it, not to faint. Read your Bible as something addressed to yourself, praying Him to give it the efficacy of the Spirit to your soul-no indulgence of will, but ready service in what the house or any other duty may call for, and you will find, not that the flesh is not there, but that you are not in it.

The power that does it is the death of Christ, not for our sins, but as to sin. (See Rom. 8) God has condemned sin in the flesh on the cross, so that there is no condemnation for us. The sin we find working in us is worthy of condemnation, but has been condemned when He was (a sacrifice) for sin; and this we learn by faith, though God makes us learn what it is experimentally, which is just Rom. 7 Chapter 6 is the doctrine. The result, when we have gone through 7. The conflict remains, but the Spirit is there. It is no longer the conflict of natures under law. (Gal. 5:17,18.)

Look to Christ always faithful and loving, and sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. That is, God is for you, not requiring, but giving and forgiving.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,

1881. s. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: "After My Departure"; Turned Away from Paul?; Church Presented by Christ; Handful of Corn; Second Little While

Q.—In Acts 20:29 Paul says, " after my departure," &c., did. he here refer to his death or his leaving Ephesus; the Greek word being different to that used in 2 Tim. 4:6?

M. D.

A.-It seems clear from verse 25, and the way (ver. 38) those at Ephesus understood the words, " see my face no more," that Paul was referring to his death; and moreover that his " departure " had reference to the whole " church of God," and not merely the assembly at Ephesus, is plainly indicated by verse 28. 2 Tim. 4:6 also refers to his death, but the proper rendering of the Greek word there is " release," so that nothing can be built merely on the difference of the Greek words used. In both instances the context indicates that his death was before the apostle's own mind, and in Acts 20, in view of this, which would put an end to his personal and apostolic oversight in the church, he finds relief, fully awake to the evils and dangers that would beset the saints, in commending them " to God and the word of His grace," and in this way the apostle's words have a blessed present force for all our souls to-day.

Q.-How can we reconcile Paul's statement, " all they which are in Asia be turned away from me " (2 Tim. 1:15), written in 66, with his Epistle to Ephesus in 64, and John's address (Rev. 2:17). in 96 to the same assembly? From this last do we not see that the church was still in existence there; in what sense then had they all " turned. away " from Paul?

M. D.

A.-It is not here a question of whether there was not the assembly at Ephesus, but that the mass of believers in Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital, had turned away from Paul personally. This does not mean that they had given up the profession of Christianity or abandoned divine truth, but that their faithfulness to him who was the vessel of divine testimony, and in some sense their faith in God, had given way. Paul at this time was in prison, suffering the afflictions of the gospel that his personal energy and devotedness had brought upon him, and they of Asia forsook him-left him. to stand alone. The apostle felt this bitterly, and correspondingly treasured the faithfulness at this moment of Onesiphorus,

finding, too, in this desertion of the mass, the occasion to exhort Timothy to faithfulness towards himself and the gospel committed to him (ver. 8), bidding him for this to be " strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus "—that which was his own resource in this special hour of trial.

Q.-Is there any scripture to warrant the thought that when the church is caught up "to meet the Lord in the air," she will be presented by Christ to the Father? Has Heb. 2:13 any bearing on the subject? M. D.

A.-We know of no scripture that gives the thought that the church will be presented by Christ to the Father. In Eph. 5:27 we read that He will " present to himself a. glorious church," and in Jude we read of saints, as individuals, being. Presented "faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy," but here it is " God our Savior," and not the Father that is in question. Heb. 2:13 certainly has no reference to this. The Lord there speaks of the believing remnant of Israel, separated from the rest of the nations according to Isa. 13:18. It is what they are on earth as signs to the two houses of Israel.

Q.-What is " the handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains " in Psa. 72:16? O. J. M.

A.-We think it is only a figurative expression of the great fruitfulness of the land during the millennium, when God blesses the earth under Christ as King in Zion. The mountain tops, and not merely the valleys, shall wave with corn so heavy with grain that it shall be like the shaking of the cedar trees of Lebanon. The whole Psalm is a beautiful prophetic picture of the glory of the Lord Jesus as the true Solomon.

Q.-What is the second "little while" of John 16:16?

J. O. M.

A.-The " little while " here is the interval that elapses between the Lord's leaving His disciples and His coming again to take them to Himself, and was consequent, as He says, upon his going " to the Father."

C. W.

The Coming of the Lord: Part 2 - Luke 12

IF you look, beloved friends, at the case of saints dying, as in 1 Thess. 4, Paul says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep,.... for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." The apostle, though eighteen hundred years have elapsed, did not say, " the Lord delays his coming." I believe it is very near, but that is a question of spiritual discernment. I do not press it, though I believe it; everything shows it. " We "-the living ones will be taken, the dead had not lost it-" We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.... and so shall we ever be with the Lord." " With the Lord"-that is the point. " To depart " is to be " with Christ." It is not the Father's house, nor is it the Father's love only; but we are to be with Christ, and like Him. Suppose they were put to death for Christ, even so God would bring them back with Him.

You say that now this thought is gone from the mass of Christians; I will show you how Christ judges when it is gone; but here the comfort given was that they were not deprived of the blessing, but when Christ came He would bring them with Him, He would raise the dead, and change the living. How it enters into all the apostle's thoughts, comfort, joy, Szc.; here he brings it in specially if a saint has died. His coming is interwoven with all the affections of the Christian. It is not merely that I am going to be happy in heaven; but I am going to be with Christ, it is His joy to take me to be with Himself.

Note, again, how Paul connects holiness with the coming of the Lord in 1 Thess. 5:23: " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly.... unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He is looking for holiness and godliness, but he looks for it at the coming of our Lord Jesus 31

Christ. Then as regards responsibility turn to 1 Tim. 6:13,14, and see what he says, " I give thee charge in the sight of God. unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is always the appearing when it is responsibility that is in question, but when privilege it is the rapture.

What I have at heart is this, that you should see the way in which the coming of the Lord is interwoven with every thought and true feeling of the Christian. See, too, how James comforts the laborers who had been deprived of their wages, " Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." (Chapter 5:7.) The constant expectation of His return was the thing their hearts were to be set upon.

We find the same thing in Matt. 25, in the parable of the virgins. " They took their lamps," that is at the beginning of Christianity, " and went forth to meet the bridegroom;" this is the same truth as in Thessalonians, " they were converted to wait," &c. Then what happens? Just what has happened, " they all slumbered and slept." That is, that the true saints, as well as those that had no oil, they all forgot the coming of the Lord. It is just what the Lord told us would happen, while the Bridegroom tarried. We know the reason of His tarrying, " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise," &c. As long as the work of grace is going on, and the Lord is gathering in souls, we must wait, thankfully wait. At midnight there was a cry, " Behold the Bridegroom." Some had no oil but there was time enough between the going out of the cry, and the coming of the Bridegroom, to test their state. I do not doubt it is going on now. It was the cry that woke them up, and then they trim their lamps and go out again, but the point I draw attention to is that what woke them was " Behold the Bridegroom cometh."

As to our affections and as to our service it is the same thing; the talents (the gifts of the Holy Ghost, whatever they may be) were to be used while Christ was away. But what is remarkable is this, that though there was a delay, which has taken place, the Lord never puts the thought that it will be longer than the life of the people He spoke to; the virgins that went asleep were the same that awoke. It is the same servants that got the talents that were in question when He came back; He will not put the thought forward beyond their lifetime. People say, Must not they have known that Peter would die? I say, but would any one dream nowadays of saying he had a personal revelation that he would die? It was an extraordinary exception, which strengthens the rule; to wait for Christ was what they were called to.

When you come to the seven churches (Rev. 2, you find the common thought (it is a just thought) that it is a history of the visible church from the time it left its first love till it is rejected, down to the end. He takes up churches which were exhibitions of a particular state. But Christians were taught to be constantly waiting; when anything happened He put the thing during the life of the person in the parable; so, when it is churches, He takes the churches of that time, but does not say a word that would allow the thought that the Lord was not coming at any moment. People talk of events, but that is confounding the thought of God's government with the Lord's coming for His saints.

When I have my individual salvation settled, I get the teaching of the New Testament as to the government of this world. See Deut. 32-" When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance... he set the bounds of the people... for the Lord's portion is his people." When I come to the government of the world the Jews are the center; afterward, I get the Beast, Antichrist, Babylon and so on, but that is connected with the government of this world, and there I get events; but as regards Christians, God's thought was to conform them to the image of His Son; to take poor sinners and put them in the glory with His Son; that has nothing to do with events. We have two things-He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, that is now; but we are to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Besides, there is the government of this world which Christ's appearing will close, but that has to do with promise and prophecy, very interesting in its place; but His coming has nothing to do with prophecy. You get away from all that, and have the consciousness that you are to be waiting for Christ. Any moment He may take us and put us into the glory with Himself, that the angels may look upon us and see such ones as Mary Magdalene, the poor woman that had the seven devils, the woman in the city that was a sinner, and the thief on the cross, in the same glory as the Son of God. The Christian has got into his place; he is a saved person, the Holy Ghost dwells in him, and he is looking for the Lord's second coming. Take Philippians 3.; I quote texts that are connected with the thoughts and feelings of the Christian: " Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior... change our vile body," &c.; that is what I am waiting for.

If I look at the Book of Revelation, first at the beginning and then at the end-I do not look at the prophetic part of it. Before John commences that part you get the thoughts and feelings of the saints-the church. " From Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness," &c., that is upon earth—he skips over the present time, " Unto him that loveth us, and washed us," that is our place. It is " Him that loveth us." Just as if a great general was passing by, and his wife were watching, she would not say, " that is a great general," but " that is my husband." Just so here, He is the " Prince of the kings of the earth," but we say, " Unto him that loveth us." Then chapter 22., " I, Jesus, have sent mine angel... I am the root and the offspring of David," because it is connected with promise there; " and the bright and Morning. Star," that is not the kingdom, but the hope of the church.

You get in the address to Thyatira, " I will give him the morning star." When Christ comes as the " Sun of Righteousness " will be the day when every eye shall see Him, that is His appearing, but that

is not the Star. The morning star is not seen when the sun is up„ but those that are watching in the night, they see the morning star, it belongs to them.

We have the word of prophecy made sure. (2 Peter 1:19.) Prophecy is God's candle brought to bear upon the world going on its way as fast as it can, the heavenly things lead you out from it: " Till the day dawn, and the (lay star arise in your hearts." But there is another thing, the consciousness of my association with Christ, He is coming to take me up. He is " the bright and morning Star," and the moment He reveals Himself in this character, as the " bright and morning Star," He awakens the desire of the bride, and you get the whole character of the Christian walk. " And the Spirit and the bride " -those that have entered into the consciousness of their relationship with Christ-He is for them the " bright and morning Star;" then, " let him that heareth say, Come " -let them join in saying it; and then the Gospel, if you have the water you say, come and drink, " let him that is athirst come;" then it goes out to the world, " and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

I get the whole course of Christian affection. 1st Christ, He is the Bright and Morning Star; 2nd, the desire to be with Him, " The Spirit and the bride say, Come;" 3rd, those that are His, " let him that heareth say, Come;" and then 4th, " whosoever will, let him take."

Notice the way the word of God brings the coming of the Lord before the heart in these addresses. First they are called back to what they were at the beginning-that is one way of judging what we are; but the moment you come to Thyatira, you get the kingdom, and the words "hold fast till I come." In Sardis it is, " I will come on thee as a thief," He treats them as the world, because they are so. To Philadelphia He says, "thou hast kept my word, hast not denied my name; then, behold, I come quickly." What was it that brought in the ruin of the church? Losing the doctrine of the Lord's coming. " If that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;" not that He will not come, but, " My lord delayeth his coming " (he did not expect him) " And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants" (this is hierarchical power joined to the world at the end), his portion is appointed with the hypocrites.

I just say a few words on the verses we have read. " Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning," &c., that is your character as Christians, you are to be like people that are waiting; the Master of the house has gone to a wedding, you do not know what time he will return. Death is not my lord; Christ is my Lord; " blessed are those servants whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." " Watching," those are the people that are blessed when Christ comes-the affections of the bride-they are watching for the Lord. If a person says some Turk or Russian is come over, I do not care about that, but how different with a mother that is watching for her son not knowing what moment he may come.

"Blessed are those servants," &c., their character is "like unto men that wait." Mark the consequence, it is most blessed, Christ has become a man and taken the form of a servant, He never gives it up-it is a figure of course being a Servant, now He serves us, washing our feet, but in heaven He will be our servant to minister all blessing and joy. As I have so often said, Selfishness likes to be served, love likes to serve. Just like a mother with a sick child, she will not let any one else attend to it, her heart is there. You must have your lights burning, &e., that is the character you should have. Christ says, when I get you at home, I shall make you sit down to meat. It is a figure; I will spread the table in heaven for you if I find you watching.

You get now another thing connected with His coming. " Who then is that faithful and wise steward... blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing." "So doing"-we serve while He is away. As to the character of the Christian, he is waiting for Christ; then the affections of Christ come out, He gives him all the blessing——" Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath." There it is the ruling in the kingdom. You have the two things that belong to us; the blessedness of being with Christ, which is far the highest, and we are to reign with Him. Even there I get the character of Christians, they are to be as men that wait till their Lord shall return, then when. Christ has everything His own way, He makes them to sit down to meat and comes forth and serves them. Next every man receives his own. reward according to his own labor, that is, He makes us rulers, &c., " If we suffer we shall also reign with him." (2 Tim. 2:12.) Thus what the Spirit of God puts before us as the hope, is that Christ Himself will come and bring us into this-the fruit of God's own love, with the constant expression of it on the way in the intimacy of friendship. Like what you get in Luke's account of the transfiguration; you have Moses and Elias talking intimately while the disciples are frightened at the cloud; it was the witness of the presence of God: it was there where God. had revealed Himself to Israel. The disciples fear while they are in the glory; it is the kingdom part of it; the disciples saw it, they went into it-Moses and Elias are in the same glory with Christ, but the voice is heard saying, " This is my beloved Son." For us there is a better thing still, the Father's house.

We are called to wait for the blessed Lord Himself; He has loved us and given Himself for us, and the heart of the Christian is set upon it-we wait to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and to be forever with the Lord. Now I only ask, Suppose He was to come to-night, would your souls find your joy at His coming? Are your hearts set upon Him in the midst of a world that has rejected Him? The whole of Christendom is eating and drinking, &c. but are you filled with the joy that Christ will meet you as men that wait? Are you watching for Christ? Christ is waiting at the right hand of God, and His delight and joy is this, that He will take His people to be with Him forever,

The Lord only give you in truth of heart so to know Christ and delight in Him, that your hearts may be waiting for Him and watching for Him-the joy and hope of your souls. There is one thing that is a comfort to me, and that is, that I believe all who are His will be led to look for Him before He actually comes. May He keep us, then, waiting for Him. J. N. D.

(Concluded from page 146.)

The Glory of His Grace

" THE dawn of day is breaking,

Behold! it streaks the sky,

And hearts for Him are waking,

Who soon shall fill each eye;

Soon! soon! in brightness beaming,

" The day-star " shall appear,

With glory round Him streaming,

His joyful shout we'll hear.

Our eyes are looking onward,

To see the One we love;

Our feet are pressing forward,

To tread those courts above;

Our hearts do leap with pleasure,

As nearer comes the day,

When love, beyond all measure,

Shall beckon us away.

There " face to face," beholding

The One who came to die,

His glory all unfolding

Before each raptured eye,

With nothing there to hinder

The heart's deep full employ,

But all to call forth wonder,

And ceaseless bursts of joy.

There on His bosom resting,

Oh! deep and full repose,

No more a time of testing-

No more to meet our foes;

But there, in brightest glory,

To gaze upon His face,

And ever tell that story-

" The glory of His grace."

February, 1883. W. F.

God With Us, God for Us, God in Us: Part 2

WE get one more aspect of this wonderful revelation of God to our souls in 1 John 3:24-" God dwelleth in us." So again in chapter 4. 12. We know the words that introduce this last passage, and what is connected with them in the first chapter of the Gospel. There, if " no man hath seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Here the same truth is expressed, but it is added, " If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." In the Gospel the Son reveals God according to His perfect knowledge of Him as the Father, in whose bosom as Son He dwells. It is the perfect revelation of God in His own nature, perfectly manifested in the Son. Here, " if we love one another," God is love-we have been born of Him, and thus partake of His nature and know Him. The children that have been born of God are known by the characteristic traits of the nature of which they partake, when set free by the deliverance of the cross to express that nature; God wrought in His grace, as we have seen, to convict our souls of our sins by the inshining of His truth upon us. And we received Jesus, we believed in His name, we were born, " not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" " of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." It was the first blessed work of God, a work in us essential to any discernment of divine things. But this was not peace, but the full awakening of our souls to the need of it. Our need was met, and far more, by the work of the Son of God wrought for us, outside every question of what we were, save that we were guilty and lost in our sins-God Himself proved for us to our full justification in righteousness from every charge that could be brought against us.

Now this work for us, in which all divine love has been manifested towards us, so that there are no new depths of divine love to be revealed (see chap 4. 9, 10), is assumed as the basis of the Epistle of John, as well as the work in us. " I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." (1 John 2:12.) Hence even the babes of God's family possess the Holy Ghost (chap.2: 20), for His presence dwelling in us is ever the seal of the faith that believes God's testimony to the accomplished work of the cross expressed in this forgiveness. The babes, too-these babes of John's Epistle-know the Father. (Ver. 13.) Thus, while the object of the epistle is to instruct us as to the eternal life we possess in the Son of God, that we may know it and know we have it; and as to the nature of that life, those who possess it are not looked at otherwise than as in the full Christian condition, of which the blessed Spirit of God dwelling in us is the seal and power. It was not enough that we should possess the nature of God, but that nature in us must be set free from the dominion of sin by faith of our death with Christ, and in power by the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, in order that it should be displayed in all its perfection as in Christ-" which thing is true in him and in you." " If we love one another God dwelleth in us,' not simply has Christ become our life, but the Holy Ghost, too, has been given us. And inasmuch as " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us," it can be added, " and his love is perfected in us." Our hearts may be but poor tiny vessels to contain it, but the love cannot be less than itself, the love of God in all its fullness, and this is shed abroad in us as surely as the Holy Ghost has been given us-God dwelling us. " And hereby we know that he dwells in us by the Spirit which he hath given us" (chap. 3. 24)-the power of the manifestation of His nature in us, that nothing but God and what is of God may shine out in us.

But this wondrous fact of His grace, amazing amazing truth become absolute to our souls by the possession of His nature that loves, and the Holy Ghost as the power of it-God Himself in us-is not all, but leads to what is the deepest, richest privilege of our souls in infinite and everlasting blessing-" We dwell in God." God Himself has become the refuge, and shelter, and hiding-place, and known home of our hearts. What unspeakable rest, what calm, undisturbed repose of heart, what unfathomable depths of joy are found in what is thus made known to us! Impossible if God did not dwell in us, yet going beyond this, as the effect of it, and thus more connected with the practical state. But first, as to the privilege itself, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit;" not, mark, simply now " by the Spirit which he hath given us" (as in chap. 3. 24), but " of his Spirit," expressing that the Spirit who dwells in us is His Spirit, so that we might understand we share His own Spirit, and thus know and enter into, in a way more intimate than with any man, the mind and thoughts, and heart of God. " Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." The immediate effect is therefore, that " we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world;" we enter into the joy found for God in such a testimony, and are impelled to have part in the testimony itself. It is the deepest conceivable expression of divine communion-inconceivable save to faith and by the power of the Holy Ghost, and as the effect of God dwelling in us. But being communion, it is much more connected with our practical state. Hence we find, as the practical conditions of it, " he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him" (chap. 3. 24), and " he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." (Chapter 4:16.)

These are the two great principles of the Christian life, seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, obedience and love; these made up His life, and were the path of that life as manifested in all its perfection in Him. " The prince of the world cometh, and hath nothing in me," He could say, " But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I dot"

(John 14:30,31.) He is our life, hence it is the test of true abiding in Him that we walk as He walked. (1 John 2:6.) Our hearts condemn us the instant we do not, and confidence in God is hindered. If God is love, how could we dwell in God if we did not dwell in love? And love, as we have seen and known so well for our own souls, is active. How cold and withered up hearts are when love is not active, going out to all the family of God, God's first circle of interest, embracing all that are His, seeking their blessing, and to serve and give up self for our brethren! Then again, there is the world lying without but not outside the activity of His love, nor of ours to whom He has given of His Spirit. There is freshness when His love is active in us. It is the atmosphere in which He dwells-and we, too, if we dwell in love. Any infringement of love is the hindrance to the enjoyment, of such dwelling. But oh, what an incentive to love we' possess-it was " not that we loved him, but that he loved us." " We love Mm because he first loved us." And now we possess the very nature of Him who so loved us. How blessed to be seeking to express it! But the deep spring is in Him, and abiding in Him it is impossible but that it should flow out. And because we dwell in love we dwell in God.

This is one side of the life, the other is obedience. We' are sanctified to the obedience of Christ; abiding in Him, this, too, will be expressed in us. It is the necessary test of the love as to whether it be true divine love and no other. " This is the love of God that we keep his commandments." It is the only path of liberty and joy to, have no will but His. His commandments perfectly expressed this life in Christ; they are now given to form us and direct us in His blessed ways. His life was only and absolutely the obedience of love, and He is our life; how could it be anything else in us? Keeping His commandments we dwell in God. Reserve a corner in the heart for self-pleasing, doing our own will, and there is no joy. How could there be? The heart condemns us,. " and if our heart condemn us, God is greater than out)

heart and knoweth all things." His estimate of aught that hinders the heart's confidence before Him is far deeper than ours.

Truly we have been brought to the springs and sources of everlasting joy in being brought to dwell in God. There can be nothing beyond it forever. It is all ours to enjoy now. And this leads me to what is important; for it may be said, "you speak of what is not for me. Only such as are far advanced in the divine life can know such privileges as these." How blessed the answer to such workings of unbelief when we hear Him say, " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is (not the Christ merely, though whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born-truly born of God-but) the Son of God"-that is, in the full glory of His Person as known in Christianity, known now that the Holy Ghost is come, and we know Him in the Father -" God dwelleth in him, and he in God." All belongs to each dear simple child of God, to the very youngest and feeblest that has been brought to the true knowledge of the glory of the Son of God. But shall we be content that it is ours in grace? Or shall we not rather now seek earnestly the path of His life in love and obedience, for the little while we are waiting for Him, so that we may prove in our own souls the rest and joy beyond all that can be expressed of dwelling in God, and God in us? What nearness, what intimacy of communion is involved in it, what a retreat for the soul amid the storm and conflict here-God Himself become our hiding-place and home of our hearts before the glory!

May nothing short of the abiding realization of it satisfy us. Let us seek practical nearness to God, that we may know Him better in ever deepening blessedness, according to the wonderful revelation He has Given us of Himself-God with us; God for us; God in us-that we may consciously dwell in Him. J. A. T.

(Concluded from page 156.)

The Voice and the Ear

THE sheep hear His voice, and they know His voice. How wonderfully simple this is, and not only establishing, but how it keeps the soul from all danger.

It is association with the Lord here on earth, though the voice comes from heaven. It is a blessed thing to know you cannot expect less. If you enter into this line of things you cannot mix it with anything else, it excludes all human wisdom. You could not allow anything to intrude with the voice of God; and the ear that is accustomed to it, is on the look out for it. If our ear is open we are sure to hear it. Everybody has got a path in this world; and though this is a pathless place, yet there is a path. The Lord Jesus did not require a path down here, He was Himself " the way."

The Eastern custom is that the sheep follow the shepherd, he goes before them (they are not driven with a dog as we drive them here); they hear his voice, they know it, and follow him; a stranger they will not follow. Do you think they are going to follow a stranger? They do not raise the question, but they do not doubt the voice of the shepherd, they yield themselves to the voice they know. All that is not of Christ is of another God. " Preserve me, 0 God, for in thee do I put my trust." We see here the Lord Himself was dependent-as man. He trusted in God.

People go miles to see a ruin, but man is a ruin, a magnificent ruin, and that is what we forget, he decks himself out, and it only exposes him, and spoils the ruin. What a thing it would be if we sent to the upholsterer to furnish a ruin!

The shepherd marks the way, and you have nothing to do but to follow; the simplest thing possible, a little child can do it. Christ did not want the way tracked out for Him, but He became flesh, became a man, and that is the reason He had all thrown upon Him by man that He had. To think of all the scorn He had s which 'would never have happened if He had not become a man. He was the perfect Man, a contrast to the ruin on the earth, and suffered for the ruin. It is a wondrous thing that we are allowed to stand with this Man; God sets us along with this Man, so that we are associated with God,:and hence this Psalm can be also applied to us.

To think that God and man are together on this earth. He puts us to stand together, against Satan here. The place the Lord takes is being preserved.

Do you love the saints because you see this or that in ahem that you like, or because they are God's? Do not be Afraid to be found with the saints, for it is in them He takes His delights. "In whom is all my delight." As for the saints their life exists in resurrection, where in His presence, they have fullness of joy for evermore. The Lord give us to know more and more of these blessed things, that we may enjoy them more for our own souls.

W. F. B.

How Do You Worship?

SHE came not to hear a sermon, although the first of Teachers was there; to sit at His feet and hear His word (Luke 10:39) was not her purpose now, blessed as that was in its proper place. She came not to make her requests known to Him. Time was, when, in deepest submission to His will, she had fallen at His feet, saying, " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died " (John 11:32), but to pour out her supplications to Him, as her only resource, was not now her thought, for her brother was seated at the table. She came not to meet the saints, though precious saints were there, for it says, " Jesus loved Martha. and Lazarus." (John 11:5.) Fellowship with them was blessed likewise, and, doubtless, of frequent occurrence; but fellowship was not her object now. She came not after the weariness and -toil of a week's battling with the world to be refreshed from Him, though surely she, like every saint, had learned the trials of the wilderness; and none more than she, probably, knew the blessed springs of refreshment that were in Him. But she came, and that, too, at the moment when the world was expressing its deepest hatred of Him, to pour out what she long had treasured up (ver. 7), that which was most valuable to her, all she had upon earth, upon the Person of the One whose love had made her heart captive, and absorbed her affections. She thought not of Simon the leper, she passed the disciples by, her brother and her sister in the flesh and in the Lord engaged not her attention then-" Jesus only " filled her soul-her eye was on _Him-her heart beat true to Him-her hands and feet were subservient to her eye and to her heart, as she " anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair."

Adoration, homage, worship, blessing, was her one thought, and that in honor of the One who was " all in all " to her; and surely such worship was most refreshing to Him.

The unspiritual (ver. 4) might murmur, but He upheld her cause, and sheaved how He could appreciate and value the grateful tribute of a heart that knew His worth and preciousness, and could not be silent as to it. A lasting record is preserved of what worship really is by the One who accepted it, and of the one who rendered it.

And now, dear reader, is this your mode of worship, or do you on the Lord's day go to hear a sermon, say your prayers, meet the saints, or be refreshed after your six days' toil? Oh! if every eye were on the Lord alone; if every heart were true to Him; if we were each determined to see " no man... save Jesus only," what full praise there would be! Not with alabaster boxes now, but our bodies filled with the Holy Ghost-a stream of thanksgiving of worship of the highest character would ascend in honor of the blessed One that now adorns the glory as He once adorned the earth. Be it ours thus to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Amen! D. T. G.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF J. N. D. ON SUBJECTS OF GENERAL INTEREST.

MY DEAR BROTHER, I fully recognize a deliverance, and have for fifty years, having then got it, a deliverance which the evangelical world denies; and Pearsall Smith admitted in his last tract that all he meant by the " better life," was passing from Rom. 7 into 6. and 8.; which is what I insisted on. My tract on cleansing with water goes into this. It is the passing from being under law, or the reference of acceptance to our state, by redemption wrought in Christ, and experimentally known by the sealing of the Spirit, into the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; indeed it is one special ministry in which I have been blessed, and on that deliverance I should insist.

