Bible Herald: 1881

ACCORDING to Dr. Tregelles, p. 5, the Lord Jesus in the prophetic discourse of Matt. 24:1-35 applies ye and you not to the four disciples who had questioned Him, as Mark 13 informs us, but to the church of the first born, one body, and having one hope, of which these four were representatives.

Let us test this. It is true the ye and you speak of a class rather than of the individuals mentioned, but the terms would be then used because the Lord's questioners were in that class-the same class as that mentioned in Matt. 10:23; that is the godly remnant of the Jews, but not the church of God, although the ones that asked him, subsequently formed part of the church and the body of Christ. The saints in the prophecy of Matthew are viewed as in the main surviving to the coming of the Lord to earth in the clouds of heaven some being previously martyred (9). The ungodly will be taken away for judgment (Matt. 24:37-39), as it was in the days of Noah, and the righteous will remain on earth, like Noah and those with him in the ark, so we read, " He that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved " (13), and the " end " here spoken of is the Lord's return to earth (14). Hence it is an earthly company which is there looked at as waiting for and found by the Lord at His coming.

But Christians will come with Him when He returns to earth (1 Thess. 4:14). How that can be brought about 1 Thess. 4:15-17 explains. So Jude speaks of the coming with ten thousand of his saints, and Rev. 19 it confirms it. But this coming is subsequent to the marriage of the Lamb in Rev. 19:7. Now the heavenly saints who will come with Christ are divided into three classes in Rev. 20:4. First: those on thrones-the company seen in Rev. 4:5. Next: those beheaded for the witness of Jesus-those seen in Rev. 6:9, under the altar at the opening of the fifth seal: and lastly those who had not worshipped the beast, &c.

The first of these classes are all raised and clothed with the white garments, Rev. 4 v., before those under the altar vi. 9, not then raised are seen at all. In 6 and 9, that sacred class there seen are not viewed as yet raised, nor is the company of martyrs there. complete. In which class of these three can we put Christians!? They cannot be in class 3, for the least has not yet been manifested. Nor can they be in the second, for all these are martyrs. Therefore: They can be only in the first. Then, there is an ascertained point of time of some saints, and of all Christian saints, before the Lord came with His saints to reign. For the return to reign cannot take place till He comes to destroy the beast (Rev. 19). Further, there must be a rapture of saints before the Lord comes to reign; for all Christian saints will not die (1 Cor. 15:51,52). Hence that prophecy in Matthew does not describe real Christians on earth, when the Lord returns; nor are the troubles there described when the abomination of desolation is set up those through which real Christians will pass. They will be away before that as Rev. 3:10, promises: "I will keep thee (out of) from the hour of temptation," not through, but out of; that is, they will not enter into it. And as the Body of Christ, how could they be in it? The judgments of that time, Rev. 6-19, are the dealings of God with the world-Jew and Gentile-for their rejection of Christ. How, then, could any members of His body be involved in that? It would be really, in that case, Christ judged again in the persons of His members, for what is done to them He regards as done to Him (Acts 10:21). Could any member of His body be in that judgment, then what the Lord has done is not all that had to be done. Such ideas would really deal a blow at the value of the atonement, and shows that the one holding them does not really understand what it is to be a member of Christ's body.

The first resurrection is not merely in relation to time, but it has to do with a class. All heavenly saints; all saints who have died, or will die; have part in the first resurrection, though all are not raised at once. Witness those saved after the Lord rose, and the saints whose bodies are still in the graves. It describes a class spiritually called " Blessed and holy " (Rev. 20:6). All remarks to discredit it as a second first; or the necessity, then, of a third coming, only shows that the one making them does not understand the question. As to the secrecy of the rapture the Word is silent-so one would not dogmatize; but it would not be out of harmony with that which has taken place. Witness the rapture of Elijah; and the resurrection: of the Lord.

P. 9. There is no hope, Dr. Tregelles sets before Christians prior to the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven. Why, then, does the Lord introduce Himself as the bright and morning star; whereas, in Mal. 4:2, He is introduced as Sun of righteousness? Why, too, have we the promise of Rev. 3:10? And the revelation of 1 Thess. 4:15-17? And what is the meaning of the exhortation in 2 Thess. 2:1?

But though the church's hope is to be caught up the truth of His coming back to reign is brought to bear on saints. For responsibility does not end, as Timothy learned, till the Lord returns (1 Tim. 6:16), and rewards are only given when the Lord has received the kingdom (Luke 19:11-17). The Lord's return to reign encourages saints when suffering from injustice (Jer. 5:7). It encourages them to be meek now (Phil. 4:8). Paul looked forward then to rejoin his converts (1 Thess. 2:18-19). It should bear on our walk (1 Thess. 3:13;5. 6-10; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:3); and act on the saint in service (1 Tim. 6:13-16; 2 Tim. 4:1-3).

The coming for the saints has also its practical side. It differs from prophecy, as Peter shows (2 Peter 1:19). It warns against saying-" My Lord delayeth his coming" (Matt. 24.45 to end); and of profession without reality (Matt. 25:1-13), The blessedness, too, of being found watching and working, Luke 12:37-44 sets forth. How much is lost by not discerning the difference between the rapture of the saints and the Lord's return to reign!

Such, then, is the testimony of Scripture on the main points of the hope of the Lord's coming, and as it is in contrast and antagonism with the teaching of the pamphlet, there is no need of going into a formal examination of it in detail. A few drops of bad water is sufficient for the purpose of testing it, so a few thoughts of an unscriptural pamphlet.

A Thought on the Hebrews

THE stability of all that which Christ teaches is a thought which pervades the Epistle to the Hebrews. The mercies of David are sure mercies, made sure in it by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true David.

The resurrection quickens for eternity all that it connects itself with, for it speaks the end of the reign of sin, or the destruction of the power of death.

Thus, in chapter 1, the throne of the risen Son is " forever and ever." Heaven and earth may perish, but the risen Son " remaineth."

In chapter 3 title to be of His house is settled by this-" If ye hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the life firm unto the end"-intimating that if the principle of enduring or continuance be not in us, we are wanting in that which is essential to all that is connected with the Son.

So in chapter 5, 7. The priesthood of the Son is stable. It is " forever," after the order of Melchizedek. It is " unchangeable." It is in the power of " an endless life," and they who have it are in the joy of an " eternal salvation;" all are saved " to the uttermost." It is formed by " the oath" of God, by a decree which will never be "repented" of.

The covenant, in like character, according to chapter 8, is ever " new," the covenant which Christ, the risen Son of God, ministers. It never is otherwise than new, never bears with it a single symptom of having run its course, or of being about to yield to something else, or better.

And the precious offering was made in the very strength of eternity. Through the " eternal " Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God, as we read in chapter ix.-and then chapter x. gives witness after witness, from the language of Psa. 40, from the session of Christ in the heavens, and from the words of the Holy Ghost in the words of the New covenant, that what He had offered through the eternal Spirit had settled the matter of sin, and answered for it to God once and for all, forever. And there is added to this, the thought, that to sin against this perfect sacrifice means a sinner without remedy. He is dead irretrievably, and nothing remains but that which sin unremoved introduces us to, a fearful looking for of judgment.

Faith, the parent of hope, is then described in chapter 11, as ever eyeing the future, abiding portion in resurrection.

The kingdom of the Son is, in like character, a kingdom " that cannot be moved," imparted, as it is to be, to all the saints, upon the shaking of everything else, all that is made. This part of the same great secret of eternity, or mystery of strength and continuancy, is declared in chapter 12.

It may, therefore, be well concluded, as it is in chapter 13, that the risen Son remains, and that our business is to adhere to Him and His truth, and not to be carried away to any other object or confidence. " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."

But this stability depends on perfection. All that Christ touches He makes perfect, or He does what He does so as to give the mind of God rest and satisfaction. And this being so, it abides, or is stable, and that forever.

Accordingly, in another sense, this same Epistle is full of thoughts of perfection, contrasting what that belongs to, with what has imperfection in it.

Thus-the law made nothing perfect (7:19)-neither did the sacrifices under it make the corners to them perfect, or cleansed their consciences (10:1).

But this Epistle invites us to acquaint ourselves with it (vi. 1) and opens it (2:10, 6:9, 10:14).

Abide Among Us With Thy Grace

ABIDE among us with Thy grace,

Lord Jesus, evermore;

Nor let us e'er to sin give place,

Nor grieve Him we adore.

Abide among us with Thy word,

Redeemer, whom we love;

Thy help and mercy here afford,

And life with Thee above.

Abide among us with Thy ray,

O Light, that lighten'st all;

And let Thy truth preserve our way,

Nor suffer us to fall.

Abide with us to bless us still,

O bounteous Lord of peace;

With grace and lower our souls o'erfill,

Our faith and love increase.

Abide among us as our Shield,

O Captain of Thy host;

That to the world we may not yield,

Nor e'er forsake our post.

Abide with us in faithful love,

Our God and Savior be;

Thy help in need O let us prove,

And keep us true to Thee.

Stegmann, 1630.

Christ Him Self Our Object

MORE and more I am made to feel that Christ does not have His proper place among the children of God. He is not the object. It is either a doctrine, a dogma, a party, my experience: something beside Christ. We seem possessed with very much the same spirit that actuated Peter on the mount, when he said: “Let us make here three tabernacles." The Father would remedy this. While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud which said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." And when the disciples heard it they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid; and Jesus came and touched them, and said, " Arise, and be not afraid;" and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only. Matt. 17:1-8.

Have you ever been in the shadow of the ".cloud"? Have you ever heard the “voice?” Have you been on your "face?" Have you felt the “touch 7" Then have you heard another voice, “Arise?” Do your eyes see “no man save Jesus only?" Many, perhaps, have reached the top of the mount; but few, very few, have been under the “cloud," have heard the "voice," have been on their “faces," have been raised to see “Jesus only."

" Christ is all" (Col. 3:11). Do we make Him this? Is it a question of our sonship? As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Is it a question of experience? For to me to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21). Is it a question of service? I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me (Phil. 4:13). Is it a question of my path? I am the way (John 14:6). Is it a question of heaven the place to which my path leads? He would define it as where I am (John 14:3). O let us know more of that rich blessedness which comes of making " Christ all," of seeing " Jesus only." Our cry should be—" O, to know him" (Phil. 3:10). In our selfishness we cry and beg for blessings. It is the Blesser we need, HIMSELF. He is the joy of our Father's heart. Let us taste with Him the delight He takes in His Son. Christ is infinitely higher than doctrine or experience. Experience we will have if we have Him, but only with Him can our hearts be ravished and raptured.

Why is it we are not changed more from " glory to glory?" The wail has been rent; the blood has been sprinkled; the SPIRIT is given. The reason is we are occupied with ourselves and the work of the Spirit in us, rather than with Christ alone. This is the weakness in the wide-spread holiness work so much of which is superficial. Let us look more into that unveiled face from which streams the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. (2 Cor. 3;4) All else will pale, and fade if we will but linger here.

A word here. The Spirit never occupies me with His work in me. And if I am thus occupied I am out of the mind of the Spirit. The word is, "He shall not speak of Himself," nor yet concerning Himself. " He shall glorify ME." (See John 16:5-15.) To go further. The work of Christ, wonderfully blessed as it is, was never intended to be an object for my heart. It gives my conscience peace, but only His person can satisfy the heart. And O, how His person does it-ten thousand hallelujahs to Him!

The Father would direct us to Him (Matt. 17:5). The Holy Ghost would occupy us with Him (Acts 7:55-56). The word of God would speak of Him (John 5:39). He is the object of faith; He is the object of love; He is the object of hope; and the faith, or love, or hope, that does not make Him the object is spurious and unreal. He is all for my path; He is all for my service; He is all for my worship; blessed, blessed be His name! He is not on the Cross; He is not in the grave; He is on the throne. Wondrous fact, a Christ in the glory of God, and that Christ my Savior; my Bridegroom; my Priest; my Advocate; the One who died for me; The One who lives for me; The One who is coming for me. It is not surprising that Peter should say, "Unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious." Both the worldly world and the religious world seem bent upon shutting Him out. The former is " reserved unto fire," the latter He will vomit out of His mouth. See 2 Peter 3; Rev. 3 Keep clear from them both, dear brother. If not clear, “Go forth unto Him" (Heb. 13:13). He is enough,-glory to the Lamb,-and it pleases His heart for us to make all of Him.

May it be with us Christ; our aim to know Him. You will not get a greater portion or place, than He got. Your portion here will be “food and raiment" your place " outside." There your portion is “all spiritual blessings," your place " In Him." And now, dear brother, let every affection, every desire, every thought be gathered in, and centered upon Him.

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Eternally Saved in Christ Jesus

THE Holy Scriptures affirm that, on believing in Christ, we have everlasting life. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God " (1 John 5:11-13).

The following letter shows the terrible evil of being taught the opposite of this. Its importance leads us to give it entire:—

DEAR SIR,—Having read your little book, the " Blood of Jesus," and derived much benefit from it, we feel very anxious to know if we rightly understand the sentence on page 67:—" What is needed is to know that we are saved—absolutely, perfectly, eternally saved."

We take this to mean that it is a part of present salvation to know that we are from this moment saved to all eternity; that is, delivered from any possibility of apostasy. We think, if this were our privilege, it would be salvation indeed! Yet how are we to account for those who, having once enjoyed religion, have been finally lost.

We think we have had sufficient evidence of the fearful existence of such cases, and therefore we can hardly venture to indulge such a hope.

Our deep and long-continued anxiety on this and other points has induced us to trouble you.

Our parents have carefully trained us in Scriptural truth, and we have from infancy sat under a gospel ministry. We should be only too happy to know that we are saved—ETERNALLY saved—but fear to cast off an old faith for one which would be much more agreeable. We have so often heard “the salt may lose its savor," and this makes us feel, when our faith is strongest, instant death is the most desirable thing, lest a continuance in this life should cost us our salvation.

We each thought of writing, this having for some time troubled us, but feared to do so till, in a recent conversation, we discovered each other's thoughts on the subject, and determined to write.

We have not told our friends about the unsettled state of our minds, because we know if we did we should be advised to read books confirming us in their views; and we wish to avoid controversy, as it is only satisfaction of mind we desire on this, to us, very important point.

We don't know what apology to offer, other than that we are very anxious about it.

With many thanks to you as the author of the " Blood of Jesus," and " Streams from Lebanon,',

believe us, &c.

To this letter we gave the following answer: —

MY DEAR FRIENDS,—I received your sadly interesting letter; and as I could not answer it for a day or two, I sent you one or two things to read. I would. especially call your attention to the little book which

I forwarded.

That is the sort of truth you need to know now to give you divine emancipation from the legal bondage in which you are held by " the traditions of men." I do not think it would be of any use entering on the Scripture proof that would show you the impossibility of a divinely-quickened soul apostatizing and, being lost. The way to make you get out of the " old things" is to present the new—to tell you more of our precious Savior—that is what that little book will do; and if the Holy Ghost fill you with the truth that the believer and Christ are one—as the tract shows it—you will be so established in Him and in the certainty of your salvation in Him, that you would only smile at the unscriptural notion that Christ could lose two of the members of His body, for if believers, and having the Holy Ghost, you are members of His " body." (Eph. 5)

I remember when I was very ill, and could hardly walk, that I consulted one of the first physicians of the day; and after he examined me he said, " There is nothing organically wrong with you, but your constitution is extremely low; you have worn yourself down; you must go off at once to a watering place, and do nothing for some months, and you will get over it. Take also as much nourishing food as possible." I followed his advice, and eventually my local ailments ceased to trouble me as my constitution got stronger.

This is your case spiritually: all local ailments will cease if your soul's general health were improved by breathing the free air of full gospel liberty, and feeding by faith on Christ in all His fullness. When we know our oneness with Christ in this, that, on our believing, the life of Him who is risen from the dead and dieth no more, is communicated to us, so that the believer can say, " No longer live I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loveth me, and gave Himself for me "—how could one lose the very life of the rise's Christ of God? As soon could Christ fall away and be lost as one of His members.

But many preachers and teachers give us only a change wrought on our own nature, and they call that being born again; but that could not be, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and in the new birth a new nature or life is communicated, so that in reality, and, by no mere figure of speech, " Christ is in us," and we are one with Him in our being in Him " partakers of the divine nature." If you would look at the 1st Epistle of John, 4:9-19, you would see how free, full, and sure the work of God for us poor sinners is:—

(1.)In ver. 9 we have life. God is love, and He has manifested it in giving His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him.

(2.)This love is shown in propitiation: " He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

(3.)This love leads to the indwelling of God in us, ver. 12-16: " God dwelleth in us." He hath given us of His Spirit.

(4.)This love gives boldness in the day of judgment because of our identification, our oneness with Christ: "Because as He is, so are we in this world." " Love with us "—God's love in Christ, of which he has just been writing—" is made perfect; " it has reached its full limits in giving us an unfearing boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we—thus making us one with the risen and glorified Lord Jesus at God's right hand. Perfect love like this on God's part casteth out fear.

You wish to know how you can reconcile the certainty of eternal salvation with the apostasy of those who have once enjoyed religion. There are multitudes who have enjoyed religion who fall away from that, but none ever fall away from Christ and the possession of divine life. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life "—" shall not come unto judgment, but is passed from death unto life." Mere profession, or even the natural man worked upon by means of the powerful preaching of the gospel, will all come to nothing; but wherever there is the implantation of the life of Christ—we quickened together with Him—that will last forever. He calls it " everlasting life."

There are two things in Scripture, God's grace and man's responsibility. God's grace effectually and eternally saves every believer, and the soul manifests salvation by a life becoming the gospel, and following Christ to the end; whereas the mere professor, who anon with joy receives the word, and for a while endures, in time of temptation or persecution for the Word's sake, falls away not from Christ, but from a profession of having Christ which had " no root."

I cannot tell you how sad I felt on reading your letter, especially where you say, “We have so often heard that the salt may lose its savor, and this makes us feel, when our faith is strongest, instant death is the most desirable thing, lest a continuance in this life should cost us our salvation." We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. It is quite true that God addresses professing Christians as under responsibility, being set in the fullness of His grace, in the height of privilege, to show a corresponding life of holy fruit-bearing and obedience; but all real Christians will delight in this, and endeavor to answer the end of their high calling, not in order to be saved, but because they are so; while those who have only a name to live will fall away from their nominal Christianity. There has never been one soul who had life in Christ, who has fallen away and been lost since the beginning of Christianity, and none ever will or can.

Just look at this word of our blessed Lord's-" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Sit down before such a precious utterance of the true and faithful Witness, and say, "O my soul, look at that, how true it is, that on the authority of my Redeemer thou halt everlasting life." What grace there is in this, that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord! How different from the legal doctrine man would teach me: That on believing in Christ I have life, and it will be made eternal or not, just as I behave myself! Surely this is not like “the God of all grace," who gave me His only begotten Son to die for me and rise again. This is not grace at all; it is merely tantalizing me with an uncertain hope—suspending my salvation on my good behavior, and not on the blood-shedding of Jesus. If I were saved thus I would not be able to join the new song in glory, and sing, as they all do there, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," for I would bring in the discordant note, and say, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain and my good behavior." Your sensitive hearts would feel horrified at such a thought; but that is what the doctrine would lead to if logically carried out. But " By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).

There is salvation for you by grace through faith, and all as the gift of God; and it is everlasting, for " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" on His part; that is, He does not change His mind and recall His gifts, and fall from His purpose of grace. What you should do is to continue to increase in divine knowledge of God's grace and His testimony to His Son. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." There are vast fields of Scripture truth you have never explored, and of which you have no conception. Get up your constitution and your soul's strength by living by the faith of the Son of God, and avoid all controversy with any one. It is the God-ward side of Christianity you need to know—the positive side of your blessing in Christ, as says Eph. 1 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 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, &c.; wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Let Him. occupy your whole thoughts. See how frequently “in Christ," " in Him," occur in Ephesians. “Your life is hid with Christ in God." Do not think of yourselves at all, but get absorbed with Christ and let your whole aim be that I may know Him, and let your affections center in Him as your only object; be occupied. supremely with Him, and you will be filled with His fullness, and. be satisfied in conscience, mind, and heart. God rests in Him-in Him we rest. I deeply sympathize with you, and write this with much pleasure, and will be happy to hear from you again; while I pray the Lord to fill you with all knowledge and spiritual understanding, and give you to rest in the Lord Jesus as your Savior.

Faith and Works Inseparable

Is it not strange, that at so early a period as when James wrote, they should have begun to separate the faith from the obedience of the gospel? And if it required to be watched against when they had such living epistles around them, how much more have we need to watch, who scarcely see a ray of that self-sacrificing devotedness in which the primitive Church abounded?

Gone to His Rest

NOTICE OF MR. WILLIAM REID, LATE EDITOR OF " THE BIBLE HERALD."

ON the 8th of August, the beloved brother, the devoted servant of Christ, and able editor of the " Bible Witness and Review " quietly fell asleep: On the afternoon of the 11th, in Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh, in presence of a large and sorrowing company, the body of our friend was committed, not to the dust, but to the safe keeping of Him who had redeemed him at such an infinite cost. The pale, calm countenance, has passed from our midst, but the name of William Reid will long be remembered, and his memory fondly cherished by many. His removal to the Lord's immediate presence is surely his gain, his Master's joy, and our loss; yet, if the standard bearers enter one by one into rest, the Church is more immediately cast upon the grace and resources of the living God, and He is enough, blessed be His name forever!

Mr. Reid never excelled as a preacher, nor was he specially fitted to address large congregations, but of his godliness in private life, his self-denying labors of love, and devoted services to his Master, we might speak, and that too in terms of highest praise; but we forbear. His record is on high, and his name and deeds are there engraved on imperishable tablets. Christ will in the day of His glory and ours, publish the name and doings of His own. We have no wish therefore to laud our departed brother, but we may remark that his numerous works testify that he was possessed in a high degree of those qualities fitting him intellectually and divinely to minister Christ and grace to the Church of God. We know of no work of modern date and of like character which obtained such a worldwide circulation, and was so owned of God in blessing to souls as " The Blood of Jesus."

We had a note from our beloved brother, penciled in bed, but a few weeks before he went to the Lord, proposing that the third volume of the "Bible Witness and Review" should be sent to the Presbyterian clergymen of Scotland. Shall not the dying request of the Lord's servant be fulfilled?

By voice and pen in various ways and measures the tale of grace is proclaimed far and near, but what will it be to gather around the Lord of glory while He tells of the wonders of His cross and love. O, how the music of that well-known voice will thrill our souls. We shall " talk " (Mark 9:4), and " walk " (Rev. 3:4) with Him in company with our departed brother in those deathless regions of eternal delight. W. S.

1 Peter 5:7.

Lord, it belongs not to my care,

Whether I die or live;

To love and serve Thee is my share,

And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,

That I may long obey

If short, yet why should I be sad,

Since God appoints my day?

Christ leads me through no darker rooms

Than He went through before;

And he that to God's kingdom comes,

Must enter by His door.

Come! then, since grace has made me meet,

Thy blessed face to see '

For if Thy work on earth be sweet,

What will Thy glory be?

Then, then, shall end my sad complaints,

My desert pilgrim days,-

End in the triumph of the Saints-

In endless songs of praise.

My knowledge of that life is small;

The eye of faith is dim;

But 'tis enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with Him.

-From BAXTER.

" He Is Not Here."

" HE is not here!" I want Him every hour;

My soul would weary of His long delay,

Save that like perfume from a hidden flower,

The fragrance of His spices cheers the way;

Yet fills my heart with more desire to prove

The fullness of Thy presence, Lord, above!

"He is not here!" but where His steps have been

We tread. Our home's with Him our living Head,

In you bright realms, whose floods of glorious sheen

On lowliest path of faith their luster shed;

Tracing with golden threads our way below,

Till, in full blaze of light, as known we know.

" He is not here! " He's risen and soon shall call

His bride, His undefiled one, to the skies.

Then in full splendor reign as Lord of all,

Where now, alas He's hated._ and despised.

Swell, swell the strain I bow down the head! adore

The CRUCIFIED shall reign for evermore.

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 1 - The Origin and Source of the Christian Life

CHAPTER 1—THE ORIGIN AND SOURCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

THE Scriptures bring us the knowledge of a Savior, and of a salvation in Him with eternal glory, which places those who believe in God's Christ outside " the world," and introduces them into a new world where they enjoy, in new creation, their portion in Christ glorified in the heavens, and their association with Him in that celestial sphere in which He now dwells. Christianity is entirely spiritual and heavenly. “How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” asked the Lord, at the time He was pressing such “earthly things “as being born of water and of the Spirit, and entering the kingdom of God. Even a Jew should have recognized the new birth according to Ex. 36. But Christianity has not only brought in “the Son of Man who is in heaven," but also the " heavenly things." “As is the heavenly One, such are they also who heavenly ones."

A New Man—" the last Adam "—in life and righteousness, in the Person of the Risen Christ, has been introduced as the Head of a new race who are promised the heavens as their dwelling-place, and " the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God " as their possession. " Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior," to save us out of this earthly scene by giving us glorious bodies like His own, and taking us to be where He is. He said to His disciples, “If I go away, I will come again, and receive you to my-Leif, that where I am there ye may be also." “Where I am," means the Father's house in heaven—the blessed home of all the children God. This is the home of love; but there also is the seat of government and glory, the golden city, where the Lamb and the Bride, the Lamb's wife, shall be displayed in glory.

The knowledge of Christ personally in His life of grace, in his atoning death, and victorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and where He now is, gives life and salvation. And the experience which flows from a spiritual acceptance by faith and in the power and grace of the Holy Ghost of the facts regarding " our Lord Jesus," and our identification with Him in position, life, righteousness, love, hope, and joy before His God and Father, affords a vantage ground of signal value, and gives a magnificent equipment for the every-day exigencies, difficulties, and trials of the Christian life. For an intelligent knowledge of Christ and Christianity tells us of every question having been settled when Christ died and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." And being begotten of God by the word of truth we are His children. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the children, of God." “Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it;" and we are “members of His body," whom He " nourisheth and cherisheth:" and He will one day present it a glorious Church to Himself. We begin our course as Christians as children of God and members of Christ, all that we are as children of Adam having been completely answered for and settled between God and Christ on the cross when He said, " It is finished, and gave up the ghost." We have now only to live by the faith of the Son of God, enjoy our portion in Him, and live so as to be a living expression of Christ. This can be done only by the Spirit of God keeping us beholding the glory of Christ and being changed into the same image. But this is not without its trials and difficulties. There is nothing more trying than to be incapable of enjoying Christ and not abiding in Him. The experience that is like wintry weather is very unpleasant—sun for a few moments, then clouds and rain, if not frost and snow, when Christ's love should constantly constrain.

The want of the continuance of a happy spiritual state is what greatly tries most Christians, and renders them displeased and disappointed at their want of spiritual life and progress. Their enjoyment of Christ is like an intermittent spring that for long seasons runs dry. Once the waters flowed forth in full stream, but they have now ceased thus to flow. They wish so much always to be enjoying that of which they have had soul-filling experience in seasons of near and real communion with God. It is more distressing to a true spiritual believer to have to go on from day to day in a dull, dry, sunless, and joyless state of soul and heart than were his body afflicted, or his temporal affairs in a depressed condition. There is, in fact, no trial so intolerable and depressing, as the want of conscious enjoyment of happy, holy, soul-filling, fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. Something has gone wrong in the soul's condition, and what it is, and where, cannot be found out. For there is no conscience of indulging in any known sin or of retaining iniquity in the heart such as to make the Lord refuse to hear. Still there is a clouded state of soul, and no fellowship in the Spirit with the Lord. There is neither dew nor rain to make the garden of the soul fresh with budding life, and to send forth the fragrance of its spices scenting the genial air. The well-known scriptures no longer take hold of them, and prayer is like speaking to some one on the other side of a high wall whom they cannot see. To be thus in a state of distance, and seemingly shut out from society with God and Christ, and all holy, spiritual saints, by a soul's very condition unfitting him for it is depressing in the extreme. Many Christians would not know the meaning of all this, for they have only had quickening, and have never had the enjoyment of nearness of communion with God in new life in a risen and glorified Christ in the power of the Spirit of God. But the soul that knows the joy of dwelling in God and God in us—of having fellowship with the Father and the Son and joy full, cannot be satisfied to go on without realizing it. Nothing else can satisfy.

How are we to get rid of this sleepiness, unprofitableness, and want of spiritual freshness, lack of fellowship with God and joy in Him? It is not so easy to answer such a question without knowing the causes that have led to the sad state described. Also, God is so sovereign, and so surprises us by the communication of His grace in unlooked for ways, that he might set aside all our thoughts by the manifestation of the exceeding riches of His grace in Christ Jesus towards us. Possibly, in many cases, there may be the need of a deeper sense of sin, and the judgment of our entire evilness and lost state in God's sight; for the root of sin in the old nature not having been dealt with, there may not be full deliverance of soul in the Spirit revealing Christ's work and God's condemnation of tale flesh in the sacrifice of Christ. This needs to be seen to as it is at the very foundation of living to God.

(To be continued).

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 2 - God's Way of Deliverance

CHAPTER 2.—GOD'S WAY OF DELIVERANCE,

GOD has provided for deliverance in the Epistle to the Romans, showing us in chap. 6. how we may get deliverance from the power of sin, of the presence of which every believer soon becomes painfully conscious. We have died to sin (6:2), we are here taught. By the death of Christ for us we have a perfect standing before the throne of God. By His death, as a practical truth applied to us, we get free from the power of sin. But this part of the teaching of the Romans flows out of our being in Christ, who has actually died, and has risen. Hence, as in Him, His condition as regards sin is ours. He has died to it once for all (10). We as in Him, have died with Him (8). Starting from this we are exhorted to carry it out practically in our walk, reckoning " ourselves dead indeed unto it, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord;" the assurance being added for the saints comfort and encouragement, " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace" (19). Now this condition, viz., that we have died to sin, is true of every Christian, however little he may have known it, or heard of it. It is not a question of attainment, though the practical carrying out of it is a matter of experience. All the saints in Rome, once bondsmen to sin, were bondsmen unto righteousness, having obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine into which they were instructed (17). Hence they were exhorted to yield their members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness. Their condition, and that of every Christian, as regards sin, depends on the condition of Christ, in whom we are. The walk, the practice, is to be in conformity with it. We are not exhorted to walk so as to attain to it.

Then chapter 7. tells of our deliverance from the law as a husband, and our being married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead " that we might bring forth fruit unto God," and " serve in newness of spirit." To this is added in the end of the chapter an illustration of how deliverance from the body of sin and death is accomplished, or rather it gives us the experience of a quickened soul struggling with sin under law, and always failing to do the good which is, with the mind, approved of and aimed at. “Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." The effect is to give a true knowledge of one's self. “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not," &c. " I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The struggle is given up in despair, for deliverance from captivity is hopeless, as well as of being good or doing good. It is more difficult to convince a soul of being "without strength" than of being guilty: it must wade through the morass of its own experience to convince it of being " without strength: " and the more thoroughly the utter worthlessness and weakness of our own selves is learned experimentally, and the hopelessness of self-effort to give deliverance, or the possibility of deliverance being achieved while struggling against sin under law, the more entirely shall we abandon the conflict, and seek a deliverer. This struggle ends only in despair and wretchedness. But when the eye turns to God in Christ, thankfulness possesses the despairing struggler. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." For what the law could not do, God has done in Christ when made a sacrifice for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh by making Christ sin for us, that we might be made righteousness of God in Him, and thus find that deliverance is secured by our being in Him, and having in Him life and righteousness where no condemnation is. " In Christ Jesus," our new risen Head, we have life not in the flesh, and we have deliverance in the power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus: and this is made good to us practically as it was to the apostle—"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of s in and death." The law's righteous requirements that never were yielded while the bootless struggle continued, are now forthcoming. God has condemned sin in the flesh “in order that the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to Spirit."

I have gone into the subject of deliverance in Christ from our sinful and lost condition more fully than I intended to do; but it is never out of place to " have these things al ways in remembrance, though ye know them and be established in the present truth." But the special pur pose of my referring to it is to bring out this fact, that when we come to despair of ourselves,, God undertakes for us. Whenever the man in the morass said, Who shall deliver me? he found a deliverer in God: and he says immediately, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He is a delivered. man, and " in Christ Jesus " risen from the dead, in whom there is "no condemnation, " and from whose love there will be no separation. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? “None “shall be able to-separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The love of God in Christ Jesus hath given us this new place, and this love will keep us in it. “It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, and who maketh intercession for us." Our place is now in Christ risen, and this is known in the Spirit who characterizes it. “For ye are not in flesh, but in spirit, if, indeed, God's Spirit dwell in you." But if that Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you,. He will at length give life to our mortal bodies, and there will be complete deliverance at the Lord's coming. " Because whom he has foreknown he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." This conformity will be in glory and in body as well as soul. " Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be it has not yet been manifested; we know that if He is manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is; and every one that has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure." All is thus secured for eternity; and all is of God who "hath commended his own love towards us," wrought out all for us through His Son, and is Himself "for us." What shall we then say to these things? "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 3 - In What Christian Living Consists

IT is delightful thus to find our salvation and security in God Himself, and all He has done for us in His own peculiar love in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are thus safe for eternity, so that we have nothing left us to do but be giving " thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." But, as I have been saying already, it is Time, and not Eternity, that is our chief trouble.

We, who know ourselves a little, wish that we were as safe for Time as for Eternity. Our salvation and our security are in God's hands, and cannot fail; but, though saved by God's grace, and thus as completely delivered and brought out from beneath all our responsibilities as fallen children of Adam, as if we had never had any connection with Him; yet, now that all our sins have been forgiven, that we are justified from all things, and as to our consciences, so perfectly cleansed from dead works, to serve the living God that we have no longer to think of ourselves as sinners, but as characteristically saints-"Them that are sanctified," yet we are set up afresh in a new position, and with a new life in Christ, and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; are sealed with the holy Spirit of God who dwells in us, sheds abroad God's love in our hearts, causes Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith, is the power of the new life for endurance of trial, power in conflict, service, and prayer, is the Spirit of adoption and the earnest of the inheritance; and our new responsibility is to live, walk, work, and worship according to the place and portion we have in Christ, and the epistle of Christ written by the Spirit of God, seen and read as such by all men. Living by the faith of the Son of God walking in the Spirit, it is our new responsibility to be an expression of the grace, goodness, and holiness of God, in a world that is without God " or mortifying the deeds of the body by the Spirit, and walking in newness of life, having put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ in having put off the old man, which is corrupt, and being renewed in the spirit of our mind, and having put on the new man which is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." "Risen with Christ, seek the things above, where the Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; have your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth: for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God."

