Bible Treasury: Volume N6

TΗΕ two grand elements of Christian worship are the presence of the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ, which is commemorated in the supper.

But in this worship the affections which are cοnnected with all our relationships with God are developed. God, in His majesty, is adored. The gifts even of His providence are recognized. He who is a Spirit is worshipped in spirit and in truth. We present to God, as our Father—the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—the expression of the holy affections which He has produced in us; for He sought us when we were afar off, and has brought us near to Himself, as His beloved children, giving us the spirit of adoption, and associating us (wondrous grace!) with His well-beloved Son. We adore our Saviour-God, who has purged us from our sins, and placed us in His presence without spot, His holiness and His righteousness, which have been so marvelously displayed in our redemption, being to us a source of joy which passes not away ; for, through the perfect work of Christ, we are in the light as He Himself is in the light. It is the Holy Spirit Himself who reveals to us these heavenly things, and the glory which is to come, and who works in us so as to produce affections suitable to such blessed relationships with God. He it is who is the bond of union between the heart and these things. But in thus drawing out our souls, He makes us feel that we are children of the same family, and members of the same body; uniting us in this worship by means of mutual affections and feelings common to all towards Him who is the object of our worship. Jesus Himself is present in our midst, according to His promise. In fine, worship is exercised in connection with the very sweetest recollection of His love, whether we regard His work upon the cross, or whether we recall the thought of His ever fresh and tender affection for us. He desires our remembrance of Him Sweet and precious thought! Oh! how joyous to our souls, and yet, at the same time, bow solemn ought such worship to be! What sort of life should we be careful to lead in order to render it! How watchful over our own spirits! How sensitive as to evil! With what earnestness should we seek the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, in order to render such worship suitably! Yet it should be very simple and truthful; for true affection is always simple, and at the same time devout, for the sense of such interests imparts devoutness. The majesty of Him whom we adore, and the greatness of His love, give solemnity to every act in which we draw near to Him. With what deep affections and thankfulness should we at such times think of the Savior, when we recall all His love for us—abiding through Him in the presence of God, far removed from all evil, in the foretaste of our eternal blessing!

These two great subjects about which Christian worship is occupied (namely, the love of God our Father, and the love of the Lord Jesus, in His work, and as Head of His body the church) afford slight changes in the character of the worship, according to the state of those who render it. At times, the Lord Jesus will be more specially before the mind; at times, thoughts of the Father will be more present. The Holy Spirit alone can guide us in this; but the truthfulness and spirituality of worship will depend upon the state of those who compose the assembly. Effort in such things has no place. He, who is the channel of worship, let it be observed, should not present that which is proper and peculiar to himself, but that which is truly the exercise through the Spirit of the hearts of those who compose the assembly. This will make us feel our entire dependence upon the Comforter—the Spirit of truth—for truthful service to God in communion. Nothing, however, is more simple or more evident than the truth, that the worship which is rendered should be the worship of all. J.N.D.

(Continued from p. 256)

Who Are We?

This, with a special emphasis on the “who,” is a question sometimes raised by persons who dislike the isolation of a separate path, which the Lord's claims impose on such as would walk in obedience to His holy word; and to avoid which it is pretended they are laying claim to a greater sanctity than others who are not treading the same narrow pathway. My fellow believer, I would beseech you earnestly Co brush aside this question and substitute for it Paul's questions in the Acts (22:8-10), “Who art Thou, Lord?” and “What shall I do, Lord” as infinitely more profitable than a self-occupation which would lead to a denial of His rights, either individually, or in association, and of our duty in relation thereto.

As to “who are we?” Well, we “are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2). Nothing can be more inclusive for every true believer, for all time, and everywhere, now and until they are called to meet the Lord in the air; and remember, as Peter says in his First Epistle, we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1:2). This then is the character of our obedience, not mere law servitude, but His who could say “I delight to do thy will, O my God.”

Dark and trying times can furnish no excuse God-ward for the absence of such obedience, but on the contrary are the very seasons which call for its display, and this we shall find ever to have been the case, whether we turn for an illustration to the Old or to the New Testament. In the Old, we read in Deuteronomy (25:17-19), “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, [even] all [that were] feeble behind thee, when thou [wast] faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be when Jehovah thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it, [that] thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven: thou shalt not forget.” Now when Saul is inducted into the kingdom, Samuel, speaking in the name of Jehovah of hosts, says to him, “Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (1 Sam. 15:3). What follows? “Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all [that was] good, and would not utterly destroy them; but everything [that was] vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly” (ver. 9). Who are we? Saul might have said; and he did say to Samuel, “the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God.” As king, of course, he ought not to have allowed it, and hence he is told, “Jehovah hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.” “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (ver. 22). Has this no voice to us, beloved? Was not the elect lady warned against an evil association thus, “Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward;” and “if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 8-11). How weak such a question, “who are we?” appears, in view of loss so personal, and a fellowship of evil so profound!

It is refreshing, however, to turn to the dark days of Esther, when it might have been pleaded that they were not in the land, but only poor captives under a foreign despot, and in an alien clime; and that consequently the injunction of the last few verses of Deuteronomy no longer applied! We read however (Esther 3:1, 2), “After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that [were] with him. And all the king's servants that [were] in the king's gate bowed and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him: but Mordecai bowed not, nor did [him] reverence.” And this exile who would carry out God's word, as far as he was able, and would not compromise His truth by a bow of the head, was enabled through his faithfulness to execute His word altogether, and to hang Haman and his ten sons. Thus according to his times was Mordecai's blessing. He did not stop to ask “who are we?” but knowing there was a vast difference between a true child of Abraham however poor, and a descendant of the royal house of Amalek however exalted, he acted in a simple-hearted faith that was pleasing to God.

Come we now to the New Testament, and we find the apostle Paul speaking of himself as “the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Cor. xv. 9). And again,” who am less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8). Further, in 2 Cor. 12:11 he says, “though I be nothing.” “Who are we?” indeed! He evidently did not think much of himself. But did this true lowliness, which we may seek to cultivate, hinder him from standing up for the rights of the Lord in relation to the gospel? Look at the same man in Gal. 2 and you will find no want of firmness there, nor of true love either, which ever seeks the good of its object. “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” And again, “But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man's person.” How truly refreshing God brought in; the instrument forgotten; save to carry out this truth; and of others justly valued as “seeming to be pillars,” one, the chief “apostle of the circumcision,” afterward withstood to the face, “because he was to be blamed!”

The Lord give us grace then (apart from all questions of “who are we?”), since the days are so bad, “to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” and which, despite all length of time, has not lost its virtue; and “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 3, 20, 21); We are told to “buy the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23).

W.N.T.

(Concluded from p. 140)

The Feasts in Deuteronomy 16: Part 1, The Passover

1.—THE PASSOVER, IN VERSES 1-8.

The three great feasts of Jehovah here specified were instituted by Him for the express purpose of filling the hearts of His people with the enjoyment of Himself revealed in distinct blessings. If it was so in the letter for Israel, what is taught and conveyed to us, who have the substance of these earthly shadows! For all that God wrought or gave in the times that are past is but a little thing, compared with what the incarnate Son of God presented to Him in His person, and accomplished in His death, resurrection, and ascension, that the Holy Spirit might testify to the believer a blessedness worthy of the Father and the Son. Yet who could deny that these feasts were full of rich remembrance and rich promise of mercy? What a magnificent putting forth of divine power it was to bring Israel, a then nation of slaves, from under the greatest power at the time ruling on the earth! Nor in that deliverance was it merely power. There was a far deeper question before God. Israel, no less than the Egyptians, were a sinful race. How could God make light of their sins? Against all the gods of Egypt Jehovah was about to execute judgment. Pharaoh, who denied His title to claim Israel, must be publicly humbled and punished. But withal what about the sins of Israel? Therefore, while closing His preliminary blows upon guilty Egypt, God directed the last of them to fall on the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, from the king's down to the maid's behind the mill. How then was it with His people? Were they not as real sinners as the Egyptians? And would God make light of sin because they were His own? Is not Jehovah sanctified in those that are near Him? Does it not add immensely to the horribleness of sins in His sight when they break out in one that He chooses to Himself. He had favored and blessed their fathers, marking them out clearly for hundreds of years while growing up to be such a people as they then became.

Accordingly He instituted the Passover, and made it the more striking, for a new reckoning commenced from that fact as a foundation for Israel. Abib was the seventh month of the civil year; “for in the month of Abib, Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night” (ver. 1). It now began the holy year. Jehovah was dealing judicially beyond all that had gone before; and the lamb's blood alone could shelter guilty Israel. It was a whole people confessing their sins and His righteousness in the same solemn sacrifice applied to every household and every soul who entered that night the blood-sprinkled doors. So we read in Ex. 12. Only observe that in Deut. 16 it is simply the passover sacrificed. Nothing is said here of the blood put upon the door-posts. “And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto Jehovah thy God, of the flock and the herd” (ver. 2).

The reason is plain. The use of the blood as on that first celebration was made but once. This intimates a great deal for the effectual reality, as well as in its typical significance, as we may read, over and over again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. How much on the other hand among men depends on repetition! Only thus it is that ordinarily, they attain an approach to what they consider worthy. With God Who cannot fail, any more than lie, it is quite another thing. Repetition in His institutions imposed on man means that the end is not reached. But there was only one paschal sprinkling of blood on the door-posts; nor was there failure in the then result. It was not repeated at any subsequent observance of the feast. Attention was thereby drawn to the unity of the blood-sprinkling when judgment was proceeding as never again in Israel's history. But “sacrifice” must always be, as it is, the ground of righteousness for man as he is. And whose righteousness was it? Not man's certainly but God's righteousness. So in the cross of Christ God would lay such a foundation that He might not only judge the evil, but justify the ungodly who had wrought nothing to deserve protection. It was grace therefore, but God's righteousness according to His word. It is His appreciation of Christ's work on behalf of those whose works were only evil.

All are aware that the Passover was before the law. The attempt therefore to bring in the law is plainly and absolutely excluded. Had that feast only come in after the law, there might have seemed some little ground for such an inference. Men are ready enough to catch at this or that appearance in order to lay down what pleases them. And the reason why the law pleases is because it necessarily is addressed to man himself and his works. He therefore likes it; man is somebody, and can do something. Yet the law was God's claim on man; but what He taught by it was the impossibility of pleasing God on any such ground. Here too He was showing by the passover, before the law was, His way of sheltering from judgment a guilty people by the blood He directed them to put on their door-posts. Be it that they were Israel; but their sins He could not ignore, as if they were nothing; or must be borne with, because they were the sins of His people. No, He found a way of righteousness, His own righteousness in the lamb that was slain; and only once was the lamb's blood put (yet in a way that brought the ground of their exemption from judgment home to each Israelite,) on the entrance to every house. No one that was there could enter save under the lamb's blood which was put not within, but outside the house.

And what could show so clearly that it was for Jehovah's eye, not for man as a matter of sense, or mind? It was put on the two side-posts, and on the lintel for his faith simply, but all the more for the profoundest feelings of his heart. Had it been inside, it would have naturally awakened the suggestion that they were to gaze at the lamb's blood, to which they owed their security. But there was nothing of the kind, the lamb's blood was put outside; within they eat the flesh roast with fire. What makes the force of that which has been said the more evident is the fact that it was “night.” There was no natural light to enable the blood to be seen of men. Only the divine eye could see the blood on the door-posts. And He was the One concerned; sins refer to His judgment. He might work by a destroyer; but it was Jehovah Who smote Egypt, man, beast, and gods; it was Jehovah Who saw the blood, and passed over Israel sheltered by it. There was the blood for the eye of Jehovah Himself to discern. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Thus and thus only could the people be screened from the destroyer.

This was the foundation of all Man had lived upon the earth long before; he had tried his own way in every possible form. Jehovah's people too had shown what they were; as His own fidelity and goodness had failed in no way. But never before had anything for His people been wrought as a righteous groundwork till the Passover.

Here however we see in this chapter as the people were about to enter the land of promise, the same blessed truth is recalled to mind when Jehovah gathered Israel round Himself. If the application of the blood to the door-posts, so striking and instructive on the original occasion, is left out here, even this is quite appropriate to Israel then and to the believer now. No doubt when a man is first awakened and receives the glad tidings of redemption in Christ Jesus through the shedding of His blood, imminent danger from the wrath to come clearly appeals to the soul. But after he has bowed to the truth, he is no longer filled with alarm, still less in the same degree or way. Is it that Christ's work is valued less? A great deal more. When souls wake up at Christ's word from moral death, when they justly feel their sins in the sight of God, there are deep and vehement heart searchings and painful pressure of guilt on the conscience; and the grace of Christ administers truly divine relief. Afterward, as the soul submits to the righteousness of God, does the value of Christ and His work diminish? It acquires a far deepening character, as faith is exercised by the word.

May I observe that there are not a few hymns tending to make people think that the first joy of looking to the Lord Jesus as the Savior is so bright and full, that all afterward here below becomes comparatively pale. But is this really consistent with the truth? Does scripture justify our looking back on that early and indelible hour of contrition, when the Savior's welcome was tasted, as the fullness of blessing for ourselves? I believe that for such as do so, the heart has feebly entered into “the riches of His grace,” little, if at all, into what the apostle calls “the glory of His grace.” Great as that mercy was, we are all entitled to “receive of His fullness,” and to know experimentally depths of His grace in Himself and His work far beyond.

It is the abiding blessing of Christ in His work of redemption that is here presented. Many circumstances of the first burst of the truth on the people of God are left out, the wondrous sacrifice in itself is recalled in its simple majesty, without any particular reference to the form in which it applied in the first instance. The Spirit of God is here anticipating the way in which the passover should be kept in the land of God. Now it is precisely because the grace is anticipated of Jehovah bringing in Israel there, that no lack of care is tolerable, that the deepest call is made on their spiritual affections. It is no more leaving Egypt, nor yet the wilderness through which they passed, but Jehovah putting forth His power in new and, if possible, richer ways in bringing His people into the full accomplishment of the blessing. Does not this mark Israel entering into and dwelling in the “good” land where His eyes rest continually? So when we are first awakened, the pressure of our sense of danger is great, the urgent necessity of being screened by Christ's work from judgment because of our iniquities; but surely He and that work lead us on to appreciate far deeper things. So now we have the calm and peaceful enjoyment of a work in itself intrinsically the same, and infinite in its value. This seems to be what Jehovah would have His people enjoy in the passover kept in the land. “Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto Jehovah thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Jehovah shall choose to cause His name to dwell there” (ver. 2). But while the peculiar circumstances of its first celebration disappear, there is no difference as to the unleavened bread. It may be presumed that all know that the purity which must follow “the sacrifice,” means the total denial of all ungodliness and corruption, however palatable to fallen nature. In the glorious land as Daniel calls it, could there be any relaxation of purity? Here we have the unleavened bread particularly enjoined; “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, [even] the bread of affliction; for thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.” So it was then, but there is no haste now. So there was and must have been on the first occasion; they are merely reminded of this in looking back: “that thou mayest remember the day... all the days of thy life.” It personally concerned each one. When Israel come to know Who He is that was sacrificed for them, on Whose blood hung their entire shelter, what incomparably deeper thoughts and affections will arise God-ward! No wonder will it appear then that “there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days.” Our entrance into its force is revealed in 1 Cor. 5:7, 8. The vail done away in Christ, lies upon their heart, because they reject Him; but whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the vail is taken away. We, not Israel, are here below keeping the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. They will keep it when Messiah appears to their joy. They too are to eat the flesh of the lamb of which we have partaken in faith, while they are unbelieving. Mark the deepest reverence here for the sacrifice with full liberty to eat of it. “Neither shall any of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even remain all night until the morning.” The lamb's flesh must never be treated as common food. What was not then eaten must be burnt, not kept for ordinary use; it was a sacrifice to God, as well as a holy communion.

The grand secret of Christianity, I do not say of Christendom, the everlasting and peculiar blessing that we boast before our God, is Christ Himself. Oh, what a joy to have one word that contains all that we delight in, and, what is far more important, all that God delights in, the same object, God's delight and our delight, in Him who unites Godhead and manhood in His own person! But more than that—There was a particular time that, even for God, drew out what Christ expressed in that fact, as before prophetically, which never was before and never can be again. With reverence be it spoken, I believe that as on the one hand God never felt before as He did at the cross of Christ; so on the other hand the Lord Jesus never felt as He did save at the cross. As His Spirit predicted it through David; so did He in the garden anticipate it; and oh, what a grief and weight of conflict for His Spirit! But anticipation is not accomplishment. It was on the cross there came from Christ that expression of it, so familiar, yet so solemn, to all our souls, “My God, my God, why didst thou forsake me?” There is the wondrous basis of all blessing. It is Christ forsaken of God after all the perfection of a life of obedience incomparable here below; Christ rejected and atoning for sin. What an unfathomable truth! What creature on earth or in heaven would ever have looked for it? For who was Christ? Was He not the eternal life with the Father before ever there was a creature? Was He not the Creator? Yet here He lay in death: and what a death! How did such a consummation come to pass? It was for sin; for our sins borne in His own body on the tree. This we know too well, yet alas! far too little. He, the Son, became man; man as truly as He was and is God. And God made sin for us Him Who knew no sin. Here therefore we rest on that foundation which can have no equal. God never saw aught but perfection in the Son of His love throughout eternity. When the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, in a world of sin, that perfection was unfolded in such forms of moral beauty and grace, as were never before seen, and only in measure predicted. Truly He was the Second man and last Adam. Never did love and obedience, meekness, zeal and suffering, reach their acme till the cross. Never was God or God's Son, the Son of man, so glorified as therein. And every child of God in this hall knows it, and has, in his measure responded to it in faith. But the more we weigh it, the greatness of that work rises before our souls. The ground of righteousness is only found in that word so terrible to man's conscience—in death; and wondrous to say, in His death, which was our sin (for He was rejected of men), yet on God's part a sacrifice to God. Here then dawns on us this first feast—the Passover; and more truly ours, by faith, than Israel's. They had, no doubt, their lamb; and they were entitled to enjoy the remembrance of God's deliverance of their nation from the land of Egypt. But what is that compared to God judging sin in Christ? This is what we read in the cross of our Lord Jesus. What infinite things for our souls have we not in “the Lord's death!” What words could be put together speaking with the same power revealing a divine ground of righteousness for sin comparably with “the Lord's death?”

(To be continued.)

The Atonement: Part 6

In his remarks on Hebrews, Dr. W. omits to notice the real point of the case: the “perfecting” is “as pertaining to the conscience,” and by the blood carried in. Through Christ presenting Himself, and then entering in “not without blood,” the conscience was purged. And this alone is the purging spoken of, so that we have “no more conscience of sins”; not consciousness of sin, but conscience of sins, sins on the conscience, because Christ has borne them and gone within, “not without blood.” It is not our state, but the state of our conscience before God; we as to this are “perfected forever” (εἰς τὸ διηνεκές), always and perpetually, because Christ is always now (ἐις τὸ διηνεκές) sitting at the right hand of God; not like the Jewish priests standing, renewing a work which was never done. No cleansing of our state is spoken of, but of our conscience by Christ's offering, which is gone in not without blood. Dr. W. does not state what scripture states here. It is false that no other import of Christ's sacrifice for God is spoken of than that it was a consequence of God's unchanging love. It hides Christ's forsaking of God and drinking the dreadful cup, and His standing as Son of man who must be lifted up.

Dr. W. says “God so loved the fallen world that He gave it the offering to restore it. And as there is nothing else said about it in scripture,” &c. There is something else said about it in scripture. Christ “offered himself without spot to God through the eternal Spirit,” and “the Son of man must be lifted up.” Dr. W. will say, “that whosoever believeth might not perish.” No doubt; but why must He be “lifted up” on the cross as “Son of man” that they might not? And this is said, as well as that “God so loved”; but Dr. W. always passes it over.

It is not true that scripture says that God never had any anger against him (the sinner). It is expressly said, “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,” will be rendered “to every soul of man that doeth evil,” and “wrath from heaven is now revealed.” “Now is the accepted time, the day of salvation”; but those who despise the grace of it are “treasuring up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Wrath from God, therefore, rests on and is executed against men; yet God does not change. Vengeance belongs to Him. “Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?”

But Dr. W. is all out of the way as to reconciling. I do not return to what I have already insisted on, that scripture never says the world is reconciled any more than God. Christians are, and Christians only; but there is no foundation for what he says as to the force of the word. כּפד is a difficult word, at least with על (see Lev. 16); but Num. 25:13 shows Dr. W. cannot make good his statements. But into this I will enter no farther, because it is perfectly plain that in the New Testament reconciling does mean reconciling the people, changing their disposition; and we have no need of turning to nice discussions on words, and their use in the LXX. It is somewhat more than changing the disposition, because it includes a relative object as to which that change takes place—one is reconciled to some person or thing. This being by an offering or the like, the meaning of the word is extended; but it is not merely cleansing, or anything of the kind. In Rom. 5 we have, “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,” &c. Now this is changing the disposition when one was an enemy, and thus bringing back the mind to God. So Col. 1:21, “And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” That it is by an offering which cleanses and purges the conscience, is true, and what I should insist on. The heart could not return really, if the conscience were not purged, nor this unless the sins were purged; but this was by Christ's suffering the agony of the cross, forsaken of God, God's infinite love to us bringing back the renewed heart to Him thereby. The end of 2 Cor. 5 fully confirms this. Reconciling is bringing into happy relationship with another when we have been out of it, as Matt. 5:24; and to speak of καταλλαγή, διαλλάγηθι as equivalent to ἱλασμόν and ἱλάσκεσθαι, is unfounded; as making such words as דעה, or נחד or חטּא, or היחחטא, or נצתד and כפד the same, is falsifying the sense of words; so יוס כפדים; so in Num. 16:46 (Heb. 15:11), wrath, pap was gone out from the presence of Jehovah, and Aaron was לכפּד; nor was it to reconcile the people, but to stay the plague, to stop the wrath that was gone out.

And it is an unhappy thing, because the effect of atonement (when wrath would justly come out against us) is to cleanse and reconcile us, to weaken the truth of that righteous wrath, and its being righteously arrested by the precious blood presented to God, and that bearing of sins, which makes it righteous in God to justify the ungodly and forgive their sins. Appeasing God, ἱλάσκομαι, let the word be what it may, is not changing God, but glorifying and satisfying God's righteous judgment; so that He may say, when “I see the blood, I will pass over.”

Scripture does know the expression of the anger or “wrath of God.” What Dr. W. says of it is not true. “God's wrath is revealed from heaven,” and, if we do not believe, abides upon us (John 3:31). And it is written, “Thou wast angry, but thine anger is turned away” (Isa. 12:1). And the passages are very numerous too which speak of it. I do not know Swedish; but Dr. W. will know that “sühnen” and “versöhnen” are different things, though like the Greek, the meanings run into one another as cause and effect; but they are essentially different: one does apply to God; the other does not. And “we have the propitiation” is an abuse of the word. Dr. W.'s statements on this are most unequivocally unscriptural.

Dr. W. reverts to the statement already often noticed to give it a particular application, saying, “The forgiveness of sins is nothing but an application to the individual sinner of the taking away the sins of the whole world, which took place in Christ.” Every part of this statement is unscriptural. It did not take place in Christ. There is no such thought in scripture; indeed if there were, there could be nothing to judge them for. And further, no such application would be needed, for the sins would be already taken away. The forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness is by faith (Rom. 4).

Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14, Heb. 10:18, cited by Dr. W., do not say one word of what Dr. W. says. But further, redemption from a state is the commonest use in scripture and in modern speech of the word “redeem.” We say “redeemed from captivity,” from destruction, from death; so that all the discussion about Anselm and the fathers is to no purpose. We are delivered from the wrath and the curse by Christ's being made a curse for us. From whence did His suffering come? “He hath put him to grief.” Debt is used as a figure; but by the Lord. It was not restitution of money; of course it is a mere figure; but it was not to remove the sin of man, that is, from man (which indeed is in every sense an unscriptural way of putting it, and will not be found in scripture), but by bearing our sins for us; and if scripture speaks of putting away sin, it is putting it as a state and condition out of God's sight, and that even of heaven and earth, not of forgiveness. He condemned sin in the flesh. But, as for faith we died, were crucified with Christ, we are freed from its law. When we are brought in, then it is Christ who knew no sin was made sin for us; that is, it was what was done for us, outside of us, not our state, though that state (righteousness of God, note, not of man, though the believer stands in it) be the purpose of it, yet not an actual righteous state in us, but we made the righteousness of God in Christ. (See Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21.) Dr. W. has evidently not taken into consideration this part of the truth.

I turn to the conclusion: “No change was effected by the fall of Adam in God, or in his disposition, but what was effected was that we fell into sin, and by sin into eternal death. In the work of Christ there was no change in God or in His disposition, but we gained righteousness, and thereby eternal life. And behind this work of Christ scripture only recognizes one thing, God so loved the world.” Now though save the last phrases I recognize in general the truth of this, yet the statement is fundamentally false, because it suppresses a mass of scriptural truth of the most solemn character, and in the last phrase denies it. Is wrath not spoken of in scripture? It was no change in God Himself, yet we are not merely fallen into something: God drove out the man, and not only so but shut up the way back to the tree of life, previously free to him; and man must get life some other way. It is the gift of God, and, save in the sense of man's ultimate state in glory, righteousness is not the way of regaining it. Man must be born again when he is a sinner.

Dr. W. speaks of wrath against sin elsewhere; but why, in order to systematize, is so immensely an important thing left out here? It is no change in God; it is righteousness dealing justly with evil. Man fell under wrath by sinning, God's wrath. It is the wrath of God which abides upon him if he does not believe; he is a child of wrath, Jew or Gentile alike; and it is part of the truth which came in by Christianity though not in itself of the grace, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Something does remain “behind,” besides “God so loved,” that is, “the wrath of God.” Already God's driving man out of paradise was an execution of judgment, and the flood was righteous judgment. But it was not fully “revealed from heaven,” nor judgment pronounced on man till he had rejected Christ, because another question was to be tried in God's ways: could the first man be restored? He was tried without law, and the flood had to come in; he was tried under the law and broke it (the flesh was not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so that they that are in the flesh cannot please God), tried by the patient goodness that sent the prophets till there was no remedy. Then God said, I have yet my Son, my well-beloved, it may be they will reverence my Son. And when they saw Him, they said, This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours. Man has both seen and hated both Him and His Father. Then the Lord pronounced the sentence “Now is the judgment of this world.” Except death were gone through, and the curse borne by another, the “corn of wheat” remained alone.

The wrath of God was “revealed from heaven,” but by the sin that work wrought which cleanses the believer for God according to God's own perfectness in light, and man took his place in heaven, according to the righteousness of God, in Christ. He came to seek and to save that which was lost—now proved so. No doubt faith rested on prophecies before the Lord came: but now all came out: the mind of the flesh was “enmity against God,” but the veil rent, and heaven opened. The answer to the spear, which made sure that the Son of God, come in love, was gotten rid of from the earth, was the blood and water which cleanses and saves every one that believes, that comes to God by Him. Love was revealed; for hereby know we love, that He laid down His life for us; but wrath was “revealed from heaven.” And “if God so loved the world that He gave His Son,” so was it equally true that “the Son of man must be lifted up,” or we should have perished under just wrath. And it is not true that Christ was only God's representative to take away our sins; He was man's representative and made sin for us, bearing our sins so that it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, He put Him to grief when He made His soul an offering for sin, having offered Himself “through the eternal Spirit without spot to God.”

I have nothing to do with the traditions of theologians and do not notice them, but with what the word of God brings before us. I have spoken of this at the beginning as to principles; but Dr. W. brings it all again forward here, and it is the kernel of the question. I agree with him, reconciling God is not spoken of; but he is one-sided in hiding a mass of truth which scripture puts clearly forward. All that is said as to God being what He is in His revelation of Himself is delusion. God is love, God is light. But God could not act in wrath to man innocent (for man was neither righteous nor holy, as theologians say)—He would not have been righteous—and wrath was not revealed nor judgment, but, solely, the consequence of disobedience that man would die. All that Dr. W. takes up, and all that was said when man was judged in paradise. But God did act in wrath when he had sinned, and turned him out of paradise, and shut the way of the tree of life; but it was not revealed before, and surely not executed, nor was love revealed as it was in redemption. Christ was God's representative on earth, the image of the invisible God. But whose representative was He when made sin, and what was the consequence to Him? With the theories Dr. W. opposes I have nothing to do. He joins with his adversaries in holding that God reconciled the world to Himself; and from this common error one draws his theological consequences, which I refuse, as they are not in scripture, and the other hides other plain scriptural statements and falls into denying them.

“Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.”

Here, in this section (X.), Dr. W., as I have already said he did, speaks of wrath. But then how can he say, “Nothing remains besides and behind but God so loved the world”? Because the momentous fact of wrath remains. Perhaps he will tell us, Yes, but the world was reconciled, which is totally unscriptural, and how reconciled so that there is no wrath, if the wrath of God abides upon them, as scripture says and Dr. W. admits, and Christ is our deliverer from the wrath to come? Yea, they are “heaping up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Dr. W. says this reconciliation is “not a change of disposition, but of relative position, placing in another relation to a person”; but how in another relative position when the wrath of God abides on him? That wrath is not executed now (save in chastisement for our good in love, called “wrath” in scripture, Job 36), and that it is the accepted time, the day of salvation, is true: the wrath is “to come”; but “he that believeth not is condemned already,” the “wrath of God abideth upon him.” Dr. W. tells us God cannot be angry and love at the same time. If so, there is no wrath abiding on the unbeliever, as he admits it is, or he is not loved.

All this error flows from one-sided reasoning and the utterly unscriptural notion that the world is reconciled, because it is the time of the exercise of grace founded on Christ's death, as the apostle states. I do not comment on the fallacious arguments of Dr. W.'s opponents. He and they have both started from a false tradition.

I have only to remark, again, that Dr. W. avoids the question; namely, that saying the object of the atonement was to justify the sinner (which all will admit was one object) does not touch the real question: What was done there in order to justify him? What were the stripes with which we are healed? Herein we find again the utterly anti-scriptural doctrine: “The race of Adam was herein justified.” We are justified by faith, not without it, though it be through the atonement. The saved are righteous in Christ, but “salvation only for the righteous” is as unscriptural as possibly can be. Christ came to save sinners “not to call the righteous, but sinners.” God justifies “the ungodly.” Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost.” This is another fundamental fallacy of Dr. W., that we are justified by being made personally righteous.

Dr. W.'s argument as to demons is sadly sophistical. The necessity of appeasing God as alleged was, if people were to be saved. If the devil and evil spirits were to be saved, according to God's justice an atonement would be needed; but Christ did not die for them, nor undertake their cause. This is poor sophistry.

“Community of love” is not sovereign love to sinners. All this too is sad confusion of mind. God commends His love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The power of tradition is curious enough here, where Dr. W. says such a passage as “God reconciled the world unto Himself,” when there is absolutely no such passage in scripture, just where he is insisting, quite rightly, on seeing how scripture does speak. The conflict of theologians I leave with Dr. W., thoroughly decided with him to know only what scripture says.

It is quite true that justice is not wrath or judgment. But as far as men go, we may justly say we turned God into a judge by sin, not assuredly into a righteous Being. When He had created Adam innocent, there was nothing to judge. It would have been judging His own workmanship. But righteousness becomes wrath (not hatred) when evil is in the presence of judicial authority exercised in righteousness. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; but God is a righteous judge, and God is angry every day. And now wrath is revealed from heaven as surely as infinite love is. In sovereign grace He rises above the sin, and loves without a motive, save what is in His own nature and part of His glory. Man must have a motive for loving. God has none but in Himself, and “commendeth His love to us” (and the “His” is emphatic as to this very point), in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us: the best thing in heaven that could be given for the vilest, defiled, and guilty sinners. Dr. W. seems to me to lower and depreciate the love of God quite as much as His justice and His righteous wrath.

There is one other point to which, though I have noticed it, I return, as of vital importance. Dr. W. holds that Christ represented God before men, not men before God. The first part is most blessedly true, but even that not to the extent of the inferences Dr. W. would draw from it, that there must be identity of operation. The Son did not send the Father, nor not spare Him but deliver Him up for us. The thought would be utterly anti-Christian. He accepted His part of the work of grace. “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God”; and, a body being prepared for Him, He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men. I may return to this point elsewhere; I merely take note of it now, and turn to the question of representing God to men and man to God. Now, in His life down here, he that had seen Him had seen the Father, a most precious and sanctifying truth. John 14 is express in stating it, as the whole life of Jesus is the verification and illustration of it. He is, moreover, in His person the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His being, His hypostasis. As to this, scripture is plain; and I have no controversy with Dr. W. Further, that He was true God, and true man, united in one person, is not in question either; it is believed by both of us. The question is, Did He stand for men before God as well as for God before men? That He does in heaven is quite clear. He is gone into heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us (Heb. 9:24). But was all His life down here only a manifestation of God to men? when He took His place with the godly remnant in Israel, being baptized with John's baptism, assuredly not confessing sins as they did, but fulfilling righteousness, having emptied Himself and taken the form of a servant and entered upon the path of obedience, ἐν σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος, saying to John, “thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”? When He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, did He represent God to men? Was it not, as the first man was tempted and fell, the Second man held fast and overcame? Did He not overcome saying, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? and overcome by refusing to go out of the place of a servant which He had taken, though challenged by Satan to do so as being Son of God? Did He not hold the place of man when He said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God? Did He not, when He dismissed Satan, saying, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve? He was always the obedient man before God, as Adam was the disobedient one; and though he abode alone till redemption was accomplished, the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, yet He stood in this world as man before God, as well as God before man—Who was the obedient man, did always such things as pleased His Father, pleaded in Gethsemane when His hour was come in the days of His flesh, with strong crying and tears made His supplication unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared ἀπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας! Was this representing man or God?

That He was alone till redemption was accomplished I fully recognize, but alone, as the sinless man amongst men, to accomplish what was called for from man for God. If He tasted death for every man, was that as representing God to men or standing for men before God? When God laid our iniquity on Him, was it representing God before men? When it became Him, for whom are all things, to make the Captain, ἀρχηγόν, of our salvation perfect through sufferings, whom did He represent? When He cried in deep agony, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me,” did He represent God to man? That He must have been God to be fit and able to do it is most true. Yet He was not representing God before men, but drinking the cup given to Him. When He was made sin, for whom was He made sin? Did He represent God to man then, or stand for men before God when He took up the cause of man (Heb. 2)? He did not represent God to men, but it is written in a certain place, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, Thou crownedst him with glory and honor.” He was the Second man, the last Adam. He was the ἀρχηγός of our salvation, the obedient, sinless, suffering Man who overcame Satan as man for men, was made sin for us, died for our sins, that is, represented us before God, our iniquity being laid upon Him, and drank that dreadful cup, taking it from His Father's hand, “the curse of wrath.” Was suffering the curse of wrath representing God to men, or man as made sin under the righteous judgment of God?

I add that, though the priesthood of Christ be now in heaven where He appears in the presence of God for us, yet all His life was in every sense a preparation for it. He had so taken up man that it became God to make Him perfect in that heavenly place through sufferings. He was tempted, suffering being tempted, that He might succor them that are tempted. Not only so, but He was made like to His brethren in all things, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. And so in chapter 5 of the same epistle, comparing Him with the Jewish high priest, though shelving the difference. And it is clear that the priest represented the people before God, confessed their sins on the scapegoat, and went into the sanctuary for them, as Christ has done in the true sanctuary for us. The priesthood of Christ is no doubt for believers; but to deny that He represented men, stood there as man for them before God, and that on the cross (as in Heb. 2:17) as man, alone indeed but for men, is ruinous error.

J. N. D.

(Concluded from p. 296).

Israel Sets Out and God Speaks in the Night Vision

Jacob had seen more changes than any of his fathers, and is especially in contrast with Isaac, who never left the land of promise; yet it was a great surprise and effort to one who after so many vicissitudes expected to die in Canaan. And if he remembered the word of Jehovah to Abram in Gen. 15, he might well hesitate, however great his longing to look once more on his beloved Joseph.

“And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-Sheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in the night visions and said, Jacob, Jacob 1 And he said, Here [am] I. And he said, I [am] God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also certainly bring thee up [again]; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his seed he brought with him into Egypt” (vers. 1-7).

Beer-sheba was a memorable spot to Isaac, who built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah who had there appeared to him, some time after he had been forbidden, even under the stress of famine, to go down into Egypt, as Abraham had faultily done. But now God spoke to Israel in the vision of the night, after he had offered sacrifices to his father's God who called him by his name of natural weakness, and bade him fearlessly go down into Egypt. There in the land already pointed out as a furnace of affliction they were to sojourn, yet to come out with great substance and multiplied numbers. Till then their increase had been slow. Such were God's ways with His people, as well as with the peoples they were to dispossess; for the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. Jacob was not to hesitate. “I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will certainly bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.” God entered into the anxieties of his feeble servant and knew how to strengthen his tried heart.

“And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.” But they took their live stock also and their goods which they had acquired in Canaan, and came into Egypt. Jacob and his sons had no idea of entering that land as mere dependents on its prince, whatever his desire to show all honor to Joseph, and the promise that the good of all the land of Egypt should be theirs. They therefore took their “stuff” along with them and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him; “his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his seed, he brought with him into Egypt.”

It was a sorry spectacle to the eye of sense, not more than a troop of Gitanos in the estimate of Spaniards. Yet there was the nucleus of a people, to sojourn in a land not their own for a while, but to return and take possession of Canaan. Alas! first they accepted conditions of law, wherein they utterly broke down and suffered the penalty of their presumptuous unbelief in idolatry, as in the rejection of the Messiah later. At length they shall be restored on the ground of pure mercy, under the new covenant, with repentance and faith in the returning Messiah, who will set them at the head of all nations, when He will reign over all the earth in righteousness, power and glory. Never till then shall there be the days of heaven upon earth. Even Pentecost was no fulfillment, but the strong pledge of it to come. Compare Acts 3:19-21.

Exodus: Moses Born Under Interdict

MAN proposes, God disposes. It appears from the facts stated, that, just after Pharaoh's edict for exterminating the sons of Israel, God ordered the birth of their deliverer. For Aaron was born three years before Moses, and was untouched, Miriam being several years his senior, as the history even here implies.

“And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bore a son. And she saw him that he was fair, and hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of paper reeds, and cemented it with bitumen and pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge, on the bank of the river. And his sister stood afar off to see what would happen to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids walked along by the river side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her hand-maid to fetch it. And she opened [it] and saw the child, and, behold, the boy wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is [one] of the Hebrews' children. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a wet-nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the damsel went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And when the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses and said, Because I drew him out of the water” (vers. 1-10).

The mother's heart regarded the beauty of the babe as a sign from God to preserve him from the murderous fate intended by the king. But there was more than natural feeling. “By faith” Moses when born was hid three months by his parents, because they saw the child fair; and they did not fear the injunction of the king (Heb. 11:23). A deliverer was ever before those who believed, not only the woman's Seed, but Abraham's Seed also. To have taken absolutely that life was a Satanic attack on God's counsels. At the risk of life perhaps they preserved their child three months. We are not told more of the circumstances, why it was impossible to hide the child longer. But obviously he who devised the death of every male child would use means too for due inquisition to ascertain from time to time that his decree was carried out. It is legitimate to infer that the moment was at hand when their concealment could last no longer, the child must be committed to the Nile, and themselves punished also for their contumacy.

Hence the mother was led by a wisdom above her own to commit the baby to an ark of papyrus reeds, well plastered with bitumen and pitch, and to await divine interference. The sister, who was afterward known as not Miriam only but the “prophetess,” watched at a distance, but near enough to see how her little brother would fare on the bank of the river. And who should be the first to come down to bathe near the ark but Pharaoh's daughter, she and her maids? She in God's providence saw the ark, and sent her handmaid to fetch it, and opened it and saw the child. Here again God wrought; for, “behold, the babe wept.” His tears, to say nothing of his beauty, touched the heart of the princess. “She had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.”

Miriam had now joined herself at the critical moment to the group; and with wit quickened by affection availed herself of the evident compassion to say to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrews, that she may suckle the child for thee?” What could the princess say to so sensible and timely a suggestion, but “Go."? “And the damsel went and fetched the child's mother [her own too]; and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages.”

This was no miracle, any more than the preservation of the child. But it was the living God's working in the various persons concerned, to rescue from a watery grave the one who was to rescue His people from a bondage to many more bitter than death in the Nile: the type of the Deliverer from sin and wrath, not for Israel but for every believer; the prophet too and mediator of God's law, like but beyond other men, though immeasurably inferior to Him through Whom grace and truth came, the manifestation of God's light and love as none but Himself.

“And the woman took the child and nursed it.” Say not, believe not, that God gives the believer divine life only, to feel his sins, or pardon through His mercy in forgiving them. Here it was not yet the divine Savior. But what a joy to the parents to have the doom so simply and surely set aside! and the child brought up where it ought to be rather than anywhere else in the world. Even then it was capable of forming impressions which grace would strengthen and deepen another day, to fortify against the unholy influence of a heathen court, whatever the kindness personally of the princess. “And the child grew, and she (the mother) brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” How vain to faith what cavilers say in this day or any other! This was the childhood of him whom God inspired in due time, among other great things, to write the Pentateuch, greater than all his great deeds for God and for man. And it abides as a divine monument in face of all the vain efforts of unbelieving detractors, who really possess no more weight than noisy boys blowing against a mountain; but they cannot shake off the guilt of unbelief.

Proverbs 26:17-22

Sluggishness is not the only fault to be shunned. There may be activity to dread of a still more mischievous sort; and it is graphically set out in the next verses. We have to beware of being meddlesome, or in sympathy with such ways.

“He that passingly vexes himself with strife not [belonging] to him is one that taketh a dog by the ears.
As a madman who casteth fire-brands, arrows and death;
So the man [that] deceiveth his neighbor and saith, Am not I in sport?
Where no wood is, the fire goeth out, and where no whisperer, the strife ceaseth.
[As] coals to hot embers, and wood to fire, so a contentious man to kindle strife.
A whisperer's words [are] as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (vers. 17-22.).

The N.T. reveals Christ for the lost soul's salvation by faith, for the heavenly privileges of the Christian, and for the communion with God and His Son that we are called to, as well as the walk on earth befitting those who are so blessed. But there is the utmost care to urge vigilance against busybodiness; that working quietly we may eat our own bread, and be diligent too so as to help others also. But to trouble ourselves with other people's quarrels where no duty of ours lies is like taking a dog by the ears, which either threatens a bite when he is loosed, or keeps us indefinitely to avoid it. And who is to blame?

Such uncalled for activity grows, the more it is indulged in, and is likely to end in playing the madman casting combustibles and causes of wound and even death; while he deceives his neighbor by the pretense that he meant no more than jest.

But there is a very insidious form of the evil and if possible more mischievous still, where the harm is done slyly by evilly affecting others. What worse than the whisperer or tale-bearer, here compared to the wood that acts as fuel to the fire? So we are told, where no wood is, the fire goes out, and where is no whisperer, strife ceaseth.

On the other hand, coals to hot embers, and wood to fire, is a contentious man to inflame strife. How often have we not known it to our pain! Happy is he who hates it so as to shun its beginning by dwelling in love!

For such is the flesh even in believers, as to make the whisperer's insinuations too easy and welcome; and once received, instead of being rejected, they go down and take possession of our souls to the innermost. It is a grievous danger when the guard sleeps at wisdom's gate; and our very simplicity exposes us to be misled cruelly.

Great Joy

Luke 2:10

Joy is as characteristic of God's people, as its absence is marked in human systems. Oriental reveries, platonic dialogs, and in short all philosophies, ancient or modern, know nothing of this coveted emotion. Yet moderns know less of it than ancients. This would be but natural, seeing that now there is a turning away from the One True Light; whereas of old there was but the warning of conscience, and that often dimmed. Vain then to turn to ancient literature for holy overflowing joy, although much of sweet and pathetic is to be found, clad too with a perfection of form that few moderns have attained, and none have surpassed. So likewise may there not be somewhat of sweetness to be found in literature of our day, such as hovers on the border-land of night and day, beautiful twilight lines, when it is open to the weavers of these fancies to emerge into the clear light of Christian truth? But, however it be as to this, by positive statement as to scripture, as by negative inference from non-Christian writers, there is abundant ground for saying that joy is a distinctive mark of Christianity, as it will be of restored Israel. Do we not often forget this?

“Great joy” —How fittingly these words are found thus early in this most delightful Gospel wherein the thoughts of so many hearts stand revealed, thoughts gladdened and renewed by holy joy. How different the experience of Anna and Simeon, of the woman that was a sinner, of the prodigal (though doubtless the joy of the father “exceeded”), of the converted robber on the cross, of the two favored ones, with whom the Lord companied on the wonderful journey to Emmaus—how different the experience of each and all of these from the sad misgivings and perplexities and confessions of heathen sages! I speak with some little knowledge, and am bold to say nothing any of them ever said could comfort the heart, let alone give such joy. How could they? For divine comfort and joy we must go to the word of God, to the Psalms of David pre-eminently in the O.T., to the N.T. generally. Nor anywhere in the later oracles shall we find more gladness than in this exquisite Evangel, which a brilliant writer of the last century, but an apostate from the Faith, called “the most beautiful book in existence."

Are we not too much afraid of joy? There is much to sadden in life, our failures as believers, the state of the world, the confusion of the church, the comparative fewness of believers, the myriads who are indifferent—all this should be deeply felt. Then there is the necessary solemnity when we dwell on the sufferings of the Savior, and seek to form, however inadequately, as it cannot but be, some conception of what it must have been to a Being of infinite holiness to be “made sin,” and to bear the wrath of God against our own sins: all this is not only becoming but indispensable. Still the angel's words abide and proclaim “great joy to all the people.” Let Christians more blessed not begrudge it, for here it is the joy of the Messiah for the Jewish people. “For unto you is born this day.”

In truth what satisfies the heart must of necessity be fraught with joy. Such is Christ and Christianity. Everything else now is a mere will-of-the-wisp, be it coarse or refined. But the believer joins even here, along with faith and hope and love, the peace of God; he joys or boasts in God, and if the joy be too fitful here, it is lasting beyond the veil. R. B.

2 Peter 3:1-2

From the humbling and awful indictment of false teachers in chap. ii. beginning to play their corrupting part in Christendom, as the false prophets had wrought the ruin of Israel in the past, the apostle turns to speak of this Second Epistle, and its aim in the grace of God. But even so, as we shall soon see, he has to warn of another daring snare to be, and a wholly different class of adversaries.

“This already a second epistle, beloved, I write to you, in both which I stir up your pure mind by putting in remembrance, that ye be mindful of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior [by] your apostles” (vers. 1, 2).

The apostle of the circumcision here presents scripture, both O. and N.T., as the grand safeguard, just as the apostle to the nations in his second Epistle to Timothy. Neither has the least thought of apostolic succession; which, if really given of the Lord, might well be regarded as no small stay for beleaguered saints exposed to the worst of perils from misled leaders, and these at work within. But the truth is that the mystery of lawlessness was actively at work from early days, as 2 Thess. 2 informs us. It was restrained by the power of the Spirit, and especially by apostolic energy. But, as the apostle Paul let the Ephesian overseers know (Acts 20:29, 30), his own decease would be the signal for fresh and successful efforts of the enemy. “I know that after my departure there will come in grievous wolves not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall rise up men speaking perverted things to draw away the disciples after them". What then was the resource? “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all that are sanctified.” Not a hint of a successor, but the assurance to faith of God and the word of His grace.

Just so here our apostle, in view of the danger, and horrors of the false teachers carrying on their nefarious work, casts the Christians from among the dispersed Jews on the words that were spoken before by the holy prophets, and on the commandment of the Lord and Savior by your apostles. Both the prophets and the apostles were inspired to write as they did; for only by the faith of divine communications are those who believe brought into living relationship with God. Thus His word separates the soul to God, and by the revelation of Christ is the source of their joy and the formative power of obedience. In this faith the elders from Abel downwards obtained witness, whatever the dislike of the world, which was not worthy of them and awaits sure judgment from God. Still the O.T. at best was predictive, and could not make known as the N.T. does the infinite glory and grace of the Savior, nor the God-glorifying efficacy of His work for our souls, before the salvation of our bodies at His coming again. Known eternal life and accomplished redemption give the believers now to walk in the light, as could not be given before Christ came the first time, and renders him as a worshipper once purged to have no more conscience of sins, yea to have the Holy Ghost sealing him, and the earnest of coming glory with Christ as a joint-heir.

These privileges of the believer are the outcome of His actual advent and of the atoning work done and accepted by God, so that His love has been and is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. The First Epistle of Peter makes much known, the Epistles of Paul much more, which could neither be known nor enjoyed as they are since redemption. Thus the commandment of the Lord and Savior by “your apostles,” while it fulfills the spiritual promises of the Ο.T., goes far beyond it in the revelation of blessings in and through and with Christ in the heavenly places. Hence Paul refers to the mystery or secret which was kept silent in times everlasting, but now manifested according to the eternal God's commandment for obedience of faith to all the nations. For, after the cross (which entailed the setting aside of the Jew meanwhile), God set up the rejected Christ above as the Supreme Chief over all things heavenly and earthly, and makes us who now believe (Jew or Greek), His body and bride, to share all glory with Him at His coming. This glory of the Head and the body over all things is far higher, wider and deeper, than anything in O.T. prophecy; it is the secret now revealed, however little it may be apprehended.

How horrified both the apostles would have been to witness the deadly undermining of the Bible, which, begun by free-thinking men more than a hundred years ago has become a naturalized epidemic, not only in Germany, France and Holland, but now in the English-speaking regions of the earth; growing self-confident, impudent and arrogant beyond measure, not knowing that God has forewarned of this turning away their ears from the truth and readiness of mind for fables. Take their treatment of the Pentateuch in particular, and of such prophets as Isaiah and Daniel. The infinite fact of a divine Person become flesh as truly as He is God is (with very few exceptions, to whom God may give deliverance) as nothing in their eyes, though of infinite value to those who believe and love as they know His love, God's love, to them.

Christ and His apostles declare that Moses wrote these books. He and they treat the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, not only as genuine and authentic, but as of divine authority. Most are not ashamed to be so intoxicated with the poisonous wine of neo-criticism as to deny the certainty of Christ's knowledge, and to regard Him and the inspired writings as under the ignorant prejudice of their age, just like themselves at the present time, impiously claiming for themselves superiority of intelligence ranging over the whole Bible.

Their success, with the youth chiefly of a mocking and scoffing generation, emboldens them to shut their eyes to the iniquity of sitting in judgment, not on copyists who introduced some errata, but on His word which shall judge them. They believe not that the Judge stands before the doors; nor that the secret of lawlessness is in all this working more fatally than in the priestly party who glorify themselves and their leaders with their self-aggrandizing legends. For those give God's written word the lie, and accept as a settled fact that, instead of Moses writing e.g. Genesis, it was really written by a large number of unknown men, fragments interwoven by a compiler, separated by hundreds of years, with perhaps traditionary words of Moses, a priestly document and another quite different and opposed, and only published many centuries after Moses and his successor Joshua. Now even if we do not notice the monstrous perversion of the discovery of the neglected book of the law in Josiah's day, as if it were a concoction then first palmed on the king and the people, how could such a hodge-podge as all this be the word of God? How blot out the fullest historical proof that Moses wrote as God spoke to him? How get rid of the inspired men from his own day till the O.T. Canon closed?

Were these holy men all impostors? Were they, the inspired, more ignorant of divine things, than these infidel reformers?

The faith of saints in all ages fully accepts the O.T. So the Lord taught His disciples, and His hearers generally, as God's testimony, written by those who claim it and by adequate evidence communicated it. Nor does the expression on which stands the modern fable of the Elohists and Jehovists and the many redactors afford the most slender proof. It is simply the reverie of one who was too ignorant and unbelieving to see the depth of truth in the words for “God (Elohim)” sovereign and historical, and “Jehovah” for His reference to relationship. It is a distinction as real as important, which is lost to such as build on the absurd fancy that it springs from different documents or legends. But infidelity took it up to discredit and destroy God's authority, as it must if received, as well as deny those whom we have sound evidence to believe really wrote the various books as they stand, with few and brief editorial notes at a later day added by similar divine authority.

But here, as in 2 Tim. 3, we read how the last words of the two apostles call on the saints to cherish what God has given them, things old and new. Be the corruptions as they may, and however veiled by those who are deceived and deceive by them, we have the inspired word to stir up the “pure mind.” How different from the unbelief that denies real inspiration, and fancies the most incredible tissue of authorship to set aside God's word searching the reins and hearts What more blessed than to have such in remembrance? What could we call to mind for profit and comfort compared with the prophets and the apostles as our teachers? It is not those of old only, but “your apostles.” For as one of these wrote, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth us not. From this we know the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” Solemn word for conscience! “They (that judge the word of God, the skeptics) are of the world; for this reason they speak[as] of the world, and the world hmi eth them.” O how true is the apostolic word Even that of old is not enough now without “your apostles.” If the O.T. be slighted, the N.T. will ere long share the same lot. How awful to become an apostate! Yet the danger is most imminent in our day.

The Higher Criticism: Part 1

Now no system, Patristic, Papal, or Protestant, however short of what scripture contemplates, is so directly opposed to this purpose of God in the written word as that of modern criticism; for it is essentially infidel. God's word is incompatible with the assumption of human growth or patchwork. Disbelieving in any real unity given to all scripture by the inspiring Spirit, they exclude the governing counsel of God in its every part, and thus lose every true conception of His mind, and only deceive themselves in calling their motley aggregate “a message from God.” The liberation claimed is from divine authority, which leaves no room for man's wisdom and will; the deepening is but in external research which swamps all seeking for and delight in the Christ of scripture; the strengthening is in value for the dust and dry bones of heathen history. The effect is departure from the fullness of God in Christ so richly revealed as to leave no room for development, save in the imagination of those who say that they see; whose sin therefore remains.

How far the school is from believing that “the one” —not— “far off divine event” —the establishment of His kingdom, over the world and all the universe, must be preceded by the day of the Lord in unsparing judgment not only of Israel and the nations but of Christendom yet more sternly because of its greater privilege, as man will share the apostasy, to which skeptical criticism of scripture is one of the guiltiest incentives and ingredients.

But let us turn to what Dr. Driver says as to this. He is most jubilant over the spirit of the age and its successes. “A great intellectual awakening” he claims for it, as well as “great discoveries”; sciences new, yet “arrived at a vigorous and independent manhood”; and the older branches worked as never before by better methods “to startling and unexpected results.” It is not so that their best living representative, Lord Kelvin, spoke at his jubilee in Glasgow a short time ago. And as he is neither pessimist nor optimist but known for his sobriety, no less than his depth and extent, for his own discoveries as well as his practical power in turning them to every day use, such a testimony on what has been the most ardent and distinguished work of his life outweighs a host of men comparatively in no way his equals. “One word characterizes the most strenuous of the efforts for the advancement of science that I have made perseveringly for fifty-five years, and that word is—failure. I know no more of electric and magnetic force, or of the relation between either electricity and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than I knew fifty years ago.”

But if the progress in natural and experimental science were ever so immense (and I should not wonder at it where God is forgotten or made light of), what is the worth of any or all such knowledge morally even? God's revelation stands on wholly different ground, has a character necessarily peculiar to itself, and is for the end of His glory in the spiritual blessing of the soul, with an eternity of bliss or of woe, the issue for every child of man who believes or who does not. This must differentiate scripture from all else that is written or spoken, or in any way appeals to man. The inspired word of God, first in trying man by a commandment and then by His law and every help of ordinance, and priest, etc. in the O.T.; next by revealing Himself in His Son in the N.T., with the Holy Spirit given to the believer as never before, with suited words to explain and yield power and enjoyment as well as an answer to every other want. To argue from the natural to the supernatural, from man to God, is not only false but unbelieving to the last degree. Though it is sought to conceal the impiety of putting in question the written word of God, by the plea that it is only the exterior that is challenged on literary grounds, and historic investigation, or the like, no book has ever been subjected as the Bible to such extravagance of imagination as to its construction. Where is one solid fact to countenance such a manipulation in denial of the writings and writers accepted by faith, and with blindness to the effect of obliterating all its just claim to be God's word, inspired by Him, and possessing His authority no less than if He addressed each as from heaven?

There is another awful consequence of this baseless pride of knowledge, that it involves the destruction of confidence in the Son of God and of His inspired servants, who are beyond doubt and to the highest committed to the honor and certainty of scripture, both Ο. and N.T. So radical is the opposition of the skeptical criticism that its more open advocates do not hesitate to say, as the necessary inference, that they know the growth of the Bible as did neither the Lord nor His apostles! Such daring unbelief and irreverence ought to alarm the feeblest saint as every intelligent Christian must abhor it as the exhalation of the bottomless pit. The last writer of the N.T. is he who insists most on this safe-guard in the last hour of many antichrists, “Let that therefore abide in you which ye heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:29).

From the beginning our Lord decided beforehand against the modern imposture, which is quite independent of Hebrew or Greek erudition, and springs out of real ignorance of the truth of God. It is due to reckless fancy in perverting the divine names and the accompanying difference of thought and expressions, into supposed difference of legends, compiled very late, they say, and in times really unsuitable to the O.T. as it now appears. Confessedly the Lord and the apostles sustain the faith in scripture which all the saints and martyrs of early Christian times confessed, and leave no room for the wild insinuation of Astruc, which modern Germans have sought to swell into the most gigantic of fables. The believer's safety and joy is to depend on Christ, who came at the interval when the old things came to an end, and the new had to be ushered in on divine authority. And He has taught us with divine authority that the scriptures even of the O.T. are to be received as they then existed with absolute trust. So more than one apostle vouched no less for the N.T. Thus “the light of to-day” in its presumptuous unbelief was anticipatively condemned and excluded. The modern theory by their own showing was unknown as having the smallest credit “from the beginning”; but room was left for it as a “fable,” which men love who are weary of the truth, and delight in the fruit of man's ingenuity.

Thus in p. 20 says Dr. Driver. “I may assume on the part of those who hear me a general familiarity with the new light in which, to those who do not refuse to open their eyes, the Old Testament appears to-day. The historical books are now seen to be not, as was once supposed, the works (for instance) of Moses, or Joshua, or Samuel.” Not a few who read the new brochure have examined for half a century the new criticism, and are assured that it is the darkness of the natural mind, yielding to speculative fancy on the surface of the scriptures, and destitute of the Holy Spirit's guidance, because they evade and despise the authority of Christ who pronounces against them, root and branch. He and His apostles accepted the scriptures as written by Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, and others, as Christians have held for many centuries, and leave no room for this development of skepticism. “Have ye not read (said He) in the book of Moses,” etc. (Mark 12:26)? “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when he had opened the book, he found the place (chap. 61) where it was written, The Spirit,” etc. (Luke 4:17). To Luke these men dare to give the lie, pretending the writer to be unknown. “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead” (ib. 31). “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning (not an “ideal” sufferer, but) the Son of man shall be accomplished” (18:31). “David himself saith in the book of Psalms,” etc. (20:42). “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46). “The scripture cannot be broken” (10:35). So in chap. 12:38-41, Isaiah is quoted as such from chap. 53:1 no less than from 6:9, etc.

How is it then that these critics reject the positive testimony of the Lord and His apostles? If believed, it overthrows their system. But they far prefer their own thoughts to scripture. Alas! they do not believe the Lord. To them applies as to skeptics in His day, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). Nor does anything strike one more than, with indefatigable research on external appearances easily misapplied, they seem wholly insensible to God's mind, and thus sink into the ready service of the enemy for defaming and seeking to destroy divine revelation, though they think the contrary.

For there is scarce anything in which the new critics more generally agree than in finding not a few Elohists and Jehovists in the Pentateuch and elsewhere. Now this depends mainly on the repeated occurrence of one or other of the O.T. divine names of God with a corresponding difference of words and subjects, out of which they invented the notion of different documents. This was mere ignorance flowing out of unbelief. For the names have respectively an exact propriety, which demands their usage for the different truths intended, and moreover requires other thoughts and words suitable for each. Elohim is God in the history, and in His sovereign operations, as in creation Jehovah is His name in relationship and moral dealings. So it is in the Psalms, and Prophets, where differing writers would be out of the question. But, these critics trust themselves and do not trust God or His word, and hence are of all schools the most pretentious and the most superficial; as all must be who fail to see one divine mind, which amidst, wonderful variety impresses a general design on the scriptures as a whole, and on each particular as contributing its special design in its own part. But their system ignores and denies both a general and a special design, quite above the understanding of the writers generally if not universally. It is a dream no better than of a fortuitous concourse of atoms which others imagined for the universe. The reality of God actually moving in every part of this spiritual creation is foreign to their minds and incompatible with their reveries. Theirs is the characteristic principle of infidelity; and they even call the product of so many cobblers inspiration, scripture, and God's word! Does this improve matters? It enables them to retain their chairs, canonries, etc.

Hence one must deny, not of course different groups of laws in the Pentateuch, but that there is the least solid basis for insinuating different strata at widely different periods of the national life. The attempt to vilify Deuteronomy as an invention of Josiah's day, instead of being the closing book of Moses, is in itself a fraud of which no mind could be capable but of an enemy to God and His word. It is remarkable as the book which our blessed Lord honored at each of His temptations by Satan; and even this was as due to that inspired book of Moses as to His own position when tempted. Of both this system incapacitates for seeing, because devoid of faith it cannot please God or know His word.

“The Old Testament in the Light of To-day” is the title of Dr. Driver's First Paper. It shows clearly enough where the new school is. Their eyes are turned away from the light of God, from Christ the true Light to the darkness of man to-day, the darkness of “this present evil age” which He is soon coming to judge and punish. “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!”

When God spoke in His Son, what the believer knows to be the Light shone not only on the O.T. but on every person. Indeed everything was thus manifested as it is. He is the truth objectively, as the Holy Spirit is in power for the believer (1 John 5:6), who therefore becomes light in the Lord. Never does scripture treat man's thoughts or discoveries as anything of the kind; still less to allow the least comparison with Him that speaks from heaven (Heb. 12:25) and will speak “once” more in a judgment which will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. Hence for the Christian all is out in the light of God through His word. Flaws there are through man's weakness or wrong, both in text and in translation, and intelligence may be at fault. But the truth is completely revealed as to both God and man, and this right on to “the day of God, by reason of which heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and elements shall melt with fervent heat. But according to His promise we await new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:12, 13).

Where is Dr. Driver's faith of God's elect and knowledge of truth which is according to godliness? Far from me to judge him personally. His heart one leaves to the blessed God. We would speak only of his testimony as to revealed truth. What we have throughout his paper is but glorying in man, and especially the men of this day. They if modest and wise must see their nothingness, and measureless need of God's pity and grace, instead of repeating the old folly which Job reproved in his friends, “No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.” Alas! indeed men now look for indefinite progress. But what a shock to Christian conscience, when scholars bearing the Lord's name, and in the position of clergymen as eminent and influential as they could well attain in great seats of learning, boast of things, compared with the grace and truth of Christ, as the advances in our experimental science, and their dependent mechanical arts, in Anthropology, Archeology and other such sciences, as with other branches of human knowledge! These investigations may well be left, like the hewing of wood or the drawing of water to those who enjoy not the title of entrance into the holies; but they are beneath those who by grace are made kings and priests to God.

I do not think the slight of the A.V. as compared with the Revision in our day justified. It is true that there were singular mistakes and shortcomings in the old version, and more correctness in some respects in the oldest English translation of W. Tyndale. But there are not a few errors of such deep import in the Revision that one can only thank God that as yet so great a failure has not gained general acceptance. At any rate crying up our own day in this respect seems strangely uncalled for. Even Bishop Lightfoot to whom Dr. Driver refers, great scholar as he was, proves that a deeper knowledge of Christian truth than he possessed is essential to guard from e.g. the evident and serious blunder he made, followed by the Revisers in 2 Cor. 5:14, 15. For he translates it so as to favor a sense not only false in itself but contrary to its own context; for it contrasts the universal death of man outside Christ, for whom He died, with those who live to Him who also rose to this end. It is therefore the death of all in their sins, not death with Christ which is the portion only of those who live to Him, as they live in Him, which “all” are very far from.

Take further if we only glance at the beginning of Luke, such plain error as the Revisers adopted in ch. 2:14; and their failure to see that the true parenthesis in 3:23 is “being the son as was supposed of Joseph,” leaving the genealogy to begin with “of Eli” (etc.) whom even the Talmud admits to have been father of Mary. This line is here given, not Joseph's in the Solomonic branch which Matt. 1 requires, each suiting its own Gospel according to that specific divine design which the books of Scripture possess by inspiration.

Again what ignorance and presumption to omit the amply supported “second-first” in vi. 1! No doubt its singularity made it unintelligible to most, and led to its omission in some MSS. and versions. But it has an important sense, if any intimate with that season would feel for Jewish hearts subject to the law. It is unaccountable unless genuine. Again in ver. 35 can one conceive anything more beneath scripture than their rendering “never despairing”? May it remain alone in its shame among all versions, good, bad and indifferent! In some of these and many more, such as Rom. 3:22, in the Epistles, the Revisers have changed the more correct readings and renderings of the A.V. for the worse. The vaunt of present-day exactitude is unbecoming.

It is hardly necessary to say that one regards with horror what is said in p. 23, that “the tablets brought from the library of Asshur-banipal have disclosed to us the source of the material elements upon which the Biblical narratives of the Creation and the Deluge have been constructed.” That the Gentiles had widely spread traditions about the earth's origin and man's, and of the deluge, is true and long known, but withal corrupted everywhere with their false gods to whom they were adapted. But that fabulous traditions, such as Asshur-banipal's tablets represent, disclose the source of the Biblical account is a slander of which infidelity is alone capable. The fact is that as far as I am aware not one Gentile first or last can be proved to have believed that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It is a truth which faith alone receives; and I fear that the new school no more believe it than Asshur-banipal did; for it is avowed that the doctrine of development goes along with the new literary method. It is an abuse of language for a Darwinian to speak of crediting creation, as it is for the new critic to say that he believes in inspiration. In both cases it is a growth, not God's work.

It is painful in the extreme to read the words of professed teachers of revealed truth; a glorying in man which is natural to an unbeliever who lauds the progress of the age and claims for the present generation an advance beyond parallel. “It may have been most conspicuous and brilliant in the physical sciences, and in the great mechanical arts based upon them; but it has been not less real in many other branches of knowledge, in language, in history, in archeology, in anthropology. How much, in all these departments of knowledge is known now, which a century ago was unknown, and even unsuspected!... But the same spirit of scientific study and research which has inspired new life into so many other departments of knowledge, and even in some instances created them altogether, has also pervaded Biblical and Oriental learning; and there is hardly any branch of these subjects, whether language, or literature, or antiquities, or history, in which the stimulus of the nineteenth century has not made itself felt, and in which improved methods of investigation have not conducted to new and important results” (pp. 18-20). Are not we to-day the world's wonders?

Is this the mind of one delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's love? Could one consciously so blessed put these accessions of human knowledge, supposing it ever so real and great, side by side with that of scripture imparted by the operation of the Holy Spirit? Yet who in it cries up the letter that kills? is it not the Spirit that quickens? The world's knowledge which the natural man can acquire leaves sin unremoved and judgment with its dread issue awaiting its votaries. Did not God in the cross of Christ make foolish the wisdom of this world? “For since 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 those that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21).

To lump, after this fashion, the Bible with such acquisitions is blindness to the truth of God, and a heinous offense against grace and truth. It is well to have the word in its integrity and freed from accretion; but the incomparably more momentous thing is to have and enjoy the fruit, which all this external activity does not enable a single soul to taste. “For who of men knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we might know the things granted to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:11, 12). As a dog, no matter how sagacious, cannot understand a watch, which as a human work a man can; so a man is incapable of entering into revealed truth save by the Spirit of God; not only born anew, and redeemed, but needing and having received the Holy Spirit to this end. Not all the possible human progress in profane or sacred departments avails. One must be “taught of God” wholly above man, as the Lord declared according to the prophets.

Nor can there be a more superficial or unbelieving inference than what is drawn in p. 22: “The net results of these discoveries is that the ancient Hebrews are taken out of the isolation in which, as a nation, they formerly seemed to stand; and it is seen now that many of their institutions and beliefs were not peculiar to themselves; they existed in more or less similar form among their neighbors; they were only in Israel developed in special directions, subordinated to special ends, and made the vehicle of special ideas.” Even Balaam, wicked man and false prophet as he was, uttered under the compulsion of God's Spirit the truth which flatly contradicts such Gentile pride. “Lo, a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numb. 23:9). Nor is God's thought about Israel only separateness to Himself, but in ver. 21 their justification in sovereign grace, in 24:5-7 their given beauty, and in 17-49 their glory when the Star out of Jacob shines in power. Doubtless this seems strange, as the O.T. is the history of their failure under the law. But they are kept for Messiah and the new covenant, when the Unchanging One, to whom they are still blind, shall change all things in their favor. And the mind of God regularly looks on to that day in His love for His people.

Alas! the next p. 23 is daring infidelity. “The monuments of Egypt and Babylon combine to establish the presence of man upon the earth, and the existence of entirely distinct languages, as periods considerably more ancient than is allowed for by the figures in the Book of Genesis; and the tablets brought from the library of Asshur-banipal have disclosed to us the source (!) of the material elements upon which the Biblical narratives of the Creation (!) and the Deluge have been constructed”!! Thus openly does the Hebrew Professor of Oxford dare to avow that he believes the vain monuments of men, and gives the lie to God's testimony. The Confusion of Tongues, as well as the accounts of Creation and the Deluge, are fables constructed out of the heathen tablets of the noble Asnapper's library! What French or German has defamed scripture more daringly?

It is an assumption without the smallest proof save of and no indication whatever “that in the early chapters of Genesis we are not reading literal history.” The Lord and the apostles have decided otherwise, and as Christians we believe them, not in the least degree the Higher Critics, whom we can only regard as infatuated enemies of revelation.

So also we regard the speculation on the poetical books and prophets, as abandoning light for darkness in all spiritual respects. The divine who defined prophecy as “the history of events before they come to pass” was celebrated for his metaphysical power and his evidential prowess against Deism, in no way for his knowledge of scripture, which gives a larger and deeper thought of prophecy, and was so recognized by intelligent students quite apart from the neologian school. Indeed it is evident not only in the O.T. but also in the N.T. So the Samaritan at Sychar when she told the Lord, who had then said not a word about the future, “I perceive that thou art a prophet.” Yet immediately He told her of the profound change which no man on earth knew, when Jerusalem and its national worship of Jehovah should pass for the incomparable blessedness of Christianity, and the true worshippers to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Crasser ignorance spiritually cannot be than to learn that “the materials afforded by the inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia,” whatever their trifling use externally, yielded one ray of light on the prophets. The prophets' writings are the only and the full proof that they dealt morally with their own generations on God's behalf, but with the richest certainty of the future, when His intervention by the Son of man, the rejected Messiah, shall put down all evil and enemies, establish His righteous reign, and fill all the earth with His glory. The first intimation is announced in Num. 14:21, quite as clearly as in the varied forms of Isa. 11:9, and of Hab. 2:14. Not one sprang out of the circumstances of the then age, but out of God's purpose, whatever might be the occasion: it is worthy of God, in contrast with all those varying times of evil, and suited, but no natural reason.

Hence the Jews, dark as they were, were not so depraved as these modern pretenders, and justly called the writers of the O.T. historical books “the early prophets,” as distinguished from the later where there is little or no history. Again the prophetic element is still more manifest in the poetical books; but they all have the predictive in plain words, in type, or expressive figures, with its glorious issue, wholly independent of anything then visible or at work, and only possible for God to declare and insure. Nothing more opposed to the empty ideas of the new school, whose knowledge is human and sets up nature, not God and His word.

It is plain too that the apostle designates the Epistles in Rom. 16:26 as “prophetic scriptures,” not “the scriptures of the prophets,” which is the strange and certain blunder of the Revisers no less than of the A. V. The context is no less incompatible than the phrase itself. For a mystery or secret is in question which “had been kept silent, but was now manifested and by prophetic scriptures made known, according to the eternal God's commandment, for obedience of faith unto all the nations.” This was done pre-eminently afterward in the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. It clearly gives “prophetic scriptures” a wider and deeper scope than is usually seen. Now the mystery of Christ and the church is inseparable from the exaltation of Christ and His joint-heirs over all the universe in the day of glory. It includes the bright future according to God's own grace and power.

But the error comes out plainly in the discussion of “inspiration” that follows from p. 26. The Oxford Professor could count on a pretty cordial appreciation of his own unbelief from his congregational audience. It is not true that among believers there is any haze on that essential truth. Explanation of literary structure is academic guess; prying into the manner of God's communication is irreverent, even if possible beyond the inspired. Faith is demanded to the exclusion of theory. But there is the divine dictum: “every scripture [is] God-breathed,” or “being God-breathed [is]...profitable” etc.: in the first rendering asserted; in the second, assumed; so that the main truth remain intact either way.

This too is confirmed by the facts of its own statement throughout. That the inspired drew their narrative from the heathen, out of whom they were separated at all costs as the first of duties to Jehovah their God, is an abominable and baseless slander; that the heathen had traditions of Creation and the Deluge which they clothed with their idolatries, is true. But take the law and its stages in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and the equivalent in Deuteronomy. The constant word generally is, “And Jehovah said to Moses.” To deny its possibility is clearly infidel and irrational. Is it true or false? Take again what David says (2 Sam. 23:2), “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me,” etc. Law or Psalm, it was God's word, and scripture; and this is what inspiration means, and what the faithful believe. Is it necessary for every writer to present himself as in the opening of a play of Euripides? Would this suit the simple dignity of God's messengers to His people? “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken,” says one of the greatest of prophets. “Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts” says Haggai, one of the least, as the very last opens with the “Burden of the word of Jehovah.” Was all this a flourish, a literary fiction, or the solemn truth of God? It is a theory, and a theory of unbelief, that God inspired His servants, and withal left them like other men, to write mistakes, instead of its resulting essence to be the perfect communication of His mind If God's Spirit moved in the work, was it to effectuate God's will? or to leave it after all imperfect and misleading? The human element was in individual style; not in error, which could only frustrate the express aim and object of scripture. There had, better be no inspiration than to give divine authority to what was man's erring word, not God's. The scripture, and every scripture, is God-breathed authenticity and authority as His word.

So in what follows in p. 25 on the Prophets and the Psalms, the effect is to reduce to man's mind and circumstances, and exclude the supernatural energy of the Holy Spirit. No one denies that there was, or may have been, a present experience, as the occasion. As the rule, it was Israel's growing wickedness and ruin. This the prophet was raised up to judge, but also to disclose both God's final dealing and a partial one nearer then, the pledge of the complete, when the glorious hope of Messiah's Kingdom will be realized without a word of exaggeration “in that day.” No doubt the Fathers, the Romanists, the Reformers, the Puritans, and the divines of Christendom who followed, Nationalist and Dissenting, have applied to themselves what really awaits repentant Israel at the end of the age. This the new school in a slight measure see. But do any of them truly believe in the revealed purpose of God to set the Lord Jesus as Head over all things heavenly and earthly, with the glorified saints on high, and Israel here below with all the nations in subjection and peace with universal joy even for the long groaning creation? They write vaguely if such be their living and assured hope, perhaps unwilling to wound the great mass of their incredulous associates who believe in prophecy no more than in miracles, seemingly little more than dead men. An ideal vision is not a real prophecy. Many were the true and even minute predictions of Christ's first advent; very many more and on the largest scale await His second. Do they frankly believe this? So at least say the scriptures.

The question is then raised, (1) How do the facts bear on the inspiration of the O.T.? (2) How do they affect our estimate of its moral and doctrinal value? (3) What practical conclusions may be deduced? 1 But to my mind, they are not facts but flimsy speculations on the surface of scripture, and total lack of God's teaching by it. The effect is to lose, in contrast with the first man, Christ the object of the Spirit throughout. The practical result, is to turn from the light of God's word to fill souls with the darkness and vanity of man's records, as if these shed light on scripture. Even when they cannot but fully confirm the revealed word, how can one call this “light”? It may prove the folly of unbelief, and silence an objector. But Christ only, the word of God, the truth, sheds divine light.

Before his own answers, Dr. D. emphasizes a double element in scripture, a human not less than a divine. No intelligent Christian denies but recognizes it. Only he means the human element left to, its weakness and mistakes, instead of the divine sustaining it against error. As it was in Christ's person, so it is in scripture. Nothing short would have weight with a believing soul. But these critics lower Christ as much as the scriptures; for they regard Him as knowing no better than the scribes, or, if He did, accommodating Himself to the ignorance of His day! He cites in a note 2 Tim. 3:16, 17, not from the A.V. but the R.V. which is far from being accepted as the true construction. What unbounded presumption in themselves! What blind confidence in petty knowledge of any in what is not God's word! “The use of the word will not guide us; for it occurs only in the passage referred to. Clearly the only course open to us [i.e. granting the misconstruction] is to examine, patiently and carefully, the book which is termed inspired, and ascertain what characters attach to it.” (p. 28). Now inspiration, though equally divine, did not always assume the same form, though we are told little, and perhaps could not learn more, about it. Why should we? Let us hear then the scriptures.

If we take the central book of the Pentateuch, what does it distinctly claim? “And Jehovah called unto Moses, and spoke unto him” &c. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man” &c. And so, with slight historic exceptions the book of Leviticus attaches to itself the character of direct dictation from Jehovah throughout. But these critics flatly refuse to believe. Faithful men accept it as literal truth, the law given through Moses. This is surely inspiration; and He who revealed it empowered the human medium to communicate it, not only piecemeal by the way, but written as a whole.

Would it not be an eminently human way to expect every or any book of scripture to open with “I am inspired” or its equivalent? No creature witnessed creation. None but God could vouch for it. Adam and his sons were called into being long after. Legends could but guess unless God made it known, as He assuredly did to Moses, if we believe our Lord. Was this so wonderful as to give him to write of Christ? The first of his books presents the far simpler and nobler words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”: a truth which had been utterly forgotten and denied long before the days of Moses. Where is its truth in one of those boasted monuments of Babylon, Nineveh, or Egypt, which professing Christians, and Christian teachers in the highest position, are not ashamed to allege against the word and authority of scripture? They of the monuments, one and all, worshipped idols or strange gods; and so the error was not secondary but fundamental. Their religion was based on a deadly falsehood which vitiates all possible reliance on them for truth or holiness. What can one think of men so infatuated as to impute the Bible to heathen trash? Is not this what all neo-critics do without a blush? Can it be denied with the least appearance of candor? Now who could speak as Moses writes authoritatively, of creation but the Creator? That Babylonians and others borrowed and corrupted the tradition is the homage that lies pay to the truth. Wickedness alone would make their forgeries the source of scripture.

But even Genesis is full of prophecy from the beginning, not only in direct terms (partly fulfilled, more to be so, and not to faith only but manifested to every eye), and indirectly yet more largely in its types throughout, save to blind eyes. Who but God could have thus revealed? Where is its reality outside scripture? Here most of these critics are as sceptically depraved as D. Hume and E. Gibbon, or as frivolous as J. J. Rousseau and A. de Voltaire.

Next Exodus attests stupendous miracles on which the monuments are as dumb, as they ignore and defy the Ten Words, and the judgments of God on Egypt's king and people; and the annexed copies of the things in the heavens shown to Moses inspired for communication to Israel for their worship and our still deeper instruction. Here the records of all the monuments are silent; but these critics grow bolder in their unbelief. For they dare to speculate, on the simple finding (after much disorder and idolatry) the long-neglected book of the law in Josiah's day, that it must be a fabrication then got up, pretending to a Tabernacle after the Exodus, if ever there was an Exodus. Can they believe that the true God gave no better revelation to Israel than a bundle of lies, which contradict each other? or that Israel (yea—the Lord) had to wait for German skeptics to find it out?

Then in Leviticus, which is almost entirely characterized by the words, “And Jehovah spoke to Moses,” and ends with “These are the commandments which Jehovah commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai,” how daring is the impiety which allows a doubt! Here they have not the plea of heathen writers for confirmation, whom they venerate as they distrust the scriptures. It is the love of doubt which they confound with the love of truth, the assurance of systematic self-will and independent speculation, and not the faith of God's Son and God's word.

Numbers seems to be equally impossible to be attributed to any other than Moses, making allowance for an inspired editor's slight additions. For it presents the circumstances of the march through the wilderness with the suited commandments of Jehovah. It has (if we believe the apostle in 1 Cor. 10) a spiritual bearing on the Christian pilgrim which only divine wisdom could have combined, yet characteristic of the prophets, indeed one only inferior to the highest, who had ample leisure and conferred power to indite as God enjoined, with love for Israel and yet more for Jehovah. This spared neither the people nor the misleaders, neither Aaron nor Miriam nor himself. Is not this as edifying as it contrasts with any pretended sacred book of man?

Deuteronomy closes the law, and is so self-evidently Mosaic with its personal pathos, that one may wonder that any man of spiritual perception could fail to recognize that none but the saintly legislator could have written it, as he intimates himself with death immediately in view, yet with undismayed spirit, and natural force unabated, and all his profound affections for Israel just about to enter the land of promise from which he was debarred. This and more necessarily gave a peculiar solemnity, adapted to the new generation who had not personally shared the departure from Egypt, the law imposed at Sinai, and but little of God's discipline through the wilderness, which form its wondrous rehearsal for instruction, encouragement, and warning quite unexampled in the O.T.

(Continued from Vol. 5 p. 378).

Cain: 1. His World and His Worship

His World, and His Worship. Gen. 4

It is a terrible history of man's hopelessness—the history God has given us in His word. I say history, because we have a setting forth of his sins and failures from the beginning; but then the blessed grace of God is shown forth in it, because it tells of Christ to come.

It is simply that man's heart is evil. This is true; but it has been proved evil in the presence of everything which ought to have restrained its evil. God has given us the history of man's ways, and of His dealings with man (not merely stated dogmas); and in whatever way He has dealt with man, we find the evil of man's heart breaking out, and following its course, spite of all.

Man, having sinned against God, is turned out of paradise (Gen. 3). The next thing we read of is the outrageous wickedness of man against his brother: Cain, Adam's first-born, slaying Abel (Gen. 4). Then comes the flood sweeping away a whole generation of evil-doers (Gen. 7). Mercy is shown to Noah, he and his house saved through judgment; yet immediately afterward we find him drunk in his tent, and Ham his son mocking and dishonoring him (Gen. 9).

God speaks to Israel at Sinai, thundering with His voice His righteous demands on man: yet awful as the presence of God is (and even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake), before Moses comes down from the mount the people have made the golden calf, and broken the first link that binds them to the service of Jehovah (Ex. 32), In the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ we see God visiting the Jew, and dealing with sinners in grace in the person of His Son: Him they slay and hang on a tree (Acts 5:30). Israel's history (man's under the most favorable circumstances) is one scene of violence and evil all the way through; so that Stephen (in testifying to them after their rejection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost in witness of Christ's glory) says they were but doing as their fathers had ever done. “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).

Notwithstanding all the dealings of God with man—the voice of God and the judgments of Godman is so hopelessly bad, that the nearer he is brought to God, the more culture there is bestowed upon him by God, only the more is manifested, and that in darker characters, the sin and desperate wickedness of his heart, working spite of all in sight even of God's judgments.

In the sin in the garden we see the character of man's evil as against God; Cain's sin is sin against a neighbor. Of course both are sins against God (all sin being against God); but whilst in the sin of Adam and Eve we see lust and disobedience, in Cain's there is something more—it is sin as exhibited against a neighbor.

Man, as to his actual condition, is a sinner cast out of paradise, already out of the presence of God; and he ought to have the consciousness of being out, and that the only way of getting back to God is through His Son.

We are not in paradise. We have got out of it some way or other; and we are in a world which is under judgment, and where death is staring us in the face. Adam had just been driven out of paradise, and Cain must have had (through Adam) the remembrance that there was a time when man was not out of paradise, when he heard God's voice in the garden without fear, when he had not a bad conscience, and when he was without toil. Saints or sinners (in our own eyes), we have been driven out of Eden, and we are in the wilderness utterly excluded from God's presence. We ought to have the consciousness of being out, and of the misery of our condition. But alas! we have lost all remembrance of the place in which we once were, and have become familiarized to the ruin and desolation consequent upon sin. Still it is true, and we cannot deny it, that we have got out of paradise, and are in a world constantly under sentence. We may try to make the best of the world; but we must all feel that something has come to pass, something that has brought in death and judgment. Happiness cannot be associated with sin, any more than sin can he associated with God. As for man, though he seeks to buoy himself up with his sins, and to delude himself with the lie of Satan, sink he must, sooner or later, under the power of the sin and death already come in. He is just spending his energies to make the world pleasant without God, and himself comfortable and rich in it, to die out of it.

The world he cannot keep. He may build a city for himself, as Cain did (ver. 17), and call it after his own name (Cain called his city after the name of his son); but it will be with him as David speaks, “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them” (Psa. 49).

Cain did not like the sense of the wrath of God lying upon him. Gone out from the presence of Jehovah (ver. 16), he had become so great in the earth that he could build a city. Man never likes to be in the truth of his condition. Cain shrinks from being “a fugitive and a vagabond,” and he tries to build a city, and he does build a city, in the endeavor to make the world as pleasant as he can without God. It might be said, “What harm was there in building a city?” In the first place there would never have been the necessity for this in paradise. Moreover it was proof of insensibility as to his sin against God; it showed quiet contentment under the effect of that punishment which at first he had felt was greater than he could bear; it was the last expression of total alienation of heart and affection from God.

Driven out from the presence of God, he sets about to establish himself. He seeks for himself a home, not with God in heaven, but on the earth, from which God had pronounced him “cursed.” He makes himself master of a city, where God had made him “a vagabond.”

(To be continued).

Fragment: Acts of Affection

She who anointed the Lord's feet in Simon's house showed more real love and more intelligence in divine truth than they who brought their hundred pounds' weight of sweet spices to His vacant tomb. The homage of their love was mistimed then, for He was not there, but risen; and no corruption was there to need the masking odors of rich perfume. “Storied urn and animated bust” will be of nothing worth to our beloved and revered who are put to sleep by Jesus, and await His coming to change the body of our humiliation into conformity with the body of His glory. But little acts of affection done for them to-day, while they are still with us, are really valuable, since they may perchance cheer their hearts in discouraging times with gentle reminders of loving sympathy and bright hope. EMETH.

Published

LONDON:

T. WESTON, Publisher, 53, Paternoster Row.

Published Monthly.

Joseph: 20. Names of Jacob's Sons Who Came Into Egypt

If we honestly wish to avoid serious mistakes and rightly understand Scripture, it is important to read the genealogies according to their aim, and not modern ideas. And it is plain on their face that they present difficulties, which no forger nor compiler would have left but have avoided with all care. The writer, on the other hand, knowing details which we might not, expresses simply what he knows to be true without stopping to clear them up. Special motives govern each case; and if this be under the direction of the Holy Spirit, as a Christian is bound to believe, the mistake must be in judging according to his own mind and method, not after the divine design.

“And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Jacob's first-born, Reuben; and the sons of Reuben, Enoch and Phallu and Hezron and Carmi; and the sons of Simeon, Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Saul son of a Canaanitish woman. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath and Merari; and the sons of Judah, Er and Onan and Shelab, and Pherez and Zarah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Pherez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar, Tola and Puah, and Job and Shimron; and the sons of Zebulun, Sered and Elon and Jahleel. These [are] the sons of Leah whom she bore to Jacob in Padan-Aram, and his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and daughters [were] thirty-three.

“And the sons of Gad, Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli; and the sons of Asher, Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Serah their sister, and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel. These [are] the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob: sixteen souls.

“The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin. And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath bore to him, daughter of Potiphera, priest in On; and the sons of Benjamin, Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and And. These [are] the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob: all the souls [were] fourteen.

“And the sons of Dan, Hushim; and the sons of Naphtali, Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. These [are] the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: all the souls [were] seven.

“All the souls belonging to Jacob that came into Egypt, that came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives: all the souls [were] sixty-six. And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt [were] two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt, [were] seventy” (vers. 8-27).

It is God's register of Jacob and his house, “seventy” souls including Jacob, and Joseph with his two sons, “sixty-six” without these. The Sept. cited by Stephen speaks of seventy-five, because it adds Manasseh's son Machir and grandson Gilead, and Ephraim's two sons, Shuthelah and Tahan with Shuthelah's son, Eran or Edom. The time approached when they should exchange the life of a family, already in Genesis enlarged into twelve families, for that of a people; and their growth is one of the initiatory facts of Exodus, the second book of the Pentateuch. Scripture reveals the interest God took in recording things little in man's eyes. Nature revels in what it counts great in its own eyes and before the world.

The fact is that the sons of Jacob were even less than would be reckoned in a modern census. For the principle stated in Heb. 7:9, 10 seems to have been here applied to Judah's offspring, and to Benjamin's also, as we may gather from the previous history, but inserted here as the heads of future families, as we see confirmed by the list in Num. 26 of independent families of the tribes of Israel in the day when Moses and Eleazar were directed to take the sum of the whole assembly of Israel's sons from twenty years old and upward. This is a solution suggested by these versed in such genealogies; and it is but one of several. It was no mistake, but intentional, however outside ordinary thought. Thus the immense increase during the sojourn in Egypt became all the more marked, notwithstanding the cruel and murderous oppression which characterized its latter part, and gave the occasion for Jehovah their God to show Himself greater than all gods; for in the thing in which they acted haughtily He was above them.

Exodus: Moses Quits Egypt and Flees to Midian

We have seen faith blessed in the saving of Moses, and providence at work in the king's daughter, who made his own mother his nurse, and adopted him as her son and had him instructed, as Stephen said, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty as he was too in his deeds and words.

Now we are about to hear of his own faith, rising above the elevation which providence gave him at the court of Pharaoh, and enabling him to sacrifice all to God's glory and His promises to Israel in their most despised and distressful circumstances.

“And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he turned this way and that way, and when he saw that [there was] no man, he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two Hebrew men were quarreling; and he said to him that was in the wrong, Why art thou smiting thy neighbor? And he said, Who made thee ruler and judge over us? Dost thou intend [say] to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely the matter is known. And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew [water], and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses rose and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, Why are ye come so soon to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew abundantly for us, and watered the flock. And he said to his daughters, And where [is] he? Why then have ye left the man behind? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses consented to stay with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom [a sojourner there]; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

“And it came to pass during these many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and cried; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And God heard their groaning; and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God took notice” (vers. 11-25.).

It was characteristic of Moses' faith, that he believed God's love to His people because they were His, however deplorable their state through their unbelief and the world's oppression and contempt. The providential circumstances which had lifted him above the low estate of his parents and set him, distinguished by his abilities, his acquirements, and his character in the nearest position to the royal family, gave him the stronger reason to treat all as naught compared with identifying himself with down-trodden Israel. Natural gratitude might plead her claim who had under God's hand delivered him from death. Reason would not fail to argue the prudence of using his nearness at court to gain and seize opportunities for its favor toward his suffering kinsfolk. In the face of all adverse appearances the faith of Moses rested on two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, His promise and His oath to the father of the faithful, that of Abraham's seed He would make a great nation, and that in his Seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Moses was no enthusiastic stripling, but then, as Stephen lets us know, a man about forty years of age. His words, his deeds, his mind, his affection, all point him out as one of the leading spirits for all time. But by faith he deliberately turned his back on Egypt's ease, power, and honor, to take his place among the chosen people of Jehovah, slaves though they then were and strangers in a land not their own. He knew from what we read in Gen. 15 that the end of their affliction must come ere long; for had not Jehovah said hundreds of years before, that He would judge the nation after it had reduced them to servitude and was not the fourth generation arrived, when they should quit their oppression for the land of promise? “By faith Moses, when he had become great, refused to be called son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, esteeming the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect to the recompence” (Heb. 11:24-26.).

The history gives the facts as they occurred. His brethren under their burdens lay on the heart of Moses; and as he looked, he saw an Egyptian smite one of them. Roused to indignation, “he looked this way and that way,” and seeing no witness, he took the law into his hand and slew the offender, hiding the body in the sand. The love to his brethren was a right and holy feeling; but his inflicting death on the Egyptian was unjustifiable, and led to his long exile to escape the king's resentment. He acted on the impulse of his heart, and in no way as consulting God or obeying Him. Had he looked to Him, he would not have “looked this way or that way.” He tarnished his testimony for God by his efforts to escape, any witness of the deed or of his concealing the corpse, and the consequences.

The very day after, he had to bear the keen wound inflicted not by an Egyptian nor the king but by an unworthy brother. For when he reproved the sad quarreling of Hebrew with Hebrew, he that did the wrong was the one to raise the insulting cry, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge"? and to clench it with the stab, “Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?” The conscience of Moses was bad: “surely the matter is known.” The king too was roused by his act; and Moses fled from his vengeance into the land of Midian. Moses was not brought to nothingness in his own eyes. He was playing the hero rather than the saint who waits on God, not only for the revealed end, but for each step of the way. Hence we walk by faith, not by sight. It is a path of constant dependence on God, guided by His word. And Moses had as it were to unlearn for as many years in Midian as he had been learning the wisdom of the Egyptians. What a change from the court of Pharaoh to lead Reuel or Jethro's sheep “in the back end of the desert,” not far from “the mount of God.” To this discipline the solitude of the wilderness and the lowly life of a shepherd gave the needed sphere, that his impetuous spirit might be broken down, and himself become “very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth.”

As he sat by the well, came the seven daughters of Reuel with their father's flock. But the shepherds drove them away from the troughs they sought to fill for watering the sheep. Moses interposed, and so helped the maidens that they returned soon enough to excite their father's inquiry how it came to pass, and a message sent that the stranger should partake of his hospitality. The gift of his daughter as wife followed, and the birth in due time of a son; whose name expressed the father's sense of strangership in a foreign land, in striking contrast with Joseph's forgetfulness of all his toil and all his father's house, under similar circumstances.

During those “many days” died the king of Egypt. But no relaxation of the cruel strain as yet appeared for the sons of Israel. Their bondage drew out sighs and cries. But their cry, as we are told with touching simplicity “came up to God because of the bondage; and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God took notice.” O ye that boast of Herodotus and Thucydides, of Livy and Tacitus, produce any sentence from those classic historians, or from any since down to our day, for words approaching these for tenderness, soon to be rendered into undying facts, now for everlasting principles of truth and righteousness in earthly things which test the soul whether we care for the living God or are in heart His enemies!

Proverbs 26:23-28

To the end of the chapter are denunciations of like mischief under the guise of fair speech and flattery. It is deceit in various forms, against which we are energetically put on our guard: a needful caution in this evil age, especially for the Christian who walks in grace and refuses to avenge himself.

“Ardent lips, and a wicked heart [are] an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, but he layeth up deceit within him
When his voice is gracious, believe him not, for [there are] seven abominations in his heart.
Though hatred is covered by dissimulation, his wickedness shall be made manifest in the congregation.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him.
A lying tongue hateth the injured by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (vers. 23-28).

There is no real difficulty, no sufficient reason to doubt the force of the opening words of ver. 23. They do not in the least imply in this connection the heat of wrath, which might well go with “a wicked heart” ordinarily.; but here is meant the extraordinary combination of expressing ardent affection with the desire to do evil. This, not that, is fitly compared to an earthen vessel overlaid not with silver but its “dross.”

So the hatred (24) which is eminently dangerous is not what explodes in violent words, but would work out unawares, and therefore dissembles with the lips. The benevolent words only conceal the deceit within the man.

Therefore (ver. 25) when such a one's voice is gracious, there is the strongest reason not to believe; for there is no sure faith, save in a testimony altogether reliable. Hence the blesssedness to a Christian that his faith and hope too are in the God Who cannot lie, Who has spoken to us in His Son, come in love as sure as the truth. But as to fallen man, how different! “for there are seven abominations in his heart.” It is filled with every evil of corruption no less than violence, as the Savior testified. Jehovah did not fail to make hidden evil manifest in the most public way.

“Dissimulations (ver. 26) may succeed among men for a season; but even before the kingdom of God appears in displayed power, He knows how to check Satan and expose malicious craft during the evil day. Thus from time to time is the covering stript from hatred, and “wickedness made manifest in the congregation.”

Again, when mischievous man (ver. 27) digs a pit for others, therein he is caused to fall; and where he rolls a stone for the head of his neighbor, it recoils on himself. Even the heathen expressed their sense of such retribution here below, though they knew not God.

The last verse tells us of the extreme wickedness of fallen man, that is not con tent with deceiving: “a lying tongue hateth those injured by it;” and “a flattering mouth worketh ruin” for subject as well as object. “Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse.” This is to humble oneself under God's mighty hand and be exalted in due time.

The Church and Churches: Part 1

A tract has been sent me of a departed Christian (A. J. Holiday), which it is far from my wish to criticize. As I told his friends who desired a judgment, though I should greatly prefer their judging his doctrine by God's word, I do not refuse to help as far as I am enabled.

Two points in particular seem to be the great aim: the necessity for the Christian, the member of Christ's body, to join himself to a company of disciples, a local assembly or church; and the oversight of elders as the necessary means of the due keeping of the flock.

No sober Christian doubts that in no long time after Pentecost there were local assemblies, not only in Judea and Galilee and Samaria, but among the Gentiles east and west, north and south. And the members of Christ from one local assembly were received in any other, only their identification needing letters commendatory. But all was grounded on their accredited relation to Christ as of His body. This was the foundation on which they originally had their place. Their brethren received them, because there was adequate testimony to their consciences and hearts that the Lord had been adding them together (ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ) (Acts 2:47). He was building up His church; and these were living stones, members of the one body, even if the phrase “the church” only first occurs in chap. v. 11. None did then pretend to any other membership. Others too bowed to Him only, even when all the twelve were there to rule with apostolic authority.

There are two divinely appointed symbols, which mark, one the individual Christian, the other the fellowship of the body the Church as in due time was clearly explained in 1 Cor. 10.

Both necessarily take place locally; but both are based on Christ the Lord. The baptism is not to the local representative but to Christ the Lord; and if we seek the details of the formula, “unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Just so with the church symbol; it is the communion of the body of Christ, not of any local body, though observed locally; “because we, the many, are one loaf, one body; for we, the whole of us, partake of the one loaf.” There is no word or thought here or in any other scriptures to countenance a local source. The word of God speaks of no membership save of Christ's own body; just as not a word admits of any Headship of the church but His exclusively. The same act of divine grace which makes us members of Christ makes us also members one of another. Any other membership is human tradition, which, as the Lord taught and we may readily verify, never fails to make void the word, though men may think it a good, wise, and needed supplement.

Membership of a church is the vast error of Christendom. Rome, I presume, was mother of it, as of so much else incompatible with the truth of the church as God has revealed, though its Greek rival was no less keen for the same special member ship: a thing totally unknown to the apostolic day when all the Christians on earth enjoyed but one communion. Hence when the apostle would correct local evils in one place, he wrote “to the church of God that is in Corinth, sanctified [ones] in Christ Jesus, saints called [or, by call], with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours:” a remarkable and emphatic guard against the principle of ecclesiastical independency. With this agree his words against schisms in chap. 1; “everywhere in every assembly,” chap. iv.; his call to judge those “within” (not a but the church), as the “without” was everywhere also; his words “thus I ordain in all the assemblies” in chap. vii. Compare also chap. 14:36, 37.

The Reformation, though a blessed work for delivering from Rome's servitude, and giving back the Bible in our mother-tongue frankly, in no due way attested the church, but fell back on the State to resist the Papacy, and Babylon the corruption of the church, and the denial of its Head. As this was clearly unscriptural, the system of accredited sects followed to our day, the ignoring and negation of the one body on earth united to its heavenly Head by the Spirit's baptism (1 Cor. 12:13).

So also the apostle teaches in the same chap. that there are distinctions of operations, but the same God that operates all things in all; that to each the manifestations of the Spirit are given for profit, and that whatever the different kinds, the one and the same Spirit operates all these, dividing to each in particular as He pleases. “For even as the body is one and hath many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in the power of [or by] one Spirit we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all given to drink of one Spirit.” People talk of Christ's mystical body where the scripture account does not apply to present practice. But it is plain as words can make it, that here is given the principle and way of the Spirit's action in the body on earth, not for heaven or a future time. Only unbelief can argue that it is obsolete, and not obligatory so far as God deigns to give power in the present scattered state of the saints so lacking in faith, undevoted, and worldly-minded. Further, we are told that as the case is, “God set the members each one of them in the body even as it pleased Him,” surely not in a mere local body but rather in the body as a whole. Ver. 27 in no way weakens this truth, but applies it to the Corinthian saints as its local representative, to enforce their responsibility according to privilege, the very reverse of claiming independency. Again, he says, “God set certain in the church, firstly apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then powers” [or miracles], etc., putting lower down what carnal levity at Corinth raised to the highest. But without doubt all this energy of the Spirit was in the church now and here; and there remains in divine faithfulness all that is for His glory and our need in the day when the church was stript of her ornaments.

Eph. 4 gives us the selfsame principle, not as a contrast of the one Spirit with the many, instruments of Satan's evil work, but in view of Christ's glory on high and love to His body the church on earth. There too apostles and prophets share the first and the second rank; but we have also the evangelists to gather to Christ out of the world, and the pastors (or, shepherds) and teachers to tend and instruct the saints for their perfecting, unto ministerial work, unto edifying of His body. This was on earth, though for heaven where such working never was nor will be, but in His body here; and it was then the body visible, as the saints were responsible to continue. If it too soon became invisible, it was the church's sin in departure from its place as Christ's one body, its privileges, worship, walk, and ways in general, through unfaithfulness to God.

Is, or is not, the church responsible by grace to maintain this position, not merely “endeavoring” but giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit? Internal divisions (σχίσματα) practically opposed and misrepresented that unity; “sects” (αἱρέσεις) or external splits of self will were its open denial in principle. If we believe in the one body of Christ as the spiritual fact on the earth, we are bound to judge its anomalous state since the apostles departed, as an ever-increasing offense against grace and truth, judging as the Head does by the word, and humbling ourselves. So holy Daniel did for the similar departure of Israel, instead of pleading God's providence and excusing the change. If we are taught by God of the church's unity on earth, bound up with Christ's love and honor, the present ruin is felt as deep shame and sorrow; and all the more, because of the Holy Spirit sent forth, not only to form but to sustain this divine unity in the saints, as He surely would, if they had not allowed the flesh and the world to darken and turn aside and set up other unities incompatible with that of the Spirit, which can only be in faith, love, and holiness according to God's word.

Now one of the first, and widest, subtlest and most permanent contributing causes is the assertion of a local church membership, or of the largest possible federation of churches, in opposition to the only membership known to scripture, the membership of Christ by the gift and sealing of the Holy Spirit. For it is not the new birth or faith in Christ (however essential preliminarily) which constitutes one a member of His body, but the gift of the Spirit. Compare Acts 1:4, 5; 2:38; 11:16, 17; 1 Cor. 12:13. At Pentecost it began; and so according to scripture the Spirit abides, as for other ends, to effectuate the one body of Christ now on earth, not a mere mystical union on high, any more than membership of a church on earth. If the unity had been mystical only, the scattered children of God needed not to be gathered together into one. It was to be here and now since Pentecost, not for heaven only where was no difficulty or danger, “a unity” as the tract says “which none can ever break.” Here it was to be as a testimony “that the world might believe” (John 17:21), excluding Augustine's invention of an invisible church, though it will only be “perfected into one” in the day of displayed glory “that the world may know” (vers. 22, 23).

Of this unity, whether of God's family as with John, or of Christ's body as with Paul, the Christian forms part. The Lord adds each to the church; and the church is bound to His act when ascertained suitably; but there was no thought of the believer being brought into its assembly “by his own act and the act of the assembly also.” It was an act of God's supreme grace, above man's acts, though faith owned it in all concerned. A supplemental or sectional member is not only unscriptural but anti-scriptural, the parent error of no end of errors, and leading ultimately to congregationalism or independent churches, the antitheses of God's church here as Christ's one body.

On the other hand, the remedy of professing to be the church of God now, in the departed and broken state of Christendom is in principle as bad as the disease, a mere and false pretension. For in fact the members are here, there, and anywhere. Yea even if all the Christians in a given place were to re-assemble, they would belie the truth in claiming to be “the” church of God, while there is scattering over all the earth. But they are bound to give up every false unity, yet through mercy free to meet on the one divine principle, gathered to Christ's name its ever true center, and having Him in their midst, were they but two or three, as the Lord anticipated in Matt. 18:20, and the Holy Spirit enjoins in 2 Tim. 2:19-22. It is the resource for those faithful to the Lord in the difficult times of last days.

(to be continued).

Within the Holiest and Without the Camp

The accomplished work of Christ brings the believer as near as Himself to God; but it also entails our sharing His place without the camp. As a Christian I am now in Him before God, as He is in me before men; and the Holy Spirit is now given as power to enjoy the new privilege and to make good the new responsibility. He bears witness that Christ, having borne my sins in His own body on the tree, is now glorified and thus secures the same glory to the faithful as Forerunner for us who share meanwhile His reproach here below.

In neither way would God have it be a form of words but a living reality. We can hardly avoid apprehending, if we read scripture with the eye of the heart, how carefully our bright heavenly portion by and in Christ is assured before we are exhorted to take the fellowship of His sufferings as far as these can be shared. So we find in the Epistles to the Romans, and to the Corinthians; so to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians, as well as in the earlier letters to the Thessalonians. The Pastorals only confirm the same order; nor is it otherwise with the Epistle to the Hebrews or any other word of truth. For it flows necessarily from the glad tidings of salvation; and the grace of God in Christ forbids any different order. Redemption implies and enforces it. By grace were and are we saved through faith; but we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which were before-prepared that we should walk in them. And next to worship, the best service of Christ is to follow Him humbly and loyally in His rejection here below. “If any one serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also shall be My servant: if any one serve Me, him shall the Father honor” (John 12:26). “Verily, verily I say to you, The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who sent him. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them” (John 13:16, 17).

What can do greater spiritual mischief to the Christian than to regard these things as counsels of perfection, instead of the common portion of faith and life to God's glory, our own joy, and the help of others, especially in this day of levity and ease, of free intellectualism, or of sanctimonious form, only another form of unbelief?

Read how it is in the Epistle before us, though from the aim in hand not so elevated as those to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, etc. The Holy Spirit takes the utmost pains to mark our blessedness as Christians. God spoke to us in the Son, in all the fullness and finality of that divine Person, as compared with His many piecemeal communications to the fathers in the prophets. For the Son is Heir of all things, as He made the worlds and upholds all things by the word of His [the Son's] power (Heb. 1). Now the Son only set Himself down on the right hand of the Majesty on high after making the purification of the sins, otherwise irreparable, now cleansed by His blood. His personal glory is the strongest assurance of His perfect work, backed up by His present position at God's right hand, after He undertook their expiation. What a permanent and glorious proof to the believer of his purification!

So in chap. 2, as by the grace of God He tasted death for everything and will restore the universe by-and-by, in bringing many sons to glory it became God to perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings, to annul the enemy that had the power of death, and thus set free from that fear; to make propitiation; and to help the tempted as One who Himself suffered being tempted. What care to show the fullness of blessing in our present weakness and exposure! And so it might be shown throughout.

But let us turn to chaps. 9, & 10. In chap. 9:12 it is declared that by His own blood He entered once for all the Holies, having found an everlasting redemption; and in chap. 10:10-14 this is applied in all its value to the Christian. “By which will (God's) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Compare vers. 11-14. Hence all brethren in the Lord are invited, as having boldness to enter in spirit where He is, both by His work and His priesthood to approach through the rent veil with a true heart and in full assurance of faith. But we are also exhorted in chap 13 to go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.

Christianity denies the “via media,” which Israel took, inside the camp and outside the sanctuary. We are called like Christ to the extremes of blessing in heaven and of contempt on earth, to approach within the sanctuary and to go forth without the camp. Is this our faith, and our enjoyed privilege, and our happy experience? If not, what and where are we? With the Lord before us faith cannot think to make the best of both worlds, as some say. If we have Him for association with Himself even now on high, we are now also called to go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Christians judaize sadly.

2 Peter 3:3-4

A special reason for heeding the prophets and the apostles follows, which gives urgency to the warning as to those who despise the word of God. For do we not recognize that to-day is a day of prevalent and growing mockery in Christendom among philosophers and those influenced by their speculations?

“Knowing this first, that in the last of the days mockers shall come with mockery walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming (or presence)? for from the [day] that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue thus (or, as they were) from beginning of creation” (vers. 3, 4).

The apostle first introduced the formula “Knowing this first” when insisting on the divine source and character, with the certainty and value, of prophecy, even while intimating the still more intimate and elevated nature of the heavenly light and hope of Christianity. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is (or rather is made to be) of its own interpretation.” It is not an isolated thing, but part of a vast plan for God's glory in the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Its true and full interpretation cannot be apart from His future kingdom in displayed glory. As the Father's counsels look onward to nothing short of this, so the Holy Spirit has moved in the inspiration of the word to this end. Man of himself is quite beneath such ability. Like the gracious power of good which alone could set aside all the evils under which man groaned, and especially the awful weight of Satanic possession, as a testimony before the age to come will enjoy it fully; so prophecy of scripture anticipatively fills the heart and mind of the believer with the mighty beneficence of that day, and His grace and His glory through it come to pass with everlasting Hallelujahs to God. It was therefore in neither case the working or effect of man's will. Those who wrought the wondrous deeds, or who wrote the no less wondrous words, did so by the power and love of God Who alone could qualify them in honor of His Son, the Lamb of God.

So here the repetition of “Knowing this first” marks the importance of the truth. It might have seemed that the proclamation of the gospel to all the creation must have disarmed the hostile spirit, even of those who did not believe through pride, pleasure, and lusts of all kinds, to the saving of their souls. But the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. And our Lord Himself had prepared us for unbelief and self-seeking and defiance of God and His word, as in Israel, so as bad or worse in Christendom, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, till the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all. And in like manner as took place in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven, and destroyed all: after this manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.” The subject is wound up in His closing figure “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together” (Luke 17). Divine judgment will find its object.

The apostle Paul was given to reveal that lawlessness should come out openly, as even from the early days of the gospel it was at work secretly, till (the great Hinderer being removed,) it should culminate in the man of sin, the express opposite of the Man of righteousness, the Savior from perdition instead of its son; “whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth to them a working of error, that they should believe the falsehood, that all might be judged who believed not the truth but found pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2).

No less plain is 2 Tim. 2; 3, and iv., on the growth of haughty unbelief and unrestrained disregard of God in word and deed in the last days, while having a form of piety before even this is finally cast off. The Epistle of James lays bare, as the beginning of evil, the unjudged creedism which life in Christ was not, and works quite dead and worthless, and instead of love, wordliness, selfishness, and injustice prevailing. 1 Peter 4 affirmed the end of all things drawn nigh, and the season for the judgment beginning from or at the house of God, a principle to which He adheres; for as His privileges are there, so also is the special responsibility of those who claim them, though every one shall bear his own burden in God's moral government. But it is here in the second Epistle and in that of Jude and in the Revelation of John that the marked form of evil professors at the close is fully defined. It is a return to that materialism which abounded in the heathen that knew not God. Here it comes out in the naked infidelity of scoffers who sit in the seat of the scornful.

Scoffing was an evil sign in pagan Greece and Rome. Yet none can wonder that mockers should rise up like Lucian of Samosata when paganism was exposed in its falsehood, emptiness and demoralization under the revealed light of God. Again, when the Bible got read at the time of the Reformation, we are not surprised that natural men treated Catholic legends and traditions, and the decrees of the Popes with contempt, any more than that the unhallowed ribaldry broke out before, during, and since the French Revolution, against truth as well as error and fable in divine things. But here we are apprised of a dense dark cloud, far more widely spread, which would shut out the light of heaven, not merely on the gross licentious ways of evil men who taught for gain as in chap. ii., but on others of philosophic mind, who might be generally correct in moral ways, but were beguiled into such an abandonment of truth, as we have already in Agnosticism, Positivism, and the like. They stand on phenomena, on things seen, on matter. God is in none of their thoughts as a living reality, His word (if His word) of no account. Things continue as ever. This is the fixed law. All else is idea. God is, for such, an unknown God.

These do not openly hate the name of the Lord Jesus, but like other incredulous men have no words too lofty to express their admiration of His life and ministry and death, quite apart from God's testimony to their own guilt and dire need to find redemption through His blood. But their dream of human progress is so judged and cut short by His return to judge the quick, that they all unite with open mouth to refuse and decry His return to judge the habitable earth. Hence their description here, as “proceeding according to their lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue thus from beginning of creation.”

This therefore is a distinct and solemn part of Christian testimony: not only the judgment of the wicked dead at the end of the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, but that which will fall suddenly on men “as a thief by night” at the end of the age, while they cry, Peace and safety. The yet more awful judgment of the dead is comparatively distant; and men with little effort but extreme peril can put off all thought till a more convenient season. But for flesh and blood, it is intolerable to hear also of a judgment unsparing and universal to arrest the every-day interests of mankind, when sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child. And He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him. Where then will be the rook, the dust, to hide man from Jehovah? For “man's lofty looks shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away.... In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made [each] for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall arise to terrify the earth” (Isa. 2).

The corruption of the best is the worst corruption. It was an abomination in Israel. It is the apostasy in Christendom. The counsel of the ungodly in a moment comes to naught. The way of sinners is seen to be everlasting ruin. And what will it be to the seat of the mockers when their mocking is confronted with the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with angels of His power? For He will appear in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that know not God, and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. As they shall pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from the Lord's presence, and from the glory of His might, so He shall have come to be glorified in His saints and to be wondered at in all that believed in that day (2 Thess. 2).

Not only for these the heavenly saints will it be glory with Christ, but times of refreshing, for those who repent and are converted, both in Israel and in the nations on earth, will surely come from the Lord's presence who sends the Anointed Jesus, Who was fore-ordained for His people but now in heaven; but there are times of restoring all things of which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets since time began. So the apostle preached in Acts 3 It is clear therefore that this word leaves no room for expecting the Holy Spirit as now working to bring in those times. The Spirit had just come for the gospel and the church; and He was in no way grieved and hindered and denied as He soon began to be. But ever increasing woes have been since the apostles. But even then the apostle explicitly looks to God's sending the Lord Jesus again to bring in the day of earth's blessedness, and the nations rejoicing with Israel, no longer deaf and dumb, but the loudest in that united and continuous chorus of divine praise. Yet the sword, as we have seen, must inevitably clear the earth before Jehovah. Jah the Savior “shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and His name one.”

Then too shall all the universe be put into divine harmony, according to Eph. 1:10-12. For it will then be the administration of the fullness of the fit times: to sum, or head up, all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth: in Him in whom too we were given inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the counsel of His own will, that we should be unto praise of His glory.

The Higher Criticism: Part 2

1. “GOD-BREATHED,” then, is ample to convey the source, character and authority of scripture to a: believing soul. As to the manner in which the Divine will was communicated to the writers, the Church, as it could say nothing reliable, was still less authorized to speculate presumptuously. And what more inconsistent with reverence than to propound “a theory” on “its literary structure”? or the stages by which historically inspiration proceeded? But the same apostle long before his last Epistle had given light from God, which it is seasonable to recall. 1 Cor. 2 lets us into much of the deepest interest and importance, which the Higher Critics gloss over, in impressing on the lightminded Corinthians the fullness and variety of the Holy Spirit's operation in this respect and in others for the blessing of the faithful. Even what Isaiah confessed to be hidden from man's eye, ear, and heart, is now revealed to the Christian since Christ's redemption, and the Spirit's descent (vers. 9-12); “which things also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating (or expounding) spiritual things by spiritual” [words] For it is evident to any who inspect with care that the apostle is here treating of the further stage of communicating the revelation in ver. 13, before carrying it on to the reception of the inspired words in vers. 14, 15; where the reception by the Christian is declared to be by the same Holy Spirit in contrast with the inability of the natural man. “Comparing” therefore, though quite right in the different context of 2 Cor. 10:12, does not give the sense of συγκρίνοντες here as the intermediate act. Nor does “combining” which is here without any intelligible force, but “interpreting” as in the Revisers' margin, though the simpler “communicating” seems in so peculiar a connection the fittest of all.

This being the apostle's pronouncement, how can any professing Christian doubt “that an inspired writing must be absolutely consistent in all its parts, and free from all discrepancy or error”? The Bible both makes and satisfies these requirements. This is inspiration's account of inspiration.! The “words” are Spirit-taught no less than the ideas. But the gift of the Spirit is essential to receive them. The lack of the Spirit is the true reason for insubjection to the truth, and the invention of such terms as “Bibliolatry,” “verbal” inspiration or other such slurs. No intelligent believer denies but asserts individuality of style: what he abhors is that God's Spirit sanctions or allows error. There is nothing in the plea that it is “man's word,” with which the apostle contrasts it expressly in 1 Thess. 2:13: “when ye received from us God's word of message (or, report), ye accepted not men's word but even as it is truly God's word which also worketh in you that believe.” But these critics do not so believe God's revelation. They believe in themselves and their unbelieving leaders; and so continuing they “shall both fall into a pit.”

It is false therefore that “the inerrancy of Scripture... is a principle which is nowhere asserted or claimed in Scripture itself” (p. 31). “Theologians” on the contrary, as the rule, are habitually weak from the beginning, like Origen, the most learned of the Greeks, who read allegory, and not history in the fall of Adam and the primitive state.

It is no question of a priori any more than a posteriori, but of faith. Before Scripture and doctrine claimed to be in Spirit-taught words, no one put such honor on it as the Lord of all when He set it as authoritative testimony (John v. 47) above His own oral words, though they were of life eternal, spirit and life as He Himself asserted. And what means His declaration in John 10:35 that “the Scripture cannot be broken”? Does this imply that man's infirmity could enter to vitiate it? or does it not mean that the Holy Spirit wrought to make it absolutely true? Nor is it so, as the Prof. says that “it is the facts which force upon us the necessity of a revision of current theories of inspiration”; for as to “current theories of it, a Christian is entitled to disregard them all. The age is full of unbelief, and therefore abounds in fables on this head and almost every other. But the very passage in 2 Tim. 3 which these men seek to weaken is the great safeguard in the grievous times of the last days, against those who deceive and are deceived; and therefore the effort to annul its weight and meaning! The neo-critical principle is not only arbitrary, unbelieving, and excessively artificial, but at direct issue with the Lord and His apostles, and scripture itself, which all join to prove that the foundations of faith are undermined by the blasphemy that God's word contains error in its Spirit-taught words.

2. To say that “the vital truths declared in the Bible appear... wholly unaffected by critical inquiries or critical conclusions” may seem natural to their zealous propagandist, but it is egregious to a believer. If the words are God's, as they so often claim to be in the O. T., if the greatest apostle in the N.T. declares that they and not the thoughts only are Spirit-taught, do they not compose “the external form.... in which these truths appear”? It is not sense to say that “the truths themselves lie beyond its range.” The apostle as we have seen asserts that the Spirit of God is the true author of both. How can the truth be untouched if you touch the form? And what presumption for any man to meddle with the Spirit-taught words! Dr. D. is obliged to admit that some of the leading spirits are plainly unbelievers (avowed Unitarians, &c.), but covers such infidelity as “some anterior philosophical principles.” No wonder that “evil communications (or, company) corrupt good manners.” Ought not others if they fear God to awake up righteously? If they believe with heart, why join arms in divine things with such as have no knowledge of God? As to “different degrees” of inspiration (p. 33) it is unknown to scripture, which does state difference in form.

But “every scripture” is asserted or assumed to be God-breathed. The revelation of God in His word differs essentially from the testimony of nature fallen as it is. As we own in Christ a “human element” as well as the “Divine”; but as he who abuses this union to lower the perfection of Christ's person is fundamentally heterodox, so is he, if only in a less degree, who thus degrades God's written word (p. 34). It is a Psalm of David (19) which declares that the law (the O.T. word) of Jehovah is perfect, converting or restoring the soul as nothing else can do; His testimony trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple (what else does?); His precepts upright, rejoicing the heart; His commandment pure, giving light [spiritually] to the eyes. Yet the law, as Heb. 7 says, perfected nothing. This was from no defect in God's word, but because the Lord had not yet come to give life eternal and to accomplish everlasting redemption for such as believe; who thereon are anointed of God and receive the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. Even Dr. D. is obliged to own “some special charisma of supernatural insight into the ways of God” granted to the O.T. religious teachers (p. 36). Scripture claims immeasurably more.

3. On the practical suggestions of pp. 37-43 I would say little, as one cannot doubt that his first is sound: that a first-hand knowledge of the Bible itself is the basis for a Biblical scholar. But that the young should be impregnated with the critical notions against the text of scripture is an advice which comes only from one who knows not the scriptures as taught of God, but as perverted by incredulity. What he calls “a natural consequence of the condition under which the authors [of the O.T.] wrote” (p. 43) flows from his unbelief in the power of the Holy Spirit, the true author of all scripture. This is the first and last requisite.

But his error, the ordinary false assumption as to Luke, calls for a more particular notice. “No historical writer ever claims to derive the materials for his narrative from a supernatural source (cf. St. Luke 1:1-4); and so far as we are aware, it has not pleased God in this respect to correct, where they existed, the imperfections attaching to the natural position of the writer” (p. 44). This passage was long the refuge of open infidels in Germany, England, &c., to make believe that a so-called inspired Evangelist disclaims anything supernatural in writing his Gospel, and that he founded it like any other literary man from eye-witnesses in all care and diligence for its accuracy. The Oxford Reg. Prof. of Hebrew uses it for the self-same purpose, as others much less carried away, like the late Dean Alford and many more.

This however is not to read Scripture aright, but slovenly misinterpretation through evil influence. Let us heed what is written. Of the Four, the third is the one inspired to present the Son of God as man in the walk of every day, surrounded by all sorts and conditions of men, the perfect manifestation of grace, finding utter weakness and alienation, with enmity from those who trusting in themselves despised others and hated the Holy One of God. He gives all that exercises the conscience, purges the heart by faith, and strengthens disciples in a walk of love, patience and holiness without anxiety, blessed in being found watching for Christ's coming, and also working for Him as His faithful bondmen. Accordingly Luke alone tells from the outset John the Baptist's birth, and Christ's earliest and youthful days in this aspect; alone tells of the Lord's genealogy up to Adam, of the initiatory scene in the synagogue at Nazareth, of Simon searched yet drawn by faith at the lake, of the widow's only son raised again at Nain, of the sinful woman forgiven and sent away in peace, of the seventy and their final message, of the good Samaritan, of Martha and Mary discriminated, and, to cut short the list, of the prodigal and his father's love, and of the robber following the Lord from the cross to Paradise the same day. He is the great moralist but in a divine way, as beseemed such a life of Jesus; man's heart detected, God's heart revealed in grace. He alone with the same divine design writes a preface with his motives to a fellow-saint. And this furnishes the occasion for free-thinking malice to deny his inspiration, of which divine power the book itself is the best witness, like the other three, though not one presents it, as Luke does.

Hence at the start our Evangelist shows his heart drawn out to one begotten of God that needed the truth fully, a Gentile of rank if not actually a governor, with “his excellency” dropt in Acts 1:1, as no doubt he would prefer when more matured. This marked personal dealing would appeal all the more to other hearts, Jews as well as Gentiles. “Whereas many undertook to draw up a narrative concerning the matters fully assured among us, even as they that from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having closely followed up from the outset all things accurately, to write to thee in regular order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest fully know the certainty concerning accounts (words, or things), wherein thou wast instructed.” These words distinguish the statements of many, though founded on what eye-witnesses and ministers of the word delivered to us. For instead of referring Theophilus to what they had drawn up, he tells us that it seemed good to him also, as having followed closely all things from the very first (ἄνωθεν) and thus having thorough acquaintance of all, to write accurately to him in regular order, that he might fully know the certainty concerning accounts in which he was instructed. He does not, like a literary man, explain his sources or authorities. Far from saying that he compiled his Gospel from eyewitnesses as others had done, he simply avers his own careful perfect acquaintance with all from the outset, and his writing accurately and in order that the one addressed might fully know the certainty respecting the accounts wherein he was instructed. The narratives he refers to might be correct and interesting. But they could not give God's mind and specially as his who was inspired. Only instead of asserting inspiration, he like the other three leaves this to prove itself by its character. But unlike them he adds the loving desire of his heart to help his brother young in the truth in accordance with the spirit of his Gospel pre-eminently.

Many who had taken it in hand did not satisfy him; and therefore he wrote to supply the lack. But he goes into no details of his own work, unless to affirm its thoroughness and accuracy more than any did. Hypothesis is vain here. Far from apologizing for “imperfection,” all he says is to inspire perfect confidence, for which nothing can account to a believer but “a supernatural source.”

It is admitted that God did employ eye-witnesses, as for instance two such in Matthew and John as to their Gospels. But He employed two who were not, Mark and Luke; and who can deny that they are minute and graphic? Yet even in the case of the apostles themselves we find Him rising above eye-sight by divine power, according to the design He impressed on the particular writer or the book written, which quite overthrows the unbelieving theory. Take John 18 as the proof. John alone recounts the Lord's answer to the armed band that came to arrest Him, “I am [he];” which caused them to go backward and fall to the ground. Yet Matthew who beheld it says about so striking an event no more than Mark or Luke. It did not come within God's design for their Gospels, but distinctly for John, who accordingly attests it. On the other hand, John is totally silent on the same occasion as to the agony in Gethsemane, on which the other three dwell, though he alone was of the favored three whom the Lord took apart from the rest to be comparatively near in that hour of deep sorrow and bloody sweat. Yet it was given to Matthew, and even to Mark and Luke to record it, as dwelling not on His deity but His human sufferings in accordance with the design in each of their Gospels. But God is not really in the thoughts of these critics, but man; which incapacitates them from seeing the truth, as the Christian is entitled to do.

Then is repeated the wholly fanciful notion of “two writers” in the opening chapters of Genesis, and the absurd assumption that “the Hebrews” thus pictured the beginning of the world and the early history of man: a task immeasurably above the Higher Critics or any that ever lived without God's inspiration most absolutely; and the shameless invention that, even as to this, “borrowing their materials in some cases from popular tradition or belief, in others, directly or indirectly, from the distant East, they had breathed into them a new spirit, and constructed with their aid narratives replete with noble and deep truths respecting God and man;” etc., etc. How any with the fear of God could thus speak is past comprehension if one did not bear in mind the blinding, defiling, and deadly influence of skepticism. No doubt the history of Israel is rife with their readiness to depart from Jehovah and to adopt the loathsome idolatries of the nations, which the true prophets resisted till there was no remedy. But that the Bible denounces any such importations as the worst sin against the One True God is as plain as words can speak from Genesis to Malachi. In pp. 44-46 is nothing but human fancy and indifference to God's majesty and truth in the O.T. Nor can one conceive less moral feeling than to impute to the inspired word His breathing a new spirit of holiness and truth on narratives drawn from the lying productions from wicked and rebellious heathens and the unclean spirits which misled them. Compare Deut. 4; 7; 8; 12; 13; 15; 17; 29

“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” (Ps. 1. 23).

(Continued from p. 15.)

Chair of St. Peter

Not a few of our readers, at all versed in Ecclesiastical History, will be gratified with this interesting brochure. It has all the more point, because it is confined to tracing the alleged chair of the apostle Peter, through its development from post-apostolic times, and the evidence of the catacombs, the change of its associations under Constantine the Great, its rise all the more on the fall of the Empire, its medimval ambition, till its impious claim of infallibility for the Pope in 1870. There is a very constant and copious illustration of striking photogravures, with befitting comment which draws out the scriptural proof that the Romanist symbolism unwittingly tells the tale of its own deepening departure from, and antagonism to, the word of God. Yet it appears from scripture that the end of the apostasy will exhibit the Beast, as, not the high-priest, but, as head of the revived Roman empire, and the False Prophet as the soidisant religious colleague reigning in the “glorious land,” both to be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. It also appears from other scriptures that a wholly differing and opposed potentate the king of the North, or the Assyrian of the latter day, is destined to the same awful fate at a somewhat later epoch. See Isa. x. 12, xiv. 24-27, 30-33, Dan. 8:23-25; 11:40-45.

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Woman at Sychar

Q.-John 4 Was the woman at Sychar born again only? Is not this true of all saints from Abel downwards? Did she receive any living (ver. 10) source of refreshment for the heart beyond O.T. saints? W. H. T.

A.-She was born anew the day she met and believed on Christ, Who told her of the living power of the Holy Spirit to be given to her in due time. This nobody received till after redemption was accomplished, and Jesus was glorified on high.

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Apostles and Baptism

Q.-Why do we not read of the apostles being baptized with Christian baptism?

4.-It would be hazardous to undertake explaining why the apostles were not baptized with Christian baptism, though some or all may have had John's baptism; which Acts 19 proves not to be equivalent. But we can gather from it what a comfort the fact is to such as from a variety of circumstances had not been baptized duly, and did not feel it well or wise to go through the form after enjoying church fellowship forever so many years, when the initiatory sign of a Christian would have lost its meaning or conveyed a false one.

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Judgment Seat

Q.-Could you please inform me if there is a scripture which tells us exactly when and where the judgment seat will be? (2 Cor. 5:10)

R.R.T.

A.-The great importance of the Bema of Christ is that every one in his own time and place shall be manifested and give account of the things done in the body. But saint or sinner will make a difference of moment. It appears to me that for the heavenly saints it will be above, just before the Marriage-supper of the Lamb, long after we are translated to heaven in sovereign grace, and just before we are manifested with Christ in glory. What else can be meant by the bride making herself ready? See Rev. 19:7, 8. Thus is the place of each determined for the Lord's appearing in His kingdom. Only in this passage is there such an apparent reference. And very beautiful and touching it is that it should only be then. For the wicked it will be before the great white throne in Rev. 20. This is judgment.

Scripture Queries and Answers: Gifts

Q.-Would you say the “gifts” (in Ephesians at least) are certain characteristics of Christ, to be displayed here on earth? X. Y. Z.

A.-Certainly, but from Him ascended on high, as the citation from Psa. 68 shows. This falls in with the character of the Epistle, not so much operations of the Spirit's power in the way of signs to man, as the gifts to the church of Christ's love who is in the heavenly places.

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Place of the Lord and the Saints in the Millennium

Q.-1 Thess. 4:17. What will be the actual place of the Lord and His heavenly saints during the Millennium? W. B.

A.-Without doubt, in the heavenlies, where even now we are blessed in Christ. But this does not hinder reigning over the earth in general, nor the striking fact of His standing on the Mount of Olives. The rent of the mountain, still undivided and a standing witness to what awaits fulfillment, will be part of His rescue of His people when hard pressed. But His standing again on the mount of Olives, whence He ascended to heaven, will be the clear witness of His peacefully possessing Himself de facto of all the earth, as the prophet tells us.

Scripture Queries and Answers: Relation Between Purging and the Government of the "Great House"

Q.-2 Tim. 2:21. What is the relation between the purging here mentioned, and the government of the “great house”? Were the vessels to honor to go out, refuse any longer to obey the rulers, and set up a government of their own? C. B. St. G.

A.-The evil predicted for the last days is such that the apostle speaks not of saints but of “men,” “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3); and his direction to the faithful is, “from such turn away.” This was not to “go out” from the house of God but to be separate from the evil done in the Lord's name. It is in no way to leave God's house but due to Him; it is to depart from evil, but not to forsake the Christian profession. They were to have nothing to do with wicked rulers or wicked ruled. These alike were vessels to dishonor, and one is bound by the inspired word to purge oneself out from them (2 Tim. 2:21). If so, and not otherwise, one shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, prepared for every good work. But there is to be no slight of fellowship: one is called to court and cleave to it with all that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Thus indeed we are under all circumstances to obey God, certainly not to obey the rulers who disobey God. We are never to “set up a government of our own” (which is what almost all Christendom does, though in different ways), but fall back on that organization and rule which God established wand His word makes plain, as far as it is still existent. For it is clear that apostles were not permanent, though then inspired; and that they personally chose elders in every church, but left no provision for perpetuating them. But if we have not apostolic authority to choose regularly, we know what their desired qualities should be, and are bound to own such as are so far fit. Again, we have gifts, evangelists, pastors and teachers, which never depended on ordination, but only on Christ and His unfailing love for the church. So that there is no real ground for discouragement, though we need living faith.

To act on this scripture is the very reverse of schism; for schism means splitting what God sanctions. But God does not sanction going on with known vessels to dishonor in evil or error. On the contrary it is He who directs and sanctions our purging ourselves out, after that all right means fail, tried in vain to purge out those unworthy vessels. This is His answer to that difficulty, and as plain as it is righteous and orderly. His church is the last place to make a refuge for iniquity; and the Fathers proved their iniquity in making it so. It is not a direction to a Timothy or a Titus only. It is incumbent on every faithful soul who is sure of the dishonor done to God: ἐὰν οὖν τις, “if any one therefore purge,” etc. This is surely unanswerably certain.

We are still bound to own the one body, and disown the denominations of men. And as the Lord makes the duty obligatory to quit a fellowship where evil is allowed and refused to be dealt with according to God's word, so He has given in Matt. 18:20 the precious resource in the constitutive principle with which the church began: “where two or three are gathered together unto (εἰς) My Name,” (not Episcopalianism, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, or any other sectarian system) “there I am in the midst.” And this precious principle assures us of the same sufficient and all-worthy and efficacious center for all saints to the end. He is worthy, the one Head of the one body, whatever the members may do; and the one Spirit abides to give it living power where there is faith to act on the word of His grace. To remain in the evil condemned is to rebel against God's word, and set one part of His word against another. Is not this evident?

Scripture Queries and Answers: Revelation 3:9

Q.-Rev. 3:9. What is meant by “those who say that they are Jews, and are not but do lie?” and what by their homage before the representative of the church in Philadelphia?” S. Y.

A.-It is a synagogue of Satan, as we are told here and in chap. 2:9. The existence of a party among the professors of Christ, who abandon walking in the Spirit, and take the judaized position of antiquity, historical continuance, saving ordinances, and priestly order. As a matter of fact this was openly advanced in the second and third centuries when heathen persecutions also raged; and it broke out afresh in the nineteenth century not only for Great Britain and her Colonies but the United States of America, Germany, Holland, &c. It was Satan's effort, when it began; and it was realized afresh when God's grace was recalling the faithful to Christianity and the Church in their true and heavenly character as in the Spirit. But even those so misled are compelled to feel and own that, as far as man can judge, the love of Christ rests on those who utterly deny this retrogradisin from heavenly relationships to “the weak and beggarly elements” which dominate them. The grace and truth which came through Christ are as far as possible from fine buildings, fine music, and fine sermons. For we are not of the world, but above it, and go along with His reproach. How far and in what way the adversaries shall come to do homage, it is not for us to say. Even now the most prejudiced feel in their conscience who they are that have His word and His love abiding in them.

Scripture Query and Answer: Seventh-Day Adventists

Q.- What is the chief error (or errors) of the Seventh Day Adventists? I believe they teach annihilation of souls. A. Y,

A.-They used to be called Millerites, the leader being bold enough to set a certain day for the Lord's coming in 1844, which of course was untrue. Now, if numerous, they are in various portions, rejecters of all the truth of Christianity. Their new name proclaims this really for them all. For as the sabbath or seventh day was under the law a sign between Jehovah and Israel, and the memorial of the old creation, the Lord's day or first day is characteristic of grace and the new creation. They are therefore stamped on their own profession as men that say they are Jews, and are not, but lie. Turning their back on the faith, they make themselves debtors to the law which condemns all that fail, and especially apostates from Christianity. No wonder that they deny the heavenly hope, hold the soul's sleep or its extinction, and look for resurrection (if at all) for the earth, when only eternal life is given, with no more than a promise now. But many deny the Lord's deity, etc. They are not entitled to the name of Christians in any real sense. The Salvation Army are beyond the line of destruction, but only borderers. To leave them for the S. D. A. is an awful step backward.

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Joseph: 21. Meets Jacob

Gen. 46:28-34

Now then the father was to meet the cherished but long-separated son; and his brethren also were to be settled in Egypt through the loving care of him whom they in their hatred had sold to be carried there. Not one of them probably had ever till now expected to meet there, not even Joseph. But God had spoken long before what was just beginning to be accomplished, with much to follow, which may before have not engaged their attention. It was a prophecy, all the more vaguely remembered because it was not yet written as in Gen. 15: a great favor to be spoken at all, a greater still to be read in the written word long after it was uttered in God's grace.

“And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to give notice before he came to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph got ready (yoked) his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself to him, and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, This time let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou livest. And Joseph said to his brethren and to his father's house, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, My brethren and my father's house, who [were] in the land of Canaan, are come to me; and the men [are] shepherds, for they are men of cattle; and they have brought their sheep and their cattle, and all that they have. And it shall come to pass that when Pharaoh shall call you and say, What [is] your occupation? then ye shall say, Thy servants are men of cattle from our youth even till now, both we and our fathers; in order that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (vers. 28-34).

Civilization was not what characterized the fathers, as it did the line of Cain in the antediluvian earth, and Egypt and Asshur and Babylon, to say nothing of others, after the deluge. But there was a dignity that accompanies the fear of God which is far better than any such worldly gloss, however pleasant to fallen nature. We see the pious sense of propriety as in Abraham and Isaac, here too of Jacob in sending Judah before him to Joseph to give good notice of his own coming to Goshen. Again, we may notice the faith and wisdom of Joseph who had already in chap. 45:10 sent the message as to Goshen, before he had said a word to Pharaoh. It was the outlying part of Egypt, where they could retain their old occupation best, and were least exposed to the idolatrous and moral corruptions of that land. Into Goshen accordingly they came. And Joseph on his part got ready his chariot and went there to meet Israel his father; and on presenting himself he fell on his neck and wept on it a good while. The affection was great on both sides, and Israel said to Joseph, Now (or, This time) let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou yet livest. Worldly splendor had not weakened that love which knit father and son together in the promised land.

But we also may remark the prudent administrator in his words to his brethren, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, My brethren and my father's house, who [were] in the land of Canaan, are come to me. And the men [are] shepherds, for they are men of cattle; and they have brought their sheep and their cattle, and all that they have. And it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say, What is your occupation? then ye shall say, Thy servants are men of cattle from our youth even till now, both we and our fathers; in order that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen.” Two things made this advice acceptable to the king, and even his people. For Pharaoh had already, as is stated in chap. 45 declared his wish to give them the good of the land of Egypt, that they might eat the fat of the land (vers. 18-20). And as “every shepherd [is] an abomination to the Egyptians,” there would not be the least objection to Israel's settling to this occupation on land most favorable to it, and from its site one farthest off from meeting their eyes day by day. Thus Joseph was enabled to advise his brethren from the start, so as to live where it was best for them, and least offensive to the Egyptians.

Exodus: the Burning but Unconsumed Bramble

Ex. 3:1-5

The moment so long desired by Moses came. The term, however considerable, of learning the wisdom of the Egyptians did not accomplish it; and an equal length in the desert for unlearning must as it were run out before God gave him the effectual call.

“And Moses tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bramble; and he looked and behold, the bramble burned with fire, and the bramble was not consumed. And Moses said, Let me now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bramble is not burnt. And Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him out of the midst of the bramble, and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, here [am] I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither; loose thy sandals from off thy feet; for the place, whereon thou standest is holy ground” (vers. 1-5).

There had been significant tokens of the divine ways at great crises vouchsafed by God from the beginning. What more solemn than that which closed paradise to the disobedient pair, from whom the fallen race was to spring? A bad conscience led them to hide themselves from Him who had surrounded them with nothing but good, before He “drove out the man”; and the race thenceforward is by nature in exile from the garden of delights. Cherubim proclaimed God's rights and made re-entrance into Adam's paradise impossible. Innocence once gone is irreparable. Yet God's grace cannot fail in the Second man, the bruised Bruiser of the old serpent, held out to all that believe even before the guilty were expelled.

Again, when the post-diluvian earth began, and Noah offered to Jehovah his burnt-offerings of every clean beast and every clean fowl, so that all should stand on sacrifice, God (Elohim), for this was the right word in each case, set His bow in the cloud, as the token that a deluge of such destruction should never again destroy all flesh.

Further, when Jehovah pledged Himself to childless Abram in Gen. 15 to make his seed numberless as the stars, not only were special sacrifices prescribed, but a deep sleep and horror of darkness fell on the patriarch, and at sunset a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed to his vision between the divided animals as they lay slain: the sign of affliction and service to befall his seed before they should enter the promised land.

It was fitting that there should be given now to Moses with his commission a suited sign. And can any be conceived so meet for the deliverer to see as this great sight when he led the flock of Jethro behind an intervening wilderness, and came to what is significantly called “the mountain of God.” It was the precisely significant mark of Israel under the covenant of law, utterly failing yet not destroyed. “For I am Jehovah, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). The law given through Moses they presumed to obey, forgetting God's promises to the fathers, which Jehovah never forgot. Spite of their self-confidence, the bramble-bush went on burning, but unconsumed, because He, the Eternal, had promised. And they remain still insensible to their real state and its cause. For they in every way broke the first covenant and added to that sin, for which they were led captive to Babylon, the still worse sin of the returned remnant in rejecting the Messiah, even to the death of the cross, and were scattered by the Romans as they remain to this day, as indicated by Isaiah the prophet.

Even when there shall be a future righteous remnant repenting of all their sins and unbelief, the mass or “the many” as Daniel calls the apostate Jews, by compact with the Roman Beast will strive to set up the nation as Jehovah's people and their lawless king in the land (Dan. 11:36, etc.). But Jehovah will come, as Isaiah says (66:15, 16), “with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will Jehovah plead with all flesh, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.” Such will be the return of the Lord Jesus when He takes up again His ancient people, and deals with the enemies, Jewish or Gentile. Hence it essentially differs from what Moses saw to encourage him then, though there is the common principle that God's judgment of evil is ever unsparing; and privilege is vainly pleaded, either by Judaism or by Christendom, on behalf of their iniquities.