/Further, it is a subject to be treated delicately lest any should comfort themselves with the thought that you are content they should stay in the state spoken of in Romans 8 a supposition I should earnestly oppose. I do not think it is a Christian state at all: it is a man born again, but under the law, the state, under the first husband. The deliverance is found in chapter 8 or more exactly the state of one delivered. But my objection to the Wesleyan system, is that it falsifies the whole Christian state as presented in Scripture; and as to Dr. C— there is scarcely one definition or position right or Scriptural, and all so loose and incoherent that it is difficult to deal with.

Perfection is simply, as used in respect of man, being of full growth, neither more nor less in Greek. It is the word used in Heb. 5, " them that are of full age," and referred to in Heb. 10:1. The question is what is the perfection held out to us in the New Testament?

All our blessings are in connection with the second Man, not with the first. " As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they that also are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." We are predestinated " to be conformed to, the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren;" and the effect of this, as to our present state and hopes, is seen in 1 John 3 " Beloved, now are we sons of God; and it Both 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 hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Hence a thought of perfection down here is foreign -to the whole thought and scope of Christianity; lowers its standard, and, note-it is not makes " mistakes in judgment," &c., but " purifieth himself as lie is pure."

Reference to innocence, or the first Adam as innocent, is a ruinous 'mistake as to the whole nature of Christianity. That wholly refers to the second Man. Innocence has gone forever with the entrance of the knowledge of good. and evil. Holiness is the character of the new man, likeness to Christ, as He is the object set out before us: and this only, and being with Him, the object we run after. This one thing I do:" it is that, and that only goal, that is before us, never fully attained till He has changed our vile body, and fashioned. it like His glorious body. The apostle denies all other object in his race: this " one thing I do;" and mark, this was his calling; first that he might win Christ, not as life and station, that he had, but Himself; next that he might attain to the resurrection from among the dead. He pressed towards the hope of his calling (not " high, ' which is vague;) above of God in Christ Jesus: hence the apostle does not leave the subject without bringing in the changing the vile body. This object, sole object and goal of progress, leaves us always with the only end we aim at unattained here: we are always, not correcting " mistakes," but purifying ourselves " as he is pure."

The perfect or full-grown Christian, is one who in faith is in the place that is ours in the purpose of God, one not merely knowing that Jesus is the Christ, and that his sins are forgiven him, but that he is in Christ before God, dead and risen with Him. Forgiveness refers to the works of the old man, to sins committed: perfection, to the new place into which we are entered in the second Man, to the actual possession of which we press forward to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us. This is the teaching of Phil. 3 Christ is our life; He has laid hold of us for that, and we are pressing forward towards it: there is no other object 'before us.

Rom. 1-5. 11 treats of forgiveness and justification as regards our sins and guilt: chapter 5. 12 to the end of 8., our new place in Christ; and though it does not speak of our resurrection with Him, makes Christ our life, and we in Him, and He in us. The last is deliverance. The ground in chapter 6; the state in. chapter 8; the bearing of the law on a soul renewed, not yet possessing the deliverance, is described. in chapter 7. The full-grown Christian, tone who has apprehended his place as such in Christ, has his conversation (all his living associations) in heaven as a new creature, and presses forward for the possession of it, only must wait for the changing of this poor vile body, but can have no other goal.

There is another point which makes all this system false. There is no communication of a new life which Adam innocent had not, did not need. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Of this Wesleyanism knows nothing; the man is changed by the operation of the Holy Ghost. But what Scripture says is, "He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not " Nevertheless I live; yet not I. but Christ liveth in me." " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear." Both these things, the new life, and the only true calling, are left out in the system and in the tract, and change the whole form and system of Christianity. I do not call a person in Rom. 7 properly a Christian: he is born of God, under the law, like the prodigal before he met his father.

But I turn to the definitions. All is wrong: conviction and repentance come before faith. Now if the word had not reached the conscience, how was he convicted and how did he repent? Nor is even conviction, that (save in the vaguest way) of his undone condition," but of his guilt and so danger of judgment. His state is a distinct thing, and a deeper lesson. One refers to what we have in Rom. 1 -5. 11-all the world guilty by their own sins; the other man's state by Adam's disobedience, as to which I discover that in me there is no good thing, and that the flesh cannot be subject to the will of God.

In repentance there is a change of mind, but there is no firm resolve to take any steps at all: that is a sign of its being untrue or superficial, though it may follow. Repentance is the self-judgment we pass upon ourselves in view of God's goodness, and refers to what we have done, not to what we shall do. As to his account of faith, is so muddled that it is hard to say anything of it. It is not the acceptance of God's mercy in Christ Jesus: it is, " He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God. is true." It is the word of God brought home to the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost: it is then mixed with faith in those that hear it. Whenever what God presents to us in the word is believed (as when Christ personally present here on. earth was believed in as God's revelation of Himself and His mind to the soul), the testimony of God is received, "not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God,"" which works effectually in them that believe. Peter's sermon told the Jews what they had done, and God bad done to Christ, and then-on their being pricked in heart, so that they believed God's testimony as to that, he announced forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit.

The particular subject of faith is not faith itself, nor is it the acceptance of anything, but believing testimony, and here in a divine way by the word. All the rest is without any authority of the word, or indeed any sense. " The grace of faith or power of believing t" What is that when nothing is yet believed, for the act of faith comes afterward? Yet he contradicts even his own distinction, for we are accountable for the faith which He has given to us, and this is so in the case when it is he that believeth not. That man is accountable, as in John 5, on adequate evidence from God, I fully own; but all this statement is an utter muddle.

Next, right and necessary as repentance is, justification is never referred to it. The end of the sentence may have a right use, which I therefore accept; but " his sins " leaves it vague whose. The next is all confusion and error. What is his whole spiritual nature before its renovation? " The mind of the flesh is enmity against God," " is not subject to the law of God," cannot be, lusts against the Spirit when we have it; requires a thorn, a messenger of Satan to keep it down, if a man has been in the third heaven. Does what is renewed and revolutionized require buffeting by Satan's messenger to keep it down?

I must ask, too, was repentance a mere change of mind, and conversion a change of heart, and a distinct thing? Is all this before, what he calls, regeneration-a word he does not explain? Does he really mean a new life, something he had not before, a new man contrasted with the old, something born of the Spirit which is spirit? Is there renovation without being born again? Is this being born again a new spiritual life he had not before, or a mere change? Is the eternal life that Christ is (as come down from heaven, 1 John 1) and gives, a mere change, or a new thing conferred? All turns on this. The eternal life which I receive was with the Father; is that a mere change?

His explanation of adoption is not correct, but not such as needs large remark. We are waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body, but we are sons by faith of Jesus Christ, and receive therefore the spirit of adoption. All this comes from their not seeing that our only place in result is association with Christ in glory, though we here wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

It is worthy of remark, that though the atonement is mentioned in an early part of the series as ground for experience, the blood of Christ in its efficacy with God is never mentioned.: it is a sinner

experiences this and that. Nor is there a hint of our being in Christ, or the righteousness of God in Him; nor indeed of God's love to the sinner when he was in his sins.

All believers are said to be sanctified-sanctification as all the rest of the blessings, being through faith. I do not only recognize, but insist on the gift of a holy nature (but I do not see hinted at Christ being our life); a nature which hates sin; and I see progress and growth taught and insisted on in the word of God, but I find no such statement as is here made. Where is " holiness " taught to be 44 sanctification in perpetuity"? Holiness as a quality is heart purity, not implies it, but it is according to the divine nature: He chastens us that we may be partakers of His holiness.

' Freedom from sin ' is an ambiguous term' in English, and this ambiguity is used here. A captive is set free: a horse is free from vice, that is, has none. Now in the last sense we are never said to be free from sin: set free, not from sin, but from the law of sin and death, with a real true deliverance, we are said to be. It will be said: Is it not written, " He that is dead is freed from sin?" Now the word is really "justified from sin," as you may see in the margin.

But I turn directly to the statement: who is freed from sin? He that is dead, no one else: death of the old man alone frees me. Are we to wait then till we are actually dead, that there should be no sin in us? If you mean that there should be death in the nature of the old. man-" sin in the flesh," I say certainly; but to be dead we must die But that is not the doctrine here, save quite in the abstract. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin, as having been crucified with Christ, yet living, but not we, but Christ living in us. Before this we are captive to the law of sin in our members-not the full, true Christian state: now, as having by faith reckoned ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God, we are not in Adam, but in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death;" not free from sin, so that there is no sin in the flesh, but made free from its law. " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us:" but it is now no law to us. Rom. 8:2 answers as deliverance from it to chapter vii. 23; the way of it is in. chapter 8. 4.

I totally deny the utterly false definition of sin given in this paragraph. Paul made a great fuss about nothing in Rom. 7, if that be what sin is. It certainly was not voluntary, for the point insisted on (is) that he was doing what he would not, and hated. He was not delivered, but to will was present with him, but he could not perform; he was a captive. Besides it is written, " Until the law-sin was in the world," it became exceedingly sinful by it; and they that have sinned without law, perish without law. All this is false theology, not Scripture.

But the new man being denied as a distinct thing, he makes it a mere state of the heart; whereas Scripture speaks of sin in the flesh, a mind which cannot be subject to the law of God; and the lusts of the flesh, sin working lust in us, flesh lusting against the Spirit, a thing which ceases by death (only actually by actual death), as to its present power, by reckoning ourselves dead, and always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus; death working in us, and that, that the life of Jesus might be manifested in our bodies. -Why death working in us if there was nothing to be kept down P' We are not under the law of sin; not only have we a new life in power, but sin in the flesh is condemned (not forgiven) in the cross,. and we have died with Christ for faith there; but to make this good we must carry about the dying; death must work in us.

Further, Christ's grace is sufficient for us, His strength is made perfect in weakness; and God, as to our walk, is faithful not to suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able, so that we have no excuse when we do fail, and can walk, as far as sufficiency of grace goes, in growing joy in God. Further, holiness has nothing to do. with freedom from guilt; that is by the blood of Christ. To have part in this a man must be born again, but holiness does not efface guilt. The deliverance we get does deliver us from its dominion, but not from the existence of the flesh; hence the standard of holiness is always lowered by those who pretend to it.

I do not deny walking in constant communion with God. I do, not believe Rom. 7 the true state of a Christian at all; but to say sin is not in the flesh, is not opposed to the Spirit, is wholly anti-scriptural. There is a sealing and anointing with the Holy Ghost, which delivers from the dominion of sin, but does not alter the nature of the flesh. I deny Adam was created in a state of holiness r Scripture never says so. He was innocent, and had not the knowledge of evil: there was a tendency to sin. Scripture says, " if thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light, having no part dark."

The tract says we are liable to false perceptions, &c., because of imperfect physical organization. Does want of a single eye come physically from the body? All this lowers the idea of holiness. They deny that in many things we all offend, and what Christ, ascribes to want of a single eye they excuse, and make compatible

with the original condition of moral purity in which unfallen man was: growing conformity to Christ in glory by purifying ourselves-as He is pure, doing this one thing, never enters their mind.

It is false to say, He will not reign in a divided heart: Christ's statement is totally different, and indeed contradicts this. He does not reign at all there. " The will of God, even your sanctification," is an abuse of the passage; the end of it is left out, which totally alters the sense. Peter says: "holy in all manner of conversation."-

The blood of Christ cleansing from all sin is also an abuse of the passage. John is speaking of sins and righteousness in a passage which declares: " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves." It is a question of our standing before God in the light, while we cannot say we have no sin. I am sanctified and cleansed; though I fully insist on walking by grace up to the place I am in, but not in lowering God's holiness, and my thought of what sin is, by pretending to be as pure as Adam, and talking about physical organization when I fail. Had Adam any lusts?

I fully recognize the power of the Spirit of God to keep us in-peaceful communion with God in love, but will not lower the standard of holiness to excuse what is of the flesh. It is without meaning that the author quotes only the Old Testament for his promises, where we know the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, and the question of purity is quite different. One has only to consult the passages to see they have nothing to do with it. It is the removal of evil men and wickedness by judgment in Isa. 1:25. In Ezek. 36:25, it is the cleansing of Israel from filthiness and idols when they are restored, and making them walk in His ways, with no word of absolute internal purity of soul. The Lord's allusion to it with Nicodemus is not a state of perfection, but being born again.

If the Spirit be distinctively the sanctifier (p. 10) as distinguished from the blood-cleansing, why did he use before the latter for meaning sanctification? ' Convicted for sanctification,' I find nothing of in Scripture; I deny the very state they speak of (which is a mere-ignorant confusion with the deliverance of Rom. 8) as being what the Christian is running after. He has Christ glorified for his standard, and is changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord, and judges as sin what they excuse.

The whole system naturally takes them out of grace: they must be absorbed by the idea of attainment, and the consecrating act is our own. That we should yield ourselves to God as those alive to God is blessedly scriptural, and have fruit unto holiness with the end-not a state of holiness, but everlasting life; but it is the peaceful consciousness of a delivered soul who feels the claim of infinite love, and that it is not its own, but bought with a price. Here we are " to do all we can," even when dead in sins, whereas Scripture says, then we are quickened, created in Christ Jesus. We are, when dead, to " surrender ourselves to be saved," a thing never. said in Scripture; we are to submit to God's righteousness. And now mark the phrase " measurably quickened." Are they born of God or not? Have they life, eternal life? " There is some life in them." Those to whom Paul writes are viewed as having the old man crucified with Christ, and alive in Him; and what they are called to, is not to dream there is no sin in them when there is, and call lusts no sin unless the will consents, but not to let sin reign in their mortal body to fulfill it in its lusts. For sin should not have dominion over them because they were not under law, but under grace and, as alive and set free withal from the law of sin, given the blessed privilege, as being so, to yield themselves to God. It is a lovely passage, but exactly the contrary of what is stated in the tract. It is a freed man blessedly giving himself to God, not a man wanting to be free, able to do something as having some life, to get free in another sense altogether free from sin, a sense not in Scripture at all. It is Christ, not his own faith, nor repentance nor prayer, that justifies the sinner: albeit, the repentance, the faith, the prayer, are all necessary to the bestowment of the pardon. He puts this on wholly wrong ground, but I do not dwell on it.

The whole position of Adamic purity is false, never found again here; and not the object, which is the state of the last Adam, not of the first. But what has " I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty," to do with perfect holiness P The apostle is speaking of an unequal yoke, and the manifested acceptance of faithful Christians in the position of sons. He talks of self-consecration, of being accepted of God: he does not know what it means, nor the liberty in which a Christian serves. We are Christ's. He tells us, " Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you," is the baptism by the Holy Ghost. Now Christ is careful to tell His they were already (ἤδη) clean by the word, when they had not yet received the Holy Ghost at all, of which He goes on to speak to them as of something to come. The constant abuse of Scripture is really deplorable.

Then he tells us that by the baptism of the Holy Ghost the soul is freed from the dominion of sin; now this I fully admit, but free from dominion of sin, and freed from sin, so as to be pure as Adam, are two different things. " Victory" is anything but the absence of an enemy. The life of a Christian is a life of faith moment by moment, but his being purged from his sins by Christ's blood is once and forever, if Scripture be true. He did not sit down on the throne on high till he had by himself purged our sins," or, as it is said in Heb. 9, must he often have suffered;'' but as to the conscience, " by one offering he path perfected forever them that are sanctified," so that " the worshippers once purged," should, as to imputation, " have no more conscience of sins," but " boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Then let the believer, knowing that his old man has been crucified with Christ, seek to grow up to Him. who is the bead in all things, and walk as Christ walked, " changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." The 'evil one cannot touch him if he walks with Christ in lowliness and -diligence of heart, " always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifested in our body."

I would press his believing in deliverance if he has not found it, but not excuse evil and the workings of the flesh within to maintain a fancied purity and absence of sin, instead of judging himself for not having been enough with Christ to prevent it stirring, and purifying himself, as scripture tells him to do, as Christ is pure, because he knows he is going to be like Him.

The other tract, though I doubt not the sincerity of either, is more mature and goes further; but with more light the root of bitterness still there. I agree with it that the only normal state of Christians is what they call perfection, but this is merely the deliverance of Rom. 6;8: falsified by calling it perfection, with which it has nothing to do, and thereby most mischievously lowering the estimation of sin. It tries to ground this by distinguishing in the same passage perfected and perfect, and giving the latter a sense it never has in scripture.*

Paul was doing only one thing, seeking to be perfected, but not being so, nor having yet attained, doing only that, yet he is made to affirm some other perfection of which there is not one idea or thought in the chapter, which is wholly occupied with the first kind of perfection, ending with changing his body, which he has not _apprehended or laid hold of, and which alone occupies him. The winning is not what the author says. Paul was now seeking to win Christ: "do count them but dung that I may win Christ." The statement falsifies the whole passage. " Now his one ambition," hence is false; it is, " if by any means he might attain to the resurrection from among the dead." No doubt lie sought to know. Him better here, but it was all one thing, and Christ had been always everything to him from the beginning (vers. 7, 8), and he had been running the same course, and was all through; his conversation -was in heaven, and he had been, and was always looking to win and 4)e conformed to Christ in glory.

The sense given to perfect' is not given in the chapter, and is wholly excluded by it. Yet after all perfection' is only spiritual infancy, the foundation of a healthy growth. Deliverance, the normal Christian condition, is. But after all, though we are in. moral purity like Adam before the fall, it is such a state (page 10) that we could not stand for a moment before God if tried by the law." Was this Adam's state? and why not? Then we get the abominable doctrine that " temptation is not sin." Temptations from without are not sin: Christ went through everything that could try a holy being, but this is not the point. (See James 1:2,14.) They are suggestions, and he talks of supposing our hearts to be impure. Had Adam these impure suggestions? And they are " vile suggestions," only our " will rises up in opposition to them," " we are in heaviness through them" (this applies to the other kind of temptations, trials which it is our joy to fall into). Had Christ any of these vile suggestions? Did Satan ever succeed in putting them into His mind? Mr. E- avoids the point but are lusts not sin P James is quoted to prove it, but James speaks of effects, and Paul tells us that sin produced all manner of lusts-goes to the root, the evil nature. It is the ignoring this which is one grand evil of this system.

Now, if we were humble and faithful, I believe that Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, these evil suggestions, these impure thoughts would not arise; but in this false perfection they are allowed, instead of the heart being judged for having them, to keep up the credit of fancied perfection. I asked a perfect person once, and I believe a sincere good person, whether if the devil suggested to her to eat a handful of mud, she would do or desire it. She owned she would not. There was something more than a suggestion: there was the sinful nature-the lust, that met it where it was. There are fiery darts, temptations to blasphemies, yet even these if Christ dwells in us, if really delivered, do not come; but that is from the evil, sinful nature, and is to be judged as shelving the sin that dwells in us. Satan has nothing for the life of Christ: if we do not keep the dying of Jesus on the flesh, he has for that. The dangers of it are justly depicted by the author: I have seen plenty of it.

My objection to it is not that, but that it connects a vital Christian truth, the passage from Rom. 7-viii., with false doctrine; denying sin in the flesh, and the communication of a wholly new life: Christ our life (" He that hath the Son hath life"); denies lust to be sin consequently, which betrays this nature, and mischievously lowers the standard of Christian holiness, palliating what a true soul knows to be evil, and falsifies the race and object of a Christian. That Mr. E presses it in a true love of holiness and self-consecration I do not doubt, and in this I should sympathize wholly with him; and he has got on a good step when he says it is the normal Christian: with that I fully agree, only that he is tied up by his doctrinal system to a false presentation of it all. His separating perfected and perfect is a poor attempt to put it straight, I mean to reconcile his sincere desires and his old doctrine. I have written in haste, being excessively occupied which has also caused delay.

Ever affectionately yours in the Lord,

J. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Temple in 1CO 3:16-17; Keys Used in the Act of Baptism?; Admission by Baptism; Children of Believers

1 Cor. 3:16,17, does " the temple " refer to the church in the aspect of the house or the body 7 and does "buildeth thereon " in verse 10 refer to bringing into the house, or to the Lord's Table. J. s.

A.-" Temple" refers undoubtedly to the church in the aspect of the house-the place on earth of God's presence and worship; but "buildeth thereon" has nothing directly to do with bringing into the house or to the Lord's Table. It has reference to the edification of souls by teaching. Paul had laid a sound foundation at Corinth, others were carrying on the work, and they were to take care what they taught in connection with this foundation, for according as what they taught was sound or unsound souls would be formed, and sooner or later their work would be tested, and the result would prove " of what sort" it was. No doubt souls might, through their instrumentality, be brought into the house, and also to the Lord's Table, who should not be there, but the real question is that Is good or bad teaching.

Q.-In Matt. 16 the Lord committed to Peter " the keys of the kingdom of heaven;" were they used by him in Acts 2 and 10. in the act of baptism? J. S.

A.-In Acts 2 Peter preached the gospel to the Jews, and opened the door of the kingdom of heaven to them through baptism; and in Acts 10 he does the same to the Gentiles. In this double and distinct act lies the significance of the term " keys;" not, as it were, that there were two keys, but that the administration and opening of the kingdom first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles, was committed to Peter.

Q.-Does not baptism admit into the house of God?

J. S.

A.-Yes, as a fact, the house and the kingdom being coextensive; the one bringing before the mind the place where God by the Spirit dwells; and the other, the sphere on earth where Christ's authority is acknowledged.

Q.-Assuming that 1. Corinthians 3. refers to the house aspect of the church, where does the servant's responsibility come in in bringing in households by baptism, seeing that thus the spiritual condition of the children of believers is not raised in baptism? J. S.

A.-As we have already remarked, 1 Cor. 3 has nothing to do with baptism, it is there a question of good or bad doctrine by which the "spiritual condition" of souls is formed. Baptism, whether looked at in connection with the kingdom (to which it primarily applies), or the house, is the outward sign by which persons are admitted to a place on earth of privilege and responsibility. The inward condition of the persons is not the question in baptism; all who ostensibly believe in Christ and confess His name have a title to be baptized and admitted into the kingdom of heaven, and thus necessarily into the house of God, but this in itself does not involve the possession of eternal life, salvation, forgiveness of sins, or the Holy Ghost. Baptism is not the sign of what a person possesses, but the sign by which a person is admitted into the place where these blessings are to be found, and therefore, in Acts 2, Peter says to the convicted Jews, " Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Let the true nature of baptism be seen, and that 1 Cor. 3 has nothing to do with baptism, and the difficulty here raised in connection with the baptism of children disappears. The responsibility as to children rests with the parents to train them up in " the nurture and admonition of the Lord." We do not discuss the question of the title of the children of believers to be baptized, but simply remark that the responsibility of the servant of Christ is to receive them in Christ's name, according to His word, when brought by their parents.

22. Q.-Could the children of believers (because of their being linked with their parents as a " household," and being "holy," and " baptized ") be regarded as numbered amongst God's people, apart from any work wrought in them 7 J.S.

A.-" God's people " is a vague term, but if by it is meant God's saved people-His children, and the members of the body of Christ-certainly not, but if they are looked at in connection with the Lord in His government, and God in His special care over those who are in relationship with Him, as His house, or in general terms as " the household of faith " distinct from the " all men " of the world, they certainly, in the light of His special care and oversight, might be said to be of God's people; otherwise why does Paul tell parents to bring their children up " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" c. w.

Life and the Spirit

" LIFE and the Spirit " has been sent me, and I am concerned about it chiefly for the author's sake. For though it tends to hinder unestablished souls in getting into their true Christian place, God may use this, as He does every hindrance, only to deepen the exercise by which it becomes more real and firmly grasped when known. On the face of it, stated with an accustomed felicity of expression, the system will commend itself to some who care little for searching the word for themselves by its simplicity. You have only to take all the passages which speak of quickening, or life, or in Christ, and put them together as meaning the same thing. It saves all the trouble of examining the context in which these truths are brought in, and the modifications they have according to the scope of different books and vessels used in the communication of the truth, or the subject the Spirit of God may have in hand. It was the way we all began, I suppose, and only by degrees found out how we limited the truth, and contracted our own apprehension of it by the process.

But in attempting to direct serious attention to the way the truth and souls are affected, the difficulty presents itself, that divine truth cannot be judged of apart from our own apprehension of it by faith. " Why do ye not understand my speech? Because ye cannot hear any word "-is a paradox in human philosophy, but a principle of God of immense importance for our souls. We must know the thing in what is divine, to understand the way it is presented to us. Now, so many souls are not in their full Christian place before God-and this is the worst of such a paper, it commends itself to such as expressing where they are themselves, tending to satisfy them short of God's place for them-that until they know it they will not be able to see the defect of the system. Yet, turning to the word which delivers from all our short-sighted reasoning, we have the truth, "and the truth shall make you free." But in seeking to test what is presented to us by this only standard, the first thing that strikes one is, how almost every term that is used in this paper is employed in some different sense from what it has in the word; and this is a difficulty in seeking to unravel the confusion of it, involving the necessity of examining the word for the scriptural sense of the terms.

At the outset, the author's way of stating the question before us is a little misleading. For, speaking generally, no one would object to say that " forgiveness of sins, justification, and acceptance in Christ go with new birth-with life "-and the Holy Ghost, too, if by " go with " were meant that they were characteristic blessings of the new world into which we are born. But we shall see that this is not at all what is meant. And so with the other aspects of the question, save indeed when as to Rom. 7 it is asked, Is it a sinner seeking peace, or a saint fruitfulness? when one taught in the word must answer, as it appears to me, Neither. Nor as to the last question can there be any hesitation in answering, that the seal of the Spirit is in the word, connected with faith in the work, and not simply in the Person, of Christ.

We are not long, however, in being introduced to the divergence of the writer's use of expressions, and system therein expressed, from scripture; for on page '4, (which is really page 2 of the tract) he states " that all Christians are dead to sin and to the law." Now if he meant the Christian in his full place as such, or even in the mind of God, or as to the efficacy of the work of Christ that brings us into it, it would be true. But the tract makes it too plain, that this is not what he means; that he would have you assume from the outset, without even a reference to the word, what is really the point to be proved -and that lies at the root of all the subsequent teaching.

In Rom. 6:2, " We who have died to sin " is not presented as the absolute fact of Christ's death and resurrection for us, as in chapter 4. 25-true of us before we knew it-but in connection with, and, in a sense, the end of, an experimental process we have gone through to bring us to the reality of our identification with Christ in His death: " know ye not that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death "-so as responsibly henceforth to take our place only as dead men upon earth. " Knowing [observe " knowing " again] that our old man has been crucified with him that the body of sin might be annulled, that henceforth we should not serve sin." It is not of the abstract truth of our death (as though it were said) in His death before God, that the apostle is speaking; but he addresses himself to the full Christian intelligence of this become a fact for our own souls-of our death "with Christ "-and reasons from it to the practical consequences that flow from it. Now nothing could be more disastrous to souls than to maintain, as this paper does, that every quickened soul is dead to sin, freed from sin, and not under the law, with its necessary consequence that " sin shall not have dominion " over us. (Rom. 6:2,18,22, and 14.) For it is attributing absolutely to everyone who has been born of God, what the apostle speaks of as the ground and fact of an actual deliverance from sin's, power, which, if it exists without that deliverance, renders the deliverance hopeless, and shuts up the soul to the state of Rom. 7:14-24. This state is necessarily that of a quickened soul, but of one that is not dead to sin, for it is "carnal, sold under sin," is not freed from sin, for-it is brought " into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members," and is still under the law of sin's dominion -consenting to the law, delighting in it, referring to it wholly as the rule of good for the soul, but proving it in effect to be only the power of evil. And this is simply " a saint seeking fruitfulness "! There is not a thought of fruitfulness according to God. It is the struggle to gain power over sin, with the law looked to as a source of strength in the struggle (not knowing that it is " the strength of sin,") and which must be given up as hopeless, and the bond of the soul with the law broken-deliverance from the first husband and sin found in all its reality-in order to any fruitfulness: " whereof, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Chapter 7:4.) Is not the experience of the close of the chapter diametrically opposed to the condition of fruitfulness as stated inverse 4-to abiding in Christ? Could words depict more clearly one who is born of God indeed, or else there had been no struggle-(it takes two to fight)-but who, as to the condition of his soul-the state he is in (and this is what scripture is concerned with)-is " to the law," as still having authority over him, a state that verses 2 and 3 declare to be incompatible with being to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, so as to bring forth fruit unto God? Nay, is not the express object of chapter 7. to contrast these two states of a soul alike quickened in each as the basis of them, and to prove that both cannot exist together?