Our whole business is to fill all our relationships with the beauty and fragrance of the heavenly things, and enjoy the place, portion, and life we have in Christ “who is gone into heaven." The display of a heavenly life in the Spirit in this earthly sphere, where Christ is not, is now the privilege and requirement of our new responsibility, as those who have life in Christ glorified, and are blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings. It is the magnitude of our privileges, blessings, and prospects that render the discharge of our new responsibilities a matter of such grave solicitude. And the chief cause of our failure, perhaps, may be similar to our failure as already described, when struggling to do good under law, and without having a due sense of the necessity of God's interference and divine deliverance. God did not only see His people's sorrows in Egypt, and come down to deliver them, but He joined Himself to them as their Director, Guide, Protector, and Provider, taking them out of Egypt and into Canaan. He charged Himself in grace to do everything for them, and in the desert, for forty years, He led them about, gave them food from heaven, and water from the smitten rock, and when He took them miraculously across the Jordan and into the promised land, He appeared to Joshua, as the Captain of the Lord's host, with a drawn sword in His hand, and He led them on to victory, and gave the land to them for a possession. “This people have I formed for myself: They shall show forth my praise." And just as really are believers of the present dispensation in their different position, as heavenly, taken in hand by God, not only for the deliverance which He gives in redemption and salvation, but for the life of faith, the conflict with wicked spirits, their testimony in the world, their service, walk, and worship. They are privileged to reckon upon God, and lean upon His grace in faith and prayer. This is God's mind concerning us: " Ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his marvelous light: who once were not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy." Out of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace. He was manifested in flesh full of grace and truth. We now in Him are left here as His representatives, and to display the same excellencies that He exhibited when on earth. For this we have the Holy Ghost enabling us, by abiding in Christ, to bring forth fruit. “Hereby is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples." “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control." God's Spirit, in conscious union with Christ, is the source of this fruit-bearing. By His in-dwelling He not only acts in repression of the evil of the flesh (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:16,17), but as the expression of Christ in His goodness, grace, and holiness (2 Cor. 3; Phil. 2:15; Eph. 5 '2). The Christian epistles generally give us, in the beginning, a statement of the grace and privileges in which we have been set by God, and then follows a statement of the duties flowing from our new place of blessing. “It is God who worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure." “Grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation?" “For the grace of God that carries with it salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and piously in the present course of things, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

As I have already said, grace sets us in a place of unspeakable blessing in Christ, but it also enables us in the happy liberty of grace, to discharge all our functions in all spheres, relationships, and circumstances, from new motives, with newness of spirit, and is newness of life; and with a new power, the Holy Spirit of God. We find ourselves here as members of Christ, and we have consequently our ecclesiastical responsibilities to " walk, worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and meekness. With long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." In the end of this same chapter, and in chapter v., we have personal and social godliness carried on, by the Spirit whom sin would grieve, on the model shown us of God Christ as Love (Eph. 5.1 2), and as Light (Eph. 5:8,9,14). And in the end of Eph. 5 and beginning of Eph. 6, we have Christians addresses in reference to their relative duties as wives and husbands, parents and children, masters and servants; the relationship of the Church to Christ lending weight to them all. There are earthly duties to be performed by the heavenly family, and these duties are to be discharged in the liberty of Spirit, and in the power of our new relationship to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. There is also the divine armor in chapter vi., all of which is moral, showing us that good state of soul is required to maintain the Christian warfare which is with wicked spirits in the heavenlies—and this, too, is done as being in Christ and filled with the Spirit. If Satan finds the whole armor of God not put on he gains an advantage over us, for he would bring before us our bad moral state to make us doubt the goodness of our spiritual position and blessing in Christ Jesus. " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the panoply of God that ye may be able to stand against all the artifices of the devil." This is a specimen of the way the Spirit speaks of us, and to us, in the epistles. Our responsibilities as forgiven, justified, saved, and heavenly men, flow from our new and unvarying position and relationship, and we are also empowered by the Holy Ghost to discharge the duties of the abiding relationships of nature as new creatures in Christ Jesus. They are, thus, the privilege 3 and blessings in Christ, and the responsibilities which flow from them with the grace, power, and motives for the discharge of them: and whether it be ecclesiastical or personal godliness, as we have in Eph. 4, or social and relative godliness, as in chapters v. and vi., the duties to be performed are to be discharged by persons set in the highest sphere, and blessed in the richest manner, by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who have been under the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus, and united to Christ and made members of His body, the Church, and also an habitation of God in Spirit—and by the same Spirit having Christ Jesus dwelling in the heart by faith, rooted and grounded in love to enter into all our portion in Christ, and to enjoy according to the power that worketh in us our connection with all the fullness of God. Thus we have the grace and truth which was in its fullness in Christ (John 1:14) reproduced and expressed in the midst of the darkness of this world, and in the midst of the evil where the god of this world seems well-nigh triumphant. In our new state, sphere, and circumstances with the Holy Ghost in us as our living power, we are set down to glorify God in our body: and although it is desirable for our own happiness that we perform all our duties in the Christian life in the enjoyment of liberty and sunshine, yet it is a happy thing that the whole range of responsibility can be met and answered by us as honestly serving the Lord Christ, let the day be bright or cloudy, wet or dry, hot or cold; and whatever may be the state of joy or sorrow in which we find ourselves.

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 4 - Grace with Spiritual Exercise

But with regard to our spiritual state before God, if we find we are dry, dull, listless, stupid, and out of communion spiritually, we should seriously consider it, and not go on with a senseless, joyless, lifeless, condition. We should at once pull' up, and place our souls before God. If our bodies were in a disordered state, and we were threatened with a serious illness, would we hang about, and put off using the needed remedies? And why not call a halt when our souls are out of order, and have matters set right before any severe spiritual disease overtake us? Just as deliverance from the law is by the knowledge of God in Christ and our death with Him, so deliverance from an unprofitable and unspiritual state of soul and heart, God-ward and Christ ward, can be remedied only by the Holy Ghost giving fresh working in the soul and fresh unfoldings of Jesus in His attractiveness to the heart: and when communion gets interrupted there must be confession, and under the gracious action of the heavenly advocacy with the Father it will be restored. The chief thing is to give over trying to get it ourselves. Confess the evil state, the weakness, the lifelessness, want of spiritual spring and joy in the Lord, and lay ourselves down before Him in all our unhappiness, but in the acknowledged recognition and confession of our real condition, and leave Him to deal with us as He sees best. If all be cast on God in the confidence of faith and real dependence, Scripture warrants us in saying that He will graciously give us clearance, and fill us with the light and joy of His own presence. If led to act thus of God the change may be instantaneous. The Lord may be working to bring us to our knees, because He means to give us fresh blessing in the Spirit.

But this may go on for a time before the blessing of the Lord-which emancipates, brightens and deepens the divine work in the soul-be imparted. But when we are in despair of ourselves and have our faith more fixed on the Lord to whom we begin to turn and appeal in our felt helplessness, we may encourage ourselves in Him that even this is an installment of the blessing, for to be able to pray and long after fresh power of fellowship with God is surely of the Spirit. And even if there be delay, let us wait only upon God; the blessing will come in due time. We have a notable example of delay in the case of Daniel. " In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till the whole three weeks were fulfilled." Then the vision of a glorious one is given him, and he " alone saw the vision.” “I was left alone," he says, "and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me." He heard " the voice of his words," with his face towards the ground. A hand touched him and set him upon his knees and the palms of his hands. " And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for (now mark this) from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words:" The exercise went on for " three whole weeks," but now he is told his words were heard " from the first day." And I am come for thy words." " Words' that he felt had been unavailing! But now, when the answer comes, he has no strength left to receive it, and it is only when freshly touched and strengthened that he could say, “Let my Lord speak; for Thou hast strengthened me." And when he speaks, what does he say—" I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth." It is for this he has had to wait and pass through such a prolonged experience and exercise of soul. I have referred to this remarkable experience of Daniel to show that our "words " may be heard " from the first day," and yet the exercise of soul that crushes us to the ground, and takes away every bit of strength from us, may go on, and the answer come only after " three whole weeks," that when it comes it may be given us, and fresh strength to receive it, and consist in " that which is noted in the Scripture of truth," read in the light of the heavenly enlightener, and realized in this fresh strength which He has imparted.

Let us not say this is Jewish experience, and such trying soul-exercise is not to be expected now that the Holy Ghost has come and abides in the saints of God: for we read of a Christian apostle that he passed through a similar exercise, and experienced similar delay. " He was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words." Yet he tells us, “Lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." He does not say whether, like Daniel, this extended over " three whole weeks; " but "thrice" tells of continuance of supplication, and delay as to the answer. And when it came it was not the removal of the thorn, but sufficient grace to bear it. " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak then am I strong."

Paul received a much better thing than he had asked for; for the heightening of the power of Christ to bear the thorn, and, when consciously weak, to be strong in Christ's power, were surely higher blessings than the removal of the source of his weakness. The thorn was such as led him to pray the Lord about it; the delay gave spiritual exercise of soul, and necessitated repeated prayer; and when the Lord's voice is heard it conveys such an unlooked-for assurance that Paul glories in his weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon him. But whether it is " Daniel the prophet," or " Paul the apostle," the lesson is the same—that we are cast entirely upon the Lord as to divine dealing, spiritual exercise, and spiritual deliverance. We ourselves must be reduced to nothing ("though I be nothing," says Paul), that we should have " the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead." This is stated in a more detailed way farther on in the same epistle: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not from us; every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body; for we who live are al ways delivered unto death on account of Jesus that the life, also, of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; so that death works in us." This tells us of “the sentence of death in ourselves,” and trust in God who raiseth the dead. This was the experience of the apostle in connection with the gospel of the glory of Christ and the ministry of the same. The “vessel " containing the light of the knowledge of the glory of God-the treasure of a glorified Christ-was broken in pieces that the light might shine out; and because He believed He spoke: "Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also through Jesus." His hopes were all in resurrection. " Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day." The more weight and pressure on the outward man, the more the life of Jesus was manifested; the more the vessel was broken, the more the testimony of Christ shone out; and the more the weakness of man was felt, the more the power of God was experienced. All free spiritual living is the consequence of the sentence of death in ourselves and trust in God, for it is in proportion as we bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus is manifested in our body. The Christian life was with Paul a very serious thing. “For me to live —Christ." The Christian life with him was Christ—he was living a life of faith and communion, and he expressed the traits of Christ in his daily life. Our life, motive, power, object, and end is Christ. In Phil. 2 and 3. we have the grace of Christ in being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and the energy of Christ in going through everything to gain Mtn. When we have an epistle of true Christian experience, as we have in Philippians, we have nothing at all about sin, but we have Christ before us as our Object and our Prize, and our joy is in Him. " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice." —and the man who said so was at that time in prison! He showed such superiority to circumstances, in the divine energy which actuated him, that the prison was nothing to him. Christ was all; and his crying is to know Him-to win Christ! To reach the goal in glory, and have Him there as gain.

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 5 - The Effect of Association with a Risen Christ

IT generally happens that souls that are stranded need both more of the grace of God and of the truth of God. One told me lately of a ship stranded on the east coast of England which has occupied them all the winter in getting it off the sandbank on which the storm had driven it. They tried to dig it out, and they also tried to take advantage of the ebbing and flowing of the tide to accomplish their purpose; but had it not been for an exceptionally high tide they had never been able to get the vessel floated and saved from becoming a wreck. This tells of the need of special grace for stranded souls. Christians who get stranded need a high tide of God's grace to get them off the sand-banks where they are lying in all their helplessness. But when the tide rises sufficiently high they have nothing more to do than spread their canvas and sail away from the place of their imprisonment into the deep waters of redeeming love. The state of the disciples at the death of Jesus is a picture of the state of many disciples still. They were completely confounded when He died and was laid in a sepulcher. He had told them repeatedly of His approaching rejection, death and resurrection, but His words seem to have made no impression upon them, and did not remain even in their memories. Those who came to the sepulcher had to be reminded by the angels that the Lord had told them " that he should rise from the dead on the third day." " Then they remembered his words." It is sad to reflect how slightly we hear " his words." Not a thousandth part of " his words " in the pages of the Holy Scriptures have ever touched our souls, or are even remembered by us so as to be available in an emergency! The narrative of Luke 24 is very interesting and instructive in regard to this subject. When the women came to the sepulcher and found not the body of Jesus " they were much perplexed there about." But as they were perplexed about Jesus He sends His angels to solve their perplexity by giving them " his words" about His rising again. " Why seek ye the Living One among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember the words he spake unto you." Angels may be the ministers, but the words of Christ are the means they use in their ministry, and these words accomplished their purpose. Resurrection was an entirely new condition before God; and were the fact of it possessing their souls, and they themselves knowing the meaning of it, their perplexity would be at an end. The cross shut the door of death upon all that man is in the flesh, and resurrection opened the door into a new condition, a new connection, and a new world. Christ in resurrection is the second man-the Last Adam, the Head of a new race; and after He had glorified God upon the earth, and finished the work given Him to do-in order that He might be glorified in regard to sin, and we redeemed from our state of sin-God raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand, and began a new and spiritual system with Him as its center, and all who now believe in Him as His members, and also associated with Him as co-heirs. The world had been made for man, and man had been made for the world. But man sinned and fell under judgment with its death-penalty; and the earth has been groaning under the weight of this primeval sin and its fearful consequences ever since man fell from his allegiance to God. Adam had been disobedient unto death; but Christ Jesus had become obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; and now, as set at God's right hand, a new world is begun in connection with Him; and a new race of risen men, united to Him as their Head, is begun. The sphere of created man was the earth, but the sphere of redeemed man is not the earth, but the heavens. " The Man Christ Jesus " is there; and believers in Him are united to Him there by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven; and they are awaiting His return to take them thither in glorified bodies. Resurrection, then, is the door that leads into this new world; and the risen Jesus, assuming still the place of Teacher, leads His disciples into association with Himself by opening to them the Scriptures, and opening theit their hopes had been blasted, for they say to him that this prophet was He whom they had expected to redeem Israel, and now this was the third day since He was crucified. There was also a rumor that He was risen, but this had had no hold of their minds, else they had not left the city where He was likely to show Himself alive. They had looked for a living Messiah to deliver Israel according to the prophets-as Moses had delivered the people out of Egypt. But that either " the sure mercies of David " should need resurrection as a foundation for their realization, or that a new dispensation of a wider kind should be begun in connection with Christ risen from the dead-were things that they did not apprehend. Into this was the Lord's intention to lead them, so He says, " O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into his glary. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." " But their eyes were holden that they should not know him." They were partially right. It was true that this was He that should redeem Israel; but it will not be now, but, when He comes in His glory. They did not believe " all that the prophets had spoken.." For then they must have seen that it behooved Him to rise from the dead. If the prophets spoke of death and glory, surely the natural inference was that resurrection must come as the link between them. Thus by their own Scriptures of the prophets the Lord led them on from the too great narrowness of a contracted Judaism into the wider regions of resurrection and glory, and all through solid painstaking, expounding unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What a blessed time to have the Lord Himself doing this! And what a thought this gives of the importance of the Old Testament Scriptures! As we open them let us say to ourselves, " Here are the things concerning Himself." The travelers having now reached the village whither they went, the intelligent stranger made as though he would go further; for what title had he, a stranger, as he seemed to be, to obtrude himself upon them? What right had such an one to their house or table? If Jesus be but a stranger in our eyes He will still walk outside. Till we know Him as Son of God, the dead and risen Savior, surely He will not dwell with us. But the heart may outrun the understanding, as it did in the case of those two disciples. Their eyes were not yet opened to know Him, but their interest was concentrated in Him because their hearts were touched by the teaching of His lips and the attractiveness of His person. This made them constrain him to abide with them. " Abide with us; for it is toward evening and the day is far spent, and he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave unto them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight." He allowed Himself to be "constrained to tarry with them," for He could be with such as had an ear for His teaching, and a heart for Himself. But if He is with them, it is as their Master and Lord. This he showed them by assuming the Master's place at the table. And when this was done their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. He was no longer the interesting and instructive traveling companion teaching them out of all the Scriptures; but He was now known as " Jesus Himself." What a revelation! What a discovery! He was indeed risen, and this was Himself sitting in association with them at the evening meal! His work for the time was done. He is now gone to appear elsewhere to others, and He would have them drawn to the spot, where He is to manifest His presence. After He had left them they continued to talk of Him as they did when He had joined them in the way; but how different were the communications! The Risen One has appeared to them. He has taught them the things concerning Himself. " And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the Scriptures? " Hearts are compared now. Their reasonings and sadness have left them, and their hearts are warm towards Him, for they have both seen His person, and heard His words. Then He was alive, and they had seen Him, and heard Him, until their hearts burned within them, and they felt themselves drawn to the Risen One. " And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread." When the Lord met them they were journeying to Emmaus-traveling from Jerusalem, the Divine center of blessing, and the place where the Lord Himself was to appear speaking peace. But the same hour that a Risen Savior is seen by them they hasten back to the city to tell their brethren the glad tidings that they may rejoice together. And when they reached Jerusalem they were met with the gladdening intelligence " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." Then they, too, add their testimony, " And as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." He comes into the midst of the disciples just as they are talking of Him as the Risen One. He delights to reveal Himself wherever His saints have their lips and hearts engaged about Him. He now speaks peace for He has made peace by the blood of His cross; and has already preached peace in the way by expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself as the One who ought to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory. He confirms their faith by showing them His hands and His feet. " Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself," and when they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He took what they had, " and did eat before them all." What pains the Lord takes to give His people assurance of the fact of the resurrection and His identity. If they can be firmly established in this, then all their fears, perplexities, reasonings, sadness, folly, and slowness of heart to believe all will be gone; and He can lead them on to enjoy the new things in this new condition with Himself. He teaches them further out of Moses, the Psalms and the prophets, and opens their understandings that they should understand the Scriptures. " And he said unto them, thus it is written, and thus 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, and ye are witnesses of these things. He promises the Spirit to give them power in testimony; led them out as far as to Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them, then as He was blessing them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned unto Jerusalem alone with great joy. The teaching and revelation of Himself as the Risen One leads His disciples on from fear, perplexity, sadness, slowness, trouble and terror, to great joy and continual praise. Te Parson and the word of Christ Himself, the teacher, are the certain cure for religious depression and lowness of spiritual conditions.e things. He promises the Spirit to give them power in testimony; led them out as far as to Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them, then as He was blessing them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned unto Jerusalem alone with great joy. The teaching and revelation of Himself as the Risen One leads His disciples on from fear, perplexity, sadness, slowness, trouble and terror, to great joy and continual praise. Te Parson and the word of Christ Himself, the teacher, are the certain cure for religious depression and lowness of spiritual conditions.

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 6 - Filial Relationship and Spiritual Liberty

BUT we must now, for a little while longer, turn our eyes to the right hand of God, where the ascended One, who is man, now is seated and glorified with the glory He had with the Father before the world was. As we have already stated, God's purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began is to have His own Son, the glorified Man as the center in glory of a new order of men (redeemed from the ruins of Adam and dead, and risen with Christ), united to Him where He is, and have a common relationship, place, and share with Him in all the glory, and blessing, wherewith His God and Father hath blessed Him in the. heavenlies. Consciousness of oneness. with Czarist, in glory, and the knowledge of the mystery, Christ and the Church give full deliverance of soul; and seeing that this is " the present truth " that needs to be insisted on with constant iteration, we would conclude with the presentation of a condensed epitome of the Christian position, and the importance for deliverance, freshness, and spiritual progress of enjoying in. the Holy Ghost that blessed glorified Second Man who has glorified God on the earth, and who has been glorified by God, and with God in the highest heavens.

Where there is faith in a risen and glorified Christ there will be the conscious enjoyment in Him of divine life, filial relationship, and spiritual liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and He is with all who believe the gospel of the glory of Christ. The Spirit of God is with those who accept the ministration of life and righteousness in Christ, from the glory of God, and He gives them to know Him, and what God has given us in Him. Trace the path of the Son of God, from His coming in flesh to His ascension into the glory of God, and think of Him as the humbled, victorious, and exalted man. " That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth." The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared Him. God has been revealed on earth as a personal God (for " God was in Christ ") and in His relationship as a Father in the person of the Son of Man born of the Virgin. He was born holy-" that holy thing that shall be born of thee." He lived a life of obedience, dependence and holiness, and as God's Pious One, God the Father could claim Him at His baptism, as His by the voice from heaven. " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Heaven opened to Him and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove and rested upon Him, " for him hath God the Father sealed and sent into the world," and told forth at once His relationship to Him, and his well-pleasedness in Him. Thus attested and empowered as God's Sent One, He " went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil, for God was with him; " and when man rejected Him God testified again from the holy mount, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." God owned Him at Jordan as His Pious One in His private life, when " He was about the age of thirty; " and now on the holy mount He owns Him in the transfiguration scene in His public life, as the Servant Son of Jehovah, the Messias promised to the fathers; and His place in the midst of His people in the kingdom is given Him in glory, and the Father's voice from the holiest proclaims this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. From this place in glory which His own intrinsic excellence as Son of God, and His upholding the glory of God in Israel as the Son of Man, the Jehovah-Messiah had given him, we hear from the conversation of the glorious men who appeared, Moses and Elias, how that they talked of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem; and when the vision was past He descended from that " holy mount " to travel onwards as the rejected Son of Man to Calvary to accomplish His decease for God's glory and our redemption; for, " except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but, if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.... Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die.... Now 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." God has been glorified by Him in His holy life, and God glorifying death by which at once God in all He is in His nature, character and requirements was magnified, and His glory retrieved and established over sin and Satan, and in the very face of the enemy. God as love as well as light has been glorified in the death of Christ; and not only according to the requirements of man as represented in the court, and at the brazen altar, but according to the necessity of God's nature as He is in Himself in the holiest of all, where all that the light of His glory reveals is of gold. God has been glorified about sin in the sinless One made sin for us; and where the first man was disobedient unto death, the second man has been obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He gave up Himself in obedience to glorify God, and God came in righteousness and in the might of His power wrought for Him and raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in His heavenly glory above every name that is named, both in this world and that which is to come, and has given Him to be head over all things to the Church which is His body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.

The old man came to the end in Christ's cross, and we have died with Christ and are risen with Him, and by faith we are the sons of God and the Risen Man, the last Adam is our life as He is our righteousness. As in the old creation we were in our sins and guilty, and lost in our Adam-head, so in our risen Lord-the Second Man-we are forgiven, have redemption, are saved, and have justification of life; for, as by one man's disobedience we were constituted sinners so by One Man's obedience we are constituted righteous. And not only so, but we are made one with a glorified Christ by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. We are saved by grace-God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, not as incarnate, but as risen from the dead, for Christ in the flesh is known no more (for He is not here, He is risen) therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold they are become new, and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son; and in this new, peaceful and happy condition we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. There is a new creation, and Christ glorified is the Head of it, and we, as individuals have our place in Him, and part with Him, for our new creation in Christ and union with him is individual. By the disobedience, sin, and fall of the first Adam, we all went down under death; by the obedience, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, the last Adam, we are all raised up with Him, and have life. In the beginning the heavens and the earth were created, and then man was formed on the sixth day, but all this is reversed in Christ, who dies for man on that sixth day, rested in the grave on the seventh day, and on the first day of the week was raised from the dead as the Second Man of heavenly origin, and constituted the Head of a new order of men who, it is God's purpose, should be associated with Him, one with His own Son, the second Man, the last Adam, as the Son of Man but Son of God, in his Manhood as we are, and indeed more closely than we were with the first-not Christ, as is often stated, united to men before and without redemption, which gives us a place in the glory with Him, and He has done all that is needed to bring us there. Of old, before the foundation of the world, He rejoiced in the habitable parts of Jehovah's earth, and His delight was with the sons of men. God prepared Him a body and He came in time, and to do God's will in our salvation, becoming a man, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, and now crowned with glory and honor. As man in the glory He had with the Father before the world was, and having become our life, and accomplished the work of redemption on the cross, and gone into glory, gone up on high as man, He has sent down the Holy Ghost, Himself our abiding righteousness, that we might know that we are in Him, and He in us; not yet with Him, but in Him, and knowing it by the Holy Ghost (John 14), as it is written, " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. God has quickened us together with Him, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But, as said, not yet with Him, or partaking of the glory. Christ as raised from the dead is the head in glory, and we are members of His body. " He is the Head of the body the Church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence " (Col. 1:18). It is a striking fact that Christ the firstborn from the dead is " the Beginning: " the Rock on which the Church is built is Christ: the Son of the living God, the firstborn from the dead. God's risen Son is the Head of His body, the Church, the Beginning of God's new work, just as He is as firstborn of every creature, " the Beginning of the creation of God," " for by Him were all things created-all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist," so as risen He is " the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead," that in all things He might have the preeminence. We who believe have our place in Him who is " the Head of His body, the Church, " and have all our privileges, and blessings in Him, and being united to Him by the Holy Ghost come down from Him to seal all believers, and be the earnest of glory with Him, we wait for His coming that we may be conformed to His image in glory.

The Spirit contrasts the first Man, and the Second Man in 1 Cor. 15 The first man, Adam, was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening Spirit.... The first man out of the earth, made of dust; the Second Man, out of heaven. Such as be made of dust, even also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly (One), such also the heavenly (ones). As we have borne the image of the (one) made of dust we shall bear also the image of the heavenly (One)." " For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be confirmed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." " Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to Himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27). Whether as individuals, or as members of Christ's body, our prospect is to be like and with Himself in glory.

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 7 - The Mystery Essential to Resting/Building Upon Christ

A FINAL word is still required on the Church and the soul. " Christ and the Church " known in the grace and power of the Holy Ghost is essential to the setting of the believer in full liberty and perfect peace before God, and for giving him the full knowledge and proper life of a Christian. Before the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the baptizing of believers into one body, nothing higher was experienced than a forgiveness that rested on work yet to be accomplished; but by Christ's coming, suffering, and death that work has been accomplished, and in the sphere of resurrection and glory the believer who finds Christ as his Savior, finds his place in the Spirit here as he finds his place and privileges in Christ where He is, and he finds that he is part of the new work, which God is accomplishing in righteousness for the glory of His obedient Son in calling out a people who shall be united to Him as His body, who has been baptized into One by the Holy Ghost come down as the assembly of God on earth. He is the Head in glory, believers the members on earth; and while they maintain personal piety, as they have individual relationship as children of the Father, they have this new relationship, also of members of Christ, and they having corporate privileges have also their ecclesiastical duties flowing from this which cannot be neglected if they would fully be the epistle of Christ or give a scriptural idea of Christianity to the world (John 17:21). if God has given me a place as a member of Christ, and made me part of "His body," there can be no longer any question as to sin or redemption, for all these matters have been fully settled by Christ, that we might be associated with Him in glory where He now is. " Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it," and now being His, He has it as His object to fit her here for presentation to Himself in glory, a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God is working for the glory of His Son, and Christ is working for the presentation in glory of the Church to Himself, and if this is God's purpose in Christ Jesus concerning us, shall it not be carried out to its consummation?

Did you ever ask yourself the question, Why was Paul in an agony, and why had he "great conflict " for the saints when he observed any indications of " not holding the Head," and why so anxious they should be in possession of all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God? The answer is given by himself; " In which (mystery) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And I say this that no one may delude you by persuasive speech.... For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and ye are filled full in him." His agony for the saints is that they might know the mysteries of God which is Christ in you the hope of glory; " filled full in Him," they needed nothing from outside sources, such as philosophy and superstition. But there were men presenting these helps to faith which rationalism and ritualism supplied, and he knew that nothing short of full knowledge of the mystery according to the divine revelation for the period can preserve believers from the dangers of the day, and He keeps them to Christ the Head of His body, in whom the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily, and they " filled full " or complete in Him, and if they knew this and lived in the faith and consciousness of it they needed nothing outside of Christ. Then philosophy is of no use, they were full already, and had no room for it, even were it what it professed to be, and farther on he shows they had died and risen with Christ, and lived in a sphere to which ordinances did not apply, for ordinances are for men living in the world, but they have "died with Christ from the elements of the world." Holding fast Christ, the Head, they would find from Him all the body got that which made them to increase with the increase of God; not of man!

In Ephesians the side of the mystery that comes first into sight is we in Christ; in Colossians it is Christ in us. " In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and Tin, you." This is the day when the Holy Ghost is giving this knowledge. Our position and privileges are connected with ye in me, and our enjoyment of them and walking in accordance with them are connected with I in you,. The first puts us in association with Christ in heaven, as members of His body: the other sets us down in the Spirit on earth as God's habitation, and in fellowship with Him, for the conduct of the Christian life: and He presses upon us the absolute necessity of being in possession of the revelation of the mystery that by means of the full knowledge of the Christ whom it sets before us, and our oneness with Him, we may be consciously holding fast the Head, and finding the perfection of healthy Christian life which it affords. When this is known and realized in the power of the Spirit how perfect the deliverance of soul we experience! Could a question arise when the soul is enjoying all that is in Christ, the glorified Head of His body, the Church? " He is the Head of his body, the Church, who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that he might be first in all things." He who has been declared to be the Son of God (Cor. i. 18), the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, the Creator, upholder and final cause of creation; " All things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and to him all things subsist." He is " before all things " in the old creation: and He is also before all things in the new creation; " the Beginning, the First-born from the dead," and " he is head of his body, the Church," as such that in all things He might be first. Paul seems to coin a word for first here: " He himself first," (proteuron). If God has given Him this place as the risen and glorified Man, and the Spirit in His word holds Him before us in this place of dignity and rank, it must be pleasing to God, and in the mind of the Spirit, when we give Him this first place in our souls as Head of His body, the Church, not as a mere floating theory in the mind, not meant to be carried out, but in full knowledge of the truth in the Word, and in the hearty experience of our souls who delight to know Him in this place of sovereign grace according to the Spirit's latest revelation concerning Him: and there is nothing can give us such elevation of mind, joy of heart, and spiritual repose and confidence as our union to God's Son in heavenly glory by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. This lets us into the secret of the Apostle's " great conflict" for the saints, that they might have the full knowledge of " the mystery of God," for unless the Christ or the mystery is known in connection with His Church and His place of preeminence as Head of His body, the Church, as the glorified man be apprehended in the Spirit, He is not known at all according to the Christian revelation for " Christ and the Church " is the very fullness, core and center of it; nor is the believer in fellowship with the Spirit's objects, who is not heeding the behests of His Church-calling (Eph. 4:1) by neglecting to walk in accordance with the requirements of ecclesiastical godliness. There are great difficulties. No doubt of it: hence the Spirit says:-" Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit." Act on this as a basis if you would know the emancipation of soul from the thraldom of human views and systems. If one would not think of pleading difficulties as a reason for not observing the personal and social morality of the end of Eph. 4-not to lie, steal, slander; why plead difficulties as a reason for not observing the ecclesiastical godliness of carrying out the truth of the one body with Christ, its center in glory, and the Spirit, its bond on earth? That soul must be undelivered who ignores the fact that there is " one body and one Spirit," for he cannot know union with Christ above by grace, and a sense of it in the unity of the Spirit, who is not carrying it out in practice. The maintenance of the truth of the one body is essential to spiritual deliverance and Christian morality. I mean to say that the knowledge and state of soul in the consciousness in the Spirit of living oneness between the soul and Christ as members of His body are needful to our full deliverance, for then we live in resurrection and in conscious union with the risen and glorified One, who has a body down here that He is nourishing and cherishing as Himself, and an assembly that He is about to present to Himself all pure, spotless, and glorious like Himself, and which is to be His companion in glory when He reigns over" the world to come." Having this divine consciousness of spiritual oneness with Christ, and being part of His body here, and delighting personally so to act towards Him and His members as to evince my sense of the greatness of being a member of Christ and having a place with others in the body of which He is the Head, and the Spirit the living Bond, and of my privilege with all who call on the Lord out of a pure heart to give, let it be but the feeblest expression of this new, divine work by walking and worshipping with all whose hearts are touched in the unity of the Spirit, and to have communion of the blood and body of Christ, and show the unity in our joint partaking of the one loaf. When divine knowledge pours into the soul about the glorified Man, the Head of His Body, the Church, and the Holy Ghost gives living freshness and consciousness of our place in Christ, the holding the Head is not a mere doctrine, but a precious spiritual reality in which the free, happy spirit exalts and delights in knowing in enjoyed consciousness in common with all those whose eyes have been opened to see the glorious One " Head of his body, the assembly" at the right hand of God. This is the sphere of love as well as of glory, for to find Christ and have Him now as the Spirit reveals Him to faith, gives us a taste of love that surpasses knowledge, and we find ourselves at the center of a unity in glory whose dimensions are limitless; we know, also, that in Him we are in contact with all the fullness of God; and that God now dwells in the saints in the power that worketh in us and shall have " glory in the Church in Christ Jesus unto all generation of the age of ages. Amen."

" THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME."

(Gal. 2:20.)-When we come to glory, it will not be the golden city, nor what we are, but Christ Himself, that will be the absorbing object of our hearts. Even when down here in humiliation, do we not see that directly He appeared on the scene, no one could stand; He the alone One to open His mouth, to be listened to, and as they failed to see Him as the One, the All, so they failed to get blessing.

How to Speak of Christ's Servants

" IT is because I agree with you so fully on evil speaking that I write again so soon. Lamentable instances of false reports-and even slanderous ones, have been brought before me again and again of late; and I truly believe that the readiness with which these are received and circulated is fast becoming a crying iniquity, and one which the Lord will be compelled to step in and judge unless we repent. For a long time past I have been driven to refuse to believe a report until I have verified it for myself. Ex. 23:1—marginal reading—binds this responsibility upon us."

To the letter containing this extract the following reply was given:—It is by upholding the good name of the ministering brethren that fellowship is promoted. I wish there were more " using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." I wish sincerely that all laboring brethren would learn of the Lord and His holy apostles to think affectionately and write and speak affectionately of one another, and thus show their superiority to everything affecting self, and their supreme occupation with the Lord and the word and work the Spirit is carrying on for His glory.

I am sure we have been sadly lacking in this—the servant coming before us in his personality as a man, and not in his connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has glorified with Himself in the heavens—maintaining His good name there against a world of blasphemers and detractors. Every time I turn my eyes to the Son of God upon the Father's throne I see, for one thing, God's determination to clear His name —"of righteousness because I go to the Father;"—and, knowing how near and dear His ambassadors of the heavenly legation of reconciliation are to Him it must be peculiarly offensive to Him, when the success of their ministry is hindered by raising against them an undercurrent of private calumniation`; and it must be gratifying to His heart when His ministers are so bent upon the advancement of His glory and so full of regard for one another, because they belong to Christ, that they are sensitively careful on all occasions to uphold their character, and discountenance all talebearers, insinuators, and evil-speakers.

It must have a very evil influence among the saints when a servant acts so as to set himself up by putting others down, while all the the time he is preaching in the highest strain of Christ-exaltation. I am sure that the private intercourse of laborers of this sort with the saints when contrasted with the ministry of the highest things of the Christian system, which they hear from them in public must have a most ruinous effect; for the high things are neutralized by the low things, and the mind of the believer is set a-questioning whether there can be any reality in heavenly things when those who are the ministers of them are so very earthly—if not worse. The moral discrepancy between the public ministry of heavenly things and the private absorption in reporting or listening to evil and calumnious things must be very stumbling to souls who are tremulously sensitive for the honor of Christ's" worthy name," and the good name of his servants.

The Lord's way of speaking of His servants is seen in the notable instance of John Baptist... " He was a burning and shining light, more than a prophet, for this is he... &c. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." He had been the witness of " the true light," and now the Lord becomes a witness to him. The greatest preacher of his day, who was now in prison, has the Lord assuring him by means of His disciples, and witnessing to him before the people as the greatest born of women. " He must increase, but I must decrease," and when " that light " was shining in meridian splendor Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John—" He was a burning and shining light." He increased—not by depreciating John, but by his own intrinsic excellence and wonderful works witnessed to from heaven, earth, and hell!

He did not leave the world until He restored His fallen disciple Peter, and expressed his confidence in him before them all by the work He gave him: and openly gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven on the Day of Pentecost, and maintained him in his primacy among the twelve, notwithstanding his terrible fall. He did not set him aside because of it as one who could not be trusted because he had so grievously failed. And this same Peter, forgetting the smart of Paul's open rebuke given him at Antioch writes of him "as our beloved brother Paul." This is the Christian style of a true servant formed on the model of the Lord. Then Paul is a grand pattern. Time would fail to notice all the instances in which he speaks kindly and affectionately of others, and commends his fellow-laborers. One thinks of such lists as in Rom. 16; 1 Cor. 16; Col. 4 But to select a few examples: Think of his confidential and private communications to younger brethren in the letters to Timothy and Titus, and the courteous epistle to Philemon. These show the father in Christ, and the true Christian gentleman, " Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper concerning you, or our brethren be inquired of they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ." Of Timothy he writes, " I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord " (1 Cor. 4:17): again in the close of the letter he adds, " Now if Timotheus come see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. Let no man, therefore, despise him but conduct him forth in peace that he may come unto me; for I look for him with the brethren. As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren, but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time (1 Cor. 16:10-12). He does not add—" Apollos is an impracticable man, always angular, I am sorry I called upon him at all." No, Apollos was the Lord's servant, and was not serving under Paul, but under the Lord; and Paul recognized this, and owned his liberty to go or stay. H there was will in Apollos that was his matter, but there was neither will nor temper on Paul's part. Paul has such confidence in Timothy that he couples him with himself in writing six of his epistles (2 Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1.1; Col. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; Philem. 1:1,1). Writing to the Philippians, he says, "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state but ye know the proof of him that as a son with the father he hath served with me in the gospel." And to the Thessalonians he writes—" And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-laborer in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you and comfort you concerning your faith." When he writes to himself he addresses him, “Timothy my own son in the faith. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son" (2 Tim. 1:2), Such is the gracious, affectionate way the Spirit teaches us, by example, in His word, to think, speak and write of the Lord's servants. They are dear to Him, and it must give Him peculiar pleasure to hear them well spoken of. As a domestic servant may be ruined by giving her a bad character, so a true servant of Christ may have his moral reputation and good character and ministry destroyed by detraction and slander. How sad, and how unchristian! If the wells of Christian integrity are poisoned, moral death is inevitable.