Here Jehovah manifests Himself as judge of evil in Israel who shall be sustained because of what He is to them, and in no way for their deserts: a greater fact than its wondrous sign. “And God,” the Supreme, “called to Moses out of the midst of the bramble, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither; loose thy sandals from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground.” His presence is the true power of sanctification. Forms He could and did use under the law, in tabernacle and temple. But He Himself is more than any or all. What a support for Moses in going in to Pharaoh, and in leading His people out, and bearing their frowardness in the wilderness where all perished save the two witnesses, Joshua and Caleb, yet Israel remained unconsumed to enter the land in the generation to come.

Proverbs 27:1-6

The group of counsels before us is leveled at self-confidence, which takes the place of dependence on God, the first principle of the life of faith which the enemy seeks to annul whether for earth, in Messiah's kingdom by and by, or for heaven as with Christians. Yet we need also to be on guard against folly and ill feeling, and to welcome the plain truth as real kindness.

“Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips.
A stone [is] heavy and the sand weighty; but a fool's vexation [is] heavier than them both.
Wrath [is] cruel, and anger outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before jealousy?
Open rebuke [is] better than hidden love. Faithful [are] a friend's wounds; but an enemy's kisses are profuse” (vers. 1-6).

Very vivid is the word in James 4:13-16 in its appeal to beware of similar boasting. “Go to now ye that say, To-day and to-morrow we will go into this city and spend a year there, and trade and make gain, ye that know not what [shall be] on the morrow. What [is] your life? For ye are a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then vanishing away; instead of your saying, If the Lord will, and we live, we shall also do this or that. But now ye glory in your boastings: all such glorying is evil.” In these moral matters both the O.T. and the N. bring in the Lord to judge and displace self.

Then again the O.T. saint knew quite enough of his failure and of his need of sovereign grace to banish high thoughts of himself, and to attribute every right word to God. How inconsistent to sound his own praise! how becoming to be silent as to any good on his part. If a stranger praised him, it was more than he deserved. Here too the N.T. reveals the truth more deeply in Christ for lowliness of mind, esteeming one another as more excellent than ourselves, not as a sentiment but as a living truth of faith.

There is however the other side to try our hearts. We can not, ought not to regard “a fool's vexation” with complacency, but feel its grievous impropriety. “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty,” little as its particles be. But that, groundless as it is, exceeds both in its dead weight and intolerable unbecomingness.

Nor has one to face before God such frivolous complaints only, but also the cruelty of wrath and the outrageousness of anger; for surely the sun ought not to set on either outburst or reserve in this way. But there is another evil feeling still more unworthy and dangerous: “Who is able to stand before jealousy?” Let us look up for grace to value anything good in another, and the more if conscious that we claim not that particular good ourselves. To allow jealousy in ourselves, or to let others insinuate it, is to give room to the great enemy.

It is the property of real love, to prove its activity: if it abide hidden when called to speak or work according to the heart, it betrays self rather than true affection. Even if there be a faultiness, love is bound to give “open rebuke.” Indifference passes for much in this world, but it is the reverse of love, and cares for self, when it hides to spare danger and yet pretends affection.

A friend's wounds, on the contrary, are faithful, for God's will is thus done, even though misunderstood and resented for a while. An enemy betrays himself by the very profuseness of his kisses. God is not in such a display, but too often no more than partizanship in a human cause.

Thoughts on Luke 7:36-50

ONE hardly expects to say anything new in meditating on this most touching incident. As so often in this Gospel, and as the aged Simeon predicted (2:35), the thoughts of many hearts are revealed here, as they come in contact with Him who was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. We mark the contrition and devotion of the woman that was a sinner, the supercilious insolence of Simon, the coarse unbelief of his guests. But the believer marks the grave and gracious attitude of the Savior; His thoughts too, thoughts of love and pity, are revealed as He reveals God and man. And how vividly the whole picture stands out, characterized as it is by matchless simplicity and directness. Every word tells, none is superfluous. It was such trials as these, so numerous in this Gospel, that led the apostate French professor to call it (in words I have recently quoted, but may be pardoned for quoting again) “the most beautiful book in existence.” He should have asked himself, how it came about, if this book was written by man's mind and skill, that it so transcends all that was ever written by the greatest masters of style. Other learned critics have been similarly eulogistic over the Epistle to Philemon. How comes it, that, judged thereby as a noble specimen of epistolary composition, this letter is placed by men with no bias in favor of Christianity above all that the Platos and Ciceros Plinys and Senecas ever wrote? The Christian has a ready and satisfactory answer. The Gospel of Luke and the Epistle to Philemon were written by men, not only born of God, as are all true believers, and bringing forth the “fruit of the Spirit;” but they were (how precisely brought about man does not comprehend—the fact is the great thing) guided and controlled by the Holy Ghost. It was so with the O. T. Scriptures; (2 Peter 1:21), surely not less with the N. T. And we may rest assured that there was a gracious guidance as to what should be received into, what excluded from, the sacred canon. Hence the spiritual mind feels no surprise—at least not in this sense, though we may well be filled with praise, when we contemplate the grace of the Son of God. For no less was He whom the proud Pharisee had received so churlishly, giving him no water for His feet, no oil for His head, nor the kiss that in those days was the token of cordial welcome.

And the Lord, at the due moment, does not fail to bring home to Simon his gross incivility. The thrice repeated contrast that He draws between the Pharisee's neglect and the woman's loving service is strikingly emphasized by the “but she,” “but this woman” (twice said) of the Savior's dignified and searching reply. No making light of what she had been; nay, the Lord speaks of “her sins, her many sins” (for such is the more literal rendering). But she loved much, because she repented deeply, and so she hears the precious words of absolute forgiveness. O highly favored woman, thou also, to whom was granted to hear such comfortable words from the lips of the Incarnate God the True Light! Yet all who believe without seeing are still more blessed.

Remark next that the Lord does not add, as elsewhere He did the warning,” Go and sin no more,”

In the case of her who ventured into Simon's house the work in her soul was real and profound. Hence contrariwise she is bidden to “go in peace.” We can recollect other cases, where there was little or no spiritual exercise, when the word of warning was needed. How suitable to the occasion ever were the words of our Lord! Now the Spirit of Jehovah was upon Him to heal the brokenhearted; but what of Simon? He was not even of those who love little. Self-satisfied and self-righteous, he doubtless regarded himself as having little or nothing to confess—certainly nothing to the Teacher from despised Galilee, whom for some fancy of his own he had patronizingly desired to eat with him. We can imagine the loathing with which he would shrink from the woman who had been such a disreputable character—he who, like his fraternity, affected to regard all women with contempt. No, he did not love even a little; but probably hated a great deal. True it is that every repentant soul should love much, and will love in proportion to the sense of God's holiness and his own sins. No doubt that sense is deeper in some than in others; perhaps deeper in ardent natures that have gone far astray; but which, realizing their terrible guilt, love with more fervent and passionate love. But deepest of all in such a one as Saul of Tarsus, so conscientious whilst unconverted, so deeply self-judging and devoted when he heard the Lord's voice, saw His glory and believed in His grace.

Yet, self-satisfied and proud and dark as he was, Simon, we may note, uses the courteous appellative “Master,” or rather “Teacher.” There must have been something in our Lord's manner that compelled respect, and that from the indifferent as well as from His friends. Compare “The Master is come, and calleth for thee” (John 11:28). It is not necessary with Jerome to suppose that there was “something starry” in the blessed Lord's aspect, but still less do I sympathize with those, who, giving a too external meaning to certain passages in the prophets, would infer there was something—the reverse. But that indefinable effluence that men habitually feel in the presence of such as are not spiritually, but even intellectually and morally (I say not intellectually alone) above the mass, must, a fortiori, have been found in the Savior. And so we learn that while Simon used the term “Teacher,” Christ addresses him as “Simon.” To address people by their simple name, indeed was the universal custom even between men of diverse social position; even slaves so addressed their masters. People were more simple then in many ways. At any rate Simon's outward courtesy in this respect (though in this only) is noticeable.

I suppose few now would contend for an identification of this scene with that recorded in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and John 12. The fact is, that while there are close points of resemblance, others are quite incompatible with identity; that this incident in Luke 7 took place early in the Lord's ministry is corroborated by the probability that later on no Pharisee would have cared to incur the censure of his fellows by inviting One against whom they had become so bitter. Also on the latter occasion our Lord was evidently among friends; here He was in the presence of thinly disguised hostility in all, save the woman in whom the Holy Spirit had so wonderfully wrought. And, as has been well said, the same grace that saved her drew a veil over her name. It was enough to record that one who had sinned greatly had been made a signal monument of God's grace.

R. B.

The Last Hour

It is important for our souls to have sound and scriptural judgment of the time through which we are passing. We can have no hesitation in taking up the apostle's word and saying with renewed emphasis, “It is the (or, a) last time (hour).” It was so in principle then; it is immensely developed since, nothing less but a vast deal more. Now one peculiar feature of the evil with which we have to do, and through the midst of which we are passing is that the fairest forms are thrown as a veil over the foulest evil. This it is that deceives even true children of God. Babylon has not only the purple robe and the golden cup in her hand; she is also arrayed in fine linen. There is the appearance if not the reality of the righteousnesses of saints. No doubt she wears also gaudy splendor of the world; in these she revels, these alone she values. Practical righteousness here or there is but an accident of grace, and used as a decoy for those who are foolish pared the way by inciting good men to sanction evil things. The prevalence of “many antichrists” shows that His name was, even in apostolic times, made the cloak for thoughts and ways the most opposed to Himself. The devil could do nothing to destroy Christianity without attaching the Lord's name to his evil plans.

Even before the apostles disappeared how marked the change! Worldliness and the world, under the name of the Lord Christ! This laxity became a great snare for both Christians and the world. Christian professors were already too easily beguiled to countenance plausible lies of the enemy: for deadly heterodoxy may outwardly sound very like blessed truth. Thus sincere believers are often misled for a while, and those who have only a mental acquaintance with the truth are drawn away to take license from such sanction as theirs.

The Lord grant that we may feel deeply what a solemn importance attaches to Christ and the truth! What will the world think of you who profess to know better? What pleasure can Christ find in you, if you relax your protest and grudge your separation to Himself? if you grow careless and begin to allow evil you once felt in this or that? May grace make us lowly, yet earnest, not in a spirit of bondage or of petty fault-finding with others but in being true to the Lord Jesus who has been so true to us. We are told here that Antichrist is coming, but at the same time “even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.” We must beware therefore of evils on every side, and of evil particularly done under the name of Christ—that is antichrist. It may be utterly to destroy the Christ of God, but an antichrist can do nothing but oppose the name of Him.

Finally we are told in what consists the great evil of the latter days: it is in this—a denial of all revealed truth of Christ. “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?” But this is not the full character of Antichrist. It was what the Old Testament prepared us for; it pointed to the promised One Jesus, and showed that He was the true Messiah, the Anointed of God. But the New Testament shows that He was not only the Messiah but the Son revealing the Father. That Jesus is the Christ is the great answer to all Jewish expectations, such as the Old Testament would form. But that Jesus is not only the Christ but the Son of the Father is the grand truth of the New Testament. Whatever tends to supplant and overthrow the truth of the New Testament will assuredly bring in antichrist. “He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.”

And this is what things are rapidly hastening to. It comes now to be a sanctioned thing that men may teach doctrine that undermines both Old and New Testaments. Even those who are in the highest position ecclesiastically lay it down that there is nothing in such speculations contrary to sound doctrine! What then since this Epistle was written can be more calculated to fill one with concern than that which is now avowed by those accredited as Christian men to speak with authority?

Truly do we need to be “kept by God's power, through faith.” Let us own that these are solemn words to ourselves; for this extreme evil is a thing floating in the air. Doubt of God and confidence in man prevail. It is not confined to a few individuals here and there; “even now are there many antichrists.” It is by their frequency that we know it is the “last hour” however long its continuance from the apostle's day.

The Lord keep us, not so much occupied with the evil, but cleaving to the good in Himself, entering more and more into the truth that God has revealed in Him. This is the surest preservative where it is coupled with a good conscience and a devoted heart. “As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father.”

The Church and Churches: Part 2

Let us see the effect of this membership of a church, not in the Babel of sects great and small, but upon one so earnest and confident of his fidelity to scripture as Mr. H., shared by his associates now as from their beginning. “Joining oneself to a company of disciples called a church” is unknown to God's word, and purely human. He connects responsibility with this false membership, because man has to do with it, instead of the far deeper responsibility of our relationship to God and His Son, all the more as it was sovereign grace in its highest form. Now it is vain to talk about grace, if we offend against immutable morality. But even if fairly right here, scripture insists on what is due from us according to the grace given and our new relationship both as Christians and in the church of God as a whole. Nothing is more ruinous than to overlook or enfeeble our responsibility in this large and lofty respect, because the privileges are so transcendent.

Take his treatment of Matt. 18 (pp. 10-12). The action is in a local assembly, but it, if done in obedience, is not a binding or loosing there only: heaven itself sanctions this issue. Could any thought or word lift it more above mere locality? Yet the utmost violence is offered to dislocate the context in ver. 19 into a parenthesis, instead of the plain and sure fact that the Lord welds together, not only discipline but prayer, under the comprehensive assurance of His presence in the midst of but “two or three” if gathered together unto His name. The prayer of the agreeing has this invaluable privilege as truly as the rest, but even this is frittered away into individuality. When he says that “two of you” is the same word (or, construction) as in 7:9, and can only be fully expressed by “from among,” he is directly opposed to the truth; for this depends on ἐκ in the earlier chapter, which is wholly wanting in the later text. Either he did not consult the Greek Testament or he was quite ignorant of the language. Certainly the statement is inexcusably wrong.

In 1 Cor. 12:27 “body of Christ” means Christ's body representatively, but not separately from the church, just answering to the opening words of chap i. and demolishing the error of an independent assembly (p. 13).

The true rendering in Acts 20:28 is also important, not “over which” but “wherein” or “in which,” a quite different sense.

A perversion of the true text in Acts 9:31 (p. 32) is due to the impossibility of squaring a local church membership with scripture, “the church throughout all Judaea, and Galilee, and Samaria.” This he makes out to be “the Church of Jerusalem!” preserving its local character even when scattered far away. But it is also quite an error that joining himself to the disciples in Jerusalem was Saul's wish to “join a church.” They did not yet know that he was “a disciple.”

It was simply that Barnabas removed a false impression.

The church was God's organization and prevailed everywhere in apostolic days. Churches afterward organized in opposition to Him and to each other. Those who cleave to God's way eschew man's instead of “forming a federation,” as with some who do not believe in the one body here below, any departure from which is independency.

It is true however that the anomalous state of Christ's members leads too often to anomalies of expression. The welcome, as things are, of a godly believer to partake of the Lord's Supper (the special sign of church fellowship) involves the discipline proper to God's house, and should not be extended to any who opposed the teaching or fellowship of the apostles, simple as it was at Pentecost, or the prayers. The rules afterward added, when faith was no longer living in the Holy Spirit's presence and free action in the assembly, and in ministry were as unknown as joining a church. Further, it is quite true that “putting out” in scripture means removing the wicked person not only from the Lord's Table or Supper but “from among yourselves,” and this because they were Christ's representatively, and valid as done in His name, wherever the church existed.

The last of these wrestings of scripture at which we look, flowing from the error of reception into a church, is the misuse of 1 Tim. 3:14, 15 (pp. 46, 47). It seems incredible that any simple-hearted Christian could construe such words of the apostle into the narrow circle of a local assembly. The absence of the article on which he relies in no way warrants such an inference, but is required being a predicate, though applied to the church wherever it may be. No one questions that every true assembly represents it locally. But here the church is viewed in its unity as a whole, and the exhortation applies to Ephesus no more than to any other place, subject to and witnessing the revelation of God. Narrowing such words to a local assembly is the natural result of being carried away by a human idea which has no countenance in scripture, and is occupied with its own little sphere, instead of reading our obligations in all the light and height and breadth of God's mind.

But we must also point out the effect of the same system as to Elders or overseers. Now the apostles had a function of authority specially attached to their position as we can see in both the Acts and the Epistles. They could locally appoint, not only deacons for outward service, but elders in a particular church or city. See Acts 6:3; 14:23. They were competent to act indirectly by a delegate, where they could not themselves go, as we see in Titus 1:5. Never was this left to the church; nor could any one undertake the task save as definitely prescribed by an apostle. Hence the marked difference between “the gifts” for exercise in the body of Christ, wherever it might be, and those local charges, which required to be established by an apostle or his delegates for the occasion. As neither did or could go everywhere, scripture provides an invaluable resource for days in which we have neither apostle nor his definitely commissioned delegate; Rom. 12:8, 9; 1 Cor. 16:15, 16; 1 Thess. 5:12, 13; Heb. 13:17. These were not said to be elders; but they were important men who had qualities fitting for eldership; and they were to be obeyed, and highly esteemed for their work's sake. This fully applies when there exists not the legitimate authority to nominate officially, as soon and now.

But unbelief is perverse, and calls for elders when their full title fails, while it dishonors gifts which the grace of the Lord does not fail to give. All true ministry is the exercise of gift. But as the truth of the church's unity on earth is no less lost and denied, we cannot wonder that so it is as to both gifts and elders. Mr. H. assumes eldership like the rest of Christendom where all is confusion, with the utmost pretension of being rich and having need of nothing, where it is wrecked as a living witness even of grace and truth, as well as of unity and order, as He set it up. Nor could any Christian show his lack of discernment more than this tract exposes in p. 7, that while most believers of intelligence know what the church, Christ's body, means, there seems to be the utmost confusion in regard to “the churches"! The reason why Christians are wrong as to the churches is because they and Mr. H. are utterly wrong as to the church, and make it compatible with independent churches. No doubt he is right enough in pointing out the spuriousness of the denominational language, as indicating ignorance of both the church and the churches; but he never suspects his own errors.

None that holds the church doubts of local churches. It is a necessity for men living, but only a circumstantial necessity. But the essential truth lies in “the” church. One is welcomed locally as being of God's church. Its unity was manifested wherever saints were gathered to Christ's name. It was a true church as truly representing the Church. “But now God set the members each one in the body.” No such thing is said of a local church.

No possible terms could more subvert the truth of the church than those Mr. H. employs in p. 7 “They had joined themselves to a company of disciples, called a church, and that church had received them to form part of itself. They had not made themselves a part of the whole church of God. God had done that when He saved them. Neither had the whole church of God received them; but the church that they had joined themselves to had received them, and all the privileges and responsibilities of that God-ordained fellowship became theirs.”

This is at bottom the general error of Christendom, not only of the larger corporations of Romanists and Greeks, but of Presbyterians, Congregationalists (Independents and Baptists), and Methodists. One joins a company called a church, to form part of itself. But this is wholly unknown to scripture, which knows nothing of a local church membership, but solely of the church, Christ's body. By receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, sealing us as believers in the gospel of salvation, we become members of Christ and one of another, members of the one body. Romanism had darkened all the truth; and the Reformation was no recovery of the church, but of the Bible to learn how to be justified, and to escape the yoke of a human priesthood and perverted ordinances. Afterward, not only bad men broke more freely into delusions, but good men into ever increasing denominations of their own members, their own doctrines, alas! too, of their own politics.

What we have learned from God is that we ought to feel deeply the church's ruin as God's witness, shattered as it is, and in every way in departure from God's mind, glorying in man instead of being in the dust as to ourselves. The truth of the church taught of God would have kept us from the least pretension to set the church up again, or to imitate what the apostles alone did. But if we have sought to humble ourselves as having taken part ignorantly in this scene of ruin and owning our responsibility before God for the dishonor of His name, we have found that His word provides for this very state of disorder, as for instance in 2 Tim. 2; 3; 4 When leaven is allowed and covered up, when evil, doctrinal or practical, is sanctioned under the Lord's name, and scripture is perverted to excuse error, what is to be done?

God did not leave it to the saint's heart and conscience only, He revealed His own remedy. If after all godly effort to purge it is vain, I must at all cost purge myself out. Thus He arms the soul which might have trembled under fear of schism, or charge of pride, or of despising the excellent. But the Lord is nearer and far more than all, and the word is, “Let every one that nameth the Lord's name depart from iniquity.” Now if assured that I am bound up as I am with irremediable iniquity, am I not to obey? It is all the worse if it be in the house of God: why it should be thus bound, and why saints are not troubled by it, one can leave to the Lord who knows them that are His; but I cannot shirk my own obligation in His name to depart from iniquity.

But this is far from all. He instructs us that “in a great house are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen, and some to honor and some to dishonor.” To a state so contrasted with the primitive church things were coming! What then is one called to do? “If therefore one purge himself from these (“the vessels to dishonor”), he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified, meet for the Master's use, prepared for every good work.” What an encouragement to cherish a good conscience in the face of fears and frowns!

Am I to dread being left isolated and shut out from the blessed privileges of Christ's body? I am told to flee, like the one addressed, youthful lusts (for Timothy even was comparatively young), and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace “with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” We are entitled to expect fellowship according to God, if we have faith for His glory.

(Continued from p. 23).

2 Peter 3:5-6

WE have seen that the Holy Spirit lets us know one special trait of philosophic unbelief at the end of the days of nominal Christianity. Mockers with mocking, proceeding according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for from the day that the fathers fell asleep all things continue thus from creation's beginning.”

It is not true. “For this escapeth their notice willingly, that by the word of God heavens were of old, and an earth having its subsistence out of water and through water; by which [waters] the then world being overflowed with water perished” (vers. 5, 6). It is barefaced materialism which the light of Christ ought to have dispelled. Rather did the proclamation of grace encourage these unbelieving speculators to deny that judgment is imminent for living man upon the earth. The Jews were much less incredulous as to it than the nations, and themselves secured as being the seed of Abraham. Blind to their own sins, their prejudices conspired to read clearly what the Prophets wrote on the downfall of the world in general. Yet the Lord had already reversed all thought of immunity for the ungodly, whether Jew or Gentile. He had declared the universality of the judgment which He Himself would inflict on the quick. For it is quite distinct from the judgment which awaits all the unbelieving dead whom He will raise for the purpose at the end of His world-kingdom. But the imminence of the judgment on the quick Christendom has ever been too ready to put off, if not disbelieve, whatever the common creeds may say: what we wish, not we readily forget.

The Lord had done more. In His great prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives He had compared this very judgment of the quick to the days of the deluge.

“Watch therefore; for ye know not on what day your Lord doth come.” It may be urged that He has the judgment of the Jews particularly before Him in these words, which manifestly apply not to the Roman siege of Jerusalem any more than to the judgment of the wicked in Rev. 19. But in Luke 17:29, and following verses, He refers to the days of Lot also, and thus gives it a bearing on the Gentiles too. Again in Luke 21:25-35 He directly refers to the Gentiles also. For which reason He speaks not only of “the fig-tree” but of “all the trees,” and declares that “as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

The stability of the earth therefore is a vain defense, even according to their own acquaintance with the known geologic facts from the time that the earth was first brought into being. There is abundant evidence to prove that it has passed through many phases of destruction, followed by renewal in the wise ways of God before man existed, and, in general, progressive in character. But when the earth was made in due time the suited sphere for Adam and his race, moral considerations entered. Not only did the earth become corrupt and filled with violence, but a new violation of all order was perpetrated as in Gen. 6:1, 2, most abhorrent to God and deeper than any natural depravation, which was the immediate occasion of the deluge. Did these men, wise in their own eyes, never hear of the deluge? Hardly a country on earth but has traditions, more or less true, of that solemn dealing with the whole habitable earth, while God preserved in an ark Noah and his family, as well as of the lower creatures which otherwise had perished in the waters. They are therefore without excuse, for what else than the fact could give rise to a tradition so universal among the races of mankind, North, South, East and West? On their own ground it is irrational to pay no heed to an historical tradition which, though different in shape, was alike in substance over the world, that all things did not remain thus from creation's beginning. Yet those who find pleasure in slighting God's word are generally apt to respect relics of the past which have prevailed everywhere.

How then can we account for this slight of so general a report among all the races of men? It is willful ignorance. “For this willingly escapeth their notice that heavens were of old and an earth having its subsistence out of water and through water by the word of God; by means of which [waters] the then world being overflowed with water perished.” Here we have inspired scripture to set every doubt at rest for those that fear God. The stupendous fact is briefly attested to, the universal destruction of guilty man by the deluge, and this stripped of any local vanity, or of other human accessories; the moral fact is left in all its solemnity. In 1 Peter 3 much is made of the exceptional salvation effected by the ark which Noah was prophetically instructed to make; and this is also referred to in 2 Peter 2:5. Here too the catastrophe is cited to overthrow the alleged stability of nature.

But the passage before us is by some applied only to the earth's primeval constitution, by others to the deluge. It is plain enough that the apostle looks successively at each. The All-wise God had so constituted it in case of need; and as the apostasy of the race required the drastic remedy, He applied it to destroy the old world. Could unbelief be more suicidal than to presume on its impossibility?

Notice the stress laid on the word of God here. The natural system must bend to His will. The fixed laws which even His enemies set up to block Him out of sight and hearing have over and over again bowed to His word, not only in a small sphere but on the largest scale. It may repent Him of His work, when it rebels against Him and He interferes to reprove, punish and destroy. But His word He exalts above all His name. It is the expression of His mind, purpose and love, as well as His majesty in judgment.

The Higher Criticism: Part 3

III. The Permanent Religious Value of The O.T.

(Continued from p. 29).

THE closing paper is, like the second, by Prof. Driver, D.D.

The less may here be said because it has been already reviewed briefly when it appeared in the Interpreter for January, 1905.

In pp. 51-56 Dr. D. lays down that the “first and primary claim, then, to permanent and religious value which the O. T. possesses, consists in the surprisingly lofty and elevated conceptions of God which prevail in it,” more than can “be found in any other literature, save only in that of the N. T.” But no such elevated conceptions can long bear the strain put upon the O. T. if it fails in real truth, and is only “an accommodation to the immature stage of religious belief,” coloring the narratives and even the prophecies with “particularistic features” unworthy of God. Here he begins with the “imperfect” and even “false” (!) science of Genesis. How can godly souls regard such an unholy alliance as emanating from God Himself? Where science might come in for describing the great geologic successions, there is silence. God left this to man to find out as he has done, in a general way at least. In the first two verses we have the principle of God creating, and then of a chaos that followed. Some of the best informed experts have given excellent reasons for inferring that these changes in the crust of the earth have recurred some twenty-nine or thirty times, of great moment for the race that was to be, and demanding great differences as well as almost equally indispensable destructions, from which man was to derive profit as he discovered the rich provision made for him, and more or less laid bare by the violent upheavals which occurred from time to time. In these two verses we have only the principle. Had details been given it would have been science taught by scripture; but this is exactly what the Bible avoids. Nevertheless room is here left for all those great changes which followed the primary creation of the earth.

Verse 3 opens the work of God after the geologic ages, and dwells upon what God created with a direct view to man, account of whom also is given within the six days. But it is revelation and not science given us in the verses that follow to the end of the chapter: the earth formed for the immediate appearance and dwelling of man upon it. This is what scripture supplies for our instruction. It has moral roots which could not be where the work was purely material. God would have every man to understand in a general way that form of creation of which he is the head.

Is it not striking that mere scientists and philosophers who are avowed rationalists are more intelligent as to this question than the new critical divines? I refer again to two eminent philosophers who do not pretend to derive anything from scripture, but allow and even insist on that which overthrows this first example which the new critics of all lands pervert to disparage the Bible.

John S. Mill and Herbert Spencer little knew or even suspected that they laid their ax to the root of theological skepticism as far as Oren. i. is concerned. They and others who differ from them acknowledge boldly that science can give no account of permanent and primary causes of the universe as it is. Science begins where creation ends. Science can investigate the effects of creation but can give no account of the wonderful powers which wrought in creating. Science is the discovery of the movements, the cause of which it knows not, from the facts before man's eyes; however governed by general laws—fixed laws as they call them. But it acknowledges that it can give no account of these primeval causes. So Mill declares in words already cited; and Herbert Spencer (of a distinct school of philosophy) cites his words with approval and adds that the only thing science can do is to conduct its students to a blind wall, on the other side of which lies the solution wholly outside science. This it is which, not science but, the Bible reveals with a simplicity and majesty and truth peculiar to God's revelation.

How strange that these scholarly divines seem so unacquainted with that which the philosophers admit of the limits of science, and its essential inability to explain what God's word makes plain to every believer. Of creative power and ways they confess that science knows nothing and can say nothing. They confess that there must have been such powers, to produce the facts which, carefully observed and adequately generalized, are the fixed laws, so called, of science. These necessarily only began to exist, long after that to be adequately generalized into various departments of physical science.

But even the most extreme materialist sage acknowledges that science knows nothing of that creating of which Gen. 1 treats. Yet here we have these learned divines boasting of what science wholly ignores and cannot possibly reach. For on the assumption that true science does know better than Gen. 1, they manifest their own lack of acquaintance with the confessed ignorance of science, and venture to ground on that ignorance the charge of false science on God's word. They are therefore guilty of setting up science against scripture which the experts of science admit to be unfounded. The higher criticism was too eager to impute mistake even to the first chapter of the Bible. Nor does it require science to see that these theologians are less candid and less intelligent than the experts of rationalistic philosophy. It is false that “the science of this chapter is antiquated.” There is no science in the chapter. There is divine light on God's work which must precede all science. This the scientists themselves however skeptical confess as a necessary principle. It is the divines in their hurry to disparage scripture who assume that science explains creation differently from the Bible. Whereas the fact is that science confesses its total ignorance, because it lacks the faith to believe the word of God. How sad that these professedly Christian teachers should assume a triumph for science which worldly rationalists admit to be absolutely non-existent!

The truth however, is that these men explain away the second and third chapters of the same book as an allegory rather than a history, and talk of anthropomorphism, instead of seeing the beautiful simplicity in describing God's ways where His special interest in man is thus expressed, however real the facts.

We need not follow Dr. D. to the inspired prophecies. He is obliged to confess that Amos, Hosea and Isaiah represent the God of Israel (however long suffering to the people of His choice) as the God of all the families of the earth, the contrast of Jewish narrowness, and looking onward to the day when He must expel Israel from the land because of their iniquity, and open wide the day of grace to the Gentile; who in their turn shall forfeit His favor, for the full and final restoration of penitent and believing Israel. Then also He will bless all the nations of the earth when Messiah shall reign over it and fill it with blessing and glory.

Dr. D. claims for the O.T. permanent value on account of the clearness and emphasis with which it proclaims the duty of man both toward God and toward his fellow-man. Here again if the Bible be not the truth of God, a clear statement of duty will never preserve its authority over the conscience.

Any religious sanction of the more general duties also must fail for the same reason.

How can examples of high character in the O. T., which is candid as to their failures also, sustain absolute authority over the conscience, if the word of God be stained, as these divines insist, with mistakes and falsehoods attributed to God Himself?

The same remark applies to the devotional portions like the Psalms, etc. Wonderfully as they may express the heart's feelings in distress, confession, supplication, confidence and faith, as well as thanksgiving and praise, to set scripture against scripture is the work of the enemy and still more to insinuate falsehood against the God of truth, as represented by the O.T.

Still less can the great idea of human life and society in the O.T. redeem itself and the God who speaks throughout it from the libels endorsed by the higher critics. No doubt the grosser pollutions of heathenism are, since Christ, ashamed to be seen in the light, and retreat into congenial darkness. But as to real advance for the world, the N.T. does not flatter any more than the O.T. Both show that the end of this age will be profoundly wicked and utterly godless save for little remnants of Jews and Gentiles; and divine judgment will surely be executed upon the whole earth, on Jerusalem especially, on the Beast and the False Prophet, as well as on the N.T. Babylon. It will be the apostasy and the man of sin, the lawless Beast of Rev. 13 and his religious associate the antichrist, or all civil and religious iniquity. This is the consummation which both Testaments announce by the holy Prophets. It is direct contradiction of scripture that human endeavor shall ever realize the restitution of all things; for it is reserved only for the one Man, the glorified Son of man, to make good the kingdom of God in manifest power and glory. All others have failed and have been saved wholly of grace. He only is the worthy One, the power and the wisdom of God. For Him at His coming again is this glory here below reserved, and then as now in the heavens. Only there do we see power exercised and glory displayed. Man as such is to be brought low and judgment on the quick take place before the times of refreshing shall come from God through our Lord Jesus for the long guilty, weary and misled earth.

The stress laid upon a pure and spiritual religion did not avail of old any more than the gospel now to make good the glory of God here below. No believer doubts its reality and especially in that which Christ introduced for the N. T. when the hour came for Jerusalem and Samaria alike to disappear, and the worship of the Father in spirit and truth was revealed. It is man that fails, the first man. The grand change awaits the Second Man to judge the first as living on the earth and to maintain God's glory in the highest and peace on earth. This He will surely accomplish. But even His kingdom on earth will be followed by an uprising of rebellion which God will destroy by fire from heaven. Then will come His judgment on the great white throne, when all the wicked dead since the world began shall be judged, and eternity issues with a new heaven and a new earth in the fullest sense, as well as the lake of fire for all the cowardly, unbelieving, false, corrupt, and wicked. No qualities can condone lack of truth.

Scripture Queries and Answers: Genesis 1

Q.-Gen. 1 Which do you believe to be the true interpretation of this chapter? And why is no other view so satisfactory as the one you favor?

M. A.

A.-In a general way it may be said that three different modes of understanding have prevailed.

1. What may be called the oldest known exegesis among Jewish and Christian commentators was the very vague notion that “In the beginning” (vers. 1, 2) was practically very near if not actually at the same time, as that which is detailed in “the six days” beginning with ver. 3 and following to the end of the chapter. There may be some slight difference among the early fathers as among Rabbis. But the general impression which they convey was the conviction that the creation of heaven and earth almost immediately was followed by that of our first parents. The second verse presented no small difficulty. Heathen ideas would have inclined many to have reversed the order of vers. 1 and 2. Others could not admit such a change possible, and would have seen that as this was disloyalty to scripture, so it would have involved a difficulty as great as it removed. Hence the disposition to leave the two verses altogether a general summary, and details of creation to begin with ver. 3. To some Israelites “the six days” had to be explained away, and long geologic ages since the beginning and preceding man did not occur to those who thought of it as a vast single result of God's will. But waiving this, no tradition more widely ruled men, and Christendom in particular, and the Puritans as much as the Fathers.

The popular idea, since evangelical geologists looked for a scriptural support of the long ages of change after the “beginning,” and before Adam or the race, was to look for them in “the six days,” so extended as to cover the immense periods required. An Irish barrister, Dr. D. McCausland, eminently fitted by his ability and his scientific attainments to examine the question, urged this solution in his “Sermons in Stones”; as it was also taken up warmly by many scientists in Great Britain, America, etc.

There remains the third, and as I believe, the really sound meaning of the chapter: in that it leaves room for all that God wrought, however protracted the time that elapsed between the “beginning” and the “six days” in successive acts of God in construction and catastrophe: cognizable by men of science, and left for their discovery in due time, but entirely outside the scope of revelation. The first two verses give the principle of creation and of chaos for the earth, the one as necessary as the other for man when created, not only to learn the facts from the earth's crust but to use the results according to God's beneficent provision. Thus scripture departs not from its supreme design and character, nor encumbers itself with teaching science which is man's pride. But it is untrue that it commits itself to “false science” or unreliable history, or any other insinuation of infidels. Hence, as in a scripture not poetic in any way but the simplest prose attributed to God by as true a saint as ever lived, there is no ground to doubt that the “six days” are literal, as “the evening and the morning” seems expressly meant to convey.

Indeed there is great moral beauty in “days” having no place in the part which commences with “In the beginning” and ends with “the Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters.” It was well that we should know that the great divine agent, who in Israel deigned to give His all-powerful energy for making the vessels of the Sanctuary, and later, came down to make Christians individually and the church collectively God's temple by His indwelling, took so suited a relation to the last work which God was preparing for man to inhabit long after. It was no mighty tempest, but His suited brooding over the waters. But when the “six days” begin which man crowns before they closed, how in keeping a measurement of time so important for the race, and in relation to God above all! Then we first bear of them, Moral dealings then begin, with the wondrous proof of God's deep interest in man, and the corresponding responsibility of man to God, to the race, and to the lower creation. Then too we first read “And God said,” and the deep privilege of reading and the solemn call to believe. This too confirms that the six days had nothing to do with the many acts of creating creatures, inanimate and animated, who could not understand Him; but His speaking definitely of all that formed the environment of the race was as precious as instructive for His vicegerent here below. Still more blessed when we look on by faith to the Second man and last Adam, the antitype and contrast of him that brought in sin and death, as Rom. 5:14 lets us know, the Conqueror of Satan, the holy Sufferer for our sins, that the believer should reign with Him, and the world itself be blessed under His reign to God's glory. His word as to both Adams is not science but revelation, as indeed all the Bible is.

Scripture Queries and Answers: 2 Corinthians 5:15

Q.-2 Cor. 5:15. The brevity of the remark on the late Bp. Lightfoot's view of these verses, followed by the Revisers', may account for my difficulty in apprehending the evidence and argument against it. May I ask for further clearing of the point? F.

A.-Not having the Bp.'s book at hand, I quote the R.V. which conveys his mind! “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.” Every reflecting believer, I think, must feel that the critical text sounds harsh and inconsequent for want of the εί (if) of the vulgar text. And every one used to various readings can see that the εί was peculiarly liable here to be dropt, because of the ι immediately preceding and the είς immediately following. But accepting the text preferred, wherein does the consequence lie that, because one died for all, therefore they all died, in the sense of dying with Him to sin, the marked privilege of all Christians? This very assumption misled Dean Alford unconsciously into misrepresenting the apostles, when he says that He died for all, that all should live to Him. But this is to change what the apostle wrote in contrasting “all dead” with “those that live.” “The all” are men universally; “they that live,” are only such as by faith have life in Christ. And this distinction is fundamental and everywhere sustained by the scriptures. The sense therefore is, for “all,” death through sin and their sins, for whom nevertheless Christ died as the witness of love toward them in their sad and sinful state. The judgment of love is not merely this but that He died for all, that they that live by faith in Him, which assuredly “all” do not, should no longer be as once when dead, but live to Him who for them died and was raised. For the Savior whom the Christian owns is not a mere Jewish Messiah ruling Israel and the nations in righteousness peace and happiness on the earth, but a dead and risen Lord with whom we are associated, rejected by the earth but glorified on high, and we in obedient devotedness sharing His sufferings here and waiting to join Him there.

Thus what we are taught is not that all men have the Christian privilege of having died with Christ to sin, but that their being all dead as sinners was the motive for Christ to die on behalf of all. Where sin brought them without exception, love sent and brought Him. Yet this, however glorifying God's nature and proving Christ's love, were vain to save them unless by faith in Christ they received life in Him to live to Him. Thanks be to God this is verified by His grace in “those that live” (as contradistinguished from “all dead),” whom Christ's love constrains to live to Him who for them died and was raised. Accordingly the apostle shows that not only the evil but the old things at their best are passed away to Christian faith, and for any one in Christ (not surely for man unbelieving and outside Him) “a new creation, and all things of the God that reconciled us to Himself by Christ.”

The perversion to death in Christ to sin, which can apply to none but believers, dissolves the reasoning; for how could this prove the love of Christ dying for all mankind? Whereas no Christian but sees His love for all in dying for all. And what follows is decisive against such a meaning as the Bp. put on it, for it is a part and not “all,” but only “they that live” who enjoy the privilege, and accept the responsibility of Christians. As these learned men give the sentence, “We thus judge, that one died for all, therefore [illatively] all died,” it stands rather unintelligible, and is refuted by the context that follows. Text and translation, if right, lead to no such result.

Scripture Queries and Answers: 1 Timothy 3:15-16

Q.-1 Tim. 3:15, 16. Is there any good ground from a critical point of view for the following reading of this passage?

“But if I delay, in order that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house, which is a living God's assembly".

“Pillar and base of the truth and confessedly great is the mystery of godliness, the which was manifested in flesh, was justified in [the] Spirit, was seen of angels, was preached among Gentiles, was believed on in [the] world, was received up in glory.” [The rendering has been made more exact to avoid repetition and discussion, save at the beginning of ver. 16. Ed. B.T.].

It is contended by the adherents to this new rendering that the history of the church has proved that it has not abode in the truth, much less can it be said to be the pillar and base of the truth I and that it is a relief to find that the scripture does not say it is, as has been universally supposed.

Then, that all critics now agree that Ss, “he who,” is the correct reading (instead of “God” and that therefore the mystery of godliness, Christ and the church, is the pillar and ground of the truth—not Christ in incarnation. This removes the difficulty that many feel in understanding how Christ personally could be said to have been “justified in [the] Spirit”; and also that it is this mystery which was preached among the nations (Eph. 3:9; Rom. 16:25, 26) and believed on in the world, which Christ could not be truly said to have been before He was received up in glory.

Th. R.

A.-It is a mistake to consider this clumsy, crooked and wholly unjustifiable form of taking the first clause of ver. 16 as a “new rendering”; for so understood several Protestants, for the most part of dubious faith, as Er. Schmid, Limborch, Le Clerc, Schottgen, Rosenm. (the elder), Heinrich, etc., etc. I do not wonder at Dean Alford's saying “if any one imagines St. Paul... able to have indited such a sentence,” it were useless to argue with him. “To say nothing of its abruptness and harshness, beyond all example even in these Epistles, how palpably does it betray the botching of modern conjectural arrangement in the wretched anticlimax... If a sentence like this occurred in the Epistle, I should feel it a weightier argument against its genuineness than any which its opponents have yet adduced.”

Only less untenable is the absurdity of understanding Timothy (and behind him Paul and the other apostles) as “pillar and basement of the truth.”

There is no real difficulty in referring it to God's church, which is not the truth, but pillar and basement of the truth responsibly on the earth. Christ is the truth engraven as it were on that pillar here below. Where is or was any other before men after Christ's brief appearing and His ascension? If Israel with His law was a witness as His chosen people among the nations, how much more since God's new house was a living God's assembly, witness of grace and truth in Christ But it is the Second Epistle, not the First, which instructs the faithful what to do when disorder and departure from the truth, and sanction of evil and error, gave a false witness.

Still less difficulty is there in applying the mystery of godliness to Christ's concrete person, who was manifested in flesh, justified by the Spirit in resurrection, then seen of angels instead of mankind, preached to Gentiles instead of reigning over Israel in Zion, believed on in the world instead of ruling the nations with rod of iron, received up in glory on high instead of displaying it over all the earth, as the Prophets had testified for the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The last was reserved, it would seem, to contrast with the great declension of mixing Him up with the sordid and earthly character of Christendom, and its delusions. So far is the notion of making the church part of the “mystery of godliness” that it would import wholesale and deadly error. It is “who,” not “which” as the church is.

Published

LONDON:

T. WESTON Publisher, 53, Paternoster Row

Published Monthly.

Joseph: 22. Presents His Father

As yet however the king had not seen the kindred of Joseph. This now follows.

“And Joseph went in and told Pharaoh and said, My father and my brethren, and their sheep and their cattle and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and behold they are in the land of Goshen. And from among his brethren he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers. And they said to Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for thy servants' flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee: the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred-and-thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household with bread, according to their families.” (vers. 1-12).

We read of Joseph's becoming attitude towards Pharaoh. On every point of view Goshen was the land most appropriate for his father and his brethren. The land lay nearest for sojourners in Egypt, for those who were destined by God to enter Canaan as the land He had promised long before when their father had not even one son (Gen. 15). Again, it was near Joseph, and the king also; and further, it was the least frequented by the people of the land, to whom herdsmen, shepherds and the like, were an abomination, as Joseph let them know. Even apart from this, we were already informed of their general objection to eat bread with foreigners (43:32). Such was the severity of caste among the Egyptians, as we know it is among strict Hindus. But it was of moment that the king should come to the same conclusion as his minister of state, and decree freely without any pressure from one so near to the sons of Israel. The presenting of an adequate number of his brethren was ordered wisely. When they plainly stated their occupation, as handed down from their fathers, the king not only fell in with Goshen as the most fitting place for their dwelling, but gave hearty welcome. He also laid it on Joseph that he should set capable men from among them to undertake the charge over his own cattle there.

But another deeply interesting interview is next brought before us. “Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh.” The aged patriarch was in no way abashed in presence of the world's most exalted monarch. “Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” Never had the king of Egypt stood so high. Through his God-instructed administrator, he had been led to wise and equitable measures, which during years of super-abundant plenty provided for the years no less of famine, relieved the poor amply, enriched the sovereign beyond example, supplied the wants of adjacent lands, and especially for the chosen people, and brought them where they were to multiply, arouse the wicked hostility of their neighbors, and in due time furnish a wondrous spectacle of a deliverance from Jehovah, to declare His name throughout all the earth in plaguing the proud king of that day and vanquishing his false gods, as conspicuous as His mighty hand and outstretched arm on behalf of Jacob's peed in their most feeble and abject state.

“And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage” (vers. 8-9).

“And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household with bread according to [the mouths of] their little ones “(vers. 11, 12).

The humbled heart of Jacob felt justly in comparison with Abraham and Isaac, but rose up without question of pride to bless the king. God was before his faith, and he could bless Pharaoh simply, out of a full heart. “And beyond all gainsaying, the less is blessed by the better” (Heb. 7:7).

Cain: 2. His World and His Worship

His World, and His Worship. Gen. 4

And mark further the faculty man has of making himself happy in his estrangement from God. We find amongst the family of Cain not only “the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle” (ver. 20), but “the father of such as handle the harp and the organ” (ver. 21), and “the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron” (ver. 22). Now there is nothing wrong in working brass and iron; neither is there any harm in sweet sounds (we read in the book of Revelation of harpers in heaven); but what Cain was doing was this he was making the world pleasant without God.

These are the efforts of man, who has settled himself down in a world where judgment has placed him, and who is trying to make himself as happy, and the world as pleasant, as he can without God, till death and judgment overtake him. If I saw a man, who had committed some wicked crime against his father, the next day playing on musical instruments, should I say there was no harm in that? Such was Cain's world.

And is it not like your world? Is there any difference between your world and Cain's world? Is it a better world because God's Son has been crucified in it? Has that act on the part of man made it more acceptable to God? (because that has happened since the days of Cain.) Where is the difference? They had their “harps and organs;” and so have you. They had their “artificers in brass and in iron;” and so have you. It was Cain's world then away from God; and it is Cain's world still. The like tree produces like fruit. Man is carrying on the world by himself, and for himself, endeavoring to keep God out of sight, as much as possible to do without Him, lest He should get at his conscience and make him miserable.

Can you find any difference between Cain's world without God and your world without God?

You may object that you are not without God, that you are called by the name of Christ—are Christians, and have a “religion” also. Cain had a “religion.” He was a religious man, as religious as Abel. But he had no love to God; he had no faith. He was a religious man, but not a godly man.

It is a strange introduction to this picture, the setting forth of Cain as a worshipper, and a worshipper moreover of the true God. We read, “And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah” (vers. 2, 3).

There is no mention made of false gods before the flood. Cain was a worshipper of the one living and true God. Soon after the flood there were idolaters; and then God called out a separate people as witnesses of His character to make good His name and grace. But there is not any mention made of false gods before Joshua 24:6-8, “Your fathers worshipped other gods:” a fresh crime, a fresh snare of the enemy, which called for new measures on the part of God. Satan had come and slipped himself in between man and God, and was the one that was really worshipped though under the name of gods; and the call of Abram was the call and witness of “the most high God.”

Your “artificers in brass and iron” are worshippers of the true God. So was Cain.

And he took some pains too. He offered that which he had been toiling for in “the sweat of his brow.” He was a “tiller of the ground,” and he “brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah.” He did not bring that which cost him nothing (2 Sam. 24:24); nay, his worship cost more of toil than that of Abel. He came in the way of nature, offering the fruit of his toil and labor; and you have done the same. This is ever the character of false worship. Religiousness does not take a man out of the character of Cain; it the rather brings him into it. So that you have not got one step in that way out of the character God has marked as that of Cain.

Observe, I do not charge you with being hypocrites, for I do not say that Cain was not sincere. There is no doubt indeed of his sincerity; but then his sincerity only evidenced the hardness of his heart. Human sincerity means nothing; it is often but the greatest proof of the desperate darkness in which a man is. Those were sincere of whom Christ said, “He that killeth you will think he doeth God service.” Saul of Tarsus was thoroughly sincere when he thought he “ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” He consulted moreover the chief priests and elders, the religious authorities of the day. He was zealous for his religion, and thoroughly sincere as a man, but totally blind as to God and the things of Christ, thinking to do God service by fighting against and slaying His saints. Cain in his sincerity brought to the Lord that which cost him something, that which was the fruit of his toil. He came to God as a worshipper, and in so doing offered to God that which he had brought honestly as a man, but which proved him to be ignorant of his state as a sinner.

“What then is man to hope for?” you will say. He is to hope for nothing. Did he not get out of paradise because of sin? what possible ground can he have as a sinner for hoping to get into heaven?

What ground had Cain for hoping that God would accept either himself or his offering? God had driven man out of paradise because of sin: what ground had he to expect by the works of his hands to get back into the presence of God? You may say, “It was not the works of his hands, but the fruits of God's creation.” —But what would you think of the man who was hoping to get into heaven by offering his corn and his wine to God, supposing like Simon Magus (Acts 8), that the gift of God may be bought? Why, it would show that his conscience was as hard as the nether millstone, utterly insensible to the condition he was in, as well as to the character of God. The very worship of Cain proved the desperate utter insensibility of his heart to the judgment of God against sin, and to those mighty things which had just happened, the effects and consequences of which he was now experiencing.

How came man to be toiling there in the sweat of his brow? Their very toil told the tale of the curse. They had been driven out of Eden for sin. But in Cain we see utter recklessness to the judgment of God. He had forgotten the very nature and being of that God who had set man perfectly happy in the garden at the first, to keep it and to enjoy its fruits (fruits yielded to his hand without toil or labor); and supposed that by toil and labor (the judicial consequences of sin) he could produce something that God would accept. There was utter desperate recklessness to the judgment of God.

Cain's worship was the worst thing he did. It was in fact the denying that he had sinned; such blindness to what he had been, such hardness of conscience in supposing that he could get into the presence of God in his sins as if nothing at all had happened! such wretched assumption that because he was a “tiller of the ground,” tilling of the ground was all right! But how came it to be all right? Because God had cursed the ground. He, a defiled sinner driven out of paradise, brings “of the fruit of the ground” which Jehovah had cursed, “an offering unto Jehovah;” that is, he brings into the presence of God the sign and seal of the sin that had driven him out from God!

And how comes a man to be going Sunday after Sunday, as he says, to “worship God?” What is all this toil? To make “peace with God?” God is “the God of peace;” He “preaches peace” —a made peace through “the blood of the cross;” yet man goes on seeking to carry something into God's presence as “a duty,” “to make peace” without once asking about God's way of peace.

Cain was a worshipper of God; but there was no faith in Cain. There was no faith to recognize his own ruin and sin, no faith to apprehend the judgment of God against sin: he had no presence of God as he was, no title to be a worshipper of God. He had not a bit of faith to recognize his own condition as driven out of paradise, his sin and estrangement from God, or, that blood—death—was necessary, in order for him to approach God.

This is just the world's worship; and are you any the better for it? Are you any the nearer to God?

Tell me, dear friends, what if God does not receive your worship? Suppose that, after all your well doing and toil for God, God rejects it, for that is what Cain's toiling met with from God— “unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect” (ver. 5), would you be content?

How was it with Cain? “Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” And it is ever thus. The moment God puts man on the true ground of his condition before Him, the enmity of the natural heart breaks out against God. Cain was “very wroth,” exceedingly angry; and why? Because his heart was opposed to grace. He had not owned the first principle of sin in the presence of God.

And you, when the sovereign grace of the gospel comes to you, are “very wroth.” “What! a man do his best,” you exclaim, “and not be accepted!” So thought Cain. And so thinks every man naturally; that is, he thinks that God must accept him just as well as he accepts God, bringing down God to his on n measure of holiness. And then the wrath of man breaks out, and he rejects the righteousness that God holds out to him; he will not have His Son.

There is not a principle in Cain that is not found in you. There is no evil in brass and iron, nor is there any harm in sweet sounds; the evil and the sin is in this, that men are using these things to hide God from them. If you are worshippers of the true God, so was Cain. We may put a terrible name on that which we see in Cain, and yet approve of the very same thing in ourselves; the light tells us that was sin in Cain which the spirit of self-love tells us is not sin in our own case. What difference is there between you and Cain? Take the Bible and see if you can make out any difference. The only real difference is this, that you have a further and more developed knowledge of the Seed of “the woman” (Christ), and therefore that of the two you are the more guilty.

Having sinned against God, abused His goodness, and refused His Son, man turns to please himself as if nothing had happened. It is more terrible to a spiritual eye to see insensibility after sin has been committed, it is a far deeper shade of sin, than even the commission of the crime. The returning of a soul to God, is just in the being awakened to a sense of the awfulness of this state.

(Continued from p. 16)

Exodus: the Divine Commission to Moses

Ex. 3:6-22

BUT definite words were added to the sight.

“And he said, I [am] the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And Jehovah said, Seeing (or, Surely) I have seen the affliction of my people that [are] in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and large land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who [am] I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this [shall be] the token to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said to God, Behold [when] I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers hath sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? what shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I AM WHAT I AM; and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me to you. And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me to you; this [is] my name forever, and this my memorial to all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared to me, saying, Visiting (or, Surely) I have visited you and [seen] that which is done to you in Egypt; and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice; and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and ye shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us; and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a. mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty; but every woman shall ask her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and ye shall put [them] upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians” (vers. 6-22).

It was a blessed intervention of Jehovah on behalf of His enslaved and cruelly oppressed people. The name He gave Himself was not new in the sense of never having been heard before. Now He was about to act on its reality and present value. There was to be accomplishment up to a certain and evident point, and not promise only. Hence stress is laid on “the God of thy fathers,” and this expounded as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses realized the fact and hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Most reassuring were the words, “And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows: and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land into a land good and large, into a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And now behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me; and I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (vers. 7-10).

Yet would it be partial and temporary; for what could be more that depended on the first man, a people in the flesh? The fulfillment for everlasting can only be when man truly renounces self, owns his ruin before God, and has Christ, the Second man, as the present and abiding ground of blessing. There was to be shortly a typical redemption; and a typical entrance into the land of abundance, not of corn and fruit only, but flowing with milk and honey. Nothing abides forever but God, and God now has wrought for sinful man in the gift of life eternal and everlasting redemption. So it will be really for Israel when they have their own Messiah present and reigning over them. Till then it could be no more than provisional for Israel, who must learn what it is, after sowing to the flesh, to reap corruption.

Moses is as distrustful now, as he was confident in Egypt; he asks “Who am I” to go unto Pharaoh and bring out Israel? But Jehovah vouchsafes His presence and gives the token of serving God “on this mountain.” Then, to Moses asking a specific name of His presence, He says, “I AM WHAT I AM,” His essential and abiding being; and bids Moses say to Israel, “I AM hath sent me to you.” All else was but creature. He was the only and ever existing One. But he was also to say, The Jehovah God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, had sent him to them. “This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.” A wondrous declaration to be infallibly verified, when the Lord Jesus vindicates His every word.

God therefore calls on Moses (ver. 16) to “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice; and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us: and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: but every woman shall ask her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put [them] upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians” (vers. 16-22).

He was to ask at first leave to go “three days' journey into the wilderness,” but would ask more as the obduracy of the king appeared, and God lets Moses know the king's sure defiance, tells of His wonders to be done in reproof, and directs His people not to go empty after their long unrequited labor, and that every woman should (not, borrow, but) ask for jewels of silver and of gold, and thus spoil them, as it was righteous retribution. The word “borrow” is only a secondary sense, and here misappropriate. “Ask” is the direct and primary sense, and therefore right to be preserved.

Wilderness Grace: Part 1

Ex. 17

Those who are familiar with the study of this part of scripture will remember that the history of Israel from the Red Sea to Sinai (that is, from the time of their deliverance out of Egypt until they placed themselves under law) contains an exceedingly remarkable testimony to the grace of God.

At Sinai Israel took up the promises of God on the condition of their own obedience, and then their entire failure was manifested. But up to that moment all God's dealings with them had been in grace. Though there was continual murmuring and unbelief and disobedience, He did not chasten for these things as afterward when they had taken a stand before Him on the ground of obedience. It was an immense transition in their history.

The law “came in” as it were (though of course it was perfect in itself) “by the by,” between the promises and the accomplishment of the promises to show what the condition of man would be if he stood on his own ground before God. The law was not before the promises, the apostle argues (Gal. 3) “that it should make the promise of none effect.” Promise was given first. And He to whom “the promises were made” came after the law. Meanwhile the law entered in order to manifest what man was, and the effect that would be produced on man when placed on the ground of obedience to the known will of God.

It was needful to do this, because of the constant tendency of the heart to put itself under law, in spite of repeated failures; not that God's promises of grace were not simple and clear, but because of this natural tendency of the heart of man. Supposing my conscience to be awakened, I must know that it is my duty (that I ought) to please and obey God. The effect of this naturally is that I expect God would accept me on this condition. Till a man is brought to feel his really lost state, this is very natural. It is quite too late to talk of pleasing and obeying God when we know ourselves to be lost sinners.

Now God, who is wonderfully painstaking with us for our blessing, sent the law, in order that this tendency of man's heart, and his utter worthlessness, might be shown out, and proved to man. But before He did this, He had made known abounding grace, pure grace, flowing from His own thoughts and purposes, without any reference to the feelings of man about Him, or any condition of man's obedience.

So that those whose hearts were opened to believe the promises could rest in peace upon them all the while they were learning more of their own sinfulness through the law. The very starting point of all God's dealings with us is pure grace suitable to sinners, whose state He knows, and therefore knows how to meet.

There was no promise given to Adam before he fell. He needed none; he was happy in his innocence and then present condition. And after he had sinned, the promise given was not made to rest on anything in him. The Lord came down to the garden, saying, “Adam, where art thou?” that he might be made to feel what the condition was into which sin had plunged him: and he answered, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” The Lord did not give a promise to Adam (for He could not, in the state of sin in which he was, without dealing lightly with sin; neither could He leave Adam without promise, unless He cast him into remediless despair). What God does is to bring in “the Seed of the woman” —the last Adam. There was not a word of promise to Adam personally: the promise was made to the “seed of the woman” in pronouncing the curse on the serpent— “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This was a promise for Adam, one on which his soul might rest, one faith could lay hold of—no promise to Adam in his sin, but a promise of blessing in and to Christ. And it appears that through grace Adam did rest on this interference of God, for he afterward speaks of Eve as “the mother of all living.”

This was developed onwards and onwards till we come to the history of Abraham; where it is revealed still more definitely: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Isaac was only the type of Christ. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many: but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Thus Christ was the Seed to whom the promise was made (Gal. 3). “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen,” and we, through grace, can now add, “unto the glory of God by us.”

The promises were not only made to Abraham (Gen. 12) and to his seed, but confirmed to the seed through resurrection (Gen. 22). This was shown in Abraham's being commanded to offer up Isaac, and his receiving of him again from the dead “in a figure” as the apostle speaks (Heb. 11). Christ takes the promises, not as on earth incarnate, but as risen from the dead. Without His death and resurrection we could have had no part in them, for God cannot bless people in sin. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” It is impossible that there could be communion between God and the sinner in his sins. If the Lord Jesus had not died and become the source of a new life to the sinner, we could have had no portion with Him in these promises. After the resurrection of Isaac, there was a confirmation to the seed of the promises made to Abraham. “By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son]: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” This is referred to by the Spirit in the Epistle to the Galatians.

Proverbs 27:7-13

The group now before us pursues the warning against dangers from our own selves as well as from without.

“The full soul trampleth on (or, loatheth) a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so [is] a man that wandereth from his place.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so the sweetness of a man's friend from hearty counsel.
Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; and go not to thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: better [is] a neighbor near than a brother far off.
My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
A prudent [man] seeth the evil [and] hideth himself; the simple pass on [and] suffer for it.
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge [that is surety] for a strange woman” (vers. 7-13).

Whatever be the means of one that fears God, self-indulgence is unworthy of one who now lives in a scene where we have the poor always with us, with many and sudden reverses to call forth special compassion. What a lesson for the Christian when on the two occasions the Lord fed the multitude miraculously, it was on barley loaves and small fishes. How far from show or appetizing! And the prayer taught the disciples to ask for “sufficient bread.” The full soul is unworthy of His name; and the honeycomb he loathes convicts him of following the Lord of glory afar off. It is happy when one is hungry enough to relish every bitter thing put before us by our God and Father.

When God pronounced Cain a fugitive and a vagabond because he slew his righteous and accepted brother, well for him to have heeded the word of the Lord, but there is no such call for one ordinarily. The family is the place appointed as the rule in the world as it is. Even the bird owns the attraction of her nest. Wandering from either is a picture of wretchedness.

God has constituted the earth and man, that the very desert does not refuse to produce unguent and perfume, which singularly refresh the heart when depressed, not merely there but in lands where abundance reigns. But no less sweet is the hearty counsel from one's friend.

Yet more should one make of one's own friend, of one's father's friend also, in a world of forgetfulness. Nevertheless, in the day of one's calamity, it is unwise to rush for sympathy, even to one's brother. A neighbor near one is apt to prove better than a brother far off. Claim irritates; love is free and holy.

When a son walks wisely, what joy to a parent's heart It is the best answer to the reproach which watchfulness must expect from such as are lax.

Prudence sees evil beforehand and hides from it; the simple is blind, goes forward and suffers.

None should become surety unless he be prepared to lose; and this, true in case of a man, is still more dangerous for a strange woman.

Gathering or Scattering

“HE that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” It is always an important question for the servant of Christ to put to himself, if not next to others, Am I doing the will of my Master? The first manifestation of the divine life in the heart of Saul of Tarsus, was to put him in the place of obedience through faith in Christ, and to subject the once stern self-righteous Pharisee to the will of another. Hitherto his own thoughts had been a sufficient guide to him for persecuting the disciples of the Lord Jesus. He verily thought that he was doing God service; as Naaman had been governed by his own thoughts in regard to his desired cleansing from his leprosy (2 Kings 5:11). Now it was, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the answer, “It shall be told thee,” left no room for the exercise of his own will in service to his new Master.

As neutrality is impossible in the things of God, so independence cannot be allowed in the servant of Christ. It necessarily follows that a spiritual discernment of the Lord's mind is of the last importance. To have an understanding of the divine objects brings increased responsibility to the one who knows and a heavier judgment if disobedient; while a faithful exercise of the gift bestowed brings increased blessing. “To him that hath shall more be given.” If we could divest ourselves of conventionalism and of the natural and traditional thoughts of men about God and Christianity, or what men call religion, we should find it far easier to understand the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Luke than we do. It is God Himself visiting His people in grace, and Christ the minister of grace to us in the spirit of lowliness and constant dependence upon God, which so well becomes a true man of God. A multitude of the heavenly host are presented to us, giving expression to their unbounded delight in the hearing of the shepherds (chap. 2:8-14), as the world can find no room for the First-born Son of God and Son of Man; while Imperialism only takes official record of the child's birth as of any other. The world's ignorance of, and complete indifference to, the purposes of God are thus fully manifested. Thus it is made clear that man is guilty, lost, and dead, yet all the while religious; and this last condition prevents him from profiting by grace, as Luke 15 demonstrates. The Lord Jesus, God's faithful Messenger of grace, finds difficulties accumulate in His pathway, so casting Him upon God in prayer, as in the beginning of this chapter. For man's religious position cannot be acknowledged; it is a false one for a sinner till born of God.

Even the disciples themselves confess their ignorance as to the right and suitable way of approach to God, and the Lord graciously instructs them; for they at least by grace believed and were upright (vers. 1-14). But this is not all: we may not stop at the supply of our own need; we are encouraged to go to God about others. The prayer “Give us” has been answered, one's personal need has been satisfied, but the circumstances of “a friend of mine in his journey” together with my own poverty and incapacity to help him, are pressing heavily upon my spirit, inducing earnestness, importunity, continuing instant in prayer, and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man is answered. There may be apparent indifference, as Elijah experienced on Mount Carmel (“Go again seven times”); but it is only apparent. Human friendship may indeed break down when too much strain is put upon it. God is honored when thus counted upon, although indeed in infinite wisdom far beyond that of any earthly parent (vers. 9-13). But in truth a dumb spirit has taken possession of the heart of man: he has no voice for God either for prayer or praise (ver.14). God was in Christ in power for man's deliverance from bondage to the “strong man armed,” as well as in a fullness of grace which could bless abundantly. But pride and hatred closed up every avenue to the heart of man that he might not receive the love which Christ brought, and sealed his lips against the confession of need or praise for good received. It was here that the religious man showed how fully he was under the power of Satan by openly blaspheming the Holy Ghost, for, then as now, manifestly the Spirit was the only power which could make the grace of God effectual for man's blessing.

The Lord Jesus in His ministry used every argument calculated to impress sinners with a sense of the reality of that grace of which He was the fullness and channel; and to move them by faith to profit by it, telling them that “they ought always to pray and not to faint.” There was the fullest encouragement to do so; but man was disinclined for this, and would rather take the place of a worshipper, however false, thanking God for something as to his condition which was really a denial of the truth (“God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men”). Such being the case, Christ's real work was gathering saints and not dispensing the blessings of grace that man might continue to claim them in his natural condition.

Many have thought and said that if only they had sufficient wealth, and authority, they could make the world a paradise and every creature happy, by dealing with the circumstances which are the fruit of sin. But this would leave God's nature, His holiness, His righteousness, and His love, unknown, the conscience untouched and unpurged, and would not truly draw the sinner to God. Had the fullness of the Father's house only been intellectually conveyed to the prodigal in the far country, he would never have thought of returning. Of course man has lost much, everything in fact; but God has concerned Himself about His own loss of the world, and especially of man in it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; and He will, with the necessarily awful but revealed exception of the lake of fire, eventually re-establish God's authority and judgment of evil, “that God may be all in all.”

What He is doing in the meantime is calling and receiving sinners and by His Spirit gathering to His name. This is far better than effecting an outward reformation, yet leaving the sinner in his old place of distance in the far country. The Lord Jesus was “minister of circumcision,” sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that they might be gathered; as it had been the object of prophetic testimony in the O. T. dispensation. The presentation of Christ to the people and His utter rejection proved that unbelieving Israel would not be gathered (“How often would I have gathered thy children together... and ye would not” (Matt. 23:37)! The failure of Messiah's mission God foreknew; and it is fully acknowledged from Isa. 49:4, and onward. But Jehovah's answer discloses those counsels and purposes which are having their full accomplishment in the calling out from Jews and Gentiles into the church in this acceptable time; only for this, the heavenly glory of Christ is necessary. “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah.” This remarkable prophecy shows us the exact order of events as recorded in the N.T. i.e. the temporary failure of Christ's mission to Israel; a suffering and rejected Messiah, received and glorified in heaven, made to be God's salvation unto the ends of the earth. Here then is the divine center for all. “I, if I be lifted up (rejected) from the earth, will draw all unto Me” (John 12:32).

We see this gathering to Christ Himself in many places in the four Gospels, but especially in the Gospel of John where the necessary presentation of Christ to the earthly people is shown to be a failure from the first. “He came unto His own things and His own people received Him not.” But from the time that Christ took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the Holy Spirit was given to effectuate this. There is nothing else in the mind of God as to blessing for man, but this gathering to Christ. If He were not God, it would derogate from God; yet is He man also there, as here, in wondrous grace and truth. He alone is God's center of unity, Head to the church over all things. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father and the Son is now occupying Himself upon earth, not only for the gospel, but to accomplish the Father's purpose for the glory of the Son; viz., “that for the dispensation of the fullness of the seasons He might gather together in one all things in the Christ” (Eph. 1:10). At His coming it will be in displayed glory before all creation; now it is only He exalted above as “head over all things to the church,” and here known only to faith.

In a day of religious activity, when many schemes are afloat for the promotion of revivals and the awakening of religious enthusiasm, this divine purpose may be easily lost sight of, and Christian workers may become quite satisfied with creature blessing, for spiritual and social reformation, On the other hand where the truth is known and professed and its importance recognized, there may be a sad and inexcusable deficiency of love to Christ and to those that are His, as well as of evangelistic zeal, so that the privilege attaching to the servant of gathering with Christ is grievously if not idly surrendered. True knowledge of revealed truth may degenerate into doctrinal pride and self-complacency nauseous to Christ (Rev. 3:16), while zeal without knowledge will make the sinner's blessing the end and object of our service instead of Christ's glory. No company of Christians, however gifted and intelligent, could rightly say “He that gathereth not with us scattereth” —which was John's thought in Luke 9:49, 50. But this word of the Lord Jesus challenges every one of His servants to-day, “He that gathereth not with Me scattereth.”

2 Peter 3:7

With the deluge in the past there is analogy as well as contrast in the future. God is not mocked either way; but abuse of greater privilege will infallibly destroy the proud unbelief of the ungodly in the surest way.

“But the now heavens and the earth by the same word have been stored with fire, being kept for a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (ver. 7).

The gospel is a question of faith, not only in the Son, but in the word of God, beyond whatever was in patriarchal days, or during the law, as well as in coming ages.

The displayed kingdom which the Lord Jesus will establish to His glory for a period longer than man ever attained when he lived longest, or even Christianity in practice, can only be in power where each is sanctified by the Father's word, which is His word fully and finally revealed. Yet tradition, the great enemy of the word, never wrought in Israel so insidiously and widely and systematically as in Christendom to darken, undermine and pervert God's word; and that in face of the Lord's own denunciation in the Gospels of Matt. (15) and Mark (7), or by the words of Isaiah in a more burning indignation as became him.

But now there is a new school of deeper pride which disdains ancient tradition, deifies itself, and idolizes the working of man's mind in history and science, so foreign to the will of God and so dear to the world, even to the length of making it the judge of His written word. A worse or more dangerous form of infidelity there is not nor ever was; it directly leads into the “apostasy” which the apostle of the Gentiles declares must be before the day of the Lord comes in judgment of living mankind. Its success among professors of Christianity intoxicates its votaries so that they are encouraged by its popularity to essay even more daring skepticism.

Here we see that the destruction of the early population of the earth was effected by the vast store of water God provided above and below to overwhelm man and beast save those preserved in the ark with Noah by His command. To this exceeding overflow the language of Gen. 7:11 points: “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up,” “and the windows (or, the flood gates) of heaven opened;” as on the other hand that of Gen. 8:2, when the assuagement set in.

Dealing with the outrageous depravity of that ago was just when ignorance was as great. But as since the law, Christ's coming, and the gospel to every creature, have made the responsibility of man immensely greater, so is his sin in rejection of the truth, and professing science, or ideas, that ignore sin as well as grace, and flatter pride in the progress of the first man whilst forgetting his guilt against the Second. How much sorer a doom awaits man, especially the Jew, and most of all Christendom, when treading under foot the Son of God, and treating the blood of the covenant as vain and unclean, and thus insulting the Spirit of grace! Such guilt beyond measure, through rejecting the only and absolutely righteous One and His propitiation, and the full revelation of grace and truth in Him who was true God and perfect man in one person, will have to face God's extreme punishment by fire. And this is made known in the words of the scripture before us, looking back on man visited of old by a deluge of water. “But the now heavens and the earth by the same word have been stored with fire, being kept for a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

God has not left Himself without witness on a small scale of what He intends for the punishment of the ungodly who are willingly ignorant of His warning, and of their awful wickedness against His Son and the wondrous proclamation throughout all the world of life eternal and the forgiveness of their sins, through His death on the cross. The very hook of Genesis (19) records, not very long after the deluge, the destruction of the cities of the plain because of their enormous impurity, contrary to fallen nature itself. “Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; and overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground” (vers. 24, 25).

Again, in Lev. 10 when Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, were so heedless of the favor shown by the coming of fire out from before Jehovah to consume the burnt offering, and slighted it in the service of their own inauguration to the service of the sanctuary by putting common fire for burning the incense, “there went out fire from Jehovah and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah” (ver. 2). Jehovah will be sanctified in those who come nigh Him, and before all the people will He be glorified, as Moses told Aaron; “and Aaron held his peace.” It was not only the ungodly outside who must be shown that He is the witness and the Judge of evil, but those who approach Him cannot trifle with His sanctity save to their cost.

In Num. 11:1, when the people complained instead of acknowledging His justice, He was displeased and the fire of Jehovah burnt among them in the uttermost parts of the camp; and the people cried to Moses who prayed not in vain, and the fire was quenched. But they renewed their murmuring; and Jehovah, though He gave the flesh they lusted after, smote the people with a very great plague. It is chap. 16 which sets forth this solemn dealing with the gainsaying of Korah, which the epistle of Jude lets us know as the last and worst of the sinful developments reproduced in Christendom. “Woe to them! because they proceeded in the way of Cain, and were devoted to the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.” For here it was ministry usurping the priesthood, and hence rebellion against the efficacious priesthood, as well as denying the Christian title of nearness to God. And what befell them? “And it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground slave asunder that was under them; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained to Korah and all their goods. They and all that was theirs went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up. And there came out a fire from Jehovah, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.” This is by no means all that the O.T. offers on the subject, but it is ample for the proof that from the beginning a still more tremendous destruction by fire in a day both at its opening and at its close is plainly revealed as the way in which the wrath of God will be against the ungodly before the great white throne, and the resurrection for judgment described in Rev. 20:2-15. Isa. 9:5 and 66:15, 16, are as clear proofs as 2 Thess. 1:8, that the day of the Lord will open with fury and destruction on the wicked, discriminatingly and not as a providential judgment.

The phrase “the new heavens and the new earth” is borrowed from Isa. 65:17; 66:22. But there, it is the principle as applied to Jerusalem and the land in the future kingdom, rather than its full character which follows. This is clear from the prophet's explanation which indicates its realization in the chosen land and people, “But be ye glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree [are] the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they [are] the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust [shall be] the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah.”

It is plain that the prophet sees in the vast change when Messiah reigns in power, the introduction and sure pledge of the new heavens and earth, rather than the absolute fulfillment. Rev. 21:1-8 makes this evident and certain; for there is no more an earthly Jerusalem nor a people in flesh such as Isaiah describes; no infant of days to die, no more curse to be executed. Neither will building take place, nor planting; nor again labor however blessed, nor bringing forth for joy any more than trouble. In the eternal scene all will be praise and worship at God's counsels fulfilled to the utmost, and for the defiance of God its righteous punishment forever. It is in the future kingdom over the earth that the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and there the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and there that dust shall be the serpent's meat as the solitary mark of degradation. But in the full and eternal sense of the new heavens and new earth these creatures are found no more: only the holy city, new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride for her husband, as before the kingdom in power, so after it to all eternity, and outside it redeemed men with it shall tabernacle when God shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God.

These are the two extreme points of view, the prophet of Israel though giving the glorious prospect, dwelling only on its initiatory application to Jerusalem and the land and the people.

Equally seasonable is the beloved disciple's vision, at the end even of the wondrous age and world to come, of the end in its full sense when even a dispensation of glory with the Son of God and Son of man reigning over the universe closes the proof that such a reign fails, as did His coming in the grace of all humiliation among men to God's glory, as man left to do his will showed. But He really and everywhere triumphed over the enemy and the race which distrusted God and was misled to everlasting ruin in despising Christ. And the teaching of Peter holds a wide way as became the chief apostle of the circumcision writing to Christians who had been Jews. For he embraces the beginning and the ending of the day of Jehovah as the transition link between Isaiah and John. That such a view is according to the spirit of scripture may be made plain by “new creation” as applied by the apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 5:17: “so if any one [be] in Christ, [there is] a new creation.” Yet it is but the risen life in his soul. Only when they are changed into conformity to the body of Christ's glory will it be fulfilled in its entirety.

Self-Abnegation

IN all things Jesus was perfect, and in nothing more than this—that He, knowing all things, the end from the beginning, came down into a scene where He tasted rejection at every step—rejection not merely as a babe when He was carried away into Egypt, but rejection all through a life of the most blameless yet divinely ordered obscurity; then through a ministry which excited growing hatred on man's part. There is nothing a man more dreads than to be nothing at all. Even to be spoken against is not so dreadful to the poor proud spirit of man as to be absolutely unnoticed; and yet the very much greater part of the life of Jesus was spent in this entire obscurity. We have but a single incident recorded of Jesus from His earliest years until He emerges for the ministry of the word of God and the gospel of the kingdom. But then He lived in Nazareth, proverbially the lowest of poor despised Galilee—so much so that even a godly Galilean slighted and wondered if any good thing could come out of Nazareth. Such was Jesus; but more than this. When He did enter on the publicity of divine testimony, there too He meets opposition, though at first there was a welcome which would have gratified most men, yea servants of God. But He the Son, the divine person who was pleased to serve in this world, saw through that which would have been sweet to others when they, astonished and attracted, hung on the gracious words that fell from His lips. And how soon a dark cloud passed over it! For even that self-same day in which men heard such words as had never fallen on the ears of man, miserable and infatuated they could not endure the grace of God, and had they been left to themselves, would have cast. Him down headlong from the precipice outside their city. Such man was and is. How truly all that was fair was but as the morning cloud and early dew. But Jesus, we see, accepts a ministry of which He knew from the first the character, course, and results, perfectly aware that the more divine grace and truth were brought out by Him, the sterner rejection He should meet with among men.

God deals very tenderly with us in this respect. He does not fail to send somewhat to cheer and lift up the heart of the workman in praise to Himself; and only just so far as there is faith to bear it does He put on him a heavier burden. But as to the Lord Jesus, there was no burden that He was spared; and if none in His life. what shall we say of His death? There indeed a deeper question was raised, on which we need not enter now.

So too in the apostle Paul, a man, not only of flesh and blood but, of like passions as we. Who ever suffered like him the afflictions of the gospel? Who with burning love to Israel so spent himself in untiring labors among the Gentiles—labors too so unrequited then, that among the Gentiles themselves who believed, he so often knew what it is to be less loved the more abundantly he loved?

On the other hand Jesus had no sin. Although perfectly man, every thought, feeling, and inward motion was holy in Jesus: not only not a flaw in His ways was ever seen, but not a stain in His nature. Whatever men reason or dream, He was as pure humanly as divinely; and this may serve to spew us the all-importance of holding fast what men call orthodoxy as to His person. I shall yield to none in jealousy for it, and loyally maintain that it is of the substance and essence of the faith of God's elect that we should confess the immaculate purity of His humanity just as much as the reality of His assumption of our nature. Assuredly He did take the proper manhood of His mother, but He never took manhood in the state of His mother, but as the body prepared for Him by the Holy Ghost, who expelled every taint of otherwise transmitted evil. In His mother that nature was under the taint of sin; she was fallen, as were all others naturally begotten and born in Adam's line. In Him it was not so; and in order that it should not be so, we learn in God's word that He was not begotten in a merely natural generation, which would have perpetuated the corruption of the nature and have linked Jesus with the fall; but by the power of the Holy Ghost He and He alone was born of woman without a human father. Consequently as the Son was necessarily pure, as pure as the Father, in His own proper divine nature, so also in the human nature which He thus received from His mother: both the divine and the human were found forever afterward joined in that one and the same person—the Word made flesh.

Oneness and Union

The Lord Jesus is the true pattern of the “union” of man with God, God and man in one person. It is a common mistake to speak of union with God in the case of us His children. Scripture never uses language of the kind; it is the error of theology. The Christian never has union with God, which would really be, and only is in, the Incarnation. We are said to be one with Christ, “one spirit with the Lord” “one body,” one again as the Father and the Son; but these are evidently and totally different truths. “Oneness” would suppose identification of relationship, which is true of us as the members and body of our exalted Head. But we could not be said to be one with God as such without confounding the Creator and the creature and insinuating a kind of Buddhistic absorption into deity, which is contrary to all truth or even sense. The phrase therefore is a great blunder, which not only has got nothing whatever to warrant it from the Spirit, but there is the most careful exclusion of the thought in every part of the divine word.

And here it may be of interest to say a few words of explanation as to our partaking of the divine nature, of which Peter speaks at the beginning of his Second Epistle (1:4). It does not seem to be the same as oneness with Christ, which in scripture is always founded on the Spirit of God making us one with the Lord after He rose from the dead. Christ, when He was here below, compared Himself to a corn of wheat that was alone: if it died, it would bring forth much fruit. Though the Son of God was already the life of believers from the beginning, He promises more, thus indicating that union is a different thing. They must never he confounded. They are both true of the Christian; but union in the full sense of the word was that which could not be till Christ had died to put away before God our sins, yea to give us our very nature judged, so that we might stand in an entirely new position and relationship, made one by the Spirit with Christ glorified on high. This I believe to be the doctrine of scripture. Along with this, observe that the only one who brings out the body of Christ asserted dogmatically in the New Testament is the apostle Paul. Our spiritual oneness is referred to frequently in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John; but this is not exactly the same thing as being one with Christ according to the figure of the head and the body, which is the proper type of oneness in scripture. Now it is by the apostle Paul alone that the Spirit sets before us the body with its head; and this it is which figures the true notion according to God of our oneness with Christ.

To be one with, or have life in, Him is not the same thing. This may be clearly illustrated by the well-known instance of Abel and Cain. They had the same life as Adam; but they were not one with Adam as Eve was. She only was one with Adam. They had his life no less than their mother. Thus the two things are never the same and need not be in the same persons. Oneness is the nearest possible relationship, which may or may not be conjoined with the possession of life. Both are in the Christian. The pattern of oneness or its proper scriptural model is found under that of the head and the body which is the more admirably expressive as the head clearly and of right directs all the movements of, the body. In a man of sound mind and body there is not a single thing done by the extremity of the foot which is not directed by the head. Such exactly is the pattern spiritually. The Spirit of God animates the assembly, the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the true bond of oneness between the members on earth and Christ in heaven. By and by, when we go on high, it will be represented by another figure equally apt, though also anticipatively applied while we are on the earth. We never hear of the head and the body in the day of glory, but of the Bridegroom and the bride. So we read in Rev. 19 that the marriage of the Lamb is then come. This takes place in heaven after the translation of the saints, and before the day of Christ's appearing. Scripture avoids speaking of the marriage until the work of God is complete in His assembly, so that those who are baptized of the Spirit into that one body may be caught up to Christ together. These, between the two advents of the Lord, are all in one common position. But those before Christ came were surely quickened of Him; sons of God, they were partakers of the divine nature. So are Christians now; so will be the saints when the millennial kingdom is set up under the reign of Christ manifest to every eye. But to be one with Christ, members of His body, is only true now that He is in heaven as the glorified Man, and that the Spirit is sent down to baptize us into this new body on the earth. That one body is now being formed and perpetuated as long as the church remains on earth. The marriage of the Lamb (of course a figure of consummated union and joy) will only take place when the whole church is complete, not before, whatever may be the language inspired by hope ere then.

As to the difficulty of some minds whether Christ partook of our nature as it is here, or we partake of Him as He is in heaven, the answer seems to be that both are true; but they are not the same truth. Christ partook of human nature, but not in the condition in which we have it. This, as explained elsewhere, is essential not only to the gospel but to the Christ of God. The man who denies this denies Christ's person; he wholly overlooks the meaning of the supernatural operation of the Holy Ghost. Such was the fatal blot of Irvingism—a far deeper mischief than the folly about tongues, or the pretensions to prophesying, or the presumption of restoring the church and its ministries, or even its gross Judaizing. It made null and void the Holy Ghost's operation, which is acknowledged in the commonest creeds of both Romanists and Protestants. These all so far confess the truth; for I hold that as to this, Romanists and Protestants are sound but the Irvingites are not, although in other matters they may say a great deal that is true enough. Certainly Edward Irving saw and taught not a little neglected truth. Notwithstanding, they were, and I believe still are, fundamentally unsound in holding the human nature of Christ to be fallen and peccable through the taint of the fall, thus setting aside the object and fruit of the miraculous conception by the power of the Highest.

Hence then our being partakers of the divine nature is one thing, the gift of the Holy Ghost quite another. Both we have now. The first is the new nature that pertains to us as believers, and this in a substantial sense has been true of all believers from the beginning. But besides this there is the peculiar privilege of oneness with Christ through the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Clearly this could not be until the Holy Ghost was given to baptize the disciples of Christ into one body; as again the Holy Ghost could not be given to produce this oneness till Jesus by His blood had put away our sins and been glorified at God's right hand (Heb. 1; John 1; 7). Those who should be saved had been in every kind of impurity, and they must be washed from their sins before they could be righteously set in that position of nearness and relationship as “one new man.” Esther was chosen and called to a high position; still, according to the habits due to the great king, there must needs be a great preparation before the actual consummation. I grant you this was but a natural place; still it is the type of a spiritual relationship; so that we may use it to illustrate God's mind. It is not consistent with His ways or His holiness that any should be taken out of the old things and put into the wonderful position of oneness with Christ until the work of redemption completely abolished our old state before God and brought us into a new one in Christ. Such is the order of scripture.

But there is more to come. For although we have already the Holy Ghost as well as the new nature, there is a third requisite which the glory of Christ demands for us: we shall be changed. That is, we Christians, who have now not only humanity, but this fallen, are destined at Christ's coming again for us to be changed. Christ had human nature, but not fallen. In His case alone was humanity holy, free from every blemish and taint, and pure according to God. It was not only not fallen, but fit without blood to be the temple of God. This is far more than could be said about Adam in his pristine innocency. When Adam came from the hand of God, good as he was, it could not be said that he was holy. There was absolute absence of all evil. God made the man upright before he sought inventions. There was untainted innocence; but holiness and righteousness are more than creation goodness and innocency. Holiness implies the intrinsic power that rejects evil in separation to God: and righteousness means consistency with the relationship in which one is set. Both these qualities we see, not in Adam but, in Jesus even as to His humanity. “That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” He was “the Holy one of God,” “Jesus Christ the righteous.” Indeed He was the only one of whom it was or could be said of His human nature that it was holy; as it clearly is of humanity in His person that the expression “that holy thing” is used. The divine nature was not born of the virgin; and it was little needed to call that holy. There was the highest interest and moment in knowing the character of His humanity. Scripture as to this is most explicit. His humanity was holy from the very first, spite of being born of a fallen race.

And this agrees with all other truth. Thus, had the human nature of Christ been tainted by the fall', how could He have been the “most holy” sin-offering for sinners? There was no instance about which there was so much scrupulosity of care as the meal-offering and the sin-offering. These two are remarkable, and remarkably opposed, types of Christ: the one of His life, the other of His death.

But we shall have much more in the way of power and glory by and by. When Christ comes, human nature in us will participate in the victory of the Second Man, the last Adam, as it now shares in the weakness and ruin of the first man. Then indeed is the time when human nature will be promoted to a good degree; that is to say, it will be raised out of all the consequences of the fall of the first man, and will be placed in all the power and incorruption and glory of the Second Man as He is now in the presence of God. Never shall we be made God: this could not be, and ought not to be. It is impossible that the creature can overpass the bounds that separate the Creator from it. And more than that, the renewed creature is the very one which would most abhor the thought. No matter what the church's blessedness and glory may be, it never forgets its creature obligations to God and the reverence due to Him. For this very reason he that knows God would never desire that He should be less God than He is, and could not indulge or tolerate the self-exalting folly which the miserable illusion of Buddhism cherishes, along with many kinds of philosophy which are afloat now as of old in the west as well as the east—the dream of a final absorption into deity. This is altogether false and irreverent. All approach to such thoughts we see excluded in the word of God. In heaven the lowliness of those whom the sovereign grace of God made partakers of the divine nature will be even more perfect than now while we are on the earth. Human nature under sin is as selfish as proud. Fallen humanity always seeks its own things and glory; but the new nature, the perfection of which is seen in Christ, (that is to say, the life given to the believer, what we receive in Christ even now, and by and by when everything is conformed to it) will only make perfect without a single flaw or hindrance that which we now are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By W. KELLY

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Cain: 3. His World and His Worship

His World, and His Worship

There is yet another feature in the Cain character—open hostility to those who know God's principle of grace to those whom God does accept. See what follows: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him” (ver. 8). Abel as a poor helpless man should have demanded Cain's sympathy, but Cain hates the one whom God delights in.

And so it is now. Why is it that you are so angry at a fault in a Christian which you readily excuse in a man of the world, if it be not hatred to the name he bears? If it ought to produce better fruits in him, why not adopt it yourselves? If you are expecting better from him than from the world, why not follow that which you profess to believe will produce the better fruit?

But you have not merely hated the name of Christ, you have been guilty of hating that which God has established in Christ. And here is the same principle that crucified Christ, the desperate recklessness of sin.

You cannot deny that the world has crucified Christ. God's Son is not now in the world. He has been in the world. He became a man amongst men (“the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” John 1:14)—our neighbor. Man saw and hated Him, and summed up his evil in killing Him. I ask you therefore, Has God no such question with you as he had with Cain, “Where is thy brother?” (ver. 9.) Christ has become man's “brother” (it is not the question of God's purpose and counsel here); and is not God demanding of the world, “Where is Christ?” Cain replied, “I know not: am I my brother's keeper?”

Here is a much worse character of sin than Adam's. It is the haughtiness and recklessness of sin. “Am I my brother's keeper?” Not only has there been sin against God, sin that has exiled man from Eden and separated him from the presence of God in peace, but there has been sin also that has led to the hatred and destruction of a brother (blessed and perfect in His ways) whom man has seen. Your disclaiming this displays, and is the proof of, the recklessness of your hearts. “If I had not come and spoken unto them,” said Jesus, “they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” (John 15:22-25).

The coming of the Son of God into the world has shown the real state it is in.

Why was Christ rejected by man, except that man hated God? That was the only reason that Christ was slain in this world. They hated God, and therefore they hated Him. They hated the light— “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God” (John 3:20, 21). “They loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil;” and this is their sin, that they have put the Light out of the world. Like Cain, they were “of that wicked one,” and slew their brother (1 John 3:12). Like him too in the motive— “And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.” “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:46.) Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in him” (John 18:38; 19:4, 6). The world has sinned against God in crucifying and slaying Jesus. They hated God, and therefore turned God's Son out of the world, when sent to it in love.

But there is another thing. It is not simply a question of man's having killed the Lord Jesus Christ: the world has now to answer for its resistance of the Holy Ghost. “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost,” &c. The testimony of the Holy Ghost, present in the world as witness of the glory of Christ, is a conviction of the world of sin (John 16:7-15). He has been sent down because Christ has been killed. The necessary testimony of His very presence in the world is this: He would not have been here on earth if Christ had not been killed. He is come in condemnation of the whole world before God. ‘I am here,' He says, as it were, ‘because you have killed your Abel.' It is not a question about particular sins; you have killed God's Son, you are a sinner because you have not believed on Him.

Well then, dear friends, are you the daily companions of those who have rejected Christ, who have killed Christ? Are you of that world, and found with that world in its pleasures and profits, its religion and its lusts, which has done this, and which is still against God and against His Christ, vainly trying to make yourselves pleasant without God? Or have you taken your stand with those who are “of God,” who have God with them and God for them, though the whole world that lieth in the wicked one be against them? The efforts that are being made merely to improve the world are but the sign of the insensibility of Cain. The Spirit of God is come into the world to awaken us to a sense of what has happened in the world, and of the truth of our condition as men.

How came poor Abel to be an accepted worshipper? “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain,” &c. (ver. 4). He was accepted by blood. There was this testimony in his offering: I cannot go to God as I am; I am driven out of paradise, sin has come in between me and God, and death, “the wages of sin,” must come in between me and God, or I cannot go to God—I cannot go as I am. He took the place of a sinner, and put between himself and God in faith the blood of a victim that had been slain. Unless in his going to God he had owned his necessity that he could not get into the presence of God at all but by blood, he would not have been accepted any more than Cain. But he knew and owned that he could not get to God without blood; he was of faith, and faith ever sees that “without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). He put death—judicially inflicted death (by slaying the victim)—between himself and God, and then he comes into the presence of God as an accepted worshipper. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4).

But further, Abel suffered with Christ. Having owned that he could not come into the presence of God without the blood of the lamb slain, he takes his place and portion with Christ in rejection. He is a sufferer from the wicked of the world. That is how it must end. That is all that the Christian is to expect at the hands of a world departed from God. “Marvel not if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13).

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest,” says the Apostle, “by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near,” &c. (Heb. 10:19, 22.) All who come not through Him are rejected, because they do not know that they are so utterly sinful that they cannot come into God's presence except through the blood of His Son. And on the other hand, all who say, I cannot go up except through blood, see that it is the perfectness of love—God's own perfect blessed love—that to meet man's need spared nothing, not even His only-begotten Son. “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). This is the language of faith. He is the only God, who, when I was the chief of sinners, gave His Son to die for me. I know of no God but a God of perfect love, bringing me out of all my vileness, hanging on my neck in my vileness, as did the father to the returning prodigal (Luke 15), and bringing me into His house to rejoice with Him in the exceeding riches of His grace.

We get perfect blessed peace through the blood of Christ, without one pang of conscience left. “The worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sins” (Heb. 10). The apostle does not say that he is not a sinner, that he is not vile; but that God has so loved the vile and sinful as to give His Son unto death to wash away their vileness and their sins. J.N.D.

Concluded from p. 52.

The Red Sea: Part 1

Ex. 14

We are all too apt to settle down with that which merely stays the craving of the conscience, and satisfies our own sense of what our sins deserve from God's hand; and this to the great impairing, not only of His glory, but also of our peace, instead of endeavoring to rise to the enjoyment of the full portion we have given us in the gospel.

This appears always in every part of the truth of God, and it will be made manifest here, I trust clearly, to the children of God, by that which certainly ought to be the known portion of all belonging to Christ. For I am not now going to speak of what might be safely unknown by any Christian. I am only going to treat of the common heritage of all that belong to Christ. I propose to speak, not of the whole even that by grace pertains to us from the very starting-place of our career, but of that part of our blessing which God has given us in redemption, by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christians are too apt to settle down with this—that they have been awakened and feel their sins, and that they have found a blessed refuge and resource in the blood of Christ.

They are quite right as far as they go. God forbid that one should enfeeble the sense of the preciousness of His blood. To enter into our full portion enhances the value of His blood, and brings out the grace of God in its own fullness, not in any way shadowing even that which souls are apt to make their goal, but giving them to enjoy it richly, which they are too apt to content themselves without.

In general you will find that what souls are content to rest in is the answer in the New Testament to the type of the Passover.

No soul that is awakened of the Holy Ghost could find the smallest possible hope for his guilty soul save in the blood of the Lord Jesus. To Him pointed, as we know, the Passover lamb that was killed, the blood of which was sprinkled on the doorposts of Israel in the land of Egypt. It is plain that all God's children must necessarily be sooner or later driven to find their shelter within the blood-sprinkled doors; there alone they are safely sheltered from judgment.

But they are apt to satisfy themselves with something short of what God has given. The paschal lamb's blood is not really all that God has given to us, even from the starting-place of the Christian.

The children of Israel, as you may see by the historical circumstances, were not yet redeemed out of Egypt, even after the blood was sprinkled. There was another need and a different action of God, following the first up, no doubt, but still another dealing of grace necessary to show the deliverance that Christ has really secured for the believer.

The truth of death and resurrection alone gives the believer the measure of the blessing which Christ has really procured; just as in the circumstances here, the Red Sea itself was necessary to give the Israelite his deliverance from the house of bondage.

The New Testament fully teaches this. Take for instance, the First Epistle of Peter. There we find that we “are redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold,.... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”; but that is not all. The Spirit of God shows that by Him we believe in God, who raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.

There you have our Red Sea. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus—the putting the people through the Red Sea answering to it as the type in the Old Testament was necessary to complete the deliverance which God pledged the blood of the lamb to perform.

And so you find it also in the Epistle to the Romans. In chapter 3 we have the blood of Jesus; in chapter iv. we have the death and resurrection: the Red Sea being the type of the latter, as the Passover is of the former. We have Jesus shedding His blood in chapter 3.; Jesus raised again for our justification in chapter iv.; and then in the commencement of chapter v., we read— “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Holy Ghost does not say we have peace until we have the result of the death and resurrection of Christ, as well as of His blood, applied to our souls. I am not in the least denying that a soul may be filled with great joy without such knowledge. The attractive grace of Christ continually wins souls, leading them to rejoice before God; but joy and peace are very different things.

You never can have solid peace without knowing that all that is against you is judged of God. He would have me to look at what I have done and to feel what I am; nay, He would use means to bring a due sense of sin, and not only of my sins, before my soul to judge self both in what I have done, and in what I am.

In the face of all, then, have you perfect peace? What could give you this? Not merely the blood of Christ. Without that precious blood there could be no peace; but the blood of Christ, whilst of infinite price, does not give the full measure of the blessing into which your soul is brought, even as a groundwork before God. He has made peace through the blood of His cross, no doubt; but still the way He brings me into the enjoyment of it is by showing Himself raised from the dead for our justification; and more than this, by showing us ourselves, dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Accordingly, then, we have this fully discussed in the Epistle to the Romans, and upon this I must dwell for a little.

(To be continued).

Wilderness Grace: Part 2

Ex. 17

As to blessing, unless we speak of the presumption of our own thoughts about sin, we must look to Christ in reference to it. All the blessing is Christ's: it belongs to Him; and to us only as having our portion in and with Him. It all rests on promise, without any reference to the state of man. Our strength and comfort is in seeing this, that it flows down from God as the expression of His thoughts toward us. Just as water reaching a thirsty man, the water has only to do with the thirsty man as it regards quenching his thirst; it does not come from, but merely to, him.

There was then the sentence of punishment pronounced on the serpent, and the promise given to the Seed. All is of grace, and in Christ.

The Lord having settled this great basis of truth, that all is of grace in Christ, and established in resurrection, He began to manifest His ways more in detail; and that first, amongst His own people Israel, the seed of Abraham after the flesh. He began to show, not merely His grace in giving His promises to the Seed, on which faith might lay hold, but His own considerate love in caring for the need and sorrows of His people. When once it was completely settled that the promises came simply from God and from His love, then He shows that He can consider all the need of His people, and take every possible thought about them and their sorrows, saying to Moses (chap. 3), “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them,” &c. He took notice of every circumstance of their trouble and sorrow.

Having sent this message to them by the hand of Moses, that He knew their sorrows and, having touched their heart in this way, giving them confidence in His love in spite of their sinfulness, so that “the people believed, and bowed their head and worshipped,” He does not pass over their sin. He cannot help seeing their evil; and if He is to have them in communion with Himself He must take notice of their condition towards Himself as well as towards Pharaoh; that is to say, that of being sinners. God and sin must be always at variance: we ourselves feel it to be so. When quickened and convinced of sin, the first expression of our hearts, like that of Peter's, is, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” We see at once, as he did, that God's holiness cannot, and ought not to, allow of sin. There is always great ignorance in us when we say this, though it is a very true feeling; for it is as though we thought that the Lord did not know a great deal more of what is in our hearts than we do ourselves. A moment's consideration in the case of Peter would have made him feel, The Lord knew that I was a sinful man before He came into my ship; and yet He came: surely then I need not shrink from Him.

The Lord gives us confidence in Himself by taking the start of us about the knowledge of our sinfulness. Jesus said to Peter, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men” —planting him at once in confidence in Himself, because showing him that though He knew quite well he was a sinner, yet His purpose was to make him the means of saving sinners. It was as much as to say, 'You need not shrink from Me; for if I could not meet you in grace and put away your sin, I could not of course make use of you to save others.'

In bringing Israel into direct fellowship with Himself, God showed, by putting the blood on their doorposts (chap. 12.), that when He executed judgment on Egypt He secured deliverance from it to His people. And just so in God's dealings with us; the judgment that has passed on Christ because of sin is the security of the church (of every believer) against judgment. When the soul apprehends the Lord Jesus as the one offering for sin, it has confidence in God; and that on the very ground of His knowing thoroughly our sinfulness. It is impossible that God should pass over the blood of the Lord Jesus, and impute to sinners those sins which He has washed away. He cannot impute sin to a believer without condemning the value of His blood-shedding, and virtually denying the efficacy of it. And if that be true when He judges men by and by, it must be true now. Faith knows that death is God's own sentence against sin, and that it has been executed on Christ in the sinner's stead. Faith “sets to its seal that God is true,” and receives His thoughts who has said about the blood-shedding of Jesus, “When I see the blood, I will pass over.”

But there is another thing: it is not merely that God says, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people, I know their sorrows,” &c.; there must be also His power put forth in delivering. This is shown in the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea (chap. 14), and to us in the Lord Jesus having “through death destroyed him that had the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). In the cross Satan put forth all his power and energy against the Prince of life; and he did it successfully, arraying both Jew and Gentile against Him (it was “your hour and the power of darkness” Luke 22:53); but in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus the mightiest power of Satan was destroyed forever. And so with Israel: God has taken up the cause of His people. It was not merely that He had given them peace through the blood sprinkled on their door-posts, but He Himself had entered into conflict with their enemies, and Satan's power in enslaving them was completely gone. We may have been brought to see the sinfulness and evil of our condition before God, and the power of the blood of Jesus in satisfying the holiness of God; but we do not know liberty till we see God for us in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

What was the effect of deliverance to Israel? and what is the effect of our deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh (Satan looked at as such)? To bring into the wilderness, and not at once into Canaan. Being in the wilderness implies all sorts of trials. It may seem strange to sight, that they who had just been singing the song of triumph and deliverance (chap. 15) should be allowed to be three days in the wilderness without water; and then, when they came to water, should find it so bitter that they could not drink of it. But God permits these trials, in order that we may see our own need and prove His faithfulness. From the Red Sea to Sinai Israel proved the grace which belongs to us now. Let us ever remember, when speaking of the wilderness, that though there is trial in it, and plenty of trial, it is the place of the ministration of grace. The Lord's previous dealings were, as I may say, preliminary: He brought Israel into the wilderness in order to have them quite alone with Himself, that he might teach them what He was; as He said afterward, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.” (chap. 19:4.) He lets us pass through these trials that we may thoroughly understand that all is from God there. The eagle's wing never tires or fails. It is either the most blessed triumph, security, and victory, that we enjoy, or it is nothing. It is wonderful how our hearts cling, not only to the thought of our own righteousness, but to the practical denial of our not having any strength in ourselves. Many have peace in Jesus, who do not see so entirely that they have no strength, either for service or conflict. Well, they learn it in the wilderness. Our journey through the wilderness is the weaning us from trusting in ourselves, in order that we may trust only in God.

The first thing God taught Israel in the wilderness was, that they could not get a drop of water except He gave it to them. They were kept without it three days; and when they came to water at last (when there was something within reach that man seemed able to grasp), they could not drink of it, it was so bitter; until the Lord showed Moses a tree to cast into the waters, which made them sweet. The Lord causes that which was death to become the means of life, as Hezekiah says, “O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.” (Isa. 38) In death to the flesh there is life to the spirit.

In chapter 16 the Israelites want bread and begin to murmur again. The Lord deals with them in grace and gives them bread. But it was such bread as showed them, morning by morning, that they must depend on Him. Had He withheld the manna one day, they would have had nothing to eat, for they could not keep it till the morrow; “it bred worms, and stank.” The Lord will not allow us to lay up anything (no, not even grace) in store that would tend to lead us into independence of Himself: it will turn to evil if we do. He showed His people perpetual grace in His dealings towards them; but He never took them, nor can He ever take us, out of the condition of dependence on Himself.

The manna was the type of Christ; as the water was of the Spirit.

Soon after (chapter 17), in journeying from the wilderness of Sin, we find the Israelites murmuring again because they had no water. “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.” But new murmurings only bring out fresh grace (for they had not yet come to Sinai): God gave them water. His grace abounded where their sin abounded. The more they murmured, the more in one sense they got.

(To be continued).

The Broken State of Christendom

There is no greater danger than forgetting the spirit that becomes those to whom God has shown His mercy in giving true understanding of what suits Him in the actual and broken state of Christendom. Is it not one of the things we need most to look to that the tone in which we use the truth should be becoming? The more we learn of God, the more we should cultivate lowliness of mind. This does not imply that you should have indecision in your convictions, but that along with this you have a just sense of your own weakness, and that you are broken in spirit, remembering how the glory of the Lord has suffered by the failure of His people. We feel how far the church has fallen and whence also, but we ought not to be discouraged. There is no element of Christ in despair or distrust. The Holy Ghost never produces doubt. As there is sometimes a difficulty in minds about what is called the ruin of the church, a few words may be well on the present broken state of things among those who call on the Lord's name.

We must bear in mind the church in two points of view—the church or assembly as built by Christ; and as built by man, that is, by His servants. The assembly as built by Christ never fails. “The gates of hades shall not prevail against it.” But that which has been built by the servants of the Lord is always liable to be injured by elements more or less worthless if not worse. It may suffer through worldliness, haste, carelessness, fleshly feeling, a thousand things according to nature allowed to act without being judged, and so leave results to shame and the Lord's dishonor. Hence we find among the Corinthians there were materials of which the apostle speaks in tones of grave admonition. They had let in what was not unprofitable only, but even corrupting: “wood, hay, and stubble.” Yet also there might be a power of defilement with the hand of destruction there. He who built what was worthless might be saved while his work perished, but the man who defiled, or destroyed, the house of God, would himself be destroyed by the judgment of God. All this is where men are the builders. Thus we see the two aspects justified. There is that in the assembly of God here below which is built of Christ, and so never fails, the stones of which are living, and in no case dead ones. On the other hand there is the bad workmanship, more or less careless service, as the case may be—either bad men doing what is according to themselves, or good men who are not in everything guided of God; and consequently there is an accretion of inferior material having no value for God, which sullies His temple, and so far incurs the charge of confusion, disorder, and weakness. It is in the last point of view that we see the springs of the ruin which soon overspread the church. These perishable things, “wood, hay, and stubble,” mean, I think, ill-put or light doctrine generating persons akin. It might thus easily mean both; it is in the first instance doctrines palatable to the flesh, and therefore attractive to persons in a fleshly state, perhaps unconverted or natural men.

Some no doubt think it a hard saying to speak of the church in ruins; but why so? There is no impeachment of God but only of man. God called Israel out of Egypt; yet Israel became a ruin. Why then should we wonder that the Gentile has not continued in His goodness? Compare Rom. 11, where we may see how little the apostle could be surprised at such an issue. The principle runs through every dealing of God with man. The creature always fails, but all turns to God's glory. No doubt the church, like Israel, exists, but in a ruined state. Does not the Protestant own it when he thinks of Popery? the Romanist when he looks on Protestantism? Upright and spiritual men own it without reserve.

All these are but cases of a still more general truth. The first man fell and is fallen universally. But there is another great fact—the Second man is risen from the dead, and has begun a new creation which will never perish or even fail. Thus the same principle applies far and wide, as always; as far as we touch on the responsibility of man, we behold ruin and confusion. Everybody feels it; every godly intelligent person owns it, even though he might not be used to the expression, and so feel difficulty, fearing it might compromise the grace and faithfulness of God. Impossible to love Christ and the church without groaning. Doubtless I could easily name a well-known high-church leader who, occupying a zone ecclesiastically far removed from that of many, as a pious man, mourned over the present state of the church. Yet as we cannot doubt of real godliness there, so also a heart that loves Christ and those that are Christ's. Now it is impossible to have these divine affections of the new nature without feeling that the present state of things is contrary to Christ's glory. I confess that I have incomparably more sympathy with the groaning of such a man than with others who trumpet the onward progress of Christianity in the nineteenth and present centuries, and look for the triumphs of the millennium as the fruit of the church's labors. How can one sympathize with such insensibility to the actual dishonor done to the Lord? It is really though unconsciously, playing into the hands of Satan. W.K.

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 1

The Old Testament makes it clear that God, even in His aspect of Jehovah, the God of Israel, never limited Himself to Israel. He made them His particular people. He made known His name, His will for a people on earth to Israel only. He abounded in every kind of privilege that could be to a people in the flesh. Israel as naturally, were the chosen people who belonged to Him here below. They were objects of favor and goodness and mercy in a way that no other nation received, except the people in the land of Palestine.

But even before that, God had His blessed intention to set up a kingdom that would in no way be confined to Israel. This we find explicitly from the Gospel of Matthew in the last section of the great prophecy on the Mount of Olives; at the end of this age will be the accomplishment of these last words. Not only will the godly remnant be formed out of the Jews as in chap. 24 down to ver. 44, and the heavenly saints, or the Christian company, which forms the central part from ver. 45 to 25:30, but lastly there will be the future sheep. or living believers, of all the nations brought into marked blessing and favor. The King bids them, not reign with Him like the heavenly saints, but “inherit the kingdom prepared for” them “from the foundation of the world.” It is well to have this clearly, as a preliminary principle. Had we only this single prophecy, it is a plain proof that others are to be blessed, in their several places on earth under the reign of the Lord Jesus, whilst the risen saints reign over it with Him. It is a mere delusion that to the church belongs every elect soul from the beginning to the end, and that God has not varied companies, both for heaven and for earth, destined to be objects of His grace for His glory.

Far from me to deny that there is on earth now, the church, Christ's body, gathered out of Jews and Gentiles, wherein all earthly distinctions disappear. But those Gentile sheep at the consummation of the age are not the church. Scripture proves that God is so full of goodness toward man that He means to bless Israel after all their long unbelief and manifold iniquity; and that He will send the gospel of the kingdom among all the nations for a blessing to many before the end comes. The church will be glorified on high. Remnants from both Israel and the nations are about to be blessed on the earth in that day. The sheep of Matt. 25:32 are by no means all the sheep of God.

The popular divinity, if you believe it, says that there is nothing else but these sheep, and that they compose His church. Why? Because the church is assumed to be the one and only object of divine grace throughout all time. They have got their ideas out of tradition, following not the scriptures, but men no wiser than themselves. Do you ask if we pretend to any wisdom of our own? God forbid. What we confess is that God is true; and what we do is to be subject simply and solely to the word of God. Is it not the only right way?

The fact is, there will be, if we heed scripture, different companies of the blessed in heaven, as well as on the earth. It is mere traditional prejudice to conceive a single multitudinous throng. On the contrary there will be marked varieties both above and below, blessed with or by Christ. Nor can we know the glorious future for heaven and earth, but by the word of God; which is the one authority for all truth, past, present, or future. In the verses with which the Epistle to the Ephesians opens, we have a wondrous unfolding of divine grace at its very highest, and coming down to the lowest possible. The time too made it all the more striking, though eminently suitable as it must be for such a disclosure. Not a word had been divulged about it in the Old Testament as we are distinctly told in a subsequent part of this Epistle. It was a secret kept hid in God from all previous ages and generations. Indeed it would then have been quite incompatible, whether in the earlier generation, or after the law was given to Israel by Moses.

When was it that God chose to bring out this, the highest, the deepest, and the most wonderful of His purposes? It was when Jew and Gentile, the world, had united in greater sin than it had ever before committed. Need one tell you what that awful sin was? Too well—alas! too little, men know it. To your souls that believe, it has been brought home by the Holy Spirit of God. That tremendous sin is the rejection, even to the cross, of the Lord Jesus. Yet such is His unbounded grace that the otherwise hopeless sin can be forgiven though it be the hating of the Father and of the Son without a cause (John 15:22-25). The worst of man, and the best of God, never came clearly out till the crucifixion of the Savior. The cross of the Lord Jesus was morally the end of probation. The whole of the Old Testament had been given long before that, people who alone were familiar with Law, Psalms and Prophets were indifferent learners of the New Testament. They liked the Old better. They said the old wine was good; and they stuck to it, as the Lord told them when their refusal of Himself came out more and more. It was very late when the Epistle to the Hebrews was written to set those of them who believed on their proper ground intelligently. They had been but partially on Christian ground, pretty much as most professing Christians are now. They had only vague notions about the gospel, Christian walk, worship, and hope. All was indistinct, not to say incorrect; and that is the state not only of Christendom, but of the children of God in it. Believers from among the Jews ought to have been teachers when Paul wrote to them his great Epistle. They had to learn better the very elements, “the word of the beginning of Christ.” They had not arrived at “perfection” or full growth, the due and definite truth of Christianity. There was not only a shortcoming, but a veritable muddle in their minds; consequently their conduct as Christians was mixed and vacillating.

Among those who are upright, how much depends upon their real hold of what scripture actually teaches! The Christian Hebrews feebly understood anything distinctive. Without denying that Christ died, rose, and went to heaven, the great truths that came out consequently were not developed as they should be, so characteristically different from what the Old Testament led people to expect. With Christ confessed they looked for everything grand, honored, prosperous, and delightful here below. But how did the cross of Christ and His going away to heaven consist with the expectation of Israel being now at the head of the nations and in the enjoyment of earthly glory? Even believers had that idea still. You will recollect that when the risen Lord was about to go to heaven from the Mount of Olives, they asked, Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? They had little idea of the thorough break with Israel; still less that God was bringing in a wholly distinct purpose, and associations new and heavenly. This is what we find very fully in the Epistle to the Ephesians and elsewhere: an absolutely fresh revelation. The believers in Jerusalem were slow to learn. Nor does the Epistle to the Hebrews rise to the mystery concerning Christ and concerning the church. Even the heavenly calling therein treated was imperfectly known. Yet it was written late, though somewhat before the destruction of Jerusalem. It speaks of Mosaic covenant, ritual, system, tabernacle, altar, priest and offering, superseded by what was far better, earthly shadows by the heavenly realities. This was strange not only to the unbelieving Jews but to the Christian remnant. They thought that the old forms were rather to be filled with new power, and that grace would be given to make them living. They had not realized that the old divine service must pass away, and be succeeded by entirely heavenly things in accordance with Christ seated at the right hand of God on high. He is the truth, and must be brought not only into the heart by faith as He is now exalted, but wrought into the worship of God and into the practice of men that believe as a living reality here and now. To this and nothing less is the Christian called. He is, and ought to know from God through Christ that he is, a heavenly man, while here on earth. He has to act out this association with Christ above whilst he lives here below. The consequence is that the Christian seems, if faithful, the greatest fool going. That is what the world thinks of out and out fidelity to Christ. They can understand a Papist or a Protestant, an Anglican, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Baptist or the like. If you are ever so inconsistent with Christ, it may be excellent in men's eyes. Accordingly they scourged, imprisoned, stoned and slew the faithful witnesses of Christ; and Rome at length tortured them in every cruel way to kill or cure them of the truth, which seemed to them nothing but the most chimerical ideas. Do the children of God feel how far they have slipped away? It is to recall them to a better grasp of Christianity that I am speaking to you to-night. It were not much to talk about. what you know well enough yourselves My duty is to show in my measure some things you are but little acquainted with. Think me not proud or pretentious if I thus speak and earnestly urge. God forbid! He that would be true to Christ's name and word, and true to the church of God of which he is a member, ought assuredly and with all his heart to speak of the fruit of Christ in heaven brought by the Spirit to men on earth; for, if we believe it, we are called to speak it and by grace to live it. What indeed is the good of truth if you do not humbly seek to carry it out? Better not to hear and know it, than to have on your lips what condemns all your life and your worship. The truth now made known in the N.T. would not have been understood by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, nor by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel. None of them could have so much as guessed what is now revealed. It all hangs upon Christ come down in reconciling love, yet utterly rejected not merely by the Gentile world but by the Jew most of all. Him God has received up into heavenly glory, and by the. Spirit associates us with Himself there and now. Of Him and this, we are called to bear witness, in our walk, service, and worship. We care not to confess it boldly, if we shirk it practically; it is only our greater condemnation. Assuredly this is as true as it is solemn.

I cannot but believe God raised up brethren to recall themselves and their fellows to these truths, in all their necessary consequences practically; it is also my sad conviction that some lifted up with pride have brought these very truths into all kinds of confusion. Does any such reaction disprove the truth? Not for a moment. It proves how easily grace may be divorced from truth which then degenerates into knowledge that puffs up. The truth never got really into their heart, for one does not suppose they depart from what they know to be true. When grace does not direct and strengthen, it becomes a great danger for every one of us of losing whatever truth we have. All really turns upon Christ, and Christ now in heaven, who also brings out the now revealed character of God. For He does now assume a new character according to the position of Christ who died and rose. When Christ receives the earth, He takes up the Jewish people, and all the nations; and Jehovah shall be king over all the earth, one Jehovah and His name one. God will act in accordance with it in power and majesty. For the world-kingdom of our Lord and His Christ shall then have come, and He shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). The Spirit of God will make effectual what is then in hand, as He always does. “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” In past history who can recall a single thing in which the Gentiles and the Jews agreed except to crucify the Lord Jesus? Otherwise they hated each other with mortal enmity. Yet they joined for once to cast the Lord out of the earth as unfit to live. Nevertheless the Lord is gone up into supreme glory on high, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And all things being made subject, He is given as Head over all things to the church, which is His body—He that stooped to all ignominy in the cross. We cannot be Christians in faith without both. To Him in all depths we go as lost sinners to he saved; and when we have redemption through His blood, we that were far off are brought nigh in the closest association with Christ at the right hand of God.

Is it not a strange and humbling and prevalent fact that so few Christians should understand their own Christianity? Yet it is true that there are many brethren in the Lord who know more about the Jews than they do about their own Christianity. Pay close heed to this, lest it be your own case. It is always the truth most important for us, that the devil tries to hide away from us, and turn us bitterly from it. Nor is it only the bad things that he perverts, to hinder our blessing. For many true believers are kept back because they refuse to look for more than the forgiveness of their sins through the gospel. Now therein is God's righteousness revealed by and to faith; therein the sinner. owns the riches of God's grace to his soul: but to stop there is altogether unworthy. And so many saints of God fall into this snare at the present moment, that it is well to see to it that we ourselves escape it. What is the good of occupying ourselves with what does not promote God's glory? Let us seek in all integrity to judge ourselves. Let us zealously seek to be taught of God. Let our eyes be fixed on the Lord that we may be filled with fervor of spirit, and purpose of heart, simple and thorough going. The question for our faith and practice is the attitude that God assumes toward us, and our relation to Him while Christ is above on His own right hand. How is the answer to this great truth to be carried out on the earth in the heart and ways of those who believe? Must it not be through faith working by love?

“Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us.” It was His God and Father that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope should be in God, His Father and our Father, His God and our God. As in the rest of the N.T. it is not the God of Abraham, etc.; but here “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is no longer the revelation of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; you naturally become more or less of a Jew in this case; and your heart cannot then rise higher than the promises made to the fathers. Hence so many believers now, like the Puritans in former days, talk of grasping the promises. This is to ignore and lower the privileges of the gospel and of the church. It loses sight of Christ in heavenly glory after redemption. Every Christian ought to appreciate the difference. At any rate, the foundation of Christianity is that the most wondrous of all promises is already accomplished. It is no longer the righteousness of God as near to come, or His salvation to be revealed (Isa. 56:1), but His righteousness is come, and His salvation is revealed. This supposes the Lord Himself come, and His work done for our sins, with an entirely new state of things. And this is the new creation in Christ which each believer gets by grace in the gospel. Therein is revealed the righteousness of God, and thereby salvation is no longer a hope, save for the body, but a reality now also brought into the soul. This reminds me of a text much misunderstood in the Acts of the Apostles (11:14). Cornelius in Caesarea was to send for Peter at Joppa, who should tell him words whereby he and all his house should be “saved.” It was not merely nor at all words by which he should be “converted.” Cornelius already was as much converted as you. He was as truly born again as anyone in Jerusalem. The chapter before describes him as devout and God-fearing, as a man that gave much alms, and praying to God always. Well for you and me to be in these respects, his match, if not his superiors. It is a total error to regard Cornelius then as a self-righteous person. This is the effect of ordinary Evangelicalism, Calvinistic no less than Arminian; because they alike confound conversion with the soul's salvation. It is theology, not the gospel. The N.T. makes the difference known.

The words of Peter were to tell how they were to be “saved,” which goes far beyond conversion, and is the actual privilege of the gospel through redemption. Ignorance of this leads preachers to pervert the force of this scripture, and of the truth in question. It destroys for converted souls in our day what grace was giving Cornelius to learn through the apostle then. Cornelius like the O.T. saints was already born of God. He was, as we are told in Acts 10:37, not at all ignorant of the word published throughout all Judea, and sent to the children of Israel. What he wanted to learn authoritatively was that God intended the same word of His grace to himself a Gentile and others like him, in all the freeness and the fullness of the gospel.

He did not dare to take it without divine sanction. He saw it clearly enough for Israel whom he honored as the old and chosen people of God. He believed that Messiah had come for their blessing; but he was not one of God's people Israel. He needed to have the assurance for a poor Gentile. For soul-salvation means the knowledge of being saved now. When people do not know this as their present portion, they are in substance like Cornelius. They too need to hear words whereby they shall be saved. It is really to be brought personally into “the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation.” Many converted persons do not know on the word of God, that all is clear between themselves and God, now and forever. This is soul-salvation. It is not only that a good many of our Methodist friends need to be saved in that way. Their system allows them but a scanty salvation, because they think it depends so much on themselves from day to day. Consequently if ever so happy to-day, they dread losing it to-morrow. This is not the salvation of God, but rather of man, or more particularly of John Wesley; who nevertheless did believe on Christ, and had the blessing far beyond his own scheme. For who can doubt that John Wesley is with the Lord, a blessed man as he really was, with short and imperfect views of salvation. I hope no Methodists here will be offended. Why should they be, because they are told plainly the truth? It is not mine, save that I believe it, but what God reveals in His word. It may soften matters, but is a sorry comfort, that we are all liable to mistake. Brethren, so called, are just as liable as others, especially if high-minded. Nothing keeps them or any others but God's word and Spirit. Thank God, in His rich grace, we Christians have both; and therefore should we be glad to prove more and more how perfect the blessedness is for our souls and to His glory.

(To be continued).

A Man of God

2 Tim. 3:17

In the New Testament “the man of God” supposes one faithful in the service of souls; but the term is by no means confined to Christianity, being rather in itself a familiar Old Testament expression.

By it we may understand a believer who has the moral courage and the spiritual power to identify himself with the Lord's interests, and to maintain the good fight of faith in the midst of perils and obstacles of every sort. Such a testimony is incompatible with yielding to human principles and the spirit of the age.

We must not suppose however that fidelity in such a day as ours wears an imposing garb. An appearance of strength is out of course when declension has come in and judgment is approaching. God will have a state of ruin felt, and His testimony must be in keeping. When He calls to sackcloth and ashes, He does not give such a character of power as has price in the world's eyes. Thus one of the truest signs of practical communion with the Lord is that at such a moment one is heartily content to be little. This is reality, but it is only a little strength. It is according to the mind of God. But that which attracts the world must please and pander to the self-importance of man. The world itself is a vain show, and likes its own. Consequently there is nothing which so carries the mass of men along with it as that which flatters the vanity of the human mind. It may assume the lowliest air, but sinful man seeks his own honor and present exaltation. But when a servant of God is thus drawn into the spirit of men, he naturally shrinks back from fairly facing the solemn call of God addressed to His own, loses his bright confidence, and gets either hardened or stands in dread of the judgment of God. When Christians lose the power and reproach of the cross, philanthropy has been taken up, which gives influence among men, and general activity in what men call doing good replaces the life of faith with the vain hope of staving off the evil day in their time at any rate. One need not deny zeal and earnest pursuit of what is good morally; self-denial too one sees in spending for purposes religious or benevolent; but the man of God, now that ruin has entered the field of Christ's confession, is more urgently than ever called to be true to a crucified Christ. And as surely as He is soon coming to take us on high, He will in due time appear for the judgment of every high thought and the fairest looking enterprises of men which will all be swallowed up in the yawning gulf of the apostasy.

To Our Readers

It is with very deep regret that we have to inform the many readers of The Bible Treasury of the great loss to them and us, of the beloved Editor, Mr. W KELLY, who fell asleep on the 27th March last, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Yet should we be more than thankful for his long and unremitting labors in the Master's vineyard, and for the nearly fifty years of able and unbroken Editorship of this Magazine, as also for the many invaluable papers so regularly contributed by him to its pages. The Bible Treasury was commenced in June 1856 under the Editorship of Professor WALLACE who gave it its title, but his connection with the periodical ceased with the close of that year; and from January 1857 henceforth, Mr. WILLIAM KELLY became sole Editor. Under ordinary circumstances therefore The Bible Treasury might fitly have closed the 50 years of its existence with the present issue; but as it was the expressed wish of the late Editor, only a few days before he passed away, that, if possible, the Magazine should be continued, it is proposed that for the time being this should be done, as there are in the writer's possession, manuscript notes of addresses, which were taken down in shorthand, besides also a considerable quantity of other matter never yet published in this paper, which we feel sure will prove of real interest and profit to our readers. If any of our friends should have notes of addresses by Mr. KELLY which have not yet seen the light, and would kindly forward them to E. B. T. c/o T. Weston, 53, Paternoster Row, the writer would be very grateful for same, as also for any letters of interest from the late Editor's voluminous pen. Moreover, it is hoped that, as hitherto, helpful papers from other writers may continue to find a place in this serial, as may be contributed from time to time. We earnestly ask the prayers of all God's children for His gracious guidance and blessing, and that this Monthly may still, in its measure, contribute to the establishment and growth of souls in the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ.

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The Red Sea: Part 2

Ex. 14

First of all the apostle looks at our guilt in the sight of God—our actual sins; and, after this has been fully discussed, the other question which so often troubles the believer is taken up. I have been pardoned, and may be happy in redemption. I am enabled to look to God with a certainty that I am reconciled to Him; but there remains this that so shocks me—to find that, in spite of all, I have pride, foolishness, carnality, self-will, and a continual tendency to turn away from Him. All this surprises me so much the more that God has shown me such exceeding favor. Is there nothing to meet it? What is God's way of dealing with this sense of evil within, that we feel the more deeply because we are brought to God? Are we merely to comfort ourselves with the thought of Christ's love, or that He shed His blood? Nay, there is more. Accordingly the apostle Paul deals with this more particularly in chapters 6, 7, 8. of Romans.

In chapter vi. the point is sin and our continuing in sin. Now he shows that this is altogether judged and met by the nature of the blessing that God has brought us into. It is not merely that I am to be consistent, or that I have got a motive in either the love or the blood of Christ. That is not all. What he says is, “How shall we that died to sin live any longer therein?” It is not “How shall we that are living now?” or “How shall we that have been brought to believe in Christ?” Not so. Quite another thought. Neither is it because we are washed with His blood, but “How shall we that died to sin live any longer therein?”

There is many a soul in this world striving to be dead to sin, and there is hardly anything that more tries Christian people. They are not surprised, before they are converted to God, that they should have sin; but, after they have been brought to Him, to feel within them the workings of sin alarms them indeed.

He does not meet this by turning them back to look at the cross, and by showing them the blood of Christ that was shed for them. The blood of Christ effaces the sins, but it does not meet the question of sin that is working in the believer after he is brought to God. What does? You died to sin, with Christ; and you ought to know and act on it.

There are a great many who do not know this; and an immense loss it is to them, because the effect of one's not knowing this is, that he strives to become dead, instead of believing that he is.

This is at the bottom of all the legal efforts you find yourself and so many making. Ignorance of it led to nunneries, monasteries, and other similar devices in early days as now. But the same thing is found among Protestants. I do not mean they use these precise methods, but efforts to the same end. This led to all the schools of mystics and pietists, because the same condition is found amongst all until they get hold of the great truth that the Christian is dead with Christ.

Don't you know your baptism? he says (in Romans 6). Don't you know what God gave you at the beginning of your career? Don't you know what was meant in that first rite? Of course it is not the sign that could give a real blessing. Now, baptism with water is not at all the sign of the bloodshedding of Christ; therefore we hear nothing about it in chapter 3. It means a great deal more than bloodshedding. It sets forth our death to sin, and not merely that Christ died for our sins. In short, it sets forth the Red Sea, and not the Passover. That is, it shows me Christ's death applied to my nature—a condition that is so often the stumbling-block to the children of God, and the means of harassing them. Satan knows well how to work by it for the purpose of producing despair on the one hand, or of tempting to license on the other.

Christianity denies both. It dispels despair and delivers from license. It is the application of what God has wrought in the Lord Jesus to all of us—not merely to our sins, but to our sin, to that root of evil within; and just as He has shown me the blood blotting out my sins, so He brings me to see that I am dead to sin. If He had not given me this, I were equally lost. It was true from the first, and accordingly in the very baptism of a Christian the Scripture sets forth this great fact. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?”

Such is what baptism signifies. It is not the sign of life-giving, but of death-giving, so to speak—that is to say, it brings the believer into this place of death with Christ. It is the outward expression that if I have got Christ at all, the Christ I have is a Christ that died and rose again; and when I am baptized, I am “baptized unto his death.”

This is immense comfort. “So many of us as were baptized unto Christ Jesus were baptized unto his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection.”

Now the reason why we look onward to this is, because we know “that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Why? “For he that died is freed (or, “justified,” as the margin says,) from sin.” It is not a question of being justified from sins, but from sin. It means that you in that very act confessed what has brought you out of your condition, out of that death where you lay as a sinful child of Adam. “He that died is justified from sin.”

Then we have the present consequence: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, in (or, through) Christ Jesus.", And then comes a practical consequence, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” That is, the sin is supposed to be there, but it is not to reign: and the reason is, because I am dead to sin. To every Christian, to every person to whom his baptism is a sign of a great reality by and with Christ, this is so.

It is not therefore a question of striving to be different, or seeking to feel this or that, but of believing what God has done for me in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we look at the Red Sea, we can understand how this applies.

After the Passover the children of Israel came into the greatest pressure of trouble. All they felt in Egypt was a little thing compared with what stared them in the face. They had left that land after the blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled on their doors, but so hard pressed were they that there was nothing but death before their eyes. They had never, so far as their feelings were concerned, been so shut up to death as then.

On all sides there were obstacles they could not surmount. Behind them the army of their foes, and before them only more certain death. But that which seemed to them merely the waters of death was precisely what God was about to make the path of life; and Moses, at the word of God, lifted up his rod—that same rod of God which had brought judgment upon the Egyptians, which had plagued them often before. That rod was lifted up over the sea, and at once the waters of death rise up on either side as walls, and the children of Israel passed through protected; so much the more because it was evident that God was for them.

Not so on the night of the Passover. God, no doubt, did not permit the destroyer to touch them, but the blood of the lamb, instead of showing God for them, was merely a protection that God should not be against them.

It was not yet God for them. There was no communion. He was outside of where they were. The blood interposed between Him and them. How could a soul be at ease and peace with God when that is the case? What I want is to be able to look up into the face of my God. What I want is that He should be with me, and that I should rest in His presence. But merely to have that which comes between myself and God would never give me solid comfort before God, and, indeed, it ought not. Accordingly, the subsequent circumstances proved the condition into which the children of Israel had fallen—a condition of anxiety, and dread, and danger, worse than they had ever known before.

And it is frequently so with the Christian. After the soul has been directed to Christ, there is often a coming into deeper waters than ever, and a deeper realization of one's own sinfulness than ever. The sense of sin after we have looked to Christ is far more acute and intense than when we fled for refuge at the beginning. There was then a path of life through death. God was for them; but that was not all, He was against the Egyptians. And so when the Israelites had passed over, the Red Sea closes upon their enemies and all are dead; then Israel was saved, and it is, remarkable that here for the first time God uses the term salvation. He does not say salvation on the night of the paschal lamb, but when they have passed through the sea. Salvation is a great deal more than being kept safe. Salvation means that complete clearance from all our foes—that bringing us out of the house of bondage, and setting us free and clean before God, to be His manifest people in the world, It was only pronounced when God brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness; it was when their foes were completely judged, and when they were so saved as never to pass under that kind of dread again.

Is it so with the Christian? Yes, surely. For what was the question then? The point then was, the prince of this world seeking to use and to turn God's righteous judgment against His own people—the prince of this world seeking to retain the people of God because of their sins; and what God shows is the complete judgment of their enemies—the destruction that fell upon all claim as against the people of God. God Himself publicly espoused their cause and acted on their behalf, so that they never returned to the house of bondage.

At the Red Sea it was the rod of judgment that was lifted up over the waters—it was that rod that smote the Egyptians with all plagues. So it is in the Epistle to the Romans. It is always righteousness. It is a question of turning righteousness against the people of God; but Christ has come, and by His blood He has cleansed them, and by death and resurrection He has brought them out of the place over which judgment hung—completely outside. There is no judgment any more. They see their sin, as well as their sins, completely gone in consequence of Christ's having undergone God's judgment. Therefore chapter vi. of Romans is the first place where sin in our walk is discussed; and in dealing with this question the apostle shows that we died to sin, and that the gift of God now is eternal life. Sin cannot touch the believer, for he is dead to it.

The next point is law. That, he shows, cannot touch the believer either, and for this reason, that I have “been made dead to the law.” So in chapter 7, “we have been made dead to the law by the body of Christ.” It is not some fresh means, but it is the application of that which is true already, to the law, even supposing I had been a Jew. That is, it is the death of Christ, applied to both sin and law, that gives the believer his clearance. And now we are “married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead.” So it is as wrong for a believer still to have a thought of being “under the law” as for a woman to have two husbands at once. We are dead to the law that we should belong to another.

In chapter 8 we have it very fully. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And he explains this in two ways. How could you condemn them? “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” How could you condemn what is perfectly good? That which God has given me is the Spirit of life in Christ. But there is another reason. God has condemned sin already. There is a reason founded upon the character of the new life, that God will never condemn what is good. But, moreover, God has condemned the bad life already: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” He has already judged my nature. It is not a question of forgiveness. I do not want my nature to be forgiven; I do not forgive it myself.

It is a great comfort that God in the Lord Jesus Christ has dealt with sin in the flesh. It was not enough that Christ by His own perfect purity condemned sin in the flesh, for that would have made me worse than ever; but after Christ in His life showed me a pattern of all purity, He became a sacrifice for sin, and then God condemned sin in the flesh—this nature that troubled me. Accordingly, if God has given me a new nature found in Christ risen from the dead, and also has condemned my old nature, it is very evident there can be no condemnation to those in Christ. You see in every point of view there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. Their walking after the Spirit is the consequence—the effect—of it; and the more I know I am delivered, the more happy my soul will be, and the stronger I will be in walking after the Spirit.

Although the believer is supposed to be perfectly brought out of his state of condemnation—out of the evil condition in which he was—yet for all that, he is in the wilderness; and so truly is this the case, that in this 8th Romans, however happy, he is groaning, he is only “saved in hope.” He is still in the wilderness, and so completely is this the case, that the Holy Ghost becomes the power of his groaning in the wilderness. So the analogy is perfect between the Christian and the Israelites, who were brought out of Egypt, but who never returned to it.

After they came out, they raise the song of triumph. There is no singing in Egypt. Here we find them singing on the other side of the Red Sea; but for all that, they are traveling through the wilderness—they are only going on to the rest of God—they are still toiling through a scene of trial, where, if there is not dependence on God, they perish. I speak now, of course, not in application to the Christian as a question of eternal life, but of practical experience. The wilderness is the place where flesh dies, and where all hangs on the simplicity of dependence on the love of God.

W.K.

(Continued From P. 68.)

Red Sea and Jordan

In the Red Sea, it is what we are brought out of; in the Jordan, what we are brought into.

Wilderness Grace: Part 3

Ex. 17

I would just remark in passing, that it is sin not to have confidence in the Lord, not to be quite sure that He will help us, whatever the need may be when we are walking in His ways. It is recorded of the children of Israel as sin, that they tempted the Lord in that which they said here, “Is Jehovah among us, or not” (ver. 7)? When we are going on wickedly and willfully, and say, “Is not the Lord among us? no evil can come upon us,” (Mic. 11) this is quite a different thing. Our God will indeed be with us, if His children, even then; but to chasten us. Whenever there is real need in the wilderness, it is sin to doubt whether God will help us or not. If we are not as sure of water in the midst of the sandy desert as though we saw rivers of water running through the country, we are tempting God.

This is the force of that expression of our Lord to Satan, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Satan wanted Jesus to try by an experiment whether God would be as good as His word. Had He done so, it would have implied a doubt. His answer was, “It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Tempting the Lord is doubting the supply of His goodness in giving us all that we need.

The supply of water and of manna to the Israelites did not take them out of trouble. They drank and were refreshed: there was the gathering up a little strength, and then Amalek comes and fights against them. It was but the preparation for conflict. So those who feed on Christ as the manna, and have in their souls the well of water springing up into everlasting life, have still the wilderness and conflict with Amalek.

In that sense we have to do with Satan, though we are entirely delivered from his bondage. We are never more under the power of Satan, as Israel was under the power of Pharaoh. (If Israel binds itself to Amalek, it is its own fault.) It is said to us, “Sin shall not have the dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). But we have to fight with Amalek though delivered from Pharaoh. When we have been brought into the wilderness, and fed and refreshed through this grace, Christian conflict begins. We are called, like the Lord Jesus, never to doubt the Father's love; but was He out of conflict? No, it was just the very thing that set Him in it. The being delivered from the bondage of Satan, and the being ranged on the Lord's side, is that which brings us into conflict; and in this the Lord never lets us be taken out of dependence on Himself. The moment we forget this we shall be overcome. Satan can never make us his slaves again, but we may be beaten and wounded by him. In every detail of our lives there is no blessing but in dependence on God. Whenever self-dependence comes in, whenever our own wills are working, there is failure. If, in speaking to you now, I were to cease from depending on the Lord in doing it, all blessing to my own soul would cease. “Without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5.) Neither can I speak, nor you hear, to profit, without dependence on Him. If a Christian gets out of dependence on the Lord, he will be beaten by Satan in conflict. Yet we ought not merely not to be beaten by Satan, but ever to be gaining ground upon him. Whether it be in winning souls to Christ, or whether it be in making progress truly ourselves in knowledge, or in holiness or in love, we are gaining ground on Satan's possessions. We have been delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. As Satan takes possession of my heart by ignorance, then every step I make in the knowledge of God is gain on the possessions of Satan. He uses our flesh too; so that to mortify and keep the flesh in death is gaining ground upon him. But every inch must be won, every bit of knowledge gained, by conflict. In this conflict we are directly and hourly cast in dependence upon God.

God did not put Amalek out of the way of Israel—they must fight with him: and it is just so with us. “And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand” (ver. 9). This is very different from what we get in chapter 14, “Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

See what the Lord had said to Moses concerning Israel (chap. 3:8); that He would “bring them up out of the land of Egypt unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Now where are they brought? Into the wilderness, to thirst for water, and to fight with Amalek. They had not reckoned on this (ver. 3). And thus it is often with the saints of God; when they have had joy, and have sung the song of triumph, in being delivered from the power of Satan, they are afterward astonished on finding themselves not in Canaan but in the wilderness. Jeremiah found the Lord's word the joy and rejoicing of his heart (Jer. 15:16), yet afterward he was so discouraged that he says, “O Jehovah thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived:” of course this is only a strong expression of sorrow, “thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil: because the word of Jehovah was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name,” &c. (Jer. 20). When the saint finds what the road is, he is apt to forget the end, where there will be fullness of joy and blessing. The Lord desires to purge out that which would hinder our blessing and keep us from having our hearts and hopes set upon the end, and to humble us.

Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up to the top of the hill, and Israel under Joshua fights in the plain below with Amalek (ver. 10). They fought the Lord's battle: but it is not sufficient even to be fighting the Lord's battle unless the Lord stretches forth His hand to help them. Otherwise “Amalek prevailed.” Israel might have reasoned on the manner of their fighting, on the strength of the enemy, and on ten thousand things; but after all their success depended on Moses' hands being stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan to be as nothing, and God to be everything. The moment we get out of dependence on God, we find out our own weakness; though we have this comfort, that under whatever circumstances, through the priesthood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, our blessing is substantially maintained for us, and this unto the going down of the sun. “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (vers. 11, 12).

Enemies were as nothing when Israel had the power of God with them. The day is won “Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword” (ver. 13).

“And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a Memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi (i.e., Jehovah my banner): for he said, Because Jah hath sworn that Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (vers. 14-16). I dare say many of us have thought, when we have seen the necessity of dependence on the Lord, that one good battle with Satan, and all will be over; but no such thing, we have security and the certainty of victory, but no promise of cessation from conflict whilst in the wilderness. God has promised that He “will bruise Satan under our feet shortly;” as He did to Israel that He would “utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven;” but still “Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Till Christ comes, and Satan be bound, when we shall have the full result of victory, we must reckon on conflict (not on slavery to Pharaoh, but on war with Amalek), but with the comfort of knowing that it is Jehovah who makes war, though it is through Israel, and Israel therefore has to fight. It is the Lord's battle against Satan—there is our comfort, but still a battle which we have to carry on; hence we are kept in an unceasing state of dependence. The moment it was not so, Israel were put to the worse.

As it regards the accusations of Satan, the blood on the door-posts is the eternal answer to them.

As to slavery to Satan, the Lord Jesus has delivered us from that; we have stood, the living ones, on the other side of the Red Sea; and we “shall see” Pharaoh and his host “no more again forever.”

What we find in the desert is, grace, conflict, and Jehovah having war with Amalek from generation to generation.

We are to be kept, moment by moment, in a state of dependence, yet reckoning on the constant grace and help of God. There is not blessing and joy and comfort where there is not dependence on the Lord exercised. It is not enough for victory that in the battle we have ranged ourselves on the Lord's side. You will find the tendency of the flesh, whether in praying or preaching or anything else, is to get out of dependence on God. We may be saying true things in prayer or in testimony; but if we are not realizing our dependence on the Lord, we shall not have His strength in the battle; and the Lord must make us learn our dependence on Him, through weakness, and failure, and defeat, because we have refused to learn it in the joy and confidence of communion with Himself.

Victory is turned to worship in the scene before us. “And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi (Jehovah is my banner).” When victory does not tend to worship, we and God part company as soon as the victory is achieved. How sad to see victory often leading to mere joy, instead of still greater dependence on, and delight in, God!

May we trace out, in all these paths of His wondrous ways, still more and more of the depths of His divine love!

J. N. D.

(Concluded from p. 70).