And this is all a question of knowledge, we are told, of progress in knowledge-I am free from sin if I only knew it, &c.-of knowledge by the word and subjection to the Spirit. As if there was no such thing as the conviction of need, of the work wrought in the soul, in order to any divine knowledge of the work for it. Yet the conviction of sins had to precede justification from them-not less surely the conviction of self in order to deliverance from self. But a truth so fundamental from the beginning of God's ways in grace with souls is lost sight of even as to the first, that is, our justification. And we are told (p. 7) that " all quickened are justified then, of course from the first moment of quickening." But this is again to use terms as scripture does not-as a student in his study, not thinking of the state of souls. The first five chapters of Romans to verse 11 of the last, develop this subject of justification. There is not the trace of such a statement that every quickened soul is justified; on the contrary, it is referred to another thing. "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness.... that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Resting thus immutably in divine righteousness on the ground of redemption and faith in His blood, God is the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, and we are reckoned righteous " if we believe on him that raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 'Thus the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and faith in His blood, form the ground of justification for the 'believer in Jesus; and faith in Him who raised Him from the dead carries peace in the divinely assured certainty of it to our souls. It might as well be said, that every quickened soul has peace with God, as to say he was justified, for these two things are thus connected in. scripture. The system of the paper would require, therefore knowing that we are justified, &c. But justification from our sins is as real and actual a thing for the soul, as scripture treats it, as deliverance from sin, in its place, namely, a revealed ground of relationship upon which the soul stands consciously with God as the fruit of redemption, and worthless to us here if it were not so. Of course, every quickened soul was ever justified be, re God, and that before ever they were quickened, in the counsels of God. But it was not the revealed ground of relationship until Christianity; and then it is not by quickening we are brought into it, but by faith in Jesus known in the efficacy of His work, who shed His blood to lay the ground of it in righteousness, and in God who raised Him from the dead as the proof of His acceptance of the work that had so glorified Him; so that now a risen Savior in the glory of God becomes the glorious proof to the believer that his sins, that brought Him to the cross, are gone forever, and he has peace with God. I turn to the passages, however, upon which this justification by quickening is sought to be founded, only, alas to find everything confounded.

We are first asked to identify " eternal life" with quickening as " ours from the first moment of it." (Page 5.) Of course it is in fact: there is not-there never was-any other outside the forfeited life of the fallen man save life as flowing from the Son of God, who, in His own Person, is " that eternal life that was with the Father." But I earnestly press, that it is not so that scripture speaks of eternal life. When the Son of God was manifested, that life was manifested, the Father gave Him to have it in Himself, and He was a divine and sovereignly quickening source of life in the glory of His Person, as thus manifested on earth. The hour was come that the dead should hear His voice, and live-and live of the life He gave, even eternal life, now recognized as such, because manifested in Him. (1 John 1:2.) But to identify this with being born of God, through His word, by the Spirit, as Nicodemus ought to have known of it from Old Testament scriptures (page 10); and these, again, with being quickened together with Christ, as in Ephesians and Colossians, is a sad way of handling scripture. We are told that eternal life " was the possession of every one born of God from the beginning of the world." " Scripture is surely clear;" but we have not one text given to us. But, turning to scripture, why, then, should the Lord say, " I am come that they might have life"? (John 10:10.) They had it all the: same, whether He came, or not, according to our paper,. which is true as to the absolute fact of the life they possessed-divine life, as born of God-but not as scripture presents it. And it is our only wisdom to abide by the word. " This is life eternal, that they might know thee [the Father, whom He was addressing], the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou halt sent." It was.

not eternal life, as scripture speaks, to know God as. Almighty, or as the Jehovah of Israel, but as the Son came to make Him known-the Father revealed in the Son. Eternal life, then, according to the word, is that which was manifested in the Son, that He came that we might have then, or " more abundantly " when we should possess it in a new way in Him risen from the dead, carrying with it all His own relationship, as Man with the Father and God, as that into which we are consciously brought. Now this last is what is expressed as "life in Christ Jesus"-not simply divine life, or even eternal life, but, this life possessed in the power of resurrection, of Christ's new place before God as Man risen from the dead. Thus there was " the promise of life which was in Christ Jesus"-why, promise if it was theirs; but even this unrevealed-funrevea/ed as promise, but, " according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel." So Titus 1:2,3: all the ways of God with the first man coming between this purpose and promise of life in Christ Jesus before the world began, and its manifestation through the gospel.

And this connects itself closely with the point to which I am now come, namely, the close of Rom. 5, for the expression, " justification of life" (quoted at page 5). In verse 12 we leave the question of the perfection of the way we have been brought to God by the death and resurrection of Christ, clear of every question of our sins, justified from all things, at peace, with God, His love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given us, beautifully represented in figure by Israel's position when the Red Sea was crossed, and up to and until Sinai necessarily changed the whole ground upon which they stood. We leave this, as complete, to enter upon a wholly distinct aspect of truth, tracing us respectively to two distinct heads of races, as of Adam, or of Christ here it is no longer a question of the acts of individuals, but of the state of those so classed, in which they were involved by the acts of their heads respectively-the race identified with its head, whether as Adam having accomplished sin, and entailing ruin, and wretchedness, and death upon his; or as Christ, having accomplished righteousness, and entailing nothing but life, and righteousness, and blessing upon His. Thus it was, " as by one offense towards all to condemnation, so by one righteousness towards all to justification of life"- precious contrast as it is. All who have come under Christ as Head of a new race, possess a life, to which no charge of sin ever did, or could attach. For in that life in which He came in grace, and had to do with sin, as made sin, He died, and died unto sin once, never more to have to do with it again. But not till His work was accomplished did He take His place as second Man and last Adam-" quickening Spirit ' He had ever been, indeed, as having the power of divine life in Himself for others (" was made" has no place in the original-1 Cor. 15-and is misleading), but now to exercise this power as Man in resurrection, to communicate life in a new way, in which it never had been, or could have been, possessed before, life in a risen Christ, to which, as we have seen, no charge of sin could attach; in direct and absolute contrast with the effect of participation in the life of the first man. But this is not the justification or forgiveness of our committed sins, of which the first part of the epistle so fully treats, but a life become ours in the risen Christ, where there is no question of any, and thus a justification of life; by participating in which we have part in His death, as judged, condemned, and crucified with Him, as to all we were in Adam; and as having died with Him " we believe that we shall also live with him," and be " of His resurrection," and have title to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, even as He has no more to do with it, and alive unto God in Him, to have nothing but God before our souls forever.

An immensely important consideration now comes in, Is all this transference from one headship to another, from Adam to Christ, from death in sins unto life in liberty of obedience, from the state and position of the fallen man to the whole position and state of the glorified Man-short of the glory, yet to come for us-simply a question of (p. 4) knowledge by the word (not to speak of " instinct or intuition ") according to the writer's theory? Far otherwise. It is a work of divine power, not apart from faith in those in whom it is wrought. So far as we have gone (Rom. 6) it is unfolded as connected with the work of Christ, which is ever the ground of it before God, and by faith in which we have part in it. Chapter 7 is introduced parenthetically, expressly to develop the " middle ground " (p. 3) which this paper deliberately ignores and refuses, but which is the ground on which numbers of souls are found-nay, the necessary condition of every one sooner or later, in order to know as our own, a deliverance in power by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that "has made me free," from the whole old order of things that was ours in Adam-the law of sin and death. Necessary, I say, because it is the divine conviction of the state to which that deliverance applies, and without which we should never hare known our need of it. It is a quickened soul as we have seen, one truly born of God, but who, as to the ground upon which the soul actually is, is still in the flesh, under law that applies to that condition and that condition only. " If ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law." (Gal. 5:13.) A soul under the law is in the flesh according to the clear force of the expression in Rom. 7, a state fully developed there, and with which that of Rom. 8 is directly contrasted. (Compare 7. 5, 8. 9.) It is a wholly new place and standing, fruit of the power of God, that raised Christ from the dead, when He had been delivered for our offenses, and had closed in death our whole first Adam place in the flesh under law and captives of sin, but in Romans applied in its negative aspect, if I may so speak-I mean as to that out of which we are delivered, rather than carried out into the full consequences of it in association with the risen One. It is the Christian " in what characterizes him as such... without raising the question of how far human failure might come in to hinder the realization " (to adopt the author's words at p. 5, not so truly applicable in his connection as to Rom. 8). Will it be believed that the expression of this characteristic state of the Christian" in Christ," as his place before God consequent upon redemption, " in the Spirit," as the power of it down here as surely as the Spirit of God dwelleth in us-is taken to prove that the Spirit of God dwells in the directly contrasted state of the undelivered soul in Rom. 7? " It is said we have nothing of the Spirit in all the seventh chapter, &c. The thought seems contradicted by what is said directly afterward But we are not in the flesh," &c., quoting chapter 8. 9. Is " directly afterward " a just account of the order of the truth of chapters 7.8, 1-9? That is, does chapter 8. 9 follow directly on chapter vii. 14-25? No one could think so who will take the trouble to read the passages and see what comes between.

Now in this description of the characteristic state of the Christian, in which it is said, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is not His, the Spirit is presented in three ways: the Spirit of God (ver. 9) in contrast to the flesh; the Spirit of Christ (vers. 9, 10) as the formative power of the new man, so that Christ may be formed in us, hence with the immediate result " if Christ be in you;" and lastly (ver. 11), as the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. These correspond with the three parts of our deliverance in answer to the cry of chapter 7. 24, as first, by life and nature; secondly, by the objects presented to that life; and thirdly, the body yet future. Nor is it yet the truth of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost as a distinct Person, though this is assumed (and taught from ver. 14), but His presence as identified with, as He is the power of, the delivered condition. No wonder then that it should be presented that that condition cannot exist without the Holy Ghost's presence, that where He is not, the man is not of Christ-not in his characteristic Christian state, that in which Christ Himself as man now is; for it is not here the question of belonging to Christ, but what is " of Him," that forms the subject of the Spirit's teaching. " He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." (1 Cor. 6:17.) And mark, that whereas it is by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ we passed out of our condition in the flesh and under law, into that of being in Christ, yet because the operation of divine power in the Spirit of God enters into this, it is here said, " Ye are not in the flesh," not because we have eternal life, or even have died with Christ and are in Him risen, but " in the Spirit," to integral and necessary a part does the Spirit of God bear in this total change of our position-" if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you." This intimate association and identification, in wondrous grace to us, of the Spirit with the delivered man, is marked again in verse 10: " If Christ be in you the body is dead "-held to be such for faith, for if tolerated in its smallest will it is only sin, " and the Spirit is life"-the simple blessed power of it, as He is its source, unto practical righteousness. And this is as absolute as If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is not of Him, for it is the same full Christian condition from another aspect of it-" Christ in us " become our life characteristically, as surely as we are " in Christ " and " in the Spirit."

Nor is it without its full significance in. blessing, that it is only after this first part of chapter 8, in which the Spirit is identified in the most absolute way with the delivered, that is, the full Christian condition, that we find Him presented as a Person distinct from us, dwelling in us; though the former could not have been without the latter, and we received the Spirit to dwell in us the moment we believed the testimony of God to the work of Christ for our justification as in chapter 5. The order of the truth is as simple and clear in answer to the needs of the soul, as it is divinely perfect

in wisdom. “ The question as to peace is long before settled " (p. 13). Who introduces it here? To do so would indeed be " to destroy the proper significance of a most needful lesson." But we must have had extraordinarily little to do with the state of souls and their difficulties, not to know how the whole question of peace and relationship with God is often affected by the want of deliverance, and this because until set free from the law of sin, the soul is under the law in its condemning power, and is not beyond the reach of peace even as to justification being disturbed, until in its place in Christ, in all the impossibility of condemnation for Christ-made free from the law of sin and death, by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So far, also, is it from being the case that one must " be consciously a child of God before he can realize that even in a child of God sin dwells, that the consciousness of indwelling sin, till the soul is brought to reckon itself to be dead unto sin, tends constantly to cause uncertainty as to the relationship. The soul reasons from its own state to the state of God towards it, as " can I be a child of God and find all this evil in me?" Certainly to the soul that has passed through the deeply-needed exercise, and been set free, Rom. 7 presents no problem. It is then that peacefully he can look back and recount, as the close of the chapter does, what he has been through. Again, I repeat, it is not the state of one who has been set free, but of one who has not: and this paper plunges the truth and souls into confusion by seeking to make out that it is the condition of one who has received the Holy Ghost. It is not that there are not those who have the Spirit, who may not have to pass through the experience in a modified way, as the effect of bad teaching or not having previously learned themselves; but this is not Rom. 7 in the principle and true force of its instruction. Of course it is the expression of " a saint," if by saint is meant one who has been truly born of God. All question of fruitfulness only comes after the " saint " has been set free from the bondage of sin.

But I pass on to another aspect of truth, very distinct from what has been before us, but bringing out more fully one point of all-importance to our souls, wholly ignored by this paper, namely, the way in which the power of God enters into so as to effectuate the full position of the Christian. I refer to that which we find in Eph. 2, where, when we are viewed as wholly dead in sins, God came in in the exceeding might of the power that wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and quickened us together with Him-here followed out to its fullest consequences of heavenly association with Christ, seated in Him in the heavenlies. In Colossians we have the same truth (chap. 2. 12), bringing in faith in the operation of God when it is a question of being risen with Him; only that here it is not as absolutely as in Ephesians, the state in which we were found-only dead in sins-but the Epistle looks at us also, as Romans, as having lived in them, and does not carry us into our full heavenly place. But the point of

view as to being quickened together with Him, is the same in both Ephesians and Colossians. It is that of a wholly new place for man, into which we have been as it were quickened out of the grave of Christ by the operation of divine power which put Him into it-" together with" involving union, and in Ephesians that of both Jew

and Gentile believers, of the whole body, which is looked at as having been taken by one mighty exercise of divine power out of the grave of Christ when He was taken out, and put into the whole of His new place as man before God. Hence we do not find the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the Epistle; union was so fully involved in the exercise of this power that has put us into His place, " together with Him." The point of view in both epistles is the same as to the power that put us into the place, though in Colossians not carried beyond our resurrection with Christ, and developed more as to the blessed effects of the place, on the side of Christ in us as life.

Now this is the passage (Col. 2:13) that is taken to prove that the forgiveness of sins belongs to the action of the Spirit in quickening by the word, as He ever did before Christ came, or to that of the Son quickening whom He will while He was yet upon earth, or to these operations still, of which it speaks nothing. " This surely teaches that forgiveness accompanies life; having forgiven, refers the time of forgiveness definitely to the time of quickening " (p. 6) -of life in a new position in a risen Christ, and of quickening together with Him involving union by the Holy Ghost, indeed; but of life and quickening apart from these conditions it surely teaches nothing. From the moment that we are united to Christ, we are taught in His blessed grace to look back and see all as one complete act of divine power when Christ was raised; but, of course, it is another question altogether when we were individually brought into it. Of the quickening of the Spirit, or of being born of God, the passage says nothing; but of our being quickened together with Christ, which is a wholly distinct thought, as any one must see who will read the verses for

himself. Divine power, expressed in the resurrection of Christ, has come in and taken us out of all we were in Adam, and put us into the whole of the position of Christ founded upon the finished work of the cross, and made good to us individually when we believe the glad tidings of our salvation, by the Holy Ghost who takes up His place in us, giving us the consciousness that we are in Christ and Christ in us, and of union with Him and with all that are His. All reasoning as to what Old Testament saints had or could not have had, will not take away from the plain force of such scriptures to a mind subject to them. Whither this reasoning leads may be seen: " the direct result to me would be this, that Old Testament saints were neither children of God, nor could they be justified from sin, or in the last Adam," &c. (p. 8.) Thus what scripture applies to a revealed position before God, that we are brought into on earth as the fruit of a gloriously accomplished redemption, is here attempted to be applied to saints before Christ came, which if it were, would have taken them wholly off the revealed ground upon which God placed them. To have our place in Christ according to Rom. 8:1, our old man must have been crucified with Christ; but having died with Him we have died out from under the law, and the bond of relationship with that first husband has been absolutely broken; how then could Old Testament saints, who were " kept 'under the law " have been in Christ? Of course they were children of God, as surely as they were born of God, though the mere possession of the nature carried with it then no more than now the consciousness of relationship, and were justified from sin before God, and not under condemnation; though none of these things were the ground upon which they stood, as they are, and are characteristic of (in contrast with them) the ground upon which we stand. Read 1 Cor. 15 and think of an Old Testament saint being " in the last Adam" t Also Gal. 3:23-4. 7 for the contrast of their place and ours, specially 3. 28 as to how " in Christ " takes out of Jewish ground, as out of all other distinctions of the flesh. For " if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." (2 Cor. 5:17; compare also ver. 16.)

As to John 20:22, nothing can be built upon it in the-way of doctrine. Clearly there is a figurative bearing of those three occasions, recorded in chapters 20,21, upon which Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after that.

He was risen from the dead, besides the actual and historical; for there were many others. And the first, taken figuratively, must bring out the Pentecostal gift, as the second does the calling of the remnant, and the third the millennial day. Taken historically, when the truth is known from other parts of the word, it helps to illustrate the difference, between the Spirit as the power of life in Christ Jesus (the last Adam breathing upon them, as God once breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, would suggest strongly this connection with life)-of life now theirs (the same life as before but) in a wholly new position in a risen Christ-and the Holy Ghost dwelling in us; though one could not be without the other now-so far from the absurdity suggested as the contention of some (p. 11), that " people in fact receive the Spirit as life before they receive it as the indwelling Spirit of sonship." And this leads me to note the way the paper mixes up such crudities of thought and teaching, if they are to be met with, with the sober setting forth of what those taught in the word have gathered from it on the points in question. It is not a method that commends itself, to say the least.

Last, but by no means least in importance, we come to what Scripture connects with the giving and reception of the Spirit. John 7:39 is a cardinal passage; by which we learn, that the gift of the Holy Ghost was, not connected with the communication of life before Christ came, nor with the Son quickening whom He will when on earth, though life precedes its reception in every case, but with the place He takes in glory when redemption was accomplished-" the Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified "-they that believed on Him should receive the Holy Ghost when Jesus was glorified. He comes then as the witness to that glory, and therefore of the perfection of the work on the ground of which He has been glorified. Now the knowledge of salvation is -conveyed by the remission of sins, as we know from Luke 1:77. For when God speaks of remission, it is not the thing true in His heart of us before we knew it, but

of forgiveness positively conferred on us. " Peter's preaching at Pentecost proclaims One whom they had crucified, raised up of God, made Lord and Christ, and giving the Holy Ghost." (p. 14.) Pricked in their hearts, they ask what they must do. " Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye-shall receive the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38.) Now in the face of all this, we are told that " the efficacy of Christ's death is not mentioned throughout." Yet on the ground of it, the two characteristic blessings of Christianity, the' forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, are presented to them; nay, they are exhorted to repent and be baptized that they may enter into them. And the Holy Ghost is connected with the forgiveness, which ought to have preserved from the rash assertion that it is governmental. I should like to ask in what more powerful way the efficacy of Christ's death could be presented? As to the next case, that of Samaria (Acts 8), let me say, No one is pleading for delay. (p. 15.) Scripture puts not time, but a thing, between life and the Holy Ghost, that is, the blood of Christ. But the passage goes far to prove the falseness of the theory of the paper, that the reception of the Holy Ghost is connected with life; for when the apostle went down " as yet he was fallen upon none of them." He is given, as wondrously conferred privilege. In the first Gentile case of Cornelius (Acts 10), Peter is sent to this quickened soul to tell him words whereby he and all his house shall be saved. Is there no parallel case to this now? And we see what salvation is according to scripture-not the mere communication of life, but the position into which we are consciously brought, by faith in the testimony of Christ's finished work. To this Peter bears testimony-to the infinite facts of His lowly life of doing. good-His rejection and death-His being raised up by God and given place of Judge of quick and dead. And now, to give knowledge of salvation through the remission of sins, he adduces the united testimony of the prophets, "That through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins." It is at this (one would have supposed) significant point of his testimony, that the Holy Ghost fell upon these prepared souls. " This is the whole statement." Blessed be God it is, and therefore fraught with the deepest interest for our souls. We have no such treatise on the atonement as the writer seems to miss, in all the preaching of the Acts. But we have repentance and remission of sins preached through His name, founded upon the divine facts of His death and resurrection; and where faith receives the testimony, the person is sealed by the gift of the Holy Ghost. In chapter 19. we have a company of believers again, at Ephesus, who had believed through John the Baptist's testimony " on him that should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus." If not here, in Eph. 1:13 Paul tells us what he brought them, " the word of truth, the glad tidings of their salvation "-that is, of a Savior come, and of His accomplished work-" in whom having believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," of whom indeed they had not heard till then that " he is," that is, in His special place and testimony on earth.

" Faith in the Lord's Person is " not " what is emphasized " in all these places, but the testimony, upon His accomplished death and resurrection, of the remission of sins. There was the testimony to the glory of His Person by His words and works when He was upon earth and this rejected, and now, and this is the cardinal point of the testimony of the Acts (and it only skews how far even a beloved servant of the Lord may be carried by the bias of his mind, that it should be overlooked and denied), there is the testimony that is it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem." It is not the " intelligent apprehension of atonement" (p. 15), that is " necessary either for the forgiveness of sins or for the reception of the Holy Ghost." But what we do learn from all scripture, from the united testimony of type, and history, and doctrine, is indisputably, that the Holy Ghost takes up His dwelling-place in the believer, on the reception of the forgiveness of sins by faith in the Holy Ghost's testimony to the death and resurrection and exaltation in glory of the Lord Jesus. For to this answers exactly, as we have seen, the place the Holy Ghost is introduced doctrinally in the Epistle to the Romans (chap. 5. 5); and in beautiful type, in the cleansing of the leper, where the application of the blood of the trespass-offering comes between the water, type of the word by which we are born of God, and the oil, the type of the Holy Ghost. (Lev. 14) Of course it is those who believe in Christ who are sealed, not those who do not. But the question is, Does the indwelling of the Holy Ghost follow upon faith in the Person of Christ, apart from and before the testimony of His work is believed. Scripture leaves no doubt or cloud upon my mind as to the answer. Those of Acts 19 believed and had life, before they received the glad tidings of their salvation; when they heard these, their faith in Christ receives what they had not before, that is, the seal of the indwelling Spirit.

Nor will it shake the simple Christian who knows his place before God, and has the testimony of the word to the blessed effects that accompany the presence of the Holy Ghost-that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, that He is the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father, that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty-to have the case of souls before Luther's time brought up to him. (p. 4.) For he who knows the grace of God, and marks the ways of that grace with souls, knows how many there are, who are in reality in these effects of the Spirit's presence, whose doctrine forbids it to them. He holds to what scripture teaches him of these effects, and refuses the theory of this paper that would reduce the great characteristic truth and witness of Christianity, the presence of

the Holy Ghost in the believer, to a mere means by which he enters intelligently into -what in fact he already possessed before, thus reducing His presence to a nonentity, effecting nothing actually, and alike dishonoring to the glory of Christ on high (glorified in God consequent upon God having been infinitely glorified in Him-John 13:31,32), and the Holy Ghost witness to it on earth. The " intelligent apprehension of atonement by the cross" might indeed in such times have been sought for well-nigh in vain. But it is not this, nor any question of intelligence then or now, that brings with it the divine power and blessedness of the Holy Ghost's indwelling.

By the infinite and precious grace of our God, the state of the soul is not measured by its intelligence, but by its needs and God's answer to them, through the faith of His testimony in the gospel. False and defective teaching may hinder much, so that the intelligent apprehension of the place may be small-yet there, and enjoyed, and expressed in the spirit of their intercourse with God, when sometimes denied in the formal doctrine of it-and with deepening intelligence will come deepening enjoyment of all that we have been brought into. As to the danger of slipping out of known and enjoyed blessedness (p. 4) by unwatchfulness and the like, it is most real. If the Holy Ghost be so intimately bound up and identified with the Christian state, what grieves Him must affect the enjoyment of all parts of our blessing. But enfeebled as the sense of it may be even to the loss of all the practical power of it, one who has been brought into the Christian position does not lose it, blessed be God, any more than a deeply-failing child loses his relationship. Now this position, this relationship, based on accomplished redemption, flowing from the new state and place the Lord Jesus has entered into as Man in resurrection power and glory, and the Holy Ghost given to bring us consciously into it, is His own place as risen Man before God and the Father, and therefore, is one of assured divine favor and acceptance.

The power of His resurrection entering into it involves our deliverance from the whole old status of man in the flesh, and therefore from the dominion of sin under the law-as well as the forgiveness of the sins that belonged to that status. It makes sin a far more terrible thing. But it is one thing to be on this ground with God in the soul, and estimate all failure as inconsistency with a constituted relationship, of which the Holy Ghost is the power, and another thing never to have been in the relationship; but to be, on the contrary, carnal, sold under sin, and brought into captivity to the law of sin in the members, albeit with the holy desires of the new nature and the earnest struggle to be free. These prove the life and nature of God to be there, by birth from God, as surely as with those who are in their full Christian position, but that that position is not the fruit of life (though it could not be ours without it), but of the death and resurrection of Christ made good in divine power to our souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

The Epistle of John (from which a verse is quoted in a way to weaken its full force, page 5) is the blessed counterpart of the Christian position as unfolded through Paul-the complement of it. By our deliverance in power into that position, we have become entitled to disown absolutely any other life as ours, save that we have received in the Son of God, now to be displayed in us in its characteristic divine traits, in the-place where it was once displayed in all its perfection in Him. I am crucified with Christ: it is no more I that live, but Christ that liveth in me. That life is free to express itself now. There is not a word of the deliverance, but we are instructed in the essential privileges and characteristics of the life as if we never possessed another. What a confirmation of the deliverance to the delivered soul, of the ground of the new creation upon which we have been brought. Power to walk as such, comes from taking the place He gives us by this Epistle, to disown all other life but His as ours. But. what constant energy of faith and abiding in Him this needs! Then we shall walk as He walked. Thus the passages quoted on page 5 (1 John 2:11;3. 6), are as simple to faith as they are solemn in their application to our souls. If these things are not known as true in us, it is either that we have never been brought into our full Christian place (the " perfect " or those " of full age " of Paul's Epistles), or else the far more serious alternative, that having been brought into it, we have gone and sinned against the known light and love and relationships of that place-against all that Christ was, and was manifested for (chap 3. 5)-against known deliverance from sin's power. And to this too sad possibility (such are our hearts) the only two exceptions to what is the general rule of the Epistle (recognizing nothing as true of the Christian but what was so of Christ, for He is our life) apply, to sin in my own case in chapter 2. 1, and in my brother's in chapter 5., 16. It is sad to have even John 4:13,14, used in the same way in the same connection as the passages above, as if this last, too, does not apply in all its absoluteness to what Christ is speaking of, that is, eternal life in power by the Holy Ghost in us, rising up in communion to its source and level in God-did anyone ever brought there ever thirst again in it? But surely the Lord does not promise that we shall never thirst again, if we turn away from the source and sphere of this divine satisfaction, to some poor earthly cistern that never sufficed even for the natural man.

I have written at more length than I intended originally in a letter, but the importance and blessedness of the truths involved have led me on, though so little able to present to another the full disproof, that the word of God _gives my own soul, of the position taken up by this paper. The effect of its perusal, in the light of the word, has been only to strengthen and deepen the hold of the truths, and their connection, that has been the apparent object of this paper to call in question. These are nothing less than the foundation on which Christianity, as in contrast to Judaism, rests-the truths in which a full Christianity is contained and revealed. So far am I from believing with the writer (p. 1) that no fundamental point is in contention. Those who have found it as, in the infinite grace of God, the answer to the deepest needs of our being-but not measured or limited by those needs, being the answer of divine love and power, and nothing short of the fruit of God's everlasting counsels for His own glory and joy, accomplished at such a cost-will not lightly give up the truths in which it has been made good to our souls. J. A. T.

A Thought or Two on the New Creation

THE death of the Lord Jesus was at the end of the old creation. In resurrection we see Him as the beginning or foundation of the new. (* From an unpublished MS.)