I believe that it is just here, and in this very thing, that any recovery we may expect of the condition of the Church must begin. " Know them that labor among you... and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake" (1 Thess. 5). Let every laborer think kindly and lovingly, and speak and write favorably of his fellow-laborer, and thereby unity will be promoted at its source, which is the ministry of the Word. If instead of proclaiming faults, making grave accusations, receiving and propagating baseless or venomous reports, every one carried with him the mantle of Charity that covers a multitude of sins, and he were to receive no evil tales regarding the Lord's servants, but, on the contrary, discourage all tale-bearers and evil speakers, and cultivate a generous Christian love and care for his brethren's good name, there would soon be a revival of grace in the ministry and a moral recovery in the Church.

It is told of the mother of the most blessed servant in the Lord's work in Scotland, within this century, that when any person, on calling, came out with some evil tale about a neighbor she said, " Hand down my bonnet, and we will go together to the person about whom you have told me this, and we shall see about it, and find out if it be true." By this faithful dealing she so frightened all the evil-speakers that she was not long troubled with their defaming stories! Her son's life was characterized by the truthful nobleness of his mother, and when by God's grace he knew the truth of Christianity, he became the center of that great spiritual movement which led not merely to the accomplishment of a great ecclesiastical event, but to the salvation of an untold multitude of souls. Let truth in the inward parts have such commanding effect as in this truth-loving mother and truth-commanded son, and this would work a moral revolution: for the laborers being set free from the supposed necessity of calumniating one another, and self-righteously bemoaning the course of this one and that one, would have their whole mind, time, and tongues, in readiness to be entirely occupied with Christ and good, and not with the failings, or supposed moral delinquencies, of one another. All evil-speaking among the Lord's laborers would soon cease if the effectual cure of making the accuser meet the accused were adopted. But this might produce only an outward cessation from fear of exposure: the radical cure must be inward, and in the spirit-practical righteousness and practical love to the brethren, and the Spirit producing these are the divine proofs of being born of God in 1 John 3

It is sad to think that there should be a necessity for writing a word on this subject; but have we not been all guilty, more or less, of this unkind and destructive conduct which the Spirit has so emphatically condemned? I remember a quaint old Puritan book I used to hear my mother reading aloud in the family circle on the Lord's day afternoons, called "Dyer's Golden Chain," and though I was very young (only thirteen when she died), and could not take in the teaching of it, there was one singular expression that has stuck to me all my life, and acted as a beacon. It is this remarkable one, when speaking of the “angel of the Church," he says in his quaint but striking way, " Ministers are called angels because of their dignity: but when angels fall they become devils.'' (1 John 3:8, 10). "Wherefore putting away lying, speak truth every one with his neighbor, because we are members one of another.... Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth, but if there be any good one for needful edification, that it may give grace to those that hear it. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by which ye have been sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. 4:25-32.)

" I Have Planted."

-PAUL "planted" the Church of Corinth. "I have planted" (1 Cor. 3). They could not have had a better planter; and there could hardly have been a more unsatisfactory plant. Thin it may be the case that a church does not always take its moral complexion from the man who plants it. He may be as good as Paul, and it may retain sin worse than the heathen (1 Cor. 5).

A church's moral condition and walk are very materially influenced by the sphere of its location. The Assembly of Corinth was there! And Corinthian morality was horrible immorality. The Church was located in this abandoned city of courtesans and voluptuous luxury, and of philosophy, falsely so called; and those who were converted to the faith of Christ had everything to learn, even as to common Christian morality. They were full of " carnality," which displayed itself in ballooning with men, and living in fleshy lusts, and they had sin of the worst character among them; and yet they were so low in moral sensitiveness that they had no conscience about putting away " the wicked person " guilty of it, and would have gone on with it, had not the Apostle written to them about it, and roused them up to do their duty.

Let the reader beware of falling under the influence of the prevailing sins of the locality where he dwells. Some are situated, like Corinth, where the sins of the flesh are prevalent: others, where self-will and self-assertion are the order of society; others, where disobedience to parents and masters, and " strikes " occur; others, where the lusts of the mind, philosophy, and vain deceit are the order of society, and where literature rules the thoughts of their circle, and not God's word; others, where intense competition and rivalry in business exist, and keep men's brains continually on the rack—and if Christ Himself does not become the real model constantly before the saints, and the Spirit be continually sanctifying by His Word and Person, they are certain, sooner or later, to sink to the level of the sphere they move in. " Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners; awake up righteously, and sin not, for some have ignorance of God: I speak to you as a matter of shame" (1 Cor. 15:33,34).

Jordan, Gilgal, and the Old Corn

I FIND sufficiently palpable difference between the effect of the salvation that Christ has accomplished for us, and that which fits us for the enjoyment of things which are found in the heavenly country. The redemption of Israel was complete as to Pharaoh; it was finished forever. Israel is introduced into the wilderness perfectly redeemed. It is the same with respect to us. In traversing the desert Christ is given to us as cloud, manna, water from the rock—all that is necessary for us. This comes from the pure grace of God. There is no question of conflict in all that God gives; the needful cloud, manna, and water are always there. Christ is given to meet our every want, and to give us strength to journey through the desert.

If we look to ourselves, we shall find ourselves incapable of enjoying the things which belong to us. Now, it is no longer the question of entering the wilderness, but of entering Canaan. The Jordan must be passed. Each fault we commit is committed in the presence of the enemy of our souls; it weakens us, and mars our enjoyment. The Christian, inasmuch as he is acting in the heavenly places, is in the enemy's presence; and, if he is not faithful, he is incapable of enjoying the promises.

We must cross what stops the way, Jordan, death. It is true that we find there all the power of grace, the ark in the midst of Jordan. Christ has made of death a passage, a way. Death is ours (1 Cor. 3:22). We can enjoy the promises of God, only so far as we are dead to all here below. Man is accounted dead.

Manna continues until Jordan. Christ is there to give us the strength to go onward. But there is something else, even the enjoyment of the treasures which belong to us in heaven, and to that end we must be dead to all here below. If to-day I do not realize this death, I do not enjoy heavenly things. It is one thing not to find in ourselves the activity of the flesh, and, as being in heaven, to eat the growth of the land; it is another thing to traverse the wilderness with Christ for all we need. We are called to the enjoyment of the heavenly places, and to do this we must have crossed the Jordan. It is there we eat of the fruit of the land of promise.

The first thing that Joshua does, before he enters on the career of battles, is to circumcise Israel, which signifies the putting off of the flesh, that is, the reproach of Egypt. Before our conversion we were only carnal; it is the reproach of Egypt, the only fruit of that land.

The Israelites are circumcised at Gilgal, which is the practical destruction of all that remains of Egypt up to that time. We must always return to Gilgal, always have the camp there; the evil must there be cut off.

Afterward they celebrated the Passover, of which no trace is found in the history of the wilderness, where they were uncircumcised. There is real communion with what Christ has been, which can only take place when a man is circumcised, when the evil is taken away, and we judge ourselves. Here, in order to eat the Passover, this must be done at Gilgal. Holiness without this circumcision, is a terrible thing; with it, I enjoy the holiness of God in Christ. The roasted grains of corn represent Christ risen, without having seen corruption. We enjoy it. It is a thing where with we are nourished, and not only what is necessary to us while we are in the wilderness.

Both for spiritual warfare and in spiritual enjoyment, we must be dead to this world and to sin; practically, there must be a stripping off of the flesh. We must return to Gilgal, to the judgment of the flesh. These things precede the manifestation of the captain of Jehovah's host presenting himself for battle. When there has been circumcision, passover, we feed on things which, without that, would have been our death and condemnation (Gen. 17:14; Ex. 12:48). Christ presents Himself to lead us to battle. Inasmuch as he is the Captain of the host, He presents Himself in the same holiness as when He said to Moses," I am that I am." When He leads His people, as when he accomplished our redemption in battle and triumph, He is equally the God of Holiness. This holiness is equally manifested in the conduct of His people. Because of the sin of Achan, He no longer goes up with His people. No difficulties can stand when God is there, and the people cannot stand before their enemies when He is not there.

For the enjoyment of heavenly things there must be Jordan and Gilgal-death and the putting off of the flesh. There we eat of the fruit of God's land. It is gain, and a precious thing to realize our privileges in having done with sin.

These two things are true of the Christian life; the wilderness and conflict in Canaan. To be strong we must be dead to the things of the flesh. Then all is ours; Christ is ours, with His holiness and His resurrection. We have the Lord Himself leading us from triumph to triumph, and saying to us, " Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place thou standest on is holy."

God grant us grace to profit by the death of Christ, to enjoy the fruit of the land, all we have in Jesus glorified. For this end, we must be dead, have the circumcised heart, and return to Gilgal, in order that we may possess in our camp the captain of Jehovah's host. We are weak. What do I say? Weak, since Christ is our strength. May we enjoy what is given to us in our heavenly Canaan!

(Please see, read, and study with the above remarks and prayer Joshua 5., and may the Lord give His blessing!)

Joseph

Read Gen. 44-46

SEE! his very heart is bursting, glory must unfold its store;

Well he knows what hidden treasure from his fullness he can pour.

Jacob, in the land, in famine, in the standing God doth own,

Gazes on his state with sorrow—Joseph's person, place, unknown.

Mourners, tracing back your story know ye now the grace in glory

As ye weep, distressed and lone.

In his dealings "roughly " speaking, with a heart of love behind

Patient, till the wondrous moment when Himself their hearts shall find.

Like the God who spake from Sinai fiery words that crushed the man;

Far above—from goodness giving thoughts that law could never scan,

Not poor Aaron's present story but of robes of grace and glory,

And the Tabernacle plan.

"Buy a little food!" O hearken, ye who sank from Abr'ham's line!

Know ye that the Living dwelleth in His sphere of pow'r divine—

Like the rod that ope'd the holiest, bringing sons around the Son—

Where He yields the wealth of wisdom, riches by our Joseph won.

Wandering sheep may know a story learned in boundless grace in glory,

When their wayward course is run.

Grace is richest when the glory o'er its wondrous depths doth shine;

Mercy everlasting blesses in a righteousness divine,

Wine, the best when all is ruined, fullest fare when most we pined,

When we thought we should be givers 'tis His " silver bowl " we find,

And we sink our wretched story in the grace that flows from glory

Leaving all our "stuff " behind.

List! ye souls who seek His presence, let His voice atone be heard!

All " interpreters " must vanish if your hearts would know your Lord!

Ah! He handed back our money since He wanted not our store

Till He flooded us with favor and our hearts could ask no more:

Jacobs have to tell a story, debtors to the grace in glory

Not e'en Abraham knew before.

Are we fainting since we lost Him, groaning as our ways we trace,

Musing in our proud contentment, heedless of His outcast place?

O the songs that grace abounding gives poor wand'rers at the end!

O the streams of loving kindness God, the living God, can send!

Jacobs, Jacobs, yours a story (told in grace and planned in glory)

Only " dogs " can comprehend!

Davids tell of “grace and glory," use the "key " they only know,

Hope on earth forever ended, then thro' death their praises flow.

Grace it was that found the sinner gave the prodigal the kiss;

Grace it was that robed and fed him blessed him with the children's bliss.

Jacobs tell another story, singing like a "worm " in glory—

Never was there grace like this.

Little did they know that Joseph waited till their strength was past—

Riches won by Egypt's savior—till their famined souls at last

Once content with Shechem's altar, and their Rachels on the road

Noah's vines and Eden's fig-trees planted in their mean abode:

Beer's free and blessed story Joseph's grace from life in glory,

Still to come from Jacob's God.

See the pilgrim, in that chariot, bowing his adoring head,

Asking there to die in glory in the scene where grace has led!

'Tis not now his need he measures, 'tis not now his vow he brings,

Boundless grace with boundless blessings o'er its precious object sings.

Jacob loses thus his story drinking of the grace in glory,

Rising on the praiser's wings.

When the outward all is sinking Jacobs find the heart of God,

Fed upon the corn that feasteth Her who dwells in Love's abode.

First the oil, the wine of gladness, first the “beast " which glory gave

Then the "everlasting Father," full omnipotence to save.

Savior of the world, this story of Thy mighty grace in glory

Nothing less Thy people crave.

Have we not been loudly boasting, setting all our wealth in view;

Have we not been sounding trumpets where we move and what we do;

Till at last our Joseph's person faded from our faithless gaze,

'Tho His love amid our famine fed us through our willful ways?

Ah! ye Jacobs, own your story and His grace in pow'r and glory,

Own it all in closing days!

Righteousness of God has given all the corn to Joseph now,

Justice to the Son of counsel makes the heavens to overflow,

Ruined ones behold and worship, beggars stand and hopeful view,

Lepers learn who now can bless them as they find the treasures too.

Famined pilgrims end their story, humbled in the grace in glory

Round the Faithful and the True.

The accepted Sheaf has waited—sent before us—hid above,

Though His weak, yet costly, members turned away thro' earth to rove

Now, Himself must end the story—gold and raiment, sight, then glory

And His everlasting love.

Leviticus 23: Overview

BLESSING is in store for Israel. God will not cast off His people forever. But blessing will-only be enjoyed when they really own what the death of Christ has done for them. That we know will not be, till they see Him (Isa. 53). Hence the day of atonement was fixed to be observed between the memorial of the blowing of trumpets, and the feast of Tabernacles. No rest is there under the reign of their Messiah for them, till they have learned the value of His death on their behalf. But the Jews must first be back in their land, to see Him when He shall appear. Hence the order of events in this seventh month. Their national unfaithfulness and unbelief the Lord Jehovah foresaw, when they lay encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai, and this calendar of their festivals proves it. But it made no change in His purpose then. It will not alter one iota of His counsels regarding them forever. What thoughts, we may well conceive, will fill the hearts of the faithful ones, when they come to read in this chapter the outline of God's ways with their nation in grace, see it all as mapped out by Moses, and point to portion after portion of it as having received its accomplishment, learning surely as they will, all about it, when the order for their sacred year, here given, will be no longer in force, as Ezek. 45:18-25 teaches us.

Following, then, on the feast of blowing of trumpets, typical of the return of the Jews and of their being owned by God as His people, comes the day of atonement, on the tenth day of that month, which for them will have its fulfillment, when they learn what the death of the Lord has done on their behalf. A day of afflicting their souls it was to be, and on it they were to do no manner of work. From evening unto evening were they to celebrate their Sabbath. And very stringent was the law here regarding it (27-32). The reason for their complete cessation from all work is stated in verse 28; the imperative necessity for all to afflict themselves, if they would be preserved alive on earth is set forth in verse 29; and the danger any one would incur, and justly, if he did any work on that day is plainly stated in verse 39. That person would be cut off from among his people, who did not afflict himself on that day. The Lord would destroy the one who should venture to do any work on it. Sin, and its consequences, are no light subjects in God's eyes, nor were they to be in the people's. How fully will they enter into that, when the mourning of Zech. 12:10-14 takes place, as they look on Him whom they pierced.

But their mourning will be turned into joy, for Messiah will appear for the joy of the remnant, and the ungodly shall be ashamed (Isa. 66:5). In anticipation of this was the feast of Tabernacles, called elsewhere the feast of ingatherings (Ex. 23:16), which commenced on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and lasted seven days, and one day, more, the eighth, on which they were to have a solemn assembly, and to cease on it, as on the first day of the festival, from all servile work. A day of rest, Shabbathon, was the first day, and a day of rest, Shabbathon (verse 39), was the eighth day. The feast was to be kept for seven days (31, 36, 39, 41, 42; Num. 29:12; Deut. 16:13, 15); with the eighth day connected with it, yet distinct from it, as verse 36 shows, and Num. 29:35, confirms. In Deut. 16 we have no mention of the eighth day at all.

The feast was called that of Tabernacles, or booths, succoth, because throughout the seven days they were to dwell in booths, succoth (42), made of palms, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, nachal, in remembrance of their wilderness life (43), at the commencement of which they came to palm trees (Ex. 15:27), and found the close of it was at the brook Zered (Deut. 2:14). Dwelling in booths seven days, they thus kept the feast, after they had gathered in their corn, and wine, and oil, resting and rejoicing when the toil of the year was ended; a foreshadowing of the rest that remaineth, and of the rejoicing that will take place when all their earthly troubles shall be ended, and Messiah be reigning over them. Then not Israel only, but those left of all nations who will have gone up against Jerusalem, will go up thither year by year, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. For whilst Passover concerns the redeemed of the Lord, and Pentecost in an especial manner those who are called out for heaven, Tabernacles will concern all on earth who will have had to do with Jerusalem in the past. (Zech. 14:16).

And now just a word about the eighth day, connected with the seven; yet, as we have pointed out, distinct from them. It carries us on in thought to the beginning of that time of blessedness which will follow the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal state when the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will tabernacle not then over, but with them (Rev. 21:3). As the eighth day, it was the commencement of a new week, a period of time, one 'which, as far as the type is concerned, never ended. We come on to the commencement of a new week, but we never reach its close. Thus it symbolizes the eternal state, which will begin, but never end.

Now it was on this day, the great day of the feast, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple court at Jerusalem cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink " (John 7:37). The place, the occasion, the time, all were in perfect keeping with the announcement He then made. In the temple precincts, where the people assembled to take part in the Mosaic ritual, at the close of the feast of Tabernacles, on the eighth day, He cried, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Was there a soul which felt that the Mosaic ritual did not satisfy all its desires?

Was there a person who confessed that earthly blessing however full, crops however good, vintage however fine, could not meet the deep yearnings of an immortal and sinful creature? He then offered to each and all on that eighth day, typical of the eternal state, everlasting blessing, to be enjoyed then and forever by each one who would come unto Him and drink. Who then accepted that invitation has not been placed on record. Who that hears of it now has shown a readiness to receive it? What answer can the reader give to this simple but important question?

Leviticus 23:15-22: Sheaf Waved

RETURNING to Lev. 23, we read that the sheaf was to be waved on the morrow after the sabbath, which was the first day of the week, waved to be accepted for the people, " for your acceptance," as the law-giver wrote. Sacrifices were offered for their acceptance, this was waved for their acceptance, and with it there was to be offered a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering, and a meat offering of two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and for a drink offering, the fourth part of an him of wine. But no sin offering was appointed, a most significant fact, the importance and meaning of which we can now understand. The sheaf waved betokened that it belonged to God; and being the first of their reaping, the earnest of the coming harvest, it betokened that He of whom it was the type, would be raised to live to God. " Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once. In that He lives, He lives unto God" (Rom. 6:9-10). As typical of Him as the risen One, for it was waved on the day of the week on which He rose, the offerings which accompanied it spake of Him the spotless, perfect One, who lived and died, and in whom God and the offerer can find joy without alloy. No sin offering, therefore, was in place in connection with this sheaf. He of whom it was the type was in Himself holy, and He was not here viewed as made sin for us, though the sheaf was waved for the people's acceptance. For if Christ be not raised we are yet in our sins, but as risen He is the first fruits (1 Cor. 15:17,23), and He was raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25).

To us all this is now clear, but by the people before the Lord's resurrection it was probably not understood. But when Pentecost had fully come how clear and full of meaning must this service have appeared, a service, however, which had then lost its interest for those to join in, who knew not only of what it was the type, but Him, the risen One, therein typified. And what thoughts must have filled the hearts of those priests who became obedient to the faith, if they remembered the fact, that the officiating priest waved the sheaf of first fruits in the temple court on the very morning that the Lord Jesus had come forth from the tomb. The symbol was seen that day on Moriah, of what had really taken place in the garden, ere that morning had dawned. And which place was the place of interest for God's true hearted people on that morning, the temple court or the garden where the sepulcher was? We know, and we know where the Lord was first seen. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, but was not seen by the priest at the altar.

How full of meaning, too, must they have seen were the accompanying offerings-the lamb for the burnt offering, and the meat offering with oil, betokening as they did, what those who ministered at the altar were unwilling to admit, the perfectness, the sinlessness of Him, the risen One, whose death both priests and people had three days previously clamorously demanded, and whose dying agonies had been embittered by their taunts and revilings. But he was holy, spotless, acceptable to God, and One in whom both God and the believer can rejoice together. This the offerings typified, and that great company of the priests who became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7), as Christians fully owned.

A point of interest in the meat offering must be noticed ere we proceed. Its measure, prescribed by God, was to be of two tenth deals of fine flour with a fourth part of an lain of oil. It was the ordinary quantity of oil for a meat offering which was offered with a lamb, but it was double the measure of flour generally appointed where a' lamb only was offered. Why was this? A significance of course there is in it, for all God's ordinances have a purpose and a meaning, whether we can discover that purpose or not. Now the measure of flour for this meat offering was the measure of flour appointed for the two wave loaves offered on the feast of weeks (v. 17). The Lord Jesus Christ is the life of His people, and He alone, as risen, is that, and as alive before God, their life is only} Christ, and nothing else. Hence, was it not that the measure of the flour of the meat offering which accompanied the wave sheaf, was the measure of the flour of which the two wave loaves were made, the new meat offering unto the Lord? Christ, and He only, is equally and solely the life of those whom the two loaves typified.

The seven days of the feast ended, the males of Israel could return to their homes, to await the next appointed time for appearing before Jehovah, which had been fixed by the paschal sabbath, for on the fiftieth day dating from its morrow they were to keep the feast of weeks, on which day they were to offer a new meat offering to Jehovah, viz., the two wave loaves already mentioned, baked with leaven, first fruits to Jehovah.

The wave loaves and wave sheaf bearing such close relation the one to the other, the directions about the former are given as we have stated, in the same revelation which tells us about the latter, and ere the lawgiver defined the character of that day (for the feast of weeks lasted but one day), lie set forth at length, that which we read not of elsewhere, the directions about these two loaves, and the offerings which were to accompany them. For the wave sheaf and the wave loaves are made very prominent objects in this chapter of Leviticus. In Num. 28:26, the loaves are just referred to, but as a subject with which all were acquainted. Here only are they described.

Prepared as directed, and brought to the officiating priest, seven lambs of the first year, one bullock and two rams were brought for a burnt offering, with their usual meat offerings and drink offerings. Besides this one kid of the goats was to be offered for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest was to wave them with (lit. on) the bread of firstfruits a wave offering to Jehovah, with the two lambs. " They shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest." These sacrifices were waved with the loaves, whereas the wave sheaf was waved by itself (11). The Lord Jesus was personally acceptable to God apart from any question of sacrifice. So the wave sheaf was waved before the sacrifices appointed in connection with it were dealt with at all. With the wave loaves it was wholly different. The appointed sacrifices were waved with them. The loaves could not be waved without them. A man there was and is, a risen man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in Himself is personally acceptable to God. Saints there are, whose standing before God is in resurrection, for the loaves were the firstfruits of the new harvest, whom God can receive, and who are to be for God, but only in the closest connection with the sacrificial death of the Holy Son of God. Apart from Him and His death they would not be presented to God. The loaves composed cf two tenth deals, typify that Christ, and He alone, is the life of His people, and that is not more true of one than of the other company, both of which the loaves typified, those who from Jews and those who from Gentiles are now owned as God's saints. Hence, it would appear the reason for the number two. And baked with leaven they remind us that, though Christ is our life, we have within us that hateful thing, the flesh. The presence of sin, the old man, in His saints, equally true of all of them, God hereby distinctly recognizes and teaches, but thanks be to His name, its presence is no hindrance to their being brought to Him. The priest waved the two loaves before Jehovah, but waved them with the sacrifices.

Leviticus 23:23-32: Trumpet Blowing

THE work of God's grace, in converting souls after the rapture of the Church who will have a portion in heaven having been just intimated, as we have seen, work more fully referred to in Rev. 6:9; 14:2; 15: 2-4; 20:4; Psa. 79:2, 3; we are reminded by what follows in this chapter of the Lord's ways in goodness with His earthly people Israel, For He that scattered Israel will gather him (Jer. 31:10). So the prelude to their final blessing will be the return to their own and, and the knowledge pressed home on them by the Spirit of God of the beneficial results of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews will first be brought back, the bulk of them in unbelief, to become followers of antichrist, and worshippers of the image of the beast. The ten tribes will return, but only to enter the land after the transgressors amongst them have been purged out on the way (Ezek. 20:38). To accomplish, then, all this, God must take up afresh-His earthly people, for He will not forget them, but until He has done that, rest and blessing under the millennial sway of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be known upon this earth.

In harmony with this we read, " And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath (rather, a rest) Shabbathon, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord," (Lev. 23:23-25). At the recurrence of each new moon special sacrifices were appointed (Num. 28:11-15); and trumpets were blown (Num. 10:10)," but this day was a special one, marked by absence of servile work, kept as a day of rest, and characterized by the presentation of special offerings (Num. 29:1-6), besides the monthly and daily sacrifices. What these were the lawgiver sets forth in Numbers in detail, viz., a burnt offering, consisting of one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs with their meat offerings and drink offerings, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. Hence we gather that as one bullock only was offered in the burnt offering, that memorial of blowing of trumpets directly concerns Israel, and Israel only. And tracing out their future history, as the divine word enables us to do, we can see that the day of blowing of trumpets was typical of something that they will some day, and perhaps ere long, know. The blast of the trumpet t'ruah on their solemn day was for a memorial before their God.

For centuries the Jews have been scattered abroad, and for ages have the ten tribes been exiles, the whole nation regarded as "Lo-ammi " by God (Hos. 1:9), but His mercy endureth forever, as they will own, when gathered out of all lands, and the prayer of Psa. 106:47, is fulfilled, "Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise." Of that the entrance of the ark into Jerusalem under David was the earnest (1 Chron. 16:34-35). How soon shall we from on high witness its accomplishment? The gathering back of Israel into their own land there will be, but as that cannot take place till all those who are to form the body of Christ have been called out to believe on Him, and the rapture has been effected, we have It considerable interval between Pentecost and the seventh month, during which we read of nothing about the people beyond the weekly sabbath, which betokens rest, and the monthly new moon, which tells of renovation. But with the arrival of the seventh month a great change took place. The silence was broken, and the Lord was once more occupied with His people, and they with Him. The memorial of blowing of trumpets inaugurated some further and fresh displays of divine grace on their behalf, consequent upon which those words of Psa. 89:15, will have their application, Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound, t’ruah, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance."

What a time has elapsed since this revelation about the feast of trumpets was given to Israel; the witness, when as yet they were under the shadow of Mount 'Sinai, that the Lord would not forsake them, nor leave them to suffer forever the consequences of national unfaithfulness. “Ye shall be gathered one by one " Is the word of the prophet (Isa. 27:12). " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young “(Isa. 40:11).

An earnest of this future gathering together of His exiled people, we have in the return of the Jewish remnant under Zerubbabel from their captivity in Babylon. And it was by the commencement of the seventh month that they were once more in their cities (Ezra 3:1-6). Under Joshua the people had entered in Nisan. Under Zerubbabel they were back for the first of Tisri. Under Joshua they entered as the people of the Lord, to take possession of their inheritance which He had provided for them. So the first great feast which they kept after crossing the Jordan was the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread; the reminder that they had been sheltered by blood from divine judgment, and redeemed by the arm of God's power out of Egypt. That if remembered, would nerve them for their conflicts, and the task which lay before them. In the days of Zerubbabel it was otherwise. They were coming back to the land they had once enjoyed, but now without a king, and without national freedom, though they had regained, in a measure, national existence and position. So they entered the land just before Tisri commenced; and the first great festival of the three chief ones, which they had to observe, was that of tabernacles, typical of future and millennial rest. Thus at this time, when painfully conscious of weakness, they could look forward in hope. How suited to encourage them was the time of their arrival, just previous to the seventh month!

Leviticus 23:33-44: Feast of Tabernacles

AND what ware those sacrifices? A burnt offering with the accompanying meat offerings and drink offerings, a sin offering and peace offering. All these were required for these two loaves, the new meat offering unto the Lord. The burnt offering comes first, composed of seven lambs of the first year, one bullock, and two rams, a collection of sacrifices with which the people were familiar, but a selection peculiar to this occasion, and of course significant of truth in connection with that which by the two loaves was delineated. The seven lambs of the first year without blemish tell of the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. At all the set feasts this number of lambs formed part of the specially appointed burnt offering, except throughout the first seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, when their number was doubled (Num. 29:13-32). The bullock, as the largest animal offered in sacrifice, may symbolize energy and devotedness, whilst the ram is expressive of consecration. Now for some of the set feasts two bullocks were ordered (Num. 28:19-27), at others only one (Num. 29:2, 8, 36); and as for the ram, at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, at the blowing of trumpets, on the day of atonement, and on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, one only was appointed to form part of the special burnt offering, though throughout the previous seven days, during which fourteen lambs were daily offered, two rams were sacrificed as well. But on the occasion of presenting the new meat offering, only one bullock was ordered and two rams; a selection this was, as we have observed, peculiar to this occasion. What was the meaning of it?

Now at those feasts which typify blessings common to Jews and Gentiles, we find two bullocks were appointed for sacrifice; but at those which had reference to that which peculiarly concerned Israel, God's earthly people, only one bullock was called for, and in harmony with this we meet with only one bullock appointed for sacrifice on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, the type of the eternal state, a period begun but never ending, when national distinctions will have ceased, and the tabernacle of God will be, not as of old with Israel, but with men, and He will dwell with them (Rev. 21:3). So it would seem that as the two loaves typify the two companies of saints which together form the one flock (John 10:16), the one bullock, appointed as part of the burnt offering in connection with them, teaches us that they are viewed, whilst on earth, as comprising the whole company of those who are recognized by God as His people. But here we must guard the reader, by reminding him that we have nothing about the truth of the one body of Christ. We have before us the saints who form it, it is true, but as saints of God, and not as the body of Christ. And as saints taken' out of Jews and Gentiles, they were equally consecrated to God, so two rams were offered on this occasion.

Besides the burnt offering there was to be a sin offering, and a peace offering, one kid of the goats for the former, and two lambs for the latter; and all, it would appear, were waved together before the Lord, but after the death of the animals. All then together formed one offering, so all were waved, the token to us that those typified by the loaves are to be for God, as risen with Christ. And here we should mark a difference between Him and us. At the offering of the wave sheaf, as we have remarked, there was no sin offering required. The wave loaves could not be presented to God without one. Further, the wave sheaf, as already noticed, was waved alone without the sacrifices, which were to be offered in connection with it. The wave loaves were waved with the sacrifices. The Lord Jesus needed no accompanying sacrifice to make Him acceptable to God. We could not be presented to God, nor be owned as devoted to His service apart from the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son on the cross. But it is as risen with Christ that saints now are to be for God.

This special service over, the other sacrifices appointed for the day's ceremonial had to be dealt with (Num. 28:26-31). And the people having kept the day as one of cessation from all servile work, the festival at sunset came to an end, and the males of Israel, who had appeared before the Lord with a freewill offering in their hand, according as the Lord their God bad blessed them, could depart home to wait till the seventh month arrived, on the first day of which there was to be a day of rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets. At this point, then, we may pause to review the outline of God's ways as delineated in the chief festivals of the sacred year, as far as we have looked into them.

The calendar begins with the celebration of the passover and the accompanying feast of unleavened bread. Of the need of the blood of God's Lamb for sinners we are thus reminded at the outset, and that those who share in the blessings which result from it, should be holy in their ways. Next we are taught of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, the morrow after the Sabbath, and of His acceptance before God, who lives to Him in resurrection. Following on that, and closely connected, we see in type Christians brought to God, and to be for God, giving Him the freewill offering, according as the Lord their God has blessed them, the worship of the heart in the power of the Holy Ghost, who was poured out on the feast of Pentecost. Thus these feasts are seen to be typical of God's ways in grace with His people, and as such have received their fulfillment, though the fulfillment is by no means exhausted. The rest of the festivals in the chapter typify blessings to be known by Israel, and enjoyed in the future.

But before proceeding to a consideration of them, there is one more verse which must be noticed (verse 22). The hulk of the crop reaped, of which the two wave loaves had been presented as the first fruits, the people were warned against making a clean riddance of the corners of their fields, or gathering the gleaning of their harvest. “Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger." A merciful provision this was for the poor in Israel. But why is it introduced in this place? Why have we a caution only as to the harvest, and none as to the vintage? In Lev. 19:9, 10, they are warned about both. Why is the harvest mentioned in this way here? The answer appears to be because tracing out, as this chapter does, the outline of God's ways with Israel, there will be found on earth after the church is taken away, saints who will have their part in heaven, so are part of the crop in the field, though they will not form part of the church. Hence this verse just comes in its proper place; filling up in the order of events, what, if omitted, would have left a gap in the history of Jehovah's ways.

(To be continued.)

Leviticus 24: Oil for the Lamps - Made in the Image of God

THE fourth great division of this book now commences. Throughout it we are carried on in thought to the future. From chap. 1.-16. inclusive God's provision in grace to meet the sinful creature in his need, and to bless him fully is delineated, as we have pointed out in Vol. iv., pp. 112-212. Thus far the spiritual teaching of the book has instruction for God's saints during the present dispensation. From 17. to 23., however, we have traced out in the subjects treated of, and in the order in which they are presented, an outline of that which especially concerns the people of Israel.

Called to maintain the truth of the unity of God, as His creatures, and as Jehovah's people, they were thus to live in the wilderness, and subsequently in the land (17). Taken up, therefore, by Jehovah to be His people, what became them in their social life and in intercourse with each other is set forth for their instruction in 18-20. Then follow special directions for the priests of Aaron's house (21.-22.). After which the historic outline of God's ways in grace with His people is set forth in 22. Now in 24., we begin a new section of the work with the provision for keeping the people nationally ever in sight before God, though apostasy, when it manifests itself, must be rigorously dealt with.

Again the Lord addresses the law-giver, “Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations." When in the mount with God Jehovah, gave Moses a command about this (Exod. 27:20) very similar in terms to that which he was authorized now to communicate to the people. Oil for the light was one of the items which the Lord then told Moses that Israel might offer to Him (Ex. 25:6). Communicating that to the people after his second sojourn on Sinai with God (Ex. 35:8), the rulers we read provided it, (v. 28), in response to Jehovah's invitation. So in Ex. 39:37, we are told how all was in readiness for the setting up of the Tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year, dating from their departure out of Egypt. And in Num. 4:16, we find that to Eleazar belonged the charge of the oil, when the congregation was on the march. Here in Leviticus the direction about the oil olive beaten appears in connection with the twelve loaves of shewbread, that were each week to be placed on the golden table before the Lord.

From evening to morning the lamps burned (1 Sam. 3:3; 2 Chron. 13:11). At the time of the offering of the morning burnt sacrifice, it was Aaron's duty to trim them. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, between the two evenings, it was his work to relight them (Ex. 30:7, 8). Thus throughout the night of darkness the seven lamps burned, illuminating the chamber called the holy place, in which, just opposite to the candlestick which was placed on the south side, stood the golden table on the side of the tabernacle northward (Ex. 40:22-24). As long, therefore, as the lamps burned so long was the table with the twelve loaves visible by their light, which shone on them; a beautiful illustration of the twelve tribes being ever in remembrance, and as a whole in acceptance before God. For ages have the tribes been dispersed: but God has not forgotten them, as Paul reminded his hearers in the hall of audience at Caesarea (Acts 26:7). Of this, too, James is a witness, who addressed his epistle to them (James 1).