The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 2. The Feast of Weeks

Consequently, there we have it before us, we have it through the infinite mercy of our God habitually and particularly on the resurrection day. There is something remarkably sweet in that, that we have His death on the day of resurrection, for it is never meant that we should be so absorbed in death as to forget the joy of resurrection. I would only now notice the words of verse 5, “Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates.” There was to be but one place henceforth, many were allowed before. It had been taken in Egypt, house by house, and in the wilderness only at first. But now in the land where it might have seemed any place would do, because it was the holy land, Jehovah chose one sole place. He would take the matter of His blessing and of Israel's enjoyment of it entirely out of their bands, to bless them all the more because of binding it up with His presence. Jehovah chose one place and one only for the celebration of the passover; it was where He Himself dwelt. There He commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. This, He said, is my resting-place forever. Here will I dwell; for I have desired it. Such was the place that Jehovah chose for His people's eating of the passover. Thus may be seen from those early days God manifesting, particularly in the way in which it is presented in the last book of Moses, the celebration of the passover in the land, which typifies our connection with heaven. Jehovah chose, for the purpose of our enjoying His interest in, us as to that which is deepest for our souls. And what goes down into such depths as the passover, especially in the light and association of heaven where He is to whom we are united by the Holy Spirit, one spirit with the Lord.

But remark, although they took it “at the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell in, thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou tamest forth out of Egypt. Thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose; and thou shalt turn in the morning and go unto thy tents” (vers. 5-7). For Israel at least there was a return to their own things. It was not such peaceful communion with Jehovah as to detach them from all things in principle to Himself. They turn and go into their tents in the morning after eating the passover. They eat unleavened bread with the bread of affliction. It was far from being all that Jehovah designed and gave in the feasts to follow in due time. More was needed to impart full enjoyment of Jehovah's blessing in His chosen place. Only to the passover are these words appended; they are dropped, not only for the Feast of Tabernacles, but also for the Feast of Weeks.

Ver. 8 repeats the obligation to eat unleavened bread six days. On the seventh was a solemn assembly to Jehovah the God of Israel, and no work to be done. His work they celebrated and rested in. Only in this feast is work here forbidden to be done.

2.—THE FEAST OF WEEKS, IN VERSES 9-12.

Then comes quite a different feast—the Feast of Weeks. What does this rest on or spring from?

Christ not in death but risen again. Not the life before He died but the life of Christ triumphing over death. That is intimated by the wave-sheaf in due time followed by the two wave loaves brought before us in the Feast of Weeks. Not only are we told (ver. 9) that Christ was the first-fruits, but that the loaves at the Feast of Weeks were also first-fruits (Lev. 23:17). They alike receive the same name. There was nothing like this in the passover nor is there anything like it in the Feast of Tabernacles. There is a union with Christ when we come to the Feast of Weeks, found no where else. The reason is plain. We are united to Christ risen and ascended. The living Christ stood alone, was heard and followed by faith; but union there could not be before His death. “Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Yet are we not united to Christ dead. We have all the virtue of the death of Christ and can thus more than ever enjoy all the benefits of the life and the example of the Living One; and they are both of the richest value for the believer. Indeed we must begin with our sins, which were in His cross met once for all. It would have been a dangerous thing to have spoken of the example of Christ before our sins are dealt with. What do we find in the disciples who followed Him every day? Did they manifest Christ? They manifested tolerably decent Jews, sometimes pious, not infrequently prejudiced, and preoccupied with themselves. Now and then appeared a good deal of self-righteousness, besides too, ambition and jealousy; but at what time did not self work? There never was a truth that Christ brought out to which their souls fully answered. He was always misunderstood, and even when it was a very grave misunderstanding the Lord says, “what thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter.” But that was what was so blessed in our Lord—His love to them always the same, His patience whatever their incapacity—spiritual incapacity. And why was this? And why spiritual incapacity? Because there never can be spiritual power till in the death of Christ I have faced my sins. No life of Christ will ever do alone, no example of Christ.

(Continued from p. 74).

(To be continued).

After All This

“So all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of king Josiah. And the children of Israel that were found kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread, seven days. And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Charemish by Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.” (2 Chron 35:16-20)

There was an interval of thirteen years, between the passover which Josiah kept and this closing incident of his life, passed over in absolute silence in the divine record of his life and service for God; yet the two events are brought together and set in moral contrast by the words, “after all this” we may well inquire the reason. The great reforming work which he was born to accomplish (see 1 Kings 13:2) and which reached its highest point of success in the eighteenth year of his reign, seems to have been overshadowed, if not counteracted, by the disaster which closed his life, an, still worse, lead to gentile interference with the kingdom of Judah. God had nothing but unqualified approbation for the one who, while he was yet a child, began to seek after the Lord God of his father David, and who yielded himself to do all that was required of him in his position as leader of God's people. But it is evident that his attack upon the king of Egypt was far from meeting with the divine approval. His previous history had been marked by simple unhesitating obedience to the written word of God—not only to the law of Moses, but also to him of equal authority as being sanctioned by God in connection with the building and consecration of the temple now in place of the tabernacle in the Wilderness.; with the result that the observance of the passover associated with Josiah's name was a more complete recovery for the nation than any previously recorded.

The passover which, ninety years before, Hezekiah king of Judah had been able to keep (2 Chron. 30) as the result of the gracious invitations sent out to all that remained of the larger kingdom of Israel after the Assyrian captivity, did indeed recall for such as responded, the blessing and joy of the days of “Solomon the son of David.” But here the recovery was more complete still, and those who were gathered together at Jerusalem on the fourteenth day of the first month (not as in the former case in the second month, as graciously, in need, allowed of God for His people when they were pilgrims liable to failure and defilement—see Num. 9:11,) were made to realize for the moment the blessing of the times of Samuel the prophet when, the priestly government having broken down and been judged—the kingdom not yet introduced—they found Jehovah when sought to be still, as ever, a Savior God (1 Sam. 12).

The work of reformation under Josiah had been steady and progressive (2 Chron. 34:3, 8) in contrast to Hezekiah's good work which was done suddenly (chap. 29:36). The king of Judah must have been greatly strengthened in heart and encouraged by the discovery that God had spoken of him by name 350 years before and had ordained him to carry out that particular work with which he was occupied (2 Kings 23:17). His soul was thereby established in the confidence that he was God's servant with his work planned out for him; and he may well have taken it as a message from God saying to him, “Let thine eyes look right on.” When the book of the law was found in the temple Josiah was more deeply affected than any man in the kingdom, for he rightly judged himself to be responsible before God for the moral condition of the nation at the time. He wept and chastened his soul and sought the Lord afresh as at the beginning. God had respect unto the man who trembled at His word (2 Chronicles 34:23, Isa. 66:2, 5). But no amount of personal piety and devotedness even in the king could turn away the fierce wrath of God from the guilty nation fast hastening to its doom.

The great value of the feast of the passover was that it brought the people to the city of solemnities, in the acknowledgment of the truth of their relationship to God on the basis of redemption when God was passing through the land of Egypt as judge. The blood of the lamb provided a shelter from judgment and this should have been sufficient. The recovery of such a truth brought with it no guarantee or encouragement as to recovery of territory lost to Israel through the People's sin. The ark had been restored to its proper dwelling place from whence it had been so unaccountably removed (probably by Manasseh); the mercy seat had been re-established in Israel, but God was not going to lead them in triumph through the land as in the time of Joshua. Yet was there everything to encourage, the king of Judah to go on quietly in faith and dependence upon God. No doubt Pharaoh Necho was invading territory which should have been in Israel's occupation according to the original gift of Jehovah (Josh. 1:4); but from the very beginning they had failed in energy of appropriation, and that which had been in unbelief and cowardice surrendered to the enemy could never be regained by pride and presumption.

Genuine faith is based upon the knowledge of God Himself and His word, and acts on its authority; it may not travel beyond. Josiah might have thought he was but following the example of David and Solomon, but times had changed, though God had not. Surely he had forgotten the solemn warning of Huldah the prophetess; he had departed from the path of faith and was inspired by the pride and haughtiness of spirit which precedes a fall. Even though his natives were pure and unselfish, that was not enough. True obedience is set in motion by the commandment; in the absence of that, faith must wait upon God: had Josiah done this he would have been preserved from destruction, and for the blessing of his people. No doubt it was a specious snare of the enemy and he fell into it (Lam. 4:20).

It is worthy of notice that the man of God win came from Judah to Bethel (1 Kings 13) exposed himself to the judgment of God even unto death, by an exactly similar departure from simple obedience; and, we may remark in closing, as “whatsoever things were written aforetime,” are also “for our admonition unto whom the ends of the ages have reached,” so we should do well to consider how far we have really profited by the great recovery of truth made by the Holy Ghost to the saints, and in what spirit we are using it and maintaining a testimony for the Lord in these days of ruin and declension. The Lord Jesus looks to us to keep His word and not deny His name, although it be in weakness. “Thou hast little strength.” But “him that overcometh will I make a pillar” (Rev. 3:8, 12). G.S.B.

We Must All Be Manifested: Part 1

Judgment is never properly understood in its real depth, as well as its comprehensiveness, unless salvation be also rightly apprehended. A great effort of the enemy, working on the unbelief of man, is to confound these two things. The object is evident. Man in flesh, i. e., in his natural state, never trusts God, who on His part, it is clear, cannot trust man. The gospel calls upon man to confess that his condition is such that God cannot trust him; it claims in the name of the Lord Jesus, because of God's love displayed in giving Him, and by virtue of the efficacious work He has accomplished, that man should trust God—in a word, that he should repent and believe the gospel, that he should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. There is immense force in the words, “be saved.” There are many even of God's children who have most imperfect thoughts about salvation. Were we, instead of this expression, to insert the words, “be pardoned,” or “reconciled to God,” I apprehend that the mass of Christians at the present moment would see but little difference; but salvation includes a great deal more than pardon, precious as it is. Salvation takes in the whole scope and result of Christ's work; and whether you look at salvation in its complete sense and heavenly light, as shown us in Ephesians, or add to the work of Christ His priesthood and coming again in glory, either goes far beyond forgiveness of sins, and both are certain and scriptural. The mass of God's children at present on the earth have not only scant but dim perceptions about it, which is proved by the fact that they are under the impression that those saved must be judged like man in general—that all men, saints or sinners, must equally pass through the judgment, the eternal judgment of God. This prevails even in the minds of premillennialists, who suppose the saints before, and sinners after, the millennium. If they asserted that all men, saints or sinners, must alike be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; if they maintained that every one, without exception, must surely give an account of the things done by the body; if they held and taught that God will magnify Himself, not only in the judgment of those that have despised Christ, but in the distinct appraisal of the character and conduct of every saint, just as much as of every sinner, they would assert nothing more than in my judgment the word of God most clearly propounds. To me, I confess, it seems an evidence, not of strength but of weakness of faith, where real Christians shrink from the truth of being manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, and vote it a strange doctrine and virtually a raising of questions as to personal acceptance again. But not so; Scripture is most explicit as to, present and eternal acceptance, and as to our future manifestation before the Lord Jesus. Let none, then, imagine that the doctrine I trust now to prove, surely and plainly, from God's words, weakens the manifestation of every soul, at some time and for one object or another, before our Lord.

In 2 Cor. 5 we have a weighty, full and unambiguous statement of God's mind upon this matter. Here the apostle, when bringing out the rich blessing of the Christian in the power of the life of Christ communicated to the soul, shows that this life is such in its own character that Christ, the source of it, has only to come, and at once every vestige of mortality in the believer is swallowed up of life. Hence there is the strongest expression possible of assurance; but in this the apostle puts himself on common ground with all other saints, and acknowledges, as a matter of common Christian knowledge, that “if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” At the same time he shows that what the believer earnestly desires is not to be “unclothed,” that is, to pass through the article of death, as if death were a necessary step in the way of the saint to glory. It is not so at all. “Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon” is the word, the very reverse of being unclothed. When the saint dies, he quits the bodily tenement, he is unclothed, he departs to join Christ. Instead of waiting in the body till Christ comes for him, he goes to be with Him. In this ease there is no such thing as mortality being “swallowed up of life.” He is “absent,” as it is said, “from the body, present with the Lord.” But let the Lord come, and instantly there answers to His call and presence the life that He gave to all the Christians upon the earth, and not only to those then found alive, but to such as are dead—to those that slept in Christ. “The dead in Christ shall rise first;” but, more than that, in the case of the living, “mortality is swallowed up of life.” These not only do not, necessarily die, but death can have no possible dominion over them. Even now and till then mortality is in them; but for such saints as live till Christ comes, there is no death at all. A tendency to death, of course, there is now in the natural body of the believer, like anyone else; but in him, until the, actual act of death if he die, it is only mortality. Christ comes, and at once every trace of mortality is swallowed up of life. This, then, so far above natural thoughts, was what the apostle speaks of all earnestly desiring then. “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being, burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

Lower down he insists that “we must all, appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.” And here I would point out that there is a slight difference in the form but important enough in the sense, which shows that “we all,” in the tenth verse, of 2 Cor. 5 differs essentially from “we all” in the eighteenth verse of chapter 3. In the third chapter; “We all (ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες), with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,” means all Christians, and Christians exclusively. But in the fifth chapter there is a specific difference (τοὺς γὰρ πάντις ἡμᾶς) which has not been noticed, as far as I am aware, proving that a larger thought is in the mild of the Holy Ghost, and that while Christians, of course, are included, the expression embraces mire. than Christians, in fact, all men without exception. It seems to me there need be no hesitation whatever in affirming this; it is, at any rate, my conviction. It is well known that some have restricted 2 Cor. 5:10 to Christians; but they have overlooked, in my judgment, the comprehensive character of the passage that follows, which they are obliged to pare down and even alter unwarrantably, even then presenting a lame and impotent conclusion, and failing to give value to the distinct phrase alluded to, which appears to me expressly calculated, and, indeed, framed to intimate a different truth. For it is not the way of the Spirit of God to vary the language after this manner, unless He have some different sense to convey by it. In 2 Cor. 5 the Greek article, thus inserted, gives all possible breadth— “the whole of us;” whereas in 2 Cor. 3 it is simply “we all.” What confirms this is, as was said, the effect produced and stated immediately after in verse 11, which shows that the apostle had more in his mind than believers and their portion. “We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in [by] his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Now, this is clearly applicable either to a believer or an unbeliever. An unbeliever has nothing but what is bad; and when God enters into judgment with him, all will be made manifest, whatever may have been his own thoughts, or those of others, in this world: he is judged and cast into the lake of fire. There had been no love for the will of God, but hatred to it: there had been no faith in God's testimony to his soul, but willful rejection of it; there had been no clinging to mercy in the person of Christ, but on the contrary all was scorned, or at least done without. Judgment takes its course. There had been nothing but unmingled evil, as will be proved before the judgment-seat of Christ, whose name and precious blood had been despised. In the believer the crop has a mingled character: there is good and there is bad. The Lord will fully own and reward whatever has been the fruit of the Holy Ghost working in the believer's soul and in his ways; but as to the bad, it will be his own deep and thankful satisfaction, while himself owning it all fully, not merely to know it blotted out as a matter of guilt against his soul, but to find himself brought into perfect communion with the Lord about it; he will thoroughly see and judge according to God respecting it all. If there were a single thing offensive to God that self-love or haste or will had blinded him to in this life, he will then know it even as he is known. So far from causing a single waver in his Affections, so far from raising any doubt or question of God's perfect grace to his soul, it would be positive loss if the believer were not thus brought into oneness with God's mind and judgment about all that he has here done. Even in this life we know something analogous. Who that has passed any time in the Lord's paths has not experienced what it is to be laid aside for a season—to have the Lord speaking to him and calling up before his soul that which he had too lightly thought of, or wholly passed by? Much, it may be, in the very energy of his service had been easily forgotten, when carried along with delight in the work of God, though I am supposing there was also what is sweet and of God in the midst of all. But still, surely there is not a little of nature, not a little of unjudged and unsuspected nature, in the ways and testimony of those that love the Lord.

Now, would it be for the Lord's glory if these mistakes, and even wrongs, were noticed by Him at no time? Even in this life He does often send circumstances of sorrow, want, sickness, disappointment, it may be a prison, shutting out from the activity of work, to raise needed questions for the soul's health—not as to God's saving grace nor as to the believer's standing. To doubt either is inexcusable: no trial will ever rightly lead to it. Nothing questions God's grace or faithfulness but flesh, and flesh acted upon by Satan. The truth is, there is not in all God's word a single ground, or even excuse, given to a believer for doubting divine grace or his own blessing in Christ. But assuredly one is convicted of feebly holding God's grace, if one regards this perfect manifestation before Christ's judgment-seat as the smallest contradiction, or even the least possible difficulty. In the end it is a part of God's necessary ways with His children; its principle is true of them even now: for we are expressly told by the apostle Peter that the Father judges now. Is this opposed to His love? Surely not! Neither will it be so then. Perfect love will have brought us into that place; for in what condition shall we stand there? Before we are manifested at the judgment-seat of Christ, He will have come for us, and presented, us in His Father's house in pure, simple, absolute grace. We shall appear there already glorified: our bodies being like that of Christ, we shall be incapable of that natural shame which might be a pain to us here in this life. We shall then feel entirely with Christ, and consequently be thoroughly above that which will be disclosed there. All will justify His ways, though it be humbling to us; but we shall only rejoice in, only exalt, Him. And I see no ground at all to doubt that not merely what we have been as believers, but the whole life from first to last, will be brought out. And what will be the effect of it? An infinitely deep appreciation of the grace of God; profound delight in all His ways and ends, and above all in Himself; and an equally deep sense of what the creature, and we ourselves, have been, in every form or degree in which self wrought here below. God forbid that any one should count such a manifestation a loss, grief or danger to be dreaded. Even here the, measure of it we know is gain: what will it be then and there?

Further, it appears to me that this is the reason why the Spirit of God uses the remarkable language found here; for there is nothing expressed about being judged in the passage. It would not be true, as may be proved by other Scriptures, to say, “we must all be judged before the judgment-seat of Christ.” None but the unjust, the unbeliever, will ever come into judgment; but every soul, good or bad, believer or unbeliever, must be equally and perfectly manifested before His judgment-seat. And what makes this still more evident is not only the choice of the language, “we must all appear,” or “be manifested;” and then again that which follows— “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord” (which there is no ground whatever to weaken)— “knowing therefore the terror of the, Lord we persuade men.” This is the strongest possible proof of the large scope of the preceding verse 10, because we are here shown the effect of that future final manifestation upon the spirit as regards not ourselves but others. Thus, properly understood, this portion of Scripture supposes the fullest rest in the grace of God, even when we contemplate solemnly the judgment-seat of Christ. There is no question of perturbation about our own souls; but it fills us with anxiety about “men” as such. Why about men rather than about saints? Evidently and only because the judgment-seat of Christ will not in the smallest degree jeopard the safety of a single saint. The language is therefore changed, and instead of adopting the word “we,” or continuing the former phrase “us all,” or anything that would either present the believer alone, or the believer with the unbeliever to a certain extent, we have the word changed— “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” That is, we go forth animated with the deep feeling of what that judgment-seat must be to the unbeliever. We know that it is a solemn, though a most blessed, thought to a believer. We know nothing but the mighty grace of God in Christ could have made it to be a happy prospect for us. But the deeper and more solid the conviction, that only His grace gives us stable peace in presence of the judgment-seat, the more in proportion do we feel what that judgment-seat will be to those who have not Christ.

Hence, then, the apostle proceeds to speak of it as the common feeling of himself and other Christians, from the awful import of the judgment-seat to the unbeliever, to “persuade men,” as he calls it; i.e. to seek to bring them to the knowledge, of Christ. “But we are made manifest to God,” he carefully adds here. In other words, even now the spirit of the judgment-seat is true of the believer; not that he will not appear there by and by, but that now also we are made manifest unto God. This is most true, and important too. “We are made manifest unto God, and, I trust, also are made manifest in your consciences.” He could speak in an absolute manner of being. Made manifest to God; he could speak but in a hopeful way of being manifested to the consciences of believers, because there might be disturbing influences in their case. After all, this could only be a comparative thing, while to God, I repeat, they were already made manifest absolutely. Thus the passage contains the most weighty truth, fully asserting the present manifestation of the believer to God, while it also insists on what is future and perfect before the judgment-seat of Christ for the believer by and by, and intimates the effect of, grace on his heart do seek unbelievers, knowing, as we do, the terror of the Lord for them by and by; for we shall all be made manifest there; not only the unbeliever, but the believer. He presumes in the strongest manner the peace of the believer, even in contemplating the judgment-seat. On him the effect of this disclosure is to awaken not a single alarm as to himself or his brethren. What a witness of a full, and a present, and eternal salvation! All his soul's energies are thrown out in behalf of men who are living for the present and for the earth, little thinking that they must stand before Christ's judgment-seat, ignorant of its real character, and heedless of its issues.

(To be continued).

The Lord Jesus in Humiliation and Service: Part 1

NOTES OF A LECTURE ON PHILIPPIANS H.

I felt, beloved friends, that it would be happy to have the Lord Himself before our minds this evening as the object of our thoughts. The Christian is so completely brought to God, that he goes out from God to show the character of God to the world. The subject of this Epistle is Christian Experience. And you get this experience in the power of the Spirit of God so completely, that you never get sin mentioned in the Epistle from beginning to end, nor the flesh, looked at as bad flesh, save to say he didn't trust in it. Paul here does not know which to do—die or live. ‘If I die, I am with the Lord; that's better; but I can't work for His saints. If I live, there is the activity of love for them, and so he does not know which to choose. There is utter absence of self in that, and power. Then, he says, It is more needful for the church that I stay, and so I know that I shall be acquitted; deciding his own case. It is all power, the power of the Spirit of God leading a person out of the reach of sin. If you look at the detail in verses 15, 16 you will find his exhortation to others is an exact picture of what the life of Christ really was— “blameless and harmless,” that is what Christ was— “children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation;” such was Jesus, the Son of God— “among whom ye shine as lights in the world; “when He was in the world He was the light of the world— “holding forth the word of life;” He was that word of life. The detail is precisely the same power of the Spirit of God, and the exhortation is just the detail of Christ's life in the world.

In this Epistle there are two great principles of Christian life (the last chapter is, he is superior to all cares and all circumstances). In the third chapter, it is the energy that carries a man on, so that everything else is dross and dung—that is Christ, in glory. He has seen Him up there, and he says, ‘I must get that.' ‘There are hindrances in the way.' ‘I'll throw them aside,' he says. ‘You'll lose everything.' ‘Can't help it; I must get Him.' ‘Oh, but you'll die.' ‘No matter; that's All the more like Him; I must get on to Him, the One up there in the glory, whom I have seen.' “If by any means;” that is, whatever it may cost me, even life itself. “Resurrection from among the dead,” that is the character of Christ's resurrection. The resurrection of the saints has nothing in common with the resurrection of sinners. Christ is the firstfruits, then those that are Christ's at His coming. He is not the firstfruits of sinners to be judged. Not a hint in scripture of saints and sinners being raised together. “That I may attain unto the resurrection from among the dead” (the apostle uses a rare and emphatic word to explain his meaning)—what is there to attain to, if the wickedest man in the world goes up at the same time and in the same way? “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” What's the good of that, if all rise together? The character of Christ's resurrection was the positive seal of God's approval on Him and His work, and so is ours. As regards justification His resurrection is of all importance, for it is the seal of God on the excellency and perfectness of the work of Christ. He was taken out from among the dead as a perfect seal upon His work and Person, and everything else; and so is our resurrection the seal of our acceptance. Because God delights in us, we are taken out from among the dead, as Christ was. So he continues his running till he gets that. You have Christ in glory, and all is dross and dung except that. He wants Christ instead of Paul, and all he gets by the way is nothing—if he gets even death, it is all the more like Him.

In chapter 2 you don't get Christ in glory as the one he is running after; not Christ gone up, but Christ coming down. One whom I am to be like in this, the graciousness of the walk that He displayed, and that is, always going down—going from the form of Godhead down to death. Where do I find what God is, fully displayed? Righteousness and love perfectly displayed? In death! It is a wonderful riddle that has come out, the Holy One going down—the Prince of Life going into death. We never completely learn, till we see it there—the things that the angels desire to look into. No one knows the Son but the Father. We know the Father, but no one knows the Son; the divinity of Christ is maintained by the inscrutability of the Incarnation: God becoming a man!—that is unfathomable! and the meekest, lowliest man that ever walked this earth. Paul is taking up the truth of lowliness, &c., but the moment he begins he must bring out Christ. The motive of all exhortations is nothing less than the whole scope of Christianity: God come down and bringing salvation, and gone back again as man. Take the commonest exhortations, the spring and motive is nothing short of obedience to the word of God Himself. Eating and drinking even is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. I am merely eating like a beast if it isn't. He exhorts them to walk in lowliness and love (there had been some little squabbling, I suppose, among them). These Philippians had been sending help to the apostle from a long way off, and he won't reproach them, but says, ‘Now I see how you love me; I see how you care for me and my being happy. Now, if you want to make me perfectly happy, walk in love among yourselves.' It is a reproach so delicately brought in that their hearts could not resist it. “And let each esteem other better than themselves.” It sounds unpractical and impossible; but if I think of myself with the mind of God, I see the evil, the sin in myself. If I think of another, and I am full of Christ, I shall see all the value of Christ upon him, I shall see with Christ's heart, and I can esteem him better than myself, for I see evil in myself, and I see Christ in him. “Let this mind be in you,” &c., i.e., the spirit in which Christ was, always going down; first, being in the form of Godhead, and in the glory, He takes the place of a man, and then He humbles Himself, even to death. He is the first grand example of “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” and that is what we have to do—go down. Here we get the principle of Christ's whole personal course, and we get not only what He was, but the delight He took in us. He took us up. His interest is in us, and the expression of this delight was not simply His acting graciously towards men, but He Himself becomes one of them. He went down to death! We go down to death by sin, He by grace; we by disobedience, He by obedience. So He gets by obedience and grace what we get by disobedience and sin. From the first step that we go He takes us up till He has us where He is. Speaking in a general way, I cannot look at Christ in His life and walk, till my soul is at peace and settled.

If a soul has not settled peace, you will find it wants the Epistles first, not the Gospels, because the Epistles are the reasonings of the Holy Ghost on the value of Christ's work. John's writings bring God down here in grace to sinners. Paul takes man up there in righteousness to God. Paul takes man up to God in the light; John brings God down to man. You get in the Gospel of John, God brought down to us in our need, get Him talking to the woman at the Well, and His disciples wondering, and she finds that in this tired man at the well she has been speaking to the Lord of glory. ‘I thought,' she said, ‘He was a poor tired Jew, who wanted a drink of water.' ‘Oh,' He says, ‘if you knew how that God had come so low as to be dependent on you for a drink of water, you would have confidence in Him at once.'

(To be continued).

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Social Intercourse

The meeting of Moses and his father-in-law, recorded in Ex. 18 is all the more interesting and of moment to the believer now, inasmuch as it was an event which took place before Israel had so foolishly placed, themselves under law; and is a fine exposition of the injunction in 1 Peter 3:8, “love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous."

If “The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people,” his greatness could in no way have been diminished by the magnificent manner in which Jehovah had used him to carry the people through the Red Sea; and it was no wonder that his father-in-law, when they were journeying in the wilderness, should seek to come to him, and bring also Moses' wife and two sons, as he had heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people. That Moses, encamped at the mount of God, greater than any prophet, “faithful in all God's house with whom Jehovah would speak mouth to mouth, apparently, and not in dark speeches” —should not remain in his tent, but go out to meet one so much inferior to him, though his father-in-law, and do obeisance too, was lovely; and that he should kiss Jethro and they ask each other of their welfare, and then come to rest in the tent, is a wilderness scene that the heart can linger over.

It is to be noted that in speaking to Jethro, Moses leaves out all mention of himself (an example that we may covet to follow); and using the name of relationship in which God stood to Israel, simply “told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how Jehovah delivered them.” Blessed it is for believers now, when what their God and Father has wrought in His beloved Son, and the mercy that delivered from so great a death and does deliver, form the topic of their conversation and their praise when they meet. It is beautiful to observe that Moses' narrative caused his father-in-law to rejoice and bless Jehovah, and brought him really into the spirit of the song recorded in. Ex. 15 where Moses and Israel had sung, “Who is like unto Thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” for Jethro adds, “Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them.” This was followed by his taking a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and the party, increased by the coming of Aaron and all the elders of Israel, did “eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before. God.” Beloved, it is well for us “to use hospitality one to another without grudging” (1 Peter 4:9); and to remember that, for us, God links His glory even with a social meal; “whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (Rom. 10:31).

One does not dwell on Jethro's tender solicitude for his son-in-law, but merely note that he speaks of him and all this people going to” their place in peace.”

In Luke 24 we have the two distressed ones journeying to Emmaus, joined by the One of whom they had been speaking, and Who lead out their hearts to tell Him what had been the subject of their converse, whilst in faithful love He had to reprove them; nevertheless, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself.” No wonder that reaching the place whither they went (it was only a village), they should constrain Him to stay with them, though He had made as though He would have gone further. And that He should yield was like Himself; but oh, the grace that would deign to partake of their meal! for “He took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them,” and (what a moment of joy, but all too short!) “their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight.”

The good tidings they could not keep to themselves; and so, returning forthwith to Jerusalem, they communicate to the eleven and to the others there with them the glad news now confirmed by the presence of the Lord Himself, who shows them His hands and His feet; and so brings Calvary before them, and the victory He has obtained. But their joy is too much for them; their faith is not in exercise, and He will partake of a meal in order to bring Himself before them; for in response to His inquiry “Have ye here any meat?” “they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of an honeycomb; and He took it, and did eat before them.” After this, in due course, He instructs and commissions them, “Ye are witnesses of these things.” Then, while at Bethany, in the act of blessing them, He is “parted from them and carried up into heaven.” To adopt the words of Jethro, we may say, He went to His place; and “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11), and shall take us there, too. Are we looking for Him, and, meanwhile, do we heed the exhortation, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2)?

W. N. T.

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 2

The relation He gives us is not only beyond all that had ever been known, but the highest and nearest that could be given. For what could equal Himself as the Lord knew Him, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord said the same So on this resurrection day the Lord gave the message to Mary of Magdala, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” There is the revelation of the divine Name according to this knowledge, and the relation that His own beloved Son enjoyed. There is necessarily the difference, that God was the Father of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in a way ineffable and inscrutable, because of Godhead where He could not but be the eternal Father of His eternal Son. If people do not like the word eternal in this connection, so much the worse for them; for doubt here is peculiarly dangerous. If the Word was not the eternal Son, He is not God. You cannot bring time into the Godhead, because its nature being essentially eternal, what is not so can have no subsistence in Godhead. The Word became flesh, the man Christ Jesus, inasmuch as He was born of the Virgin Mary; He was truly man in virtue of His mother, yet in no way to the loss of His divine nature. Yet the Son, the Word, was God; and when born of woman, the Holy thing born was still the Son of God. He took nature into His person, but was still eternal as God. Before Abraham came into being (if we render it in its full force), “I AM.” There never was a beginning to that “I AM.” Going back before the world's foundation, He could then say as He said to the Jews, “I AM.” The eternity of His divine being could not be more distinctly expressed than in “I AM:” It is granted that you cannot prove it by reason; because man argues according to his reason from his own experience. It is legitimate enough to reason from yourself in what is subject to man's sense or mind; but to reason from yourself about God is presumptuous folly. How then are we to learn divine things? We learn by receiving what He says in His word. How else could we learn the truth about Himself or His Son? But also as to what grace gives the believer, the new place was taken by God the Father when Christ, accomplished redemption for the soul though not yet for the body. Both Jew and Gentile had done their worst work when God did His best work.

The meeting place of man was at the cross of Christ; which was the immutable basis for God. There was this foundation for His judgment of our sins and for uniting the otherwise irreconcilable. Thence was the new and everlasting building to rise, God's habitation in the Spirit even now, to grow into a holy temple in the Lord; the church of God, to be the bride of Christ through all eternity. But it is remarkable that the apostle in unfolding this great mystery in the two Epistles devoted to this end carefully begins with the individual soul. When any learn of the church before they learn themselves they invariably make a very bad use of it. Does the Romanist say, “I believe what the Church believes?” Alas, my friend, you believe nothing as you ought. This is no genuine, no acceptable belief. It is merely believing what other men say. The true ground of faith is believing what God says. To be right before Him I must individually come out of my own thoughts or yours to what God says. You and I must begin with this; and what does God say to us at the start? He says that I am dead in sins, an utterly lost sinner. In Christendom they furnish the babe with an ordinance for giving life. Not in Christ by the hearing of faith is one quickened, but in the christening of one as duly ordained! The Eucharist sustains or renews it! Both are portentous and pernicious lies of Babylon: Baptism is to Christ's death, and never gave life since the church began. The Lord's Supper is the memorial of Christ's love unto death, and the symbol of His one body to the many members. Baptism is individual confession of His death, as the Lord's Supper expresses the communion of His body and blood. This makes all the difference possible. Christ died because all were dead; and this the believer owns to his life and salvation. He came down as the sacrifice to God for me by His death, and brings me not only life eternal, but propitiation for my sins. Christ is the only life and salvation for the sinner who believes. Baptism and the Eucharist are His institutions, the one individual, the other corporate, but simply signs, however precious for His sake, and holy, which it would be sinful and even rebellious to refuse. I once knew a Jewish Rabbi who could not understand English any more than a Greek monk, but both able to understand French. So we had a little meeting for them and others to read the Epistle to the Hebrews. The monk was already converted; and the Rabbi confessed at length that Jesus was the Son of God. He was told of course to get baptized. But from this he shrank, saying, “If I were baptized, I should be counted a dead man.” He was told that this was exactly what the Lord meant by it, namely: passing out of the scene of death into the blessedness of the Christian salvation. If I meet God without Christ, it can only be ripening for hell fire; but if I receive Christ from God, He is life and quickens me. That is why He says nothing at first about union; it is God's purpose about us individually. Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only honored Him, but blessed us with every spiritual blessing. The Jews had every sort of carnal blessings. Our blessing is distinctively of a spiritual, nature, not on earth, but in. heavenly places where Christ is. The meaning of this should not be dubious.

Of course as to the body we are all on the earth; but now that I am in Christ, I belong to the heavenly land. The Christian is no longer of this or that country. Heaven is meant to supersede his old boast in England, or Ireland, or Scotland, or anywhere else here below. To be “in Christ” is meant to take him out of earthly places. I know some friends who are still so enamored of Devonshire that it spells danger to talk of anything that reflects ever so little on the things or the men of Devonshire. What is Devonshire compared with the heavenly places? What is any other country here below? The Lord takes all the vanity or pride out of us for our native land by giving us an incomparably better. To the child playing with poisonous fruit the mother says wisely, “Here is an orange, dear, much better than those berries.” The child gladly drops the danger and grasps the orange. O that we may be won in heart to heavenly things! He blessed us “with every spiritual blessing"; and not only the best blessings, but in the highest or “heavenly places"; and also “in Christ,” the best possible security. We see that the highest blessing; His purpose follows in vers. 4-6; and then in ver. 7 the redemption in Christ “through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses,” —for the soul, not yet for the body. God confounded the worst wickedness of man by bringing out His secret and best blessing to the glory of His grace, when Satan succeeded in drawing all mankind in principle to their united and worst daring rebellion against Himself and His Son. Is not this grace God's grace beyond mistake? Who need despair, if he bow in faith to such a God—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Be not dull of hearing, nor hard of heart, like the Jews. You have not the danger or excuse which they had. They as a people had promises beyond all others. They sprang from Abraham the friend of God. They had a religion and city laid down by Him who was their God. The Messiah came of their stock supernaturally, long after the manifestation of divine glory was forced to depart. Was it not very hard for a nation thus favored to forget such favors and own their need of grace, like sinners of the Gentiles? Compared with such antecedents as Israel possessed, what are we? Our ancestors ran about in the wilds and woods with stains of blue on their bodies instead of clothes, and burnt their children in order to appease their demon gods. It is easy enough to understand how the Jews in unbelief, proud and stiff-necked, resisted the truth which pronounced them children of wrath like others.

(Continued from p. 79).

(To be continued.)

The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 3. The Feast of Weeks

No life of Christ will ever do alone, no example of Christ, except to show how unlike to Him we are. And so it is that there is far too light dealing with our state, and a total incapacity of estimating the immense distance between the Son of God and every saint that loves Him.

But now it is another thing. The state of believers in the time of our Lord was not Christian. They were saints; but a Christian is a great deal more than a saint. A Christian is a saint since redemption; a Christian is a saint that is united to Christ. A Christian is a saint that rests upon the death and precious blood of Christ in all its virtue before God, which has changed everything from that moment. Now starts a new reckoning of time altogether. There is a manifest progress from what was, to what God has now given us in our Lord Jesus. What a comfort it is that every question that could arise between our souls and. God is now settled! There are many saints at the present time who lose incalculably; they stop short at getting Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, if, indeed, they know this as a truth always abiding. In general, they think that the forgiveness of sins is a great privilege that is being dribbled out day by day; and that one is forgiven to-day, wanting more to-morrow, and more and more all the time one is here below. But this is not the way in which scripture puts the mighty work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we have a death that meets sins completely; nor is it merely our sins, but sin. I admit that this is beyond what we have any type for, for the types were the types of the law, and the Passover was taken up when the law was given, although it was instituted before. So also the Sabbath in the same way; the Sabbath was long before the law but nevertheless it was embodied in the law.

But “that which the law could not do” God did. And how? “Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” It could not have been in the reality of sinful flesh. In that case He could not have been a sacrifice for sin at all. If there had been an atom of the reality of sinful flesh, if there had been a single taint, it would have destroyed the sin offering. Of the “meal-offering” which represents the life of Christ, and of the “sin” (and “trespass”) Offering which brings before us His death—of both these offerings are we alike told that “it is most holy.” No, the Lord Jesus looked like another, therefore is it said, “in the likeness.” There was nothing outwardly to distinguish the Lord, as far as His body was concerned, from another man.

Mind, I am not speculating upon the Lord's appearance—I abhor all such speculations, but, at the same time, I am bound to believe from what Scripture says, that He was like any other man. Truly a man, as truly as we are, there was nothing in our Lord's outer man to indicate the essential difference, nothing to indicate that infinite difference that there is between Him and every other.

Therefore is it said, “in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,” or as the meaning is, “a sacrifice for sin.”

Well, this is what God did, He sent His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.” He “condemned sin in the flesh.” This is what God did. He executed sentence on the Lord Jesus at the cross. He had shown Him in the likeness of sinful flesh during His life, and there wasn't a sin nor the appearance of one. “In Him is no sin.” And now there is another work, His death as “a sacrifice for sin.” He condemned—not only the sins—He forgave the sins—but He condemned “sin”; He executed sentence of death on the sin—not upon the sinner, which would have been his everlasting ruin—but on Christ. Assuredly, as “a sacrifice for sin” that we might be, not only forgiven, but that we might know the old nature completely and forever dealt with for every believer. That is the reason why we are no longer “tied and bound with the chain of our sins,” as many excellent people say that they are: some of the best in Christendom. Really true saints believe that they are tied and bound by the chain of their sins. Many very earnest indeed in their way among our own nation. Others speaking our own tongue elsewhere, I must say, have shown more care for the truth of God as a general thing. But still there is that terrible lack, they don't know how God has met sin in the flesh. But this is exactly what God has said: “What the law could not do” the impossibility of the law God has done perfectly. He has executed sentence of condemnation, and the consequence is there is no condemnation for us. Not only that there is no condemnation for what we did, or have done, but there is no condemnation for the sin in our nature. That is the point of the apostle Paul in the beginning of the eighth of Romans. Then comes another thing; that is, the positive place into which we are brought. We have not to go looking for it elsewhere. And what do people substitute for that? They either fall back on the example of Christ, or they take up the law. They say, we know we could not keep the law or follow its example before we were converted, but now we are converted that is what we can do, and the Spirit will help us. But the Spirit of God will do nothing of the kind. What! the Spirit of God help people to keep the law as their rule of life! No. That the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in the Christian, I admit; and I understand the righteousness of the law consists of the two great parts—the love of God, and love to our neighbor. If a Christian does not love God and his neighbor, nobody does. There is not a single Christian in the main that is not really true. No Christian but what his heart goes out to God when he knows His love. I am supposing now a man who believes the gospel. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” And what about our neighbor? I think the poorest Christian in the world is deeply anxious about the salvation of others. No doubt we are not like Christ. There is no need to say that; there is no need of crying up what a Christian is. But the new nature shows itself in every child of God by the desire for the blessing of people, with cost to itself, and further also I affirm that there is still more unqualifiedly the love of the God that has so blessed him.

But that all is not all that we find here. We have a great deal more. We have God's way of presenting it, and that is, that the believer now according to the Feast of Weeks has Christ risen from the dead, not only Christ down here as the manna, but Christ risen from the dead as his food. We see elsewhere in scripture that the heavenly food is Christ risen; Christ in heaven is the food of the believer now, and he requires it. The manna is not all, but there is Christ thus in the presence of God to feed on. There is another thing here, and that is, that “as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world.” That is a wonderful thing to say. I ask this of you. If you hadn't these words in the First Epistle of John would you have believed them? If they were not written out in the Bible I should like any man in this room to say that he could have thought them? I don't believe a word of it. You are only cheating yourself if you think you could have dared to say these words. I say it again, As Christ is—not as He was, but now, in the presence of God, in all His glory there, the glorified man— “As He is, so are we in this world.” So are we—not, so we shall be in the next world, but—in this world. Why, if these words were not the words of Scripture, it would be the most fearful presumption that ever passed through the heart of man to say them. But they are God's words; and they are God's words because they are His truth. They are the rich blessing He has given you and me at this very time, and, thank God, not to us only. There is no Christian here, in England, in the world but what has these words said of him, and they are meant of him and for him to take them home to his heart and live on them—at any rate upon the One into whose nearness of relationship we are now brought, into that wonderful place of union with Christ. If it were not the life of Christ that is given to us it could not be true. It is in virtue of that that we are one with Christ—that it can be said, “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

If I look at myself or you, would that warrant such language? How is it then? Why, because our oneness with Christ is not with Christ come down to take part of our nature, but with Him risen from the dead and gone to heaven. On what does this depend? On the Holy Spirit sent down in consequence of Christ's exaltation. And you see how perfectly the word read to-night suits it. The Feast of Weeks was the day of Pentecost—the day when the Holy Ghost was given. It could not have been true a day before. It is always true after.

(Continued from p. 87)

(To be continued)

The Jordan: Part 1

It is evident that the Jordan is a type similar in its character to that of the Red Sea. I need not say that, whether in the type of the Red Sea or the Jordan, it is what grace has given the believer.

But then there is a most sensible difference. At the Jordan there is no such thing as a rod. It is another symbol altogether. The ark of the covenant of Jehovah, borne by the priests, goes right down into the Jordan; and from the moment the priests' feet approach the water, the waters fail on one side and rise up in a heap on the other; and so, while the ark remains in the bed of the river, the children of Israel pass clean over.

And when all is done, we find another remarkable point; that is to say, we have a memorial. It is not Egyptians destroyed. There is no question of judgment. The point is neither the justification of the people of God on the one hand, nor the judgment of enemies on the other. This is the great question of the Red Sea. At the Jordan God was bringing forth His people into His own land. Accordingly it sets forth One, a divine Person, who goes down into the waters of death, and there alone stayed the proud waters till thus the people are brought through.

How does this apply to Christ? I answer, The Jordan finds its counterpart not in Romans but in Ephesians. In Ephesians, accordingly, there is no discussion of justification. Search it through and through, and you will fail to find in it the righteousness of God. If God accomplishes the great work that was before His mind (even before there was a world to be spoiled), if He intended to have a people who should have a nature capable of communion with Himself, a nature that never could be satisfied without being in heaven, that delights in His mind and love; if God intended, I say, to have such a people, and to have them, too, in the nearest possible relation to Himself, to have them as His own children in His own presence, how could justifying come in there? It is evident God does not need to justify such a work as this? I can understand when a person has got wrong, or when we think of the ungodly, that this should be told us. It is an infinite mercy that God has His own blessed way of justifying the ungodly; but there is no notion of justifying that which is perfectly according to God.

Hence in the Epistle to the Ephesians we never have the subject of justification. It is not that the apostle does not look into the state into which those that are the objects of God's mercy had got; for the second chapter is as plain as Romans 3 about the dreadful condition of those that were brought into that relationship. But in Romans we have, in the fullest manner, their sins proved and brought home to the conscience. We have their evil ways all traced fully, and yet God justifies, We have also their evil condition; and yet God takes them out of that condition, and gives them a new place. In Ephesians it is another aspect. The first thought the apostle dwells on is the purpose of God.

It is God's righteousness that justifies, as in Romans; not His mercy. There is not the smallest hint, therefore, of straining a point.

We know a king may, in order to forgive, pardon a person altogether guilty. I do not say the temper of the world would admit it, still less do. I say that man is capable of using such a prerogative as God's grace. But it remains equally true, that it is not merely mercy, but righteousness which justifies, and the believer is the only one that owns his unworthiness and feels his sins according to God.

But in Ephesians another thing appears; God is there purposing from Himself and for Himself; it is God that delights in His own counsel. He means not to be alone in heaven. He means to surround Himself with men thoroughly happy. He means to give them that which would be capable of answering to His own mind and ways, and accordingly in a relationship suitable to it. This is what He does. But what, after all, is their state, when taken up by grace? Dead in trespasses and sins. And this makes it the more remarkable, that there is not a word about justification. But Christ goes down into that death where they lay, goes down underneath their condition, so to speak; and this is the only way in which it is handled in Ephesians. He by grace went down there, and God raised Him up, and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. The point in Jordan is, not bringing the people out of slavery, but bringing them into the land, “into heavenly places in Christ.”

Will you say, That is when we die? When Israel crossed the Jordan, they entered on a scene of conflict. I ask, When we die and go to heaven, shall we have to fight there? No. Well then, if so, it is wrong to make it our dying and going to heaven. The passing of the Jordan means, the bringing the believer into “heavenly places” in such a way that he shall fight and win the victory too. This is the meaning of it. How can a Christian be brought into heavenly places while here? This is what the Epistle to the Ephesians tells us.

You will see how different this is from what was found in crossing the Red Sea. Hence the style of doctrine in Ephesians is different from that of Romans; that is the reason why in Ephesians, it is “heavenly places” that are spoken of. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.”

Yet all this is true to faith now. Of course when we actually go to heaven we shall not lose this place of blessing, but the point that Paul insists on is, that God has already blessed us thus and there in Christ.

The end of the first chapter shows that God raised up Christ from the dead, and set Him in heavenly places; and the beginning of the second chapter shows that in doing this God laid the foundation for our being put in the very same place before God. “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses, quickened us together with Christ,.... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” We have already then crossed the Jordan. It is not that we are to cross it, but that we have crossed it now.

Is Christ “in the heavenly places”? Am I united to Christ now, or am I only going to be united when I die? Am I now in this very place before God, raised up together with Christ, and so “in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus?” It is quite evident that the doctrine of the Epistle to the Ephesians is, that we are so; it is notorious that the doctrine of most Christians is, that we cannot be so till we die.

Now, why is it that people do not enter into this truth? The reason is, you cannot be both a prosperous earthly man, entering into that which occupies men here below, and a heavenly man too; but the natural mind would like to make the best of this world, and the best of the next too. The truth is, I must cross the Jordan now as a Christian; nay, I have crossed it in Christ, if I am a Christian. So you will observe I am not going to point out to you what you have to do, but I wish to make plain what God has done for you, if you are Christians. How blessed it is that Christianity does not hold out what I must attain to in order to be saved, but is a revelation of what God has given me in Christ!

God gives me, and you that believe, a salvation so full, that it not only means that we have been brought across the Red Sea (thus made pilgrims and strangers), but that we have been brought across the Jordan into heavenly places, and blessed with all spiritual blessings there. You say, perhaps, it is mysticism. No such thing. It is the very negation of mysticism. For this turns the eye to Christ, and God's work in Christ; whereas mysticis occupies the heart with its feelings about Him. If Christ is my life, and Christ is seated there, it is evident that I have, by the Spirit of God who dwells in me, and who has been sent by that Christ, a divine link with Him who has entered in there. It is thus that God speaks of us according to that which is true of Christ. That is, Christ being there and He being the life of the believer, and the Holy Spirit the power of that life, we are spoken of according to the place that Christ has entered.

The grand point of the Red Sea is what Christ brings us out of, and that of the Jordan is what Christ brings us into. It is quite evident that what God sets forth by this type is the sweet and blessed truth, that Christ having entered into the very place where God means the Christian to be, God would form us according to Him in that which is to be our true home. Our proper home is not this world, nay, not even in the millennial state. Our hope is not any change that will ever take place in this world, but the “Father's house,” where Christ is dwelling. God means that where He is we shall be. It is not merely that Christ will come and bless us where we are (like Israel by and by), but that He will come and take us to where He is; this is what we are waiting for; but meanwhile we are viewed and treated as one with Him to whom we are united there.

(To be continued)

Inspiration of Daniel and His Book: Part 1

(A LETTER TO A YOUNG BELIEVER)

I am sorry to hear that your faith in the inspiration of the Book of the prophet Daniel should be in any way shaken by the pernicious efforts of men who profess to uphold the integrity of the whole Book of God of which they are teachers; but who are dealing deceitfully with and corrupting it. And this they do to their own (we pray, not eternal) shame, and to the unsettling of those who follow their unhappy teaching. It remains true, however, that God declares He has magnified His word above all His name. You and I can rest assured, therefore, that in spite of the combined assaults of wicked men led by Satan with the object of undermining its veracity, when heaven and earth shall have passed away, God's word will remain, stable as His eternal throne.

This much the Lord Jesus surely meant when He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away” —an utterance which is calculated to convey great comfort to our hearts, since it is the word of the Son of God Himself; and the written word is equal in authority, surely, to His spoken word.

Your letter, however, is more particularly occupied with Daniel and the book of his prophecy, and your questions deal more with its authenticity. “Was Daniel the author?” You ask, was the book written in the sixth century B.C. or “circa 100 B.C.?” “Are its historical parts all true or mixed up with very much of fable?” “As it is claimed that the so-called prophetic parts were written after the events they describe, what proof have you that they were written before?” The above seem to be the most important of your questions, but as I cannot undertake to answer them all at present, I will confine myself in this letter especially to the prophetic parts of the book. And of the prophecies, that of the Seventy Weeks (chap. 9.) will answer our purpose as well as any other. For if this can be proved to have been written before the events therein mentioned took place, we may reasonably conclude that the remaining prophecies are equally authentic, and that the higher critics have, as usual, made a mistake.

This prophecy of seventy weeks Dean Farrar was pleased to call “a chronological prophecy.” He also asserted that the prophecies of Daniel were the only ones in the Bible of this class, and that “this fact tells overwhelmingly against its inspiration.”

Now this is a most extraordinary statement, and one that is not at all correct. Compare; for instance, the prediction by Jeremiah of the seventy years' captivity (29:10); the prediction given by Isaiah that within sixty-five years Ephraim should be broken, and not be a people (7:8); and the prediction through the prophet Ezekiel respecting the desolation of the land of Egypt for forty years (29:11, 12). These are surely plain instances of chronological prophecy, and show that, however, learned the higher critics may profess to be, they certainly do not seem to display a very intimate acquaintance with the letter of the word any more than with its spirit.

Now let us turn to the prophecy. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish transgression.... and to bring in everlasting righteousness.... and to anoint the most holy” (Dan. 9:24-27). Here is a general statement of the leading events of the period mentioned in the prophecy. And we find that everlasting righteousness is to be brought in before it closes, and the most holy place prepared for the worship of God. It is evident, therefore, that the end of the seventy weeks will usher in the thousand years of blessing.

The next verse gives details as to the starting point, and the divisions of the weeks. There can be no reasonable doubt, it would seem, that the seventy weeks began in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes' reign. In that year Nehemiah was commissioned to restore and build Jerusalem (Neh. 2), which is what we find in this chapter (9:25).

The decree to Ezra referred to the temple and had nothing to say to the city (Ezra 7). From the twentieth year, then, of this Persian monarch's reign, we have seven weeks marked off, or forty-nine years, in which the street and the wall of the city should be built in troublous times. The account of these times may be read in the book of Nehemiah.

The next division consists of sixty-two weeks, and these added to the previous seven weeks make in all sixty-nine weeks, and reach up to Messiah, the Prince. Thus we have sixty-nine weeks or 483 years, separated from the full term of seventy weeks or 490 years, of the prophecy. These begin, as we have seen, with Artaxerxes, and end with the Messiah as come in the flesh. Such being the case it becomes of paramount importance to ascertain when Artaxerxes ascended the throne of Persia, in order that the twentieth year of his reign may be accurately fixed upon.

Now the date given in our Bibles for the latter period is B.C. 446, which would make the commencement of his reign about B.C. 465. But according to a nearly contemporary historian, this event took place much earlier. Thucydides relates that the accession of Artaxerxes had taken place before the flight of Themistocles from Greece to. the Persians, and, though he gives no date for the event, he incidentally mentions that it was during the siege of Naxos by the Athenian Fleet.

Thucydides' statement is that Themistocles' purpose was to go to the king (of Persia), and finding a ship at Pydna, bound for Ionia, he embarked and was carried by foul weather upon the fleet of the Athenians that was blockading Naxos...after lying out at sea a day and a night, he arrived afterward at Ephesus. And Themistocles.... took his journey upwards in company of a certain Persian of the low countries, and sent letters to Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes, lately come to the kingdom; wherein was written to this purpose, “I, Themistocles, am coming to thee, who, of all. the Grecians, as long as I was forced to resist thy father who had attacked me, have done your house the most harm,” &c. (i. 137). Thus it may be seen both from the testimony of Thucydides, and the letter from Themistocles, that Xerxes had died, and his son was reigning in his stead.

Again, Plutarch, speaking of the flight to Persia, says, “Thucydides, and Charon of Lampsacus ... relate that Xerxes was then dead, and that it was to his son Artaxerxes that Themistocles addressed himself... The opinion of Thucydides seems most agreeable to chronology, though it is not perfectly well settled.” (Life of Thenaist.) Still it is well to remember that Thucydides and Charon were both nearly contemporary with the times of Artaxerxes, and their testimony more to be depended on, therefore, than that of much later historians who assert that the flight took place while Xerxes was still reigning.

It is unfortunate, however, that Thucydides gives no dates to guide us in our search, but there are other historians who do this. Diodorus places the flight of Themistocles in the second year of the 77th Olympiad (B.C. 471). The same date is given in the Armenian Chronicle of Eusebius; but in Jerome's Eusebius, Olym. 76. 4 is the date given, and this answers to B.C. 473. “Having then this point to start with, that the flight of Themistocles to the Persian court occurred during the year B. C. 473 when Artaxerxes was already, according to Thucydides, on the throne, we are warranted in supposing that his reign commenced before the time of the Passover of that year, from which the Jews were accustomed to date the beginning of the year. Consequently, the Passover of B.C. 473 would commence the second year of Artaxerxes' reign and B.C. 455, the twentieth year, when, as we learn from Nehemiah (Chap. 2.), he received his commission in the month Nisan (the time of the Passover) from the king, “to build up the broken down walls of Jerusalem.”

We Must All Be Manifested: Part 2

This will be sufficient, I trust, to convince any Christian open to conviction, that, far from denying, I think we cannot too strongly insist on, the extent as well as the certainty of the manifestation of every man, believer or not, before the judgment-seat of Christ. But then, observe well, it is their manifestation. The moment we come to speak of judgment, the Lord has decided for the Christian already. In John 5 will be found clear, unmistakeable evidence, which proves the separation, even in this world, between believer and unbeliever, through the Lord Jesus. This real present separation is simply by faith, but it is not the less according to the eternal truth of God. I do not speak, of course, of external circumstances. The Lord introduces it thus in verse 21: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will: for the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that sent him.” Hence, it is evident that as two glories meet in Christ, so two actions are attributed to Him. One of them is in communion with the Father; the other is confined to Himself alone. In communion with the Father, He quickens or gives life. The reason is manifest. The communication of life

flows from His deity. None but a divine person can quicken the dead. The Father raises the dead: so the Son quickens not only those whom the Father will, but whom He will. He is sovereign, therefore, as being the Son, equal with God. Whatever may be the language of His lowliness as man, He never abrogated, though He might hold for a season in abeyance, His full rights as a divine person, one with the Father. But then the Father does not judge. How is this? The Son judges, and He alone. No doubt it is the judgment of God, but it is His judgment administered by the Son. The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son. Wherefore this difference as set forth in so marked a change of language? Why, in the one case, the quickening whom He will, and in the other, the judging by that authority that is given Him of the Father? Because the Lord Jesus here lets us know that His judgment is in the closest connection with His assumption of human nature.

The moral ground is evident. Why do men despise the Son, who ostensibly pay homage to God the Father? They take advantage of the humiliation of the Son, because He was pleased to empty Himself, to take the form of a servant, to be made of a woman, to become man. Wretched man, led of Satan, dared to spit in the face of the Lord of glory, and to crucify Him between robbers. His matchless and all-lowly love gave the opportunity to man, who was too madly base to lose it. The unbelieving way of every soul demonstrates the same sad truth. It is the history of the race from the beginning, and will be so to the end. God notices and will avenge it, when He makes inquisition for blood. But, besides, He commits all judgment to the Son. In that very nature in which He was set at naught He will judge. He will judge not merely as God, though He is God, but as Man, once thoroughly despised and rejected, because, though the Son, He deigned to partake of flesh and blood, and thus become Son of man. Man will be judged by the Man he hated unto death. Man, will stand and tremble before the exalted Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is treated here: “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all [men] may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment but is passed from death into life” (vers. 22-24).

The believer, of course, does not require judgment to compel him to honor the Son. There is nothing, first of all, that so honors the Son as faith; therefore, in hearing Christ's word and believing Him who sent Christ, the believer does honor the Son in that sort which is so sweet to Himself, and most acceptable to the Father, who refuses all homage at His expense. He bows to Him as Savior; he owns his sins, seriously and truthfully; he receives life and propitiation in Him and through Him. He confesses Him as Lord; acknowledges Him to be his Lord and his God. He does not need, therefore, the judicial pressure of Christ to make him unite the Son with the Father in coequal divine honor. Well he knows that none but a divine person, one with the Father, could give him that life which he has received in the Son of God. “He that heareth my word,” as He says, “and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” Even now to the believer the Son of God gives life, and the highest form of it—eternal life. How can he then but bow down and bless the Lord Jesus? The consequence is that he needs nothing to enforce it, as the unbeliever does, who rejects Him, does without His cross, denies therefore His word and His work, and therefore has to be forced to honor Him in some other way, if he with all men must honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

It is said here further for his comfort, not only that he “hath eternal life,” but that “he shall not come into judgment.” It is well known, and must be insisted on, that this word κρἰσις means judgment, and not “condemnation.” There is no Greek scholar who does not know that there is another word (κατάκριμα) whose function it is to express “condemnation.” Remarkably enough, it stands correctly represented in the common Popish version, though we all know the Roman Catholic version is too often inaccurate, and otherwise faulty, because it follows the common text of the Vulgate, even in its blunders not a few; yet for all that, the Vulgate being right as to this particular passage, the Romish version is therefore much nearer the truth of God in this chapter than the Authorized version of our Protestant Bible, though now given correctly by the Revisers of 1881. The Roman Catholic version, faithful to the Latin, which is here faithful to the Greek, allows and maintains throughout the whole context that there are two dealings in opposition one to the other, life-giving and judging. This contrast is kept up in every case. The Son has life because He is God; the Son judges because He is man. Being the only person in the Godhead who became man, but still in no way forfeiting His rights as God, He is ordained of God the judge of quick and dead. His resurrection proved what God thought of Him and means to do by Him, and what is the character, position; and doom of the world which put Him to death. The Son—the Son of man—will judge man. On the other hand, the believer owns Him, not only as the Son of man, but as God, on, and according to, His word; he consequently receives life eternal through honoring the divine glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The unbeliever, stumbling more particularly over His deity, refuses Himself, rejects, as we know, His work in atonement, or manifests a guilty indifference about it, even if he do not openly deny it—has no real sense of his sins, and consequently no fear of God, nor appreciation of His eternal judgment. In one or other form, men, unbelievers, slight, if not oppose, and in all cases do without, the Son of God, and, as far as they can in this world, dishonor the Father in thus dishonoring Him. And how, then, are they to honor the Son? They must be judged by Him. They have disclaimed eternal life, because they received not the Son of God. Now, they may avoid stooping to the humbled Son of man; but they must stand before Him as the glorious Judge, to be condemned forever. But as for those who in this world received Him, followed Him, adored Him, through faith in His name, they have everlasting life now, and therefore they need not to come into judgment. In truth, He was judged in their stead on the cross.

Let me repeat that it is not merely life and condemnation which are contrasted, but life and judgment. The word used here throughout means simply “judgment.” Unquestionably” the effect of judgment is condemnation. But this very result, which is otherwise scripturally certain, necessarily excludes the believer! Herein lies the importance of the truth before us. It crushes the vain hope of unbelief; it demonstrates the absolute need of grace. No guilty soul can enter into the judgment of God without being laid bare in his sins. Impossible that God should not deal with them according to, His own holiness. No matter who it is the man may be, if he be judged he is judged for what he has done and is; he is put on his trial for his sins; and if it be so, what is more certain than that he must be lost? In vain, then, to talk about God's mercy! His mercy is now manifested and proclaimed in Christ, who is the Savior Son of God, but will shortly prove that He is also the Judge of men. You cannot mingle the two things. The unbeliever has avowedly no part in Christ's salvation; he believes not, he ridicules or loathes the testimony of life eternal in the Son of God. On the other hand, and equally, the believer has no part in the judgment which the glorified Son of man will then execute. The two things are kept perfectly distinct. There is no mingling them in the smallest degree. W.K.

(Continued from p. 93)

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 3

But at a time of utter evil it suited God to divulge the secret of His purpose. From before the foundation of the world He chose us Christians, in Christ, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. He would surround Himself above with beings like Himself: holy in nature, blameless in ways, and love, their animating principle as it is His own. Such we shall be when His purpose takes full effect. We are sadly short now, yet is it verified in principle as to His elect. But God's purpose cannot fail; and Christ will make every word good when He comes to receive us to Himself and like Himself for the Father's house. Not as though we had already attained, or were already perfect; but we follow after; and God's purpose shall surely be fulfilled then. He that, knows what the Christian is destined to, judges any present measure in the Christian race and knows that he will have a more humbling yet blessed account to give the Lord in glory than any one's experience in a Methodist class meeting. Those who have entered more deeply into God's mind in His word are better aware what our manifestation to Him will prove. The faith of it has already brought down their high thoughts and imaginations, and shown us how weak and unworthy we are as saints, that no flesh should glory in His presence; and “that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

But God will surround Himself, not merely in heaven, but in its nearest circle of His own, with those capable of holding communion with Him. about everything that concerns His nature, counsels, and ways. Can anything be more wonderful than the place He designs for Christians? We ought to be therefore in course of, spiritual education for it now; but till we are like Christ at His coming, none can have yet arrived as a matter of fact at the fulfilled purpose of God. But then we shall be absolutely holy before God, and not a single thing to blame in us, according to the working whereby Christ is able to subdue all things to Himself. Instead of vanity or pride, there will be love that delights in God and His goodness without alloy. Even now are our hearts won to all this by divine grace, in partaking of a divine nature; but we justly feel bow poor is our manifestation of it now, and how comforting is the purpose, that every son of God will be absolutely thus according to God's nature. So it is to be according to the fourth verse.

The fifth verse takes up another side of the truth. Predestination. is not quite the same thing as election, and here we have the Scripture account of it. We do well to stand clear of human exaggeration here. Election is. to fitness for His presence in a nature like His own. Predestination is to a relationship, as like as possible to His Son's. But scripture carefully excludes any such human inference as God's predestination to hell fire. It is clearly revealed that such must be the unending end of the wicked. When the everlasting judgment comes, and they are judged, each according to their works, the book of life has none of their names written there, and they are cast into the lake of fire. But there is no predestinating decree of God in the case. Their own sins fitted those vessels of wrath to destruction.

Notice that pious and learned men have made the mistake of confounding “son” and “child” in the Scriptures. But they, however closely connected, are not the same thing. To identify them is really to take no small liberty with the word of truth. Not that one means to deny that the child of God may be also called a son of God; but the N.T. shows plainly that the two words express different things. It is the apostle John that particularly dwells on our being “children” of God. “Why?” Because we are born into the family of God. Born of the Spirit, we are thereby children of God, children of His family. “Sons” is wrong in the A.V. of John 1:12 and of 1 John 3:1, 2. Beyond question it should be “children” as in 1 John 3:10, and v. 2. But when it is a question of being “sons,” it is predestination that puts us into this place of relation. This was overlooked in the A.V. of Gal. 3:26, which should be, not “children,” but, “sons,” as in chap. 4:5-7. And so it should be in our ver. 5 of Eph. 1, where the word requires the adoption of “sons,” not “children.” There is never the adoption of children, but of sons. One must be by new birth a “child” of God. But God also predestined to adopt the Christian into the position of a “son” by Christ Jesus to Himself. All the Old Testament saints were “children,” as we who now believe are also. But they were not the adopted “sons,” as we may read in the argument that opens Gal. 4. On the other hand, we are all His sons now, whether Jew or Greek, and receive the Spirit of His Son. Every Christian is brought into that place of sonship. It is one of the new privileges of the gospel. The King and Queen do not consider the, highest nobles in the land to be in any such dignity. They may by courtesy be their trusty cousins; but they are not their sons. We Christians are adopted into the place of sons, and have the Spirit of God's Son sent into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. How wondrous, yet true! We are sons of an infinitely greater personage than the king, or any other that ever was on the earth. Such is the Christian by faith in Christ Jesus. It is not spiritual necessity as in ver. 4, but “according to the good pleasure of His will.” God might have predestined to a much lower place; He was pleased to give us, for His own delight, the highest possible for a creature, “to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us Objects of favor (far beyond the one act of “acceptance”) in the Beloved.” This explains all. Thus only could we be thus blessed (ver. 6), whether in new nature or new relationship.

Yet the apostle comes down in ver. 7 to our need even in communicating this roll of privilege:” In whom (Christ) we have (a present thing) redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses.” This is indispensable for the soul now. Otherwise we should be burdened and wretched, and unfit for the gracious working of the Spirit, or the enjoyment of Christ, or communion with God.

THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE INHERITANCE.

vers. 8-12

The earlier verses presented to us God's purpose about His sons, His heirs. This, I need scarce say, is the highest of all; for therein we are viewed. as perfectly brought into communion with His mind. This goes far beyond the inheritance, and we are before Himself. The inheritance is what we are set above in His grace. But the purpose of God about His sons directly concerns us in the nearest way, because it concerns Himself too. As men He has given us a soul and spirit by which we are distinguished, yet thoroughly responsible to Him. But as His sons we have now a new blessedness and a new responsibility. The old responsibility, we know too well, ended in total ruin. Man fell, and this practically led to, and means, every evil in nature and ways, because all is involved in sin, and flows from it. But now in grace He has taken us entirely out of ourselves (so to speak) as sons of Adam, and set us in Christ. God found none in heaven, still less in any other part of the universe, comparable with His Son the Lord Jesus. On the contrary, Satan led the world to the rejection and slaying of Christ; as the setting up of the antichrist will be his worst work at the end of the age. Impossible to conceive anything so evil, hateful, and rebellious as the antichrist. Even now are there many antichrists that prepare the way, who are all the worse because they once confessed His name. Of course, as the apostle says “they were not of us”: had they been, “they would have continued with us.” Their departure proved that none had part or lot with Christ. They abandoned their natural place in professing His name, and they became His greatest enemies, in direct antagonism to the One that God delights to honor, and loves supremely.

Already are believers given to know that they are set in Christ, associated in this ineffable way with Him to whom we belong. We may, however, be in the presence of God in spirit now. By and by we are to be there, in the very likeness of Christ, according to whose glory we are now called in every way by God. First, the heirs are brought out very distinctly; next, comes the inheritance. God, as to the heirs, had that purpose before the foundation of the world. But He purposed the inheritance also. It was not an afterthought. It was not after the ruin, but before the creation. It was immeasurably in eternity. Quite different was the call of Abraham. His was merely in time, but the call of the Christian was before time began. The very first purpose that God formed in His own eternal mind was to surround himself with beings of a totally different destiny from those that were to follow; beings that could know himself, and appreciate grace and truth; beings that needed it all, but at the same time whom He needed in order to gratify His own love, and share with them His thoughts and affections. And a wondrous fact too is, that He would have them to enter into that purpose of His now by faith. They were His secrets before redemption, but are here revealed in due time. It is what the apostle is now occupying us with in this Epistle.

It is observable in ver. 8 that His grace abounded toward us in all wisdom and intelligence, that such a communion should not be in vain. We do not hear about His rich supply in the earlier verses. There it is rather to tell us that we should be holy and blameless in love. But He would have us understand the inheritance, immense as it will be. Before, it was the imparting of divine nature, as 2 Peter 1 calls it, an answer to His own in holiness and blamelessness and love; for what else was suited to His presence? Not only so; but the new relationship must be just as fully in accordance with Christ. Nothing would satisfy His love but that which was after His pattern. The Son, the Only Begotten, was God, and of course therefore eternal. These were necessarily creatures, taken out of all ordinary conditions, but put into the immediately nearest relationship that God could vouchsafe. It was an adoption, a sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Assuredly, it concerns every true Christian to know what his new nature and relationship are. God forbid we should ever neglect or forget these things. Can anything make one feel more deeply that all is ruin at the present time and how deeply we are fallen from our true estate? It is not meant that the purpose of God can be frustrated in the end; but where, among those that bear the Lord's name, can be found any adequate approach to what is here revealed to the saints? The rarest thing to find in Christendom is any answer to the description God gives of the Christian. Is it not so? What can we say to such a fact? At best we are only learning what it is.

So again this future and immense inheritance is so illimitable as to embrace all heavenly and earthly creation, all that is to be put under Christ and consequently under those who are united to Christ. Do Christians realize that they are to share it all with Him? Hence the form His grace takes in view of the glory of Christ. He would have us capacitated to apprehend it in all wisdom and intelligence. This last word is in the A. and the R. Versions called “prudence,” an excellent thing in practical things. But in the present case it is a very insufficient word. What has prudence to do for understanding Christ's future glory. Clearly it stands here for “intelligence.” God would have us even now acquaint ourselves with this purpose also. We need to know our personal blessing first; but next, what we shall share with Christ when He takes the inheritance of all things. Spiritual understanding is requisite but is also abundantly given for this express purpose.

We may be helped in this if we look at the first Adam. When God made the first man and put him into the brightest part of the earth, or paradise as it is called, everything was “very good” (Gen. 1); but the very best were collected by Jehovah Elohim in His power for the head of mankind. So He planted the garden for Adam with special provision, not for every use only, but for delight and enjoyment also. And as Adam was constituted the lord of the lower creation here on earth, he was enabled in God's goodness, through the wisdom and intelligence conferred upon him, to give the proper names to all cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field; for all these were subjected to him. This is the more important, because it is the appropriate sign of the dominion given him. In Adam there was no question of sin. Adam herein assumed nothing in pride: it was the Lord God that brought to him the animals to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, it had His sanction. As master by divine appointment, the right or title was recognized, as he had the wisdom and intelligence for that function. Divine goodness had pleasure in it.

It is of the more interest to remark this, because, as we generally know, men of speculative mind have dared to question that man was thus endowed from the first. But philosophers deny everything of divine grace and power. They assume that Adam, if he ever existed, was a kind of barbarian. They lack faith and its discernment to enter into the real difference of Gen. 1 and 2, being carried away by the nonsense of the Astruc guess growing into the pretentious theories of German skeptics. In Gen. 2 is the relationship of the creature, and, in particular, man's responsibility founded on the place in which God was pleased to put him. So Adam gave these names, and God recognized them. Very far greater are the things God has done in Christ for us.

A fair and beauteous scene it was with every creature in it that God subjected to Adam. But what is that compared with the whole universe of God; and every creature above and below, after all the ruin, gathered into united blessedness under Christ's headship, and ourselves associated with Christ in that place of honor over all things? God therefore caused grace to abound toward us “in all wisdom and intelligence” that we might be capable even now of entering with spiritual understanding into a scene so boundless.

Even real Christians count it wisdom and prudence to disclaim all definite thought about the future glory. And no wonder. For the mixture of law and gospel destroys the right use of both, and reduces revealed truth to uncertainty. To souls in this state these purposes of God are, and must be, unknown. They need to receive previously the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. Were they at home in God's grace and truth, even in that respect, they would yearn after more, and the Spirit would lead them into all the truth, and show them things to come for Christ's glory. Surely God looks for this, that we should understand the grace He has lavished on us. Here He has made known “the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself for the administration of the fullness of the times” or, seasons (vers. 9-10). The importance of the word “mystery” is that it means, not something unintelligible as in vulgar usage, but, a secret that was never revealed in the Old Testament. Mysteries are entirely peculiar to what is called the New Testament, wherein they are made known from the Gospel of Matthew to the Revelation of John.

Hence the purpose of God about us, or about the inheritance, was nowhere revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is well to recall the last verse of Deut. 29, “The secret things belong to Jehovah our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Now, God is pleased to reveal what He then reserved to Himself. The time was fully come; and these purposes of His are some of His great secrets. You will find for that reason that the Lord speaks about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. In the Old Testament that kingdom was revealed, but not the mysteries of which the Lord spoke in Matt. 13, which turned on His rejection by the Jews, which forms the theme of chaps. 11 and 12 especially. Thereon follows the peculiar aspect of the kingdom of the heavens when the Rejected of men would go on high; and there it is that we know Him now by faith. The kingdom of the heavens assumed this new form when Christ took His seat on the Father's throne. And we may note that when He rose from the dead and was glorified, then more and more the disciples were brought into the understanding of the mysteries of God; and of those mysteries the apostle Paul was an eminent steward, as John also was.

All these were entirely outside the Old Testament; but they could be understood like other truths when revealed. For this we need, and we have, the Holy Spirit given to us. None of them could have been anticipated; but now that God has revealed them, they are for us to search into by the Spirit,

(Continued from p. 79)

The Lord Jesus in Humiliation and Service: Part 2

This poor, tired man was the Lord of life and glory, who not only could lay all her life bare before her in its sin and shame, but could fully meet her heart, meet her need: and attract her to Himself, so that she loses all her sense of fear and shame in her anxiety to bring others to Him too. When our consciences are awakened, we want then to know how a sinner can be just with God, and so we turn to Romans and the reasonings of the Epistles; but when the heart knows I am a child, and that the same favor rests on me as on Jesus, I turn back to the Gospels and say, ‘I must look at Jesus—what a Savior He is!' I want Him close, close to me then! brought close to my eye. Then I look back to the Gospel of John and see God come down in Him. I get in Him one, who instead of driving the one who had the defilement away, drives away the defilement, and leaves the poor leper clean, and near Him. Where do we find the blessed Lord going as soon as He is called out to His public ministry? To the baptism of repentance. Why does He go there? ‘Oh,' He says, ‘these poor people going there are those in whom God is working. They are taking the first step in the right direction, and I must go with them.' I find this perfectness and love in Him. ‘I cannot leave them to go alone,' He says, ‘I must go with them.' I need not say He needed no repentance, but it was the first right step of that poor remnant, and He will be associated with them. ‘This is not your place,' says John. ‘Yes,' He says, but “suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” He does not haughtily say— “becometh me,” but “becometh us.” He takes His place in grace along with us (here it was with the Jew), and the heaven is opened for Him and the Holy Ghost descends upon Him, and the Father's voice proclaims Him Son; the model of our place in grace through redemption.

I get heaven opened four times. At His baptism, when the Holy Ghost comes down on Him. Then heaven is opened, and the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man, that is, the highest angels become his servants.

Again, heaven is opened, and He comes out on the White horse to judge. And between these two I get heaven opened for Stephen to see Him. The heaven was opened to Stephen as to Christ. But mark how the glory of His Person is always maintained. When heaven is opened to Stephen, it is that he may look in and see Jesus; but when at Christ's baptism heaven was opened, it is for heaven to look at Him. He was not looking at an object in heaven. Heaven was looking at Him. Heaven was never opened for heaven to look down on anything in this earth till that divine blessed One is there. The fullness of the Godhead is in Him, but He is sealed as a man. The Father says, All my delight is there. What is most despised on earth is the One heaven can't but be opened to, and the Father can't keep silence about Him. A man is the delight of God. Heaven is opened to Him, the Holy Ghost comes down upon Him, and the Father's voice proclaims Him His Son. And it is of profound interest to see that here is the whole Trinity first fully revealed, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

First, then, His place as the manifestation of accepted man is settled. As soon as that is settled, ‘Yes,' He says, ‘but these people are in conflict and difficulty, and have got this tyrant over them, I must go and meet him for them.' He meets the devil—overcomes him, of course. The devil wants Him to go out of His course, to keep not His first estate; he would have Him leave the place of obedience and a servant on the plea of His being a Son. The written word was sufficient to conquer the devil, and enough for the Son of God to use. All possible salvation depended on His victory; all that victory depended on the written word of God. Never, save at His death, was there such a solemn moment. What He held for enough, and what Satan held for enough, was the written word of God. He bound the strong man by that means, and set about spoiling his goods. There is one man who knows the truth because He is the truth, who is satisfied with the written word, and that is the Lord. There is no craft of Satan that the word of God is not sufficient to meet. There was One as a Man wielding a power that was sufficient to deliver man from all the effects of sin. If sick, they were healed—healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him—power working in goodness, And what is the effect? They would not have Him! The Lord on earth had power to remove the effects of Satan's power, but behind those was man's heart, which could ask Him to depart. Where there is a legion of demons, and He sends them off into the herd of swine, man prayed Him to depart out of their coasts—didn't want Him. The quiet devil that influenced their hearts was worse than all the legion of devils that ran noisily down the steep place into the sea.

Satan says, ‘If you take this people up, you take them up at your cost. I have got the power of death over them.' But He goes on. Presently Satan, prince of this world, raises all the world against Him. The disciples are afraid, and leave Him; one betrays Him, another denies Him, and the rest run away. ‘Well, then,' He says, ‘since this hatred is so great, I must give up my life to redeem them out of it’ — “through death, destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

They ask Peter, “Does not your master pay tribute?” Peter comes to Jesus, and He manifests He is God by showing that He knows what is in Peter's heart, and says, “Of whom do the kings of the earth take... tribute? of their own children or of strangers?” “Of strangers,” Peter says. “Then are the children free.” He was the Son of the Great King of the temple, and free; and so was Peter. He puts Himself with Peter. “Notwithstanding, lest we offend” (puts Himself with Peter again); then shows He is God over all, and Lord of creation, by disposing of creation, commanding the fish of the sea to yield up the tribute money, “that give for thee and me” —puts Peter and Himself both together again. How lovely!

While He was God in everything, He was the humblest, most affable man that ever walked this earth. In death only is He alone. He looked for compassion and found none. “Tarry ye here and watch with me.” In His sore trial He looked in Gethsemane for them to watch with Him—they could not, and an angel from heaven comes to strengthen Him. Will He ever give up being a servant? Never? That form of servant He will never give up. Selfishness likes to be served. Love likes to serve. That is just what we find in Christ.

No intellect knows God, We only know God by our wants. Infidels say you can't have more than the power of man's mind. If I see a decrepit old woman leaning on the arm of a strong man, and supported by his strength, it is not in herself that she knows what strength is—and that is how we know God. No man can know God by “knowing;” he would not be man if he did, and God would not be God at all. It is conscience that knows the way God meets us. It is a want in me. Look at Simon the Pharisee and the woman. What did he know of Christ? He felt no need of Him; thought he was putting honor upon Him in asking Him, though in curiosity, to his house, and does not show Him the courtesy even as to a guest, and Christ is not inattentive to neglect. He knows and feels it. If I am cold and indifferent to Him, He knows and feels it all; it touches His heart. God's essential names are Light and Love. Look at the woman, the light made her know herself, and the love made her know Christ and trust Him. Christ thoroughly knew her heart, and she thoroughly knew Christ's heart. While Simon had thought Him unworthy of the common courtesies of life, she found a fullness of grace, and of light, and love, that could meet all her need. Her sins, which are many (He knew them all), are all forgiven, for she loved much. God's heart and man's heart, through grace, met in blessedness where the Pharisee was an utter stranger.

I learn this lesson here, that the Person of the Lord Jesus may have full power in my heart before I know the fact of forgiveness. The essential names of God, Light and Love, I find both brought out in Christ. The light that reveals everything in me, and the love that puts it all away. When the light comes and manifests me before God, I find myself in the presence of love, that has done everything for me. If I had the light without the love, I must run away and hide myself. If I had the love without the light, it would not do at all. It could not be. I get both in Christ—the divine light that discovers all, and the divine love that makes me know that all is put away. When light comes in, the conscience is honest. Take the robber, and hear him— “We indeed justly” —light had discovered that to him— “but this man has done nothing amiss.” How did he know? By divine teaching. Would not our hearts all say, “He has done nothing amiss?” Then, again, “Lord,” he says—that is divine teaching as to His Person. All His disciples had run away: he alone owns His Lordship there on the cross—comforts His heart in that hour. And what does he ask? Is it relief from his pain? No. Suffering all that terrible agony on the cross, does he ask the One hanging by his side, whose power he owned, to lessen the suffering? No; but to be remembered by Him in His kingdom; and the effect of this is, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Oh, here was a heart that had found out what He was. A Pharisee is a Pharisee, and a whited sepulcher, but a broken heart is suited to a heart-healing God.

Is He a servant in the glory? ‘Oh, yes,' He says, ‘indeed I am.' He says to His disciples, ‘I am going to the Father; I can't be your companion any more on earth; but I'm not going to give you up. What's to be done; I must fit you to be with me; give you “a part with me.” You are clean, but you will be picking up dirt in your walk in this world, and this won't do to be associated with me in glory; I must wash your feet.' And that is what He is doing now. He is a servant to wash our feet now. He sets Himself to that service. We do not cease to be clean, looked at as to our standing before God, but we walk through the world and pick up dirt, and Christ is our Servant to wash it away. In Luke 12 we find He will be our Servant in the glory. “He will gird Himself, and come forth and serve them.” It is divine love unspeakably blessed. He will never give up being a man. “Let your loins be girded, and your lights burning.” I must have a full profession of Christ, that is, lights burning. ‘Have your loins well tucked up for service, while I am away; when I come again I shall have my own way, and you shall sit down, and I will serve you.'

Shall I ever forget the humiliation of Christ? Shall I ever forget His manhood in that way, giving Himself for me, and then taking me up there to be with Himself, where He is remaining a Man for me through all eternity; shall I forget? Never! never! through all eternity. I shall never forget His humiliation on earth. While seeing Him in glory animates the soul to run after Him; what feeds the soul is the bread that came down. That produces a spirit that thinks of everything but itself. I need not go into detail, but you get in the rest of Phil. 2 all the delicacy of feeling brought out which flows from absence of self, and love to others, because the soul has got imbued with Christ and is feeding upon Him, till unconsciously it grows to be like Him. I must have chapter 2 as well as chapter 3 of Philippians; all the energy you like, but then go and study Him, and live by Him, and you will come out in His likeness, in all His grace, and gentleness, and loveliness. Oh, what a place, redeemed by Him, going to be with Him in glory, and set meanwhile to manifest Him on earth!

The Lord give us to be so occupied with Him who was so full of love, so full of gentleness, so full of lowliness, that we shall manifest the same! The first sin of the world was losing confidence in God. He comes back to us in all these sins of ours and says, ‘Now you may trust Me.' It is God winning back the confidence of your heart, unbounded confidence in unbounded love—and that not by exhortations from heaven, but by His presence on earth. ‘If you are a poor woman, not fit to face any of your fellow-creatures, come to Me; I'll have you, trust Me; if you are hanging on a cross for your crimes, you shall go up to-day with Me to paradise. My blood is enough to put your crimes away, My heart is open to receive you.'

The Lord give us to know more of that One, who when He put forth His own sheep went before them—met the lion for them, and delivered them! The Lord give us to realize what He was!

J.N.D.

(Concluded from p. 96)

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The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 4.

We may observe that this feast differs from others in that in it we have not only our individual responsibility brought before us, as in the passover for instance, but also our privilege. In the passover we have the solemn responsibility of practical holiness being maintained, also of our life being holy—all grounded upon Christ, the Lamb slain.

But here we have another thing, not our responsibility but our privilege. Now we have this new privilege that could not be in the least degree entered into by a Jew at that time. Now we can read, and are bound to read, these Jewish forms in a light that they did not possess or enjoy. The heavenly light shines upon us because Christ is in heaven. He is that light. That is the meaning of the day dawning and day star arising in the heart, of which Peter speaks in his Second Epistle (chap. i.). “And we have the prophetic word confirmed, to which we do well to take heed (as to a lamp shining in a. dark place);” it is more than dark, it is squalid as well as dark. Look at all the prophecies, the terrible state of man which they show; for prophecy came in when things were in a state of ruin. That however is not. Christianity. The blessedness of Christianity came when Christ came, when Christ died, when Christ arose and went up to heaven still more. This is the day dawn.

Now then here we have the rising to a height that cannot be exceeded, and it is all in Christ. How precious! Not only that we have all the blessedness of judgment stayed, of sins gone, and sin itself judged in that same death of Christ—all His mighty work in our favor to draw out the sense of God's love and to produce love to God as well, as nothing else could, but now it is the enjoyment of this wondrous place of Christ, a new place even for Him. Great is the mystery of godliness “God has been” or “He who has been manifested in flesh... received up in glory.” What is the mystery of godliness? People might have thought that it is something we can do, something the Holy Spirit would work in us, but no, the mystery of godliness is Christ Himself, it is bound up with Christ.

This is what we find in these three Feasts, Christ in the Passover—Christ in the Feast of Weeks—the Spirit of God come down; but He was not the new corn of the land—the corn of wheat that had fallen into the ground and died, but is now risen. No, Christ is that, and we are part of the same stock. We have the same nature—made “partakers of a divine nature.” Christ is risen and He is our life, we have not only the life but we have also the Holy Ghost to give divine power of enjoyment of the life, which can never be unless the heart surrenders itself to the death of Christ. People stop short of that, they don't know the power of His resurrection till the power of His death is known. And that is what makes a full gospel of such grand importance for the saint. There is a great difference between a free and a full gospel. A free gospel is the finest thing possible for the sinner. A full gospel is not for the sinner but rather for the saint. I might say Peter preached a free gospel, and three thousand were converted on the first occasion. Paul preached a full gospel. There is this difference that the preaching of Paul was most rich and profound and of the greatest possible blessing where it was entered into. It is all there for us and we ought not to come short of it, and if it is for us to know it is for us to preach. But the grand point for us is to take it into our souls. When that is done there is full blessing now. It is the for evermore, where death can never enter, where sin never did enter. Yow there is delivering power and that is the power that works in us. That is our portion by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, for that blessed. Person is always at any rate faithful to Christ, and to Christ not merely dead, but risen from the dead. He never stops short at the death of Christ—He would have that death entered into in all its sweetness—and in many respects there is nothing like it, but still there is this power in resurrection that we do well not to lose, and the Holy Ghost would have us follow Christ in faith where He is, and to know that our portion is in Himself there.

His death! It was for us, but now in His resurrection and. His present place in heaven we are there in Him. As Christ is, so are we in this world. Connected with this I would just add one word. It is remarkable that the day of Pentecost was...the day when the law was given. The law was given on the first Pentecost—not yet called Pentecost in the same way as now, but still it was fifty days after the wave sheaf and there was the law, and oh! what weakness, what death, and what misery, just because the law was good and we bad, because Christ was not there. But now that Christ has come, everything is turned into blessing. The judgment of God! Yes, because it fell on Him, it was due to us but it fell on Him, and surely it is an immense thing to know that; and can anything show more clearly where these dear evangelical people are than the fact that this great truth of the gospel is not believed. The wonderful thing is that they are so good practically with so little truth to be their foundation. It is a vital truth of the gospel that the believer shall not come into judgment.

I lost a most valued friend years ago by insisting upon that great truth—a lady of remarkable spiritual power, more so than most women I have ever met. She never came into communion. There were great difficulties. Her family dependent upon her being faithful to what they called their own mother the church, and there she was—much to be felt for. She had been a Roman Catholic and had married a High Churchman who died and whose children were bound very strictly indeed. She however could not get over that difficulty in her mind. I have found few persons that more appreciated the truth as far as she knew. But when she heard this wondrous truth of the gospel, she thought it peculiar and something out of the common rut—this rich wondrous truth which has been so fully brought out of late years. But no, my dear friends, this truth is bound up with the gospel. It is a full gospel.

There is nothing more wonderful than a full gospel—the gospel as Paul preached it. As the Lord said in John 5 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word,” not the word of Moses or the prophets now, “and believes him,” not believes on Him, that is, about it, but “believes him that sent me.” The essence of faith is that I believe God, that I believe what God says. He that, through hearing Christ's word, believes God that sent Him “hath life eternal, and cometh not into judgment,” not merely “condemnation.” Our translators of 1611 changed it to that, and I have never met with one of these evangelical, pious, people—even the most intelligent, that believed that he should not come into judgment. They think that the believer will come into it, but be kept and brought through it. But, let me tell you, if the believer goes into the judgment he would not, could not, get through it because he is not guiltless. Even David felt this when he said “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psa. 143:2). And the judgment is a real thing. It is a foolish thing to go into a judgment that is unreal, and the idea of God s sparing anyone is an impossibility. This idea of the believer going into judgment undoes the effect of Christ's redemption. It is true that they think that the blood of Christ will speak in the day of judgment. But no, no one will speak in the day of judgment but the Judge. There are the books, and they are opened, and the books speak of the guilt of the man and the guilt is undeniable, and so there can be no issue from judgment but to be cast into the lake of fire. There is no soul but a sinful soul that passes through the judgment. The believer's judgment is past, that has been borne by Christ for all who believe. We shall not stand before the great white throne. We shall tell all out, or, “be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ;” we shall confess everything there, but that is a totally different thing to being “judged.” Being judged means that I suffer for what I have done, and if that is so what could it be but everlasting ruin! But it is not so. It would be a total denial of, a total inconsistency with, life eternal. Impossible that a person who has life eternal could be judged! A man who has life eternal, judged! such a judgment would be a mockery. The whole thing is a jumble of mistake. However, this dear friend presented my letter setting out the truth on the subject to the then Bishop of Carlisle, and he was horrified.

I mention this to show that nothing startles these people more than a full gospel. A free gospel presents rather what we are delivered from. It is a mercy to have got thus far, but I do believe that those I am addressing to-night are peculiarly responsible to God, that if they have got the truth fully for themselves, and I don't deny that they have, they are responsible to make it known to those who may not have had such opportunities. I don't deny that they ought to break it up into the smallest pieces to suit palates and the weakest stomachs. It is right to think of the state of souls, but we should seek to lead them on, little by little, and not to leave them where they are.

That is the danger of too great quickness in receiving into fellow ship. Souls should be led on to know the gospel—a full gospel, otherwise they remain where they are in their souls. We are all to blame. Instead of teaching them about the antichrist and Babylon and the woman of the seven hills (all very interesting and profitable, in its proper place), let us seek that souls should hear and believe the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. For what are all these things compared with a sound and full gospel as a foundation for the soul—to know that all the evil is cleared away in the death of Christ now, that we are in the unclouded favor of God, and that Christ's place is ours? No doubt, it is entirely through Him and His death. It is not merely that we look back but we look up to where He is now, we know that we are one with Him who is there. That is the grand truth of this Feast of Weeks.

“Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a free will offering of thine hand.” Well, undoubtedly, this free will offering of the hand is a bright testimony in its own way. The free will offering of the hand is supposed to represent the heart, and so it does. It is one who is delighting in Christ, for we are delivered from all unreality, from all appearances, and it is the saddest disgrace for a Christian if the heart is not behind all that the hand does. “Which thou shalt give unto Jehovah according as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.” The essence of Christianity is our personal blessedness now. We are not only a forgiven people, but a people blessed; and how far? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.” Well, that is just the Feast of Weeks, and as there is this blessing—the richest possible for God even for us now on the earth—mark the effect (ver. 11), “Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter,” but it does not end there, “and thy manservant, and thy maidservant.” The blessing is to be felt by those that serve in the humblest position. Is it for those in the houses only? No, “and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you” —the specimens of the various classes of sorrow and need that are in this poor world. There we have the opening of the heart to all. Truly this is divine love, that if we are thus blessed the heart opens in love both Godward and man ward too, and wherever there is most distress, there it goes out the most actively.

“And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt” (ver. 12). This is not a man tied and bound with the chain of his sins. No, he remembers that he Was a bondman. It is the denial of that. It is not that you get the denial of it simply in the eighth of Romans, but, here you have it in the type of Deut. 16. The apostle presents it thus— “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:12). So, manifestly, I am no longer in bondage, but delivered. It is “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Had it been the law of Moses, I would be under bondage, and that is the reason really why these pious people are tied and bound with the chain of their sins. The law is continually before their eyes. When we are looking at Christ, we do fulfill what is according to the law; Christ in that case fills the heart. “Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou shalt observe, and do these statutes.” That is, the spirit of obedience is strengthened in the soul in the highest degree by, the sense of this complete deliverance and this blessed union with Christ.

(Continued from page 100.)

(To be continued).

The Jordan: Part 2

I do not mean that we can do without the Epistle to the Romans. The Christian who gets so full of Ephesian truth that he can do without Romans (or, I would add, Hebrews), is on dangerous ground; while he that thinks he can do without Ephesians is flying in the face of God, and the glory of His grace. If He has given us a full cup of blessing in Christ, our wisdom is to—seek to understand what—our portion is; and the great practical business of the, Christian is to live according to the place wherein he is set by God.

If. God has brought me out of the house of bondage, He has also put me in heavenly places in Christ. It is not a question of what I see or feel. It is all very well we should appreciate what we are, but we must believe first; and when we take in the completeness of the deliverance out of Egypt, then we see in type what we are delivered from; and. when we believe our portion in heavenly places, what can we do but bless Him who has so blessed us?

The First Epistle to the Corinthians, though by no means so full of this as that to the Ephesians, brings before us the principle of this truth: “As is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall...also bear the image of the heavenly.” The first thought is, that we are heavenly now; and the second is, that though we are heavenly; we do not yet bear the image of the heavenly, but we shall. What a deliverance from mysticism! Mysticism is merely the craving of the heart to feel within what it would desire to have; but faith avoids this occupation with self, and enters into the truth of God. It may be a mystery; but it is one unveiled, and which God, makes to be most real and intelligible by the power of the Holy Ghost, for God, of His own grace, has counseled, done, and given it all to us in Christ.

Thus you see the passage of the Jordan differs essentially from the crossing of the Red Sea. Even for the children of Israel at the Red Sea there was the rod, the judicial rod of power; which for the Egyptians brought destruction. Besides, there was no lasting memorial set up. When you come to the Jordan, there was a double memorial. Twelve stones were placed in the bed of the river, where the feet of the priests rested; and other twelve were taken out of it and were brought to Gilgal.

This reminds me of another fact that gives us a beautiful link with the Epistle to the Colossians. When Israel passed through the Red Sea, circumcision was not practiced—there was no sign of the mortification of the flesh—but when they passed through the Jordan they submitted to it. Circumcision means the mortification of the flesh. This furnishes another reason why the common doctrine on this point cannot be true; for when we are dead and gone to heaven there is no flesh to be mortified. Alas! it explains also why self-judgment is so feeble in the mass of those who love the Lord. They know the Lamb and His sprinkled blood; they freely realize their deliverance from Egypt into the wilderness, but not at all their position in Him above, nor consequently do they know Gilgal, where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from the circumcised.

When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan they placed two memorials—one of death and one of resurrection, showing that in every sense death is gone. But more than that, flesh now is mortified. And there is nothing that gives the soul the sense of the end of the flesh, its being judged thoroughly, and the comfort of it, so much as the consciousness of death and resurrection as bringing us into our true place before God.

Hence, in Colossians, the Holy Ghost speaks not only of a baptism, but also says, “in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (2:11).

In the next chapter we read “Mortify, therefore, your members which are on the earth.” So there is this double application. According to the book of Joshua they were first circumcised; and, let them move where they might, they come back to Gilgal. This is a call to continual mortification of the flesh, on the ground that we have been once for all circumcised ... Our circumcision was God's dealing with our nature in the death of Christ; but on the ground of this we have to mortify our members. If God has already judged the flesh, what I as a Christian am called to do is to take God's side against my own evil nature. I am called to cherish direct communion with God in condemning any and everything that is unlike Him. This type, you see, is full of direct instruction to the soul, and so far from being a mere theory is eminently practical. I have no doubt this is the reason why people shrink from the types of both the Red Sea and the Jordan. Many would like to know that they shall be protected from judgment, but God would put them in association with His own objects. He gives me a heavenly title that I should have my mind set on things above; for He would have my mind formed by these new and heavenly objects that are where Christ is.

And oh, beloved brethren, what a relief it is that in the common business of this world one can have one's mind and heart set upon what will never perish Let us have our hearts occupied with what is precious in God's eyes. We can take up other things as matters of duty; but the moment we make them objects, we altogether miss the mind of God. It does not matter what the thing may be. Suppose a person at any business; it makes all the difference possible whether he is simply doing it to God as that which He has given him to do, or whether it is what he likes and takes pleasure in, his object being to be great or rich by it. Where this is the case, I am practically making this world to be the scene of my enjoyment. I am not even treating it as a wilderness, still less am I acting as associated with Christ in heavenly places. On the other hand, if I hold firmly, as from God, that even now I am a heavenly man, still, if God has given me anything to do, I do it—no matter what it may be.

Accordingly, in Eph. 5, 6, you find all these earthly ties which may rightly be the relationships of heavenly men and women and children; but the only true power of walking well on earth is to remember that I am a heavenly man. It is not only that I am a delivered man, but I am put in present association with heavenly associations in Christ; and unless I bear this in mind, how can I behave myself suitably to the position I am in?

Suppose you take the case of a member of the royal family that for a time goes incognito to some other country. Though he hides his glory, he carries the sense of it in his heart. The King of England might travel on the continent by the title of the Earl of Chester, yet would he have the secret consciousness that he was Sovereign of an empire on which the sun never sets. So with the Christian: the world does not know his title. The world would think it downright fanaticism to be talking about heavenly persons when here below; but we know not merely this, but that the world is under the judgment of the Lord, and it is only the breath of His mouth that is between it and everlasting judgment. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Oh, on what a hair hangs the judgment of this world l but as to us who believe, judgment has passed forever—I mean judgment as against us on God's part. I do not mean that we shall not have all our ways manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ. We shall all appear, but shall never appear as criminals there. If Christ has brought us now into the favor of God we are not going to lose it when we are risen and glorified.

I beseech of you to hold fast this precious truth. You have passed across the Jordan as truly as you have marched through the Red Sea. You are not only to remember that you are pilgrims, but that you have a living link with heaven; be sure you regard it as your own proper home. The wilderness is merely a place of sojourn, but the heavenly places are our only abiding place. God's purpose to have us in heaven was made before the world was. The world has become sinful, and so has become a wilderness, for there would be no wilderness if there was not sin; but God has delivered us in grace from our sins, and has also brought us in spirit through the wilderness. As a matter of fact, indeed, we have sin, and are passing through the wilderness; but in title, and as united to Christ, we are clear from both. May God in His grace give us to enter more into this truth, and to live in the power of it!

W.K.

(Concluded from page 102.)

Self-Judgment

Self-judgment, how due to grace! which blots out our wretched past, and declares that, as He is, so are we in this world: an impossibility, but for His advocacy. This is a need, no less than His propitiation.

Inspiration of Daniel and His Book: Part 2

Assuming then, that this is the correct date, we turn again to the prophecy and we find, as previously noticed, that the sixty-nine weeks terminate with Messiah the Prince. The Hebrew word “Nageed” properly means a “leader,” a “prince.” It is also used absolutely to denote a prince of a people—anyone of royal dignity. And the word is applied to the Messiah beyond all question in Isa. 55:4, “Behold I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander to the peoples.” Thus there seems to be no excuse for applying the prophecy to some other prince—Cyrus for instance—as is sometimes done. If, then, the Lord Jesus is referred to in the words “unto Messiah the prince,” to what period of His earthly sojourn does the word “unto” apply? Now there seems to be no occasion in the Lord's ministry when He was owned and saluted by the people, as their King, except at the time of His last entry into Jerusalem (John 12:12-15). He was born “King of the Jews,” but was only publicly owned as such at the time above mentioned. For the word declares “He came to His own (world) and His own (people) received Him not.” Thus then it seems we may safely conclude that the word “unto” refers to a period six days before the Lord's death, when the King being owned, the sixty-nine weeks ended. Hence follow the words “After the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and have nothing,” signifying that He should have nothing of all that belonged to him as King. This has no reference to the effect of His work on the cross, but to His rights and possessions as David's Heir. At that time an usurper occupied the throne of David, and, moreover, murdered the true Heir.

The next step then, is to seek to ascertain the exact date of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Now, most chronologists are agreed that His birth took place at least four years earlier than our common era, A.D., and that His death occurred in the month Nisan, A.D. 29. This, indeed, is contrary to the prevailing custom of dating the crucifixion A.D. 33, but it is the conclusion arrived at by Clinton, Lardner, Adam Clarke, and Canon H. Browne in his “Ordo Sæclorum” —all men of learning and ability.

Further evidence as to this may be gathered from early writers. Tertullian, in the second century, says— “In the fifteenth year of his reign [Tiberius], Christ suffered,... whose sufferings were completed within the time of the seventy hebdomads, under Tiberius Caesar, Rubellius Geminus and Rufus Geminus being consuls, in the month of March at the time of the Passover” (Adv. Judaeos, c. viii.) Lactantius, at the beginning of the fourth century, writes: “Who [Herod] was under the empire of Tiberius Caesar; in the fifteenth year of whose reign, that is, during the consulship of the two Gemini;.. the Jews affixed Christ to the cross” (Instit. iv. 10). Augustine also, writing in the fourth century, says— “Christ died in the consulship of the Gemini” (De. Civ. Dei. 18. 54).

Thus may be seen that the Fathers (so called) seem agreed respecting the names of the consuls at the time of the crucifixion. In fact, so nearly unanimous were they in this, that one writer remarks— “Nowhere in the first five centuries do we find any other consular date of the death of Christ than the year of the two Gemini, except in the Greek writer, Epiphanius.” Now, with such strong evidence before us it seems we may safely conclude that our Lord suffered in the fifteenth year of Tiberius' reign (A.D. 29), when two persons bearing the same surname—the two Gemini—were consuls of Rome. This latter circumstance is said to be unprecedented in the annals of that city. It gives, therefore, additional proof to the accuracy of the above date.

Assuming then, that this date is the correct one, we have, reckoning from the month Nisan, B.C. 455, to the same month, A.D. 29, (deducting one year for adjusting the eras) exactly 483 years, the very time required by the 69 weeks of the prophecy.

Perhaps, however, you, like others, may object that the date here given for the twentieth year of the Persian monarch's reign does not agree with that placed in the margin of our Bibles. True, but these dates have rather a curious history. About two hundred years ago, “Bishop Lloyd undertook to affix the dates of Archbishop Usslier's scheme of chronology to our English Bibles; but in this instance he made a considerable alteration, and substituted another date of his own, so as to adapt the reign of Artaxerxes to his own theory.” Had he followed Ussher there would have been no difficulty, for he gives 454 B.C. as the date in question. Dates differing from the above are given by other chronologists, but it is not a little remarkable that the difference in any case is not more than ten years.

Such being the case, the question arises—How comes it, that there is such approximate agreement between this prophecy and profane history? Supposing, for instance, the Book of Daniel were written circa B.C. 100, would that account for it? Is a person more competent to tell what will happen fifty years hence than five hundred? Scarcely. The impugners of the book saw this, hundreds of years ago, and in order to evade its force, declared the writer must have lived after the occurrence of the events he described so accurately. And the higher critics have followed in their wake. For is it not significant that they have produced nothing new?

But this subterfuge will not meet all the requirements of the case. The cutting off of the Messiah, for instance, is the central event of this prophecy (Dan. 9:24-27), but I have not yet met anyone bold enough to affirm that the book was written after the Lord's death. If then it were in existence before He assumed human form, how comes it that His death, and even the very nature of it, is so minutely described? The Hebrew word translated, “cut, off,” when applied to death, is said never to mean a natural, but always a violent, death, either by the hand of God or by man—a death for guilt (cf. Num. 15:30 et passim). Does not this show that the writer had a full and correct knowledge of the subject about which he was writing. By what means, then, did he obtain this intimate acquaintance with the future? Surely it must be clear to any simple mind that a man does not, and cannot, know intuitively what preceded his existence here on earth, or what will follow the moment actually present. It is only by a divine communication the future can be known.

It follows, therefore, that the Spirit of God was as much needed to dictate the prophecy a hundred years, as five hundred, before-hand. God alone can see the end from the beginning; and He only can describe future events and the exact time when they will happen. Further, since “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” it is evident He is in nowise restricted by length of time. The future, as well as the past, lies open before Him, and He is fully cognizant of all the intended developments of His sovereign will.

Now in conclusion. You will have seen, I trust, (a) that this “chronological prophecy” is not wrong after all, in its computation of time, as the critics would have us believe; (b) that, even, by lessening the age of the prophecy four hundred years, all the predictions are not thereby accounted for, the most important one being left out, and thus the argument based upon the supposition that the book of Daniel was written after the events, is not sound. It is clear, therefore, that when taken on their own ground these learned men are not infallible. What a comfort to know this, and to rest assured that we can still cling to the “old-fashioned notion” that the Spirit of God was needed to unfold the future, and that it was He who dictated the whole Bible (2 Tim. 3:15)! And may our hearts and actions be molded and guided by it till the Lord comes! W.T.H.

(Concluded).

What Is a Christian - Now and Hereafter? Part 1

IT is rather a solemn thing to say what a Christian is, especially when we think of what it is that made him one. God is acting so as to glorify Himself. It is a solemn thing to be a revelation of that of which Christ is worthy—of the result of Christ's work; as it is said, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11). It does us good to think of this, because it makes us judge ourselves, to see how far we are really that. Not that we ever shall be the perfect display of it until we are “like Him” (1 John 3:2), until we see Him as He is, and are conformed unto His image in glory. Still, if we bear Christ's name, we should seek to present a fitting result of His work in the world.

That is what a Christian is. Hence it becomes a solemn thing to say what he is. Still, whilst it is a solemn question, it is a matter of grace. There is such a comfort in this thought! Whilst most solemn, it is always happy, because it is of grace the free, full, and sovereign grace of God. This all helps us a little.

With regard to the question itself, there is a great difference between what a Christian is “now,” and what he will be “hereafter.” Not as regards the spring of life, redemption, &c., but now a Christian is the expression of the power of God in the midst of evil; hereafter he will be the expression of the result of that power which has put away the evil, when all the evil is put away.

Take us at our best estate now—a Christian is the expression of the power of God in the midst of the prevalence of evil. A Christian will not be that exactly hereafter; he will then be the expression of the result of God's power, in the highest sense, when the evil is put away.

As to the foundation in Christ's blood, and the power of His resurrection, and the love of God, this as much belongs to his state hereafter as it is the basis of what he is now. God's love in Christ will be the spring of my joy then as it is now.

One thing that gives such settledness of peace (as it regards his own soul's peace) to the Christian is, that it does not depend upon what he is now, or will be then, but upon that which is common to both states. The ground of it is the same now that it will be in heaven. The thing displayed may differ; But the ground of confidence is the same now as hereafter. As to the source and spring of it in the love of God, His love is as true, and as perfect, and as complete, and as much manifested towards me now, as it will be when I am in glory; He cannot in His divine love go beyond the gift of His Son.

The life also that I have now is not a different life from that I shall have then. No doubt the body hinders It. Its manifestation will be different; but the life is the same.

And the ground of peace changes not. That upon which I rest for eternity is just as much now as it will be then. The blood of Christ has been shed and has been carried into the holiest (Heb. 9, 10). Whatever our conflicts, our conflicts (properly speaking) spring from that ground being entirely settled. Whoever is in conflict as to that has not got to God, or otherwise has not understood the ground of his standing Unsettlement of soul may arise from a man's not having seen the gospel simply; but as to the ground of his standing, it is just as much accepted now as it will, be then. There is not another Christ to die—no fresh blood to be shed. Nor is there another revelation to be made. There is not a love to spring up in the heart of God that has not been told out. There may be a fuller apprehension of that Which has been accomplished, but there is nothing new either to be accomplished or revealed.

Whoever has not got upon that ground (has not had that question settled in his soul) has not got as yet upon simple Christian ground. God may be working in his soul; but I do not call having life the getting upon simple Christian ground. There may be life without the knowledge of what God is as for us, of the perfectness of His love towards us, and of what He has done for us in Christ. Life may make me anxious, and hope, and have desires after God, and long to be assured of His favor, and the like; but, when we speak of a “Christian,” we speak of what a Christian is in scripture, and scripture always speaks of him—of a believer in any state—as to his standing. It is very necessary to see this.

We must not confound the exercises of a Christian with the standing of a Christian. The ground of his standing is God's work: In his exercises there comes in himself; his flesh, his ignorance, and many other things, alas! may be working. But it is entirely according to God's thoughts, and not according to my thoughts, that my standing is to be judged of. Moreover the exercises of my own soul are never the same as God's judgment about them.

When I am thinking of these, it is my actual state that occupies me; but were God to take notice of my actual state, He must condemn me. What He has regard to is the work of Christ for me, and my union with Him, not in this respect nay actual state at all; It is always important to recollect that, because my own judgment of myself ought to be as to my actual state.

Whatever his exercises, however these may vary, the Christian, in one sense, is just the same, because he is in God's sight as Christ. Christ being the perfectly accepted man at God's right hand, the Christian is looked at by God in the same position (Eph. 2:6), sitting in heavenly places “in Christ.” In that sense there cannot be any difference; and the ground of our acceptance cannot ever be imperfect. I repeat, we must not confound the movements of life with the ground of our acceptance. We can never have this too simple and clear. It does not make one despise the first actings of life, its first movings and breathings, however feeble and imperfect: I do not despise my child because he is not a man.

In the Ephesians (where what a Christian is, is fully brought out), men are viewed as the “children of wrath” in their very nature (necessarily heirs of wrath, because God is what He is, and man is what he is). Every other distinction is lost sight of, because, in his character of a sinner, man is brought fully into the light of God. But having thus told us what man is, the apostle does not stop with man; he turns round and begins at the other end; he now tells us what God is, that He is “rich in mercy,” and (as the effect of this) that He has set us in heavenly places in Christ.

But when we come a little more to detail, I would recall the distinction which I made at first—that a Christian is now the expression of the power of divine life and the divine presence (divine life, I mean, aided by the power of God), in the midst of evil that he knows; but hereafter he will be the blessed expression of the result of God's power when evil is put away. So with Christ (there was no evil of course in Him; yet, speaking abstractly, it was the same thing; in Him it was perfect) when here; He was what He was in the midst of evil. There cannot be any increase in it, in itself; but the manifestation of divine power in us is capable of an indefinite increase.

Redemption however, precedes everything else (I do not mean by this that it precedes the counsels of God). First, Christ “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 spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). Redemption precedes the washing. Washing may go on, but it comes after redemption. He makes her His, before He sets about making her what He would have her to be. There may not be a clear thought as to it; but the thing is done nevertheless.

Redemption being accomplished, the Lord sets about producing in us the effects and fruits of His, grace in conformity to Himself.

The first effect of divine life in the midst of evil is not merely to see, but to have the conscience exercised about, certain things. The moment life begins to work, we get the consciousness of evil inside as well as of evil outside; that is, it gives the judgment of evil in ourselves. Not that the instant Christ is presented to the soul in grace, the soul sees the evil plainly; it may see the grace and blessing, knowing evil in a general way, without being exercised about it through any definite application of what Christ is to the man within; there may be rather the loveliness of Christ attracting than any deep work in the conscience. I can quite understand that. But then, before we get into a properly Christian state (the process may be longer or shorter), the necessary effect of life working is to give us the judgment of what man is, in the main bearing of his present condition, as looked at by the Holy Ghost. It brings in the consciousness of what we are in the presence of what Christ is. Then we get the man brought down into the distinct consciousness that it is all over with him. And it is all over with him. I mean by this, not merely that he has sinned and there is condemnation, but that he has no right, or title, or claim, to anything now that he has, either to the promises of God or to anything else. Now that is the place the soul has to be brought to (so hard to come to), to find out what it is in God's presence. He may hope to get out of the scrape if he thinks he has any right to the promises, because these may help him; but it is no use talking of God's promises when God is talking of what I am, and of judgment. If I am thinking about what I may be some time or other, promises have their place, they come in most beautifully; but if it is what I am, promises do not touch that. The Syrophcenician woman (Matt. 15) will serve as an illustration. No promise could meet her condition; for as a Gentile she had not any claim to the promises. The Lord says, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If you come to me as an Israelite, I may do something for you; otherwise “it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto dogs.” But when she replies, “Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table,” she in effect says, God is rich in mercy; and Christ cannot say He is not—that there is nothing in God for a poor sinner.

I do not believe that a person gets upon right Christian ground (one has to make allowance for ignorance, but there is no true, no solid ground, as to simple and abiding peace), until the soul has been brought to the consciousness that it has no claim whatever or title to promise.

Having been brought down to this by what goes on within, there may be attraction; but the first full effect is that the man is judged, he sees what he is, and becomes entirely hopeless as to what he is, and is turned over entirely to the thought of what God is. We have only to say, “What hath God wrought!”

I am now upon new ground, namely, upon that of what God is towards a sinner who is altogether vile. If the sinner is perfectly vile, God is perfectly good. Further, I come to see what He has done because He is so. It is not that He has taken him out of the world. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,” &c. He will do that by and by.

The first thing in this new life, inasmuch as it is all. in Christ, is, that He is raised from the dead. We have to look at what God has done in Christ. I find. Christ dead because of sins (our sins); and then I find the quickening life-giving power of God coming in and raising Him from the dead. I should separate this entirely from the heavenly standing of the saints. We have all been too much accustomed to confound these two things, resurrection-life and heavenly standing. What I see as the effect of resurrection-life is this—a man quickened and raised in Christ becomes a pilgrim down here. This is not all that a Christian. is. But it is the power of divine life in the new creature moving in a world that does not belong to him, and to which he does not belong. The Christian begotten by the resurrection of Christ is a distinct thing to consider from a Christian sitting in the heavenly places in Christ. Though the same individual is both, they are distinct things to consider.

In 1 Peter 1 we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath [not, “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” as in the Ephesians; but] begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time” —(vers. 3-5). I find here persons begotten unto a living hope, and what is their hope? are they sitting in heaven? No, they are hoping for it. Therefore the apostle says (chap. 2:11), “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” It is the Christian on his pilgrimage that is contemplated. He is a stranger here. He has an inheritance in heaven; when he is in his inheritance, he. will be no stranger; but he is not there, he is going towards heaven. He is a resurrection-man on earth, walking through the world with new affections and feelings, going on towards his inheritance, but he is not there; an Israelite in the wilderness, redeemed from Egypt, and a stranger, but not in Canaan. And there comes in the trial of faith. The apostle goes on to say, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (vers. 6, 7).

To be continued.

We Must All Be Manifested: Part 3

THEREFORE, we may note, the statement of the Lord Jesus is the strongest the language He employed could afford: and where is the tongue more admirably accurate than the Greek? and by whom is it wielded with such precision as by the writers of the New Testament? The Lord's words here recorded show that it is decided forever between the believer and the unbeliever. The truth is, that for man all turns upon Christ. Do I make light of Him? Then I give the lie to the testimony of God. I insult the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, and prove myself to be at war with God. This I cannot do, save to my eternal judgment: “He that believeth not is judged (κέκριται) already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God;... shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:18, 36). If I receive Him by faith, I have eternal life in Him on the warrant of the living word of God: “He that heareth my word and believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment” (κρίσιν). It is a verbal noun formed from, and alluding to, the same word that was rightly translated “judge” in verse 22. It is essential to the context that the same sense should be preserved intact throughout. Weigh what comes afterward: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” Manifestly we have life again as the effect of hearing His voice—and this, too, going on now. The dead, the spiritually dead, are being awakened to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, then heard when the great salvation began to be spoken by Him, but still continued “by them that have preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” And they that hear shall live—as He said. Such is the declared effect: He that believes “hath everlasting life:” “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” The reason why the Father is said to give this to the Son is, I apprehend, because Christ the Son so completely takes the place here of a sent One in humanity upon the earth, though even He does not so speak till He had betrayed, as it were, His own intrinsic glory, as One personally entitled to quicken whom He would. Here, however, true to the place He had been pleased to accept, as man in subjection to God the Father, whose glory He upheld above all things, He only speaks of the Father as having given to the Son to have life in Himself. It is part of His perfection as man, that He did not claim as a present thing all or any of the rights attached to His essential dignity, but that He entered fully into the humiliation by which alone God could be retrieved in His moral glory here below, by which alone the counsels of grace to the lost could be made holily efficacious.

Hence the Lord says that the Father hath “given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” Life is in Him; He also is the appointed Judge. Then we have the final result: “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.” Here it is an hour, not “that now is,” but wholly future; and it is no question of faith called for, or unbelief proved, but “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.”

Before, the only part expressly treated was the believer with his blessing; dead indeed as to his state by nature, but quickened by hearing the voice of the Son of God. It was an individual personal thing for the soul; but when we come to this future hearing of His voice, there is no question of faith any longer. It is the mighty power of the Son of God that is put forth absolutely and universally. Therefore, “all that are in their graves,” it is said, “shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.” Does this mean all at the same moment, so that they all form a common class? Not only is there no such doctrine anywhere else in the Bible, but this passage, rightly understood, excludes it. Popular as it may be, the idea of a general resurrection is wholly without foundation—nay, contrary to all Scripture. No doubt two or three passages in the word of God have been construed to speak of an indiscriminate rising from the dead, and none more commonly or more constantly than the verses before us. Yet it is not merely a mistake as to the force of the text, but a fundamental error, which will be found to obscure and weaken salvation by grace; for it confounds the ways of God, and blots out that present difference which it is God's manifest desire to render specially distinct now to faith, as it will be by and by in fact, when confusion is no longer possible.

They were not, then, to wonder that even now dead souls receive life in hearing Christ; for a more manifest wonder was coming when the voice of the Son of God sounds forth in a day that is future. Then, “all that are in the graves,” (that is, not the dead morally, but all literally dead,) “shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” These are thereon not viewed as a common category, which as lying in the graves they were, but are by resurrection divided into two distinct classes— “They, that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of [not 'damnation,' but] judgment” —the very same word throughout. It cannot be denied. It is in vain for learned or unlearned to attempt glosses, clever or clumsy, over the expression. The word of God is too strong for man to bend it. No doubt, the truth is too bright for those that uphold the error of the A.V. in this particular case. This or other reasons may have influenced the English translators from Tyndale: the motive I do not pretend to judge; but the fact is plain. And I affirm that “condemnation” or “damnation” is a wrong rendering of κρίσις, for which there is no tenable ground. The verb means, and is rightly translated, “judge” (verses 22-30); the substantive means, “judgment,” or “the act of judging,” and should have been so translated throughout, as is now done by the Revisers of 1881. (Vers. 22, 24, 27, 29, 30).

But this makes the distinction of the two classes that are raised from their graves manifest and complete. As to the first, they are those that have practiced good (for they are no longer characterized as believers only); it is a life-resurrection. As bowing to Christ in this world, they had life in Him, the Son; their resurrection is simply the consummation of the life. For the body will be quickened as well as the soul. It is Christ, as the Son of God, who gave them life through faith, even now and in this world; it is Christ who will shortly call them out of their graves; and the power of the life they possessed in Him will be then manifest forever.

As to unbelievers, they contemned the Son of God. They saw not His glory; they felt not His grace. They consequently lived, or rather they lay, in unremoved death, moral or spiritual death before God. They had no life even while they lived, because they had not the Son of God; and the consequence is that they, summoned from their graves, know not a resurrection of life according to the mold of Christ's own, but simply rise to be judged. They come forth in due time (solemn thought!) that they may be compelled in judgment to honor that Son whom here they spurned to their own everlasting shame and ruin—to honor Him who, when they were alive, met them with gracious words of life, had they but hearkened to His voice of quickening grace. But, alas! He was definitively rejected. They had done nothing but evil or worthless things here; they are called up by Christ's power. It is a judgment-resurrection.

Thus, beyond all controversy, there remains the patent fact that we have two resurrections distinguished here by their character—resurrections, not merely separated by time (which is stated expressly elsewhere, but after all it is quite a subordinate question), but in their own nature and issues as different as can possibly be. A difference of character is a far more important feature than a difference in point of time. For my own part, so far from thinking so much of the long space between them, I believe that were it but a minute which separated the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment, the eternal and essential features would remain; that the one is a resurrection of life which is given by the grace of God in His Son, and always distinguishes those who have received Him here; the other is a resurrection of judgment for those who would not have Him in this world, but are finally compelled by divine power, when His voice is heard in glory, to honor the Son even as the Father.

W.K.

(Concluded).

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 4

Here it is first the truth as to the Christian; then we begin to hear it as to the church, each in due time. All is revealed in view of the new creation that God was bringing in. It is far beyond the kingdom of the heavens in ever so new a way. The church of God is explained which had never been revealed, but kept hid in God. The mystery hid from ages and generations was now revealed to the holy apostles, and by Paul. The new building, the church of God, rests upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. It is not said, or true, upon the prophets and the apostles. Great care is taken to put the apostles before the prophets as both of the N.T., and a common class for this work of God, when Israel was finally set aside for the present. Their writings are an entirely new volume; and in order to make it plain and certain, they were written in a different language, in Greek, as those who compose the church were to be chiefly from among the Gentiles.

God made known this mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself; and, to render it effectual, conferred the needed wisdom of understanding. It is therefore now no longer a secret. His purpose is for administration of the fullness of the seasons, to gather together (or head up) the universe in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth (ver. 10).

This is a wholly different thing from gathering together into one the scattered children of God for which He died (John 11:52). The latter is the unity which He asked of His Father in John 17:20-23. The former is not yet begun till He appears in glory and delivers the whole creation. The heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ must be revealed before the inheritance can be set free; and its earnest expectation awaits the revelation of the sons of God. For we know that though grace has already freed the heirs, their mortal bodies are not yet changed into the likeness of His glorious body, and that till they appear with Him in glory, all the creation groans together till now.

Hardly a phrase in scripture seems less understood than Eph. 1:10. Though this is not the fit occasion to lay bare the strange variety of opinions—learned and unlearned the fact is as certain as inexcusable. The language of the apostle is plain, save that the word for summing, or heading up, rises necessarily to a sense never thought of among heathens but given its fullest and highest force in this apostolic revelation: an immense elevation shared with other Greek words in N.T. usage. The question here is not what men conceive who do not adequately weigh both the word and the context; but what these both fairly compel us to accept as the mind of God here conveyed.

Most have been misled by the supposed analogy of Gal. 4:4. But the phraseology is as different as the time and circumstance and aim. “The fullness of time,” now past, simply means the time fulfilled for God's sending His Son to redeem or buy out from under the law to the adoption of sons, and to impart the Holy Spirit. “The fullness of the seasons,” still future, means the completion of those seasons when God instituted dealings of varied character: human government from Noah's day; call to separation and promise given to Abraham; law from Sinai with other supplements in Israel; world-power, on Israel's failure, in the four great empires; to say nothing of the fall of man and creation long before, and the gospel, last of all, consequent on redemption.

God has left all these to run their course, as testing human responsibility in so many ways. And it is unquestionable that none of them is ended, as all must be when the Lord of all comes in judgment of the quick: a judgment practically forgotten in Christendom, though the creeds, so little heeded or even understood, testify to it. There will be seen in all solemnity the total failure of man, in all these respects; but most flagrantly in that the world, Jew and Gentile, rulers and people, crucified the Lord of glory. God will then call to account how men treated each of these institutions which He established and man violated. Take government on the earth. It never was till after the deluge; and it continues still. Hence in the N.T. we read, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and those that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment” —not “damnation” which is an execrable exaggeration, and blunder of translation as in Rom. 14:23, 1 Cor. 11:29, and in too many other passages that refer to temporal judgment only. The Christian is to be subject to the law, or, if God's truth be at stake, bear the consequences quietly. Yet not one word warrants the Christian to exercise civil authority: many scriptures call for his subjection to such authority, but never to exercise it. We are not of the world, as Christ is not. He declined even to arbitrate, and has set us an example that we should follow His steps. It is ours to obey, always God, if not always man, and then to suffer, not to rebel. We are sanctified by the Spirit to the obedience of Christ, to obey as He obeyed. What a help it is to a Christian to be content to pass as nothing at all in this world but in the spirit of obedience as the Lord ever did. Further, he can afford to respect others, and can do so freely, learning of Him who was meek and humble in heart. Especially does he need grace when it is a duty to find fault with another. Then have we most reason to be lowly, and vigilant. We have to watch against ourselves lest, by a hasty word or way, we should only make bad worse. But to return, God has not yet called the world to account for misgovernment. He surely will, as we may read in Psa. 82; and the One who will be invested with the administration is the Lord Jesus. But quite another dealing of His began with the first of “the fathers,” (Rom. 9:5; 11:28), Abraham. It was the separating to God from idolatry which came in after the deluge and overspread even the line of Shem, as we read in Josh. 24.

Israel as a people then followed and undertook to keep His covenant. But what did Israel become at Sinai itself? and where are they now? Scattered to the winds of heaven. Where is a nation in the world so dispersed as Israel? Yet had they walked rightly, God would have made them stand unmoved as a mountain. In everyway they totally failed. Take any detail of theirs, as, for instance, the priesthood. It was set up, as nowhere else. Aaron made the golden calf to please the people, and before consecration was complete, two were cut off, and the other two only spared by intercession.

Then, take the judges that God raised up in their distress. What failure even in the judges! What can one say of Samson? Even Samuel who shone among them, through his sons' fault lost the confidence of Israel, who would have a king like others. And how did Saul turn out? or even David, the man after God's heart? or Solomon, with his father, typifying the Lord, each in a different way? The nation consequently broke up in Solomon's son, the proof of general sin, till each of the kingdoms in turn had to be swept out of the land by the just judgment of God.

Then came the Gentile world-powers. They were entrusted with universal empire. The head of gold, Babylon, soon set up an idol forced on all the nations at the penalty of death. Such was the first: what was to be the conduct of the last? It crucified the Lord Jesus; and on its rise again, will oppose the same Lord when He returns in power and glory. Man broke down in every one of the empires; but the last was to be. the guiltiest of all.

Thus all these seasons will close when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. The Lord will bring in an entirely new administration; in which besides judging each of these broken trusts, He will establish them in. His own person and power to the praise and glory of God. Everything in which man failed will be taken up by Him who never failed in His humiliation; nor will He in that day of manifested blessing and glory. He will not only stand. Himself, but He will maintain a glorious kingdom over Israel, and empire over all nations and tongues. The on earth righteous men will live throughout a period of a thousand years. Of course one does not ask the doctors what they think about that. They, judging by present appearance, must regard such an expectation as mad, They are no worse than the divines, who deny miracle and prophecy, and are giving up genuine inspiration from Genesis to Revelation. These men of knowledge falsely so called know not the scriptures nor the power of God. Methuselah fell short of a millennium; whereas in the future, everyone on earth who is not rebellious against God, is to live the thousand years throughout. Believers will be transferred from the old earth to the new without passing through death. So it will be on earth when the seasons spoken of are fully out, and the time come for the Lord to take His world-kingdom (Rev. 11:15). The future administration will be in His hands when the seasons of man's responsibility have come to nothing but utter sin and ruin. Then will all the universe, inclusive of the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, be summed up under the headship of the Lord. It is not the eternal state, but the kingdom in its largest possible sense, when the Heir of all things takes and holds the inheritance to God's glory.

The heavens, as we too well know, are now severed from the earth; and the things on earth are in opposition, each to each; and confusion reigns through sin. Spiritual wickedness is still in the heavenly places; Satan is still the accuser before God, as he is the arch-deceiver of the whole inhabited earth. And what a field of self-will, vanity, pride, covetousness, lust, violence, falsehood, corruption, lying, unrighteousness, and ungodliness is that of man here below.

Even in what is called Christendom, where is Christ all? Where is scripture only, and all, obeyed? Where has the Holy Spirit His due place individually and corporately? But the time hastens when the Lord will come in His kingdom and the heavens and the earth be in perfect harmony; when everything in the heavens above and on the earth, shall be subjected by divine power to Christ, gathered or headed up in Christ as a universal and united system. All know too well that there is not the smallest approach to such a call as this now, nor has it ever been so. But in this day of the Lord that is to dawn, there will be unfailing righteousness, peace, and joy. In an exceptional case of rebellion, death will demand its victim. But it will not be the rule as now. It will be normal to live through the millennial day. But Christ will then have complete and universal sway manifestly. He will bear up the pillars, and chase away want and suffering. If the tiniest insect that flits in the sun's light, if a single blade of grass on which we tread, were not brought under the power of Christ's reconciliation and blessing, it would be a victory for the enemy over Him. But God's purpose will stand, not only for His heirs, but for the inheritance in all its vast extent and to the minutest detail. The reason is plain. As He created, He will restore, all things, though assuredly not all persons, for the mass live and die His implacable enemies. He died to reconcile all things to Himself. H He is declared to be the Heir of all things. Everything above, and everything below, the universe will be put under Christ. This is God's purpose, but not the fact as yet now. It is only God's counsel still, while the heirs are being called; it is not accomplished yet, but surely will be. The Lord is waiting for it. He is not reigning in any such sense as prophecy requires. Rejected by Jew and Gentile He is accepted on high, and He sits on the Father's throne above. There beyond doubt He is crowned with glory and honor, but He has not taken His great power to reign openly and put down every foe.

(Continued from p. 109)

(To be continued).

The Ark and Its Contents

“The ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was a golden pot that had the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy-seat” (Heb. 9:4, 5). “And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him [God], then he heard the voice speaking unto him from above the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the testimony” (Num. 7:89).

The first of these scriptures presents in a figurative way God dwelling in the midst of His redeemed people, at a time when they were pilgrims in the wilderness, on their way to the promised rest. The second points to the readiness with which He hastened to avail Himself—when all had been finished according to His own word—of the opportunity thus afforded of getting access to His people, and of communicating to them, in the manner here described, the intimations of His will for their comfort and blessing, as also for their light and guidance. The way into the holiest was not yet made manifest; so the people could not come near to Him, but He would draw nigh in grace to them and occupy Himself with all the details of the wilderness journey.

The many references to the sanctuary and worship of God in Israel, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, are all to the wilderness period, and not once to the more imposing ritual and choral service of Solomon's temple; so that the analogy between the Book of Numbers and this Epistle is very close, although with this great difference, that whereas, amongst Israel, Moses alone was privileged to speak with God face to face (Num. 12:8), and. Aaron alone to represent the people officially (Lev. 16), the Epistle exhorts even the weakest believer to draw nigh both for worship and to obtain all that he stands in need of. There cannot be the smallest doubt that the ark in a very special way typifies Christ in all the rich resources of His grace: whether as the witness for God, represented by the tables of the covenant within, or as the One who was fully able to meet all the needs of the people, typified by the golden pot that had the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. Again, the blood sprinkled mercy-seat pointed onward to His death, in virtue of which alone—righteousness being established before God in heaven—God Himself, now glorified by that death of which the blood was witness, could meet man, and have to do with him, without at all raising the question of sin, as this had been met and forever settled according to the character of the divine glory, at the brazen altar, by the sacrifice.

The mercy-seat then, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is not there presented as the meeting place for God and the sinner, but as the meeting place for God and the saint, or the accepted worshipper. It is well to observe this, simple and obvious as it is, Those addressed in the Epistle were such as had received and bowed to the divine testimony as to forgiveness of sins and justification, because of God's having raised up from the place of death, and glorified at His right hand, the One who had undertaken and accomplished the work of atonement and redemption for God's glory and man's blessing. The starting point then, is Christ set down on High, Whose work of purification of sins has been accepted by God, and Whom the believing Hebrews are directed to consider as the Apostle and High Priest of their, and our, confession. Believers in Him (we as well as they) are holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, not seen as yet in heaven, but on their way thither. Meanwhile God was speaking to them by His Son, instructing them as to all these great and precious truths, and encouraging them to make full use of their privileges as purged and accepted worshippers. The doctrine of the new birth is not here developed (although we who know it may find it assumed or emprisoned in certain passages as chap. 2:10, 13:6, etc.), yet before their conversion to Christianity they had stood in a privileged place of nearness to God (different to other nations), but there is the setting aside of every other man that “this Man” may stand forth as the expression of all that is perfect and excellent, and perfectly suitable to represent us before God, while meeting us in all our weakness and need. His perfect work necessitates the passing away of all that is imperfect and faulty. There shall even be a “new covenant” yet to be established with an earthly people. Those who believe in Christ are sanctified by the blood of the new covenant are qualified to draw near to God in the holiest of all for worship, and to find grace, etc.

The privileges of such as are represented by the High Priest who has passed through the heavens, are of a more exalted character than will be the portion of God's ancient people. However blessed and glorious they may be in their own land in the millennial days, yet will it be a worldly, and not a heavenly, sanctuary. The throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) is now for a heavenly people who enjoy the favor and right of access to God within the vail, exactly that which it was intended the mercy-seat in Israel should have been for an earthly people to whom the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. They were, indeed, represented by the high priest, but in consequence of the grave failure of the two sons of Aaron, this was limited to the tenth day of the seventh month.

To be continued.

BY W. KELLY.

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The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 5.

Can there then be more blessing than this? There is a third Feast. How truly is it written that “all things are ours”! If one were a Jew and not a Christian, he could only keep one at a time. One he was bound to observe, the Passover, first and alone; then as the others came, each could only be kept separately. Indeed the Feast of Tabernacles points to a new and future state of blessedness. But “all things are ours”; and we are meant to have all these joys, once tasted; together in our hearts and to have them always, if we are given to know them from God.

Here we read in verse 13, “Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days.” The day of Pentecost, if only one day, brings us pre-eminently into the anticipated joy of what is heavenly, eternal. It is based on the wave-sheaf exhibited in the wave loaves. A course of time here below is not marked in it as in the Passover on the one hand, nor on the other in the Feast of Tabernacles. Seven days, are an earthly period. There is no such thing in the Feast of Weeks. In a certain sense Pentecost, although a day marked off from all others, is the emblem of that which has no end. As one with Christ we enter into the things above and unseen which are eternal. There will never be a time when we shall lose the Spirit of God, not even in heaven. So our Lord gave commandments to the apostles through the Holy Spirit after He rose from the dead (Acts 1:2). He received the Spirit at His baptism (Luke 3), and again in heaven, as the Father's promise, to shed forth on us (Acts 2:33). For in virtue of redemption we have the Spirit too. We shall not lose the Spirit when we rise. It would be an irreparable blank if we had the Spirit no more when in heaven. But there it will no longer be His gracious condescension in working in us that we may judge ourselves and correct our faults. Alas! what a great part of His work now is not only ministering to us the blessedness of Christ but dealing with our short comings; in heaven it will be so no more: every affection will rise in worship, or go forth in service. He will have nothing to correct. All will go out in power and sweet savor to God. But here we have this Feast of Tabernacles seven days. How comes it to pass and when do the seven days of glory—seven days of grace crowned by that which does not end at all—Pentecost—come on?

We enter into the power of the resurrection at the same time that we rest upon the foundation of His death. But now here we have another thing. We have Christ in heaven and we have Christ coming again, so that all our blessing is bound up with Christ, and so we read “after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.” Now I think that none can have any doubt as to the meaning of the gathering in of the corn and the wine. You are all familiar with the gathering in of the corn—the harvest. The harvest is typical not only of the Lord's coming, but coming to judge; and farther, you know that there is another type—the vintage—still more tremendous. In the harvest, there is the gathering out of the good as well as the execution on the bad; but in the vintage there is nothing but the trampling down of that which is most hateful to God; and what is that? It is the religion of the world. When God is dealing simply with the world some will be gathered in, for of some, although just like the rest, grace will make a difference. But God has no measure of His abhorrence of the religion of the world. The vine of the earth, that which is of the earth, earthy—taking the place of the true Vine, after the true Vine had been here; but how horrible in the sight of God! how hateful to God! and accordingly there is nothing but trampling down in His fury. The Lord Himself will do it. After that the Feast of Tabernacles will come. And what is after the Lord's accomplishment of His judgment on the earth? Well, it is the day of glory. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; therefore, as I have said, there will be a stated and full time of glory—seven days. Just as there was a stated and full time of grace, so here there is a stated and full time of glory. But we are not waiting for that time in order to enter into the joy of glory. We see the glory, in its best case and highest power, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently it is said not only that the Spirit of God rests upon you, that is Pentecost; but the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. So we are entitled to keep the Feast of Tabernacles too.

And what belongs to the Feast of Tabernacles? “Thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son and thy daughter,” —practically the same thing as before. “Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah shall choose: because Jehovah thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands.” There is not a word of this said before. That will mark the day of glory, not only personal blessing, that is really now for all that are Christ's; but what will be then, “bless thee in all thine Increase, and in all the works of thine hands.” That is not the case now. There is many a saint now with whom all things go wrong, people are tried in every way, the apostles were the very off-scouring of all things, set forth the last, set forth as a spectacle to the world; that is not a blessing on the increase of the works of the hands! And where, on the contrary, people flourish in the things of this world the Lord intimates that it is hard, not impossible but hard, for such to enter into the kingdom of God. It is a difficulty but not an impossibility; but then there will be no difficulty. The time is coming to bless everything, not only persons, separated from all the rest of the world; that is now where the blessing comes on souls high or low they are called out from the world, they are Galled not to go with the world in the slightest degree, as the Lord said, “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world” (John 17:16).

Whereas in that day the world is to be blessed. Then will be the time when the Lord will ask for the world. He does not pray for it now. “I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me: for they are thine.” That is what came in at Pentecost; but in the future He will ask for the world, and He will have it, and more than that, Jehovah will have it full of blessing every where. That is the Feast of Tabernacles. The universal blessing—all but universal blessing. There will be exceptions even in that time, just to show it is net the eternal state although the spirit of that day will have come.

“Because Jehovah thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose” (vers. 15, 16).

Here we have a blessed setting out of our portion. May the Lord grant that our unfeigned confidence may be in Himself, that our joy and delight may be, above all, in that Christ that covers everything.

If I look at the dark side, there is death that covers it now; the blood is before God; not our folly not our death. His death! That has changed all for us. If I look up, there He is in all the glory and perfection of His person, according to the counsels of God and I am placed there in Him. And so you are, so are you; and this is the portion of all that are His. As Christ is, so are we in this world. And if we look forward, there is nothing to fear in looking forward, there is all the fullness of blessing in all the increase of the works of the hands in that day. For the time will then have come for the day of blessing—the Melchisedec Priesthood—not merely the principle of it, but the exercise of it, and not only according to the order of Melchisedec as now. Then will be the true Melchisedec bringing forth the bread and the wine, that it may not be simply meeting the necessary wants of the body, but everything that can cheat the heart of God's people here below. W.K.

(Concluded from p. 116)

The Vatican and the Criticism of the Pentateuch

The Papal Commission appointed to consider what shall be the attitude of the hierarchy towards the critics' treatment of the Books of Moses has issued its Report, which lists been confirmed by Pius X.

The commission is of opinion that—

1. The arguments of modern critics in derogation of the Mosaic authority of the Pentateuch are not of such weight as to set aside the internal evidence of the sacred books themselves, which supports the constant conviction of the Jewish people and uninterrupted Church tradition. These books have Moses for their author and have not been put together from sources for the most part of later date than his time.

2. Moses did not write everything in the Pentateuch with his own hand, or dictate the whole to secretaries. But to such he entrusted the editing of his work, and they gave faithful expression to his thought, without addition or omission. After obtaining Moses' approval of it they published in his name the work so framed by them.

3. Moses in composing his work made use of sources—written documents or oral traditions—under Divine inspiration, and conformably to the purpose which he had in view, so as either to adopt the wording or only the sense, abridging or amplifying as required.

4. In the long course of centuries—the Pentateuch has undergone some modifications, such as additions by an inspired author—or glosses and explanations interpolated, or words and forms converted from an older into a later style, besides faulty readings due to unskillful scribes. It is for criticism to use the rules of its art to ascertain and determine such modifications.

From this it will be seen that the Romanist “authorities” are in line with the views which prevail in conservative Protestant circles in this country, and encouragement may be derived from this announcement is view of the known wish of the present Pope to promote the study of the Bible, which so far does not seem to have become effective, as far as execution of it by the priests is concerned. Does not the above Report give the blush to action taken by English “Fathers in God,” or the Boards of Study in the Universities, to promote acquaintance with the critical dissection of the Old Testament and negative treatment of its contents?

E.E.W.

Seventy Weeks of Daniel

We have seen the Seventy Weeks are divided by the Spirit of God into three parts. We have also seen that the first two divisions reach up to “Messiah the Prince,” who was cut off after the sixty nine weeks. This, the majority of chronologers are agreed, took place in the year A.D. 29, or early in 30. Our reference Bibles, however, give A.D. 33, which reckoning from B.C. 4, would make our Lord's age thirty-six instead of thirty-three years as usually supposed. But Bengel says respecting this, “The year 33 is too late and is refuted by all the opinions of the ancient church.” He maintained that A.D. 30 was the correct date of our Lord's death.

Now seeing we have, as already shown, abundant evidence respecting the death of the Messiah, and the time when it happened, but not so strong perhaps for the 20th year of Artaxerxes, when the decree was issued, we can take the former event as our starting point and reckon back sixty nine weeks, and we are brought to 454 B. C, as the date required. Thus the demands of the prophecy are met, which is the important thing to consider. For God must be true, and profane chronology must agree with His or it cannot be true. Upon this every Christian should rest satisfied.