The old was not allowed to pass till it had been fully vindicated, as it was in the Person, character, ways, and life of the Lord. He stood as the immaculate and perfect sample of it, in the midst of all the ruin in which it was involved. But having been this, and done this, He died, as under the doom of the old creation" the Just for the unjust "-and in Himself, as risen from the dead, He laid the foundation of the new creation.

Let me, however, as I pass, suggest this. His resurrection stands in four relationships: to God, to the world, to sinners, to believers.

In relation to God, it is the display of His glory and of His purposes. It is His victory.

In relation to the world, it is its judgment. It tells them there is a question between God and them about Jesus-that they cast out the crucified, the One whom He has raised and glorified; and that judgment awaits the world because of this, as Peter preaches in Acts 10, and Paul in Acts 17 In relation to sinners, it tells them of redemption, that the sacrifice which puts away sin has been accepted at that very throne which holds the balances that try the claims of God, and weighs the utmost of His demands in righteousness upon sinners.

In relation to believers, it pledges, as firstfruits, their own harvest, or resurrection in glorified bodies.

It is the one thing; but it has these various aspects, and stands in these different relations. The angel that witnessed it in Matt. 28, accordingly changes his aspect, when turning from the keepers of the stone to the poor women. In their sight he had descended in terror,. an earthquake attending him, and the lightning expressing him, and his appearing put the sentence of death into them-for they represented the world who had crucified the Lord of glory. But on turning to the women, this same angel is all gentleness. His terror does not make them afraid. The light is one to guide and gladden, not to alarm. It is the resurrection in the sight of poor, anxious sinners, as the other was the resurrection in the sight of the world.

This twofold aspect of the resurrection may be seen again in the appearing of Christ Himself to Saul of Tarsus. The risen, glorified Lord, I may say, descended, as in lightning and earthquake, on the road which lay. Between Jerusalem and Damascus. Saul was then representative of the world's enmity-as the keepers of the sealed stone had been-and the glory of the risen Jesus throws him to the earth, and lays the sentence of death in him as it had in them. But quickly it becomes a. guiding, gladdening light; for it tells him of his own hopes and services and securities under this same risen. Jesus. (Acts 9;22;26) But this, rather, as I pass on.

The resurrection is the laying of the foundation of the-new creation, as we have already said, and such foundations are immovable, as is all that rests on them. It is the Son of God in victory. The old creation rested on the tested Adam; and falling in the temptation in his,encounter with Satan, the creation fell, and became a mighty ruin. But the Son of God has come, the Repairer 4)f the breach, and has stood where Adam fell, has conquered where Adam was defeated, has broken the gates of hell, and in Himself and in His victory has laid the foundation of an unassailable creation, which is a new, a redeemed creation, and which is to get its beauty as well as its strength from Him. J. G. B.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Propitiation

MY DEAR BROTHER, I am glad to see your hand and name, and answer you at once. I object altogether to the question, What benefit does the world get from propitiation? It puts everything on a false and low ground, as if the end and only object of God's ways-leaving out the claims of His glory and nature in that which angels desire to look into. I agree in general with what you say; but " the Lord's lot " was not for the sins of the people as guilt, though God's holy and righteous nature was met in respect of their sin. The blood was sprinkled first on and before the mercy-seat—God's throne, in the most holy place, where God dwelt-and the altar of incense. The atonement was for the " holy place.... that remaineth among them." " That is for the people ' (ver 15), is in contrast with Aaron and his house. But what was cleansed and hallowed was the holy place, and the altar no doubt, because of the tabernacle being among them. As meeting God nature and character it was the basis of all. (Compare Heb. 9:23,26,27,28.)

The taking away the sin of the world, was to have a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, as the fruit of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Thank God our sins are taken away too, but that is a different thing from putting away sin. It is deplorable to make putting away our sins, true and blessed as it is. the end of all. God has been glorified in Him (John 13) in such sort that man is in the glory of God.

In the scape-goat God's people were represented in their head-the high priest-and those only who as such were identified with. him. In the other there was no such representation-a most important principle. Though the people's uncleanness were the occasion of it, it was the Lord's lot, His dwelling-place which was in question, and transgressions not in question save as the means of its defilement, and the blood was under God's eye as the ground of all God's dealings till, and making the security of, the new heavens and the new earth. (See John 13:31,32.)

Through the cross God Himself has been fully glorified, and in virtue of it Christ Himself has entered into the glory of God as man, though He had it before the world was. (See Phil. 2) Man's? sin was absolute, Satan's power over all the world, man's perfection absolute in Christ when absolutely tested, God's righteous judgment against sin displayed as nowhere else, and perfect love to the sinner, His majesty made good. It became him." (Heb. 2) No doubt our sins were borne too, thank God, that we might have part in the results, but blessed as this is for us, it was really a secondary thing, to the basis of the glory of God in the universe, and the bringing all into order according to what He is fully displayed. So John 17:4,5. But in John's gospel there is not a word of the forgiveness of our sins save as administered by the apostles.

Finally, the people were not represented in the blood on the mercy-seat and holy place; their sins gave occasion to its being done, but the cleansing was of God's dwelling-place, that that should be fit for Him, and what He was, perfectly glorified by Christ's death-to be ever before Him as eternal redemption.

The two goats made but one Christ in different aspects. But propitiation alters the whole ground of God's dealings with man. It is the display of God's mercy maintaining God's righteousness, but opening the door to the sinner, the ground on which I preach the gospel, and can say to every sinner, The blood is on the mercy-seat,. return to God and it will be His joy to receive you. It is not necessary for Him to judge you if you so come, for His righteousness is fully glorified and His love free. This may bring out the evil will in man, but it is then " ye will not come to me that ye might have life." There is death in substitution-" He bore our sins in his own body on the tree "-died for our sins according to the scriptures: as I have said, the two goats are one Christ.

The word " lost " is not a different word. Christ came to seek_ sinners, not repentant sinners. God leads to repentance. We have the repentant sinner in the third parable-the seeking in the two first. The " lost " in them has, of course, a physical sense as a figure, but there was no thought of their disposition to return. It a miserable denial of the gospel; God commendeth His love to us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us. The figure of their being carried clean away, not to be found, may be given, but that forgiveness and redemption are by blood-shedding is stated everywhere -no remission of sins without it. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Luke 19 also is " lost "-the same word..I have written with constant distraction and interruption. Glad to write again if of any use.

Affectionately yours in the Lord,

1880. J. N. D.

God's Delight in Blessing His People

( Uncorrected Notes of an Address at a Fellowship Meeting.)

ONE cannot help seeing in such a scripture as this the profound interest the Lord takes in blessing. There is profound love in it, as well as the fact that He delights in blessing His people. His purpose is to bring us into the enjoyment of His own blessedness: His thoughts are blessing, and there is no blessing anywhere else but in Him. If I speak of blessing, it must be what is in the heart of God. A father's thoughts of giving to his children are measured by his love for them. When we see what is in God's heart for us, and that all His thoughts have the form and power of blessing, what a, portion must ours be! He is bringing us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ-this is to be the result.

But it is the principle or spring of blessing that is in my mind to speak upon. He is conforming us to His own thoughts in blessing at the end. The objects of such love-poor, abject sinners, taken up by Him to chew forth the greatness of His love. Christ is the great Workman of it all. It is by Christ He does it all. When God sets about to bless, it is by " the Son of his love." It is an immense foundation for us to rest upon, not only STRONG, but WIDE, and large, and deep-" He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." He descended first into the lower parts of the earth. What, then, is to escape the power of Him who has been borne up to the throne of God; who, after going down to the very lowest place of death, has been taken up to the highest place of glory-the throne of God? And all between is filled up by Christ: thus nothing can escape. He went down to the place of death and sin-"made sin for us"-and went up to the throne of God. There is strength for us

poor sinners-something to rest on. And it is not something distant from us, but we have the consciousness of its being in. and around us.

It is said, in Rev. 21, of the holy city: " the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." This Lamb is nearer to my heart than any one; He has known me better than any-better than I know myself. And this Christ, who dwells in our hearts by faith, is the One we shall meet there. We shall find One in heaven nearer and dearer to our hearts than any one we have known on earth. Nothing is so near to us as the Christ that is in us, and nothing is so near to God as Christ. Yet the world is in the heart-all that is agreeable and outwardly good in the world finds its echo in the heart; all the evil that has come in finds its root there too. Christ was here amidst it all-He met it all —without having the evil in Him. He knows it all-everything we feel; all that passes through the heart of man, save sinful lust, Christ has gone through; not seeking anything in the world, but resisting the evil.

Now, spite of all the sensitiveness of the heart to good or evil (and that makes the heart of man such a wonderful thing), Christ in us can meet it all. The center and key to all is Christ-He has power to put away the evil. If there were one thing in which our hearts could not rest upon Christ, it would be dreadful. All have the knowledge of good and evil; even the unconverted man has; but without Christ he sets about racking his heart to find some good thing under the sun, and then all the best affections of the man are only the occasion of his greatest distress, because sin has come in. The heart gets pulled every way, and it must go through it; wives lose their husbands; children, their parents, &c. &c. Now, the instant we get Christ in all this, we get the perfect good that God delights in. Divine sympathy is found in God Himself. We may have trial and conflict-we must have it in passing through this wilderness-but we get weaned from the things that are a snare to us by looking to Christ in them.

Present confidence in Christ is needed in trial-as in losing a near relative, &c.-but the practical effect is, that every trial we go through, gives us (if the heart is thus trusting in Christ) to know more and more of what He is to meet the need, and more of Christ as possessing Him, and, as Jehovah said to Israel, " I bare thee on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself." It is here in the wilderness that we find all the unfoldings of what God is in Christ. We cannot do without Christ one minute; we want water and manna in the wilderness; God gives these to us; and not only we get all this-water, manna, &c.-but we get Christ Himself in it all. No matter what it is that exercises our hearts in the knowledge of good and evil, and the need of the heart in consequence, it makes Christ more known, and more enjoyed.

Our proper, so to speak, our natural portion, as Christians, is to enjoy God. Where has God planted us? In the enjoyment of an accomplished redemption, and the result is, that love has not only been manifested towards us, but poured out in us-" the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which He has given us;" " we dwell in God." God's love is infinite in measure, but we are in it, we dwell in it; He dwells in us, and we dwell in Him, and we learn it, amid all our weakness and failure.

"Builded together for an habitation of God, through the Spirit," that is our " vocation." What a thought! What a bringing down!-not of heaven, but something more than heaven, namely, the special blessing of God Himself cot down to dwell in us. God would not dwell in angels, there is not the same want in them; but He will make Himself better known to angels, through His kindness towards us by Christ Jesus. There is a great deal more for us than the bringing down of heaven" Whosoever shall confess Jesus the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."

What is the first practical effect of this blessed sealing, and this being an habitation of God through the Spirit?

Here is the answer: Walking worthy of our vocation, with all lowliness and meekness. The vessel of God! All the passions of the flesh still in us but disallowed, and the presence of God making us unspeakably happy-that is our portion! What a thought!

" In all lowliness," &c., means a good deal. A man who is humble needs not to be humbled, and there is no safety but in being low. When what flows from self is not working, there is this lowliness; and why? Love is working, I cannot be happy with you all if self is working; but if self is not working, love is, and I am full of love towards you all. What a spring of blessedness in common there is here! So far as self is down, broken to pieces, there is an outgoing of perfect love to the brethren. Love is of God, and when His /nature is at work, we love one another. The spring of the fellowship we find to-night, is God being here. God is our joy, and love—God's own nature-working, we are happy, and God is our common Object.

There are trials and difficulties for us all, but there is blessed joy in knowing one another thus, and seeing Christ in one another-" Receive ye one another, as Christ also has received us, to the glory of God." If we meet a Christian, though he may be a stranger, we can be more intimate with him than with one of one's own family who is not. Why? Because GOD is there. Another thing, too; there is the consciousness of what this unity is: " There is one body, and one Spirit;" " One Lord, one faith;" " One God, and one Father." We are brought together, not only through being united in the Spirit, but by what we possess together-" One Spirit," " One Lord," " One Father," &c. &c,

Rich or poor, each have their particular trials. I have mine, you have yours; but both of us have GOD-" One God and Father of all; who is above all, and through all, and 246 you all." God is above the world. You cannot tell me of one thing God is not above, and therefore there is not one thing that can separate, me from His love. He is through all. You cannot find yourself in trouble, and not find God there; you cannot find yourself in any difficulty, perplexity, and not find God through it all. He is in you all as believers; He is come to be the spring of all blessing and happiness in us.

If I know what water is, it is by drinking; if I know what sweetness is, it is by tasting it; if I know God, it is by His being in me. We can look upon one another, And see God in us all. What perfect blessedness and unity!

Then, these light afflictions; what are they? God is come to take possession of us, and He is the spring in our hearts to go through them all. And, then, He comes to make us love, because He loves; we shall find it is fully so in heaven. If anything is a safeguard against evil, it is that God, by His Spirit, dwelleth in us. But there is more: He is the spring in us of the new nature-God's nature.

Next, we read of " the perfecting of the saints." 'Christ is the Object of God's thoughts, and He says, " I must have these loved ones like Christ." Therefore, what God does, is to make them all grow up into Christ: for there is to be more and more of Christ in us every day; all the flow of Christian affection, all the enjoyment we have here, is for this end.

We can look at our brethren, and know that they are all going to be in heaven with us, and the enjoyment of this fellowship shuts out the world; we are not thinking of our cares and troubles now. True fellowship with the brethren is perfect deliverance from all that is of the flesh; flesh cannot enter into it, all that is of the world is gone-we are dead to it. Every bit of real fellowship that we have with one another, as brethren in Christ, is a proof that outside things are gone-done with.

The more we are individually full of divine things, the more this communion with each other is realized. Two brethren together, if both are spiritual, open the sluices of joy, that all the powers in the world cannot dry up. The power of the Holy Ghost, that makes us overcome now, will make us enjoy heaven, where there is-nothing else-" They that dwell in thy house will be still praising thee." To those who are in Christ, all the power of evil, all the power of Satan and the flesh, are gone, and our common joy here below, in the union of our affections, is in and with God, and when we are there above it will be complete-" Christ all, and in all."

1859. J. N. D.

1. The Historical Basis and Integrity of the New Testament: Part 1

No Christian, if asked what were the most momentous and fruitful pursuit for those that apply their hearts to seek out wisdom, would hesitate in his answer: there is, there can be, nothing like the study of the New Testament. In these writings we meet with a complete revelation vouchsafed, while yet the believer can but know in part; they place GOD before him in that light in which it is his privilege to walk, where the understanding is quickened and the heart gladdened by the things revealed to the soul's affections.

ITS SUBJECTIVE SIDE.

" God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last clays spoken unto us by [His] Son," by Him whose words shall abide when heaven and earth alike have passed away. The Gospels contain our Lord's utterances on earth; the remaining New Testament books His words from heaven. (Cf. John 16:12,13; Acts 1:1 Rev. 1.; Rev 10.) The impression we receive in a favored land, and from earliest childhood, of the power of Christ's word, of its unction, ever operative and ever fresh-which indeed, thanks be to God, adheres somewhat to all who have at any time experienced it-might well render useless the consideration of these scriptures in any other

aspect than that in which they form the food of the believer's life. (Cf. 1 Cor. 14:37.)

2. Its Objective Side

There is, however, a very deep interest attached to viewing the truth of God objectively, as having an historical basis; for facts, whether divinely communicated or gathered in a merely human way, are objective before they can be subjective; that is, they have a value and an importance entirely independent of the way in which they concern ourselves, or in which they are apprehended by us. There is a real source of edification, and a matter for praise to God, in tracing historically how He has watched over and cared for His word. His glory is indeed involved therein, and we shall see that He has not been unmindful of it.

3. The Grounds of Its Reception

The attention of Christian readers in England has of late been especially called to the text and translation of the New Testament scriptures. But before believers occupy themselves with such important matters it is well for them to consider the grounds upon which the New Testament is received as the text book of Christianity, in the completeness and integrity of which it is that we are most concerned.

4. Supernatural Religion

In the year 1874 a work issued from the English press impugning the foundation upon which our Gospels rest; this, Christians have been accustomed to believe, was laid in the first century of our era. Learning, dissociated from accuracy, has been employed with practiced ability by the anonymous writer of " Supernatural Religion," to deprive us, if possible, of this belief. The work we have mentioned leaves " the reader when he closes it with the feeling that the Bible stands before him like a fair tree all stripped, torn and defaced, not at all like a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations:" so writes Matthew Arnold. In the course of the present inquiry

* "God and the Bible," page 13.

we shall ascertain whether or not the several Christian books suffer from the processes of historical criticism, and if such an investigation of the sources of faith teach not other lessons, than " Supernatural Religion " was meant to instill into the minds of English people.*

5. The Prima Facie Claims of the New Testament to Reverence Within Christendom

In taking up this subject we would cherish, rather than at all suppress, the sentiment that becomes every student within Christendom of writings which have established themselves in the consciousness of man as none others. Every reader must be aware of the effect upon civilization of the spread of them. Alike do skeptics and positive opponents of New Testament truth acknowledge the beneficial results to society of the precepts enshrined in the familiar volume. They will allow that man has thereby learned how to think of himself, how of his fellows and the relations between them, in such wise as ethical treatises of the old world failed to teach, notwithstanding that the same need was felt in ancient times as now; how, moreover, man shall think of heaven and its claims upon him-modified as may be the admission thereof-of the future state and its dread realities. But mere evidence of this, sufficient as it is for educating the judgment, cannot satisfy the aspirations of man.

6. The Inquiry Is More Than a Literary One

Care must be taken lest the consideration of this topic become nothing more than a literary inquiry. May writer and reader each seek wisdom from above, that the materials which are so plentiful be weighed in the balances of God's holy presence! " He giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not;" and amongst His precious gifts, suited to man's present condition, is the faculty whereby our senses are exercised to discern between good and evil of every kind. Human attainment cannot avail us in the absence of sobriety of mind or humility of spirit.

7. Connection Between the Old Testament and the New

The Old Testament gradually leads up to the New. But without the fuller revelation which the New Testament imparts, it is impossible to comprehend the purpose or meaning of the ancient " oracles of God." The scribe instructed to the kingdom of heaven brings out of his treasure things new and old. The manifestation of God through the Christian scriptures, and in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the elucidation and the complement of all contained in the Old Testament. The law, which came by Moses, was Israel's tutor up to Christ. Not only the law, but the prophets were until John. It is the spirit of the law which pervades the Old Testament ** but Christ Himself is the solution of every problem contained in it. By Him came grace and truth: the freshness and power of love and light together characterize the New Testament.

8. Interval Between the Close of the Old Testament Canon and the Period of the Evangelists

But there is a long interval between the time of Nehemiah, when Malachi wrote his prophecy, and the appearance of John the Baptist. It is necessary to inquire into the history of this intermediate period, rightly to understand the state of things in Palestine at the time to which the Gospels relate. Information as to this the reader should seek elsewhere. For the events connecting Nehemiah's day and the time of Antiochus Epiphanes the student is dependent mainly on accounts furnished by Josephus, which relate to isolated facts. The Jewish historian wrote without the control, salutary or not, of rabbinical authority. Then, for the Maccabean period the histories in the Apocrypha avail, not always trustworthy. When they are silent, recourse must be had to Josephus. His works also familiarize us with the Herodian period, in which opens the New Testament, or series of books in Greek, received by us from early Christians as generally acknowledged by them to be part of the written word of God and the basis and guide of Christian faith and life.

9. The Language of the New Testament

Greek, we may believe, was chosen by the Holy Spirit to be the vehicle of these communications, as, through the conquests of Alexander the Great, the language most widely employed at that time, and in particular that of the so-called Hellenist Jews, who made public use of the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testament, and were, so far as converts to Christianity, principal agents at the first in the promulgation of the. faith outside Palestine.

10. The Number of Its Books

The number of such books, received in the greater part of Christendom, has been twenty-seven, since the provincial Council of Carthage, A.D. 397. They have been divided roughly into historical, epistolary and prophetic. Amongst the Epistles, First Peter and First John were early ranged with those of Paul as forming one series; but subsequently, the Epistles were divided into Pauline and Catholic, and then put into separate. volumes. In respect of ecclesiastical recognition, the books were, while the Canon still remained open, divided into such as were " acknowledged or received otherwise uncontradicted," and those that were " disputed," or treated with suspicion: so Eusebius.

11. Their Chronological Order

We can determine the chronological order of some of

the books; of the rest it may be said that the Gospels were probably written in their present order; John's subsequently to the Second Epistle of Paul (see 21: 18); and that the book of Acts must have been preceded by most of Paul's Epistles, if not by that of James and the First of Peter.

12. The Titles of the Books

Of no New Testament book can it be said with certainty that the titles were given to them by their authors. The documents from which they are derived differ amongst themselves. Some give long, others short titles, the latter being generally the more ancient. Thus in the oldest copy, we have as the title of the fifth book, merely " Acts," which the " Vatican " (B) expands into " Acts of Apostles," but a scribe of the " Alexandrine " MS (A) in the subscription-which is all that remains-into " Acts of the Holy Apostles." The subscriptions of the following books are quite misleading: First Corinthians, Galatians, First and Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, and Titus, as Paley has shown.

13. The Time of Their Composition

Is there evidence for the usual statement that the books of the New Testament were all composed within the first century of our era? The author, or manufacturer, of " Supernatural Religion" has spent his talent in setting up the contrary, but that writer rejects evidence when it does not suit his theory." In the absence of any positive indication, the statement of Barrow may be accepted. " If we leave out of account the writings of the apostle John, the remaining books of the New Testament were written somewhere between A.D. 45-70, whilst the most probable date of John's writings is A.D. 70-100. We cannot, however, expect to find they were, as promulgated, all forthwith placed in one collection. " The Christians of this age 'while the first witnesses still lived-" drew their knowledge of the gospel mainly from the same sources to which Luke refers in the preface of his Gospel, from oral tradition received directly or indirectly from them who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word."

14. The Common Belief

We shall place the grounds of the common belief before the reader, assured that these will gain rather than lose importance by being stated plainly and concisely, without being careful to disguise the weak side of the argument. Is not Christ's power made perfect in weakness? E. E. W.

Wherein We Stand

IT is very important for our souls to see where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ put us, and the result of it as a thing enjoyed at the present time in our souls. Well! if we attend to what scripture says, that is to say, if we listen to the Lord's voice-the voice of God-the thing is simple and plain, but then we must do so with a circumcised ear, so to speak; it is not in any wise within the grasp of the human mind as such, whatever that may be, nor is its greatness diminished because it can be taken in by the soul of the simple. The Lord's things are for His people, each one of them-very blessed and heavenly, and divine things for every soul of His children; therefore it is of all importance that we recognize, that it is not by mastery of mind, but by simplicity of soul in God's presence, that we can make

them ours, and so enter into the enjoyment of these things now, as well as forever!

These blessed things are plain enough to faith, though they are things which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." God can, and does, reveal these things unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God-His own deep things. " Therefore being justified by faith," for our own souls, and in our own souls, " we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

And, then, you see, there is another step, so to speak, " We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." We may ask ourselves what that is? What is this grace in which we stand? Well, if one may so say, that is everything, and includes everything. It is God's divine favor; that is where the soul is introduced, and such being the case, we might say that almost everything else may be forgotten.

What a wonderful thing it is to realize that we are in God's favor, and God's abiding favor, unintermittent favor-there is no break in it; that is the thing that we are introduced into by the death and resurrection, mind together, of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our offenses, that is to say, therefore, that everything of that sort and kind and order, is swept away forever; and that being so, besides this, He was raised again for our justification, and so we are brought into that divine favor which abides; we are in it, in it now, and in it forever.

And, then, there is another thing we might acquaint our souls with, and that is, we travel with-the soul travels with-the Lord Jesus Christ in all the journey that He has taken for us. We recognize where He came from -that wondrous history in Phil. 2, and as John tells us, from God to God, from beside the Father into the world, from the world to the Father; and such is the journey,, through God's grace, we travel with Him. We come down from the heights in which He has placed us, and where His death and resurrection have brought us, and we go the same journey, feeble enough as to apprehension we may surely say, down to the depths below, and raise up to the heights above; a continual course like that of electricity if you please, though it is not that thought so much that I have before me, but that which we have here, that is to say, His work-His death and His resurrection-is made ours; we came into all that it has clone and brought about and that is associated with it; but it is not only that, we are associated with Christ Himself all through, and therefore with whatever He has done, and whatever He is, entirely apart of course from His own personal glory and dignity, but in all the rest we are in thorough identification with Himself, and with His wonderful things above.

What power, what wonderful consolation all this is for the soul; wonderful victory, too, taking one out of the region where one can be overcome; therefore we can say, as overcomers, this is the position and portion of the Christian at the present day. This is where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have placed us.

We read, " if ye are risen with Christ;"-it is merely a question as to whether we are or whether we are not; if ye are, seek, or set, your mind upon those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

If one may so say, having access into this grace wherein we stand includes all this, not that it puts all this before us here in detail, but we have divine favor, and divine favor is everything for the soul.

Well, then, this carries us on naturally to the hope of glory; nothing satisfies such souls but glory-cannot; that does satisfy. I am not speaking of being there already, though as identified with Him in Spirit, we are. Whatever journey He has taken we have taken, therefore, if He has journeyed by resurrection and is up there that is our journey too.

Have our souls traveled the same journey that the Lord Jesus Christ has traveled or are we behind-hand?

We may ask ourselves, and ask each other, this question; and if we have not, we are not where we ought to be. This is our portion-what belongs to us, and that is what every Christian is in; he may be very ignorant of it, and connected with all sorts of systems, but this is the portion of every Christian, no matter where he is, and his settled portion, and there is no Christianity without it; there is no such thing as Christians being anywhere except in Christ. It is their portion and position. They travel exactly the same journey that He has traveled. Wonderful thing it is!

Does not the grace of God come out here claiming our heart's adoration, and to own that it has cost us nothing! In another sense, however, it has cost us something, and what a great many do not like, and that is, ourselves. Not a particle of ourselves can enter into that. We are slack in letting ourselves go, and the secret of it is that self is not known. If self is not left behind, and willingly, self is not known; because if we knew self in God's presence we should only be too glad to leave it behind. There is an immense lot of self in us, but it is one thing to his it sheaving itself, another thing allowing it; the question is whether it is merely cropping up, or really allowed. It will crop up sometimes when least expected or suspected, but if we know anything in a true way about ourselves we are only too glad to let self go to the winds. We must pray to God, and look to God, that it should not be allowed, for every little bit of self that is allowed is a hindrance to ourselves, and to those we are associated with.

It is, also, of all importance to see how the grace of God keeps us, and never alters, " Being justified by faith we have peace with God," and now we stand in that grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We have nothing else to rejoice in. In the meantime here upon earth, being reconciled, we are saved by His life-in the power that is associated with the life that has passed through death-are kept going by His life and not only so, but we joy in God. Of course we do! reconciled.

by the death of His Son, and rejoicing in hope of His glory.

May the Lord, in His infinite grace, keep our eyes open that we may rejoice in the things that belong to us and are freely given to us of God, for His name's sake.

How sweet away from self to flee

And shelter in our Savior;

Oh! precious grace, with Him's our place,

In God's eternal favor.

Jesus the goal, before our soul,

The One we know in glory;

While we're on earth, we'd tell His worth,

A saved one's sweetest story!

w. F. 11.

The Books of the Bible: Part 4

" THE Holy Bible"—a happily chosen title, in use for more than five hundred years—does not contain simply the word of God, but is itself The Word of God; and its verbal or word-inspiration is a fact, not a theory nor a question of degree. (2 Tim. 3:15,16; 1 Cor. 2:13.) The Bible contains numerous revelations of various characters, communicated in various ways, and at various periods. Its composition was commenced by Moses, 1450 years before Christ, and finished by John-the last of " the apostolic twelve "-ere the first Christian century closed. The latter, however, in his epistolary communications did not unfold new truths or reveal fresh subjects, but rather filled up in greater fullness and in minute detail what others of the New, and even of the Old, Testament writers were inspired to communicate. It was reserved for Paul to complete the subjects of the word of God. (Col. 1:25.) Creation, providence, government, law, promise, prophecy, life, grace, sin, the cross, Israel, are a few of the main topics revealed in the scriptures; but there was yet wanting one subject which for moral grandeur is only equaled by that Eternal Counsel-The Lamb Slain.