In Ex. 25:30; 35:13; 39:36; 40:23, we have mention of the shewbread. Here we are told of the number of the loaves, of their composition, and of their arrangement on the table. The twelve loaves were arranged in two rows. Each row, therefore comprised six loaves, and each loaf, or cake, as it is called here perhaps from its roundness, was composed of two tenth deals of fine flour, the same measure as that appointed for the meat offering which accompanied the sheaf of firstfruits, that was waved before the Lord. Placed on the pure table on each Sabbath, with pure frankincense laid on the two rows of bread, there they remained throughout the week, the light from the candlestick shining on them, throughout each night that they were before the Lord. At the end of the week, those twelve loaves were removed, fresh ones being put in their place; the frankincense which had been upon them was then burnt, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah, and the loaves were eaten by the priests in a holy place, most holy they were of the fire offerings of Jehovah. Such were the directions about them. The twelve loaves, by their number, symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel, and they were placed on the pure table, made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, typical in itself of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. On the march, that table was itself covered with a cloth of blue, telling us thus plainly, by the color, of whom it was a type. But over it and the loaves which remained on it, was put a cloth of scarlet, indicating that the glory of earthly rule is His whom the Table prefigured, and that He will exercise that rule in connection with the tribes of Israel; for on the day of His glory the people will be named the priests of the Lord, and men shall call them the ministers of God (Isa. 61:6). Then will be seen the perfection of administrative power exercised by man, and in connection with the tribes of Israel, whose names will be engraven on the gates of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12), and after whom the twelve gates of the restored earthly city will be severally named (Ezek. 48:31-34). But that power will really be centered in one man, the Lord Jesus Christ; so the composition and measure of each loaf have reference to Him as the perfect, spotless man.

It is in connection with Israel, then owned as God's people, that He will reign, and Jerusalem will become the metropolis of the whole earth, being the city of the great King, and the center to which the nations will turn, and from which the law shall go out,-and the word. of the Lord proceed. By the light, therefore, of the burning lamps, which kept the table and its loaves from being enshrouded in darkness, those in the sanctuary could see that God's thoughts about the kingdom, though long deferred from being put into execution, must yet be accomplished. The night might be long, and the gloom thicken outside, but inside the light from the lamps steadily burning, would show the priests who entered the sanctuary that God had not forgotten His people, nor the establishment in power of that kingdom, of which He had spoken to men from time to time since the fall.

Inside, then, during the night of darkness, by the light of the seven lamps which shone on the golden table with the twelve loaves arranged in order upon it there I was foreshadowed the future; but that could be seen, and was seen, only by the priests, who passed behind the curtain which screened the outer chamber from the eyes of those in the court of the tabernacle. And now we can understand the fitness of introducing the directions about the loaves of shewbread in the book of Leviticus, and especially in this part of it. For, coming as they do, just after the outline of God's ways in grace with the people has been traced out in the order of their different great feasts throughout the year, the Lord, after reminding us by the feast of Tabernacles of Israel's final blessing, would here tell us of the kingdom coming in power, which He has not forgotten, neither will He forever be wroth with the tribes of His inheritance (Isai. 63: 17). But Israel's acceptance, as the frankincense on the loaves portrays, will only be by virtue of the sweet savor of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Such, then, is some of the instruction conveyed by this passage in the book, instruction, too, especially suited for the present time, that we should not forget to give Israel their proper place in connection with the coming day of blessing for earth; for if we were to interpret all the blessings which are predicted by the prophets, as if they concerned the Church of God, and not the earthly people Israel, we should fail to give them their proper place, in the declared counsels of God. But how different the scene inside the sanctuary from that which could, and we here read did, go on in the camp. All calm and silent within, the testimony to the coming kingdom in power, and Israel's connection with it being steadily kept in view, God's purpose was thus seen to be unchanged and irrevocable; for the nation's future is inseparably bound up with that which is due to the obedient man, the Son of God's love. In the camp, on the contrary, there was strife, and one was found, then but one (though by and by it will be the many, the mass) who, of Israelitish extraction on his mother's side, had the hardihood to blaspheme the name of the Lord. An apostate in heart and in act, he turned his back on Jehovah, and blasphemed Him who was Israel's Creator and God. This man was the fruit of an alliance with the world, for his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan, but his father was an Egyptian. He has passed away from earth, his name unknown to us, though his crime has never been allowed to sink into oblivion, a warning, and surely a foreshadowing, too, of that which will characterize the mass of the Jews when antichrist will be their king and apostasy will be their crowning sin.

Charged with the guilt of cursing the name of Jehovah, he was brought to Moses, and put in ward, till the mind of the Lord should be shown them. For that they did not wait long. Jehovah revealed it to Moses, and it was accurately carried out. For the apostate there was no mercy "Bring forth him that hath cursed," was the word” without the camp, and let all that heard him, lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him " (24:13-14). And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses. Condign punishment speedily overtook the offender.

But this sin necessitated a new revelation, for God knew full well that though only one was convicted of blaspheming that day, others would subsequently be guilty of it. Hence the law here given, verses 15-22. which prescribed the punishment to be awarded for that sin to any who so offended: " Thus shalt thou speak to the children of Israel, saying, whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall surely be put to death."

Further, any one who took the life of man, the right to take which belongs only to God, or to those to whom he delegates the authority to execute His commands, such an one was to be put to death. And any one who took the life of a beast b'hemah, i.e., cattle, in opposition probably to chaiah, a wild beast, should make it good, beast for beast. And as for men, whosoever injured his neighbor, whether his eye, his tooth, or whatsoever it might be, he should be treated as he had treated his neighbor. Elsewhere these injunctions come in, the witness of the perfectly righteous rule established amongst them by the law (Ex. 21). But here they are introduced in connection with apostasy. If man would deny God His place, or attempt to deprive Him of His rights by apostasy, he might not be scrupulous unless thus enjoined to be careful of his neighbor's life, or his neighbor's rights, who in common with himself was made in the image of God.

(To be continued.)

Leviticus 25: Introduction - A New Revelation on Mt. Sinai

THE Lord had spoken to Moses out of the Tabernacle of the congregation in chapter 1. He here (chap. 25.) addresses His servant in Mount Sinai, and gives him. a new revelation, comprised in this and the following chapter, which has special reference to the land and to Israel's restoration to it in the future. For whatever any individual amongst them might do to draw down on himself divine wrath, Jehovah had bound Himself to give the land to the seed of Jacob (Gen. 28:13), and He would assuredly fulfill His word. Yet the land, though given them to possess, was never absolutely theirs. It was God's (25:23). By-and-bye, therefore, they shall re-inherit it; none can override Jehovah's claim to it. But if His, He had the right of prescribing certain conditions connected with the people's tenure and the enjoyment of it. Of such we now read.

The first of these has reference to the Sabbatical year (25:2), and the second to the institution of the Jubilee (8-55). As on the seventh day they were to rest from all their work, so in the seventh year the land was to have rest from cultivation by the husbandman, the term used of the one is that used of the other. It was to be a Sabbath of rest, "shabbath shabbathon." " The seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land—a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for the stranger that sojourneth with thee, and for thy cattle,, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat " (4-7).

One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to possess as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and strict righteousness was manifested in this law; for whilst the husbandman had full right to the produce of his tillage, God only claimed as His to dispose of the increase of the land, on which the occupier had expended no labor. The land was to keep that year a Sabbath unto the Lord. The barns and the storehouses were not to be filled that year for the occupier's profit. A cessation from all agricultural operations was to take place throughout it. The Sabbath day spoke of rest. The Sabbatical year spoke of it likewise, yet not to the injury of the cultivator of the ground, for his wants as well as those of his household, would be amply provided for; but the cattle and the wild beasts, God's creatures, were to be cared for by the Creator no less than His intelligent creature-man. Of this year Jehovah had spoken, when communicating the terms of the first covenant made between Israel and Himself (Ex. 23:11). Man's wants were first thought of, but those of the beasts as well. What the poor left, the beasts of the field were to eat. The Lord preserveth man and beast (Psa. 36:6). And just as the Sabbath day's observance was not to stand in the way of that which was needful to be done in the sanctuary, and for the circumcising of those who were eight days old, so the ordinance of the Sabbatical year did not interfere with due provision for the people's need. It may have been that a year of lying fallow was good for the ground, as it is said thereby to enjoy its rest (Lev. 26:34; 2 Chron. 36:20). But this law was a test to see if cupidity, and a disregard for others, would characterize the people, which the Lord had brought out of Egypt. How they would act in reference to it Lev. 26:34, 35, foretold. God well knew and forewarned them as to that which they would fail to do, announcing to the people as they rested under the shadow of Mount Sinai, but recently emancipated from Egyptian slavery, that the land should lie desolate, though not forever, keeping its Sabbaths, whilst exile was their lot. After the captivity the returned remnant (Neh. 10:31) remembered and observed this law, and that special feature in connection with it, namely, the release to be granted to every Jewish debtor (Deut. 15:1, 2, 9), or as Nehemiah expressed it, " That we should leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt." This year, then, was one of great importance to all, and on the feast of Tabernacles, which fell within it, the law was commanded to be read to all the people (Deut. 31:10, 11). So whilst this institution tested their willingness to obey God's commands, it also provided a suitable opportunity for reminding them all of God's law, on the observance of which depended their continuance in the land. But if they should fail, as assuredly they have, and their present long exile witnesses of their failure, on what can they count if they can count on anything for happier times in the future, and the full enjoyment of Jehovah's former blessing? The principle established by the institution of the Jubilee supplies us with the answer.

Every seventh year was to be a year of rest unto the land. Seven times seven years were to roll by, and then would come the Jubilee. On the Day of Atonement, in the fiftieth year, the trumpet of loud sound Shophar t’ruahah was to be heard proclaiming the Jubilee, in virtue of which the chains of the Hebrew slave in the land were broken, and the claims of any one over the portion of land which originally belonged to another was extinguished, and to be relinquished. “Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession; and ye shall return every man unto his family" (25:10).

A joyful sound it must have been. But this institution really furnished them with nothing new. It only restored liberty to the slave, and the land to its original owner. Restoration was its special feature, just that which suited a failing people, who by some means or other, really the fruit of sin, had lost either personal liberty, or their ancestral possessions. Israel were the Lord's servants (25:55), so He thus legislated for them. The land was His (23), so perpetual alienation from its owner by any human claim Jehovah would not allow. How speaking will all this surely be to them in the future, when reaping the full blessing of restoration to that from which they have justly been driven because of their disobedience, and realizing the goodness of Jehovah to those who could neither ensure their personal liberty, nor the safe keeping of their patrimonial estate.

Nowhere but in Israel was there such a provision made, for it was not man's thought, but God's. What a sight it must have been, the land in the Sabbatical year lying everywhere fallow, no sound of husbandry heard, the plow and the harrow laid by, no seed sown, nor field irrigated, the sixth year's crop having been unusually abundant, providing sufficient for three years (20-22), so the wants of the population were amply provided for, and there was no shortcoming for man or beast. Who would have thought of this? Who could promise this? Who could fulfill such a promise, but one? He to whom the land belonged, the Lord Jehovah, the Creator. At the recurrence of the Jubilee this must have been still more marked, for no want, no stint was experienced by any living thing.

(To be continued).

Leviticus 25: Jubilee - Servants

WITH the Day of Atonement the Jubilee began, and on it was it proclaimed. With what gladness those benefiting by it must have kept the feast of Tabernacles, which began five days later. But surely the deep meaning of its being proclaimed on that day will be better understood by Israel, when they shall nationally come to enjoy restoration to the land of their inheritance, as well as full freedom from any Gentile yoke. Not only, however, will it prove an institution fraught with joy to the people as a whole, but to the Israelites in the land it was also of great importance, keeping alive as it did in the heart of the poverty stricken one, the hope of freedom, and clearance from all charge on his properties or person, and regulating the value of land for sale, and reminding all that the true owner of the soil was Jehovah. They were His tenants really. Would any sell his property, he could only sell it till the Jubilee, the number of years which preceded it, guiding the vendor and the purchaser as to the price to be offered and accepted. Thus they could never alienate their land in perpetuity. though but for this institution there was no obstacle, in the way of it. Perhaps to some Israelites this revelation appeared only as statute law, which did not concern him directly, unless he were a purchaser or a vendor. Many, perhaps, in these days will view it merely as a relic of by-gone legislation. But to the instructed Christian it surely speaks, reminding such of the danger, nay the certainty, there would be of losing his inheritance, if it was entrusted to his safe keeping, and of the grace of Jehovah which provided. for His earthly people that theirs should never be finally lost. To us, too, the sounding of the, Jubilee trumpet on the Day of Atonement tells its tale. For we learn that on no ground but that of the atoning death of Christ, can those who have forfeited all claim to an inheritance and blessing ever regain it; whilst for ourselves we have to own that but for His death we should have no portion, and no prospect but one of unsparing and everlasting punishment. Into their inheritance Israel will be reinstated on that ground by-and-bye. Of ours we have to say, in the language of the New Testament, it is reserved, or kept for us in heaven, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. What is entrusted to man's hands fails, and no wonder. The saint needs to be kept, guarded himself by the power of God, if he is to enter on the enjoyment of his portion in heaven in the future.

Certain details connected with the Jubilee follow, having respect both to the inheritance of the poor Israelite (25-34), and to his personal liberty (35-55). As regards the former, if from poverty he sold any of his possession, and that is the only ground here stated, on which he was permitted to alienate his patrimonial estate, the right of redemption, ere the Jubilee arrived, was reserved to him, or to his kin. If a kinsman came forward to effect it, this law empowered such an one to do it. If he himself had no kinsman to do it, liberty to redeem it was reserved to him. But on his part its redemption depended on his ability. The inheritance was to be prized, and none ought to have thought lightly of it, for it was God's provision for His people. To part with it except under the pressure of circumstances, was not, therefore, it would appear, to be thought of. To redeem it, if able (26), it became the original owner. Naboth, who had not fallen into poverty, refused to sell his vineyard at the personal request of the king. " The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee " (1 Kings 21:3).

With a house in a walled town it was different. The Israelite who owned it might dispose of it subject to its redemption within one year from the date of sale. If he failed from any cause to exercise his right within that time, the purchase stood good, and the title of the purchaser to possess it in perpetuity became indefeasible. Gracious, however, was the provision here made about the house. None were to be taken advantage of, or to be betrayed into parting with their house in a walled town, without the power of reconsidering their act; though, as with land, so with the house, human ability was an essential requisite for the vendor to repossess what he had sold. Where his land was in question, his kinsman might redeem it; where it was a house, the interposition of a kinsman is not, it would seem, provided for.

As regards the Levites, the law was different. They had no tribal possession of land, as their brethren had; but their cities with the suburbs were assigned to them from God. Of these, their cities or houses could be sold, subject to the right of redemption at any time, and with the certainty of their going out free at the Jubilee, but the fields of the suburbs of their cities could never be sold, they were a perpetual possession (32-34). Thus those set apart to wait on the service of God could never be wholly stript of the possessions which Jehovah had secured for them. They were always to have their portion of the tithes, and to enjoy the produce of the fields of their possession.

Next follow regulations concerning the person of the Israelite, and redemption from slavery. The nation had once been in slavery in Egypt, and this they were never to forget. So a poor Israelite was to be cared for by his brethren, and his wants supplied (35-38), and neither usury nor increase exacted from him. How the Almighty threw His shield around the weak one, that he should not be trampled on by his brethren. But if from poverty he was sold to an Israelite, he was to to be treated as an hired servant, and to go out free at the Jubilee. For there appears to have been no provision made by the law for redemption from servitude to one of his own nation. At the Jubilee he went out free, whereas a bondsman from the nations, serving the same Israelitish master, remained a bondsman forever. For him no year of Jubilee with its welcome trumpet sound could ever be looked for. Death, or manumission by favor of his master could alone release him. How favored was the Israelite, who knew that no power could keep him in servitude after the trumpet of the Jubilee had sounded. Favored indeed he was, and especially watched over by Jehovah.

That appeared further in the regulations laid down as to his servitude to a stranger or sojourner. In this case redemption was permitted. One of his brethren might redeem him, either his uncle or his uncle's son, or any nigh of kin to him of his family, or if the man himself was able he could effect his own redemption (48, 49), the number of years from the next Jubilee regulating the equitable and only legal price. If not redeemed, he would go out free at the Jubilee with his family. Thus of his personal liberty he could not be finally deprived; and during his servitude the stranger was not to treat him with rigor. " For unto-me," said Jehovah, " the children of Israel are servants, they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God " (55). Redemption, then, from servitude to a stranger was permitted by the law, though the exercise of the right depended on the kinsman doing his part, or the poor Israelite acquiring ability to effect it for himself. If that hope failed him, he had always the Jubilee in prospect. So for Israel's national restoration they have to wait till the year of the Lord's redeemed shall come (Isa. 63:4). For that, as the prophet teaches us, they will not wait in vain.

The land was Jehovah's. The people were His servants. The rights of God are inalienable. How comforting to the poor man must the Jubilee have been. How comforting to the people will these principles be found in the future. Jehovah's people, Jehovah's servants they are, and He will never give them up, nor forego His rights over them and the land. A bright side this is to this thought, that they are His, as the chapter points out. A dark side there is to it, as well, as the following one opens out. As His servants He will set them in their land free from the claim of the stranger and the oppressor. But as His servants He must first punish them for their iniquities. So the hope of restoration is treated of, ere their exile is predicted, to cheer them throughout it.

(To be continued).

Leviticus 26: 5 Steps

Buy why should they experience the bitterness and degradation of exile? Why pine away in the land of their enemies? Jehovah was their God. Exile could never result from His inability to shield them from the invader, but it might from His unwillingness to do it. Under what circumstances that might be the case, the lawgiver next proceeds to declare, describing the different steps in God's dealings in chastisements with the people, which would culminate in captivity, from which they could only hope to return after real confession of their sins.

Brought out of Egypt by the exercise of divine power, brought into the land, too, in fulfillment of Jehovah's promise, their entrance into Canaan, and their possession of it, did not depend on their obedience; though for their continuance therein, the keeping of the covenant was an absolute necessity. Placed before God on the ground of law, obedience was requisite, if the land was to support them, or to continue to be cultivated by those to whom Jehovah had given it. So from verses 1-13 we have enumerated the blessings which, on condition of their continued obedience, they would enjoy; and from verses 14-45, the different dealings with them in judgment, if disobedient, till exile should be their portion.

Let us read in the words of Jehovah the various blessings that He promised them. " Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord." Idolatry avoided, the Sabbath, the sign between Jehovah and Israel duly remembered, and His sanctuary reverenced, the people would have kept themselves apart from other nations, and would have maintained the testimony to the one true God. Then if walking in His statutes, and keeping His commandments, God would abundantly bless them. " I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright " (verses 4-13).

What a beautiful picture of a people enjoying the blessing of Jehovah, and of His delight in them is here presented to us. What they were especially charged to do we have seen in verses 1-2. Then, if they would walk in God's statutes, and would keep His commandments, and do them, all these blessings would be theirs. Unsolicited by Israel God here offers to bless them, and that according to the desire of His heart. We learn, therefore, what He could do, and would do, if they should prove obedient. For an earthly people's happiness, ere the kingdom was to be set up in power, nothing seems lacking. The fertility of the ground they could count on, and that which man cannot control-rain, God promised should not be withheld in its season. Of peace and plenty and security He assured them. No evil beast should remain in the land, nor should the sword pass through it. Power in victory should be theirs, and they should multiply in their inheritance. Further, God's dwelling place should be among them. He would walk among them, and be their God, and they should be His people. As of old in the garden God had delight in men, so would He take delight in His redeemed people. And as then, nothing that the creature needed for his happiness was withheld, so would it be with the Israelites, though dwelling on an earth where sin is, and with nations around them not exempted from any of the bitter consequences of the fall.

But all this was conditional. Did they ever enjoy it? Did they ever experience the fullness of it, the barns so filled with the new harvest that they brought forth the old store, and eat it; the crops so heavy that their threshing reached unto the vintage, and the vintage to the sowing time? Were they ever tree from idolatry when in their land as a whole people?

Alas, No. They had false gods in the days of Joshua (24:23). They forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashteroth in the days of the Judges (Jud. 2:13); and the ten tribes were in a state of apostasy in the days of Ahab. The Lord foresaw it all, and warned them of that which He must do in righteousness, if they would not by their obedience allow Him to bless them in grace, and according to the desire of His heart. This is next set before them, and the lawgiver details the steps in governmental dealing that must be taken to endeavor to bring them to repentance, when they had failed, that they should not be driven out of their inheritance.

These steps, as here detailed, are five in number. How they tell of the yearnings of Jehovah's heart over His rebellious people, chastising them only so much as should be needed to lead them to repentance. (1) Sickness is threatened with slaughter by their enemies, and the produce of the soil, the fruit of their labors to be at the mercy of the invader (verses 16-17). This kind of dealing we read of in the days of the Judges, when different nations invaded Canaan. And, in the days of Gideon they had to hide the fruits of their harvest, if they could, from the watchful eye of their enemy (Judg. 6). If that had succeeded in bringing them to repentance, God's dealing in government would have stopped. But that failing, drought, and consequent famine, would be sent (18-20). In the days of Ahab Israel experienced this to the full, and proved too Jehovah's willingness to relax His hand in punishment, when they confessed that He was God (1 Kings 18).

But further, if such dealings should fail of effecting real repentance, then (3) wild beasts would multiply, which would bereave them of their children, destroy their cattle, thin the population, and make desolate the highways. To this infliction Ezekiel (14:15) refers. If still they would not be reformed by the Lord's dealings with them, but would walk contrary unto Him, then He would walk contrary unto them, and would punish them seven times for their sins, bringing (4) a sword to avenge the quarrel of the covenant (v. 23-26), with its too frequent accompaniments, want and pestilence. Should that too fail, the Lord would walk contrary to them in fury, and (5) the people reduced to the last extremity should eat their own offspring, and the idols, demonstrated to be idols, Jehovah would destroy. The people formerly regarded by Him as the apple of His eye He would abhor, and their cities should be laid waste, and their sanctuaries should be brought unto desolation, the savor of their sweet odors God would not accept, but would bring their land into desolation, and would scatter them among the nations, terminating His dealings with them to induce repentance with exile from the land of their possession (29-33). That took place finally in the days of Zedekiah. The miseries predicted were realized during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, as Lam. 1, U. describe; and after the capture of the city the land rested, enjoying its Sabbaths, because it did not rest in the Sabbatical years when they dwelt upon it. To this passage in Leviticus (26:35) the chronicler (2 Chron. 36:21) evidently refers.

How ready was the Lord to bless His people! How full was the blessing He could give them, delighting as He would have done to have walked among them. But they would not. Judicial dealing, therefore, had to take place. Yet how slow to anger! He would only deal blow after blow when each preceding one had failed to bring them to repentance. At last exile had to be their lot. Then exiles and captives, Jehovah's face, once turned towards them, would be turned from them, the sound even of a shaken leaf should chase them, they should flee as fleeing from a sword, and should fall when none pursued them, and perish among the heathen, and the land of their enemies should eat them up (36-39).

Yet the whole nation was not to perish. God would not cast them away, nor would He abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break His covenant with them. For He was Jehovah their God. So, for their sakes, He will yet remember His covenant with their ancestors, whom He brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the heathen, that He might be their God (44, 45). But that can only be when they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with the trespass that they have trespassed against Him. If, then, their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled, and they shall accept the punishment of their iniquity, then will He remember His covenant with Jacob, and also His covenant with Isaac, and also His covenant with Abraham, and He will remember the land (40-42). The value of a covenant made with those who have died here comes out. The iniquity of the people in subsequent generations cannot set aside a covenant made with with those who have passed away, and which was not annulled before their death.

Throughout this chapter the reader may remark that God's dealings with Israel in their land, and His dealings with the land because of their sins, are the prominent features. In harmony with that, He here says that He will remember the land; but the return of the people, though hinted at, and that not obscurely, is not directly stated. That is set forth in Deut. 28-30, which predict the fortunes of the people, whilst this chapter of Leviticus describes more particularly that of the land, and so comes, as we have seen, in close connection with the ordinance regarding the Sabbatical year, and the regulations about the Jubilee.

The Lord will remember the land. Of this Ezekiel treats. The desolation of the land he predicted in chapter vi. of his book, its returning fertility, preparatory to the nation's restoration, he announces in chapter 36:1-15. In the days of Joshua God brought them into the land with everything in readiness for their immediate occupation. So will it be in the future. " O, mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come" (Ezek. 36:8). This has always been God's way. He planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed (Gen. 2:8). The One who did this has gone to prepare a place for. His own in His Father's house. The place, the land, is prepared beforehand, and then God brings His people into it. That being His manner of acting, and the prophetic word declaring it, we can understand the language and importance of Psa. 67:6, " The earth has yielded" (not " Then shall the earth yield") her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us." The returning fertility of the land is the harbinger of full national blessing. Jehovah, they will then own, has remembered the land.

For Israel, of course, this chapter of Leviticus has special interest. For us in the present day it is not without interest, since we learn from the answer of Huldah, the prophetess to Josiah the King (2 Kings 22:16,17), that this portion of God's word was part of the book, which Shaphan, the scribe, read in the ears of the King. The destruction of Jerusalem especially because of idolatry, was predicted, we are told, in the book that was read before the King, and that would certainly be carried out. Now Deut. 28 predicted the sorrows of the people, consequent on their sins; but Leviticus (xxvi. 31, 32) plainly foretells what Deuteronomy (28:52) only hints at-the destruction of their cities and of their sanctuaries, and that especially because of their practices of idolatry. The answer of Huldah makes it plain that the book found was not only that of Deuteronomy, a work which we are asked by some to believe was about that time composed, but it contained more than we have in the last book of the Pentateuch. It really was what it was called, " The book of the law of the Lord by the hand of Moses" (2 Chron. 34:14).

Leviticus 27: Vows

THE last chapter of Leviticus treats of vows, laying down Jehovah's directions respecting them, and comes in in a natural order. For since, in 25, 26, we have Jehovah's regulations about the land, and the provision for its restoration to its rightful owner, God's claim as Lord of the soil being maintained, we are now instructed as to the permission granted to Israel, who were like tenants at will, to consecrate to the Lord by a vow, either of men, animals, houses, or lands; in a word, of whatever property they possessed. Owing all, as they did, to Jehovah's goodness and mercy, and at times tasting in a special way of that goodness, it would be no wonder, if. moved by some marked favor shown to them, they vowed of what they possessed to God. Hence the directions concerning vows detailed in this chapter.

Who were free to bind themselves by a vow we learn in Num. 30, and the binding nature of such an engagement Deut. 23:21 sets forth. Here we learn what could be thus set apart for God. Now in two ways might living things be vowed to Him. They might be consecrated to Him in life, or they might under certain conditions be devoted to Him forever. This last kind of vow is here called cherem (Lev. 27:28,29). Men, animals, and also fields could be thus devoted; for such no redemption was permitted (28). As regards men, such a vow was probably intended only to affect those who were the enemies of God (1 Kings 20:42) and of Israel (Num. 21:3), for their death was the only possible fulfillment of it. Of this the Canaanites are an example (Deut. 20:17), as well as the Amorites under Sihon and Og, on the east of the Jordan (Deut. 3:6,7). Later on the Amalekites were ordered by God to be thus treated (1 Sam. 15:3). So Samuel hewed Agag, their king, in pieces before the Lord, when Saul had in disobedience preserved him from death. To devote (charam) anything to God was a solemn and an irrevocable act, and this Jephthah learned to his cost; who, in accordance with his rash vow to offer up as a burnt offering whatsoever should come forth out of his house to meet him, if he returned victorious from the fight, felt himself constrained to sacrifice his daughter, who was his only child. His rash vow caused him to descend into the tomb childless, the bright object of that home having been immolated by the father's hand. Jephthah had opened his mouth unto the Lord, and he could not go back (Num. 30:2).

But a man might vow to the Lord one of the human race without such being devoted to destruction. In such a case, a money payment was to be made; " the person," we read, " shall be for the Lord by thy estimation " (Lev. 27:2). What that estimation was to be the Lord proceeds to declare, and from it there was no appeal. For the estimation was based on two considerations which never could alter, viz., the age and the sex of the individual vowed to God. These questions settled, the estimation of the lawgiver, as here laid down, decided the amount of the money payment that was to be made (3-7), unless the one who made the vow was too poor to pay the stipulated sum. In that case, but in that case only, the priest was authorized to appraise the value of the individual, according to the ability of him who made the vow to meet the payment to be made. Poverty, then, could never be pleaded as an excuse to bar God's claim, or to shelter the one who made the vow from fulfilling it. No one was obliged to make a vow: " If thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin unto thee " (Deut. 23:22). But when once made the Lord would" require it. An engagement entered into with God could not be set aside at the dictation or caprice of man. The Lord would require the fulfillment of the contract; and since none but Levites could in person be engaged in the Lord's work in the Tabernacle, we can understand why, on the one hand, a payment in lieu of the personal service of one of the twelve tribes was to be demanded, and why, on the other hand, when Hannah vowed to lend her child Samuel unto the Lord as long as he lived, she brought him to Eli the priest in fulfillment of it, and no money payment was thought of in his stead.

Again, suppose a man desired to vow one of his animals to God, he was free to do it; but in accordance with the terms of this law, which made a marked difference between those beasts which could be offered in sacrifice, and those which as unclean could never be put on God's altar. If it was one of the former, the beast, the subject of the vow, was given to God, and no exchange was permitted. If the man did change it, then both it and the animal substituted Jehovah imperatively demanded. Should he vow an unclean beast to God, the priest valued it, and if the man wished to redeem it, he had that privilege reserved to him on payment of the price at which the priest valued it, with one-fifth part more in addition. Redemption was thus permitted when an unclean beast was the subject of the vow, but had no place when a person consecrated in that manner a clean beast to God. For this last no redemption was provided. In the case of one of the human racer payment in lieu of personal service was demanded.

(To be continued.)

Leviticus: Conclusion

HOUSES and fields could be also thus consecrated to God. In these cases redemption was permitted, on payment of one-fifth part more in addition to the price at which they had been valued. The value of the house was to be fixed by the priest. The value of the land was fixed by God, and declared by the lawgiver, being estimated by the quantity of seed required to sow it, an omer of barley being reckoned at 50 shekels of silver. This determined the value of the land from Jubilee to Jubilee. But if the owner or occupier of the land sanctified it for a less term than the whole period from one Jubilee to the next, then the priest appraised its value according to the years yet to run, ere the Jubilee came round, abating from the estimation laid down by the lawgiver, according to the term of years yet unexpired. If redeemed before the Jubilee, the man preserved his property, but if not, he lost it forever, and the field became the Lord's (21), as a field devoted, i.e., irrevocably, God's, who gave it to the priest.

By the regulations of the Jubilee, as we have seen, man's claim on another man's property was extinguished. With God's claim it was different. If it was not redeemed in time by payment of the stipulated sum, His claim on it would never be relaxed. And differing from the regulations iii chapter xxv., where the kindred of the poor man could, if so minded, come to his assistance, no one, it would seem, could satisfy God's claim on the land but the maker of the vow himself, except in the case of a field thus consecrated to the Lord by its occupant, who was not its original owner, Where such was the case, whilst the occupier could vow it for the term of his occupancy, the field at the Jubilee reverted to its original possessor. The justice of this regulation is evident. So whilst providing for the outflow of a man's heart in thankfulness to Him, God watched over the rights of His poor ones, and maintained likewise His own. For we read that no firstling, on which the Lord as such had a claim, could be the subject of such a vow, any more than the tithe of the herd or of the flock, which He had already bestowed on the Levites (26-32). The tithes of the land, however, could be redeemed, but only on payment of one-fifth more than their value (30-31). Here this book ends, which details statutes and judgments, and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses (26:46); as well as commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in that same Mount (27:34).

In the opening paper on this book (vol. 3., p. 134), we pointed out the four great divisions into which Leviticus divides itself, 1-10.; 11-16.; 17-28; 24-27. We would now in conclusion briefly trace out the moral order in which the subjects it contains are brought out by the Spirit of God. We have already referred to part of it (vol. 4, pp. 112, 212; vol. 5, p. 140); we would now trace it out as a whole. Viewing the book in this light it divides itself into two great parts-1-16; 17-27. In the first we have set forth God's provision in grace for souls, truth which concerns saints. In the second we see traced out His desires for, and His ways with, His earthly people Israel, from the Exodus to the Millennium. Commencing with the revelations concerning sacrifices and offerings which God could receive for the offerer's acceptance, whether moved to bring an offering out of the fullness of his heart, or necessitated to come because he had sinned, we learn of the need of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, if any of the children of men are to stand in acceptance before God (1-7). But nothing more is wanted, than what His death and resurrection provide, and declare. For not only has He died, but He lives in resurrection, and has ascended into heaven, and consequent on this He has entered on His office of High Priest, in accordance with the teaching of Heb. 8:4. So, following directly on the laws relating to the offerings, but not preceding them, we read of the institution of the Aaronic priesthood (7-10), in accordance with the character of which the Lord Jesus Christ now exercises His priesthood on high.

Further, consequent also on His leaving earth, the Holy Ghost was to come and abide here; so we are taught in the next chapter of the presence on earth of that which cannot be defiled (11:36), and in connection with it, and closely following after it, we are reminded of freedom from the defiling presence of sin by death (37), for which, in its completeness, the believer now waits. The carcass would not render the fountain or pit in which there was plenty of water (lit., a collection of water) unclean, should it chance to fall into it; nor was seed, if about to be sown, defiled by contact with it. After this we have regulations about defilement (12-15), closing with the divine provision-propitiation by blood, to meet the cases before God of sins, and of uncleannesses (16). Now we may trace in all this, as set forth typically, New Testament teaching needful for God's saints who form part of the Church of God. The death of the Lord Jesus in its various aspects, the priesthood of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, these are truths of primary importance for the saints; and connected with the coming of the Holy Ghost, teaching has been provided about man's nature, the value of death with reference to it, and how fully the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ has glorified God, and met every need of the conscience (Heb. 11-10).

But Jehovah had an earthly people, once highly favored, though now, as a nation, disowned. Has He forever cast them off? No-By-and-bye He will take them up again, and bless them, when the number of the saints destined to form the Body of Christ is completed. Hence, following on after these fundamental truths for saints who form the Church of God, we have teaching which especially concerns Israel, taken up, and dwelt upon (17-27). But who, in the days of Moses, unless divinely taught, would have arranged for that which speaks of Israel to come in after that which concerns those who are the Church of God? We may boldly declare that no one in the wilderness would have dreamed of such a thing. Called out, as Israel were to be God's earthly people, they were to be separated unto God, and to maintain the revelation which He gave them of Himself as Jehovah. This we have seen forms the teaching of chapter xvii. But if thus favored, He would regulate, as became Him, the daily and the domestic life of both the people and the priests (18-22). After this, the history of His ways with them in grace as Jehovah's people, from the Exodus to the Millennium, is set out in that ecclesiastical calendar, contained in chapter 23; for they would nationally be ever in His sight, even though apostasy might do its dire work among them, and meet with its due reward (24).

Further, since God has taken them up to be people, He has provided for them an inheritance. We read in the next place therefore of God’s provision for the continuance of their enjoyment of the land, as well as that for the portion of any of His earthly people to return to its original possessor, if for a time he had (25). The institution of the Jubilee set forth, the people are warned of the certainty of governmental dealing with them, if they proved to be disobedient, a dealing which, if called for, would not stop short of banishing them from their land, though only for a time; since God assured them that He would remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He would remember the land, if they should confess their sins in the land of their captivity 26: so exile shall not be ever forever their lot. Restoration, then, they are taught to await, and a restoration to their land, never again to be dispossessed of it. And as God knew how divine goodness will act on the heart, when the people shall be in the enjoyment afresh of His favors, He has provided for the expression of it in the regulations that follow concerning vows 27, with which the book ends. But this chapter comes in as a kind of supplement, the book apparently ending with 26:40. The propriety of this, the moral order we have traced out makes apparent. Chapter 27 may be viewed in the light of a supplement, and as the commencement of a new chapter in their history when restored in grace, to which, as far as the Old Testament takes us, there is no end.