There is yet another division remaining, however, to complete the prophecy, and the seventy weeks as well. One week of the seventy, or seven years, have still to be accounted for. But there are certain events mentioned in Dan. 9:26, which could not possibly take place within this last week, seeing it does not allow sufficient time for their accomplishment. Take, for instance, the first clause, after the death of the Messiah and His reward is described. The verse continues, “and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Now the city here mentioned can be no other than Jerusalem; and the sanctuary, the temple that Herod built. “The people of the prince” were the Romans under Titus who destroyed the city and set the temple on fire, so that it was destroyed. And this took place in the year A.D. 69 or 70 which was forty years after the crucifixion. It is clear then that the seventieth week does not follow the sixty-ninth in uninterrupted sequence of time; because, if such were the case, all the terms of the prophecy could not be met (for seven years added to 29 would only reach A.D. 36). But every jot and tittle of ver. 26 must be fulfilled. How, then, is this to be done? Only by supposing a long interval of time to elapse, between the end of the sixty-ninth week, and the beginning of the seventieth.

The prophecy begins with “Seventy weeks are determined,” or rather “divided.” As here a different Hebrew word is used for “determined” from that in vers. 26, 27, so “divided,” as Dr. Tregelles translates, seems to suit the 24th verse best, And this rendering strongly supports the view that the whole seventy weeks do not necessarily imply a continuous period of 490 years. That a prophecy apparently continuous, may contain an interval of considerable length is strikingly evident from our Lord's use in Luke 4:18-21 of “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor... to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Here the Lord Jesus, in quoting the prophet finishes with “the acceptable year of the Lord,” saying “this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He had come to introduce this, and not yet “the day of vengeance of our God,” which awaits His second advent. We have then between two clauses of this prophecy an interval of more than 1,800 years, during which “the acceptable year of the Lord” has continued. Why then may not a period of similar length be found in ver. 26 of Daniel's prophecy? Such I believe to be the case and confirmed by the New Testament.

But in order to enter intelligently into its teaching regarding this matter, it is well first to inquire as to the present place the Jews occupy in God's government of the world.

Now we find in the prophet Hosea (chap. 1:9), “Then said [God], Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye [are] not my people, and I will not be your [God].” From this scripture we learn, that a time was coming when God would disown His ancient people the Jews, and cast them off. And this took place at the death of their Messiah. Then the dread sentence “Lo-ammi” took effect morally, and they are no longer owned by God as His people. This suspension of relationship is clearly taught in Matt. 23:38, 39, where the Lord in His solemn denunciation of the Jews concludes by saying, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They had slighted all the Lord's overtures of mercy to them, and persistently refused to accept Him. Now they were cast off until the time when they would be prepared to receive Him as their Messiah and the hope of Israel. The Jews being thus rejected, room was left for the gathering in of the Gentiles. And this will continue until “the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). This must not be confounded, however, with another term used in Luke 21:24, 25, “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Here we have mentioned Gentile rule in the earth; in the other case (Rom. 11:25), the gathering in of the last member of Christ's body is referred to by the Spirit.

Politically, the Jews had at one time the chief place amongst the nations of the world; but they lost it through their disobedience. It was then transferred to the Gentiles in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. To him the prophet declared by the Spirit, “Thou, O king, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.” And the Gentile holds this rule up to the present. This he will continue to do until the Lord shall come to judge the rulers of the earth (cf. Psa. 82.) and restore to the Jews the place they once occupied as the chief amongst the nations. Then will be fulfilled “the times of the Gentiles.”

Religiously, however, the Jews continued to retain their place as God's people until the Lord came. But they rejected and crucified Him. Then God no longer confined Himself to one nation only, but went out in grace to all men. For in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, but all on one common level (Eph. 2). From this we may gather, surely, that at present God does not own an earthly people as witnesses for Himself upon the earth, but is, on the contrary, gathering out from all nations a people, “partakers of a heavenly calling,” who shall constitute the bride, the Lamb's wife.

Again, the same truth is brought out in Rom. 11. There the rejected nation of the Jews is compared to the broken off branches of an olive tree, and the Gentiles are grafted in their place. But they are cautioned against boasting, because through unbelief the Jews were rejected, and they stood by faith. They were not to be high-minded, however, but fear; for God would most assuredly bestow upon the Jews all their former privileges and blessings. For His “gifts and calling are without repentance.” Here we have further proof of the same order of events as before. The Jews cast off, the Gentiles brought in—God gathering out of them a people for His name (Acts 15:14); afterward the Jews reinstated into their former blessings and relationship with God. The Gentiles will then fall back into a subordinate place, and receive all their blessings through and by the Jew. (Comp. Zech. 8:22, 23; 14:9-21.)

With this convincing evidence before us, gathered from the New Testament, we may surely conclude, that the manner of God's dealings with the Jews as described in Rom. 11, is precisely that foretold by Dan. 9:24-27 long before; and it is also clear that ver. 26 forms a sort of parenthesis. The events mentioned in it, although forming part of the prophecy, do not come within its time limit; but are enacted in a period of undefined duration coming between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, but not connected with either.

Now, before proceeding further with the prophecy, it might not be out of place to inquire how history agrees with it thus far. It is well known, indeed, that history is the standard by which the word of God is judged by the critics; and not, history by the word, the alone infallible standard of truth. According to history then, the Messiah was crucified, at, or about, the time appointed, as we have already seen. Forty years after, the Romans came and besieged Jerusalem, which they took after a protracted siege, during which the inhabitants passed through indescribable sufferings. At the capture of the city multitudes were slain in cold blood, and many thousands carried away captive. The Temple, which was the pride of every Jew's heart and his religious rallying point, was burnt to the ground. Thus the Jews as a nation were swept out of existence. Since that time this people have been more or less the objects of hatred and oppression by the nations whither they have been scattered. The last part of vers. 26 informs us of the continuous desolation which was to befall their city and race, and this subsequent to the death of the Messiah. This is exactly where Israel are now. They have been turned out of that city and sanctuary, and have never had either since. It is true they have made a remarkable footing for themselves in most countries of the earth—their influence extends into every court and cabinet of the world: but they have never, until lately, obtained the smallest power in their own land and city. And there we see these desolations going on. Thus has been, and is being, fulfilled, the word by the prophet Hosea (chap. 3:4), “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and Teraphim.” “Clearly,” says one, “this describes the present condition of Israel—the most anomalous spectacle the world has ever seen—a people who go on age after age without any of those elements which are supposed to be essential for keeping a people in existence. For they have lost their king, and prince, they have neither God nor an idol. They are not able to present a sacrifice, having nobody that they know to be a prince. Partly since Babylon carried them into captivity, entirely since Titus destroyed Jerusalem they are literally without those genealogies, which the priests must possess and produce in order to prove their title to minister in the holy place. Whatever their pretentions they can prove nothing, and yet they are upheld by God.” How wonderful that the Prophet should have given this exceedingly accurate description of the present condition of the Jews so patent to every thinking person. Yet the book of Hosea was written many years before “the events.” Is it not very strange that our critics do not see the finger of God here? But it seems indeed true that the person who will not see is the blindest of men. So with regard to our 26th verse, history has confirmed certain facts mentioned there. The prophecy however was written before “the events” took place. The history came in its right place “after the events.” How comes it, then, that these events are so minutely detailed so long before they happened? Could it have been the result of forethought or instinct, or whatever else one likes to call it? Was there any apparent data given by which the writer could arrive at a correct judgment in these matters? There was nothing to assist him in whatever date he assigned to the prophecy. And such being the case, the writer could only have obtained his information from the Spirit of God. Thus far, then, we have not been able to do without inspiration with which many persons deal so profanely, and mention in such a scoffing manner.

What Is a Christian - Now and Hereafter? Part 2

Where do I find the Christian in Ephesians?

Not going a journey at all; he is sitting down; and where? “In heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” That is what I am doing now; I am sitting in heaven, settled there. And, Christ being Heir of “all things,” the inheritance is not heaven. The inheritance of Ephesians is different from that in Peter; it is all that Christ possesses, and therefore earth comes in. The inheritance of “all things'' is the heavenly man's hope; but heaven is his home, his position. In Peter, heaven is his hope: he is going towards heaven as his home, and towards his inheritance which is in heaven. There I get a very different condition.

Both these things are true of the same person—both are true of the Christian. It is good to have the trial of faith, it supposes faith to be there; it is good to sit down with Christ where no trial is, and it is good to come down into trial. But these are different conditions. The place of Christ on the mount, when with Moses and Elias (Luke 9), was different in the midst of the excellent glory from that in which He stood when he came down from the mount, and had to meet the crowd, and then cast out the demon. My true position as a heavenly man is to sit in heavenly places in Christ; but on the other hand, as begotten to a new hope by the resurrection of Christ, it is simply going through the world, but it is through the world that I am going. Here I am, a new creature, quickened and raised up with Christ; and what a world am I in! So with regard to Christ's coming; if walking on earth, I am waiting for Christ, the hope of the coming of Christ, and His appearing to set things right here; but if sitting in heaven, I am there in Christ, and wait to be there with Christ actually, and there enjoy Christ fully. The Lord's coming is not spoken of in the Ephesians; the saints are viewed as sitting in heavenly places.

I get these two elements of a Christian's position; and in one sense I do not call one more important than the other. I may look at the Christian at the springhead of peace, in full enjoyment of heavenly places, and in settled peace with God, and fighting for Him in conflict with Satan. But I cannot have him fighting for God in Canaan till I get him into Canaan; I may have him in Egypt under the enemy's power, but that is not conflict with him. He needs redemption by God. But this places him in the wilderness, a second element of his Christian life.

A person acting under the consciousness, and in terror, of Satan's power, fearing he may be lost if left there, is sometimes more in earnest than when he has got peace; but I do not trust this energy. He has not learned what the flesh is, though he may have learned what Satan's tyranny is. It is when he has to say to God that he will find out what the flesh is. A man will always go fast enough if he finds Satan behind him. The Israelites traveled faster when Pharaoh was at their back, than they did afterward in their stages in the wilderness. There was no. murmuring because of the way when Pharaoh was behind them; but then it was afterward, in the wilderness, that they were put to the test. Then came the question, Is Christ sufficient, or is the manna “light food?” If a man is not spiritual, he must get something to satisfy his craving. All this is put to the test; put to the test, not when a man is flying from Pharaoh, but when he is walking with God.

And there comes in the mediation of Christ. In this wilderness state I get Christ between me and God— “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” but this is not union with Christ: I am looked at in myself; we get individualized. A man may be floundering about, through not having his eye simply fixed on Christ, not knowing how to get to the end; but he finds a thread let down from heaven to bring him to the place exactly where he ought to be, while he is only thinking of the mud, or judging himself for not having valued Christ enough. There are a thousand thoughts and feelings and affections brought out, and into play, as the result of our having resurrection-life. We get the constant loving care and tenderness of Christ brought home to the soul; and there is a necessary character of intercourse with Christ which heaven itself will not give.

This is one part of a Christian. He is a pilgrim and a stranger in the power of resurrection-life, with the mediation of Christ carried on, not to procure for him life, but to maintain him in intercourse and communion with God in the light on the footing of what Christ is there. On the footing of that, himself imperfect, he is maintained in intercourse with a perfect God. Everything that the heart of man can be exercised about is met by the fullness of God through the mediation of Him who is both God and man.

The other thing is this (where there is no question or trial at all), the Christian sitting in heavenly places. And there, let me say, it is not yet the church, though in touching on it we touch the church's position. As resurrection-life did not take a man into heaven, so taking him into heaven does not in itself put him into the church. That is, it may be viewed as an individual thing. When I get into heaven, I am getting wonderfully close to the truth of the union of the church with Christ; still I may look at myself as a single individual in heaven, without at all taking in the unity of the body which is the church. I can speak of the “children of God,” and of “joint-heirs,” without bringing in the idea of “the body.” I take the Christian sitting in heavenly places. As an individual Christian I have done with conflicts when I get there; it is no longer the journey in exercise of heart. I shall still have conflicts with Satin, but these are for God. I may too have daily to judge my flesh in these conflicts; but judging the flesh is not conflict for God; it is a different thing to have conflict for God; and to be judging the flesh as hindering. When in heaven I am in the result of God's work.

In the Book of Joshua, before a single conflict, there was a table spread, and they had done with the manna. God had spread a table for them in the presence of their enemies. (chap. 5.) When they got across the Jordan, they sat down and ate the “old corn of the land.” The manna (the provision for the wilderness) had ceased, and they were eating the old corn of the land;” they had Christ looked at as the natural growth of heaven. It is not for my wants that I have Christ in heaven; I have no wants there, I have Him there to enjoy Him, to sit down at God's table and feed with everlasting delight upon what God delights in. It is the “old corn of the land” that I sit down to there. And mark the difference as regards the passover. They did not eat it with the good upon the door-posts, as in Egypt; they were there enjoying the results of redemption in the consciousness of the quiet security of the land. The aspect of the blood in Egypt was that of keeping God away as a judge. They were sitting down too in the plains of Jericho, in the presence of that great city, the type of all the power of the enemy; and there they ate the “old corn of the land” (Jericho's land in a certain sense), before one bit of conflict began. So with the Christian.

And here comes in the connection between our sitting in heavenly places and our passage through the world. I should be manifesting distinctly what is heavenly here, and thus be practically a heavenly man in the midst of worldly men. I should be a heavenly man, as one that is there and at home there, sheaving out what I have learned and enjoyed there. Christ was, while walking and acting on earth, “the Son of man which is in heaven.” He manifested towards the world the blessedness of the spirit and tone and character of heaven. He could not be Messiah for the Jews without being the Son of God for men.

If a Christian man is not walking in the Spirit, if the flesh is not subdued, he cannot display to the world the temper and spirit and character of heaven—he is manifesting something else. But the conflicts of the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12), are not merely conflicts in the subduing of our flesh; they are conflicts carried on in realizing and laying hold of the things in Canaan that belong to ourselves and others. If Joshua and the Israelites took cities in Canaan, it was because they were in Canaan. Our enemies are there, and there it is we should meet them. There are things in which we have to be, faithful on earth; but there are also things that belong to us because we are sitting together in heavenly places in Christ. A man may be consistent in the one, without displaying the heavenly man. You may see seine tolerably consistent on earth, whose souls are not seeking to realize what is theirs in Christ: Satan's effort is ever to hinder our doing that. We cannot carry the flesh into the heavenly conflict. If my flesh is not mortified, I cannot wield the weapons of that warfare. The flesh always brings in Satan's power, who has got a title against it; and God can never act with, the flesh, or display His power for us against our enemies, where it is allowed. if we were walking as born of God, and as having on the whole armor of God, the flesh being habitually mortified, he could have no effect; we should be able to go on in the simplicity of our own service and he could not come in with his wiles, as in the case of Achan (Josh. 7), and of the Gibeonites (Josh. 9). The moment we get upon heavenly ground, as soon as ever Joshua is in Canaan, I see the Lord's sword drawn, and the question is “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” So with us, there is the drawn sword. The moment we get into heavenly places, the Canaanites are against us. The church of God should be seeking to realize by faith whilst down here all that belongs to it as sitting there in Christ. As soon as Joshua crossed the Jordan, it was Canaan; but Canaan and conflict.

All this has the character of the power of God brought in where evil is.

As Christians we have to be pilgrims in consistency with our condition in the wilderness. The Lord may give us palm-trees and wells of water (Ex. 15:27); the ark may go before us to search out a resting place (Num. 10:33); but if we are not prepared to go with the cloud whenever it moves, we are not pilgrims and strangers, and we in heart go back to Egypt. But the heavenly man, besides his being a man with resurrection-life and the pilgrim of faith, is to be the manifestation down-here in the world of that which is heavenly. It may be in the power of hope, but the thing which he presents is that which is his now. He shows plainly and distinctly that he is in Canaan, and acts upon the ground of being there. If the land was not as yet cleared of its inhabitants, whose abominations defiled it, still Joshua knew what was suited to it; and therefore, when he had taken the kings and hanged them, he did not leave them there after the sun went down (Josh. 10). He could not allow God's land to be defiled.

As to what the Christian is “hereafter,” it may be said he is a risen man still, a heavenly man still. Hereafter, as an individual, he will be the perfect result of the power of God, not in the midst of evil, but of the power of God that has put aside time evil: There shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads' (Rev. 22:3, 4). It is not another man, but the same man, in the perfect enjoyment of blessedness: in the midst of good.

There are many points of view in which who and what is a Christian now and hereafter might be taken up. The question is far from being exhausted.

One branch of the subject, not touched upon as yet, divides itself into two parts—heirship, and reigning with Christ. He is an heir, as well as a child, an “heir of God” and a “joint-heir with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Again, he will reign with Christ; and it may be of use to see what part in our life here is corresponding to that of reigning. The inheritance is connected with our being children, “if children, then heirs,” &c. The moment a person is in the position of a child, there is an heir, The reigning part we find connected with suffering: “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.” Both these things are no doubt spoken of the Christian; still this is the principle, “if we stiffer with him,” &c.

Again, there is another character which this statement suggests to the mind, and this is his priestly character. I but refer to this now. We are kings and priests unto God. In taking up this it would be interesting for us to see the present intercessional character of priesthood; for in reigning by and by it will be as a royal priesthood, rather than intercessional.

J.N.D.

(Concluded from p. 122)

Discipline and Unity of the Assembly: Part 1

Two principles seem to be at work at the present moment which it may be well to notice. We are living in a time when all things are in question, and principles of every kind are abroad. If there are such as seem to destroy the very position of the saints as a testimony in the midst of Christendom—a conscious and intelligent testimony—it is not amiss that attention should be drawn to them. The two principles I refer to are—

First, the denial of the obligation of a Christian assembly to maintain purity in order to be owned as such, or rather, the denying that if it allow evil within itself, it becomes defiled; and

Secondly, the denial of the unity of the body as regards the church here on earth.

I have heard in such various quarters, both as to morals and doctrine, that no assembly of Christians can be defiled by any evil in it, and even that it has to go on and leave it to the Lord to lay His hand upon the evil and put it out, that I must suppose it to be a principle generally admitted. And what has been often alleged in individual argument on the second point noticed above is now maintained in a tract which has been sent me.

It has been openly contended that, if fornication be allowed in a body of Christians, it is no ground of separating from it. This has been met by others; indeed exposing it in daylight was the best way of meeting it. To say that the Christians were to separate from the world, to detach themselves from the great body of the professing church because of ecclesiastical evils, and then to affirm that positive immorality did not defile their community, but that, supposing it was allowed, saints should still own such a meeting all the same, was a proposition so monstrous, such a preference of ecclesiastical notions to the unalterable morality of God in the gospel, that one can only wonder how it was possible any Christians could have got into such a state of moral darkness. It was a solemn witness of the effect of false principles. With the individuals or their meeting we have of course nothing to do, save as the charity of Christ demands. We speak of principles; and let us see where these would lead. Those who are inside such a meeting of Christians are not allowed to break with them. They are bound to accept the companionship of sin, bound to accept disobedience to the apostle's rule, “Put out from among yourselves that wicked person.” They must live in constant communion with evil, and constantly in the most solemn act of Christianity affirm the fellowship of light and darkness.

But this is not all. In such kind of meetings a meeting in one place receives, as did the scriptural churches, those in communion in another, and, when formally done, by letters of commendation. Suppose the fornicator, or even those who have maintained his continuing in the meeting (another allowance thus of sin), to be commended, or to come in communion from the supposed meeting; and if they receive him deliberately at home, they must of course give him, so far as they are concerned, the same title abroad, and he is received elsewhere; and thus the deliberate wickedness of a majority of the meeting to which he belongs, or of the whole, if you please, obliges thus every Christian meeting, and, when the church of God was in order, every church of God in the world, to put its seal on communion with sin and evil, and say that sin could be freely admitted at the table of the Lord, and Christ and Belial get on perfectly well together; or break with the meeting or church, that is, disown its being such at all. But if they ought, those who have any conscience in the meeting itself ought.

The national Establishment is incomparably better than this. There, there is no pretension to discipline; each one is pious for himself. Here, sin, and communion with sin at the Lord's table, is sanctioned on principle. And if it is admitted that it ought not to be allowed, it is declared, that if it is deliberately allowed, every one must acquiesce in it, the meeting is not defiled, and the disobedient sinners have a right to force the whole church of God to accept it, if not in principle, in practice, and deny their principles. It is the church of God securing as such, and by its special privilege and title, the rights of sin against Christ. How it would be possible to conceive anything worse I cannot imagine; it really seems to me the most wicked principle that possibly can be thought of. And it is not merely the habits of a particular class of Christians which lead to this; the scriptural order of the church of God, as shown in the scriptures, involves this sanction of sin if the theory be true.

No person can deny that saints passed from one assembly to another, and, if belonging to one, were received in another. It was not an organization of churches, such as Presbyterianism or Episcopacy, which I name here only to be understood, but it was a full recognition of them as expressions of the unity of the body of Christ. We see the saints going from one, and received as such in another, and that in virtue of letters commendatory. It was because each assembly was owned as representing the body of Christ in its locality that others were bound to receive those who belonged to it as being members of that body. Each local assembly was responsible within itself to maintain the order and godliness suited to the assembly of God, and was to be trusted in it; it is not disputing the competency of the local assembly, but owning it, when I receive a person because he belongs to it. If I do not receive a person who belongs to it, I deny its being a competent witness of the unity of the body of Christ.

Now it is exactly in, this place the Spirit of God puts the local assembly at Corinth; not denying the unity of all saints on earth in one body, but owning the local assembly as so far representing it. “Ye are the body of Christ, and members one of another.” Now if I own the assembly at Corinth or anywhere else to hold that place, surely I must receive a person belonging to it as a member of the body of Christ—other membership I do not own. I quite agree that scripture owns no other; but for that very reason, when the apostle says, “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular,” and “we are all one body, for we are all partakers of that one loaf,” I am bound to own the assembly as representing the body, and those who partake of the one loaf as members of the body. If I do not, I fall into the principle of a mere voluntary association, which makes rules for itself, and does what it pleases. Am I then to recognize, as representing the unity of the body, and acting by the Spirit with the Lord's authority, an assembly which sanctions sin, and says it is not defiled by it?

On the other hand, suppose such an assembly, say at Corinth, had put out from themselves the wicked person, and another assembly received him, the latter thereby denies that the other has acted in the character of an assembly of God, representing there the body of Christ. It denies the action of the Holy Ghost in the assembly, or that what has been bound on earth has been bound in heaven. It is a mere sophism to suppose that, because an organization formed of assemblies is disowned, the responsibility of each assembly to the Lord is disowned, and its competent action by the Holy Ghost in the matters of the church of God. If a person were put out at Corinth and received at Ephesus, the action of the Holy Ghost in the body at Corinth was denied, or Ephesus refused the action and denied the authority of the Holy Ghost and of Christ; that is, the assemblies were owned because each did in its locality act under the Lord and by the Holy Ghost. No doubt they might fail; Corinth would have failed but for the intervention of the Spirit by the apostle. But such is the scriptural principle, and that which we have to, look for in an assembly; and the assembly is owned because it acts by the Holy Ghost under the authority of the Lord.

This point being cleared (and 1 Corinthians seems to me not to leave a trace of doubt on it), would turn to another—the consequent responsibility of the Christians who compose it. They are to act for Christ by the Holy Ghost. “Put out from among yourselves that wicked person.” Paul forces it on the assembly; so in the case of wrong it is finally told to the assembly, and the “without” and “within” refer to it; that is, I get the body responsible as well as competent. The Lord, who knew all the coming history of His church, has extended this in His grace to two or three gathered to His name, and connects this with discipline and being heard. Where two or three are gathered to His name, there is He in the midst of them. Thus, while fully admitting that all the saints in a locality constitute properly the one assembly in a place, if they will not unite, the responsibility and the presence of the Lord are found with those who do, and their acts, if really done as met in His name, have His authority; that is, another such assembly must own the assembly and their acts, or disown their connection with the Lord.

I do not mean that, if they fail in any particular case, they may not be remonstrated with, entreated and so on; but in a regular way, one assembly owns the action of the other, according to the promise of the Lord's presence, because if it be a true assembly it owns the Lord's own action in it, its own Lord's action and the assembly as His. It is not a voluntary church, but a scriptural, divine assembly; if they are not so gathered, and do not own the unity of the body, the power and presence of the Holy Ghost, and the presence of Jesus as so gathered together to His name only, I do not own the assembly, though I may the saints who compose it. In the other case I am bound to do so.

But, further, we find that the assembly at Corinth did not put out the wicked person, and the apostle set about to correct this, and, indeed, would not go there while they were in this state, unless it were to exercise rigorous severity. His words, in speaking of it in the Second Epistle, show the thought that they were involved in the evil by allowing it— “Ye have proved yourselves clear in this matter.” His complaint was that there was sin, leaven—not merely a sinner, but sin among them; and, ignorant as yet of discipline, they had not grieved so as that God should have removed the evil-doer from their midst; and he tells them to purge out the old leaven (not merely to put the person out, which was his practical direction) that they might be anew lump as they were unleavened. They, acquiescing in the sin, were involved in it; they were viewed in. Christ and their true standing as unleavened; but they were to put out the old leaven that they might be a new lump, that their actual condition and standing might agree: otherwise they, the assembly, were not a new lump. Hence, in the Second Epistle, when the first had produced its effect, the apostle says “that they had proved themselves clear in this matter;” but, if acquiescing in it, they were not clear. The assembly was not a new lump, and the members of it were not clear, if they accepted the principle of allowing sin in their midst. To use the title of our standing as a sanction for acquiescing in sin in fact in the assembly, saying it cannot be defiled, is a most evil and pestilential doctrine: and that persons in it, not guilty of the sin in act, are clear though they acquiesce in it, is a thoroughly wicked principle, and directly contrary to scripture.

But more, an assembly which admits such a principle has forfeited its title to be owned in the way I have spoken of above. We have seen it is a common point agreed upon, that the particular assembly gathered to the Lord's name represents the body of Christ, and Christ is to be looked for in their midst. But I cannot own an assembly which admits or acquiesces in sin, which takes this ground that sin does not defile it, to represent the body of Christ or to be gathered to Christ's name. It is to make Christ acquiesce in the sin— “a minister of sin.” God forbid! Christ's body (and we declare by “the one loaf” that we are one body) is a holy body. I cannot say I am one body with sinners. That a sinner or hypocrite may have slipped in, we all admit; but I do not own him. But if a body admit or acquiesce in sinners being there, it ceases to have the character of Christ's body altogether, or Christ's body is compatible with known sin; that is, the Holy Ghost and Christ present admit and allow the sin. This doctrine (of the assembly not being defiled by known sin being there) is a direct denial of the presence of the Holy Ghost making them one, and of the authority of, a present Lord.

Does He accept sin in the members of the body? If not, those who do are acting as a voluntary meeting, acting on their own rules, not admitting the animating power of the Spirit of Christ; for it is blasphemy to say He admits sin in those who belong to Him; an assembly which has this doctrine is not an assembly of God at all. Carelessness there may be—it should be corrected; but he, who as a principle, owns the existence of sin in the assembly, and denies it is defiled, denies its unity and the Lord's presence; that is, it is not an assembly gathered to His name at all. What I think, essential in this matter is the promised presence of the Lord, and the activity of the Spirit of God. If this be so, if I own the Lord, I must own the assembly and its acts; if it has a principle contrary to the presence of the Lord and the action of the Holy Ghost, I cannot own it as His.

(To be continued).

[Abridged].

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 5

The Jews rejected Him as their King, and the Gentiles crucified Him. But God the Father raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory; and we are meanwhile being called, His friends, His brethren, and His joint-heirs. When the last one is called, the Father will give the word, and the Lord, after receiving them to Himself, will descend in flaming fire on all His foes and tread them down. After that He will inaugurate the reign of peace; and the spared, who submit, will be the willing subjects of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Every creature on the earth will share the blessing in peace; for the nations will learn war no more. Such will be the administration of the fullness of the seasons. What an absurdity to fancy that the time or state is yet come! “The whole creation groaneth together.” Why does it groan? Because it is not under Christ, revealed in power and glory. It is, travailing in pain together until now. Weakness, failure, and death are stamped upon every creature that has any kind of life. And things that have not life are habitually turned to a selfish purpose. Take gold and silver, precious stones, pearls, etc., what crimes do they not cause?

Think of the pride and vanity and misery to which the lust after these things leads! There is a time coming when everything will join in a chorus of praise to the glory of the Lord Jesus. O what a righteous, holy and beneficent change! He will bring it about: nothing but His coming in power, who once came to suffer for sins will avail. He who has preyed upon man ever since the fall in the garden of Eden, Satan, will be for a thousand years shut up. He will not be consigned to the lake of fire till after the millennium: but during the Lord's reign he is not allowed to deceive the nations. Now he is also the accuser of God's saints above. Now he does all possible mischief there and here. All that will cease during the millennium. Idolatry and evil in general will cease, righteousness will flourish during the reign of our Lord over the earth; and the new Jerusalem, metropolis of the universe, will be intimately connected with, but above, the rejoicing earth. The Jews will be the head, not only of Israel saved by God's mercy, but, of all the nations. It does not matter what the anti-Semites say. Israel is kept of God for this blessed time— “the restitution of all things whereof God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets since time began.” They will be the lowly and faithful servants of the Messiah in that day of gladness. But the Gentiles will also abandon their self-sufficiency and joyfully acknowledge their folly and God's goodness, and this glory of Jehovah will fill the earth as now the waters the bed of the sea. That is the unforced and explicit revelation of God. More than that, the very beasts of the earth will lay aside their fury that followed man's departure from God. Whatever may have existed before man, I speak only of the time since man was created. In contrast with the first man's fall, God means to honor the Second man. He is worthy to bring all creation, and the brutes as part of it, to the true center in the power which subdues all things to Christ. Bow universal and profound the evil when man fell! Reconciliation of all things prepares for the transfer to the risen Man who is also True God as truly as is the Father, to Christ the one Head of all things in the heavens no less than of all things on the earth. Then will Christ have come forth publicly, with all His glorified saints following Him; then will He take up the dispensation of the fullness of the seasons, establishing all the divinely given institutions which had broken down in man's feeble and faulty hand. But the saints are carefully distinguished from the inheritance. If the inheritance be given to us, we are the heirs, not the inheritance; and so it is distinctly stated in ver. 11, “in whom [Christ] we were also allotted, fore-determined according to purpose of him that works all things according to the counsel of his own will.” The heavenly Bridegroom shares His inheritance unreservedly with these who are constituted His bride; just as Eve the earthly bride shared all that Adam her bridegroom possessed as the gift of the Lord God to him.

In Christ's case, it was not only in virtue of creating all (John 1:3). Another ground far more precious and unfailing was laid in His death. “Because all the fullness was pleased in him to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things unto him, having made peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens.” (Col. 1:19, 20). Here too the saints, the heirs, are beyond doubt discriminated, as in the counterpart Epistle, from the “all things,” the inheritance in versa 21, 22. “You” He reconciled now. Creation has to be reconciled by power as well as blood, and that will be when He is manifested in glory. But the saints already are reconciled, not by incarnation as is falsely held but, in the body of His flesh through death.

The church is neither all things in the heavens nor all things on the earth, still less both, which is a most egregious error, but believers out of both Jews and Gentiles, baptized by one Spirit into on body, Christ's body, from which all earthly distinction is blotted out. Impossible to fairly maintain the current traditional view, or to deny the truth, that the gathering of all the universe is the future stewardship for Christ's manifestation.

Christ's death is the ground for the saints now reconciled; but the reconciliation of the universe as a matter of fact awaits His appearing in power and glory. It is already applied to those who believe the gospel; and they are the heirs. But the deliverance of creation from the bondage of corruption will be into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21), and cannot be before those already delivered by grace through faith are revealed to every eye as His sons in glory, What is here said, is but a simple reflection of God's— word. It declares with all plainness of speech that the heirs are reconciled; as the inheritance will be at Christ's manifestation. The heirs are those reconciled through the blood of Christ, as all creation also. But they believe the gospel of grace; with which the rest of creation, animate or inanimate has nothing to do. But they will answer fully to the revelation of Christ's power and glory. We must never confound the Christian's portion with Israel's. The chosen people were Jehovah's especial inheritance. We are united to Christ by the Spirit, not in any sense His inheritance, but heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If Christ is to have all things above and below we too by grace shall share all things.

Let us consider seriously a purpose so immense. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus was pleased so to purpose, and also to reveal it clearly to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Was it not to exercise a direct and intimate bearing on our souls? to lift our hearts to Christ in the heavenly places, as united to Him who is there for entirely like glory with Him? It is not only the bad things of the flesh and the world that present danger, the best things are perverted and falsified by spiritual wickedness in heavenly places to rob us of our highest privileges. We belong to Christ, for and in heaven; He is the, way, the truth and the life. If we give not, as a constant principle and practice, to Christ the first, place, we grievously wrong Him and to our own; irreparable loss as Christians. It is our privilege and our duty to make Christ the prime object?, of our souls in every question that comes before us. Satan ensnares by our own interests. We are only kept and guided aright by Christ's dwelling in our hearts through faith. What quiet comfort and confidence, if you are content to tell the Lord about it and are subject to His will and word! He gives entire deliverance from every wile of the enemy. His love entitles one to consult Him about little matters—nothing, it has been well said, is too great for us, nothing too small for Him, in His grace. Who that believes need wonder that, when dead in our offenses and sins, God quickened, us together with the Christ, and raised us together, and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God before prepared that we should walk in them.

The efficacious work is offered and accepted on high for all things in the heavens and on the earth. Yet spiritual wickedness is not even yet dislodged from the heavenlies. Still less is the field of the world cleared of all scandals and those that practice. lawlessness. Yes, the serpent's trail is still above; and those associated with in the heavenlies have brought deep dishonor on Him by their unbelief and worldliness, tampering on this side with superstition, on that with rationalism; bad enough in mere professors, far worse in members of His body. The heavenly things therefore needed to be purged by better sacrifices than Israel or any man ever offered. The inheritance, heavenly and earthly, remains yet to be delivered according to the energy of His power even to subdue the universe to Himself; and we shall share His most worthy exaltation, in that day for which we wait, suffering with Him and it may be for Him by grace meanwhile.

W.K.

(Concluded from p. 127)

Notes of an Address Hebrews 1:1-4

It is no doubt the calm, measured, stately, almost rhetorical, style of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that has led many to conceive that it cannot be the work of the great apostle of the Gentiles. They compare the balanced sentences of this Epistle with the rugged and impetuous language so characteristic of the Pauline writings. But even on this ground the argument is by no means convincing. For what can be more measured and stately than the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians or than the eleventh chapter of the same Epistle. The fact is that a great writer adapts his style to his subject-matter, quite apart from the question whether he is inspired or not. As one, J.N.D., has beautifully said, the same divine water, is in every vessel, be it a Paul, a Peter, or a John, but it takes the shape of the vessel through which it flows. And, we may add, the shape may vary in the same writer with the occasion. There is the tumultuous fervor of indignant upbraiding; there is the calm and ordered flow of eloquent exposition. Hence they are evidently right who judge that Paul, and no other (spite of those who ascribe it to the eloquent Apollos), is the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. And this opinion is powerfully buttressed by the words of Peter in his Second Epistle (3:15, 16).

Now there is no more majestic statement even in this Epistle, or indeed in the whole of the Bible, than is contained in the wonderfully balanced sentence with which this treatise (for such it strictly is, rather than a letter) opens. For you will see that it really is one sentence only from ver. 1-4 inclusive. And the part of it most emphasized is the main part. “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” Other truths, of equal, possibly of greater, moment (one most certainly is so, where the Son is spoken of as being the brightness of God's glory), are grouped around it, adding strikingly to the grandeur of the whole, but yet subservient to the point that the apostle is pressing, viz. that “God has spoken in His Son.” He reminds his readers how God spake of old by the prophets (here no doubt a general term and taking in all the O. T. writers); but that now it was no longer a question of hearing prophets however venerable, lawgivers however sage and discerning, nor psalmists however tuneful. It was imperative to recognize, what was not so obvious to them as Hebrews, as it happily is to us, that the final messenger had come, and that he that is of God would hear Him (John 8:47). Each prophet had contributed his quota to the grand total, and the apostle in no way seeks to weaken the weight of their testimony. Quite the contrary. Just as the Lord Jesus, on a memorable occasion, actually placed Moses' writings as testimony above His own spoken words (John 5:47), so the writer urges that their acceptance of the sublime truths that were now being unfolded would be the proof that the Hebrews really held and understood and believed all that lawgiver and psalmist and prophet had written of old. If they believed that God had spoken in His Son, this would show that theirs was no merely national and patriotic clinging to their ancient oracles. They would own the Crucified as both Lord and Christ.

God had spoken. This is the only book of Holy Scripture that commences with the sacred name, so august, so comprehensive and incomprehensible. How easy to utter it! How often it is taken in vain by profane men! How lightly even Christians may use the word! Everything is wrapped in it, so to speak. It is God, the Son, as we read in this very passage, who upholds all things by the word of His power. And by Him were all things created (Col. 1:16). The mind may proceed to lose itself forthwith in mazes of perplexity, as we contemplate the immensity of creation, and the insignificance physically of this tiny earth, which faith knows, on God's sure warrant, to have been the scene of nothing less stupendous than the Incarnation. For here “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us and,” says John, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Here the believer rests, while he who trusts to his own keenness of perception is baffled and dismayed. But it is the fool who says in his heart, There is no God. Yet there are but few after all who do not acknowledge His eternal power and divinity (Rom. 1:20.). But how sad if we stop there or, as has been so pathetically described, be as one who could only “beat his ineffectual wings against the void;” or, as another has said, be conscious only of this, that “man is a being with just sufficient conscience to know he is vile, and just sufficient intelligence to know that he is insignificant!” Nay, believers know much more, nor do I mean to insinuate that the clever writer who so described man, meant that that was all, we can know. He was simply referring to what we know apart from revelation. We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding (1 John 5:20). We know that God has spoken unto us in His Son. There are difficulties in the Bible, things that must be left and taken on trust. Not such the knowledge of God's love in Christ, which makes known God's righteousness unto all, and upon all them that believe. This is the true God and eternal life.

R.B.

The Ark and Its Contents: Manna

The manna was the provision of God's grace for a wilderness people, just as the paschal lamb had been his provision for a guilty people, providing a shelter from wrath to which otherwise they must have been exposed. Both pointed to Christ as the Sent One of God, meeting the need of the earthly people as God knew it, and not according to their sense of it. Israel did not ask for either one or the other; the blood of the lamb provided a safe shelter that they might in peaceful enjoyment feed upon the lamb itself. God's glory was secured by Christ's obedience unto death, and faith appropriates such a Savior who becomes the life of the soul. “He that eateth me, even he shall live because of me.” The sinner saved feeds upon the grace which brought Him to the place of death for his deliverance—bows to the divine testimony (that of the Judge Himself) “When I see the blood I will pass over you”; and the immense relief and satisfaction obtained thereby sustain the heart and shut out for a time all idea of any other necessity.

It was a full month before the Israelites realized that although they had escaped the judgment, they had lost all Egypt's resources and its pleasures. The world becomes a barren desert to the believer in Christ, the wilderness is before him and he has yet to learn, with the Psalmist, that all his springs are in God: this discovery is painful and humiliating, He humbled thee and proved thee (Deut. 8:2, 3). God in infinite love provided for the need of His people by giving them bread from heaven, but in doing so He put them to the proof; they were on their way to the promised rest, but the rest itself must be ever kept before them; hence the manna must not be looked upon as a thing permanent and lasting, but as a temporary provision for exceptional circumstances and closely connected from its very beginning with the sabbath which was to be a permanent institution and an outward sign, a witness to the whole world that they belonged to God and were to be obedient to Jehovah Who had redeemed them.

This test of obedience was not, as in the passover, to be satisfied by one act of faith once for all (“through faith he kept the passover and the I sprinkling of blood” (Heb. 11:28) with results immediately made good in the soul, so that the questions of deliverance and acceptance need never again be opened up) but was also a protracted and continuous one as long as they were passing through the wilderness.

From the first, Israel failed to appreciate angels' food; their tastes, desires and inclinations were gross and impure; the yearning of their hearts was for the fleshpots of Egypt, and, in the last year of their pilgrimage they made the awful admission without shame, “our soul loatheth this light bread” (Num. 21:5).

It is just the same now with the children of God on their journey to the rest that remaineth for the people of God.

God has found His delight in His beloved Son, and will look to no other; the voice from the excellent glory bore witness to this, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.” We are put to the proof by this just as Israel was by the manna. Israel was set to learn the lesson “that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.” This, the nation as a whole never learned, though there were bright exceptions, such as Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, etc., To have knowledge, understanding, and enjoyment of the most advanced truth touching Christ's present position, and our relationship to Him as members of His body, the coming rapture of the saints and such like subjects, precious as these are, will not compensate for the want of appetite for the Manna. Perhaps the lessons of the wilderness are never fully learned until the close of the journey. God might have supplied the needs of His people in other ways, but the way He chose, certainly called for the daily exercise of faith, obedience, diligence, and constant dependence upon Himself. If we read carefully Ex. 16 we shall not only he instructed in God's gracious way of nourishing His earthly people, but also as to the way in which our spiritual wants are anticipated in His word, the regular and dilligent study of which will supply us with that divine food, Christ Himself, which our souls so much need. But the manna was after all a temporary provision. Intended only to continue for a year or so, Israel's unbelief and refusal to go into the promised land, had the effect of adding to their pilgrimage eight and thirty years, and God graciously continued this wonderful provision for their daily need. His care over them was shown out in the minutest details, so that their raiment waxed not old, nor did their feet swell; circumstances which may have passed unnoticed by many at the time. One remarkable thing remains to be noticed; whether much or little was gathered, everyone was satisfied, and the need of each soul was met, “and when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lank; they gathered every man according to his eating” (Ex. 16:18). No doubt there are degrees of spiritual appetite amongst the Lord's people and different capacities for the reception, and understanding, of the truth of God, but that is not the precise point here, but rather that in coming to Christ every one finds his need fully met and nothing superfluous. Whatever may be our heart's need, we find it all met by Christ, and as we make progress in the divine life and discover new glories and fresh graces and excellencies in our Lord Jesus Christ under the teaching of the Spirit, we can say that we need them all, we cannot do without one of them.

(Continued from p. 128).

(To be continued.)

Walking in the Light

In 1 John 1:7 we have the three parts of our Christian condition, looked at as men walking down here.

First, we walk in the light as God is in the light, everything judged according to Him with Whom we have fellowship.

Next, what the world does not know anything of, “we have fellowship one with another.” That is, I have the same divine nature with every Christian—the same Holy Ghost dwells in me; so that there must be fellowship. I inset a perfect stranger traveling, and there may be more communion with him than with one whom I have known all my life, just because the divine life is there. It is a natural thing to the new creature; there is fellowship.

But besides these, I am cleansed— “the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

We are in the light as God is in the light; we have fellowship together; and we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

J.N.D.

Erratum

Page 117, column 2, last line but one. For “This is a need,” read “This we need.”

Published

LONDON:

T. WESTON, Publisher, 53,:Paternoster Row. Published Monthly.

THE BIBLE TREASURY

Balaam Hired of Balak and Used of God

Numbers 22-24

It is a wonderful thing to see the way in which, through the overruling power of God, the efforts of Satan against the people of God only bring them out the more distinctly in their own place of blessing.

We find in these chapters the connection of the name of God with the power of Satan. Some of the instruments which he uses may be, and some of them may not be, conscious that it is Satan's power which actuates them. Nothing could be greater confusion than that which here passes between Balaam and Balak.

Balaam, we know, was a thoroughly wicked man. (See Rev. 2:14; 2 Peter 2:15, 16; Jude 11.) Nothing could exceed the wickedness and perverseness of his ways. And yet he is called a prophet; as it is said, “Who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet.” We know that he was acquainted with and used enchantments (chap. 24:1): and yet, when he comes to Balak, he says, “Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak” (chap. 22:38). Balak was looking for the power of evil against the children of Israel, God's people; and yet looking for it from God (chap. 23:27). There was a sort of looking to the power and intervention of God, although God was not known; and thus all was confusion.

And so in the world; even where Satan is working, and where in those who are intelligent in evil he is looked to as working, there is often a certain vague looking to God. Thus there is complete confusion—man's will being Satan's will, and yet with a certain owning of God.

Chapter 22:1-6. We see the enmity of the world against the people of God brought out, and especially against the power of the people of God. God's power was with His people, and this drew out the enmity of Satan. When the Son of God came into the world, the whole energy of Satan's power and enmity was directed against Him; so afterward against the apostles, those who had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). But God's power was with and for His people. See the song of Moses (Ex. 15:14-16). God had redeemed His people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm from the power and bondage of Satan, and had brought them to Himself (Ex. 19:4). When this is the case, Satan seeks to force others into an open opposition to the people of God. Their presence becomes intolerable to their enemies. But the effect of it all is, to bring out God's people as being under His eye and care. The very wish that God should curse Israel only brought out the more His distinct blessing upon them. “And he [Balaam] took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied? For from the tops of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (chap. 23:7-9). Here we find the effect of Satan's opposition we to bring out into the clearest manifestation that they were not of the world.

So long as Israel were living in Egypt, there was nothing at all that drew out the thoughts and feelings of Balak and Balaam against them, or that made them intolerable to the world; but the chief point of the testimony to their blessing is that they were a peculiar people, separated from all other peoples unto God, according to the word, “Jehovah hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people” (Deut. 26:18).

Verse 11 and onward: Balaam, at the suggestion of Balak, seeks to curse Israel from “another place.” He tells Balak, “Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I go and meet yonder.” He does not seem to know whom he was going to meet. It is all the most thorough and perfect confusion. He says, “While I go and meet yonder.” But there Jehovah meets him, and puts a word in his mouth proving the firmness of God's purpose concerning His people. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless.” Balaam would gladly have altered this testimony of God; but he says, “He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”

Then comes the testimony to the completeness of God's justification of His people: “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” This is not a mere abstract statement of truth. Israel had acted so failingly and unbelievingly during their wilderness journey, as to bring out from Moses, the meekest man upon the face of the earth, the expression, “Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you” (Deut. 9:24). The result of the judgment of the man of God about them after forty years' experience was, that they were a stiff-necked and rebellious people; but the judgment of God in reference to their justification was altogether opposite to his judgment of the moral condition of the people.

It is most important in applying this to ourselves to draw the distinction clearly between these two things; the judgment of the Spirit of God within me as to what we are practically, as to the evil of the flesh, &c., and the testimony of the Spirit as to what God's judgment is in reference to us in Christ. We often find the soul forming through the Spirit of God a righteous judgment about itself, and forgetting that the ground on which it stands before God, the resting-place of faith, is what He has wrought for us in the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God judges sin in me by virtue of its character as seen in the light of the holiness of God, but it makes me know that I am not judged for it, because Christ has borne the judgment for me. It is no question of examining the details of either good or evil that we find in ourselves; it is altogether a question of the efficacy and value of Christ's work, and of His acceptance. We either stand under the broad condemnation of God, sinners dead in trespasses and sins, or are “accepted in the Beloved.” Although it is most important that we should judge ourselves, as it is said “If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged,” &c. (1 Cor. 11:31, 32); yet this is quite a distinct thing from the judgment which God forms about us through the work of Christ. At the end of a long course of failure in the children of Israel, after their perverseness has been fully proved, God “hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” Where the soul of a believer confounds the judgment of the Spirit within and about Himself with the judgment of God through the work of Christ for him, there can be no peace.

“Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” The distinguishing mark of the people of God is, that He is in them and among them (See 1 Cor. 14:25). The utter feebleness of the saints is shown wherever this is not the case. It is a blessed truth, that God has forever saved and justified His children; but this is in order that He may “dwell among them” (Ex. 29:45, 46).

“God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.” I dare not meddle with them, Balaam says; I have too much understanding of what they are, to do so; they are connected with God, with His strength and power.

“Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob, and Of Israel, What hath God wrought!” According to what time? The time when Israel was faint and weak, discouraged by reason of the length of the way, and none of their enemies on the other side of Jordan conquered. Their enemies were much mightier than they (Deut. 7:1, &c.), and yet he says, “What hath God wrought! Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.” The moment he sees them under the eye of God he says that.

“And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh, that I must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place: peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon,” &c.

“And when Balaam saw that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face towards the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable, and said,” &c. (chap. 24:1-9). He now begins to look at the people of God themselves, and sees Israel abiding in their tents in their own proper loveliness. The sight of the fairness of God's people thus is the occasion of the Spirit of God speaking as He does (ver. 5. and onwards), “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth,” &c. He looks at the people of God themselves, and sees their beauty in the vision of the Almighty.

There were Israel occupied with their own foolish thoughts below; and this scene was going on above.

So is it with us, beloved friends: we are occupied with our own (ofttimes) foolish thoughts; the accuser is speaking against us; and yet nothing can prevail, because God works for us. I am not now speaking of God justifying us, but of much more; and that is, the beauty of the order, and the never-failing source of refreshment of God's people— “all my springs are in thee.” God brings this out most fully through the evil desire of Balak and Balaam.

We see in these chapters, man working according to Satan's will, and yet looking to the power and the intervention of God. Hence all is confusion: and it will ever be so. But the moment the children of God get into their right place before God, there is no confusion, no perplexity: the path is as simple as possible.

May the Holy Spirit enable us to realize as our own that peculiar feature of the church of God, and that which is the power of their holiness, and of their comfort too: “The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them,”

J.N.D.

Seventy Weeks of Daniel

Having ascertained this much we proceed now to the last division of this remarkable prophecy. In ver. 27. we read “and he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week.” It is not “the covenant” but “a covenant.” If “the” is inserted here we might infer that “the prince” means the Messiah and the covenant His. But this is not so. What we have is a person introduced most abruptly who makes a compact with the many, or the mass of the Jews. That he is a person of some importance we may safely conclude. But who is he? Expositors seem very much at a loss to answer this question. Hence, we need not be surprised that many wild theories have been propounded. The one most prevalent however, is that as he is said to be the prince “who is to come!” and the Lord Jesus is spoken of in ver. 25 as “Messiah the prince,” therefore He must be the person mentioned by the prophet in ver. 27.

But if this scripture be carefully examined (vers. 24-27), we shall find but few points of agreement between the two. We are informed in ver. 26, that the people of a coming prince shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now the Jews are Jehovah's people after the flesh, but, as we have already seen, it was not the Jews who laid waste their own Zion. The Romans accomplished that work. Further, this prince is said to make a covenant with “the many,” or mass of the Jews, for one week i.e. seven years. We do not read, however, that the Messiah will make a covenant with the Jews for that period. His covenant will be an everlasting one ordered in all things and sure. It cannot therefore be the Prince Messiah that is introduced in ver. 27 but a Roman prince who shall come before the Lord is revealed from heaven. This person will be at that time the head of the federated European nations. But before the last week commences, certain events not mentioned here must take place. The Jews will be brought back again to Palestine, and they will set up a king over themselves there. In chap. 11:36, 37, this person is most abruptly introduced to our notice. His arrogant manner is described, and his infidel character delineated, in few words, by the Spirit of God. Mention is also made of him in some of the other prophets. In Zech. 11 he is called “the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock,” and in Isa. 30:33 “the king” — “for the king also it (Tophet) is prepared.” When the true Messiah came He had nothing; when this man comes the Jews will receive him and exalt him to regal dignity, and leadership. The temple will be re-built and its ritual performed, as aforetime. From what follows it seems clear that all the above mentioned events must take place before the last week begins. As we have seen, the first act of importance mentioned in connection with the last weeks of seven years is that the Roman prince will enter into covenant with the mass of the Jews. This could not be done if they were not already in the land of Palestine. These covenants are not formed with a nation without some recognized leaders, Be that there is every probability “the king” will be there also. Further, this seven years' contract has to do with religious services, as well as other matters. Hence it is said of the Roman prince that in the midst of the week “he will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease.” The broken agreement includes the temple service, therefore, at the time of its formation. Thus, we may safely conclude, Jewish worship will be established before the contract is signed. But this prince will not only interfere with their religious ceremonies, he will also set up “the abomination of desolation,” in the temple. That is, some form of idolatry will be introduced to the Jews as their code of religion. “The king” in the land will be his faithful ally and coadjutor in forcing this idol-worship upon the nation for the remainder of the week. Many will embrace this and bow down to the image set up, but there will be some who will refuse to do so. These will be subjected to the most trying persecution. Some of them, obeying the Lord's words, will flee into the wilderness to a place prepared of God for them (see Matt. 24:15-18; Rev. 12:6). Others will be slain by the sword. A remnant will pass through the siege of Jerusalem, and at the last extremity, they will be delivered by the Lord in person, when He comes to the earth for judgment (Zech. 14:4, 5).

Of this Roman prince, and his dealings with the Jews, we may obtain confirmatory evidence from other parts of the word. In chap. 7:25 of this prophet, the “little horn,” who is undoubtedly the same person, is said to “wear out the saints of the high places, and think (or purpose) to change times and laws; and they (i.e. the times and laws) shall be given unto his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Now, a “time” is said to have been the term used by the Jews to express the period from one yearly sacrifice or festival to another. It came to be used, therefore, for a year of 360 days. “Times” would represent two years; and the “dividing of time” would be a half-year. Thus then, we have three and a, half years during which this little horn shall have his way in putting a stop to all Jewish worship. And this agrees with the latter half of the week. Again this chapter informs us when these things will take place. In vers. 21, 22 we read, “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the high places; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” This seems clearly to refer to the future, and links itself up with the coming of the Lord in judgment. Other scriptures may be consulted in the New Testament which present the last three and a half years of the seven in a somewhat different manner, but, nevertheless, the same three and a half years, whether, as in the Revelation for example, as “a time, and times, and half a time” (12:14), or as “forty-two months” (11:2, 13:5), or again, as “a thousand, two hundred threescore days” (12:3, 12:6). It is possible, however, that the 1260 days of these last two scriptures may refer to the first half of the last week.

For this covenant with the Roman prince compare also Isa. 28:15-18, where the Holy Spirit describes it as a “covenant with death” and an “agreement with hell,” though not so recognized by the Jews themselves alas!

Now, in conclusion, we learn from the foregoing scriptures that the last week is yet future. Then, that a Roman prince will seem at first to favor the Jews and make an agreement with them; but after a time he will cause their sacrifices to cease and set up idolatry in their temple. Because of this a “desolator” will be sent against Jerusalem in the shape of the “king of the north” who will bring desolation upon the “desolate” city (Dan. 9:27) and its inhabitants. Since, then, all this is future, it follows, as already noticed, that there must be a division between the weeks, covering a long period of time not taken into account by the prophet. This being so, we may fairly conclude that no other form of interpretation will agree so well with the requirements of the prophecy. The force of this is made strikingly manifest when the current modern expositions of “the seventy weeks” are compared with the above. For one feels in most cases that the writer is laboring hard to make the scripture support his special theory or preconceived notions; instead of allowing the prophet to speak for himself, and our taking the word as it is, without doubt or question. This the critics have not done. On the contrary they have by their learned manipulation blunted the edge of the chronological testimony through finding a terminus for the seventy weeks anywhere but in the place assigned to it by the Spirit of God.

But perhaps it may he objected that the present view is modern as well as the others. By no means. For Hippolytus, as early as the third century, in his commentary on Daniel writes, “when therefore the sixty two heptads (or, weeks) have been fulfilled and Christ has come, and the gospel has been preached in every place, the times having been accomplished, one heptads (or, week) the last, shall remain, in which Elijah and Enoch shall appear; and in the half of it the abomination of desolation shall be manifested, by Antichrist announcing desolation to the world” (S. Hippol. Martyr's Interpret. in Dan. 22). This speaks for itself and shows that although the writer was not clear as to the difference between the Roman prince and the Antichrist, yet in the main his exposition is so far correct.

Again, we have seen that “times” and dates belong to the Jews. The Christian has nothing to do with either dispensationally. For when the Lord comes for His own we shall go up to meet Him. The time of this coming, however, is kept secret. Thus we see the presumption of those who pretend to give precise dates for the Lord's coming. When the last half of the last week has begun, then the faithful among the Jews will know that their time of “redemption draweth nigh.” But nothing more definite with regard to the matter seems revealed. The church will have passed away long ere this. Much might be said further, respecting the persons and circumstances mentioned in the prophecy, but I have dealt more particularly with the chronological part as was my desire.

Now in conclusion I commend you to God and to the word of His grace to keep and help and direct in the way that is well pleasing to Him. Cling to the word as His unfailing word of truth. Heed not the teaching of those who seek to undermine its inspiration or inerrancy. May the Lord thus keep all His own. W.T.H.

(Concluded from p. 134)

The Vision: and the Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 1

“JEHOVAH answered me, and said, Write the vision and make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (vers. 2, 3). It is well known that the apostle Paul applies this to the very center of the vision, and of all visions, to Jesus Christ the Lord coming back to glory. In Hebrews 10 we are told that “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Such is the way in which the Spirit displays His admirable use of Old Testament scripture. Already had the Lord Jesus personally come the first time, and been rejected by the Jews to their own ruin. The apostle's use of it gives the words a much more personal force; yet, we can see, not departing from, but only adding to, the evident issue contemplated in Heb. 2:3, which can have no greater fulfillment short of that crowning event.

But then there is another remark to be made here. The prophet lets us know that the vision of God is written so that a man does not require, I know not what, accessories in order to understand it. It was to be made plain on tablets, distinctly set out in large impressive characters. But it is not said, as the common view assumes, that the runner may read, but rather that the reader may run, and thus, it would seem, spread the joyful intelligence one to another. It has been suggested that we should compare Dan. 12:4; but this, I think, carries out the idea of running to and fro, and increasing knowledge thus among such as have an ear to hear. The passage then holds out no premium to the careless reader, but shows how the reader of the vision will be stimulated thereby to earnest spread of the truth he receives.

It is granted, however, that scripture does meet and bless those who take but a scanty draft from the waters of life to which it points in Christ the Lord. At the same time they only enter into its depths who believe in its divine fullness, and have confidence that the Spirit, who made it the word of God in all the emphasis of that expression, delights to lead the believer into the understanding of all the truth.

Thus, while the power of the vision is shown in ver. 2, the sureness of it in ver. 3, whatever may be the delay meanwhile, from ver. 4 we learn another thing, that is, the all importance of faith to make it good for the soul before it comes. The result is not yet come; but this is no reason we should not gather the profit by that faith which is the substance of things hoped for. It cannot be denied that this is an immensely important principle; and more particularly in prophecy. The common notion is that prophecy never does people good unless it treat directly of the times and circumstances in which they themselves are found. There can be no greater fallacy. Abraham got more good from the prophecy about Sodom and Gomorrah, than Lot did; yet it clearly was not because Abraham was there, for he was not in Sodom, while Lot was, who barely escaped and with little honor as we soon sorrowfully learn. But the Spirit teaches us by these two cases in the first book of the Bible His mind as to this question. I grant entirely that when the fulfillment of prophecy in all its details comes, there will be persons to glean the most express directions. But I am persuaded that the deepest value of prophecy is for those who are occupied with Christ, and who will be in heaven along with Christ, just as Abraham was with Jehovah, instead of being like Lot in the midst of the guilty Sodomites. If this be so, the book of Revelation ought to be of far richer blessing to us now who enjoy by grace heavenly associations with Christ, and are members of His body, though we shall be on high when the hour of temptation comes on those that dwell on the earth.

It is freely allowed that the Revelation will be an amazing comfort and help to the saints who may be on the earth during the time of which it speaks. But this is no reason why it should not be a still greater blessing now to those who will be caught up to Christ before that hour. The fact is, that both are true: only it is a higher and more intimate privilege to be with the Lord in the communion of His own love and mind before the things come to pass, though comfort will be given, when they come, to those that are immersed in them. Consequently we see in the Revelation (chaps. 4, 5, 6), already with the Lord the glorified saints of the Old and New Testament who were taken up to meet Him, including those to whom the prophecy was primarily given. Afterward we see the judgments come in gradual succession; but when they take place, there are saints who evidently witness for God on earth, some suffering unto death, others preserved to be a blessed earthly people. To such undoubtedly the prophetic visions will be of value when the actual events arrive; but the most admirable value always is to faith before the events confirm the truth of the word. This is an invariable principle as to the prophetic word and indeed in divine truth generally.

Here we have faith and its ground thus stated: “For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith” (vers. 3, 4). I suppose the proud soul particularly refers to the Chaldean. He was absolutely blind; but the principle of it is just as true of the unrighteous Jew or of any man who hardens himself against the divine word. For certainly the wrath of God is against all ungodliness, and indeed, if there be any difference, against those most of all who hold the truth ever so fast in unrighteousness. It does not matter how orthodox they may be; but if men cleave to the truth in unrighteousness, so much the worse the sin. The truth in this case only condemns the more peremptorily. They may tenaciously hold the truth; yet truth was never given to make righteousness a light matter, but urgently due to God in the relations that pertain to us.

The object of all truth is to put us in communion with God and in obedience. But the man whose soul is lifted up is not upright, as is plain. The invariable way of God is this, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted;” and faith alone gives humiliation of self. It may he here observed that there are two forms of it: the happiest of all is to be humble; the next best thing is to be humbled. It is better to be humble than to be humbled, but there is no comparison between being humbled and being lifted up. Humility is the effect of grace; humiliation, rather of God's righteous government where we are not humble. This is what He did with His saints of old and outwardly with His ancient people. It is what is too often needful for ourselves. The best place of all is to be so realizing what the grace and glory of the Lord are that we are nothing before Him. Humility is the effect not so much of a moral process with ourselves, but of occupation with Him. Humbling is the effect of the Lord dealing with our souls when He sees the need of breaking us down, it may be to use us, certainly for further blessing. We could not so deal with ourselves. Judgment must come instead of humbling, but in every case anything is better than to have our soul lifted up: where is the uprightness there?

“The just,” it is said, “shall live by faith.” This is used repeatedly in the New Testament.

There are three well-known quotations in the Epistles, on which a few words may be desirable before we leave the subject. It is the apostle Paul who uses this text on all these several occasions. In writing to the Roman saints (1:17) he tells them that in the gospel the righteousness of God is “revealed from faith to faith.” Such is the only way and direction of the blessing. The righteousness of God is necessarily outside the reach of any unless it be revealed; but being revealed it is revealed “out of faith” (ἐκ πίστεως,) and in no other way, and consequently “unto faith” wherever faith might be. It could not be in the way of law: not even the Jew could suppose this, for the law claims man's righteousness, and does not say a word about the righteousness of God. The fact is that the law simply convicts man of inability to produce the righteousness which it claims; for though it demand it in God's name, there is only the answer of unrighteousness. According to the law a man ought to be righteous; but he is not. This is what the law proves, wherever a man fairly confronts it—that he is not righteous according to the divine requirement.

This state of ruin Christ has met by redemption; and consequently the gospel is entirely a question of God revealing His righteousness, though so many real Christians misunderstand it through their tradition. The meaning of the phrase is that God acts consistently with what is due to Christ, who has in redemption perfectly glorified God. He glorified Him as Father during His life; yet this could not have put away sin. But He glorified Him as God, when it was expressly a question of our sins, by His atoning death on the cross. Thenceforward God reveals His righteousness in view of that all-efficacious sacrifice; not only vindicating His forbearance in past times, but in the present time justifying the believer freely and fully in consequence of that mighty work. The first effect of God's righteousness, though not referred to in the Epistle to the Romans, is that God sets Christ at His own right hand on high. The next result (and this is the one spoken of there) is, that God justifies the believer accordingly. Rom. 1 no doubt treats of His righteousness in the most abstract terms. The manner of it is not described till we come to chapters 3, 4, 5. But even in the first statement we have the broad principle that in the gospel there is the revelation of divine righteousness from faith (not from law), and consequently to faith wherever it be found. Such I believe to be the force of the preposition. Probably the chief difficulty to most minds is the expression “from faith.” It means on that principle, not in the way of obedience to law, which must be the rule of human righteousness. Habits of misinterpretation make the difficulty. Faith alone can be the principle if it be a revelation of divine righteousness; and consequently it is “to faith,” wherever faith may be.

It is purposely put in abstract style, because the Spirit has not yet begun to set out how it can be and is. It would be anticipating the doctrine that He was afterward to expound. For manifestly the work of Christ has not yet been brought in; and hence the consequences could not be explained consistently with any true order. It is mere ignorance to assume that scripture is irregular; for in fact there is the deepest order in what man's haughty spirit presumes thus to censure. It is entirely due to the haste which leads men naturally to admire only the order of man. As to the difficulty of the expression “from faith to faith,” it is quite admitted that the idea is put in a very pithy and compressed form; so that to men who are apt to be wordy in the usual style, of course such compactness does sound peculiar.

This it is that answers to the expression of the prophet, “The just shall live by his faith.” Success had great weight with the Jewish mind. They wondered at the prosperous career of the Gentile. But the prophet is explaining the enigma as Isaiah had done before. He insists that the only righteous man is the believer. It is not the justified but “the just;” and this in order to keep up the link between doctrine and practice, as it seems to me. “The righteous shall live by his faith.” It is the combination of the two points, that faith is inseparable from righteousness, and a righteous man from believing. The Chaldean saw not God, and had no thought of His purpose or His way. The Israelite would find his blessing in subjection to His word and confidence in Himself. “Behold the proud! his soul is not right within him; but the just shall live by his faith.” The expression then does not say the justified, but it is implied; from it. What preachers ordinarily mean is in itself true. We are justified by faith; but we do not require to draw out more than is in the prophecy; nor is justification explicitly developed in Rom. 1 but rather in chapters 3, 5. Let every scripture teach its own appropriate lesson.

(To be continued.)

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

Matt. 2:11

The fulfillment of the promise that had been awaited by the expectant angels around God's throne through the long, sad years of human sinfulness, was at last accomplished. Through high heaven the commandment had gone forth that the holy Babe of Bethlehem, just then brought into the world, was to receive the adoration of all the angelic host. No inferior worship was to be His; for to Him they were to sing, led by the angelic messenger of His coming, the great Hallelujah chorus of “Glory to God in the highest;” and around the humble hostelry where was His manger-bed, they celebrated His worthy praise. There had been no need for such command when the eternal Son from all eternity had adorned the throne of infinite majesty. No need for heavenly host to be commanded to worship Him then; for it had ever been their ceaseless joy to sound forth His hallowed name. Still less such need when He entered paradise and there received the poor thief, the first trophy of His cross, and earliest follower on that way. He had been seen of angels during all His self-sacrificing life; and in Gethsemane's garden, prior to the cross with all its ineffable agony of all-atoning worth. They had been spectators of the awful conflict, and of the conclusive and irreversible victory; and heaven's gates had been high uplifted to let the King of glory, the Vanquisher of Satan and all his legions, enter in everlasting triumph over all. But the angels might have hesitated to adore the lowly Babe, for whom earth, sinful earth, had no welcome and no room at all. No reception, but from the first, rejection, rejection, and still rejection, right on to His cross of shame; and He is still the rejected One, and still the despised. So, therefore, it stands written, “When He bringeth in and there is no real righteousness in practice apart the First-begotten into the world, He smith, Let all God's angels worship Him;” and since neither the ambient heavens above Bethlehem, nor the fragrant meadows around, could contain the innumerable multitude of worshipping spirits, a glorious deputation sang unto the lovely Infant, God's eternal Son, heaven's highest praise. Then came the Magi from afar, seeking Him Who was born King of the Jews—their wisdom plainly manifest; they were seeking for Jesus. Led by their starry guide, by Bethlehem's manger their weary quest terminated, for there they found Him, blessed Object of their long search. So it has ever been from that bright hour until this very day. No one has ever sought for Him aright and failed to find heavenly guidance, and sure success at length or speedily. Entering the house, they saw the young Child and His mother—Christ first, Christ preeminent then and always—and falling down before Him, Him they worshipped, Him only. No sort of reverence, nor even one poor gift to the virgin mother, for they did not approach Him by her mediation. Firstly, they gave themselves to Him in humble adoration, and so their presents became acceptable. Then, next, they offered gold—their tribute to His kingly majesty. Then, the frankincense, as to God manifest in flesh. Not incense, but one of its two chief ingredients; for pone but Aaron might compound the sacred perfume, which, in its fullness, symbolized the perfection of Christ Himself. Lastly, came the offering of myrrh, prophetic of His death as the victim, when wine mingled with myrrh was given to dull the keen anguish of His pain. He tasted, but He would not drink. Tasted to show His appreciation of the sole kindly deed; but refused, because He had chosen the appalling cup His Father had given Him to drink, and He would drink this with all its bitterness of wrath and fierce indignation against Him; then, and then only, bearing the sins of His people. Myrrh, too, as associated with the burial rites of the nobler families of Israel; and also as showing forth His high-priestly glory as the one anointed with the holy oil, typical of the Holy Spirit to be given without measure, and that descended from His head even unto the hem of His garment; thus baptizing all His own, as at Pentecost, into one mystic body, Himself, the one, only, all glorious Head, ever living in the power of His own endless life.

G.S.M.

The Ark and Its Contents

“Wherein was a golden pot that had the manna,” God's daily provision for the need of His people passing through the wilderness; the manna which came from heaven day by day gathered and appropriated by the people in their natural state and condition. Believers and unbelievers alike ate of it and proved its sustaining qualities. Where faith was in exercise as with Caleb, it was a daily expression of the gracious interest God took in the life and circumstances of His people; to such it was a real link which grace had formed between the God of glory who dwelt in heaven, and the needy pilgrim on his way to the promised rest. Caleb's testimony before all Israel and to Joshua, was a striking witness of the faithfulness of Jehovah which should have been the experience and testimony of the whole nation (Josh. 14:6-15). Jehovah had kept him alive “these forty and five years,” and that too with undiminished strength and enthusiasm. It had been by means of the manna, but if not thus it would have been by some other means, for the word and honor of God were pledged to it. The children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness, but he had lived, nor do we read of his death; his links with God had been daily renewed, faith strengthened, and experience of God's faithfulness extended and deepened. Every case of death of rebels, who were also his brethren, confirmed the truth of Jehovah's word to his soul, while the hope set before him as time rolled on (and he knew the precise period of the wanderings of the children of Israel), became clearer and more stimulating than ever.

How well did his life's history illustrate the truth that “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith!” And how intensely individual is the path of faith in the day of provocation in the wilderness Joshua and Caleb stilled the people. Now in the day of triumph, Caleb recalls “the thing that Jehovah said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea.” The fellowship of those two faithful servants had not widened out. They knew how to keep a secret, and when to declare it and to claim the prize.

We are not to suppose that there was any potent charm or mysterious virtue in the manna; it was no “elixir of life” to prolong the life of the body indefinitely. The Lord Jesus told His hearers in John 6, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died,” and again, “Not Moses has given you the bread out of heaven.” It was very distinctly a type of Christ sent from heaven, “that a man may eat thereof and not die” which necessitates faith in His person and a real acceptance and appreciation of the grace that brought Him into this world, and which was continually in evidence in His daily life and ministry up to the cross where He then became the Antitype of the paschal lamb. But just as God ordained that an omer of manna should be laid up before the testimony for a witness to succeeding generations, so has God the Spirit, in the four Gospels, given us a divine record of the words and ways of our Lord Jesus Christ as He trod this earth the constant manifestation of grace and truth, which alone meets the real need of our souls now passing through a wilderness. There will come a time when we shall need this no longer. It came to an end when Israel reached the land of promise, “The manna ceased... neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (Josh. 5:12). And as for us, when the journey has come to a close, faith shall change to sight and we shall know as known. It will then be our experience to have gathered up the manna to prove the sympathies and grace of Christ and His strength made perfect in weakness. The circumstances of grief, weakness and poverty will then be no longer existing for us, but it is here that the “hidden manna” comes into use. It was the memorial before God of that which had been so efficacious in the past for the blessing of the people of Israel. The golden pot containing it speaks of divine excellence and particularly of divine righteousness. If the people had laid it up for themselves for future use, it would have become nauseous (Ex. 16:20), but Aaron the divinely appointed high priest was commanded to lay it up before the testimony (the ark was not then made). It was therefore a priestly act intended for the instruction and edification of future generations, and pointing to the wondrous truth that He who came down from heaven full of grace and truth, and was here upon earth for a time in all lowliness, despised, unknown and rejected (as thus it was with the manna), has gone into heaven in righteousness. The once humbled Man is now the glorified Man. He came down from heaven in grace. He is gone back in righteousness.

The scripture before us is the only one which speaks of the manna being in the ark; and the divine purpose in placing it there seems never to have been realized because of the inability of the Israelites to draw nigh to God in the holiest; so the garments “for glory and for beauty” intended [?] for Aaron's use in the most holy place were never worn there (compare Ex. 28:29, 35 with Lev. 16:4, 32), and yet again, the proposal that Israel should be unto Jehovah “A kingdom of priests, a holy nation” was not fulfilled under the law which made nothing perfect, but was made good to the remnant according to the election of grace who believed on the risen Christ (1 Peter 2:9). Yet such a one as David, found in the ark and its contents that which spoke of Jehovah's presence in holiness and grace amongst His people, so that faith was strengthened and spiritual affections nourished (1 Chron. 15). It is only the overcomer who escapes the corruption of the world through lust and rising to the height of the heavenly calling, that is enabled to feed upon Christ by faith and to realize that all that grace which was so blessedly manifested in Christ here on earth is the present portion of the believer, now that He is gone into heaven. It were easy perhaps to overcome the spirit of the world in its own proper place, but it has to be withstood and overcome amongst the saints, and the Lord's promise to the overcomer in the church at Pergamos appeals with peculiar distinctness to His saints to-day when all the characteristics of that assembly are so clearly marked. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17).

(Continued From P. 144)

(To be continued).

Sinai and Its Terrors: Part 1

From the triumph at the Red Sea was a succession of divine dealings in nothing but grace to Israel, the Gentile at the end, bringing to Moses his wife and sons, and, after offerings and sacrifice, eating bread with Moses and Aaron and all the elders before God.

The words just read which describe its distinctive character with all vividness, were addressed to confessors of Christ. They had been Jews, and still were exceedingly attached to what they called, and what might reasonably seem to be, the covenant. All know that ancestral religion with any show of coming from God, must have no small fascination for the natural heart. Men assume that what God Himself introduced with the utmost solemnity must be the right thing for man to receive and retain at all cost. But this scripture is expressly far otherwise. God was here giving the plainest warning that although His sovereign grace had brought His people out of Egypt, and they had promised to keep His covenant as the condition of being His peculiar people, it could issue in nothing but failure and ruin. None could live by the commandment holy and just and good, because they were all sinners.

How could sinful man be saved by the law? It was not given to save sinners. It was meant to convince such as seriously tried to obey it, that none could stand on that ground before God. Life is of His grace to the believer. We are saved by grace through faith. He that breaks the law must surely die. Hence no matter what helps may later accompany the law, it is said in 2 Cor. 3 to be the ministry of death and of condemnation. Its real aim is to overwhelm the guilty, that they might turn from self and law to the Savior.

Accordingly when man fell in Eden, the divine resource was made known. The bruised Seed of the woman was to. crush Satan's power. It was Christ, not only before the law, but long even before the promises to the fathers. It was the due time to reveal it when the first pair sinned and became outcasts from paradise.

Long after, Israel undertook to obey Jehovah's voice, and keep His covenant. “All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). They trusted themselves; they forgot all the solemn witness of the past; they pleaded not the promises to their fathers, still less the everlasting gospel for a lost paradise. On the contrary they made promises to God which sinful man never keeps, and only pretends to in an outward form and with lip homage. There is no reality in it. A groundless hope may buoy up, along with a fearful looking for of judgment. It is terror that rests on men's consciences, and terror is not the way to God or His salvation.

That is what the Epistle to the Hebrews here portrays. The reference is to Ex. 19, & 20, the unmistakable evidence of what all Israel then felt, nay, of what Moses could not but share, and was inspired to state for all time to all that heed the word of God. Such was the inevitable character of God's law-giving at Sinai. It is in vain for men to forget the facts and to imagine a fond dream for religious pride out of what was spoken, seen, and heard at Sinai. God displayed His awful majesty there and then to Israel in a way that was never known in this world before or since. Therefore the Jews boasted of such a beginning of their religion as unparalleled. Only their fathers stood round that Mount of God: but were they not there in abject fear and excessive trembling? Where was there shown the least real knowledge of God? where any true sense of their own state in His sight? What a contrast with him who said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5, 6). How little they owned that they were guilty sinners, and that there could be no approach to God until their sins were judged and blotted out from them!

What the scene at Sinai presented was the certainty of God's judgment of sin; of this the passage I have read is a simple, clear, and solemn declaration. Least of all ought Israel to forget that Jehovah is God armed against sin, a jealous God that visits the fathers' iniquity on the children unto the third and fourth generation of those that hate Him, and shows mercy to thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments. But how could the sinner appear before God arrayed with such terrors? How was he to get rid of his sins to stand before Him? Not a word to this effect appeared in the ten words God spoke that day. It was but little indeed that He did then say, but every word was beyond doubt tremendous and fatal to the guilty. It was meant to fill the heart of man with terror because of his sins. But it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance; it is faith in our Lord Jesus that gives assurance of salvation.

But alas! it is the sad fact and incurable malady of man's heart as he is naturally, that he thinks, feels, and does everything wrong. The gospel he scouts because it is sovereign and divine righteousness. The law he perverts to make out his own righteousness, though it only pronounces death and condemnation on him. His conscience trembles every now and then before the law of God; but he renews his sins ere long. For if there be nothing more but such a dread of God, after the lightnings and thunders pass man returns to his vomit or to wallowing in the mire; so it is that he perishes.

Hence, even in the early days, when the gospel of grace was first sent out by God, there was a constant tendency among both Jews and Gentiles that confessed Christ, to hanker after the law in one shape or another. So the apostle had to seek the recovery of the Galatian saints, and here was led by the Spirit to set forth to the Jews that professed Christ the true character of the law, and its entire difference from the gospel. It was not merely the unconverted who were in danger but those who had begun well. There is the same peril now.

How often where a man is entirely unexercised about his sins, he is occupied with the sins of others! Thank God, I am not “a swearer,” nor “a drunkard,” nor “a whore-monger,” nor “an usurer.” And because he can acquit himself of the more glaring transgressions of the law, whereof he sees others guilty, he flatters himself that he is in a position by no means bad. If he be also rigid about the Sabbath, paying his debts to the Levite! remembering what is due to the priest, and making an offering to the Temple of God, is he not a good and religious man? There are not a few like this now. The Lord puts that very case into the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself. Here was one thanking God that He was not as other men, extortioners, unclean, unjust, or even as “this tax-gatherer.” Therefore he believed he was righteous and despised others. But the Tax-gatherer, standing afar off would not lift so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, not merely a sinner, as one of the crowd, but the sinner, who has not a word to say for himself.

How fatal to turn the law, which God gave to prove how man fails, into a means of pretending to righteousness before Him! How blessed to own the truth as to ourselves, and yet to rest upon the mercy that provides a Savior!

Then again, there is another danger. In returning to the law since Christ came and died and rose, it is to abandon the great reality of grace and truth to take up a mere shadow. At that time when the apostle wrote, confessing Jews still brought their sacrifices and offerings and such like ordinances of the law. God had forborne since Pentecost, but He would have these shadows to cease before He swept away temple, city and people from the land, which was really but Aceldama, Blood-field. And the apostle lets them know here that when God pronounced the law at Sinai He showed its death-bringing character. The lesson really inculcated at Sinai was that as a man in the flesh, that is in my natural state, there is nothing for me from the law but wrath. It is quite certain that I cannot live before God save in Him to whom God pointed as Savior from the beginning. “It was for Him that all believers waited. They counted, not on themselves but on the Christ. Yet they accordingly offered sacrifices as a witness and they walked before God, as they worshipped Him, before that Moses was raised up to introduce the Levitical system with all its multiplicity of types and shadows. These were things that they honored as provisional and preparatory to the One whom they awaited.

But God also looked onward to His own Son becoming flesh, and replacing that system by His work on the cross. It was He who was to be incarnate that appeared to tell of grace in the judgment of Satan before Adam's expulsion from the garden of Eden. Directly man transgressed against God, He came there, and spoke to them of another that should take up the cause of man; of another that should be bruised, but should also and completely bruise the old serpent, the devil.

The Deliverer of man, the Seed of the woman, was to be therefore a person far above man, however truly He might become man through the woman, to do His work righteously and suitably to God's glory.

A believing man is rightly called to resist the devil when he tempts! but how can any man apart from Christ bruise the devil under his feet? Only a divine person could really effect that. Hence one is sure that He Who was spoken of when Adam and Eve fell in the garden was none other than the divine person Who deigned to come of woman, and will bruise Satan shortly under our feet.

Very touching it is to know that none other was He who was first Himself to be bruised. Whether He appeared as angel of Jehovah to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, it was He that we own now as the Son of God before all that He wrought and suffered in the fullness of time. He became man because in Him alone were the elements of His person united that could adequately meet the exegencies of both God and man. He must be able adequately and perfectly to present man to God, as well as God to man.

Further, He must be man to sympathize with man, no less than to die for him He must be absolutely without sin if He were to become a, sacrifice for sin. He must be the propitiation or atonement for our sins if we are to be righteously forgiven. None of this could come to pass, save in the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

(To be continued).

Discipline and Unity of the Assembly: Part 2

The other question to which I adverted at the commencement is the recognition of Christ's body on earth.

The first place the assembly is spoken of is in Matt. 16, “On this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.” Now building the assembly is not even a mystical union of individuals with the Head in heaven. It supposes a system established on earth—a building—one assembly. The end of the clause is the plainest proof of this: a promise that the gates of hades should not prevail against mystical union with Christ in heaven, to the exclusion of the conditions of a church on earth, is an interpretation which condemns itself. The gates of hades have nothing to say to individual mystical union with Christ in heaven.

In Matt. 18, as we have seen, for the administrative authority of discipline, two or three gathered to Christ's name are sufficient.

I turn to the Acts. Here we see how the assembly was formed. As yet there was no difference between the assembly and assemblies. The Lord had declared He would build His assembly, and He was doing it, There was no idea of the duty of joining a man's self to a community of disciples. A Jew, or a heathen, as soon as Cornelius was called, was converted to have share in the promises and calling of God. He was introduced (I raise here no special questions on the subject) by baptism, most certainly not into any particular assembly. Into what then? Into THE assembly. He was publicly admitted among Christians. And now mark how it is as to the work itself spoken of: “The Lord added daily [to the assembly] such as should be saved.” The Lord added. It was His work, and He added to the assembly. That is what He did with the remnant, preserved according to the election of grace. He did not restore Israel; He added them to the assembly, the nation being about to he cut off. They were put upon earth into this new position; also it was evident that the assembly was upon earth. It was according to the saying, “He died to gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” Now, if the unity were only the mystical one, if they were believers, they had no need of being gathered into one. They could not be scattered; their unity, as the tract tells us, was constant and unchangeable. Yet Jesus gave Himself to gather them together in one. The fact of baptism being the means of public admission makes the idea of joining a church impossible. The church had put its public sanction on them, and received them; and they had a place, and were bound to take it, wherever they went, in God's assembly.

We may now turn to the church's dealings with them when they were within. The First Epistle to the Corinthians will here afford us divine light.

In the First of Corinthians it is of moment to remark, because it is the epistle in which a local assembly is spoken of as practically in certain respects representing the whole assembly of God, that the epistle is addressed to all believers everywhere—all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. We get a church-character, but the apostle in his address is careful to associate all Christians with those at Corinth. Hence, if one was put out as a wicked person by the assembly at Corinth, he was “without,” that is, outside the whole church of God (not of the body of Christ vitally, but the assembly on earth). Nor can you indeed read the entire epistle without seeing that what was said by the apostle; and consequently done by the assembly at Corinth, was an et valid for the whole body—of saints on earth; that they are viewed as involved in it, as indeed they are expressly mentioned. To say he was only outside the particular assembly, when he was put out of it, is a monstrous and mischievous perversion. When the apostle says “them within,” and “them that are without,” to say that he only means within or without a particular body (“do ye not judge them that are within? them that are without God judgeth"); it is clearly “within,” or. “without,” on earth; and it is clearly not within or without a particular assembly; the difference is between Christians and men of the world. Within and without, that is, applies to the whole assembly of Christ on earth; they were the fornicators of this world, or one called a brother. In Corinth, to be of the assembly they must be of the local assembly, unless in schism; but if called “a brother,” they were of the assembly, not because they had joined that particular body, but because they were Christians not excluded by just discipline.

I now turn to chapter 12., which will make the matter as clear as possible; and, while it shows that a local assembly, viewed in association with all Christians everywhere on earth, practically represents and acts for all saints with the Lord's authority if gathered to His name, yet it shows that the apostle has in mind THE assembly, not an assembly. “But all these worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will; for as the body is one, and there are many members, and all the members of that body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

The subject of the chapter is spiritual gifts, and the figure of the body is not used in view of mere personal union with Christ (important, yea, yet more important, as that doctrine surely is), but of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. The church universal is not viewed as in heaven in its Head, but as on earth in its members; they have all been baptized with that one Spirit to make one body: the members are the gifts.

All are members, and the Holy Ghost distributes as He will. Where are these gifts exercised, and to what do they belong? They are exercised, on earth, that is a clear case; there is no evangelizing nor healing of the sick in heaven. But they do not belong to a particular assembly, but to the assembly; and God hath set some in the assembly: first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that miracles, then gifts of healing, &c. Now nothing can be plainer or more positive than this. These gifts are exercised on earth; they are set in the assembly; they were not even all exercised in an assembly, as apostles might be preaching to the world. Miracles might be wrought in the world, or healing take place; but they were members of the body who wrought; they were set in the assembly.

This chapter shows in the distinctest manner possible that, while scripture clearly owns local assemblies whose responsibilities and acts we have already considered, the action of the Holy Ghost is viewed as forming and acting in one assembly on the earth, and is viewed only as on earth—to the exclusion of what it will be in heaven, as is evident from the exercise of the gifts, and their nature. The whole scriptural view of the Holy Ghost's operation is denied by the teaching of the tract, as indeed the true nature of a local assembly is also. If Apollos taught at Ephesus, he taught when he went to Corinth. He was a Christian, and thereby necessarily belonged to the assembly of Christians at Corinth, because it was the assembly of the Christians who were there. This does not hinder discipline, but makes the discipline valid as to the whole assembly of God.

If I turn to the Ephesians, more especially consecrated to the instruction of Christians in the highest privileges of individual saints, or of the church, I find the same truth. “Ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit;” that is, Jews and Gentiles were reconciled in one body to God by the cross. It was growing to its full result, but there was on earth a habitation of God through the Holy Ghost. Here unity is a great point—one body, one Spirit, one hope. But where is this? On earth. Gifts are given to every one according to the measure of the gift of Christ. When ascended, Christ gave gifts to men—apostles, prophets; evangelists, pastors and teachers, till we all come, &c.

Thus, again, the future heavenly state is excluded. Yet we are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, for there is one Spirit and one body. The Head being ascended, He has given gifts—not in a church; apostles and evangelists exercised their ministry, the first partly, the latter exclusively, in the world, and the apostles as such clearly belonged to no particular assembly. The idea of the members of an assembly is wholly unknown to scripture. It is used as a figure, and in reference to the human body. We are likened to a body, but that body is the body of Christ; an assembly is not His body, though it may locally represent it. I read, “The assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”

Now, that predicted confusion has come in I certainly am the last to deny; a confusion which makes one feel doubly the comfort of the promise, “Where two or three are gathered together to my name, there am I in the midst of them.” But this becomes a mere self-regulated voluntary association whenever the unity of the body on earth is not owned. They cannot take the scriptures for their guide; they have begun by denying them in the point which established their own position. We are God's husbandry, God's building. Alas! wood and hay and stubble have been built upon the foundation, and perverse men have crept in, and wolves have come, ordinances and legalism have perverted Christendom; but that does not alter God's truth. God has forseen all and provided the path of obedience in the word, and grace for it. And when we deny a scriptural truth, we may be sincere Christians, and do so from prejudice and ignorance; but we deprive ourselves of the blessing and character of sanctification attached to that truth. So where the unity of the assembly on earth is denied, the blessings attached to it are lost, as far as our personal profit goes, and these benefits are nothing less than the action of the Holy Ghost on earth, uniting us as members to Christ, and acting as He sees right in the members down here. To deny the defilement of the assembly by the allowance of sin, and the unity of the body on earth by the presence of the Holy Ghost, is to destroy all the responsibility of the one, and all the blessing of the other, and in these points to make void the word of God. J.N.D.

Memories of the life and last days of William Kelly,

by Heyman Wreford. Svo. Cloth, t. e. g. 1/6 Net.

Published

LONDON: T. WESTON, Publisher, 63, Paternoster Row

Published Monthly

Church in the Wilderness in the Vision of God

ALL this statement of Balaam is of what God would do with His people. Behind Israel's failure God takes up His own thoughts, and acts in His own ways, about them.

First, They are a peculiar people, separate from all other nations unto God (chap. 23:9). “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

Secondly, God will see no evil in them (ver. 21). In the end, Israel will be the testimony that “His mercy endureth forever.”

Thirdly, We have the way in which their beauty and comeliness are seen, as looked at in “the vision of the Almighty” (24:5-9). It is not man's sight of them, but God's.

Fourthly, Speaking of the glory of Israel in connection with Christ in the latter days (vers. 15-25), Balaam says, “I shall see him but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession: Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies: and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.” Then he looks at the nations and says, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perish forever.” Of the Kenites, “Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; nevertheless, the Kenite shall be wasted until Asshur shall carry thee away captive Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?” The whole power, pride, and energy of the Gentiles are smitten. The “Star,” the “Scepter,” arises, and delivers Israel. The pride of man is brought down, and Christ is set up. And there is the world's history. The great truth of all history is in its connection with God. His people being brought out before the Gentiles, He shows, in the great result, that His gifts and calling are without repentance (Rom. 11). Though He may not interfere for a long time, yet in the end it will be seen that He has taken notice of all that the nations have done; and Christ, in whom His glory and purposes center, shall be set up as King upon His holy hill of Zion (Psa. 2).

In chapter 24 we get out of the region of conflict and questioning into the place where God can look upon His people in their loveliness and beauty: to us the beauty of the church in all Christ's perfectness. The preceding chapter gives us their separation and justification.

As looked at by God (and therefore by faith), the church is dead and risen with Christ. We are quickened together with Him (He having borne all our sins), as out of the grave, where our sins were left. But where the fullness and the finishedness of acceptance in Christ is not known, anxiety and despondency result in the heart of the saint, on the discovery of sin within, and he questions whether he is such. He does see iniquity—he is conscious from the teaching of God that iniquity is in his heart. It is not merely a natural consciousness of sins: the Spirit of God gives him a divine understanding of sin, and of what it is. The power of God's holiness is set up as a throne in the conscience, and he judges himself, as though he were himself to be judged for it. We constantly find souls in this state, miserable, distressed, and anxious, questioning whether they are saved; whether they are in the faith. Now how is this to be disposed of? Clearly not by the taking away of the Spirit, whose work has produced this discovery of sin, but by the eye being directed elsewhere entirely; that is, to the work of Christ for him. It is not by the pulling down of the throne set up within that nearly drove him to despair. By looking to the work of Christ the standard of holiness is exalted, but he sees that he is made the righteousness of God in Christ, and he gets rest. The nearer he is to God, the less will he get rest otherwise, so long as God is God. He is taught to look entirely out of himself, and to understand that the righteousness of God is his by faith in Jesus Christ. When man is manifested to himself, he sees that he is wretched (Rom. 7:24), but man being proved to be bad, this gives way to God's righteousness, &c. The last Adam takes the place of the first in respect of life and judgment. In everything this is true. It will be fully realized in the glory by and by; but faith does not wait for that. Faith does not take even conscience's view of the matter, but God's view, and rests there. The church is seen in God's presence and in God's sight; as here He “has not seen iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel.”

Paul, looked at in himself, was “chief” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15.).

Israel had gone through the wilderness with constant failure, but at the end of the forty years' journey, when Satan resists their entrance into Canaan, God does not see iniquity in them. Moses had said of them in these very plains of Moab, “Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you?” But God sees no iniquity; He sees no perverseness.

Experience is not faith. You cannot know an object of faith by experience, you may know yourself by experience. But the experience of what passes in my soul is not faith. I want faith for that which is revealed (that is, in the revelation of God) and not a revelation. No doubt it is felt experimentally, it is not merely a matter of theory. Many a one who had by faith got peace, when he sees his sins again, loses peace. He may have received the grace of the gospel very sincerely; yet, in, measure, his knowledge of it is superficial. He does not see it is applicable to his state. Faith looks not at itself but at God's righteousness in Christ: His grace has judged the whole condition of the sinner; and, resting in His revelation, the soul stands in the consciousness of redemption.

Has God planted us in this condition merely to say, “I am safe?” Is this the end of God? Surely not! But this peace is the basis on which all happy intercourse with God goes on. He cannot have such intercourse with me while He is judging me. Take, by way of example, the parent dealing with a naughty child—there is no intercourse in that; nor can there be any until the child is restored. Correction is not communion. The Holy Ghost's thoughts and revelations are founded on the righteousness God has set the church in in Christ. God has redeemed her” brought her out of Egypt “—charged Himself with the question of her sins. It is not that we should work up to a certain righteousness: there is not a question of righteousness to be allowed. God's side of the matter begins there. We may know terrors first, and it may be well that we should; but God begins with having the church.

See Eph. 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, even as 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 spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” He has loved it, and given Himself for it, that He might work in and about it what He would like to have it. He presents it to Himself, not merely as purified, but more, “a glorious church.”

Well now, our souls ought to follow this; we should start from the point whence God starts—His determination to bless, as it is said, “And when Balaam saw that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel.” This foils Satan.

To return. Balaam goes not now as at other times to seek for enchantments. He finds himself in the presence of God, and Satan and Balaam can do nothing “There is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.”

So in our case; when it is manifest that God has the church, Satan can do nothing. It is a settled thing. The church is to be a blessed church, and the Holy Ghost can take His stand there, and occupy Himself with her portion, and set before the soul her beauty and glory which are of God.

But Balaam set his face “towards the wilderness” —why? Because the children of Israel were yet in the wilderness. The wilderness was not Canaan, but Israel was there. The world is not heaven nor the glory, but the church is there now; and while the church is in the wilderness, the Spirit of God can take up the parable and show what that church is in God's eye. So here, Balaam is not walking through the tents of Israel, or he would have heard the murmurings and discontent of Israel. He is not in the camp, he is gone up to the top of the hill, and, looking at them with God's eye, what does he see? Israel abiding in their tents according to their tribes. The Spirit of God comes upon him, and he takes up his parable and says, “Balaam, the son of Beor, hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: he hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, [and] thy tabernacles, O Israel,” &c.

We have to look at God's thoughts about the church. The Holy Ghost speaks of the church, as to what it is to God; and God's thoughts are not merely of the glory of the church in the world to come, but of the beauty, in His mind, of the people in the wilderness.

Would we have happy thoughts about the saints? we must rise up to what the church of God really is to God. We must get “the vision of the Almighty” (the knowledge of the beauty and comeliness of the church in all Christ's perfectness), in order to have our souls soft and tender and humble about what passes around. If we do not see this, we shall not be able to maintain the sense of Christ's love. And, further, unless by the power of the Spirit we get away from circumstances, so as to see the church, and the saints individually, as Christ sees them, instead of seeking to nourish and cherish them as Christ does, we shall be disappointed. This often makes us angry; it should not, but it does. We shall either lower our standard and be content with conformity to the world in the saints, or become discontented and judicial, angry and bitter against them, the flesh being disappointed and vexed. Faith assumes the acceptance of the saints in Christ, while it seeks in the exercise of godly and gracious discipline that they should be maintained and bloom in the fragrance of Christ's grace.

“As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which Jehovah loath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.” What a most blessed picture! And could we be happy in seeing them stunted, dishonoring the Lord? The glory of Christ is concerned: He gets His character from us. Paul says to the saints at Corinth (not, “Ye ought to be,” but), Ye are “the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” No, I must grieve when I find in them that which is contrary to their beauty in Christ. They are “as trees of lign aloes,” and “as cedar trees.” It is not merely that God has not seen iniquity in them—He has seen beauty.

Israel were in the wilderness, their enemies all around; but for all that, the table is spread for them in the presence of their enemies; and here are God's thoughts about them, thoughts of comeliness and goodliness; they were “as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes.... as cedar trees beside the waters.” “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures” (Psa. 36:8). What an unlikely place, the wilderness, in which to look 'or rivers of waters': “He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed [shall be] in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.”

Balaam was in the very presence of Balak, who would have done anything to bring a curse on the people; and he says, “God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them] through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed [is] he that blesseth thee, and cursed [is] he that curseth thee.”

And this is what we have to see in the church, spite of Satan. Though in the wilderness, and in the presence of its enemies, a table is spread for it there. Spite of all the power of Satan, the beauty of the church is this—not in the glory, because there it is not in the presence of Satan; not in the rest, but now—the display of the efficacy of the calling and of the power of God in the presence of Satan, in the very place where Satan rules. The church is set in the efficacy of the fullness of Christ's work. It has failed. But, unless the soul has the consciousness of redemption—the fullness of redemption in Christ, it cannot see this.

We should know that we are the Lord's “garden;” we should have in the wilderness the consciousness of being planted as God's “trees,” and not merely of being saved. God has set rivers of water to flow there—not thence, but there—that though in a dry place, the church should bear testimony to the perfectness of Christ's work, to the infiniteness of the efficacy of Christ's death. What a marvelous miracle of grace is the acceptance of the church! Yes, such is its efficacy, that in this dry and barren land, this land where no water is, the waters of God flow; and God's people have rivers of waters around them to refresh them through it. That a poor wretched creature such as I am should have the Holy Ghost dwelling in me, and be a tree of the Lord's planting, is as great a miracle as bringing me to glory. “Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world.” God has put a wall, an unseen wall of grace, around us; and while Satan is deceiving and blinding the eyes of the world, these waters of God supply the saints, watering the plants of His planting inside the fence of God. What a manifestation of divine power and grace!

O beloved, our souls need to see the church, and the saints individually, thus in God's vision, with our eyes open, in the Spirit: otherwise we shall not get into the power of God's thoughts. We do not want “the vision of the Almighty” in order to see that a saint is a saint; neither do we want “open” eyes to discover inconsistencies in the walk of our brethren. We want to rise up and have our eyes open to see, as God sees, this beauty and glory of the church. God is in possession of us.

And remember this was said in the very presence of Balak. It is blessed we should have the certainty of these things in the midst of Satan's power.

What does David say? (Psa. 23). “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” The enemies can look on, and see how blessed I am whilst I feast on what God has provided. “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Not only have I got mercy and peace, but I have understood its fullness—an overrunning cup. He can both dwell upon the proved faithfulness of God, and count upon it for the future also; as he goes on to say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” and finishes with “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

One thing more. Balaam sees the beauty of the people in “the vision of the Almighty"; but not only so, he sees their hope in the One that is to be in the midst of them in the latter days. There is the actual beauty of God's people; there are the secret unfailing springs whereby they are refreshed; the power of God is for them against their enemies. But we must see the future also: “And now [he says to Balak], behold, I go unto my people; come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.... I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab,” &c.

So as to the church; it will be brought into glory and blessing with Christ. We do not merely see the beauty of the church, according to God's mind, its present loveliness and preciousness in His sight, but we see Him who is to be in the midst of the church, the Bridegroom of the church, whom we are longing for. “We shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). By faith we see Him now—we see One our souls long for—who has loved the church and given himself for it: and when He thus comes out in His glory and beauty, we shall be with Him. The same Holy Ghost, who forms us for His eyes, gives Him to our eyes to be the center of our affections and joy.

There is our hope: we shall see Him as he is. If we have the Spirit showing us the beauty of Christ now, we are looking for the fullness of glory and beauty in the day of the glory. Let us see that our affections are going out towards Himself.

“How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! thy tabernacles, O Israel!”

We have the strength of God's love to think of for present comfort, and where there is a right view of the beauty and comeliness of the church, and yet of her failure, there will be great humbleness and tenderness of spirit towards the Lord, and towards one another.

The Lord grant we may not sit down content in wretched coldness of heart, with evil in ourselves, or in our brethren. The waters of God are at the root of the plant, however miserable the pruning. How precious this! May we rise up, in the sense of the beauty we have in God's mind, to delight ourselves in Him, who is our comeliness, to glory in Him who is God's delight, and our joy and glory. Amen.

J.N.D.

Belshazzar's Feast and the Day of the Lord: Part 1

The mind of man, though professedly believing the Scriptures, with its record of past events and particularly the acts and ways of God in judgment, is nevertheless slow to accredit what is written of future solemn realities. God's judgment of the world by a flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are facts, owned nominally, at least, by all professing Christians, yet that both are used by the Lord Jesus Himself as solemn warnings of a terrible judgment ere long to burst with appalling surprise upon this present evil world, is not so readily assented to. Yet is it written that “as it was in the days of Noe so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26-31). Thus Noah's day of past overwhelming judgment, is coupled with the future approaching day of Christ, on His return as the Son of man. Yet where are those believing and heeding the warning?

So also, the fact of Belshazzar's Feast with its splendor and sudden doom, abides as a matter of history and warning, but how few believe it to be a picture of the surprising judgment which will overtake the boast and splendor of this world of pleasure and greatness, in the day of the Lord?

The same unerring scriptures recording the past, most assuredly declare the future; and woe to those who refuse to heed and fail to escape ere it is too late.

A great king who made a great feast in the day of Babylon's greatness and glory, is what God in Dan. 5 records for our instruction. This heathen ruler, the successor of a mighty king who received his position and extensive rule from the God of heaven, commands and invites a thousand nobles to a feast of grandeur and luxury, in character with his own majesty and court, calculated to give pleasure and gratification to himself and his guests; but at the expense of the honor and claims of the living God, to Whom they were indebted for their life, position, and mercies which they were then abusing. All for a time appeared bright and joyous, exceeding all bounds, for this king commands to be brought the golden and silver vessels that had formerly been in the temple at Jerusalem, and held in some sanctity as in relation to the God of heaven. These holy vessels were brought, and wine drunk from them, to give its exciting pleasure and sensual gratification, so that they “praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone.”

Such was the debased level of man, yea, man in his greatness going lower than the beasts. He not only drinks wine in sacred vessels, but defies the living and true God, making himself the object of veneration and glory. This was the case with the king at his feast, when the living God interposed in a way both sudden and effectual. He who saw, knew and heard all said and done against Himself, must as He ever will, vindicate His Name and glory, as well as judge the king and kingdom in responsibility to Him. Escape is impossible when God acts, as we see with Israel whom Nebuchadnezzar as God's rod, had carried captive, with the sacred vessels now so desecrated; hence the hand of God suddenly appears to strike terror in the midst, in the form of writing on the wall.

The eye of the king is made to fix on the handwriting, with its immediate effect not only upon himself, but also on his lordly guests. “Yea,” the king “saw” the part of the hand that wrote. “Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.” Not only did he cry aloud, but finding that his resources failed to explain the why and the wherefore, he was still more troubled, so that his lords were astonished.

The world's greatness and glory not only come to an end, but its wisdom totally fails, as will assuredly appear in the day fast approaching. The world's wisdom is folly and gross darkness when God is acting, and it needs one entirely outside its course and ways to make known the mind of God, whether in grace or judgment. In the hour of deep distress, the queen makes known to the king that there is one man in his kingdom with light and wisdom beyond all others; whose excellency and sufficiency had been proved in the interpreting of the dream that troubled Belshazzar's forefather Nebuchadnezzar. This was Daniel, a captive youth from the land of Judah, who in Nebuchadnezzar's reign had instructed and warned the king as to his God-conferred dignity and consequent responsibility, and for this faithful and timely service had been promoted by that monarch to greatness and rule. This separate and now hidden servant endowed with the mind of God, who had been brought forth in the past, again reappears, not as a guest at the profane God-defying feast, but as the revealer of God's judgment upon it.

Faithfulness in separation from evil, God. ever honors, as Daniel had proved. Now at this solemn juncture, by request of the stricken Belshazzar, he appears before him. Surely a grave and critical moment for the humanly weak in the presence of the world's strength and power! But in what conscious dignity as knowing God and His wisdom and sufficiency for declaring the truth, and laying the sin with its terrible consequence upon the conscience, does Daniel now stand when ushered in their midst!

The fear of God preserved a Joseph in the hour of keen temptation, and the poor, lowly, worm Jacob in his confessed. failing pilgrimage rises in given grace to the dignity of blessing Pharaoh. Equally does Daniel speak and act in lowly dignity as a vessel of wisdom and power, without fear of consequences. He had previously interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar the departed dream, saying of his kingly power under the God of heaven, “Thou art a king of kings,” “Thou art this head of gold.” Now in holy confidence and God-honoring dignity, he plainly and fearlessly tells the deep sin and failure of Belshazzar's, and declares God's mind and intended judgment, saying, “Thou, O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine in them: and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are thy ways, hast thou not glorified” (vers. 22, 23).

Thus the open sin of sensual gratification linked with awful impiety against the living God, brought the terrible witness of divine displeasure in the handwriting on the wall, causing trembling and astonishment, and fixing the doom of the daring guilty king. God, so sinned against, deigns to make Daniel His mouth to tell the writing, as well as to give the solemn interpretation.

Brief are the words, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,” and striking their significance. “Mene: God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. Peres: Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (vers. 25-28). So ended the pride, glitter, and boast of kingly greatness and glory, where responsibility to the God of heaven was despised and His name blasphemed in exalting the god of gold and the god of pleasure. If the past judgment is fulfilled. with its recorded history and warning, scripture is no less clear and emphatic regarding the day of the Lord, and the solemn judgment by which it will be introduced and established.

(To be continued).

The Vision: and the Just Shall Live by Faith: Part 2

Again, in Gal. 3 we have a slightly different use of the same scripture. “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God [it is] evident; for the just shall live by faith (ver. 11).” Here it is sufficiently plain that the apostle is excluding the thought of justification by law, and the way he disproves it is by the cited passage of Habakkuk. Hence the difference between Rom. 1 and Gal. 3 is this, that in Romans we have the positive statement and in Galatians the negative. There he positively affirms that God's righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith,” supported by this text; whereas the point here is to exclude the law distinctly and peremptorily from playing any part in the justification of a soul. Justification is in no way by law; for “the just shall live by faith:” such is the point in Galatians. Again, it is God's righteousness revealed by faith; for “the just shall live by faith:” such is the point in Romans. The difference therefore is plain.

In Hebrews the passage is used again in a way quite as different by the same apostle Paul. “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith” (10:37,38). The emphasis here is not on “the just” which is strong in Romans, nor upon “faith” which is strong in Galatians, but on “live” which is as strong here. Thus every word seems to acquire the emphasis according to the object for which it is used in these three places. In the end of Heb. 10 the apostle is guarding the believer from discouragement and turning aside. He quotes once more “the just shall live by faith.” Accordingly we are shown in Heb. 11 the elders or Old Testament saints who obtained testimony in the power of faith. So they all lived in faith, every one whom God counts His worthies. It might be shown by faith in sacrifice, or in a walk of communion with God, or in anticipating judgment coming on the world, and accepting the divine means of escape. It might be in wearing the pilgrim character; or in the exertion of such power as delivered from the foe. But whatever the form, there was living by faith in every case. Hence we have here the most remarkable chapter in the Bible for its comprehensive grasp of the men of old who lived by faith, from the first great witness of its power here below to the blessed One who summed up every quality of faith, which others had manifested now and then: they separately and not without inconsistency, He perfectly and combined in His own person and ways here below, indeed with much more that is deeper and peculiar to Himself alone.

Thus I do not think that it is necessary to vindicate the wisdom of God at greater length. The passage seems most instructive, if it were only to show the fallacy of supposing that each shred of scripture can only warrant a single just application. Not so; though clothed in the language of men, scripture affords in this respect an answer to the infinite nature of God Himself, whose Spirit can unfold and apply it in distinct but compatible ways. Even among men there are not wanting wise words which bear more than one application, yet each true and just. If faith distinguished and secured the righteous in presence of the Chaldean invader, its value is even more pronounced now in the gospel, where it is a question of a soul before God, refusing false grounds of confidence, and walking unmoved in the path of trial among men.

Certainly the word of God is here proved to be susceptible of different uses, weighty and conclusively authoritative. That it is applied by the same apostle Paul makes the case far more remarkable than if it had been differently employed by various writers. Had it been so, I have no doubt that the rationalists would have set each of the different writers against the truth. But they would do well to weigh the fact that it is the same inspired man who applies to these different ends the same few words of our prophet. He was right. And yet it is very evident that in its own primary application, in its strict position in the prophecy, God is particularly providing for a state which lay before the Jews in that day; but then the same Spirit who wrote by Habakkuk applies it with divine precision in every one of the three instances in the New Testament. For what is common to all is that the word of God is to be believed, and that he who uses it holily, according to God by faith, lives by it, and is alone just and humble in it, as only this glorifies God withal. But what is true in the case of an Israelite so employing the prophetic word applies at least as fully to all the word of God used by faith, and more particularly to the gospel, wherein is God's mind more than in any word strictly prophetic. Prophecy shows us the character of God more especially in government; but the gospel is the display of God in grace, and this in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Is it possible to go beyond or even to reach this in depth? A simple Christian may indeed be led far beyond that which is usually proclaimed by preachers; but it is impossible to exaggerate the infinite character of the gospel as God has revealed it. We also learn from the use in Hebrews, as well as the prophet's context, that the vision looks on to the future coming of the Lord for the deliverance of His people. This indeed belongs to the prophetic word generally, and is in no way peculiar to this vision in particular. It is a striking passage—the vision, as setting forth, under the Chaldean the downfall of the hostile Gentile, proud as he might be, though Israel might have to wait for the accomplishment. And that the full force is only to be when the Lord is actually come in person, and in relationship with His ancient people renewed by grace, is the gist of the prophets in general.

But it is important of course to bear in mind that, save in special revelations of the Jewish prophets, the vision of coming deliverance vouchsafed did not discriminate the time between the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. Perhaps we may safely say that none seems to have known beforehand that there would be a long interval between the two events; yet when the interval came we can bring passages from the prophets to prove it. So perfectly did God write the word by them, and so far beyond the very men who were the inspired witnesses of it; for no prophet knew the full extent or depth of his own inspired communications. This was a far better proof that God wrote by them than if all had been known; because whatever might have been the ignorance of Jeremiah or Isaiah, of Daniel or of Habakkuk, the Holy Ghost necessarily knew all from the beginning. Thus what they wrote, going far beyond their own intelligence, rendered His mind who employed them evident. Hence we read in 1 Peter 1:11, of “the Spirit of Christ which was in them;” and the same scripture which indicates the reality of the inspiring Spirit in the prophets just now quoted, shows that they themselves did not enter into all they wrote. They were “searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow.” Certainly they did not know, but like others had to learn; and when they searched into it, they were told it was not for themselves, but “unto you they did minister the things that are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” It will be observed that the expression, “the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” as we know Him now, is in full contrast with the prophetic Spirit who wrought in them and is called “the Spirit of Christ.” The Lord Jesus was the great object of all the visions; and this it is important to note.

“Spirit of Christ,” in Rom. 8 I think, goes far beyond this. As employed by the apostle there, it means that the Holy Ghost characterizes the Christian with the full possession of his own proper portion as in Christ and Christ in him. The Holy Ghost is the soul of all and dwells in the believer on this ground.

W.K.

(Concluded from p. 152).

The Ark and Its Contents: Aaron's Rod

“Wherein was...Aaron's rod that budded". We have seen that the manna was God's special provision for a wilderness people and, in view of the time when it should be no longer necessary, God ordained that the memorial of it should be laid up within the ark, so that when the people of God were happy and prosperous they might recall to their minds the particular care and providence of Jehovah in thus nourishing them and providing for their every need during their passage through a great and terrible wilderness, wherein was nothing to minister to their necessities save what came down from heaven; or, if found upon earth, as water from the smitten rock, was made to flow in a divinely ordered channel according to their daily need. But real blessing involves much more than the constant supply of food and drink. These things are quite sufficient for the creature, but man in his moral nature looks outside himself for light and guidance. Israel had been brought as a nation into conditions of special relationship to the God who had redeemed them from Egypt, and had undertaken their safe conduct through the desert to the promised inheritance. They had not merely been preserved from the sword of divine justice in Egypt (Jer. 31:2), but they had been brought near to Jehovah, so that He might enter into covenant relationship with them, and that they might be to Him “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In view of this new relationship thus formed between Jehovah and themselves, fresh wants came into existence; for even had they (as most probably they would have) been content to have gone on indifferent to, and in ignorance of, their obligations to God under the covenant of Mount Sinai, God would not leave them without a properly qualified and duly ordained witness of His authority over them. Moreoever the effect of leaving them to the action of law pure and simple would have been bondage and death. Gal. 4 shows that for Jerusalem and her children the result was bondage, and if the Galatian saints did not recover themselves and return to the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, they would have been in a more hopeless bondage than the Jews, because of having known and rejected the grace of the gospel. Again, the effect of the application of the law to the old nature is death, “when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Rom. 7:9).

But surely this was not the realization of God's purposes concerning His people. On the contrary, He established the priesthood amongst, and over, them, and His covenant with Levi was “of life and peace” (Mal. 2:5), in complete contrast to the death and bondage of the law. God in a merciful way took knowledge of human infirmity and weakness, and established the priesthood in Israel that His people might be instructed in all the ordinances and commandments pertaining to the Levitical economy and might also have an ever-present resource in times of difficulty and need. The priesthood, for its efficacy, depended upon two principles—authority, which must be that of God Himself, and therefore unquestionable, and sacrifice, such as He had appointed, and therefore acceptable to Him. The law in itself had no blessing for Israel, for it could not recognize a partial obedience; its curse, strictly applied, would have reached to every man in the nation, for “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). The sentence and curse of the law were, however, arrested in their exercise by the sin offering which the repentant sinner brought to the priest; and when all was carried out according to divine instructions, defilement being removed from the camp, cleansed ones restored to their privilege, vows fulfilled etc., then the full priestly blessing was sanctioned and made good by Jehovah Himself (Num. 6:22-27). What value there was in the priestly benediction, and the regard which any faithful Israelite would have for it, are shown in the case of Hannah (1 Sam. 1:17, 18). The principles of law and grace which entered into God's government of His earthly people were prevented from appearing antagonistic by the sacrifice offered by the priests.

It being thus scripturally established that the priesthood was really a gracious provision whereby God would bring blessing to Israel, we may be able to perceive the real significance of the rod of Aaron that “budded and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds” (Num. 17:8). The previous chapter sets before us in great detail that serious rebellion against Moses and Aaron (king and priest,) which undoubtedly prefigures the last great development of evil and self-will against God's Christ who as King and Priest shall be established in Zion, and reign a Priest upon His throne. The character of the sin and its unique judgment bespeak this. Compare Num. 16:30-35 with Rev. 19:20, 21 and Jude 11. When the people on the next day showed how readily the lie of the devil is accepted and the plague had begun, it was made manifest that the only hope of salvation from death was in priestly intercession. Christ, in all His own excellency and value of His finished work, was prefigured by Aaron with the censer (as also in the holy place, compare Lev. 16:12, 13) now standing between the living and the dead, making atonement for the rebels. It points in a way to the mediatorial intervention in perfect grace of the “one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” This is what is witnessed by the preaching of the gospel, and what alone stays the hand of God in judgment. So too, David was permitted to occupy this place of mediatorship in 1 Chron. 21:26, 27. The difference between the daily supply of manna and the golden pot that had the manna has been already noticed, and we may trace the same difference between the daily ministrations of Aaron on ordinary occasions and the unusual and extraordinary intervention between the living and the dead at this time. Such a crisis had not been anticipated in the divine instructions to the priests, but Aaron was no doubt led to act upon divine instincts and the special guidance of God's Spirit in such a way as was effectual for arresting the execution of wrath, and serving for the illustration of the real value of the priesthood in blessing and fruitfulness for man. “Aaron's rod that budded” was, then, a constant witness in the immediate presence of God, and for those who had access there, of the priestly grace of Him who glorified not Himself to be made priest but was called of God; and God will surely vindicate the power and authority in which He acts in grace now, so that “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him”; as He will overcome the rebels gathered together against Him, when He appears the second time, seeing that He is King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 17:14; 19:16).

(Continued from p. 154)

(To be continued)

Sinai and Its Terrors: Part 2

At Sinai not a ray of kindly light shone, not a token of grace for sinners was given, not a word to encourage approach to God: nothing but the most awe-inspiring menace of death, save for such as love Him and keep His commandments. How inexcusable that any should be so blind about himself and his sins as to take his stand on law before God! It was Cain-like insensibility. Let me help to make the truth plainer by referring you to the scene itself of which the apostle treats.

“The people stood afar off; and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness, where God was.” How different from God being in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and committing to us the word of reconciliation! So John 1:17 contrasts the two: “the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” At Sinai was heard the law; and by the law is the knowledge of sin. The saving grace of God is what teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godlily in this present world, looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The law is not of faith, and can only kill and condemn the sinner.

The law is associated with that which could be touched, and that burned with fire, and with blackness and gloom, and tempest. Every instrument of divine service was visible and tangible. It essentially met the eye of man. The unconverted man could see and touch its objects, just as much as the believer. There was nothing there that was characteristic of faith. The Christian, on the contrary, walks by faith. We have to do with what is not seen and cannot be touched. Take the cross of Christ. Although there was evident enough the worst effect of man's evil in His pain and shame, the infinite work that was wrought thereon was between Him and God. This was hidden entirely from the eyes and ken of man. It was not the outside of the cross which any one could see that saved believers. It was the council of peace between both. Indeed we may notice that there was a time for Christ upon the cross when all was shrouded in supernatural darkness the very time when our sins were laid upon the head of Jesus. Who saw this within? None but God. Sin is rebellion against Him, and atonement is entirely between God and Jesus His Son. It was for His glory, as well as for sinners that they by faith might be saved. For no other reason was it possible for God to bruise His own righteous Servant and Son. Why else should He forsake Him in whom His soul delighted? One word explains it: grace on His part; on man's—sin, that even in this the Son of Man should be glorified; and God in Him. It was sin that brought Him down from heaven; it was sin that led Him to the cross on earth. Then and there was our guilt by Jehovah laid upon the Lord Jesus, when He in love, and obedience, became a sacrifice for sin, even for our sins (Isa. 53).

This was all purposely kept from the eye of man; as it most fittingly was made matter of faith in God.

While the work so fully predicted in both O. and N. T., was being enacted, who on earth entered into its wondrous import and bearing? Not a single disciple, not one even of the twelve apostles whom He had so often apprised that so it was to be.

Whether we consider God's doing in love, or man's misdoing in hatred, we can apprehend in our measure that there should be that darkness of a supernatural kind. Throughout the land of Egypt darkness had been inflicted as a plague by Jehovah, while Israel had light in their dwellings. For three days it lasted, so that they saw not one another nor did any one rise from his place. At the cross of Christ it told a tale to the ear of faith still more profound. It was not an infliction upon wicked men. This darkness surrounded the Holy One of God made sin, and God forsaking Him because of sin, our sins laid on Him.

He undertook that burden which none other could bear, yet more intolerable to Him than to any other; and God must judge the sin-bearer as sin deserves in His sight. And the certainty that so it was, that it was borne fully and as fully accepted by God is the ground of perfect peace with God.

Man had wrought ill guiltily, incessantly, audaciously for many hundreds of years, and the deplorable result now seen, especially in Israel, who became worse and worse until God destroyed them nationally and dispersed them over all the world. Since then they have never been able to establish themselves in their own country. Such is their state now, “abiding many days without a king and without a prince, and without a sacrifice.”

Christianity is altogether different. There the Lord is saving sinners, and gathering saints to His name. He alone bore the burden of sin; and He alone is the Head of the body. But not one word in the verse read treats of either; because Sinai is the theme, and not Christ's work of atonement or of gathering God's children in one. The darkness at Sinai was in view of His law and its war with transgression. At the cross it surrounded Jesus made sin, that sinners who believe might be brought to God without a trace of sin, washed in His blood. The law was so spoken as to strike terror into every heart. At the cross, Christ was doing the deepest, greatest and most loving work He ever did; to man utterly strange, the most wonderful even for God, the most profound for saints. Nothing more abhorrent to God than our sins; yet He that hated them absolutely laid them upon the head of His own Son that He might bear them away for His enemies, henceforth His family.

Christ must bear the burden, which, if He bore it not away righteously, must sink us everlastingly in hell. The perfect sacrifice on our behalf to God, He completely clears every one that believes in Him, from the judgment of God.

It is positively declared by our Lord (John 5:24), that he who believes has life eternal and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life. Such is the virtue of life in Him, as the apostle John witnesses; such the efficacy of His death, according to the apostle Paul. Christ bore the judgment at God's hand, that we who believe might be set free.

Nothing can he clearer than the astonishing work of divine grace in salvation. Christ bore that judgment alone, even those most concerned being wholly ignorant of such wondrous grace, the foundation of God's righteousness till He revealed it in the gospel. None could intermeddle. No stranger could intermeddle with our joy; still less could any stranger intermeddle with the judgment of God and our sins. Hence it is that the gospel goes forth fully and freely to the greatest sinner upon the earth.

It was altogether different at Sinai. There they stood afar off at the foot of the mountain all aglow with fire, the very mediator, Moses, quaking with terror.

But when the Holy Spirit led them to apprehend the cross of Christ what a contrast! Where sin was atoned for the victim was consumed by fire. In such sacrifices, the blood was brought in and the body burnt without the camp. The one part attested His absolute fitness for God's presence and efficacy there; the rest attested His identification with our sins and was burnt by fire outside. Christ, perfectly holy, identified Himself with all our evil.

To bear our evil He came, and evil cannot be got rid of except by divine judgment, which the fire represented.

But here, the mountain, Sinai, on fire was to warn men of what must be their portion who, neglecting Christ, betake themselves to law and fail under it as they must.

Yes, blackness, gloom, tempest, preternatural trumpet, and God's voice, more terrible than all the fitting accessories of the law, threatening wrath and death to those that trust themselves instead of Jesus the Christ.

“The law worketh wrath,” instead of saving from it as Christ does.

And the trumpet's sound was no earthly trumpet, its blast sounding louder and louder only added to the abject terror of their hearts.

Did God's voice at Sinai relieve the Israelite? Calm, distinct, unmistakable, it pronounced what must be the knell of death for each guilty of slighting or dishonoring Him: for him who went after other gods or broke any commandments of Jehovah, this voice was more terrible than all the other signs and sights of that tremendous day.

Not one word of His glad tidings was then breathed with the law. This is the work, not of God: but of Christendom all over which mixes up the law and the gospel. I should be thankful to hear of a single denomination where it is not habitually practiced. Nor is this mixture in the large buildings only, in the little ones too. But whether in little or in great, the issue is that man is mixed up with the divine work of the cross; and what Christ has finished is supplemented and smothered under works of law.

Here the law is wholly distinct from the gospel. At Sinai it was unrelieved terror, and God purposely did it that they might cry out for Messiah, the Savior. They never thought of Christ. They cried out in fact for Moses as the mediator between them and God. But His mind was to give a far better mediator; but it was kept quite distinct from the law, its fears and its distance.

Therefore they entreated that they might never hear that voice again. What! never hear the voice of God! Yes, when He made known the law God's voice was far more awful than the unearthly trumpet, or the gloom or the thunder and lightning at mount Sinai.

Such was the ushering in of the Jews' religion. It was wholly devoid of mercy for the sinful; it threatened death on failure. It presented nothing of Christ; and only filled them with alarm and despair. God could use it to crush self-righteousness and thus negatively drive to grace in His Son. The background and surroundings of Sinai had for their object to set aside all hope of life from the law. Righteousness in that way is a perfect impossibility for mortal man.

The law can only prove death to the sinner. For “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” It is Christ who is life, and gives life to the believer.

The law can but kill fallen man. Yea, here we are told of the proclamation at Sinai: if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. Yet, a beast having neither guilt nor conscience, is incapable of moral responsibility to God. Hence if a beast devours another beast none thinks of murder in the case. But God would mark at Sinai that the law overflowed with the threat of death all round, and that sinful man under it stood in the worst case of all: for who can deny that he is most guilty, and not a beast? Fallen man has a conscience which habitually bears witness against him and his sins.

Accordingly, at Sinai, God left no sort of doubt that there was no comfort, nor even hope, for man under the law. “As many as are of works of law are under curse” (Gal. 3:10). Such is the character and issue of the law of which the Jews boasted. Yet have confessors of Christ sought to mix it up with the gospel. And how very many all over Christendom to-day have been crying: “Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this law.”

Used to this cry once, I have not, thank God, heard it for sixty years. Still it rises up continually, where the gospel is professed. But such a mixture is a grievous mistake. It is to perpetuate what this scripture before us and many more were meant to avert. The law, says the apostle, is good if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man [which is not a lawful use of it] but for the lawless and disobedient. If you put yourself under the law, it can and must condemn and kill you; not because it is bad but because you are. The law is necessarily a killing power to the transgressor. The crucified Christ is the only Savior of the lost. The law as such executes its office to the bitter end; but when it brings the sinner to the sense that he is a dead man before God, grace shows him how Christ suffered for sins that he might believe and be saved.

This mixing up of the law with the gospel is as pernicious as it is unscriptural. “For ye are not come” to Sinai, but to Zion, even had we been Jews. “By grace ye are saved through faith.” It is on a wholly opposed principle. No doubt there is another way of ruin; not by going back to rites and ordinances, but by giving up to sin and licentiousness. Compare Heb. 6:4-8, and 10:26-30.

The aim here was to point how, when law was given, God indicated the folly of expecting salvation through it. So terrible was the sight that even Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” Who can say that this is the effect of the gospel? Does God's glad tidings produce dread, or take it away from the believer?

It gives life, pardon and peace. It assures of Christ's love and of God's love, which is more than even glory. The glory manifested will be the proof of the love that gave it; but love is the source of that gift and of a vast deal more.

Look at the Savior and the sinful woman who came into the house of Simon the Pharisee. Weigh if you can, the love shown and vindicated in that uncongenial abode. Her sins were many, but she believed and loved; for love so gratuitous and divine drew out her love. And the Lord manifested it, delighted to make it known, not to the unbelieving Simon only, but to all present, and especially to her. He was not in the least degree ashamed of grace to the sinner. He knew, laid bare and refuted all that was passing in the Pharisee's heart; but He manifested God's love in His own. That love is shed abroad in the heart now; and so it will be in the presence of the Father and the Son.

May the Lord, therefore be pleased to deliver from all misuse of His word. For we have to do with the grace and truth which came through Jesus Christ. It is neither grace alone, nor yet truth alone; for either way would be the utmost danger. Grace alone tends to laxity and even license; truth alone to a hardness and rigor, offensive to God and unbecoming to man. Grace and truth in all their fullness we know in our Lord Jesus; and thus alone were we won and blessed. Thus too we live, walk, serve and worship. Can there be a stronger contrast with the scene of Sinai?

W.K.

(Concluded from p. 157)

Grace and Peace

The above is the well-known formula employed by the apostles in addressing the churches; and thank God, a reality both for them and the individuals who in truth compose the same. Grace is the most precious theme to a soul that has known its need, and drank into its inexhaustible supply; and “the God of all grace,” is the One such a heart delights to adore, although it is esteemed mad for doing so, even as we find Paul saying (2 Cor. 5:13), “whether we be beside ourselves it is to God”: indicating that he clearly knew what it was to be ecstatic in the divine presence. And no wonder for the grace shown to him had been “exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:14).

As in Ezekiel's vision (chap. 46), the waters are first to the ankles, then to the knees, and to the loins; and then “waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.” It is blessed to know that grace gives such as us, who in ourselves could have no standing there, a perfect foothold in the presence of our God— “this grace wherein we stand” (Rom. 5:2): that our knees smite not one another as Belshazzar's did when he beheld the handwriting on the wall, but however feeble are confirmed, and our loins are strengthened for His service; for we know our Master not to be austere, but so gracious that, blunder as alas! we do, we may cast ourselves anew upon the impassable waters of His love, and know that they will bear us up, and thus find a positive joy in exercising ourselves therein. We know the effect it had upon the apostle Paul in relieving him from all self-reliance, as he learned the meaning of those words “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

But with such a subject as grace, one experiences a difficulty in being systematic; for it has neither beginning nor end. It belongs to Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, who gives freely, and we may well say, as we meditate upon it, in our Lord's own words in Psa. 40:5, “Many, O Jehovah my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” It is what we have all received, “and grace for grace"; it is what, along with truth, “came by Jesus Christ.” It is what we have, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” What we have received “abundance of,” even to “reigning in life” by our blessed Lord, in contradistinction to the condemnation that was towards us through Adam's offense; it is what much more abounds now and reigns where sin has abounded; it is what Paul so valued that he would not frustrate it by any righteousness that might seem to come by law, but which he knew could not, for then Christ had died in vain; it is that wherein to “the praise of the glory” of which He has taken us into favor in the Beloved; and “according to the riches” of which “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses.” It is that, too, by which we are saved, through faith; such faith also being God's gift, so “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding, or surpassing, riches of His grace in His kindness to us by Christ Jesus.” Truly we may say He “hath given us good hope through grace,” seeing that “being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life”; and meanwhile for our comfort in the wilderness, Peter reminds us (1 Peter 5:10) “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile shall (R.V.) make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” Well may we add, without exhausting the subject, “To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen”

Peace! Who can sufficiently estimate its blessing? But “what hast thou to do with peace”? said Jehu to the wicked Joram's messenger. And as a preface to his letter, and apparently as something remarkable, Artaxerxes writes, “Peace, and at such a time.” We had nothing to do with it once, for “the way of peace they have not known” (Rom. 3:17), nor was it to be wondered at when we were in unbelief, for “there is no peace, smith my God, to the wicked.” But since God has sent the word “preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36); and Christ “came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh” (Eph. 2:17); we, as belonging to the former Gentile class know “even at such time” when all is in confusion, uncertainty, and unrest, that we are entitled to it. Why? “For He made peace through the blood of His cross,” and left it with His own, saying before He went there, “Peace I leave with you", confirming it also on the morning of His resurrection, saying, “Peace be unto you; and when He had so said He showed unto them His hands and His side,” —that precious side from which “forthwith there came blood and water.”

The value of that blood God has answered to, for He is now “the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” and so, believing the infinite mercy which delivered Him for our offenses and raised Him again for our justification, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” As regards our individual path, the way may seem dreary, but He has given us the peace He had who trod the pathway before us; “My peace I give unto you.” And as regards our collective attitude, there may be much to try, but let us not be cast down; these words remain blessedly true.

“The Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way” (2 Thess. 3:16); and “let the peace of Christ (R.V.) rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful” (Col. 3:15). May we therefore keep His word, for “He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly,” even their own thoughts and ways!

W.N.T.

Divine Intimacy

The intimacy between the Lord and His elect is beyond, we may say, what is known elsewhere. Angels do His pleasure, wait in His presence, have kept their first estate, and excel in that strength that serves Him. But they are not where elect sinners are. They learn, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God to us, all that the Son has received from the Father, He has made known.

The Savior acquaints Himself with the secrets of the bosom of the sinner; while He communicates to such an one the secrets of the Divine bosom. This is intimacy indeed. See it illustrated at the well of Sychar. See it in the stories of Abraham, Moses, David, and others. It is marvelous to say this—but so it is. We are not called to prove it—Scripture does that both by doctrine and illustration. We are called to believe and enjoy it.

We see the Spirit of God, by the apostle, in the Epistle to the Romans, leading the saints along two different paths—the path of grace, in chaps. 1-8; the path of knowledge, in chaps. 9-11.

He finds us, at the beginning, in our ruin. We are taken up as sinners, having come short of His glory, and are in revolt and distance from Him. It is from such a point we start on the way. But He leads us along from our depths to His heights, from our ruin to His wonders and riches of mercy. And at last He plants us on an elevation where we can challenge all our enemies, and find ourselves above all that might be against us. Who can be against us? is the language of the heart there; who can accuse, who can condemn, who can separate?

Having thus conducted us the whole way, along the path of mercy, and settled our own questions forever, He again takes us by the hand, to lead us along another path, the path of wisdom and knowledge, where we learn, not our own interests as sinners, but the various riches and secrets of His own counsels from the beginning to the end of them. Nor does He let go the hand of the saved soul whom He is here conducting, till He plants him on another elevation, and puts another rapture in his spirit—not an exultation in his own blessedness under the gifts of grace, as we see at the end of the previous path, but a triumph in the ways and purposes of God through the light of these divine communications now made to him.

And is not all this, intimacy? First, to bring home a banished one, to fit a sinner for His presence, and set him there in liberty and strength and joy, and then to tell him all His counsels!

The woman of Sychar got the first of these, but not the second; at least at that time. Very fitting that was. The Savior told her all about herself, and then so showed Himself to her, that her spirit was filled with the exultation that we find at the close of the first of those paths we have been tracing in the Epistle to the Romans—i. e., what we read at the end of chap. 8. But the time had not then come to lead her along the second path. Very fitting, again I say, all this was as to her.

But if we look far back, at Gen. 18; 19, there we shall see the case of a believing soul, a saint of God, led along each of these paths; or rather, such an one already standing at the end of the one, led along, as from that standing, all the way of the other.

The Lord comes to Abraham as he was sitting at the door of his tent near Hebron Like one who knew Him well, Abraham rises and worships, and proposes to get some refreshment ready for Him. Accordingly the repast is prepared and partaken of. Abraham thus enjoys the grace in which he stood. The presence of God is his home. He illustrates a soul in Rom. 8:31-39. But being there, he is ready to take a further walk in company with his divine Master. And so he does. They rise together from under the tree, where the feast was shared; and as they go on together, the Lord communicates His secrets to Abraham.

Can intimacy exceed this? “I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.” Angels, again I say, are not presented thus to us—nor is Adam in the innocency of the garden of Eden. But sinners saved occupy these places without robbery. They take the white stone and read a new name there, which no one knows but he who receives it.

Look at John's Gospel and his Apocalypse as other illustrations of the same things. Here is one sinner after another, in that Gospel, led along the path of grace, as from his own depths of ruin, to God's own heights of salvation and peace, to exult there in the spirit that closes Rom. 8. And in the Apocalypse, how is John himself (sinner saved as he was, standing at the end of the path of grace), led along the whole way of the divine counsels, and instructed in the secrets of the seals, the trumpets and the vials, till he is left in sight of the holy Jerusalem, as in the rapture that closes Rom. 11!

These paths are bright indeed—the sinner, at the end of the one, exults in his own condition as saved with a sure and everlasting salvation—the saint, at the end of the other, exults in the counsels of God, now disclosed to him, so that he may walk in the light as God is in the light. What shall be done to the elect, we may say, whom the Lord delighteth to honor?

Now I would further say, that Psa. 23 and 24 are utterances of a soul while on these two paths which I have been looking at. In the twenty-third, the saint is walking along the way where grace has set him. He counts therefore upon everything. All things are his; and he may surely want all. He knows that he is under the conduct and care of a Shepherd who can minister all to him; edification, refreshment, restoration, a rod and a staff for the valley of the shadow of death, a table and an overrunning cup, and anointing oil, for the very presence of enemies; and a store of goodness and mercy till the path ends in the house of the Lord—till the care and tendence and provisions of grace end in the home of glory.

Thus the sinner saved contemplates his own blessedness, celebrates it in the secret of his own spirit, as he is taught to know it in Rom. 1-8. He is seen in this psalm on the path which that Scripture casts up before him.

In the twenty-fourth, the saint is walking along a line of wondrous light, on which the Spirit of wisdom and revelation has set him. He contemplates, not his own blessings and blessedness, as he had been doing in the twenty-third, but the purposes of God, the secrets of divine counsels, the glories of Christ, His doings, His judgments, His virtues, His rights, His destiny. He listens, in spirit, to that welcome that awaits Him after He has ended the judgments He had to execute, and maintained the character He had to exhibit, at the very gates of the realms of glory—to the challenges which there addressed Him from those who delighted themselves in hearing again and again the story of His doings and His honors.

Thus the child of God contemplates the wisdom and way of God; not the grace that has visited himself, but the counsels that have given Christ His place and glories. So is he seen here on the path which Rom. 9-11 now casts up before him.

J. G. B.

Scripture Query and Answer: Revelation 19:20 and Daniel 7:11

Q-Have you any light on the seeming discrepancy between Rev. 19:20 and Dan. 7:11?

The former states that the beast and the false prophet were both cast alive into the lake of fire. But the verse in Daniel states that “the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.”

ENQUIRER.

A-If we distinguish in Dan. 7:11 between “the horn” and “the beast,” we observe that it is concerning the latter we read, “the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame”, as the consequence of “the voice of the great words which the horn spake.”

The “little horn” (ver. 8) is the last ruler or chief of the long defunct but to be revived Roman empire, the fourth beast that was so “diverse from all the beasts that were before it” (ver. 7). And of this particular head or chief, Daniel does not say more than “they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end” (ver. 26).

The “beast” (i.e. the empire) was slain &c. by the direct visitation of divine wrath— “the burning flame.”

In Rev. 19:20 where the apostle gives us the character of the empire under its great chief, rather than the historic details of Daniel, we have “the beast” and “the false prophet,” the two individual leaders, civil and religious, summarily dealt with by being “cast alive into the lake of fire” where also later Satan himself has his final doom.

It will thus be seen that as the apostle goes on to speak of the remnant as “slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth” (Rev. 19:21), so the prophet would appear to describe the same act by the expression— “the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” The “burning flame” here refers, not to “the lake of fire” but, to the preceeding verse of Dan. 7 “a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him” and this appears to be the same as spoken of in Rev. 19:20 “the sword that proceeded out of his mouth.”

We have then, in both scriptures the fate of the Roman, or last world-empire, while in the later revelation, as might be expected, the further fact is disclosed that the leader or head of this future empire would himself, along with the false prophet or antichrist, ( “the king” of Isa. 30:33, Dan. 11:36) be “cast alive into the lake of fire", to which are consigned all the dead great and small raised to stand before the throne to be judged according to their works (Rev. 20:10-15; 21:8)—the fixed and never ending judgment of all those who reject the Savior. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).

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Belshazzar's Feast and the Day of the Lord: Part 2

The day of the Lord as the statement implies, is associated with the Lord Jesus Christ, when (in contrast to man's day) His rights, claims, and glory will be established, and He will universally rule and act for God, as the second Man, the last Adam, the Antitype of David and Solomon. His throne, as largely stated in scripture, is to be set up in Jerusalem, and His dominion will extend to the ends of the earth. All will be brought to bow and own Him, and of His kingdom there will be no end. To Him will be no successor (as there was to Nebuchadnezzar), but as King of kings and Lord of lords, will He inaugurate, establish, and fulfill His perfect and blessed rule over this long-stricken earth, and at its close shall deliver up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power (thus terminating the day of the Lord), and God shall be all in all. This do Psalms and Prophets and New Testament plainly reveal, concerning God's Christ, the Son of man; whose glories to come are as certain as were His sufferings and death in the past, and now also His exaltation and glory at the right hand of God. The wondrous day of glory for this sin-stricken scene, so largely foretold, awaits the great Redeemer to bring it in and establish it. Then and then only, will it be “the day of the Lord.”

How this day will be introduced is a question which scripture clearly answers, showing that it is by divine judgment and not by man, nor by the preaching of the gospel of God's grace as is supposed by many and largely taught. The opening prophecies of Isaiah, and of Joel, speak most distinctly of the day of the Lord, as a time of most solemn judgment, when man in all his pride and greatness shall be brought down, and Jehovah alone exalted in that day. Twice over does Isa. 2 declare this, when terrified man (in character with the lords and nobles of Belshazzar) “shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of Jehovah and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Then all idols of silver and gold, which man has made for himself to worship, will be cast to the moles and to the bats; then will men be made to tremble and quake, in a fuller and wider sense than at Belshazzar's feast. Joel 2 states, “The day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of. gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness”; “for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”

Evidently this scripture treats (as do indeed the prophets generally) of the day of the Lord as in special connection with the Jewish nation and their Messiah; but in the Book of Daniel we find predicted, in his early prophecies and interpretations, the rise and fall of the Gentile kingdoms in responsibility to the God of heaven. Not only the judgment and loss of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom but the final smiting of the great image by the stone breaking all to pieces to be found no more, for the Stone no longer hidden will become “a great mountain and fill the whole earth.” That this refers to Christ and His coming kingdom to be established by His judgment of living men on the earth as the prelude to universal blessing under His rule, should be evident to every student of prophecy. To this, chap. 7 gives plain testimony, and presents us with the twofold titles of Christ as the Ancient of days, and Son of man, to whom is given “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” The Lord Himself in taking the title of Son of man speaks openly in Matt. 24 of His “coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,” in judgment, and for the gathering of His elect (Israel), in view of His glorious kingdom. So also when asked by the high priest whether He was the Christ the Son of God, Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 27). Yet, must He know rejection “and have nothing” (Dan. 9:26 margin, John 1:11), before this time of coming glory. Man metes out to Him as “King of the Jews” the cross; yet even there a dying malefactor is made to give testimony to His precious Person and coming kingdom, as he learns the grace and love of His heart to fit him by His death and shed blood, to be with Him in the heavenly Paradise. There the Son of man, the rejected King, is hid with God, awaiting on high the moment when He shall receive His kingdom, and return to establish the day of the Lord.