We gather from the Ephesian and the Colossian Epistles what that undisclosed and magnificent subject was, which was to complete the range and circle of divine topics, and of which Paul was the chosen vessel of its revelation and of its ministration to " all men." Believers were baptized into one body, and by the same Spirit and same act united to Christ as Man in heavenly glory. Further, God has put all things-animate and inanimate, celestial and terrestrial, man, angels, Israel, the seen and unseen, the known and unknown-under the dominion of Christ the glorified Man, and we, individually as co-heirs (Rom. 8:17), and collectively as His body (Eph. 1:22,23), are associated with Him in this vast scene and system of glory. This was the secret or locked-safe secret, " which from the beginning of the world hath lain hid in God " (Eph. 3:9), and which left the apostle, in communicating it and praying about it, incapable of measuring its breadth; for it is God's most wondrous plan, of grasping its length, as it stretches from eternity to-eternity, of fathoming its depths of wisdom, or exploring its heights of glory. (Eph. 3:18.)

The earlier revelation-" the Old Testament " (2 Cor. 3:14), consisting of thirty-nine books-and the later revelation-" the New Testament " (Matt. 26:28), of twenty-seven books-have each a distinct character impressed upon them. It is usual to speak of the latter as the outcome of or the natural development of the former. But this is to mistake the very nature of Christianity, which is as distinct from Judaism as grace is from law, as the sun is from darkness. Christianity is essentially heavenly and takes its rise from the glory of God, into, which Christ has entered as man. The characteristic feature of the Old Testament is God acting in government,. while that of the New, is God revealed in grace. In the Old, God is behind the veil, hid from the eye of priest, and people; unseen and unapproachable, surrounded with the symbols of uncreated majesty and glory, and from thence pressing His righteous claims upon men, upon. Israel, while all the time testing the creature of His.

government. Is not this the distinct character of the Old Testament? Not that there was not in type, promise, and scripture, that which cheered the hope and sustained the faith of the one, who might, however dimly, discern in these " the shadow of good things to come." Now, on the contrary, in " the New Testament " we have as its distinguishing feature, God revealed as " light " and " love;" the veil rent-holily and righteously by God Himself; and man in Christ set down with an eternally purged conscience in the light, and a conscious possessor of the glory by the Spirit, given as seal and earnest. The Old Testament opens with, " In the beginning God created;" then follows the history of that which was created-at least, the moral and responsible part of it. The opening sentence of the New Testament reads, " In the beginning was the Word." Thus the stability and glory of the new creation is founded upon the infinite perfections and absolute dignity in person and nature of Him who Is; whereas the old creation was set up in goodness and to continue in blessing conditionally on the obedience of the first man. Alas! we know the result.

It may be objected to the statement that the New Testament really opens with the quoted words from the first of John, and it may be asked, Why not quote from any of the synoptical gospels? Simply because the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, continue the moral history of the Race which closes up in the cross of Christ and hence in these Gospels we witness the last testing, the last of the probationary trials to which man was subjected for the four thousand years then drawing to a close-tested by the presence of God, active in love and grace. The fourth Gospel begins where the synoptical Gospels leave of, namely, by the absolute and utter rejection of Christ by the world and Israel. (John 1:10; 2. 5.) Christianity is based on the assumption that Christ has been disowned by them on earth, consequently God has raised Him up and set Him in heavenly glory, and there is the birth-place of Christianity. Just because there is no testing-process of man or Israel in John's Gospel, so God is free to reveal Himself simply-He has a scene of moral death and utter ruin in which unchecked He can manifest Himself without a reserve.

The whole Bible might be conveniently distributed into six main parts: three for the Old Testament, three for the New Testament. We have Christ's own authority, thus final and conclusive, for arranging the books of the Old Testament into three great sections. (Luke 24:44.) " The law of Moses " embraces the five books of the Pentateuch. " The Prophets " comprehend the historical books from Joshua to Esther, as also the prophetical writings from Isaiah to Malachi-twenty-nine books in all the primary signification of prophecy is forth-telling, not, as generally understood, " future-telling," hence all those books have one thought in common,. namely, God's mind expressed-His thoughts poured forth. " The Psalms " is the third divisional title of the Old Testament, as applied by the Lord, and embraces the remaining five books, from " Job " to the " Song;" so termed, because in this distinctly moral section the heart of man is variously expressed.

Now, in the classification of the New Testament books we have no inspired declaration as to this order or arrangement, nor need we one. As having the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) we have the Spirit of intelligence and should use it. The arrangement we propose has, at least, the merit of simplicity. We would group the four Gospels under the first division. Here on that grand and magnificent pillar, " God manifested in the flesh," is laid the solid and imperishable foundation of all blessing, for time and for eternity, for Jew and Gentile, for heaven and earth. The different characters of these displays of God to man is, of course, to be gathered from a study of the Gospels themselves. His royal and Judaic glories and dignities are unfolded in Matthew. His unwearied patience and grace in service is the great point in Mark.. The dependent and suffering Son of man is the capital truth of the third Gospel-Luke, Son of God, as to

present glory, and Son of the Father in eternal and present intimacy, with all flowing from these titles, are the exalted themes of John.

" The Acts," which is the only historical book of the New Testament, we must place apart from either Gospels or Epistles, as possessing a character peculiar to itself: yet who can fail to read this interesting book as the Spirit's link between Christ's life on earth (the Gospels) and the results to us of His present life and service in heaven (the Epistles)? " The Acts "-which specially connects itself with the close of Luke's Gospel-is the Holy Spirit's record of gospel work and service-from Jerusalem to Rome-for about thirty-three years. It is invaluable, too, in this respect, as being the divine introduction to the study of the Epistles. It unfolds the historical circumstances under which the various epistolary communications were penned. Are we not justified, therefore, in regarding " The Acts " as the second division of the New Testament books?

The Epistles, of which there are twenty-two, give the third and closing section of the New Testament books. This is pre-eminently "the Church Section" of the sacred scriptures. Herein the saints are instructed, guided, warned, cheered, sustained, till the Lord Himself shall come into the " air," with an assembling shout, to gather us up in the clouds-" So shall we ever be with the Lord."

w. s.

The Cross

I SEE how, in the cross, the whole question of good and evil was brought to an issue in every way. First, it was the complete display of man's enmity against God-the contemptuous rejection, alas of God-come in love, for His love He had " hatred;" and in every detail, disciples, priests, Pilate, all bring out the evil that was in man. Then Satan's power is fully manifested, and that over men in their passions, and in one sense in death, at least in the sorrow of Christ's soul.

Next, I get the perfect Man as nowhere else-perfect love to the Father; perfect, absolute, obedience; and that in the very place of sin, and the cup it had filled. And this in human weakness, Satan's power (though above both, by looking to God), and the forsaking of God.

And, then, God Himself, in perfect righteousness against sin, and sovereign, perfect, infinite love to the sinner, His majesty and truth, both made good.

Such is the cross! In the history of eternity it stands alone.

Man in God's glory is its blessed result. J. N. D.

Spiritual Intelligence and Devotedness

LET us look a little into the history of this remarkable woman. What was it she had that filled the house? No doubt it prefigured the Holy Ghost-but what was it? It was something that came from herself-it was reckoned to her, and she filled the house with it. You, if you please, may take " the house " as the house of God. The place where she was was filled with the odor. She occupied the whole space, she occupied the whole scene, and it was filled with the perfume.

But it was not appreciated by any save the Lord Jesus alone-He alone appreciated it.

How many of us are satisfied to have the approval of Christ only! We like to take a little credit to ourselves; and for others, even our brethren, to hold us in their approbation, but she was satisfied with the appreciation of the Lord alone. Some of the circle liked new fashions, but she kept the good old fashion of sitting at the feet of Jesus, and there received His words, and the result was, she filled the house with odor. From the sitting at the feet of Jesus came the filling of the house, that is how it came about, and the Lord Jesus appreciated it. Now, which will you have, the appreciation of Christ, or of others, even the brethren? You cannot expect to have both. It is certain that if you will have the one you must do without the other!

It will not do for us to throw stones at Martha. Which of us can come up to Martha? But why was she troubled? Because she had, as it were, too many things in hand, and, being occupied with them, they worried her, though they were good things in themselves, such as service, &c. It is not so with purely spiritual and divine things, you cannot have too much of them, nor be too much occupied with them; but it is a difficulty with natural things, or what is merely service.

Ask the physicians of the present day, they will all tell you the same thing; that what they have to grapple especially with are the effects of worry. Martha was troubled; but there was one thing about her that few of us can boast of-she was "at home" with Jesus. She could go to Him and tell Him everything. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and drinking in His words was occupied with what came from Himself, and was satisfied with His appreciation and approbation. It is a wonderful thing, and an instructive study for the soul-she "filled" the-"house" with the "odor of the ointment." W. F. B.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: The Spirit in Mark 10 and Phi. 3; Grace and Legality

DEAREST BROTHER, Thank you for your letter. I do not at present see that it is God's will. I should be with you at your meeting at 0..., though I should greatly rejoice to see the beloved brethren again. My heart is in their blessing, and I pray God with all my heart to lead them on in what He gives, and keep them, and make them very humble, that they may be near Him. I feel deeply how only One can keep His Church, even humanly speaking, for we all know (it is always true) it outreaches one's hand. But what a comfort to be able to apply to Him for its blessing, whose ear is ever open, who can in grace reach all, and whose interest, in perfect love, is far deeper than any interest of ours, only that He graciously allows us to have-a part in it. May we know how to use the privilege.

I have felt my translation work a good deal, as absorbing me from direct interest in the positive work; not as to my heart, nor as to occupation of heart with Him. But it is nearly clone, for which I am very thankful. Nature of course shrinks from suffering: still, when it comes, if we are 'with God, strength and joy are there. I have found in the little difficulties I have had, much more trial in, expecting trial than when it was there. When there, I was calm and quiet, and no way uneasy-whereas I was when expecting it. Out of it, if it threatens, you are thinking of it; in it, you are looking out of it to the Lord. Of course there must be the power of the Holy Ghost. It is true I have a sadly fearful mind. But Paul (Philippians) was there in presence of the danger. He was in presence of his trial for his life, but he was surely wonderfully sustained. Still, it was not a question of avoiding but going through, and then comparatively it is easy.

The difference of nature and the power of the Spirit you see in comparing Mark 10 and Philippians 3.in this, in the young man, you have legal righteousness, in that, in Paul, all given up as worthless; money clung to Mark 10, all gain to self dross and dung in Phil. 3; the disciples amazed and following trembling in Mark, a privilege to have the fellowship of His sufferings in Philippians 3. But in Philippians you have the full power of the Spirit all through; sin is never mentioned in the Epistle, nor flesh, as affecting the experience of the Apostle. It is the experience of one-living in the Spirit, in its power, and is exceedingly beautiful in this light in every respect; does not know which to choose, death or life-one gain, the other labor for Christ; and so, self being gone, he decides his own trial, for it was good for them he should stay, and Christ had all power, so he was going to stay. The same mind as Christ in going down to the death of the cross, and so perfect and delicate consideration for others admirably coming out in unconscious fruit: energy in following Christ-before him as his object in glory -to win Christ, and thus win the resurrection from among the dead: a humbled. Christ forms the character; a glorified one gives, the energy of " this one thing I do:" then superiority, through experimental acquaintance with Christ's sufficiency, to all circumstances.. It is the epistle of proper Christian experience. I do not think it was, asking for trial, though we may desire generally to have fellowship in Christ's sufferings, that one can earnestly do. " To you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his name's sake." But one does not desire suffering for itself. Only when there they are a subject of all joy. Faith is given for them. Paul was in prison, and just awaiting his trial. But he could say, in his ordinary life of service, " without were fightings, within were fears;" nevertheless " God who comforteth those who are cast down," &c.

As to suffering for Christ, I am sure if the Lord lead one into,, trial for His name, He will give us strength to glorify Him. We can do nothing. But if living with Him in the secret of our souls, we shall not find it hard to die for Him. See how bright Stephen was, how quiet, kneeling down to pray for them. He was full of the Holy Ghost. We have to pray that we may be so filled, that what comes.

forth may be Christ, and Christ fittingly for what is before us. I find this a great test, in practice, of how far I am practically identified in spirit with Him. From Him came forth not merely what was right, but just the right thing in what He had to do or say....

I look for a more conscience-consecration to Christ. Oh, how earnestly I desire this! Those who first came out were all devoted-came because they were most of them giving up their place, perhaps everything, in the world. Some have done so all along, and recently. But then many have come in as converted or because they saw it right, and remain pretty much where they were, and this affects the whole testimony. However, the world is utterly opposed as yet, which is a mercy, and I think that the Spirit of God is working... I trust our meeting at C... was blessed. The Person of the Lord was much before us, and I trust His coming is getting practical power. I think the Lord's presence was felt. I was glad it closed, for I feared the happiness turning into excitement, which had not been the case, and there was much liberty....

The Lord make us, dear brother, to End Christ everything, that whatever comes with Him we may joy in; so be with Him that we have the consciousness of common interests, though He be Master, yet those who have His secret with us, His counsels, His objects; stewards who have His interests at heart more than their own, and then go to see Him and be with Him. How sweet will that word sound, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord "-poor and worthless creatures that we are. Well, we must go with Him now, take up our cross and follow Him: " If any man serve me let him follow me." There is a great deal in that word. May He keep us near Himself. It is Himself that makes all -clear and simple to the soul The Lord be with you.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

1871. J. N. D.

.... " I think the visiting part myself quite as important, if not the most important part of work. It is said: publicly and from house to house.' In these days when there is a good deal of general testimony, though feeble and mixed, perhaps the latter assumes more than its ordinary relative importance. The clock, of course, strikes the hours and avails to the passers by, but the works inside make the good clock and make the striking and the hands right. I think it should be your substantive work, and take all else as it comes; indeed, I do not believe any can minister well without it. The spring of love, and the use and application of doctrine are fed there, minds are understood, the Spirit is led to apply truth to needs spiritually understood and entered into; we are apt to get essays else, theories or thoughts. The Holy Ghost, I believe, teaches people while it teaches truth, and suits the truth to conscience and its known state, and it is good for our own souls besides. I dread much, public testimony, and altogether so, if there be not private -work.".... J. N. D.

BELOVED BROTHER, I know well what you mean by what you wrote me of grace and legality in your letter, having passed through it, and so much the more painfully as it was a dreadful cross to me to address myself to -a stranger, and still more in public so to speak. There was often. legality; that is, conscience, not grace, drove me. But I found if I was near Christ in my soul I found many opportunities and open. doors that I did not find when I was not. And this made my conscience work when I had difficulties. On the other hand, when conscious that I was with Christ and Christ with me, and at home in the service of His love, I felt more free to see opportunities (the true sense of redeeming the time in Eph. 5), freer and happier at liberty so to use them, and not forced by conscience to do it when it was only bringing out evil; I do not quite say casting pearls before swine, but at any rate approaching it, which we are directed. not to do. But I am too great a coward to be satisfied with myself in the matter, and have, alas, often had to act from conscience, yet felt happier afterward; at least confessing Christ if not seeking souls in love.

There may be cases where it would be amiss, and it would rather be," but rather rebuke them." But there is a seizing opportunities-but the hearty soul for Christ finds them. I do not say Satan. drives, but conscience may, and we may then often do it in an ill. way, because there is neither the wisdom nor the love. But I say all this, conscious that I am too great a coward in addressing myself to strangers in public to say a great deal. But I have found by the Lord's gracious mercy I got the ear of most who were willing to hear when a little time with them. When people see that you will speak of Christ, and use common kindness and courtesy, those who will not draw off, and those at all inclined give occasion to do it. We are, according to our gift, to preach the gospel to every creature, but there is a guidance; and if whole hearted in that, I may leave Mysia and Bithynia and Asia and go to Macedonia without any conscience upbraiding me, whereas if I am not my conscience may upbraid me for Mysia and Bithynia, though I ought not really to have gone there. " If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light."

In these last days it seems as if God allowed much pressure on -spirits to go to all, but regularly there is the thought of the claim of God, not merely the claim of souls, and then one is guided of Him who has the claim. When that is there, it is " Woe is me if I preach not the gospel;" but we do it guided of Him who has the claim over us. At any rate, our gracious God will accept a service poorly rendered by conscience, but we ought to serve Him well.

In public service another check is away. There was and is in many places the world against and no civil right, religious liberty, to plead. This is often a great snare, though not so great as cowardice -through want of faith. Englishmen often do mischief through this; they force the world to leave the gospel free, and the work is hindered. The Lord uses this for testimony, and even to send the testimony elsewhere. Christianity has no right but God's in the world, and that is in a rejected Savior who, indeed, has all power, but has left the cross behind Him in the earth. With the consciousness of this, and love for souls, we can go on with faith, but for Him. And where He has no place we have none. We must submit as He did. And He opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens.

Where little strength is, yet boldness with great mistakes, God has owned, and I am far enough from it myself to honor it greatly. They hinder themselves sometimes, but they do a great deal more of God's work. Some of it does not sometimes last so well. I do not doubt our hearts can be puffed up in doing feats. I have seen this. We are called to serve more than to do, and in serving to follow. I look for patience (it was the first mark of apostolic service) and guidance, but I see such a thing as great boldness in Christ Jesus. Of course when the flesh comes in. Satan can use it, if grace preserve us not. But the difficulty I have found is conscience driving when there was-not peaceful love enough-enough of Christ to do it wisely. But there is a light boasting of preaching adventures in. the world sometimes which is painful.

As to Matt. 25, I cannot doubt a moment that it is the separation of the wicked and righteous-in a word, goats and sheep. " Them " is merely those who compose them: indeed, in Greek it does not agree with nations. We have the same form in other cases. As to the knowledge of Christ it was very imperfect. Still He was looked for, but connected with judgment. The gospel preached was the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14), answering to the judgment of the serpent in Paradise. (Psa. 96 and Matt. 24) This gospel " of the kingdom." It was now too late to have the other gospel, so to call it. They had not to do with Antichrist, at least only in a distant way. He was in Palestine, and subservient to the beast out of the bottomless pit, and these were judged by Christ coming from heaven, the rest by Christ sitting on His throne when come.

Everlasting life is always life in Christ forever, but we get it in heaven. Two words are translated " world to come '' in the New Testament. In Luke 18:30 it is the age to come, Messiah's time, which may be in heaven. The world to come whereof we speak (Heb. 2.) is the habitable world to come, which is, of course, down here. Life in Christ (He is eternal life, 1 John 1 and John 1) may be on earth as Matt. 25, or in heaven, as " the end everlasting life " and elsewhere. It is only twice spoken of in the Old Testament Psa. 133 and Dan. 12, both referring to the millennium, namely, on earth I find the Person of the Lord more and more everything in the word. It is unspeakably blessed to see Him, and God revealed in Him, in this world. How wondrous to have God revealed in a man amongst us! The whole Trinity was first fully revealed when He took His place in the first right step of His poor returning people in grace, and became the model of our standing here. Son; owned of the Father; anointed and sealed of the Holy Ghost. All heaven open, only no object above for Him as for Stephen, but Himself the great object of heaven itself down here. Then, in that place, He takes another part-conflict with the enemy. What a testimony to the word. too, that one verse is sufficient for the Lord as authority, as the obedient man, for Satan, so as to leave him not a word.

The verse in John is most precious.

Peace be with you, dear brother, and mercy and grace. Kindest love to all the saints.

1869. Ever yours affectionately in the Lord, J. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: COL 3:20 Obedience to Parents; COL 2:20 and 1PE 2:13; Why Didn't the Lord Partake of the Cup in Luke 22?

23. Q.-Would Col. 2:20, justify a child absenting himself from the Lord's table because of his parents' orders not to go there, and would the same scripture justify him, in obedience to their orders, in going where evil doctrine was held or taught? Would doing things like these, feeling they were wrong, be loving father or mother more than Christ?

W. Y. H.

A.-The form of the exhortation as given in Eph. 6:1, has an important addition, qualifying the scope of it; we read there " Children obey your parents in the Lord," which makes it plain that, while the subjection of the child to the parent, as set by God. in the place of authority, is to be thorough (" in all things," Col. 3:20), the claims of God are above those of the parent; and, therefore, that when the parent desires the child to do things contrary to His revealed will-according to scripture, the Lord has to be obeyed and not the parent. Where the claims of the Lord and those of the parent clash, those of the Lord are absolutely paramount: and hence to disobey the Lord in order to please the parent, would be " loving father or mother more than Christ." But, as our hearts are very subtle, there is a danger lest our own wills or desires are acting, and thus leading into a disobedience to parents, rather than simple conscience toward the Lord in subjection to His -word. In the instance cited, supposing that conscience towards God is really the only motive, the path is plain, and the parents must be disobeyed in order to obey and please the Lord; as Peter says in Acts 5:29, where disobedience to divinely constituted authority was really in question, " We ought to obey God rather than men." We must add, that in the cases we are supposing, the way in which the child carries out the will of God. in opposition to the parent is of all importance; it should be done in meekness and lowliness, and the conduct in all other respects, when it is simply a question of the will and pleasure of the parents as opposed to the will and pleasure of the child, one of respectful obedience " in all things; for this, is pleasing to the Lord."

24. Q.-How do you reconcile Col. 2:20-" Why as-though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances," with 1 Peter 2:13-" Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake "? W. Y. H.

A.—"Ordinances" in Col. 2:20 is not the same thing at all as " ordinance " in 1 Peter 2, 13, nor even the same word as the original. The former his exclusive reference to the ordinances of the Jewish religious system, or law, which has its entire application to man as alive in the flesh; to this the Christian is dead-" dead with Christ," and in this sense is not " alive in the world," and thus not subject to these ordinances, which in this connection are called " the rudiments of the world." The latter has reference to the authoritative institutions, or laws of the land; and to these, as recognizing that " the powers that be are ordained of God " (Rom. 13:1), the Christian is to be subject " for the Lord's sake," but within the scope of Peter's word in Acts 5:29, to which we have already referred.

26. Q.-Why did not the Lord Himself partake of the cup in Luke 22:17, though He gave thanks for it, and gave it to His disciples? w. Y. H.

A.-The cup here was the cup of the Jewish pashcal supper, and did not typify the Lord's blood; but the wine of the feast of tabernacles when the vintage of the earth had been gathered in, and which is emblematical of human earthly happiness, of this " fruit of the vine" the Lord, while away from the earth in heaven, would not drink, but when He returns to the earth and sets up " the kingdom of God "-the millennium, as it is called, He will do so, as entering again into relationship with His Jewish people as blessed on the earth. c. w.

Christian Standing and Condition: Part 1

A SMALL pamphlet, bearing the above title, has recently been put into circulation, having for its object, as it states, to give believers greater "accuracy of thought" on these subjects. The writer observes, "that the form in which truth is expressed must be considered," as well as the truth itself, and yet we cannot help remarking that -to us at least-he himself fails in the very line to which he draws special attention; and by not following scripture itself, and " the form, in which the truth is expressed," instead of giving accuracy of thought on the subjects he takes up, he throws them into confusion, and treats them in a way calculated to destroy their divine force and true significance in the soul.

The entire tract is a striking instance of a mind occupied with its own thoughts, going to scripture to find support and authority for them; and so powerfully is this motive in activity, that one habitually and carefully critical ceases to be so, or, at least, is only so where the points sought to be proved require it, and even then is not fairly so; not that we mean to imply by these words that there is a conscious intention to mislead. The writer evidently thinks he is stating with critical accuracy what the scriptures teach; and it is plain, from the whole cast of the tract, that he is doing battle, as he conscientiously believes, in the interests of truth and souls, against some doctrine that he regards as derogatory to God's glory.

The key-note of the tract is " the throne of God:" " nothing," he says, " is higher in the universe than the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." The highest conception the writer has of God, is, as sitting on His throne, and, consequently, the highest conception he has of the saints' position in blessing, is, as standing before His throne: " no higher position," he says, " can the saint have than standing before that throne." To prove the truth of this is the burden of all he writes.

Now, is this the teaching of scripture? Is there a divine basis for this thought about the throne of God, and all that is founded upon it? Or is it the reflected state of the writer's own limited apprehension of Christian truth and Christian blessing? Let the scriptures themselves answer these questions, for we are quite at one with the writer, where he says," the form in which truth is expressed must be considered," and that " this will lead to an accuracy of thought about it which might not have otherwise occurred to us. The use of scripture terms will thus force themselves on our attention, and both the wisdom of their selection, and their special value, we shall be able, as taught of God, in some measure to apprehend." To be " taught of God," to have only what scripture teaches, is the one desire of our hearts, for ourselves, as well as others; and therefore we will " search the scriptures, whether these things be so."

But before examining, in the light of scripture, these novel doctrines, it will be necessary to get clearly before the mind the force, or meaning, attached by the writer to the special terms he uses.

His contention is with regard to the Christian's" standing and condition;" terms which, as " scripture uses" them, he thus defines (page 28): " By standing is meant the title and ability, through grace, for a fallen and once guilty creature to be before the throne of God, without judgment overtaking him. By state, or condition, is meant, what the person is, or the circumstances in which he is." To this we must add, to make things quite clear, that, with him, " standing" and " position" are convertible terms, and so " state" and " condition." His distinction between "standing" and "state" is founded upon the scriptural use of these terms; he uses these words critically, and, as we are surely led to apprehend, with the force that attaches to them in the original languages in which the Old and New Testaments were written. The whole tract has a critical basis, and is written by one undoubtedly competent to write critically. It opens with a very refined bit of criticism: " The opening [rather than entrance] of thy words giveth light: it giveth understanding to the simple" (Psa. 119:130); doubtless an instructive correction, but of which, to save himself from misapprehension, it would have been well, we think, to have unfolded the true force a little.

Then, on page 9, the importance of which in the connection in which it is used being apparent, we are told, " To this may be added 1 Peter 5:12, when rightly read, In which stand ye;" but we think it might have been added, that this is a disputed reading, and that in " A New Translation," by one whose spiritual judgment and critical acumen are beyond question, it reads, " in which ye stand;" and though he adds, in a note, " many read stand," he does not himself accept this reading-putting the verb in the imperative, and which, of course, changes the entire significance of the passage.

On page 20, as to a. verse in Eph. 1, in which, for the view held by the writer, it was of the utmost importance to make a change, we read, " The Authorized Version does not give what is now generally accepted as the true reading of the passage; viz.: Having predestinated us unto adoption by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he hath freely bestowed in the beloved';" adding, in a note, " So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, and Westcott and Hort, read the passage, on the authority of the uncials, A B P, and the Codex Sinaiticus, as it was, doubtless, originally written." Here, again, as the author is not above referring to the author of " A New Translation " to confirm his views as to another critical reading, it would have been happy had he supplied the reading as given in that translation, with the note attached to it, which-scarcely allowing the statement, " generally adopted"-runs thus: "Having marked us out beforehand for adoption, through Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to [the] praise of [the] glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favor in the beloved;" to which is attached the note, " ἐχαρίτσεν, taken us into favor;' put us into a position of grace and favor.' Accepted us' is too formal a doctrine here, not so general as χαδιτόω. But shown us grace or favor' does not give the force of the word. ' In the Beloved' is then merely an instrument; whereas it is in the Beloved that we enter into favor. If we accept ἧς, which seems to be the best attested reading, we should say, the favor, or acceptance in grace, which he has freely bestowed on us.' χάριτος ἧς

(by attraction for ἧν) ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς. T. R. and Tisch. Read ἐν ᾗ.

On page 30, pains are taken. to define the difference between the force of the words, δικαίωμα, δικαίωσιν ξωῆς, and δικαισύνη, which " implies," as he says, " to use the language of another (the author of ' A New Translation'), ' a state of accomplished, subsisting righteousness before God, in which justification places us,' and is contrasted, as the reader may see, with condemnation."