Commencing, then, as Leviticus does, with the provision for the people to bring an offering for their acceptance, if moved by a sense of divine goodness, it closes with the provision for them to make vows, and to pay them, when especially sensible of divine grace. But in the beginning of the book the thought is kept before them of the sacrifice of Christ, because of which the individual could be accepted. In the close, standing as they will in the full consciousness of divine, and abiding favor, provision is made for the expression of the thankfulness of their hearts, but without any typical allusion to the need of the sacrifice of Christ. This is beautifully correct.

In the first part of the book, then, we have teaching which concerns us. In the last part, God's ways and desires for His earthly people are set forth. And Moses, guided of God, thus arranged the book, a witness to those who can see the moral order of its contents, that it was written in the order in which the Spirit of God was pleased to have it recorded.

My Expectation

(Heb. 12 Psa. 62;121)

To God, my God, I lift mine eyes,

A child expecting aid,

From Zion's hill to Zion's God

Who heaven and earth has made.

Then thou, my soul, in safety rest:

Thy Guardian will not sleep;

From depths beyond mount Zion's stores,

Thy Father helps his sheep.

Sheltered beneath His mighty wings,

The Son of God thy rest-

His Gift to thee and Hiding place.

Eternally possest.

" The City of the living God,"

To which we've also come,

The glory of His grace unfolds,

Whose love shall bear thee home.

A Power down from heaven's heights

The feeblest lamb may know-

" The Hope of glory," hidden there,

Working in us below.

Ere yet the covenant of grace

Shall Israel's sheep unfold,

The Mediator we possess

" His goings—from of old."

Encourage, then, thyself in Him;

His fountains drink, my soul,

From whom thine expectation is

Whatever surges roll.

At home, abroad, in peace, in war,

That God shall thee defend—

Conduct thee through thy pilgrimage

Safe to thy journey's end.

Mysticism and the Things of the Spirit

WE must beware, of the mysticism which renounces all claims to doctrinal precision and refrain from abandoning ourselves to the impulses of feeling and imagination as if we should endeavor to sink into the abyss of that love which died on the cross, or think to find the true principle of redemption in the repetition in ourselves of the sacrifice once made by Christ, in the literal crucifying of our own flesh.

The Word sets before us a personal Redeemer, and an accomplished redemption, but mysticism is the poison and death of all true Christian life and scriptural godliness; and, moreover, it is mischievously heterodox. The aim and aspiration of one of the most prominent of their leaders, we are told, was " to float in divinity, as the eagle in the air," and their teaching all tends to the erroneous doctrine of union with God.

And yet their system is a human imitation of what the Spirit teaches of him who abides in love, dwelling in God, and God in him, of an assembly being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be scared from enjoying the legitimate teaching of the Spirit from a fear of being counted mystics. Union with Christ and fellowship with the Father and the Son must ever appear mere mysticism to the carnal professor.

But, while mysticism, ignores as it does a personal Savior and an accomplished redemption, as well as new creation in Christ and the scriptural testimony to the person and work of the Holy Ghost, we are to hold fast as our very life " the things of the Spirit," and all we have in Christ and in the Spirit as God's word reveals them, and faith receives them, and not allow ourselves to be scared from enjoying the highest reaches of a spiritual experience of the knowledge of Christ by the dread of mysticism.

“The things that are freely given to us of God," by the Spirit, are such as these: " In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. If any one love me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us. God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God, and God in him. What, know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us." Such are the things the world calls mystical and transcendental. (1 Cor. 2:14,15.) God grant that we may all know more of them!

In Him I find mine exultation,

My fairest visions of delight;

I feed mine eyes, mine expectation,

On Him alone, my Rest, my Light!

Each heart will seek and love its own:

My Object Christ, and Christ alone!

His riches are too vast to measure;

His countenance is as the sun;

Apart from Him there's naught of treasure;

He is the Changeless Living One.

Each heart will seek and love its own:

My goal is Christ, and Christ alone!

Perez-Uzzah and Baal-Perazim

1 CHRONICLES. 13., 14.

DAVID calls the place Perez-Uzzah where the Lord smote Uzzah-that is, the breach of Uzzah; but where the Lord smote the Philistines he calls it Baal-Perazim -the Lord of breaches-and in this he puts the Lord first, as his thought was that the Lord had given deliverance from the Philistines. This outward hindrance was not only removed, but the Lord had done it; therefore David called the name of the place Baal Perazim, i.e., Lord of breaches.

When the Lord smote Uzzah, David was displeased and discouraged, and, having the breach most vividly before his mind, he called it Perez-Uzzah-the breach of Uzzah; but where the Lord is before his mind as deliverer from the Philistines, he calls the place Baal Perazim; and the Lord has so divinely helped him, that he is not only pleased, but encouraged; an d he bestirs himself to bring up the ark of God, and triumphantly accomplishes his willing and worshipping service. (The order of the narrative seems to show this).

He had heard that the Lord had blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and this set his heart afresh in motion to get possession of the ark and have it with him in connection with God's throne on Zion; but it was the discipline he got in connection with the pressure of his enemies upon him, and his dealings with, inquiries at, and leanings upon God, and the strength drawn therefrom, that inspired him with that divine energy that made him resolve to set about accomplishing his desire to have the ark, " the strength glory of Israel," in its temporary place, on the mount of grace—a new place given of God for the display of His royal favor in David, the man of His own heart, after all had been lost and ruined under the fallen priesthood and the rejected king.

It is to be noticed that though David began wrongly in not consulting God at the first, and in taking their precedent from the Philistines; yet, having a true desire in his soul, God would not let him succeed in his enterprise until he had owned Him as the source of all wisdom and true guidance; and hence the breach upon Uzzah, which led to the delay of three months that he might find out the sources of his own weakness and failure, and set about doing the work on the warrant of the word, and in dependence on the grace and strength of God. God had had compassion on the Philistines who were heathen when they, out of their own thoughts, sent home the ark of God on a new cart drawn by " milch cows;" and He had even guided the cart so perfectly that they went straight on in a miraculous way until they placed the ark in safety in the hand of the Levites at Bethshemish.

But David had committed two errors, for (1) he had consulted " with his captains " and " every leader," but had not duly inquired of the Lord; and (2) he had adopted a mode of conveying the ark borrowed from the Philistines—" a new cart and oxen"—and acted according to a precedent that God had blessed and made successful in heathen hands, but which He resented in His servants, who, having His word, ought to have acted upon it. They were His people, and they ought to have gone implicitly by the instructions of His word—" Only the Levites should bear the ark." The new cart and oxen had no warrant in God's word, although God had overruled them in His ways, and made this the very means of restoring the ark to the land of Israel. But this tested David: the Philistines drove him to inquire of God; and bye-and-bye he emerges from Baal-Perazim to bring up the ark of God a humbled and happy worshipper, and his success is complete.,(So Chronicles seems to teach). God Himself is trusted, His word is obeyed, His glory is manifested, and His people rejoice in His presence.

It is striking how the Lord does not at the very outset resent the action of David on account of his wrong beginning, and his following of a heathen precedent: yet He lets him go on until an act of irreverence brings divine judgment, produces displeasure and discouragement, and delays the work of bringing up the ark.

The Lord may allow us to go on with good desires and intentions until, through divine judgment on some " Uzzah," our unsatisfactory state of soul and heart be discovered, and it be shown us that there had not been at the outset a true dependence on God, and an inquiry of Him. David took it for granted that because his desire was right, the way to carry it out was only a matter of course. But God taught him that He will not have His ark brought home to its place by Gentile means, but as the thing was good and right in itself, God has to teach by things very like judgment that the means of carrying out our service must be according to His mind, as well as our object and aim. Here was Uzzah, a Levite, who ought to have objected to the putting of the ark upon the new cart, knowing it should have been upon the Levites' shoulders, yet acquiescing and merely steadying it where it was; and he was unmindful, too, that it was the symbol of God's presence.

It was more aggravated sin in a Levite than in any other, for he was there for the very purpose of bearing it, and he has the irreverence to put forth his hand to preserve the ark ion its wrong position.

Portions of Scripture to Be Read

Psa. 40; 63.; 62.; 43.; 42.; 73.; 77.; 84.; 103.; 107.; 116.; 126.; 130. Song of Solomon, chap. 5.; Isa. 63:15 to end, and chap. 64.; Dan. 10; 9; Hos. 6:1-4; 14; Jonah 2; Hab. 3:2,16-19; Mal. 3:16,17; 2 Cor. 7:9-11; 2 Peter 1;3, 17, 18; 1 John 1; 2:1, 2; Jude 20, 21, 24, 25. For atonement and approach to God by Christ, read " Hebrews," for salvation by faith in Christ read "Romans." For the new position of resurrection with Christ, and holding the Head and living in new creation, Christ as our life in us, and Christ at the right hand of God, our Object, see " Colossians." For union to Christ, quickening together, raising up together, and resting together with Him in the heaven-lies, and blessed there with Him with all spiritual blessings, see "Ephesians." For an epistle of Christian experience read "Philippians." As a beacon against carnal ballooning with ministers by flying one against another, see " 1 Corinthians "; for being an epistle of Christ written by the Spirit and ministered by the true servants of Christ, see " 2 Corinthians," especially chap. 3.-4.; for a warning against returning to a yoke of bondage under law, see Galatians "; for the coming of the Lord, see " 1st and 2nd Thessalonians "; for encouragement in trial see " 1st Peter "; 1 John gives the eternal life as communicated to us and the tests of having it. "Revelation" tells of Christ's path to glory on earth through judgments executed on on an utterly apostate church and world. Our portion there is " I am the bright and morning star "-Christ Himself, whom we have in our hearts, and with whom we shall be before the day of judgment sets in, see Rev. 22:16, 17, 20, 21.

Revelation - Personal, Written and Preached

GOD has been pleased to reveal Himself in the Person of a Man, and in the Writings of a Book. The Gospel by St. John is occupied with the manifestation of God in the Person of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost: the Word and Spirit declaring God as a Father. “He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." “In the beginning was the Word and Word, was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory (glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." This gives His incarnate character; and our connection with it is stated “out of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." The Word was “in the beginning; "—however far back this may go: this declares His Eternity; He was with God and was God. That He was " with God," declares his Personality; that He " was God," tells forth his Godhead. That he is called " the Word," because He is the Word in his being, and the manner of it, the expression of God's mind, too. He is the essential mind of God, and He is the expression of it. Christ is the Wisdom of God, and the expression of it. The Word was God... the Word became flesh." In Him was Life, and the life was the Light of men. Light is the purest of all things, and it reveals what all things are." " The Word became flesh; " and then you get the aspect he wore: " We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten with the Father"—all that He was as that to the Father was there; His personal glory became visible in flesh. His attitude " full of grace and truth." " Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: " in His person. They came: a new arrival in our world: they never were there before. “No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him." The Son reveals the Father, as He knows Him in the divine bosom, and in His delight and love to Him. " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He declares Him, and we learn the revelation in Him by the Holy Ghost. In St. John this is the theme: " The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father" declaring Him; and when a disciple has a sense of who He is as God's only begotten Son He prostrates Himself before him saying, "My Lord and my God" (John 20).

" THAT (what we have just been considering as to the incarnation of the Word and the declaration of of the Father by Him) " that which was from the beginning (of Christianity), which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, the Word of Life (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen, it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with 118, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." This, then, is the written Word. The Apostle John says in His gospel, " We beheld His glory; " now he gives his written testimony to the same glorious One, but beginning with his incarnation and manifestation in flesh: " that." Here He is called " the Word of Life," and " the Life was manifested, and we have, seen it," the Word became visible in becoming flesh. John's Gospel gives the manifestation of the Life, in the Person of the Incarnate Word. His Epistle gives the communication and possession of the life by believers; and tests of having life. The word of revelation is used to testify of Christ, and by it we are begotten again, and it liveth and endureth forever. There is a personal Word and a written word. God is the source of revelation. It came not by the will of man, but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Paul tells us " every writing " (he does not say writer) is theopneust; God-breathed, God-inspired. The writer is fallible, and may mistake in other things, but not the " writing " which God gives through his mind and pen.

It is inspired and infallible, and may be fully trusted. God, by inspiration, gives revelation. The things of God the Spirit reveals, and also communicates in words the Spirit teaches, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.

Then there is the word as preached; and the Spirit's action in connection with it, in the preacher, and in the hearer. This gives the word its effect in the world and in the Church. In the first place it must be received by the Spirit by the preacher, in connection with his faith in Christ crucified, risen, and glorified. " 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 (from his inmost seat of emotions,) shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7)." In John 3 the Spirit and the water give life, in John 4 the well of water springs up and, there is communion; in chap. vii. the well flows out, and there are " rivers of living waters," in testimony to others in ministry, but what flows out is the result of drinking of Christ. His “mind " is given to the soul in the Spirit, and there is a spiritual solution (if one may so say) of what the word contains concerning Him, and the man who gives it out first enjoys it himself. Thus it was at Pentecost, when three words from Scripture were quoted and remarks made on them as to Christ in life, death, resurrection and glory. The Spirit made it come to their souls with power, and the result was 3,000 saved. In this instance, and in others recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Ghost fell on whole communities, and masses of souls were divinely quickened and consciously saved; being set free and sealed by the Spirit.

And God is still, in these last days, causing His Spirit to fall upon whole assemblies who hear the Word, though it has now become a very rare thing. Yet, during the past years of this century, men have witnessed this, again and again. They knew the very moment when He came upon the congregation in overwhelming power. The audience seemed laid hold of by some great, unseen hand, and the Word flowed forth like rivers upon them, and in one moment hundreds of saints were touched by the Spirit through the Word, and hundreds of sinners were convinced of their sins and seeking salvation. The result was in every such instance that a decided work of grace followed, the fruits of which remained.

It is well to look to the Lord for the conversion of individual souls through the quiet action of the Word and Spirit; but there are times when God sees that it is necessary for the glory of His Son that a multitude of souls should have the Spirit falling upon them at once, so that they should be moved simultaneously by His divine grace and power, " as the trees of the-wood are move d by the wind." He who works constantly in nature for the fructifying of the earth by the silent dew and the small rain, uses also the lightning's flash, the thunder's peal, and the sudden bursting of the drenching thundercloud. It is His witness in the heavens that " the God of glory thundereth." And so is it in His ways in grace, for the glory of His risen Son, whom He hath set at His right hand in the heavens, and crowned with glory and honor. The quiet conversion of one after another in the ordinary ministration of the Word, is His common method, but Pentecost, and Cornelius' house witness to us that He also falls on communities in a moment, and brings swift conviction, repentance, and salvation to thousands as easily as to an individual. When God works by His Word and Spirit for the glory of His Son, nothing can withstand His grace and saving power. Let us live, and move, pray and preach, believe and hope in the fullest confidence of this, and walls of modern Jerichos will fall flat before the Spirit of God, and the 'giants of Canaan shall be as grasshoppers.

Seminal Sentences: Also, Lev. 23 - The Feasts of Jehovah

1.—ON FAITH.

1.—The moment a saint acts upon any object seen he ceases to act as a Christian.

2. To faith that which is unseen becomes as present and as real as though present to sight (Heb. 11:1), yea, much more so because there is deception in seen things; but there is no deception in things communicated by the Spirit to the heart.

3. There are two things which faith recognizes; First, the blood of atonement, by which sin was put away; and secondly, a power of life by which we walk (not merely as His people but), with God. The result will be that the power of death is entirely gone. We are identified with a living Christ, as we are saved by the death of Christ.

4. Faith condemns the world (Heb. 11:7). It is not merely belief in a sacrifice that saves, like Abel's, and power for walk with God, like Enoch's, but it was what God has said about the judgment of the world. The thing that is coming upon this world is judgment.

5. As sure as Christ rose from the dead, He is the ' Man God has ordained to judge the world; ' and so surely is there no condemnation for us who believe in Him. That by which I know there will be a judgment is that by which I know there will be none for me. How do I know there will be a judgment? Because God has raised Christ from the dead. What more has God told me of his resurrection? That my sins are all put away by the sacrifice of Himself.

6. There is the active manifestation of the power of faith. Abraham, when called of God to leave all and go out of his country, obeyed and went forth, not knowing whither he went because of his trusting the God that was leading him.

7. It is characteristic of faith to reckon on God, not simply spite of difficulty, but spite of impossibility. Faith concerns not itself about means; it counts upon the promise of God. To the natural man the believer may seem to lack prudence; nevertheless, from the moment it becomes a question of means which render the things easy to man, it is no longer God acting. It is no longer His work where means are looked to. When with man there is impossibility God must come in; and it is so much the more evidenced to be the right way, since God only does that which He wills. Faith has refence to His will, and that only, thus it consults neither about the means nor the circumstances; in other words, it consults not with flesh and blood. Where faith is weak, external means are, beforehand, reckoned on in the work of God. Let us remember that when things are feasible to man, there is no longer need of faith because there is no longer need of the energy of the Spirit. Christians do much and effect little—why?

8. The energy of faith is seen in not only being saints but confessing it; and that, as a consequence of being Christ's, they are “strangers and pilgrims " here. And it will be manifested in the whole life; for the heart already go ie, it remains but to set out. The concealed Christian is a very poor Christian. The faith that does not profess Christ it is to be feared does not possess Him.

9. Perseverance of heart marks the Christian's affections to be onward, his desires heavenly; and God is not ashamed to be called his God. He is never called the God of Lot, but of Abraham—for he sought for a heavenly city. Faith sets the saint's heart on heavenly things. The desires, appetites, necessities and affections of the new man are heavenly. Christianity may be used for bettering the world, but this is not God's design. The seeking to link ourselves with the world, and using Christianity for world-mending, are minding " earthly things." Faith links us with Christ and heaven. You must have heaven without the world, or the world without heaven. He who has prepared the heavenly city cannot wish anything for us between the two. The " desire " of a better country is the desire of a nature entirely from above.

10. Faith counts on God. God stops Abraham when he had offered up Isaac, and confirms His promise to the seed. In yielding the obedience of faith we get an acquaintance with the ways of God, of which, otherwise we should have had no conception. Unbelief causes us to lose joy, strength, spiritual life; we know not where we are.

11. The carnal heart uses the providence of God against the life of faith. Providence brings down Pharaoh's daughter to the child Moses. In the midst of the world's wisdom at the court of Pharaoh providence has placed him (as it might seem), to use his influence in Israel's favor. The first thing faith makes him do is to leave it all. He might have been able to succor the, Hebrews by his influence but they must have remained in bondage to Egypt. Faith makes him forsake Egypt, and faith makes him return and lead his people out of the house of bondage. Called to glory faith, of necessity, quits Egypt; God has not placed the glory there. To be well-off in the world is not to be well-off in heaven. "All that is in the world! is not of the Father." Faith sees Him that is invisible, and is decided to forsake the world. When God is there, Pharaoh is nothing.

12. Faith ever leads into difficulty; but I have th) consolation of saying ' God is there, and victory is certain.' Otherwise, in my apprehension, there is some thing stronger than God. This demands a perfect, practical submission of the will. God may allow evil to have its course and test us, in order that we may understand that the aim of faith is not here at all, and see that in circumstances the most difficult God can intervene, as in the sacrifice of Abraham and the raising of Lazarus. To tarry in circumstances is unbelief, Satan is behind the circumstances to set us on; but, behind all that, God is there to break our wills.

LEVITICUS. 23

AGAIN the Lord speaks, and to the mediator, commanding him to communicate the revelations, concerning the festivals which follow, to the children of Israel. Times and seasons have to do with earth, and with them the earthly people are concerned. Days and months, and times, and years it behooved them to observe, but with such days and times Christians, as we learn from Gal. 4:9 110, have nothing to do. Paul was afraid of the Galatian saints because they kept them. The Israelites would have been disobedient to God, lawbreakers, if they had not observed them. For the word of Jehovah was, " Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall call holy convocations, these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation, ye shall do no work therein, a sabbath it is to Jehovah in all your dwellings."

This revelation then begins with the sabbath, which is here classed with the set feasts moadim (lit. appointed times) though generally it is viewed as distinct from them (1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4;31. 3; Nehem. 10:33; Lament. 2:6; Hosh. 2:11). But in common with the set feasts it is called a holy convocation (v. 2), and in common withthe day of atonement it is called a sabbath of rest, shabbath shabbathon, for throughout it complete rest from all work was enjoined; first, because on it, as stated in Ex. 20, Jehovah rested; and also in remembrance, as stated in Deut. 5, of Israel's time and condition of servitude in Egypt. On the chief days of their appointed feasts rest from all servile work only was enjoined; and, though the first day of the seventh month, and the first and last days of the feast of tabernacles were called days of rest, shabbathon, to no day was the term Sabbath applied except to the seventh day of the week, and to the tenth day of the seventh month. Classed then as the seventh day was with the moadim (lit. appointed times), it also differed materially from them, and that appears from verses 4 and 37, 38 of this chapter of Leviticus. In verses 37, 38, it is mentioned as distinct from them. In verse 4 we recommence the subject, as it were, of which the lawgiver was to treat, viz., the directions concerning the set feasts, moadim, of Jehovah. But its introduction at the outset of this chapter was surely calculated to impress on the minds of the people, that no stated time of rejoicing, nor of any holy convocation, was to override the perpetual ordinance concerning the sabbath day, and its proper observance. For it was a sign between Jehovah and Israel (Ex. 31:13, 17; Ezek. 20:12, 20).

The set feasts moadim, varied with the year, since the Jewish year had an intercalary month, i.e., an additional month inserted next to Adar, called Veadar, as often as was required, for their months had to correspond with the seasons.

In Nisan or Abib, the first month, the barley harvest began to be ripe; by the middle of Tisri, the seventh month, all harvest and vintage operations had ceased. Hence the term med would especially apply to these times, whereas the sabbath came round regularly each week. Further, it may be observed, that the feasts of the new moons are not included in the appointed times treated of in this chapter.

In all the four last books of the Pentateuch, the chief festivals are specially mentioned. First spoken of in the covenant made between the Lord and Israel at Sinai (Ex. 23:14-16), again mentioned in that unconditional covenant made by the Lord in favor of Israel after they had broken the first covenant (Ex. 34:18-22), we have them treated of somewhat at length in Lev. 23; Num. 28; 29, and Deut. 16 In Num. 28: 29., the lawgiver lays down regulations regarding the number, variety, and character of the offerings at each of the feasts. In

Deut. 16 we learn the conditions of soul in which Israel were to keep the three great festivals of the year. Here in Lev. 23 we have what may be called a kind of ecclesiastical calendar, which is really the history of God's ways in grace with the nation from the day that He took them up to bring them out of Egypt, till the day that He will bring them into full and abiding earthly rest under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ; just as the blessings, wherewith Jacob blessed his sons, describe in prophetic outline the eventful history of the people in connection with their responsibility, till they finally overcome their enemies.

The appointed feasts began with the passover, to be observed in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, “between the two evenings;" a term which Deut. 16:6 helps us to understand, and Ex. 29:39 will confirm. The passover was to be sacrificed in the evening, at the going down of the sun, and the daily evening sacrifice was offered up " between the evenings." Clearly, then, this phrase cannot mean, as it has been sometimes stated, the period of time between the evening of one day and the evening of the next, speaking after the manner of our computation of time. “Between the two evenings" was a certain time on the fourteenth day of Nisan, and Deut. 16:6 defines it as the going down of the sun.

With this brief notice of the passover on this occasion the lawgiver passed on to the feast of unleavened bread, for the people had been fully instructed how to keep it in the wilderness in Ex. 12; though the condition of soul in which they were annually to commemorate it, when in the land, is not set forth till we come to Deut. 16 So here in the wilderness it is but briefly noticed as the opening festival of their ecclesiastical year. After that, the feast of unleavened bread, which commenced on the following day, is brought prominently before Israel, and in this there is a significance to which Christians as well as Israel should take heed. For if shelter from divine judgment by the blood of the Lamb is known by the soul, leaven, here the type of evil, should be put away, the old leaven to be purged out, and the leaven of malice and wickedness kept out, according to 1 Cor. 5:7,8, and the feast kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Hence, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, this feast began, and lasted a whole week, i.e., a complete period of time. During its continuance they were to eat unleavened bread, and on each day of the feast special offerings were prescribed, of which -we read in Num. 28 But though the same offerings were appointed for each day that the feast lasted, the first day and the seventh day were to be observed as days of holy convocation, on which na servile work was to be done. In this manner their ecclesiastical year began. A. people sheltered by blood from divine vengeance, proclaiming by the paschal supper what they owed to the sovereign power of their God, redeemed by the arm of His power from Egypt, they were keeping a festival unto Him, and eating of unleavened bread, betokening by that what becomes those who are in truth the people of God.

After this comes a new revelation, not that the feast of unleavened bread was regarded as ended, for ere it closed a special service was enjoined, viz., the waving of the sheaf, the first fruits of their reaping. This new revelation, which here commences, embraces also the directions about the offering of the first fruits at Pentecost (9-22), the time for the observance of which was reckoned from the day that they waved this sheaf. And here for the first time do we meet with any notice about this sheaf. In Ex. 13, which treats of the institution of the feast of unleavened bread, there is not a word about it. In the wilderness this ceremony was not to be performed. It was only to be observed after that they entered the land, and in no other part of the sacred volume have we any direction about it, but Luke 6:1, as has been pointed out, most probably refers to it. For the " second first deuteroproton sabbath " as the word really is, implies the sabbath next succeeding that one which fell in the week of the feast of unleavened bread; the first sabbath therefore after the waving of the sheaf, by which the people were allowed to partake of the harvest. This interpretation is confirmed by the fact that, whereas the Pharisees found fault with the disciples for eating of the ears of corns on the sabbath, they did not charge them with the offense, which it would have been, had they plucked and eaten of them before the sheaf had been waved. Hence Luke marked the time exactly of that occurrence which he relates. The ripe grain was still uncut, but the wave sheaf had been offered, which left the people free as regards the prohibition of Lev. 23:14, to partake of the fruits of the new harvest:

Sleeping in the Calm of Heaven

That night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door kept the prison." (Acts 12:6). Psa. 62:8; Psa. 125:1; Acts 12:12.

SLEEPING in the calm of heaven

Who or what shall help him now?

Hopeless, everything external-

Death the stamp upon his brow.

Ere, in peace, he closed his eyelids,

Casting all his care on God (1 Peter 5:5-11)

Little knowing of the angel

Hasting on the shining road.

Weakness, in the night is waiting,

Like those Abel-men of yore,

When the messengers from glory

Told of Bethlehem's hidden store.

(Acts 12:7; Luke 2:9.)

See! the hand of One from glory

Wakes him from his blessed, sleep:

'Tis the Lord, who once said, " Follow "—

"Feed my lambs," and—" Feed my sheep."

Ah! those very days must tell him

Of the love that could not die:

Anniversary of sorrow,

Yet of full, unclouded joy.

(Mark 14:1,72; Acts 12:3.)

Herod, 'mid the outward boasting,

Fills his cup with dreadful wine,

While the foot of Zion's captive

Passes on in rest divine.

(Acts 12:9-11.)

Richest aid, resource and blessing,

Helplessness and trust shall find,

When the visible is crushing,

All its might and will combined.

" Trust ye in the Lord forever,"-

" Wait," I say, " on Him alone:
He who showed the " fire " to Peter,

Sends deliverance from the throne.

The Ark in the House of Obed-Edom

OBED-EDOM was a man more in God's secret at this moment and more peculiarly blessed of God than David and all his people; and he was a private person of a far-off town: " Obed-Edom the Gitite, or Gathite." There, individual piety found a place for the ark of God, when the great outward profession dropped off from it in demoralization and discouragement; and it was God owning the personal piety of this man and his house by the peculiar richness of the blessing bestowed, that induced David to make a second and a successful attempt at having the ark brought up to Zion for the blessing of his throne and of all Israel. There is mighty power in personal piety owned and stamped by fresh blessing to affect others. There could not have been anything smaller or weaker than this man's testimony-but GOD was there! The grand procession of all Israel with the royal David at its head, having as its object the bringing up of God's ark from its place of isolation, to its public association with the throne of. David established in grace in Zion, had suddenly been stopped by a divine breach upon irreverence, and the king, displeased, afraid of God and discouraged, ceases from his jubilant enterprise; the ark is left: and the individual piety of the obscure Obed-Edom gives it a home in his house.

I believe that Church history would furnish many examples like this of public movements for securing great general blessing having been arrested in such a way that they were desisted from, and had to be taken up by individuals, and were only resumed and carried out after the blessing that attended upon them in the hands of individuals had been practically attested. " The oxen stumbled." Some irreverent hand had been put forth to steady the ark, and judgment had ensued, and it has been only after lessons of dependence and obedience have been taught, and blessings given to the individual who had faith to possess himself of the ark, that a longing is created to have the mighty boon of the Lord's presence for all.

Every fresh manifestation of grace in the Church has been enjoyed privately by individuals before it emerged into gracious publicity. The whole of Israel, the captains of thousand, and captains of hundreds, and every leader, and even the freshly crowned king himself, are discouraged, demoralized, and cease from the good work; and the ark of God would have been left exposed to more irreverent treatment had not the piety of Obed-Edom taken it in. And yet, though God, as in David's case, gave signal victories when there was the spirit of dependence and obedience, yet the token of God's presence, the symbol of God's power and glory, in the midst of his people, as well as the bond of the covenant, " the ark of the covenant," was still absent from its prepared place on Mount Zion.

This is, I believe, an Obed-Edom time when the ark rests with the individual who has piety and spiritual desire to crave and shelter the longed-for, yet deserted thing. David had a true desire to have it; so had many of the thousands of Israel; yet he and they left it in the house of Obed-Edom, and then dispersed to their homes in a state of unhappy demoralization. It reminds one of this word: “Every man went unto his own home. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." Jesus, the true ark, is now in the garden across the Kedron in the solitary place: there will the unsleeping heart find Him; and this is its peculiar privilege for the hour-to get individual blessing while yet the reception of open public blessing, power, and glory, tarries and is not enjoyed.

Are there any who, like the people in the reign of Saul, are lamenting after the Lord, and who have not inquired at the ark in the days of Saul. Now is your opportunity to secure the personal enjoyment of God's presence in the Spirit, giving fullness of blessing and joy. The way to promote the blessing of others is to be in the full enjoyment of blessing ourselves individually. There is nothing so impressive, commanding, and contagious, as living in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord's presence and walking in the Spirit. " And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, and all his household. And it was told king' David, saying, The Lord path blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness."

Before the coronation of David by all Israel, there were those who had separated themselves to him to “the hold in the wilderness," when the nation was still with Saul. It must have been peculiarly precious to David to have this practical token of their appreciation of him as God's king when he was nobody, and had nothing to give them but a share in his rejection, privation, and suffering. How pleasant to hear such say: " Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers: for thy God helpeth thee." (1 Chron. 12)

And it must be peculiarly precious to " our Lord Jesus " in this the time of his rejection, to welcome to the outside place where He is, those who are drawn to Him by the secret attractiveness of His personal worth and glory; and who count His presence and blessing to be above all things to their souls. (Matt. 18:20.)

Let us personally value His presence with us by His Spirit, as the godly Gitite showed his value for the ark of God, and, having taken it in, became the most openly blessed man in Israel, so that his blessing through his possession of the ark led to its being put within its curtains on the hill of Zion for the blessing of the king and all Israel. Individual enjoyment of Christ by the believer is the true secret of personal blessing and Christian influence.

The Beseeching of Grace

2CO 5:14-212CO 6:12CO 6:2THERE is much done for perishing sinners: and surely there cannot be too much, for the time is short, the need is great, the redemption of the soul is precious, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

1. But shall we not also remember that there are perishing saints as well as perishing sinners? What! you say, perishing saints? I never heard of such a thing before. Well it may be for you that you should now hear of it, for it is a sad fact. Does not " the sanctification of the Spirit " make a saint? Assuredly even before he knows himself as such or has pardon and peace through the blood of sprinkling. But he is not in his true place of liberty and sonship until sealed with the Holy Ghost. It was “when he came to himself “that the lost son said,” How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish for hunger." And is not “I perish for hunger," the language of many a quickened but unsettled and uninstructed. soul? Yet there is a work of grace to bring out this cry (for dead souls speak not), and the quickened soul looks God-ward in a sense of His love, in expectancy, and then his word is, “I will arise and go to ray father.".. And he arose and came to his father," and when he met him he found a father indeed; and instead of merely finding bread to appease his hunger and save him from perishing, he found the kiss of reconciliation, the best robe, the shoes, the ring, and a feast on the best the father's table could furnish. What a blessed thing when the perishing saint gets picked up by grace and gets that in the Father's presence which all these things set forth and symbolize! What a contrast from " perish with hunger," which is, at present, the condition of so many who have life but not deliverance, when instead of continuing under legal exercise of soul like the man in the end of the seventh of Romans, there is such a knowledge of Christ given in life, death, resurrection and glory by the Holy Ghost as assures forgiveness, acceptance, meetness, and fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Ala! beloved, is it not a laudable enterprise to seek the rescue of the perishing saint as well as the salvation of the perishing sinner? And are there not "servants” mentioned in the parable to whop the father gives instructions, and who are to carry them out? And does this not tell of the ministry of reconciliation which God has put into the hearts and hands of his trusted servants, that all that is found in and around the Christ of glory may be given to bring saints into the Father's presence, consciously blessed with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, and children of adoption to the Father to the praise of His glory-accepted in the Beloved, in whom they have redemption in His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

2. Fallen saints. There is much done for our fallen world, and there cannot be too much. God has so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. And still we read of “the reconciling of the world," for through Christ's grace the righteousness of God is unto all. The philanthropy of God toward man has appeared-of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. The fallen world claims our deepest sympathy and most fervent energy. Seventy out of every hundred of its thirteen or fourteen hundred millions have never heard the gospel of the grace of God. But if God loved the world and gave His Son: Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might have it as His own, suitable to Him, and with Him in glory, glorious like Himself. And is the blessed Head of His body, the Church, unconcerned about His fallen assembly? And is it not permitted to such as feel for the state of this assembly to have sympathies in common with Christ's as to caring for the blessing of it, or if it be impossible to reach the whole, to have a, desire that there should be such a holiness, unworldliness, spirituality and heavenly-mindedness pervading those who have purged themselves from vessels to dishonor, and are gathered together to His name as He may be graciously pleased to use and turn it for a testimony to the glory of God, who has given Him as Head over all things to the Church which is His. body? While one must have deepest sympathy with the ministry of reconciliation to a fallen world, and while prayers and efforts are all too few for the salvation of the lost, yet surely it would be pleasing to the Lord if some few gave their thoughts, prayers, and efforts a little more intensely to a fallen assembly.

But some might object that this is hopeless work, and work to which the Lord does not set us; but our work is to depart from iniquity, purge ourselves from vessels to dishonor, the teachers of error, who overthrow faith, in the great house of Christian profession. All true. But when gathered to Christ's name on the basis of owning one body and one Spirit, surely we have morally the character, if not the complement, of God's assembly. And it is just in this we may find not a few of the fallen saints of God. And this, too, even where there may be much that even the Lord Himself would commend. There may be much labor, patience, rejection of evil, and devoted unfainting labor for Christ's name's sake, and all the time there may be a worm at the root that makes the whole assembly droop, wither and decay. Let us not think that the word fallen is inappropriate as applied to assemblies; for the Lord Himself makes use of it. Are we better than the assembly of Ephesus, so fully taught of Paul for such a long period, and having such a spiritual condition that a letter full of the highest spiritual truth could be addressed to them, the epistle to the Ephesians? The Lord sends them afterward a letter from heaven with these words: " I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted." This is a remarkable commendation. What could the Lord want more?

Yet with all this abundance of service there is the most serious flaw,—the spring of devotedness is gone, first love is left, and the reproach of unchanged love is " Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." The Lord cares for our service, but it cannot gratify his heart when He does not have our love. The work done in the past from love to Him is owned, but if our labor now want the motive, spring, and energy of love to Himself, it cannot be accepted. What love has He shown for the Church when He gave Himself for her? And love can be satisfied with nothing but love. He wants herself, not her work. Faith worketh by love. What would a husband think of a wife if fully occupied both in the house and outside, and yet had no love for her husband. He would not be blind to her good qualities, but he wants herself. All the activity a wife could show would not please a husband if love had grown cold. And if he would not accept a loveless service do you think Christ will? The fall of saints from first love is the heaviest and most disastrous fall they could have. Anything may be expected after this. Christ threatens to remove the candlestick, for it gives a wrong testimony to Christ's love.