Meanwhile, for nineteen centuries the gospel has been preached by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, His mission being to take out of a condemned world a people for salvation, and glory with the heavenly Man, Christ Jesus, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and given as His beloved to suffer for His sake during this day of man's assumed rights and honors, in the knowledge that we shall reign with Him in the day of the coming kingdom. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians treat conspicuously and definitely of the return of the Lord Jesus, and reveal to us His coming in the air to catch up His saints to be with and like Himself in heavenly glory, as also to bring them with Him when He shall come to the earth for His reign in the day of its glory. These saints were converted to wait for God's Son from heaven; a hope so bright in their souls with its possibility of realization before death overtook any, that the passing away of some aroused concern whether such would share the future reign. This the Lord by the apostle graciously clears up, writing by the Spirit to show that those who had fallen asleep would certainly come with Christ, when God brings Him back from heaven, to rule in His established kingdom and glory. Hence they were not to sorrow as those without hope, “for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with Him.” How this can be is revealed by the precious and significant parenthesis which follows— “for this we say unto you in the Lord's word, that we, the living who remain to the coming of the Lord, shall not anticipate those fallen asleep; for Himself the Lord, with an assembling shout, with archangel's voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven,” when the dead and living saints would he caught up together in the clouds, to meet their Lord in the air, to be forever with Him. This fact blessedly settled, the coming with Christ is resumed in the following chapter (1 Thess. 5) respecting the day of the Lord and its manner of introduction, which saints are called to know perfectly, and should assuredly declare as clearly as the handwriting at Belshazzar's feast. This appeared suddenly, to the terror of the king and his guests, when all seemed hilarity and peace. So, too, will the day of the Lord come as a thief in the night, “for when they, (not we) shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” Thus the poor world that was left in darkness when “the Light of the world” departed is doomed to judgment as pronounced at the cross of Christ, to be executed at His return. The world's night then began, and its darkness has continued, and is increased by the church and the world shaking hands, loud in its profession of present riches and glory, but without the pure gold tried in the fire, having a name to live and yet dead.

Church and state with attractive cups of gold, under the name and banner of the cross, may do for man, deceived under the name of Christian, in boastful contrast to the heathen without God: but God is not mocked, and He has appointed a day in which He will judge the present habitable earth in righteousness, no less than the professing church as Babylon the Great (Rev. 18) with all its boast of treasures, for in “one hour will her judgment come.”

Thank God, grace continues to work in souls to own their need of life, salvation and peace, through faith in the death and shed blood of the one and only Savior. He who came the first time to settle once and forever the question of sin by the mighty sacrifice of Himself, will appear the second time to those believing, or looking for Him, apart from sin unto salvation. Such belong to the coming day of glory, being children of light and of day; therefore are they enjoined not to sleep, like the poor worldling and professor, but to be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ: who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him.” The apostle James declares that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh;” therefore are we to wait in patience having the heart stablished. But in keeping with what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, Peter affirms emphatically that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise,” whatever the poor worldling or skeptical reasoner may say about things continuing as they did in the past. The Lord is long-suffering and, blessed be His name, as a Savior God, He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Unlike the handwriting of Dan. 5 revealing judgment without remedy, grace now lingers with its “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely,” and so be saved.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Further, the apostle not only testifies to the opening day of judgment for “the living,” but to its awful close, “when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Then, as we learn elsewhere, shall follow the judgment of “the dead” before the great white throne. Thus the unerring word of God speaks in language more solemn than at Belshazzar's feast, and all who heed it not, shall not escape, either the judgment at the beginning, or that at the end, when the dead great and small shall stand before the throne, to find their names not written in the book of life, and themselves judged out of the things written in the books “according to their works.” All true believers, as having eternal life in Christ, are already free from judgment, and possess a living hope in the expectation of their Lord's return to receive them unto Himself. Instead of dread, at the dissolution of heaven and earth, we who have believed can with assurance say, “nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” These plain scriptural facts may well have their voice for us who look for such things that we may indeed “be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless,” at His coming. And for the worldly professors of to-day—so unerringly described beforehand in Holy Writ as “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;” as “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof “we would earnestly pray that the solemn warning of Belshazzar's feast with its present counterpart of religious pride and human glory may be used of God, in this His day of long-suffering and salvation, to arouse the careless and indifferent to true repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; that so, fleeing to the only refuge now, they may. escape His wrath, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “For behold, now is a right acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

G.G.

Notes of an Address on Matthew 11:26

It is a very solemn consideration, that the evil of man has brought out the good that is in God. If man had not been so wicked and daring as he is, we should have never known the riches of the grace of God. Nor can there be anything more remarkable. Man would like to believe if he could—(and how many do believe)—that he is progressive, that he is making great improvements morally, that by the help of education and a little bit of religion he is ameliorating society; and, further, that the case becomes better for himself, for his soul, with God.

It is all a delusion. I do not deny that there are improvements externally. It is pleasant enough to travel by railway as compared with the old coach, and we get news by the telegraph rapidly, and there may be many other things of a similar kind, where man makes certain discoveries, and I think there is hardly a limit to be put to what man may thus find out, because God set him at the head of everything here below. Man is by God's own appointment to have dominion of this earth. But how does he use it? There is nothing more certain than that at this present moment, the heart of man shows its alienation from God in a clearer way than ever before.

There have been times of great outbursts of evil. In the eighteenth century there was a most alarming amount of infidelity; and there have been times when infidelity has raged over a certain portion of our own country—not merely France or Germany. But there never was a time when so many people claiming to be Christians denied the inspiration of Scripture. And it is not only little portions here and there, but whole books are treated as if they are merely a collection of men's ideas, or perhaps even old women's fables. It is not now among ruffians as it was at the end of the eighteenth century when it broke out. The men who then assailed the Bible were men of no character whatever. They had generally lost their position in this world by their folly and sin, and they were at war with everybody, complaining of how they had been used, and they turned their bad spirit to attack the Bible.

But for the most part this was met, by almost every person who bore the name of the Lord Jesus, as an insult, as a piece of wickedness, and altogether inexcusable. Now, even in my lifetime, the change has been enormous. I remember the time as a lad when, if persons were supposed to be infidels nobody liked to walk the same side of the street with them. Now you can hardly go into a railway carriage and say a word about the scriptures but there will be a burst of disapproval and an attack against the word of God. You may say that this is among the ignorant. It is not so. It is not confined to them. I admit that there are persons uninstructed who assault the scriptures.

But the terrible feature is that it runs through all classes of society. It is as rampant among the great people as it is among the little people, and it is particularly marked among those who are accounted clergymen or ministers, or whatever they call themselves. They are men who are now more particularly devoted to pulling the Bible to pieces. It is not only the Old Testament, Genesis and Daniel, and the other parts of the Old Testament, but now the Gospels are supposed to be obsolete. I do not speak about the Revelation. It is natural that people of that temperament should hate the Book of Revelation. Shall I tell you why? Because it is the great book that pronounces their doom. You cannot expect them to be at peace with a book that declares that inextinguishable everlasting fire which God prepared for the devil and his angels is to be shared by every despiser of God's word, by every rejecter of Jesus. The higher they are, the nearer they approach to believers, the more guilty are they in the sight of God.

People talk about men in North Africa or Central Asia as being so particularly in want of the truth. They want the truth in this city, they want the truth in London. They want the truth in every part of Great Britain. I need not refer to Ireland. But the best parts of Great Britain are against the Bible. There it is that this terrible distemper is raging, and there never was a more dangerous one. No doubt superstition is very bad. Worship of angels, worship of the virgin Mary, worship of saints, worship of the sign of the cross, worship of bread in the Eucharist as if it contained the Lord!

Where is this done? Is it merely among Romanists? Is it not among men who inherit the possession and enjoy the revenues of the Reformed Church? It is not merely among what is called the Established Church that we see this romanizing; it is equally among Dissenters, or, as they now call themselves, Free Churchmen. But they are becoming more and more enslaved to infidelity, unless they are taking the opposite line of superstition. They reject the cross and spurn the word of God. They deny that this Book is His word. They think there may be some words of God in it. There may be words of God in one of their sermons, in a sermon written by the most unbelieving of them. But what is the great object of all their preaching and teaching and of their writings? Is it not to undermine not only the revelation of God, but particularly of God's own self, as manifested in the Lord Jesus?

Now, the Lord Jesus does bring man to a point, because He must be either his Savior or his Judge. No man can ever escape it. Men may now think they have done with Him, but when the hour of death comes their eyes will open in that place of torment. They will then know otherwise when it is too late! alas! alas! too late!!

God is publishing His salvation which Christ has procured by His death and resurrection. He came for that purpose. The day is coming when the King shall have His own, when He will be the one King, supreme King of all the earth. Scripture is perfectly plain about it, and the scripture cannot be broken. But reigning over man is not all. He will bless all the earth, for indeed the earth groans; but the day is coming when the earth will rejoice. Both are figures, but they are intelligent and intelligible figures. Every one can understand that the earth does not give her increase, but by and by it will be under the command of Him who made it and all will be changed—death, and barrenness and all the other effects of the fall of man shall fly away. He who died and rose, who suffered for sins, but therein glorified God perfectly; He who shall deliver the earth from all hindrances, will also bless it in a way it has never been blessed, not even when it came fresh from the hand of the Creator, because that was liable to pass away in a moment. But when the Lord Jesus takes up the universe, how blessed will be His reign. And it will be for a longer time than many suppose—it will be a prelude to eternity, when everything will be established to God's glory, and the blessing of those that are no longer liable to death, and are then in the risen state forever. In the last hour all in the risen state will be there that they may endure the just reward of their deeds.

Beloved friends, you are destined to be there—every one in this hall and in every other—for everlasting blessedness with Christ, or everlasting banishment from His presence! Which is it to be? Everything turns upon Christ, because He is the Truth; because He is the Way, the Truth, and the

Life—consequently, He puts you to the test. If you do not care for your soul, if you have no sense of wrong and of your sins, if you care not for God, you prove it by indifference to Christ. You can easily tell, therefore, whether you are a sinner going straight to destruction—everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, or whether you have turned from your own evil life and ruined nature to the only One that can help you.

(To be continued)

Pool of Bethesda

The Lord is seen occasionally at Jerusalem, in John; but not so in the other Gospels. But unlike what He is in Galilee where thousands followed Him, in Jerusalem He is a solitary man—as we may observe in chaps. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, & 10.

On His last entrance into the city, I mean by the road from Jericho, through Bethany and the Mount of Olives, which is recorded by all the Evangelists, I know He is followed by a multitude—but that is no exception to what we have observed, that He was a solitary man in Jerusalem; though in the midst of thousands when in the parts of Galilee and around all the shores of the lake of Tiberias.

In John, too, the Feasts are treated as though they were by-gone elements. They are spoken of much in the way that the Apostle Paul in his Epistles would speak of Mount Sinai, or the legal ordinances. They are called, in this Gospel, “the feasts of the Jews “2, 5, 6, 7—save indeed in 13 where the Passover of that day is honored by our Evangelist, as a divinely-instituted Feast, because the Lord was then about to fulfill it, as the true Paschal-Lamb.

These are peculiarities In John, and very characteristic of this—that in John, the Lord is at the end of His question with the Jew, and is standing as among sinners, disowned by the world that was made by Him, and rejected by His people to whom He had offered Himself. See chap. 1:10, 11.

It is in perfect and consistent wisdom that the Spirit of God has not told us what feast this was which had now drawn the Lord to Jerusalem. It mattered not which of them it was; for He was about to show Himself in the city of the Jews, the city of the feasts and solemnities of that people, as One that would supersede them all, and all that belonged to them. So that, we have not only a feast there on this occasion, but we have the sabbath-day, and the religious rulers of the people, the temple, and this singular and wonderful ordinance of Bethesda, all before us in this scene.

This pool by the sheep-market at Jerusalem, or Bethesda, was a certain provision made in the grace of God in the behalf of His people at Jerusalem. The system established in Israel did not provide it. It was extraordinary and occasional—as the raising up of a judge or a prophet had been in earlier days, or the mission of an angel, now and again, as to a Gideon or a Manoah. So, the stirring of this pool. But withal, it was a testimony to the fact that there were resources of mercy and of power in the God of Israel for His people, beyond all that was then ordinarily dispensed to them. Its very name intimated this; Bethesda, “house of mercy.” And as being this, it was a pledge to Israel of Messiah. It told of Him before-hand, as ordinances and prophets had done.

But—Jesus beside the pool of Bethesda, as we see in this chapter, is a sight that, in the spirit of Moses at the Bush, we may well turn aside to see. If He had, of old, been reflected in that water, He stands there now to dry it up. Nay more. He stands in contrast with it.

The sight reminds one of the Epistle to the Hebrews. There, the apostle sets the Lord Jesus beside the ordinances of the law, as here the Lord sets Himself beside the pool close by the sheep-market, which was as one of them. And the same thing. takes place here in John 5 as in that Epistle.

There was a witness to Christ in each of these. Bethesda bore witness to Him; the ordinances of the law did the same. But, let Jesus stand beside the pool, or be brought beside the ordinances of the law, we shall find contrast to be as strong as similitude. We have but to listen to the Lord here, and to the Spirit in the apostle there, in order to learn this clearly and fully.

“Wilt thou be made whole?” was the only word which the Lord took with Him when He addressed the poor cripple at that place. Was he ready to put himself, just as he was, into His hand? Was he willing to be His debtor? Could he trust himself, with his need and infirmity, alone with Jesus? This was all. And surely this, in its simplicity, is in complete and full contrast with the cumbrous, weighty machinery of Bethesda. No rivalry, no delay, no uncertainty, no help sought and rendered, are here as they are there. Here with Christ it is, “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life.” It is, “Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.” But neither of these voices, nor anything like them, is heard from the troubled bosom of that strange, mysterious water. The angel that stirred it at certain seasons had never awakened such sounds as these.

“Wilt thou be made whole?” Simple, and weighty, and full of consolation!

The Lord was then in Jerusalem. He was in the great center and representative of human religiousness, surrounded at that moment by its rich and various provisions. It was the Sabbath. It was a feast-time. The city of solemnities was in one of its palmy hours. The temple was at hand, the Pharisees were around, and a great multitude of expectants and votaries gathered about the pool by the sheep-market, the ordinance or angelic ministry of Bethesda. In the midst of all this He stands. But it is as a new thing, another thing. He takes no notice of the feast-day, nor of the sabbath, nor of the temple. His words sound as though they pronounced the doom of all these. “Wilt thou be made whole?” was their funeral knell. The poor cripple whom they addressed may at once free himself whether of rivals or of friends. Those who might have struggled with him, or those who might have aided him, he may now equally overlook. And he need not wait. Delay and hope may be exchanged for present enjoyment. He need neither doubt nor tarry. Ordinances and angels and helpers and rivals, delay and uncertainty, all were thus blessedly and gloriously disposed of by Jesus in his behalf. When Jesus appeared, when the Son of God stood beside this pool, the only question was, Would the poor cripple leave all for Him, and in that way stand by and see the salvation of God.

What a word was this, in the midst of such a scene, and at such a moment! “Wilt thou be made whole?”

The poverty of the pool is exposed. It is seen to be but as a “beggarly element.” It has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. And after this same manner, the Spirit exposes “the worldly sanctuary,” and all its provisions and services, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There the apostle, under the Holy Ghost, sets Jesus again beside Bethesda, beside the system of ordinances that had gone before, and exposes them all in their poverty and impotency. There had been a reflection of Christ in these ceremonies of the temple, as there had been in this water by the sheep-market; but the reflection had no substance—it was a shadow—and it was gone when the true light filled the place. Jesus alone is glorified. When the Spirit brings Him in, in that Epistle, He keeps Him in, saying of Him, “Jesus Christ, [is] the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” And here, the Lord Himself speaks to the poor cripple of nothing but of His own healing power— “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” He was to carry that which once, while he was hanging over the pool, bore him. He needed nothing else. He knew the healing of the Son of God, and he was free.

Thus it might have been with him. He represents this to us. But, perhaps, he was but an unconscious type of the way of the Son of God with sinners. For, personally, he does not seem to enter into the scene. Instead of being abstracted and fixed by the Lord, instead of looking up in the Stranger's face with wonder and delight at the words addressed to him, and at once transferring himself, just as he was, in all his sorrow and need, into His hand, he talks of his present condition. Natural this is, I know; done every day; the common way of man. We need not wonder at it, nor that this man was afterward found in the temple, instead of being, like the Samaritan leper of Luke 17, at the feet of his Deliverer. These are but the ways and workings of the legal, religious mind, whether in Judea or in Christendom; for it has no ear for the proposals of grace. And again I say, we need not wonder at this one man, this cripple that was healed, when we see at that moment “a great multitude of impotent folk” lingering round that uncertain, disappointing pool, though the Son of God was abroad in the land, carrying with Him and in Him salvation without money and without price, without doubt or delay, for all who would come to Him; and that, too, in defiance of all hindrance or rivalry, and independent of all help or countenance.

All this reads us a lesson. Indeed it does. The pool thickly frequented, Jesus passing, by unheeded 1 The pool sought unto, while Jesus has to seek, and propose Himself! What a picture of the religion of the heart of man Ordinances, with all their cumbrous machinery, waited on; the grace of God that brings salvation, slighted 1 or at least, this grace has to propose itself, to be preached and pressed, like Jesus at Bethesda, while these ordinances, like that pool, are crowded by willing votaries every day.

But further. This pool has its neighborhood, as well as itself, for our inspection—the scene has its accompaniments or its accidents for our further instruction.

We read here, “And on the same day was the sabbath.”

In the other Gospels, when the Lord is challenged for doing His work on such a day, He answers either from the case of David eating the show-bread; or from the priests' doing work in the temple; or from a word of the prophets, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;” or from the fact that they themselves, His accusers, would lead out their ass or their ox, on the sabbath, to watering. But here, on this occasion, in John's Gospel, being challenged on this same ground of healing on such a day, He says, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

Wondrous sentence! But let me first notice how characteristic of John it is. The Lord does not here, as in the other Gospels, on like occasions, as we have just seen, put himself in company with David, or with the priests, or with the words of the prophets or with the ways, the common accredited ways, of men, but with God. It is not what David had once done, nor what the priests would do, nor what men, even His accusers themselves, were doing every day, but what the Father had ever been doing in this needy, ruined world, that the Lord pleads as the standard of His actings. And on the distinguished occasion then before Him, restoring the cripple at the pool of Bethesda, He had given a sample of this.

This is full of character. But surely, it is full of wonder too. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

Man at the beginning forfeited the sabbath. By sinning he broke the rest of creation. He lost the garden, and became a drudge in the earth, that he might get bread by sweat of face, and live. But when man thus lost his rest, the Lord God left His, and at once began to work again.

He had hallowed the seventh day, in memory of His having finished His creation-work. He rested then. And having rested, He enjoyed His rest walking with the creature whom His hand had made in His own image, after His likeness, in the garden which He had formed and furnished for him. But when sin entered, and the creation-rest was gone, the Lord God not only began at once to work, but to work for His self-ruined creature—as we read, “the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed them,” clothed the man and the woman, who had now reduced themselves to the condition of guilty, exposed sinners.

Wondrous display of God! The glorious Framer of the heavens and the earth, the One whose fingers had just garnished the sky above us, and whose creatures were filling and furnishing the ground we tread on, now turns His hand (to His praise be it remembered forever) to make a covering for a sinner. God in grace, the Father of our Lord Jesus, thus began to work. And so, onward through Old Testament days, He was active in love, showing mercy. He was not enjoying His rest as Creator of a finished work, but working, in grace, in the midst of ruins, on new-creation principles, as patriarchs and prophets and Israel, and the ordinances of the law, and this very Pool of Bethesda had, in their several ways and seasons, been witnessing. And now, on this model, Christ had come forth to work—as the healed cripple of this chapter witnesses. So that, standing at the margin of this mystic water, and with the healed man before Him, He could say, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

Wondrous! The rest was left, and work was recommenced. The pillar of the wilderness was “a like figure” of this. After leaving Egypt, Israel forfeited the rest of Canaan which had been promised them, and out to which they had gone, and on to which they were journeying. And they had to wander outside of that rest, for forty years. But the cloudy pillar, or rather the glory that dwelt in it, would be a wanderer also. If Israel, like Adam, had forfeited their rest, the Lord God of Israel would fain be without His. And thus the cloud went about with the camp, rehearsing again the divine grace of the Lord God at the beginning. The God of Israel was as the God of creation had been—for He “is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”

The gospel is a great system of working as by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And on the authority of what has been done, on the title of what God Himself has wrought in the accomplished redemption of sinners, Jesus, in the gospel, still turns to guilty, helpless man, and says to each and to all, “Wilt thou be made whole?”

Surely the sequel is well weighed. Bethesda reflects the Son of God, the Savior. The house of mercy, and the Lord and Dispenser of mercy, are in company. But while it reflects Him in its measure, it sets Him off in somewhat larger measure. It causes the glory and the riches of His grace to shine forth the brighter because of its faint and dark ground—and, as in the Mosaic ordinances, so in this pool at the sheep-market, we have Him as much by contrast as by similitude.

Let me add, as a reflection upon this pool near the sheep market, that the relief which grace provided, in the age of the law, was only occasional (as I have already noticed) as by a judge or a prophet—and as also the angel stirring this water now and again, witnesses. But now, in this age of the gospel, grace or the salvation of God is the standing thing, the thing ministered. “This is the day of salvation.” And yet, I doubt not, there are special or occasional seasons of the Spirit's peculiar working and visitation. There are “times of visitation” now, as there had been of old; though it be fully true, that the present is a dispensation of grace, as the former had not been. The city of Corinth had such a time vouchsafed to it, as Jerusalem had before it. (Luke 19:44; Acts 18:10). Individuals, likewise, have such times, (1 Peter 2:12)—and indeed if Bethesda witnessed this at Jerusalem in other days, times of Revival, as we call them, have witnessed the same in course of the age of Christendom.

J.G.B.

The Ark and Its Contents: Tables of the Law

The believer has little difficulty in recognizing the significance of the fact that the two tables of the law found a resting place in the ark of the testimony. They formed the sum total of God's requirements as to the life and conduct of the people toward Himself and to each other. They were the conditions of the covenant under which Israel was to enter into the land and dwell there, and leave it for an inheritance to their children after them. The holy oracles were in this way committed to them as the people of God, and made binding by the sprinkling of blood. But inasmuch as they were a sinful people and totally incompetent to observe that holy law (in spite of their solemn professions that all that Jehovah hath spoken we will do), setting forth as it did the terms or conditions of their covenant relationship with Jehovah, the ark was made specially to contain it For if the throne of God was to be established upon earth for the government of His people and “righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne” (Psa. 97:2) it could not be otherwise.

We know not at what time or in what way “the golden pot that had the manna” and “Aaron's rod that budded” disappeared from the ark in which they had been put, but we do know that when Solomon had finished all the work of the house of Jehovah, and the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah into its place there was nothing there but the two tables of stone.

The necessities of a people passing through the wilderness had been fully met, in the riches of God's grace, by those things which witnessed to His faithfulness and goodness, and which also brought blessing to the people. The circumstances were now no longer the same. The son of David reigned in Zion, and righteousness must characterize his kingdom. “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” So shall it be in millennial days when David's Son and Lord, the great Antitype of Solomon, shall reign in righteousness, and bring the nations into, at least, outward or feigned obedience (2 Sam. 22:45).

The ark of shittim wood overlaid with pure gold, containing the testimony, was indeed a striking type of Him who was manifest in flesh, and in whom divine and human righteousness met. He alone could say, “I delight to do thy will, O God; yea thy law is within my heart.” The righteousness of God finds its full and perfect expression in that Blessed One risen from the dead and now glorified in heaven. He who in grace came forth from God to seek man, is the one who has gone back to God after accomplishing the work of atonement, and is in Himself the full display of divine righteousness. “If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous one.” Such is the blessed provision for the child of God, who, though confessedly weak and oft-times failing, has, nevertheless, the Holy Spirit, the power for good (Gal. 5:16-25), and the written word to guide, in order that we may not sin (1 John 2:1). Satan is ever ready to act the part of accuser before God and may find, alas, too many an occasion in my walk here, yet am I represented on high by the righteous Advocate against whom he can bring nothing. “The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin.” I do not try to hide or extenuate my sins, but sorrowfully confess them, with the result that “He is faithful and just” (He cannot be otherwise) “to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9).

Such truths as these (so good and necessary for us to know as walking in the light as He is in the light) were but dimly foreshadowed by these patterns of heavenly realities, yet were they there in type. True, Israel could not, and were not expected to, enter into their full spiritual meaning. We, in the light of the New Testament, can look back and see clearly enough that God found His own deep joy in all that pointed to Christ's coming into the world, and in this scene where man had fallen, and God was dishonored, recovering in grace what man had lost in disobedience, and above all glorifying God in the holy judgment of our sins when on the cross he was made a sacrifice for sin.

It were well to glance briefly at the circumstances in which Moses placed the testimony within the ark at Horeb, the more so as the Spirit of God has been most explicit in recording the circumstance for our instruction, but has given no historic record of the placing of the other two objects within the ark. Thus, were it not for Heb. 9:4 we could not have certainly known that they were actually within it. If we read carefully Ex. 25:10-22 (particularly noticing vers. 16, 21, 22), we shall find that from the beginning God's purpose was that the ark should be prepared for the reception of the testimony. He well knew that His people were incompetent even to receive it, but it was necessary that Moses, faithful servant as he was, should learn this by sorrowful experience, for with what anguish of soul must he have listened to the revelation of the people's sin, from the lips of God Himself (Ex. 32:7-10); and how bitterly must he have realized the awful nature of that moral catastrophe which had exposed them to the wrath of Jehovah, and the curse of a broken law, before even they had seen it! Yet had they not been made acquainted with its requirements? and with a light heart accepted it and promised to fulfill all its conditions (Ex. 24:3)? When Moses came within hearing and view of the profane revelry which witnessed to the apostasy of Israel, can we wonder that his anger waxed hot, and that, in sight of the evil-doers, he brake the two tables of stone casting them out of his hands at the foot of Horeb? Surely it must have been fatal to the whole nation to have brought them into the idolatrous camp! There was then no ark to receive them—this handwriting of the finger of God.

The whole history of God's way with His servant and His guilty people, as set forth in Ex. 32 is deeply instructive, as illustrating the principles of mediatorship, of God's sovereignty in mercy, and of His call to separation from evil, for such as sought the Lord outside the camp. Deut. 10:5, however, shows us (what Exodus does not), that the solemn crisis which had arisen made it imperative for Moses to prepare the ark, before returning to God, so that immediately on his return to the people he might place the two tables of stone there. Perhaps, it was not then overlaid with gold; that remained for Bezaleel to complete hereafter (Ex. 37:2). However, that may be, it appears clear, from a comparison of the two scriptures, that the ark was prepared for the reception of the law, in the interval between Moses' first descent from the mount and his going up the second time, so that on his return it was there for the reception of the testimony.

(Continued from p. 170)

(To be continued)

The Testimony and Walk of Faith: Part 1

It is impossible to deny that there is some principle livingly working in the world which has signally called out the hatred and opposition of man.

It has been so from Abel downwards to the present day.

The “course of this world” has gone on. It is now going on around us. But in the midst of this there has been, and there is, a motive acting, which calls out the hostility and proud judgment of the world. That history is the history of the town in which we are, as well as of Cain and Abel. In every age and in every country it has been so. We find the people of faith the objects of the hatred of man, but God owns this people. “Others,” we read here, “had trial of [cruel] mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented: of whom the world was not worthy.” (Heb. 11:36-38). Here God gives His history of them. He does not interfere. He leaves them “destitute, afflicted, tormented.” He does not meddle with the world, and the world goes on. It will not be always so, but that is the present fact. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11). They go their own way, “the course of this world” (Eph. 2:2). It is not God's world. So little does He meddle with it, that, when His own children—those whom He owns—are “destitute, afflicted, tormented,” He does not interfere. It has departed from Him, and He will not own it.

We find the same thing in the message to the angel of the church of Smyrna, in the book of Revelation: “The devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days.” How came that? could He not interfere? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” There is hope in another scene. If a person will walk with God, he must walk by faith; he is walking in the midst of a world where God is not owned, and where God does not interfere—a world ripening for judgment. He sends a testimony; and just in proportion as we are faithful to His testimony, the prince of this world will torment us. “I say unto you,” the Lord Jesus tells His disciples, “that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall the Son of man suffer of them.” That is the character of the “course of this world.” God may control by secret providence and overrule, but that is its character. Faith has its testimony, and goes on with it, recognizing that God does not own the world. “We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned: and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:17, 18). Until then, they must live by faith of that which is unseen.

This was specially a trial for the Hebrews. Their very religion was one of sight. They had a system to walk by, a visible temple, sacrifices, priesthood, and the like. Messiah they expected to see. When they did see Him, they hated and put Him to death; and this Messiah was now gone to heaven. In becoming Christians they lost all they had possessed, and gained nothing—nothing that was tangible to the flesh. There was therefore the constant temptation to deny an unseen Messiah, and to turn back to things seen.

The apostle sums up in this chapter, and shows that all through man's history, no matter who had obtained a “good report,” it was by faith. Men will count us fools. We may give as a definition of folly, a man's acting most consistently for an object that nobody sees, and nobody believes to be true. The saint's warrant is the word of God. The moment he acts upon any object seen, he ceases to act as a Christian. Christ lived, in that sense, the life of faith. It is the life of faith we get here, not salvation, or the finding peace in the way of faith. There is a single exception (Abel), or which may be so in measure. Faith is looked at as the power by which they walked.

There are these two things in faith: as it regards,

1st,-peace of soul;

2nd,-power for walk.

It I talk of faith, I may mean belief of a testimony—a person tells me a thing, and I believe him. But there is another sense in which I may have faith in that man; that is, I may put my trust in him. We often confound these things. There is the testimony of God, which I have to believe, and a trusting in God, which is the power of my walk.

That which gives me peace is, receiving the testimony of God: I do want confidence in God for power of walk, but I must not confound this confidence in God with His testimony.

We shall find the two things in Abraham. God called Abraham, and showed him the stars of heaven, and said, “So shall thy seed be,” and Abraham “believed God.” In the offering up of Isaac (ver. 19) there was not the receiving of a testimony, but “believing in God.”

Here I am, a sinner, with the consciousness of sin: how can I trust in God? I know Him to be a holy God, a hater of sin: how can I trust in Him? I dare not be in His presence with sin upon me: what can meet that? it is not denying the holiness of God; it is not my putting away my sin; but God tells me my sins are put away. I believe Him. This is not trusting in His power. The thing that gives me peace is my receiving a testimony. My spirit cannot rest, when I am conscious of sins unless I know that sin is not imputed to me: it is God who has seen it just as it is; my being content with myself will not do; I must have God content about me. There is a wrestling going on in the soul that wants to be content with itself. Believing God's testimony, it would be at peace. It has never yet been brought to feel itself a thoroughly worthless sinner. The question is, not as to my not having sin, but do I believe what God says when He says it is put away? There is really a work of the Spirit of God in this, not in producing what will satisfy me, but in bringing my soul to say, “It is all over with me.” God often allows it to struggle on, trying to get better; He lets it, and, like a man in the mire who pulls one foot out to get the other in, its case is only worse. The answer to this comes in the blessed truth of the gospel by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that “whosoever believeth in him is justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 39). I find God perfectly at rest; He is resting in Jesus, perfectly satisfied. Christ says, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;” and God says, “Sit thou on my right hand.” I get rest to my soul, because I find that God has not one single thing against me. There is often this struggling under the sense of conviction before the soul gets peace.

Another thing is the walk of faith. Come sifting, come trial, come what may, the ground of my peace is never touched. If it were not completely settled—done, it never could be; and why? Because God says, that “without [not “sprinkling,” but] shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Therefore, if not perfectly done, Christ must die again, shed His blood again. But it is finished. The Spirit of God will make me see it; but it is done. I take this word of Jesus, “I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;” and I say, “It is finished”

Now I find the path of faith opened before me. I am sure God loves me, and is nothing but love; I can therefore trust in Him. I know His love. He has saved me as a sinner; I can trust in His love as a saint.

Mark the order in which things are presented here.

To faith, that which is unseen becomes as near and as real as though present to sight (ver. 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.

Through faith we know that creation was by the word of God (ver. 3).

Then (ver. 4), we come to the great basis on which a fallen creature can have to say to God. Let us look a little at the distinctive character of Abel's sacrifice.

Cain offered to God what cost him more. His was not the case of a thoroughly irreligious man; he offered to God, worshipped God, and was utterly rejected. He was not an infidel or an irreligious man; but a worshipper, and a rejected worshipper. His worship was founded on unbelief. A sinner, one out of paradise, he could go to God as though nothing had happened! So with many; they think they can go and worship God, paying a compliment to Him. And what did he bring? The very thing that had the stamp of the curse upon it. God had said to Adam, “Cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen. 3:17-19). That is what comes of a person thinking he can worship God ("do his duty,” as he terms it); it is the denial of the whole truth of his condition.

What does Abel? Quite another thing: he brings a slain lamb, he comes through death (in principle, through the atonement of Christ). He sets between himself and God the testimony of a provided sacrifice. “By faith he offered.” Before the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation had been that such a thing would be done; as though I were to say to a debtor in prison, “I will pay your debts.” All that we enjoy as a finished work was to them a subject of hope. “Whom God,” it is said, “hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the passing over of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25, 26). We are not looking onward to a future sacrifice; I have not a promise of getting out of the prison—I am out. We have a testimony that the thing is done, and the Holy Ghost is the seal of the testimony. The Holy Ghost cannot testify anything to my soul otherwise than that the work is done, the debt paid, the door opened, all finished. Two things are spoken of in 1 Peter 1:10, 12, “the sufferings of Christ, and the glories, that should follow:” we are between these two things. The believer stands upon one—half already done. The Old Testament saints looked for both; we come after the sufferings and look for the glories. The Holy Ghost has been sent down meanwhile to testify of accomplished redemption. This is not my hope. I am not waiting for my sins to be put away: they are put away. This is the basis on which we rest. God rests in the accepted work of His Son, and there I rest.

Next (ver. 5), we come to the walk of Enoch. Here I find another thing. Of course everybody is not translated as Enoch and Elijah were. Not only can I approach God (faith does not merely tell me this), but that has come in which has set death altogether aside. Death belongs to me now; it is not (as it is called) a “king of terrors:” all things are ours; life is ours; death is ours; for we are Christ's and Christ is God's (1 Cor. 3:22, 23). In Enoch we find a walk with God; a power of life with God, and such a power that death is not seen. We have the life of the Son of God, and not only His death; the blessed truth, not simply of a made sacrifice, so as to give my soul peace, but that all the power of Satan in death has been destroyed. God allowed Satan to do his worst: all that “the prince of this world” could do was brought to bear upon His Son, and it is gone forever. “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 me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 3:20). We are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5). What I am looking for is not to be “unclothed,” but to be “clothed upon;” but if I die, the life that I have is untouched, and I am “present with the Lord.”

Here I find 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.

We do not hear anything about “condemning the world” in the case of Abel, or in that of Enoch. God “bears testimony to the gifts” of the one; and the other “walks with God.” But I find another thing. (Ver. 7). We are going through the world, and God has given us a testimony about the world, and about what is going to happen to the world—infallible judgment. He has “appointed,” it is said, “a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet [prophetic testimony] moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Warned of what is coming on the world, he owns and recognizes the judgment, and falls in with God's revealed way of salvation; and he condemns the world. Mark this: faith “condemns the world;” not merely is it belief in a sacrifice that saves, and power for walk with God; but it says of the world, that it is altogether departed from God, and is going to be judged. We have the testimony of the word of God, that the thing that is coming upon this world is judgment. There is many a person who, as a saint, would rest in a saint's walk with God, but who shrinks from breaking with the world. The saint is so to act upon this testimony as to the judgment of the world as practically to condemn the world. Had we Noah's faith, as well as Abel's and Enoch's, we could not go with the world. If His people are saved by Him, He is coming to judge the world; and therefore they have their portion with Christ, and in Christ, so that when He comes they will be with Him. As sure as Christ rose from the dead, He is “the Man” God has ordained to judge the world” this present evil world; “and so sure is there no judgment for you and for me, if we 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 Him from the dead. What more has God told me of His resurrection? That my sins are all put away.

There is another thing which we cannot enlarge upon now. (Ver. 8). The apostle turns to another point, the practical active manifestation of the power of faith. It was this strengthened Abraham. He trusted, so to speak, blindly in God, God called him by His grace, and he went out, not knowing whither he went. There comes in confidence in God; not simply the receiving a testimony, but blind implicit confidence in God. A person might say, “If I only knew what would be the consequence of my doing so, I could trust God.” Then you will never go. Look at Adam; how did Adam act? He had present external things, but he took the devil's word in faith. God turns round and says, “You have believed the devil, when you had all my good things; now you must trust Me.” You go out not knowing whither you go, because of trusting in the person that is leading you. God will give light enough to say, “God wills this, and I do not see another step.” When you have turned the corner, you will see what is round the corner.

Further, when we have taken a step, we shall find that the Lord never satisfies us; He blesses, but He does not satisfy. When Abraham comes into the place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, what has he got? Nothing. He is still a stranger. This the heart dislikes. Hence the disappointments often experienced. As regards our prospects, we have our own thoughts about them; we are thinking perhaps of what we are going to make them twenty years hence. God is going to bring us into His rest.

He brings Abraham into the land; and then He begins to lead his thoughts to another country. He gets near God, and is placed upon a high enough platform of faith to see it is all before him yet. The Lord reveals Himself to him in communion; speaks with him, unfolds to him His purposes; and Abraham worships. He has his tent and his altar. And this is what God does with us; He makes Christians of us, brings us into the land of promise, and makes us see it is all before us yet. This is not the time for rest. The eye becomes clear in the ways of God; and we have the privilege of being strangers and sojourners with God, and we shall be strangers and sojourners until we get home in the home of God.

Beloved friends, how is it with you as regards this? Can you really say, “My home is in God's home (the home of your hearts, that is); I have no home till then, and I do not want one?”

There is not anything between us and God, no sins between us and God, or Christ is not there (He is there because He has put them all away); both cannot be there. Are your souls then resting on the Lord Jesus Christ? or are you working to settle something that has been settled already?

The Lord give us to believe His testimony, and to trust in His power.

(To be continued).

The Authoritative Word of God

It is evidently an all-important question, Have we a revelation from God? a communication of His thoughts on which we can rely? Is there nothing certain, nothing certainly known, nothing which enables me to say, I have God's truth? Have I from God such a revelation of His mind as is authentic and authoritative, such that I can know from Himself what God is?

I cannot trust in man. Man who has not had such a revelation is lost in what degrades human nature. I cannot trust the church or doctors. They too have their history, and what a history it is!—and in these days they are a reed which, if a man lean on it, breaks and pierces the hand. Where am I to turn to be able to say, Here I have the truth I can love and rest on? Here is what God has given me from Himself? To have this, I must have two things: a revelation from God; if every man is a liar, here is truth. But I must have it also communicated authentically to be able to reckon it. It is a matter of fact that men have not known God, nor His character without a revelation. Universal heathenism, civilized and uncivilized, is the witness of it. They have not liked retaining Him in their knowledge when He was revealed to them. It is no use telling me that the worship of Lingam and Yoni, of cats and monkeys, and fetishes, is a true knowledge of God. It may prove that man wants a God, that he cannot help having one; but, if so, that he cannot find Him, or will not have Him.

The case then stands thus: I look all around to find God and His truth. The heathen cannot point Him out; I cannot find man among them that is not degraded. He deifies his passions and adds degradation to them.

I am told perhaps, But Plato, does he tell us nothing of God? Well, if I leave the universal heathenism, and enclose myself in the narrow groves of the academy, I find one who teaches the grossest communism, women and all, and makes men and women a mere stock for breeding human beings for the republic, and holds that the supreme God can have no direct communication with the creature; but that it must be by demons, and mediately, perhaps, the λόγος. He was, with the Rabbinical Jews, strange to say, the inventor of purgatory. The later forms of it brought in Arianism. I cannot find it among Mahometans, nor their paradise of Houris above and the sword below. The Koran, which is on the face of it a wretched imposition—revelations invented for the occasion that called for them—the Koran or the sword is not a revelation of God, save as a judicial scourge of Christendom. The Jews cannot tell me of God, cast out from Him according to their own scriptures. Am I to learn it in the intrigues of the Jesuits, rendering every nation under heaven restless? or in the infallibility of the Pope, which nobody, but grossly ignorant partisans, believes and history gives the lie to? Am I to worship the golden idols of the mother of God set up on steeples and highways where there is power to do so? Is this to be my resting-place?

Shall I turn to Protestants? But the mass of teachers amongst them are infidels in most parts. Perhaps I may have the choice of Puseyism or liberalism, or countless opinions and heresies which contradict and destroy each other. Am I told that there is a real consent in the evangelical creeds? I do not quite admit it; Luther did not think so. They all agree in one thing—baptismal regeneration! But if I inquire whether the teachers believe in the formularies they sign—not one of them: they are obsolete. What am I to do? Say with Pilate, What is truth? and wash my hands in despair and give up Christ to His enemies? But we have the word of God to rest on.

All, here there is something—God worthily revealed. But— “the most unkindest cut of all” —it is not, I am now told, the word of God. It is a compilation of various traditions and documents some seven or eight centuries after it professes to be written, drawn God knows whence (only not from Him), and by God knows whom! partly a law produced some seven or eight hundred years after it professed to be written, with some of its documents recognized as already existent, perhaps, at that date! professed prophecies put together by some compiler frequently under some name they do not belong to; a long conflict having subsisted between the moral element and the ceremonial or priestly, but the former got the victory in Ezra's time, but only then, though they never had the law as it is till Josiah's time I and yet, strange to say, they got the victory only to fix the nation in ceremonialism and the authority of priestly tradition in which it had never been before! Besides the two chief documents, however, from which the early history is compiled, and other parts suited to them by the compiler, another author has been discovered whose writings are intermingled with the two chief ones, and whose object is to attach importance to the progenitors of northern Israel! Prophets claim an intuition coming from God; still their great object was not future events.

Such are the scriptures! They are, if we are to believe these learned men, not the word of God, but an uncertain compilation flowing from the progress of Israel's history, partly from priests, under whom the laws grew up, never complete till Ezra, partly from prophets contending with their principles (not, mind, with their sins against God, or their breaches of the law, it was not formed yet), partly from lay life in the midst of the people! These are the factors (that is the word) of the Old Testament! As to the New: well, four epistles may be Paul's, the expression of the higher spiritual life in the Christian; the rest spurious or doubtful, and much of it comparatively a modern attempt to reconcile the Pauline and Petrine factions in the church, or a late fruit of Alexandrian philosophy and reveries, or Jewish symbolism!

It is no great wonder if a very large body of the French Protestant clergy declared they would sign nothing, no apostles' creed, nor anything else; they supposed men would have to believe something, but they did not know what it was yet; and the poor laity, not so learned, but more of babes, said, as I know them to have done, “Pourtant, si nous sommes des Chretiens, it nous faut un Christ quelconque” (Well, but if we are Christians, we must have some kind of Christ). Such is the point to which what is called the church has brought us. Not now priestly ceremonies and traditions combated and corrected by prophets professing divine intuition, but priestly and ecclesiastical ceremonies and traditions bringing weariness to the spirit (where it does not rush to popery as a refuge), merging into heartless and flippant infidelity, living in a speculative pseudo-historical outside, without one spiritual apprehension of the divine substance of what lies at their door and before their heart-speculations which last some twenty years or so, first Paulus' gross denial of miracles and resurrection, then Strauss with his mythical Christ, and then Baur and the Tubingen school, the false speculative fancies of which are already judged and given up; and now the later forms of these and De Wette and the like, warmed up anew for Scotland; as the English in such things generally do when they have passed their day in their native country.

It is admitted that Professor Smith has exaggerated what a child may see in scripture, and, I add, through ignorance of scripture not understood it, and that his system as to the books of the New Testament cannot hold water. I shall be told that for all this, Astruc's theory and Baur's reasoning have produced an immense effect. They have, in those not taught of God; not in substituting any certain system, but in turning lifeless dogmatism into speculative infidelity and skepticism.

And where is the word of God? Where it always was, as light is in the sun. Men may have found olive leaves, and these be broken up into small patches of light, or hang over the spots in a way not to be explained. It may be found that the spots are coincident with auroras and magnetic disturbances; but those who have eyes walk, as they ever did, in its full and clear, divinely-given light. It shines as it ever did, and the entering in of the word gives light and understanding to the simple. They have a nature that can estimate it in the true character God gave it, which these learned men have not; for He hides these things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes. “They shall be all taught of God,” is the declaration of the Lord and the prophet for those who can hear.

J.N.D.

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Samson's Riddle

“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (Judg. 14:14). Samson's riddle—God's riddle.

This has been abundantly illustrated in the story of this world. May I not say it is the key of the whole of it. It figuratively shows us God and the enemy at their several work—the enemy doing his work as the strong and the eater, and God, in gracious, victorious power, forcing him to yield both meat and sweetness—constantly and ever bringing good out of evil, and building new systems of wonder and glory and joy out of the ruins Satan has wrought.

I am now, however, looking at this only as it is presented to us in the earliest chapters of Scripture—I mean in Gen. 1-9.

Man in innocency is set in the garden of Eden—and there (as in his whole creation), God is glorified and has His joy, while the creature is blest and happy.

But man loses this goodly estate. He forfeits his innocency under the temptation of the serpent, and with his innocency he loses everything.

This leads at once into a new scene. To be sure it does. But we have to ask, What do we see of man, and of the blessed God Himself there?

God makes a coat of skins for Adam, and puts it on Adam, and also another for Eve, and puts it on her.

I ask again, Was this a work more or less grateful to Him than His previous six days' work of preparing the earth for His creature man? Let us consider it. For that work the Lord God had materials before Him, and in beauty and in fruitfulness he was garnishing the heavens and furnishing the earth. But now He has Christ before Him, and He is occupied with that work of grace which had been the secret and counsel of His bosom in His own eternity, and which will be for wonder and joy and praise in another eternity.

And as to Adam, he, at the beginning, called his help-meet, “Woman,” but now he calls her “Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”

I ask again, In which of these names of his help-meet did Adam find his chief joy? I will let this give the answer—He received her at the first as from himself, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh; but now he receives her as the mother (and to himself the witness) of that mysterious Seed who was to conduct a controversy with the great enemy who had lately ruined him, till He had overthrown and crushed him.

May I not now say, Can we doubt which of these was the spring of the richer joy to Adam? And besides this exultation in the spirit of Adam, there is evidence of a like joy or exultation on the lips of Eve, when she cries, “I have gotten a man from Jehovah,” on the birth of her first-born. And afterward there is a striking expression of intelligent, believing triumph in Abel, when he offers the fat with the lamb upon his altar. And still further, as we do not see in Eden, saints are presented to us as calling together on the name of Jehovah, as walking with God, as dying to this life and this world, and as taken to heaven. And what is all this to the heart of man? Is this more or less than innocency and the garden? Is not heaven a brighter scene than Eden could have been, had it continued man's unsoiled inheritance forever (Gen 1-5)?

I leave these contrasts, that they may tell us whether or not the eater was forced, in that earliest moment of our history, to yield meat, and the strong one sweetness.

We come, however, to another and a later field of observation, where again we find God Himself and his creature man, as well as the ruthless eater.

Wickedness ripens itself, heads itself up to its full form, and the flood, the judgment of God, overwhelms it. But an ark, for salvation through the judgment, is in grace prescribed by God, and in faith built by Noah. And when it is ready, all the creatures of the earth, according to God's election, I may say, come up to take their place in it. And then, in the due moment, when all are housed, Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, and all these separated creatures of every sort, God Himself shuts them in, imparting His own strength and safety to His chosen, and making their condition as unassailable as His own throne could be.

Then, while in the ark, Noah had exercises of heart—exercises, I may say, in the Spirit. There was the opening of the window, and the mission of the raven and the dove, the taking in of the dove, and again sending her out, and again a second time taking her in with an olive-leaf in her mouth; and then, the uncovering of the ark; all this having its various mystic meaning of bright and wondrous truth. And as the time comes for leaving the ark, everything goes forth just as fresh and abundant as when they went in thirteen months before; nothing wanting, however small and insignificant—nothing damaged, however tender and exposed; and all this, a second time, under the eye of Noah. What must all this have been to his spirit! What fresh and varied delight must all this have been to him, though the work of the eater had made this imprisonment in the day of the judgment of God necessary to him (Gen. 6-8)!

And, after all this great parenthetic season, and the ark is left of all that it had carried through the judgment of God, and “the earth that now is,” as Peter calls it, is trod by Noah and his ransomed host, we see his altar and his sacrifice, and God's acceptance of it. Noah takes the new world as in the name of Jesus. He enters it on the authority and by virtue of what Christ was to Him. He reads his title to it in the blood of the Lamb of God, and offers his burnt-offerings of praise accordingly. The ark had been Christ to him in the day of judgment, and the kingdom that follows shall be his only through Christ. What a free-will offering was this! And what was it to the God of his salvation! We may know something of that when we read, “And Jehovah smelled a sweet savor; and Jehovah said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake.” Had there ever been such language in the divine bosom before? God had rested in His work of creation with infinite delight, we know. He rested, as we read, and was refreshed. But now, the value of Christ for a doomed creation is before Him, put there in all the preciousness of the blood of atonement, by the faith of a sinner who was confessing to Him, in the mysterious language of his altar, that all his title to anything and to everything was to be found in the sacrifice of His own Lamb. Before this, God had said, “It is not good that man should be alone;” but now He says “in His heart, I will not curse the ground any more for man's sake.” Before this, He had seen that the work of His hand was good, but now He was smelling a sweet savor in the work of Christ.

Was not all this, meat and sweetness again? The enemy had indeed approved himself an eater and a strong one, as afore he had in the garden—corrupting man outside Eden, as at the beginning he had corrupted him within it. But had not God again made him yield meat and sweetness? Were not divine delights in this scene of redemption of a higher character than they had been in the day of creation? Is not the value of Christ more to God than all the beauty and order that are displayed in the works of His hand? And is not His ransomed Noah in the ark, a richer one than Adam His creature in the garden? He was receiving the gifts of grace, and rendering the free-hearted obedience of faith; he was learning the sufficiency of Christ for him, and experiencing the exercises of the Spirit in him. He saw himself not merely in a created but in a redeemed system.

It is a great sight to see to—the eater has yielded meat, and the strong sweetness. And we are still in sight of this great mystery to the end of these chapters, after the new world has been gained, and “the earth that now is” has been formally taken and inherited. For there we see Noah seated in royal and priestly state. He is “blessed,” as Adam was in his day, and told to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:28; 9:1). The trail of the serpent is indeed over the whole scene and condition of things. Adam had the earth subdued to him, and the creatures of the forest, and of the field, and of the sea, and of the air, owned his lordship of them, taking names from him as it pleased him to give them, they in the acknowledgment, and he in the exercise, of sovereignty; while it is only in the dread and fear of Noah that the creatures of the earth now stand. It was no longer their homage rendered to man, but their sense of control by reason of the eminency of man. Here was the fruit and the witness of the work of the eater. But with this, Noah's table was more richly spread now than Adam's had been at first. The herb of the field nourished man then—the flesh of the beasts of the field shall now nourish him; for Adam's was the due food of an innocent one, Noah's is the food of a ransomed one. Adam enjoyed the life of an untainted creature—Noah the life of a blood-bought sinner.

Here was the witnessing afresh how meat was forced out of the eater. It was a world around, wearing the scars and bruises of a deadly fight—it was a table within, which told of full, and sure, and glorious, and blood-sealed redemption.

But further. Jehovah God makes a covenant with Noah, and with all the creatures around him, that He will secure the earth from a second flood. And in token of this, he hangs the bow in the cloud, up there as under His own eye, that He may look on it, and thus remember His promise. What thoughts and words are these; and yet these are the words of the Spirit, telling us of the intimate ways of God with us, and our souls, and our circumstances! The cloud might threaten, and swell itself with water; the bow should control it. The cloud might frown; the bow should smile. The Lord should be refreshed and glorified now in the counsels of His grace, as at the first He had been in the works of His hands. And the creation was set, not in fallible, but in sure, conditions.

There had been no threatening cloud in the sky of Eden—but then there was no shining bow riding in triumph upon it. The cloud was now the witness that the eater had done his work—a deadly work—a work of forfeiture and ruin; but the bow was alike the witness that God had got meat and sweetness out of him (Gen. 9).

Wondrous riddle! beginning to show itself here at the very first.

The fall or ruin of man has been accomplished through the subtlety of the eater, the strong man, the old serpent which is the devil and Satan; but in the midst of the ruins, God Himself is gathering richer joy and brighter glory than He had known before; and as to His creature man, his communion with God is deeper and more blessed, his destinies more excellent and glorious, being either heavenly, like that of Enoch and the antediluvian saints, or in royal and priestly dignities, like that of Noah, in a redeemed and not merely a created system, with the sure tokens of God's unfailing guardianship before him.

J.G.B.

Thoughts on John 16:8-11

The recorded discourses of our Lord immediately preceding His Passion are in point of length in marked contrast with the sayings of the risen Savior. The latter are extremely brief, as we know, and largely of what I may perhaps call an official character, whether mandatory, as “Go and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19), or declaratory, as “Whosesoever's sins ye remit, they are remitted” (John 20:23). Once or twice, a gentle rebuke was conveyed, as to Thomas, and to the travelers to Emmaus. But we have no details of what the Lord said on these occasions. It is true we are told how He expounded unto the two disciples, in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. But we have not the exposition (how we should prize it!), though we do read that their hearts burned within them while He opened unto them say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye have become dull of hearing. For, when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye again have need that one teach you the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:11-14).

We are not to suppose that the study of this subject, or of any other set before us in the scriptures, would be devoid of profit for us or in any way reserved or interdicted. On the contrary “all scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished to every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). There is a difference however between such an one and a “babe.” The teacher if wise will follow the way of God's Spirit in imparting or communicating. The faithful and wise servant will give the household meat in due season. Angels are at home in glory, they belong to it, but man by reason of sin is shut out, and comes short of God's glory and must, in his guilty condition be kept at a distance for his own safety—as see Gen. 3:24, Ex. 19:21-25 etc. All that was shut in and covered by the mercy seat witnessed to God's goodness and His abundant resources for His people's need, but alas! these had been met by fresh rebellion on man's part.

The cherubim of glory were represented, in the sanctuary, as looking intently into the ark as though they would learn what that could be in the ark which made it possible for God to go on in grace with such a rebellious people. In the temple, which Solomon builded, the cherubim are represented in quite a different position. In the tabernacle, their attitude spoke of reverent meditation and inspection— “and the cherubim shall stretch forth [their] wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces [shall look] one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:20). The governmental ways of God with His people were known to angels; indeed we see them often used in God's government of Israel. Again and again, we read of the angel of Jehovah, making his appearance at critical moments in their history. Angels knew well that Israel had broken the law before even its reception, that they had despised the manna and revolted against the priesthood; yet were these memorials in the ark, and although the people were as bad as ever, God went on with them in patient grace. The glories of Christ were thus represented, but surely the yearly sprinkling of the blood upon and before the mercy seat, pointed beforehand to the sufferings which Christ should endure, and by which alone the infinite resources of grace, now revealed in Jesus Christ, could be realized by man for blessing. Are not these some of the things which “angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12)?

But the cherubim in Solomon's temple were so placed as to suggest a distinctly different thought. “And the wings of the cherubim [were] twenty cubits long, one wing five cubits reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing five cubits reaching to the wing of the other cherub. And [one] wing of the other cherub five cubits reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing five cubits joining to the wing of the other cherub. The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits” (thus exactly filling up the breadth of the inner sanctuary); “and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house” (2 Chron. 3:11-13 margin). They are here represented, not as looking into the ark with the judicial action proper to them in suspense, but, from their place in the inner sanctuary looking forth upon the priests in their service before the vail, then upon the outer court worshippers, and finally, looking on with perfect complacency to a world purified by judgment and ultimately brought into complete subjection to the God and Father. This will be the millennial age under the reign of Christ the Son of David. Even then man will not have right of access within the inner sanctuary as now.

In that order of worship which God established upon earth there was then this remarkable witness to fullness of grace—God in Christ anticipating, and meeting in righteousness, man's sin against every successive revelation which pointed to Christ, providing for him in his poverty, and giving light upon his path. But with it all the “way into the holiest was not made manifest.”

The inspired writer of this Epistle is seeking to bring the saints to a deeper realization of what the work of Christ had secured for them, and in which was everything to inspire confidence. They had to do with God Himself as revealed in His Son, not with angels however exalted. The high priest of old went but once a year into the holiest. Our great High Priest has gone in—into heaven itself—in all the value of His own finished work, and has not yet come out, as He will, in the day when His earthly people shall be blessed in the land from which they are now outcasts. In the meantime we are exhorted to approach boldly “the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for seasonable help.”

(To be continued)

The Testimony and Walk of Faith: Part 2

(Continued from p. 190)

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 thing 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 reference to His will, and to that only; thus it consults not either about means or 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?

Verses 13-17. Not only were those spoken of here, “strangers and pilgrims,” but they “confessed” it. People sometimes wish to be religious in the heart, and not to speak of it: there is no energy of faith there. To see the world to be lost and condemned, to have our hopes in heaven—such facts must, of necessity, produce a proportionate result, that of making us think and act as “strangers and pilgrims” here. And it will be manifested in the whole life. The heart already gone, it remains but to set out. This evidently involves open and public profession of it; and herein is a testimony for Christ. Who would be satisfied with the friend that owned us not when circumstances were difficult? The concealed Christian is a very bad Christian. Faith fixed on Jesus, we embrace the things we have seen afar off; we are not mindful of the country from whence we have come out, we have at heart that which is before us. Where difficulties are in the path and the affections not set on Jesus, the world rises again in the heart (Phil. 3:7-14). Paul had not acted in a moment of excitement to repent forthwith; his heart filled with Christ, he counts all but “dross and dung.” Perseverance of heart marks the Christian's affections to be onward, his desires heavenly. And God is not ashamed to be called his God.

It is either the flesh, or faith; impossible that, at bottom, there can be a stopping half-way. The aim of 11)., Christian must be heavenly things. The appetites, the necessities, 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 the using Christianity for world-mending, are earthly things. God's design is to link us with heaven. You must have heaven without the world, or the world without heaven. He who prepares the city cannot wish for us anything between the two. The “desire” of a “(better country” is the desire of a nature entirely from above.

Verses 17-19. Abraham held to the promises more than to natural affection. The strength of the trial to him was in this, that God had pointed out Isaac as the accepted seed, the one connected with the promises. Faith counts on God. God stops Abraham, and confirms His promise to the seed. In obeying, 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.

Verses 24-26. 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 Israel through his influence, but Israel must have remained in bondage to Egypt. Faith is “imprudent;” yet it has that eternal prudence which counts on God, and nothing but Him It discerns that which is of the Spirit; and what is not of the Spirit is not of faith, and not of God. To hold to providence thus is, at bottom, the desire to “enjoy the pleasures of sin.” The world is loved, and there is the wish to lean on circumstances, instead of on God; it is not a “good providence” when a man is ruined!

Moses appeared to be weakening himself in preferring the reproach of the people of God, and of the people of God in a bad state. He might see them in a sad condition; but faith identifies the people of God with the promises of God, and judges of them, not according to their state, but according to His thoughts. Energetic against evil, he counts upon God as to the people.

Verse 27. The world would persuade us to be “good Christians,” whilst acting and walking as others. 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.” To leave the world, when the world has driven us out, is not faith; it is to show that the will was to remain there as long as we could. Faith acts on the promises of God and not because it is driven out by the world. Moses “sees him that is invisible.” This makes him decided. When we realize the presence of God, Pharaoh is nothing It is not that circumstances are the less dangerous; but God is there. In communion, they become the occasion of a tranquil obedience. Jesus drinks the cup, Peter draws the sword; that which brings out obedience in Jesus, is a stumbling-block to Peter. Where there is lack of communion, there is weakness and indecision.

Verse 30. At the blast of rams' horns, after they have been compassed about seven days, the walls of Jericho fall down. Things which appear base and contemptible are not so when done before the Lord (2 Sam. 6). To faith, Jericho's walls are not any more than the Red Sea, or the Jordan.

Verse 31. Who would have thought of Rahab? yet by faith she acknowledges God. Faith makes nothing of distinctions amongst men; it says that God is rich in mercy towards all that call upon Him. There is no difference, for that all have sinned. In the midst of difficulties, she sides with the people of God.

The confidence of faith is manifested in the Christian life as a whole. Christians are often brought to a stand, through measuring their own strength with temptation, instead of exclusive reference to God. They go on well up to a certain point. One man talks of his family, another of the future (if any have not faith, all we can do is to pray for him); in the various concerns of life our reasonings mean but this, I have not the faith that counts on God. Faith has reference entirely and exclusively to God. Duty ever leads into difficulty; but I have the consolation of saying, God is there, and victory certain; otherwise, in my apprehension, there is something stronger than God. This demands a perfect practical submission of the will.

When the children of God are faithful, God may leave them in trial and difficulty to bring out that in them which is not of the Spirit. He may also 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.

Man looks not beyond the circumstances which surround him. To tarry in circumstances is unbelief; affliction springs not out of the dust. Satan is behind the circumstances to set us on; but, behind all that, God is there to break our wills.

J.N.D.

Jude Introduction

It is of interest to consider who it is that is speaking to us in this Epistle. We are told it is “Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.” He is not the brother of James the son of Zebedee—John was his brother. That James was out off from very early days indeed, and John was left latest of all; so different was the issue for those two sons of Zebedee. There was another James (as also another Jude or Judas, besides the Iscariot) “son of Alplacus,” who is named “James the Little” (Mark 15:40). I don't think that this is the James referred to here, but rather the one who has been called “James the Just”; and I presume that title was given to him because of his practical pre-eminence. He was a hater of evil and a lover of all that was pleasing to God, morally. He comes before us too, in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, though not for the first time there. In that chapter he takes a great place. He, as far as one can so say, presided, and that is a very proper scripture word. Those “that rule well” means those that preside well. There is nothing wrong in presiding if a man can do it; it is a mistake if a man can't, and assumes to do it; and it is one of the worst things possible when it is done by an official, whether there is power or not. But there is such a thing as “ruling” or “presiding” recognized, though it is never confined to one person, “them that have the rule (or, preside) over you” —there we have several.

But we are not anxious about it. One might be more prominent on one day, another on another day, but James seems to have been prominent habitually, and this appears to have been quite recognized by the elders at Jerusalem. We find Paul going up to see James, and all the elders were present. This is the man who wrote the Epistle, who also calls himself “a servant of Jesus Christ.” Of course that is true of all, and is said by almost all. The apostle Paul calls himself that continually, and of course so do Peter and John, although the latter calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” rather, but still he calls himself the servant of Jesus Christ in the Revelation (1:2)— “to His servant John.” So you see that it is only a question of the propriety of the case where this word is put forward; and it certainly was very appropriate in the Book of the Revelation, and there accordingly it is. Elsewhere, in his Gospel especially, he dwells rather on the Savior's love, and in that book he does not call himself anything. We only know by internal evidence that he must be the man whom he describes, not as John, but, as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

But James was not a “disciple”; he was one of the Lord's brethren who did not believe all the time the Lord was living here below. “Neither did His brethren believe on Him” (John 7:5). “His brethren” were sons of Mary after His own birth. Of course we can understand that Romanists have been anxious to make out that they were sons of Joseph and not of Mary; but they were sons of Mary and of Joseph. They would like to make it out, sons of a former. marriage of Joseph. We do not know anything of a former marriage, nor do they. We do know that scripture is quite plain.

Take Mark 6:3 for instance, and there you will find that this thing is fully acknowledged what I have stated just now, where, speaking of our Lord, it says, “Is not this the carpenter the son of Mary, and brother” (not the cousin, you see) “of James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon?” We do not know what place God gave in particular to Joses and Simon, but we do know that James and Judas, or Jude (it is the same name), were called to an, eminent service.

Now if we look at the first of Acts we get more, It appears there were sisters also, but we need not now pursue that subject. In Acts 1:13 we read, “And when they” (i.e. the apostles) “were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James” (that James is the son of Zebedee), “and John” (his brother), “and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James [the son] of Alphaeus” (that is, James the Little), “and Simon Zelotes” (to distinguish him from Simon Peter and from Simon the Lord's brother), “and Judas [the brother] of James.”

Now, in my judgment, these are the two names that are brought before us in this opening verse of our Epistle, “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.” But we further read in the same chapter of the Acts, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (ver. 14). Who these “brethren” are, we have already seen from Mark 6 James and Jude were two of the Lord's brethren. Simon and Joses were two others. But we do not stop to dwell on these, because scripture does not do so. Yet it says a deal about James; not so much about Jude. As already noticed, although they were unconverted all the time the Lord was on earth they were evidently converted after the Lord died and rose, so that there they were with Mary their mother, and the eleven, all living together and given up to prayer, and waiting for the promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is true they were not unconverted now. Nothing would have been more contrary to their mind had they not been believers, but now they are believers for the first time. And very beautiful it is to see that God broke them down by the very thing that might have stumbled them kr ever. The crucifying of the Lord might have entirely hindered, but God used that and the Lord's resurrection, not only to awaken their souls, but to bring them in, so that they were there full of the same expectation of the Holy Ghost as the apostles themselves.

Consequently, when James, the son of Zebedee, was killed (Acts 12), we find another James, who is not described at all as the son of Alpheus, and he is the one that has evidently stepped forward, by God's guidance, into a kind of foremost place; for when all the apostles were there, Peter and John amongst the rest, they didn't take that place, much less any other of the twelve. James did, and to show you that I am not incorrect in this, I will give you another scripture (Gal. 1:15-19), which is very convincing and satisfactory. The apostle Paul is showing how he had been kept from mixing up with any other of the apostles in particular, at the time he was brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother “(not, the Lord's “cousin”). Apparently James, the son of Alphaeus, was the Lord's cousin. Now we all know that the word “brother” is sometimes used loosely, but in that case it is always corrected by some other parts of scripture. But this is not corrected by any; and I don't see any reason why—if the Spirit of God calls Mark, not exactly the nephew, but “cousin of Barnabas” (the word there used is cousin)—James should not be so called here, if he were not really the “brother” of our Lord.

It is true James does not call himself “the Lord's brother,” but “the Lord's servant,” and this is very beautiful. Had there been any self-seeking he would have been the one to say, “I am the Lord's brother! You must not forget, I am the Lord's brother.” But that would have been anything but of the Spirit of God, because when he was the Lord's brother, he was an unbeliever. He had been an unbeliever during all the life of our Lord. Indeed he was so until His death and resurrection. He, therefore, with beautiful grace, never brings up that which was his shame—that he was the Lord's brother after the flesh. The Lord Himself put all that sort of thing down, when He declared that it was not the blessed thing so much to be the woman that bare Him, as to hear the word of God and keep it. This is what the writer of the Epistle had done. He had heard the word of God and kept it. He had received the truth of Christ's Person not as son of Mary, but as the Son of God, as the Messiah, the Lord of all. Here then he was glad to say, not that he was the Lord's brother, though he was so, but, “a servant of Jesus Christ,” and he adds, to make it perfectly clear who he was, “brother of James.”

So here we have the plain fact that this James was not the son of Zebedee, who had been killed many years before; neither was he James the Little. We may call him rather, James the Great, because he takes such a foremost place wherever mentioned. The fifteenth of Acts puts it in a very striking manner which I had better not pass over. After Peter had given his very important testimony, and Paul and Barnabas their evidence, about the reception of the Gentiles, we come to another person, in the thirteenth verse, “James answered, saying.” You see they are regarded as speaking, but James answers, “Men, brethren” (that is the proper way to read it; “and” has nothing to do with it). They were not merely men, but men who were brethren. “Men, brethren, hearken unto me. Simon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name” &c. “Wherefore my sentence is” (vers. 13-19). No one can doubt the place that he took, and that the Spirit of God sanctions his taking. James was the one that summed up the mind of God, after having heard all the facts, and quoted a decisive scripture. And this is a very interesting thing that, though they were inspired men, they did not do without the scriptures. When you have facts in the light of scripture, it is then that you are entitled to draw therefrom the truth—what he calls here “my sentence,” and what was written in the nineteenth and following verses.

The other striking place where James appears, is in Acts 21, where Paul goes up to Jerusalem. “And the day following” —that is after their arrival, “Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present” (ver. 18). It is evident that that was the great central place of meeting for strangers at Jerusalem, and that the elders also were accustomed to be present on those occasions. These facts give it evidently a very official character, and this was perfectly compatible with the position of James at Jerusalem. Tradition makes him the bishop of the church in Jerusalem, but scripture does not speak of “the” bishop, but of “bishops:” and scripture also shows that there were people more important than the bishops; and James had a place of evident superiority to any of the “elders” (they were the bishops), a place that none of the elders possessed to the same degree. And this James is the one that wrote the Epistle that bears his name, as that of Jude was written by his brother.

It is instructive to see how God allowed the unbelief of the family of our Lord Jesus. It was not like people plotting together. If you look at the great leader of the Eastern apostasy, Mahomet, it was so. His family were persons whom he induced to take their place along with him, to defend him and stand by him. But in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, God allowed that His own brethren should not believe on Him all the time that His mighty works were being done. But there was another work, the greatest of all, and God made that work irresistible. Not indeed the works of His life, but that of His death and resurrection; and these brethren that had stood out so stubbornly against Him were brought out to believe on Him through His work of sin-bearing. There was a reason for their unbelief. There are always moral causes, which particularly act in unconverted persons to prevent their reception of the truth. Sometimes it is the fleshly mind, sometimes the worldly mind, sometimes both. In the case of these brethren, their worldly mind came out strongly in John 7:4. 5, when they said, “If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe on him.” The Lord was infinitely far from that. He was not of the world, and tells us we are not. He never sought the world in any form. He only sought to do good to souls in it by delivering them out of the world to make them know the true God, and Himself equally the true God and life eternal.

Well now, here we have this fact so full of interest that James gives us, according to the spiritual character that was formed in him, the most complete setting forth of practical righteousness in everyday life, in our tempers, in our words, as well as our ways. All that is unfolded by James more than by any other, and it is only from want of understanding it, that some do not like James. Sometimes great and good men have kicked at the plainness of speech in James. They have not liked it, but it was a great loss to them, for had they heeded his Epistle it would have corrected many a fault in themselves.

(To be continued)

Letters on Bethesda

“The heart welcomes the faith and faithfulness to conscience [wherever] found. Yet brethren, who, for years, have walked outside the religious world, should not, as regards their own position, have need to think of this. For years they have taken a position, and they believe it to be in conformity with true intelligence of the word. While all was quiet, they studied this word; and God showed them, they are convinced, the path which they must follow. There they have found the blessing and approval of God, while experiencing their weakness and all sorts of infirmities which accompanied their little faith; but seeing so much more, in the midst of all this, how God protected the work, and poor as it was, acted by it on the conscience of His own, and for the conversion of sinners.”

“Their path—painful for faith at the beginning, but now staked off with so many blessings, has more charms, more attractions than ever; they have more motives than ever for following it.

“If men stopped there, all would be simple. ‘Stand still' is all that then would remain to be said. ‘Abide in the path where the tokens of a God of goodness recur to you, and where the goodness of a God who directs you, has set you; a path you have found in the word, found in peace, and yet with a heart burthened with grief for the church, in the midst of the contempt of brethren who then boasted in a position which now they deny with equal energy of brethren who find the sole bond of union in that wherein they only saw schism some few days ago. Why busy yourselves with aught else than faithfulness to that which God has taught you?

“But here are some considerations which others present to us.

“The difficulties of the times are great,'

“'True; but faith strengthened in a path that is known, is not afraid before them, like those who, just departing from a system in which they have lived, find everything new to their individual faith, and feel themselves, at the same time, called to found a system.'

“But (say you) the difficulties are great, unity is cried up as the only means of strength against the rising billows. It is a duty. You ought to think of the whole church, and not merely of your own peculiar peace. If you do not, you cannot be blessed. Let us be unitedly one, for the good and strength of all.'

“I answer to this, that, as the only means of strength, unity does not inspire me with unreserved confidence. I fear somewhat that, clothing itself withal with the character of the desire of unity, it is a want of faith with regard to the Head which seeks so strongly the support of the members. The conscience of our brethren has long felt the evil; but the importance in their eyes of those who shared in the same system themselves, but who had no strength from Christ the Head of His house, hindered them from separating from them. This subsists still in their minds, These brethren feared then to separate from the mass, because of the importance which their own want of faith lent those who formed it. They fear them in this same measure still; and that so much the more, as conscience and faith enfeeble themselves by hesitation and delays, and weaken themselves by the accrediting of things which they condemn. We know to what point, influences so deleterious have led some brethren, otherwise respected by all. ‘Say ye not, A confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear; nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary' (Isa. 8:12-14). Such is what occurs to the spirit of the believer on hearing these cries for union made by those who are departing from under a burden to which they have so long bowed their back.

“But when they tell us, ‘You ought to be concerned about all your brethren, and not confine yourselves to seeking your own peace, and your particular interests,' this has a hold on the conscience and heart, and we are engaged, before God, to weigh, what this appeal demands of us.

“What is the character, what is the force of this movement in the sight of God? What its claims on our spiritual judgment? As regards, man, there is good—there is conscience. As regards, God, His hand has shown itself in the circumstances. To what point may His spirit show Himself in this movement itself?

“Dullness of conscience in these things does not induce me to address the least reproach whatever to our dear brethren who have shared it. One is rejoiced, with all one's heart, that God has delivered them. The heart of the Christian goes cordially to meet them. On their side they will agree that it is a question of our responsibility toward God, of the walk which would glorify Him most. Now, dullness of conscience—this feebleness which has hindered conscience from acting for long years of convictions, during which these dear brethren propped up what they knew to be evil, and even condemned those who separated themselves from that system and walk (and add to that the fact that circumstances have brought about the conclusion at which they are themselves arrived)—this dullness of conscience hinders its activity of to-day from exercising so much power in forming their judgment as to the walk which is to be followed before God by us who already walk outside that which they have just left. Does that hinder our hearts from being open—cordially open—to these brethren, from receiving them, wishing to strengthen them, by prayer, as well as by an interest sincere and manifest to the eyes of all? Far from it. For my part (my voice is very feeble), I see God's hand in what is passing. I see conscience in my brethren. My voice would encourage them, as my heart rejoices in it.

“The fact that ‘the hand of God has acted’ produces evidently, in the heart of him who looks to God, respect for the movement. God is there, that is evident. This action of His providence makes what is passing to be respected. But to a certain point, it deprives the work of the character of a work of God's Spirit. I say to a certain point; for I have no doubt that the Spirit of God acts in the hearts of these brethren, and I hope also in others not yet manifested.”

“It is always good to listen to God. Only it behooves that I seriously weigh what He tells me, and that in the means He employs, if the means be not directly His word, I separate what is of man from what is of God; the precious from the vile (Jer. 15:19). My brethren, I am sure, will agree to this. Without it I should go astray in a path, which, while presenting something good, would not answer to the impulse communicated by God Himself; and I should lose perhaps much of the testimony He had formerly confided to me”.... “Our business is to keep the testimony pure. God will accompany it with His power”... “Our task is then to keep His word, not to deny His name, all that His name implies (for the name of Jesus means what He is), to keep the word of His patience.”

“Now to look really and unfeignedly for a common supplication, if unity in judgment of the remedy be not demanded, at least, the sense of the evil which we have to present to God must be the same, or we shall not be presenting the same spiritual groan to God at all. The common act would be hypocrisy, though each might be unfeignedly sincere for himself.... If there were the recognition of certain things, and state of things—of this of course I cannot speak—then I could not in good conscience before the Lord have anything at all to say to it. It would be both hypocrisy and a positive disobedience and departure from God. My judgment is definite and assured, I believe; and I dare not, nor would I, of course, depart from it. Any charge of want of charity to which I may render myself liable, would not turn me away, because there is a day coming when every one will receive praise of God. I am content to wait for that, though indeed I have not had to wait for it, through abounding and undeserved grace which thinks of our weakness.”

“You must be fully aware that the things you would confess, and others with whom you think it right to associate, would be entirely contrary to what I could judge right before God: the things that I may judge evil and the root of all this, you probably (indeed, there can be little doubt) would not confess at all; nor can I think there is in the actual state of things, any confession of what I judge to be evil before God, but quite the contrary. Thence I judge that to pretend to join in any common confession.... would be hypocrisy, and really awfully mocking God. I decline it therefore altogether “I should not admit the cross to be the principle of union, because I cannot admit the work of Christ to be the bond, exclusive of His Person. The cross may gather all, both Jew and Gentile, but they are gathered to Christ, not to the cross; and the difference is a most important and essential one, because it is of all importance that the Person of the Son of God have His place. Christ Himself, not the cross of Christ, is the center of union. The two or three are gathered to His name, not the cross. The scripture is uniform in its testimony as to this.” But further, where saints are gathered in unity, without any questionings, they have the truth and holiness to guard. It never was, and I trust never will be, the notion of brethren, that the truth of Christ's Person or godliness of walk was to be sacrificed to outward unity. It is making brethren of more importance than Christ; and even so, love to the brethren is false, for if true, it is, John assures as, love in the truth and for the truth's sake. Supposing a person denied the divinity of Christ, or the resurrection of His body, still declaring His belief in the cross-supposing he declared his belief in the cross and resurrection, but declared it was only a testimony of God's love, and no substitution or expiatory value in it, as many clergymen of high reputation in the Establishment now do [1860]—is all this to be immaterial?—I shall be told that no true believer could do this. In the first place, a true believer may be seduced into error; and further, the test offered becomes then the opinion formed that a man is a true believer, and not the plain fundamental truth of God and His holiness.... What I insist on” [is] “that I must have a true Christ, and that I am bound to maintain the truth of Christ in my communion.

“I am aware that the letter states we can deal with conduct (with morality) but not with these questions! But this is just what appears to me so excessively evil. Decency of conduct is necessary for communion; but a man may blaspheme Christ—that is no matter! it is a matter, not of conduct, but of conscience! It is hinted that perhaps if it be a teacher, he may be dealt with. In truth, the apostle desires even a woman not to let such a person into her house. It is not therefore so difficult to deal with. Just think of a system which makes blasphemous views of the Person of Christ—what may amount to a denial of Him—to be a matter of private conscience, having nothing to do with communion! And here is the very root of the question. I raise one before all their reasoning. I affirm that that is not a communion of believers at all, which is not founded on the acknowledgment of a true Christ. Where the truth as to this is commonly held and taught, I may have no need for particular inquiry. But that is not the case here. If I find a person even in such a case, denying the truth as to Christ, communion is impossible, because we have not a common Christ to have communion in. But here all faithfulness is thrown overboard. No call to confess a true Christ is admitted: it is a new test or term of communion Mr. N. himself, and others holding his doctrines, have been invited or admitted. It is said we are to meet as Christians. But a man is not a Christian who professes a false Christ. The letter would have me judge the state of a person's heart. I cannot, while his profession is false: I may hope he is only misled, but cannot accept his profession.

“I am quite aware that it will be said, But these individuals do hot bold these views. If wholly and not willfully ignorant, it is another matter: but we have to do with another case, where the views being held, they are declared to be a matter of private conscience; that a false Christ is as good as a true one, if a person's conduct is good—we can judge only of the last! Now this principle is worse than the false doctrine, because it knows the falseness and blasphemy of it, and then says it is no matter! I do not own [such] meetings as meetings of believers, for fundamental error as to Christ is immaterial for communion—a matter, the letter tells me, not of conduct but of conscience. ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead '. Be it so. Suppose a person held He was a mere man, and quoted the passage to prove that God raised Him, and made Him Lord and Christ; would he be received? If not, you do try whether a man has the faith of God's elect. If not, a Socinian is admissible as a believer; or you make your opinion of his being a believer the test, entirely independent of the faith of Christ. I go further. It is said, you can only require a person to say he receives all in scripture as true. The supposed Socinian would accept such a test at once. They do so. Why should you ask even that? A man may be a believer and a rationalist in theory (sad as such a thought is) and not accept all as the word of God, and say, I am a believer in the cross—you have no right to make a difficulty. If after this you object to any doctrine, or insist on any truth, you have not even scripture to lean on against his denial of it. Scripture says, ‘Whom I love in the truth and for the truth's sake '; the other says, it is no matter. You think the person a ‘spiritual believer'; the truth of Christ is no matter, a false one is just as good.

I add no human doctrine to a divine one. I make no term of communion besides Christ. I require that those who have blasphemed Him should not be admitted. I am told that it is a matter of conscience, &c. and that people cannot read doctrines to know whether He is blasphemed or not. These blasphemers have been received deliberately, received avowedly, received upon the ground that no inquiry is to be made; and therefore the plea of additional bonds or terms of communion is all dust thrown in the eyes. Is it a new term of communion to affirm that faith in a true Christ, not a false one, is called for for communion, and that blasphemers of Christ are not to be received? That is the true question. If a person thinks they are not safe in reading the publications, how are they safe in fellowship and intimacy with those who have written or refused to disown them? Ι confess I do not admire this argument. Simple believers do not hesitate much, reasoning minds do. Ask a simple believer if Christ had the experience of an unconverted man! He would soon say, I will have nothing to say to any one who says so. A reasoning mind might make it a mere matter of personal conscience. Is the truth of Christ's Person and His relationship to God, a variety of judgment on a particular doctrine? Here is the whole question—value for Christ and the truth as to Himself.

I do not require definitions; what I require is, that when blasphemous definitions have been made, the blasphemers should be rejected. I do not see anything so very deep in saying that Christ had the experience of an unconverted man! and that He was relatively further from God than even when they had made the golden calf! and [that He] heard with an attentive heart the gospel of John the Baptist, and so passed as from law under grace! Is it the shibboleth of a party to reject with horror such doctrines? Or is it faithfulness to Christ to attenuate them by saying that in such deep doctrines we shall not express ourselves alike: only disquisitions on the force of the Greek word αἴρεσις.... Heresy in scripture language is not a division—but that is no matter.

“... The reference to the Galatian church is an unhappy one. That Epistle was not written about discipline, nor could it be, but to bring back the whole body of the saints in many churches to sound doctrine. But it shows that false doctrine was more terrible in the apostle's mind than the worst false conduct; not a wish of kindness, not a salutation, not a gracious word—he breaks in at once with rebuke and reproach, and closes with resentful coldness; while in Corinthians, where the most horrible wickedness was committed, and gloried in by all, he says all the good of them he can.

It is not practical love, to love them, not for the truth's sake, but to comfort them in blaspheming Christ—saying it is a matter of conscience. It is not real love to the members, nor love for Christ's sake, to despise Christ so as to bear blasphemers against Him.... It is all nonsense talking about anything in a tract being a test. The truth of the Person and glory of Christ, in a tract or out of a tract, is a test for those who are faithful to Him. I cannot talk of liberty of conscience to blaspheme Christ, if by liberty of conscience is meant, as it is here, communion.”

“First I must tell you that I believe that if one meeting receives the members of another, and the members of the former go there in their turn, there is a bond between the two... This is how it is then as to Bethesda. Doctrine is not in question, but faithfulness to Christ with respect to doctrine or holiness. I would not receive a person who knowingly formed part of a meeting which admits heretics, or persons whose conduct is bad, because the principle of indifference to good and evil, to error and truth, is as bad as the wrong action, and even worse. Let me be clearly understood. I believe that the church is bound to be jealous with respect to the glory of the Person of Christ. If Christ is despised, I have no principle of union. I believe that B has acted with profound contempt for the Lord, to say nothing of brethren. Here there is nothing equivocal. Mr. N. was maintaining a doctrine of which Mr. M. himself said that if it were true, Christ would have needed to be saved as much as we did. This doctrine placed Christ under the effect of Adam's sin by His birth, in saying that He had to gain life by keeping the law. We had driven away this doctrine and those who upheld it, and the struggle was ended. The persons who had supported Mr. N. had published confessions with respect to the doctrine, and had made confessions before the brethren publicly of the falsehoods and wickedness by which they had tried to make good their views and to justify themselves; it was a truly extraordinary work of Satan.

“Well, a lady wished to introduce Mr. N to teach in a meeting near Bethesda; this meeting refused; she left the meeting accordingly. She was introduced at B—, Mr. M knowing that she was maintaining and propagating this doctrine, Mr. C., the other pastor having had to do with her. She went there because they admitted such persons into that meeting. At the same time, two gentlemen, who made part of the meeting which Mr. N. had formed when he was obliged to leave on account of this doctrine (those who had supported him having left him and made confession), these two communicants of Mr. N.'s I say, were also admitted to B. It is proved true that these three disseminated Mr. N.'s tracts in the B. assembly. The lady induced a young lady to go who was the most active and intelligent agent that Mr. N. had, in order to spread his doctrines. In consequence of these circumstances, several godly brothers of B asked that all these should be examined; they said that they did not ask even that the judgment of the brethren should be taken thereupon, but that they should examine the matter and the doctrine themselves. This was decidedly refused. I received a letter from Mr. C., blaming me as sectarian for making these difficulties, even when he was not prepared to receive everything that Mr. N. was teaching. They had many meetings of the flock, and the ten laboring brothers (of whom two were really disciples of Mr. N.), Messrs. M. and C. at their head, presented a written paper to the assembly at B—, declaring that this was a new test of communion, which they would not admit; that many excellent brethren did not give so decided an opinion upon Mr. N.'s doctrine; that they were not bound to read fifty pages to know what Mr. N. taught, the members of his flock being—mark this!—already admitted at B. A brother asked permission to communicate some information about Mr. N.'s doctrine, in order that the assembly might understand why they held to it that the doctrine should be judged; and this was peremptorily refused, and the paper which said that many had not a bad opinion of the doctrine, rejecting as a new condition of fellowship the examination into the doctrine, was laid down as the absolute condition of the pastorate of Messrs. M. and C, without which they would withdraw from their ministry in the midst of the assembly. Those who justified them on the ground of this paper were to rise, which was done by the assembly, thirty or forty forthwith leaving B—. So that with knowledge of the matter, they laid down as the basis of the B assembly, indifference to the truth as to the Person of Christ; and they preferred to see about forty godly brethren leave, rather than, to examine into the question, having in fact in their midst the members of the N meeting....”

Now the principle of indifference as to the Person of Christ being laid down at Bethesda, and the assembly having publicly accepted it, I refuse to admit this principle. They have admitted persons put outside amongst us on account of blasphemy. Messrs. M. and C. are the pastors of the assembly in virtue of this principle. This letter has never been withdrawn; they claim to have done right. Many things will doubtless be told you in excuse, and to Make it appear that they have done things which nullify this: I know how it is with them. For me their condition before God has become much, much worse. I should be ready to say why. I believe that they are themselves more or less infected with false doctrine, but I cannot enter into the story in detail. Mr. M. said to me (after having acknowledged that Christ would have needed to be saved as much as we, if this doctrine was admitted) that they maintained the letter of the ten to the full, and that they had done well in all that they had done. Well, indifference to Christ is a grave sin: an assembly which bases itself publicly on this principle I cannot accept as a Christian assembly. Assemblies which are connected with B—, which go there and receive from thence, are one with B—, save the case of persons who are ignorant of the matter, an exceptional case of which it is not necessary to speak. For my part this is what I do; having distinctly taken my position I judge each case individually according to its merits, but I will not receive a person who keeps up his connection with B— with knowledge of the matter. Faithfulness to Christ before everything; I know not why I labor and suffer if this is not the principle of my conduct.” [1851.]

J.N.D.

WORKS BY J.N.D.

WHAT IS & CHRISTIAN: Now AND HEREAFTER THE LORD JESUS IN HUMILIATION AND SERVICE DISCIPLINE AND UNITY OF THE ASSEMBLY... CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS IN THE VISION OF GOD BALAAM, HIRED OF BALAE, AND USED OF GOD

Memories of the life and last days of William

Kelly, by Heyman Wreford. 8vo. Cloth, t, e. g. 1/6 Net.

Published

LONDON:

T. WESTON, Publisher, 53, Paternoster Row.. Published Monthly

The Church - What Is It?

It is a solemn thing when we come to think what the church really is. It is all blessed when we think of her privileges; but looking at her as Christ's representative on earth is most solemn—an “epistle of Christ.” As the tables of stone represented what God demanded of man, so should the church, and in an equal sense, be in the world the revelation of what God is to man, an exhibition of God's grace and power to man and in man.

When I speak of the “kingdom,” it is a different thing. We there get the display of power and government, not union and fellowship. Even the testimony of the kingdom comes necessarily to be quite a distinct thing. I should distinguish altogether “the gospel of the kingdom” and “the kingdom,” from what we are accustomed to call, “the gospel “ and “the church.”

Paul taught the kingdom, and he taught the gospel, and he taught the church; but he never taught them as the same thing.

There is one revelation: God is going to take to Himself His great power, and to reign. There is another truth: there is to be a bride, and body, of the King. Again, certain things setting out the grace of God are necessary for the soul to be saved. These three things are very plainly quite distinct, i.e. the kingdom, the church, and the salvation of the soul.

From the moment Israel was called as a people, God had evidently the thought of having a king. Man's way of setting about it was quite wrong.

Up to the time of Samuel priesthood was morally the regular point of association between the people and God. But the priests were unfaithful, and then the Lord wrote Ichabod upon all that had been Israel's glory. The link between God and the people was broken. The ark was taken by the Philistines. The priests were slain. He delivered His strength into captivity, and the Philistines were in the mount of God.

This was the sign given to Saul. (1 Sam. 10). He found people going up to Bethel (ver. 3). There were people that had faith in the God of Bethel (that is, that God would never leave His unchangeable promise to Jacob). Everything else might be gone; but God's connection with Israel could not be broken up. This became the resting-place of faith. God could not fail. Secondly, he was to go to the mount of God (ver. 5); and there was the garrison of the Philistines: the power of the enemies of the Lord in the place where God's altar ought to have been, and thus power against those who were acting in faith. Still Bethel could be visited with a tabret and pipe; faith could take up the joy that was proper for the people who had Jehovah for their God. There was also the spirit of prophecy given to him (ver. 6). But neither of the signs did Saul understand, though clear and instructive to the eye of faith.

David was the opposite of this, and was the type of Christ, as King.

After the king is brought in, there is a change in the position of the priesthood; it ceases to be the habitual link of connection between the people and God. When Eli is set aside (1 Sam. 2:35) God says, “I will raise me up a faithful priest and he shall walk.” not, before me, but “before mine anointed forever.” There I get royal person, another link between God and the people, set up above priesthood. So that Solomon was quite right in thrusting out Abiathar (1 Kings 2:27).

When Solomon dedicated the temple, and the priests could not stand to minister because the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God, the king praised God and blessed the people.

At length the King was presented in humiliation in the person of Christ.

John Baptist comes (Matt. 3) and says “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.... he that cometh after me is mightier than I whose fan is in his hand he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

John is rejected; and then, after he is cast into prison, Christ takes up the same testimony. (Matt. 4) “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness,” &c. The power of God was with Him in testimony, and was seen.

The disciples, the King having been rejected, are given to know “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” which to the multitude are parables (chap. 13). And they have God with them.

The apostles were to go on (and they went on) preaching the kingdom.

The kingdom is still to be set up, that is, the power of heaven, in the person of Jesus Christ. He shall take to Him His great power and reign. It will be set up, in heaven, for He must go to a far country to receive a kingdom and to return (Luke 19:11, 12). He has gone up on high; but He has not yet been sent back in the power of the kingdom.

It will be a “world to come,” not merely a state of Judaism, the kingdom of the “Son of man” not merely the Jews and their Messiah (Dan. 2; 7). Heaven will be in the highest sense the seat of the kingdom. But it is still the kingdom.

There is another revelation. We are to reign in the kingdom. There are “joint-heirs;” those who are to “reign with him;” and those who are to “sit on thrones.” Yet it is still the kingdom, largely extended, a wider sphere; but, I am still traveling in the circuit of the kingdom.

The destruction of Jerusalem was the setting aside of Jerusalem in judicial power; but still we can preach the kingdom of God. There will be the effect of the actual employment of power in setting things to right. At present it is rather in testimony than in power. The effect of the power of Christ in “the world to come” will be to set aside the power of Satan.

In all this we have only the kingdom.

Again, there will be a special testimony to the coming and of the kingdom before the close.

There is another ministry that goes out altogether on another principle. In Paul's ministry I get that which is beyond the reach of dispensations; I have here what man is (not merely “sinners of the Gentiles,” or Jews). He may prove it as regards the Gentiles in one way, and demonstrate it as regards the Jews in another; but what he proves and demonstrates is this, that man as man is at enmity with God. If we begin at Jerusalem, we begin with a testimony to Jerusalem. In Paul's ministry Jews and Gentiles alike are known only as “children of wrath.” We get him preaching the gospel to every creature under heaven.

But Paul was not simply a minister of the gospel; he was a minister also of the church “to fulfill (fully to preach) the word of God.”

We read in Colossians 1:12-25, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And 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. For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fullness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight.” And now as to the ministry: “if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church; whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,” &c.

In the testimony about the church, I find (not the kingdom, nor the salvation of individuals, merely; but) that there is a body for Him who is the King, associated and connected with Him in His headship over all things. There is a certain special thing which the Lord has reconciled.

Paul deduces everything as to the church, from Christ's headship of the body, and the flowing down from Him of all he has to minister. How is the accomplishment of this? “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13).

Turn to Ephesians 1:19-23: “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” In this passage, there is the headship of the body, and He is “Head over all things to the church.”

As to the way and the power of the unity of the body of saints formed on earth with Christ, the Head, in heaven, it is by the Holy Ghost “sent down from heaven” making them one body.

As a consequence, when Paul speaks of apostles and prophets, he looks at them exclusively in this light, and never as appointed by Christ on earth. He says, “if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,” &c. (Eph. 3:2-5.) As to the very existence of these holy apostles and prophets: “Wherefore, he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” &c. (chap. 4). His thought about apostles is of something that flows from the exalted Head. He knows no man after the flesh.

By one Spirit baptized into one body, we have the Head and the body united together—the Head at the right hand of God in heaven, united to the members formed into a body down here on earth by the power of the Holy Ghost. Scripture calls that “the church."

There is a word in Matt. 16 that is sometimes overlooked. The Lord says there to Peter, “Upon this rock will I build my church.” There had been the revelation by the Father to Peter of the Person of Christ as “the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him (on the confession of this), “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.... And I also say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” &c. Christ is going to build His church; and besides this, He gives the keys to Peter. The keys of the kingdom are a distinct thing from Christ's building His church.

The church is that body which the Holy Ghost forms into unity, as connected with, and united to, the Lord Jesus Christ, its Head, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven; and that which the Holy Ghost so unites to Him is the only thing, in scripture, called “the church” —that is specifically such.

It may be added that this is a question which at the present moment is running through almost every country in Europe. There are endless theories about it; but this is the question, “What is the church?” Some say it is “visible,” others “invisible;” some, that there will be a church by and by, but there is none now; that there is no church on earth (there may be churches), but (when all are assembled in heaven) there will be a church. Now whilst it is perfectly clear that, when Christ leaves the Father's throne to take the church unto Himself, it will form a glorious body in heaven; yet, plainly, whilst sitting at the right hand of God, the only thing He owns as the church is the body down here. Until He rises up from His seat on high, He is working and ordering and acting always (while hid in God) by the Holy. Ghost; and the Holy Ghost is down here. That which He owns as the church is where the Holy Ghost is, until it is united to Himself in glory.

There is no difficulty if we turn to scripture. Where did Paul look at the church? “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Where? On earth, not in heaven. Certainly, gifts of healing, &c., were not in heaven. Nor are the “joints and bands” in heaven. None of its ministries are in heaven. It will be in heaven eventually no doubt, but it is now on earth.

This is a great point to get our souls simple and clear upon.

As to her “power.” In scripture it is not the power of the church, but the power that works in us—the power of God working in the church: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church,” &c. The operation of the power of the Lord is necessarily limited by the moral condition of the church; (He may bear with it, have patience towards it, but) God will never publicly act so as to sanction what He disapproves.

And with regard to power in public testimony; whilst the church was no doubt the vessel of it (there was a certain measure of power in the testimony of the kingdom then, for which you would look in vain now). Still it was the power of the Son of man Where it is merely the saving of a soul, or the ministry of the church, one does not look for the same sort of power. God is sovereign, and works as He pleases. The church was a vessel of power, and miracles were a testimony to the power of Christ as the risen Son of man. But when I think of the saving of souls, I look rather for that operation of the Spirit of God through the gospel. And when I look at the church, I look to the Head to supply what its need demands. While the church carried externally the character of Christ before the world, she was chartered with power—the power of Christ. That which Christ is to supply can never fail. Christ, and His power, and His acting in power, can never fail. He must nourish the church withal according to its need. But if God is acting in, and towards, persons, there must be truth in His actings; He cannot act in the power of grace contrary to the moral condition of the church, any more than He can act towards an individual contrary to his state before Himself. We must get our souls down into the consciousness of where we are, before we get the blessing suited to our condition. Where are we? is the question. He never alters His mind. But the church's responsibility never alters His grace. Christ is exactly what it wants now—otherwise my faith cannot get on—as exactly what we want for the church now, as when in the days of the apostles it was adorned with every kind of miracle. But He will not act in the same way. Christ will never give up His thoughts about the church; and if we are acting on our thoughts, and He acts on His, He will make sad work with what we have set up. “He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” If Christ begins to gather, He will scatter that which is not gathered in the power of unity with Himself.

As with a card-house, the first wind of God's Spirit blows it all about. This may be very astonishing, very humbling, still it does not discourage (far from it!) those that look for God's actings. You are sure to get bad roads, when the spring comes, and the frost breaks up. Let the church be what it may, that is, the members of it; Christ is not altered. Her power is her weakness, her spirit of dependence, in never getting out of the place of constant, simple, unmingled dependence.

The “hope” of the church, as such, is identified with, and founded on, the relationship in which it is placed as united to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. It is true she is here as a pilgrim on earth, but, at the same time, she is the bride on earth. United to her Head in heaven, seated in heaven in Him, she waits to be there. The one proper hope of the church has no more to do with the world than Christ has, who is in heaven. She will see things set right in the kingdom, but this is not her hope: her hope, as her actual association, is with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, where she knows Him. Where did Paul know Christ? In the heavenly glory. And Paul knew the church to be one with Christ there.

There may be the change of the body in order to the accomplishment of the glory, but there is nothing as to its own position but sitting in heavenly places with Christ, because it is now sitting in heavenly places in Christ. To be along with Christ is our one hope— “that where I am, there ye may be also.” In the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle says, “Then shall we ever be with the Lord;” and what follows? Nothing! A great many things may be happening; but the church's hope is to be with Him where He is, and like Him, when she sees Him as He is.

As to the “calling.” The heavenly calling, though embraced, does not at all fill up the thought. It does not in itself convey the thought of the church. We might, as a set of individuals, be called up, and look to be caught up, into heaven, and have a heavenly portion as the brethren of Christ, without knowing that we were the body and bride of Christ. The “hope” of the church is its marriage with the Bridegroom, and that is in heaven; we may come forth from heaven, for the kingdom and the glory, but our place is in heaven, in the unity with Christ as one with Him. We are builded together for the habitation of God through the Spirit; that is the calling of the church down here.

As to “present position and occupation,” there is one thing makes a great difference. When the Spirit of God was working in the beginning of the gospel, the testimony had the aspect of power, and produced a sensible and visible result; there was an ostensible gathering. The central energy had the fullness of the truth, though there might be feebleness at the extremity of the rays. But there is nothing of this sort now. The sheep of God are scattered. The camp has got wrong. The consequence of this is all manner of degrees of knowledge. The very principle of unity has a separative tendency. A man must now settle himself upon the center of truth. If my soul is not prepared to look to Christ, and to gather with Christ, and to take His judgment, I shall be cast into the uncertain condition of the differing judgment of every saint I meet with in the day's walk. Where Christ is the common object, there will be a coalescing power. I find the church of God in a unity which attaches itself to Christ alone, as the one sole center.

The “occupation” of the church ought to be constant, incessant reference to its Head. If its Head is not its first thought (and that is shown in thinking of its Head, and filling itself into all the thoughts and mind and affections of its Head), it cannot act for Him. This is its grand occupation. “We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” I must get through the crowd of Satan's power, and I must get beyond the crowd to my Head who is the only source of power. We should seek that kind of communion with the saints which living in spirit with the Head gives. We should get all who hear to join in the cry (Rev. 22). So should the church have its own light, that all that is outside would be shut out. The apostle was living in a world of his own—he was filled with ideas of his own; but they were God's ideas, and he had power. It is not knowing the scene I have to act in that gives me power (we get no strength from the contemplation of that), but intercourse and living communion with the Head. We should get near enough to Christ to enjoy Him, and to know Him truly, and to gather up all that is like Him. If not separated by affection from the world, we shall be separated by discipline in the world. He will vex our souls to get us separate, if in spirit and in heart we are not separate. “Because thou servedst not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart... therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies which Jehovah thy God shall send against thee.”

J.N.D.

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ: Part 2

“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

It is more particularly to these few words I would call your attention to-night. The words of God are deep as they are also simple and most truly reliable. I do not, therefore, at this time purpose to bring many words in an expositional way before you, but to look at the concentration of the truth given in a verse usually passed over without much painstaking. What does the apostle mean by “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”? It is clear that a bright knowledge is intimated, and of the highest value, not only for the present time but for all eternity. The God who spoke that light should shine out of darkness shone in our hearts (says he) for the shining forth of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How pre-eminent the expression!

Our Lord Himself had spoken of the great importance of light and life in a depth and form peculiarly His own. But whatever the form, the same substantial truth appears where, in speaking of His own, He asked the Father that they might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He had sent. And what did He call it distinctively in itself and for its effect on the soul? Life eternal. There are some in great danger of making light of divine knowledge, as others are of reducing it to human ideas. Beyond doubt any knowledge of the creature is small compared with knowing the Father and the Son and the infinite work in virtue of which as well as of His personal glory He has entered into the glory whence He came. But that knowledge may be greatly adulterated, as it is often ignored. For souls cannot but suffer who approach the word of God in an intellectual way.

Not so is the believer led of the Spirit who deals with him, at first, through his conscience. Till then, what is effectual? We may see this clearly in Peter's case. For, though he may have been a converted man when he first confessed the Lord (John 1), he needed a deep lesson as to his own nothingness; as every converted soul is all the better for it, and must have it if he is to be really blest and a blessing. Is it any honor to the Lord for souls that confess His name to accommodate themselves to the ways of the world around them in the little while given us to glorify God in our body? Did you ever notice that “in our spirit” is left out of the Revised Version? Every one moderately at home with the Scriptures was aware of this, which is of importance in its measure, because not a few think they can cleave to what is good in their spirit while walking with the world in their body. Is this “doing” the truth? Is it not in every way unworthy?

Where self is not adequately judged, we cannot enjoy the Lord's infinite love to us. The heart cannot but be divided in its affections, instead of being filled with the love that passeth knowledge. But this can never be, till we are brought down to be nothing in our own sight. Hence the Lord, when Peter had been toiling with his companions all night and catching nothing, told him where to cast the net. Now those used to fishing are not generally inclined to think much of what an outsider suggests. They are as jealous of interference as satisfied with their own skill. And no doubt it would have been rather presumptuous for an ordinary man to have given that word to Peter. But it was the Second man, the last Adam. He is the Man that brought God into the world. This was the first part of His work, as the next was to put sin out of the world. It may be far from being done yet as a fact; but the ground was laid in His cross, and He will do it. The reconciling work has been wrought, on which it will all be accomplished in power by-and-by. And remember, my friends, this is the work of redemption, on which I now call you, if you have never done it before, to rest your souls—Christ's work according to God's will, as Heb. 10 describes it through the offering of His body once for all.

Well then, we are told that Peter acted in spite of all his experience, on the word of the Lord” At Thy word I will let down the net.” The consequence was that the boats were filled to sinking. It is usually the history of things in this world when blessing comes. Earthen vessels are too weak to keep the blessing. All sorts of disorders ensue. It is not that the treasure is not good, but because even God's servants are indeed feeble. Nevertheless Peter learned a weighty lesson there; as he had to learn a good deal more before he was nothing in his own eyes.

But let us turn from the servant to his Lord, Master, and Savior, as ready to be your Savior to-night if you never heard His voice till now. What gave occasion to this striking expression” the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”? It was the most remarkable conversion that ever took place in this world. Of course one cannot pretend to know much about other people's conversions, and one feels that everyone's conversion is of the utmost importance to himself, as it ought to be of great interest to every other believer. Still we may say that there are marked differences, and that one transcended all others, not only in its importance for him that was saved, but for the shining forth of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Savior. It was not that of Peter, nor of Andrew, nor yet of John, but of Paul. How was Paul converted? By the voice of the Lord Jesus from heaven speaking from, and seen in, the excellent glory. For the holy mount was only a little illustration. The Lord Jesus was now in the very center of the glory whence He appeared to Saul of Tarsus. It did not hinder that the smitten many lay prostrate on the ground. The Lord made Himself seen, and as easily in one posture of him who saw as in another. For it was a divine work, incomparably superior to all vision of the eye. It was a supernatural sight and hearing in his case—expressly meant to be so. In every respect it was a great conversion, and, what is rarely the case, a striking miracle accompanied this conversion. Christ's earthly miracles were rather signs like most to unbelievers; but with Saul of Tarsus the Lord went out of all ordinary ways, in bringing him to God, to work a stupendous wonder. For such it was that a man on earth should by the power of God see the Lord in heaven and hear His voice. The scene was in broad daylight, in the midst of a crowd of persecuting enemies, and not one of them so deadly as the man singled out by His grace.

Is there not bright hope for your soul after that? Is there a man or a woman in this company tonight so determined an enemy of the Lord Jesus as he to whom He spoke outside Damascus at that time? What a change from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle! It is the most striking conversion all Scripture shows. What was there on Saul's part to bring him to God up to that moment? Was there any—I will not say merit, but the least repentance?—even previous compunction? Was he not in the mid-career of his crusade against the name of Jesus? Was he not “breathing out threatenings and slaughter” at the time? Who was so full of religious pride? Had he not the highest authority of that day on earth? Little did he conceive that this is no safeguard, but may be the greatest illusion, as it was in his own case. He had letters from the High Priest to Damascus, authorizing him to drag to prison men and women that confessed the name of the Lord Jesus. He had been only a little while before accessory to the martyrdom of Stephen, and according to every account—his own repeatedly—absolutely impenitent, ignorantly glorying in his sin. Indeed, there is nothing that so shuts out the heart from compassion as ecclesiastical pride; nothing that makes mild people more remorselessly cruel; nothing that more surely closes up every avenue to mercy. If ever a man seemed to be going straight to Satan, not only away from, but against, the only Savior, it was Saul of Tarsus. Not a word of caution had he heeded from any quarter; not a doubt or fear as to what he was pursuing haunted his mind. He verily thought with himself, as he says, that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus. All that we do learn from God's account is that Saul was wholly untouched till, all being fallen to the earth, only he heard the Lord's voice. They all knew of something occurring most extraordinary in its nature. The light from heaven exceeding that of the sun at mid-day proved itself divine. And there was a sound—I do not say more than a wound—that reached the ears of the others; but the life-giving voice of Christ did not fail to reach the one to whom it was directed. It was quickening for his soul as well as a miracle.

Now, an appeal like this brings every soul of man to a point. One either believes or rejects it. Some in rejecting it may resemble that which is so fashionable in Germany; there they strive to reduce the outside circumstances to a hailstorm, a flash of lightning, and all that sort of delusion to which those learned men give themselves up so willingly. And why? Because, being unbelievers, they hate the truth and the love of God in Christ. As for our countrymen, are they not generally more scrupulous as the rule in the things of God? Yes, but they like increasingly to be, what they call, abreast of modern thought; and the reality or affectation of “learned Germans “is so very attractive to some, that if the Germans are boldly skeptical, Englishmen are not ashamed to follow them admiringly. Yes, they follow them in this, and where? Away from God and His Christ, turning their back upon that grace that not merely was toward Saul of Tarsus, but is written and preached just as much to you to-night. It was life to him then; it is no less to you also, but only if you believe on Him. Beware lest it be a great deal worse before God, if you persist in rejecting the Christ, who made it all so blessed and so efficacious to Saul of Tarsus.

Why should not that light come to you? Why not this very night? The Savior is come, His work for sin is done. One well understands the Jew who does not believe in waiting for the Messiah; but what are professing Christians waiting for? What are they if only baptized and they have no faith, no life, in them? They are worse than nothing. Christian baptism means that Christ died to give remission of sins and sin condemned. But what does it mean for those that have it as a rite and believe not on Him that died and rose again? Undoubtedly it is a great truth that is represented in baptism. For Christ is therein shown, not merely as the Messiah, but as the Savior who has accomplished redemption, the propitiation for our sins, and the sacrifice and offering to God and for us. But He is now raised and in heavenly glory, out of which glory He revealed Himself when He spoke to Saul of Tarsus.

Clearly, then, salvation is an individual matter. Saul was the only one in that crowd that received the blessing at the time, whatever God may have done through it; for nothing was more impressive. Could there have been found on the earth a person more nicely and rigidly moral than Saul? He was not conscious in his unconverted days that he had broken the law at all. But when the light made his real state manifest, the commandment came, sin revived, and he died. He was not awakened before to know the exceeding breadth and depth of the law, and he was well satisfied with himself; he had never offended in any gross manner. He had lived in his unconverted days a more correct and just life than anyone in this hall. He was frank, straightforward, conscientious, and truthful, religious after the flesh in no common degree. Further, he was a man of great capacity. He was not at all open to the passing fashions, but profoundly attached to the faith and institutions God had given to His people.

God particularly notified his conversion, wonderful as it was in its circumstances “for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” For the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant in it. And His grace has recorded it in the Scriptures that you might be brought to the self-same salvation, seeing that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul declared himself chief. The Lord gave Paul a place that made many jealous of him; even some blessed people did not altogether relish it—those who were before him at first for instance. But Barabbas was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and so he looked for good, and loved to seek and find it. Barnabas sought Saul when others were shy, and brought him to the apostles, and he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

Turn we once more to Him who made this revolution in the persecuting missionary of the Jewish Sanhedrim. Can you have a more magnificent proof of the grace of God in dealing with a great sinner on the spot? Would that you might hear His voice in the written word to-night! Do not dream of preparation of any moral kind; do not yield to the temptation of a religious apprenticeship—if you are subject to God's word. Nothing whatever of this kind fitted Saul for the vision of the Lord Jesus in heavenly glory. Do not question that the Lord is still speaking from the same heavenly glory. For this is the doctrine in Heb. 12:25. It is real, though not a miracle also as in Paul's case. As truly as He once spoke upon earth at Sinai, the same One is now speaking from heaven. In whose person did God speak on earth? It was in the Son. Now He speaks in His Son emphatically, as Heb. 1 declares. He had sent His messengers of old; but if ever there was a time when God speaks in His Son, it is now. When the gospel goes forth to your ears, it is God speaking to you from heaven in His Son. So in 2 Cor. 5 and 13 you find the apostle expressing himself similarly. What he preached was “Christ speaking in me.” Nor is the gospel Paul preached confined to the apostle. He that preaches aright is one who just gives out the good news unadulterated and fresh from God. If it be the true tidings of divine grace, is it not Christ speaking in that man to your soul?

When God was speaking on earth, as on mount Sinai, what was it about? Of the sins men, Israel, were prone to. In the Ten Commandments He forbade the various evils man was inclined to then, as he always is. Take the last of them, “Thou shalt not covet.” Did you ever know a man, woman, or child that did not covet—did not desire to have—what they had not got? Did you ever know a man who would not prefer to have a sovereign in his pocket rather than a shilling? Is not this coveting, though it does not mean that one is dishonest? The chief dishonesty, alas and of every soul, is toward God. How we have wronged Him! How we have dishonored His goodness and His will! If He wants me to have only a shilling in my pocket, why should I trouble myself? Perhaps a little industry may add a shilling or more to what I have; but let me not forget that “man's life (how much more a Christian's!) consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.” All such things perish with the using. A heathen savage might put a coin in a dead man's mouth to take him over the River; but you know that all thoughts of the kind are vanity. We came naked into the world and we can bring nothing out.

All are sinners, though not in the way of Saul. But of him I have spoken particularly, because the subject calls for it, and gives such an admirable proof that even the chief of sinners may be saved; and as in this case expressly, when no plea called for mercy except God's grace, unless you add the greatness of his sins. This would be a strange sound in the ears of men, but it is not unknown to the Bible. Even in the Psalms of David, though God was then dealing by the law before grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, you may find its echo. Take for instance Psa. 25, where first in the book we hear of the forgiveness of sins— “O Jehovah, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” Think of a man in the dock claiming such a favor from the judge! Would he not think the man clean mad? So too, the gospel is thought madness by unbelievers. It is quite foreign to the ways of man, who dreams not of showing good, save in return for good. But you, a sinner, have no good before God; you neither have merit, nor can you acquire merit in His eyes; you have sins, and only sins: what can become of you?

See, too, the immense danger of thinking so much of a little education, or of abstaining on the other hand from drink. Men, if temperate and educated, seem to think themselves somewhat better, and, if not nearer to God, more in the way to the gospel. Alas! how many build on sobriety or avoiding the dramshop, and the racecourse, and the like, making of these things their righteousness. And what does the Spirit of God do with men seeking after a little righteousness of their own? When God's word is mixed with faith, all such “righteousness” crumbles into dust. It is a barrier between his soul and salvation. He must come out of his little righteous castle, and surrender as nothing but a sinner, that he may be saved by grace through faith. It is not man that commends his love, or his anything else, to God; but “God commendeth His love towards us.” And in what condition? When “without strength and ungodly;” for “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Can you ask a more conclusive proof than in Saul of Tarsus, himself the man who wrote those words for us from God? Are they not true now as then? Do you think the nineteenth century can add to or take from Scripture? The spirit of the age puffs up men, who think too much of themselves nowadays. Undoubtedly we have many conveniences—railways, steamers, electric telegraph, school boards, and what not?—all sorts of inventions which indicate progress; but is it progress in the things of God? Is it deliverance from sin? Not in the least. On the contrary, if you lean on material progress, or even intellectual, you will find it a broken reed which fails and pierces, when leaned on.

And where then is there safety for the poor sinful soul? In none but Him who is at the right hand of God; in the same One that met and converted Saul of Tarsus that day. Was it not on the spot? I do not say he was brought into peace the first moment. People are often in too great a hurry to get peace. It is of more importance that one should feel his sins thoroughly, and judge self in the light of God and His word and grace, perhaps long slighted. Through the faith of Christ's work on the cross peace surely comes in good time; and the delay is turned by God's goodness into profit for the soul.

(To be continued)

The Ark and Its Contents

The reality of Jehovah's presence in the midst of His people was borne witness to in many distinct ways. He was graciously pleased not only to dwell amongst them but to accompany them in all their journeyings as their Leader and Protector. The tabernacle of witness and the ark of His covenant provided a sufficient guarantee against disorder in their ranks, or danger from outside. The people had the knowledge of this for their own comfort. It was outwardly attested by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. The strength and happiness of the people depended upon their spiritual discernment of the great truth that Jehovah was with them. The Gentiles even had to own this obvious fact although it excited their envy and hatred. Num. 9 sets before us in great detail how Jehovah was guiding them in their journeyings by the cloud, with its “appearance of fire by night”; as the next chapter shows that He was not only their Leader, but Protector—the silver trumpets proclaiming His authority and instructions to the utmost parts of the camp. The tribes had their respective positions allotted to them in the camp (Num. 2); as also, in this chapter, the order of its setting forward when called to march, that thus there should be no uncertainty or confusion in the minds of any of them.

Now in all the perfect arrangement for the blessing and safety of Israel, there was an undercurrent of grace which would admit and welcome the stranger to a share in the blessing of Jehovah's people. “And Moses said unto Hobab... We are journeying unto the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for Jehovah hath spoken good concerning Israel.... And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness Jehovah shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee” (Num. 10:29-32).

And why not? Israel's separation from the nations in nearness to Jehovah had been secured: their supremacy was acknowledged and their God worshipped by the stranger (Ex. 18:7-12). Such a gracious invitation was quite in keeping with the ways of God towards His people, and shall surely be made good in millennial days. “And they departed from the mount of Jehovah three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of Jehovah [was] upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, “Rise up, O Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Jehovah, unto the many thousands of Israel” (Num. 10:32-36).

It is of importance to notice here that the ark with its contents was fully owned as the symbol of Jehovah's presence, containing in itself every memorial of past deliverance and pledge of victory and blessing for Israel in the future: so that to such an one as Moses, when the ark set forward, it was Jehovah going before them; and when it rested, Jehovah was welcomed back to the many thousands of Israel. That the ark was, in a very special way, a type of Christ, the Leader of His people, appears evident in the early days of Israel when about to enter upon the possession of the land of their inheritance which God gave them. For Josh. 3 and 4 read in the light of Col. 2 and 3, show that the passing over of the ark of the covenant before the children of Israel into, and its coming out of, Jordan, was a prefiguring of the death and resurrection of Christ in its power to bring the believer now as having died with Him, into “the heavenlies” where we have our conflict with the powers of darkness (Eph. 6:10-20). It was the only way open to them and it was strange to them. “Ye have not passed this way heretofore.” It was for Christ Himself the path of life, i.e. through death and resurrection. “Thou wilt show me the path of life” ( Psa. 16). For His people it constitutes the only way into the heavenly position of which Canaan was a figure. With the knowledge that Christ has died for my sins, and borne the judgment upon the cross, I cheerfully and deliberately identify myself with Him in His death, “that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). We are called to make good our title to be in “the heavenlies” by death and resurrection. It is thus that death, man's greatest enemy, becomes one of the possessions of the believer, who thereby finds escape from that place and state to which God's judgment applied. Previous to this the ark had no typical association with resurrection, but henceforth it was to be, in the minds of the people, connected inseparably with that mighty power of God working for their complete deliverance from the sorrows and toils of the wilderness, and bringing them into ultimate rest in the heavenly inheritance.

Moreover, as their deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 12,14.) was to be had in perpetual remembrance, and the passover to be observed by an ordinance forever, so were the twelve stones taken up from the midst of Jordan and set up in Gilgal, to be a perpetual witness of the power of Christ working on behalf of His people. “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What [mean] these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land” (Josh. 4:20-22). Their right and title to be in Canaan at all was found in this, “the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.” Victory and triumph were theirs, because Jehovah, the living God, was in their midst.

(continued from p. 199)

(To be continued)

Jude Preliminary Remarks

We are arrived at those days now of which the Epistle of Jude speaks. I might say further, for the Epistles of John, although they are put before this Epistle, imply from their own contents that they were after. The order of the books in the N.T., we know is entirely human, and, in fact, is not the same in all Bibles. In English ones it is, but abroad it is not so, and in the more ancient copies of the Scriptures there was another order, in some respects even less correct than that which we have; because these Epistles of Jude and John are put before the Epistles of Paul. I need not say that there was no divine wisdom in that. I only mention it for the purpose of emphasizing the absolute need of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is no matter what it is. The people in early days, it might have been thought, would have had a good sound judgment of how to arrange the books of Holy Scripture, but they hadn't. I am speaking now of what was long after the apostles, and we are still longer absent. But we have no disadvantage in this, and the reason is because the Holy Ghost that was given still abides. The ruin of the church doesn't affect that. It is a very solemn fact, and it does greatly bear upon the practical answer of the church to the glory of the Lord Jesus, and it makes not a small difference for the members of Christ. But the Lord provided for everything when He sent down the Holy Spirit; and He made known through the apostles that this was the sad history that awaited the church. It is the apostles who tell us what disasters were to flow in with a strong tide—nobody more so than the apostle Paul, who says, “I know that after my decease shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” Oh, what characters! What successors! Apostolic successors—there are none. The successors were to be grievous wolves and perverse men. Nevertheless, he commended the saints, none the less confidently, “to God and to the word of His grace.”

Well, we have that; and I don't think that the word of His grace has ever been so deeply enjoyed, as it is now, for many hundreds of years. But then, Who is it that enjoys the “word of His grace”? We cannot say that all the saints do. All saints ought to do. Can we say that all our dear brethren and sisters enjoy the word of His grace as it becomes them? I would to God it were so; and it is of all moment therefore that, knowing the need, we should be most earnest not merely about work—I allow that that has a great place for all true workers, and I admit that many can help the workers who are not exactly workers themselves—but, beloved friends, the first of all rights is that God should have His rights. That is forgotten, even by saints of God. The first-fruits belong to Him always, it doesn't matter what it is; and we are never right when it is merely love working outwardly. The first thing is that love should work upward. Is not God infinitely more to us than ten converts—as could be said to poor Naomi, who had lost her sons, “better to thee than seven sons?” Is not He worth more than a hundred thousand converts? What a poor thing it is, merely to be useful to other people and not to be growing ourselves in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! How can this be done except by God and the word of His grace? How does God act now? By His Spirit. Time was when the great truth was God manifesting Himself by His Son. Well that abides; the word and Spirit of God abide forever. But now, the Holy Ghost is sent down from heaven. He is that divine Person with whom we have to do habitually, and we are either honoring Him, or failing to do so. The great test of honoring Him is that Christ becomes all. That was a truth that got greatly clouded even in apostolic days. It may be a very small comfort—it is a very solemn and saddening comfort too, if I may use such a conjunction of thoughts, but so it is when we think how everything tends to failure and towards decline, not excepting the testimony of God as committed to His children.

It is a very solemn thing that the apostles had the very same experiences themselves.

The last of them had to face the fact, that the very best of the churches—that which had been the brightest—became the object of the Lord's warning, and the last of the churches of the Lord's threatening; a warning of what soon came to pass, and a threatening to be surely executed—to take away the candlestick of the one, and to spue the other out of His mouth (Rev. 2,

Now, is that meant to weaken confidence? It was revealed in order to enforce the need of dependence upon the Lord, to encourage us to look up from the earth and things that are here—not to give up. We are never free to give up anything that is of God. We are never at liberty to plead the state of ruin for carelessness as to any expression of God's will. The ruin of the church has nothing to do with weakening our responsibility. It brings in the necessity of greater watchfulness, of more prayer; and particularly the necessity of God and the word of His grace, for the difficulties are altogether above man. But are they above the Spirit of God?

Now, it is in this very spirit that Jude writes— “a servant of Jesus Christ.” For he does not appear to have been the apostle Jude. Most take it for granted that it was only an apostle wrote this or any Epistles. That is a mistake. Many of the apostles never wrote any inspired writing, and some that were not apostles wrote both Gospels and Epistles. It is a question of inspiration, a question of a particular work of God, which vessel the Holy Ghost would use. Out of the four who wrote the Gospels, two were apostles, and there were two that were not apostles; so with the Epistles, as it appears to me, for I should not wish to press a thing that is so very much doubted by many persons. But then it is well to remember that almost everything is doubted now-a-days.

Jude 1

Now in Jude, it is another thing altogether. Righteousness is not the point in Jude; not even the way in which Peter brings it in. Jude does not look at it for personal walk simply, apart from the ruin of those that give it up. He merely shows it to be a necessary thing for every saint. If a man has not got it he is not a saint at all. But Peter looks at it in his Second Epistle in a large way among the people of God—whether they as His people walk righteously, and more particularly whether the teachers are indifferent to righteousness and are favoring unrighteousness. Therefore his Second Epistle is leveled most strongly at these—the false teachers, who, not content with being personally so themselves, encourage others to similar lack of righteousness. Now that is not what Jude takes up at all, though there is much that is common to them both. It could not be otherwise.

Jude looks at grace. There is nothing like grace, but what if grace be abused? What if grace be abandoned? What if grace be turned to licentiousness? Now that is what Jude takes up. Consequently his Epistle is one of the most solemn in the word of God. There is only one that is more so John. John looks at not merely the departure from grace, but the denial of Christ, of the Father and the Son. Well, it is impossible to conceive of anything worse in scripture than denying the glory of Him unto whose name I may have been baptized, and through whom I have professed to receive every blessing that God could give. After all that, for a man to be induced by his intellect, or from whatever cause, to deny the Lord, to deny that he was the Christ and the Son of God—there is nothing more deadly—there is nothing more terrible than the state of such a one; and this fell to the lot of him who loved the Lord most—to John, to write about. So that you see that there is a beautiful propriety in all.

Verse I.

“JUDE, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are (not exactly, “sanctified” but) beloved.” This may surprise many who have been accustomed to the Authorized Version, but it is not question of what we have been accustomed to, but of what God wrote. The Authorized Version is an admirable one. Our translators did not mistake the meaning of the Greek word in the text before them, but the text which they had was the common text, and this text is as faulty in its way as the common English Version. That text was transcribed by a number of different hands, and if the writing was not very clear, there was always a tendency to make mistakes.

I have had a deal of writing pass through my hands, but I hardly see any where there is not some mistake made. Particularly, if the writing is a copy of another it is almost always so, and more particularly if the man, whose thoughts and words are copied is above the common people. The way to find out the best text is to go up to the oldest of all, and to compare the oldest of all with the different translations made in ancient times, and if these agree, then you have the right one. But they often disagree, and then comes the question, Which is right? Here the all important question is the Spirit of God. We can never do without Him, and the way in which the Spirit of God leads persons who really are, not only indwell by Him but, led by Him, is—does it express the current of the Epistle? Does it fall in with the line of the apostle's writing?

Well, you see the word “sanctified” may be correct in itself, but the word here should be, “to those that are called beloved,” &c. You observe that the word “called” occurs at the end of the verse. That word “called” is very emphatic. Then he describes them in two different ways. First, here, in the A.V., it is “sanctified,” but as now generally accepted by those who have studied the text fully, it is “beloved in God the Father". “In” is very often equivalent to (indeed, it is a stronger expression than) “by”. But I give it now literally, “beloved in God the Father”. I confess myself that not only is that reading the most ancient, the best approved by the highest witnesses that God has given to us of His word, but beautifully appropriate to the Epistle. The assurance of being “beloved in God the Father,” or “by God the Father,” comes into special value under two sets of circumstances. If I am a young man, very young in the faith, when one is proving the persecution of the world, the hatred of men, Jews full of jealousy, the Gentiles full of scorn, and both animated by hatred against the Lord and those that are the Lord's—what a comfort it is to know that we are “beloved in God the Father.” That is the way the apostle Paul addressed the Thessalonians as a company, and the only one that he ever addressed in that way. They were experiencing persecution, not in a gradual way as most of the other assemblies had done, but from the very start, from their conversion. We know the apostle himself had to flee because of the persecution that had set in there. “These men that have turned the world upside down have come here also,” and a deadly set was made upon them, and so the apostle had to escape. The church there had to bear the brunt of it, and in the very first epistle that Paul ever wrote, the First to the Thessalonians—that was his first inspired writing—you will find that such is the manner in which he describes them. “Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God [the] Father and Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 2:1). And that this was studiously meant is shown by the same presentation of the truth in the opening verse of the Second Epistle, where we find there was still the persecution and the danger of their being shaken by that persecution, and the error that had come in through false teachers taking advantage of it to pretend that “the day of the Lord” was actually on them, making out that this persecution was the beginning of that “day,” and so greatly alarming the young believers there.

Hence the apostle had to write a second letter to establish them clearly in the bright hope of Christ's coming, and in the lower truth of the day of the Lord. Well, in that Second Epistle we have “Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:1). Now I conceive that the object of the Spirit of God there, by the apostle, was, that as they were so young and so exposed to such an assault upon themselves, which reminded the apostle of the assault that had been made upon himself and his friends, that they should be comforted by the reminder that they were “in God the Father.” What could harm them if that were the case? The apostle would not have ventured from himself to say such a thing. None upon earth would have done so. It was God who inspired the apostle to let them know that wonderful comfort. There are many people that read this and don't get any comfort from it, because they do not apply it to themselves. They have no idea what it means. You will remember that John writing in his First Epistle separates the family of God into three classes—the fathers, young men and the babes (for I give the last word as it should be literally). They are all “children” of God but the babes are the young ones of the children of God. The young men are those that have grown up, and the fathers are those that are mature and well established in Christ. Well it is to the babes—and this will help us to understand what I have been saying—he says, “I write unto you babes” (the proper full force of the word), “because ye have known the Father” (1 John 13).

Well, so it is with this young assembly in Thessalonica. It is described by the Holy Ghost as being “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Jude we have the other side. They are not young saints now. It is addressed to comparatively old saints. There might be young ones among them; there would be such undoubtedly. But he is looking at them as having gone through a sea of trouble and difficulty, and he is preparing them for worse still. He as it were says, things are not going to get better but worse, and it is to end in the actual appearing of the Lord in judgment, and what is more, the very kind of people who are to be the objects of the Lord's judgment when He coiner, have crept into the church already, and that is a very solemn thing, and might be alarming unless people were well read and grounded in the truth, and in love. So therefore, writing at a comparatively late time (not early as in the case of the Thessalonians but late), Jude writes in these terms— “to them that are called.” You observe that I transpose that word, which is a little spoiled by the interpolation of the conjunction “and” before “called.” “To them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and preserved.” It is not exactly “preserved in.” It may be “by” or “for.” These are the two alternatives for that word. I don't see how it can be “in"; so that you see it a little differs from what we read here. It brings in another idea, and it is perfectly true either way. We are preserved by Christ, and we are preserved for Christ. I have not made up my mind which of the two in this instance is right, because they can't both be the intention of the Spirit of God. One must be right rather than the other, but I can't say that my judgment is yet formed as to the choice of these two prepositions, whether it should be “preserved for Jesus Christ” or “by” Jesus Christ, He being the great One that does keep us. But in either case, how beautifully it is suited to a time of extra danger, and of danger too that he was not warranted to say it will pass: We say the storm rages now but the sun will shine shortly. No, it is to be that blackness of darkness of evil that is now coming in among the professors of Christ to get denser and darker till the Lord comes in judgment on them.

Well, how sweet is the assurance, “beloved in God the Father, and preserved by (or, for) Jesus Christ” (either way is full of brightness—and the Lord may give us to learn some day which of the two thoughts is His meaning). But there it is, and full of comfort and sweetness, and eminently suited to the circumstances portrayed in this Epistle be.) and any epistle in the New Testament—an epistle that shows the departure of Christians, i.e., of professing Christians—those that were once thought to be as good as any. Sometimes the people who turn away are those that have been very bright. We should not be surprised at that. It is not always the best fruit that ripens most quickly. Sometimes it becomes rotten very soon. This is often the case with those that seem so bright all at once.

I remember being struck with this in the case of a young woman in the Isle of Wight, some forty years ago. Charles Stanley, our dear brother, in his zeal for the gospel was somewhat in danger of fancying people were converted when they were not. At times of revival, people are often apt to slip in—their feelings are moved, they are affected. According to the word in the Gospel, “they hear the word, and anon with joy receive it; yet have they no root in themselves, but endure for a while: for when trial or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they are offended” (Matt. 13:20, 21), so that we ought not to be surprised. The young woman of whom I speak was employed in a shop, and I was brought to see her as one of these conversions. In a moment she assured me that the old man was all gone, “dead and buried” and other such language she used. This would have been all very sweet had there been any real spiritual feeling; but she had merely caught the truth in her mind, at best.

Now, a real convert having confessed the truth of Christ for the first time, would be greatly tried by many things, failings, short comings, &c. The soul of such a one would be greatly alarmed to think that, even after having received Christ, he found so little that answered to His love, so easily betrayed into levity or carelessness, or into haste of temper and ever so many difficulties that a young believer is tried by. But the young woman of whom I have been speaking had no conscience about anything at all. All she had was merely an intellectual idea of the truth that seemed delightful to her, and it is delightful. It is like those described in Heb. 4— “they have tasted the good word of God,” and there they are, “enlightened by the great light of the gospel, without being truly born of God. There might be a powerful action of the Spirit of God, and there may be all this without being truly born of God. People who are really born of God are generally tried, and there is a great sense of sin, and they have to learn their powerlessness. All this is a very painful experience and it is to this state that the comfort of the gospel applies the knowledge of entire forgiveness and clearance from all that I am; not only in spite of what we are, but because of what we are, because of all that God has given us—a new life where there is no sin. There never is anything like this true comfort except in those that have felt the need of it, and that sense of need is what goes along with conversion to God. The Old Testament saints were in that state, and they never got out of it. The New Testament saints began with conversion and came into blessing that was impossible with the law, because the mighty work of redemption was not done. But now it is done, and can we suppose it does not make an essential difference for a New Testament believer? Well! “if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” Here you have this invaluable comfort to those that have passed through such serious experiences and who have proved their own weakness in meeting it, the liability to be affected by appearances which come to nothing. Fair and smooth words where there is no reality at all—there is what is so trying. And the Epistle shows that people are going to get worse than that.

(continued from p. 203)

Fragment: Having God as Our Father

A Christian is one who has God as his Father in heaven. The anxiety that dreads an evil thing on the morrow is nothing but unbelief.

When the morrow comes, the evil may not be there: if it comes, God will be there too. He may allow us to taste what it is to indulge our own wills: but if our souls are subject to Him, how often the dreaded evil never appears. When the heart bows to the will of God about some sorrow that we dread, how often the sorrow is taken away, and the Lord meets us with unexpected kindness and goodness.

He is able to make even the sorrow to be all blessing. Whatever be His will, it is good. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Fragment: "And I Know Them"

“AND I know them” says the Savior.... He knows them, all their thoughts and feelings, their words and ways, their dangers and difficulties, their past, present, and future. He knows themselves in short, perfectly, and in perfect love. How infinite the favor and the blessing! What a resource and joy!

Errata

P. 196, col. 2, line 7 -For ἐκειγος read ἐκεινος

“,, „ 2, „ 24- „ primitive „ punitive”

197, „ 1, „ 40- „ entensive „ extensive

11 17 „ 1, „ 41- „ vindicted „ vindicated

„ 2, „ 10- „ lightening„ lightning

„ 1, „ 6-delete inverted commas before and after [is]

“1, „ 26-For αἴρεσις read αἴρεσις

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THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER BY W.K. THE HIGHER CRITICISM

THE FEASTS OF DEUTERONOMY

SINAI AND ITS TERRORS...

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Genesis 3-5

These are very important chapters. They show us the production of the two great energies which, to this day, animate the whole moral scene around us; and also show us these two energies doing their several businesses then, as they are doing still.

They are remarkable chapters. Wonderful, in exhibiting so much various moral action so distinctly and yet so concisely—leaving I may say nothing unnoticed, and yet in so short a space.

I would notice the production of these great energies and their workings—the energy of flesh and the energy of faith, or of the old nature and of the renewed mind.

The lie of the serpent prevails to produce the first of these.

The serpent gains the attention of the woman to words in which there was some suggestion injurious to her Lord and Creator. It was a lie, though subtly conveyed; the only instrument by which he could reach and tempt her. She listens and answers—and her faculties thus enlisted are soon in action in the cause of her seducer, and she falls.

The principle which is called “the flesh,” or “the old man,” is produced at once—and at once begins to work. Confidence in one another is immediately lost. Innocence had needed nothing—but guilt is necessarily shame, and must get some kind of covering. Every man to this hour carries in him what he cannot comfortably and confidently let out, even to his fellow-creature. Restraint has taken the place of freedom, and artifices come to the relief of guilt and shame. So is it now, and so was it in this hour when the flesh was generated.

More deeply still does it retire from God. We can bear each other's presence under the dressing of form and ceremony, and the common understanding of the common guilty nature; but we cannot bear God's presence. Though he had the apron of fig-leaves, when God's voice is heard, Adam retreats under the trees of the garden. This is the flesh, or the old guilty nature, to this day. God is intolerable. The thought of being alone or immediately with Him, is more than the conscience can possibly stand. All its contrivances are vain. God is too much for the flesh. It secretly whispers and lays all the mischief on God Himself, but it cannot come forth and tell Him so. Out of its own mouth it is judged.

These are its simplest, earliest, energies. We are hateful and hating, and we are at enmity against God.

But the working of this same principle (thus produced in Adam through the lie of the serpent) is manifested in other ways afterward in Cain. “Cain was of that wicked one.” He becomes a tiller of the ground. But he tills, not as subject to the penalty, but as one that would get something desirable out of the ground, though the Lord had cursed it, something for himself, independent of God.

This is a great difference. Nothing is more godly, more according to the divine mind concerning us, than to eat our bread by the sweat of our face, to get food and raiment by hard and honest toil. It is a beautiful accepting of the punishment of our sin, and a bowing to the righteous thoughts of God. But to get out of the materials of the cursed ground what is to minister to our delight and our honor and our wealth, in forgetfulness of sin and of the judgment of God, is but perpetuating our apostasy and rebellion.

Such was Cain's tillage. And accordingly it ended in his building of a city, and furnishing it with all that promised him pleasure, or advanced him in the world. This he seeks after—and seeks after with greediness, though he must find it all in the land of Nod, in the regions of one who had left the presence of God.

He has his religion withal. He brings of the fruit of the earth that he was tilling, to God. That is—he would fain have his enjoyment of the world sanctioned of God. If he could command it, he would keep God on terms with him, though he was making the very ground which He had cursed the occasion of his enjoyments. This is very natural—practiced by our hearts to this hour. Cain desired to link the Lord with himself in his worldliness and love of present things, that he may keep conscience quiet. But the Lord refuses—as He does to this day; though, as we said, the heart to this day would fain make the same efforts, and get its worldliness and love of present things sanctioned and shared by Jesus, that conscience may not interfere with the pursuits of lust.

What ways of the flesh, or of “the old man,” are here! All this is the very thing that is abroad in the world to this hour. It is the working of that apostate principle which was generated by the lie of the serpent in the soul of Adam. And being of the wicked one, Cain “slew his brother.” He had religion, as we have seen; but he hated and persecuted the truth. Just as to this day. Look at the same thing in Saul of Tarsus, as he gives you the account of it himself in Acts 26. Look at it in the person of the Pharisees set against the Lord. Look at it in the history of Christendom all down its generations to the present hour.

This is the enmity of the seed of the serpent to the Seed of the woman. “Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.” This was the cause. It was the enmity of sin to godliness, and enmity of the carnal mind against God, the lusting of the old man, of the flesh against the Spirit—it was the hatred of the world to Christ, “because he testified of it, that the works thereof were evil.” It does not always wear such garments stained with blood, but it is always in the heart. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.”

Such is the flesh, the old nature, in the history of its production, and in the course and character of its workings It is exactly now what it was then. It rules “the course of this world” under Satan; but it is found also in each of us, and does its work in each of us, if provision be made for it. But we are to know it—to know it whence it came and how it works, and to mortify it in its principles and in its acts, in all its proper native energies which so continually beset the soul.

But we now turn to the other activities which we find produced and at work in these wonderful chapters—the activity or energy of faith produced by the word of God, through the hidden but effectual power of the Spirit.

While Adam was in the condition to which sin had reduced him, while he was still the guilty and culprit man under the trees of the garden, the word of the gospel, the tidings of the Conqueror slain, of Him who bore the penalty, and yet reached the point of glorious victory, the woman's Seed, reached his ear, and he is born again by the incorruptible seed, the word of the truth of the gospel.

He comes forth just as he was. But he comes forth in the full sense of salvation, and of the victory which the grace of God had counseled and wrought for him Accordingly he speaks of life. There is something very fine in that He calls his wife “the mother of all living.” There is something truly marvelous as well as excellent in that. Dead as he was himself in trespasses and sins, he talks of life—but he talks of it in connection with Christ, and with Him only. He gives himself no living memorial at all. He does not link himself with the thought or mention of life, but only the Seed of the woman, according to the word which he had just heard. Nay, he rather implies that he knew full well he had lost all title and power of life, and that it was entirely in another—but that it was in that other for him. That the life found in another was for his use, he has no manner of doubt; the proof of which is this—that at once he comes forth from the place of shame and guilt into the place of liberty and confidence and the presence of God.

He regains God. He had lost Him, and been estranged from Him. He had lost Him as his Creator, but he had now regained Him as his Savior, in the gospel, in the woman's Seed, in Christ his righteousness.

But we may add, to our great comfort as sinners, this simplicity and boldness of faith is exactly after the mind of God. Nothing could have been so grateful to Him as this—and consequently, in pledge of this, He first makes a coat of skins for Adam, and then with His own hands He covers his naked body.

Very blessed this is. This is the faith which at the day of the well of Sychar, and to this day, gives the Lord a feast—meat to eat which even the loving careful sympathies of His dearest saints know not of.

Christ is now everything to this pardoned sinner. In this manner, through faith, Eve exults in the promise. It is the joy and expectation of her heart; and Abel's religion is entirely formed by it. The penalties of sweat of face and sorrow of heart seem to be forgotten. And what is deeply to be considered—the earth is lightly held, when Jesus was firmly grasped. Adam has regained the Lord Himself, and he seems never to count on being a citizen of the world again, but a mere tiller of the ground according to divine appointment for a season, and then to leave it to share the full fruit of the grace and redemption he had now trusted, in other worlds. He dies—that is all. He seeks for no memorial here. He builds no city. He aims not to improve a cursed world. He toils in it, and eats his bread out of it. But he never forgets that judgment is upon it. The family of Seth call on the name of the Lord, and look, in God's way and time, for comfort and blessing in the place of present toil and curse. But that is the thing of hope and of prophecy, while strangership in the judged world is the present path of faith and godliness.

This is a wondrous scripture indeed; and it speaks to us of this very hour through which we are passing.

The energy of the flesh or of the old nature is produced, and set at all its proper work. The energy of faith is also brought forth in the souls of the elect, and displays its power very blessedly. We learn our own lessons here. We carry the two energies in us. By nature we are citizens of the city Enoch, and through grace our souls have got connection with Christ, like Adam, or Abel, or Seth. And we wait for the translation of Enoch (Gen. 5:24).

These are contrary the one to the other. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” J.G.B.

The Atonement: Part 1

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

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

Hence such souls have not true peace and liberty with God. Practically for them the love is only in Christ, and God remains a just and unbending Judge. They do not really know Him, the God of love, our Savior. Others alas! with more fatal error, false as to their own state and God's holiness, with no true or adequate sense of sin, reject all true propitiation. The “must be lifted up” has no moral force for them, nothing that the conscience with a. true sense of sin needs.