We have referred to these four instances of the author's critical use of words, in order that the critical character of the tract may be fairly before the mind, and as a proof that we are justly entitled to conclude that the terms, standing" and " state," as made use of in the scripture quotations that are brought forward in support of his doctrine, as to the difference between the believer's standing and condition, are used critically, and are represented in the originals by words that can bear no other meaning.

With no pretension to scholarship ourselves, but as having, in a Beroean spirit, looked up and examined these passages, we give our readers the result of our investigations, that they may form for themselves a judgment of the value of the verbal basis upon which the author founds his doctrine as to " Christian standing and condition;" and, we cannot help adding, the reliance to be attached in this instance to his critical use of words so fundamentally affecting the believer's blessing and joy.

We take them in the order that they occur. As to " standing," we have eight quotations from the Old Testament, and four from the New.

"The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment." (Psa. 1:5.) The Hebrew word (קום) used here has not properly the force of standing, in the sense of a fixed. standing or position, but of rising up, and would more justly- be rendered, " shall not rise," and in this way, or sense, it is almost universally rendered in the other passages in which it occurs, such as, " that Cain rose up against Abel his brother" (Gen. 4:8); " and the men rose up from thence" (Gen. 18:16); ".Yow will I arise, saith the Lord" (Psa. 12:5); " Though war should rise against us" (Psa. 27); " Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." (Psa. 68)

" The foolish shall not stand in thy sight." (Psa. 5:5.) The Hebrew word (יצב) used here has not the force of a fixed or settled position; it means personal presence before another, or in. a certain place, but not in a judicial sense; as, " the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord" (Job 1. 61); " Satan came also amongst them, to present himself before the Lord" (Job 2:1); "and present yourselves in the tabernacle" (Dent. 31. 14); " And the angel of the Lord stood in the way." (Num. 22:22.)

" Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" (Psa. 76:7); " If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities; 0 Lord, who shall stand?" (Psa. 130:3); " Who can stand before his indignation?" (Nah. 1:6); " Who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner, and like fuller's soap" (Mal. 3:2); " Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God r (1 Sam. 6:20); "Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for we cannot stand before thee because of this." (Ezra 9:15.) The Hebrew word (יצב) used in these six passages, has the force of settled, fixed position, or continuance, whether in rest or motion; hence, as a noun, is used for a standing-place, station, or state, but it does not appear to have anywhere the force of a judicial standing before a throne of judgment. It is a word largely used in the senses indicated: we read, " Abraham stood yet before the Lord" (Gen. 18:22); " The place whereon thou standest" (Ex. 3:5); "that standeth to minister" (Dent. 17. 12); " Happy are these, thy servants, which. stand" (1 Kings 10:8); " It stood upon twelve oxen" (2 Chron. 4:4); " Our feet shall stand within thy gates" (Psa. 122:2); " The glory of the Lord stood there" (Ezek. 3:23); " They stood in their place" [or, standing] (2 Chron. 30:16); " and set them in their place" [or standing]. (Neh. 13:11.)

" Into this grace wherein we stand" (Rom. 5:2); " and thou standest by faith" (Rom. 11:20); " For God is able to make him stand" (Rom. 14:4); " For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:17.) The Greek verb (ἵστημι) used in these four passages of the New Testament has the general significance of standing erect on the feet, though sometimes used to signify settledness and security, in a moral sense. The apostle Paul almost always uses it in this moral sense, and its general force in this way may be gathered from the other instances in which it occurs in the Epistle to the Romans: "Yea, we establish the law" (chap. 3. 31); " to establish their own righteousness" (chap. 10. 3); " Yea, he shall be holden up." (Chapter 14:4.)

As to " state," we have four quotations from the Old Testament, and four from the New.

" The man asked us straightway of our state, and of our kindred." (Gen. 43:7.) There is no word in the Hebrew here for state, and the more exact translation would be, " The man asked very closely after us, and after our kindred."

" Let the king give her royal estate to another:" (Esther 1:19.) There is no word in the original for " estate," the meaning of the Hebrew word (מלזה), translated " royal estate," signifying simply, " kingdom;" the same word as is used in verse 14 of the same chapter

" Sat first in the kingdom;" and in the earlier part of this same verse 19: " Let there go a royal commandment" ' [lit., commandment of the kingdom].

" Who remembered us in our low estate." (Ps. 130-6. 23.) There is no word in the original for estate, and the

Hebrew word (שפל) simply means lowness, or low place, as in Eccl. 10:6: " The rich sit in low place."

" Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate." (Ezek. 16:55.) There is no word in the original for " estate;" the Hebrew word (קרמה), rendered former estate, signifies former, old. Compare Isa. 23:7-" Whose antiquity is of ancient days;" and Dan. 6:10-" As he did aforetime" [lit., from before this].

" The last estate [or condition] of that man is worse than the first." (Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26.) Here, as even the English text chews, there is no word in the original for state or condition; the thought of condition may be supplied, but the literal translation of the Greek word (τὰ ἔσχατα), is, " the last of that man became worse than the first;" the same form in the Greek-a peculiar one, the word being in the plural-occurs in 2 Peter 2:20: "the latter end is worse with them than the beginning;" and in Rev. 2:19: "and the last to be more than the first." " He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden." (Luke 1:48.) There is no word for state in the original, the Greek word (ταπείνωσις), translated " low estate," signifying humiliation. It is used four times only in the New Testament: (Acts 8:33) In his humiliation his judgment was taken away;" (Phil. 3:21) "who shall change our vile body" [lit., body of humiliation]; James 1.10: " But the rich, in that he is made low" [lit., in his humiliation].

"I may be of good comfort when I know your state." (Phil. 2:19.) There is no word for " state" in the original; the Greek words (τὰ περὶ ἱμῖν) simply meaning, concerning you ("how ye get on"-new translation). It is the same form of expression as in the next verse-" will naturally care for your state" ("how ye get on").

" I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content." (Phil. 4:11.) There is no word here for state in the original; the Greek words (ἐν οῖς εῖς) would be more simply and expressively translated by, " I have learned, in those circumstances in which I am, to be satisfied."

Now, what there is to build a special doctrine on, as to the difference between "Christian standing and condition," as far as the mere respective terms used in these scriptures, viewed in the light of the brief analysis we have made, is concerned, we are quite at a loss to understand. For the term, standing, in the eight passages drawn from the Old Testament, three different and non-related words are used in the original; they have not the same force; and in none of them is it a question of personal standing before God's throne for judgment as to sins, in view of justification, or of eternal condemnation. It is a question of the government of God on the earth: of practical righteousness, as forming the ground of blessing on the one side; and of iniquity and ungodliness, as bringing temporal judgment, on the other. Mercy and forgiveness are doubtless, even governmentally, based on the cross of Christ, but to confound the dealing of God in government, albeit mingled with mercy, with the grace that justifies the sinner before God revealed in righteousness, as in the New Testament, and to make standing in the Old Testament the same as standing in the New, is, to say the least, most misleading. Then, as to the use of the term, in the passages taken from the New Testament, how little can be built upon the mere word used, the other passages cited, from the Epistle to the Romans, are evidence enough; and when to this we add, that in the passage in Rom. 5, of which so much is made, and where justification, based upon Christ's work for us on the cross, really is the point, it is no question of a " standing before the throne of God," but of the " grace wherein we stand," as " the form in which truth is expressed," we are astonished that even the attempt should have been made to found a doctrine, as to Christian standing, on the mere terms used, and these, too, as found in our English version.

c. w.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

UNREVISED NOTES OF READINGS ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WITH J. N. D. IN DUBLIN, 1880.

Chapter 1 IN the first part of this chapter we get abstractedly what Christ was: the Word, the Word with God, and who was God-life and light. An important element is brought out here, and that is, that when divine light tame into the world in grace, the world did not know Him; and then we get quickening-" But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

In verse 14 we have what Christ became, not what He was, essentially; I mean, of course, that this is another part of the truth. We have not His work yet, but His incarnation-" and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us." This is very simple in one sense. He became a Man; and not only that, but He " dwelt among us "-not like God visiting Abraham merely. In outward form He was like another man-He was " found in fashion as a man." (Phil. 2:8.) That is an immense truth; the Word comes and dwells among men as a Man, (more than a man, of course), " and we beheld his glory," the glory He had down here, and those who had eyes to see through it could see the Father-" he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." " The glory as of an only begotten with a father;" this is really only a comparison, yet " this is my beloved Son " the Father said more than once.

If you leave out the parenthesis the passage reads thus: " And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace upon grace." But that is not all we get in this statement of His glory; there is a math-

festation of the Father, and those who had eyes to see saw the Father revealed in the Son, but it is also the Son's revealed place as Man down here.

At the end of Matt. 3 we get in this connection a very remarkable passage. There He took His place publicly-He entered by the door into the sheepfold, being baptized with the baptism of repentance; not surely as needing repentance Himself, but taking this place, as fulfilling righteousness, with the godly remnant. in Israel in their first right step Godward. When He had taken His place there, as soon as He came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost descended on Him; heaven is opened, and the Father's voice came from thence saying, " This is my beloved Son." He stands here the expression of our place before God as our Father. But we must remark that there was no union with Christ in incarnation; no taking humanity into His Person. We are united to Him in glory; and it was after He had accomplished redemption and was risen that the Lord said to His disciples, "I ascend unto my Father and your-Father, unto my God and your God."-He had brought them into the same place He had Himself as Man. What makes this scene in Matthew still more striking is that it was the first time the Trinity ever could be revealed, though we get the Son occasionally in the Old Testament, and the Spirit often. The revelation of the Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-is identified with His taking this place-making it-for us in His own Person, and now ours actually through grace.

But to return to our verse, we get Him here as " the only-begotten of the Father," not as " the firstborn among many brethren," and He " dwelt among us "-it was not merely an apparition to them-and it was as "full of grace and truth." There had been acts of grace before, but here we have a Person who is Himself the thing: " grace and truth came [subsisted] by Jesus Christ." It was not merely a direction how to walk such as the law was. The law came with a claim on man; it was the perfect rule for man as man. Here we have this precious Person dwelling among us, full of grace and truth-all divine goodness was there, dwelling in the world, and the truth about everything brought out. It could then be said of Satan that he was the prince of this world, and the god of it, because truth itself was in the world, and brought this fact to light. " Grace and truth " (the singular is used in the original) were one thing in His Person. It was the bringing down to man, the humanizing, in a sense, of light and love; not the abstract nature of God, but the manifestation of that amongst men.

Next (ver. 15) we have John the Baptist's testimony.

Then (ver. 16) John the Evangelist takes it up again: 4` and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace;" it really means grace heaped upon grace, when one grace was given another came upon it. There was in its plenitude divine favor in the world and truth about everything. Truth in a certain sense answers to light, but truth could not have been in the world if grace had not been there too, for it would not have been the truth about God. As believers we have all received of Christ's fullness abundance of grace; here it is what is in Himself.

Do you ask, " How have we received it?"

Because all that is in Christ is ours; all the riches of grace and blessedness; His nature, too, in one sense, because Christ is our life, the source and the fullness of it. In respect of our being sinners, the way of this we get in, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." Christ is the reservoir of all blessedness, and we are connected with Him through death. Nobody was anointed with the Holy Ghost but Christ during His lifetime.

When the disciples looked back they could see what He was, because they had got (through the Holy Ghost, given to them after Christ was glorified) what He was in themselves; as communicated to us, it is said, " which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passed and the true light now shineth." (1 John 2:8.) At first the Light was shining in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, the light shone-but nobody received it; now the darkness is passing, it should be (there are many still in it), and the true light does shine effectively. When redemption was accomplished, and never till then, could Christ say " My Father and your Father, my God and your God." In the earlier part of John's first epistle we get life and light, and in the latter part we get love.

The life was there objectively before the disciples, they " beheld his glory "; all is manifestation here. " The life was manifested, and we have seen it," says John.

The law was given by Moses-nothing came into the world by the law, but grace and truth came and were actually there when Christ was present. He is " the truth"-He is truth plainly out before us; and all grace was in Him, that is love adapted to the state man is in.

We are not saying here how a sinner is presented to God, but how the thing comes down from God; we do not get the sinner's side at all in the Gospel of John; we do not get the forgiveness of sins in John. It is a living Person in whom all these riches of grace have come down. It is an immense thing to see that Christ is the Fountain-Head, and that all the fullness that is in Him can flow down to us here. In all John's writings we get the flowing down towards us, not the presenting us upwards to God, that is Paul's doctrine; this other side is as just touched upon in 1 John 4:17. We have a divine Person coming down and putting others in connection with Himself, so that all the fullness that is in. Him flows into and through them.

In verse 18 we get another thing: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Here we get the Father revealed; we have all the fullness that is in the Son for us, but besides that the Father revealed to us. A most wonderful thing this, that when He reveals the Father it is as He Himself knows Him. If I were to tell you about my father, I must tell you about him as I have known him myself.

Some one asks, " why have we the name of God here?" All through John's writings, whenever it is a question of God's nature or of man's responsibility, we always get God; whenever the operation of grace is spoken of we get the Father and the Son. So we have " fellowship with the Father;" " God is light." " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth "—there we have responsibility; " for the Father seeketh such to worship him "-there we have grace.

If you take God abstractedly, that is in His essence, which is the force of this passage, we shall never see Him-" He dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen or can see." (1 Tim. 6:16.) Yet we read " the pure in heart shall see God," and Stephen saw " the glory of God;" how I do not pretend to say. The angels, too, saw God manifest in the flesh. It would be a terrible thing to spend eternity in my Father's house, and yet never to see Him.

We get this expression, " No man hath seen God at any time," also in 1 John 4:12, but we see a change has taken place in our position there, where the same difficulty is in question, and it is met in a different way. Here in the gospel we read, " The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." In that place where He was the sole and absorbing object-in the bosom of the Father where He dwelt alone, He has made Him known to us as He knows Him. Then in the epistle, we read, " If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us "-by the communication of the divine nature and by the dwelling of God in us we inwardly enjoy Him as He has been manifested and declared by the Son. Christ did reveal the Father when He was upon earth, and, when He had died and risen again, and the Holy Ghost had come, God dwelt in the believer. Thus we know God inwardly-" This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God," that is, the Father.

Some one wishes to know, what place the cross has in connection with the revelation of the Father?" All revelation of God, whether in His nature or relationships, is based upon the cross. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, but now since the cross, not being here Himself, He has ambassadors; and in principle this continues always-Christ having finished the work and gone on high, ambassadors were sent-the present action of God in reconciling sinners is by ambassadors. " God was in Christ this refers exclusively to His life-true all through His life-not His death. What is so very wonderful in the cross is that we get there the complete righteousness of God against sin and the perfect love of God to the sinner.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

15. The Historical Basis and Integrity of the New Testament: Part 2

BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF AN EARLY, THOUGH PARTIAL, COLLECTION OF NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.

THE first trace of any definite series in use of New Testament writings is in 2 Peter 3:15, seq. Mention is here made, in an essentially " Catholic " (general) Epistle of " all " Paul's Epistles, thus affording presumption of the general circulation of every one of them. With the reserve imposed by this passage, we may say, after Westcott, that " the Old Testament was the Bible of the Apostolic Church:" see 2 Tim. 3:15 and compare Acts 17:11. If we would read the feelings cherished by early converts from Judaism as to the Old Testament writings, it would doubtless be to say that " there was no sense of incompleteness in their record, no desire for any permanent supplement to their contents." Moreover, the expectation of the Lord's second coming was so earnest and simple that the need can have been but little felt of any definite collection of Christian scriptures being made for the use of future times. It was long before any one could say, as Augustine, that the scriptures were "accessible to all." (Eph. 137.)

(Continued from page 236.)

EARLY TESTIMONY, MANY SIDED WITHIN THE CHURCH ITSELF.

The distinguishing traits of Christians of the circumcision who had their center in Jerusalem-of Jews jealous for the Law, " some of whom began by regarding the Lord as a Teacher "-and of " those who accepted the higher views of His Person and work which were unfolded by St. Paul and St. John,"* as well as the opposed systems of extremes on each side, represented respectively by the Nazarenes and Marcionites, must not here detain us. Without stopping to consider whether the ancient Catholic Church, from which have been transmitted to us the New Testament scriptures, was formed by the aggregation of these different elements, we may, in view of the trouble caused to the Church by Gnostics-in their attempt to impress oriental philosophy upon Christian doctrine take consolation in the fact that we find witnesses for Christian scripture amongst the upholders of such views.

16. The Canon Not Determined by Any New Testament Writer

It does not appear from the New Testament that any of the writers held a commission to close the Christian canon neither on the one hand, Paul-as would, independently of date, be very improperly inferred from Col. 1:25-nor on the other, John; though in his case there is more semblance of finality. (Rev. 22:18,19.) We pass on to the generation of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna, generally called " Apostolic Fathers," as being each a link between the apostles and those Christian leaders of later epochs, who have been dignified with the simpler title of " Fathers."

17. The Apostolic Fathers - Clement of Rome

Clement of Rome-quite probably spoken of in Phil. 4:3-was the author of an Epistle to the, Corinthians written, it would seem, towards the close of the first century, and comprised in a list of books of scripture furnished by the Codex Alexandrinus. In this letter we find " such a fusion of different points of apostolic teaching" as to warrant Westcott's assertion that " the church in which Clement lived welcomed the teaching not of one apostle only, nor of one group of books, but of all." Clement seems to have died soon after the apostle John.

IGNATIUS.

Ignatius of Antioch, in his Epistle to the Philadelphians, refers to the " Gospel " and the "Apostles.'' (Ver. 5.) He was martyred not later than A.D. 116. Dr. Lightfoot has, in the " Contemporary Review " for

February, 1875, examined very thoroughly the use made of Ignatius's Epistles by the writer of " Supernatural Religion."

POLYCARP.

Polycarp, " bishop of the Catholic Church at Smyrna," was the writer of an Epistle to the Philippians, which " abounds in references to the books of the New Testament," though not by name. This was written soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius. Of Polycarp it is said " He heard St. John, and was himself heard by Irenaeus. His testimony connects two ages." He died a martyr about A.D. 166.

18. Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas is found in the original Greek at the end of the Codex Sinaiticus, and confessedly belongs to the early years of the second century. In the fourth chapter occur the following words, "Let us take care that we be not found as it is written, Many are called, but few are 'chosen." The formula here employed, as it is written, was, as Tischendorf maintained, " that by which expressions out of scripture are distinguished from all others, and marked out as the word of God written. To the suggestion of Volkmar, that the citation is not really from the Gospel of Matthew, but from 4 Esdras 8. 3, the Leipsic critic has furnished an effective reply. Dr. Davidson, in his work on the canon, does here but really echo Volkmar.

PAPIAS.

So far the New Testament " was a collection of facts„ and not a collection of books, of the spirit and not of the letter." As late as A.D. 140 we find a certain Papist. saying, " I did not consider things out of the books to be of so much good to me as things from a living and abiding voice." (Euseb. Eccl. History 3. 39.)

19. Justin Martyr

With Justin Martyr, who died about A.D. 165, we are near the time when written records definitely replace' tradition. The Memoirs of the Apostles, to which Justin refers as "called Gospels," and the sources of his facts, there now seems no reason to doubt were the Four Gospels which we possess. The writers of these " Memoirs," Justin has told us, imparted instruction as to all things concerning our Savior Jesus Christ." (Second Apol. p. 75.) We have here in embryo a canon of the gospels; it is clear that, if Justin is to be trusted, he must have taken pains to decide between genuine and spurious accounts, so as not to be at sea amongst authorities, as represented by some moderns. Such materials as Justin employed extraneous to our Gospels he may have derived from tradition, without using apocryphal gospels at all. Otherwise, as Mr. Sadler asks, " How is it that he discards all the lying legends with which these gospels teem?" Westcott is able to say: " It would be possible to re-write from Justin's works a considerable part of the records of Christ's life as given by the first three evangelists."*** It is noteworthy that Justin is a witness for the apostolic authorship of our " Revelation."

20. Co-Ordination of the New Testament With the Old

While it is in measure correct to say, as Westcott, that not even at this period do we meet with a New Testament corresponding to the Old, we have the testimony of Justin that the " Memoirs of the Apostles " were read in the Christian assemblies no less than " the writings of the Prophets." But several books to which we are accustomed had not yet established themselves in the Church.

MARCION.

It is curious that the first writer to prescribe which books are entitled to the reputation of inspired was the heretical Marcion, whose career belongs to the middle of the second century. He gives as the one Gospel his own revisal of Luke's; the rest of his New Testament is made up of Paul's Epistles, exclusive of First and Second Timothy, Titus, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, of course, results from his caprice, his desire to rid Christianity of every Jewish element. Tatian, another heretical writer, composed a Diatessaron, or Fourfold Gospel, one of so-called Harmonies. He died A.D. 176. Modern rationalism ventures to consign as well the composition as the appearance of John's Gospel to a date not much earlier than this.

BASILIDES.

But it is clear that Basilides, another Gnostic, some time about the year 130, used this Gospel. Westcott calls attention to the interesting fact, that the first quotation of the apostolic Epistles as divine scripture was due-to the same Basilides, who employed the formula, "the scripture saith." Such writers we might class with unwilling witnesses, whose testimony is of the highest. value, and not to be shaken by the " Tubingen school,"—represented in England by Dr. Davidsontwith the suggestion that " the expression was transferred from his followers to himself." Matthew Arnold well says of the testimony being that of Basilides himself, " No one who had not a theory to serve would ever dream of doubting

21. The Muratorian Fragment

Something like a canon is to be found in a document edited, from a manuscript now at Milan, in the last, century by Muratori; hence called the Muratorian Fragment. Its date may be put at about. A.D. 170. This venerable document enumerates all the books of our New Testament, with the exception, it seems, of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistles of James and Peter. It treats as scripture an Apocalypse of Peter, since rejected. We are able to judge from it approximately what the sentiment of the Western. Church was at that time.

22. The Post-Apostolic Fathers

We have next to examine the evidence for the New Testament books of the ecclesiastical leaders of the second and third centuries, and in particular that of Irenwus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian.

23. Irenieus

Irenus, born in Asia Minor about A.D. 140, received Christian instruction in youth from Polycarp. Later on he made his home in the West, and was bishop of Lyons from A.D. 177 to 202. He was the author of a treatise against heresies, which has come down to us in a Latin translation. We are indebted to Eusebius for extracts from the original Greek, which bear upon the authority of books of scripture. Irenus has quoted most of the books of our New Testament, and these he called " Holy Writings " and " Oracles of God," the exceptions being the Epistles of James, Second Peter, Jude, Third John, and perhaps those to the Hebrews and Philemon. But he seems to have been acquainted with the Epistle to the Hebrews, Irenus is unhappily a witness for the use in his day of the " Shepherd of Hermas," which he cited as scripture he also regarded the first epistle of Clement almost as canonical. But his testimony is of peculiar value for the Gospel of John, which modern rationalism still seeks with the utmost vehemence to undermine. We have his voucher also for the apostolicity of our Apocalypse.

24. Clement of Alexandria

The mention of the name of Clement of Alexandria demands a few words as to the atmosphere in which this writer lived and labored. Alexandria had been more or less from the time of Philo-contemporary with Gamaliel -a center of learning and dialectics employed upon scripture, which was compared with the philosophical, chiefly Eastern systems. What was a sort of Jewish Academy became under Christian influences a Catechetical School, inheriting in past the perturbed ideas of Jewish thinkers. Where fable, fancy and mysticism entered largely into men's thoughts, we cannot be surprised if " Apocryphal " writings, whether of the Old or of the New Dispensation, exerted considerable influence, and obtained undue consideration from a man of even Christian principles such as Clement. He was of heathen parentage, and born about the middle of the second century. For ten years after his conversion he presided over the Catechetical School. According to Eusebius, Clement must have used all our canonical books. The work that has rendered this Alexandrian Father famous is his Stromata, in which he has quoted largely from the New Testament books, without reference however to James, Second Peter, Second and Third John. His testimony to the apostolic authorship of the Apocalypse of John is marred by his also regarding as apostolic the Letters of Clement of Rome and Barnabas, besides the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Apocalypse of Peter. (Cf. Euseb. Eccl. History, 4. 13.)

25. Tertullian

Contemporary with both Irenmus and the Alexandrian Clement, was Tertullian of Carthage, one of the ablest of early Christian writers, and deserving of the praise bestowed upon him by Westcott. He was born about A.D. 160, and died some time before the year 240. Tertullian was a principal vindicator against Marcion of the apostolic writings. As Irenmus and Clement of Alexandria, he maintained that he had succeeded to an in heritance transmitted from the apostles. We can gather from his writings that Tertullian acknowledged besides the four Gospels and the Book of Acts, thirteen Epistles of Paul (Hebrews excluded), Jude and the Apocalypse. He has spoken of the " Evangelic Document ' and the " Apostolic Document," but in one of his works has-employed Hew Testament as a designation of the whole of these scriptures recognized by him. (Cf. Prax. 100.15.) Tertullian kept free, for the most part, from apocryphal books of the present dispensation. His testimony against, the Shepherd of Hernias is most pronounced. It is interesting that he referred to the autographs of the Epistles as if still extant in his day. (De praesc.100. 36.)

26. The Old Latin Version of the New Testament

In connection with this Latin Father we may introduce the testimony of the Latin Version of the scriptures, used in his time. This was the Vetus Latina, of special interest to British students, because it was used in these islands for centuries after Jerome's version became the usual " authorized version" of the West. But our concern with it in these pages is as to the question whether the Old Latin contained the whole of the common New Testament. Reuss maintains that it did not; and Westcott thinks that it originally discarded the Epistle to the Hebrews, because the form of a certain passage cited by Tertullian as from the Epistle of Barnabas rather indicates that he translated it from the Greek of the epistle by others designated " to the Hebrews," as Tertullian was unable to resort to any existing Latin versiont. The Epistle of James exists in one of the Codices Corbienses, but there is no relic of any old Latin version of Second Peter. The most we can say, therefore, is that the Vetus Latina gave substantial support to the New Testament as we have it. E. E. W.

Oh Woman, Great Is Thy Faith

He hath come from fair Gennesaret,

And His fame hath gone before.

Where Tire on her rocky throne is set,

To the far Sidonian shore.

And one entreats Him whose faith is bold,

To draw from His stores of grace;

No sheep is she of His Jewish fold,

No child of His chosen race.

But she surely proves who knows Him best,

Herself, or His own, so blind;

Though cold. His words, He would seek to test

The faith that can pierce behind.

A mother's love in her heart is strong;

And He, who is fain to bless

The stricken forms that around Him throng,

Are His love and His pity less?

The dogs '-but so, it were well to be

A dog on His bounty thrown-

' The dogs eat crumbs,' and so good is He,

To the least His grace makes known.

O tender heart, that must break with grief!

Can He bear another's woe?

Or speak the word that can give relief,

And His mercy not o'erflow?

He brings us down in the dust indeed,

To feel and to own our sin;

But He will not break the heart in its need,

For He seeks our love to win.

Oh blest are the souls to Him that cling,

Whatever would turn them back!

A sense of their utter need who bring,

His grace they shall never lack.

And dear to Him are the hearts that hold

His love as the sweetest, best;

Who thirst for Him-as to her of old-

He granteth them their request.

M. A. W.

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: To the Governor; Romans 5:11-13; Romans 6

DEAR MR. GOVERNOR, You will, perhaps, recollect one who went up with you in the train from E. to D., now about a year ago, or not far from it, and be surprised, perhaps, to receive a letter from him from Canada. But though I have been much occupied-as you may suppose, I did not cross the Atlantic for nothing-I have not forgotten our conversation in the train, and I crave to hear how you are getting on. We have had here the governor of the jail fully brought to the knowledge of salvation, and to walk with the saints of God, as he still does. He would ranch like another employment, but awaits the Lord's leading to find him something. His dear wife-already a believer-was also led to see she ought to be more entirely separate from the world, and live more devotedly, and so she did thoroughly, and the Lord has taken her. She expected it, and was longing to go. No cloud came over her peace and joy. She suffered dreadfully and long, but no impatience was shown; all was bright, and all peace. She left four little children, charming little ones; we had them in the house where I was, to spare the nurse while she was ill. She saw them, gave them her blessing, and bid farewell, but it raised no lingering look behind. Another dear old man, only six months converted, died just after, rejoicing with all his heart. We buried both, not far apart, under the deep, deep snow, which indeed kept the earth soft enough to be opened (for sometimes they cannot bury), committing them to Christ till the resurrection.