The prayer of the 3rd of Ephesians may have been answered-that Christ may dwell in your hearts that ye may be rooted and grounded in love; but though Paul's converts may have been bright with enjoyment of Christ's love, and full of love to Him in the Church's infancy, yet now a long time has elapsed, and a new generation has arisen, and, as no community enjoys the blessing in its original power beyond the generation on which it comes, so now in John's day there is decline in love, and the Lord has to address them as a fallen assembly. And if the cooling down of first love to Christ be the fall, how many may now be similarly addressed! There has been a great awakening of the Spirit during this century, and many have been brought out to Christ with the freshness of first love and in real exercise of soul; but a new generation has come, and saints who have fallen from first love to Christ need the Lord's word as truly as did the fallen Church of Ephesus. Is it not, then, a necessary work to think of a fallen assembly that has left its first love to Christ, and is in danger of having its candlestick removed? It is not unneedful for us to lay this word of grieved affection to heart. Are we better than others 2 Nay, but if there is a difference, it is that we have had the Ephesian truth and the full enjoyment of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and while others are regarded according to their own privileges, we shall have to answer for the highest privileges enjoyed by any people since the days of the apostles.

It is evident that we greatly need to have our minds and hearts turned afresh to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, and no longer lie where we have fallen: and for this we require to sit less in our own house, i.e., he rejoicing in a vaunting way in our privileges and saying, like Laodicea " I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" and to get into the Lord's presence, and sitting before the Lord, hear what He, in His love, will do for us. He has made provision for having us with Him, and like Him in the glory of heaven, and for giving us to enjoy His love in the Spirit even now, when passing through the wilderness on to the many mansions in the Father's house. Is it not for Christ's honor that fallen saints should be ministered to as well as fallen sinners? And why not seek to have the fallen state of the assembly laid upon our consciences with a view to the recovery of souls? It is a work that is much in the mind and on the heart of the Lord, and for this the ministry is given for the perfecting of the saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God. The word fallen, referring not to outward falls, but to the state of the affections towards Christ, addresses itself to most part of saints, for how many have fallen from first love? how much they need the ministry of Christ's love to them to fill their souls and hearts afresh with Himself who gave Himself for them, lives now in glory to care for them and bless them, saving them to the uttermost, and who has said, " I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." Fallen Ephesians need afresh the ministry of the Epistle to Ephesians in the living power of the Holy Ghost.

3. Dead saints. Much effort is used for souls who are " dead in trespasses and sins; " and it is most praiseworthy, for now is the time when the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live, and the Spirit quickeneth whom He will, and God, who is rich in mercy, hath quickened us together with Christ raised in us, and saved us by grace through faith and made us a new creation, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. We who believe pass from death unto life. All this is a settled thing before God for eternity, when it is real, and we are dead and risen with Christ, and as such can be addressed and called upon to set our affection on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. But as those who are set up as the house of God and a testimony to Christ in this world, we, as well as others, may be as good as dead, and require the rousing word, " I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead," &c. "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light—shall shine upon thee, and having Him in His holy life before you, and now shining in glory in the highest heavens; if we listen still to the word, we will hear it say, Be filled with the Spirit, and thus we shall morally have Christ living in us and expressed by us, while the singing joy of happy spiritual life feeding itself on Christ will express itself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, while we make melody in our hearts to the Lord. The ministry that would thus waken sleeping saints and get dead ones to " be watchful and strengthen the things that are ready to die," and fill the saints with such enjoyment of life in Christ that the character of Christ should be put on, and the new life in Christ expressed in the saint's life and walk, is surely as necessary as preaching to dead sinners of God's love in giving Christ up to death for us, and raising Him again for our justification that we might have life and peace.

4. Unconverted Saints there are, too, in the sense of the term as applied by our Lord to Peter when he said: “When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." The Apostle's self-confidence was greater than his courage. We all know the history of his denial of his Lord, and his repentance, recovery, and restoration. He loved his Lord vehemently, yet he denied Him shamefully. He put himself among the wrong company, at their fire of coals while Christ was being arraigned before the high priest. His eye was off Christ and on himself, and, being in difficult circumstances, Satan tempted him to save his life rather than lose it; and he denied his Master with oaths and curses. Christ turned and looked upon Peter: and what a look it must have been, for on receiving it Peter went out immediately and wept bitterly. But he was not yet converted, although he was now on the way to it. Although it could be said, “The Lord is risen indeed and path appeared unto Simon," neither did this convert him. Nor did the Lord's message by Mary, nor His presence in their midst on the first day of the week. A saint's conversion is more difficult work than most of us think, and needs special dealing. But when Christ appeared upon the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Peter threw his fisher's coat around him to swim to Him, surely the ardent apostle must now be converted? No, not yet; but the grace of our Lord Jesus will now accomplish the work. " A fire of coals " led him to deny His Lord, a fire of coals is used by the Lord as he is advancing with the work of his conversion; but there is fish thereon. They had toiled all, night, and had caught nothing. But after the miraculous draft of fishes Jesus invites them to the feast He had prepared for them. He feasts him before He probes him. “Come and dine” is before His testing word to Peter, “Lovest thou me more than these?" Our Lord does not trust the conversions which consist in touched affections and gushing fervor. He thrice said to Peter, “Lovest thou me?" Peter had thrice denied him, and thrice He asks him, “Lovest thou me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Lovest thou me," and replied humbly, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." The conversion of a Christ-denying disciple is a solemn process. The conscience has to be dealt with until self-judgment fills the soul with poignant sorrow and self-abhorring grief. He deserved to feel thoroughly miserable in the presence of Christ, whose love had led Him to die for him, and he was most miserable. How few in their repentance are willing to go down to the misery-point. “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." The depth of Christ's love necessitates the thoroughness of his work. "As many as I love I reprove and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent." He effects the backsliding saint's conversion by means of the work of a thorough repentance.

O my blessed Lord, if this be what Thou callest a lapsed saint's conversion, how many of Thy dear saints and servants still need to experience the sub-soil plowing of Thine inexorable grace!

LEVITICUS. 21; 22

FROM laws which concerned the children of Israel at large, we pass on to some which had special reference to the priests (21. 22.). Holiness and the maintenance of the revelation of the unity of God (Deut. 6.4) having been pressed on the people, the Lord now directs Moses to speak unto Aaron, and to his sons. Hitherto, with the exception of the revelations given us in 6:25; 16:2, Moses was commanded to speak unto the people, or to the people conjointly with Aaron and his sons (17:2). But the priests being separated unto God, there were restrictions placed on their actions, from which the rest of the people were free. To be a priest unto Jehovah was a high honor, and none could share in it but those specially chosen for it by God. The Lord had caused the house of Aaron to come near to Him (Ex. 28:1). To be one of God's earthly people was a great privilege, but even that involved the observance of restrictions, as we have seen (17.-20.), from which others were exempt. To be God's priests, members of the holy priesthood, was a greater privilege, hence it would be no wonder, nor cause for complaint, if the Lord laid down rules for them to which the rest of Israel were not called to submit. These, which affected them in their family relationships and in their households, we have set forth in the revelations given by the Lord to Moses on their behalf. The first (21:1-15) treats of their defilement by the dead, and the range within which they could marry. The second (21:16-24) gives regulations concerning those priests who were blemished in their persons. The third (22:1-16) provides against profanation of the holy things which the children of Israel would offer to the Lord. Such, then, being their purport, their introduction in this part of the book is orderly and natural, appearing as they do in close proximity to those regulations which concern the holy people. A holy people all Israel were. A holy priesthood Aaron and his house were.

In common with the rest of Israel, a priest might defile himself for the dead, though in his case it was only permitted for those near of kin to him, viz., for his mother, his father, his son, his brother, or his sister who had never been married. For other relations, or for friends, he was not to be defiled. How defilement for the dead might be contracted Num. 19:11-14 declares. It might be by contact with the dead body, or only by the person's presence in the house, or tent, at the time of death, or after it had taken place. Natural feeling might have prompted on the priest's part the doing that which God's Word here forbade him. He might have desired to be present at his friend's death, or to soothe the grief of those bereaved by expressing his sympathy in person. All this would be natural and right for one of the redeemed people, but not for one of God's consecrated priests. They were not to be thus defiled, nor profaned. The separation to God was never to be forgotten. To profane himself, being a chief man among his people, was here forbidden him.

Others of Israel's seed could do what he could not. He was not to pollute himself, because he had been set apart for God's service. Further, no mark of mourning was to be seen on his person (compare with verse 5, Isa. 22:12; Amos 8:10; Mic. 1:16); for he was to be holy unto his God, and was not to profane the name of his God, for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the bread of his God he offered, therefore he was to be holy (6).

In connection with these directions about mourning, come those about marriage. With whom any one of Israel might not marry we have already had before us, Here the marriage law, as it especially affected a priest, is brought in. Neither one guilty of whoredom, nor a profane woman, i.e., one who had been guilty of fornication (see v. 9), nor one divorced, was to become the wife of a priest, for he was holy to his God. How his condition as sanctified to God was to govern his actions in times of mourning, and in the matter of marriage. He was a priest. He could not help it. He was such by virtue of his birth. He was, therefore, never to forget it, and conduct only such as became a priest was to be exhibited by him. Nor that only. Israel were to remember what he was, and to help, as far as it lay in their power, to maintain that separation to God which became every male of the house of Aaron.

But there was one of that house who, by virtue of his office, was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We refer to the high priest. For him, therefore, no defilement for the nearest or dearest of his relations was to be permitted, and no one could he wed, but a virgin of his people. Perfect separation in the matter of, mourning and of marriage became him who filled that office. And one can see the propriety of this, as we know of whom as high priest he was the type. Under all circumstances does God teach us of the holiness of the person of His Son. If He rode on the ass's colt, He rode on that on which no man had before Him sat. If His body was laid in the grave, it was laid in a new tomb, never till then tenanted; and though He died, He saw no corruption. So here, the high priest was to be defiled for the dead, and he could not wed as his wife one who had been married to another man. A widow any of the priests might marry. But even a widow was barred to the high priest (v. 14), The person of the Lord was ever, we see, present to the eye of God.

A second revelation given to Moses for Aaron and his sons regulated the position of a blemished priest. Between a blemished priest and a defiled one there was a great difference. A defiled one became defiled by contact with uncleanness, by disease working in his body, or by his presence in a house or tent where death had recently taken place. A blemished priest was one in whose person there was some defect, or abnormal growth. Such an one could not minister at the altar. A priest he was, and always would be.

The priest's portion of the holy and most holy things belonged to him equally with all the other priests, but service at the altar was forbidden him, for he who served there, whether the high priest or a common priest, was a type in his service of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom there was no blemish.

Here, again, we see that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was ever present to God's eye. Of Him we read in the New Testament that He was without blemish (amōmos) (Heb. 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19). Of Christians we read that it was God's counsels to have them such before Him in Christ (Eph. 1:4); and the Church Christ will present to Himself holy and without blemish (amōmos) (Eph. 5:27) and the saints seen with the Lamb on Mount Zion, are described in the same way (amomoi) without blemish (Rev. 14:5). Besides this God desires that we should be without blame (Phil. 2:15; 1 Thess. 2:10; 3:13; 5:23, (amemptōs) and unimpeachable (anegklectous) likewise (1 Cor. 1:8; Col. 1:22; 1 Tim. 3:10; Titus 1:6, 7) terms never applied in the New Testament to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amōmos is predicated of Him and of saints; amemptos and anegkleetos only of saints.

As blemished, then, the priest could not minister at the altar, nor serve in the sanctuary, yet he was not to be deprived of his birthright. The distinction here made is interesting. God's nature never alters, so no one could approach him in priestly service who was blemished in his person, lest he should profane God's sanctuary. The Aaronic service of the priest at the altar, and in the holy place was thus guarded most jealously till He came, the true priest, who has done all that had to be done of the Aaronic character of priestly work in connection with the sacrifice and the sanctuary. But the portion of a priest, God's provision for a priest, the blemished one of Aaron's house shared in equally with those in whom there was nothing lacking nor superfluous. Perfect in his person the officiating priest had to be. That we all understand. But as priesthood flowed from birth, nothing could make a man of Aaron's house cease to be a priest. Thus on the one hand God's unchangeableness as to His nature was declared, and on the other the unchangeableness of His purpose. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. By birth the sons of Aaron were reckoned amongst the priests. By right of birth believers now are priests unto God, a holy priesthood, privileged to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

Defilement, however, was a very different matter. Though blemished, the priest as we have seen, shared in the portion provided for Aaron's house. If defiled he could not have part in that, until he had been duly cleansed, and what that cleansing was to be Jehovah determined. Defilement then might happen to any of Aaron's house, and where it existed, it incapacitated the one unclean from eating the holy things. This is next treated of in the revelation contained in 22:1-16, addressed to Aaron and to his sons, " Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord " (3) Various ways in which defilement might be contracted are then enumerated (4-8), illustrating most plainly the difference between a blemish and uncleanness, followed by directions for the cleansing of the defiled priest. But why this difference? The answer is obvious. To eat of the holy things typified communion with God. So none defiled could have fellowship with Him, that is clear. From defilement, however, a person might get free, if he acted as by the law he was directed. From the blemish he might never get free. Had the blemish barred the right of eating of the holy things, who could ever have had communion with God but one-the Lamb without blemish and without spot? We are without blemish, but as chosen in Christ. (Eph. 1:4).

Further, who in the priest's house might eat of the holy thing is also set forth. Nothing of this was left to mar, to Aaron, or even to Moses, to decide. Jehovah alone determined such questions, and declared, too, what any one who had eaten of the holy thing inadvertently was to do (10-16). Thus carefully did God guard the privilege of having communion with Him, and defined by the law, mho those were who shared in such a favor. The priest's family, and his daughter, if after marriage she was a widow, and living under his roof; all those born in his house, or bought with his money—these could eat of the holy things. But neither servants not born under his roof, nor bought with his money, nor a stranger, nor a sojourner with him, could partake of them. Birth or purchase gave the right, but nothing else could, to eat with him of the holy things.

In close connection with the law regarding this privileged class, is the revelation addressed to Aaron, to his sons, and to all Israel regarding the blemishes, which, if found in any animal, would hinder its being offered in sacrifice (22:18-33). For a burnt offering it had to be a male without blemish. For a peace offering the animal had to be perfect, though the law allowed a bullock or a lamb that had anything superfluous, or was lacking (lit. lessened) to be offered for a freewill offering. Remembering of whom this sacrifice was a type, we understand these provisions of the law; and bearing in mind the fact that the law was given to an earthly people, we can apprehend the grace which provided a relaxation of the stringent regulation, if they were moved to draw nigh with a sacrifice for a freewill offering. But, whilst Jehovah thus provided for the freewill offering, He reminded them that they must eat it only on the day that it was offered. He had already declared this in 7:15. He here reminded them of it, lest they should forget it. How often have we need to remember that communion with Him to be acceptable must be real. It is not to become a form, it is to be a reality.

The Cross the End of the Old Man

" THE end of man in the flesh in the cross " is said to be error! Rom. 6 and vii. do not say so. Nor does Gal. 2 " I have been crucified with Christ, and no longer live I," &c. Does not this Scripture prove what our paper affirms? Are you not too narrow in your views of the cross? By the cross God accomplishes a number of things-not atonement only, as you seem to think. The old man is crucified with Christ; the world is crucified to me; the flesh is crucified with the affections and lust; Satan is destroyed. This is the spiritual defect of many converted souls, that they have not seen by faith, and the Spirit that they come to the end of themselves in the Cross of Christ. They do not see that they have died with Christ to sin, and have got clear of its mastership, as well as that Christ has died for our sins to free us from our guilt. Death with Christ (Rom. 6) is the only means of annulling the old man or bringing him to his end. It is sin that is the great giant that tyranizes over God's saints until they see that he is to be reckoned as gone to death in Christ's death on the cross (Rom. 6:1-11), and that we are alive in Christ, who is risen from the dead.

Up to Rom. 5:11, we have sins, and propitiation, forgiveness, justification, peace, favor, hope of glory, reconciliation. From the middle of Rom. 5, we have (Rom. 5:12 to end.)—

Deliverance from our Adam connection by death -we find a new headship in Christ " the Second Man," who was dead to sin and lives to God.

Then in Rom. 6 we have deliverance from our old master, sin, by death with Christ, and we have life in Christ Jesus, risen; and we are exhorted: “Yield yourselves unto God... For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace."

In Rom. 7 we have deliverance from the old husband, the law, and are “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God."

At chap. 3. he has written, " By the law is the knowledge of sin," but as the subject there was sins, not sin, he leaves the explanation of how the law gives the knowledge of sin till chap. 7. (when it is in place,) and this he does from verse 7-25. First, it gives the knowledge of sin to an unconverted man, verse 7-13 and it thereby kills him in his conscience, for he is brought in guilty. But, second, from verse 14-24, the law gives the knowledge of sin to a converted but undelivered man, in its only producing powerlessness to do good, or to get deliverance, and the man gives up at last in despair, crying, " O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?". He at once finds a deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. “I thank God.... there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death." This is the rationale of the deliverance. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin-in-the-flesh." Sins are atoned for chap. 3., sin is condemned in chap. 8., in the-same sacrifice of Christ for sin. We are thus "dead to the law by the dead body of Christ," as says Paul in Rom. 7 and Gal. 2 We are justified by His blood from our sins; we are " justified from sin" by His death. Death alone can deal effectually with a nature. God made Christ to be sin for us when He died; and now that He is risen and glorified we are made the 4‘ righteousness of God in him, and have justification of life." This is also set forth by the Spirit in 2 Cor. 3.-5. The ministry of the Spirit is of life and righteousness in Christ risen and glorified. When we believe in Him and are sealed with the Spirit, guilt is not only gone, but we are in an entirely new place " in Christ Jesus," and living an entirely new life-the life of Christ risen from the dead, so that neither death, sin, nor law, have any claim over us, and we walk in newness of life " (Rom. 6), and serve in " newness of spirit."

1. The guilt of our sins is gone through Christ's blood-shedding and resurrection (for we are justified by his blood), and " being justified by faith we have peace with God"-" with God," mark; not a mere feeling of peace in ourselves, though faith enjoying peace with God or reconciliation will surely give a peaceful sense of the enjoyment of God's favor wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and2. “When we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly." This is shown by our fruitless struggles to do good, under the law—no strength; `Rom. 7 But in Christ's death the life of the flesh, in which there is "no strength," and " no good thing," is „gone for faith, " condemned " with an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah, and we are " in Christ Jesus," in life and righteousness. We have a new life imparted, and are strengthened with all might according to the power of Christ's glory.

Now, this thing-the end (to faith) of man in the flesh in the cross, and death of Christ is, as you see, the definite teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and you'll rejecting it shows inattention to the Word, if not the proof that you have not yet apprehended it, or accepted it, by faith in Christ Jesus. But it is as plainly in the Epistle to the Romans as is justification by faith through Christ's blood from our sins. We have justification from sin, as well as from sins. For " He that has died is justified from sin." Christ has died: and so we also died with Him and are justified from sin. " We have died with Christ." This is not merely Christ dying for us: but we died with Hint out of the sphere where we were as living in the flesh under sin, His dying for us in rich mercy, and bearing our sins. has made an entire end of our sins before God; and' we dying with Him makes as entire an end of ourselves, the old man having been crucified with Him. This is given us primarily not as matter of experience, but of knowledge. " Knowing this that our old man has bee ' crucified with Him that the body of sin should b annulled, that we should no longer serve sin." We get out' of the sphere of the mastership of sin, by death with Christ, just as the Hebrews got from under the mastership Cf Pharaoh by the Red Sea—death in figure. They were delivered from Egypt's slavery by that which was death to the old tyrant and all his army. There was no more service of Pharaoh after he was drowned—so death and judgment have come upon the old master, sin. He was destroyed in the Red Sea. So the body of sin is destroyed in Christ's death that henceforth we should not serve sin. Sin is gone as a master; and this is, for faith, a point of revealed knowledge. Do you know it? By God's grace we have changed our place, and changed our master. We are in Christ Jesus. He alone is our Master, not I sin, and we serve Him. For we see that Scripture does! teach that the end of man-in-the-flesh has come to all who have faith in Christ Jesus, that they have died with Him to sin, and now live of his life (the old life having' been annulled in His death)—" So also ye reckon/ yourselves dead indeed unto sin but alive to God in. Christ Christ Jesus." Blessed is the man who knows this; divine fact, and acts upon it.

I have dwelt upon this subject at considerable length because of its great importance. For until this is known and accepted by faith there can be no Christian experience, and no spiritual progress. Wherever we may get to the knowledge of it—" Arabia " or elsewhere, it must be had, or else all pretense to live a Christian life is nothing worth: for Christ in heaven must remain unknown as our new head, life, center, and resource before God, if we have no knowledge o deliverance from our fallen, guilty, and irremediable condition such as the epistle of Paul to the Romans describes. If you are induced to look into the Word of God a little more closely on this all-important subject, from what I have now written, and get to see the end the cross makes of man in the flesh by a fresh reading of it I will be happy, and now, " I commend you to God and the word of his grace."

" For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved we, and gave himself for me " (Gal. 2:19-20).

The Devoted Victim of Propitiation Remembered in the Lord's Supper

IT is good to remember that we eat the given body of Christ. One with Him in His glorious state, it is not of them that we partake in the supper. Enjoying vitally this position infinitely exalted, we remember the sufferings which have purchased it for us; our hearts, our consciences, our souls are nourished with the broken body; it is to Jesus dead that our thoughts recur, and to a love more powerful than death. If the body had not been broken, as Gentiles we should have remained strangers as regards the promises, and sinners destitute of all hope.

A living Messiah was the crown of glory for the Jews; but, if He is lifted up from the earth, He draws all men. His broken body is the door for sinners from the Gentiles. On this the heart of the Christian is nourished, not merely as on manna come down from heaven, which typifies Jesus a man upon earth, nor on Jesus in the heavens (where we are one with Him)—it is there the hidden manna; but on the devoted victim of propitiation, which I see brought to the altar, and, there sacrificed, slain for us—a victim full of love and of devotedness.

I pause before this mysterious scene, where He, all alone (for no man could be there save to bend his head and adore), where the victim of propitiation, the man Jesus, presents Himself before the face of Him, who, in His offended majesty, comes out to take cognizance of sin in order that we might find on the tracks of the righteousness of God which has burst forth and is accomplished, nothing but an infinite and immutable love; the love of the Father enhanced by the accomplishment of the eternal righteousness to His glory. It is the precious Savior, humbled to death, that we have here His body given (and one could not go lower down), and His blood shed out of His body. In that manifestly it is not a question of Jesus, such as He is at the present time; for He is glorified. This natural life He has left for us. He only presents it to God as a thing given elsewhere; but He speaks here of, a double effect of the blood which He has shed; first He speaks of it as the foundation or, at least, the seal, of the new covenant, and, secondly, as the foundation of the remission of sins of many: that is, the basis of the new covenant is now laid, and moreover it is not a question of an act which relates to Jesus only to show His obedience: this blood is efficacious for the sins o others.

Although the covenant is not formed with us, it is established in Him before God, and we are in Him below. What is the consequence of it? We drink of blood. If a Jew had drank of blood under the old covenant, it was death. Could a man be nourished on death? It is the fruit of sin, it is his condemnation, it is the wrath of God, as the blood in the body was the life; and a Jew had no right to that. But Christ has suffered death. And can the Christian be nourished on death? Yes; it is salvation, the death of sin, the infinite proof of love. It is his life, the peace of his soul, the deliverance from sin, before God. What a difference! We drink of His blood. The proof of salvation and of grace, and the source of life. Nevertheless, it is Jesus dead of whom it is a question here.

There is (Heb. 13:20) another expression to which allusion may be made: God has brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This shows us that Christ Himself is above, and has been raised according to the efficaciousness of the blood He has shed to satisfy the glory of God. He, the only and the beloved Son of the Father, charged Himself with our responsibility and our sins, and these with the, glory of God in this respect; and if this glory had not been completely satisfied, He could not evidently either rise again, or appear before Him whose majesty required that nothing should fail to the work. But He accomplished this work gloriously, and in that the Son of Man has been glorified, and God glorified in Him; and He is ascended on high, not only as Son of God, but according to the efficaciousness of His work, in virtue of which He appears before the Father, the everlasting covenant being thus established in His blood. The question here is not of an old, or of a new covenant, which refers to particular circumstances, but of the intrinsic and essential worth of the blood of Christ.

We have, then, the blood of the new covenant and the remission of sins. The disciples were to drink of it, as they were also to eat of His given body, such is their portion: to be nourished on the death of Jesus, and to show it till He come.

The Father Seeketh Worshippers

HAVE you noticed in your large acquaintance with Christian hymnology, the fewness of hymns addressed to the Father to be found in most of modern hymn books? What does this suggest but the great lack of “the Spirit of adoption" in Christian poets and in religious communities?

And yet, if we study Rom. 8, where true Christian position and state are characteristically laid down, we shall find that the presence and operation of the Holy Ghost are essential to the production of spiritual liberty and the experimental realization of filial relationship.

The apostle John also says: " Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." " True worshippers shall worship the Father." The Father-and-the-Son truth of John give s a higher manifestation of God, and leads into nearer relationship and deeper spiritual enjoyment than the unfoldings of God's counseled wisdom for Christ's glory and " our glory" of St. Paul; for the former puts us into relationship with God in His nature (and God is love), the latter with God in His thoughts, purposes, and operations. Both are, beyond all expression, glorious, and in combination give us God fully revealed: for "God is light"—this is His character—and " God is love"this is His nature.

But what I mean to convey is that we have few hymns in the full flow of the worshipping gladness of happy children in the conscious enjoyment of a known spiritual relationship with the Father—His children, too, not merely by eternal relationship, but by spiritual birth. “See what love the Father hath given us that we should be be called the children of God... Beloved now are we the children of God." (Tecna not huioi, for it is nature here: not dignity as in Rom. 8:14).

That there is not probably a dozen of good hymns purely and throughout addressed to the Father in the English language tells how little Christians have known their relationship or bowed their knees " to the Father" (Eph. 3:14), and how very far off is the, worship of the great majority of the redeemed saints of God, although " the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him."

Nothing more fully exposes the deficiency of Christian thought and the lack of Christian experience in its fullness of Scriptural intelligence than the hymn-books of the professing Church. The exact forms as well as the essence of Judaism have had their comprehensive and magnificent embodiment in the Hebrew Psalter; but Christianity in its depths and fullness, its form and expression, has never yet had a similarly adequate embodiment and representation in the Christian books of praise of any or all of the Churches.

And I might add that the practice so common in many places of singing the Hebrew Psalter (though perfect in its place) as if it could give full expression to Christian worship tells the sad tale that they who do so do not experimentally know what true Christianity is, or what it is to " worship the Father in Spirit and in truth."

"But," some will say, "how much unity in worship it would have produced had the Christian, like the Jew, had an inspired book of praise." To such we would say the Christian and the Church have that which is better than a book of praise, for in having the abiding Comforter-the ever-present Spirit-they have the well of living water. We have Christ, our life, and the Holy Spirit as a divine power for enjoying Him, and having fellowship with the Father and " through Him (Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father," and the Holy Spirit fuses all hearts in one and enables a whole assembly to worship, in spiritual-not mechanical—unity in compositions which the Spirit gives (Eph. 5:19), " Singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Holy Ghost revealing Christ is both the power o Christian worship and the producer of the materials of Christian praise, if not in the sense of divine inspiration, yet in that of spiritual guidance, intelligent knowledge of God's mind, and devotional expression of the worshipper's delight in his nature, character, and love as well as the riches of His grace and glory in Christ. The saints in Christianity are trusted as full-grown men—not babes and minors like the Jews—and hence we have no inspired volume of Christian hymns made for us in the Christian Scriptures. Christians " worship by the Spirit of God" (Phil. 3:3).

The Heavenly One and the Heavenly Ones

I DO not see any difficulty in 1 Cor. 15:47-49. Ek is the source, hence characterizes a thing in its nature. Ek pneumatos, e.g., so ex ouranou. One man is earthy dust, the other of heaven. It is not apo merely, that he come thence.

Then v. 48. As we are all what fallen Adam so our place, as in Christ, is to be just what Christ is. And as we have carried this in manifestation as Adam', children, so we shall be manifested just such as Christ Himself, as man. It is the source, and so character, nature, and constituted condition, and, then, manifested form. Of course, we have to realize it now we are in Christ, sitting in heavenly places in Him: as He is, so are we also, in this world. This characterizes a class of Christians, the “perfect “as contrasted with forgiven children of Adam. But the state of the affections is not the subject here (1 Cor. 15) but to be in glory like Christ acts on them now and here.

The Man Christ Jesus - as Set Forth in Luke's Gospel

This Evangelist writes as another witness of the same divine truths, joining in general testimony with those who had gone before him (1:1-4). But we shall find in him, as we do in them, something which gives his Gospel peculiarity and character, and which tells us that, though thus concurring with others in general testimony, the Spirit of revelation still has a special design by him.

But all this different service of the same Spirit, by the different Evangelists, is not incongruity, but only fullness and variety. The oil with which Aaron was anointed, and which was mystically the fullness and virtue that rests on our adorable Lord, was made up of different odors, myrrh, calamus, cassia, and cinnamon (Ex. 30); and it is the office of one Evangelist after another, to produce different parts in this rare and sweet compound of the sanctuary, to tell out different excellencies and perfections in Jesus the Christ of God. For what one could tell out all? Surely it was sufficient joy and honor for one servant, however favored with such new revelations, to trace even one of them. The saint has the sweet profit of all together; and in language prepared for him, can turn to the beloved, and say, " because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth."

Now in the midst of this various service thus distributed among the Evangelists, we shall find, I judge, that St. Luke occupies his peculiar place, by presenting Jesus to us as " the man, Christ Jesus," or the anointed man. The Lord in St. Matthew, meets the Jew as their Messiah; in St. Mark he meets a needy world as the servant of that need; in St. John he meets the Church or heavenly family as the Son of the Father, to train them for their heavenly home; but here in St. Luke he meets the human family, to speak with them as the one anointed and only sanctioned Son of Man. Indeed Son of Man may be considered as characteristically His title here, and it is a title of very extensive meaning. It expresses man in his perfectness, or man according to God. It tells us, as it were, that man stands " a new thing" in Jesus; and that in Him we see all possible human or moral beauty. He stood, if I may so express it, before the eye of the Spirit, while He was moving the hand of the Apostle to draw that picture of perfection in the human soul, which we see in 1 Cor. 13 But not only is all this moral perfectness expressed by the title " Son of Man" applied to Jesus, but all His suffering and all His dignities are likewise connected with Him as such. As Son of Man, he was bumbled so as to wonder that God should have any respect to Him (Psa. 8), but as such He is also exalted to the right hand on high (Psa. 80). As such He had not where to lay His head (Luke 9:58), but as such He also comes to the Ancient of Days to take the kingdom (Dan. 7:13). Judgment is committed to Him as such (John 5); He is Prophet, Priest, and King as such; Heir and Lord of all things; Head and Bridegroom of the Church, and more than tongue can tell. As Son of Man, He has power on earth to forgive sin (Matt. 9:6); and is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), though as the same He lay three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). He was the wearied Sower of the seed, and He will be the glorious Reaper of the harvest, as Son of Man. He was crucified and raised again as such; but all the while, as such, had His proper place in heaven (John 3:13,14). And by and bye, as the Son of Man, He will be the center of all things, heavenly and earthly, in the kingdom (John 1:51). For it was in man that God had of old set His image; and when the first man, who was of the earth, had broken that image, the Son of God undertook to restore it; and thus to accomplish in man, the divine purpose by man, setting man in that place of honor and trust which God had of old provided for him.

Thus, this title or name of the Lord is an extensive one, ranging over and linking itself with His person, and with all His sorrow, and all His dignities too, save such, of course, as He owns in Himself, being " God over all blessed forever." As the Son of Man, therefore, He may be looked at in these three aspects. He is the anointed man,-the undefiled human temple raised at the beginning by the Holy Ghost, and then filled by Him (Luke 1:35;4. 1). He is the humbled man, who traveled in sorrow here, down to the death of the cross (Phil. 2). He is the exalted man, crowned now with glory and honor, and by and bye to have all dominion (Heb. 2).

As the Son of Man, He deals with man; and in that action, I believe, our Evangelist specially presents Him to us. In this Gospel He converses with the human family; He knows man as a creature of certain faculties and passions, being Himself, all the while, the anointed man, the heavenly man, who came to exhibit man according to the mind of heaven, standing for the blessed God in the midst of the human family, who had deeply revolted from Him. He was the only fair untainted fruit of the human soil; and thus growing up in the midst, He exposes all beside.

This was His purpose, and that He might do this perfectly, and exhibit in Himself man according to God, and in all beside, man departed into evil, He is eminently in this Gospel the social one. He is most generally seen here in human intercourse and in places of resort, carrying thus the anointed man everywhere, to be found and read of all. And sweet indeed would it be, if the saints read the holy lesson better. In walking before the world, their path would be the purer, in walking together it would be more refined and elevated. Not that they would put on the mode and sanctioned order of the world, but they would gracefully wear " the things that are lovely and of good report." And that would be the holy adorning of their doctrine. It would be the saint in the power of that love which behaveth itself not unseemly, but which exhibits the virtue and the praise that suits anointed men after the pattern of Jesus.

As such pattern we have Him here in St. Luke. And there is beautiful order in the Gospels as they thus lie before us. The Lord had to enter the scene as to Israel, having a question with the people of His ancient election in the earth; but being refused by them, he takes His own most proper and undistracted paths, which in the Gospels, one after another, are still in order, each rising above the preceding one, and properly following it. For having tried the question with Israel in St. Matthew, he is the servant in Mark, the social Son of man in Luke, and the Son of God in St. John. He is first under as in service, then at our side in converse with us, and then above us in the solitudes of heaven. Being the rejected Heir of the Jewish vineyard in Matthew, He becomes the doer in Mark, waiting on our lower necessities, such as we have in common with other creatures, disease, infirmity, pain and want; the teacher in Luke, serving our higher necessities, such as are peculiar to us as human creatures, having human affections and faculties; the divine in John, forming for us heavenly associations as saints of God and children of the Father.

This, I judge, is the characteristic order of the four Gospels. And as in the previous notices of Mark and John, I have observed the fitness of the penman to the peculiar task assigned to each of them, so do I judge the same as to Luke. We hear of Him in the divine history as the companion of the Apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 16:11, Col. 4:2, Tim. 4, Philem. 1:1,24). He became associated in labor with one, whose ministry respected neither Jew nor Greek, but addressed itself to man as such. And indeed I believe that He Himself had been a Gentile. His name is of Gentile character, and He seems to be distinguished from brethren who were of the circumcision, as others have remarked, in Col. 4:14.

And now having thus gathered the general intent of our Gospel, and the person of its penman, I would follow it in its order. I might feel naturally desirous to do this, from previous meditations on the other Gospels. But nothing less than the joy of the Lord in ourselves, and His praise in the thoughts and delights of his saints,-should lead a step onward, even in such holy paths as these. But surely it should be the common delight of all His saints to trace Him in all His goings. For where are we to have our eternal joys but in Him and with Him? What, beloved, is suited to our delights, if Jesus and His ways be not? What is there in any object to awaken joy, that we do not find in Him? What are those affections and sympathies, which either command or soothe our hearts, that are not known in Him 2 Is love needed to make us happy? if so, was ever love like His 2 If beauty can engage the sense, is it not to perfection in Jesus? If the treasures of the mind delight us in another, if richness and variousness of knowledge fill and refresh us, have we not all this in its fullness in the communicated mind of Christ? Indeed, beloved, we should challenge our hearts to find their joys in Him. For we are to know Him so forever. And learning the perfections and beauties of His blessed word, is one of the many helps which we have to advance in our souls this joy in the Lord. May this present meditation serve this end in us, beloved, through the Spirit, for the Lord's sake!