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

The statement of John 3 begins with the need of man in view of what God is, as indeed it must. But it gives, as the source and result of it for the soul, its measure too in grace, that which was in the heart of God towards a ruined world. As in Heb. 10, to give us boldness to enter into the holiest, the origin is, “Lo! I come to do thy will ... by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.” The offering was the means, but He was accomplishing the will of God in grace, and by the exercise of the same grace in which He came to do it; for “hereby know we love, that he laid down his life for us.” So in Rom. 5 God commends his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is summed up in the full saying, Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This point being premised, and it is an important one, I add that we cannot present too simply the value of Christ's blood, and redemption, and forgiveness through it, to the awakened sinner whom that love may have drawn to feel his need; for by need, and because of need, the sinner must come—it is his only just place before God. The love of God, and even His love announced in forgiveness through the work of Christ, may, through the power of the Holy Ghost, awaken the sense of need; still, having the forgiveness is another thing. That love, brought home to the soul through grace, produces confidence, not peace; but it does produce confidence. Hence we come into the light. God is light and God is love. Christ in the world was the light of the world, and He Was there in divine love. Grace and truth came (ἐγένετο) by Jesus Christ. When God reveals Himself, He must be both—light and love. The love draws and produces confidence; as with the woman in the city who was a sinner, the prodigal, Peter in the boat. The light shows us our sinfulness. We are before God according to the truth of what He is, and the truth of what we are. But the atonement does more than show this; it meets, and is the answer to, our case when known. It is the ground, through faith, of forgiveness and peace. (See Luke 7:47-50). Christ could anticipate His work, and the child of wisdom go in peace. The law may by grace reach the conscience and make us feel our guilt, but it does not reveal God in love. But that love has done what was needed for our sinful state. Hereby know we love, that He laid down His life for us. He was delivered for our offenses, died for our sins according to the scriptures, is the propitiation for our sins, set forth as a mercy-seat through faith in His blood which cleanses from all sin. With His stripes we are healed. I might multiply passages. I only now cite these, that the simple basis of the gospel on the one side, and on the other, the work that love has wrought to purge our sins and withal our consciences, so that we may be in peace before a holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, may be simply and fully before us.

We must come as sinners to God, because we are sinners; and we can only come in virtue of that which, while it is the fruit of God's love, meets according to His holy nature the sins we are guilty of. But then, while it is true that our sins are removed far from us who believe through grace, as they were carried into a land not inhabited, by the scapegoat in Israel, yet we have only an imperfect view of the matter in seeing our sins put away. In that great day of atonement the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat and before it; just as it was sprinkled on the lintel and two door-posts to meet God's eye. “When I see the blood,” He says, “I will pass over.” It was in view of the sin of Israel, but presented to God. The goat whose blood was shed was called, on the great day of atonement, “Jehovah's lot.” The blood was carried within; so it was with the bullock, and with the bullock it was exclusively this. The testimony was there, blessed be God, that as dwellers on the earth our sins have been carried off where none shall find them; but what characterized the day was putting the blood on the mercy-seat—presenting it to God. On this day only, too, it was done. In the case of the sin of the congregation, or of the high priest, it was sprinkled on the altar outside the veil; but on the great day of atonement alone on the mercy-seat within.

Now, though the sinner must come as guilty and because of his need, and can come rightly in no other way, as the poor prodigal, and so many other actual cases, yet this does not reach to the full character of propitiation or atonement, though in fact involving it. The divine glory and nature are in question. In coming we come by our need and wants; but if we have passed in through the veil, we can contemplate the work of Christ in peace, as viewed in connection with God's nature, though on our part referring to sin. The sins, then, were carried away on the scapegoat, but what God is was specially in view in the blood carried within the veil. The sins were totally and forever taken off the believers, and never found; but there was much more in that which did it, and much more even for us. God's character and nature were met in the atonement, and through this we have boldness to enter into the holiest. This distinction appears in the ordinary sacrifices. They were offered on the brazen altar, and the blood sprinkled there. Man's responsibility was the measure of what was required. His case was met as to guilt; but if he was to come to God, into His presence, he must be fit for the holiness of that presence.

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

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

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

And this marks the two parts of propitiation—man's responsibility, and access to God given according to His glory and nature: in the sins borne and put away, the scape-goat, God judging evil according to what man ought to be; and access to God according to what He is. The last specifically characterizes the Christian; but the former was necessary, and accomplished for every one that believes: both by the same work of the cross, but each distinct—judicial dealing according to man's responsibility, access to God according to His nature and holiness. The law in itself was the measure of the former, the duty of a child of Adam; the nature of God, of the latter, so that we have the infinite blessedness of being with God according to His nature and perfection, partaking of the divine nature, so as to be able to enjoy it, holy and without blame before Him in love. Of this Christ as man, and we must add as Son withal, is the measure and perfection; and let it not be said that, if we partake of this nature, we need not this propitiation and substitution. This can only be said or supposed by those who have not got it; because, if we partake of the divine nature, we judge of sin in principle as God does, we have His mind as to it, and as upright of ourselves as in it, and so come, as I have said, first in lowliness in our need to the cross, and, then purged in conscience, comprehend the glory of God in it.

These two points, in their general aspect, are clearly presented in Heb. 9:26-28: “Christ appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” It is carried out in application in chapter 10, where we have no more conscience of sins, and boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

(To be continued)

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ: Part 3

CHRIST did with the apostle just what He did on earth with the woman of Syrophcenicia. She also had to bear a temporary hindrance. “He answered not a word” (Matt. 15:23): an unusual thing on His part. But why in hers? Because she came on wrong ground. She concluded to herself from Jews who appealed to him as Son of David. But she had no right to any such appeal, because she was a Canaanite and not of Israel, not of David's people, but rather of the enemy. When the Son of man comes by-and-by, there will not be a Canaanite in the land. The evil stock will all have come under the solemn judgment pronounced at the beginning— “Cursed is Canaan.” But for all that He is the God of grace. He is righteous in vindicating His injured name on him who despises Himself, and who has dealings with everything that is hateful to God; but He delights to take up even the worst of sinners on the spot, only He will have the sinner to know the truth of his sins. Where the soul realizes that he is lost, he will find God in the fullness of His grace. Now the Syrophenician woman came with a title right for a Jew, and the Lord would bring her to feel that she had no such title to His favor. And He helped her by explaining to the disciples that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Next she cried “Lord, help me.” Then He answered “It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs.” This cleared her way, and she said, “Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” With faith thus enlightened and strengthened, the woman readily saw that even the dogs, the little dogs, eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Indeed the grace of God so works that the crumbs which fall to the poor dogs turn out richer food than all that was on the table. Such was Christ's wonderful way with the woman now blessed more than any other one hears of, as He testified of her faith.

But what about you, my friends? Can a poor sinner, you ask, receive perfect rest from Him that is in heavenly glory? What link can there be between the glorified Savior and any wretched guilty one on the earth? Let me ask you, How did Christ enter into that glory? Was it not after He bore our sins in His own body on the tree? He came down, the Son, the Only-begotten Son of God, and, in infinite love, became a man; and, yet more and more wondrous love still, He who knew no sin was made sin on the cross; and the sacrifice was accepted. He bowed under the weight of sins that He might deliver those who were ruined by them; and God raised Him up from the dead, and not this merely, but set Him in the very highest place in the heavenly glory, and set Him there as Savior, as well as Head of the church which is His body. Oh, how wondrous that glory for Him who was humbled to the uttermost!

And God now sends the gospel, the glad news, to the needy and the lost, Jew or Gentile, not at all to persons who deserve it. In point of fact, the word of His mercy never was really to such, but now it is conspicuously for sinners; now it is expressly to the lost. You cannot really be worse than lost. To be lost is the extreme, but lot of all, not merely for the life that now is, but forever. Nevertheless, while here, though you may feel in your conscience the awful brand of “lost one,” “lost,” “lost,” it is just the occasion for the Savior to save you. He is the Savior of the lost. He is the Savior not merely of people in danger of being lost, but of the lost.

Here is the mistake in a vast deal of the preaching of the day. They do not believe man to be really lost; consequently also they as little believe that man believing is perfectly saved. It is a shilly-shally doctrine about the bad state of man, and still more so about the salvation of believers. The apostle writes of an eternal salvation, leaving us only to enjoy His love, to do His will, and serve Him. It is not merely your sins all blotted out and forgotten, and yourselves accounted righteous instead of ungodly, but perfected forever, made children of God with the Holy Spirit enabling you to cry, Abba, Father, and waiting to be with Christ and like Him.

But the question of interest and importance may be asked, What becomes of inward evil or indwelling sin? For remember that we carry with us an evil nature, even when forgiven our iniquities. Thank God, the Lord Jesus has provided for that. It was part of His great work on the cross, as it is written in Rom. 8:3. The whole case is there summed up, as the conclusion drawn from the preceding chapters— “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” It is not only in the face of our sins, but of “sin in the flesh,” or indwelling sin. Now there is nothing that troubles a believer more than this; for such a one when brought to God expects a path of brightness, not perhaps the absence of sorrow or pain, but of shame and failure. Who then looks for inward evil till he finds himself as weak as water spilled upon the ground?

Now, the old man is still there; and it is well to know it. It would not be salvation according to God if we had no sense of our utter weakness, which is true. It is part of what entails continual dependence on the Lord who died and is risen for us. If we were endowed with strength in ourselves, such as some think is given in a moment, it would nullify our constant need of Christ's priesthood. But His grace is sufficient for us; for His strength is made perfect in weakness. We are only strong as we lean on the Savior. And those who otherwise boast only deceive themselves. Satan deceives the world, but should be unable to do more than accuse the saints. Why should they trust their own emotions, instead of the word of the living God?

Not for so uncertain a result was wrought the work by our Lord Jesus. “There is therefore no condemnation” for those that are in Him. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Such is emancipation from the law of sin and death, not merely from our sins. Sin and death are no longer a law to me. No doubt present dependence is called for. If I look to the Lord, I shall be kept from sin. If death come, its sting is gone, and hades is spoiled of victory, which is given to the believer through our Lord Jesus Christ. But more, even now the Spirit of life in Him “hath delivered me from the law of sin and death.” This is far beyond pardon or justification, if the Christian does not easily enter into it all at once.

For three days, we are told, Saul was blinded by the excessive light. He believed in Jesus as the Son of God as truly as he ever did; but he reviewed himself in that light of grace and glory with increasing depth, and could only say “Wretched man that I am,” as well as hate the religious illusion which made him the enemy of Christ and His own. It was the grace of God that thus gave him deliverance. It was a humbling work that went on thoroughly in his soul, but there was no need of some new work for Christ to do. It was to make his own experimentally what Christ had already done for the root of sin which distressed him. And so he explains in Rom. 8:3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”

Such is the way God gives us also deliverance. We have already seen by faith the blood that washes all our sins away. Here it is the condemnation that God has already executed on the principle and nature of sin—on “sin in the flesh.” Christ had nothing of the sort; He had not sin any more than sins. Yet He suffered not only for our sins, but for sin. He went through the whole question, and finished it to God's glory. The blessed result of His entire work is given to the believer. And you are called to believe it. You are entitled by God to take it in all its fullness, but with all humility. And be assured that the truest of all humility is to bow to God and to what He has wrought in Christ, not to think of yourself at all. Many imagine that talking badly of ourselves is the ideal of humility; whereas the simplest and most real humility is to feel unaffectedly that we are too bad to be worth talking about. Only One is worthy of all our thoughts and words and ways, even the Lord Jesus. Him you can think of and serve wherever you may be—in the shop, kitchen, office, or out of doors, on sea or land.

He is our Lord, and the Lord of all; and you are set free from the bondage of sin to serve Him in whom you believe.

Then only, we may add from verse 4, is the righteous import of the law “fulfilled in us that walk not according to flesh but according to the Spirit.” You are a Christian if you believe in Him who for you died and rose; and to be serving the Lord is not only due to His name but the simplest guard against indulging the flesh and loving the world or its things. Satan used them to crucify the Master. Hence the need of watchfulness. Our criterion is the word of God. Hence the importance of reading the word of God day by day; only it is better to read a little well then to hastily read more. So to read is disrespectful to God, and a mere form; such forms are apt to be dangerous in the long run.

How bright then, my friends, is the light of the gospel for the sinner, which the Savior displays in the glory of God For that glory, into which Christ has gone, is the measure of God's approbation of His Son whom man slew, and of His Son's work for our salvation. Is it not beyond all things wonderful? Christ's resurrection from among the dead was the first proof. Man put Him to death, and God raised Him up. God was clearly opposed to the world and its judgment. The people who had the law, the priesthood, and the temple; the empire that had its power ordained of God—all were blinded by the god of this age to crucify the Lord of glory. And what can we say of all the disciples? Even they had most imperfect views about the Lord. But God made all clear to faith, in setting Christ on His right hand.

There sits the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus, with all the angels of God worshipping Him. I call on you to believe on Him, whatever may be your state. Put it not off; all delays are dangerous; and there is none so dangerous as about your soul, your sins, and the Savior above all. You may never be so moved in conscience as now by the truth: God grant it may be so; but it must be in the owning of your sins before Him. If your sins be not as scarlet in your conscience, you will keep away from Him, you will sin more and get more hardened, and perhaps never hear again the gall of God's grace through His own Son.

But why should you not be saved even now, young as many of you are? Look at Josiah who, lived when Judah was in an evil day and judgment near. At eight years of age he was a decidedly pious child. What will make you so? Nothing but Christ. You are in your sins, it is true; but the very name of Jesus means that He was to save from sins. Whatever be your guilt as you are, look to Him as the Savior God exalted with His right hand to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. It is just as guilty and lost ones you are now called by the gospel to believe on Him; and, if you believe, each to say, By God's grace I am saved. Salvation does not depend in any way on the desert of the saved, but on the grace of the Savior. Indeed, it is now a declared part of God's righteousness to justify him that believes in Jesus.

Do you know the meaning of that righteousness? The righteousness of God in the Epistles of Paul means what God owes Christ because of His work on the cross. With this God is acting consistently, both to believers and to unbelievers, that all may hear the gospel, and that believers may reap its fruit. This perhaps may put it in a plain manner to many. It does not mean Christ doing what is right to make up for our wrong doing. This may be tradition, Protestant or Romanist; but tradition is apt to be shallow and unbelieving, because it is human. The truth of God is always incomparably deeper and nobler and better. And the righteousness of God is seen in His raising up Christ and setting Him on His right hand, as well as in His blotting out your sins; and your evil nature is so completely condemned, that having died (i.e. with Christ) you are justified from sin. There is no deliverance so effectual as Christ's death declared in resurrection. It is the death of Christ that has established this great victory for the believer. If I believe in Him who died for my sins, I am also entitled to add that I died with Him to sin (Rom. 6). If I had been a Jew, death with Him gives me death to the law (Rom. 7). In any case the Christian is delivered now in Christ's death, not by his own death, nor at the day of judgment. Further, as we are begotten again by the word, so are we purified by the word in practice while here below. All our need is answered in every way by the grace of God through faith.

This deliverance I press on your souls. It is what God has wrought in the cross of Christ, and declared in Him risen from the dead, that you may have its reality in your souls, besides the forgiveness of your sins. Emotions, or even prayer, will not give it. God forbid that I should slight the value of prayer, or deny the heart's affections when purified by faith, any more than Christian experience. But prayer must be founded on faith and experience, growing out of it, or it is altogether worthless and unsafe. What God proposes in His gospel is to bring the soul out of the bondage, as well as the guilt, of sin. Anything short of this scarcely deserves to be called His salvation. If out of sins, but not out of sin, it would dishonor the work of the Lord Jesus. If He accomplished all, it is no better than unbelief to say, I am forgiven my sins; but as to the old man of sin, it must reign; and I can only cry, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?”

It is right that you should go through that state (which is not unlike the small-pox—a good thing to have it over); but it is delusion to suppose that the believer must go on all his life crying, “Who shall deliver me?” The very next verse refutes this: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is not that the flesh is changed or vanishes, but that deliverance is given by God in Christ, as the next chapter fully explains. Assuredly I am not bringing in any novelty of man more than old tradition, but calling you to behold the light of the knowledge of God's glory in His face. It is, indeed, “light from heaven above the brightness of the sun;” and we, who believe, see it in the best possible way now by faith. One need not hesitate to say that Paul saw far better by faith what he saw miraculously the day he was converted. The sight of faith being divinely given is clear, calm, and fixed. The miraculous vision, however real and momentous for its object, was as overwhelming as transient. The sight of faith is steady, and grows brighter day by day.

The chapter before my text (2 Cor. 3) says, that “we all, with open (or, unveiled) face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Lord the Spirit.” Such is the position of the Christian. As there is no veil now between the holiest and the worshipper, there is none on the face of the Christian any more than of Christ, still less on the heart. The veil is on the Jew's heart, till turned to the Lord, when it will be taken away. The privilege of the Christian is with unveiled face “beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.” This is not the cross, though it could not be without the work there wrought for God and the sinner. It is the glory of Christ on high after land in virtue of that work. On Him you are invited to gaze, and with rich spiritual blessing meanwhile in forming us accordingly.

What a contrast with that which abounds throughout Christendom! Compare the week's preparation, and the very look of those that approach the sacrament (so called). Why is it so? Because they are full of anxiety between righteousness on the one hand, and unworthiness on the other. How many unbelieving believers there are! Even the Psalmist could anticipatively sing, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” How much more the Christian! Beware of the notions about higher life, and by some act of faith some higher holiness. They are, more or less, a revival of a fair show in the flesh. “We all,” surely puts to flight all these reveries which limit the blessing to “some” of Christ's flock. They spring from ignorance of the full gospel, which never stops short of complete deliverance, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to enjoy it. Those referred to are anxious from time to time, and call for excitement to encourage them. But visions, frames, feelings, efforts, can none of them give solid rest before God, or strengthen the weak to face a hostile world. Nothing effects this but Christ received in all the fullness of His work and glory. Look at the result here— “We all with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord [that is, as He is now] are changed into the same image.” There is a progressive work, but it is not making us more meet for heaven than when we were first brought to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. In His work our title is sure; our blessed meetness to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light is really that which God gave us when we believed the gospel (Col. 1:12). But it is a true and great privilege to be fruitful, and also to grow, as the same chapter points out in verse 10. A believing child might be taken to heaven as surely as the oldest saint; but if left here for a while, there ought to be growth through the knowledge of God in all the practical ways of the Lord.

May the Lord in His grace bring home what has been set before you, that, the unconverted may be roused to the danger of neglecting so great salvation, and that the converted may know how much greater is their portion in the Savior than they have realized hitherto. Faith is the way in which the blessing comes.to us, but all the worth is in Christ and His work alone. It is, therefore, all the grace of God. What does grace mean? The pure favor of God, “wherein we stand,” says the apostle. What, even though I fail or sin Do you love your child when it is naughty, and in spite of faults? If even you do, is God not to love His? I remember a Christian who owned he could not whip a naughty child unless when heated; but I also knew a mother who never whipped her naughty boy till he went to bed, when it became a serious thing, to him as well as to her. This, I cannot but think, was thoroughly wise and right, and according to God. Was it not love too?, So it certainly is with the Father of spirits, who, loving us perfectly, yet chastises unfailingly.

Take courage then, my friends, along the narrow way, and beware of doubts. There is no Scripture to warrant a doubt. Every Scripture is given to strengthen faith, love, and withal self-judgment. When you are conscious of wrong done against the Lord, or any one else, go to Him yourself at once, and humble yourself before Him. Confess the fault, but doubt not His abiding grace towards you. We are brought into the family of God who loves us too well to make light of our faults. He chastises us that we may be partakers of His holiness. Over the world hangs God's sentence of condemnation, because, when He came in love, it hated and rejected Christ; and it still refuses to believe in Him. Therefore it is no question of chastising, but of condemnation when Christ appears in glory. But God chastises us when it is needed, because He has delivered us from All condemnation. The world is borne with meanwhile but will be condemned, and yet more shall be all who falsely profess the name of the Lord.

Therefore, my friends, be real. There is no full blessing without thoroughness. May, the Lord grant you never to compromise His name in any way. Everything around is disposed to compromise and to take things easily here below; but this reverses what the Christian is called to May the Lord by His word to-night encourage His own, and win those who may have been enemies like Saul of Tarsus, to their everlasting salvation, with joy and peace that will never end.

W. K.

(Concluded from p. 218)

The Ark and Its Contents: Ark of God

If we have been enabled in some little measure to apprehend the true spiritual significance of what is set before us in the verses we have been considering, we shall be the more ready to appreciate the divine purpose in the instructions so precisely given to Joshua for their faithful observance by the priests, the Levites, and all the people (or, at least the fighting men), on the occasion of their first conflict with the enemy (Josh. 6).

We must not consider the ark apart from either the things which it contained, or apart from its normal cherubic associations.

It is characteristic of God's early revelation of Himself in the unfolding of His purpose of putting the world to come under the Second man, the Lord Jesus, that the figures or symbols referred to (however indirectly) in the later pages of the Holy Scriptures suppose, for their proper understanding, a full acquaintance with the truth and light connected with their origin. We see the proof of this in the Apocalypse, the closing book of Holy Writ. And when we find, as here, that what had hitherto found a place in the sanctuary of God, is now seen as in the midst of the hosts or armies of Jehovah, there should be no difficulty in understanding the reason.

Does not Josh. 5:10-12 afford a beautiful picture of Christ, in the midst of His people now passed through death and resurrection into the heavenly position, ministering to their blessing and refreshment in every way suited to them? But the blessing was to prepare and strengthen them for the work and conflict before them. For “the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” It was the only celebration of the passover that was connected with the manna, and the old corn of the land. They had no “manna” in Egypt and no “old corn of the land” in the wilderness (Num. 9). But here Christ in all the fullness of His grace was set before them as the divine provision for their blessing. Christ the paschal lamb, Christ the manna, Christ the old corn of the land; the risen One victorious over death and the grave. “And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched [corn] in the selfsame day” (ver. 11).

Then in the next chapter we read, “And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before Jehovah, and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rearward came after the ark” (chap. 6:8, 9). It was now no longer necessary to maintain the measured space of two thousand cubits as in chap. 3:4, for other truths were receiving illustration. Christ was alone in His death, and in resurrection “the firstfruits.” Not even could His disciples in the days of His flesh, realize the necessity for either, until the events were accomplished and the Lord opened their understanding (Luke 24:21, 25, 45). It is only when the value of Christ's death and resurrection has been made good in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, that we enjoy closeness of intimacy with that blessed One who went alone into death for us, and has become in resurrection “the firstfruits of them that slept.” For have we not been “quickened together with Christ, raised up together and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”? And if this indeed be true of us before God, everything in walk and testimony should be in consistency with, and depends upon our holding fast, this truth. If John 16:1-8 makes this clear as to fruitbearing, so does Mark 15:20 as clearly for testimony.

In this daily procession compassing the doomed city, God was instructing His people in faith, endurance, and dependence upon Himself. It was also an excellent discipline for Joshua and Caleb, who had never doubted the sufficiency of God's power to bring them in and to overcome their enemies. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30). Now that they were actually in the land, the sword must wait upon the word. “Ye shall not shout.... until the day that I bid you shout.” Patience must have its perfect work, and Israel must learn that power belongeth unto God. Moses in Deuteronomy had warned them again and again of that spirit of self confidence to which he knew they were prone. Sometimes, as in the case of Samson, God was pleased to make use of human strength, but then it must be used in Nazarite consecration to God; for we see that no sooner was the secret surrendered to the enemy, than power departed from Samson, and he became as any other man.

More frequently, however, God was pleased to work for the deliverance of His people in such a way as to humble the pride of man— “lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (Judg. 7:2).

Here was then a perfect testimony in the full power of consecration (the seven trumpets of rams' horns) to the right of Jehovah, as “Lord of all the earth,” to give the land of Canaan to whomsoever He would. This testimony was in its duration synonymous with the seven days' feast of unleavened bread which followed the passover of which they had just partaken. It was maintained by those who had access to God in the sanctuary, who offered whole burnt offerings upon God's altar, and who burned, incense before the veil. It was a testimony which increased in intensity and earnestness as the execution of judgment drew nigh. It produced no apparent results, but we may well believe that its repetition drew forth ridicule and abuse, and emboldened the guilty citizens of Jericho in their senseless opposition to God and His people. Every trumpet blast shortened the time of respite, and brought judgment nearer. When that full and perfect testimony to the rights of Jehovah over all the earth had sounded for the last time, then every barrier to judgment was withdrawn. God withdrew the restraint He had placed upon His people, gave permission to strike, and the work of destruction was completed. We cannot doubt that the mercy extended to Rahah and her family would also have been extended to any or all who should have submitted to the righteous judgment of God. There was the opportunity at any moment during that solemn week, of submission to Israel's God, and of finding mercy at His hands.

All this bears a close analogy to the present day of grace, but with this important difference—neither mercy, nor repentance were preached to the men of Jericho. But now both are in presentation. The Lord's servants who would maintain in the power of the Holy Ghost a testimony to Christ dead and risen, are required to walk in holiness of life and consecration of heart—to eschew all that savors of mere worldly wisdom, and to maintain a spirit of constant dependence upon God. He who has committed to His servants the ministry of reconciliation, requires that there should be faithfulness in its exercise (2 Cor. 5:18-20). God is glorified thereby, the name of the Lord Jesus is magnified, the righteousness of God revealed, grace presented, and sinners saved eternally. The Israelites were not required to make a precedent of what took place in connection with the destruction of Jericho. So far from this, we learn how, at a later day, the people sinned grievously in bringing the ark upon the field of battle when they were discomfited by the Philistines (1 Sam. 4). It witnessed indeed to the low moral condition of the people, and to the shameful indifference of the priests to the holiness of the God who dwelt amongst them. The ark had become to them an object of superstitious regard. The truth was lost. An idol would have answered their purpose as well. How different the spirit of such an one as David, who gave himself no rest until he had connected himself and his kingdom with God by means of the ark! “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

G.S.B.

(concluded from p. 220)

1 John 1:1-4

It would be impossible in the entire compass of the New Testament to find a passage richer in vital truth, or characterized by greater sublimity than the opening verses of this Epistle. They treat of the very kernel of Christianity. The apostle speaks with equal ardor and reverence of “That which” (we note the extremely abstract way in which he writes—truly with no loss of force, but the contrary), of Him who was so precious to him. None was so fitted to proclaim this central verity as he who had “tarried” so long; into whose heart the truth must have sunk deeper and deeper with the years; who, full of love and the expression of it was nevertheless a stalwart soul, a “son of thunder,” resolute to make no terms with heresy, even then budding all around. It is true he says little or nothing directly of the evil doctrines; he does what is infinitely better, and sets forth the truth as to Christ's Person in words most surely of the Holy Ghost's teaching, and this with a fullness and precision of which, I suppose, only that marvelous Greek tongue was capable. And so, from the pen of the latest apostle, we have a statement as accurate and concise as it is wonderful and profound. None can fathom these depths, truly the “deep things of God;” none would less have claimed to do so than the venerable saint whose high privilege it was to record these striking words for the comfort and edification of believers until the end.

“That which was from the beginning” —as one has said, although there is plainly an allusion to that past eternity when the Son of God was, yet both the occasion and the context point to the Incarnation. That assuredly is the “beginning” referred to here. It was the more necessary to enforce this cardinal truth that a serious heresy was afloat fathered by an Alexandrian Jew named Cerinthus, who maintained that the Christ did not descend upon Jesus till His baptism and that He departed from the Savior before the crucifixion. This was one of the many forms of bad doctrine that are summed up under the name of Gnosticism; it was of an intellectual character, whereas magic and even immorality played their dishonorable part in some of the developments of the system. The enemy of souls, then as now, had baits to suit all temperaments. No doubt all the types of error were not equally gross, though all were opposed utterly to the truth, being in fact the result of the working of the philosophic minds invariably furthest astray. And so John insists on the great truth that the Christ is Jesus, and that “from the beginning.” This is in fact the burden of the Epistle. In the Gospel the same essential truth is presented from the converse stand-point. “These (things, signs, &c,) are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ.” It is the historic aspect; Jesus when presented to man, is declared to be the Christ, to be Emmanuel, God with us. Here the believer rests, incurious to dissect what must ever baffle human ingenuity. The human and the divine are indissolubly blended. Well might Athanasius say, in reference to this most sublime of mysteries, “So much we know; the cherubim veil the rest with their wings.” Yet learned men continue feverishly to analyze and discuss, often with disastrous consequences to themselves and others. Doubtless such laborious effort is not confined to the Scriptures; the serious thing is that such methods should be applied to God's word; for after all, if men deny the existence of Homer, they may be wrong in so doing and probably are—yet the regret is one of sentiment only. How otherwise with God's revelation!

But I want now to call attention to a difference of tense in the original that is lost in the A.V., but which the R.V. (as also J.N.D.'s) gives with as much fidelity to the Greek as English is susceptible of. We must recollect that Greek is a very wonderful language, capable of expressing the most minute variations of meaning. Here, however, the distinction is sufficiently obvious when pointed out. It is this. The apostle says (ver. 1), “which we have heard, which we have seen.” Then he adds, “which we looked upon, and our hands handled.” Observe the absence of ‘have' in these two clauses. It is no idle change. In the ‘have' clauses John is enforcing results, so to speak. He means that at the time of writing he and his brother apostles heard and saw, because they had heard and seen. Then he is carried back to the past, to those “sinless years,” as the poet says, “that breathed beneath the Syrian blue,” and he lovingly tells of what he had been privileged to enjoy when his Lord was on earth. That is the force of the different tenses as every scholar knows. Thus we have first his insistence on that which abides (ἀκηκόαμεν, and ἐωράκαμεν); and then he confirms it all by telling of the past. In short, we have first a statement of doctrine, then one of history.

Again, “We have seen with our eyes” (ἑωράκαμεν) is the sight that results in knowledge; but the words “we looked upon” (ἐθεασάμεθα) imply gazing on with rapt contemplation, as one has said. How perfectly suited each word is to its office must be abundantly clear to the intelligent believer. Talk of the perfection of classical authors! It is nothing compared with that of God's word—at least the incomparably greater importance of the latter throws into stronger relief the nicety of the diction.

But there is more. In verse 2 we have a combination of both methods; “for,” says the apostle, “the life was manifested” in the historic past (ἐφανερώθη), and then there is more doctrinal insistence, and again he says, “we have seen it.” Another interesting distinction is, that the word occurring in vers. 2 and 3, and rendered ‘show’ and ‘declare' in these verses respectively (so fond were the excellent Revisers of King James's day of varying their rendering of the same Greek term, in accordance with H.Μ's suggestion, some say,) is different from the word also rendered ‘declare' in verse 5. They are both compounds of the same simple verb. But in verses 2 and 3 the word implies 'declaring on the authority of another.' How admirably chosen the term is, in such a context, is most evident. But the suitability is no less apparent in verse 5 (beyond the scope of these remarks, which were to be limited to verses 1 4), for there solemn asseveration is implied. The first verb is ἀπαγγέλλεμεν, the second (in ver. 5) is ἀναγγέλλομεν.

Lastly—in verse 3 we have again what Ι have ventured to call the doctrinal insistence, “we have seen,” “we have heard,” —the order of ver. 1 being reversed. How striking that the apostle should refer to the abiding knowledge, gained by seeing, three times in three verses! For three times he says, ἑωράκαμεν, (“we have seen”). Repetition is either idle or momentous, a sign either of a feeble writer, or of colossal strength. If the apostle once only tells of the rapt adoring gaze, his triple insistence on the absoluteness of his knowledge is the more significant. This must suffice for an attempt to furnish further light to the English reader on one if the most treasured passages in the N.T. If such close scrutiny appeals specially to the scholar, the truth enshrined must delight every simple Christian.

R.B.

Jude 2-3

Then, (ver. 2) we have, “mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.” This is the only place where mercy is said to the saints generally. When writing to individuals, to Timothy and Titus for instance, the apostle says “Mercy,” but when to the saints generally, it is “Grace and peace.”

Why does he bring “mercy” in here? Because they deeply needed the comfort. An individual ought always to feel the deep need of mercy, especially in the face of danger, and also the sense of personal unworthiness; and now he gives the comfort of it to all these saints because of their imminent danger. I don't know any saints more in danger than ourselves, because grace has given us to feel for Christ's honor, and name, and to have confidence in the scriptures as the word of God. We should not look at a single word as a dead letter. I don't suppose that in here is a single person here present—brother or sister—that has a doubt of a single word that God has written. It would be difficult now-a-days to find yourself in such a company generally. People think inspiration is a very lively term, and that we must allow for the errors of those good men who wrote the Bible. What could we expect from men even if learned? They judge by themselves, not by God, or by the Holy Ghost. Many of these are men who have not, I think, abandoned Christianity. They are darkened by the spirit of unbelief. The spirit of the present day is as bad or worse as in any age since the Lord died and rose. There is one thing that marks it, and that is, lawlessness. A want of respect for everything that is above self. A determination to have one's own way—that is lawlessness. I don't know anything worse. It is what will characterize the whole of Christendom. Now it works in individuals and it works largely in whole companies, but it will become the reigning spirit. And that is the distinctive name of the antichrist, “the lawless one.” Christ was the Man of righteousness, Christ is the Man that gives everyone his place according to God, and Christ is the One that gives God His place. As to everything and every person He was the Man of righteousness; lawlessness has nothing but self as its great ambition. A fallen self-man fallen from God. The danger is great in the present day, and so it was when Jude wrote this Epistle. Therefore it is “mercy” not only “peace and love,” but “mercy” be multiplied. It is a very emphatic word.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (ver. 3). It is to those that have learned the value of “the faith.” It does not refer to personal faith but to the deposit that the faith Bolds. It is the thing believed, not merely the spiritual power that believes the testimony. It is therefore called “the faith,” distinct from “faith.” When did that faith come? The Epistle to the Galatians shows us when faith came and redemption and the Holy Ghost. It is in the third chapter— “For after that faith is come.” “I live by the faith of the Son of God.” “Received ye the Spirit?” is a distinct thing. “The scripture hath concluded all under sin” (Jews or Gentiles—the Jews under transgression, but all under sin) “that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came we were kept under law.” The law was there until the cross of Christ, but then it was affixed to the tree; not only was Christ crucified, but the law came thereby to its end, as far as God's people were concerned. We are now placed under Christ. We are now regarded as being “in the Spirit,” for Christ is our life and the Holy Ghost is the power of that life.

Well, here then he says, that it was needful that he should exhort them to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.” That is what is on my heart to speak about. How great is, not only “conversion” such as the O.T. people knew before faith came but, the “salvation” which is now, as the apostle Paul says in Ephesians (1:13), “the word of truth, the gospel of your (not conversion, but the gospel of your) salvation!” This is what was added consequent upon redemption. Nobody could have been delivered from hell without being converted; but the “gospel of our salvation” is to make us perfectly happy on earth, to bring us into cloudless peace and liberty while here in this world. It is this that is new, from the cross of Christ. Why, beloved friends, it is new to many children of God now! They are not sure at all, even those that are most real; with many it is only “a humble hope.” But through God's mercy, I take it for granted that we have all learned this, more or less, the more the better. I do say that this is an all-important thing. Sometimes, when persons are seeking to come into fellowship there is an idea of the importance of their understanding the church. How they are to understand the church I don't know. I didn't understand it when I first began to break bread. I never saw any that did. I have seen persons that thought they did, and they had to correct their thoughts afterward. We should not expect that. Possibly, of the saints in communion that have been in communion for forty years, there may be many who have not even yet arrived at a true knowledge of what the church is! But to ask it from a dear soul that has not long been saved! Ah, that is the point—not only “converted,” but brought into liberty and peace. I do say we ought to look for that before we get them to the table of the Lord, and we are not on proper Christian ground till we know that we are saved. That is what the gospel gives. It is not a hope of being saved, but knowing it in a simple straight forward, intelligent, Christian manner. However the word “intelligence” might leave room for our active brethren to find difficulties! I don't want to put difficulties in the way of any, still less in the way of a soul that is trembling and uncertain.

The great requirement for souls seeking fellowship, and, I think, the only requirement, is that they should be settled firmly on Christ and Christ's salvation as a known present thing. Perhaps we find a person that can't stand that. I recommend them to hear the gospel. There are plenty of saints who want to hear a full gospel. I don't say a free gospel. A full gospel doesn't convert many souls. A free gospel may do so. A free gospel may be used to awaken many, to cause exercise, but a full gospel will bring the answer to all these difficulties. Peter, I may say, preached a free gospel, and Paul a full one. Most of the children of God have not got a full gospel. It is essential that they should, before they can take their place as members of the body of Christ. Suppose they come without it—perhaps the first hymn that is given out is an expression of thanksgiving that every question is settled forever, and they themselves are thus called to sing what they don't believe, and don't know about. They sing (in, what I may call, a slipshod manner, without any conscience) what may not be true of their state, what is too much for them. Well, all that is a very unhappy state of things, and ought not to be. But if they are brought into the liberty of Christ, before they are received, not expecting from them clearness of intelligence, but knowing that their souls are set free (and nothing less than that should be looked for), then things go on happily. They learn quite fast enough when they come in, provided they have got liberty in their souls. That is the barrier against learning. If I have difficulties about my soul with God forever, it is no good to tell me about other things; and therefore wherever that is passed over lightly, there is a barrier. But as to anything else, well, one thing at a time is quite as much as we can bear, and people who grasp everything at the same moment, I am afraid, grasp nothing. All is apt to be cloudy in their minds, and that is not “the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”

“The faith” is not a mere mist. Mysteries are not mists or clouds. Mysteries are the firmest things in the Bible. The N. T. is full of mysteries—mystery “concerning Christ and concerning the church,” “the mystery of God,” “the mystery of the gospel,” “the mystery of the faith.” What mystery means is, what was not revealed in O.T. times; now it is. That is just our privilege. Even Christ Himself, in the way that we receive Him now, is a mystery. Do we simply believe on Him as the Messiah? “Great is the mystery of godliness; God [or, He who] was manifested in flesh, was justified in Spirit, seen of angels, preached among Gentiles, believed on in [the] world, received up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). It is Christ as we know Him now. Everything is mystery in Christianity, even the way Christ is received, He was not known so before. It takes in the gospel, “the gospel of our salvation,” the clear riddance from all hindrances. Is not the assembly a mystery? Is it not a truth of the greatest moment for every member of the body of Christ to know? And when you have your convert, when the soul is there brought to know the gospel, then show him what the church is, as best you can. Take trouble with him. Don't imagine he knows what he doesn't know. Where is he to learn if not inside? He will never learn by staying away.

The church of God is not only the great place of incomparable blessing and enjoyment, it is also the great school. Well, the soul wants to go to school. Will he find a better school outside!

Even the best of those who are outside those that are not gathered to the name of the Lord—they are mostly occupied about salvation for themselves, or if not that, about work for others. What can you expect better? They don't know the relationships into which they are brought. Take that question that is now so uppermost in people's minds—priesthood. What an Evangelical would say to meet priestly pretension is, that it is all a mistake to suppose that there are any priests but Christ! Is that where you are? The truth that God has shown us is, that all Christians are alike priests. When you are only on Evangelical ground, it is not the assertion of positive possession of privilege, it is merely denying an error, a negative way of looking at things. Many would indeed admit that we are all priests, but they don't see how it is applied. If they are all priests unto God, they should be allowed to express their praise, and others join (Heb. 10:22)

“Let us” (not you, he puts himself along with those to whom he was writing—let us) draw “near” into the holiest. Were this really applied, people might want to express their praises to God sometimes, and then that would be considered disorderly. Do you think that we are always as careful as we ought to be? There are two words of moment in the First Epistle to the Corinthians—the first is, “in order” the other is, “to edification.” All things should be done “in order,” and “to edification.” How are we to judge of that? It is laid down in that very chapter. Why do we forget it sometimes?

A question was put to me whether it is according to scripture that, at what is called an assembly meeting, or other meetings of a similar character, more than two should speak. What is laid down as to this? That two, or at most, three might speak. Where there are more, I should be disposed to get away as fast as possible. You are mistaken about your liberty. We have only liberty to do what the Lord says; and I can see the wisdom of that limitation. There might be plenty of time for half a dozen speakers, but still the order is clear, “two, or at most, three.” There can be no question about the meaning. It certainly does not mean, that there might not be half-a-dozen prayers by different people, but that formal speaking, even of prophets had its limits. And surely the lesser gifts have not a greater liberty than the greater ones! The prophets had the highest gift, and yet it is said, they were only to speak two or three. The plain meaning of it is, that there never ought to be, under any excuse, more than two or three. Too much of a good thing is as bad as too little. If you have too much of what is even good, it is apt to make you sick: you must leave room for proper digestion. Hence the wisdom in the restriction as to numbers.

So it is—what seems to me to be so very plain—that we have not got merely the facts given and the commandment of the Lord, but good reason given. There is perfect wisdom, there is not such a thing as an arbitrary word in all the Bible. All the rules and regulations, commandments and precepts—they are all pregnant with divine wisdom. is a long while since “brethren” first began; but there never was a time when we are more called to see whether we are really “contending earnestly for the faith once for all (not, “once on a time,” but, “once for all”) delivered to the saints.” May God forbid that we should ever swerve in the least degree! We are not competent to say what a little beginning of divergence may lead to. It might be apparently a little beginning, but alas! a little beginning of great evil.

The Lord give us simple fidelity, and in all love to our brethren. I never think of my brethren as merely those that are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus; and I feel most deeply the undermining that is going on everywhere of things that were once undisputed.

(To be continued)

WORKS BY J.N.D

WHAT IS ' CHRISTIAN: Now AND HEREAFTER lid.

THE LORD JESUS IN HUMILIATION AND SERVICE ... id.

DISCIPLINE AND UNITY OF THE ASSEMBLY. ld.

CHTiRcH IN THE WILDERNESS IN THE VISION OF GOD Id.

Memories of the life and last days of William

Kelly, by Heyman Wreford. 8vo. Cloth, t. e. g. 1/6 Net.

Published

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Published Monthly

The Saviour and the Sinner

Nothing but the blood of Christ for a sinner, the whole word of God proclaims, from first to last. All the expiation he can enjoy, all the reconciliation he can plead, all the answer he can have to the demands of the throne where judgment sits to maintain the rights of God, depend upon it.

It is the blood of the Lamb of God that is presented by God to the faith of a sinner; and it is that which the faith of a sinner apprehends and trusts.

As soon as sin entered, the sacrifice which had been prepared in eternal counsel, was revealed. The very first gospel published the death of Christ, the bruising of the heel of the Seed of the woman. This was the thing communicated to man as a sinner—the only thing—the sinner trusted himself to it. Adam came forth from his covert, and trusted the reconciling virtue of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

As soon as the due time came for the public display of redemption, again it was the blood of Christ that was revealed, and that only Israel in the land of death and judgment had to be delivered. They had found grace in the eyes of the God of their fathers, and they must become a people sheltered in the place of judgment, and redeemed out of the place of death. It is that precious blood, and that only, which is used on that great occasion. It was to be put outside on the lintel of the Hebrew houses in the land of Egypt, and the Hebrew family within had to feed on that victim whose blood was thus redeeming them. Nothing more. In a suited manner they were to feed on the roasted lamb—not raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, every part of it. This was to be their food. In an Old Testament style, Christ was as if saying to them, “Take, eat: this is my body.”

And according to this, is what we get in the New Testament. I read this in Matt. 26, in Mark 14, in Luke 22. The Lord is there as in the night of the Passover, or in Ex. 12. A living Christ He then was, but He presents Himself as a crucified Christ, a slain Lamb, a sacrifice on the altar. He overlooks Himself as a living One, and apprehends Himself as a Victim. He takes bread in His hand, and says, “Take, eat: this is my body.” He takes the cup in His hand, and says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” It is the crucified Christ which the living Christ thus presents to the thought and acceptance of sinners, as the foundation and title of all our blessing.

This was giving to the elect family the paschal lamb whose blood was on the door-posts as their shelter and deliverance. They were to take and eat it—as in the night of Egypt.

In the Gospel by John we do not get the scene at the supper. We have no “Take, eat: this is my body;” but we have a word between the Lord and the Jews, in which the great secret of the supper is published b', Him to them. In the sixth chapter He tells the multitude, that He was the bread that came down from heaven, the true Manna, of which if a man eat, he lives forever. But pursuing His way through that conversation, He declares, that this bread from heaven was His flesh, which He would give for the life of the world, that His flesh was meat indeed, and His blood was drink indeed. That is that it is by receiving Him as the Lamb of God, by going to Him as in death and on the altar, the sinner gets life and redemption. Not by knowing Him as a living, but as a crucified, Christ we get the salvation of God.

All this is so, in great certainty and simplicity. From the beginning, the blood of Christ, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, has been presented to sinners as the one object on which they must fix the eye of faith, and to which they must give their full, entire confidence. The living Lamb does not find place in this great mystery of redemption—further than as the life witnessed the fitness of the Lamb for the altar—it is the slain Lamb, the crucified Jesus, that is everything in the great account of the redemption of sinners. The blood of the God-man, and that alone and only, was the ransom.

Not only Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Evangelic scripture teaches us this, as we have now seen—as the third of Genesis, the twelfth of Exodus, the institution of the Supper, and the sixth of John—but in the Epistles we learn the same. The tenth of Hebrews is strikingly to this purpose. There the Christ of God is heard to say, “Lo, I come.” But for what end was He to come? Was it to live? No, but to die. Why was a body prepared Him? Was it only to act, and to pass thirty-three years, in it, in the active service of a witness and minister of God and the Father? No; but to offer Himself on the cross (Heb. 10). He did live surely, and that under the law, the true Israelite. He did live surely, and that in such holy, gracious ministry as witnessed God and the Father. But that scripture (Heb. 10:5-10) overlooks the life, and at once bears the One who came into the world onwards to the cross—just as His own language at the supper-table, as we saw, overlooked Him as the living One, to present Him as the crucified One. And then, in that same scripture we learn, that it is by the offering up of the body, by the blood of the Son in the body that was prepared for Him, that sinners are sanctified and perfected. This we read again in the thirteenth chapter of the same Epistle, “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate” —the sanctification of a sinner depending altogether on the blood of Christ.

I say no more than this, though all scripture, and the Epistles distinctly, would furnish so much. The shadowy ordinances of the law, and the direct dogmatic teaching of the apostles, all join in telling us, that the death or blood of the Christ of God is everything for a sinner.

But if God thus communicates His mind, faith so apprehends and receives it. The fifty-third of Isaiah is a witness of this. There, the faith of the awakened Israel of God may, in passing, glance at the person, life, and ministry of the Christ, but it is but in passing—they go onward to the cross, and there they find everything for the perfecting of their conscience as sinners, and the spring and foundation of all the glories of Christ Himself. At the cross they discover that the chastisement of our peace was there, the wounding for our transgressions was there, and our healing by His stripes; and that having made His soul this offering for sin, He could see before Him His family, and the full accomplishment of the good pleasure of God in the vindication and display of His own glories forever “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

So, the joy of the life of faith in Paul the apostle of the Gentiles, finds its springs in the same death of the Lord for him (see Gal. 2:20-21). So, he presents that object to the faith of sinners, as the only object of the faith that justifies (Rom. 4:23-25). And so again, he teaches us that Christ crucified is singly offered to the sight of a sinner that he may be blest as with faithful Abraham (Gal. 3:1-14). “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,” says another apostle (1 Peter 2:24). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” says another (1 John 1:7). But this may be enough; though all scripture, again we say, Patriarchal, Mosaic, Prophetic, Evangelic, and Apostolic, all join in putting the Lamb of God” and “the sinner” together for redemption and justification—the Lamb provided in the riches of the grace of God, and accepted by the faith of the sinner, through the drawing, inworking, and illuminating teaching of God the Holy Ghost.

And then, that which is thus given in grace, accepted by faith, and witnessed in all scripture, is to be celebrated forever in realms of glory. This we get in what I may call the only remaining portion or division of scripture, the Apocalypse. While still on earth, the saints there let us know, that they have found their object for praise, and their spring of joy, in the Lamb that was slain. We hear them break forth, while John was addressing them still here, in that fervent strain, “Unto Him that loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 1:5, 6). And after they have been translated, after they have left the earth for heaven, and have reached the home of glory, we hear them again in like joy. “And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made them unto our God kings and priests: and they shall reign over the earth” (Rev. 5:9, 10). And the realms of glory as well as the home of glory, the nations on the millennial footstool as well as the glorified in the heavens, echo the strain—for it is the one fond, commanding thought that shall occupy eternity and fill creation—for we hear again this kindred voice— “These are they which come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). They may not be able to add a word about their reigning, as the glorified did; they may have only to know that they shall be before the throne, and serve God day and night in His temple; that all their tears shall be wiped away; and that they shall be led by the Lord to fountains of living waters (vers. 15-17); but “the blood of the Lamb” is the common object of praise, the common spring of joy, the one only title to all blessedness, whether of the glorified, translated saints, or of the favored nations that occupy the earth in millennial days of restitution and refreshing. Sinners now traveling and struggling in unredeemed bodies, and in pilgrim, militant conditions, and sinners by-and-by in either the home of glory in heaven, or in the realms of glory on earth, know nothing but the Savior in the blood that He shed for them, in the life that He gave up for them as the Lamb of God on the cross at Calvary, and Himself now risen and glorified on high. All glory in this, and in Him only.

J.G.B.

The Atonement: Part 2

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

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

But it does more, being according to God's nature, and all that this nature is in every respect. It not only judicially meets what is required by reason of our sins, man's failure in duty, and his guilt, but it opens access into the presence of God Himself known in that nature which has been glorified in it. Love, God in love working unsought, has through grace made us love, and we are reconciled to God Himself according to all that He is, our conscience having been purged according to His glory, so that love may be in unhindered confidence. Man sits at the right hand of God in virtue of it, and our souls can delight in all that God is, our conscience being made perfect by that which has been wrought. No enfeebling or lowering the holiness of God in His judicial estimate of, and dealing with, sin; on the contrary, all that He is thus glorified, no pleading goodness to make sin light; but God in the will and love of salvation met in that judgment and holiness, and the soul brought to walk in the light, as He is in the light, and in the love which is His being and nature, without blame before Him, a perfect conscience so as to be free before Him, but a purged one which has judged of sin as He does, but learned what sin is in the putting of it away. Without the atonement or propitiation of Christ this is impossible. God is not brought in: it is but human goodness which drops holiness and overlooks sin or estimates it according to mere natural conscience. Christ has died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.

It is not innocence, for the knowledge of good and evil is there, nor the slighting of God and an unpurged conscience, nor even the return to the former state of Adam (not knowing good and evil, innocent), but God fully revealed and known in majesty and light and love, and we brought to Him according to that revelation in perfect peace and joy by a work done for us, which has met and glorified His majesty and light and love in the place of sin, as made it, by Him who knew no sin.

The full result will only be in the new heavens and new earth, the eternal state of blessedness, a condition of happiness not dependent on fulfilling the responsibility in which he who enjoyed it was placed and in which he failed, but based on a finished work accomplished to the glory of God in the very place of ruin, the value of which can never, in the nature of things, change; it is according to the nature and character of God, it is done and is always what it is, and all is eternally stable. Righteousness, not innocence, dwells in the new heavens and the new earth, not feeble man responsible, but God glorified for evermore. The result is not all there yet; but we know that the work is done through the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and we wait as believers for our portion in the rest when all shall be accomplished, accepted in the Beloved.

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

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

In commenting on Dr. W.'s statements as to the atonement, I would begin by saying that I entirely agree with him (and indeed I have long insisted on this in contrast with the church confessions of the Reformation), that it is man who is reconciled to God, and that scripture never speaks of God's being reconciled to man. The statement and the thought are wholly unscriptural, and shock rather the scripturally-taught mind. And it alters the whole tone of the gospel and the state of soul as to God, both as to peace, and the sanctifying power of the truth, for it is the truth which sanctifies. That God is always the same and immutable is assuredly true. Thank God, it is so. There is one thing stable; or what would be?

But while fully acknowledging this, it seems to me that some of Dr. W.'s thoughts come from tradition, or from his own mind, not from the word of God; and these I will briefly notice, while my heart would encourage him in his conflict in maintaining the truth of which I have just spoken. And here I would add that I look to the scriptures alone as the foundation and source of truth; on them alone I shall base any doctrine; and if I call in question any statement of Dr. W.'s, it will be because it is not in the word; and I present to him these remarks, first of all, that he may weigh there before the Lord, remembering how important the truth is, and how all blessing and sanctification flow to our souls by it through grace. It is to the scriptures that the apostle refers us in 2 Tim. 3 when the perilous times should be come. And are they not here?

Dr. W.'s first proposition is, “that no change has been effected in the heart of God by the fall.” Now as to God's nature, this is surely true. If He is love, He is always love, if righteous, always righteous; if holy, always holy. But because He changes not, His relationship towards others changes, and His conduct and dealings, because they are changed.

God would not, could not, because He did not change, drive man out of paradise when he was innocent. This would have been a change in God if there was none in man. But He did drive him out when he had sinned, because the righteousness (which would have left him to enjoy in innocence the blessings in the midst of which He had placed him while unchanged, and because He Himself did not change) now had to deal with one that was changed, and therefore dealt differently, dealt judicially, with the guilty and alienated, which He had not to do before. Leaving him to enjoy the tree of life, and turning him out and barring the way to it was an immense difference, an immense change, not in God, but in God's ways and dealings with man because He did not change. And to say that God does not change in Himself does not meet the question. Even the love was quite different in its ways and character. The love of complacency in what He had made good is very different from the sovereign love of mercy which works to redeem a fallen, defiled, and guilty creature. God rested when all was created, and all was good; but, when Jesus was maliciously accused of violating the Sabbath, His sovereignly beautiful answer was, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” How, could the love of God, a holy God rest in sin and misery? It could work in grace, but it could not rest. And there is a revelation of that in God in redemption which had no place in innocence. “God commendeth his love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Love takes the character of grace to what is in enmity, not of complacency in what was His own work.

Here let me remark that, if I do not mistake him, Dr. W., with all who rest in theological traditions, reckons Adam to be, righteous and holy. He was neither, but innocent. To be righteous or holy requires the knowledge of good and evil, and this Adam had not till he fell; and the difference is immense. We have only to speak of God as innocent, and the believer's heart at once revolts from it—is offended by it. Righteous and holy He surely is.

This difference in Adam is clearly and formally stated in scripture. It was the promise of Satan (Gen. 3:5), and Jehovah Elohim declares it to be so (ver. 22). Tradition has falsified all this, but the word is clear and certain. It does not mean, “You shall know evil who before knew only good.” Would Satan have proposed such a thing as this to him, or, still more, could it have this sense in God's mouth? “The man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil.” No, he was before innocent, and now marks inwardly the difference between right and wrong, not merely by an imposed law as tradition teaches, but inwardly as God does, though he may be hardened or misled as God cannot be. We must not confound the rule for conscience with conscience. The law is the perfect rule for the conscience of Adam's fallen children, Christ's walk for the Christian; and this the soul taught of God accepts, and with delight. The conscience takes knowledge of the difference of what is right and what is wrong.

Further, the question is not, as Dr. W. states it, “If the fall was an obstacle in the way of man's salvation.” It was no obstacle to his salvation. Salvation was not needed without the fall; but it was an obstacle, and in itself an absolute one, to man's acceptance as he was. Christ came to save what was lost, and that, because God was not changed but remained holy and righteous —is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.” I do not speak of God's wrath against the world being the obstacle; but the unconverted man is under wrath, a child of wrath. I do not say this was an obstacle to salvation; it was not, because God was sovereign in goodness.

But scripture does not speak of the matter as Dr. W. does. He asks, “How could he be propitiated that loved?” A person who loves deeply and truly may require something in order that he may show favor. The eternal maintenance of the unchangeableness of God's character, of the nature of good and evil as He sees it, may require it. Not merely man's being saved is in question, for that is not the result of Christ's death as to all men, if He did die for all, but the public testimony to the immutability of God's nature, and to maintain it in the sight of the universe; yea, to lay the foundation of the immutable blessing of the new heavens and the new earth according to what God is, supreme as righteous, holy, and love. A father with the most perfect love to his child may require, for the order of his family, that satisfaction to his authority, what maintains it before all, and the rules of his house, be done. “It became him [God] for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10). It became Him. Did He not love that blessed One? Yet it became Him to do this. So that this statement of Dr. W.'s in alike inadequate and incorrect. There is that which becomes God because of what He is, which is not love, though love be His unchangeable nature.

And now see how scripture actually speaks of the very point. It does not simply say that, where sin abounded, love did much more abound, but grace did much more abound. But more. We were by nature the children of wrath: it was our natural inheritance from God; for whose wrath is spoken of? What belonged to us? “But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.” So that wrath against us, as our natural portion from God, is not inconsistent with infinite and sovereign love. Thus Christ in the synagogue looked upon them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts. The grief was love, the anger His righteous estimate of their sin.

Grace reigns, blessed be God, but it is through righteousness (Rom. 5). Dr. W. seems to say it is in making us practically righteous by removing our sins. But it is “God's righteousness.” Does he question it is God's wrath? I quote Rom. 1:17, 18 for both, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.” Why? “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” And then Paul proceeds to prove all the world guilty before God as the reason of this. It is not true therefore, that wrath cannot be where there is love. A father full of love may be rightly angry with his child, and when Dr. W. says “wrath in the heart,” he is misled altogether, and confounds hatred with judicial anger. There is no hatred in God to man assuredly. Yet God is a righteous judge, and God is angry every day and ought to be so.

Farther on, Dr. W. admits that there is wrath against sin in God's mind, and therefore against the sinner while he abides in the sin; but what God does is to take away the criminality by Christ, and so He can love the sinner, and His wrath has no ground as the sin is gone. Now, as thus put, it is merely the personal state of the sinner which removes the wrath in removing the occasion of it. And this is doubly, and in every way, false. First, it mars the perfectness of God's sovereign love. God loved us while we were sinners, and this is characteristic of His love, His saving love; and, secondly, it ignores the righteousness of God, and the work by which judicially the sins were put away. I do not mean that he denies that Christ died for our sins as a fact; but it is merely the effect in us which removes the wrath, the state we are in which leaves God free to love us; our criminality is gone, we are cleansed, so there is no object of wrath left because we are clean. He speaks indeed of God's wrath being His justice, but all his reasoning is that there is no “change in the disposition from anger to kindness.”

But peace had to be made when there was wrath, and the sovereign love that saves is not the favor which rests on those reconciled (Rom. 5:1). God loved us when we were sinners; He loves us without any change when we are cleansed. But we are cleansed, reconciled, we are told. Now I fully recognize, and insist on it, that God loved us when we were sinners, and that we are reconciled. But then, according to Dr. W., the only change is in our state which leaves God free to love us; whereas He loved us when we were in our sins. The change spoken of is by the operation and work of grace in us. The work of Christ we needed is wholly left out. I do not mean that Dr. W. in terms denies there was an atonement; he says, scripture teaches the necessity of an atonement. But what is this? Is it anything towards God? “The reconciliation must be effected by our recovering the righteousness in which God through His righteousness could again become our eternal life.” There are as many errors as thoughts here: but I only notice now that the mediatorial work of atonement is simply a change in our actual state, otherwise “the righteous One is a consuming fire for the unrighteous,” and so over and over again. I quote one passage more— “No: where there is sin, there is wrath; God's wrath is unchangeably manifest, as sure as God is God.” I ask in passing, Is there no sin in us? “His justice can take no other form against sin but that of wrath, and it is impossible that there should be sin without the wrath of God.” “But where there is righteousness, there is no wrath to be quenched, for there can be none.” “But an individual who is blameless respecting the law is outside its wrath, and instead thereof enjoys its blessings.” Did God then not love us when we were sinners? If He did, and it is impossible there should be sin without the wrath of God, wrath and love go together. All Dr. W.'s system is false.

The truth is, all this confounds divine favor resting on us in Christ, and sovereign love to the sinner. The first part of what the Lord says in John 3 is thus left out: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man he lifted up.” The Son of man, He who represented man, must be lifted up—die on the cross, and where was such a lamb to be found? “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.” The “Son of man” must be lifted up, the “Son of God” was given, the same blessed person: but “Son of man,” to die for man's need, standing for man before God; “Son of God,” vessel and proof of God's sovereign love. He is therefore spoken of as representing man (which Dr. W. denies), and not merely God. Nor did He, properly speaking, represent God in dying, nor in being made sin. His doing so was the effect of God's infinite love to man, which was His own withal; but in the work thus wrought He suffered as Son of man made sin. This could not represent God. If the world be reconciled, the relationship is changed, though God be not. But this scripture never says. Christ, Dr. W. tells us, “was struck by the curse of God's wrath against sin.” “He descended,” he says, “into our sin,” and so was “struck by the curse of God's wrath. Whom did He represent then? Was Christ, as man made sin for us and struck by the curse, representing God in this place? That His doing so was the effect of infinite divine love is true; but did sin, and wrath, and the curse, represent in the infliction of it God's love or God's righteous wrath against sin? By the grace of God He tasted death, being made a little lower than the angels to that end; but was His tasting death, and drinking that dreadful cup, and sweating as it were great drops of blood at only thinking of it, God's love to Him or apprehended by Him? Did He pray, that if it were possible, the cup might pass, meaning the cup of God's love?

(Continued from. p. 230)

(To be continued).

Our Standing in Grace

“THEREFORE being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Through our own partialities for those scriptural truths which we assume concern us the more intimately, we frequently allow ourselves to pass over with scant attention many weighty words of scripture. The familiar text quoted above contains a brief summary of the attendant blessings of justification in which we are entitled to participate as those who have the faith of Abraham (Rom. 4:16).

Peace with God. The passage speaks first of the peace of a purged conscience; the comfort of which we realize as we think of what preceded faith within our hearts the dark forebodings of a spirit wounded by sin, the despair wrought by the sense of our guilt before God, the inward conviction of an inevitable outpouring of divine wrath upon our deserving heads—and then of the assurance that this condition has passed forever: “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The God against whom we sinned has Himself justified us freely by His grace, and we who were enemies in our minds by wicked works are now at peace with Him. And while we regard this great deliverance we say, and we say rightly, as we lift our eyes to our God and reiterate our grateful praise, “It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

The glory of God.—Further, as we think of Him who “was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification,” the heart within us leaps with desire, and our new-born affections crave that we may behold Him who loved us and died for us. Like the cleansed Samaritan leper, like the renewed Gadarene, we would be with Him, at His feet, and behold some gleams of that glory of God which shines in the face of Jesus Christ. But why think such vain thoughts? Who are we to indulge such bold aspiration? How dare mortal man think to approach Him who sits on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens? Ah, it would indeed be becoming on our part to chide ourselves unsparingly for such presumption, had we not God's own sanction in His word for the longings of the new nature within us. We are permitted to expect “a bright tomorrow.” Every justified one is authorized, because he is justified, to hope for the glory of God, not with the feeble vagueness which necessarily accompanies every human effort to peer beyond the present instant, but with the serene confidence that springs alone from the knowledge that the eternal God has spoken as to our future, and has irradiated the dark beyond with His coming glory. No wonder that in consequence we are filled with holy exuberance: we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We are transported with the prospect of it, and we love to let our very souls be flooded in anticipation with the life-giving beams of Christ in His coming glory.

Present grace or favor.—Hence it is often brought about that, having our hearts sensible of that peace as to a guilty past which otherwise we could never know, and also of a future gorgeous with visions beyond the dreams of poets and artists of every age, we are apt to pass quickly over that sweet interposition of the Spirit in the passage at the head of this paper, dealing with our present standing before God in this work-a-day world” by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” We cannot, without personal loss, neglect this bountiful accommodation made for our pilgrim journey from the state of guilt to the state of glory. The person who is justified is entitled, and is entitled because he is justified, to regard himself as standing in the grace or favor of God. Such an elevating and assuring description of the present state of guilty sinners who have been pardoned and justified demands more than a passing consideration.

The person securing this favor.—Let us then first note how the gracious and adorable Person of the Lord Jesus Christ is introduced as the One by whom and in whom this present privilege is secured to us— “by whom also we have access, etc. His name and titles had been just mentioned in connection with the peace which He made “by the blood of His cross.” It is the “same Jesus” whom we are taught by the next phrase to regard as the One who has given us a present position of signal favor before God, and, moreover, who maintains us in that standing. Clearly, it is of the highest importance for the practical enjoyment of our souls that this fact should by faith be continuously before us. And were it not for our natural pride and self-complacency we should the more readily admit the necessity for such a reminder as is here and elsewhere made.

But we shrink from allowing to ourselves that we are prone to be callous as to the present real worth of Christ, and therefore to fail in appropriating to ourselves what in scripture is intended to brace up our affections for Christ. This unreadiness to accept an unpalatable truth about oneself is no new feature in man. The prophet Elisha drew a lurid picture of Hazael's future violence. “Is thy servant a dog,” said the astonished man, “that he should do this thing?” But, as a commentator pithily remarks, “The dog went and did it.” Truly, Hazael was an ambitious and unscrupulous worldling. But a similar disposition is also to be seen in the pious and the devoted Simon Peter, for instance. Zealous courageous, and passionate in his esteem and devotion to his Master, he would not admit for a moment the truth of the Lord's declaration concerning him, “This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” Ignorant of his own inherent weakness, he exclaimed hotly, “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” The sad sequel proved how true the Lord's words were. How much better if the self-confident man had heeded the gracious warning. “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; but the fool rageth, and is confident.” “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Prov. 14:16; 22:3).

We may take it, therefore, that when we are directed to regard the Lord Jesus Christ as the One by whom we have obtained admission into the present favor of God, it is of the first importance that we should set Him before us continuously as the source, the means, and the guarantor of the grace in which we stand. And the caution will be of greater effect upon us if we recollect that the reminder would not have been made were we not liable to allow anything, even the blessing itself, to obscure the person of the Blesser before our hearts. “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him” (Gen. 40:23).

Access.— “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” The right of admittance to this favor we have by Christ Jesus. What we could not possess inherently He has secured to us inalienably. The form of the phrase used implies that the access is ours abidingly, not intermittently, as it well might be if dependent on ourselves. In ourselves we can offer no claim to such favor, but in Christ what claims are found! How great is the favor of God in which Christ Jesus stands Is He not the One whom God delights to honor? And He is our Introducer.

But He does not bring us just to the outskirts of the place of favor— “some low place within the door” —as might be if our Patron had but limited influence there. We can scarcely suppose that John the son of Zebedee, though known to the high priest, was particularly intimate with him His influence was just sufficient to procure admittance for his friend, Simon Peter, to the high priest's palace. “Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter” (John 18:16). Through the instrumentality of John, Peter obtained access into the palace of the high priest, but not into his favor. This, John was unable to do, and the illustration falls short of our subject.

The way into the presence-chamber of king Ahasuerus was hedged about by the irrevocable law that whosoever approached uncalled should be put to death. Esther drew near with her petition and stood in the inner court of the king's house. “When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be given thee even to the half of the kingdom” (Esther 5:2, 3). She had access into the favor of the king, and so obtained the lives of her countrymen. Those justified by faith have access into the favor of God, the Lord Jesus Christ being infinitely more to such undeserving ones as we are, than the golden scepter stretched out to Esther.

The word “access” only occurs in two other passages in the New Testament, both being found in the Epistle to the Ephesians. “For through him [Christ Jesus] we both [Jews and Gentiles who believe] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” “In whom [Christ Jesus our Lord] we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Eph. 2:18; 3:12). The verbal form of the same word is used in other instances having the sense of bringing into the presence of another. Jesus said to the father of him possessed with an evil spirit, “Bring thy son hither” (Luke 9:41). Peter also speaks of the work of Christ as introducing us to the presence of God: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

In the Lord Jesus therefore we have our access As He Himself said, “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). He is the door of faith for Gentile as for Jew (Acts 14:27). Moreover, He is the way: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). And this is so both now when we realize it by faith, and shortly when He comes. Even as Isaac met Rebekah and brought her himself into his mother Sarah's tent, so will the Lord Jesus meet His bride in the air, and usher her into the rapturous intimacies, and the beatified delights, of the Father's house.

Grace or favor.— “By whom also we have access into this grace!” We are “justified freely by his grace” (Rom. 3:24: Titus 3:7). This is our initial blessing, but we are here assured that we also have a permanent standing in this grace, subsequent to our justification.

The word grace (χάρις) is one of those employed by the Spirit of God to convey a truth which is exclusively divine, and in consequence all human language is inadequate to express its meaning; to seek to define it is to seek to set bounds to the infinite. We may only by assiduous comparison of its varied usage in Holy Scripture obtain some glimmerings of the vast truth communicated by the word “grace.” In its many occurrences it has many shades of significations, as indeed we may gather from Peter's expressive phrase— “the manifold (ποικίλης) grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

It must suffice to note here how grace takes a dual character viz.—(1) from its source, God, and (2) from its object, sinful man. The frequently recurring words, “the grace of God,” are sufficient to show that it has no earthly origin. The correlated phrase, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” reminds us that the grace of God came by Him (John 1:17). Flowing down from heaven where there exists no need for its exercise, let us rather say, emanating from the heart of God Himself, what an immeasurable character is given by its origin to “this grace wherein we stand.” Like Him from whom it springs, grace is infinite in its freeness, its fullness, its spontaneity, its “exceeding riches” (Eph. 2, also 2 Cor. 9:14).

But the second characteristic of God's grace, to which allusion has been made, arises from the nature of those towards whom this grace is exercised. Grace is for sinners. Thus Paul, speaking of himself as “a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,” says, “the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:13-15). It was in the very habitat of sin that grace was displayed. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Hence in this brief consideration of the manward aspect of grace we see that not only were its activities uncaused and unmerited by its objects, but these objects were in a state of positive enmity against God and amenable to His just judgment. Herein perhaps lies one of the distinctions between the allied words, grace and mercy. Mercy is awakened into exercise by the infirmities of its objects, their ignorance, their sorrows, their sufferings, and their needs: but grace flows towards those who are altogether undeserving, and who have by their sins forfeited every claim. We who were “dead in trespasses have been saved by grace” (Eph. 2:5, 8), But being “justified by faith,” having “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7) we abide in that grace. It becomes the atmosphere, the home of our souls. If we received the grace of God when we were ungodly, sinners, enemies, what favor is ours now that we are justified and reconciled!

This is indeed an unspeakable privilege to know oneself standing in the unclouded favor of God. How feeble and fickle in comparison is the favor of earthly potentates for which men of the world so fiercely compete. Joseph “found grace” in the sight of Potiphar which he speedily lost through no fault of his own (Gen. 39:4). Again, he rose from the obscurity of the prison-house to the “favor” of Pharaoh, so that he was set over the land of Egypt, and the king's house (Acts 7:9, 10). But after all, this was but the favor of roan, not to be compared with that favor of God to which the justified believer has acquired an inalienable right through our Lord Jesus Christ.

David the king found favor in the sight of God (Acts 7:46) and so did Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:28, 30). lint these were exceptional instances. The standing in the favor of God is not, as revealed in the New Testament, peculiar to a few, but possessed equally by all the justified. Let us consider it well; “for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace” (Heb. 13:9).

The standing.—By whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand. As the form of the phrase referring to our access implies permanence, so does it in reference to our standing. We stand steadfastly, without intermission, in the favor of God. The same term is used for the immutable foundation of God in contrast with the fluctuating character of what has been committed to man's responsibility— “nevertheless, the sure foundation of God standeth” (2 Tim. 2:19). It is also used negatively by the Lord referring to Satan, “He is a murderer from the beginning and standeth not in the truth” (John 8:44, New Transl.). So also the apostle Paul described the Corinthian saints as standing in the gospel. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand” (1 Cor. 15:1). In all cases an unvarying steadfastness is implied. What a comfort to learn that we have not only the entree to such a place of choice privilege, but that we stand there upon an unalterable basis and in an unchanging acceptance.

Is there any personal responsibility?—While the word of God guarantees to each believer this standing in grace without any qualification, it nevertheless cautions against a false assurance founded only upon unconcern. There is no warrant for assuming that this standing is compatible with indifference to sin, the indulgence of selfishness, and a course of practical unrighteousness. The justified believer is called upon to gird up his renewed energies and see to it that there is a correspondence between his life and conduct and the privileged position in which he is set. It is the over-confident that needs to beware. Hence we have the exhortation, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Speaking of Gentiles being grafted into the olive tree of promise, while Jewish branches were broken off, the apostle writes, “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” (Rom. 11:19, 20). Again, Peter exhorts the saints to maintain in practice their standing in grace. “I have written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God: stand ye fast therein” (1 Peter 5:12, R.V.). We shall do well to heed the word, and to hold fast the immense privilege secured to us by Him who was “delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.”

W.J.H.

Jude 3

JUDE, then, was in full expectation of a departure from “the faith,” and that it would be necessary to defend the faith. He had had it evidently on his heart to speak to them of comforting things, things that are always bright and sweet to the believer; but the circumstances called for an alarm, for solemn warning. This is never very acceptable to people. They prefer things smooth; but the apostle himself, or the writer, whether an apostle or not—the writer's whole heart would have delighted in dwelling on all that was comforting and strengthening to the soul. But, my brethren, what is the good of that, if the foundations are being undermined? That is what you have got to look at. Therefore he draws attention to the fact that the faith was “once for all delivered.” “Once” is an equivocal word. It might mean “once on a time,” once on a particular moment; but that is not the force of the word here at all. It means “once for all”; and what a blessing that is! That we have in this book (and more particularly in the books of the New Testament), the holy deposit which we are called upon to believe, given us in full, “once for all.” There isn't a truth to be received, that isn't revealed in the word of God. There is not a difficulty, or a departure from the truth, that is not, in one way or another, there guarded against. We, therefore, never require to go outside the revelation of God; and this explains what God permitted in the early apostolic days, that is, that there should be a deal of evil. Does it surprise us that there should have been gross disorders among the Corinthians for instance, even at the table of the Lord? Well, one is naturally struck at first sight by such a fact. Flow was it that when there was such power of the Holy Ghost, that when there were miracles wrought, that when there were prophets prophesying (the highest form of teaching), that at that same time and place, the saints that gathered on the Lord's day, broke out into a disorder that we never even find in the present day, or very rarely? How could God more guard us, than by allowing it then? It is always a very delicate matter to deal with evil, either of doctrine or practice, or service, or government, or worship, or anything that you can speak of. It was of the very greatest moment therefore, that God, in view of the evils that would, sometime or another, appear in the church, should allow the germ of the evils to appear then, and for this reason. That we might have divinely-given directions for dealing with the evils when they did appear. Consequently, we are not taking the place of setting up to legislate; we are not at liberty to depart from that word that is given us by the Holy Ghost. We are called upon to find everything there that becomes us as saints, and for every part of our work to find a principle, and example too, sufficient to guide us; so that we may never set up any will of our own about a matter, and that we may always find God expressing, in one form or another, His will. What we have to do is to seek to learn from Him, and to apply this, either to ourselves for our own correction, or to other people for their warning.

Now that is the reason why there is such great moment in Jude's calling to mind that the faith was “once,” and “once for all,” delivered to the saints. And, as a point of fact, I don't think we shall ever find in scripture such a thing as a mere repetition. Sometimes you may have scriptures that approach very closely, and in the New Testament you could hardly have it more than in these two Epistles of Peter and Jude. But I am about to point out to you, what will appear as I go along still more completely, that, while there are resemblances between these two writers, they are both speaking of the terrible evil that was about to flood the church; and though naturally approaching each other, yet with a difference. It is always the difference that is the special lesson to learn. Where they approach, it confirms. We can say, “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” But where there is a divergence, and a distinction to be seen in the lessons that they convey, we have evidently more than we might have had if we had only had one of them. The same thing is true, not merely in these two Epistles, but take Ephesians and Colossians. The resemblance there is so great that it is a favorite theory of the Rationalists, that the Epistle to the Colossians is the only one that Paul ever wrote, and that the one to the Ephesians is only an enlarged and inflated copy written perhaps, by a contemporary of the apostle), and accordingly, that it has not the same divine (though I ought not, perhaps, to use that word) value—that it has not Paul's value. These men don't believe in divine value, they don't believe in God having written these Epistles; but some of them do believe that Paul wrote indeed that to the Colossians, but deny his having written the one to the Ephesians. A very learned man, who translated all the Bible (and indeed one of the best of the German translations is his), is one of that school. So that you may learn from this, that there are persons who have labored all through their lives on the Bible, who nevertheless did not believe the Bible—i.e. really and truly. He, of course, would have entirely objected to such an account being given of him. But what matters what people object to, if it is true? He was a leading man in his day, and I hope that he was not without looking to Christ before his decease. But at any rate what he did during his life was a sad departure from the truth of God, from “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Having then already dwelt a little upon what is one important and primary element of “the faith,” I add, further, that we are brought into great relationships. Not only are we “converted” and “saved,” being brought into peace and liberty—we are called also to realize that we are no longer merely English persons or French, Jews or Gentiles, but that we are children of God, and that we are that now; and we turn our backs on our boasting in our nation and our city, and our family, and all these various forms of men's vanity, which is merely boasting of something of the flesh. We are called out of that now. This is also part of “the faith once delivered.” In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free. What does that mean? It means just what I have been saying.

Well then, again, we are made members of Christ's body; and this is a relationship which so many of God's children are so slow to believe. They think and talk of their being members of the Wesleyan body, or Presbyterian body, or Baptist, of this body, or that body, no matter what it is. Well, they say, To be sure we are members of Christ's body too Yes, but if people valued the truth of their membership of Christ's body, what would the other be in their eyes? Simply nothing at all. Where do you find the Presbyterian body, or the Episcopal body, or the Congregational body, in the N.T.? Where do you find the Baptist body in the N.T.? There was an approach to it in the very earliest days— “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas” (1 Cor. 1:12). Well, there you have the germ of it. And these germs never perish. It is not only that blessed germs of truth don't perish and are meant to take root and bear fruit, and consequently are perpetuated here and there; but alas! evil germs do the same. And what is more, there is another thing that is not a germ exactly, it is a leaven—a corrupt, and a corrupting, thing that is very palatable, that makes the wheaten bread to be lighter to the taste, and pleasanter for some tastes to partake of. And this leaven at any rate, whatever may be the case with the bread, this leaven is the corrupting influence that is at work in two forms. In Corinth it was the corruption of morals; in Galatia it was the corruption of doctrine. There you have it. When our Lord was here He confronted the same thing in the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Sadducees were the great corruptors morally; the Pharisees, the great religionists, or rather they were strong for doctrine. But the Sadducees were sapping all doctrines by denying the truth. There you have the two things again doctrinal leaven and corrupting leaven; at any rate there was “the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees,” however you may describe it. There were also the Herodians—a worldly leaven at that time—a pandering to the Roman Court, not merely accepting the Romans as having power and authority from God, but trying to please them in order to make their own position better and their circumstances easier. So that you see it is a very weighty truth this, and calling for earnest examination, to take care that we do not infringe upon or weaken our certainty in that faith which was “once delivered to the saints.” Are we indifferent about it? Have we an interest in it? Have we only partially received it, and are we content with that? Or, are we resolved, by the grace of God, to refuse everything that is not the faith that was once for all delivered? Are we resolved to receive and maintain that faith in all its integrity? That is what we are called to.

Christ for the Saint and Christ for the Sinner: Part 1

Rev. 22:17

“And the Spirit and the bride say. Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

There is a great deal more, in this verse than most are apt to find, even though they may be dear, and even intelligent, children of God. Yet it is also remarkable that, although the depth is uncommon in presenting the brightest hope of the church, as well as encouraging the simplest individual believer, there is likewise the most ample expression of sovereign grace to the neediest of sinners, in whatever state he may be found. What can be more open than saying “He that will, let him take the water of life freely?” There is no more unrestricted invitation to perishing souls in any part of the Bible. Yet what grace shone when the Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria and announced—what man's hard heart is so slow to believe—the Father's love in seeking worshippers to worship Him. And the Son was there to manifest that He did not disdain, but even sought, that poor woman without a character. Some may have thought she avoided going at the hour when other women went to the well. If she had obvious reason for shunning them, they had not a kind word to say about her. But Christ made God known in love, even to one so wretched through sin. Yet He who thus loves is holy, whereas those who despised her were not.

Those who set up and cultivate sanctimonious expression of speech and ways have rarely any real sense of sin in themselves, any more than of grace in God. They make a fair show in the flesh, and have never learned their own ruin as sinners. They desire to feel and appear holy, and fear to find out and own what they really are in God's sight. But is it not always the greatest weakness to wish to appear anything? The believer has no reason to hide when he is assured of the grace that forgives all his sins. If God justifies him, who is he that condemns? He can afford to appear what he really is. “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from every sin.” “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God,” says the apostle Paul to the Corinthians, who had been amongst the most dissolute of mankind. Greece as a country was full of immorality; and there was no city in all that land so proverbially bad as Corinth. Yet the Lord, to encourage His servant in the face of opposing and blaspheming Jews, said, “Be not afraid but speak, and hold not thy peace... for I have much people in this city.” It required a word by a vision at night from the Lord to the apostle to keep up his courage in continuing in a place so full of corruption as Corinth.

Ever bear in mind that in the gospel it is what the Lord brings to us, and not what we offer to Him, when received in faith, which is the turning-point and the substance of the soul's salvation. God has, and freely, given a perfect Savior in Christ for the lost. Does any one of you doubt that His heart is so ready to forgive, even you, notwithstanding your sins which are many and great? You do Him a heinous wrong in doubting His word and His love. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, not only can He afford to save you on believing, but He gives all with the freeness and fullness that becomes the God of all grace. “He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all: how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

The figure employed, in the Revelation, is “the water of life;” as the Lord spoke of giving “the living water” in John 4:10. The two books, the Gospel and the Revelation, are as different in character as can be; but who does not see how thoroughly the words tally, and how one Spirit reigns throughout Scripture? The book of Revelation is as full of judgment, as the Gospel of John teems with grace; but it is the same Lord Jesus Christ, whatever the distinctness of design may require in each case. The prophetic visions vindicate His rights over all the universe, and therefore over all nations as well as Israel. Before they begin in chap. 6 we are given to see the bright result of grace in the glorified saints gathered on high around the throne, under the symbol of the twenty-four crowned and enthroned elders in chapters 4, 5. But the book could not close without the words read in the text, which put the church and the believer in their present place of hope, and which continue to invite the sinner, whatever his state, to receive His grace as freely as ever. First of all, we hear “the Spirit and the bride” saying to Christ, “Come.” For He loved the church and gave Himself for her; and she knows from His own lips that He is coming to receive her to Himself. Therefore we can understand how proper are the words, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” To whom does the Spirit animate the bride thus to speak? To the Bridegroom. It is indeed much to be noticed, and full of instruction.

Earlier in the book (chap. 3:11) the Lord says “I come quickly”; but the Spirit and the bride do not add “quickly” now they join in crying to Christ, “Come.” Those who compose the bride had already each submitted to the righteousness of God; they knew for their own souls that they were saved by grace through faith; and they were waiting in assured hope of Him to bring them into the Father's house, where He Himself now is, and whence He had promised to come and fetch them there. Remark then how important and how suited are the words, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Men, and even saints, are all liable to mistakes. Who, that knows himself or others, could rest his hope on the creature in its best estate? As we need Christ's work for saving us, so we cannot do without God's word for any appearance of solid worth, whether for faith or hope, for walk or worship. Therefore does the Spirit—that is, the Holy Ghost—prompt the word. He and the bride are represented as saying, “Come.” Can anything be more comely or in character?

The Spirit of God has His place as directing and strengthening the heart of the church, the bride. He dwells in the believer as well as in the church. As this privilege never was enjoyed before redemption, so it never will be given in the same power and way again. Ample blessing awaits Israel and the nations by and by. The Spirit will be poured out again when the Lord reigns. It will be “the regeneration” for the earth, as the prophets predict, in the millennial day. But Scripture indicates again remarkable differences as compared with His presence now. And no intelligent soul can be surprised; for on the bright day that approaches for the world, there will be sight; and no such tests of faith as there are now. Everything will be Joyous, peaceful, and prosperous in righteousness. Satan will be shut out from tempting and seducing; and Jehovah shall reign over all the earth without a rival or a rebel, His name one. But now the present is the evil age from which grace has delivered the Christian who has to make his way by faith and suffering for his Master's sake.

We ought to be like the fish swimming against the stream as living fish do: the dead ones are carried along with it. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that ever works in the sons of disobedience is still directing the many evil currents of the world; but every one is dead against the Lord Jesus, as Scripture warns us. Constantine did not alter that; and the Papacy only added another evil. There cannot be a better proof of the world's enmity to God than that it all, civil and religious, cast out and crucified His Son. For who were those who did the deed? Not Hottentots or Tartars, or Chinese. The Roman power of that day was misled by His own ancient people, the Jews. Herod was content with mockery. Even the ruthless Pilate wanted to let the Lord off, because he knew it was for envy, He was victimized; and by whose envy? The priests', the High Priest's—the very men set up of God to intercede for others. How evidently they were fallen under the power of Satan, and were interceding for his will and victory when they crucified the Son of God! Such was the real character of their persistent outcry. And so it is that the world treats His name and truth. It may go on in apparent quiet for a time; but what brings its enmity to a head? Christ. As then, so ever and so now, it is Christ that Satan always opposes, drawing in his train the enmity of the world.

The judge of quick and dead is a reality they cannot stand. And so they gnash, not perhaps with their teeth, but in their hearts. They accordingly cannot, as they are now, but hate those identified with His truth, as they will hate you if you are faithful, but not if you compromise. Compromising is an insidious and especial danger for a Christian. The new nature he has in Christ makes him abhor sin, and just because he is born of God, he turns away from it and prays to God His Father to be delivered from all evil by virtue of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. The Holy Spirit was sent from heaven in manifested power after our Lord died, rose, and ascended. It is well to remember the words in John 7:39, “The Holy Ghost was not yet [given] because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” Is this the doctrine you usually hear? Alas! very commonly it is not, and this among the saints and the excellent of the earth. Let me speak of one no longer alive, an eloquent and celebrated preacher, a pious and prayerful man (a former dean of Ripon), who wrote a book to prove that the Holy Ghost's presence and action did not differ at Pentecost from what it was before. But this idea contradicted flatly the words cited and the truth generally in the New Testament. For the Gospels all look forward to that great gift as an immense and new privilege. When Jesus took His seat on high, the Holy Ghost came personally, and came to abide forever. This had never been before, and never will be again in the same peculiar way. For the kingdom by-and-by there will be a larger work. The Spirit will be poured on all flesh; so that the extent will be far greater. “My people (Israel) shall be all righteous” in that day; and vast too will be the blessing among all the nations of the earth. How striking and how general the work of divine grace when the idols shall utterly pass away, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day!

But what the Holy Spirit occupies Himself with now is a most special work of concentration, rather than of world-wide action, though the testimony of the gospel is preached to every creature. And why? Because He is gathering souls in spiritual power round the true center, the Lord Jesus. And this survives all man's failure and defection. “For where two or three are gathered together to my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Christ's name was the center at Pentecost when the church began; and so it is still. When the Spirit is poured out at the coming of the Lord's world-kingdom (Rev. 11). He will adapt Himself to the work in hand. He will, for instance, enable God's people to walk according to God s laws under the new and divine government of the earth. For Israel it will be the new covenant, and a Messiah reigning in open power; and the Spirit will strengthen in that way. But what an enormous difference there will be when the Lord visibly governs, reigning as a king in righteousness, with princes that rule in judgment, and the vile shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful! How will not the presence of the Lord as a priest on His throne make everything to be in holy order and peaceful happiness in that day!

So He says, in the verse before the one read, “I [Jesus] am the root and the offspring of David.” He will then assuredly accomplish all the old and glorious predictions for the earth. He will bless Israel to the full, and, after Israel, all the nations in general. Israel behaved shamelessly, and the other nations (previously rebellious) found no deliverance, no help, in a people that sinned along with them. In due time the gospel came in and lifted the believer above nationality, whether Jewish or Gentile. The gospel has for its aim to save the believer, and unite him to Christ in and for heavenly glory. Thus is the church formed by the present Holy Spirit. It is the richest expression of divine grace. Those who believe are called to be, and even now are, God's children, as they also are by one Spirit baptized into one body.

Do you ask, What of ourselves and our sins? I ask in reply, For what did Christ die? Did not His death effect for the believer what God intended? Was He not offered for the remission of sins? Does He not blot them out before God for each believer, as in the type of the scape-goat (only a great deal better) they were borne away to a solitary land, where nobody would hear of them more? Remember there were two goats. There Was one goat for Jehovah, and the other was for dismissal into the wilderness. The first was sacrificed for a sin-offering. The essential thing where sin is in question is, first of all, to vindicate God. If we are to have His grace, He must have His rights in order that His grace may flow without a jar or an obstacle. The first goat was therefore offered as a sin-offering to Jehovah. The second goat could have no efficacy save in virtue of the first; but after that offering, how invaluable its testimony that “all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins” were sent away expressly to a land of forgetfulness! Such was the solemn type on the day of atonement (Lev. 16). And the Lord Jesus more than made it good, as all can find who receive Heb. 9; 10 from God. On His work are founded the blessed words, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

Do we, my friends, for ourselves believe these words? How few comparatively in this land of religious profession really believe? How many flatter themselves that they do, while manifestly unconverted I If you believe God's testimony to you as a guilty person, it would mark that His grace has awakened your soul. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Have you bowed in faith to the truth and the grace so plain in the gospel? Do you not see that God could afford to justify you righteously through Christ's blood, and in no other way? Till our Lord died, not a single sin was taken away; when He died and rose, a work was accepted by God which would leave not a single sin on any believer. But even God's children for the most part are only half-believers. They have generally slipped back to the condition of Jews before the Lord came. They think the efficacy is lost every time they break down, and that they must begin over again.

How sad to be in a measure always learning, and never coming to a knowledge of the truth The Jew, under law, could not avoid this constant need of renewal; but what are Christians about, who so forget the gospel? It is unbelief of what grace now gives through Christ Jesus. What can more evidently weaken and darken the glad tidings God sends us? All spring is gone for a holy walk; and you cannot worship in the Spirit unless you know that all is clear between Him and you. Far am I from saying that you are to gloss over any failure. Confess all fully, and at once; but go to Him with the certainty that He welcomes you to His presence which you must have slighted when you sinned. But are you not in living relationship with Him, and with the Lord Jesus, His Son? You have dishonored Him; but if He denies not your relationship, you should not, who need it more than ever for the restoration of your soul. Perhaps you may have said, or done something wrong this morning. But is there no appointed remedy, no adequate way, of getting practically clear? Certainly there is. Retire into your closet, shut the door, and have it out with God. It is not that He revokes His grace, and that you are back in the world, but that having partaken of His grace in the gospel, you should humble yourself deeply for any sins into which carelessness has let you slip.

(To be continued)

Errata

p. 235, col. 1, line 39-for xvi. read xv.

p. 235,. col. 1, line 41-for xv. read xvi.

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Punished Monthly

The Atonement: Part 3

I am told it was to justify us, to make us righteous. All true; and His not sparing His own Son was the infinite love of God. But what was Christ doing and suffering then in order to that end? We must not slip away from it by confounding the effect in believers and the work or suffering which wrought that effect. God does look upon believers with complacency as righteous in Christ, and the result is far greater and more admirable than all that Dr. W. speaks of. He has obtained for us to be partakers of His own glory according to the counsels of God; but the wrath of God, His judicial wrath against the sin, was removed by Christ's being made sin for us and bearing our sins, not by our state in consequence of it, which is the effect of that. “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” If the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, He was substituted in drinking that dreadful cup for us. He was our (believers') representative there. God dealt with Him so because of our sins which were laid upon Him, and for that reason peace comes to us; not because we became actually righteous: our peace is the effect of His chastisement. You may quarrel with the word “appease,” and confound judicial stripes with “hatred;” but do not let us lose what Dr. W. does not deny, though he argues it away in taking “wrath” for “hatred,” and making the ground of our peace our actual state of righteousness; whereas we are made the righteousness of God in Christ because He has been made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

Our peace is the fruit of God's judicial chastisement falling on Christ. If not, of what is it the fruit? “He was struck when he descended into our sin” (was made sin for us) “by the curse of God's wrath against sin.” The sin then, according to Dr. W., has been dealt with in wrath. Whose sin? If Christ descended into our sin (an expression by no means agreeable to me), and the curse of God's wrath came upon Him for it, it is not simply God's loving us. Righteousness dealt with sin in wrath, and thus God's anger (the curse) was executed, and so peace was made: His anger was turned away from us. When He who knew no sin was made sin for us, the curse fell on Him. Never was Christ so precious to His Father as then. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.” But this is not the question. Did not “the curse of God's wrath” which was due to our sins come upon Him? He had no sin; He was delivered for our offenses, and “the curse of wrath” came. If as our representative He bore our sins, and God's curse and wrath came upon Him, He was our representative so as to have the curse upon Him, for because of those sins He so suffered and drank the cup, and the anger was over and gone, as regards all that believe. The anger against our sins had to be executed, and so ceased; with us it would have been eternal condemnation, but through a mediator's stepping in and taking the curse He has redeemed us from it. Christ has redeemed us from the curse by being made a curse for us. Infinite love, no doubt; but whom did Christ represent when “the curse” came upon Him for sin? Was it God when He laid on Him our iniquity? That He was God, and else could not have done it, is all blessedly true; but it is not the question. Did He represent God in suffering the curse which God laid upon Him? He glorified God: that is true (“Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him"). And glorifying God was the, first grand object, and not merely love to us. This was part of the glory, no doubt, but it was not all. It is not simply that God was putting away our sins, but there was a mediator with whom He was dealing about sins. God was making Him sin, and dealing with Him in the way of a curse because of it, when He had “offered himself without spot to God.” Curse and wrath have been executed; and thus peace has been made. It is not without God's dealing with sin, that He has treated us as righteous nor was our being made righteous “recovering our righteousness” (a wholly unscriptural thought) which made God righteously favorable to us; but He held us to be righteous because of what the mediator had done, and this was not representing God, but “the man Christ Jesus” bearing the curse of wrath from God. According to Dr. W. himself, God takes vengeance. He is not unrighteous who taketh vengeance, and He claims it exclusively to Himself: “Vengeance is mine, I will recompense, saith the Lord.” Assuredly this is righteous judgment with Him, not passion or hatred; but it is real. Christ will appear “taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

But through a mediator there is peace made for us. The Red Sea which destroyed the Egyptians was a safeguard, and the way of deliverance, for Israel. And it is to this work of Christ, God looks in sparing and forgiving, not to the state we are in consequence of it, true as that consequence may be. When Jehovah executed judgment in Egypt, He did not say “When I see them righteous, (through the slain lamb of course) I shall not smite them;” nor “I will spare them because they have recovered righteousness.” The blood was to be put outside the house to meet God's eye, and He says— “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). And if I am justified by faith, faith in what? Not faith in my state of righteousness; but faith in the person and blood-shedding and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I do know I am forgiven and cleansed through it, but my faith is not in that; for faith in my being righteous cannot be what justifies me, but faith in Christ and His work does justify me. I believe that God has accepted that work. Anger and wrath rested on me; Christ stepped in between and drank the dreadful cup, and there is no more anger for me. There was wrath outstanding against me, and now there is not: call it “appeasing” or not, that is the truth. It is not that God does not impute my sins, because I am now righteous and there is nothing to impute, but because Christ has borne them. I believe on Him who raised up Christ from the dead, delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification; and having been justified by faith I have peace with God (Rom. 4:24, 25; 5:1).

My present state of righteousness, though it may be the reason why there is no cause for wrath now, says nothing about my past sins, nor can it be the means of clearing them away; but a real work of Christ suffering for sins, the Just for the unjust. That work may be the means of bringing us into that state, so that God looks upon us with complacency. But what did the work? what cleared the sins? Was the cup, and what Dr. W. calls “the curse of wrath,” love in itself? Love to us may have caused its being done; but what was it that was done?

And here I must make a remark as to Dr. W.'s use of Romans. He only uses the second part, which does not treat of our guilt by our sins, but of our state by Adam's sin. “By one man's disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19). The two parts of the Epistle are quite distinct. The division is between verses 11 and 12 of chapter 5. The first treats of our sins and guilt, the second of our sin and state before God; and, though the cross be the remedy for both, yet the difference of its use is very marked. “Christ died for our sins” is what avails in the first part. Believers have died with Christ in the second; they are no longer before God in the flesh. They are “in Christ,” “in the Spirit.” Their status is changed, they pass (having been “crucified with Christ”) out of Adam into Christ. Now this does refer to their standing or state. The first part of the Epistle on the contrary deals with the guilt of their own sins, the sins they are guilty of as children of Adam. This first part escapes Dr. W.'s attention altogether, and it is in this that “propitiation” is found (Rom. 3:25), not in the second. Christ died for us in the first part; in the second we are “in Christ,” not “in the flesh.” He was “delivered for our offenses” in the first part (Rom. 4:25); “our old man is crucified with him” in the second.

Now I shall have some remarks to make on the use of the second part; but I here notice the first. After having spoken of the guilt of Gentiles and Jews, and that God's wrath was revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, the apostle tells us that God had set forth Christ “for a mercy-seat through faith in his blood to declare his [God's] righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed.... to declare at this time his righteousness, so that he is righteous and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25, 26). It is not man's righteousness, but God's in justifying a sinner. God's wrath has been “revealed from heaven.” Guilt was there, and consequently wrath was there. Guilt is put away, so that wrath should not and does not reach the believer, though one guilty and deserving it. How so? Christ is presented to man as “a mercy-seat,” where he could approach God according to “God's righteousness.” And how so? “By faith in his blood.” And to whom was the blood presented on the mercy-seat, as on the lintel and the two door-posts? To God. It was not God seeing man's righteousness, and so having nothing about which to show wrath, but having Christ's blood presented to Him which caused the wrath due to man, as guilty, to be passed away, and not to be inflicted. God sets forth Christ in this character to poor sinners in the gospel to reconcile them; but what He presents is that the blood has been presented to Him in the sanctuary, and He sees the blood and passes over, and man can approach through faith in Christ's blood.

All this aspect of the truth is passed over by Dr. W. He turns to the state of those in Christ in contrast with Adam, the second part of the Romans, and speaks of “justification of life” for those who have died with Him, and forgets the justification of “the ungodly” through faith in the blood shed for our sins. My faith, in coming to the mercy-seat, is in that which has been done for the ungodly, in the blood which has been carried into the holiest, and not in my state as having “recovered righteousness,” so that there can be no wrath against me. God justifies the ungodly through faith in Christ's blood; not the righteous, because there is no ground for wrath. Justifying is even wrongly used. Even in the second part of Romans it is “of many offenses to justification;” not complacency and absence of wrath, because man has righteousness. And wrath is not spoken of there as ceased; but that, if He has reconciled us when enemies, having been reconciled “we shall be saved from wrath through Him” in “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

Nor was it merely forgiving our transgressions that was the effect of Christ's work. He “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” The great day of atonement tells us the same tale and the same truth: only then it was signified by “the veil” that men could not go into “the holiest;” whereas now the believer can boldly. Dr. W. affirms that there was but one meaning of both goats; but this is contrary both to the institution and to the explanation in Hebrews. As to the institution, one was called” —Jehovah's lot,” the other was for the people: not that the first was not in view of the people's sins, but there was the double thought—(1) of Jehovah's glory and nature in the holiest; and (2) the removing the sins of the people according to their responsibility, gone where they never should be found. Nothing can be more distinctly set before us than this double character; it is one that runs through all the sacrifices and estimates of sin. They may be measured by the responsibility of man as God's creature, and the law is the perfect measure of that, and that is a question of positive guilt, and, in general, sacrifices at the brazen altar were in view of that; or they may be looked at as fitting me for the presence of God in light. Into this the Jew could not come, whereas we have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the new and living way.” The goat whose blood was shed and Azazel were practically one; but it is evidently a double aspect of Christ's atoning sacrifice: the slain goat was “Jehovah's lot,” the other not. This surely meant something: all God's nature and character were connected with it.

I say this not as an opinion, but as stated of Christ as the ground of His being in glory as man. “Now” (when Judas went out) “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” (John 13:31). So in John 17:4, “I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was.” God's glory and the glorifying of Christ are the effects of the cross here, not the putting away of our sins only, which lowers it in its character, blessed as that truth is for us. It was thus “Jehovah's lot.” So He was “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin [not the sins] of the world.” “He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26), a matter clearly distinct in Hebrews ix. from “bearing the sins of many” (ver. 2 8). The blood was presented to God. God had been dishonored by sin, His fair creation all spoiled and come under the bondage of corruption, His race of predilection (man, in whom His purposes were) the slave of sin and Satan. His glory had to be retrieved, and in the very place of sin; thank God that such a thing should be! As a man, Christ did so. All that God is was glorified, man perfectly obedient at all cost, the Father perfectly loved, His majesty, truth, righteousness against sin, and love to sinners, all brought out and made good through the blessed One who suffered. We bless God unceasingly, and shall forever, that it was in that which was done for us. Still we have the Lord's words for it that it was “glorifying God,” where He makes no allusion to its being for us. Only man is gone into God's glory through it.

Hence the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat and before it, and also on the altar of incense; and this was the way of approach to God, not merely of putting away guilt, for we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and the incense altar is our place as priests. Nor though it was done in respect of the sins of the people, was it the cleansing them or forgiving them. It was what belonged to God, the holy place and the altar of incense, the place where God dwelt, which had to be cleansed, not the people. It was not forgiving them, though the basis of that, but “Jehovah's lot” cleansing the place of His presence, showing the character of Him who dwelt there who could not bear sin and uncleanness. Then the people's sins were laid on Azazel and carried away. But what concerns “Jehovah's lot” is all left out in Dr. W.'s scheme; it is reduced to what was accomplished in Azazel. Even as to this Dr. W. in his general thought loses its real force, and makes it a reconciliation of the world, an abstract putting away of sin for all, not the actual, real, effectual, putting away of sins; but of this I will speak further on, when I come to speak of certain passages which he quotes not according to the word of God.

My object now is to show that the great effect of the distinction of the two goats, and, I may add, of what was done with the bullock, whose blood was employed as one of them, is lost and set aside by Dr. W., and the bringing us to God in the holiest (not merely clearing the world) dropped—the highest and especial blessing of the saint; and this done, not by forgiving His people, but by presentation of the blood to God, by whom the excellency of this sacrifice in which He has been glorified in respect, yea, through the very means, of sin, is justly estimated. It is far more than forgiveness, it is being brought to God; and by that which is done Godward, in respect of what God is, not manward, though the occasion be what man has done. It is entirely arbitrary to say that Jehovah's lot and the goat for the people have the same signification, though both refer to the sacrifice of Christ. In one, God was glorified in respect of the sin that had come in, in the other, the sins were removed from the people. It is not all, that men be forgiven: sin must be removed out of God's sight; and He has done what accomplishes this blessed purpose. It is what reveals and glorifies God Himself in a wholly new way.

Moreover, the just anger which rested on the guilty on God's part is removed as to the believer by the sacrifice of Christ, call it “appeasing” or what you will. It did not change God, but it changed the relative attitude of God towards the sinner. What He is, and will be in judging, actually towards the sinner, He is not towards the believer, not because of what the believer is become, but because of what has been done for him in the sacrifice of Christ. As when God said when He smelt the sweet savor of Noah's sacrifice, “I will no more curse;” not because man was become good, for He adds “for the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth.”

In sum, then, the blood was presented to God for Him to see, on the door, on the mercy-seat; and Christ entering in not without blood was the witness that He had suffered, borne the sins, been forsaken of God, drunk the dreadful cup. That was not love, it was death, the curse, what Dr. W. calls “the curse of wrath” (an expression I should not use), and consequently God acted differently towards the believer from what He must have acted, had this not been done; not because He was changed, but because He was not; but acted according to His constantly righteous nature. He did not love us because we had recovered righteousness, but when we were sinners. The system of Dr. W. diminishes the love, and alters its character as much as it does the righteousness. God smelled a sweet savor, the odor of rest, and said, I will no more curse, and this is called ἱλασμός, ἱλάσκεσθαι, and the mercy-seat ἱλαστήριον in the New Testament. Now, those words refer to God. They involve forgiveness and favor, but favor obtained by the sacrifice of Christ presented to God. I do not say love caused, for it was infinite love gave the Son to be the lamb of propitiation; but that love wrought by a work which maintained the righteousness and holiness of God in forgiving and justifying: and, though the word may be used for the effect, it is applied to God in the New Testament, and its meaning is “propitiation” or “appeasing.” “Reconciling,” which is applied to believers, is a totally different word, καταλλάσσω, καταλλγή. The ἱλασμός was offered to God, ἱλαστήριον was where His blood was placed on God's throne, and it was God who was the object of ἱλάσκεσθαι, man of καταλλαγή (1 John 2:2; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 17); and as to καταλλάσσω.), see Rom. 5:10. 11; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Col. 1:20, 21. As to the last word Dr. W. is right. It is man, not God, who is reconciled: but Dr. W. has failed in giving its force to the former.

(Continued from p. 247)

(To be continued)

Purchase and Redemption (Duplicate): Part 1

There is nothing that characterizes fallen man more than the love of change. In an unfallen state there was not even a desire for it, had it been possible. And the very reverse will characterize the rest of glory, that “rest which remaineth for the people of God.” But, in the meantime, one sees man trying to find in change a relief from his misery, to drown all serious thoughts by a continual recourse to some new thing, some fresh effort, some novel experiment. This is so true that certain sages of this world define happiness to be change! Could they really condemn themselves more? They thereby show that they have no knowledge of God; for, as God Himself is the Unchanging One, so He brings His people to know even now peace with Him; yea, a state of calm settled blessedness, of repose for the spirit, of rest in His love, His peace, that would be utterly ruined by the suspicion of a change. They thus tell their own sad tale, that they are far from God, that they taste a misery which is not in any wise done with, but only concealed by constant fluctuation, if peradventure they might find—I will not say comfort, but—forgetfulness of their sorrow. Such is the estate of man fallen: nothing more dismal; and men are afraid to face it: else they might look out of all these shifts of wretchedness to the Unchanging One, Who can change all things for us, and Who so does through His own Son, to give us a blessedness which does not change.

Nor is it only men of the world that we see thus ensnared: Christians are apt to be affected by the thoughts of the age, of those around them. Among the Christians of the New Testament none show this more than the saints at Corinth. The reason is plain. They still admired the refined world and its opinions; and they were, therefore, more or less drawn into the feelings and ways of the world. This appears not only elsewhere, but in that which gave occasion for the apostolic teaching in this part of the chapter. We can understand it well. The condition of a slave (and he was writing about slaves) in those days was no doubt distressing. Take a heathen master, where there was the grossest moral degradation, with Christian slaves, men or women; these could scarcely escape the sight and sound of most defiling communications, they must over be exposed to that which was irreconcilably opposed to the purity of new life in Christ. One can understand how natural the desire might be, in the heart of a slave to be delivered from such a state of things; but to set the heart on a deliverance of this kind is the very thing the apostle here rebukes. He would not have it made an object. Prayer was a different thing, if it might please God to present a door of escape; but the general principle, as laid down by him, points in the contrary direction—to abide as they had been called. And this is said expressly to those who were in the condition of bondage. But it is revealed for their comfort, that God has introduced in the Lord Jesus a principle and a power superior to any and all circumstances in ourselves or around us. Now, our faith is meant to bow to this as God's word for us; and, therefore, the cultivation or allowance of desires for shifting our circumstances is clearly opposed to faith. The duty of a Christian is subjection to God where he is; it is indeed more—confidence in His present interest and affection, in His willingness to direct and to order all for us. May we not detect in ourselves such restlessness that we really treat God as if He paid no heed, nor loved us—at least in our actual circumstances and present relationships on earth? What utter unbelief, and this in believers!

But the apostle takes up these questions of the Corinthians, in order to bring out the mind of God, and to give us divine counsel, while passing through such a scene as this. Therefore he lays down in a few brief words the principle— “Art thou called, being a slave (for such was the “servant” here)? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.” The utmost sobriety prevails. There is no such extreme view as speculative minds have imported into the phrase, that the Christian had better remain a slave, even if he could be free. Such a dream might commend itself perhaps to the student in his comfortable library, but certainly not if he knew practically what slavery meant, especially in heathen times, and for Christians above all. “Let it not be a care to thee:” he must not treat the Lord as if He did not look upon the one He loved, nor enter into his sorrows and condition; let him believe that it was He who ordered all. It is His to arrange, ours to obey; for does it become the soldier in the field of battle to choose for himself what he shall do? Or is it a great matter that he should understand why one or another is put in any post of danger?

To dispose of each rests with the one who commands.

Now there can be no doubt of Christ's love or wisdom, Who brings in what is entirely above all questions, what grace alone could conceive, and what grace now confers. Hence it is of all consequence that we should see the present power of the truth of God; for it is now that we walk by faith, now that we need its comfort and strength. Surely we shall have the results of the divine purpose forever on high; but it is now above all that we need to walk in the faith of His grace, saying, in the hope of the glory, “The slave called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; likewise the freeman called is the Lord's slave” (verse 22). Here we have a blessed pointing out of the relationships of the believer, and this, too, in the true moral order for the soul. It is not first, you observe, that we are Christ's servants; we are the Lord's freemen; indeed, one is a little more, “the Lord's freedman” —he that was a slave, but is a, slave no longer. The Lord's “freedman” is a word not used elsewhere, that I recollect, in the. New Testament.

“Likewise also the freeman that was called is Christ's slave.” He is speaking now of the man whose position and circumstances seemed outwardly so much fairer. But he is Christ's slave. Now it is well to point out, as far as the Lord enables me, the force and the connection of this twofold place. For it is not merely that one applies to the slave and the other to the freeman. I shall endeavor to show that both are true to every saint, and to show, too, what they are as connected with the mighty work of our Lord Jesus; for it is of the greatest consequence to see every privilege having its root in the grace of God, and all revealed in the word of God, and all centering in the person and work of Christ.

Now there are confessedly difficulties on the subject, and they have been felt so long and widely that one cannot but desire for God's children generally a clearer view of the truth: especially as growth in divine things depends on a fuller perception of Christ and His work by the Holy Spirit's use of the written word. God has always so ordered it that the soul is led into the truth by the Holy Spirit, Who will not act apart from the glory of the Lord Jesus. He may use means if He please; but every attempt to perpetuate truth in the abstract is vain. Apart from Christ it cannot be truly known. There is something exceedingly gracious of God in it, because in this way He keeps up the freshness of the truth far His saints. He does not permit it to become a science, which is in fact what theology is and boasts to be. But where, when, ever did a soul drink of the living water in those dry beds? Let me then point out the difference between what scripture calls being “bought” or purchased, as distinct from “redeemed.” It is a familiar fact that the words of the Spirit are not really the same, though frequently confounded in our justly prized English Bible. The translators seem never to have suspected that there was any substantial distinction; and the mass of expositors and preachers have followed in their wake.

Take for instance Rev. 5:9, “redeemed us to God.” Here it is ἀγοράζω, the word, not for redemption, but for purchase; and compare chap. 14:3, 4. It is, “Thou hast bought us to God.” In our chapter it is translated aright, as in 1 Cor. 6:20. The word “bought” does not mean redeem; but so thoroughly had these two thoughts been identified in the minds of Christians generally that even the difference was quite ignored by the two parties who stand most opposed to one another, as they have been for 1400 years. I refer to the old Pelagian struggle in the fifth century (between those who contended for grace in God to meet the sinner's ruin, and those who held up man's ability to please and serve God if he liked), or, when you come down to later times, to what is commonly called the Arminian and Calvinistic controversy. The remarkable fact is that both agree in taking these two words as equivalent; so that there has been no thought of discriminating, but the habitual confusion of the two ideas “purchase” and “redemption.” The effect of this has been most disastrous; because it hinders, not only the settlement of the question, but all clear and sound discernment of the truths revealed. It is the confounding of the two that makes the chief difficulty. It does not seem to have occurred to any engaged in the ancient or the modern strife to distinguish between the truths conveyed by these words.

What then is the scriptural connection of “purchase?” The apostle is here looking at Christians, slaves as well as those who had never been other than free. Of all he says, “Ye were bought with a price.” They had become by purchase the property of God; such is the effect of being bought. Right of possession had been acquired by purchase. “Ye were bought with a price:” the effect is to make the one purchased His own. If He buys, those who are bought become His slaves.

But another fact has to be considered. In 2 Peter 2:1 we find the solemn prediction that as in the ancient people of God there were false prophets, so there should be false teachers among Christians, and how characterized? “Bringing in heresies (i.e. sects) of perdition, denying the Lord that bought them.” Here it would be unwarranted to say “denying the Lord that redeemed them.” “Denying the Lord that bought them” is true; denying the Lord that redeemed them is false. “Bought” is universal, being true of all, whether they own it or not.

The Lord bought the world and every soul in it: all mankind belongs to Him. It is not merely that He has the earth as the One Who created it; He has also bought it. After sin entered and brought in confusion and every evil work, He bought all here below with a price. So, in the parable of the treasure hid in a field (Matt. 13:44), the man who found it “goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field” —not the treasure but the field. Doubtless it is the treasure which gives him joy, but he buys the field, and not the treasure only. Such is our Lord's testimony.

Just so speaks His apostle as has been already cited. These false teachers deny the Lord that bought them. They refuse to own His title, they treat His blood with contempt or indifference; they gainsay, in short, the sovereign Master, the One to whom they belonged, not merely by creation but by purchase. Consequently their guilt was most aggravated. It was wicked to fly in the face of His creation glory; how much more to deny the Lord that bought them!

The same twofold circle of His belongings is taught elsewhere also. Thus, “As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh” (John 17:2)—here it is the Father giving the Son Whom He loved, the title over (not merely the chosen nation, or the elect in general, but) “all flesh.” Then follows the inner circle of blessing, “that He may give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” Thus we have concentric circles in the earth, the universal one of “all flesh,” and the special one of all Christians—those that have eternal life in the Son through faith. But Christ was God's gift to the world, not to believers only.

Rom. 3:22 is still more in point, as bringing in what is due, not to His personal glory only, but to His work: “God's righteousness through faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe.” For I utterly reject the mutilated text, which reads no more than ἐις πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας, though so given in ﬡ A B C P, etc. It is easy to see how εις π. might have been confounded with ἐπὶ π., for even Dean Alford (who does not go so far as some moderns in sacrificing every consideration to the oldest external evidence, and, therefore, only brackets καὶ ἐπὶ π.) will have it, that in the theological meaning ἐπί has no real difference from ἐις, and adds to this error the further one of referring to ver. 30 and Gal. 1:1, which in fact prove an intended distinction. But it is to me incredible that an unprincipled scribe should have seen the grave difference which results from the full reading, amply sustained as it is by an ancient and widespread testimony; especially as a similar difference reappears in chap. 5:18, 19, couched in a somewhat altered form, which shows only the more emphatically how well-founded is the distinction. Even Bengel, who rightly accepted the fuller text, understood its value no more than Theodoret and other fathers, who applied εἰς π. to the Jews, and ἐπὶ π. to the Gentiles! No wonder people revolted from so unsatisfactory an exposition, and were disposed to doubt the text on which it was based.

It would have been wiser to have weighed the words more fully, and sought their true force. For it ought to have been plain enough that by εἰς πάντας the apostle was indicating the direction of God's righteousness to all, Jew or Gentile, without distinction. Had it been man's righteousness, it could only, indeed, have been under law, and hence for the Jews alone who had the law; but it is God's righteousness by means of faith in Jesus Christ, and hence “toward all” without distinction, yet for that reason it takes effect only “upon all those who believe,” but on all such, be they Jew or Gentile. It was preached to all, for all were objects of divine compassion, and Christ died for all; but it took effect only on believers in Him, and on all of them. What can be conceived more luminous than the statement, more grave than the distinction, or more consoling than the truth, for those who bow to the gospel and Him whom it makes known? But the distinction is enfeebled or lost in a weightier witness than Dean Alford or the Greek fathers, even in the Authorized Version of Rom. 5:18, where εἰς should be rendered “unto” or “toward,” in 3:22. The apostle is distinguishing the universal tendency or bearing of Christ's act with Adam's in chap. 5:18, from its actual effect in the following verse, which exactly answers to what we have seen in chap. 3:22. How confirmatory of the difference between purchase and redemption, need not be insisted on at greater length.

Take, again, another case in Heb. 2. We do find, undoubtedly, many sons that are brought to glory, and Christ becomes the Captain of salvation to lead them there; but is this all? Did He not “by the grace of God taste death for every man?” Yea, perhaps a little more, “for everything?” This scripture embraces, at least, man universally. Is, then, Universalism true? Destructive falsehood; none more dishonoring to God or ruinous to man! It fundamentally undermines both holiness and love, both righteousness and grace; it virtually dissipates on the one hand sin, and on the other judgment, mercy, and salvation. If there is an appearance of goodness, it is a cloak for Satan's lie. When it is said, “that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man,” it is a witness, undoubtedly, of the rich and wide mercy of God; but does not this very thing immensely aggravate the guilt of those who despise it? Still the two things are plain and distinct—by God's grace the death of Jesus for everyone; and His bringing “many sons to glory.” The truth is guarded on every side. There is the testimony of love to every creature; there is also the full security of the delivered.

There too redemption comes in as distinct from purchase. Redemption is a matter of distinct application and delivering power to the persons or things concerned. It is never merely a testimony of grace, or manifestation of the character of God and His goodness, reaching out to the whole scene He has created. Redemption is the intervention of God (and ultimately for the body) that breaks the bond of the enemy, and delivers the one that was captive. It may be by blood for the soul, but finally by power for the body. Thus it is always treated in scripture. Hence you find, “Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so, whom He hath redeemed” &c. (Psa. 107:2). Whom does the Spirit mean? All mankind? Not so, but Israel only.

Doubtless, when we come to the characteristic truth of the New Testament, redemption has another sphere; and where is this found? Unquestionably it is believers, Jew or Gentile, the church of God. Hence, whether you take up the Ephesians or any part of the later scriptures, where redemption is treated of as a present thing, this is the language: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” or offenses (Eph. 1:7). It is not, therefore, merely a manifestation of grace which may be despised and ineffectual; it is an unfailing work, a delivering operation, a blessing that is actually conferred and possessed: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” It is not merely that we have been purchased through the price paid, which may or may not be owned by our souls. That is, there may be persons bought that are unrenewed, and they may turn out rebels against His rights Who bought them (denying, as it is said, the Master that bought them). It is not so with redemption—here it is an actual, known, and enjoyed blessing, if you speak of the soul. It is true, however, that it is not confined to the soul. In the same chapter of the same Epistle to the Ephesians we read of the redemption of the purchased possession. Here it looks at the inheritance, when the body also shall be changed in the day of redemption. Compare chap. 4:30. As believers in the Lord Jesus now, through His precious blood we have our sins as completely gone as in the day of judgment. It is a mistake to suppose that only then will be the decision of the great question. He that believes on God's Son is not judged; but he that believes not is already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the Only-begotten Son of God. “And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their works were evil.” The object of that day will be to manifest all, and to execute judgment on the unbelieving. It is now or never that in Christ we have life and forgiveness. “By Him,” as it is said, “all that believe are justified from all things,” not merely shall be. If you speak of life, it is just the same thing: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” It is a present thing. So redemption, the forgiveness of sins, is an actual state of possessed deliverance through faith in Christ and His work.

(To be continued)

Jude 4-5

Now it was more important “For,” as he says, “certain men have crept in unawares.” Jude is not quite so advanced, in point of time, as John. When John wrote his First Epistle, the bad people went out—the antichrists went out. But the danger here was that they were within. Certain men had crept in, as it were, unawares. That is, they had fair appearances at first, of course. “They, who before of old were ordained to this sentence” (“condemnation” is not exactly the meaning of the word— “to this judgment”) “ungodly men turning, the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ” (ver. 4).

This, you see, is the prominent thing in Jude's mind: so that, under fair appearances they were undermining moral principles, they were turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. That was the worst evil, as far as morals were concerned, that Jude warns them against in this Epistle; but then it is connected with a doctrinal error. They denied two things. In Peter they only denied one. There they denied the sovereign Master that bought them. He does not say that they were redeemed. It is a great mistake to confound being “bought” with being “redeemed.” All the world is bought, but only the believers are redeemed. Universal purchase is a truth of God; universal redemption is a falsehood. Redemption implies that we have the forgiveness of sins. You see that clearly in the Epistles. Take for instance, that to the Ephesians, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (1:7). Now it is clear that the great mass of mankind have not redemption through His blood, but they are all bought, and the believer is bought too, and we are constantly exhorted on the ground, not only of our being redeemed, but of our being bought. For instance, the Corinthians are told that they were bought. That is the reason why they should not act as if they were their own masters. We have not any rights of our own. We are not at liberty to say, I think it quite right to go to a court of law in order to maintain my rights. No, I am bound, if I am summoned as a witness, to go; I am bound if people go to law with me to go. But on the contrary, to insist on my own rights! why don't I rather suffer wrong? That is the way the apostle Paul looks at it. And who is the apostle? The voice of God—the commandments of the Lord; so that you see I come at once to the question if really I believe what I may talk very glibly about as if I did. The difficulty is to find faith on the earth. As the Lord has said, “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? “Evidently, therefore, this departure from the faith is supposed by that very question of our Lord Jesus. Only here, the solemn thing is that it is pressed on those who once bore the name of the Lord. They may go on for a while, for years; and there may be only some little things that ore feels here or there, or their departure may not take anything like so terrible a form as here, but the question is, Where will it end? When once we get on the incline of our own rights, our own will; when once we abandon His sovereignty, and more than that—that He is not only sovereign Master but our Lord—who can say what may not ensue?

Now here we get closer relationship. Peter, in his Epistle, only supposes that universal place of our Lord. Why does Jude add, “denying our... Lord Jesus Christ?” Because he looks at that special following of those that are called by His name—on whom the name of the Lord is called. Here, therefore, we find a subtler and a deeper denial than the denial of the sovereign Master in Peter. That of course was very outside and very gross— “sects of perdition, and denying the sovereign Master that bought them.” But here, in Jude, it is not only denying the sovereign Master of the world, of everything; but “our Lord,” the one to whom we belong, the One to whose name we are baptized, the One whom we profess to value and acknowledge to be our life and righteousness, and our all-denying Him.

You must not imagine that these things all come out in a short time. There is a little beginning of departure; but when your back is turned to the Lord and you follow that path, where will it end? No man can tell; but the Spirit of God can and does, and He shows that these little departures end in a fearful ditch of the enemy, and so He says:

“But I would remind you, though once for all knowing all things, that [the] Lord having saved a people out of Egypt's land, in the second place destroyed those that believed not” (ver. 5). Here we have the same word “once” again, which as we have already seen is equivocal. It might mean formerly; but that is not the meaning at all, no more than that the faith was formerly given. It means given “once for all.”

Well, he says, “once for all knowing,” not only “this,” but “all about it.” The word “this” is now in critical texts changed into “all things,” and that is exactly the position of the believer—that is the reason why we are so very responsible. Do you recollect what the apostle John says to the “babes” of the family? “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” How did that come to pass? We are not in the habit of regarding babes so wise as that; yet what the apostle says must be true. The only question is—In what sense did he mean that they knew all things? I think the meaning is this. The babe has got Christ just as much as an apostle. Having Christ, he has the truth—all the truth. There it is; and he has also got the Holy Ghost—an unction from the Holy One. Therefore he has got power in the gift of the Holy Ghost; for a babe has that. That is not the privilege only of the advanced learners in the school of Christ.

The babes of the family of God—they have got Christ perfectly. They may draw it out very imperfectly. They may be able to look upon Christ, and speak of Christ in very hesitating terms as far as their intelligence goes, but such is their place and their privilege; and, accordingly, this is what Jude presses here, that “once for all knowing all things.” Where were they now? They were in great danger. You see this in the early beginnings of saints. They are very bright at first; they are not easily stumbled by anything they hear from the Bible; they receive it with simplicity, and delight in it. They, then, are knowing all things, in the sense in which the apostle speaks here. It is not a question of intelligence, but of simplicity and of a single eye, and when the eye is single the whole body is full of light. There you have it—that is by the power of the Spirit of God, and it is not at all a question of their being great adepts in controversy, or showing a wonderful knowledge of the types, or anything of that kind. I call that intelligence. But this is the singleness of eye that looks to Christ and sees the truth in Christ, and is not troubled by the difficulties that people are always apt to feel when they begin to reason—when love gets cold and they have questions of duty. Then they cannot see clearly; then a trial is made on their faith and it is not equal to it; then they begin to get dark, as well as to doubt; and this is just where these saints appear to me to have been—the saints that the writer is here addressing “once knowing all things.” Not only the faith, but these terrible things that are coming in.

However, he recalls them to their remembrance” I will therefore put you in remembrance, though once for all knowing all things, how that [the] Lord, having saved a people out of [the] land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” That is a very solemn thing for the writer to bring before them, and it was meant to solemnize them, to deliver them from that careless state of soul that takes for granted that, because we have all been so blessed and led into the truth, that no harm can happen. Why, on the contrary, beloved friends, whom do you think Satan has the greatest hatred of on the face of the earth? Why, any that are following the Lord with simplicity; any that are truly devoted to the Lord. His great object is to try and stumble such, to turn them aside, to bring difficulties into their minds and make them hesitate. Now, where souls are simple and single eyed, they have not these difficulties at all; but when they don't go on cleaving to the Lord with full purpose of heart, they begin to forget what they once knew. It is no longer Christ applied to judge everything here; they allow their own thoughts, their own feelings, their own mind, their own conceit, perhaps; but, whatever it is, it is not Christ, and now he brings this before them. Why, look at that history that you have in the very beginning of the Old Testament. God had a people once before us, and, what is more, God saved that people. That is the very thing—He did save them. It was not only that He passed over them in the land of Egypt, but there was His mighty arm at the Red Sea that crushed their enemies and saved themselves, and brought them into the desert that He might teach them what was in their heart, and let them know what was in His. But they went back to Egypt in their heart, and they could see no blessedness in Canaan, the heavenly land to which the Lord was leading them on—to Canaan, type of heaven, the land of God's delight and glory; they could see nothing in it, and they did see that in the desert there were serpents sometimes to bite those that refused to learn from God; and, further, that the Lord, if He hearkened to their lusting after flesh, made the flesh to come out of them as it were through their nostrils, as a judgment upon their not being satisfied with the manna, the bread of heaven. All these things happened, and what was the result? All perished in the wilderness excepting two men: Caleb and Joshua.

Now Jude says, That is your danger. You must remember that you cannot tell for certain whether a person has life eternal. Every man ought to know that for himself; every woman ought to know that for herself. If a person believes that he or she has life eternal in Christ, they are called to follow the Lord with full purpose of heart. And if they don't follow Him so, or if attracted by anything worldly, or pursuits of their own from day to day, and neglect the Lord and His word, and neglect prayer and all the helps that the Lord gives us, which we so deeply need for our souls—what will be the end of that? That is just what he is showing them here: “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew all things, how that the Lord having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

It turned out that they were not true believers, after all. The same thing now. “These things happened unto them for types; and they are written for our admonition.”

Christ for the Saint and Christ for the Sinner: Part 2

The apostle told the Corinthians that, “if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” They then had not judged themselves, and the Lord was chastening them. How did He then deal with the Corinthians? “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and not a few sleep.” This did not prove they were unbelievers, but rather the contrary. It was just because they bore His name that the Lord chastised them. He does not execute condemnation on the world yet: it will be judgment in strict unsparing righteousness. There will be no mercy (which men despised) mingling with the just award (which they did not fear). Now there is grace without judgment. Why? Because Christ undertook the judgment and bore it on the cross. Nothing is more righteous, if He undertook it; nothing more gracious, nothing simpler than the gospel; while nothing is deeper, nothing surer, and nothing more blessed. Therein God gives complete rest for your conscience in what Christ has suffered for you, and in His love perfect rest for your heart. You are then free to have Christ Himself to enjoy.

What can compare with the privileges of the Christian? It is not merely hearing sermons, were they master-pieces, nor is it prayer individual or common, although you are sure to fall into sins if careless as to prayer and the word of God too. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” It is through the washing of water by His word. It admonishes and warns, corrects and rebukes, feeds and directs, revives and encourages us; yet how seldom one hears ordinarily about this cleansing by the word. All who believe do speak of Christ's blood; its need is too absolute for such to forget it. But children of God for lack of honoring the word must seem to be lingering about the door, as if they were not free to cross the thresh-hold of forgiveness. There they are and there they stick; which tends at length to the forgetfulness of the purging from their old sins. It is the more sorrowful because we all are called to go forward in enjoying Christ, and to be filled with thanksgiving and praise.

Therefore, my dear friends, I cannot but press this upon your earnest heed, so that you who believe may be enabled to take in faith your due place. Never mind what man thinks; hearken to what the Lord says. Men count it strange if you go back to the standard of the only, the best, way. It looks eccentric when compared with modern thought or practice ever so old since apostolic days. But your wisdom is never to let such talk deprive you of the blessing of walking obediently in the truth. “As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye in Him.” Delivered from a bad conscience and guilty fears, see that you move onward, dependent and confiding. Be assured of His grace whether you fall asleep, or live till He comes, when He will receive us all together to Himself and for the Father's house. Unless you know yourselves purged by His blood, and yourselves the objects of His love, how is it possible to be in a fit condition to worship the Father and the Son? You may fairly be described as no more than lying on the threshold, instead of entering into the joys of God's habitation in the Spirit; for He surely has pleasure in the happiness of His children. As things are, how many Christians are but borderers, whereas Christ suffered for our sins, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” and has given us the Spirit that we might enjoy the presence of God fully even now and here.

Is not this condition sanctioned in the New Testament? What did the apostle mean in desiring that the Colossians should be thanking “the Father, who made us meet to be partaken of the inheritance of the saints in light?” Are you thus thanking Him now? You, if a believer, have eternal life, your sins are forgiven, and yourself are a child of God, with the Spirit of His Son enabling your heart to cry, Abba, Father. To be a “door-keeper” now is falling short of what God bestows on you. Christ not only meets us where we were, but brings us even now in faith where He is—into the holiest. The salvation God gives, not to some, but to all that believe, is worthy of Himself and His Son. He leaves not a single spot or stain upon us; and we are thenceforward called in the strength of the heavenly meat of Christ to enjoy God's love unstinted and perfect. Christ's work may well banish every doubt on that score.

But what does He mean by saying, “I am the root and the offspring of David”? To be David's offspring not even an unbelieving Jew could deny to the Christ. But how could He be David's root when He was born more than a thousand years after David? Yet He says so, which is enough; as the Old Testament scriptures said the same, centuries before. Yes, He was David's root just as surely as, if more wonderingly than, He was David's offspring—the Son of David as well as David's Lord. Compare Psa. 110 and Matt. 22:45. In one person now is He both God and roan, as He loved to call Himself the Son of man, yet of David's lineage, and thus, inheriting Solomon's title. If He had been only of His mother, this, though absolutely needed, would not have been sufficient. For, as is known, she was, through her father Heli, descended from Nathan, who had not the promise of the kingdom. It must be through Solomon's line. Here, therefore, Joseph furnished the missing link, being not only of David but through Solomon.

Hence, plainly as in Luke 3 we have His mother's line, so in Matt. 1 we have Joseph's title, and how it became His indisputably, on Jewish principles. Both met in Himself the Messiah, “Who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen.” He was thus, and only thus, by any possibility, David's root as well as offspring. And yet if he had been Joseph's son in His humanity, as He was Mary's, all would have been sin and falsehood. For He could not then have been God's Son, His Only-begotten; He could not have been God, as truly as the Father is. But Joseph's son, He was legally alone, because Joseph was affianced to the Virgin Mary, though they never lived together till the wondrous Babe of Bethlehem was born, as scripture carefully states, and the prophet Isaiah had no less carefully foreshown.

Truly we may exclaim

“How wondrous the glories that meet

In Jesus, and from His face shine,

His love is eternal and sweet,

'Tis human, 'tis also divine.”

Yet, with an incomparably higher claim, He never had a kingdom here below from God, like David, or Solomon. He came to suffer for sins to God's glory, and thus lay the basis of redemption, not only for sinners and the church now, but for the kingdom by and by, and for all things, God being thus infinitely glorified. Oh, what a wonderful combination of glory, divine and human, past and present future and everlasting! He died, not for that nation only, the poor Jewish people which had Him put to death on the cross. Yet He died for them. He prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” On that very ground they had the gospel preached, and many believed; on that very ground they will have forgiveness in the age to come.

And why are not you forgiven to day? The word of this salvation is sent to you that you may believe it now. “Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” Put not the word of reconciliation from you, but receive it into your souls. Believe that God made Him that knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him.

But my task is to show that there is another and very distinct character in which the Lord next presents Himself. He will verify and make good all that David's root and offspring can impart in His coming kingdom. Yet He is also the “bright, the morning star.” This is never said in the Old Testament about the Lord Jesus. The only morning star we hear of there is His enemy foreshadowed by the haughty king of Babylon in Isa. 14, the last holder of the imperial power which began in “the golden city.” “Thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.... I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the uttermost parts of the pit.” It is because of his great words at the close that he will be given to the burning of fire. This appears to be the true identification of the “day-star, son of the morning,” in the prophetic word of Isaiah. It is not Satan, as many have hastily thought. He is described as a great king, this king of Babylon.

Thus the first king of Babylon is a type of the last who succeeds to the world-power which began then. It is not Nebuchadnezzar whose last appearance in scripture (Dan. 4) is as different as possible, both in humiliation and restoration. Nor did any other fully meet the terms of the prophet; but it surely will be in the little horn of the West (Dan. 7) He is the final holder of this world's imperial power. Such is the man whom Old Testament prophecy describes as the “son of the morning, or the day-star” (Lucifer).

But the Lord for whom we wait now, the hope of the church and of the Christian, reveals Himself accordingly as “the bright, the morning star.” Nor is it the first time. For, in an earlier part of this very book of Revelation, it is said of Him, “I will give him (the overcomer) the morning star.” Here too the Lord distinguishes it from giving him power over the nations; just as we have His own title as “the root and the offspring of David” distinguished from His being “the bright, the morning star.” Authority or power over the nations will be when the Lord takes the kingdom of the world, rising as the Sun of righteousness. But when He adds “and I will give Him the morning star,” it is association with Himself when He receives His own to Himself before that day of outward universal power shall dawn. He thus promises to the overcomer something more, and higher, and more intimate than that. He is going to give us Himself in heavenly blessedness and in love truly divine before that day.

Such will be the morning star. This lovely harbinger is before the day breaks. The sun is not yet risen to dispel the darkness of the night. The morning star, oh how it cheers those who watch while others sleep; and to watch now is what Christians are called to—to wait for Christ, sure that He is coming for His own, not knowing when He comes. This is the precious object for our hearts as we pursue the pilgrim path. It is the hope given us by Himself (John 14) If day by day we make it by the Spirit a living reality, what a power of raising our souls from toil and moil, from snares and troubles, to that which is before Himself! For He particularly awaits that moment. Impossible to be peacefully directed thus in heart, and to be also absorbed with earthly expectations, and clouded with worldly cares.

Whatever be the duty of the Christian, he is bound to do it thoroughly and with thanksgiving to the Lord. But he is not troubled if others run before him as they like; and whatever the trial, he can trust the Lord unqualifiedly. Where “the bright, the morning star” fills the heart, as its outlook, what comparable is anything you can win by labors night and day? The Gentiles seek after meat and drink and clothing; and the world holds out as prizes, gold and silver and precious things; but what are these compared with “the bright, the morning star”? To behold Christ at His coming to share with us His heavenly glory to be in a moment, and forever, associated with Him, before His judgments fall on the nations! Yet, in substance, it is the same hope He gave His own whilst He was here—the hope of His coming again to place us where He is in His Father's house. It is a quite different thing from His earthly glory as the root and offspring of David, when He reigns by and by. He is in His Father's house, whither He went to prepare a place for us. He is coming to give him that overcometh the Morning Star.

Is this then your hope, my brethren? Or are you only occupied with the Jews and their movement toward the land? Many are expecting the world to get better by education and temperance, by art, letters, and science. But all such expectations are vain. Others with better feeling trust to the preaching of the gospel as the panacea in the hand of the Spirit. Have they forgotten that Pentecost has been fulfilled without any such effect on the nations of the earth? Did the world improve when the twelve apostles labored here below, and the apostle Paul beyond them all? Can you imagine that the present generation of Christian preachers or any one else approaches within a measurable degree those whom God set “first in the church?” He who could tolerate a thought of comparison with them could only be a person as ignorant of himself as of them. Yet were they men filled with an abiding sense of their own insufficiency and with a like spirit of dependence on the Lord. They accepted, and held unflinchingly to, the path of pilgrims and strangers, as it was Christ's path. Yet even in their own time, though lingering at first in Jerusalem, they went forth and preached the gospel everywhere, practically through the known world of that day. But nobody then dreamt of its improving the world. The true object and right effect of the gospel is to gather believers out of the world for heavenly glory with Christ. It is quite another thing which, if we believe scripture, will change the face of all here below on the earth according to the purpose of God. It is the coming of the Lord in power and glory. Then He shall chase away its darkness as the Sun of righteousness. Then “every eye shall see Him.” But here He announces Himself as “the bright, the morning star.” Only believing eyes shall see Him thus. It is the Christian's hope; and this is what we are awaiting now—Himself our hope.

Do not tell me that only some choice and intelligent Christians are to be caught up to meet Him. Read 1 Thess. 1, and learn how these young disciples “turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.” Here was living reality. They were waiting by faith for the Lord Jesus to come, and receive them to heaven out of the world, not to improve the world by them. The genuine bettering of the world will be first by divine judgments, and then by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, when Christ rules the universe manifestly. The wicked will be smitten, and Satan for a thousand years shut out from the world. This has never been as yet. Think you that sermons, and tracts, and all the preachers that ever were could shut up Satan for even an hour? But the Lord will do it with ease, whatever the means He deigns to employ. He shall bruise the serpent's head, yea, under the feet of His saints. Satan during His reign is to be shut up in the bottomless pit, before he is let loose for his last temptation, and flung for ever into the lake of fire.

Scripture Query and Answer: Worship

Q.-Will you kindly give me a reply, in the next number of the B.T., to the following question—

Is it a correct assumption that the Father is the object we worship, while the Lord Jesus Christ is the subject of our worship? And should we therefore only worship the Father, and not the Lord Jesus? E.R.W.

A.-Not only does such a conclusion offend every spiritual feeling of the renewed nature, but scripture is plain that the Father will have all men to “honor the Son as they honor the Father.” And so if we trace but even a few instances in the N.T. there is the clearest evidence of what is the mind of the Holy Spirit.

Take Matt. 2:2, 11, when the Magi “fell down and worshipped Him,” presenting “unto Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” Was not this a foreshadowing of what will be, when in the language of Psa. 72 “all kings shall fall down before him” (προσκυνήσουσιν αὺτῶ “shall worship him"), confirmed again as this is by Heb. 2:6, “When He bringeth in the First begotten into the world, He saith, And let all God's angels worship Him?”

Now take another scene, not on earth but in heaven. “A door is opened in heaven” (Rev. 4:1), and in the next chapter we read “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, AND unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped” (v. 11-14). To add but one more scripture—how can one in thought even withhold the homage and worship of adoring hearts from Him who is supreme God—the Christ “who is over all (ὁ ὥν ἐπὶ πάωτων) God blessed forever, Amen” (Rom. 9:5)? And so much the more as we think of the wondrous stoop of grace as revealed in His poverty, humiliation, and death!

Whilst John 4:21-24 blessedly makes known the Father as now seeking worshippers who shall worship Him in spirit and truth, one may nevertheless ask, Can there be this worship of the Father, independently of equal homage to the Son? And the more deeply we enter into what is thus due to the Lord Jesus (and no honor that we render to Him can derogate from the Father's glory), so do our hearts rise to the worship that the Father seeks from those who know His unspeakable gift. Only thus, as would appear, when a soul knows peace and relationship with, and access to, the Father through Him (the Lord Jesus) in [the power of] one Spirit, can we rightly answer to the Father's desire as here made known to us by the Son.

This we should seek by the Spirit to know and enter into more and more, but all is surely consistent with the adoration and homage due no less to the Son.

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Genesis 22-24

“AND it came to pass after these things” (comp. chap. 15:1) are the opening words with which this portion opens.

We are here introduced to a still deeper order of things than in the section just closed, and where is seen the distinct light of God shining, one might almost say, on every step. We survey a type, before which almost every other, even in this precious book, may be considered comparatively a little thing. It shadows such love as God Himself can find nothing to surpass, if even to compare with it. It is the chosen figure of His own love, and this not only in the gift, but in the death of His Son, who deigned to be for us also the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. A scene at once so simple yet so deep demands few, and will not indeed bear many, words of ours on what is happily the most familiar of all types to all Christians, as, morally viewed, it is an unequaled call to our hearts. For we must not overlook it as a most real trial of Abraham's faith, besides being such a precious manifestation of God's own love. For if Isaac was spared the blow to which Abraham fully devoted him in the confidence of God's raising him again to make good the line of promise, the type of death as a sacrifice was fully carried out by the substitution of the ram caught in the thicket and slain by the father.

Then follows the oath of Jehovah founded on it, of which the apostle Paul makes so striking a use in the Epistle to the Galatians, where he draws the remarkable contrast between the one seed and the many. With the seed being Christ, where number is not expressed, we have the blessing of the Gentiles; whereas, when we hear of the seed numerous as the stars and the sand, the connection beyond all controversy is with the supremacy of the Jews over their enemies. If we closely examine the passage, it may be readily seen in all its force. “By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” Here it is expressly the numerous seed; and what follows? Is there any promise of blessing to the Gentiles here? On the contrary, it is a properly Jewish hope— “thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” Is this the special place of Christ? Is it His relation to us now from among the Gentiles? The very reverse. It remains to be verified when He reigns as the Head of Israel, and He will give them power and rule over their enemies. In its day this will be all right.