And, now, how would it be with you if thus called 2 Is all peace, and right with God? You know yourself that you need. it; you know that Christ is the only way to have it. Let me add a few words as to the fullness of it. He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That work is finished-it can never be added to, nor taken away from; its value does not change. But the Spirit of God works in us, to show us our need of it, makes us to see that we are sinners, that we are lost in ourselves; leads us (perhaps by deep and painful convictions) to the sense that there is no good in us, that when even to will is present with us, how to perform that which is good we find not. We find, not only that we have sinned, but that there is a law of sin in our members warring against the law of our mind, and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin in our members. But when really humbled about this, and convicted in our own hearts-removing all pretensions of righteousness in ourselves-we turn to Christ, we find that He has died for this, that He has been a sacrifice for the sin, as for the sins, that burdened us-has been made sin for us, has put it away for us by the sacrifice of Himself.

Thus we get peace and liberty of heart before God, because the sin is put away between us and Him-Christ has made a full expiation. Sin does not exist as between God and us. When He looks on the blood of Christ, He cannot see sin in the believer, because, when Christ shed that blood He put it away. Thus we get liberty and power too, because submitting thus to the righteousness of God; having Christ for our righteousness, we are sealed with the Spirit, which. gives us power and skews us Christ, so that we get strength and joy, and are able to glorify Him.

How is it, then, with you? Are you still a worse prisoner than those you are watching over, or freed by the redemption that is in Christ? Have you been brought to see that, if you refuse life through His name, you must perish? Do you seek that you should know Him, or are you joining with His enemies-hail-fellow-wellmet with the world, that, to its judgment and ruin, crucified Him? If we have His Spirit, we know that we are in Him, and all is peace, and joy, too, because we know the Son of God, and abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. I shall be glad to hear from 3-on. May the blessed Lord, in His grace, direct your eye fixedly on Christ.

Ever truly yours in Christ,

. 1863 J. N. D.

DEAR BROTHER, I have been greatly struck with the difference of the instruction in that which precedes and follows verse 12 of chapter v. of Romans. To the end of verse 11 it is a question of sins, and of our justification, of pardon by the blood and by the resurrection of our precious Savior. From verse 12 it is a question of sin, of our condition, common to all before God, and not of pardon, but of deliverance; and therefore it is not a question of Christ dying for our sins, but of our death with Him, and of the fact that we live by Him. The blessedness of the first of these mercies is portrayed in chapter 5 1-11; that of the second in chapter 8. The first is specially that which God is Himself, that which He is for the sinner; the second, our position before Him, and what He is for His own. In the Epistle to the Romans the sinner is looked at as living in sin, then dead with Christ (he is not yet risen with Him, but living by Him). In the Epistle to the Colossians the apostle goes further-we are dead in sin, and raised with Him; it is a change of position, as well as the communication of a new life. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are only viewed as dead in sins (even as walking in them), then quickened, raised with Christ, and seated in Him in heavenly places. In the Epistle to the Colossians the Christian, though raised, is on the earth; his life is hid with Christ in God, he ought to have his affections on high-his inheritance is there, preserved for him. You can examine these things in the word. What I have said of Romans is very useful for the deliverance of souls-it is deliverance.

I bless God, clear brother, that He has spared you your dear little girl, after having taken away your son. His good hand is upon us, even (and very particularly) in things that are painful. It was not worth while to give a long history of the prosperity of Job, but the Holy Spirit of God has given us details of all that took place in his difficulties. It was worth while, and it is for the profit of His own to the end of the age. It is there that the work of our God is found, May He give us to have entire confidence in Him. It was the first thing that Satan destroyed, before and in order that lust might enter into Eve. Now the entire life of Jesus was the manifestation of love, to regain the confidence of the heart of man. Without doubt, he needed grace; but it is what He was-God sheaving Himself to man, that He might trust in Him. His death does not diminish the of His love.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

1868. J. N. D.

MY DEAR ——, I did not answer your letter, being laid so low myself as to stop, my activities. I am better, and seek gradually to clear off old arrears. Indeed I did not know for some time after your letter whether I was not going to be taken away from this world. I found it a solemn thing, for it was present with me, but a very useful, and in result quite a blessed experience. It made me much more feel to belong to the other world, and the Father's love; and the Son's love and work stood out with a clearness and real depth they never did before. No new truth, but a different realization of what that truth brought. It has linked me wonderfully more with the sources of grace, but we are poor creatures after all.

As to Rom. 6, of which you speak, it is not our experience as, to redemption-a work done for us, accomplished, and where accomplishment and value are owned of God; Christ has died for our sins, and, as to imputation, we have no more conscience of sins -this is connected with our state, and vet in one sense it closes experience, that is the efforts of the soul to get rest by victory, and chapter vii is the experience that we cannot succeed; even where to will is present, we have no strength. When fully, experimentally, convinced of this, we find, through grace, that as to the flesh we died in Christ's death; that what the law could not do, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin has condemned sin in the flesh-not forgiven, that cannot be; but that the sin I find working in me and distressing my soul, and which I condemn and hate but is still there, God has condemned in the cross, so that that condemnation is accomplished for me; but that it was wrought in death, so that if I was there, and I am now for faith in what Christ took, it is in death-Christ's death, the condemnation over, the death come-I died with Him; so that the condemnation is passed, and I have died for faith.

In Col. 2:3 it is God's estimate of this my state," Ye are dead." In Rom. 8 it is faith's through grace, I reckon myself dead, because Christ who is my life died. In 2 Cor. 4:10 you have the apostle carrying it out in practice. Now, Christ's work outside us-for us-is done entirely outside us, and accepted of God, we believe in it and God's acceptance of it. But in. being dead. with Christ, though it puts an end to the experience of my own useless struggles, it is something I reckon as to myself; and while it is judicial (according to Col. 3), and hence is the way and only way of liberty, as I know God so accounts it about myself, yet I have by faith to reckon it according to what Christ has done once for all. I do reckon myself to have died with Him, and God so accounts me, as having Him who did die as my life. Still, it goes on in my heart; and so far is experimental. I believe that the sin was condemned of God on the cross, and that God does reckon it so (Col. but Rom. 6 takes it up on the faith side, and I reckon myself-that is not judicial, though based on faith in what is, namely, Col. 3; Rom. 8:3; and I have to carry it out according to 2 Cor. 4

It is then experimental as that which is the exercise of faith in us, and taking what has taken place in Christ as true of us-not a work done about us and available as accepted of God-it is so far judicial, that is, in seeing the work accomplished and judicially in Christ, we obtain liberty with God in spite of flesh, and power in the law of the Spirit of life. Conflict remains, because the flesh and temptation are there; vigilance and diligence called for, just because we are delivered, to maintain holiness and communion. The thought of imputation is gone, or acceptance connected. with it; till then, even if justification be known, it is a question of acceptance, if not of righteousness. That question, as well as that of our sins, was settled on the cross, and we are free, free with God, but free to be holy, and that is real deliverance; we pass from the effort of a captive against his chains to conflict with the strength of Christ against the enemy. Jordan and Colossians have come in, for Romans only insists on death with Christ, not on resurrection; life there is in Christ, but not resurrection with Him.

Ephesians is another thing, but that would be too large a subject now.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

1881. J. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Speaking Against the Holy Ghost

26.-Q. Why is it that one speaking against the Son of man shall be forgiven, but one speaking against the Holy Ghost cannot be forgiven? (Matt. 12) Can a true believer commit this sin?

A.-The reason why sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can not be forgiven, is because of the character of the sin; that is, that while God acting in power is acknowledged, for that Satan was cast out the Pharisee admitted (ver. 24), this power was attributed in willful and intelligent malice to, Satan. It is this attributing the manifested and acknowledged power of God to Satan, that constitutes the sin against the Holy Ghost. Christ was acting by the power of the Holy Ghost, and by this power had cast out devils, yet they said, " He hath an unclean spirit." (Mark 3:30.) Unbelief and ignorance showed itself in rejecting and speaking against the Son of man, and however far the ignorance and unbelief might go, it could forgiven upon that ground; hence the Lord could pray for such in those touching words on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do " (Luke 23); and Peter says to the Jews, when offering them forgiveness after they had crucified Christ, " I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers" (Acts 3:21); so Paul, as to his own case says, " Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because' I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. 1:13.) Of course no true believer can commit this sin, and we must doubt if it ever can in this dispensation be in question even for an unconverted. person; it appears to belong to circumstances peculiar to the ministry of Christ on earth amongst the Jews; it is especially Jewish, and sealed the doom of those that committed it, individually as well as nationally, and upon their doing it, the Lord immediately separates and distinguishes the remnant from the rest of the nation, severing all connection with them upon the ground of nature-henceforth His " brethren" are those that " do the will of God." This gives such special interest and importance to the end of Matt. 12 and Mark 3

27. Christian Standing and Condition: Part 2 (Also, the Historical Basis and Integrity of the NT)

AND when we come to the eight passages brought for ward in support of the term " state," we must confess to being more than astonished. In not one instance, as the simple reader would surely have expected to have found, is the word " state " represented in the original, either in the Hebrew or in the Greek, nor are the word or words, so rendered in these passages, even similarly rendered into English in the other instances in which they occur in the originals. It is painful to think of the intense occupation of mind, for intention to mislead we cannot suppose, that could have cited these eight passages in support of the definition of the term " state," that it is sought to establish, as that with which " the scriptural use of the term state is seen to agree."

We think many of our readers will be unable to refrain from asking themselves the question, Did the writer not know that they were not represented in the original? and, if he did not, was he not in good faith bound to have made a thorough investigation of the real value of these terms before, in so dogmatic and critical a manner, making statements that so fundamentally affect the blessing of souls? Is there not a moral wrong in this way of dealing with divine truth, that quotes, as scripture, words for which there is no equivalent in the original, and even calls special attention to the word " state " by putting it into italics, while the actual word or words in the phrase which are represented in the original are left in ordinary type. Why was not " royal," the word actually in the original, put in italics as well as the word " state"? Why not for the same reason, " low," and "former," and " last," and " low," and " your," and " in whatsoever... I am "?

We should not have felt it needful to have written in this way were it not for the ostensibly critical character of the tract, and for, to say the least, the one-sided way in which criticism has been carried out. Had it been even said, " and with this the scriptural use of the term state (as given in our English bible) is seen to agree," there would have been less to complain of. Any way, we think we are justified in stating, as the result of our investigation of the subject, that there is no true verbal basis whatever in scripture for the distinction sought to be established between Christian " standing " and " state in accordance with the respective definitions given to these terms.

As to the definitions themselves we have no hesitation in saying, that we believe they are the human expression of the writer's own conception of Christian standing and state, and have neither the direct nor indirect support of scripture. Where does scripture state that Christian standing " is the title and ability, through grace, for a fallen undone creature to be before the throne of God without judgment overtaking him"? Where, that Christian state is " what the person is, or the circumstances in which he is"? He may attempt to make " the grace wherein we stand " answer to the one; and " in Christ " represent the other, and thus dividing and defining them build a system of theology on the difference between Christian standing and Christian state, but the word of God by the Spirit of God, we are bold to say, will give him no support in doing this, and the only effect for himself, and those who adopt his views, will be to take the eye off Christ, and put the conscience outside the direct action of the word of God.

The word of God brings Christ before our souls, and, call it " standing " or call it " state," tells us that He " was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification," that " being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand;" " There is therefore no condemnation to them that are im Christ Jesus;" " of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and

redemption;" " as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive;" " if any man be in Christ he is a new creation;" " he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;" " blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love ' having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" " and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith;" " giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins;" " and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power;" " this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand;" and " herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world."

Oh! how far better is it to feed in the rich and ample pastures of God's own blessed word, and there learn what, in virtue of Christ's work on the cross, He has made us before Himself, in and through Christ, in unchangeable and unvarying blessedness, than to wander in the cold and narrow fields of human definitions, human reasonings, and human forms of expression in the search to find a " standing " here, and a " state " there.

We have been in the habit of speaking of " our standing," and of " our state," meaning by the one, all that God. has made in eternal and unalterable blessing in Christ, and by the other, the practical answer in our soul's experience and our walk to this standing, hence a state varying and changing with ourselves; and to the use of these terms, in the well-established and familiar ways to which we have been long accustomed, we may well and safely adhere, but this is not to divide our actual and /unchanging blessing in Christ into two distinct parts, and, by doing so, change the true force of these terms in a way that loses to the soul the simplicity and solidity of what is meant by " our standing," and the practical effect for the conscience of what is meant when we speak of " our state." C.W.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

(Continued from page 260.)

UNREVISED NOTES OF READINGS ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WITH J. N. D. IN DUBLIN, 1880.

We have been speaking, up till now, of the divine nature of Christ, now we get (ver. 29) His work. We have His work in two characters: He is the Lamb of God that takes away sin; and He baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

First, He is " the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world "-note, not sins. " Behold the Lamb of God," that is God's lamb, what specially appertains to God Himself—" the Lord's lot." He takes away the sin of the world, not here the sinner's sins, but the sin of the whole world; this will be the new heaven and new earth, where there will be no sign or trace of sin. We have had an innocent world, and a sinful world, then we shall have a righteous world depending on God's Lamb. God's Lamb He is in every sense: thank God He has borne our sins, too! but here it is abstract. God's Lamb is from, God, according to God, and for God. In the very place of sin He has perfectly glorified all that God is-" God is glorified in him; if God be glorified in him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him"-without waiting for the day of the glory with men. According to the thought of chapter xiii., He goes at once into the glory of God. " I have glorified thee on the earth," He says, and as a consequence He goes back as Man into the glory He had with the Father before the world was.

As the Lamb of God, Christ perfectly glorifies God in John 13; as the Son, He perfectly glorifies the Father in John 14

It is a wonderful thing the cross; there, and there only, was God fully glorified. Where do we find the love of God in all its fullness? At the cross: " Hereby perceive we the love, because he laid down his life for us." Where do we find perfect righteousness against sin? At the cross: " He made him to be sin, for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Where do we find absolute obedience? At the cross, where Christ was before God in the very place of sin: " obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Where was the majesty of God fully vindicated? Nowhere but at the cross: "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." The more we look into the cross-and we must come to it first as poor sinners that need salvation-the more we shall wonder at God's love. We get in the cross man in absolute hatred to God and all the power of Satan; Man, much more than man, in absolute obedience; and God in perfect righteousness against sin. All man was in goodness in Christ; all man was in badness; and all God was in love and righteousness, came out at the cross. Every question of good and evil was settled at the cross. The new heaven and new earth are founded on it. Though all our blessing is wrapped up in it, " God's Lamb " is for God's glory-for Himself and according to what He is,

It is a blessed thing to study what Christ was clown here, not that we can ever fathom it. What a wonderful thing that He could say, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life to take it again "He could give a motive to God. As to comforters he had none; He went through all sorts of trials, denial, conflicts with Satan, and yet see what His spirit was in going through it all-how perfect in obedience. It is profitable indeed for us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Look at the perfectness of the Lord, in another way, in Gethsemane: He was sweating great drops of blood when He was only even thinking of the cross, and yet He can go to His disciples and speak to them just as quietly and gently as if nothing was the matter, and then go back again and pray. We get possessed with things, they overwhelm us, but it was never so with Christ, they never took Him out of Himself, so to speak, though He suffered as no one else could suffer. We see nothing but perfectness in Him. There is nothing like it-of course there is not, but it is well to behold it, and have it always before our eyes.

Second, He is " He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost." Here, first, we have Christ marked out by God Himself-by the Father: " Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him;" and then we get Him as the One who communicates the Holy Ghost to us: " The same is he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost;" and in this connection we have: " For him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27); " How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and hath power." (Acts 10:28.) Both the expressions, " sealed " and " anointed," are used as to Christ. The character of all the life of Christ here on earth was by the power of the Holy Ghost: " If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come unto you" (John 7:39); " After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandment unto the apostle he had chosen." (Acts 1:2.)

Then, after His ascension, He received the Holy Ghost a second time, not for Himself, but for others: " Therefore being by the right hand of God, exalted, and having received the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (Acts 2:33.) This answers to John 7:39: " But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified;" the Holy Ghost, as personally present in believers on earth, did not then exist.

Thus, first, we get Christ Himself anointed and sealed, as perfect Man; and then, having wrought redemption, which brings us unto His own place-" Because as he is so are we in this world " (1 John 4:17)He gives us, from the glory where He now is consequent upon His work at the cross, the Holy Ghost, so that we are consciously in it. The Holy Ghost is given, notice, to those that " believe;" this is not the quickening power of the Holy Ghost, but what follows the place we are in through faith: " And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:6.) Not only are we sons " by faith in Christ Jesus " (Gal. 3:26), but, through the Holy Ghost, we have the consciousness of being sons.

By Christ's death everything as to man's relationship with God is changed; the veil was rent from top to bottom; Man-much more than a man-has entered the holiest, and, consequent on His entering there in the virtue of His sacrifice for us, the Holy Ghost has come down to give us the consciousness of our place before God, and with this He is the Spirit of Sonship; He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts; and He is the earnest of the glory, which we have not yet got. Hence the possession of the, Holy Ghost is what characterizes the Christian: " Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." (Rom. 8:9.)

The Holy Ghost has always quickened souls, from Adam on, but that is a very different thing to what we have here Christ as Man-having wrought redemption through His death, having gone through judgment for us, having been made sin for us, having taken His place as Man at the right hand of God-sending the Holy Ghost to dwell in believers; so that, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." (1 Cor. 15:48.) There was no accomplished redemption, and no man in heaven to be revealed in the Old Testament.

As a child of Adam I am washed and forgiven; but what place have I got? Suppose I owed a million and it was paid for me, and that was all, I might starve afterward. There is the work of Christ as regards our old state; all has been totally put away, both sins and sin-" Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures " (1 Cor. 15:3), this takes away the fruits-" In that he died he died unto sin once " (Rom. 6:10), and we have died with Him, this takes away the tree for faith: then as to the place we have got, we find its full character in Ephesians, where Christ is not looked at as the quickening Son of God, but as Man dead, and then when God raises Him from the dead, He raises us with Him-the same power takes Him and us up together.

The Christian is a person whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost; who looks back and sees by divine teaching the value of redemption, and who, possessing the Holy Ghost as the earnest, looks on to the glory he has not yet got. He is not in the flesh; Paul says, " when we were in the flesh " (Rom. 7:5), and " ye are not in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." (Rom. 8:9.) In Rom. 7, after the first few verses, the man, as in the flesh, is still weighing his place with God by what he is himself, like the prodigal son before he had met his father-" make me as one of thy hired servants " (Luke 15), reasoning from himself to what his father might be; not from what his father was, as he knew after he had met him. God puts us into Christ, and gives us the Holy Ghost to give us the consciousness of it-" Of him are ye in Christ Jesus;" " for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory

of God by us." (2 Cor. 1:20.) " Us " is always the word of the Holy Ghost. The difference between " anointing " and " sealing; " is, that anointing is the figure of our receiving the Holy Ghost, and sealing that we belong to God. Sealing is for the individual-I am sealed for myself, you for yourself; but as there is only one Holy Ghost in that way we are one -"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." (1 Cor. 12:13.)

In Rom. 8 we get three characters of the Holy Ghost: He is "the Spirit of God," in contrast with the flesh; " the Spirit of Christ," as that by which Christ as Man walked, and which forms our characters; and " the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead," as the power by which our bodies will be raised.

" If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his," means, we are not Christ's till we have got it; we may be on the way. The operation of the Spirit in quickening is one thing, but that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost is another, and much lost sight of. When the blood was put on the lintels God had really taken the Israelites in hand, and they were safe; saved is a much stronger word than safe. If I am saved I have got out of the flesh into Christ: " There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;" we do not get salvation till Romans viii. This alters everything. When the blood was on the lintels God's character was that of judge: He did not come into them; and this was mercy. At the Red Sea He became their Savior: and the Israelites " saw the salvation of Jehovah," as those who had passed out of the condition to which judgment and all the power of Satan attached.

Christ was delivered for our offenses; this clears the as a child of Adam, and in that state it is mercy securing me for the judgment of God. "In Christ" I am before God in Christ's place of acceptance and blessing.

The natural order of blessing, so to speak, is what we find in Acts 2:38: " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sills, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The only thing that hinders the reception of the Holy Ghost is the want of simple faith in the work of Christ. The moment the Holy Ghost is received the soul cries, "Abba Father." If any one can cry " Abba, Father," he has the Holy Ghost; he has the known place of relationship with God as a son.

(To be continued, the Lord willing.)

(Continued from page 266.)

THE HISTORICAL BASIS AND INTEGRITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE FIRST SYRIAC VERSION.

Turning now to the churches of the East, we come to the version which is the most venerable of all translations of the New Testament, the Peshito Syriac, belonging, it is considered, to the second century. The primitive version contained all the books now received except Jude, Second Peter, Second and Third John, and the Apocalypse, which last would seem to have been added to it in. the sixth century. We shall revert to this when speaking of the Nestorians.

Having thus glanced at the Canon in the second-as regards the West, some way into the third-century, the reader needs to keep in mind the result of our inquiry. The seven following books have remained subject of some merely local doubt: Hebrews, James, Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude and Revelation. Of these the Eastern Churches-of which the Syriac was typical -embraced Hebrews and James in their acknowledged collection; the Western, Second and Third John,* Jude and Revelation. Second Peter alone everywhere continued to lack recognition.

ORIGEN.

Biblical study made great strides through the great.

If we may believe these two Epistles formed one book, as in the " Muratorian Fragment."

gift for work of this kind which displayed itself in the celebrated Origen. lie was born about A.D. 136 at Alex- andria. After having been connected with the Academy -there, he devoted himself to the collation of the texts of Greek versions of the Old Testament with a persevering ardor that calls for our admiration. Greatly, however, must we regret that the spiritual instinct he undoubtedly possessed, or pious sentiment by which he was governed, was not proof against the influence the Alexandrian Bible had upon Christians of that age. In respect of the difference between a divine and human book of the Jewish dispensation, we find his testimony, whether in Eusebius's Eccl. Hist. (bk. vi.) or in Origen's extant works, far from satisfactory.

(Continued from page 274.)

28. His Account of the Canon

Origen applied to the Christian books, in their collected form, the title of "New Covenant" (or Testament), as on his De Princ. iv. 1. He has spoken of the doubts that some had as to the Epistles of James, Second Peter, Second and Third John and Jude, besides as to the authorship of Hebrews. Upon most of the apocryphal writings of the Christian dispensation he bestowed unmeasured condemnation. As to the " Shepherd," however, Origen's judgment seems to have fluctuated. His position as to the Canon has been stated thus: " Origen would limit the Bible in the highest sense to the acknowledged books, both in the Old and New Testaments, that is, the Hebrew Canon, and the four Gospels, the Acts, First Peter, First John, thirteen Epistles of Paul, and the Apocalypse, for he seems to have been unacquainted with the doubts which were raised as to the last book. The use of other writings he commits to the discretion of individuals, without suppressing his own opinion as to the very unequal value of different books." Origen died in the year 234.

29. The Alexandrian New Testament in the Third Century

Of the usage in the Alexandrian Church between Origen's death and the time to which the earliest remaining MSS of the New Testament (classed as Alexandrian) take us back, Westcott says: " it more and more turned in favor of the disputed books." For the evidence of this the reader might well consult the same writer's " General view of the Canon."

THE WESTERN NEW TESTAMENT OF THE SAME PERIOD.

In the Western Churches there continued to be no recognition of James and Second Peter; neither was the Epistle to the Hebrews regarded as apostolic. So much for the third century.

THE TIME OF EUSEBIUS.

The Christians who had thus far maintained a position distinct from the mass around them-votaries of heathenism-were marked nevertheless by some very developed corruption. They were tried from time to time by persecution; whilst it was blessed to some, the comparative freedom from it that others enjoyed was used by Satan to promote amongst them spiritual pride and other worse evils. Eusebius has depicted the low state of the Lord's people in his time. The saints disregarded divine chastisement, until, as this historian expresses it, " the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, [and] cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel." (Eccl. Hist. bk. 8.) For the tenth time the fires of persecution were kindled. (Cf. Rev. 2:10.)

30. The Diocletian Persecution

"The persecution of Diocletian," writes Westcott, " offers singular parallel to that which Antiochus Epiphanes directed against the Jews."-I. The imperial edict, issued in A.D. 303, directed that " the churches should be razed. and the scriptures consumed with fire." (Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 8. 2.) " Both resulted in determining more closely than before the limits of the sacred volume, by giving scope to the practical exhibition of the popular feeling, hitherto vague and wavering." The persecuted, no less than the persecutors, understood well at what the blow was aimed. The enemy cared not for " useless writings": he would put forth all his power to destroy the Canonical Scriptures. The persecution was carried on with greatest vehemence in Africa and in Syria: when the storm was over, the tried ones gave their voice with a peculiar emphasis as to what they had deemed the word of God.

31. In Africa

In Africa some Numidian bishops had refused to acknowledge the appointment of Caecilian to the see of Carthage upon the ground, amongst others, that he had been ordained by a " traditor," or one who had betrayed the holy scriptures. Donatus headed the malcontents, who took their name as a party from him. As Westcott says, if we regard their rigid views in general, " we may see in the opinions of the Donatists, the strictest judgment of the African churches upon the Canon."-f- Now, according to Augustine, each side was " bound by the authority of both Testaments," and alike acknowledged " the Canonical Scriptures." (Ep.129. 3.) And what were these for the New Testament? " The Gospels, the Apostolic Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, the Apocalypse of John," (C. Crest. 1. 1,31. 3.) If the Epistle to the Hebrews is here included, it is evident that the African assemblies accepted the New Testament in its present form.

32. In Palestine

Not so, however, in Palestine. Eusebius was in that land at the time of the persecution: he has related scenes he beheld. (Eccl. Hist. bk.8.) He would of course "Bible in the Church," p. 144.

Ibid., p. 145. On the other hand it is singular that Augustine, himself not very particular, was able to reproach the Donatists with using Second Maccabees.

observe what books the Christians held dear amidst the havoc done to their treasures.

33. The "Acknowledged" Books

Now in a celebrated passage of the third book of his " History " he has given, as universally acknowledged, fully canonical books: the Four Gospels, the Acts, Paul's Epistles, First John, First Peter, and, with some reservation, the Apocalypse. These, it was considered, all satisfied the two conditions of being written by the persons whose names they bore, and by apostolic persons.

34. The "Disputed" Books

The Epistle of James (in one place treated amongst " spurious " books), Second Peter, Second and Third John and Jude rank in his list as ἀντλεγόμενα, or " disputed," though generally recognized, semi-canonical books: they were not in the Testament (οἰκ ἐν διαθήκῃ). Second Peter, he here says, was by some regarded as unauthentic, that is, not Peter's own work; the rest bore the real names of their authors, but doubts were felt whether these were the apostles of the same name. Nevertheless such books were " well known by most." Further on we are informed that they were "read aloud in most churches."

35. The "Spurious" Books

Amongst the books he, like Origen, treated as νόθα, spurious or entirely uncanonical, are the Shepherd-which he said earlier on he had found in most of the ancient copies-the Epistle of Barnabas (in the sixth book of his " History classed with disputed books), the Apocalypse of Peter (elsewhere called " disputed "), and the Gospel of the Hebrews. These he did not believe were written by apostolic men.

36. The "Absurd and Ungodly" Books

Other books, again, he called ἄτοπα καὶ δυσσεβη, absurd and ungodly, such as the Gospels of Thomas and Matthias and like heretical writings, amongst works Clem. Alex. had called ἀπόκρνφα καὶ νόθα.