The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon: Part 1

When wisdom hath entered into thy heart, And knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man; From the man that speaketh deceitful things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the deceit of unrighteousness; Whose ways are crooked, And they perverse in their paths: To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the alien which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God.

For her house leads down unto death,

And her paths unto the shades.

None that go in unto her return again,

Neither take they hold of the paths of life.

That thou mayst walk in the ways of good men,

And keep the paths of the righteous.

For the upright shall dwell in the land,

And the perfect shall remain in it.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth,

And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

THE book of Proverbs is divided into five parts: the first of which ends with the ninth chapter, and treats chiefly about two women: the one called " the strange woman," and the other called the " wife." Which thing contains an allegory: for the wife (v. 8, 9) represents wisdom personified (i. 20-33; viii.-xi. 6);

that is, the wisdom of God in contrast to the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God; and the strange woman represents the wisdom of this world personified. Both wisdoms are described in 1 Cor. 1 " For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us that are saved it is the power of God. For it is written" I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the prudence of the prudent will I reject."

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its. wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

All men in the world are the children of the one wisdom or of the other. We that have heard the voice of Wisdom calling to us and attended " are saved; " but those who refuse to listen to her, and disregard her, " perish," and Christ the embodiment of wisdomWill also laugh at their calamity, Will mock when their fear cometh; When their fear cometh as desolation, And their destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon them, Then shall they call upon him, but he will not answer, They shall seek him earnestly, but they shall not find him.

The " hidden wisdom " is veiled to those that perish, through the god of this world blinding their minds by unbelief. But unto us, the called, this Wisdom " was foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: " (which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); as it is writtenThe Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old.

I was set up from everlasting,

From the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths I was brought forth;

When there were no fountains abounding with water,

Before the mountains were settled,

Before the hills was I brought forth.

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,

Nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there:

When he set a compass upon the face of the deep:

When he established the clouds above:

When he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

When he gave to the sea his decree:

That the waters should not pass his commandment:

When he appointed the foundations of the earth:

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him:

And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth:

And my delights were with the sons of men.

When Christ was on earth he was the expression of this wisdom to men: but it was " hidden " from the wise and prudent of this world, and " revealed " only unto babes, like Peter of old, who knew Him by revelation, not of flesh and blood, but of God the Father in heaven.

Let us, therefore, as many of us who are Wisdoms' children, follow after and grow therein, let us put away all carnality and fleshly wisdom, which is incompatible with our spiritual growth, and press on from babyhood in Christ to full grown men. If any man thinketh that he is wise among us in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise: and let none of us glory in men. Who is wise and understanding among us? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. But if we have bitter jealousy and faction in our heart, we are not to glory and lie against the truth. This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthy, sensual, devilish. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peacable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.

Moreover, let as many of us as preach the gospel, preach not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and of power, conducting ourselves with " fear and much trembling " knowing the weakness of the instrument and the solemnity of the work: though as to the truth itself, we must have faith in God's power and boldness of speech corresponding thereto). Picture to yourself a surgeon about to make a painful operation on a patient; does he not hold his breath, as it were, while executing his task, lest he make a wrong cut with his lancet, and so endanger the life of his patient? And how much more should a worker together with God take heed how he uses His word, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of both joints and marrow.

In the foregoing passage quoted from James' epistle, we have the sources of the two wisdoms traced out. The one " from above," the other " earthy, sensual, devilish." In Proverbs they are indeed personified as women; but these women, again, represent the two religions of the present day, and of all eternity-from Adam to the eternal state: (The one is the religion of Christ, the motto of which is " DONE; " but the other is that of the world, whose motto is " Do." The one is characterized by faith and godliness, the other by ritualism, ordinances, and law-keeping); and which two religions, in the form of women, are represented as having taken up their abode on earth in houses" Wisdom hath builded her house, She hath hewn out her seven pillars."

Her (the strange woman's) house leads down unto death, &c.

The house of one is a spiritual house composed of living stones, even " the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." James, Cephas, and John were three of the pillars of this house. The house of the strange woman is " the synagogue of Satan," built with wood, hay, and stubble, and containing not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, even some to honor, and some to dishonor.

To which of these two religions (for there are only two in God's sight) do you cling, my reader? Do not deceive yourself; you must belong to one or the other; there is no neutral ground.

When Christ was on the cross He wrought out our redemption, giving Himself a ransom for all; and He cried, " It is finished." He then finished all works required to be done to make us righteous, leaving us none to do. (" For not by works of righteousness, which we have done ourselves, but according to His mercy " must we be saved). And God was so satisfied with that one work or act of Christ in dying the just for the unjust, that He justifies all that believe in Jesus, and in the merits of that blood, which He shed upon the cross to make our peace with God-God who made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Abel was of the religion of Christ, he believed in sacrifice, a substitute in death. But Cain was of the religion of the world, he offered to God of the fruit of his own works, even the produce of his own cultivation of an accursed earth.

If you, my reader, are of the religion of works, listen to these verses" Weary, working, burdened one, Wherefore toil you so?

Cease your doing, all was done Long, long ago.

Till to Jesus' work you cling

By a simple faith;

Doing is a deadly thing-

Doing ends in death.

Cast your deadly doing down, Down at Jesus' feet;

Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete.

It is finished.' Yes, indeed, Finished every jot.

Sinner, this is all you need, Tell me, is it not?

Take heed lest you be deceived by the religion of works; for she is very seducing.

" For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, And her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death,

Her steps take hold on hell.

Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life,

Her ways are movable, that thou shouldst not know them."

Hearken unto me, now, therefore, O ye children,

And attend to the words of my mouth.

Let not thine heart decline to her ways,

Go not astray in her paths.

For she hath cast down many wounded:

Yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

Her house is the way to hell.

Going down to the chambers of death."

This religion is also very plausible, showy, and clamorous: just suitable for all proud self-righteous men, who think they are all right, and on the right road, but who pay no particular heed to examine themselves by the light of God's truth.

" A foolish woman is clamorous:

She is simple, and knoweth nothing;

For she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city,

To call passengers

Who go straight on their ways:

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

And as for him that lacketh understanding, she saith to him,

Stolen waters are sweet,

And bread eaten in secret is pleasant,

But he knoweth not that the dead are there;

And that her guests are in the depths of hell."

Moreover, let us Christians, who have believed in Christ, beware of this false religion; since it is one of ordinances and of the rudiments of the world.

In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and in Him we are made full and complete. Why, then, as though living in the world do ye subject yourself to ordinances, handle not, nor taste, nor touch, after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh."

This " strange woman " is really an adultress, who hath forsaken her true husband, the " guide of her youth," and forgotten the covenant of her God-the marriage-bond instituted of God. That is, this religion is departure or apostasy of the heart from God (which equals idolatry, see 1 John 5:21); and it is first manifested as such-I mean, the name "strange woman" is first applied to it-in the time of Solomon: Jerusalem being then the center of this religion. For the Jews were " going away backward " [lit " estranged " i.e., they were becoming like a woman estranged to her husband, through having left him and gone to another man] Isa. 1:4. Ezekiel says (14:5), " They are all estranged from me through their idols."

Compare. Deut. 24:1-4 with Jer. 3:1-5. Jehovah says to Israel:" For thy Maker is thine husband, The Lord of hosts is his name."

" Wherefore, O Harlot, hear the word of the Lord: I will judge thee, As women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged." " Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations provoked they him to anger, They sacrificed to demons, not to God; To gods whom they knew not, To new gods that came newly up." " They like Adam have transgressed the covenant: There have they dealt treacherously against me."

Adam was engaged to God as a friend or companion with whom to converse and commune by a covenant of friendship or peace, in virtue of creation; he, through transgressing it, became " alienated " or estranged in mind. Christ made up our peace with God by the blood of His cross, and now we even as many of Adam's children who believe in the Lord Jesus, are reconciled. Israel was, however, engaged to Jehovah by a covenant of marriage in virtue of redemption from Egypt.

The Jews turned their law into a wrong use; for they went about seeking to establish their own righteousness by keeping the letter thereof, and did not discern that the law was spiritual, and they carnal, sold under sin: whereas God ordained it to show man how weak and sinful he was, and to point him to Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. There never was a law made that could give either life or righteousness. They did not know the ways or heart of God: for He " desired mercy and not sacrifice."

In Paul's time the Jews sought to Judaize the Christians, i.e., to unite the Christian faith with their religion, even to make the Christians circumcise themselves and keep the law: to whom Paul " gave place in the way of subjection, no, not for an hour; " that the truth of the gospel might continue with us. And he wrote strongly to the Galatian Christians, saying, " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace." " I would that they which unsettle you would even cut themselves off." Peter rebuked the Judaisers sharply, " Now, therefore, why tempt ye God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? "

Their religion is directly opposed and antagonistic to ours: they can never be reconciled together, though men may try to amalgamate them. Theirs is prefigured by Hagar the handmaid, who had a son born after the flesh-our's by Sarai (who represents Jerusalem that is above, our mother); the freewoman, who had a son born through promise. " Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Howbeit what saith. the Scripture? Cast out the handmaid and her son: for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman. With freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage."

But the time is quickly coming when the Church will be taken out of the world; then shall the Christian profession be overthrown; for Christ will spue it out of His mouth; and the apostasy-" the falling away " from the Christian faith to Judaism-will take place (2 Thess. 2:3). For " the Spirit speaketh expressly that in latter times some shall fall away [apostatize] from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines (taught) of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth."

I would specially direct your attention to this fact, as to the apostasy; because the passage of Proverbs, chapter 2, quoted herein, properly applies to the period of time after the Church is caught up; though, of course, the teaching therein may, and does, apply in principle now.

The metropolis of Christianity was first at Jerusalem; but when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, it removed to Antioch or Constantinople, and then afterward to Rome; and, lastly, when the Church is caught up out of the world, the metropolis of Christendom will return to Jerusalem-and, this is the apostasy.

The Hebrew Christians or believers would, naturally speaking, be the first in danger of falling back to Judaism-their old religion. Therefore Paul in writing to them, says, " Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away (apostatizing) from the living God." " For as touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.... and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance."

" Let us, therefore, go forth unto Him (Christ) without the camp (i.e., out of the Jewish fold or system of religion at Jerusalem). For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come."

(To be continued.)

The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon: Part 2

BUT it is a well-known fact, that the Jews will return to their own land, and build again the temple, and fortify Jerusalem, and there offer sacrifices, and perform the temple ritual as in days of old; for it will happen unto them according to the true proverb, " The dog turns to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire." This city, then, which they build up, is first of all likened to a " woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," which gives birth to a "man child " (for it is of the Jews as a nationality " whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever "). She flees by the aid of " the two wings of the great eagle" (the eagle represents the Roman power, whose standard was an eagle),, into the wilderness unto her place "-i.e., into Palestine -where she is nourished (i.e., strengthened and fortified), a time, times, and half a time. Then will all the kings of the earth go a whoring after it. It is figuratively called "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." The city is elsewhere called spiritually ‘` SODOM AND EGYPT," because there it is looked at in its relation to the Gentiles as such, and in respect to the governmental dealings of God, and not in its relation to Christendom. It is called " Babylon " because of the system of its religion which would lead men into independence of God and rebellion against Him. She is called a " Harlot " because of her persistent treachery against her LORD, Jehovah, the God Almighty. " How is the faithful city become a harlot " (Isa. 1:21). For a description of the city in this last character read carefully the second and third chapters of Jeremiah, the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel, and the second, third, and fourth chapters of Hosea. It is called the mother of" abominations," because of its idolatry -they " worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which van neither see, nor hear, nor walk."

This great city, the center of this vast system of religion-a religion that will sit as it were upon " many waters," i.e., upon " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," and " reign over the kings of the earth " (for by her " sorcery were all the nations deceived "), will ride upon a " scarlet colored beast " -a sovereign or emperor of great power. This beast will probably be an emperor of Rome, who, like Nero, will reign over Jerusalem, and support it by his great power and wealth. He has " seven heads," and " ten horns." " Horns " represent rulers of principalities, provinces, or dependencies. " Heads " represent " mountains," and also forms of government. Now Rome is a seven-hilled city; and it has also had seven forms of government; six had already existed in the time of John, the writer of the Apocalypse. They are, I think, the governments, such as the regal, the democratic, or republican, the decemvirate, &c. " The beast " will be of the seventh form revived, and will be of dreadful tyrannical power, cruel as a "leopard" with " bear's feet " and a " lion's mouth" (Paul, in referring to his first defense before the emperor, says, " I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, i.e., out of Nero's cruelty and power). Satan, the dragon, being cast. down out of heaven " as lightning," in thee midst of the week, will give his own authority unto the beast, who will carry on his career for three and is half years, that is, until he is destroyed by the manifestation of Christ's coming. He is called " the man of sin, the son of perdition," and " the lawless one," in the New Testament; in the Old Testament, " the evil man," and " the wicked man," e.g., " to deliver thee from the evil man " (Prov. 2:12). The Branch of the stem of Jesse "with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked man " (Isa. 2:4). "Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man " (Psa. 140:1). " Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked man " (Psa. 140:4). " Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man " (Psa. 10:15) "The wicked man is snared by the work of his own hands " (Psa. 9:16). (The Septuagint has in this last quotation, instead of " the wicked man," " sinner," from which expression no doubt the words, " the man of sin " in New Testament are taken.) " Deliver my soul from the wicked man " (Psa. 17:13.) " For yet a little while, and the wicked man shall not be " (Psa. 37:10). " Attend unto me, and hear me; because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked man " (Psa. 55:2,3). "Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked man " ("sinner," Sept. Psa. 71:4). " Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be Jigged for the wicked man " (" sinner," Sept. Psa. 94:12,13). " Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the wicked man (" sinner," Sept.) is opened against me " (Psa. 109:2). " Surely thou wilt slay the wicked man, O God " (Psa. 139:19).

He is also called " the king of the north," because his dominion will be situated north of Palestine. The eleventh chapter of Daniel states a great deal about him. " The king will do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things." While he fights against "the king of the south " the ships of Chittim (i.e., English ships from Cyprus) come against him, " therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them (i.e., ally himself with them) that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." The Lord warns the disciples saying, " Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved " (Matt. 24:9-13). " And it was given unto him (the beast, the above-mentioned king) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people, and tongue, and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain " (Rev. 13:7,8). He is also spoken of in Dan. 8:23. " And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (i.e., it is by the dragon's); and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; and he shall stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." He shall plant the tents of his camp between the seas against the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," for the Lord Jesus will slay him with " the breath of his mouth," and bring him to naught by " the manifestation of his coming.

It has been maintained by some, that this willful king is antichrist, the false prophet; but to a careful and unprejudiced reader, I think it will appear to be not so; for verse 36 resumes the thread of the history from verse 31, viz., " And arms shall stand on his part.... And the king shall do according to his will." Moreover, antichrist does not sit in the temple of God setting himself forth as God; but he only places the image of the beast in the temple to be worshipped; and acts as under the authority of the beast; whereas the beast himself magnifies himself above all, or that is worshipped, so that " all the earth worship him."

This king is " the lawless one," the ringleader of the apostasy; whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish: because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe the lie; that they all might be judged who belies ed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness; " i.e., judged " at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints in that day."

The antichrist, the king of Jerusalem (Rev. 13:11), will be viceroy to this " man of sin," just as Herod was to Augustus, and Pontius Pilate to Tiberius. He is " he that denieth the Father and the Son " ("Who soever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also "). That is to say, he will deny that God is a Father, even. a Father that hath begotten an only Son, and that " the Son of man." In fact, he will deny the incarnation altogether, and will not confess that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." And in place of God the Father and His Son, " the image of the invisible God," he will cause all men to worship the beast, and his image, which he sets up. This is " the mystery of lawlessness," which " doth already work; only there is one (the Holy Ghost in the Church) that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way." " Even now have there arisen many antichrists." Nevertheless, " ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." The contrast to " the mystery of lawlessness " is " the mystery of godliness," which is-"God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory."

The antichrist is spoken of in the Old Testament,. as " the man that speaketh deceitful things," " the unrighteous and cruel man," " and the violent man,' &c., e.g., " To deliver thee from the man that speaketh deceitful things " (Prov. 2:12). "Preserve me from the violent man " (Psa. 140:1,4). " Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man " (Psa. 71:4). " Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me " (Psa. 109:2). "O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man " (Psa. 43:1). " Thou halt delivered me from the violent man " (Psa. 18:48.

In the New Testament it is said of him: " He deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Christ exhorted the Jews that when this image of the beast, the abomination of desolation, was set up, to " flee to the mountains." But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! For then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now; no, nor ever shall be. And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

This idolatry of worshipping the beast (and Beelzebub that works in him) is like the unclean spirit of a man which, when it is gone out of him, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. Then he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first." This passage applies to the Jews properly; but the Gentiles will turn out quite as bad; for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof." Read carefully the seventeenth and eighteenth. chapters of Revelation.

(To be continued.)

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

The Presence of the Holy Ghost

THE Spirit of God, as dwelling in us, may be considered in two aspects: for He unites us to the Lord Jesus, so that His presence is intimately connected with life, that life which is in Jesus. (John 14:19, 20; Gal. 2:20). " He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit;" and further, His presence is that of God in the soul. The Scripture, speaking of Him in the first of these characters (which is sometimes linked to the second), says (Rom. 8:2, 9, 10), that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees us from the law of sin; so that the Spirit is life because of righteousness. It is however, also said (ver. 9), " If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you; " and then His indwelling and action are blended, since (inasmuch as both are manifested by the formation of the character of Christ in the soul) " the Spirit of God" becomes " the Spirit of Christ." The " Christ in you" of verse 10 expresses the idea, more clearly, especially as the apostle adds, " if Christ be in you the Spirit is life." But in verse 16 the Holy Ghost is carefully distinguished from the Christian, for " He beareth witness with our spirit." In verses 26 and 27 the two characters of the presence of the Spirit are there remarkably shown out in their mutual connections: for " the mind of the Spirit," known to God, who searches the heart, is the life of the Spirit in the saint. But, on the other hand, " the Spirit helpeth our infirmities," and " maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God." The reason of all this is simple. On the one hand, the Spirit is there, and acts with power according to the mind of Christ; on the other hand, and in consequence of this operation, the affections, thoughts, and works, are produced, which are those of the Spirit; but yet they are also ours, because we are partakers of them with Christ, " our life " (Col. 3:2,3), for " God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life."

But the effect of the second aspect of the presence of the Holy Ghost is yet more important. The Spirit is the Spirit of God; He is God, and is, therefore, the revelation of the presence and power of God in the soul —a revelation known through and in a new nature which is of Him. Consequently, that which is in the nature and character of God is developed where God dwells, that is, in the soul of the saint; not only is it produced in the new man, the creation of God, but it fills the soul because God is there, and there is communion with Him. For instance, the new nature loves, and this love is a proof that one is “born of God," and knows God. But this is not all: there is, moreover, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost—that is to say, the presence of the God who communicates this new nature to us. Therefore we read (Rom. 5:5), " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." We are loved-we know it, and have the proof of it in the gift of the precious Savior, and in His death for us. (Ver. 6-8.) But there is something more; the perfect and infinite love shed abroad in our hearts (poor vessels as they are), and the Holy Spirit, who is God, is there (and is free to be there because we are purified by the blood of Christ)—He is there to fill these vessels with that which is divine, the love of God. It is also added (ver. 11),that we joy in God. Therefore, looking at the presence of the Spirit as demonstration of power in the soul, the Apostle John affirms that " hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us." (1 John 3:24.) But, as this might be applied merely to the varied energy. of the Spirit in the soul, it is stated, farther on, that " love is made perfect in us," namely, the love of God to us. Here it is no longer a question of us, of our affections; of our thoughts; but the soul is filled with the fullness of God, which leaves no room for anything else; there is no discord in the heart to spoil the essential character of divine love. God, complete in Himself, excludes all that is contrary to Himself; otherwise He would be no longer Himself.

To avoid mysticism (the enemy's corruption of these truths) the Holy Ghost adds by the same pen, " herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us " (1 John 4:10); and the proof of this is based on that which is above all human thought and knowledge, namely, on the acts of Himself in Christ. On the other hand, the presence of the Spirit is not given aim as proof of God's dwelling in us, two things which are identical, but it is written, “hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." This presence of God in love not only fills our narrow souls, but places us in Rim who is infinite in love. United to Christ by the Holy Ghost, one in life with Him, and the Spirit acting in us, " we dwell in God, and God in us." Therefore it is said that " God has given us of His spirit; " that is to say, God in virtue of His presence and of His power, makes us morally partakers of His nature and character, by the Holy Ghost in us, whilst giving us the enjoyment of communion with Himself, and at the same time introducing us into His fullness.

I would here just point out the distinctive characters of the Epistles of Paul, Peter, and John. Paul was raised up in an extraordinary manner for the especial purpose of communicating to the church the order, method, and sovereignty of the divine operations; and to reveal the place which the church holds in the midst of all this, inasmuch as she is united to Christ, and is the marvelous object of the counsels of God in grace; as the apostle says (Eph. 2:7), " that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus," or by His dealings with regard to the church: the wisdom of God, the righteousness of His ways, and the counsels of His grace on this subject, are largely and (as all revelation) perfectly set forth in the writings of Paul. John takes up another point, that of the communication of the divine nature, what that nature is, and, consequently, what God is, whether in His living manifestations in Christ, or in the life which He communicates to others. Without this community of nature communion were impossible; for darkness can have no fellowship with light. But, as we have already seen, the Apostle goes still farther: we dwell in God, and God in us, by the Holy Ghost; and thus, as far as we are capable of it, we enjoy what God is in Himself, and become the manifestation of Him (the limit to this manifestation being only in the vessels in which God has taken up His abode). How great are the varied riches of the goodness of God! This communion with Him, which raises us as far as possible towards the fullness of Him who reveals Himself in us, is certainly something very sweet and precious; but the tenderness of God towards us, -poor pilgrims on the earth, and His faithful love, so needed in our weakness to carry us onward to the goal, are not less so.

The testimony of Peter, in his first epistle, treats of that which God is for the pilgrim, and of what the latter should be for God. The resurrection of the Messiah has set the pilgrim on his road; and thereon are presented the faithfulness of God, and the encouragement which His power gives to our hope by this resurrection of Christ the Son of the living God, though rejected of men; and lastly, the apostle speaks of the walk, the worship, and the service which flow from it.

John presents to us that which is most exalted in communion, or rather in the nature of communion; consequently, he does not touch on the subject of the church, as an object of divine counsels, but of the divine nature.

Paul treats of that which is perfect, not in respect of communions but of counsel. In his writings God is glorified more especially as the object of faith, though he speaks of communion too. (Rom. 5:5.) Where in the same chapter (ver. 11), he speaks of God as the one in whom the Christian is to glory, he places Him before and not as in us—as the object for faith to lay hold of and not as dwelling in the heart.

This divine and infinite blessing—this love perfected in us, communicated by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and realized by our dwelling in God and He in us—has led some to think that, when this point is attained, the flesh can exist in us no longer; but this is to confound the vessel with the treasure placed in it, and of which it has the enjoyment. We are in the body which still awaits its redemption: only God can dwell in it, because of the sprinkling of the blood by faith. This sprinkling does not correct the flesh, but only renders testimony both to the perfection of the expected redemption and to the love to which we owe it.

When in real enjoyment of God, we may for a moment lose sight of the existence of the flesh, because then the soul (which is finite) is filled with that which is infinite. But even in these moments of blessedness one cannot doubt but that the flesh is an obstacle to the larger and more intelligent action of love. Paul caught up into the third heaven (a privilege which the flesh would have used to puff him up with, and which made a thorn needful) is a proof to us that grace does not change the flesh. Alas! even the joy of which we are speaking, without watchful dependence upon Christ gives dangerous occasions of action to the flesh, because there is so much littleness in us, that, forgetting who gives the joy, we lean on the feeling of the joy, instead of dwelling in Christ, the Fountain-head of it. Nevertheless, it is certain that the love of God made perfect in us, is a reality, and the Christian is called to know God, and to enjoy Him as dwelling in Him.

I have but one more remark to make.

When we are full of the love of God, we enjoy it with a power that hinders our seeing anything, especially the objects of the goodness of God, save with the eye of divine love. But where there is a real knowledge of the existence and nature of this love of God, the walk will also be characterized by faith in that love, even though the heart may not realize the whole power of it; and, thus, we shall dwell in God and He in us. But since this fullness of joy can only be realized by the action of the Spirit, it is easy to understand that, if grieved, He will become a Spirit of reproof; judging the ingratitude with which such love, as the love of God is requited, instead of filling the heart with that love; though it is impossible for Him to cast a doubt upon it. It is evident that the love made perfect in us is the work of God; and this it is which forms the joy-the whole of the state. That which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts is the love of God; and this love, powerful in our hearts, cannot but show itself externally.

That which I have said does not, properly speaking, belong to the operations of the Holy Spirit, but the subject is of the greatest importance. And this importance, which is that of the fruits and grand results of the presence of the Holy Ghost (for by it the love of God and of Christ is glorified, as far as it is possible here below), seemed to render a few remarks upon this subject desirable.

May God bless them to the reader! May it please Him to realize in us the things of which I. speak on the subject of revelation, and may He so bless us that the truth may have its full weight on the soul, so that we may know, with all the beloved church of Christ, what it is to have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us according to the power of the love of God!

The Present Substitute for the Feast of Tabernacles

THE Holy Ghost is spoken of as substituted for the last or eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles. But the Lord presents the Holy Ghost in such a way as to make Him the hope of faith at the time in which He spoke, if God created a sense of need in the soul. If any one thirsted, let him come to Jesus and drink. Not only should his thirst be quenched, but from the inner man of his soul should flow forth streams of living water: so that coming to Him by faith to satisfy the need of their soul, not only should the Holy Ghost be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life, but living water should also flow forth from them in abundance to refresh all those who thirsted. When Israel drank of the rock in the wilderness, there was no well in them or outflow from them. Under grace every believer is not, doubtless, a source in himself: but the full stream flows from him. This, however, would only take place when Jesus was glorified; and in those who were already believers, previous to their receiving it. It is a gift to those who believe. The Spirit is given in connection with the glory of Jesus. when He is hidden from the world. It was also on the eighth day of the feast, the sign of a portion beyond the Sabbath rest of this world, and which begins another period-a new scene in glory. Observe also that the Holy Ghost's presence is the fruit of a spiritual thirst-of felt need in the soul, need for which the soul had sought an answer in Christ. Then a river for others.

The Seeing of God the Abhorring of Self

THERE has been in our day a blessed action of God's Spirit for the glory of Christ and the blessing of God's saints, bringing them into a state conformable to the greatness and glory of the testimony the Spirit is carrying on for the honor of His risen and exalted Son. There has been a divine energy of the Spirit in the ministry of the Word which has gathered out a mass of souls professedly to Christ and the things above, " Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," but wherever there is any extraordinary work of God it not only acts upon those who are its proper subjects but its moral force is extended to a " mixed multitude " who, from not being formed after a divine sort, but only in a human way, are carried forward in a natural manner; and instead of lending strength to the spiritual movement they become its weakness.

And even when there has been a real work accomplished in souls, there has been another source of weakness introduced: the persons blessed clustered in a natural way around the instruments through whom the blessing reached them, and this became a snare to both parties, and weakened the power of the testimony to the Holy One and the True, the Sovereign Opener. God was not fully trusted, but there was a natural leaning upon an arm of flesh, and when this gave way, many blessed, but unestablished, saints who had been rejoicing in the new life in the Spirit, and fresh blessing, gave way: for where faith was only in a leader and not in the living God, if his faith failed, and he became discouraged because of some " Perrez-Uzzah," those attached to him had not spiritual energy to stand fast in the Lord, hold on, and go forward. " The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." As in human, so in spiritual " affairs," there is " a tide " which must be taken " at the flood " if any great spiritual achievement is to be accomplished. The flood came, but for lack of faith and " virtue " it has not led on to spiritual fortune, but has become dissipated into general failure.

If a ship is seen to be going to pieces on the shallows, what is the great and uppermost thought in the minds both of those who are in the ship and on the shore? The rescue of the passengers and crew. Man the lifeboat, and strike out boldly through the stormy sea and save all you possibly can! And if there be religious shipwreck, is it not like God that there should be a fresh energy of the Spirit in rescuing shipwrecked saints, and bringing them to land? It was true moral condition that was wanting; and the pressure in ministry carrying many before it without chart, rudder, or compass, or the personal ability to profit by them had they possessed them, a break-down was inevitable; and it has come in the case of thousands. But is God to allow his children to perish in the storm? Will Christ Jesus not be seen walking on the stormy waves for the rescue of His imperiled disciples?

A sure work of rescue is being done, in the riches of God's grace, for such as have felt their misery as lost saints (has did Job), as truly as they had felt their misery as lost sinners. Job was what all would call a most beautiful character: yet it was a dreadful time to the " perfect " man of Uz when God allowed Satan to break him in pieces and his friends to charge him falsely, until he cursed the day of his birth; but it led to a blessed issue. Few saints have seen God and stood face to face with Him, until their utter evilness of, nature has been seen in a truthful and humbling way that led them to thorough self-judgment according to the holiness of God. But Job had this when he is led to exclaim: " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." He saw himself a ruined man in his circumstances when all the calamities detailed in the earlier part of the book overtook him: his friends, " miserable comforters " tried to ruin him in his character by proving to their own satisfaction that he must be a wicked man to be subjected to such judgments; but when he saw God it was neither in circumstances nor in character, he saw the ruin, but in himself. As Isaiah, when he saw God, cried out: “Woe is me for I am, undone," so when Job saw God he saw the utter worthlessness of self (which be had not seen when all was going well with him), and he said, " Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." In the presence of Satan when he smote' him with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown, " he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes." But when he saw God there is no thought of sitting down "to scrape himself " but he says, " I abhor myself and repent "—judge myself utterly good-for-nothing, and not to be improved by any amount of scraping: " and repent in dust and ashes." A true sight of God exposes a saint to himself so thoroughly that good self and bad self are equally an abhorrence. “I ABHOR MYSELF." God must have reality in His saints, however grievous it be to Him to bring them through the terrible ordeal necessary to secure it That which they had, for faith, at the " Red Sea " must come in as trial, testing, and humbling in " the wilderness." By any means and every means: ruined circumstances, broken health, death in the family, character impeached by friends who profess to be " comforters," by inward agonies and outward neglect, Job had to be broken down, but it was a sight of God that produced self-abhorrence and true repentance. When he found out that he had been contending with God he said, “Behold Iam vile," but when his eye saw Him, he said, " I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This sheds wonderful light on the Lord's words, " If any man will come after me let him deny himself:" let him deny there is such a good-for-nothing person. Saints who see God now see the end of man in Christ's cross: " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts," and thus, for faith, self is denied; and the man of faith speaks on this wise, " I have been crucified with Christ;" " Knowing that the old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed." Job made a fresh start from the grave of self, as does the Christian from the cross and grave of Christ, and "the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:" just as the saint of the present time makes a fresh start from Christ's cross and grave in new life in " the second man," a new creation in a risen Christ.

Not a few souls who had become stranded, when the testimony of God as to Christ and the restoring work of the Spirit for His glory was presented, and the end of self shown in the cross, were so deeply moved by it that they seemed on the point of being willing to descend into the grave of self and flesh; when all at once they started back from the fearful ordeal that stared them in the face, when they saw t hat the demand was to part with all that flesh holds dear, and have a glorified Christ, and all that one finds in Him instead of self and man's world, including the world that is composed of a happy circle of saints. Being like Job, of a beautiful character and having a good reputation, and a circle of friends who would regard the devotedness that completely sets aside the first man and all his belongings, counting all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and being as singular as Paul who eventually lost all his Christian friends, and had to stand alone, only the Lord standing with Him, they shrank from being so literally for Christ, dreading the complete cutting off from the world which the cross gives, the entire abandonment of self as a thing to be abhorred, the parting from the delightful, yet self-centered, society of earnest Christian friends, and becoming " as little children," and as such to find themselves regarded as extreme, peculiar, assuming, or weak-minded by those who were wont to regard them with the highest respect and the most cordial affection. But there will be the abhorring and denying of self in every shape and form, if the Spirit give a true knowledge, spiritual apprehension, and enjoyment of Christ in glory. What was self to the angel-faced Stephen when he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God 2 Not so much as to make him distracted (though the stones beat upon his poor body) from exhibiting the power and grace of his living association with that glorified One, for he prayed for his murderers, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." What was self to the persecuting zealot Saul when from the brightness above the mid-day sun he heard " that Just One " say, " am Jesus whom thou persecutest;" or when, as the Apostle from the Christ of glory and pressing towards Him as his goal, he could utter as his watchword" That I may win Christ and be found in Him "" One thing! " I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. For our living association is in heaven, whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior."

The divine exclusiveness of the Spirit's action that leaves the saints with " no man save Jesus only," has proved too severe for even some of the foremost in zeal and service: they saw the consequences, stopt short, and failing in faith to go out stript and bare, the cross on a naked shoulder: their hearts failed them to become wholly detached from the first man, and live and move and have their being in a risen Christ in a new creation; they listened to the counsels of their own hearts, aided by the syren voice of trusted friends, and, with their desires for better things suppressed, they found their way back into the ordinary fellowship of unspiritual professors who refuse to allow that there is any higher enjoyment of Christ than they themselves have known, or any deeper work of the Spirit than they have experienced. This knowing of men " after the flesh " took saints practically off the ground of resurrection, or rather showed it had never been known in the power of the Spirit in their souls, and that life only in Christ and new creation, where " all things are of God," was practically unknown. Though they have come out to Christ, in heart they have returned to Egypt, and they have failed to experience as a living reality in their souls either the deliverance of the Red Sea with its triumphant song—the humbling process of the wilderness where the only resource is in God, or the divine entrance into the practical enjoyment of Christ in glory, and all spiritual blessing in Him, through the dried up Jordan, where the Red Sea and the Jordan coalesce, and death and resurrection with Christ are made good in the soul in the solemn moment when the ark rested in the midst of the river; they have neither come to the twelve stones set up in Gilgal, nor to what is meant by the twelve stones now hidden in the bed of the river where the feet of the priests that bare the ark rested until all the people had clean passed over Jordan. Oh, what a falling of carcases there has been in the wilderness! It is a solemn and salutary recollection for us all that only two men of the warrior host that came out of Egypt entered into Canaan: and that even the two most prominent leaders, Moses and Aaron, failed of entrance.

God must have reality in His saints: and He will ensure the having of it even if it should be by “terrible things in righteousness." But if we " hear the rod and who hath appointed it," and humble ourselves un der it, we shall find that there is still the same mighty heart behind His " mighty hand." But whoever thinks of reaching the practical enjoyment of full blessing in Christ, while the world is clung to, self unjudged, and the holiness of God and the end of man in the flesh in the cross is not seen, and still to go on and prosper as if nothing had happened, will find that the Holy Ghost must refuse to have a heavenly Christ and His witness to Him identified with such lightness. God must have realities, and if His saints refuse to reach them in grace and by the Spirit's unfoldings of God fully revealed in Christ, He will have to break them in pieces by judgment that we may not be condemned with the world. Whatever the means, God Himself must do all; and it will be accomplished by His grace. God may use a Jehu and his false zeal for the Lord to inflict His judgment upon iniquity; but it is a Hezekiah's confession and" carrying forth of the filthiness from the Holy place " that He employs to initiate the return to the worship of God in His appointed way, and to bring about a fresh work of general revival and joy, the like of which there had not been " since the time of Solomon." And grace alone secures holiness. " Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all." Blessed iconaclasm! God secures realities by the fresh action of His grace. And when we read of Hezekiah that " he in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord," we are prepared to hear of the blessed time and work of grace that followed. His first concern was with the awful state of the "house of the Lord," and all his efforts were directed towards that which was central and essential—the having the house and worship of God in their midst according to His Word. His heart was set upon God Himself, and his soul was humbled by the utter desolation of His house; and while he makes the deepest confession of their sinful and miserable state, he set about having the worship of God in God's way, “And when they had made an end of offering; the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. So the service of the Lord's house was set in order. And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people that God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly."