But what is it that the apostle quotes, and for what purpose? Not this but the next verse, which is of a wholly different nature— “and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The force of the apostle's argument is that, where the scripture referred to says nothing of number, only naming “thy seed” as such, there the blessing of the Gentiles is assured. On the other hand, where He speaks of the seed multiplied according to the most striking images of countless number, Jehovah pledges here the earthly exaltation and the power of the Jews over their enemies—a blessing in contrast with that of the gospel and the argument in Galatians. It is this distinction which the apostle applies to the subject with such depth of insight. The inference is obvious. The Galatians had no need to become Jews to get blessing. Why then should they be circumcised? What God gives them in the gospel and what they have received by faith, is Christ dead and risen, as was Isaac in the figure. (Compare Heb. 11:17-19). Of this seed He speaks not as of many but as of one: this Seed secures the blessing of the Gentiles as Gentiles. Hence, where God speaks of Abraham's seed apart from numbers (ver. 18), there is the blessing of the Gentiles. This is what we really need; but it is what we have in Christ. By and by there will be the numerous seed spoken of in verse 17. This will be the Jew; and then the chosen nation will possess the gate of their enemies, I can conceive nothing more admirable in itself, or more complete as a refutation of the Judaisers who would fain have compromised the gospel, and sunk the Galatians into mere Gentiles looking up to their Jewish superiors by seeking circumcision after they had a risen Christ. But the truth is that both are divine, the Old Testament fact, and the New Testament comment. And as the fact itself was most striking, so the application by the apostle is no less profound.

In chapter 23 another instructive event opens on us. It is not the death of Hagar, who sets forth the Sinaitic or legal covenant: we might have expected some such typical matter, and could all understand that. But the marvel is that, after the figure of the son led as a sacrifice to Mount Moriah but raised from it (the death and resurrection of Christ, as the apostle Paul himself explains it in the Epistle to the Hebrews), we have the death of Sarah, of her who represents the new covenant, not of the law but of grace. And what is the meaning of that type, and where does it find its answer in the dealings of God when we think of the antitype? It is certain and also plain. In the Acts of the Apostles, not to speak of any other scripture, the true key is placed in our hands. When the apostle Peter stood before the men of Israel, and bore witness of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true Isaac, what did he tell them? This—that if they were willing by grace to repent and be converted, God would assuredly bring in those times of refreshing of which He had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. He added that they were the children, not only of the prophets but, of the covenant which God made with the fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

There we have the required solution. For Peter presented after this the readiness of God to bring in the blessedness of the new covenant, if they by grace bowed their stiff neck to the Lord Jesus. But they would not hearken: they rejected the testimony, and finally put to death one of the brightest witnesses. In point of fact, the unbelief was complete to the testimony of the Holy Ghost founded on the death and resurrection of Christ; and, in consequence, that presentation of the covenant to Israel completely disappears. It was the antitype of Sarah's death—the passing away for the time of all such overtures of the covenant to Israel. Nowhere do we hear of it renewed after that. No doubt Sarah will rise again, and so the new covenant will appear when God works in the latter day in the Jewish people. But meanwhile the presentation of the covenant to Israel, as that which God was willing there and then to bring in, which was the offer then made by grace, completely passes from view, and a new thing takes its place.

So it is here. Immediately after the death and burial of Sarah a new person comes before us another object distinct from what we have seen; and what is it? The introduction of a wholly Unheard of Personage, called to be the bride of Isaac, the figuratively dead and risen son of promise. It is no more a question of covenant dealings. The call of Rebecca was not thought of before—altogether a fresh element in the history. Then again we have the type, so familiar to us, of Eliezer, the trusty servant of all that the father had, now the executor of the new purposes of his heart, who goes to fetch the bride home from Mesopotamia. For as no maid of Canaan could be wedded to Abraham's son; so he, Isaac, was not to quit Canaan for Mesopotamia: Eliezer was to bring the bride, if willing, but Isaac must not go there. Nothing is more strongly insisted on than this, and to its typical meaning I must call your attention. The servant proposes a difficulty: Suppose she is not willing to come: Is Isaac to go for her? “And Abraham said unto him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again.” When the church is being called as a bride for Christ, He remains exclusively in heavenly places. He has nothing to do with the world while the church is in process of being gathered from among Jews and Gentiles. He leaves not heaven, nor comes to the world to have associations with the earth, while it is a question of forming the bride, the Lamb's wife. In relation to the call of the church, Christ is exclusively heavenly. It is the very same Isaac who had been under the sentence of death sacrificially. As Isaac is raised again in figure and must on no account go from Canaan to Mesopotamia for Rebecca, so Christ is to have only heavenly associations, and none with the world, while the church-calling is in progress. Ignorance of this, and, yet more, indifference to it where it seems to be known, must make the Christian worldly, as communion with Christ where He is makes one heavenly-minded. It shows how irretrievably false any position is which necessarily connects us with the world. The only sure way for the Christian to decide any question aright is to ascertain from God's word how it bears upon Christ and His glory. When Christ has His associations with the world, we may have our place there too; if Christ is entirely outside it, as He is manifestly apart from it now in heaven, so should we be. To judge and walk according to Him is what we do well to cultivate.

Never call it worldliness to discharge aright your duty here below. It is worldly-mindedness wherever the world or its things may occupy us as an object, instead of pleasing and doing the will of the Lord here below. It is not what you are doing which is so important as fellowship with His mind It may be in appearance the most holy work, but if it links Christ and His name with the world, it is only deceiving ourselves and playing so much the more into the hands of the enemy. But, on the other hand, supposing it is connected with the world, there may be the most ordinary act, yet as far as possible from worldliness, even though it were only blacking a shoe. It is hardly needful to say that the power of Christianity may be enjoyed in the heart and ways of a shoe-black just as truly as anywhere else. Anything that is outside Christ will not preserve, and must have the stamp of the world on it; whereas, on the other hand, so great is the efficacy of Christ that if my heart is set upon Him, and seeking after what is suitable to Him at the right hand of God, we become truly witnesses of Him; and, supposing there is real occupation with Him there, this will assuredly give to what we do a heavenly stamp, and impart the truest and highest dignity, no matter what we may be about.

The details of this chapter, of course, it is not for me to enter into now. I have said enough to show the general principle—first, the novelty and unprecedentedness of what concerns Isaac and Rebecca. It was not mere continuance of what had been known already, but a new thing following up, not only the typical sacrifice of Moriah, but the death of Sarah. It is happy when the truth of Christ illuminates consecutive chapters of the Old Testament. We know, alas! what it is to be uncertain and dissatisfied in presence of the written word, which is really simple to the simple, Again, there is the passing away of all covenant dealings. How long we have known confusion ourselves in all this! Sarah is dead and gone for the time. Then the bride is sought and called, and comes; for it is a question of a bride, not a mother. Again, we have Eliezer, the type of the Spirit of God, marked by this—the heart going out towards the Lord, both in entire dependence and in simple-hearted praise as he receives the speedy and unequivocal answer of His grace. Eliezer had his mission from Abraham: so is the Spirit sent from the Father on an errand of love to the church. Prayer and worship accordingly become the members of Christ's body, and should go forth intelligently with the purpose of God, just as Eliezer's prayer was entirely founded on the object that he who sent him had in view. He asked much and boldly about the bride, and nothing else swerved him from this as nearest to his heart.

It is all well for men in an evil world to be filled with enterprises for doing good; but here was one who with the utmost simplicity knew he was doing the best, and this we too ought to be doing. The best of all service, serving the Father's glory in the Son who is to have the church as His bride—this is worth living for and dying too—if it be the will of God that we should meanwhile fall asleep, instead of waiting for the coming of the Lord. It is not merely seeking the salvation of sinners, but doing His will with a direct view to Christ and His love, and accordingly not with prayer only, but the character of it naturally marking this. There is more about prayer in this chapter than in any other in Genesis; but besides there is more distinctly than elsewhere the heart turning to Jehovah in worship of Him. These two things ought to characterize the Christian and the church, now that Christ the Son of God is dead and risen, and we enjoy the immense results by faith—prayer and worship, but prayer and worship in unison with the purpose of God in the calling of the bride, the church; not mere isolated action, although that may have its place and be most true for special need. Still the great characteristic trait should be this—that God has let our hearts into His own secret in what He is doing for Christ. He has given us to know where Christ is and what He, who deigns to be the executive here below (the Spirit), is doing for His name in this world. Consequently our hearts may well go forth in prayer and praise in connection with it, turning to our God and Father with the sense of His goodness and faith. fullness now as evermore. The New Testament shows us what the church was and should be; and there is not a chapter in Genesis which sets them forth as a type in anything like so prominent a form as this. Is it casual, or the distinct design of God that here only in these incidents should be the picture of bridal expectancy and confidence in the love of one not yet seen, and of going forth to meet the bridegroom?

W.K.

The Atonement: Part 4

I must now show that connected with this there are a number of statements made by Dr. W., which are from traditional habits of thinking, not from scripture. The question of sin has wholly lost its judicial character in Dr. W.'s mind. He sees only the moral condition of the sinner. “He who continues in sin is struck by God's wrath against sin, nor is this relationship altered by the death of Christ.” “To be carnally minded is death; if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: whenever there is sin, there is unchangeably God's wrath, as surely as God is a righteous God, and salvation from this wrath is only to be obtained by justification from sin” (Rom. 5:9). Now all this seems fair enough; but it misrepresents the case, because it confounds the ceasing to be carnally minded (that is, my state) with justification from sin, which is wholly and solely by the work of another, though it may be accompanied by a work in me which does change my state. But the whole statement is a mistake as to the gospel, even as to the love shown in it. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them:” and this was when the blessed Lord was here in the world. It was God's way of dealing when the trespasses were there. And, as to justification, it is not the morally righteous He justifies, but the ungodly (Rom. 4:5). We are “justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation [mercy-seat] through faith in his blood.”

Do not let the reader suppose that this implies continuance in sin. That question is met by Romans 6, but not by weakening what goes before in Romans, which really treats the judicial question, but by adding the truth of a new divine life, and death to sin, in Christ. It remains that by one man's obedience many are made righteous. The world will always charge this as being an allowance of sin; but the believer who has a new life knows better. A holy nature, Christ become his life, hates the sin; but this is holiness, not righteousness; and one who is convinced of guilt does not reject the forgiveness and justification of the guilty, because he knows he wants it, though he may be kept a long while from peace because he confounds the two.

Dr. W. does not deny, it will be said, that Christ was a propitiatory sacrifice. He does not. What then does a propitiatory sacrifice mean? Was it offered to God or to man? Whom does it propitiate? It is not that man is “versöht” (reconciled), but “sühne” (propitiation) presented to God. He accepts the words but denies the thing; for example, “If we regard the plain words of scripture respecting Christ's redemption, we find them treat solely of man's reconciliation.” “It is not, God laid His wrath on Him.” This is quite untrue. I do not use the word wrath; but stripes, chastisement. He was wounded, bruised for our iniquities, I read. Dr. W. will answer, It was that we might be healed. Thank God it was. But what happened that we might be? Dr. W. calls it “the curse of God's wrath.” How can he say God did not lay His wrath upon Him? His mind is running rightly on our being reconciled, and divine love in it; but he contradicts himself when he admits that, when Christ descended into our sin (was made sin for us), the curse of wrath came upon Him. And what he says just afterward is unfounded and contradictory to itself and scripture. “It is correct to say that God's justice was satisfied by Christ's atonement, not any demand of God's justice for vengeance over the sinner, for God loved him, but the demand of God's justice for the sinner's justification as a condition of his salvation.” This is the merest sophistry. What did that justice demand for this justification? Was it not, according to Dr. W., “the curse of wrath” on Christ? Call it “curse of wrath” or just vengeance against sin, is alike. “Vengeance is mine: I will recompense, saith the Lord'; ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις ἐγὼ 'νταποδώσω, λέγει κύριος. נקם ושלם belong to God, and wrath is revealed now from heaven against all ungodliness, not merely temporal judgment, as in the government of the world. What was the “demand of God's justice for the sinner's justification? Was it “the curse of wrath” or not? I use in both cases Dr. W.'s words. All this reasoning of Dr. W. avoids the question. The object of the atonement he tells us, was to remove his (man's) sins; but this was not all: there was glorifying God; but I only ask now, What in the atonement did remove the sins? Was it “the curse of wrath?” and, if so, whose wrath?

But I turn now to expressions in which Dr. W. states his system, for which he has no warrant in scripture: “I find it everywhere written that God through Christ reconciled the world to himself.” It is nowhere so written. If it be said, Let us have “faithful adherence to the words of scripture,” I read, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world.” But, so far from its being reconciled, “the world knew him not,” and “his own received him not.” It is the statement of God's dealing with the world when here, and goes on then, as a distinct thing, to “the ministry of reconciliation” in the apostle; Christ, who knew no sin, having been “made sin for us.” But in no way or form does it say the world has been reconciled. 2 Cor. 5:17, 18, distinctly shows that it is those who belong to the “new creation” who are reconciled, and what follows shows that it is by the word; and that God in love is beseeching men to be reconciled. God could not beseech the men of the world to be reconciled if they already were. Again, in Col. 1:20, 21, he speaks of the time to come, when the whole order of things in heaven and earth will be reconciled, and then speaks of Christian believers, the holy and faithful brethren at Colosse, “and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” So far from saying the world is reconciled, scripture carefully teaches an exclusive actual present reconciliation of believers. The nearest approach to such a thought does not refer to the efficacy of Christ's death at all, but to the dispensational dealings of God, in which the casting away of the Jews opened the door of grace to the Gentiles as such (Rom. 11:15). In Ephesians again you have peace being made: it was to make of Jew and Gentile together one new man, reconciling both to God in one body, and to that end He goes and preaches peace to the nigh (Jews), and those afar off (Gentiles): but a reconciled world by the cross is unknown to, and denied by, scripture. “The whole world is lying in wickedness.” That the door of grace and preaching peace to it is opened is true; but believers only are reconciled (“you hath he reconciled,” you who are in the faith) according to the positive statement of scripture; and this affects the whole scheme of Dr. W.

Further on, replying to Mr. Welinder, Dr. W. confounds the sovereign love of goodness to a fallen world with love of relationship. Both writers assume the world to be reconciled, and neither sees the difference of special affections and absolute general goodness. I ought to love everybody; but my love to my wife and children is another thing. God loved the world; but believers are His children, and the church of God Christ's bride and body. We are “God's children by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3), “sons of God,” and Christ loved the church and gave himself for it “to present it to Himself as God did Eve to Adam. I cannot go farther into this here; but it does show that in both these writers theology and tradition have eclipsed the light of scripture.

Dr. W. says— “The atonement spoken of in scripture was an atonement by which the sins of the world were removed.” No such thought is found in scripture; that He is ἱλασμός for the world is said, but that the sins of the world are removed is wholly unscriptural. If so, there could be nothing to judge men for; for they are judged according to their works (Rev. 20; 13), and the Lord says— “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins;” and the apostle, “Because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.” It is said of Christ that He is ὁ ἀίρων, not of the sins, but of “the sin of the world,” and that He baptizes with the Holy Ghost, not that he has taken away our sins. This taking away of sin will be completely fulfilled only in the new heavens and the new earth, and He, as Lamb of God, is this taker away; but that the atonement spoken of in scripture was one by which the sins of the world were removed is utterly and wholly untrue.

Further, there is no statement that God gave His Son that the world might recover the righteousness it had lost in the fall—not even that Adam had righteousness before the fall; nor had the world or Adam any union with God before the fall or after; nor is “union with God” a scriptural expression or thought at all: “dwelling in God and God in us” is, but not union. It is utterly unscriptural. Union with the glorified Man, Christ, is scriptural, and that is by the Holy Ghost. We are “members of his body,” but this is the result of redemption (see Eph. 1; 2); and this, even Adam unfallen had not at all. In what follows, both controversialists again, confound His love of divine goodness towards the world and the love of relationship, and that love of goodness towards the world, as such, with individuals personally; and though I doubt not, thank God, that God sought and seeks wandering sinners in their sins, Dr. W. forgets that in the prodigal son it was a returning prodigal come back to his father, to whom a father's love was displayed, and the best robe put on him, and he received into the house. The first two parables in Luke 15 give the love that seeks, the last the love that receives; and though all be grace in this chapter, and the father went out and sought the elder brother (the Pharisee), he never got what the father's love gave to the prodigal—his own fault, doubtless, but still true—he had neither kiss, nor best robe, nor ring.

When Dr. W. says “God's point of view is solely as follows: God loved the fallen world, and, moved solely by His own love, sent His Son to save and restore us from sin,” he states what is quite unscriptural. That God did so love the world is true, but that God's point of view is solely this is not true. Nor is it said that He might remove its sins. God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life; but His point of view is not solely this. This phrase, “that whosoever,” &c., is carefully repeated, and what Dr. W. states is not even put first; but “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever.” That is, the scripture carefully states two things, and puts that first which Dr. W. leaves out. I am not objecting, assuredly, to God's love being the source of it. I sympathize with Dr. W. wholly in this; but his statement is contrary to scripture on the point in question. It obliterates what was needed that this love might be made good. He will say, “I have stated elsewhere that the atonement, a propitiation, was needed.” He has; but he has, through pre-occupation with his side of the question, cast out what he fancies opposes this, and falsified its nature, and here falsely stated that God's only point of view is, “God so loved;” whereas, in the very place where this is said, another point of view is formally and in the first place stated, and the blessed Lord is revealed in another aspect in which He had to be presented to God, on man's part, for atonement. “So must the Son of man be lifted up.” Had not God given His Son, there could have been none such: but this is added as the way by which the first was accomplished. But there was need that man, for man, should be presented to God, and that “lifted up” —that is, take “the curse,” drink “the cup,” (suffer according to Dr. W.'s words) “the curse of wrath.” Love provided the Lamb in God's Son; but the Lamb must be slain, presenting Himself as man, “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” on man's behalf, and take “the curse” and drink “the cup” from God's hand, forsaken of God. This was not in itself love; but it was propitiation. God's love (though the work was so perfect for His glory that the blessed Lord could say, “Therefore doth my Father love me”) did not show itself to Christ then.

Dr. W.'s statement as to Eph. 1 is also ungrounded. He says, “it means;” but it is not what it says, but quite a different thing; and the meaning Dr. W. gives to it is wholly and utterly below and aside from God's thoughts in it. Saving us “through” is not choosing us “in.” Our being “in Christ,” “the last Adam, the Second man,” is a great scriptural truth, not yet in Dr. W.'s mind at all. But, for that very reason, I do not go farther with it here.

As to His justice suffering a violation, and so demanding an indemnity, I should not perhaps so express it. But “the Son of man must be lifted up” is just that; “the chastisement of our peace” being upon Him is just that. “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.” His being “made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” and countless other passages, state clearly what Dr. W. denies. Righteousness declared in the remission of past (that is, Old Testament) sins is declared by Christ's shedding His blood; forbearance had been exercised to them. This was now proved to be righteous.

Dr. W. has not at all seen that it is God's righteousness which is revealed, when things “worthy of death had been done, and that through Christ's death, God's wrath being revealed as well as His love: “We are justified by his blood,” and using such words as “indemnity will not alter the divine and substantial truth that “by stripes” and “chastisement from God” we are justified and healed; that by His bearing our sins and receiving from God what was due to them, the cup He had to drink, being forsaken of God and dying, we are cleared and justified. He offered Himself without spot to God to be a sacrifice, He must be lifted up; He prayed that if it were possible the cup might pass, but it was not if we were to be saved; and so, call it “indemnity” or what you please, we are saved from wrath through Him His death was an ἀπολύτρωσις, it was a λύτρωσις, without which there is no ἀπολύτρωσις for us. Luke and Hebrews both use the word λύτρωσις which is just redemption by ransom, “losegeld,” or indemnity, “loskaufung.” These are exactly what Dr. W. says is not in scripture. He says “we obtained the righteousness which was a necessary condition for our salvation.” Where is this in scripture? And so far as it is scriptural that “we are made the righteousness of God in him,” how is that so? is the question. “He was made sin for us.”

Dr. W., as I have said, forgets it is God's righteousness. God's wrath is the shape or form assumed by God's justice with reference to sin. I agree. But where was this displayed? Was it not in Christ's suffering “the Just for the unjust,” a λύτρωσις, the substitution of Christ as “made in for us?” And Dr. W.'s argument is all false. He says, Quenching wrath is then the same as quenching justice. Supposing another is punished in my stead: as to me the wrath or punishment is quenched, and by justice; and justice is executed. The justice remains: but in my going free, and there being no wrath for me God's wrath against the sinner by reason of the sin and guilt he lay under, is taken away for the believer by the death of Christ; “by His stripes we are healed.” The Lord has laid on Him our iniquity. We were children of wrath, a wrath which will be executed against unbelievers, but we are saved from wrath by Him; He is our deliverer from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10). And this was by Jehovah laying on Him our iniquity when He made His soul an offering for sin, and by His taking the stripes due to us.

It is written; the whole of Isa. 53 states it. “Christ bare our sins [1 Peter 2:24] in his own body on the tree,” and drank that dreadful cup, the thought of which made Him sweat as it were great drops of blood, “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust” (chap. 3:12), “bore the sins of many,” and, had He not then fully completed the work, must have suffered often (Heb. 9). “He was offered to bear the sins of mans.” Before whom, and from whom, did He suffer? He is gone in “not without blood.” To whom presented? Blood must be shed for remission. Why? Dr. W. tells us it was to cleanse us, to obtain righteousness: but why that in order to such an end? He will say he cannot tell. Scripture says it was a λύτρωσις, an ἰγασμός, and that it was presented to God. No Christian doubts its cleansing power for faith on which Dr. W. insists. But the present question does not lie there.

Dr. W. talks of God loving the world less after, than before, the fall. But all this is misapprehension. There was no world before the fall. There was a being whom God had formed according to His own mind, in which, as the fruit of His own handiwork, He could take pleasure, and view with complacency. After the fall there was not. It repented the Lord that He had made man upon the earth and grieved Him at His heart (Gen. 6:6). “The friendship of the world is enmity against God.” “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” God could not have the love of complacency in a fallen sinful creature as He had in His own perfect handiwork; and the plain proof is, “He drove out the man.” What was that? His love, in the sense of sovereign mercy in Himself, was greater after the fall than before. Unfallen Adam did not need it.

But all this is lost in the confusion of Dr. W.'s statement. He confounds God's nature with His relationships in respect of good and evil, and leaves out His righteous judgment. He insists that the law condemns sin against it as before. Of course it does. But “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” The curse does not reach believers because Christ was made a curse for them. It is a poor cavil to say, Being made a curse was not punishment; it is “chastisement, stripes, wounding, bruising, forsaken of God,” according to the word of God; “the curse of wrath,” according to Dr. W. I do not at all admit that it is only unbelief that is punished: but God's wise order is that it is by faith we have forgiveness and justification; and the unbeliever dies in his sins, and is also guilty of refusing the Son of God and despising mercy. His whole theory and all its applications are false, because he holds without a trace of scripture that the atonement has removed the sins of the world. His confounding the distress of unrepentant David (“while I kept silence”) with Christ's taking the curse atoningly, shows how far a false theory can lead into darkness; and that is all.

(Continued from p. 261)

(To be continued)

Purchase and Redemption: Part 2

Thus then we have, with the absolute certainty of God's word, the answer to that which, however simple and certain in itself, has proved a difficulty so general among men. Purchase is universal, but does not necessarily secure that all who come under it now will submit to Him Who bought them. Redemption is not of the same extent as purchase, being not universal but partial. It is effectual and complete, as far as the soul is concerned, even now for those who believe. Consequently it is not at all true that, because purchase is universal, redemption should be. On the contrary, scripture shows that redemption is predicated only of a sphere which is limited, whereas purchase is an unlimited one. “The creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth together and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but even we ourselves, having the first-fruits of the Spirit groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption, [to wit,] the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:21-23). God will reconcile all things, never all persons, but all things heavenly and earthly. Meanwhile believers are reconciled. “You hath He reconciled;” while the gospel was proclaimed, and so it is now, in the whole creation under heaven. Here again the testimony is unlimited, for all is purchased; but then those only have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, who believe in the Lord Jesus.

This, then, as a matter of truth, is as sure as it is plain; but next, we come to its consequences, for every truth has its answer in practice, and speaks to the affections. How, then, does this truth find its reflection in our hearts? and what answer does it look for in our practical path day by day? “The slave called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman” (ver. 22). What is it that sets the captive free? What is it that brings us into liberty? Is it purchase? So far from this is it that purchase, instead of giving me my liberty, rather makes me a bondman. I am His to serve, now and evermore, Who bought me with a price—His own blood. But people do not serve Christ when it is merely a question of being thus bought. There is another blessing necessary to make the claim of purchase felt, even redemption. For the adverse power of Satan has possession of me in my natural state, and he avails himself of my self-will and love of the world. This must be broken; but how can it be? It is by redemption, when the believer, finding life in Christ, is won to God. How blessed, then, to have redemption in Him through His blood! Unless I am thus brought to God through Him Who suffered once for sins, Just for unjust, what is there to set me free? A slave of sin—what is to liberate me? There is nothing in the nature of purchase to set one free; there may be, and is, a powerful motive in it when the spell of Satan is broken, and forgiveness is known in the incomparable grace of God, but not before or otherwise.

Hence, therefore, in dealing with the different classes addressed, the apostle distinctly lays down the truth, “The slave called in the Lord [even if he abide a slave] is the Lord's freedman.” As a Christian, he need not therefore be troubled about his condition of bondage; no change of life, no intervention of others, could give him such a freedom as he has already. He was a slave, but, called in the Lord, he is His freedman; he belongs to the One Who has set him free. Being called in the Lord, grace gives him freedom forever; it is not for a little while, as in the institutes of law or relations of flesh. Consequently he is entitled to take comfort without an anxious thought. What could the world give him? what could money do for him? Either might procure an emancipation; but from either does it not perish with the using? Neither in any way makes him the Lord's freedman; but redemption does. Thus the Christian slave was divinely consoled and cheered. Can we fail to see that the scripture abounds in such filling of the heart with comfort from above?

So in the Epistle to Titus we have a similar thing. “The grace of God, which bringeth salvation unto all men, hath appeared,” is an outburst of thankfulness in view especially of slaves visited by the saving grace of God, which went out to all, “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people” (2:11-14). It is not merely purchase here, but redemption. There was the delivering power. It is not therefore merely a price paid, which might as yet have no answer in those purchased. They had redemption in Christ through His blood. Redemption is a state entered, and not merely a title of Christ asserted. He has bought the world: the heathens, the Jews, are all purchased; whatever their actual feeling or conduct, they are bought, one as truly as another. He has right thereby to every soul. But redemption is our state and not His claim only. No man is redeemed unless there be an effect produced—present deliverance from the enemy and the forgiveness of sins, though it goes beyond. So those that were redeemed of old were not left under Pharaoh; they were brought across the Red Sea, God taking His place with them. In Egypt the blood of the lamb secured Israel, so that judgment did not fall on them; but they were redeemed also, and brought completely out of the house of bondage. Redemption supposes known deliverance, though in the wilderness. Evidently, then, the difference is marked.

But we have to see how the apostle turns to the other side. “Likewise the freeman called is Christ's slave.” He now changes the phrase; he does not say he is the Lord's bondman, but “Christ's.” He might be freeborn, or a master of slaves; but be he what he may, if a Christian, he is Christ's bondman. He is bound forever to Him who shed His blood for him. It is the purchase that is urged now to make the freeman feel that he is Christ's bondman. It is an appeal to his sense of grace, and not merely of authority.

In what, then, consists the difference between purchase to the believer and the unbeliever? It lies in this, that faith acknowledges the purchase, while unbelief despises it and all responsibility founded on it. The believer owns it, and is bound to glorify God in his body, as no longer his own. So we find Israel acknowledging both, in the song of Moses, “Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed ... the people pass over which thou hast purchased” (Ex. 15:13-16). Men may abuse the purchase to their destruction.

But the great truth is plain. The believer is redeemed by the mighty arm of the Lord; he is no longer the slave of Satan, though he was; he is forgiven his offenses, and does not stop there, but he passes into liberty: he is on the other side of the Red Sea, and he can now sing for the first time. Israel's song was only when they were clean out of the land of bondage; and so with the believer now. Redemption is the great thought, from Ex. 14 and onward, but the same song owns that then they were bought; and the soul should reflect upon both: “A slave once, I am become the Lord's freedman, for I am redeemed. But I am purchased also, and so became Christ's bondman.” Such is the double truth for the Christian, as the apostle puts it. So it was in the type. Jehovah had interfered as a man of war. It was a fight between Himself and the enemy. Israel never struck a blow, but none the less enjoyed the victory. So with the Christian now. He is the Lord's freedman. He was the slave of sin and Satan, but the Lord has delivered him from all that kept him in bondage; but of what is he reminded—he who had known only human liberty? He is bought with a price, and Christ's servant; he is glad to acknowledge such bonds of love. For “Christ” is the name that speaks of grace, as the “Lord” at once recalls supreme authority. The believer acknowledges himself bondman, not merely as his duty to the Lord, but as that in which his heart is concerned; it is his boast, his joy, his glory, to be Christ's slave; and this is the more strikingly said of him who never knew other than freedom in the world. Both in truth were the Lord's freedmen, and both Christ's bondmen; but it comes out with the greater emphasis when the distinction is put as the apostle puts it here.

Even in the Revelation, as we have remarked, the thought as here is purchase rather than redemption. In chap. 5:9 it is the worth of the Buyer, and consequently the value of the price paid, that is celebrated, not the liberated state of the redeemed. Hence in the text ἡμᾶς; is not found—an omission as hard to account for, unless it be the truth, in A., 44, Aeth., as it is easy to understand its insertion in all the other witnesses. The Lamb is worthy, because He was slain, and purchased to God by His blood out of every tribe and tongue, etc., and made them to our God a kingdom and priests; and they shall reign over the earth. Such is the new song of the elders; whereas ἀπολύτρωσις; is our state, rather than the costly act which bought us. In chap. 14:3, 4, though the connection of course differs, the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion were bought from the earth and from men. From these they were purchased, so that they did not belong to either; but it is not the act or state of deliverance they were in. Way. may go a little further, yet it is not properly “redeem,” but buying up or retrieving, as in Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Eph. 5:16; and Col. 4:5. It is not the state of deliverance we enjoy, though this be the result for the believer, but that Christ bought out from under the law those once under it to make them His own; or ourselves exhorted to make the fitting time or opportunity our own. Cf. Dan. 2:8 for the two latter references.

Thus we see our place with reference to these two truths. Beyond doubt, the Lord has, in His infinite goodness, interfered for us in our utter guilt and ruin. On the one hand, He has dealt with Satan, who had us enslaved, and brought us clean out of that bitter bondage; on the other hand, we are bought with a price, and have not a single right that is not swallowed up in that purchase by Christ's blood, not only what we have, but ourselves also. “Ye were bought with a price.” The Corinthians were dull to see and own what it is to be thus bought. Therefore, the Spirit takes up the truth again and again. In chapter vi. they were reminded that their body was the temple of the Holy Ghost, which was in them, which they had of God; but, moreover, that they were not their own, for they were bought with a price: therefore were they to glorify God in their body; they belonged to Christ the Lord. Thus, there is not only a divine power that deigns to dwell and work in answer to Christ in the body: to take our own way, or do our own will, is denying God's title to us as His positive possession through Christ's blood. We are His for all the way, and not merely for the end in glory. We are His to please and glorify Him now in this world, yea, in these bodies of humiliation which the Holy Spirit deigns to make God's temple.

Here the exhortation takes a rather different direction, though grounded on the same truth. “Ye were bought with a price: be not ye slaves of men.” There it was urged against pleasing ourselves, especially against corrupt license and impure passions. Here it is a guard against pandering to others, it might be for ease or honor, or to avoid pain or reproach: a great snare to the Corinthians, not to slaves only, but as much, or more, to the free. Hence the force of this word which embraces both. The Lord's freedman should not become a slave of men; neither should Christ's slave. There is not such a thought as enfeebling the Christian slave in serving his earthly master: grace would rather strengthen him to serve with twofold zeal and honor, for he was now the Lord's freedman. How base again for one who, after the flesh free but now bound to Christ as His slave by the deepest and most durable of ties, should become man's slave by compromising his Master, Who had bought him with His blood.

All this and more is clenched in the following verses of our chapter. “But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use the world as not abusing it.” As the verses before deliver the believer from the spirit of change, so these sweep away every thought of a settling down in the world that now is. Not a word brings in formally the return of our Lord Jesus Christ; but it is all really and profoundly based on that great and most influential truth, as a living constant expectation. What does the entire course of the world depend on? It takes for granted ages to come for man and man's progress here below; it thus denies virtually, and often openly, the Lord's coming as a real hope, or even truth. Do you think that that which fills man with vainglory, or kindles his enthusiasm, or nerves him to labor and endurance—that all or any of these things would be found if he believed the Lord was coming? Clearly not. All the aspirations of the world, all that men here pant after as objects, and push forward as ways and means, are founded on an uninterrupted future. They confidently look for amelioration and advance. Just as infidel but credulous geologists, naturalists, etc., imagine an indefinite past here below, so they generally build all their hopes of the progressive and triumphant future, not on God's word, or Christ's coming and reign, but on an assumed infinite series of improved methods and inventions, till they reach a perfection of their own for the human race on earth.

But the coming again of the Lord at any moment cuts up by the root all such unbelieving and presumptuous speculations of men. Hence their angry opposition to that truth. Hence the guilt and shame of the church's failure to walk in that light. Not believing it herself, she says in her heart, My Lord delayeth His coming, eats and drinks with the drunken, and beats most those who have been most faithful in serving Him. The consequence is, she does not confess this grave but also bright testimony of divine truth, as He meant it, before the world; for people must walk and worship in the truth they utter (if even, alas! they do utter it, for many deny it), in order to have power with others. Everything good flows really from faith working by love, the springs of which are in God. When souls show that the heart is filled with Christ, when the ways are according to the truth they confess, then even enemies feel that for them it is a living reality. We know what the blessed hope was to the apostles and the church of that day: what has it been since?

Here, in the apostle's exhortation to all, we see its influence so mighty that, without a word of direct reference, it shows the time straitened. Not that it does not reveal a period of true and holy blessedness for the earth afterward; but there will be a total change, compared with which the greatest of revolutions is as nothing; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, not the earth only but also heaven, and the world-kingdom of the Lord and His Christ shall come, not to speak of the still brighter portion of the glorified saints in the Father's house. Thus the scriptural expectation effectually blots out from heart and mind a long future for man's enjoyment as he is. “It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use the world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away” (vers. 29-31). It is not, of course, that Christ ignores relationship, sorrow, joy, business, or position; but He brings in an energy of the Spirit for each, which, while deepening sensibility, and respecting everything which God established in nature and on earth, raises superior to all and attaches to Christ in heaven about to come again. The apostle thus would have the saint true to Christ on the one hand, and on the other to form a just estimate of the world as already condemned, and only waiting the Lord's coming to have the sentence executed. For not more surely has He been lifted up from the earth and does He draw all to Him, than the judgment of the world is now, though its prince has yet to be actually expelled. The apostle would have us in faith to see the present form passing away.

This brings in a most sanctifying element for the heart. What a guard for the affections even in the closest ties of life! What a check to otherwise unrestrained grief! And, supposing there is an occasion of joy, what solemnity in the hope that the Lord is at hand! Ought the buyers to forget Him? or they that use this world to use it as their own? This is what I would press with all simplicity, the way in which the truth sets us free, holily free, even here on earth, in which we are now to be entirely the Lord's and only for the Lord, waiting for that bright moment when He will make good His every word. Surely now is the time for faith to confess Him fully; now is the time to exhort one another, and so much the more as we see the day approaching.

May grace then give us to rejoice in this that, as He has set us free, so we may enjoy our liberty for His glory and not for ourselves; and as we are bought with a price, so we may refuse to become slaves to men, and gladly acknowledge Christ's purchase, redeemed from the enemy and bought for God from self and all else.

May God thus endear Christ and the truth to our hearts proving how it all abides from the beginning and is needed to the end, to direct and strengthen us in what we do or suffer, in the least things of this life as well as in the greatest that belong to the life to come. Amen.

W.K.

(Concluded from p. 265).

Jude 6-8

“And angels which kept not their own original estate, but abandoned their proper dwelling, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under gloom unto [the] great day's judgment; as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the like manner with them, greedily committed fornication and gone after strange flesh, lie there an example, undergoing judgment of eternal fire. Yet likewise, these dreamers also defile flesh, and set at naught lordship, and rail at dignities” (vers. 6-8).

If we compare this chapter of Jude with the Second Epistle of Peter, we get a very clear view of the precise difference between the two. No doubt there is a great deal that is common in both Epistles. but it is the difference that is of great account in taking a view of Scripture, as has been already observed. In these two Epistles there may be many points in common, but the two accounts are thoroughly different. The same thing is true as regards the testimony that God gives us. The marks of difference are the great criteria.

You will notice that Peter in the second chapter of his Epistle, after alluding to false teachers, alludes to “sects of perdition.” The word heterodoxy gives a different idea. There was something of this difference in the minds of the apostles that ought to be in ours, viz.—a very strong horror of the breach amongst those who belong to Christ and the church that He formed in unity here. There is a certain willfulness that is particularly offensive to God. People now have such a sense of “wrongness,” that they think it a natural thing that people should be justified in doing what they like; but to look at the matter in that sense would be to give up God. Perhaps, men can be trusted in matters of ordinary life to form a sufficiently sound judgment as regards certain things, such as being careful of their food, and careful of their dress, and so as regards other things that belong to this life. We find that God says little on the matter, except to guard His children from the vanity of the world and the pride of life. Still there is nothing technical or narrow laid down in the word of God, but it is quite another thing when we consider that Christ died to “gather together into one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52), that we should allow ourselves to extenuate a willful departure from the right course, by allowing our own notions to carry us away therefrom. Persons should, not allow themselves to do this kind of thing, nor should they think that they are superior to others. To do this is generally a great delusion on their part. You will not find that men who are devoted to Christ set themselves up in this way, because we all know that Christ teaches us to, count others better than ourselves. That may become merely a foolish sentiment by the separating us from a spirit of power and of love, and of a sound mind—we are to judge of everything by Christ. If we let in “self,” we are sure to go wrong. This readiness to see Christ in everything is a happy thing, when it is applied to our dealings with our brothers and sisters. It is not that others are necessarily better than ourselves, it is that we are to count them so in our spirit and in our dealings with them. When Christ is before us we can afford to judge our sins as stronger than those of others. We are well aware of our faults; but it is only when we are much occupied with others' doings that we know much about their faults. The great thing is that we are to see Christ as our guide, and we are to judge ourselves in ourselves; we are also to see Christ in others and to love them, and to count them better than ourselves.

There are other senses in which people get into this spirit of sect and thereby give an improper value to certain views. For instance with regard to baptism. In modern times at any rate, and very likely also in ancient times, there is, I suppose, hardly anything that has troubled the church more than this subject. By some people, a superstitious value is given to baptism, causing them as it were, to despise those who have a reasoning turn of mind, and those who have a strong theory and notions about the Jewish remnant; but, so far as I know, the Jewish remnant has nothing to do with Christian baptism, because the handing it over to the Jewish remnant means giving up our relation to Christ. For Christian people, who are already walking in the ways of the Lord, to be occupied with baptism is in my opinion a most extraordinary inversion of all that is wise and right, because Christian people have passed through that experience already. Perhaps, when the ceremony was performed it was not done in the best way, and we may think, that, therefore, if we had known then what we know now, we might have been more careful in its performance. Baptism is merely an external visible confession of the Lord Jesus, and for persons who have been confessing the Lord for twenty, thirty, or forty years, to be occupied with baptism seems to me to be an extraordinary change from all that is wise. Baptism is an initiatory step; our Christianity begins when we begin our Christian confession—we should, therefore, be going forward—not backward.

Baptism has even been used as the badge of a sect, and time would fail to narrate the many other ways in this regard. But here in Peter's Epistle we have a darker thing referred to, “sects of perdition” (2 Pet. ii. 1). It evidently was not merely a sect, but a sect of perdition. In this case the sect of perdition was evidently something very dreadful, and it was apparently against the Lord, because the words are “denying the Sovereign Master that bought them.” This, as we have already remarked, is not “redemption” but “purchase,” and so takes in all men whether converted or not. It is the denial of His rights over all as the Sovereign Master. So too, Peter begins at once with the flood, the deluge, but there is not a word about that in Jude. That is another great mark of difference to note, the manner in which the denial of the Lord is described, and now we find God's mode of dealing with this matter. So one sees the propriety of the flood being brought in by Peter, because it was the universal unrighteousness and rebelliousness of the whole world. Jude, on the other hand, was not given to look at that particularly, but at the hostility that is shown to the truth and to Christ. Peter looks at the general unrighteousness of mankind and so he says: “For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to lowest hell and delivered them up to chains of gloom reserved for judgment, and spared not an ancient world, but preserved Noah ax eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, having brought a flood upon a world of ungodly ones; and reducing to ashes [the] cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he condemned [them] with an overthrow, having set an example to those that should live ungodlily; and rescued just Lot” etc. (2 Pet. 2:4-7).

What makes the reference again more remarkable is, that Jude speaks of the “angels that kept not their own estate,” but Peter, of “angels that sinned,” and who consequently come under the dealing of God. The flood is upon the world of the ungodly, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are turned into ashes for an example to those that should live ungodlily; but just Lot was delivered because he was a just man. The want of righteousness brought this punishment upon everyone. It is their general ungodliness, but no doubt there is a particularity which Jude takes up, whilst Peter takes up the universality. That is the marked difference between the two. I have dwelt upon this because it shows what the world of modern unbelief is, what is called higher criticism. For these men have been struck by the resemblance between this Epistle of Jude and the Second Epistle of Peter; but with all their boasting of unbelief they have not got the discernment to see that there is a marked difference between the two. These men have been caught by the superficial resemblance of the two Epistles; but when you, as it were, lift up the superficial veil in which these epistles agree, you will find that the colors are different. You will find darker colors in Jude than in Peter, although it is bad enough in Peter, most terribly evil. But it is of a general kind; whereas, Jude was led by the Holy Ghost to devote himself to the peculiar form that wickedness takes when it turns from the grace of God, when it turns to licentiousness.

Hence Jude begins with what is not referred to in Peter at all, and it is for this reason that I read that verse over a second time to-night. I will therefore put you in remembrance “though once for all knowing all things, that the Lord, having saved a people” —mark that— “out of the land of Egypt” —that is the sovereign grace that shows the salvation. I am not speaking of it now as eternal salvation. It was sovereign grace that chose Israel; they were not chosen for everlasting glory, but only delivered out of Egypt. That surely shows a manifestation of God's goodness, who, instead of allowing them to be oppressed and terrorized over by the cruel Egyptians, smote the Egyptians and delivered His people. They came into the narrower circle in some sense of what were God's people, in some sense also they were saved; but they gave up the grace, they abandoned God. This latter is what Jude has particularly in view. He looks at Christendom as being about to abandon the truth. He shows that whatever the special favor shown by God, men will get away from, and deny, it; and further, that, instead of using grace to walk morally, they will take advantage of grace to allow for a kind of immorality—they will turn the grace of God into licentiousness.

Peter says nothing about this, but Jude does; so that it is evident that these learned men (that think they are so clever in showing that Jude and Peter are merely imitators of one another, and that it is the same thing in substance in both—that there is no particular difference, that they are in fact the same human picture), do not see God in either. Now what we are entitled to is to see God in both epistles, and whit is more we should hear God's voice in both. You see then that Jude begins with this solemn fact that the Lord “having saved a people out of the land of Egypt” —I am going now to the strict force of the word— “the second time” (that He acted) “destroyed those that believed not.” The first act was that He “saved” them, He brought them out by means of the paschal lamb, and that was His first great act of “saving” —the first time that God's glory appeared, and He put Himself at the head of His people—He saved them out of the land of Egypt. What was “the second time”? When He “destroyed” them. It is not vague, but it specifically mentions “the second time,” that is the great point. At the time the golden calf was set up, that was the beginning of “the second time,” and God went on smiting and smiting until everyone was destroyed except Caleb and Joshua. That was the second time. This went on for forty years, but it is all brought together in the words “the second time.” God “destroyed them that believed not.” That is the charge brought against them. Their carcasses were falling in the wilderness. In Heb. 3 (as is very evident also in the book of Numbers and elsewhere) there is the threat of their passing through the wilderness—that is one of the great facts of the books of Moses. As regards those that came out of Egypt they came under the hand of God, some perished at one time, some at another, but all perished in one way or the other, until all disappeared, and yet they had all been “saved” out of the land of Egypt by the Lord.

Oh, what a solemn thing to set this before us now! When I say, before us, I mean before the church of God, before all that bear the name of the Lord Jesus here below. This is put expressly as a sample of the solemn ways of God to be recollected in Christendom. Then it also refers to the angels. I think the wisdom of that is evident. Peter begins with the angels and then goes on to refer to the flood. I think therefore if any person looks at the sixth chapter of Genesis he will find a great deal of wisdom in that. I am well aware, of course, that there are many that view “the sons of God” in a very different way to what it appears to me. They are sometimes very surprised, and expect one to be able to answer all their questions. I do not assume any such competency. I admire the wisdom of God in that God does not stop to explain. He feels the awful iniquity of what occurred in reference to these angels. They are fallen angels, and of quite a different class to those Who fell before Adam was tempted.

It appears there were at least two falls of angels, one was the one we call Satan—when man was made, Satan tempted man through Eve. With regard to those ordinary evil angels of which we read in the Bible from Genesis down to Revelation, they are not under everlasting chains at all. They are roving about the world continually, and so far from being in chains of darkness, in “tortures” as it is called here, they are allowed access to heaven. You will see that in a very marvelous way in the history of Job. A great many believers do not believe in the book of Job. You will see there “the sons of God” referred to. What is meant by “the sons of God” there? Why, the angels of God. The angels of God appeared before God. We learn from this that they have access, and include not only the good angels but also the satanic angels. Satan was a fallen angel, but still he was an angel, and when “the sons of God” came, Satan was there too, so that it is evident, from the Book of Revelation more particularly, that Satan will not lose that access to the presence of God until we are actually in heaven. It has not come to pass yet. People have an extraordinary idea in their heads that whatever access Satan had before that time, he lost it—either when our Lord was born, or when our Lord died—but there is nothing of this in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where, on the contrary, it is expressly stated that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against wicked spirits in the heavenlies. We are not like the Israelites fighting against Canaanites. Our Canaanite is a spiritual enemy in heavenly places, that is, Satan and his host of demons or angels.

Grace Be With You

It is not without interest to observe how the apostle Paul closes all his Epistles with this desire of his heart.

And indeed, what can be more in keeping with the “grace and truth” that came by Jesus Christ, whose followers we are, that we should desire this encompassment in a world like this, and amidst the many distractions of Christendom?

It is not standing on our rights; for what rights have we? If our due deserts are rendered to us, what can the issue be but “the lake of fire?” But sovereign, unmerited grace to those who deserved it not in the least, has been manifested, and from first to last we are debtors to mercy. Where there is the due sense of this in the soul, we shall not be exactors but benefactors. We shall not demand, but be glad to serve, even as “the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Oh! how blessed to serve in all humility of mind, for we serve the Lord Christ, and the objects of His love and grace here below. The apostle could say, “I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory!”

Do we expect things to go smoothly? We are called to “forbear one another in love,” and to see to it that we ourselves do not “fail of the grace of God.”

May we, then, consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, and beseech, where called for, “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” Our speech should be “always with grace” (this is the staple) “seasoned with salt.” It is not good to have too much seasoning, but love never fails, and is never inconsistent with “love in the truth.”

May His grace ever rest upon us for His name's sake, Amen. —

Review

“The Argument, a priori, for the Being and the Attributes of the Lord God, the Absolute One, and First Cause,” by W. H. Gillespie. Sixth or Theist's Edition. Edinburgh 1906.

This is a re-issue of what first appeared in a less extended form in the year 1833, and a lengthy survey of the work was given in the Presbyterian Review of that year by Professor P. C: Macdougal of the Edinburgh New College, afterward reprinted with other contributions by the same writer in a demy 8vo volume of some 304 pages under the title of “Papers on Literary and Philosophical Subjects &c.” Edinburgh 1852.

To those who are interested in the discussion of the a priori and a posteriori arguments on this subject, the above Review may not be without its use so far as it goes, but for our part we are bound to confess the insufficiency of all these reasonings which can never go beyond a must be, and fail to reveal to us the Being after whom the mind of man, however cultivated, does but vainly grope and confess as “God unknown,” apart from a divine revelation.

Creation declares “His eternal power and divinity” (θειότης); the law, that He is Jehovah, the God of a people brought out of Egypt to be in manifest relationship and responsibility to Him above all other peoples. But it is the Son, the only Begotten, who reveals the one true God, and Himself the Sent One of the Father, the true God and eternal life. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is” (not, must be). Man needs a divine revelation, and this God has given in His word—but more, He has revealed Himself in a Man walking this earth in perfect dependence on and pleasing His Father in all things—the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

It is no longer man left to his inferences or conclusions that there must be a divine Being (he knows not who), but that there is; and what a Being—One made known in the Lord Jesus Christ, and since redemption declared as “light,” and “love.” Do you, my reader, know Him thus?

We regret to have to call attention to the falsity of the argument of this book, in that it seeks to land us in annihilationism of those who die in their sins. Now, we do know froth. the Savior Himself, who says, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen” (John 3:11), that there is a gehenna where “their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). This is not annihilation, but the reverse, and to those; “that tremble at His word,” this testimony is conclusive.

Yet have we the veil drawn aside when time has ceased to be, and eternity now runs its solitary and never ending course (Rev. 21:1-8). “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” For man, there is no extinction of either spirit, soul, or body. The first death, if we may so term it in distinction from the “second death,” is the separation of spirit and soul from their bodily tenement, the latter finding its receptacle here, whether in earth or sea, whilst the former depart, if of believers, to be with Christ in paradise, as was the dying but believing robber (Luke 23:43); whilst the spirit and soul of the unbeliever await in hades the place of their torment meanwhile (Luke 16:23, 1 Peter 3:19) the “resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29). Then the sinner no longer in his disembodied condition, but again in his composite state (of spirit, soul and body), is cast into the lake of fire, where he has his everlasting association (and punishment) with the devil and his angels for whom (not, for man) this everlasting fire was prepared (Matt. 25:4-11. Oh, why evade the plain testimony of scripture, and of Him who “came to seek and to save the lost,” that we might be with Him forever, and praise Him and the Father for the “great” and “eternal salvation” now “proclaimed to the whole creation which is under heaven” (Col. 1:23)? “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”

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The Poor Brother: Part 1

“IF thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold... And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him, a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee... And if thy brother [that dwelleth] by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant.. And if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him” (Lev. 25:25, 35, 39, 47, 48).

The misery of man's impoverished condition has in one way or another contributed to many an Old Testament history. God has from the beginning shown us that He alone has the power and the will to restore to man all that he has lost, and more too. This gracious purpose has illumined many a dark page in Israel's record, and furnished a key to what would otherwise have been enigmatical. Two illustrations may suffice, “And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this her son whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that [was] her's, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now” (2 Kings 8:5, 6). Israel will get all back through the Son raised from the dead, and now alive again.

Again, “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever for the good of them, and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good; and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul” (Jer. 32:37-41). God will undertake his people's cause in that day and will fulfill all His own promises.

There is no more interesting study for our hearts renewed by grace than that of tracing in the Old Testament scriptures God's gracious ways with man from the beginning, that is, after the fall. If Adam had remained in his original position there would have been no such history to set before us, no revelation of God beyond what His works afford (Psa. 19) Driven from paradise, that he might not be cursed with perpetual existence in a sinful state, God follows Adam and begins to work for his blessing, finding in his necessitous and ruined condition the opportunity (which Eden would not have supplied) of gratifying His own heart in exalting the lowly, enriching the poor, filling the hungry with good things, and ultimately meeting man in fullest grace, wherever the soul turned to God in the truth of its condition. Where any sought to approach by a way of their own, denying or evading the truth, it was to their own confusion, and rejection (Heb. 11:4). This grace now flows from the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and brings into divine relationship. Yet it was only when the page of man's history closed at the cross that the “gospel of the grace of God” could go forth into all the world. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It is the full and blessed answer of God to the infinite work of His beloved Son. Man's distressed condition was in evidence in the days of our Lord wherever He turned. John 5 bears witness to this fact as also to man's inability to remedy his condition, let alone to pay the price of his redemption (Psa. 49).

“The Son of man must be lifted up.” It is this redemption by purchase that is the subject of Lev. 25, the expression occurring four times in the chapter. “If thy brother be waxen poor,” is not a mere repetition of words, but suggests a different condition of misery each time it is used, both progressive and accumulative. The cross must be our starting point for such a study, not the incarnation. Whilst it was instruction for the guidance of the people of Israel in the first place, it had nothing to do with law as a principle, the maintenance of strict righteousness and the requirement of it from others, but points to the principle of grace upon which God had dealt with Israel and on which He expected His people to act towards others. It begins where law ends; its place here is significant. It is after the law had spoken its last word, and the priestly system had been fully developed, and before, too, the solemn declarations of judgments that should surely descend upon the transgressors of the covenant as in chap. 26. Here, in our chapter, is that which points clearly to the resources of grace in God and the intervention of the Kinsman Redeemer.

Let us trace its development. “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession” (ver. 25), a deplorable condition for an Israelite to be in surely, and one which should have had a voice to his conscience, for Joshua before leaving the scene reminds them that, “Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which Jehovah your God spake concerning you... all good things are come upon you which Jehovah your God promised you” (Josh. 23:14, 15). His inheritance then had become alienated from him by reason of sin; it would return to him at the set time as ordained by God to which the jubilee points (ver. 10). So it has been with the nation, nevertheless millennial days shall see them restored to their possession, dwelling in safety and rest under the peaceful reign of the Son of David.

But this is true in a far deeper sense of all mankind. He has lost his inheritance, forfeited life and become subject to vanity. The more our natural knowledge is increased and the wider our range of observation, the more painfully shall we be impressed with the sense of man's deep poverty. “He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” His enjoyment of the present is seriously interfered with by the painful sense of the uncertainty of life. He cannot even depend upon the little span of life usually allotted to him. This is felt the more keenly in proportion to the expansion of the intellect and the elevation and refinement of his tastes. No doubt our first parents realized this more fully than the majority of the human race which has succeeded them. What should have been joyous occasions for Eve, were mingled with sorrow which doubtless recalled the divine sentence upon her sin. Every occurrence of death must have been a painful and humiliating experience for him whose disobedience had brought death into the world. Mark 10:17-23 supplies an illustration of a numerous class of people who are not burdened with the sordid cares and privations incidental to poverty, nor besotted and degraded by common vices. Perhaps, however, they are the more conscious of their real poverty and nakedness before God. This man was very rich and very earnest, for he came running to Jesus. Very religious also, as appears in the question he put to the Lord, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.” Was not this equivalent to asking the terms upon which he himself might redeem his alienated possession? Yet he was not prepared to pay the price, and so went away sorrowful; nevertheless the Lord in His answer let fall a precious invitation of grace for faith (had it been present) to fasten upon. “Come follow Me,” was an intimation that “He who was rich” had already become poor that we through His poverty might be rich. He might be, safely trusted to act the part of a Kinsman Redeemer, “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him” (ver. 35). The Israelite, sensible of his poverty might make many attempts to right himself, but all to no purpose. Obligations could not be fulfilled, promises alas I made only to be broken. Such is man's position morally before God. A bankrupt—vows and resolutions may be formed but never to be realized; “his hand faileth” (see margin), he is “without strength” (Rom. 5:6). The case of the impotent man—(John 5) illustrates this condition of evil in one who is conscious of it and struggles ineffectually to get the blessing. “While I am coming, another steppeth in before me.” It was the position of Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Death had robbed her of every natural help and protector. A widow, and childless, her inheritance gone also, it might be the beginning of the barley harvest, but hardly for her! What a type of Israel in the last days, broken hearted and suppliant, returning to the land, of promise, counting no longer on their own strength, as at Horeb— “all that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” but solely on the mercy and faithfulness of God! The presence of Ruth (one shut out of the congregation of the Lord unto the, tenth generation) makes it still more striking a type of the spared remnant when, attracted by the mercy and, goodness of Jehovah, they are reestablished in the inheritance by their Kinsman Redeemer. Boaz, a mighty man of wealth ("in him is strength”), takes up their cause, disposes of every other claim and leads into rest and blessing amongst the people of God. This naturally leads on, to the glory of the earthly kingdom, and will surely receive its full accomplishment.

But while all this awaits another day for Israel and this poor blighted world, it is made good now, individually and spiritually, as sinners hear the gospel and believe. It does not in any way apply to the church collectively as the bride, the Lamb's wife, but is a blessed and simple illustration of that which is realized by every weary heart that comes to Christ. Grace is the very foundation of the gospel, but there must be power too. There is the grace that seeks and finds, but when He has found, die taketh it on His shoulders and bringeth it home. The Good Shepherd undertakes everything for us and charges Himself with our burden. So, in this narrative, Ruth is invited to “sit still... for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day” (Ruth 3:18).

The redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:14) involves the interests and glories of our Redeemer in a way beyond all our thoughts or desires as poor and needy sinners. True the awakened sinner fears coming judgment, and is in anxiety as to his personal salvation from divine wrath, which shuts out for the time every other consideration. Yet it is no question of that here, but of the redemption of the inheritance and subjection of the habitable earth. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it, in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-21). “What day thou buyest... thou must buy also of Ruth—to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.” The Son of man will be supreme over the redeemed creation, the world to come whereof we speak. In that day shall there be perfect harmony between the various parts of God's creation, The reconciliation “of all things on earth and in heaven” shall be so complete that the Lord Himself will delight in His people. “I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel (seed of God). And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, My God” (Hos. 2:21-24).

G. S B.

In Safeguard

1 Sam. 22:23

“Abide thou with me, fear not, for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard” (1 Sam. 22:23). Such were the words spoken by David, God's anointed king, when Saul's persecution of him was so bitter that he speaks of himself as a “dead dog” and “a flea;” but, notwithstanding, he is able to promise security to one whose family had all been slain, and who sought David's protection. Blessed picture of Him who could say of those appointed to death and judgment, but who hear His word and receive Him, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:28-31). Yet, “they took counsel together for to put him to death;” but when they came to take Him, and Himself the “I am” spoke, “they went backward and fell to the ground.” Still He, Jesus of Nazareth, whom they sought, and who would give Himself up to the murderers in order to carry out His Father's will, commanded, “If therefore ye seek me let these go their way; that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none” (John 18:8, 9). No, not even Lazarus, whom the chief priests would so have liked to have put to death, but could not.

It is something to be in the present assured possession of eternal life, but there is that which, as a child of God called to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, one needs here below, namely, preserving grace for the present, to keep us true to Him who has loved us at such a cost to Himself; and in this, the Christian, whilst distrustful of self, is entitled to have the fullest confidence, for “He is able also to save them to the uttermost [or, ‘completely' margin R.V.] who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). Yea, and after such a fashion that we can adoringly say, “Unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, forever and ever, Amen” (Jude 24, 25).

As far as we are concerned this can only be effectuated by keeping His commandments and abiding in His love, as He could say, “even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10); and it yet remains true that “he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18, R.V.); but we must give heed to and obey that to which we are commended even to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

Some seem to think there is safety in numbers; but how can this be in view of the approaching judgment of that which bears only the name of Christ, and stands but in nominal relationship to Him? God's ancient people were warned in view of the passing through and overflowing of the Assyrian “Associate yourselves... and ye shall be broken in pieces... take counsel together and it shall come to naught;” and were not to say, “A confederacy, to all to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary” (Isa. 8). So may those now, who would keep His word and not deny His name (Rev. 3:8), be assured of that sanctuary of His presence with them—few though they be—who would “call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). They find His “I will come to you” (whether individually, or collectively in the twos and threes) infinitely better than any attempted association could be, where His name, His person, and His work, as clearly revealed in Scripture, have not the first and paramount place. Thank God, “He will keep the feet of his saints... for by strength shall no man prevail” (1 Sam. 2:9). Be it ours then to be walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost (for the two go together), and be so safeguarded that “when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28).

W. N. T.

The Atonement: Part 5

His statement that “Where there is sin, God's wrath is unchangeably manifest as surely as God is God,” is deplorable in every way; for what then is love to a sinful world, which he rightly holds, and declares incompatible with wrath? (And see Eph. 2:3, 4, and following verses as to activity in grace.) It denies the atonement—Christ “suffering, the Just for the unjust,” —and it leaves us always under wrath; for “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” This is the effect of theoretical reasoning instead of simply receiving the scripture. What is said withal in scripture is that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree—bore the sins of many. “Gave us his righteousness” is not found in scripture. If it be, let Dr. W. show it. This is tradition also, not scripture. He is “made righteousness to us of God” (1 Cor. 1:30), is said; but “gave us his righteousness” is never said in scripture. The difference is total; and, I insist, with Dr. W., “I must have scripture, not theological theories.” And let Dr. W. remember, too, that it is Christ suffering (from whom? of whom was He forsaken?), “the Just for the unjust,” that was to bring us to God.

But Dr. W. boldly asks, “Where is it written that man is free from wrath because God in His Son punished sins against the law, so that He can no longer be justly angry with us because of these?” Did Dr. W. ever read Isa. 53? Was not “the curse of the law” the punishment of sins? did He not suffer, “the Just for the unjust”? was He not forsaken of God? what was the cup He had to drink? was not the chastisement of our peace upon Him? is it not with His stripes we are healed? was it not for our transgressions He was wounded? was it not for sins Christ suffered, “the Just for the unjust?” It is, then, “so written.” Did it not please Jehovah to bruise Him? put Him to grief when He was making His soul an offering for sin? To whom? Was He not bearing others' iniquities there? was He not bruised for their iniquities? was it not for the transgression of Jehovah's people He was stricken? Was He not bearing the sins of many there? It is written, and written in both Testaments, that “by his stripes we are healed.” Stripes from whom? “It pleased Jehovah to bruise him.” Oh, it is sorrowful to think that any one, for a theory, can pass over the deep mystery, but revealed truth, that God was dealing with sins, our sins, in the atoning sufferings of the Son of God, “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death”! What is hard to conceive is, how Dr. W. could ask where it is written.

But we are “justified by faith,” and it is wholly unscriptural to apply this to the whole world. Scripture applies it solely to believers. I have already said I entirely agree with Dr. W. that scripture speaks of our being reconciled to God, not God to us. I would insist on it; still I do not agree with what is said of saints and forgiveness; but I make no remark on it. Only Dr. W. seems to have forgotten that the publican's supplication was ἱλάσθητι.. I admit the expression came to be used in a very general sense; but it would not support Dr. W. in his statements, but the contrary. It is based on the idea of the propitiation; of the offended person being propitiated, and so propitious. Nor does his reasoning on 2 Sam. 21:14 meet the citation. I have no objection to his translating עתר to be entreated for the land, as the English translation has it. But why was He אחךי־כן, thereupon, entreated for it? was it not on a reparation done to His judicial authority on the violated engagement made by Joshua and the princes (Josh. 9:18, 19)? The same remark applies to 2 Sam. 24:25. I do not say reconciled; but I ask why, on what ground, was God entreated—that is, heard the entreaty—as to the plague, so that it ceased Was it not because offerings were offered to Him?

His argument as to the ransom money has no force, because the question is, what is the meaning of ransom or atonement through which their lives were spared. That Christ is the only one for eternal salvation no Christian denies.

Dr. W. rests on objectionable words in his adversaries' statements. Thus he alludes to sacrifices inducing a disposition in God. Now I object to these expressions, as does Dr. W. They are drawn from the false idea of reconciling God, producing (so to speak) love in Him; and this is quite wrong, and Dr. W. on this point quite right. But they were not presented to God simply to reconcile or induce a disposition in the sinner. But, if Jehovah was entreated for the land, it is not that men entreated Him but were not heard; but that they were now heard when they entreated. What was the cause of this? The offerings presented to God, or satisfaction made to His outraged justice. When. Jehovah smelled a savor of rest and said, “I will no more curse the ground,” on whom was the effect produced by the sacrifice of Noah? The result was, the ground was no more cursed, Dr. W. will say. No doubt. So the passage says. But why? Who says that it should not be cursed any more? Who smelled the odor of rest so as not to curse any more? It is too plain and intentionally positive to admit of any question. Dr. W. is not correct when he says “the enmity” in Ephesians is the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, to the exclusion of all else. The passage speaks of reconciling both to God; still God's enmity is not spoken of. In his statements about the goats, Dr. W. seems to me wholly to have missed the mark, but I have spoken of it. I only remark here that one goat secured admission to the presence of God according to His holy nature— “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,” as is expressly and elaborately taught in Heb. 9, 10.—and the other, the removing of all the sins of God's people according to their responsibility towards Him; and Dr. W. loses an immense deal if he does not see both; and alas! it is the case with many Christians.

It is utterly untrue that nothing else is said of sacrifices than perfecting us. This is not the case, even in the Hebrews, “for then must he often have suffered.” What and from whom? Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Offered to whom What was bearing sins? what did it mean as to Christ? Did He sweat as it were great drops of blood at the thought of justifying us? The whole work was done, “finished” on the cross, before my conscience was perfected, or even felt the need of it. He is sitting down because the work is perfect; and God has accepted it in righteousness, has glorified the man Christ at His right hand, because the man Christ had glorified Him when made sin upon the cross. It was, I repeat, wholly done, and Christ, sitting at God's right hand in consequence, before anything was done with my conscience at all—done with God alone—and, if it had not been, my conscience could not have been perfected at all. Christ's own glory as a Redeemer depended on it. And even as to us, that is not all its import; He “obtained eternal redemption” and an “eternal inheritance.” If His blood does purge our conscience, it is because “through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot to God.” Yea, He fills all things through it (Eph. 4:9, 10, and indeed chap. 1:23).

Besides, it is not said only, “God so loved the world,” but “the Son of man must be lifted up.” There was an incumbent necessity which He had to hear. So, as we have seen, “Jehovah smelled a sweet savor: and Jehovah said, I will no more curse.” It is totally untrue that nothing else is said about it in scripture than that “God so loved the world.”

Again, I say, in reply to the assertion “that the world was reconciled to God” in the cross, not God to the world, that it is not the manner in which God's word expresses the matter. Not a text can be cited that says anything of the sort. It is wholly unscriptural, and one of the grand mistakes of Dr. W. which misleads him as to everything. Nor, above all when Christ said, “It is finished,” was it said that the world was reconciled. It was the closing of the scene as regards the world which proves they had both seen and hated both Him and His Father, and, in that character of reconciling the world which He bore on earth, it would see Him no more (John 14:19).

I do not accept Dr. W.'s criticism as to “reconcile.” In the first place, ἱλασμός and καταλλαγή are quite different, that is, “propitiation” and “reconciliation.” And this makes his whole argument utterly worthless. But besides, though I may etymologically mean “to cover,” it does not follow that the Piel (כפּד) does, which he would, in many cases, find wholly out of place. The word for covering sins, in the ordinary sense, is כםה as כּםױ in Psa. 32; and, as far as כפּד is connected with covering, out of whose sight were they put? and how? Were they not before God, in His sight, when Christ bore them? and what was the consequence as to Him? Was not this the propitiation In Dan. 9:24 it is not said, “then shall the transgression be taken away," but to take away. To cover sin is quite another word, כםה:. To atone for iniquity is לכפּד

Further, in Heb. 9, as to “once hath he appeared to put away sin,” it is εἰς ἀθέτησιν ἁμαρτίας, “to the removing of sin” (not sins), a wholly different matter, bearing our sins being added as a distinct thing just below. Sin will not be removed, as a result, entirely, till the new heavens and the new earth, though the effectual work which is the ground of it be accomplished.

Nor are the weeks of Daniel accomplished yet. Messiah was cut off after the sixty-ninth, לוּ ואין, and took nothing of the kingdom and Messiah-glory. But to enter into this would lead me too far, though the not giving heed to it has led to much misinterpretation of scripture in Dr. W.'s statements.

We never find the reconciling of the world to God as an effect of the cross. But if sin were “a wall of separation between God and man,” as it was, was not Christ made sin for us, and forsaken of God, according to Psa. 22? and was not propitiation wrought there when He made His soul an offering for sin, and bore the sins of many? What relation was Christ placed in to God then? Never obedience so fully accomplished, never so fully showing love to His Father, but “made sin for us, Who knew no sin.” It is not, I agree, reconciling God to us; but both Dr. W. and his adversaries take “We are reconciled,” for the world, which is wholly unscriptural; the apostle speaks of believers. In 2 Cor. 5 he is speaking of those in Christ and the new creation. He was reconciling the world; He hath reconciled us. The passage is quite clear, and the ministry of reconciliation was then committed to them, and that toward the world, Christ having been made sin for us. In Colossians it is distinctly “you,” that is, the believers at Colosse.

The effect of this error runs through every page. “God was in Christ reconciling” is spoken of as if it was the world which was reconciled, a totally different matter. The statement is wholly unscriptural. “Be ye reconciled” was the apostle's ministry to the world; that is, they were not so yet. The scriptures are “uniform” in not saying God was reconciled, uniform (it is spoken of twice) in saying believers are, and equally uniform in presenting the world as not so by Christ's death, but that His death gave the basis of the apostle's “ministry of reconciliation.” Being reconciled does not mean God being appeased. But what was the basis of that ministry? Was it Christ's taking “the curse of wrath” or not? Was that necessary in order to it, or otherwise the wrath have abode on us? God's love to us was not free “because we were righteous,” but wrought its perfect work while we were sinners. “Hereby know we love that he laid down his life for us.” That righteous state was the effect of something else, and faith in that was needed to become righteous. This theory destroys the sovereign freeness and fullness of love, as well as the propitiation by a work wrought when we were far from God and unrighteous. “God justifies the ungodly” —so scripture says at least—and that “by faith.” Faith in whom and what? Reconciling the “things,” which is yet to come, is of “things,” not of God; but Dr. W. in his explanation, does not give any meaning to “having made peace by the blood of his cross,” which precedes reconciliation.

There are many things I should not accept in Dr. W's statement here, but I pass them over ad not the main point; but he has not explained the ἱλάσθητι of the publican in the temple. I am not insisting on reconciling God, for I do not think it scriptural; but the “making peace by the blood of his cross” suffers in the hand of Dr. W. To say that God is not angry with the sinner, because He loves him, is confusion of mind. I can be angry morally and judicially, I cannot perhaps be righteously anything else, with those I dearly love. Did Christ not love those whom He looked at “with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts”? Wrath may be come upon a. people to the uttermost, and God not cease to be love, and he even who says it—Paul—not have ceased to love them devotedly. The union or meeting of infinite love and “the curse of wrath” is, by Dr. We own admission, the essential character of the cross. Dr. W. must allow me to say that his argument as to the atonement-money or the numbering of the children of Israel is wholly without force. The commandment was not concerning the numbering but concerning giving a ransom for their souls; lest they should die when they were numbered, being brought, poor sinners that they were, personally and individually under God's eye when thus numbered.

I must repeat, because the fallacy is incessantly repeated by Dr. W., that the effect produced is not that by which it is produced. He insists that the work of Christ was in order to reconcile men, to cleanse them, to justify them. Agreed. And he cites passage after passage to show this. I accept them all fully. But this does not touch the question, What was the work done, or what the sufferings endured, that this effect might be produced? What was presented to God? Christ was made a curse for us, made sin for us, suffered the Just for the unjust, was forsaken of God, drinking that dreadful cup, which could not pass away if we were to be saved. The effect was the cleansing of believers; but what was the meaning of that which cleanses them through faith, in which Christ was alone with God that they might be so cleansed? Were not men redeemed from the curse by His being made a curse for them? Was that curse God's love to Him?

And so with the goat of atonement. It was cleansing the holy place and altar, &c. No doubt; but what was done that they might be cleansed? Did not death, in figure “suffering the Just for the unjust,” come in that they might be cleansed, by reason of Israel's sins? As to the two goats, I have spoken of them; but God does not give one explanation of them, as Dr. W. says. It is not said of the first goat, “He shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited;” Aaron having confessed their sins on the head of that goat, not on the other. That both represent one Christ and one cross is true; but in confounding these two aspects of the cross, Dr. W. loses a great deal. At any rate, scripture does not give the same explanation. Is it nothing to have all one's sins taken away, never to be found again? It is Dr. W. who neglects the meaning scripture attaches to these figures.

(Continued from p. 280)

(To be continued)

The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus

To serve man at the expense of God's truth and principles is not Christianity, though persons who do so will be called “benefactors.” Christianity considers the glory of God, as well as the blessing of man; but as far as we lose sight of this, we shall be so far tempted to call many things waste and idleness which are really holy, intelligent, consistent, and devoted service to Jesus. Indeed, it is so. The Lord's vindication of the woman who poured her treasure on the head of Jesus tells me so (Matt. 26). We are to own God's glory in what we do, though man may refuse to sanction what does not advance the good order of the world, or provide for the good of our neighbor. But Jesus would know God's claims in this self-seeking world, while He recognized (very surely, as we may know) His neighbor's claim upon Himself.

He knew when to cast away, and when to keep. “Let her alone,” He said of the woman who had been upbraided for breaking the box of spikenard on Him; “she hath wrought a good work on me.” But after feeding the multitudes He would say, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”

This was observing the divine rule, “There is a time to keep, and a time to cast away.” If the prodigal service of the heart or hand in worship be no waste, the very crumbs of human food are sacred, and must not be cast away. He who vindicated the spending of three hundred pence on one of these occasions, on the other would not let the fragments of the five loaves be left on the ground. In His eyes such fragments were sacred. They were the food of life, the herb of the field, which God had given to man for his life. And life is a sacred thing. God is the God of the living. “To you it shall be for meat,” God had said of it, and therefore Jesus would hallow it. “The tree of the field is man's life,” the law had said, and accordingly had thus prescribed to them that were under the law— “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down to employ them in the siege: only the trees that thou knowest are not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down” (Deut. 20.). It would have been waste, it would have been profaneness, to have thus abused the food of life, which was God's gift; and Jesus in like purity, in the perfectness of God's living ordinance, would not let the fragments lie on the ground. “Gather up the fragments that remain,” He said, “that nothing be lost.”

These are but small incidents; but all the circumstances of human life, as He passes through them, change as they may, or be they as minute as they may, are thus adorned by something of the moral glory that was ever brightening the path of His sacred, wearied feet. The eye of man was incapable of tracking it; but to God it was all incense, a sacrifice of sweet savor, a sacrifice of rest, the meal offering of the sanctuary.

But again. The Lord did not judge of persons in relation to Himself—a common fault with us all. We naturally judge of others according as they treat ourselves, and we mike our interest in them the measure of their character and worth. But this was not the Lord. God is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. He understands every action fully. In all its moral meaning He understands it, and according to that He weighs it. And, as the image of the God of knowledge, we see our Lord Jesus Christ, in the days of His ministry here, again and again. I may refer to Luke 11. There was the air of courtesy and good feeling towards Him in the Pharisee that invited Him to dine. But the Lord was “the God of knowledge,” and, as such, weighed this action in its full moral character.

The honey of courtesy, which is the best ingredient in social life in this world, should not pervert His taste or judgment. He approved things that are excellent. The civility which invited Him to dinner was not to determine the judgment of Him who carried the weights and measures of the sanctuary of God. It is the God of knowledge this civility on this occasion has to confront, and it does not stand, it will not do. Oh, how the tracing of this may rebuke us! The invitation covered a purpose. As soon as the Lord entered the house, the host acts the Pharisee, and not the host. He marvels that his guest had not washed before dinner. And the character he thus assumes at the beginning shows itself in full force at the end. And the Lord deals with the whole scene accordingly; for He weighed it as the God of knowledge. Some may say that the courtesy He had received might have kept Him silent. But He could not look on this man simply as in relation to Himself. He was not to be flattered out of a just judgment. He exposes and rebukes, and the end of the scene justifies Him. “And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.”

Very different, however, was His way in the house of another Pharisee, who, in like manner, had asked Him to dine (see Luke 7). For Simon had no covered purpose in the invitation. Quite otherwise. He seemed to act the Pharisee too, silently accusing the poor sinner of the city, and his guest for admitting her approach. But appearances are not the ground of righteous judgments. Often the very same words, on different lips, have a very different mind in them. And therefore the Lord, the perfect weigh-master, according to God, though he may rebuke Simon, and expose him to himself, knows him by name, and leaves his house as a guest should leave it, He distinguishes the Pharisee of Luke 7 from the Pharisee of Luke 11, though He dined with both of them.

So we may look at the Lord with Peter in Matt. 16. Peter expresses fond and considerate attachment to his Master: “This be far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” But Jesus judged Peter's words only in their moral place. Hard indeed we find it to do this when we are personally gratified. “Get thee behind me, Satan,” was not the answer, which a merely amiable nature would have suggested, to such words. But again, I say, our Lord did not listen to Peter's words simply as they expressed personal kindness and goodwill to Himself. He judged them, He weighed them as in the presence of God, and at once found that the enemy had moved them; for he, that can transform himself into an angel of light, is very often lurking in words of courtesy and kindness. And in the same way the Lord dealt with Thomas in John 20 Thomas had just worshipped Him. “My Lord and my God,” he had said. But Jesus has not to be drawn from the high moral elevation that He filled, and from whence He heard and saw everything, even by words like these. They were genuine words, words of a mind which, enlightened of God, had repented towards the risen Savior, and, instead of doubting any longer, worshipped. But Thomas had stood out as long as he could. He had exceeded. They had all been unbelieving as to the resurrection, but he had insisted that he would be still in unbelief till sense and sight came to deliver him. All this had been his moral condition; and Jesus has this before Him, and puts Thomas in his right moral place, as he had put Peter. “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.” “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Our hearts, in such cases as these, would have been taken by surprise. They could not have kept their ground in the face of these assaults, which the good-will of Peter, and the worship of Thomas, would have made upon them. But our perfect Master stood for God and His truth, and not for Himself. The ark of old was not to be flattered. Israel may honor it, and bring it down to the battle, telling it, as it were, that now in its presence all must be well with them. But this will not do for the God of Israel. Israel falls before the Philistines, though the ark be thus in the battle; and Peter and Thomas shall be rebuked, though Jesus, still the God of Israel, be honored by them.

Angels have their joy over the repentance of sinners. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” It is happy to have this secret of heaven disclosed to us, and to read one illustration of it after another, as we do in Luke 15.

J.G.B.

Jottings of a Bible Reading Colossians 1:12-20

The Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians are somewhat similar in character, both dealing with the highest blessings of the believer, though the former saints were perhaps better known to the apostle than any (he had been there three years), while the Colossians he had never seen. It is remarkable that he introduces himself as a “minister” both of the gospel (ver. 23) and of the church (ver 25), the word being that from which “deacon” is derived, and quite distinct from his favorite title of “bondservant” which implies absolute bowing to the authority of the possessor. What we have here is rather an official servant., How ver. 12 takes us far beyond the general thought of believers! “Made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” absolutely now. The “saints in light” take in all the saints (not merely those who form the church), the thought of the inheritance here being kindred to 1 Peter 1:4 and distinct from Eph. 1.

“The kingdom of His dear Son” —the place where His rights are owned, and quite a different thought from the kingdom of the Son of man (Matt. 13:41), as that again is distinct from the Father's (ver. 43). The kingdom of the Son of man is His future rule on earth; the Father's kingdom is the heavenly part of it, and it is for this the Lord taught His disciples to pray (Matt. 6:10).

The apostle just touches on the question of sins so as to dispose of it altogether, and hastens to his glorious subject, the person of the Lord Jesus.

The “image of the invisible God.” Adam was made “in our image after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26); the “image” he still remains (Gen. 9:6). “Likeness” means “being like;” “image” signifies “representing.” Thus a coin, say of the year 1846, bears the queen's image—it “represents” her; but it is by no means like her—her “likeness.” The Lord is never, and can never be called, the “likeness” of God, for He is God: He was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3), but He is repeatedly called the “image” of God.

“The firstborn of every creature” —not in point of time, but of pre-eminence. Solomon was far down in the family of David, but “I will make him my firstborn,” etc. If the Creator deigns to be born at all, whenever He is born He must be “the firstborn.” “For by (or, “in the power of”) Him were all things created.” The word “by” is different here from the end of the verse; there, it signifies the actual agent through whom the work was done, here, the originator of the work. In His power too “all things subsist” or hold together.

Then we come to another headship, not now of creation but of the church, and to be such He must be the “First-born from among the dead.” It is now the new creation founded on death and resurrection. What He is as Head the Colossians were in danger of letting slip. Hence the way in which the Holy Spirit through the apostle insists on it here.

“For it pleased,” or rather, “For the whole fullness [of the Godhead] was pleased to dwell in Him.” Chap. 2:9 explains how, i.e. “bodily” or “in a body.” It was not alone the Father, but the Son and Spirit too—the whole Godhead—who thus planned and carried out this wonderful scheme to “reconcile all things to him- (or, it-) self; and you (persons) hath he now (already) reconciled.”

Jude 6-8

BUT, as we have seen, these are not all the sins that are referred to here. There is a marked difference. There is a character of iniquity that these angels fell, into with Satan, and so a distinct difference in their doom. These angels fell into a very peculiar iniquity, which is in a general way spoken of in Peter, but in a special way in Jude. They were put under chains of darkness and not allowed to stir out of their prison. They are not the angels that tempt us now. They did their bad work just a little time before the flood. That fact gives the matter a very solemn character. If people want to know how it was done, that I do not know, but you are called upon to believe, just as much as I am. What Gen. 6 does say is that there were “sons of God” upon earth at that time who acted in a way contrary to everything in relation to God, and which was so offensive to Him that He would not allow the earth to go on any longer, and that is what brought on the flood. No doubt too there was a general iniquity in mankind that brought that flood upon them. Man was very corrupt and man was vile, but besides that there was this awful violation of the marks that divide the creatures of God in some mysterious manner so that God completely destroyed the whole framework of creation, and put an end to them and their offspring, so that everyone of them perished. That is what took place there. Of course you will tell me that they could not perish absolutely. No, I admit that these angels could not perish any more than men such as you; but this is what God did with those angels that behaved in that tremendously wicked manner. They became prisoners, they were put under confinement, not like Satan and his host that tempt us to this day, but these particular angels were not allowed to tempt men any more. They had done too much, and God would not allow these things to go on any longer, therefore there was this mighty interference at the time of the flood. Not only the things that generally inflict men. These are the words, “Angels that kept not their first estate.” Their falling was a departure from their first estate. In this very case Satan had not done so, nor did the angels that fell with Satan. But this is quite another kind of iniquity that caused this flood. These angels left their own habitation and preferred to take their place among mankind to act as if they were men on earth, and accordingly, God has now reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day. Nobody can say that this is true of Satan and his host, but if people should think this I do not see how they can read these verses and give such a meaning to them. Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, but these years do not run out until the judgment of the great day comes. Then they will be judged everlastingly.

What makes the matter so striking is that Jude compares this conduct, and this awful opposition to all the landmarks that divide angels from mankind, with Sodom and Gomorrah. We know that the enormity of this wickedness exceeded that even of all wicked people. So here this is what brings them into just a position with Sodom and Gomorrah, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner to these, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering vengeance of eternal fire.”

When we come back to Peter and see what he has to say on this matter, it is, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned.” Peter does not go further than that. Of course we know how they sinned—that is what Jude looks into. But here in Peter it is general— “angels that sinned.” He cast them down into hell and darkness, but that description does not apply to Satan and his host. Therefore it seems there were two different falls of angels; one, Satan and his followers mounting up in the pride of their hearts to God, the other, these angels sinking down in the wickedness of their heart to man, to man in a very low condition indeed. The difference therefore is most marked. God “delivered them unto chains of darkness to be reserved to judgment, and spared not the old world.” There is a connection between the two narratives, as it is about the same time. Peter marks this very point and puts it along with God's dealing with the angels. This point is entirely left out by Jude. Peter says, “And spared not the old world but saved Noah, the eighth [person].”

How is Noah described? As “a preacher of righteousness.” Noah was not a preacher of grace.

The grand truth that Noah proclaimed was that God was going to destroy the world by the deluge. That was exactly the right message. I do not think we are entitled to say he said nothing more, but the characteristic of Noah was that he was “a preacher of righteousness.” This is exactly what occurs in Peter, he does not bring out the grace of God at all, in this chapter. He is thundering at unrighteousness. He is giving with that trumpet of righteousness a very clear sound indeed. He is evidently giving out, in very dark and solemn words, the destruction that shall await the wicked at the great change; and he shows that the same thing has happened before, and he begins, as far as man is concerned, not with Israel saved out of Egypt by God but he looks at the whole world destroyed. He is looking at the universality of unrighteousness, and not at the gradual departure of the people that were saved, saved first and lost afterward. “He saved Noah, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” Peter then looks at the cities of the plain—more particularly Sodom and Gomorrah. He does not say anything about the special iniquity, but looks at it in a general way. “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned [them] with an overthrow, making [them] an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds” (2 Peter 2:4-8).

So that instead of these two Epistles being alike, one of them a mere replica of the other, and an imitation in a clumsy way, they are both marked by most peculiarly different characteristics. And this is what deludes some men with all their criticism; and all the doctrine of the working of mind, and the reasoning of their rationalism, is entirely outside the mark. Man's mind sees certain things in a general outside way and reasons upon that, flattering himself that he is doing something wonderful, and that he is bringing light whereas he is only spreading mist over the precious word of God, nothing but mist and darkness. So that the general difference between the two Epistles is very marked indeed.

Well then, we come now to the bearing of Peter's words upon the present time. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” That is the practical testimony coming out of it. “But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.” It is not, you observe, simply corruptness. No, it is the larger view that is looked at. What would apply to Mahomedanism would apply to Judaism, would apply to heathenism, and would also apply to Christendom. The analogy is, that this particular form of evil requires a particular form of discipline, and that the world will be destroyed not by water but by fire from God in heaven. That is what I think is referred to by the “overthrow,” and the reason of it; “whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord” (vers. 9-11).

Now when we come to Jude it is a great deal closer than all this. What he says is, “Likewise also these dreamers.” I do not know any reason for putting in the word “filthy.” You will see the word is in italics. There is a great deal of wickedness where there is nothing wrong in word. It is only in the idea, there may be nothing offensive, yet it is sapping and undermining all that is precious in those people who live in the imagination of their own hearts instead of being guided by the word of God. Why? Because the word of God is an expression of God's authority, and His will is the only thing that ought to guide us, as well as all mankind. If that is true of man because he is the creature of God, how much more is it true of those whom He has begotten by the word of truth 1 Thessalonians latter are therefore called more particularly to heed and learn the word of God. I do not know anything of more practical importance than that. If I were to give, in one word, in what all practical Christianity consists, I should say—obedience; and that obedience is entirely one of faith, not law. It is characterized in quite another way by Peter in his First Epistle, “Obedience of Jesus Christ,” not obedience of Adam. Adam's obedience was that he was not to touch that particular tree, but now that God has revealed His will we are bound by that revealed will. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. It is not merely you must not do anything wrong in all those ways of men that show how far their heart is from God— “to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Talk about James being legal obedience is his peculiar grace. He is the very one that speaks about “the law of liberty.” The law of Moses was the law of bondage; it was purposely to convict man of sin that he had in his nature, to crush all self-righteousness out of him. Whereas what James speaks of is the exercise of a new life that God's grace gives us, and that love that Christ has revealed that we should be after the pattern of Christ. What was the difference between Christ's obedience and the Israelite's obedience? The Israelite's was, Thou shalt not do this or that. But that is not what Christ says. Of course Christ never did anything that was wrong. Christ was pleasing God in every act of His life, in every feeling of His soul, in all that constituted walking with God here below. That is exactly what we are called here to do. That is what Peter means when he says, “Elect according to foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification (or, in virtue of sanctification) of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood, of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:1, 2).

The sprinkling is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, and the reference is to Ex. 24 where Moses takes the book of the law and sprinkles it with blood, and he sprinkles the people too with blood; everything being thus brought under death. There was the great mark of death having its sway. The book and the people were sprinkled with the blood shed, meaning death to any who failed to obey that book. Now the Christian in a way stands totally contrasted with that; when he is converted his first desire is to do the will of God. When Saul of Tarsus was smitten down, his first words as a converted man were, “Lord what wilt thou have me to do?” And that is what occurs even before we get peace. That is so with every converted person. His desire is to do the will of God. He very little knows himself. He does not know how weak he is. He has got a bad nature counteracting him, but he has yet to learn the operation of that new nature that is in him. How does that new nature come? By receiving the word of revealed grace. I do not say the work of Christ the Savior, because Saul knew very well that he knew nothing; but mercy and goodness struck him down and gave him a new nature that he once railed at. Paul knew Christ was saving him, but he did not know that we have to learn, not only the word of God, but the experimental way of finding our need of it. It is not only the Savior that we want, but the mighty work that abolishes all our sins, and brings us to God in perfect peace and liberty through the redemption of the Lord Jesus. It is not only that I am born again; that I am going to be saved by and by, but saved now. That is the proper meaning of the Christian dispensation that produces this desire even before I know that the blood of Christ is screening me entirely. I want to obey as Christ obeyed, not merely to do something like the Jew, but I am doing it now because this nature in me impels me to do it. It is the instinct of the new man. We have a great deal to learn about our utter weakness, and, consequently the need of deliverance. So we are elect unto the obedience of Christ, and are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, which gives us the comfortable assurance that our sins are clean gone. Hence the difference is very plain.

Now these “dreamers” referred to lived in the imagination of their own hearts, and the New Testament helps these men very much indeed. When the New Testament is taken up by the natural mind, they set up what is called Christian Socialism, which sets up a standard of the gospel and dictates to everybody. You have no right to this large property! You have no right to these privileges that you assume! I am as good as you, and better too! This is the style these men take up with regard to the New Testament, thereby entirely twisting the word in order to gain advantages to themselves and to deny all the truth. It is really dreaming about what ought to be according to their mind, and to claim everything that they covet from those that are in a dignified position in the world “likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities.” They defile the flesh by what they convert Scripture to. They consider themselves the equals of all, and not only that, but speak evil of dignities, so that there is evidently no fear of God before their eyes at all. And this shows that there is something very lamentable in the perversion of the gospel, the perversion of the New Testament. It is their own bad and selfish purpose that causes them to do this. The whole principle of the New Testament is this: those that are of Christ what they do—well! they feel according to Christ. What is that? Why, it is the principle of love that gives, that does not seek its own. Do you think these kind of men have any idea of giving; they only talk about other people giving. So it is all this dreaming, as it is called here. Very justly he launches out into these strong terms, “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”

Christ for the Saint and Christ for the Sinner: Part 3

Scripture describes the present in one aspect as “night.” Well might it be so I since our Lord was crucified. It is the night of man's day. But the light of God's glory in Christ has shone into our hearts, once utterly dark; and we can look up into the heavens, and by faith behold the One who is coming. And this hope brightens the heart before He comes, and makes us long for Him. The first object of the Christian's heart is Christ. This only the better fits us to seek the perishing, that they may be saved; as we have a yet nearer call of love toward brethren in Christ. But the first and deepest affection is and ought to be toward Christ. Our constant and due attitude is to be patiently waiting for Him, that is, for “the bright, the morning star.”

Now, let me ask, Is it so with you that believe? What is the use of any truth if you do not make it your own, and live in it? It will otherwise only condemn you. Who can be said to set a just regard on God's truth if he does not earnestly act on it? We owe all to His love; and in fact it was His love that sent Christ to die and bring us salvation. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). So also just before, we were yet without strength, when “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” This is God's gospel; and the proper hope of him that has received the gospel is Christ coming for us, when also we shall reign with Him. The Old Testament saints shall also share His reign; they suffered in faith. But none had the Bright, the Morning Star revealed, as Christ does it now. Hence see the force of “The Spirit, and the bride say, Come.” For the Holy Ghost is in us now, and leads the church to. say, Come; as he that hears, the individual believer, is invited to bid Christ come. But how could anyone ask the Lord to come, the Judge of quick and dead, unless he were justified by faith and had peace with God?

Beware of the too common view which mixes up the coming of the Lord for the saints, with His appearing to judge the world. Shall I tell you what such a theory is like? It actually makes the Lord, when He comes to receive His bride, array Himself as it were with the black cap of the Judge. To him who knows the symmetry of God's word there can scarce be a sadder perversion of the truth. The Lord coming with a black cap to meet His bride! Oh, what folly man can conceive when he slips from Scripture into his own thoughts!

There are two parts in Christ's coming. First, He will receive His saints and take them to heaven. There is the great importance of the fourth chapter of the Revelation. None can find the church on earth after chap. 3; for the conclusory word in chap. 22 goes back of course, and is no exception to the fact named. The second and third chapters of the Revelation show the churches in seven different types, which furnish a somewhat prophetic view of what it seemed good to the Lord to notice therein until He comes. The next chapter 4 lets us see all the saints glorified in heaven. How did they get there? The Lord had translated them. It does not belong to the purpose of the Revelation to give a vision of the Lord's coming to receive them to Himself. The vision we have in chap. 19 is of the Lord coming from heaven with the saints following Him when He executes judgment.

Confessedly, the only way (and how happily!) believers can be caught up to heaven is by Christ's presenting them there at His coming. The fullest revelation of it, is in 1 Thess. 4, in 2 Thess. 2:1, and in 1 Cor. 15. In these three scriptures, which, ought to more than suffice, we have the proof that, in this way only are the saints to be taken in a moment together out of the world; as they will at a later season leave heaven—at the time of His appearing to execute judgment. There is thus not the least mixing of the Bridegroom's coming for the bride, and of the Judge's execution of judgment on the world. This enforcing of judgment might suit such a cap of condemnation (at least in human style). But think of so grotesque an array for one meeting and marrying a bride, even though he were a judge! Yet this reflects symbolically what such a system of confusion makes of our Lord's coming. It is as contrary to Scripture as to the nature of things. Distinguish the two parts, and you have, Christ coming for His saints, and in due course His other act of coming with them to judge the world.

The distinction preserves the hope in its constant power. We may always wait if there be no revealed events to intervene. Such is the unquestionable impression formed by the Gospels and the Epistles, and confirmed, not impaired, by the Revelation rightly understood. Still more profuse again are the references to His appearing to judge the world, before which important events must necessarily be fulfilled. Then in the Revelation we have the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, to say nothing of signs and solemn facts which the Lord and the apostle declare must be before that day. But the coming for His own is carefully apart, that it may be a simple hope, and not an event of providence or of prophecy. They are both true, but distinct, parts of His Second Advent.

Hence the moment the bride hears of Him as the Bright, the Morning Star, she answers, “Come.” She knows of no revealed delay; she asks for no tokens; she thinks of no preparation further in this world. The church alone (and so the Christian individually) has the Spirit thus guiding in perfect peace and confiding affection before the Lord comes. Whatever outpouring of the Spirit the Jews receive is after He appears. It is therefore eminently characteristic of the bride, the church, that the Spirit is shown here leading her to say, Come. It is not a mere expression of her own feeling (which might be enthusiasm), but a Spirit-given and sanctioned call to Christ, as the fruit in her of His grace and truth. And what has ever wrought in saints effects more acceptable to God than the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ? The bride is, without doubt, the church, longing for Christ to come, and rightly interpreting by the Spirit His way of revealing Himself.

It is not at all doubted that Jerusalem will be in a similar relation comparatively on the earth.

Jerusalem is the bride referred to in the Song of Solomon as well as Psa. 45 and elsewhere in the Old Testament. There the associations are all earthly. Of course it is a figure in either case, meaning the one dearest to the Lord respectively in heaven or earth. There is no real difficulty; only we must not confuse the two. When we have as here, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come,” the words can apply only to the church waiting for Christ. But the words that follow are of much moment, and serve to guard us from over-valuing knowledge in comparison with the possession of Christ by faith.

I have seen people rather proud of their knowledge, which then bred worms and stank; but grace never despises those who may not know as much as others. We ought to love dearly Christ's own who know but little—to cherish them all the more because they are short. Do you not see this in the mother who has a child not so pretty or bright as the rest? She tries to make up for its defect by the most marked affection. She knows that the beauties of the family can get on very well for themselves. Most people like a handsome boy or girl; but the plain one is apt to fare ill with strangers. Not so with the mother, who cleaves to it, so that sometimes even the poor little soul is in danger of getting a little conceited or selfish, because so much love is showered upon it. But without question grace would lead one to care especially for the feebler among God's children, Those who are strong do not well to overlook the weak and please themselves. It is according to Christ that we help the needy in this way, and take pains to lead them on.

Here we have a special addition that illustrates His grace in a practical shape. “And let him that heareth say, Come.” There are not a few who have never understood, never enjoyed, the pledged relationship of the bride. Are they then to be silent? Are they forbidden to welcome Christ's coming? Not so. If one has really heard the voice of Christ, without appreciating the bridal place, let him not hesitate. He believes in Christ and His work, he knows His love already, and that He is coming to consummate His love; for He will change the body of our humiliation, so as to be conformed to the body of His glory, and have us thus like Himself, and with Him where, He is.

Here the word warrants the weakest one “that heareth” to say, Come. This is grace indeed, as it disproves the theorists who slight the deficient in knowledge. They are more to be blamed than those they look down on. “Let him that heareth say, Come,” is an encouraging word to the feeble believer.

But this is not all. Having now set in their place those who answer with bridal love, and such as hear Christ but know not that relationship, the revealing Spirit is careful even here to insist on seal for the gospel, and warm interest in souls who are strangers to Christ and in danger of perishing. There are those of the world or such as look like the world, as the publican did to the Pharisee in the temple. For the publican, not the Pharisee, bitterly bewailed his condition and cast himself on God's sovereign mercy. Far different he who despised and hated him with a bard and haughty bearing, most hateful to God. But the Lord entered into the publican's need; and just because he did not justify himself, he is declared to have gone down to his house justified rather than the other. Some such state seems described in the next words of our text, “Let him that is athirst come.” It is an address to one who is no longer indifferent, but thirsting for what would relieve his soul. He could scarcely be athirst if unawakened to feel it; but a sense of want, a craving for the blessing he does not yet know, there is. And here is the invitation of grace— “Let him that is athirst come.” He is not told to say, Come, as in both the former cases. How could a man in his misery ask the Lord to come? He is just realizing his wants and his ruin; and the question for him was how to assuage his burning thirst. “Let him come.” For the water of life is here to be taken freely. Nothing but life's water can refresh the thirsty soul. Let him come and drink then without money and without price.

The Spirit goes further still and addresses any one willing to hear. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Impossible to meet souls more widely than this. Here truly as it were the extreme verge of gospel grace is reached. It not merely meets the soul that condemns itself and loathes its sins, but stretches out to meet such as still seem careless if peradventure the conscience may he reached. What goodness in God thus yearning after the evil and impenitent, that the very invitation may act divinely on their souls! “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Oh hear the message of love from God to-night if you never hearkened to Him before. He is willing to save you on your receiving Christ. Are you unwilling even to be saved? Tremble to think of Him and of yourself. The bride, as the Christian, does not say, “Come to me.” This is what a certain corrupt woman says, who sits upon the seven hills of Babylon, a false prophetess. Her cry is, “Come to me; there is no salvation outside me; I am infallible.” Never does the bride so speak; only the great harlot. The water of life she has indeed drunk; but she is not the giver of it, and she is jealous for Christ's glory. From Him, not her, the water of life flows, and whosoever will, let him take that water freely. Christ is the spring, the fountain; and there is none other. May God bless His own word. W.K.

(Concluded from p. 271).

Beginning

“IN THE BEGINNING WAS the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Go as far back in eternity as we will, before ever was a creature, angelic or human, in all the universe of God, we are told “the Word WAS.” It never began to be, for “the Word was God” —the Eternal.

“IN THE BEGINNING, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Now we have divine power speaking worlds into being by the fiat of His will. “He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.” That which was “FROM THE BEGINNING” (1 John 1:1), as explained by the writer himself (John 15:27 John 6), takes us no further back than the incarnation of the blessed Son of God. “The Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us, and we contemplated his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”!

Thus all scripture is in divine harmony with itself, and calls for our subjection to it, that we may believe and thus understand.

JUST OUT-NEW EDITION.

"IN THE BEGINNING," AND THE ADAMIC EARTH... Cl. net 116
By W. KELLY.

Published

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T. WESTON, Publisher, 53, Paternoster Row.

The Ministry of Elisha: No. 1

Elisha's ministry in Israel (i.e., the kingdom of the ten tribes) was full of blessing for that guilty people. God recognized that the responsibility for their low moral tone rested mainly with their kings. Not, indeed, that He held the people guiltless—far from it, as is shown in many of the prophets; yet they were destroyed for lack of knowledge, and, as with the more favored kingdom of Judah in a later day, their leaders caused them to err and destroyed the way of their paths (Isa. 3:12). It was so in Israel from the very commencement of their kingdom, so that the sin of “Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,” was their ruin and their snare to the close of their national history. It was this which stood in the way of their blessing as a nation; there was not, from the very beginning of Israel's history, such a proper orthodox profession and recognition of Jehovah's name as He could acknowledge. Their links with God and channels of blessing were severed and gone, or at any rate, their streams were dried up or obstructed.

Their first king had started in independence and self-will, and had cast God behind his back (1 Kings 14:9). He was far too shrewd to attempt to govern the people without religion of some kind. He had so perverted and corrupted the whole economy that God's authority was lost, except indeed nominally, and the authority of the king became supreme in religious matters as in everything else.

Many a noted ruler, as Nebuchadnezzar or Napoleon, etc., has found out the same thing, viz., that it is far easier to rule with a humanized and corrupted religion than to do without it altogether; priests and prophets can always be made by royal decree!

Now it was God's purpose in raising up such an one as Elisha to bring blessing to His poor sinful people. But by what means? Where were the channels along which the blessing could flow? In giving up God, and His worship and service, they had lost everything worth having. The false religion might satisfy the king and apparently strengthen his authority, but no real blessing could by such means be ministered to the people. God often reminded them of what they had lost by their own folly, and would have had them consider their ways and return unto Himself—the source of all true blessing. And how many, like the prodigal, have been brought back that way! “And when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father.” God, in His knowledge of the human heart, counts upon this result being brought about within it, by the power of His Spirit. He sets Himself to meet the need of an awakened soul. He wounds that He may heal. He breaks that He may bind up the broken in heart. “He hath torn, and He will heal us.”

People, alas! get accustomed to the fruits of self-will and the poverty and limitations of man's condition as a fallen creature driven out from the presence of God, and do not consider that he was created innocent without the knowledge of evil. Some in their blind egotism and self-conceit would say the world is steadily improving, although God's word assures us it is under wrath, and that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” “Hath a nation changed their gods which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate saith Jehovah. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:11-13). The self-satisfied condition of the people must be broken in upon; they must be awakened, and made to feel their poverty and the greatness of their loss.

The ministry of Elisha would not have been possible in Israel apart from that of Elijah who preceded him; and we may, therefore, glance at the state of things which led up to, and was in existence during, Elijah's testimony. What then do we find? From a worldly point of view, things apparently were not so bad, for national prosperity had increased. If God would only have left them alone, could they not have got on very well? Cities were built and restored, ivory palaces were constructed. But iniquity had woefully increased with the growth of self-indulgence and pride. God had been forgotten and His word despised. The spirit of infidelity was abroad. The curse of Joshua had been defied in Jericho's rebuilding, with the inevitable result that God's word had been fulfilled to the letter (1 Kings 16:34). The exceedingly corrupt form of worship originated by the son of Nebat did not now satisfy the renegade king of Israel. The worship of Baal had been introduced into Israel, borrowed from the Phoenicians, and had become readily popular among the Israelites, who were ever eager for something new. One feature of iniquity had been succeeded by another, until it became evident that something must be done if the people were to continue any longer in the land. The spirit of infidelity and the unclean spirit of idolatry must be held in check, and God's authority publicly vindicated. We know not how long Elijah had fasted, and prayed, and mourned over the distressing state of things in Israel, nor was he alone. God had numbered and separated unto Himself a select, complete, and holy remnant who were not to be corrupted by the idolatrous tendencies of the day in which they lived. Yet the existence of this secret, godly remnant, known only to Jehovah, had apparently no effect outwardly upon the nation's history, nor did it call forth any public intervention of God on their behalf. It might well be that such an intervention should be in answer to long and earnest prayer in secret, but there must be a basis known to all upon which their national prosperity and blessing could rest. The influences at work in England in the sixteenth century, which directly led up to the Reformation, were many of them very corrupt in themselves. Nevertheless, the subsequent greatness and advancement of the nation might be distinctly traceable to the cessation of religious persecution and the national acknowledgment of the liberty and responsibility of every individual to read the Bible for himself. God is righteous in His government of the world, and attaches great importance to acts and professions made by kings or rulers that might count for little or nothing to the credit of the individual. These acts affect earthly things alone, and do not at all determine one's eternal salvation, which must ever rest upon divine and sovereign grace, and the work of Christ, and must be individually appropriated in saving faith, if the soul is to be blessed for eternity.

So in Elijah's time there can be no reason to doubt that the national conscience was touched, and that the hearts of the people, sorely grieved and humbled by the long-continued drought, were turned back again to the Lord God of their fathers. The public confession of Jehovah's name, little as it might have been worth to those who joined in it” Jehovah, He is the God; Jehovah, He is the God” (1 Kings 18:39)—made it possible for God to bless them, not only in His sending upon the long-famished land the rain so greatly needed by man and beast, but also in the raising up of Elijah's successor as a special witness of grace following judgment, for Jehovah delighteth in mercy to His people, as shall indeed be openly and fully testified in the coming day of Israel's repentance.

(To be continued.)

By Faith of the Son of God

Gal. 2:20

There is a character of truth in the Epistle to the Galatians, very seasonable at this present time, and very strengthening to the soul at all times.

It teaches us to know that the religion of faith is the religion of immediate personal confidence in Christ. A truth which is, again I say, seasonable in a day like the present; when the provisions and claims of certain earthly church forms, and a system of ordinances, suggested by the religious, carnal mind, are abundant and fascinating. To learn, at all times, that our souls are to have their immediate business with Christ is comforting and assuring. To be told this afresh, at such a time as the present, is needful.

The apostle is very fervent in this epistle—naturally and properly so—as we all should be, as we all ought to be, when some justly prized possession is invaded; when some precious portion of truth, the dearest of all possessions, is tampered with.

In this epistle, in the first instance, as at the beginning, the apostle lets us know, with great force and plainness, that he had received his apostleship immediately from God; not only his commission or his office, but his instructions also; that which he had to minister and testify, as well as his appointment and ministry itself. He was an apostle immediately from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; and what he knew and taught he had by direct, immediate revelation.

And, in connection with this, he tells us, that as God had thus dealt immediately with him, so had he, in answering confidence, dealt immediately with God. For, having received the revelation, having had the Son revealed in him, he at once withdrew from conversing with flesh and blood. He did not go up to Jerusalem, to those who were apostles before him, but down to Arabia, carrying, as it were, his treasure with him; not seeking to improve it, but as one that was satisfied with it just as it was, that is, with the Christ who had now been given to him.

And, here, let me say, this brings to mind the Gospel by John, for that gives us, before this time of Paul, sample after sample of the soul finding its satisfaction in Christ. Every quickened one there illustrates it. Andrew, and Peter, and Philip, and Nathanael, in the first chapter, afterwards the Samaritan and her companions at Sychar, and then the convicted adulteress and the excommunicated beggar—all of them tell us, in language which cannot be misunderstood, that they had found satisfaction in Christ, that having been alone with Him in their sins, they were now independent—having had a personal immediate dealing with Him as the Savior, they looked not elsewhere. Arabia will do for them as well as Jerusalem, just as in the experience of the Paul of the Galatians. They never appear to converse with flesh and blood. Ordinances are in no measure their confidence. Their souls are proving that faith is that principle which puts sinners into immediate contact with Christ, and makes them independent of all that man can do for them.

How unspeakably blessed to see such a state of soul illustrated in any fellow-sinner, in men “of like passions with ourselves,” like corruptions, like state of guilt and condemnation. Such things are surely written for our learning, that by comfort of such scriptures we may have assurance and liberty.

And what is thus, in living samples, illustrated, for our comfort, in John's Gospel, is taught and pressed upon us in this fervent Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. Having shown the churches in Galatia the character of his apostleship, how he got both his commission and his instructions immediately from God, and was not debtor to flesh and blood, to Jerusalem the city of solemnities, or to those who were apostles before him, for anything; and having discovered, as it were, his very spirit to them, telling them that the life he was now living was by the faith of the Son of God, he begins to challenge them; for they were not in this state of soul.

He calls them “foolish,” and tells them they had been “bewitched.” For how could he do less than detect the working of Satan in the fact, that they had been withdrawn from the place where the Spirit and the truth, the cross of Christ and faith, had once put them. But then he reasons with them, argues the matter, and calls forth his witnesses. He makes themselves their judges, appealing to their first estate. “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” He cites Abraham in proof that a sinner had immediate personal business with Christ, and through faith found justification. And he rehearses the character of the gospel which had been preached to Abraham, how it told of Christ and of the sinner and blessing being put together and alone. “In thee (Abraham's seed, which is Christ) shall all nations be blessed.” Precious gospel! Christ and the sinner and blessing bound up together in one bundle. And he goes on to confirm and establish this, by teaching them how Christ bore the curse, and, therefore, surely was entitled to dispense the blessing.

Surely these are witnesses which may well be received, as proving the divine character of the religion of faith, which is the sinner's immediate confidence in Christ.

But then, he does further and other service in this same cause. He goes on to tell us the glorious things faith works and accomplishes in us and for us. “After faith is come,” he tells us in chapter 3:25-27, “we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For we are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized unto Christ have put on Christ.” Here are precious deeds of faith! It dismisses the schoolmaster; it brings the soul to God as to a father, and then it clothes the believer with the value of Christ in the eye and acceptance of God. And “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, drying, Abba, Father” (4:6). And “we are redeemed from under the law” (4:5). Can any more full and perfect sense of an immediate dealing between Christ and the soul be conceived, than is expressed and declared by such statements? We are brought from under the law—the schoolmaster, and, with him, tutors and governors are gone; we are “sons” at home in the Father's house, and have the rights and the mind of the First-born Himself put on us, and imparted to us! Can any condition of soul more blessedly set forth our independence of the resources of a religion of ordinances, and the poor sinner's personal and immediate connection with Christ Himself?

But Paul finds the churches in Galatia in a backsliding state. They had turned again “to weak and beggarly elements.” They were “observing days, and months, and times, and years.” It was all but returning to their former idolatry, as he solemnly hints to them, “doing service to them which by nature are no gods,” as they had been doing in the days of their heathen ignorance of the true God (4:8). What a connection does he here put the Christianity that is merely formal and observant of imposed ordinances into? Is it not solemn? Was it not enough to alarm him? And does it not do so? “I am afraid of you,” says he to the Galatians in this state, “lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.”

But, man of God as he was, gracious, patient, and toiling, according to the working of Him who was working in him mightily, he consents to labor afresh—yea, more painfully than ever—to travail in birth again of them. But all this was only to this end, that Christ might be formed in them; nothing less, or more, or other than this. He longed for restoration of soul in them, and that was, that they and Christ might be put immediately together again; that faith might be revived in them—the simple, hearty, blessed religion of personal and direct confidence in God in Christ Jesus; that, as in himself, the Son might be revealed in them; that, regaining Christ in their souls, they might prove they needed nothing more.

How edifying it is to mark the path of such a spirit under the conduct of the Holy Ghost! How comforting to see the purpose of God, by such a ministry, with the souls of poor sinners! How it lets us learn what Christianity is in the judgment of God Himself! The going over to the observance of days and times, the returning to ordinances, is destructive of this religion; it is the world. “Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?” as the same apostle says in another place. Confidence in ordinances is not faith in Christ. It is the religion of nature, of flesh and blood; it is of man, and not of God.

And surely it carries in its train the passions of man. Man's religion leaves man as it found him—rather, indeed, cherishes and cultivates man's corruptions. This showed itself in Ishmael in earliest days—nay, in Cain before him—but in Ishmael, as the apostle in this same epistle goes on to show. And he declares that it was then, in his day, the same; and generations of formal corrupt Christianity in the story of Christendom, the prisons of Italy some few years since, and the prisons of Spain still later, declare the same. “As then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so is it now.” Man's religion, again I say, does not cure him; he is left by it a prey to the subtleties and violence of his nature, the captive still of the old serpent, who has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning.

The decree, however, has been pronounced. It was delivered in the days of Isaac and Ishmael, of Abraham and Sarah; it is rehearsed and re-sealed by the Spirit Himself in the day of the apostle Paul; and we are to receive it as established forever. It is this: “Cast out the bondwoman and her son” (iv. 30).

What consolation to have this mighty question between God and man settled! And, according to this consolation, we listen to this further word: “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (v. 1).

All, surely, is of one and the same character. The Holy Ghost, by the apostle, is preparing the principle, the great leading, commanding principle, of divine religion. It is faith; it is the sinner's personal and immediate confidence in Christ; it is the soul finding satisfaction in Him, and in that which He has done for it; and such a religion as this, the believer in possession of this faith is set, as I may express it, next door to glory. The apostle quickly tells us this, after commanding us to stand fast in the liberty of the gospel, for he adds, “We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (v. 5). This hope is the glory that is to be revealed— “the glory of God,” as a kindred passage has it (Rom. 5:2). We do not wait for any improvement of our character, for any advance in our souls. Should we still live in the flesh, only fitting will it be to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” But such things are not needed in the way of title. Being Christ's by faith, we are next door to glory. “Whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom. 8). Being in the kingdom of God's dear Son, we are “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). As here, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, we wait only for glory; glory is the immediate object of our hope, as Christ is in us the hope of glory, and is the immediate confidence of our souls.

It is all magnificent in its simplicity, because it is all of God. No wonder that Scripture so abundantly discourses to us about faith, and so zealously warns us against religiousness. The “persuasion,” as the apostle speaks, under which the Galatians had fallen, had not come of God who had called them; and the apostle sounds the alarm, blows the blast of war on the silver trumpet of the sanctuary, uttering these voices in their ears— “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump;” again, “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (v. 8, 9, 18).

And in the happy structure of this epistle, as I may also speak of it, the apostle ends with himself as he begins with himself. We have seen how he told them, at the first, of the peculiarities of his apostleship, how he had received both his commission and his instructions immediately from God, and how he had then, with a faith that was an answer to such grace, at once conducted himself in full personal confidence in Christ, and independently of all the resources of flesh and blood. And now, at the close, he tells them that, as for himself, he knew no glorying but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world was crucified to him, and he to the world; and he tells them further, that no one need meddle with or trouble him, neither fret him nor worry him, with their thoughts about circumcision and the law, or the doings of a carnal religiousness, the rudiments of a world to which he was now crucified, for that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He belonged to Him by personal individual tokens, immediately impressed on him as by the appropriating hand of Christ Himself; and no one had any right to touch the Lord's treasure.

Precious secret of the grace of God! Precious simplicity in the faith of a heaven-taught sinner! It is not, beloved, knowledge of Scripture, or ability to talk of it, or even teach it, from Genesis to Revelation—it is not the orderly services of religion it is not devout feelings—but, oh! it is that guileless action of the soul that attaches our very selves to the Lord Christ in the calm and certainty of a believing mind. J. G. B.

Jude 9

“But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (ver. 9).

The verse now before us presents one ground of exception taken against the Epistle by men who trust themselves. This introduction of Michael the archangel seems to them altogether inexplicable as, they consider, a mere tradition of the Jews reproduced by Jude or at any rate by one who wrote the Epistle bearing his name; for they really don't know or care who wrote it. Only nobody must believe that Jude wrote it. Such talk consists simply of the objections of unbelief, which, doubting all that is inspired of God, sets itself to shake the confidence of those who believe.

Although it is a fact presented in no other part of God's word, what solid reason is there in that to object? There is ground for thankfulness that He makes it known here.

Not a few statements may be traced in Scripture that have been given but a single mention; but they are just as certain as any others which are repeatedly named. The apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 6:3, declares that the saints shall judge angels. It is not only that they shall judge the world, which no doubt is a truth revealed elsewhere; but it is here expressly said that they are to judge angels. I am not aware of any other scripture which intimates a destiny which most would consider strange if not incredible. We do find that the world to come is not to be put under angels; but that is a different thing. It does assure us that the habitable earth is to be put under the Lord Jesus in that day; and the saints are to reign with Him. To the risen saints will be given to share His royal authority; for that is the meaning here of “judging.” It has nothing at all to do with Christ's final award of man. It is not a small mistake to suppose that the saints will exercise the final judgment over men or angels. All such judgment is exclusively given to the Son of man (John 5:22, 27; Rev. 20).

When it is said that we shall judge the world, the meaning is plain whether men believe or not. Such judging is to exercise the highest power and authority over the world by the will of God and for the glory of the Lord Jesus. But there is no warrant for the notion that saints shall take part in the great white throne judgment. On that throne sits only One. He that knows every secret, that searches the veins and hearts, and is the sole Judge when it is a question of judging man in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to Paul's gospel. No man was ever given to fathom the lives of others; nor am I aware that we shall ever be called to share that knowledge so essential to the Judge of quick and dead.

In fact the notion that we are to sit in judgment on people for eternity is a gross and groundless blunder, for which there is no shadow of proof in any part of scripture. But we shall judge the world when the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is come. He will reign forever; and so shall we, as His word assures; but there is a special display of this joint reign, and this is during the thousand years. This, of course, is no question of eternal judgment, but of the kingdom; whereas, when the earth and the heaven flee, and no place is found for them, eternal judgment follows, and none but the Lord judges. All judgment is given to Him, when the works of man, who despised Him throughout the sad annals of time, come up for His eternal sentence. No assessors are associated with Him; He is the Judge.

There remains, however, the plain revelation that we shall judge angels. If this is confined to that one scripture, be it so; one clear word of God is as sure as a thousand. If we have to do with the witness of man, the word of a thousand, if they are decent people, must naturally have a weight beyond one man's. But here it is no question of men at all. What we stand upon, and the only thing that gives us firmness of ground and elevation above all mist, the only thing that gives us faith, reverence, simplicity, and humility is God's word. It is indeed a wonderful mercy, in a world of unbelief, truly to say, I believe God; to bow before, and rest in the testimony of, God; to have perfect confidence in what God has not only said but written expressly to arrest, exercise and inform our hearts.

Assuredly, if God says a thing once unmistakably, it is as certain as if it had pleased Him to say it many times. Indeed, as it appears to me, it will be found that God hardly ever repeats the same thing. There is a shade of difference in the different forms that God takes for communicating truth. Such is one of its great beauties, though quite lost to unbelievers, because they listen to His words in a vague and uncertain manner. As they never appropriate, so they never hear God in it. They may think of Paul or Peter, John or James, and flatter themselves to be quite as good or perhaps better. What is there in all this but man's exalting himself to his own debasement? He sinks morally every time that he lifts himself up proudly against God and His word.

Here then we have a fact about the unseen world communicated, not in the days of Moses or Joshua, when the burial of Moses is brought before us. Here Jude writes many years after Christ, and first mentions it. Why should this appear strange? The right moment was come for God's good pleasure to communicate it.

Did not the apostle Paul first give us in his last Epistle the names of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses before Pharaoh? No doubt we were told of such magicians; but we did not know their names till the Second Epistle to Timothy was written. Scripture can only be resolved into the will of God. It pleases God to exercise His entire sovereignty in this, and He would therein show Paul given to write of a thing reserved for him to bring out alone. So here we have the Holy Ghost proving His power and wisdom in recalling a mysterious fact at the close of Moses' life. Why should men doubt what is so easy for God to make known?

Is there anything too wonderful in His grace? Is not He who works in revealing, God's eternal Spirit? And why should not He, if He see fit, reserve the names for that day when Paul wrote? The occasion was the growth of deceivers in Christendom—a thing that many seem disposed to entirely overlook. They yield to the amiable fancy that such an evil is impossible, especially among the brethren! But why so? Surely such impressions are not only stupid in the highest degree but unbelieving too. It ought to be evident that, if anywhere on the face of the earth Satan would work mischief, it is exactly among such as stand for God's word and Spirit. Where superstition is tolerated, and rationalism reigns, he has already gained ruinous advantage over the religious and the profane. If any on the face of the earth at the present time refute both these hateful yet imposing errors, his spite must be against them. The reason is plain. We have no confidence in the flesh, but in the Lord; and to that one Name we are gathered for all we boast, leaning only on the word and the Spirit of God.

Let these then be our Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars of God's house, even in a day of ruin and scattering. Let us rejoice to be despised for the truth's sake. How can we expect to have any other feelings excited towards us? Do we not tell everybody that the church is a wreck outwardly? and do they not say on the contrary that the church bids fair for reunion? That the classes and the masses are alike won by grand buildings, rites, ceremonies, music, and the like? That there is on the one side inflexible antiquity for those who venerate the past, but on the other side the device of development to flatter the hopeful and self-confident? Then think of the modern influx of gold and silver, of which the apostolic church was so short. Is it not God now giving it to His church that they may in time buy up the world? And if any tell them that all such vaunts are only among the proofs of the church's utter ruin, what can they be but hateful and obnoxious in their eyes? Christ has always a path for the saints, a way of truth, love, and holiness for the darkest day of ruin, as much as for any other. It is for the eye single to Him and the ear that heeds His word to find the path, narrow as it is, but its lines fallen in pleasant places and a goodly heritage. But if we, hankering after earthly things, entangle ourselves with man's thoughts or the world's ways in religion, what can this issue be but that we help on the ruin? Disturbed, uneasy, and unhappy we become, like Samson with his hair cut, weak as water, and blind to boot.

Nor is it at all unaccountable that men are busy against an epistle which is one of the loudest and clearest in the trumpet blast that is blown against Christendom. For it expressly lays down that departure from the truth, and turning God's grace to licentiousness, are to go on till judgment thereon. Not that there may not be such as are faithful and true, keeping themselves in the love of God, and building themselves up on that most holy faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. What can be conceived more remote from men's new inventions? from the vain restlessness which is ever in quest of some fresh effort? From anything of the sort we are bound to keep clear as being deadly. It is not only from all tampering with bad ways, or false doctrine, but from humanizing on what is divine. To this we are bound by the very nature of Christianity, which calls us to entire dependence upon the word and Spirit of God. It is not for us, then, to be asking what is the wrong of this? or what harm is there in that? For the believer the true question is, What saith the Scripture? How is it written?

It is written here: “But Michael the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (ver. 9). Here, then, is a grand truth, taught in a striking and powerful manner. The apostle Peter, in the 2nd chapter of his second Epistle, is said to give exactly the same thing as Jude, but he says not one word about it. He makes no allusion to Michael the archangel. He speaks in verse 4 of angels that sinned, whom God did not spare. But Jude presents it as the angels that kept not their first estate. This clearly has nothing to do with Michael. The reference to the archangel is entirely peculiar to Jude; and the object is to exhibit the spirit that becomes one who acts for God, even in dealing with His worst enemy, that there be no meeting evil with evil, nor reviling with reviling, but on the contrary immediate and confessed reference to God.

What makes it all the more surprising is the power vouchsafed to Michael. He is the angel whom God will employ to overthrow the devil from his evil eminence by-and-by (Rev. 12). But here the historical intimation given is entirely in character with the future. You may tell me that Rev. 12 was not revealed to Jude, who wrote this. Be it so, yet the same God that wrought by Jude wrought also by John. It is evident from the two scriptures that the antagonism between Michael and the devil is not a truth foreign to God's word. There we have it in the written word. It is the truth of God. Jude was given to tell us what God moved Jude to write, which has not only great moral value for any time, but gives us the fact, full of interest, that the antagonism between Michael the archangel and the devil is not merely of the future. Here the proof lies before us that it wrought also in the past. Thus we can look back fifteen hundred years, and there behold the evidence of this contention between the devil and the archangel. Do you say that it was about the body of Moses, and what is that to anyone? Can we not readily enter into the importance of that dispute? Can we not understand the bearing of that question, when we hold in mind all the history of Israel in the wilderness, as given in Exodus and Numbers?

There is nothing more common among the prophets than this, that while during their lifetime they were hated, after they were dead and gone they became objects of the highest honor; and, what is so remarkable, the highest honor to the same class of people that hated them—not objects of honor so much to other people, but honored by the same unbelieving class that could not endure the prophets' words when they were alive. They are ready to kill the prophetic messenger when living, and all but worship him when he is dead. Well, it is the same unbelief that acts in both ways; which, when he was alive, scouted the word of God come through him, and condemned and hated him, but when he was dead, and no longer, therefore, a living character to puncture their conscience, the very people who had war with the prophet would build a fine monument to his memory; and so, getting the character of being men who had a great regard for the prophet, men, therefore, that were doing their best for religion, they gave their money and have erected a fine monument, or perhaps had a fine statue made, or as grand a picture as they could pay for! So true it is, the flesh is quite remarkable for being ready to honor a man when he is dead and gone, whom it could not endure when alive. Our Lord drew attention to that very characteristic. It is not an idea of mine at all, it is the truth of God. Our Lord lays that down most strongly against the Jewish people; and it is not at all confined to the Jewish people. If you go now to the town of Bedford—to take an instance from our own country—there you will find a fine monument to John Bunyan, who, when alive, was scouted, imprisoned, and regarded as a presumptuous, bad man. The very same class of people now buy his book, and at any rate are not sorry that the children should read it along with the “Arabian Nights Entertainments” in the nursery. So there they have the “Pilgrim's Progress” and the “Arabian Nights” tales, and they are all considered equally entertaining for the children. They thereby show that they think the imprisoned tinker was a genius—for that is their way of looking at it; and therefore they gain for themselves credit in all sorts of ways, both as being men of taste, and also as men not at all averse to religion when it does not touch their conscience. The thing, therefore, that I am speaking of is always true, and always will be true till the Lord come, and then there will be no such thing as “the vile person called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful,” nor, on the other hand, the unjust treated as righteous. Then there will be righteousness reigning and everything and everyone will find their level according to God.

(To be continued.)

Brief Remarks on Revelation 1-11

The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given when the church had failed. In early days the great thing for every Christian was the “Name of the Lord Jesus” — “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Even to the young, “Children, obey your parents in all things.” Why? “For this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” But the eye of believers had got off the Lord when God gave Him this Revelation, and which He gave to John for us.

It is addressed to “His servants” —not to the church as such, nor even to those alone who form the church—for there are “servants of our God” (7:3) found after the church is gone; but it speaks to all who take the place of “servants,” whether true believers or not, and they are dealt with according to their profession.

When Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt He forbade any Israelite to make a slave of his brother, “for they are My servants,” to serve Him alone. “If I desire to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” says Paul.

John introduces himself as a servant, not as a disciple. True, he was a disciple, he had leaned on the Lord's breast at supper; but here he is seen in a very different manner. He had to do with his Master, “Whose eyes are as a flame of fire,” and he falls at His feet as dead (1:17).

We have the Lord daily with us in our bedroom, our drawing-room (if we have one), our kitchen, not alone as the High Priest presenting all our petitions in the acceptance of His own person, but as the priest of Ezekiel (44:23), teaching us how to choose between the clean and the unclean, that which we should not touch, and that which we may enjoy. And this, though causing no terror, gives solemnity to everything.

John has no power to serve the Lord now; he is at His feet as dead. Then the Lord laid His right hand on him and imparted strength. We need the Lord in His death for our sins; we need His priestly intercession for us up there now for our weaknesses. We need His right hand for everything: His strength for every service as it comes. We may want to follow the Lord over the sea, like Peter, but we shall go down like a shot unless His hand holds us up. As soon as the Lord touched His servant John, he was strengthened to write the whole book for Him.

In chaps. 2, 3, we have the Lord Jesus Christ and seven churches viewed in their responsibility as light-bearers in the world; but the world itself is not here spoken of.

There is failure, something wrong, in almost every one of these seven churches, but before we get that, we have the Lord Himself presented in just the way to meet it.

We can never be in circumstances too bad for Him to meet, but we are never justified in going on with evil. Other scriptures reveal the duty of the faithful in such circumstances, but in this portion, which in no way treats of assembly discipline, we have what is obnoxious (cf. 2:4-6, 9, 14-16, 20-23; 3:1-3, 9, 15-19) to Him who is seen walking “in the midst of the seven golden lampstands,” whose “eyes are as a flame of fire,” and who gives “to every one of you according to your works.” This, surely, is not without its effect upon the one who seeks to walk in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the last of these seven churches, where latitudinarianism and indifferentism seem to sweep away all true testimony, even then we are directed to the “Amen, the Faithful and True Witness,” who delights to succor and strengthen the true-hearted by coming in to sup with the one that hears His voice, and opens the door to Him, and who is given further to sup with Him. Thus may we unburden our hearts and learn His mind and will in this blessed communion with Himself. Those who have recourse to Him down here shall indeed be rewarded up there.

There is nothing said about the world, while the church is seen down here, because the Lord would have us occupied with Himself and His people; but there is much about it when we are gone, because then God will be occupied with it. He is still, of course, overruling everything, not a sparrow falling to the ground without Him; but He is not now dealing in government, but showing all long-suffering.

The throne of Heb. 4 is very different from that of Rev. 4. The throne of grace we are to come to. We are already there and around it in Rev. 4. The rainbow round about the throne denotes government of the earth, for the covenant of Gen. 9 was made with the whole creation. The throne has its full executors of judgment, the four living creatures marking perfection of strength, patience, wisdom, swiftness. In chap. v. we have an Object on the throne, a Lamb, the symbol of perfect weakness, but He has seven horns (perfection of strength), and seven eyes (fullness of wisdom). Let us take heed how we speak of Him When going to the cross, though we know He could have burst the cords, He asked permission to use His hand. “Suffer ye thus far," and then put it forth to heal the servant's ear. How can we divide the human from the divine? May we bow and adore! He is the center and object of the praise of the elders, the angels, and of all creation.

All heaven is agreed to favor the “righteous cause” (Psa. 35:27) of the Lord Jesus; He is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (the royal tribe), as well as the “Root of David.” All things are His by personal right and title, but He receives them from His Father on account of His work, that we who have no title may be Christ's fellow-heirs.

Since the cross, the Lord Jesus has not been occupied with the world as such (except, of course, as Creator). He prayed for those whom the Father had given Him, but He did not ask for the world. When He does, it will be given Him. Our testimony to the world is that we are outside it—strangers and pilgrims. But when we are at rest with Him, then all heaven is occupied with His “righteous cause” as King over the whole earth. He that sits on the throne gives Him the book. The contents of that book, as He opens it, are introduced by the executors of the government of the throne. The living creatures say “Come.”

If in chap. 5 we have heaven's interest in the “righteous cause” of the Lamb, in chap. 6 we find those on earth who learn it from the written word, and, for “favoring” it, meet with martyrdom. They cry, “How long?” etc., and the answer comes in the opening of the sixth seal, when the misery of those who oppose the Lord's claims becomes manifest, even at the beginning of the book. Chap. 7 is a happy parenthesis showing God's side. He seals the perfect earthly number from Israel, and then gives us the result of their testimony in the countless multitude who surround the throne (see Rom. 11). The fall of Israel, their rejection of the last message by Paul—when Peter who was the apostle of the circumcision preached, 3,000 were converted; when Paul preached almost the same sermon (Acts 13) they rejected it. God is sovereign in the use of His servants—caused him to turn to the Gentiles, and we have been saved. If this, their fall, was the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? When the book is fully opened, there is silence in heaven. When the seventh trumpet sounds, there are great voices. Why is there silence? In verse 2 we find there those who “favor His righteous cause,” willing to die for it, yet sealed from martyrdom and testifying to it, and their prayers are ascending. Heaven is silent to listen to them. The Lamb is no longer seen on the throne; He stands in angelic form at the altar, presenting their petitions. And as the incense goes up from His hand, the judgments come down in answer. The trumpets are God's call to men to listen to the righteous cause of the Lord.

It is a great mercy that our God has revealed to us the power of the enemy. Man thinks he is a free agent, doing his own will, forgetting that that will is directed by Satan. “The spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.” He ever works on the flesh (the new man he cannot touch), and “the mystery of lawlessness doth already work.” Lawlessness is in ourselves. God has disclosed to us in chaps. 7-10 what will be the issue of the works of the devil in the things we see around us now.

We have already remarked that when the seventh seal is opened there is silence in heaven. Heaven has its joys—when one sinner repents, there is joy in heaven. Heaven is interested intensely in the earth, and it can afford to be silent at this peculiar moment when nothing arises from the earth but the cry of God's saints for vengeance—no praise, no testimony, nothing but the cry for vengeance. But that cry instantly brings the Lord Jesus to the altar. Those prayers, feeble as they may be, immediately occupy Him. He gives efficacy to them, they ascend from His hand. And is that true of us now? Unceasing as we realize the power of the enemy to be, the Lord Jesus is still more unceasing in His care, as He is the One most deeply interested in the feeblest cry of the weakest of His own, or the strongest—it might be Paul. He had a messenger of Satan to buffet him, and he prayed or besought the Lord to take it away. “No,” says the Lord, “You fight him, Paul.” “How can I, Lord?” “My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” “I have fought the good fight,” the apostle says at the close. So you have, Paul, but you did not do it yourself, it was His grace that made you more than conqueror.

The seven angels stand before God. He is not spoken of here darkly or mystically as the one that sat on the throne, “like a jasper and a sardine stone,” but as God dealing with men! From His presence the angels sound their trumpets, calling men to repent. The first four judgments are slight compared with the later ones, but terrible beyond anything we know. The earth now is divided into three classes—Jew, Gentile, and the church of God. It would seem that then, though the church is removed, the distinction will remain in connection with what professes to be Christendom. The first four trumpets (which fall on a third part) deal with natural things. When God gave government into the hand of the Gentiles, Nebuchadnezzar had no instructions how to govern—a contrast to the command that Israel's kings, on coming to the throne, should copy out the law of Jehovah (Deut. 17:18), the best possible way of learning how to rule. Nebuchadnezzar had no such instructions, he had to be taught by the judgment that fell on him. It is no excuse for nations that they have not the Bible. There are plenty of witnesses around them. See the “everlasting gospel” preached in Rev. 14:7 where they are told to “fear God and give Him glory... and worship Him” whose works they see all around them, so it would seem that these trumpets are to Gentiles as such.

Then come the “woe” trumpets. In chap. 9 it is not natural things afflicted, but the state of conscience. It comes from the bottomless pit, and the fifth trumpet is to those who “have not the seal of God in their foreheads,” evidently of the same nation as those who are sealed in chap. 7 Israel. It is in awful contrast with the blessing they would have had had they accepted their Messiah. He was the “Light of life.” Here is, alas! deadly darkness and the power of lies (cf. 9:10 with Isa. 9:15).

If the fifth judgment comes from the bottomless pit, the sixth comes from hell itself. It falls on those who “worship demons,” nor repent “of their murders,” etc. (9:20, 21). Terrible sinners! yet the counterpart of the description of Babylon itself. After the church is gone, Christendom will unite under Rome to fall under her judgment.

Chapter 10 shows the Lord coming to take possession of the earth, with the sign of His covenant with it round His head. The book is “little” now, not much remaining to be fulfilled. He lifts up His hand and swears, reminding of Deut. 32 Then comes His special care of Jerusalem, and the testimony in her (the two witnesses). The seventh trumpet takes us right to the end. The nations angry (not repentant), wrath come, the dead judged, and every servant, however small, rewarded—God's answer to the question why so much sin and dishonor to Him has been allowed to go on. The mystery of God now finished.

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The Poor Brother: Part 2

“AND if thy brother [that dwelleth] by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant.” “And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger [or] sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; after that he is sold he may be redeemed again, one of his brethren may redeem him” (Lev. 25:39, 47, 48).

The blessing promised to Abraham was absolutely free and unqualified. It was hampered by no conditions, nor was its continuance made dependent in any way upon the line of conduct pursued by his children. It was an absolute gift (in promise), dependent only upon the word of Him who cannot lie, “the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” His indisputable right it was and is, to dispose of the earth to whom. He will, as now it is His delight to enrich the believer in Christ with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” The promises made to Abraham point to these two orders of blessing—the earthly or material, and the heavenly or spiritual, both to be made good in Christ the promised Seed. When the time of the promise drew nigh, however, Israel made the fatal mistake of trusting in their own competency to satisfy God's righteous requirements when entering upon possession to continue and leave it as an inheritance in perpetuity for their children after them. They despised the pleasant land and “could not enter in because of unbelief” (Num. 14, Heb. 3:19). As the people had elected to go in on the principle of law (“all that Jehovah hath spoken we will do,” Ex. 19:8), they must be held to it. God was indeed very compassionate, and again and again interfered in sovereign grace to alleviate their misery, or to recall them to the place of obedience and blessing. Nevertheless there must be, and there was, the full and sufficient trial of man in the flesh, a fallen creature, proving his inability to keep the blessing into which God had conducted him.

The lamentable results of disobedience soon manifested themselves in Israel's altered circumstances in the land, always directly traceable to their failure in obedience to the terms of the covenant, and in appropriating that which God had given them. “And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, [therefore] I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed [them] to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house. And when the king entered into the house of Jehovah the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him, that He would not destroy [him] altogether: and also in Judah things went well” (2 Chron. 12:7-12).

Shields of brass were a poor substitute for shields of gold, and the service exacted of Israel by Shishak, king of Egypt, was not to be compared with that which Jehovah required of them. Again and again did they have to learn that it was “an evil [thing] and bitter” to depart from the living God. “Whosoever committeth sin the same is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). It was in the closing days of Jehu, that the Lord began to cut Israel short, to be followed in the days of Hoshea by the expatriation of the principal inhabitants of the land. The kingdom of Judah was preserved in the land for a longer period for reasons we need not now dwell upon, and was subjected to deeper suffering and more humiliating experiences under Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hands God had committed the power and authority for government in the earth, in the stead of Israel, in a way which He had not done to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. It is well to note the difference in the respective punishments of the two sections of the same nation, as also the way in which God exercises absolute control in the day of His visitation of those Gentile powers whom He had for the time made the executors of His wrath against His people. (Compare 2 Kings 17 with 2 Chron. 36)

In the portion before us, however (Lev. 25), it is not the final break up of the nation that is in question, but the more immediate results of the individual failure of His people now about to exchange the wilderness for the land, wherein nevertheless God would manifest His faithfulness and truth towards them. The curtailment of the family inheritance in the mortgaging of estates, and the ensuing conditions of poverty, debt, and bankruptcy, would be bad enough; but worse remained. The loss of liberty (ver. 39) might involve the loss of self-respect, and would indeed do so but for the principle of grace so abundantly in evidence in this chapter. A strict adherence to the letter of law was not all that God required of Israel. Israel's origin and early history had been such as should have instructed them to “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.”

“And thou shalt speak, and say before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish [was] my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great; mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard. bondage: and when we cried unto Jehovah, God of our fathers, Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders” (Deut. 26:5-8). The remembrance of all that they had suffered when bond-slaves in Egypt, and the divine interposition in power and goodness for their deliverance, should have softened their hearts towards the poor and needy of their brethren, as well as humbled them in the presence of God. In the land of Israel, where righteousness and obedience brought their own reward, it was quite possible, and even likely, that some should be “righteous over much,” which was as much to be avoided as being “over much wicked.” The gracious godly Israelite would see in the circumstances of his poor brother an opportunity for manifesting the reality and excellence of that principle of grace on which God had acted towards himself. To belong to Israel brought much blessing, many privileges and responsibilities of a mutual kind not always legal. To insist upon righteousness while overlooking grace, and refusing to show mercy, were a grievous affront to God Himself; for where would they have been if mercy had not been shown in Jehovah's dealings with them?

Still the contract, which bound the slave to his master and deprived the former of freedom, was quite legal and could not set aside the rights of the master secured thereby. Did not he hold possession? How about the rights of the slave? He had none; he had signed them away. Yet here grace found an opportunity; it meets us at the very lowest point—the very principle of the gospel— “when we were yet without strength.” When the decayed, broken-down Israelite had sold himself to a brother, the application by the latter of this precious principle of grace would not indeed annul the contract, but would nevertheless bring light and joy and liberty into the soul. It is not in this chapter (as it is in Deut. 26) a question of worship, but of guarding against oppression, and of acting in the fear of God. “Thou shalt fear thy God: for I [am] Jehovah your God” (vers. 17, 36, 38, 43, 55). So with the Christian now. We may be in circumstances the most depressing in themselves, but the knowledge and enjoyment of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, will enable us to “glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:3-6).

But this dying for the ungodly really closes the subject. Christ has done that, and therefore all is secured for the believer. The price of our redemption has been paid, God has been glorified, justice satisfied. The full results are still to be waited for; yet are we sure of the final triumph of grace, and of the coming deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-25). “We boast in hope of the glory of God,” and not this only, but “we boast in tribulations also.” In contrast to this, the natural man, still in his sins, has in this present a dreadful foreboding of an eternity of misery. But if the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, we groan too, but intelligently and in gracious sympathy, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body, and have meanwhile the firstfruits of the Spirit, “the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14).

“And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger [or] sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him; either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or [any] that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or, if he be able, he may redeem himself” (vers. 47-49). Here the case might appear to be hopeless, for the rich stranger could not be expected to act in grace towards the poor brother; his only hope then, if he could not redeem himself, was to look for the appearance of one who should be sufficiently gracious to act towards him in power and goodness. And did not such an One indeed in due time come to His own land and people and announce His willingness so to act? But His own received Him not, not knowing the time of their visitation. “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:18-22).

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

These scriptures make clear that the Lord Jesus, having come into the circumstances of Israel in all the poverty and weakness of the nation, giving up earthly glory and all that men value here, and even life itself, will in the future bring them into restored relationship to Jehovah and into full enjoyment of every blessing promised; while for the one that now receives the Savior, he has present participation in the redemption already “found” (Heb. 9:12), receiving now the salvation of the soul. The heart is filled with joy and gladness, and waits with patience for the full manifested results in glory of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory both now and forever. Amen. G. S. B.