E. E. W.

Wait

WHAT I would desire to note here, is the attitude that is taken up by these men, and indeed by all the disciples, on the departure of the Lord to heaven. It was a complete change to them naturally. He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight-He was no longer an object of sight; and that is a matter of great importance to the soul to note. You see, they steadfastly look toward heaven; that is to say, they looked towards the place that Jesus had gone to, and, in spirit, that is the attitude abidingly; still, it was with their natural sight, and then they have an angelic communication. We may say that is the last communication they had as earthly people. Angelic communications are made to those who belong to the earth; angelic communications are not what we have now, but spiritual communications through the word. We do not look for angelic communications; we may have angelic communications, of course-God sent an angel to Peter, but the attitude of the church upon earth is not much under the principle of angelic communications, if at all. It is when the church is viewed as having failed we find angelic and prophetic communications, and this we see in other scriptures, as in the book of Revelation.

However, this angelic communication was to stop their gaze up to heaven with the natural eye, and the angel addresses them, too, as those outside Israel, those outside the natural order of Israel; he addresses them as Galileans: Galilee was a place of no esteem in Israel-a despised people. " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" He who was gone would come as He went, and so they were to wait. That put them into another position altogether, and we must bear in mind that the Holy Ghost had not yet been given. Still, it is a very important attitude, because they had been carried on to the end of the one thing, and had not yet been introduced into the other; and what could they do? It is the history of a soul at the present time, or should be, if God has been pleased to convert it, it waits on Him for the next step-yet how few do!

The soul must have a lodgment somewhere; they had that instinct, which is very blessed-we will wait till we see what is next to be done; and they had to wait till they had the power, so to speak, and that came at Pentecost. This angelic communication seals the past, the book is shut, they had no more of it, and then they did. the right thing-they returned to Jerusalem, abode apart, by themselves, and waited. That is a lesson to us from those who we suppose were not so wise as we are (because the Holy Ghost, remember, was not yet given). Till they had got notice of the next move, they were not going to move themselves. We are slow to learn this line of things; if we leave the next move to God always, we are sure to be right; if we move on our own account, we are sure to go wrong. There is a remarkable thing as to this, too: they abode together. They are all mentioned individually by name, they were all there but Judas, and the women also-a wonderful company. It is well for us to note it, and to meditate on it-there is not one left out

There is, in contrast with that, another company, in John 20 they were gathered together, but one of them is absent. They were in the same spirit and attitude, but the Lord had not ascended, He was on the earth, but not as before His death. To them He spoke those wonderful words, which abide, with all their weightiness, to this day: " Peace unto you;" and He skews them the ground of peace-the wounds that He will bear throughout eternity, the wounds wherewith He was wounded in the house of His friends-the wounds that mark the ground of that peace. But it is His own personal presence that arrests them: " Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." It does not say, Then were the disciples glad when they saw the wounds, but they were glad when they saw Himself-it was gladness from the effect of His presence!'

It is not so much the intelligence, as the affections, that are in exercise; not so much even the peace-blessed as that is-but it is the enjoyment of the actual presence of the One they knew and loved, and, what was more, who loved them. There He was, and that is what satisfied them. But even this gathering, blessed as it was, was marked by an absent one-Thomas was not there.

How very sad! Very sad indeed that there is such a thing in a gathering of disciples, and that it should be characterized by an absent one, or an absentee. Such is the failure, of the church; man has ruined it, and the sense that remains upon the soul, when there is a gathering of saints, is, there are absent ones. It was so at that very first gathering; there was the absent Thomas; and it is so, now; and Thomas had to realize afterward what that absence was. There had been disciples gathered together, but he was not there; and we get the unbelieving mind, with its consequences. Here, in Acts 1, there was no absent one, except Judas-he naturally could not be there. We have a gathering here, but not so much from the intelligence of the truth the Holy Ghost gives, as from the affections of their heart for Christ. Just the heart-it says, I cannot go into anything, because of the absence of the Lord. They could do nothing, they were not settled. If I am unsettled, is it because I have no expectations except the return of the Lord? That is what keeps us from settling down here. We are waiting our Lord's return; the sleeping saints are waiting-all the dead in Christ-I must take them in, in spirit; when the Lord comes, all will be present then-not only all those that are on the earth, but all that are in the graves-the dead in Christ; it will not be till then, therefore we must be satisfied to wait together.

In the next chapter this attitude is responded to so far, that the Holy Ghost comes down, and that starts them in a new thing; if it had not been for that, where would they have been eventually? Scattered here, there, and everywhere, no doubt. But we find them all gathered together with one accord, and in one place, on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Ghost descends upon them all, upon each of them, besides filling the house.

At the end of the chapter (Acts 2) we get again what we have in the first chapter, but now in the power of the Holy Ghost. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, &c. (and there is no other doctrine, and no other fellowship), and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. It did not spoil the sense of His coming; when God comes in, and there is another step forward, it does not alter the first attitude, but confirms it. They had the Holy Ghost, they continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. This is where we are at the present day. This abides, and nothing else-there is no other fellowship corporately. May the Lord, in His grace, press this upon our souls; that we may use our endeavors not to come short of it for our own comfort and blessing, for His name's sake. W. F. B.

THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. THE GOSPEL BY MATTHEW.

40. MATTHEW-gift of God, son of Alpheus (not the Alpheus of chapter 10. 3). The sovereign grace of God is conspicuous in the call of Matthew to the apostolic office, as also in being the Holy Spirit's chosen penman in the unfolding of the Messianic glories of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, the Savior of Israel, Immanuel and Jehovah. Matthew, previous to and at the moment of his " call," was engaged in an occupation justly abhorred by every orthodox Jew. He was a collector of the duties imposed by the Romans on the fisheries and merchandise crossing the sea of Galilee. Every tax levied on the conquered people and their goods was grudgingly paid, and the officers appointed for the purpose were classed with sinners and harlots. Matthew was not one of the favored three privileged to be with the Lord in the scene of death (Luke 8:51), in witnessing His glory on the " holy mount " (Matt. 17:1), or in the profound scene of His agony (Matt. 26:37.) He is not once mentioned in the Acts and Epistles. No saying of his is recorded-no direct word to the Lord, and the only incident in which his name specially figures is in the "great feast " which he provided in. his own house for a numerous company. (Luke 5:29.)

The object of the Gospel is to present the Lord in formal Jewish relationship according to Old Testament. prophecy. Thus we have more citations from and references to the former oracles of God in this Gospel (about 80), than will be found in the other Gospels collectively. There is a dignity and majesty about the discourses and parables recorded here yet, withal, a tinge of sadness pervades these truly magnificent, complete, and orderly series, for they were uttered by Israel's rejected Savior and Messiah. It is characteristically the Gospel of the kingdom, hence the frequent use of the expression " kingdom of heaven "-about 33 times only found here. The legal and royal genealogy of the Lord through Joseph is here traced from David (royalty) and. Abraham (promise), not as in Luke, where the civil genealogy through Mary is traced up to Adam.

DIVISIONS.

Chapters 1. and 3. Jesus by birth, genealogy, and scripture proved to be the Jehovah of Israel and King of the Jews. Chapter 3 John Baptist bears testimony to Christ as Jehovah, and God owns Him as His beloved Son. Chapter 4 Authority of Christ in overcoming Satan and in calling disciples. Chapters v.-vii. The Great Mountain Sermon, in which Christ fulfills and ex-. pounds the law and prophets, and reveals the Father's name and character. Chapters 8-7. Various dispensational displays of Christ from Jehovah to Son of man -rejected in these characters, He pronounces the judicial judgment of Israel. Chapter 13 Outer and inner history of the kingdom of heaven, consequent upon the rejection of Judah according to Isa. 6, which compare with Matt. 13:14. Chapter 14 Beautiful dispensational picture from the death of John Baptist till. the Lord's return in blessing to Israel. Chapter 15 The heart of man, and the heart and grace of God in contrast therewith. Chapter 16 The church and the kingdom; Christ builds the former, Peter administers the latter. Chapter 17 The Son of Man glorified and in suffering, instead of a reigning Messiah amongst the Jews. Chapters 18 -20. 16. Principles and truths of the kingdom. Chapters 20. 17-. 16. Christ's last journey to Jerusalem and final presentation to Israel. Chapters 21. 17- 22. 14. Israel judged according to her responsibility as the fig-tree and vineyard, as also by her rejection of the grace of God-the wedding of the King's Son. Chapters 22. 15-23. The chiefs of the nation and religious guides severally come up for judgment. Chapters 24-25. The Lord's great prophetic discourse. Chapters 26.-18. The closing hour of sorrow, death, and resurrection, but in keeping with the character of the Gospel throughout, no ascension to heaven: the Lord rejoins His disciples in Galilee, according to chapter 26. 32.

(Continued front page 236.)

The Gospel by Mark: (Also, Extracts from Letters of J. N. D.)

41. MARK, otherwise known as "John (Jewish name), whose surname was Mark" (Roman name) was probably converted by Peter. (1 Peter 5:13.) The Latin name soon superseded the Jewish one, for in the Epistles he is spoken of as " Mark" only. He was cousin to the wealthy and godly Barnabas, and usually resided with his mother Mary in. Jerusalem, who devoted her house and substance to the Lord and the saints. It is positively beautiful! the sleeping Apostle (Acts 12:6), and the praying saints. (Ver. 12.) Was not the deep sleep of the Apostle in view of immediate martyrdom, a sleep so profound that the delivering angel had to smite him on the side (ver. 7) to wake him up, the result, as was also the deliverance, of the united, I do not say, altogether believing prayers (vers. 14-16) of the church (ver. 5), and saints (ver. 12)? On the return of Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem to relieve the temporal distress then existing in Judea, they were accompanied by Mark. (Acts 12:25.) Their destination being Antioch, the center of the work amongst the Gentiles, as Jerusalem was amongst the Jews, would manifest the interest of the evangelist and his sympathy in the operations of the Spirit of God outside Judea. The special fitness of Mark in noting and arranging details in life and service, so characteristic of the second gospel, eminently qualified him to become the ministering attendant in the first evangelistic tour undertaken by Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13:5); but strong in his home attachments, and daunted by the difficulties and trials, of the path of service, he forsook the apostles and the work, and returned to Jerusalem.

Mark's sad defection became the cause of the unhappy breach between the godly Barnabas and the indefatigable Paul (Acts 15:37-39); the latter however had the fellowship of his brethren (ver. 40), which the former had not. Seven or eight years afterward we find Peter, Silas, or Silvanus-Paul's chosen companion in. service, and Mark on the banks of the Euphrates, probably ministering to the dispersed of Israel located there in large numbers. (1 Peter 5) Was that the place and time of the writing of the second gospel? Four years afterward we have Paul heartily commending Mark to the renewed fellowship and confidence of the saints (Col. 4:10), while after another period of about two years, the aged apostle would be comforted by the presence and companionship of the writers of the second and third Gospels-Mark and Luke. (2 Tim. 4:11.) How singular are the ways of God! " John Mark," at one time the unfaithful and rejected servant, then again profitable to Paul "for the ministry" is used by the Holy Ghost to write of Christ, the ever faithful and ever personally accepted servant of Jehovah, to unfold in lovely and precious detail the ministry of the divine workman of whom it is alone recorded by Mark, " He hath done all things well."

It will be observed that here, we have no genealogy whatever of our Lord. You do not register the birth of servants, nor do you preserve any account of their ancestry. It is not unimportant, however to remark that Jesus is never presented as man's servant. He is " my servant," saith Jehovah, while blessedly serving the saints, and caring for them in all their need and necessity, carrying them in His heart in love, and on His shoulders in strength.

The opening words of the Gospel: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," stamp their own character upon the divine record, which upholds the dignity of the Servant, while unfolding the details of His lovely and blessed service. In keeping with the character of the Gospel, Jesus is at once addressed as Lord. This divine title of authority is but. twice used of Him • first, in resurrection (chap. xvi. 19); secondly, as ascended to glory. (Ver. 20.) " Lord " is omitted by authorities in chapter 9: 24.

In this, the Gospel of service, such words as " forthwith," " immediately," " anon," " straightway "-all renderings of the same Greek word-occur 80 times in the New Testament, 41 of these instances being found in this Gospel alone. There are but very few quotations from the Old Testament. There are numerous sayings of our Lord's, but no lengthened discourses, save perhaps chapter 13.-a divine abridgment of the great prophetic discourse which occupies two long chapters in Matthew's Gospel (24.,25.) There is a remarkable vividness, graphic description, and minute circumstantiality of details which almost transport the reader into the midst of the scenes in witch the Servant the reader into the midst of the scenes in which the Servant of Jehovah lived and acted. It is a book of action, not of reflection as Luke, or of prophecy as Matthew.

The events of the Lord's life are grouped so as to manifest dispensational truths in the first Gospel; the moral order is that which prevails in the arrangement in the third Gospel; but here the chronological, or historical, course of events is traced by the pen of inspiration, hence the frequency in which notes of time are mentioned by Mark. In Matthew, Christ, as Lord of the harvest, clothes His servants with power, and sends them with authority; but in Mark the servants are regarded as His companions in service (chap.3. 14); and this is as true now (chap. 16. 20) as then. Here we have detailed the Lord's words in the sacred language of old, as " Talitha cumi" (chap. 5. 41), " Ephphatha." (Chapter 7:34.) Here also His very look of anger (chap. 3. 5), of complacency (chap. 3. 34), of encouragement (chap. 5. 32), and to heaven (chap. 7.34) is expressed. His actions, so artless and natural, are alone recorded here, as asleep on a pillow (chap. 4. 38), the multitudes He seats in perfect order in ranks, and on the green grass. (Chapter 6:39.) On one occasion He " sighed " (chap. 7. 44), and again He " sighed deeply." (Chapter 8:12.) But why multiply these precious characteristics of the Gospel? Do they not all lie open for the waiting and worshipping soul?

DIVISIONS.

Chapters 1.- 3. The Lord's ministry in Galilee, opposition of the Jewish leaders, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and the Lord's rejection of the nation. Chapters iv., v. Christ's service amongst the Gentiles and Jews till the establishment of the kingdom (in type) over both. Chapters vi.-x. 45. Preaching, serving, and healing as " Prophet " and " Jehovah " amongst the people. Chapters x. 46-16. The Lord's final journey to Jerusalem, closing instructions and service; His death, resurrection, and ascension-all in beautiful keeping with the character of the Gospel. w. S.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF J. N. D. ON SUBJECTS OF GENERAL INTEREST.

DEAR —, They confound the whole of the truth in Ephesians. It is the act of God who took Christ, and set Him at His right hand; and us, by the same power, setting us in Him, making us sit together in

heavenly places in Him. Canaan, under Joshua, is warfare, and in this sense experience-warfare, carried on by us in grace, as led by Christ in Spirit; and confounding these two things is one of the great mischiefs. But the use of the rest of the images is also false. The Red Sea is, I doubt not, an image of Christ's death and resurrection for us. But it is so as bringing us completely to God, not experience at all, but redemption, dying, and rising again; and wilderness and. Canaan is experience. Thus: " Thou halt led forth the people whom thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy habitation." They were not in. Canaan as an inheritance, but, " Thou hast seen how I bare you upon eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." It is God's work, bringing them to Himself, complete-not experimental, like journeying, or conflict experiences.

It is all wrong in confounding these. Even to Sinai, where originally they were to worship, all is simple grace. There they enter on the process of experimental knowledge of themselves. The wilderness was no necessary thing, nor part of God's purpose, nor mentioned when coming out of Egypt. (Ex. 3;6-15) The thief on the cross never went through any wilderness, nor any Joshua or Canaan experience. Redemption put him straight into paradise. The " ifs" of scripture are all connected with the journey and conflict, and met by the sure promises of God, because we (so to speak) are tested there. I admit fully there is a deliverance by dying with Christ to sin, in Romans, and to the world, in Colossians. But the wilderness, and Canaan as in Joshua, are not sitting in heavenly places, but man tested in his journey' in this wilderness world, and conflict in heavenly places with spiritual wickedness.

Now, for this last we have to be dead with Christ. Hence, to Joshua it is, " wherever thou shalt set the sole of thy foot." It is active taking possession as the Lord's host, not sitting in heavenly places. In Ephesians we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, but having done all, to stand. It is confounding the responsible man with the redeemed man. Redemption is always absolute and perfect; the responsible man, whether past Jordan, or not, is tested. I may war as in the flesh, and be captive to sin; and be set free, and in the Spirit; and obtain the victory, and stand fast. As to culpability and redemption, Egypt is the flesh, even when started on the road.

The wilderness is a usual, but not a necessary, part of God's ways; it is what the world becomes to those who are redeemed, or stand on that ground, and individually tested if they get to the end, viewed not as in heavenly places, but through redemption on a journey there; for scripture does so consider us. So, in Philippians, so, in Hebrews, though otherwise very different. Joshua-Canaan is another thing; being God's host, we are realizing what belongs to those who are risen with Christ. I may look at redemption as complete in Christ, and then in Christ I am brought to God; I may look at it as the beginning of exercise for myself, tribulation working experience, and find a Joshua and Caleb place, through God's faithfulness; or I may be fighting God's battles as the Lord's host; but neither are sitting in heavenly places. I may have eaten the grapes of Eshcol in the wilderness, and fail before Ai, in Canaan. But redemption is perfect, and sitting in heavenly places in Christ; one the absolute power, the other the blessed effect, of God's work. We have here no going to Gilgal constantly, there to renew the moral condition before God, which even victory endangers.

Be assured these people never know themselves. There is an anecdote of John Newton. When a person wrote to him, that he was in his C. of Cardiphonia (a work I quite forget), he replied, that he had forgotten one trait of C. that he never knew himself to be there..... We must not confound righteousness with xperience, though complete judgment of self ministers to the knowledge of divine righteousness.

Yours truly in the Lord.

J. N. D.

I have had a good journey through the Cevennes, and a good deal to encourage, though the world creeps in.

DEAR —, I agree that we are sitting in heavenly places, in, not with, Christ; but I do not know, in speaking of its being by faith-by which, of course, it is known-if you have allowed quite enough for union with Christ by the Holy Ghost. Encore it y a des choses dont nous jouissons par ('experience qui ne sont pas acquises by experience: every sealed believer is in Christ before God., and his place is to know it (John 14); but there are those who do not, through imperfect teaching. Hence, to the Corinthians lie writes as to carnal (not natural), not as to spiritual. We speak wisdom to them that are perfect-perfect meaning simply grown men in Christ. So Philippians: " Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect." We take the place by faith (beyond Jordan), but when taken, we realize being in it by the Holy Ghost; and this is experience. It is not based on experience, or progress in it. We are in it, if in. Christ. I reckon myself dead. But the wilderness is as much the fruit of redemption as Canaan.

It is quite false to make it a matter of progressive experience, as at the end of the desert, it is our identification with Christ's death, and Jordan is identified in fact, though not in application, with the Red Sea. But at the Red Sea it is a redemption wrought for me; in Jordan I died-not by experience, but I died-that is, it connects itself with our state, though we do not change that state by experience. But I experience that I have changed my position. This is net a play on. words. A process of experience is not the operative cause, but I have been brought into a new experience, which is the fruit of the change. It is important to see that it is no subject of progressive experience. Experience is that I cannot get it at all (Rom. 7)-no good to be got in me, nor a new position out of me, by any process. I then learn by simple faith, as taught of God, that He has condemned sin in the flesh, which I find in me, in the cross of Christ. (Rom. 8:3.) This is simple faith, and divine teaching; the effect is, I am free, according to verse 2, and take the ground of chapter 6. Eph. 2 is quite another thing; there is no experience at all, but a new creation, if there, dead in sin. The new creation has nothing to do with dying, but we are viewed as dead in sin.

I do not know if you have seen what I have taught-that the wilderness is no part of the counsels of God but of His ways, and that Red Sea and Jordan coalesce, only at Jordan they go up into the land.

Further, in its full character the Red Sea closes all. They are brought to God, to His holy habitation, but not to the result of His plans as to us. The thief had no wilderness. All that experience learns, is, that I must have a deliverer, and then I learn that it is all done on the cross. The realization of this (2 Cor. 4) by the Holy Ghost is another thing; but then it is reckoning myself dead, and always carrying about the dying. It is important to see that Ephesians is on a totally different footing; and when on the ground of reckoning ourselves dead, there is an always carrying about the dying. As to relationships, it is all nonsense; I may be called out, as Christ Himself was, but save that calling, He was subject to, and afterward lovingly owned His mother. If a person is not called out, as giving up all for Christ, there is no question that these relationships are clear duties, and so treated everywhere in the New Testament. If they come into competition with Christ, everything gives way to Him.

Yours truly in the Lord,

J. N. D.

DEAR.... As regards your estimate of my thoughts on our reckoning ourselves dead, it requires a practical consciousness that we have no force to arrive at it; and there it is so many fail, often mistaking the joy of forgiveness for true deliverance. In Germany there has been much of this, and indeed a good deal everywhere. Practically, there must be a single eye upward, or we do not discover our want of force. As to disowning such relationships, it requires the word. It may come to a question between Christ and these ties, and then everything must give way.

We belong to the other world, as risen with Christ, not to this; but, as belonging to it, the acknowledgment of what God has established is part of our Christian life. Is a wife to disown her husband, or children, their parents? There is at bottom a great deal of self-license in all this. It is monstrous. Where that is disowned which God. has established, self, not Christ, has the first place in

people's hearts. If the unbeliever disowns it, it is another thing. If he breaks the tie, there is liberty; or, if he requires what is contrary to Christ, for he receives his authority from Him, and cannot use it against the direct authority of Christ. We cannot feel too strongly that we belong to another world, not to this; yet that is not the question, but the path of those who do belong to it, according to the word.

I have written thus, because the idea of not owning the relationships is monstrous. You will find it a difficult task, because I greatly dread any diminution of the feeling that we are dead and risen with Christ, or of having our conversation in heaven. But so false a use of this, -which I feel more strongly every day-is just what would tend to alarm upright souls as to the truth.

Yours truly in the Lord,

J. N. D.

Was Christ wrong when, after refusing all connection with His mother, when engaged in His service-which was, of course, and in every sense, outside such relations-when His hour was come, He gave such a positive and demonstrative testimony to the relationship, and acted so touchingly in it? It is remarkable it should be introduced.

There is a loosing from the power of our surroundings (as the Americans say), and sometimes from the surroundings themselves, as called away by the Lord, or as driven out by themselves. The absence of natural affections is an evil sign of the last days, but we have to live in natural ties as those who are not in them-to act from Christ in them. What God established of natural relationships He always owns-carefully so; but a power has come in, which, as sin has ruined all, overrules or makes us independent of them.

Answers to Correspondents: COL 3:20 Obedience versus The Lord's Table

27.-Q. With reference to W. Y. H.'s first question in the September number of Words of Faith, in connection with a child absenting himself " from the Lord's Table because of his parent's orders not to go there," is not " This do in remembrance of me " the Lord's request rather than His command As bearing on this subject, I append the following extract from the writings of another: " If I were a child or a wife in a worldly family, I would be in complete subjection to the father or husband. That is, I would surrender my liberty to any extent but my conscience to no extent. If he said, You are not to go

out of this house any Sunday, I could say, Very well, you shall be implicitly obeyed; but if he said, you must go to such a place on the Lord's day-one which would compromise my allegiance to Christ, I reply, No, that involves my conscience, and that is for God; that you cannot govern. You can have the right over trite to any extent, but over my conscience, Never. I could not go there. You can surrender your liberty to any extent, but your conscience to no extent.

G. E. W.

A.-We quite admit that "This do in remembrance of me" is the Lord's request-a question of privilege, not of command; and the same is true as to baptism-it is privilege and not command, but both involve the integrity of Christian profession and devotedness to Christ in a way that admits of no compromise. The rights and claims of Christ are in question, if not His commands. Suppose a heathen father or husband forbad child or wife to be baptized under pain, say, of death, or being turned out of house, would it be right under the plea of obedience to father or husband, to forego baptism? It would be to deny Christ, and refuse to take Christian ground-really that which involves salvation. If a father or a husband, in the same way, forbid child or wife to go to the Lord's table, and thus decline to show forth His death till He come, is it right to forego the " This do in remembrance of me," under the plea that there is no command to do this? It is to deny the rights and claims of Christ over His own; to fail in what is due to Himself and His dying love, not to speak of surrendering the testimony to Christ as present in the midst of the assembly, and to His Headship of the body, and with this, practically to renounce our place as members of His body. Christ is Head of His body and He has an assembly on earth; He is in the midst of those gathered to His name, and He has said to them, as so gathered, " This do in remembrance of me," and we believe no authority of father or husband can be allowed to interfere with these claims of Christ. To give them up, in obedience to either father or husband, is not to "surrender my liberty," but to fail in devotedness and subjection to Christ. " The church is subject to Christ," and this goes a deal further than mere obedience to a command. We do not think that the teaching of the extract given traverses anything we have written, or is meant to weaken the obligation of the believer with reference to the Lord's table and all that this involves; with the general principle enforced, we heartily agree.—c. w.

Words of Faith: Volume 3

Table of Contents

Deliverance From the Law

The Character of the Ministry of the Gospel: Notes of a Lecture on 2 Cor. 4:5

A Letter on Hindrances to Communion and Service

The Shepherd's Voice, and Over the River

Jottings of a Lecture on Luke 12:31-53

Comments on "The Church in a City"*

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Working for the Lord

Answers to Correspondents: Only Begotten; Living Stone; Bitter Herbs; The Lord's Body;

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 1

The Full Import of Conversion

Martyrdom and Rest

God Is Love

Walk Worthy: Part 1

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Private Worship or Only Assembly Worship?

Answers to Correspondents: Benjamin Destroying the Israelites?

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 2

To Me to Live is Christ

The Books of the Bible: Part 1, Genesis - 2 Kings

The Sacrifices of God Are a Broken Spirit

Notes of a Reading on Worship

My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

Walk Worthy: Part 2

As Many as I Love I Rebuke and Chasten

The Pilgrim's Rest

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Unity of the Body and Separation from Evil

Answers to Correspondents: House of God and Church Identical?; Matt. 9:13 and 12:7; Luke 15:23; JOhn 20:23

The Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 3

The Atonement: Part 1

The Secret of Rest

The Books of the Bible: Part 2, 1 Chronicles - Jeremiah

Walk Worthy: Part 3

Answers to Correspondents: Women Praying/Prophesying; Character of Samuel's Priesthood

Assembly and Assemblies

The True Power of Gathering to the Name of Jesus

The Atonement: Part 2

The Books of the Bible: Part 3, Lamentations - Malachi

A Weighty Word on the Praise of Men

The New Creation and the Ministry

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: The Influence of a Wife

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D: An Answer to a Question About Divorce

Answers to Correspondents: Difference Between Persons in Rev. 1:5-6 and 7:14-17; Satan Prince of World

The Coming of the Lord: Part 1

Remarks Upon John 1

God With Us, God for Us, God in Us: Part 1

Extracts from Letters of J. N. D.: Hidden Power; Peace with God; Knowledge of Self

Answers to Correspondents: "After My Departure"; Turned Away from Paul?; Church Presented by Christ; Handful of Corn; Second Little While

The Coming of the Lord: Part 2 - Luke 12

The Glory of His Grace

God With Us, God for Us, God in Us: Part 2

The Voice and the Ear

How Do You Worship?

Answers to Correspondents: Temple in 1CO 3:16-17; Keys Used in the Act of Baptism?; Admission by Baptism; Children of Believers

Life and the Spirit

A Thought or Two on the New Creation

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: Propitiation

God's Delight in Blessing His People

1. The Historical Basis and Integrity of the New Testament: Part 1

2. Its Objective Side

3. The Grounds of Its Reception

4. Supernatural Religion

5. The Prima Facie Claims of the New Testament to Reverence Within Christendom

6. The Inquiry Is More Than a Literary One

7. Connection Between the Old Testament and the New

8. Interval Between the Close of the Old Testament Canon and the Period of the Evangelists

9. The Language of the New Testament

10. The Number of Its Books

11. Their Chronological Order

12. The Titles of the Books

13. The Time of Their Composition

14. The Common Belief

Wherein We Stand

The Books of the Bible: Part 4

The Cross

Spiritual Intelligence and Devotedness

Extracts From Letters of J.N.D.: The Spirit in Mark 10 and Phi. 3; Grace and Legality

Answers to Correspondents: COL 3:20 Obedience to Parents; COL 2:20 and 1PE 2:13; Why Didn't the Lord Partake of the Cup in Luke 22?

Christian Standing and Condition: Part 1

15. The Historical Basis and Integrity of the New Testament: Part 2