It is the divinely-humbled soul God meets with His grace, and lifts up in the power of His Spirit, gives nearness to Himself in holy, happy fellowship, and uses for the blessing of others. “He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent empty away." “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." Christ hath not given up His assembly, but ever nourishes and cherishes it; and God has not given up His family, but watches over them with that same love that He had when He chose them in Christ, and gave His Son to redeem them, a love from which nothing can separate them. Yet there would seem to be an election according to grace now in a fallen Church, just as there was an election according to grace among the Jews when their doom as a nation had been suspended over them. How few have responded to the extraordinary grace of God in bringing out the revived testimony of the apostolic times. And how many who are professedly attached to it know nothing about it; so that the work that has brought the multitude together in acknowledged unity needs to be done over again in the power of the Holy Ghost, linking the soul of the individual in living and conscious association with Christ and heavenly things. It was so at the beginning, and it will be so at the close. The Spirit had baptized the waiting disciples into one body and made them all drink one Spirit. But the word. to the awakened Jews was: " Repent and be baptized every one of you, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." "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. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." This was the individual work at the beginning; and " if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me," shows the individual character of the work continuing to the close. When vessels to dishonor, like Hymenæus and Philetus, appear as they now do in the house of God., grace acts in individuals to bring out separation by a personal purification, and we read, " If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good. work." (2 Tim. 2:21.) " These things saith he that is holy, he that is true; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and not denied. my name." The Word. and Name of the Holy and, the True, the Word as written, the Person as revealed, are all to the soul that knows the power of the gathering grace that causes saints to cluster around the glorious Son of God, and like the Annas and Simeons of the end of the Jewish dispensation " to wait for the Lord. Jesus Christ as Savior,” and the promised. " redemption" that shall be ours by resurrection or transformation when " the Lord himself shall descend from heaven" to take us in glorious bodies like His own to the heavenly home in the Father's house, of which He hath spoken.

But some will say, there is nothing new in all this: it is only that which has been sounding in our ears ever since we listened to the gospel of the glory of Christ. But the novelty is that by the grace of God it is going farther than the ears, for in the fresh power of God's Spirit it is now sounding in convicted consciences, humbled souls, and bowed and melted hearts. “Has this been the case with you?" I would ask of such saints as are full of the recovered truth, position, and privileges, making them feel "rich and increased in goods," and having need of nothing. “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Are you convicted of never having seen God—never having had fellowship with the Father and the Son, giving fullness of joy? Has yours been a Christianity that is a mere Jewish thing—as if the veil were still unrent and God behind a curtain dwelling in the thick darkness? Have you a consciousness that you have never gone into the presence of God fully revealed in Christ and His cross and death, by the new and living way, new-made for us through the veil that is to say His flesh? And have you been convicted that, even though a saint, and loved. as such by the Lord. Jesus, you have never had personal intimacy and fellowship with Him such as this to which His own word of love calls you? Then may God grant that you may regard His knock, hear His voice, and open to a waiting, loving Jesus, and no longer have Him outside your door, but dwelling in your hearts by faith in the energy of the Spirit, that being rooted and grounded in love, and knowing the love Christ that passeth knowledge, ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Oh! that we may all give heed to the rousing midnight cry: " BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM! Go ye out to meet Him! "

"The Spirit of Jesus"

" The Spirit of God" shall descend below

Prophecy's valley His power shall know. (Ezek. 37)

Abraham's seed shall arise and sing

Myriads blessing their Priest and King:

But while that seed in their graves still lie (Ez. 37:10-14.)

The children of grace in their stead now cry. (Rom. 11).

Write, Lord on our hearts thy name so fair,

" Jehovah-Shammah"—The Lord is there. (Ezek. 48:35).

"The Spirit of Jesus " ascended on high,

Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie. (Ex. 37.)

Under His breathing the heralds of peace (Acts 2)

In faith, love, hope, and labors increase. (Acts 4)

Hirelings' before the great Shepherd now lie, (Acts 6:7.)

While their inward emotion finds vent in the cry —(Acts 9:6.)

Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair—

"Jehovah-Shammah"—the Lord is there.

"The Spirit of Jesus " ascended on high,

Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie.

The fountains of life in the saints now spring, (John 4:14.)

" Filled-full " in Christ the heart shall sing. (Col. 2:10.)

Formal professors are found on their knees The contrite prayer supplanting their " ease"—(Amos 6:1.)

Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair—

"Jehovah-Shammah"—the Lord is there.

" The Spirit of Jesus" ascended on high,

Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie.

Now shall the worldling awakened be, (Acts 16:29,30).

The dead shall live, and the blind shall see. (Eph. 2:1-10).

The careless and godless, the vile and profane (1 Cor. 6:11).

Shall cry as they gaze on the Lamb once slain—(1 John 1.; Rev. 5)

Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair—

"Jehovah-Shammah"—The Lord is there.

" The Spirit of Jesus" ascended on high,

Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie.

Now a reviving of grace is begun, (Acts 2).

And glory is given to God's dear Son: (Phil. 1:20.)

The fathers, the youths, and the children share (Jo. 2.)

And lift up to heaven the heart-felt Prayer—(Acts 5:14.)

Write, Lord, on our hearts Thy name so fair—

"Jehovah-Shammah”—Lord is there.

"The Spirit of Jesus," ascended on high, Breathes on the vale where the dead now lie

Fresh in the air of a heavenly Spring, (Sol. 2:11-13.)

The heart must love, and the tongue must sing. (Eph. 5:18, 19.)

Dwelling in love and dwelling in God, (1 John 4:15, 16.)

The Bride's heart leaps on the heavenward road (Rev. 22:17).

To hail her Bridegroom of form most fair (Psa. 45:2)

And prove in the Glory—" The Lord is there." (Rev. 21:22, 23.)

"The Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

Ex. 30:32-38; Prov. 27:9; Ezek. 23:41; Sol. 1:3.

"THE Spirit of Christ," the anointing of grace,

The oil and its fatness descending—

The gladness come down from the heavenly place

With " garments of praise " never-ending.

The nature, another creation bestowed,

Revealing its beauty and weakness,

The rose and the lily adorning the road

In holy dependence and meekness.

The body on earth " full of light " on its way,

The aloes and cassia pouring,

That perfume which telleth what tongue cannot say,

While upwards the heart is adoring.

Expressing Himself in the pathway of love,

" In His room" who is absent in glory;

The voice of the turtle, the heart of the dove,

Displaying the Lonely One's story.

The “flour of the offering the Spirit bore on,

In manhood all-spotless to heaven (Lev. 2),

Now joined into one (from the scene where He's gone)

“The eighth day " told out in " the seven."

“The Spirit of Jesus," the inner delight

The " life more abundantly " giveth,

" Spiced wine " of the pomegranate hidden from sight -

The fruit His beloved receiveth ( Phil 1:2).

The joy of the life that delighted to do

That " will " whose decree consecrateth

The Isaac-Rejoicer whose spirit could view

His " pearl "—ere the earth was created. (Prov. 8;

Matt. 13:16).

That Father that saw in His " Joseph" below

(Like gems by the ocean surrounded),

A Treasure that man could not value nor know,

By angels in glory unsounded (Isa. 42:1).

And yet—like that River " divided in four "—

When down into time it descended—

The Life was expressed as it carried the store

Of wealth whence the spices were blended.

And now " Jesus Christ " from His glory supplies

His Spirit in fullness of blessing,

The power to shine and the power to rise,

His garment and person possessing (Rom. 15:13,16, 29)

The Living One bid where the spices are stored

" One pearl " there completing the story:

The oil that on Adam could never be poured

Displaying " the Christ" in the glory.

“The Holy One " set in the heavenly place,

"The feast-offering " is the dispenser

Of joy to the praise of the glory of grace

With measureless spice from the censer
(Heb. 9:13, 14; Lev. 3; Lev. 16:12, 13).

The Truth and the Spirit

" I SOMETIMES think that we are experiencing a little what must have been felt sorely by some at the close of the apostolic age, that after all the truth that had been taught it was little understood and could be, as it indeed was, quickly surrendered, and lost. Are we to witness this? May we be kept, for we cannot keep ourselves. How comforting are the closing words of Jude. ' To him who is able to keep us from falling,' &c”

This excerpt from a brother's letter is sadly true and suggestive. The ease and rapidity with which the most important truth is given up at the present hour are amazing. And even the truth of the unity of the body seems flowing out with the current. The leak is still increasing. A work of the Spirit is so fine in its nature and workmanship, that it is easily spoiled if human hands are laid upon it, and as the finest fruits when rudely handled never recover it, but soon go to corruption, so is it with the product of the Spirit if it is handled by human hands: it loses its freshness and beauty, languishes and ends in rottenness; and (as has been truly said), the corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption. That we may see this as to the Christian profession, let us read 2 Tim. 3:1-9; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Peter 2; Jude; Rev. 2., 3., 17.-19.

Receiving and holding fast the truth in the Spirit are ever associated with progress in spirituality, and excellence of moral practice. The losing of the truth tends to spiritual death and moral corruption. When some in Corinth denied the resurrection, it told on their morality. The Spirit warns of consequences when, quoting a heathen poet, he says, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." “Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake up righteously, and sin not, for some have ignorance of God. I speak this to your shame." Ignorance of God as a moral being accompanied the denial of the truth of resurrection. Adding law to Christ for the Christian life led the Galatians back practically from the Spirit to the flesh, and, in principle, from Christianity to heathenism, so that the apostle stands in doubt of them, lest he should have bestowed upon them labor in vain. Paul is in an agony for the churches he himself had planted, when he saw symptoms of " not holding the head," and he seeks with all urgency to detach the Hebrews from " ordinances," knowing how they were hindered by them from advancement in the truth and the word of righteousness; while Timothy is continued in Ephesus " to enjoin some not to teach other doctrines nor turn their minds to fables and endless genealogies, which bring questionings rather than God's dispensation, which is in faith."

The apostle had warned the elders of this church of grievous wolves coming in, not sparing the flock, and of men arising among themselves speaking perverted things to draw away disciples after them. The state of the church after the decease of the apostles as preserved in the writings of the apostolic fathers, tells of no gradual losing of the truth (that had gone on while the apostles lived), but of a complete and immediate descent, as it were, from heaven to earth! It is one thing to have the truth fully taught, but none except spiritual and exercised souls will receive and retain it: and they are always the few. Only a vessel formed by the Spirit can keep the precious deposit: and God's assembly keeping it is the pillar and ground of the truth.

Where the power of the Spirit is enjoyed, and all eyes are lifted up to the Lord on high, the saints are kept fresh in a living atmosphere of divine things, and the power of the Spirit giving a sense of the presence of God, is so sustaining that, like Moses on the mount, food may not be required—the food I mean, of a solid kind, can for a time be dispensed with, being made up for by the atmosphere of living truth with which souls are enveloped by means of the Spirit's presence revealing Christ. The atmosphere in such circumstances is laden with nourishment: and the least portion of truth, in this spiritual diffusion can be made to fill the whole soul with the strength and sweetness of Christ.

But when the' Spirit is grieved, quenched or resisted, his strengthening and refreshing power is gone, and the more the truth presented the worse is the state produced: for 'nothing is more hardening than the loading of disordered minds with the strong meat of Christian truth that can be received with profit only by broken spirits and divinely exercised souls. Self and the things which nourish it allowed gives a disrelish for the things of the Spirit; and the glorious Son of God is only half a Savior to selfish souls.

We have forgotten that Christianity was inaugurated with such a power of the Holy Ghost as to fill the whole of those brought under His influence with a torrent of spiritual fervor through their enjoyment of Christ made real in the Spirit such as led to the obliteration of selfishness, and the replacing of it by the love for one another that flowed forth in grace: and, under the truth preached, the Spirit led naturally to divine unity, happy fellowship, and refreshing worship. The presence of the Spirit revealing inwardly an exalted Christ became to the saints both truth and power. This is the secret of unity; and unless this be enjoyed the power of unity, communion and advancement in the knowledge of Christ is gone! and the efforts of human energy to supply its place only make matters worse. Neither the truth nor fellowship one with another can be had except in the living grace and power of the Spirit. What we want, then, is living faith, fervor and self-sacrificing grace such as the disciples had when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them, and they were breathing in the atmosphere that surrounds a heavenly Christ. A Spirit-given experience of Christ flowing from the precious truth we have received is a rich legacy for which we have great cause to be thankful, but has not the truth all but ceased to have its commanding power over us; and in order to have it coming afresh in all its pristine spiritual force we must look more in the expectancy of faith to the having' of the Holy Ghost acting in His primitive energy in the midst of us, and filling the whole of the sphere of God's assembly with the full spiritual flow of " the river of God," so that freshness of life in the Spirit, growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, practical beneficence and spiritual devotedness, liberty in worship and social gladness may be enjoyed as in those early days when the ascended Christ had been seated at God's right hand and crowned with glory and honor.

The wheat that had lain for three thousand years in the dried-up palm of a mummy's hand had shown no signs, all those ages, of the life that was silently enwrapped in its every grain; but when it had " the scent of water," and was buried in a moist and cultivated soil, it germinated, sprung up, ripened, and propagated itself, until, in course of years, it waved in yellow harvests over the autumn fields, and fed the hunger of thousands of living, men. There is, also, life in every grain of revealed truth by which the Holy Ghost sets forth the heavenly glory and personal beauty of a risen and glorified Christ; but who amongst us is not sorrowfully conscious that even this divine seed, as now ministered, has become like the dry wheat in the ancient mummy's hand, for it too often finds neither utterance nor entrance in the living power of the Spirit of God; and the good seed not finding the proper soil of good and honest hearts, there is not the return of thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold: Christ is not magnified: saints remain unrefreshed, and sinners unblessed. What we should covet earnestly, and pray for constantly, is that the truth of the gospel of the glory of Christ should be given forth by those who minister it in the power of the Spirit with the eye fixed, like the angel-faced Stephen's, on a glorious Jesus at the right hand of God; and that it should be received into souls, and hearts, divinely touched, in the living power of the Holy Ghost as on the day of His coming to earth; for what is truth apart from Him who is the truth in the glory of God, or apart from the Spirit, " who is the truth " in the Church on earth? " It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is the truth.' Christ Himself is the whole thing on high: the Spirit Himself is the whole thing on earth: Christ is the truth objectively: the Spirit is the truth subjectively and we must have both not only in object and witness, but in life and power, giving a conscious enjoyment to the soul of Christ and all that is in Him, so that He may dwell in the heart by faith and by the Holy Ghost, and our joy may be full. When this is so there will be a hidden spring of living water opened that will spring up unto everlasting life, keeping soul and heart fresh in a living enjoyment of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, so that the whole of the springs of God's thoughts and affections being made common property in Christ by the Spirit in our souls and hearts, rivers of living water shall flow out from us to the refreshing of ourselves and others and the spiritual blessing of thirsty souls.

Standing, some years ago, on the bridge of Motala, a town on the eastern shore of the great Swedish lake Vettern, that stretches about eighty English miles along the highest part of the middle of the country, and consequently receiving no great rivers, we were amazed to see the mighty river, crystal-clear, that flowed out in sparkling freshness from this calm inland sea. No great rivers flowed into it, and yet this great river flowed out of it! There was no visible supply. But the constant fullness of the lake and the outflow of the vast volume of its crystal river are accounted for they say by the fact that there are great hidden springs in the bottom of the lake itself, which ceaselessly send forth their copious supply of filtered waters. This furnishes a striking illustration of the hidden springs opened to us who believe, " in Christ in God," and of the living water of the inward well of life ever springing up in divine fullness of life, love, power and blessing when there is " the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," causing refreshing rivers of living water to flow out of us in a holy Christ-like life, and in a spiritual testimony that will minister richest heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus wherever the rivers flow.

It was so on the day of the first Pentecost after Christ's ascension, when the promised Spirit came and “they were all filled with the holy Ghost," and the disciples testified of a glorified Christ with such power that three thousand souls believed and " were added together " to praise and warship God. And as they continued to preach Christ, the only name given amongst men whereby we must be saved, “many of those who heard the word, believed, and the number of the men had become five thousand." And when the rulers thought to stop them, they appealed against them to the Lord, with whom is all power in heaven and on earth; " and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the word of God with boldness... and with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). This ministry of the Spirit went on " and the word of God increased, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly multiplied, and a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith " (Acts 6:7). " And Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders and great signs among the people," and so testified of God's grace in Israel, and their resisting of the Spirit, and being betrayers and murderers of the Just One, that they, " hearing these things, were cut to the heart, and gnashed their teeth against him; but being full of the Holy Ghost, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God," when they rushed upon him, cast him out of the city, and stoned him, praying and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and, having said this, he fell asleep." Full of the Holy Ghost, his eyes on heaven full of Jesus at the right hand of God, his was a ministry of living power of conviction and divine power of personal sustainment, and, like his Lord, he became so superior to his evil circumstances that he prayed for his murderers (Acts 7)

When Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and preached Christ to them, the crowd with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip. The same evangelist preached Jesus to the Eunuch of Ethiopia, and he believed, was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8). Saul, the persecutor, was converted by the word of power uttered from the heavens by Jesus in person, and immediately preached the faith which once he destroyed (Acts 9). As Peter was " preaching peace by Jesus Christ," and telling of his anointing, life, death, resurrection, and that through him all who believe should receive remission of sins, " the Holy Ghost fell upon all those who were hearing the word," and they " were baptized in the name of the Lord" (Acts 10). When some of those who had been scattered abroad by the persecution that took place about Stephen went to Antioch and preached to the Greeks also, as well as to the Jews, the gospel of the Lord Jesus, “the Lord's hand was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord." When Paul and Barnabas were sent forth from Antioch by the Holy Ghost, and came to another city of this name, their word of salvation was with power, "and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 13). And wherever the river of God came this was the result. " But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and makes manifest the odor of his knowledge by us in every place " (2 Cor. 2). " For our gospel was not with you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance." No fruitless preaching then! When the word was preached in apostolic times, there was a constant stream of living power in connection with it, Christ was magnified, and souls were blessed.

And are there not some who can thank God for His grace that they have seen similar workings of the Spirit in our day. Whole congregations have been known to pass under His gracious power simultaneously; saints have been filled to overflowing, and sinners have been convicted and converted. In one hour His mighty energy has "turned the shadow of death into the morning," and caused a blessed time of refreshing to God's saints, and of salvation to the lost. God's ordinary processes in nature are carried on by quiet means: but at times He employ the earthquake, the hurricane, and the thunder-storm. So in grace His work is done quietly and silently His word distilling "as dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass," but He sometimes causes His Spirit to fall upon whole congregations like the bursting of the thunder-cloud, drenching the assembled multitude with divine power and saving blessing.

Might not God in sovereignity, cause this action of the Spirit for Christ's glory to be given now, when "the Churches" are departing from the faith, sinking into the world and losing the truth of God and Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the inspired word, and are rapidly going into religious infidelity, and when those who have been gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus so feebly witness either to His grace or glory, the unity of His body, or the purity and beauty of His bride? All things ecclesiastical seem fast hastening to ruin. Truth has been pouring out from the denominations like a river! The ease and rapidity with which they are giving up the distinctive doctrines of Christianity makes the faithful believer stand amazed. And the shattering of those gathered in unity on divine ground as by the shock of an earthquake has occurred simultaneously with this defection, and the objects for which they were gathered seem slipping away from their grasp also. We are in the very heart of an awful crisis, such as neither we nor our fathers have witnessed, and it becomes us to lay it to heart and give glory to the Lord our God before He cause darkness. Ere long God must interpose. Shall it be in giving fresh power in witness to " the testimony of our Lord," and a work of grace by the Spirit of God, or by the coming of the Lord and judgment on the world? The solemnity of the moment is unutterable!

"Too Much Monotony."

" Too much monotony." One writes, on March 17th, -" A thought has pressed on my mind for some time, to which I now desire to give expression-I mean in connection with the periodicals amongst us. I feel that there is far too much monotony-unscripturally so, I think." There is too much truth in this brother's allegation. The whole circle of Scripture topics is not reflected from the pages of our periodicals, but we confine ourselves to the teaching of Scripture on a few select subjects which other Christians have omitted, or stated wrongly. If the periodicals be compared with Scripture there is scarcely any likeness at all to it in the way and manner, as well as the matter, of their teaching. We are vastly more narrowed in our range of subjects than the Scriptures; and we seldom descend to the homely ways of the Holy Ghost. We have, therefore, need to be admonished on this head, for there is immense variety in the Holy Scriptures, and by way of showing that we are amenable to brotherly admonition we have made a beginning of amendment by giving an entire change of subject in a few practical words last month and this. This may suffice meantime to relieve " the monotony," and prove a salutary word of needful exhortation. But this kind of writing the author of the " Hebrews " seems to think would not be generally received, and so he takes care to say, before he closes his epistle, " I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation." So says the Holy Ghost to-day, if ye will hear His voice.

Why There Is a Lack of Fellowship

A SPIRITUAL believer and a worldly one are like oil and water, which may be together in the same vessel, yet do not make a mixture—far less a diffusion. The spiritual and the carnal may be together in the same outward fellowship, yet there s no inward communion. They do not have the same common elements before their souls, hence their spiritual communion is impossible. This is the secret of broken fellowship, and heaviness in worship. The instrument of praise has many strings out of tune, and hence discord arises. Saints who meet in the same assembly are not on speaking terms with each other spiritually. When they meet they have nothing to say to each other on spiritual things. They are not in the same spiritual condition, and their consciousness of the incompatibility shuts them up from each other in silence. And if they have nothing in common for spiritual converse, how can they have anything in common in prayer and worship? The one part of an assembly have Christ and the things above before their souls: the other part are in very broad and constant contact with the world: the consequence is the tone and spirit of the assembly are dragged down; and it may take a whole hour before the saints are brought up to a worshipping spirit: and very frequently there is no consciousness of Worshipping in one body at all.

In saints being so generally mixed up with the world, and not separate from it and with the Lord in spirit outside of it in a new world, is the explanation of the moral deadness of assemblies and their incapacity for worship. That the world acts to lower the moral tone and to put saints out of living fellowship with one another, Scripture affords abundance of sorrowful illustration. Is it not remarkable, too, how strikingly the more prominent instances go in pairs? The mere statement of a few examples will show this:—

1. Abraham, the man of faith, had his Lot, who ultimately left him and went to Sodom.

2. Moses, the man of God, had his Aaron who, when he was on the mount with God, went into idolatry to please the people.

3. David, had his Jonathan, who, though he loved him as he laved his own soul, yet left his fellowship in the outside place to return to his seat at the king's table. His heart was with David, and his fellowship with Saul! Alas! how many saints are like him.

4. Elijah had his Obadiah, who professed great respect for Elijah, yet, having been in fellowship with wicked Ahab, he felt that there was no communion between the separate "man of God" and himself when he met him. How small Obadiah felt to be looking after sustenance for Ahab's horses and mules when he met the faithful man of God who had been in the outside place, entirely hidden and sustained by God at the time when he had been figuring as chamberlain in the king's household.

5. Elisha had his Gehazi, who went after Naaman, and by his worldliness spoiled the prophet's testimony to the grace of the God of Israel.

6. Micaiah had his Jehoshaphat, who went with King Ahab to Ramoth-Gilead, and nearly perished in battle, while Micaiah went to prison for his fidelity to the word of Jehovah testifying against the expedition.

7. Paul had his Peter, who went into dissimulation, and carried others with him—even Barnabas, and was rebuked by Paul before them all for not walking uprightly, led into it by his tenderness to those who represented religious worldliness. His old savoring of the things that be of men led him astray.

Of our Lord Jesus it is said that all His disciples forsook Him, and left Him alone. Paul says, “No man stood with me but all forsook me, notwithstanding the Lord stood with me." An unworldly Jesus and an unworldly Paul were in communion with no moral distance between. What an honor and comfort to have the Lord standing with him when all the saints failed to do so. In evil days and seasons of moral crisis it must be the Lord and the witness though all forsake us. Those who do not deny themselves for Christ save their life, but lose it. It is very striking to see such pairs as we have mentioned in outward contact in the Word, but of different inward tone and spiritual decision of character. Such there are still in the Church of God, and hence difficulty arises There would be no difficulty were it only dissimilarity in knowledge, attainment, or growth, for babes, young men and fathers may be in the happiest spiritual fellowship as long as they are fresh and spiritual, but when there is lack of sanctification to a heavenly Christ and a willing cleaving to the world, there is an effectual hindrance to spiritual fellowship and to united worship, as well as to profiting by the ministry of the word. Two saints in the same earthly position, having like knowledge of the Word and walking professedly in the same path of separation from evil when thrown for a time alone into each others' company, feel that they have nothing to say to one another. Neither ventures to make a spiritual remark. They cannot: they dare not: for there is a secret sense of more restraint; so, instead of speaking of Christ and Christianity, they speak of the weather, or the war, or the latest catastrophe. How do you account for this? How was it that Elisha needed a minstrel before he could speak? (2 Kings 3:15). It was because of the king of Israel in company with Jehoshaphat. So is it with saints who are spiritually sensitive and walking in the Spirit, when others who profess to be separate from sinners, and are not, are present. They are on different moral elevations, and in dissimilar spiritual 'conditions. The one is mixed up with evil, and is secretly seeking to make the best of both worlds: his more spiritual brother feels in his presence as if he would require the " minstrel " (the elevating converse of a Christ-enjoying saint) before he could utter a sentence on spiritual things. If the other speak, through a feeling of the necessity of saying something, he will likely feel the necessity for giving himself a character for conversions or good works like Obadiah (1 Kings 18) for having fed the spared prophets in the cave in the time of famine while living as chief administrator in the house of Ahab, while Elijah was in solitary separation with Jehovah at the brook Cherith; and, notwithstanding Obadiah's good deeds, the Lord's prophet was in the wrong place in the house of the wicked king, on whose account the judgment of famine had been sent: and when he met Elijah, good deeds and all, there was no fellowship, and Elijah let him know as much. Too many are Obadiahs!

This worldly element in saints is the bar to fellowship and the cause of the ruin of assemblies. It is amazing the rapidity with which an assembly of God's saints may be run down in its spirituality by the influx of the spirit of allowed worldliness. It may be in the full flow of spirituality, and in a year or two it has become languid and lifeless, the conscious enjoyment cf happy spiritual fellowship has ceased, and even when all continue to come together for prayer, worship, and breaking of bread as before, the spring, power, freedom, joy and brightness have gone, and the saints sit under the shadow of death. In such a condition of things it is also remarkable the suddenness with which the truth of the mystery of God and the place, character and calling of the saints as united to Christ in heavenly glory may be given up and practically surrendered by the mass. Fellowship in the conscious, living power of the Spirit being gone: the fine spiritual machinery of the Church having become deranged, the living power of the Word and the refreshing flow of the worship come to a dead stop, and there is no possibility of having it otherwise: for what use is it to turn the hands of a watch when the mainspring is broken? The conscious presence and power of the Spirit in better times revealing Christ and shedding abroad God's love in the heart served for truth to many, and they felt strengthened, happy and united; but the Spirit being grieved and quenched, the divine power that held together being relaxed, or quiescent, the low worldly condition that has been secretly growing as spirituality declined, becomes manifest and increases with such rapidity that it cannot be arrested, for there seems to be no longer power in any to overcome it however much it may be tried by the few who feel it and mourn over it, for it is corporate declension, and will likely go on until things are brought to a dead-lock, and the demoralization is complete. Those who still walk in the Spirit feel the moral relaxation as well as the terrible barrenness and deadness, and bemoan their helplessness; and, the atmosphere being loaded with impurities, they themselves are liable to become injured, even when they long and strive to have it otherwise. The truth becomes powerless; growth becomes impaired, and freshness languisheth; the prayers and thanksgiving are the dry repetition of verses of Scripture or the formal review of the whole field of revealed truth in which there is nothing revealed to the soul, and the truth of God, not being in the Spirit, has no real power of cementing divine unity of an inner sort, and hence the bonds of Church fellowship become loosened and broken: for the vessel having ceased practically to be the witness of God's love and goodness, and of the grace and glory of Christ, fellowship with the Father and the Son is not enjoyed, and, as a consequence, there is no longer conscious fellowship one with another; and we are in reality, back to the hollow formalism out of which we had come intensified in its baleful influence by this that it is practiced on the true ground of God for His Church. But continued faith in the Son of God and walking in the Spirit are essential to hold divine ground; otherwise both it and the truth may be allowed to slip away from us. When the Spirit is grieved and not acting in spiritual energy in binding souls in one, the truth for the hour is weakened, and bit by bit given up: fellowship in the Spirit is unrealized: united worship is an impossibility; and, instead of being exercised in soul by the sad things that are transpiring, and also by the things which affect injuriously the Lord's name, the mass are so greatly benumbed by the frosts of the ecclesiastical winter that they cannot be roused from their moral torpidity, and be made to address themselves to a genuine and penitent confession of their evil state, or to active efforts at practical separation from evil ways: but for the sake of ease and peace they prefer to assume towards all persons and causes the attitude of a benevolent neutrality! (Read Jude 20-25; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 Peter; James 4; Titus 2:11-15; 3:1-9; 2 Tim. 3; 1 Tim. 6; Col. 2, 3; Phil. 3; Eph. 4:17-32; 5:1-21; 6:10-20; Gal. 5, 6; John 17).

Why We Do Not Say Heavenly Father, and Why We Do Not Pray to the Holy Ghost

I AM pleased to see that you thought my remarks on the Father worth reading to your circle.

The Lord Jesus in His valedictory address uses the word Father more times than it occurs elsewhere in the whole of the Gospels; perhaps oftener than it is used in the New Testament; but this I have not verified. If you begin at John 13 and underline the word Father on to the end of chapter 17. you will be surprised to find how very frequently the word occurs. When our earth passes through a part of her annual journey round the sun, she comes into a sphere bright with the constant darting of spots of light—the region of the shooting stars—they are there in great abundance, and not clustered together in any other part of its course: so we find this portion of John's Gospel specially bright with the clustered frequency of the word " Father." The Lord is introducing “his own” to the Father who had given them: and in chapter 17. He addresses the Father about them, committing them to the Father's care since he cannot remain longer with them to shield them beneath His sheltering wing. When it is the Son and the Father He simply says—" Father." When He commits the disciples to Him in the midst of evil he says, "Holy Father;” and when He casts a glance at the world that Had refused Him—and hated both Him and His Father; he says, "O Righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee." Why not say, " Heavenly Father," here? Because in John's Gospel he is the Only Begotten. Son, who is in the bosom of the Father: consequently he could say, as Incarnate, “The Son of man who is in heaven." It is the Son and the Father in John: in Mathew it is Jehovah and Jesus, presenting Himself as Messiah, according to the Old Testament prophecies having been born King of the Jews in Bethlehem and among the people in the land of Israel, he says," My Father, who is in heaven," " my heavenly Father." Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Here we have distance and earth as his sphere—" the land of Israel " all so different from " the Son of Man, who is in heaven" in John. We are not standing in the Jewish position of servant, son, and subject—distance: but we, as believers in the Son, are made nigh through the blood of Christ—for by Him we have access by one Spirit to the Father.' We have now the same position as we have the same nature as the glorified Son of God, and he has ascended to His God and Father, and by grace we who believe in Him are brought to God our Father in Christ where He is in the heavenlies: so being in conscious relationship to the Father the Spirit of adoption giving us a sense of His love and our nearness to Him being in the light, as He is in the light, in fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, we do not say " heavenly Father," but simply " Abba, Father;" for being in the enjoyment of the filial relationship, and being in the Spirit, and to faith "in the heavenlies in Christ " we are where the Father is, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. " Beloved, now are we the children of God." In the presence of our God and Father in Christ we could not say heavenly Father, as if there were all the distance between earth and heaven between us.

My children do not address me as at a distance, but simply say " father," for they are with me under the same roof in this city; but if they were in a foreign land it would not be improper for one of them to write and use the name of the city in connection with the word father. “We have the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

As to the Holy Ghost, He is never the object of prayer, but is always spoken of in the Word as the medium and power of prayer, praise and fellowship, as also of suffering and service. Yet in hymns we find Him addressed as the object of prayer. If this be right in the Christian dispensation, why is there no instance of this in the Christian Scriptures? Because He is here and in the saints—" The Spirit is life: " He identifies Himself with the saints, and is the divine source, energy, originator, and power of their spiritual thoughts, affections, feelings, and emotions. Then, "praying in the Holy Ghost " is, " according to the Scriptures," not praying to the Holy Ghost. Adoringly do I own the Holy Spirit as one by the persons in the God-head, and when I pray to God of course it is as Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but then this is in regard to Godhead. But when it is the several persons in the Godhead in connection with the work of redemption and the church, we never find any example of prayer to the Holy Ghost, nor any injunction to pray to the Holy Spirit. He is in us: “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God?“ “The love of God is shed abroad. in our hearts by the holy Ghost given unto us." Strengthened by the Spirit he causes Christ to dwell in the heart by faith, and seeing that he now characterizes the new life which He imparts; we never find that He in us is the object of address in praise, prayer, or worship, for this would lead to pray to a power in ourselves: for morally He is identified with the new. life in Christ (Rom. 8) Though clearly seen, even there, as distinct from the believer, He is not only a living force within us, but the living God as well. Hence there is a moral propriety in not praying to the Holy Ghost: but what commands our faith and practice is that in the Christian Scriptures there is neither precept nor example for praying to the Holy Ghost, and yet we find. this done both in prayer-meetings and hymns by unintelligent saints and poets. But Scripture is wiser than our hymn-writers: and it never tells us to invoke the Holy Ghost. " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord. Jesus Christ unto Eternal life (Jude 20, 21).

Bible Herald: 1881

Table of Contents

A Few Notes on a Pamphlet by Dr. Tregelles, Entitled-"The Hope of Christ's Second Coming."

A Thought on the Hebrews

Abide Among Us With Thy Grace

Christ Him Self Our Object

Eternally Saved in Christ Jesus

Faith and Works Inseparable

Gone to His Rest

" He Is Not Here."

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 1 - The Origin and Source of the Christian Life

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 2 - God's Way of Deliverance

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 3 - In What Christian Living Consists

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 4 - Grace with Spiritual Exercise

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 5 - The Effect of Association with a Risen Christ

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 6 - Filial Relationship and Spiritual Liberty

Higher Christian Living: Chapter 7 - The Mystery Essential to Resting/Building Upon Christ

How to Speak of Christ's Servants

" I Have Planted."

Jordan, Gilgal, and the Old Corn

Joseph

Leviticus 23: Overview

Leviticus 23:15-22: Sheaf Waved

Leviticus 23:23-32: Trumpet Blowing

Leviticus 23:33-44: Feast of Tabernacles

Leviticus 24: Oil for the Lamps - Made in the Image of God

Leviticus 25: Introduction - A New Revelation on Mt. Sinai

Leviticus 25: Jubilee - Servants

Leviticus 26: 5 Steps

Leviticus 27: Vows

Leviticus: Conclusion

My Expectation

Mysticism and the Things of the Spirit

Perez-Uzzah and Baal-Perazim

Portions of Scripture to Be Read

Revelation - Personal, Written and Preached

Seminal Sentences: Also, Lev. 23 - The Feasts of Jehovah

Sleeping in the Calm of Heaven

The Ark in the House of Obed-Edom

The Beseeching of Grace

The Cross the End of the Old Man

The Devoted Victim of Propitiation Remembered in the Lord's Supper

The Father Seeketh Worshippers

The Heavenly One and the Heavenly Ones

The Man Christ Jesus - as Set Forth in Luke's Gospel

The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon: Part 1

The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, and Babylon: Part 2

The Presence of the Holy Ghost

The Present Substitute for the Feast of Tabernacles

The Seeing of God the Abhorring of Self

"The Spirit of Jesus"

"The Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

The Truth and the Spirit

"Too Much Monotony."

Why There Is a Lack of Fellowship

Why We Do Not Say Heavenly Father, and Why We Do Not Pray to the Holy Ghost