(Concluded from p. 291)

Zion's King and His Co-Heirs: No. 1

I. The second Psalm clearly states the rule over the earth of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will be set as Jehovah's King on the holy hill of Zion. No less does it testify to the counsel and rage of the kings of the earth in direct opposition to it, as also the means by which it will be accomplished, despite of all the enemies of Jehovah and His purpose.

That Jehovah's King is God's only begotten Son is clear not only from the Psalm itself, but also from Acts 13:33, Heb. 1:5, 6, of the New Testament. Not only is He the One and only Savior, Who has been here as, and is, the full and perfect expression of the love of God to a guilty world, by whose death on the cross God has been glorified, His righteousness vindicated and established, and an eternal redemption found for us, but He is, and will be, the alone Center of all divine government and action in blessing, both for the heavens and the earth.

The introduction into the world of “the First-begotten” is truly the great and wonderful purpose of God; as assuredly His work as the Lamb of God, becoming the alone mighty sacrifice for sin, is the basis of everything abidingly good and blessed; and this will be finally established in the new heavens and the new earth. Prior to this, however, the present earth, the place of His sorrow, rejection, and death, is ordained to be the scene of His kingly rule in righteousness, power, and glory. In Zion He will reign gloriously over His redeemed Israel, having Jerusalem as the metropolis of the whole earth when He shall ask and have the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. That king David was a type of God's anointed King in His holy hill of Zion Scripture plainly reveals; and Zion's stronghold, wrested by David from the Jebusites, was henceforth appropriated as the seat of royalty in Israel, and called “the city of David.” Yet was it the reserved purpose of Jehovah to set His King on the mountain of His holiness, even Him who is David's greater Son and Lord. Isaiah prophetically declared this long after David's rule (9:6, 7), and presents the “child born” and son given, in the glory of His Person, whose “name shall be called Wonderful... the mighty God, the Father of eternity, the Prince of Peace,” on Whose shoulder shall be the government, and of which the increase and peace shall know no end.

The Gospel of Luke most significantly connects this throne and kingdom with the “child born” of the Virgin Mary. The angel Gabriel in making known to Mary her high favor and distinguished blessing among women, and the miraculous manner of the Babe's birth by the Holy Spirit—after declaring that His name shall be called Jesus—adds, “And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 2:31-33). The divine purpose has not yet met with its accomplishment so far as concerns the promised kingdom. But the Christ has come, and was presented to the nation as their king (Matt. 21:5), yet “despised and rejected of men,” and finally “cut off out of the land of the living.” Thus, instead of taking the kingdom, the Messiah “had nothing,” being refused the inheritance, and by the hands of lawless men was crucified and slain (Matt. 21, Isa. 53, Dan. 9, Acts 2). This, the general testimony of all the Gospels is, nevertheless, more particularly unfolded in that of Matthew, whose genealogy jealously traces His rights and claims up to David the king, and to Abraham the depository of promise.

Law, Prophets, and Psalms had foretold that the Messiah would come, now born in Bethlehem. The wise men from the east, guided no doubt by the prophecy of Balaam, were led to identify the appearing of the star with the advent of the scepter, and forthwith they started for Jerusalem to find, and do honor to, the new-born “King of the Jews.” Herod, the Idumean ruler, with “all Jerusalem,” is troubled by their inquiry, and, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he demanded of them where the Christ should be born. The prophet Micah, seven hundred years before, had foretold of this “ruler in Israel,” and the place of His birth, and his very words they now quote; and so the seekers are sent by Herod to Bethlehem. Jewish knowledge, with cold indifference to the glorious fact, revealed their real state, and the agitation of Herod and the people proved their existing rage and enmity, which were exposed by the angel's testimony, and manifested by Herod's cruel action. “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt.... for Herod will seek the young child, to destroy him.” Thus was exemplified the words of Psa. 2, the heathen raging from the time of His birth, and through all His life; at His death, and when in heavenly glory. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, preaches the kingdom of heaven as at hand, and insists upon repentance on the people's part, in view of Messiah's presentation and kingdom; but John ultimately finds himself in prison, and was beheaded, only to be followed by the rejection, in greater measure and hatred, of the Lord Himself, who in the light of His cross and martyrdom charged His disciples to tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ (Matt. 16). He accepts His rejection and awaits another day, when, having received the kingdom, He will return to be welcomed by His then repentant people. But now, putting Sadducees and Pharisees to silence by His asking the latter: “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” He not only confounds them by His being both David's Son and David's Lord, but associates this with Psa. 110 which tells us that He will sit at Jehovah's right hand till His enemies are made His footstool. In the cross we have the consummation of His rejection by man, but now being by the right hand of God exalted, we have revealed to us the present purpose and action of God the Holy Ghost in gathering out of this present world His heavenly bride to be associated with Him in His future kingdom and reign over this earth, when He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron (Psa. 2:9, Rev. 2:27).

When Judas had betrayed his Master, the multitude led Jesus away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders were gathered together. Here He is accused by two false witnesses (even with difficulty found), but Jesus held His peace until put on oath by Caiaphas in his hatred and zeal, who said: “I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” For this He is pronounced a blasphemer and guilty of death, is spit upon, buffeted, smitten, and taunted as to being the Christ. Such was the action of Israel's religious chief, followed next morning by the whole council consulting to put Him to death. Delivered bound to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor asked him, saying: “Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.” Pilate knew that from envy Jesus had been delivered up, and wished to release him, but in vain, for they chose a murderer, and rejected their long-predicted Messiah, demanding that He should be crucified. Notwithstanding his confession of no fault to be found in the Just One before him, and the profession of his innocence of His blood, Pilate, after scourging, delivered Jesus to their will. The soldiers, in mockery, clothe Jesus with kingly vestments, and cry: “Hail, King of the Jews.” Stage after stage were the scriptures being fulfilled, in the cruel treatment, rejection and death of Him, who was cut off without His throne; dying between two robbers, and though numbered with the transgressors, was “with the rich in His death.” The decreed king of Psa. 2, shall yet be set on Zion's holy hill, and “the manslayer (Israel) shall return to the land of his possession.” Blessed, indeed, it is to know that the cross, which casts its dark and hopeless shade on man and his responsibility, sheds its bright and holy light on the throne of God; and in this same “death of the cross” is laid a righteous and everlasting basis for the display of the purpose and grace of God, both for the heavens and the earth, wherein shall be established the rights of His only begotten Son in His coming glories.

If the Gospels in common declare the wondrous death and resurrection of Christ, that of Luke gives the memorable walk to Emmaus, and what filled and perplexed the disciples, viz., that He whom they looked to have redeemed Israel had been crucified, and was even reported to be alive from the dead. This they told to their risen but yet unknown Lord, who rebuked their unbelief, saying: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.” Plainly therefore did the Christ of Israel show to His saddened disciples that He was to suffer before having His kingdom and glory; as also later, Peter wrote how prophets had “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories to follow.” Yea, after convincing His disciples in their perplexity, that it was Himself risen, by showing them His hands and His feet, He reminds them of His words spoken to them before He suffered, that “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning me.”

(To be continued)

Emmanuel: Part 1

The word of God presents to us this very precious fact, that we do not only find there certain truths and doctrines, but also every relation between God and man fully developed on earth, and each day we can clearly see all these things in the person of Jesus. It is a great mercy of God to have brought Him so near to us, so as to make known to us those relationships in the circumstances in which we are ourselves found. At bottom the life of Jesus was like ours. He was in all things tempted in like manner as ourselves. It was indeed God manifested in flesh, but it was also life, and the expression of a life; perfectly acceptable to God.

In order to make progress in spiritual life we must, study the Lord Jesus; whether in the grace of His person or in the circumstances of His life; or, lastly, in the glorious position He has near the Father, and which we shall by-and-by share with Him.

We see in Christ, from the beginning, the accomplishment of the life of faith, which was tested in Him, and of which He manifested all the perfection.

Jesus is to us a tender and mighty friend; and, while traveling through the wilderness, we know that at the end of the way will be found the glory in which He now is. That is what is said in Heb. 12. 1-3: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” —rather “the leader and completer of faith.” As captain, He has gone before us; as shepherd, “he putteth forth his own sheep,” and also “goeth before them.” He “despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds”

Divine life is seen in that Man who walked in the midst of all difficulties and temptations, who surmounted all, and who, alone amongst all, was not touched by the evil one.

Now He has entered the glory at the right hand of God; and we shall share with Him that glory when He shall appear, since we shall be made like unto Him.

We shall see a little how the Spirit of God presents Jesus to us, at the beginning of His life, when He enters that painful race of faith.

An important thing to remark is, that the light manifests all that is in man.

It is true that God saw what was in the heart of Abel and of Cain, before anything of it was manifested; just as He saw a remnant in the midst of the Jews, in whom grace was working; but things were never brought to light under the law. God was, as it were, hidden behind a veil, and He allowed many things because of the hardness of their hearts, as Jesus told His disciples; for the full light was not yet manifested. But in Christ the light shone in the world.

In the Christian, who possesses the life of Christ, that which is true in Christ is true in him, as it is said in 1 John 2:8: “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.”

It is always well to bear in mind that, in the former dispensation, God hid Himself, but that He sent certain messengers who were to reveal what was entrusted to them, but without making God known. The law did not manifest Him fully. It is true it says, Thou shalt love; but not, I love thee; it does not reveal a God of love. It does not show us what God is, save that He is a just God and executes vengeance. It tells us nothing at all of what God is for man, nor of what He is in Himself. The law did indeed make known to men what they ought to be toward God, but it was silent as to what God is for them.

A man is always under law, as long as he is occupied with what God demands from him, instead of understanding what God is for him; for this would produce much more excellent effects. God, being thus hidden, required obedience in order to grant life. It was no question of being able to place oneself in the presence of God. The high priest alone presented himself once every year into the holiest of all; for the way into it was not yet made manifest, and there were many things that God bore with, without approving them. There were ceremonies and ordinances, which were intended to remind man of his dependence, and to bring him into relationship with God, according to certain things which acted upon the flesh and adapted to the flesh, because man was in it, and God placed Himself in a relationship with him. The holiness of God who was hidden was not seen, but there were ceremonies which maintained the relationships between that God who remained hidden and man.

But when God manifests Himself, it can no longer be so; for God is holy, and He is love. He is perfect in holiness, and man must necessarily enter into relationship with what God is. God can forgive sinners—can wash them; but He cannot bear with anything that does not answer to His holiness. If there is grace, there is also holiness, but God cannot, because of His holiness, bear with man, a sinner, just as he is; for God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil.”

Let us meditate upon the example of Jesus, the Light upon earth, entirely separated from sinners, which constituted the perfect beauty of His life. On one hand, we see that He is alone, perfectly alone; He is the most isolated man that one can imagine. The disciples themselves know not how to sympathize with Him. The woman of Samaria, to whom He addressed such touching words about the water “springing up into everlasting life,” can understand nothing else but “the well is deep.” She says, “From whence then hast thou that living water?” If Jesus says, “Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest;” if He speaks of “a meat to eat” that His disciples “know not of,” it is ever the same. He meets with no real sympathy in the midst of men. We feel that this was painful to Him because he had a man's heart, and would have desired to find some one who could understand Him; but He found nothing anywhere. On the contrary, as to Him, we see that He has a perfect sympathy toward all. Jesus was the most accessible man, most within the reach of the simple, of the ignorant, and even of the most degraded of sinners. He manifested in His life something that had not its equal. No, there never was all that holiness and love, which is above all our thoughts.

There is so much selfishness in the heart of man that the love of God is to him an enigma still more incomprehensible than His holiness. No one understood Jesus, because He manifested God. I do not as yet speak of His work, but of what He was, when He was manifested in the midst of the world. He had to show that all the ceremonies cannot make God known; for the thing is impossible. Jesus alone manifested God as He is, and man also as he is.

No religion as such can change man. Man puts on religion as a clothing; but his religion leads him farther away from God.

The first thing God does is to lay us bare in His presence; He takes away everything. He is occupied with us, and not with our religion. Then is all quite removed, and we stand before Him, such as we are. Well I that is what took place when Jesus was here below; and therefore He was unwelcome and found Himself in conflict with everyone.

It is impossible we could like to find ourselves in the presence of God, just as we are. A man accustomed to dirt does not know he is dirty, because his whole way of living is fashioned to it; but if he finds himself in certain circumstances, which give him light as to himself, he will feel disgusted to see what his whole life has been. Such is the heart of man; but when the light of God shines in his conscience and in his soul, he sees himself such as he really is in the sight of God, although there be doubtless some defect in the perception of it. This is very humbling; one does not like it, for it is too painful. Once more I say, before God it is not a question of our religion but of ourselves.

Such is the necessary effect of the presence of God in the world. The light shows us in God all condescension, all goodness, all grace: and in man a selfishness which betrays itself before God. One sees that man cannot be saved through himself. A certain man says, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Is it not as good as saying, There is something else that holds the first place when Christ calls me? It is not my will to serve God entirely. “I have bought five yoke of oxen,” says another; and a third, “I have married a wife.” What does this mean? That the heart is fixed on quite another thing; that it prefers its oxen to the feast that God has prepared. Thus all is made manifest, and the heart is laid bare.

All disappears before the testimony of God. Man's self-righteousness and his pride lead him to hide from himself his own state, in order to take advantage of a religion which descends from his ancestors. But John the Baptist said (Matt. 3:7-9), when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” It is God who works as He pleases, and in His own power, to create children unto Himself. All your pretensions, as Jews, descendants of Abraham, God takes no account of. He works in that supreme power, in which He is able, even of stones, to raise up children unto Abraham; and that is the reason why He takes no account of your righteousness: He must first have sinners.

There is yet another thing to observe here. John says (Matt. 3:11, 12), “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus is going to establish His kingdom, and that will soon come to pass. It is a kingdom in which that which is not according to His heart will be burnt with fire. Such was the testimony of John. “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached.” God had given the law to that people which He had gathered and ranged round Himself; He had sent prophets who, as witnesses for the moment, called upon the Jews to walk according to the law. John the Baptist came to announce to them quite another thing: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. God is about to establish a new order of things: are you in a state to enter it? Have you energy to penetrate there? Judgment is there also. He has His fan in His hand. Have you any fruit? If not, “the ax is laid unto the root of the trees.” “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.” Thus it was that John taught; such is the place he takes. As to Jerusalem, it is about to be set aside, and John preaches the testimony of repentance and of the kingdom about to be established; he presents himself in order to draw out every thought towards Jesus. After having announced the testimony of repentance, the Lord Jesus presents Himself to our hearts and souls. Let us rest—rest our thoughts upon Him, who shows Himself to us personally.

The object of God is not only to cause sin to be felt, although that must take place, but to make Jesus known and to place the soul in the enjoyment of God Himself—to act in grace towards it in order that it may forget itself and be filled with the thought of Jesus. This is the way God does it. He presents the Lord “as a root out of a dry ground.” There is in Him no beauty for man, as there was in the temple; nay, nothing of that which attracts the flesh and might tempt it—nothing of all that. It is, on the contrary, a root that none “should desire.” To the eyes of flesh there is absolutely nothing to render Him lovely. Who is it then? It is a poor man who goes preaching! He “hath not where to lay his head.” He is a man condemned by every clerical authority, by all the wise men and all the Pharisees. The Sadducees condemn Him, the priests condemn Him Thus was Jesus received. In Him is “no beauty that we should desire Him.” It was needful He should present Himself thus, that it might be shown if the heart could discern God, and because He would not supply food to fleshly feeling. He must put the heart to the test, to prove whether God is enough for the heart, and whether the moral beauty that is in God—His love, His holiness, His word that penetrates within the heart; whether, in a word, all that is infinitely precious in the divine nature can be discerned by man.

When He comes as the light, He never adapts Himself to that which He is going to destroy in the heart: man would do it, and he would call this religion; but it would only be to hide God, or to deny Him. Thus the Lord Jesus presents Himself without anything which could attract man, and that is what we find here. Of course every testimony of grace and goodness, necessary to our poor heart, is there; but nothing to meet its desires. The testimony given by Jesus was perfect, and placed before the heart the grace it needed, to be rendered capable of tasting the grace of God itself.

Jesus has shown Himself to our faith in all the grace of His divine person; but He took His place among men as being nothing, save as the object of faith.

The angel appears to Joseph in a dream and says to him “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20, 21).

It was as Oshea that God caused Joshua to be called, which means Savior, for God had charged him to bring Israel into the land of Canaan. It is God Himself, it is Jehovah, who comes as Savior. It is the first thing that is presented to us: “Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” What a great and precious truth— “God with us!” Then God, so to speak, begins over again with man.

As soon as Jesus appears, Satan seeks to destroy Him. It is astonishing to see how forgetful man is. The magi who came from the East had owned Jesus as King of the Jews born in Bethlehem; they had borne a testimony to Emmanuel, to the Son of David. The shepherds, after having worshipped, had spread abroad what the angels had told them; and in spite of that, Jesus, although approved of God, was disowned and rejected by men.

God begins over again the whole history of Israel in the person of Jesus. He must call His Son out of Egypt, where He had sent Him, because men wanted to slay Him the moment He had come into this world. Israel was really lost, and God must begin over again all their history in the person of Jesus. Herod seeks the young child to destroy Him. Thus we find that opposition shows itself against Jesus, even from His cradle.

Satan has carnal motives enough to persuade souls to do away with God. His great work is to supply us with motives powerful enough to lead us to do without God, and to shut Him out of our hearts. Here we find the way he begins. He stirs up Herod against Jesus. Then Joseph takes the young child and departs into Egypt. After that he returns into the land of Israel and dwells in Nazareth, for it was written, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” This is in fact where Jesus begins in the midst of the world. And who is it who dwells there in Nazareth? It is Jehovah, the Savior; it is “Emmanuel.” And what is that city? It is so bad a place, that to be found there is enough to make men say, Ah! I will have none of it. Nathanael said to Philip, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

It is God whom I first see in the person of Jesus; but God in the circumstances which the flesh repels, because it is wicked. To know God the flesh must be entirely mortified, and grace in our hearts must lead us to value the love of God in spite of the flesh. This is the history of Christian life.

Outwardly Jesus was only a poor Nazarene; but perfection was in His ways and in His heart, and it manifested itself in the midst of every difficulty, of all contempt, and all that was false. Faith alone could discern the ways of Jesus through want and every misery. The broken heart saw this perfection of goodness manifesting itself in the midst of every care. It is necessary our hearts should see also, in that despised man, God Himself, who reveals Himself to our souls and takes His place in our midst.

Then Jesus comes to John to be baptized. John forbade Him, because he owned the dignity of His person. “I have need to be baptized of thee; and comest thou to me?” Jesus then “said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Whom do I find here? It is the Lord Jesus and His person owned; but, in spite of that, His will is to take His place with the least of the saints. “Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Who are they, these we? It is John and Himself. Where does He place Himself? He places Himself there, in connection with the first movement of His Spirit in the heart. I place myself with those who repent, said Jesus. There are some who come to be baptized; I also, I come to be baptized. As soon as there is a movement of repentance in the heart of the sinner—a response to the testimony rendered by the word—Jesus takes His place there with that heart. It is not only that He manifests as an object that which, by faith, becomes the crucifying of the flesh, but He goes with the heart also, and the poor heart sees all that; and what a consolation for us! The one in whom the fullness of the Father was manifested is there, and it is the Son Himself. If a soul is broken down—well! Jesus is with it. If it is in fear, because already “the ax is laid unto the root of the trees,” He is there to encourage it and to show unto it His grace. He takes His place with His people, and thus we see the perfect goodness of God. It was He Himself who produced this movement of repentance in that heart, and He takes His place with that soul; Jesus is there. If He is to us the most high God, the One who manifests all this light, He is there also as man, meeting the least of our feelings. He is with us, believers, in all our misery and in all our circumstances.

The consequence of the baptism of Jesus is that the heavens are opened unto Him. It is not only the God incarnate, but heaven is opened over Him; He has the full approbation of God, and thereby we see all the extent of that grace presented to sinners. Never was heaven opened before. God had sent messengers, but never had there been on earth a man upon whom heaven opened.

When Jesus has accomplished the work of atonement, He places us in the same position as Himself. “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God.” Heaven is open. There is no longer any veil on our heart.

As man, Jesus was perfectly righteous, and although He placed Himself in the position of those poor sinners who drew nigh to God, He was none the less acceptable to God; and indeed never was Jesus so acceptable to God as when He bare our sins on the tree. It was at the moment of His death that He perfectly glorified God in all that He was as man, and that He also at the same time bore testimony to the perfect and infinite love of God towards sinners.

Heaven is opened on Jesus—well! it, is also entirely opened on us. No sin can be tolerated before God; all that is not of Christ on whom heaven could be opened, God beholds, and He cannot tolerate sin. But there is no longer a veil as to us: we look on His glory in Jesus with unveiled face; and the glory of God shines on man as he is in Jesus, just as it shone on Jesus Himself. All that is not Christ is condemned. All that is reprobate is manifested by Himself.

There is another consequence of the acceptance of Jesus; it is the Spirit of God, who descended upon Him like a dove, and the voice from heaven, which made itself heard, “saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Such is the position Jesus takes. He manifests His grace in testimony to man when he is in his sins. He adapts Himself to the circumstances of the sinner in his lowest state; He identifies Himself with him in the first step he takes under grace, but at the same time we see as to Himself that there is a voice “saying, This is my beloved Son.” This is the perfect man in the presence of God—the friend of poor sinners, and the expression of all that God loves to see in man in the midst of the world.

But further (Matt. 4), if we are the children of God, His beloved children, as we believe, loved as Jesus is loved (as He said Himself: “That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”), we are through grace in the same position as Himself in the sight of God. But it is needful that this perfectly beloved person should be tested (not merely to know if we are children of God, nor as sinners, as such; we have already been tested, and we know we are lost). It is needful that grace should work; and when it is a question, of grace, it is always the perfect grace of God toward sinners. All that is good must be on God's side, for in man there is nothing. The light manifests that in God there is nothing but that which is good, and in us no good thing. This love of God, in us, produces a new life. We are in the position of children of God, like Jesus; but then, the Spirit of God being in us, we must be put to the test. There are many things which hinder us from enjoying the love of God. There is selfishness, self-love, levity: therefore we must be put to the test, as Jesus Himself was. Paul says, “We glory in tribulations also.... and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.”

Thus we are conscious of being children of God, being looked upon by Him as Jesus Himself. Then all is begun; but all is not finished. As to acceptance indeed all is finished. The child that God may have just given me is truly my child, though its education be not gone through; but it is as much my child, though just born, as when he will be twenty.

(To be continued)

Brief Notes on Ephesians 5:25-33

Matthew 16:13-18, Eph. 5:25-33. Men may talk much about the church, but there is no understanding of it till the person of the Lord is known. Simon was only a poor ignorant fisherman, but he made a glorious unwavering confession, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” There was no pause, no hesitation; he knew it. But the knowledge came by revelation of the Father, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” There was no happier man than Simon at that moment on the face of the earth. Then indeed there ensues a further revelation, “And I also say to thee that.... upon this Rock I will build my church” — “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

But in Eph. 5 we have another thing: this blessed Person has “loved the church and given Himself for it.” The Spirit here employs the nearest and dearest of all earthly ties—the love of equals. It is not here an angel I am called to love, but a fellow-creature brought into the happiest and closest relationship with myself— “so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” But if that is so sweet, what is it to be the object of the love of the Son of God, to be loved by Him as we know Him revealed by the Father? When we learn His person and then His love to us we may learn about the church. What can those who are discussing His person understand about it, though they talk so loudly about the church?

We are not only living stones on the Rock, but we are “builded” there. We are not loose stones to go anywhere, nor are we thrown down into the road in a heap, but we are “builded together” each having its own place to fill in the “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5), and nothing can, in His grace, move us from this allocation, nor from Himself the Builder and the Rock, and by-and-by will He present to Himself His church in all its glorious completeness, ourselves then perfected in glory (John 17:23).

John 13:33 “Little children.” This is the only occasion in which the Lord Himself uses the word “little children” —a diminutive form expressing affection. It does not mean a young believer only, but is the address of love to all His own, and is so used by the disciple whom Jesus loved, in his Epistle when addressing the whole family of God (1 John 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21).

Here in the Gospel it is divine affection addressing the disciples in their sorrow at their Lord and Master's approaching departure, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” How different the time when He used these same words to the Jews, “Whither I go ye cannot come”!

It is His love in verse 33 that leads to verse 34, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” It was a new commandment because never so expressed before. “As I have loved you.” Such should be the character as well as the measure of our love to each other. His love had been shown in washing their feet. We too should wash one another's feet (ver. 14). But was this then realized in the disciples? It needed the power of the indwelling Spirit, that other Comforter, or Advocate, whom He would send from the Father (15:26; Acts 2:33) before it could be said “which thing is true (not only in Him as always, but now for the first time) in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light now shines” (1 John 2:7, 8).

“Let not your heart be troubled.” There was much to trouble—the discovery of a false professor (Judas), as well as the failure of a true disciple (Peter); and above all His own absence, for He had not yet spoken a word about the Comforter. How similar to our present condition, except that we now have the Comforter! “Let not your heart be troubled.” Trouble may be all around; let it stay there. Keep it out of your heart. “Ye believe in God” though you have not seen Him—you have His presence (witness the Psalms), “believe also in Me.” Amid the trouble, He is on your side. I will be also. And the blessed Lord is more occupied with them in His absence from this scene than whilst here— “It is expedient for you that I go away.”

The Lord's Supper

WE should, on divine authority, and in spiritual, scriptural intelligence, hold to it, that the Lord's supper is the due characteristic expression of the Lord's day—that which should then be made principal.

If we read Luke 22:7-20 we shall learn that the Passover of the Jews and the Supper of the Lord being then exhibited successively, the one after the other, the latter was henceforth to displace the former. The Passover, with other meanings attached to it, was the foreshadowing of the great sacrifice which was in due time to put away sin. The Supper is now the celebration of the great fact that that sacrifice has been offered, and that, for faith, our sins are put away.

After the Lord's supper, therefore, is instituted, it is for us impossible to return to the Passover. It would be apostasy, a giving up of God's Lamb, and of the atonement.

But if the Supper has thus displaced the Passover, we may then inquire, Is anything to displace it? We may read our answer in 1 Cor. 11:26, and there learn that the Lord's supper is set as a standing institution in the house of God till the Lord's return. The Holy Ghost, through the apostle, gives it an abiding place all through this age of the Lord's absence.

I conclude, accordingly, that we are not to allow anything to displace the supper. It is of our faithfulness to our stewardship of the mysteries of God, to assert the right of that supper to be principal in the assembly of the saints. It has displaced the Passover by the authority of the Lord Himself; but we, on the authority of the Holy Ghost, are not to allow anything to displace it. It is the proper service of the house of God. The Lord's supper, with its attendant worship, is the principal thing for the Lord's day.

This comes out naturally in the progress of the story of Christianity in the New Testament. We read in Acts 20:7. “And upon the first day of the week, when we came together to break bread.” And again, in 1 Cor. 11:33, “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.”

If we abandon the supper for a sermon, or for a large congregation, or for any other religious scene or service, we have given up the house of God in its due characteristic and divinely appointed business and worship. So far we are guilty of apostasy. We have not, it is true, returned to the displaced, or superseded, Passover, but we have allowed something or another to displace, or supersede, what the Holy Ghost has set as principal in the house of God. And, were we right-hearted, we would say, What sermon would be more profitable to us? What singing of a full congregation more sweet in our ears than the voice of that ordinance which tells us so clearly, and with such rich harmony of all kinds of music, of the forgiveness of our sins, of the acceptance of our persons, and of our waiting for the Lord from heaven? And all this in blessed and wondrous fellowship with the brightest display of the name and glory of God!

Yea, the table at which we sit is a family table, though more. In spirit we are in the Father's house. We are made by the table to know ourselves in relationship, and that lies just outside the realm of glory; for “if children, then heirs.” If we be in the kingdom of God's dear Son, we are next door to the inheritance (Col. 1). And there the table is maintained until Christ comes again. J. G. B.

Jude 9

Now we all know from the account given of Moses, both in Exodus and Numbers, how constantly the children of Israel were contending with him, murmuring against him, speaking evil of him—hating Moses, really, and Aaron too. And it was only the power of God interfering every now and then that alarmed them, and cut them down, and compelled them at any rate to pay outward respect. But directly he was dead the same devil that stirred them up against Moses when he was alive—Oh! what would he not have given for that dead body! The dead body would have been made a relic. You know very well that that is a favorite idea of men—the dead body would have been made an object of worship. The devil would, therefore, have gained doubly. First, by setting them at war with him while alive, and still more when he was dead by making them idolaters of Moses. So that we can easily understand why it was that the Lord buried the body Himself But it appears that before he was buried there was this contention between Michael the archangel and the devil about Moses' dead body; so perfectly in keeping with the mysterious manner in which Jehovah buried him where none should know, and where even if Satan was allowed to know, God interfered that Michael should guard that grave—that Michael should hinder all the efforts of the devil to get hold of that dead body. So we have the two facts: what is here told us by Jude, and the fact of the 34th of Deuteronomy, where we have the account of the—Lord's burying Moses—which he never did for any other man. Show me only a, single case of the Lord's burying any one. I don't remember one but that of Moses, and there were special reasons why Jehovah should secretly bury that dead body rather than any other.

There never was a man that exercised so remarkable a position towards a whole people as Moses did to the children of Israel, and now that he was gone a reaction would take place under the devil, not in the least a reaction of faith, but of unbelief, to idolize that very body, the same man that they continually plagued while living.

So that the fact as here brought before us goes along with another fact to which I have just now referred in the Old Testament (the two perfectly tally), that there were special reasons in the case of Moses' dead body why the Lord should interfere; and now we learn from this passage in Jude a very interesting fact, not about the Lord, but about the enemy and the one whom Jehovah thought proper to use. Now, there are others of great weight in heaven besides Michael. Gabriel stands in the presence of God, and as we know was employed for a very important mission by God. It was not Michael, but Gabriel very particularly, who was used in announcing the birth of our Lord Jesus, and we can perfectly understand why Gabriel should be employed rather than Michael. Michael is the prince that stands up for the Jewish people. Yes, but the Gospel of Luke shows the Lord Jesus born of woman, not merely for the Jewish people, but for man— “God's good pleasure in men,” not merely in Jews: and therefore it is not that particular angel, Michael; it was not he that was employed on that occasion. So that it appears to me that there was divine wisdom in Gabriel being employed on that mission rather than Michael; and that this is true, surely is very evident to anyone that will read the 11th and 12th chapters of the book of Daniel. I just refer to it now, because it is of importance in showing the harmony of Scripture, and that even in the most extraordinary event that is only once recorded, showing principles of divine truth that support, and fall in, and harmonize, with that which was only revealed once. That is what I wish to show now.

Well, in the latter part of the 10th chapter of Daniel (indeed, as well as the 11th chapter), ver. 20, we read, “Then said he” (this is the angel that had to do with Daniel), “Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia.” There you see it is not quite an unusual thing for angels to contend. Here we have it in still stronger language: “To fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia, shall come.”

Now, we shall find a little intimation who and what these princes were in the next verse: “But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.”

We learn here that Michael was pre-eminently the prince of Israel. In what sense? Not as reigning visibly, but as invisibly espousing the cause of the Jewish people. Now see how that falls in with Michael guarding the dead body of Moses, with his being employed by God to contend with the great enemy, so that there should be no misuse made of that dead body. Who had so preeminently this duty as the prince of Israel? And as to the angel that was speaking with Daniel, of whom we read a good deal in the previous part of the chapter in so highly interesting a manner and the most glowing colors—he says, “there is none that holdeth with me in these things” —that is, in opposing the princes of Grecia and Persia. Why? It appears that the princes of Grecia and Persia were not favorable to the Jewish people. In the same way they had interests connected with Greece and Persia that were opposed to the Jewish people; and in the providence of God the angels are referred to here—angels are the great instruments of providence, the unseen working of God is carried out instrumentally by angels. That is true now. We are all very much cared for by the angels, more than we are apt to think. Speaking of them in Hebrews (chap. 1:14): “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” We are indebted to the angels now. I don't say it is Michael or Gabriel, but I do say that the angels are acting a special part at this present time in Christianity for all the heirs of salvation. You see at this time, in Daniel, it was not so much a question about the heirs of salvation; it was a question of the Jewish people. They were the great object of God's care in their fallen estate. They had been most guilty, but they were beloved. They were carried into captivity by the Babylonian power. And they were going to be the slaves of other powers on the earth; but for all that, Michael stood up for them and this other angel who speaks to the prophet Daniel. There were also other angels that were opposed, whom they had to fight.

Well, people may say, that is all very mysterious. Indeed it is, dear brethren. It is not, therefore, incredible, but of very great moment, that we should have our hearts and minds open to believe what we don't see. There is nothing that adds more to the simplicity of a believer than his having his faith exercised upon the things that are unseen as well as those that are eternal, and we ought to feel our indebtedness to God.

Now if you want a proof even in detail as to this take the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. There you find that the angel tells Philip to go in a certain direction, and he does; and then we find the Spirit speaks. Not the angel, but the Spirit. I had better refer to it, because there is nothing like the Scripture for its precision. Now, in that chapter we read in the 26th verse: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.” There were two roads, it appears. One was through a populous part of the land, and the other was desert. Well, a desert is not the place an evangelist would choose. The angel, therefore, acting in the providence of God, says to Philip: “You go that desert road.” And it is one of the beautiful features of Philip, that he was not a reasoner. Reason is an excellent thing for men who have not got the word of God, and I don't say that there may not be useful reasoning outside divine things, what you may call common sense. But I do say this, that the more the believer can act on divine principles at all times, the better for his soul, and the more to the praise of the Lord. If he is sometimes acting, like a man of the world, on his common sense, and at another time acting on the word of God—as a believer, he is in danger of being practically two different persons. And when a man plays the game of two personalities he is very apt to become a hypocrite; there will be a want of reality about the man. We ought only to have one personality. We are bought with a price, not merely for our religious matters but for everything We don't belong to ourselves, we are the Lord's; and therefore the more a believer can rise above merely what he will do as a man to that which he loves to do as a saint—the more entirely he keeps to this only—so much the more consistent is he with his profession as a child of God. For why should it not be so? What is to hinder his being a saint in anything at all? Cannot he be a saint when serving in his shop? Cannot he be a saint when in his office? Surely he might, and ought to be. There is nothing to hinder that, if he were lively in faith and has the Lord before him. But if, on the contrary he only looks at the shop or the office— “Well, now,” he says, “it is not Sunday, nor is it the meeting now; I go there as a man.” So there it is. How can he expect anything like faith, or grace, care for Christ and His glory, if that is the case? I deny entirely that we may not be servants of Christ in the commonest things of this life; and that is what, I think, we have all especially to pray for. Of course, we need to pray that we behave as a saint when we come into the assembly, and when we find ourselves at a meeting of any kind; but why we should be off our saintship when we go into business or anything else is another matter, and a very dangerous line to pursue.

Now then, here you see that we have the angel of the Lord providentially dealing with Philip, and Philip acts upon it at once. He doesn't say, “Ah, I shall not be able to get a congregation, and at any rate I don't like a little one; I want to have a big one.” And so it is, he has not a word about little or big; he was not going to have a congregation. He must be content with one single soul. That soul is precious, beyond all calculation, to God, if not even to himself. What would all the world be to one if the soul were lost, as the Lord Himself told men, and which they still refuse to believe?

Well, then, the angel gives him this word and he hears, and goes without a question. But when he was there—in this road, “this way that goeth down from Jerusalem” —here it was that this Ethiopian stranger in his chariot was met, returning from Jerusalem, and reading the prophet Isaiah. He was not now going up to Jerusalem to get a blessing there. He may have looked for and prayed for that, but he didn't get it there. He was returning from Jerusalem unblest, going away from that city, and that was just what the gospel was doing. It was leaving Jerusalem, driven out by unbelief, and this poor Jewish proselyte was going away unblest by the gospel in that city, for he hadn't found a blessing there. There was a persecution going on there against it. And now, returning, he was reading in his chariot. “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” Now, why is it the Spirit here? Because it was what concerned the word of God and the soul. The angel said not a word about the soul of the Ethiopian. I don't know that the angel knew anything about it. The angel had to do with the bidding of God, “Tell that man to go by the road that is a desert.” He acted on it; the angel was right, and Philip was right, but it was entirely providential. And now comes the spiritual part, and the Holy Ghost interposes here.

Well, now we have not the angel speaking and the Holy Ghost speaking, but we have the angels acting. We perhaps don't know how it is, but an angel interposes many a time when, if there had not been that interposition, we should have been killed; to prevent us going in that way. We often go where we had no intention of going, or don't go where we meant to go. When I say often, I mean sometimes; throughout our lives it would really bear the word “often”; but from time to time there is no man but what does what he never intended to do, perhaps through an impulse given him; he can't tell how or why, and he goes this way, when he meant to have gone that way.

Here, however, we find that there is another kind of guidance of a more spiritual nature for the soul, prompting (so to speak) the soul to give a word for the Lord. Do you suppose there is no such a thing now? Such an idea is well for people who don't believe that the Holy Ghost is come, and that to abide. He is still here. It is put in this chapter in an open objective form, but it is meant to teach us that the same thing is now true, although it does not come out openly in the same manner. It is quite true, and this is not the only case. If you compare the 12th chapter of the Acts with the 13th you will see an angel acting in the one chapter, and the Spirit acting in the next. I only mention it because the Acts of the Apostles is surely a history of Christianity, a history of Christians, of what Christians have been used for, and what they are meant to live in. Well, then, here we find, when it was not a question of Christians or the gospel, but of nations and people, the part that the angels play—not merely the holy ones but the unholy ones. That is the very thing that we find at the grave of Moses, and about that same people Israel. Michael is the prince that stands up for them against the efforts of the enemy against them; and this entirely confirms the principles of God's word. They are entirely in favor of this extraordinary revelation that is made in the 9th verse of Jude, and are found to quite support and confirm it in the highest degree.

Now, I refer to. another scripture, before we go, further, in the third chapter of Zechariah. It is a. very interesting removal of the veil that we might, see the unseen. In this chapter we read these words: “And he showed me” (that is, the angel showed him) “Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him” (ver. 1). There you have the same opposition again. In this case, however, it is the “angel of Jehovah.” I should be disposed to distinguish that from Michael. The “angel of Jehovah” is altogether peculiar. The angel of Jehovah is rather the way in which the Lord Jesus is referred to in the Old Testament—not the only way, but a very usual way. The angel of Jehovah, every now and then, is shown to be Jehovah Himself. I don't mean that He is the only person that is Jehovah. As we read in Deut. 6:4, “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah,” that is, it is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are the one God that we acknowledge as Christians. They are all three Jehovah, they are all equally Jehovah, and it therefore helps us to understand why He is viewed as “the Angel of Jehovah.” He is Jehovah too, though not the only One that is called Jehovah. That explains what we have here: “He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And Jehovah” (notice that after speaking of “the angel of Jehovah” it is now “Jehovah")— “And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan” —the very words that Michael uses to Satan as reported by Jude!

Well, is not this a very strong confirmation of not only this remarkable opposition between the holy angels and the unholy ones; but also Satan's? We find this antagonism in both scriptures precisely alike. Even Jehovah Himself, instead of merely taunting Satan, says, “Jehovah rebuke thee.” The time was not yet for the most terrible rebuke to come, as it will unmistakably when he shall be trodden under foot. He has to be bound for a thousand years in the abyss; he has to be cast into the lake of fire. All these will be part of the ways in which Jehovah will rebuke him; but that is what He says here. What you have in God is, He guards His own purpose; He does not allow Satan to interfere with His purpose. He allows man to show out his insensibility and his sin, and He chastises him. He does not yet put forth His power to deal with Satan as He will do; but there is that word, “Jehovah rebuke thee,” as He surely will. It is a continual warning from Jehovah, which will be accomplished in its own day, and in various places and various stages. But you can easily see that it would be unseemly to have a mere dispute going on between Jehovah and Satan; and all, therefore, that He puts forth is this solemn warning of what is coming.

Well, the angel repeats that to Satan in a very early day, and here, a thousand years after, you have the same truth, the same antagonism even, if not the same persons exactly; but the same spirit all through.

Scripture is perfectly consistent, perfectly reliable. And although Jude was the first one that brought out this fact, it falls in with the other facts of Scripture: both in the early days of Moses, in the later of Zechariah, and now in the days of the gospel, in the days of Christianity.

So that nothing can be more complete than the proof that these learned critics are totally ignorant of God, totally ignorant of the Bible, except of the mere surface, the mere letter that kills and not the spirit that quickens.

Well, here then you see how beautiful it is that instead of bringing a railing accusation, Michael simply warns Satan with the solemn words: “Jehovah rebuke thee” — “The Lord rebuke thee.” What would railing do? If there are two people railing, a good and a bad man, and the bad man's railing provokes the good man to rail, the good man goes down to the level of the bad. It does not at all diminish the railing of the other. I should think at any time that a bad man could gain a good degree over the good man in the way of railing. Surely, he is much more practiced, and very likely more unscrupulous and more malicious, and therefore it sounds stronger to the ear of man But, you see, that would be a total lowering of even an angel, and how much more of a saint, I might Say. But here we have the beautiful conduct of the angel as a pattern to the saint, that we be not provoked, nor, when we are reviled, revile again, but as the Lord acted Himself. He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Well, that is what Jehovah will do; He will judge righteously, but the time is not yet come.

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The Ministry of Elisha: Part 1

This may lead us then to consider these two remarkable men in their respective ministries as types of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who in due time appeared as the Prophet, Whom the Lord God had foretold, through His servant Moses, that He would raise up to Israel.

“Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:15, 18, 19). The fulfillment of this prophecy we have in the New Testament, and the words themselves directly applied by the apostle Peter to the Lord Jesus (Acts 3:22-26). In Elijah, we are shown the executor of judgment as Jehovah's righteous servant and witness, yet suffering persecution, with no home here, rejected of the nation, but claimed and appropriated by the glory to which he belonged. Elisha was the witness of this translation of his master, and in the power of a double portion of Elijah's spirit he re-enters the land and appears amongst God's erring people as the witness of a power superior to death, and with a ministry not of judgment but of grace. May we not read in this a type of the risen Christ, rejected on earth indeed, but received up in glory on high, and who has received gifts for man, yea, for the rebellious also?

These two prophets, so differing in spirit, experience and testimony, were nevertheless connected in more ways than one, so much so, indeed, that if we would rightly understand the one, we must also have knowledge of the other.

The first reference to Elisha we find in that wondrous scene upon Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19) whither Elijah had gone to make intercession to God against Israel in his disappointment of what he reasonably had expected would have followed the triumphant vindication of Jehovah's name. Baffled as to continuance of testimony for God and service amongst His people, fleeing from the wrath of an imperious, vengeful woman, God meets him there and inquires his business; for surely, according to the mind of God and His thoughts concerning His people, Elijah had come to the wrong mountain. “And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold the word of Jehovah [came] to him, and he said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; [but] Jehovah [was] not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; [but] Jehovah [was] not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; [but] Jehovah [was] not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was [so], when Elijah heard [it], that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, [there came] a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And Jehovah said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael king over Syria: and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, shalt thou anoint prophet in thy room” (1 Kings 19:9-16).

He had come to Horeb, “the mountain of God” —the mount of law and responsibility, to accuse the people, and, as it were, to invoke the curse of a broken covenant. The “great and strong wind” which “rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah “might indeed be most impressive, as also the earthquake, and the fire? they were the natural and proper concomitants of “the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,” but they are destructive to sinners, and cannot soften the heart—they may terrify, but they cannot attract. Even at the first giving of the law, Israel had entreated that they might not again listen to such awe-inspiring sounds, for how could they exist in the presence of the glory there displayed though it were only in part? Yet when the blessed Lord Jesus was upon earth, in whom dwelt “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” we read that “then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.” So far does the glory of grace exceed, in its power and attractiveness, that of law—the one terrifies and repels, the other draws. The still small voice which appealed to Elijah's heart, spoke of that gracious ministry which God would raise up in the midst of a people who did not indeed deserve it. Convinced that he was now in the presence of God, he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood in the entering in of the cave. Like another in a later day (Hab. 2:1), he would put himself in a listening attitude and watch to see what God would say unto him, and what he should answer when reproved. For reproved he surely was, graciously indeed, but not the less so. How blessed, when it is so, to own with humility that God's way is far above man's, even “as the heavens are high above the earth.” Rarely indeed do we find one of God's servants equally affected by grace and truth, or able to give to each its proper place in testimony. So we find that when Elijah could see nothing but judgment, no resource of grace for Israel, God's command was, “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael [to be] king over Syria: and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint [to be] king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, shalt thou anoint [to be] prophet in thy room.”

The idea of a prophetic succession is found nowhere else in Scripture. “Prophet in thy room” certainly intimates that Elijah was to be superseded by another; and in the service and ministry of this successor we have the beautiful expression of that manifold and wondrous grace which God entertained for His people. It was therefore necessary that the two ministries should be closely connected. The, Lord's ministry upon earth was characterized by grace and truth—they “came by Jesus Christ” —and now that redemption has been accomplished, and life eternal and salvation are openly and freely presented to man in the gospel, there is the triumph of grace through righteousness, not in the suppression or concealment of truth, but, as we read in Rom. 5:21, “that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto life eternal, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This connection between the two prophets was established in a two-fold way. Firstly, God Himself deposed or withdrew Elijah from the place of testimony in Israel, when he confessed himself (as he thought) alone in Israel, and Jehovah's solitary witness for truth and righteousness. Secondly, it pleased Jehovah to prepare Elisha for the work that was before him, by a course of instruction in the truth of God, and Israel's departure from it, at the feet of Elijah, and in personal attendance upon, and devoted attachment to, him whom God had used in such a remarkable way to arrest the apostasy of the nation. The translation of Elijah witnessed to God's estimate of him, and he who was the object of unreasoning malice, who was feared and hated by the king of Israel, denounced and threatened by the wicked Jezebel, who was sought for in every known kingdom and nation that he might be delivered up to death, is now me outside the limits of Israel's land by a convoy from heaven that shall carry him to realms of glory. But Israel's only hope of blessing and deliverance lay in that glorious escort! Elisha's faith laid hold of this fact and built upon it. The “chariot of fire, and horses of fire” might indeed part these witnesses asunder, but it was “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof,” and they would be in attendance upon Elisha until the close of his life (compare 2 Kings 2:12-6:17 with 13:14).

Elisha had the opportunity, only accorded to one other man in scripture, of giving expression to that which his heart valued. “And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: [nevertheless,] if thou see me taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be.” Well did his faith rise to the occasion, showing that the glory of God, and the true blessing of His people, were the things which he valued most. He desired to inherit the zeal for God and righteousness, which had filled and characterized his master, but with a spirit of grace in which perhaps Elijah had been lacking. The “double portion” rested upon Elisha. Men might wonder at the change which came over him, but it was a secret between God and his soul, and he did not, like Samson, divulge it. The other instance to which we have referred was that of King Solomon (2 Chron. 1:7-12). No doubt the same spirit which instructed Elisha, formed at an earlier period the desires of the king, so that Solomon asked for and received such a special endowment of wisdom and knowledge suited to his exalted position as king and leader of God's people in the land of Israel, together with the possession of riches, and wealth, and honor beyond all other kings precedent or to follow.

(Continued from p. 311)

(To be continued)

Zion's King and His Co-Heirs: No. 2

Thus is scripture bound up with the truth of the rejected and crucified Messiah as also His session at the right hand of God until He receives His glorious inheritance. To this the Holy Ghost gives testimony, together with the present blessed truth, that the Christ for the throne in Zion, when He shall reign, will have His co-heirs to reign with Him. On the descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 the apostle Peter, in charging the nation with their sin in crucifying Jesus of Nazareth, introduces David as a prophet, speaking of this same one when he declared that God would “raise up Christ to sit on his throne.” Moreover, after testifying to the power of the name of the exalted Jesus, to give strength and healing to the poor impotent man, he declares God's readiness, on the people's repentance, to blot out their sins, and that it was through ignorance they and their rulers had killed the Prince of life. Nevertheless, “Repent ye... and be converted... that he may send Jesus Christ ... Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since time began.”

Thus, Christ's present place in heaven is declared, and the restitution of all things shown to be dependent on His personal return; but this testimony to their guilt and the call to repentance only drew forth their further active hatred in locking up and further threatening the faithful witnesses. On their release, however, we find they returned “to their own company,” and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. This drew forth a most remarkable prayer from the newly formed assembly, in which the Spirit of God now dwelt as those who had received the rejected but now exalted Christ. To it the mind of God was given so as to apply to the circumstances the prophecy of Psa. 2 “Why did the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.” With this they associated divine counsel now fulfilled, yet prayed that with all boldness the word of God might be spoken and that signs and wonders might be done by the Name of God's holy Servant, Jesus. This Name, in which alone is salvation, was henceforward to be the testimony of the servants of the Lord who, as believers in the redemptive work of Christ, were to know themselves as saved and accepted in the Beloved, and for that Name were they ready to suffer shame. No less remarkable was the answer to their prayers, for “with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. The religious leaders of the people, nevertheless, manifest their indignation and hatred even to death, in the stoning of Stephen, who, as the first martyr, followed his blessed Lord, suffering for righteousness and His Name's sake. In his defense before the sanhedrin Stephen convicts their fathers of disobedience, persecution and murder in their treatment of God's ancient witnesses, and now themselves of their crowning sin in the betrayal and murder of the Just One, so proving their inveterate resistance of the Holy Ghost.

After the death of Stephen the disciples were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word, so that in the riches of sovereign grace none need despair. The risen and exalted Christ is preached in Jerusalem and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth, proclaimed not as “the King,” but as the Savior, for salvation, life and peace. Those who believe the present testimony of God, whether Jew or Gentile, are brought into blessed living association with Him as God's heirs and Christ's joint heirs. For the unfolding of this we must look to the Epistles, whilst in the earlier chapters of the Acts we have more particularly what relates to Christ as the Messiah. The conversion in sovereign grace of Saul the Pharisee, blasphemer, and persecutor, reveals to him the Christ in heavenly glory, saying, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” To him it was given, not only to believe, but to bear witness to his own nation and before kings of the predetermined raising up, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus according to prophecy, and to make known the now revealed mystery of the church, in its nature and character as bound up with a heavenly but earth-rejected Christ.

The apostle Peter it was to whom the Lord gave “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” to unlock and throw open the door to the Jews (in Acts 2) and to the Gentiles (in Acts 10). Learning that God is no respecter of persons, and the nation having sealed their guilt in the rejection of their Messiah, he declares to Cornelius that the risen Jesus is the appointed “Judge of living and dead, to whom all the prophets testify that through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins.” Peter's testimony is believed, and the Gentiles receive the Holy Ghost and are baptized, to the astonishment of those of the circumcision, but in chapter 13 grace extends more fully, closing the door to Jewish kingly hopes. Now Barnabas and Saul are separated to the Holy Ghost for the work to which He now calls them and are sent forth by Him from the assembly at Antioch to regions beyond. Sailing from Seleucia to Cyprus and preaching the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, they ultimately arrive at Antioch in Pisidia. Here Paul briefly goes over their history, from Abraham to Christ, Whom he declares to have come, and they had fulfilled the voices of the prophets in condemning Him, desiring Pilate that He should be slain. But God raised Him from the dead (seen alive many days of chosen witnesses), now no more to return to corruption (like their king David), of whom it was written, “I will give you the sure mercies of David.” Meanwhile free and full forgiveness, and justification from all things hitherto unknown, was proclaimed—first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles, when as similarly under Peter's word the Jews were filled with envy and spake against those. things, contradicting and blaspheming. Not only had they rejected their Messiah, but now the word of God in the offer of His “salvation,” judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life which the believing Gentiles received, “and were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.”

Thus in character with Cornelius and his household, the tide of grace rolled on despite all opposition, so that the new form of blessing, with its equal freeness in sovereign goodness, brought out a fresh difficulty among the recipients. When the apostles returned to Antioch in Syria from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God they rehearsed to the assembly “all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” It is not long, however, before there appeared certain from Judea who taught the brethren that “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas withstood such a denial of the sovereign grace of God, so it was decided that they should go to Jerusalem, and there confer with the apostles and elders. After much disputing, Peter relates his experience and how God had made choice of him, that the Gentiles by his mouth should hear the word of the gospel and be saved, and that they had received the Holy Ghost. Paul and Barnabas also declare what wonders and miracles God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

The apostle James then brings forth the scripture touching upon it, deciding the exact state, bearing upon the present action of grace, and the future of Israel relative to the throne and kingdom, saying, “Hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His Name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After this, I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up,” etc.

Clearly the throne and tabernacle of David thrown down marks this period of sovereign grace to the Gentiles, and the presence and action of the Holy Ghost in His taking out, and associating with Christ hidden in the heavens, a people unknown by the world as no longer of it. To this fact the New Testament writings bear testimony no less showing that relationships now formed are in character with the place Christ is in, before the time when all things below and above will be headed up in Him. The apostle John declares that the heavenly family are unknown by the world, because of the Father's love bestowed upon them. Yea, the Son of God tells His Father of having manifested His Name to those given to Him out of the world. He does not now ask for the world, yet will, as in Psa. 2. Then in view of His throne in Zion He will ask and have the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. But in John 17 the Lord prays that His own in the world may be kept from its evil, until taken on high to be with Him, where evil can never be. So also the apostle Paul speaks of the heavenly relationship when unfolding the gospel of God in his Epistle to the Romans, adding, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” And, seeking the recovery and establishment of the Galatians, he writes to them how that the believing Gentiles were sons and heirs, through Christ the true Seed, in Whom all promised inheritance is established. Again, 2 Cor. 1, “Whatever are promises of God, in him is the Yea, and in him the Amen, for glory to God by us.” Thus the inheritance is bound up with Christ and His co-heirs, who, awaiting the hour of His coming Kingdom and glory, are meanwhile co-heirs in suffering here that we may be glorified together, and reign with Him. The New Testament shows us not as yet the fulfillment of the prophecy of Psa. 2 concerning the King in Zion, and His righteous exercise of His wrath when He establishes His kingdom, but that the Holy Ghost, now that the King has been refused, is gathering out from the world, whether Jew or Gentile, the co-heirs for that day: in other words, the church in that aspect of blessed oneness with Christ. When this has been completed, the co-heirs will be received to Himself at His coming for them when we shall meet the Lord in the air.

The coming of the Lord for His own will consummate the church period as to this work of the Holy Spirit for the appointed Heir; though leaving behind for judgment what had no place when He at Pentecost first formed the church, which now, alas! has become outwardly “a great house,” a mass of profession of the Name of Christ, without reality, a form without power. In the Revelation we see the church in Ephesus which was, and should have continued, a light-bearer to reflect its absent Lord threatened with the removal of its candlestick for having left its first love; and so we descend from stage to stage, until in Laodicea, with its boast of riches and greatness, contented to be without Christ and His righteousness—Himself the foundation of all blessing, life and glory, we are told, “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Nevertheless, in each of the seven churches, blessing is promised to the overcomer. Even in Thyatira, where unholy alliance with, and the wickedness of, Jezebel are existent, there is a remnant acknowledged and called to hold fast till the Lord come. There a significant promise, bearing upon the present position of the co-heirs as co-sufferers with their absent Lord, is given to the overcomer and to him that keeps His works unto the end. It is not a sitting down in the place of their Lord's rejection; or, as the nominal church, assuming to rule the world, amassing wealth and honors, or, in union with it, accepting its patronage and glory, and so seeking to reign before the time, yet without the apostles (1 Cor. 4:8). To those having ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches (not what the church teaches!) it is, “He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 3:26-28). Thus the Second Psalm is quoted showing its future for the King in Zion and His co-heirs, when the latter are promised, as their cheer meanwhile in suffering, to share His rule. Nor this only, but they are promised, before the Kingdom is set up, the special gift of “the morning star,” Christ Himself, their heavenly hope and portion, Who will, ere the day breaks, and the sun shines upon this dark scene, descend from heaven to receive his coheirs of suffering to be with, and like, Himself, forever. Yea, in another aspect, to have His heavenly bride, the joy and satisfaction of His heart forever. Also shall she sit with Him in His throne.

Such is the purpose of divine love as the fruit of the travail of Christ's soul when cast out by man, and having nothing here but rejection and the cross, both from His own nation and the world that knew Him not. We know Him as raised from the dead according to Paul's gospel—and “received in glory,” the divine answer to all that was meted out to the Blessed One by wretched, sinful man.

(To be continued)

Emmanuel: Part 2

Jesus, owned of God, takes His place according to our weakness, and He is “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” What Satan always seeks is to make us forget our position as children. In ourselves we are slaves of the devil; but we have been set free by God. Satan wanted man to abandon his first estate which be had in Eden; and he succeeded. There were “angels which kept not their first estate,” neither did Adam keep his. Whatever the position in which than was placed, he always failed. Nadab, Abihu, Solomon, were not able to keep the estate in which they had been placed. Satan always seeks to make us fall. Hence, although God brings into blessing, He brings us also into trial; yet we know that “He who hath begun the good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” If Jesus leads His sheep out, “he goeth before them.” Satan rises up to make us fall if he can; but man must in this world undergo the temptations of the devil. Well, Christ also underwent them, and in that position He acted as we ought to do ourselves. He does not at first say to Satan, “Get thee hence”; but He places Himself in the same position as ourselves, and He fasts “forty days and forty nights.” But He is there with Him who said to Him, “This is my beloved Son.” He was conscious of being the Son of God; yet, as man, Satan begins to tempt Him. Do something, he says, inconsistent with your position, something that is not obedience, to please yourself, to satisfy your own will. “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” But Jesus answers him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

If Jesus had obeyed Satan, as the first Adam did, He would have fallen; but He could not. Grace places Him in all the difficulties in which we may be found ourselves. What is precious for us (it matters little in what circumstances) is that in Jesus we find not only life but also the maintenance of that life.

I have life, because God gave it to me; but, in a practical sense, if I do not eat I cannot live. (John 6) There is not in our souls one single spiritual quality but what comes from God. And, besides, see how Jesus acts practically. There is not a single word in the book of God which cannot feed our souls; and therefore it is important for us to know how to handle that word by the power of the Holy Ghost, in order to be enabled to keep Satan at a distance.

“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Satan quotes to Him a promise, but Christ will not abandon the position of obedience, and He answers him, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” We have here a principle of the utmost importance. We have indeed the whole word of God, as a means to gain the victory over Satan; but it is in the most simple obedience that we find strength. If Christ has not a word from God, He does nothing. He came to do the will of His Father; and if that which He is asked to do is not according to that will, He does not act.

The true affection of Martha and Mary leads them to beg of Jesus to come, saying to Him, “He whom thou lovest is sick.” This appeal was very touching; but the Lord does not respond to it immediately: He had received nothing from God, and He does not go. He does not listen to His natural affections. He had indeed healed others that were sick; but if He had healed Lazarus, Martha and Mary would have learned nothing more. Jesus then suffers Lazarus to die, and allows their hearts to feel all the bitterness of death, that they may learn that the resurrection and the life are there.

Such is the obedience which is the principle of the life, and not the rule only; and, as a Christian, I ought to do nothing but what God wants me to do.

But besides I find here another important principle, which is, that I should have in God such perfect confidence that I never need to make a trial of it. It is tempting God not to have the certainty that He loves us. I ought so to reckon on His love and faithfulness as not to need even to think of it.

Again, Satan says to Jesus, “Cast thyself down.” Ah! I need not do it, thought Jesus; I know full well that God will keep me. The Jews said, “Is Jehovah amongst us, or not?” Well, in that they tempted Jehovah. We ought to have some assurance in God as to be able to think of nothing else but His will.

As soon as the devil said to Jesus “and worship me,” then it is plainly Satan, and the Lord answers, “Get thee hence.... Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

The two great principles in which Jesus walked are obedience to the word without having any will, and perfect confidence in God. We also can reckon upon God, because we are sure to have Him for us.

I would also call your attention to the way in which Jesus placed Himself in our position. We see Him taking His place with sinners who needed repentance, but in the act which was the beginning of the divine life in them, associating Himself with them in that baptism where their heart responded to the testimony of God about their sins. They were truly the excellent of the earth, those poor publicans and sinners.

Jesus is found in the position of the obedient Son, and thus fulfilling all righteousness. Heaven opens. Is the temptation there? Jesus is found there also. He is everywhere in order to sympathize with sinners. When He presents Himself in this world, it is God Himself who comes, and He shows in Him all that He would put in us. It is a God who has placed Himself in such a position that flesh finds nothing there. One must absolutely learn that it is the heart which must value God in His love, in His holiness, and in the midst of a world entirely lying in the wicked one.

How blessed to have Jesus! He puts Himself in our place; and we have to do with a God who has manifested Himself in the midst of the world, and who would have us for Himself, but without sin. Having put away our sins, He draws us to Himself, but without sin. Having put away our sins, He draws us to Himself, to bring us to enjoy what He is, in spite of every obstacle, and of all that is in the flesh. He would have us to enjoy perfectly that God whom, by His grace, we have known as He is.

May God grant unto us to value the perfect beauty of that Jesus who came to us! We know Him. Ah! how happy are we to be enabled to say, “know whom I have believed, and am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him!”

May God show us all the perfection of Jesus, and that even in temptations; for we shall find the beauty of One who will not forsake us up to the time He will have placed us in the same glory with Him! J. N. D.

(Concluded from p. 330)

Brief Notes on Scripture

Numbers 18:8-13; Luke 15:1, 18-24; John 1:1-4. In type, in parable, and in clearest declaration we have brought before us God's thought of Christ, not only as the way to the Father, but as the sustainer, the food, the source of joy to us when brought there.

In the beginning the word to Pharaoh was: “Thus saith Jehovah God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:1). Moses' call was different to that of Abraham; the latter was called out from his kindred, etc., but he never had to face the prince of this world in the same way as Moses had. In type Moses had to go straight to Satan, not only that God's people should be delivered from his power, but also that they should hold a feast to Him; to be merry with Him; but it could not be in Egypt. A three days' journey in the wilderness must precede, signifying, we might say, death and resurrection. Then follows the glorious gospel story. The first thing that stands in the way, of their salvation is their sins. The Israelites were no better than the Egyptians. From Ezek. 20 we learn that they were worse, and God is no respecter of persons: judgment must fall on all alike. But His love provides a way which prevents their sins from being a hindrance—the blood of the Lamb “What! my sins no hindrance?” No; if under the shelter of that blood; but there is more than that. In their blood-sprinkled houses they could feed on the roast lamb, whose blood was their protection; but that was not the feast in the desert. There was no joy, no making merry in Egypt—it was not a feast to Jehovah!

The next thing was the power of the enemy. Are you afraid to meet that in the worst form, the power of death? Israel went through it in figure; they crossed the sea in safety, in security, “by crystal walls protected”; saw their enemies dead on the shore. But what followed? According to Psa. 106: “Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgat his works” (vers. 12, 13). What could be a better song than they sung then? “Truly they were a delivered people if any were,” someone may say, and so they were. But their joy was only temporary, they soon forgot. Yet they were brought to God. “I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself” (Ex. 19:4); but they had to learn deeper lessons at Horeb. And have we learned them? Are we satisfied with positional blessing? Is that all, indeed? After they had chosen the law, and the blood had been sprinkled on the book and all the people, Moses goes up to receive that which figured how their relationship could be maintained—the tabernacle, priesthood, ordinances, etc.

The prodigal son brought back from the far country was in conscious relationship when his father's kiss was on his cheek, when the best robe was on him too (not only reconciled, but clothed, decked in all the beauty of Christ). And was not that enough? God says no; there is more. That fatted calf, that had been long before the father's eye, must be enjoyed by both. “Let us eat and be merry.” Here we see how the parable exceeds the Old Testament type in the revelation of the love of the father's real warm embrace; yet the full truth as now revealed since Christ's death and resurrection transcends both.

The apostle John, who in his Gospel had said, speaking of the Word made flesh, “We beheld (or, contemplated) his glory,” now in his Epistle repeats “which we have looked upon,” or contemplated. Thus had he communion in the enjoyment of the Savior, and now writes: “that ye also may have communion with us” (the apostles), and “that your joy may be full.” Is not this to be wisely merry? And Peter, too, how wonderfully he speaks of joy! In the midst of tribulations, persecutions, heaviness, he says, “wherein ye greatly rejoice"; but when he speaks of the Person, “whom not having seen ye love,” he says, “Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The first is connected with the hope of the inheritance which, however blessed, is beneath us; the latter with a Person infinitely above us.

Going back to the type, Aaron and the priestly family (twice, at least, we are distinctly told we are a holy priesthood) were to feed on that given to God—the most holy things. And there is averse there which is a puzzle to many (Num. 18:10): “In the most holy place shalt thou eat it.” We who now believe are brought so nigh (nearer we could not be) into “the holiest” (Heb. 10:19), to feast on that which delights God. The oil beaten, the wine pressed, the wheat bruised—all speak of Christ.

And note, other people, other Israelites were gathering in that harvest—there is a double aspect. It was the “best” of that which was gathered that the priests were to eat. The apostle Paul says to Philemon: “The acknowledging of every good thing which is in you” (ver. 6). Do we see any good thing in a brother or sister? “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if any virtue, and if any praise, think on these things.” Not on the bad things. We are not to go with saints going wrong, but may we indeed rejoice in all that is the fruit of the Spirit in them!

John 7:37-39; 13:13-15, Eph. 3:14-21. In the preceding remarks we were presenting, not a gospel address in which we might look at the Lord Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” (“no man cometh unto the Father but by me”), but Himself as the food of the believer now brought to God. So now we may continue our subject by the light of the scriptures immediately before us.

We have already seen how in the Old Testament type the priests were not only brought to God and suitably clothed for that place, but they were fed, abundantly fed. In Luke 15 the father did not say “Let us be merry” until he had said, “Let us eat.” Now we may consider not only that on which we are to feed, but the abundance of it—enough and to spare. Right through, God's purpose has been (as He said to Abraham) “I will bless thee and make thee a blessing.”

What have we then in these scriptures? John 7 opens with the Feast of tabernacles. There were seven Jewish feasts of the year; as to three of which, Jehovah said they were to gather round Himself. He was to be their center. The Feast of tabernacles was the last of the feasts, and in it we have two things; firstly, millennial blessing, corn and wine, the types of earthly good, and, secondly, dwelling in booths, all together, rich and poor, meeting on one common platform. It was a scene of fullest earthly joy. We do not read of it being kept till the days of Solomon, when the people were dismissed “glad and merry in heart” (2 Chron. 7:8). There was full earthly joy and happiness, and religious happiness also, infinitely more than all the “P.S.A.'s” rolled into one could ever effect. But earthly happiness is not heaven. Men see just the opposite of this now—massacres, murders, cancers, operations. What is the root of all these? Philanthropy may cut off the branches and seek to alleviate the symptoms, but it is only like the man who tried his hand on the thorns and thistles, ignoring the cause of, them all. Abel was wiser—he covered the root with the blood of a victim.

“In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus (who had not sanctioned the feast, His time of display not being yet come) stood and cried, saying, 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 concerning the Spirit which they that believe on him were about to receive” when He was glorified (John 7:37-39). Yet meanwhile did He give the fountain of water springing up into everlasting life to those who had received Him. That woman, out of whom He had cast seven demons, says at first, “They have taken away the Lord.” Anyone might say that, but when the angels question her she says, “They have taken away MY Lord.” Can we all say so? So Paul said “Christ Jesus MY Lord,” as before, Thomas had also said, “My Lord and my God.” So, again, the woman of Samaria, receiving the living water, could not but testify of Him to her neighbors, “Come, see a man... is not this the Christ?” John 6 gives us the incarnate Christ as the “living bread which came down from heaven,” the Giver of life, of which a man must “have eaten,” to “live forever.” But there is also the constant eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, i. e., Himself in death, the death of the cross, if we are to abide in Him and He in us (vers. 54-56). In fine, Himself in His life, death and ascension. It is a perversion of the scripture to make this chapter speak of the Lord's supper, for eating of it can never give life. The next chapter (7) points to Him glorified and the Holy Ghost given. See also chap. 17, “Now, O Father, glorify thou me along with (not from) thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” He was one with the Father, Jehovah's Fellow, His Son, and He is glorified along with the Father, sharing the same glory and affection as in the past ages. As man, too, is He glorified, and the glory given Him He gives us.

If in John 7 we have the streams flowing out in this barren empty world (a noisy one, I grant, but a drum is that; open it and see what causes it, it is empty), in chap. 13 I am in company with my fellow Christians. How am I to treat them? As Christ treats me. Perfect in Him before the Father, I am yet likely to be defiled outside. I need cleansing. Oh, what a story, a Christian's is, of feet washing! After the first week or so of newborn joy, do things get dim and the joy fade away? Is it not because the Lord was not sought for to sustain and keep right? But see how He intervenes and washes the feet and brings the wanderer back! And this is how I am to act towards my fellow Christians, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.”

Now for a brief word on Eph. 3 In the first chapter of this Epistle we find God's purpose, predestinating, choosing, receiving us into favor in the Beloved. Then I am told that all things are to be put under Him as Head— “Head over all things to the church.” The church is to share His glory with Him, to reign with Him. Yes, that is all very sweet, but do you say, I cannot see why God should tell us all this? Why? Because you form part of that church—you are going to reign with Him And before reigning comes obedience. We must learn to obey before we can rule. You are told what is coming in order that now you may have no will but His. “To Him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all ages” —not merely the future ones, but the present. If there is but one other with me (in this state of confusion), I am responsible to glorify Him in the church, to own Him as Head, and carry out His word. It is the affections that He wants, “that Christ may dwell in your heart” —the will and the heart both subject to Him. Thus, whether in the world among our fellow believers, or in the church, may we be not only “blessed,” but “a blessing!”

Jude 10-13

“But these rail at whatever things they know not; but whatever they understand naturally, as the irrational animals, in these things they corrupt themselves (or, perish). Woe unto them! because they went in the way of Cain, and rushed greedily into the error of Balaam's hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah” (vers. 10, 11).

“But these speak evil” —referring now to the persons who, notwithstanding that they had been baptized and had taken their place in the church, were now yielding to every form of corruption, were abandoning the very things that they professed. I do not say that they were outside. That is the difference between Jude and John. When we come down to John's Epistle they went out; but the corrupting thing in Jude is that there they are, poisoning others.

Now it is remarkable that in the Second Epistle of Peter we have only Balaam, and we have not Michael at all; so that nothing can be more superficial than the idea that the one has copied the other. It is true that there is a deal that is common to both Epistles, but the differences between Jude and Peter are the striking thing; the points of resemblance are easily accounted for. In the position in which Jude and Peter were, there must have been the closest friendship, and a very near companionship, and there must have been strong links of love between these two elder servants of the Lord. Would they not communicate their thoughts and judgments to each other, even if they are looked at as servants of God? There is nothing, therefore, at all surprising. Nothing more likely than that Peter should communicate a good deal to Jude, and, on the other hand, that Jude should communicate a good deal to Peter; and, besides, the Spirit of God giving them to look at the same, or kindred evil, would give them similar judgments and thoughts. You find that in people who have never met or spoken to one another, if they have to do with the same evil, they often say things very much alike—substantially alike they are sure to be, if guided by the Spirit of God, but there are often surprising verbal resemblances. But that is not where the beauty and the striking nature of the two Epistles of Jude and of 2 Peter show themselves. It is in the differences between them.

Now Peter is particularly occupied with wicked teachers—men that privily brought in, what he calls, “heresies,” or sects. The word “heresy” in scripture means “a sect.” It never means hetero doxy as we use the word in its modern sense. That is not the scripture sense at all. No doubt in the sect there might be heterodoxy, and there might be a sect without heterodoxies, or there might he one with a great deal of heterodoxy. So that it admits of all kinds, or shades, of evil and error; but Peter is particularly looking at false teachers and these false teachers, covetous men; greed of gain is one marked feature that he specifies. Well now, where could you get an Old Testament example of that so marked as Balaam? Consequently we find Balaam in Peter just where it should be. It falls in entirely with his purport, and with that Second Epistle and second chapter.

But here, Jude, in this very much shorter Epistle—and far more compact, far more compressed, and far more vehement—writes as in a tempest of hatred of all these bad men. Indeed, I do not know stronger language. Some do not like strong language. But that should entirely depend upon how it is used. Strong language against what is good is infamous, but against what is bad is thoroughly right; and I do not know stronger language anywhere than in this very Epistle of Jude in which he speaks against railing. But strong language and railing are not the same thing Railing is abuse of what is good; but here we have the pithiest, the most vehement, and most cutting exposure of what is evil; and instead of that being a thing to regret, it is a thing that we ought to feel and go along with heartily. But I know it does not suit the present age. The present age is an age for trying to think that there is nothing so good but what there is bad in it, and nothing so bad but what there is good in it; and the consequence is that all moral power is at a deadlock, and people have no real, burning love for what is good—only a calm, quiet, lukewarm state. They are neither strong for good, nor strong against evil: and that is a state which, I believe, the Lord hates—at any rate, it does not agree with either Peter or Jude.

“Woe unto them! because they went in the way of Cain, and rushed greedily into the error of Balaam's hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.” In the Epistle of Peter there is not a word about Cain, not a word about Korah. But here you see that, Jude having a different object, compresses in this most wonderful verse, for it is a most wonderful verse, an amount of moral truth, spiritual truth, divine truth, that was here entirely departed from, and grace altogether hated and abused. All this is found in this short verse. He goes up to Cain.

“These are spots (or, hidden rocks) in your love-feasts, feasting together, fearlessly pasturing themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumnal trees without fruit, twice dead, rooted up; raging sea-waves, foaming out their own shames; wandering stars for whom hath been reserved the gloom of darkness forever” (vers. 12, 13).

I cannot conceive any but an inspired man venturing to use such decided and solemn language about those that were within the church. That is a marked point of the Epistle. Peter looks at the unrighteousness of man generally, even since Christianity is come, because he is occupied simply with iniquity. This of course is common to both apostles; but Jude looks specially at those who took the place of salvation, those that were gathered to the name of the Lord. In this latter case, therefore, the matter had yet more seriousness for the spiritual mind. There is nothing more dangerous than a departure from the faith, the Christian faith; it is not only what man is and has done, but also what grace has made known, for which we are responsible, most of all if we turn from it in unbelief. What is so evil as apostasy?

There are many things that cause truth to lose its power with men. Nothing hastens it more than moral disorder in ourselves, which results from forgetting or abusing grace. We turn our backs on God's authority, as well as our relation to our Lord Jesus; which is followed by our taking up objects that are loved so as to become practically our idols. It is clear that these things have been substantially from the beginning, as it is also clear from this Epistle that things will go on worse and worse, until the Lord comes in judgment. As to this point we shall have to weigh what is yet stronger than what we have already considered, when it will be ours to seek a divine impression of the words already read. Manifestly they are of the darkest character and full of energy.

Observe here the word, “Woe.” I do not know it anywhere in the New Testament except in the very different application which the apostle makes to himself in 1 Cor. 9:16, if he did not make the glad tidings known. Here it is, “Woe unto them.” I am not of course speaking of the Gospels, but of the Epistles; where the Spirit of God is testifying the Savior and His work to man, or dealing with those who bear the Lord's name. In the Gospels, even our Lord could not but say, “Woe”; but then He was warning those that represented a favored nation, which was then through unbelief passing under divine judgment. The same One who began His ministry with Blessed, blessed, blessed, ended it with Woe, woe, woe! Nothing was further from His heart than to pronounce that sentence, but as He said, so was He to execute it in due time. He pronounced it here as a Prophet when on the earth, if peradventure they might take it to heart, and He will pronounce it as a Judge on the great white throne when heaven and earth pass away.

What, then, is the explanation of this utterance of Paul, “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel”? Paul, who had been a poor deluded soul, by the grace of God had a fearful warning to do His will; but He does not say “Woe” to them. He might have had his great fears when he let the Corinthians know how possible it was for a man who preached the gospel nevertheless to become a reprobate. I think there is no doubt that that word “reprobate” means one lost; because salvation does not go with preaching, it goes with believing; and it is quite possible for those who preach to destroy the faith which once they preached. We have known that ourselves from time to time, and it has always been so. But the apostle had such a solemn sense of responsibility to proclaim the gospel to perishing souls everywhere, that “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.” Yet he preached it in the spirit of grace beyond any man that ever lived. Here, however, in Jude it is a very different case. “Woe unto them,” he says, “for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.”

It is a most remarkable picture of the history of Christendom on its blackest side. There cannot be anything more graphic. It is not the mere order of history. If it were the order of history then the error of Balaam would be put last. It is a moral law, it is the order of men's souls. It is what presented itself to the apostle in the Holy Ghost. Jude begins with the first root of what is wrong, and I think he is referring to a man (Cain) that ought to be a brother in affection, and who ought to have been a holy brother, because he took the place of being a worshipper. Cain brought his offering to Jehovah, and it was that very bringing of his offering to Jehovah that brought out his wickedness. How little people know what may be the turning-point of ruin for their souls! Cain no doubt went forward with confidence and with a step of assurance in his offering of fine fruit and other productions of the earth that he had cultivated, no doubt, with care. We may be sure he had chosen the very best because man would not fail in that. A man of the world is often very careful indeed as to outward appearances. Cain sees nothing defective in the offering itself—in the materials that composed the offering; but there is this vital defect that completely ruined him, and that is, there was no faith. There is no mention of either God on the one hand, which must be, nor, on the other hand, was there any judgment of his own sinfulness. He failed therefore completely as to the inner man, for God never calls upon men who put on any appearance before Him. That is what was done here; perhaps no great depth of it, but still Cain took the place of a worshipper and he brought his offering to Jehovah, with no consciousness of his own ruin by sin, nor of God's grace, or of the need of it. But that was not all.

On the same occasion Abel brought his offering, which offering was acceptable; his offering was of the first-born of the flock. Not only was it blood that he offered, the acknowledgment of the necessity of death, and of the Savior to meet his sins, but there was also the sense of the excellency of the Savior before God—he brought “of the fat thereof.” Consequently there was a most decided effect in Abel when he brought his offering before God. His very name shows what was very true of his character, no confidence in himself, for the word “Abel” refers to that which passes away like smoke, whereas “Cain” has the signification of “acquisition,” very much like the word “gain” in our language. Abel was a man entirely dependent upon grace, upon the seed of the woman of whom he had no doubt heard over and over again from both father and mother, with other truths which he had never forgotten. God took care that these truths should be most prominent from the very earliest day, but it made no impression on Cain, and the reason was because he had never judged himself before God, and had no sense of his real need whatever. The opposite of all this was true of Abel, and his offering Jehovah accepted. This at once drew out the character of Cain; plain enough before to God, but it came out now openly in his hatred of his brother. What had his brother done to arouse that wickedness? You may be sure that the general character produced by faith in Abel had shown itself in every way of tender affection to his elder brother; but Cain could not brook that God should accept Abel and his offering, and not look at Cain's. Nevertheless God deigned to expostulate with him and his wicked faith, in order to save him, if it could be, from what his wicked heart was rushing into. But no; Cain failed both before God and man, and what is more, before his brother. Now that is the first great beginning of the ruin of Christendom, and this showed itself in early days. We find such a thing quite common in our own days. We cannot doubt but that there was a powerful impression made on the world by the new life and ways of real Christians; yet there are always persons who have not only no sympathy with God's love, but who even despise it, and who are irritated by it, more especially if they are dealt with faithfully by those that know it. There is another reason why our minds are blinded towards our brothers. There comes a still worse feeling towards God, but this order was reversed in Cain's case. In the root of the matter, I suppose that all evil feeling towards one another springs from a previous feeling towards God. Our feeling in the presence of God breaks out in the presence of one another. Certainly this was the case with Cain.

Here we find the first woe. “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain.” It is a departure from faith, it is a departure from love, it is a departure from righteousness. It was the spirit of a worldly man, and therefore he was the first man who began open worldliness. Before that time there was great simplicity. It would be very untrue to say that there was the least of what was savage in Adam and Eve. There was everything that was sweet and beautiful in what God gave them; but still there were not the delights of civilization, there were none of those things that people seem particularly to enjoy in modern times. It cannot be wise to disguise from our eyes that the progress of worldliness is enormous. I do not doubt that all the recent discoveries of gold and silver have greatly added both to the covetousness of men, and the desire for “display” one before another according to their means; whereas Christianity has nothing at all to do with “means”; it has everything to do with faith. If we care to do so there is always a use for what God gives, that is, to use it to His glory; but to turn it all to a selfish account, or to display before others, is a mere vulgar kind of selfishness. This is the kind of thing that we find in Cain. There of course were the pleasures of stringed and wind instruments from the very beginning of civic life, and there was also then the beauty of poetry, which began, no doubt, rather poorly. It was all man, and man's reasoning. This is all man's enjoyment, and it is practically very much what we have at the present day. No doubt many things have been invented since the early times. There is always development in human things, and there is development in divine things, but there is no obedience in development, there is nothing divine in development, but there is obedience in doing what the Lord sets before us in His word; yet the moment you add to that in any way, or take away from that, it is the reverse of God's teaching. It is setting up to be wiser than God and that we can do without His power, that we can do something that will do His work better. All this idea is the work of unbelief, and is an idea destructive of a Christian's peace, and is destructive of the simple principle contained in the word of God. Oh, what a privilege it is to truly teach this principle! how beyond us all! how we are always learners, and how we should always be coming to a better knowledge of the word by faith! Where there is not faith we do not come to this knowledge.

Worship of the Lord Jesus and of the Father

“I had heard there was trouble in , but was greatly grieved when I read the cause in your letter, if I have rightly understood what you say, that some (— among them) cannot worship the Lord. There is nothing new in it; a case happened in but the person was refused communion. It is a deep grief to me; I have written to him, which I thought the best way. Anything that touches the glory of the Lord, and our heart-estimate of Him, is of the last moment, and must be near the heart of him who loves Him. The case I referred to soon showed other thoughts derogatory to the Lord.”

“Mr. — assures me, for I had written to him, that he is quite sure that he joins heartily in praise and worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has only wanted the full sense of worship to be known and of nearness to God in Christ. Now this is right and many fail in it, and have the feeling they can approach Christ, and trust in His love, but not God. The spirit of adoption is greatly wanting in many. When there was a man at—(I forget his name), with whom I also had to do, and who opposed prayer and praise to the Lord Jesus, had also a correspondence with him to show him he was wrong, but then both our efforts were useless.

“It is possible some may have objected to it really. If they will not worship a Man, the angels will, and, moreover, every knee bow to Him, of men and infernal beings. While scripture puts us into the glory with Christ and, like Christ, it carefully guards the personal glory and title of Christ.... It is He who came in in subjection by the door, the Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep, who says, ‘I and my Father are one.' If there is the divine and human nature in Him, there is only one Person.... He who has seen Him has seen the Father.... Authority is given to Him to judge ‘because He is the Son of Man'; but it is ‘that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.' Is that refusing to worship Him? See John 5:18: the Jews were more consistent.

“To separate the Son of man and Son of God is to dissolve Christ. See John 3:14, 16. See again, 1 John 5:20.... There is a most striking passage in 1 John 2:28 and 3:1, 2. The inseparableness of personality and the distinction of nature is very striking. ‘Before him at his coming,’ 'is born of him' in verse 29, so that we are ‘sons of God' (3:1), and yet the world ‘knew him not’ — ‘sons of God' (ver. 2), but we like Him when He shall appear. All this blessed truth is lost if we dissolve, as I have called it, Christ.... Speaking of worshipping a man is losing the Person of Christ. And if the angels are to worship Him [Heb. 1:6], worship is a just service as to what is—for it is not our being exempt which is in question, but His being entitled to it. And there it is Christ, though His Godhead, is brought out, yet as incarnate; for it is said, ‘When he had by himself purged our sins,' and ‘He is the first begotten' (not the ‘only begotten'), and Psa. 2 is quoted where He is distinctly celebrated as Messiah-Christ, or, as in English, ‘His Anointed.'

... “Refusing to worship the Lord is a very serious error, but discussion about His Person seldom leads to much fruit.... It is not only in replying to me, but in his controversy with the man at—, that he rejected the thought of not worshipping the Lord— 'to whom every knee shall bow' (and that puts Him in the place of worship, as ‘have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal' shows). But his statement to me is quite clear. It is possible some, not inclined to worship Christ as is due, may have profited by expressions to support their false state of heart. Hasty conclusions are not always wise. Firmness against false doctrine is always right—But there are a great many who are in the Martha state 'What thou askest of God,' who, as not really free, cannot go directly to the Father, nor worship anybody rightly, and cannot worship under the conviction the Father Himself loveth them—not questioning God's love in sending His only begotten Son, but who do not enter into the present privilege of direct address to the Father as those who are in His presence and enjoy His love there—loved as Jesus Himself is loved, wonderful as such a word is, this love being in them.”

“I cannot doubt that— has made unadvised and undesirable statements, the effect certainly being to turn away from the worship of the Lord Jesus.... My present conviction is, that he did not deny worship to Christ, but that he did decline addressing himself to Christ at the Table, though leaving liberty to others.... There is a great difference between the worship there being addressed to Christ and to the Father; the whole tone of the meeting is changed by it; this I have long noticed. Though with no formal intention, I seldom give thanks without being led to both, but quite sensible of the difference; and worship, when met for it, is more suitably to the Father, if people are up to it. But if it was taken as objecting to addressing Christ I should resist that.”

“One would not accept a person who would not worship Christ.... There are certain vital truths connected with the Person of the Lord, which, when possessed, guard the soul from interpretations to which the soul who merely follows the words may be liable. Tell me I am not to worship Christ: you take away the only Christ I know. I have none other but One I do adore and worship with a thankful heart which owes all to Him.... All the angels of God are to worship Him, every knee to bow to Him. But more: calling on the name of the Lord is, so to speak, the definition of a Christian.... Christ is the Adonai of the Old Testament, as Isa. 6 and John 12 and indeed Psa. 110 and other places. The Sitter on the throne and the Lamb are associated in Rev. 5:13; indeed, it is a question if chapter 4 be not the Son in His divine Person. You cannot separate the Ancient of days and Christ in Dan. 7, though as the Son of man, He is brought before Him; for in verse 22 the Ancient of days comes. And judgment is committed to the Son, because He is the Son of man 'yet that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father'...”

“One who refused to worship Christ, or who did not own His mediatorship and that in every aspect, I could not walk with. But I think that worship of the Father, and the worship of Christ as Mediator, has a different character. In worshipping the Father I go to One who in infinite, uncaused love (the form and glory of Godhead never left) has revealed Himself to me, brought me into the place of son, nor spared His own Son for me, reconciled me to Himself by Him, and given me His Spirit that I may have the consciousness of the place He has put me in, so that I cry, ‘Abba, Father.' It is all through Christ, but I know the Father and what He is through Him—alas! yet how imperfectly! yet so as to joy or glory in God. It is God, but God known as Father (John 4:23); John always makes the difference. So Christ tells us He was going to His Father and our Father, and. His God and our God. It is what the Father is in Himself to whom we are brought, and as revealed in love in the Son, we being made sons, that is specially before us in worshipping Him, though all blessings flow from Him.

“Now, in the worship of Christ become Mediator, I own His divine title though He laid aside His glory—now taken again—but it is One who has come down to me, has lived and died for me, loved me, washed me from my sins in His own blood. He was slain and has redeemed to God those far from Him; has made Himself of no reputation; and in unutterable grace to me, has been in all points tempted like as we are, sin apart, can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now, I quite admit a child owes worship to a loving Father—all right; but sorrows, exercises, thorns in the flesh, cases where I want sympathy, my wants, and then the administration of everything in the church, connect themselves with my looking to and worshipping Christ viewed as Mediator. It is not a person simply as made partaker of the divine nature, and through the Spirit knowing the Father through the revelation of the Son, who worships the Father as so knowing Him. I come more into the scene as knowing Christ a tempted Savior; as a Friend tried in the circumstances in which we are. Were He not God this would lose all its value; but it is of inestimable value to every exercised soul. But it is evident that it connects itself more with my state down here. It is just what is precious.

This is true, that the work of Christ has been so divine and glorious, God Himself glorified in it, that it lifts us up to worship Him in respect of the excellency of what He has shown Himself to be in that, and so we rise up to Godhead; for hereby know we love because He laid down His life for us. This it is important to lay fast hold of for His glory. We at once see the unity of thought, purpose, mind, nature, in the Son and in the Father. Still, it is practically true that souls are apt to rest in looking at Christ, however justly, in the mediatorial aspect which concerns themselves, and their worship descends to this. It is not the blessed nature of God in which they joy and glory, and that known in a Father's love as their Father, but in the grace and service and benefits of which they are the objects and recipients, found in Christ. Now, this cannot be separated when true from the source of love in Him as a divine Person, but is connected with our wants, infirmities, and failures, in a word—which, through divine grace, refer to self, and in which we ought to think of self, that the sense of it may be real, and we filled with divinely-given thankfulness. Both are right, both are sweet, and what we have to cultivate by grace, but different. One lifts us up simply to God for our new man to dwell in and delight in, and surely worship Him. The other brings down that love in sympathetic goodness to our state, though felt and estimated by the new man—God revealed, but as entering into all we are, and all we want, and that even to our sins. Now that the adoring recognition of this is true worship I fully admit, and the exclusion of it wholly wrong and deadening to the affections of the soul, but it is a different thing from the soul, by the Holy Ghost, being with and adoring the Father, to whom Christ has brought us, loved as He is loved. I apprehend there was the tendency in — ‘s teaching, desirous of reaching to the former, to set aside the latter, and that was all wrong; but I fear brethren active in the matter had not learned to appreciate the difference between the two....

“Take hymns, and see how many you have addressed to the Father, or which continue to have Him and not ourselves for their subject after the first verse. You may, perhaps, have hymns to the Father; but in revising the hymn book I found how grave a question the doing it had raised for me as to this: though our spiritual state affects everything we do, yet it requires a more spiritual state than hymns to Christ, though He be worthy of equal honor. But while I make this difference, you cannot separate them by a sharp mathematical line, so to speak. Affections do not flow in that way. And the love of the Father and the Son run into one another. If the Father did not spare His Son, the Son in the same divine love gave Himself. We have known the Father through His revelation of Him. ‘He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.' The incarnation, and service which follows it in grace, have given a special character to our heart relationship with Christ, but after all, all is of the same divine source. Worshipping the Father as being in Christ has been spoken of, as substituting it for worshipping Christ; but I find no such thought in scripture. In Christ is our place and privilege; worship is a separate thing which springs through grace from our hearts individually, or, yet rather, collectively; but worshipping in Him. I find no trace of in scripture.” J. N. D.

Christ, Not Opinion, the Center of Union

There are still Christians who believe that God in supreme love became a man, and so died for them in love: that the first of duties, the truest affection—without which all others are vile—is to appreciate Him who did it as we ought; that the first of all obligations is to the Savior; and that to slight that, and to attempt to sustain love in despite of that, is the chiefest wickedness and the worst of all dispositions. We owe something to Christ; and if He be dishonored and slighted, I may seek to win but I cannot be the loving companion of one who has denied my Lord deliberately. “To me to live is Christ.” To own him and dishonor Him is worse than heathenism; it is to own and acquiesce in His dishonor when I know better. The man who believes Christ to be God, and is the professed Christian companion of him who denies it, is worse than the latter. We may all, alas! err; but he who knows the truth, and accepts what he knows degrades Christ, is deliberately preferring ease and companionship to Him, though he may dignify it with the name of love. Every effort to recover is right; but a step in acquiescence is a step in disloyalty to One, whom no one would have dared to dishonor if He had not come down in love.

Christ, not opinion, is the center of union; but I never meant, nor do I mean, that a true Christ and a false one were equally good as a center, provided people are amiable one with another; for that means that union is man's amiability and the denial of Christ. What do I want of union, if it be not union in Christ, according to the power of life, through the Holy Ghost.

The business of those united is Christ's glory. If Christians ever unite on a condition of that not being essential, their union is not Christian union at all. I have no reason for union but Christ, the living Savior. I do not want any union but that which makes Him the center, and the all and the hope of it. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”; but to make that a plea of indifference to Christ's personal glory in order to be one with him who, calling himself a brother, denies and undermines it, is, in my mind, wickedness. J. N. D.

By W. K.

(Just published)

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The Ministry of Elisha: Part 2

“AND it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, [which] parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw, and cried, My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; and be took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where [is] Jehovah God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over” (2 Kings 2:11-14).

In this remarkable way did the scene close upon Elijah's testimony, setting the seal of divine approval upon it, and vindicating him whose life-work throughout had seemed singularly barren of results, yet provocative of man's hatred. Israel had rejected him but heaven received him, so now appears before us his successor, who had been closely connected with Elijah, and, in spite of all temptation, proves inseparable to the last. Upon Elisha is conferred the mantle, and with it also the double portion of Elijah's spirit which he had coveted. At an earlier period he had received the call to the prophetic office but had shown hesitation as though the honor were too great for him; and he would fain qualify himself to bear it. But the training had accomplished its work, his character was now formed, his heart had declared itself, and the moment had arrived in which to appropriate what he valued. In the heaven to which Elijah had gone no prophetic mantle could be required; it was for earth and particularly for service here. It is thus we are exhorted to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). That which is really valued shall be possessed, and attached to us in our service here, receiving its proper reward hereafter. The great truth of Israel's relationship to Jehovah might have been undervalued and even surrendered by the nation, but God had not cast away His people, which He foreknew, as Rom. 12 indeed makes clear. Ahaziah might assume it to be a broken relationship, but we see how it cost him his life. (2 Kings 1).

The truth had given its own character to Elijah's testimony, and the altar of Mount Carmel had borne witness to it, as also to the unity of the nation. In their weakened, divided, and corrupted condition, faith alone could discern these things. “And it came to pass, at [the time of] the offering of the [evening] sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou [art] God in Israel, and [that] I [am] thy servant, and [that] I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Jehovah, hear me; that this people may know that thou art Jehovah God, and [that] thou hast turned their heart back again” (1 Kings 18:36, 37). So, too, Paul, in his day, “Unto which [promise] our twelve tribes, instantly serving [God] day and night, hope to come.” It is always faith which rises above the evil and confusion which departure from God has brought in, and takes its stand upon the sure foundation of God. What then? Will He restore what has corrupted itself? By no means. Yet will He enable those whose eyes are opened to the evil, and whose hearts are affected by it, to escape from what is false and to get back to divine principles.

In these last days of Christendom's history not a few have proved the reality of Christ's love to the church, the presence therein and power of the Holy Ghost, and the sufficiency of Christ's name as a gathering point and center for those for whom He died, until He come. Restoration collectively there cannot be, but the rejection of what is false. “Thou also shalt be cut off,” and “I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rom. 11:22; Rev. 3:16). Is not the pretentiousness that would attempt it the height of presumption? For where have we any such mandate for it in the whole word of God? The ministry of Elisha did not aim at the moral recovery of the nation, as was the case with Elijah; although no doubt it was so used to many individuals in it. But God would have His poor, sinful people to understand that He changes not, and this they would prove who in their misery cast themselves upon Him, and find real blessing. In the yet future day of Israel's repentance. and restoration the blessed truth that will bring comfort to them will be, “His mercy endureth forever” (Psa. 118:1-4). There was surely a little foretaste of this in Elisha's ministry, as also a most blessed illustration of the principles of the gospel preached now not to any particular nation, but to every creature under heaven. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19).

It may well have been that the testimony of Elijah penetrated further into the heart of the nation and produced a deeper impression than he himself, in his despondency, thought possible. At any rate, the school of the sons of the prophets originated in his time, and may have been a religious association of such as really desired to be instructed in the fear of God. It often happened in the history of Israel, as also since then of the church likewise, when the Spirit of God has been working in any special way to arrest the progress of evil, and to bring blessing and moral recovery to God's people, that long after the power and freshness of such a testimony have vanished, its outward form and character have continued and been used in God's providence, although no longer bearing the impress of the grace and energy of the Holy Spirit. There was no reason for Elisha to dissociate himself from the sons of the prophets, and his attitude towards them was ever gracious, yet was it not a human organization for perpetuating the blessing received from God? They might be used under the direction of the prophet in service of an outward character, but they at times appeared incapable of a right application of the principles they knew.

That which depends upon human strength and wisdom can never be trusted even to preserve the blessing received, still less to maintain a testimony such as God Himself can acknowledge and accept. The faithful servant of the Lord will clear himself of all that is merely human, and will find his strength in faith, obedience, and dependence. The glory of God, having no home in Israel and no visible display there, had not yet taken its departure to heaven, although its witness, Elijah, had been taken from the earth. The glory was still in close attendance upon such as valued it and were, in principle, identified with it. Elisha set no superstitious value upon the mantle of Elijah, nor did he set himself to act in a similar way to his late beloved master. Rather would he invoke the “Jehovah God of Elijah.” Faith manifested in him its own proper character and value, and in reality recalled the glorious days of Israel's first entrance into, and occupation of, the land of Canaan. In both cases the river Jordan interposed—a natural barrier to the progress of God's people, and to the accomplishment of His purposes. Nevertheless, faith counts upon the unchanging power and grace of God, and difficulties are overcome.

In the earlier days of Israel's history, the principles of God's relationship to His people had been fully vindicated, and put in evidence. “And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah, your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God [is] among you.... Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, [that] the waters of Jordan shall be cut off [from] the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap” (Josh. 3:9-13). But now in this later period, the firm foundation for faith is that, although the outward and visible glory had departed, yet God Himself is found of such as seek Him (“Where is Jehovah God of Elijah?”), and may be counted upon to meet the need of His poor and erring people. The prophetic mantle would be to them a link with God, as was in happier days “the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth.” And if God did at all condescend, by Elisha, to visit His people, could He deny Himself, or be less gracious than in days of old? Impossible! And even the “sons of the prophets,” with all their officialism, formality, and unbelief, had to acknowledge that “the spirit of Elijah doth rest upon Elisha.” And the Jehovah God of Elijah, was with him too.

(Continued from p. 339)

(To be continued)

Zion's King and His Co-Heirs: No. 3

If the apostle James bore testimony that the tabernacle of David now thrown down would be set up again, scripture abounds with proofs of Israel's coming blessing, with the temple set up on Mount Zion, under Christ the true Prophet, Priest, and King. Yea, the Lord Himself when here, as He wept over His people refusing then to be gathered, foretold their coming sorrows and His ultimate return in blessing. “Behold your house (David's tabernacle) is left unto you desolate, for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:38-39). These words were uttered in view of the destruction of the Temple and its ritual which came to pass some forty years afterward. And however the disciples might be occupied with the temple and its adornment, they were told “there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Nevertheless, in the very next chapter, after giving a prophetic sketch of Israel's future, and of this present interval of grace, the Lord goes on to the further declaration that “the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” adding “then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” He, who will then sit upon His own throne in connection with Israel and the nations, is now meanwhile seated on the Father's throne awaiting the completion of the heavenly family, as co-heirs with Him. Afterward will follow the establishment of His earthly throne in Jerusalem. And “there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” To this the prophets witness, when, at the close of the present gospel dispensation, judgment will overtake the general profession of Christendom, “that great city Babylon.” The now privileged Gentiles, not having continued in God's goodness, will be cut off by judgment, to make way for Israel again to be grafted into their own Olive tree (Rom. 11). Then, as brought under the new covenant, after the fullness of the Gentiles is completed, all “Israel shall be saved.” Before Jerusalem, the future city of the Great King, can be called “The city of righteousness, the faithful city,” vengeance must be executed upon the enemies, as stated in Isa. 2, when “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.” Then shall those left in Zion be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away their filth, and blessing and glory are now established.

But finally, the apostle James, following up Peter's declaration of God's visiting the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name, quotes from Amos 9:11, 12 the setting up of the tabernacle of David, which however will not be without previous judgment upon “the sinful kingdom” of Israel, a remnant being reserved. For, says the prophet, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah,” yet, “all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword.” It is in connection with this period that we have the words above quoted, “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen"... “And I will build it as in the days of old.” And following this, their now barren land will teem with fruitfulness and the nation shall be established therein. “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God” —a prophecy which plainly has never yet been fulfilled, and therefore awaits a future day.

Again, the prophet Joel declares (3:17-21) that in that day “Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation” when Zion shall no more be desolate with Jehovah absent, for “Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.” “So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.” The dwelling in Zion, Jehovah's holy mountain, is seen to be when Israel is again in the land nevermore to lose it, and is associated with the time when Jehovah sets His Anointed there, the fallen tabernacle of David again built and the throne established for the rule and glory of Him “whose right it is"; not only as “King of the Jews,” so born and crucified, but as “King of Israel” (Isa. 44:6; Zeph. 3:15; John 1:49; 12:13). The temple, and the throne, are not less clearly foretold in the remnant days of Zechariah; for he not only predicts that “Jerusalem shall be inhabited [as] towns without walls,” and Jehovah “be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her,” but the Messiah also— “the man whose name [is] The BRANCH,” is prophetically introduced. “Even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (Zech. 6:12, 13). Such language clearly surpasses what could be said of the return from Babylon of the few Jews, and the rebuilding of the temple in the time of the Persian kings: but does not exaggerate what will assuredly be in the day of Jehovah when there shall be, for this long stricken earth, “the counsel of peace between them both.”

The cross which brought out the enmity of man's heart and the guilt of the favored nation to whom Christ came, is that by which has been made peace, not only for Jew but for Gentile; and by Him who hung there are all things to be reconciled, whether things on earth or things in heaven. “Having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself... whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens. And you... yet now hath he reconciled” (Col. 1:20, 21). Israel and the earth are yet to know it in the value of the precious blood of the One they pierced. Then, and not till then, will peace on earth be known and enjoyed, under the rights of the throne of the King of kings: who will reign in the city of David, and shall come forth as the true and royal Priest after the order of Melchisedec, in manifested power and glory after the slaughter of His enemies. Then shall Psa. 72 be fulfilled to the letter. “His name shall endure forever.... And [men] shall be blessed in him.” No longer will there be the cry and restless craving for “a king to judge us like all the nations” through Israel's carnal, selfish desire, but the government will be with God's Son, David's Lord as also David's Son. He will not only return from heaven, and His once pierced feet stand upon the Mount of Olives, but He will enter the Temple as His house, and there be owned as King and worshipped. “Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one” (Zech. 14:9). In the hope of these coming glories and as having the mind of Christ, may we not anticipate the cry of repentant Israel and say with, them “Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son,” whose dominion will be “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psa. 72)? Not only will the poor and needy be fully cared for, under His rule, but the oppressor shall cease and the righteous flourish with abundance of peace and plenty. No more then the envy and ambition of nations to excel and rival each other; for “All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.” Yea, “All nations shall call him blessed,” exclaiming “Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed [be] his glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled [with] his glory. Amen and Amen.” Such is the glorious future and blessedness in store for this now groaning creation, and for Israel. Then peace will issue from Mount Zion the city of the great King, the joy of the whole earth. Meanwhile may we that are Christ's, as His co-heirs, be found with girded loins and with lights burning, waiting the return of our Lord to take us to Himself on high who saith “Surely I come quickly.” Amen; come, Lord Jesus. G. G.

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The Word Made Flesh

There is one remark that furnishes a most important key to the Gospel of John, which is illustrated very simply and manifestly in this first chapter. The object of the Holy Ghost is to assert the personal glory of Jesus; and hence it is that there is not perhaps a single chapter in the New Testament that presents our Lord in so many different aspects, yet all personal, as this opening chapter of his Gospel. His divine glory is carefully guarded. He is said in the most distinct language to be God as to His nature, but withal a man. He is God no less than the Father is, or the Holy Ghost; but He is the Word in a way in which the Father and the Holy Ghost were not. It was Jesus Christ the Son of God who alone was the Word of God. He only after a personal sort expressed God. The Father and the Holy Ghost remain in their own unseeable majesty. The Word had for His place to express God clearly; and this belonged to Him, it is evident, as a distinctive personal glory. It was not merely that He was the Word when He came into the world, but “in the beginning was the Word” when there was no creature. Before anything came into being that was made, the Word was in the beginning with God; not merely in God, as if merged or lost in God, but He had a distinct personal subsistence before a creature existed. He “was in the beginning with God.” This is of immense importance, and with these truths our Gospel opens.

Then We find His creation glory stated afterward. “All things were made by him.” There is nothing which more stamps God to be God than giving existence to that which had none, causing to exist by His own will and power. Now all things exist by the Word: and so emphatically true is this that the Spirit has added, “and without him was not anything made that was made.”

But there was that which belonged to the Lord Jesus that was not made: “In him was life.” It was not only that He could cause a life to exist that had not before existed, but there was a life that belonged to Him from all eternity. “In him was life.” Not that this life began to be: all else, all creation, began to be; and it was He that gave them the commencement of their existence.

But in Him was life, a life that was not created, a life that was therefore divine in its nature. It was the reality and the manifestation of this life which were of prime importance to man. Everything else that had been since the beginning of the world was only a creature; but in Him was life. Man was destined to have the display of this life on earth. But it was in Him before He came among men. The life was not called the light of angels but of men. Nowhere do we find that eternal life is created. The angels are never said to have life in the Son of God. They are kept by divine power and holy. Theirs is a purely creature life, whereas it is a wonderful fact of revelation that we who believe have the eternal life that was in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and are therefore said to be partakers of the divine nature. This is in no way true of an angel. It is not that we for a moment cease to be creatures, but we have what is above the creature in Christ the Son of God.

And this “light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” It is striking to remark here the entire passing over of all the history of the world of which we are apt to make so much, yea, even of the dispensational dealings of God with men. All is passed by very briefly indeed—those ages that man thinks all but interminable, in which God gave being to the creature and in which He may have changed over and over again the various forms of the creature, where science is endeavoring to pursue its uncertain and weary way. All this is closed up in the few words, “All things were made by him.” Scripture, and this chapter in particular, summarizes it with striking brevity. “All things were made by him.” The details of it were left completely aside. What was good for us to know we are told in Gen. 1. There is nothing like that chapter even in cosmogonies which borrowed from it. And all that man has thought or said Or written about a system of the world is not to be named with it for depth or certainty, as well as for simplicity, in the smallest compass.

But there is a reason why all such matters vanish after two or three words. It is because the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, is the object that the Holy Ghost is dwelling on. The moment that He is brought out, creation just pays Him homage, owning Him to be the Creator, and it is then forthwith dismissed. “All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.” It is enough to say that He created all. He remains in His own grace. Now we learn what is the Spirit's object in this. It was not to give us details of the creation; it was to acquaint us with Jesus as the light of men.

In what condition then did He find men? Were there not great differences among them, as was thought? There were some, most indeed, idolaters, yet wise and prudent, worshipping stocks and stones; and others who were not idolaters but very zealous for the law as given by Moses. Not that a word is said yet about the law, nor about any differences, but that the Word of God was the light that manifested everybody: whether Jews or Gentiles, they were only darkness. It is not therefore only that the physical creation is passed by most curtly, but the moral world is closed with almost equal brevity. “The light shineth in darkness,” and whatever the boasting of the Gentiles, and the law of the Jews (which was real as compared with the Gentiles), here all is measured and put out, as it were, by the true light, the Word of God. Jew or Gentile, they are but darkness, and the light shines in darkness, and spite of all its pretension and pride, the darkness comprehended it not. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” When the Holy Ghost is come down, things are also tested and convicted by Him; and He is brought forward by Paul somewhat as John here introduces the Son of God. It shows how poor all of man is in comparison with God, and how little he is capable of appreciating the truth in the Son or by the Spirit.

Then we find John brought in. The reason why he is singled out from all others I believe to be this: he was the immediate forerunner of the Lord Jesus. He would surely not have been named here if it were not, because he was the moon that derived its light from the sun—from the Lord Jesus just about to come. He was only a derivative light, and he seems brought in here because of that peculiarity. Other prophets were too distant from Christ, but John was near enough to be an immediate precursor of the Messiah. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.” It is no question of law—testing or proving. All this was very important in its place; but the glory that the law had is completely eclipsed by a brighter glory. Scripture therefore takes pains to say, John “was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.” He might be a burning and a shining lamp (as it ought to be so rendered in chapter 5), but he was only an earthly and derived light. “He was not that light.” “That was the true light;” Jesus is the light, the true light, “which (as rightly rendered) on coming into the world lighteth every man.” It is speaking of the effect of Christ's coming into the world. It is not “every man that cometh into the world"; but that, when He comes into the world, He is the One that casts His light on every one here below. There had been a time when, as it is said in the Acts, God winked at the ignorance of men; but now everything must appear in its own light or rather darkness, because the true light was come; and therefore when He comes into the world He lights every man there: all are brought out just as they are and none can escape. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him”; and the awful result of this darkness was that “the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

The world was guilty enough, it was so dark that it did not even know Him; the Jews had abundance of truth by which they might know Him, but their will was still more set against the Son of God than even the poor Gentiles. “His own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power [title or right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” What a blessed place! and blessed to know that this is our place to which grace has entitled us now in His name! May we seek to make Him known to every creature with all our hearts—in the measure of power the Lord has given us, honoring thus, and in every other way, the Lord Jesus, whom the Holy Ghost loves to honor.

We have other glories of His brought out afterward. We hear of Him as the Son, the Lamb of God, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, the King of Israel, and the Son of man. All these are successively unfolded to us in this chapter. Indeed it would be difficult to say what glory of our Lord is not presented here except that of Priest and of Head of the church. John never gives us the priesthood of Jesus. He touches what is close on it, when he speaks, in his first Epistle, of advocacy with the Father; but the business of John was to show His divine personal glory, yet as man on earth. Priest was what He was called to be in heaven; and as Head of the church He is there also. But John shows us what He was in Himself as coming from heaven, and that He does not lose one whit of His glory by becoming a man. In His being Priest and Head of the church we see special glories which He received on going up to heaven, and these Paul develops fully. John's point is God and the Father manifested on earth in the person of Jesus Christ His Son. J. N. D.

Brief Notes on Passages of Scripture

Song of Solomon, 1:1-4; 5:9-16; 8:14; Rev. 1:5, 6; 22:20. The subject we have had before is the unfailing source of joy under all circumstances that the believer has in Christ. To-night, it is the hope of His coming, or, as the Epistles say “Christ Jesus our hope.” First, I would commence with a scripture that does not properly belong to us as Christians, but which will find its primary fulfillment when the Lord brings back both Judah and Ephraim and, as the prophets (specially Hosea) speak, betroths the remnant— “allures them into the wilderness and speaks comfortably.” In reading the Song of Solomon it must be remembered that we too “are espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ.” It is no hyperbole, or high-flown language, but the sober truth.

Always notice that the Lord speaks to her of her beauties and graces, describes them all minutely, for they are all His own gifts; while she speaks of Him to others, but does not dwell on His glories when addressing Him. Is it refinement, delicacy, propriety? Does not our own hymn book help us? When we have such a hymn as “Thou art the Everlasting Word” is it not a relief to sing, “The higher mysteries of Thy fame, The creature's grasp transcend”? Or, in a simpler one, “Worthy of homage and of praise,” “No mortal tongue can tell Thy ways”? We cannot express all He is—especially to Him, but He can tell us all He sees in us.

In ch. 2:16 the earthly spouse is occupied with what He is to her—the lowest ground, though very high ground, you say. Still it is what she has got.

My beloved is mine, and I am his.” She talks of what she has found, and her experience was not much. She has to complain of her failings, her unreadiness to seize the moment of communion when He put in His hand by the hole of the door, and then, He “was gone”; and she has to bear the chastening through the watchman for it. But in ch. 6:3 she has got higher, “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine” —she is occupied with His thoughts about her, though still holding to what she knows of Him; while in ch. 7:10 she says “I am my beloved's”! And what about yourself?

Nothing! “I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me.” She has reached the top, and the last verse of the book is a fitting end, “Make haste, my beloved.” She wants Himself.

Let us now turn to the Revelation. There the apostle John (or rather the Spirit through him) completes his Gospel and Epistles. In the Gospel we see that Eternal Life which was with the Father down here in a scene entirely opposed to Him. Light amid the darkness; giving life. In the Epistles we find those who have that life severed completely from those who have not; responsible to let their light shine, and if they do not, they are distinctly called “deceived,” or, “a liar.” In the Revelation we see the end both of the true and the false—the bride and the harlot. That book tells us more of the bride than any other, but it shows us the harlot too, pleasing herself, enjoying her wantonness until the judgment falls. Then the bride is brought forth, and from the Throne itself the command goes out to all the heavens to rejoice, not only for power taken to reign, but also because the marriage of the Lamb is come. That is the true Hallelujah Chorus! After such a display, well may the bride exclaim, “Come Lord Jesus.” There is one little word running through Scripture that must not be unnoticed when occupied with the Lord's coming, i.e. the word “who” (too often in our English Bible translated “which”). Turn to Thessalonians. There you find a people not only turned to God from idols, but waiting for His Son from heaven (personal glory) whom He raised from the dead (given glory) even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. In the Revelation, we are shown wrath coming on the world, on the Jews, on the false church; and not wrath merely, but the “fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God,” the dead raised and judged before the great white throne. But, in view of all this, we are “delivered from the wrath to come.” How? It tells me of His death, tells me why I should break bread, and go into His presence to think of Him. Now turn to Titus. “Looking for that blessed hope (our being caught up to meet Him), and the appearing of the glory (when we appear with Him) of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us,” not only from wrath but from that which causes it— “all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.” That word “peculiar” misleads people now, as it has quite altered its meaning since 1611, and now means, singular, odd, strange. But it really comes from a Latin word meaning a man's own personal property, that which belongs to him alone. Do we realize that we are our Lord's own personal property, “a people for his own possession”?

Then look at Philippians. “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies.” Our bodies, not merely ourselves in a general way, belong to Him. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20). Even in taking our food we are to do it in His name for His glory—and so in everything. Our bodies are members of Him, and is He going to leave these members of His to the grave? Oh no! miraculously, of course, but our body of humiliation is to be transformed into conformity to His body of glory. Thus also in John 13 He washes and cleanses the feet. His constant love shown right on to the end is thus assured at the end. What is that end? “I will come again and receive you unto myself.”

In Hebrews too, He is first seen purging our sins on earth, and then interceding for us in heaven. How does it end? “Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.”

1 Cor. 11:28-32. This is a very solemn scripture, and its very solemnity hinders souls from studying it as they should, while its mis-translation in the Authorized Version (excellent as that version is) exaggerates its solemnity. There is a vast difference between “damnation” and “judgment” (this last being the true rendering of the word used in ver. 29). For as saved, our sins having been borne by the Lord Jesus on the cross, we can never come into “damnation.” Every act of judgment from the Lord towards us is in order that we may “not be condemned with the world.” Another word wrongly translated is “judge” in ver. 31. It should be “discern” (as in ver. 29 “discerning the Lord's body”). “For if we would discern ourselves” —the two thoughts are intimately connected. Yet another incorrect rendering is the word “examine” in ver. 28. The R.V., J.N.D., and other authorities, all unite in giving “prove” as the right meaning, and the apostle uses the word again to the same saints about a very tender matter in 2 Cor. 13:5. All sorts of things had been spread abroad about him at Corinth—some apparently going so far as to say the Lord had not spoken through him! But says he, “Since ye seek a proof... prove your own selves” (ver. 4 is a parenthesis). Is Jesus Christ in you? Are you real Christians? Yes, bad ones perhaps, but real, not reprobates. They would not give up the fact of their Christianity, nor would he. Thus since Christ was in them, the apostle had been the Lord's mouthpiece.

It is not as some suppose, examine your ways to see if you are fit to be at the Table, and confess and get forgiveness. Of course all that is true, but I pity a man who only does that once a week. It should be every day and many times a day. A man who only examines his ways once a week must be walking very carelessly.

Well now, do I own that I am a member of the body of Christ—not of the chapel (whether Anglican or dissent), but of Christ? and as a member (it may be an “uncomely,” or, “less honorable” one yet infinitely precious and necessary to the Head, while the more “uncomely” and “less honorable” in the sight of men, the more honored by Him) am set too in my right place therein by God “as it hath pleased him” (1 Cor. 12:18). Soon too to be manifested in glory as His, when He will make known that “Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” Shall we be ashamed then of having owned no “body” but that of Christ?

But when at the Table I pause. It is blessed and wonderful to think of the blessings I possess, of the place I am brought to. Yet there is something more wonderful still. I turn from the heights of glory where grace has put me, to view, the depths into which He went, and I see the Son of God in death where I was. It is more astonishing that He should descend into death, than that I should be exalted. “The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”

2 Cor. 3:2, 3; 4:6-14. In the first of these scriptures, we start with the affections won, Christ written on the heart. It may be feebly, but wherever God works there is love to Christ. In ch. 4:6 we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining in; and then (ver. 10), the life of Jesus to be displayed in the earthen vessels into which that light has shone.

We may have desires to give out that light, but desire is not power. How are we to obtain that power? The poor earthen vessel belongs to God. We are to present it to Him as a sacrifice, your “reasonable service” or worship (Rom. 12:1). Secondly, “your bodies are the members of Christ” (1 Cor. 6:15); and, thirdly, the Holy Ghost comes down to dwell in that which is thus claimed by both Father and Son, and the body becomes “the temple of the Holy Ghost” (ver. 19). The marginal reading of Psa. 29:9, “In his temple every whit of it uttereth glory,” while blessedly true in the future of the entire church, should be true now of every one of us as individual temples. We have thus the power of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit for us, and, in the strength of this the apostle says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.” How often trouble on one side distresses us, and especially if it comes on two! But he had it all round, yet “not distressed” —the excellency of the power was of God, and not of the earthen vessel.

Our bodies then are His; and we have a beautiful type in Ex. 10:24-26. It was a wily trick of Pharaoh. He would let the people go, but he would not let them worship; they might go, but that which should be sacrificed must remain. Moses was firm. “There shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah until we come thither.” It is not enough to have our spirits out of Egypt. The enemy will permit that, but our bodies are to be sacrificed to the Lord—our eyes, our hands, our feet, yea, all. We know not what He may ask of us; we know not wherewith we must serve. Not a hoof, not one member, must be left in Egypt.

“The life of Jesus” manifested in our mortal flesh. It is useless to try to “imitate the life of Christ.” If a countryman, who had spent all his life at the ploughtail, were to deck himself in evening dress and enter a ball-room, no gentleman there but would discern who he was by his awkwardness, and it is the same with the soul in spiritual things. It is not imitation, but living out the life which we have. “Christ is our life,” We must be clear about salvation first. Col. 3:12, which tells us to put on “as elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” etc., shows the same thing. It is only because we are elect, holy, beloved, that we can manifest the lovely traits which shone so brilliantly in Him. “Be ye then imitators of God as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). We are His beloved children, and we are called to act towards one another in the same spirit of grace and forgiveness which God has shown to us.

In tracing the life of Jesus down here, what is the first thing that strikes one? Surely, it is His entire dependence and obedience. “I was cast upon thee from the womb,” etc. And Psa. 16, which gives us His pathway so vividly, commences, “Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust,” showing His perfect and entire dependence. And in the counsels of eternity (Psa. 40) before He became a man, what was it? “Mine ears hast thou digged.” The ear denotes subjection, ready service— “He wakeneth mine ear to hear as them that are taught” (margin, R.V.). And His own word to the churches in Rev. 2; 3, is “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” Obedience is the result of love. “He that saith, I know him (God), and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar” (1 John 2:4). The apostle Paul speaks of the “meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1); the Lord Himself, of His own meekness and lowliness. Meekness is that which will not return unkindness, no matter how badly treated (as illustrated by our blessed Lord in Matt. 11); gentleness is giving up one's rights—the exact opposite of law, and worldly government. We see this in Matt. 17:24-27. Peter had had a revelation from the Father (chap. 16:17) as to the personal. glory of the Lord, and he had also been a witness of the given glories in the beginning of chap. 17; yet, in a moment of haste, he brings the blessed Lord down to the level of a common Jew, and that with reference to His Father's house! “Doth not your Master pay tribute?” “Yes.” Only one word, but how deeply we may dishonor Him by one word! And the Lord anticipated him as soon as he came into the house. How gentle, how clear His question! “Of whom do the kings of the earth take tribute?” Peter said, “Of strangers.” “Then are the sons free.” He was the Son. Yet He links poor failing Peter with Himself, and speaks of “the sons”! Nevertheless, He could add that beautiful “Notwithstanding” His wonderful yieldingness lest they should stumble! Yet, at the same time, He proves Himself not only the King's Son, but the Creator, God Himself, and still gives Peter a share—the half-crown (shekel) was “for me and thee.”

Again, His lowliness or humbleness! We need a second conversion before we can display this. It was to the disciples that the Lord said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” etc. (Matt. 18:3). A little child has not the pride of the world. The son of a prince and the son of a peasant would play happily together if left alone. “The pride of life” is worse than the “lust of the eyes” or even the “lust of the flesh,” terrible as that is. There is pride in the school-boy aiming at being at the top of the class, in the college student who would have a name; but there was none in Jesus. How little can we enter into those depths of humiliation and degradation to which He was subjected, especially at Calvary.

Lastly, His faithfulness, not only to God, and to the world, but to His own. His rebuke to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan”; to James and John when they would have fire come down from heaven; as also when they sought a place in the future kingdom. But was there any harm in that? Harm! It caused, at once, indignation in the others. If we seek a place, no matter where, it is sure to rouse the flesh in others, and that is at the bottom of all the divisions and sorrows. We are wrong if we seek a place either down here among the saints, or even in future glory.

And this is but a little of the “life of Jesus.”

W. B.

Jude 10-13

However, we see here, in the case of Cain, it is a very fit and proper beginning of the woe that is coming on and the terrible sin that calls for the woe. Now the solemn thing is that it refers also to the present time. Evil never dies out, but gets darker and more opposed to God—becomes more hardened against God, without the least compunction of conscience.

Taking things out of mere historical order so as to make them exactly suit the truth, the next thing is the case of Balaam. The incident which brought out the nature of Balaam and the fact of his being a typical enemy of God is a further sample of what was to be in Christendom, that is, when he uttered these most glorious truths; and I suppose, they were the only truths which he had ever uttered in his life. Well, Balaam was drawn to curse Israel, and he was induced to do so by all the offers of gold and silver and honor of every kind. And I will even say that he tried to make it out that she did not care for money; he said he was entirely above such a paltry consideration. The sin of Balaam is a very solemn thing. He went out to sin, he went out to meet (as our translators have put it) Jehovah—to “meet the LORD,” but there is nothing of “the LORD” in it, the words being merely added. The fact is, he went to meet the devil, whom he had been accustomed to meet. He went out to seek enchantment, that is the devil, of course. Our translators have put in “the LORD” (Jehovah), but the fact is it was the enemy of the Lord, the source of all Balaam's wickedness and wicked power. Balaam knew that it was a divine power that compelled him to speak about what he had no thought of speaking about; but when he did so, his vast capacity for eloquence went along with his speaking.

God did not refuse to allow this man's mind to be displayed. That is the way in which God sometimes works by all the writers He employs. The man must be uncommonly dull not to see a difference of style in comparing the different books of the Bible. If it were merely the Spirit of God it would be the same style in all, but it is the Spirit of God causing a man to bring out the truth of God and to give it out with that style and feeling that should justly accompany it. So in the case of Balaam: although he was much moved by the thought of dying the death of the righteous, yet there was not one single working of his soul in communion with God. He was the enemy of God, and the one that came to curse the Israel of God, but he was compelled to give utterance to more glorious predictions. The wonderful effusions of this wicked prophet glorified the coming of the Lord Jesus. There is something of that kind now in Christendom. Sometimes the most wicked of men can preach eloquently and, what is extraordinary too, God has often used the words of unconverted men for the conversion of others. I have no doubt that that is the case at the present time, and it has always been so. Of course it is altogether one of the side features of ruin. The normal manner is for those that are saved to be the messengers of salvation to others.

The error of Balaam was that he was the willing instrument of the devil to destroy Israel, and as he could not curse them he did not give it up, but it was a vain attempt to do so. Jehovah turned it into a blessing. Balaam thought to employ the women of Moab to draw the Israelites after idolatry. He could not turn Jehovah away from Israel, so he tried to turn Israel away from Jehovah. I have no doubt a great many souls throughout Christendom have been converted by these utterances of Balaam. Balaam's eyes were fixed upon Israel—he wanted to damage them; they were the people he hated, they were the persons he wished to bring down, they were the persons he maligned and misrepresented with all his might, but he did not know that they were the people of Jehovah. But God knew.

Then with regard to Moses and Aaron—Moses represented God, and Aaron represented the intercession of the grace of God; but Korah would not submit to such a thing for a moment. In the case of Korah, what makes it more atrocious is that he had a very honorable place; he belonged to the highest rank of the Levites, he belonged to that half of the Levites to which Moses had belonged. Moses had first the call of God, who lifted him up beyond all question; but Korah belonged to the most honored of the three families of the Levites who were servants or ministers of the sanctuary, and, as I have said, Korah belonged to the highest of the Levites; but nothing satisfied him. Why? Because he hated that Moses should have a place that belonged to him beyond any other. Satan blinded his eyes, which he always does so that people may feel like this. Korah's object was to achieve what pertained only to Moses and Aaron. There are always many good reasons for bad things, and the reasons sound well, but they are words that strike at God and at Christ. There was a punishment not only of Korah but also of his family, other Levites and all their families. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up in a way that had never happened on any other occasion since the world began. There may have been something resembling it, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, where it rained fire and brimstone and consumed the wicked, but the converse was the case here. The earth opened and swallowed them up. We find further a remarkable thing: the children of Korah were not consumed. He was the leader of the rebellion against Jehovah, but God in the midst of His judgment showed mercy to the sons. They did not perish through the plague that set in afterward amongst the congregation. These sons of Korah are referred to in the Psalms, for there is the fact recorded that there are “the sons of Korah,” and the right persons to sing such psalms. Well, all these things perish that do not depend upon the grace of God—things like the error of Korah, things that war against God, that cause all those uprisings of falsehood. I think all such things, such as the Oxford movement, are wrong. I do not mean the Ritualistic one, which is extremely vulgar. But what is the error of the Oxford movement? It is very nearly the same error as Korah's. Korah wanted to be priest as well as minister. That kind of thing is what men are doing now who maintain that they are sacrificing priests. It is true that the sacrifice is a perfect absurdity: the sacrifice is the bread and the wine. How could this be a sacrifice? If they called it an offering it would be a better term; but they not only call it a sacrifice, but they fully believe that Christ personally enters the bread and the wine. Therefore they are bound to worship the “elements,” as they call it. Such an idea is lower than heathenism, for the heathens never eat their God. These men are sanctimonious and exceedingly devoted to the poor. Yes, and they are most zealous in attending their churches and attending to their monstrous developments. This is of the same character as described with reference to Korah. But the only sense in which these men should preach is when they become really sons of God, redeemed Christians, because that is the only sense in which they will be received; but all this false doctrine of the Oxford School denies that all Christians are priests, and infringes and overthrows the real work of Christ and substitutes this continual sacrifice that is a sin. So that no wonder Jude says, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.”

Then note the tremendous words that follow: “These are spots in your love-feasts.” Think of it. There were such men at that time in the church. Therefore we ought never to be surprised at anything evil that may break out in the world; the only thing is for believers to fight the good fight of faith. There is another rendering— “Hidden rocks in your love-feasts, feasting together, fearlessly pasturing themselves; clouds” they are, and it should be noted they are “without water,” without the real work of the Spirit of God, the rich refreshment of it— “carried along by winds.” As I said before, I will not deny that God may use any person in a solemn way which is thought to be a good deal of honor in the priesthood, but it is deadly work for themselves who preach. “Autumnal trees without fruit, twice dead, rooted up; raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shames; wandering stars for whom hath been reserved the gloom of darkness forever.”

May God preserve His saints, and may we by watchfulness and prayer be carried safely through such dangers as these.

(Vers. 14, 15)

“And Enoch, seventh from Adam, prophesied also as to these, saying, Behold, [the] Lord came amid his holy myriads, to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly [of them] of all their works of ungodliness which they ungodily wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners spoke against him” (vers. 14, 15).

This is a remarkable utterance, for which we can only account as the power of the Holy Ghost.

There is a traditional book of Enoch in the Ethiopic language, which appears to have been known in a Greek form now long lost. We have not got the Greek, but learned men have endeavored with all possible zeal to try and make out that Jude quotes from this uninspired book; for the book is evidently one of Jewish tradition, and from internal evidence it would seem that it was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. But there is another thing that appears, I think, to anyone that reads it with, not merely learning, but with spiritual understanding, and that is, that it differs essentially in this very verse that is supposed by some to be quoted from it, from what Jude has given us here by the Spirit of God.

But how Jude was enabled to quote the words of Enoch, who was taken up to heaven before the flood—and nothing can be plainer than that he does give it as Enoch's words— “Enoch prophesied,” he says. However, I think that to us who know the power of the Spirit of God there is no real difficulty in the matter. It is all the same to Him to record what took place three thousand years ago as it would be to record what took place at the time the apostles lived. It may be a little more difficult to those who doubt this power, if they do; but we are the last who ought to do so.

The fact is, that no tradition has any value beyond man, but a prophecy necessarily, if it is a true one, comes from God. We have no intimation that it was conveyed in any written form, and it was quite possible for the Holy Ghost to have given it again to Jude. I do not at all venture to say that it was so, we really do not know; but we do know, however Jude got it, that it is divine. We know that it is given with absolute certainty, and that it possesses God's authority.

There is a peculiarity when it says, “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam.” People have made somewhat of that because they don't understand it. But it is very simple. There was more than one Enoch.

There was an Enoch before this one—an Enoch the son of Cain. I do not see any ground to imagine something peculiar and mystical in this. At any rate, if there be such, I confess I do not know what it is. But I do know that there is a plain and sufficient sense to distinguish this Enoch, and to explain how he could prophesy. We should not look for prophecy in a son of Cain. But that Enoch taken up to heaven in a most remarkable way—more so than was the case with any other man in some respects; more so than Elijah, though that was a miracle of similar import and character—that he should be the medium of prophecy we can quite understand, for he walked with God, and was not. It was not that he died, but “he was not,” because he was taken up to God, yet before he left the world he prophesied. We can hardly doubt that he prophesied about the people that were there in his own day. Prophecy always takes its start from what is actually present. Prophecy has a hold in the consciences of those who live. The object was to warn of the terrible consequences of evil that was persisted in, and how the evil that then appeared would assuredly be judged of, God in due time. But the Spirit of God launches out to the end from the beginning. That is the common character of all prophecy. We find it throughout all the prophets at any rate. I do not, of course, say that it was always the case where the prediction might be about something of a merely present nature, but it was so in the cases of those moral pictures that are not bound to any particular time or person. We can quite understand these being made the vehicle for the Spirit of God to look down to the time when it would not be providential action of the Lord, such as the flood for instance, but much more than any acting after that figurative manner—His real personal coming in judgment.

Now, in that Ethiopic book which I have seen, and of which I have the text, and English translation by the late Archbishop Laurence, as well as a French version of the work by a very learned Romanist (perhaps a more excellent scholar than the Archbishop I have named, at any rate one more familiar with Oriental languages)—they both agree in what is totally different from what we have here; and what makes it more remarkable is, they agree in asserting an error which is almost universal now in Christendom.

You are aware that the general view of all Christians who derive their thoughts from traditions, creeds, or articles of faith, is that they think that everyone is going to be judged alike, and this falls in quite with the natural thought, particularly of the natural man. It seems to him a very offensive thing that those who are really sinners like themselves, but are believers unlike themselves—it seems nevertheless to those who think very little of believing, a very hard and unrighteous thing that believers should be exempted from a judgment to which others are fast hastening.

But why? Our Lord puts it in the clearest possible manner in John 5 He there describes Himself in two different lights—one as Son of God, the other as Son of man. As Son of God He gives life. And who are they who get life? Does He not tell us that he “that believes on him hath life eternal”? It is one of those remarkable short and pithy statements of the Gospel of John. In one form or another it runs through the entire Gospel—I might almost say from the first chapter, though we may not have the literal words, but the same fundamental, substantial sense. And it goes on to the twentieth chapter, certainly, if not the twenty-first. All through this Gospel, and the same great truth re-appears in his Epistle, say, the First Epistle of John; it is, that life belongs to him that believes on the Lord Jesus. Just as surely as we inherit death naturally from Adam, so now there is another man who is also God, and, being God as well as Man, He has entirely set aside the judgment of our sins for us by bearing it Himself. But that is not all. He gives us this new life which is proper to Himself that we might be able to bear fruit for God now. There must be a good life to bear good fruit. And there is no good life to bear fruit that God counts good except Christ's life, and all that are of faith have received that life—every Old Testament saint, as really as a New Testament saint. They had faith, they had life, they testified for God. Their ways were holy, which they could not have been had they not a life to produce this holiness, and so it is now.

Well, accordingly, those that believe on Him, the Son of God, receive life. If I reject His divine glory, that is, that He is the Son of God in this high and full sense, then I have not life; because He only gives it to those that believe. But do those who remain in unbelief therefore escape? No, He is Son of man; and that is just where their want of faith broke down. They could see that He was a man, and as they had no faith to see anything deeper, they only regarded Him as Son of man. In that very character the Lord will judge them. He will judge them as the Man whom they despised. They will behold Him as the Man of everlasting glory. Not merely a divine person, but a man; and in that very quality—as Son of man—He will judge them.

Letter on Immortality

I could see, without your telling me so, that you have been made up in the teaching of those who deny the immortality of the soul, and make those whom scripture calls “the offspring of God” a cleverer kind of brute. What you have quoted from my Geneva lectures I hold, as then, or still more, to be of all importance. The coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the body was lost in the soul's going to heaven, and that through the Platonists, and it was a sign of the ruin of the church. It made no such impression as you suppose on my hearers, for the immortality of the soul was not in question, was accepted as a recognized truth by them as by myself. I may say the contrary had never been heard of there. The first person who used the passage left out what guarded it, and I feared that I had exposed myself to the charge carelessly, no one doubting it when the lectures were given; but he had to confess he had it in his copy. I added in the next edition some more, I think the quotations, but cannot now be quite sure; but that death was ceasing to exist, none of us dreamed of. Hence, too, there is nothing about eternal punishment; the point was that in the public teaching of the church, going to heaven had taken the place of the Lord's coming and the resurrection. When I began to preach these, fifty years ago, I was held to be I know not what—enthusiast or heretic—and I am thankful to have been the means of spreading it far and wide. The whole purport and character of the church was, and largely still is, clouded by this departure from the truth. In America men of standing in the professing church deny the resurrection altogether as to men, not perhaps as to Christ—though the apostle binds them together.

You give an interpretation of Luke 20 instead of receiving what is said. The Lord first speaks of the saints only, those who “shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from among the dead,” “children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” Then He says, even Moses showed this at the bush: God is not “a God of the dead but of the living,” and then lays the foundation of an absolute fact of which He had not spoken before at all: “For all live unto him.” They have died as regards men, but as to God, wicked or saints, all live: it is not confined to saints, but it is so with every one. Before, He had been speaking of the resurrection of the saints, and exclusively of that resurrection; now, He declares that for God all live. He denies that death is the cessation of existence, and in an absolute and positive way. Nor is it exact to say it is of the question of resurrection God is speaking in calling the things that are not as though they were (Rom. 4:17). He is speaking of quickening Abraham's dead state so that he should be the father of many nations.

There is not a word of the sense you put into [the parable of] Dives and Lazarus in the passage. They were both Jews: it is the substitution of the unseen world for this. Abraham's bosom is a wholly Jewish thought. Hades was well known to them, and is found in the Old Testament in the term Sheol. But it is expressly and explicitly making the unseen world seen in a parabolic description; they both alike died. There is no thought of the cross opening the door to the Gentiles, or breaking down the middle wall of partition. The Lord says they are to hear Moses and the prophets, or one rising from the dead would have no effect. It is a mere effort to get rid of the plain testimony, that the soul subsists after death in the case both of wicked and of just. All live for God. The soul is unaffected by death as to existence, save that it is separated from the body. What was the gulf fixed between Jews and Gentiles by the change of dispensation? What had “thou in thy lifetime” to do with dispensations? It did do this as to Jews and Christianity, that there was an end of riches being a sign of God's favor, but it was not because of a change of dispensation, but that the truth of things came out in another scene, not in this. The purpose is as plain as possible to those who have not been perverted by this false doctrine. Luke 15 shows the grace that seeks and receives the sinner; then (chap. 16) the use grace makes of this world's goods; and then the veil is drawn to contrast the effect in that, with the portion of selfishness in this world— “thy good things.” The rich man had a fine funeral, but there it ended for this world. It is expressly declared that death does not reach to the soul. “Fear not them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but... him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell.” Mortal is always confined to the body.

As regards the saints an intermediate state is taught as plainly as words can teach it “to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better”; “absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”; “to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise"; the express object of which is to teach the blessedness of the intermediate state in contrast with Christ's coming in (not “into”) His kingdom. So Stephen, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The passages I have quoted before show it as to all; and Peter tells us that the Lord knows how “to reserve the, unjust to the day of judgment to be punished.” Your reference to 1 Cor. 15 is of no avail here, because it speaks of believers only in what you quote; they are “raised in glory.” Nor will any bringing of it to 2 Cor. 5 help you as to the plain statement there as to the saints, which is as plain as plain can be. He was thinking of dying, as chapter 1 shows; he was not wishing it, as weary of the trials, but looking for an eternal weight of glory, and through them; but having spoken of this as God's purpose, he speaks of what is man's portion through sin—death and judgment—and yet, having eternal life and the Spirit, is “always confident,” even in view of death, knowing that if absent from the body, which most assuredly is not resurrection, but the contrary, he would be present with his Lord, that to depart and to be with Christ is far better. He does not quite dislike the idea of death in the first paragraph, but merely says his desire was to be clothed upon, not unclothed, and contrasts it with groaning in this tabernacle, yet not so that he wanted to be rid of it, but to be clothed upon; and in verse 9 formally puts the two cases. I do not agree with you as to identity by the Spirit; I am not the Holy Ghost, nor is the Holy Ghost me. As dwelling in me they are distinguished; He bears witness with my spirit (Rom. 8:16). After all your turning about this passage, it remains that when you quit home you are with the Lord, and you are not the Holy Ghost. It just shows where error and our own thoughts drive us. It is not even true that Christ's neighbors on the cross had the Spirit. You confound the life begotten by the Spirit, and the Spirit itself; which, dwelling in us, makes our bodies a temple.

As to the question of eternal punishment, the question is always really of the sense we have of the deserts of our own sin, and is inseparable from that of the immortality of the soul; as if I have one and am at enmity with God, I must be forever miserable as shut out into outer darkness. But you have confounded, as is very common, law and gospel. The Gentiles have no law: “As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.” So that all your system is wrong from beginning to end according to scripture. Further, it is never said Christ was substituted for all—it is, “that he died for all.” You confound the blood on the mercy-seat and the scapegoat; the Lord's lot, and the bearing of the sins of the people represented by the high priest. You will find no scripture which speaks of bearing the sins of all, but carefully the contrary. The passage you quote from Exodus gives the principles of the government of Israel in contrast with atonement, which Moses talked of, and could not make, each person being to be blotted out for his own sin; and besides that, though forgiving their sin governmentally, declares that when He visited He would visit their sin upon them. All this is a misapprehension of scripture. In quoting “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,” you have confounded sin and sins: one a state in which we are by Adam's sin, and the other our own guilt, and which are carefully distinguished at the end of Heb. 9. The effect of this work will not be complete till the new heavens and the new earth. They are equally distinguished in Romans as to the believer and as to the remedy: one, Christ dying for our sins; the other, our having died with Christ: our guilt the consequence of our own sins—our state the consequence of Adam's. You are all wrong as to making law the measure. It was the measure of human righteousness in a child of Adam. But what we have now is God's righteousness, and that without law. Nor is the blessing of Christianity, though partially and darkly intimated (for of church blessings there is absolutely no hint, nor meant to be, but the contrary—see Eph. 3, Col. 1), to be found in the Old Testament. Life and incorruptibility are brought to light by the gospel. Nor is the law the measure of human sin, though it is of human righteousness; it is the rejection of Christ, who came when the law had been broken, which is so. “Having yet one son, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son,” — “but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”

An immortal soul, hating God in grace, must be miserable. You say, you consider that it is inconsistent with God's character to hide these terrible consequences of sin. You had better have looked at what is written (Gen. 3). He did then and there a great deal more than He had said. He told him of nothing but human sorrow and misery, and then death as a man on the earth. So in judging, he was to return to dust, and the woman to suffer in child-bearing. But He did a great deal more, giving, in the judgment on Satan, what faith could rest on in hope. He drove out the man, and shut up the way of the tree of life—exclusion from God and what He had established, and no immortality here below. So that in saying that, you are charging God foolishly, and forgetting that when “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses” —come in grace—they rejected Him Man under the gospel (in a general sense the world, for “there is no difference”) is in a far worse state, though he may be redeemed out of it, than when driven out of paradise, and a final one if not born again and justified. I, as to the flesh, am at enmity with God. Further, if death be all the wages of sin (it is the wages assuredly, but it is falsely quoted as if it were ALL the wages of sin, and so you put it) then I pay the penalty for myself even as a Christian, and Christ need not have died for me, only given me a new life. Further, it is utterly false; for the whole consequences of our sins, save mere animal death (the penal arrest of man here) are after the judgment and the result of it. So that this whole view essential to your system is totally unscriptural and false. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

I do say the system subverts the atonement. The theory is that we are animals, and they quote what is said in Genesis to show that ruach (breath), and nephesh (soul), and ruach-chayim (breath of life), etc. were in animals. I admit it fully, man dies as an animal dies on the earth. God, they tell us, gives eternal life in Christ, but till then we have no immortal soul, but are simply a cleverer, more intellectual, animal of superior intelligence. Now suppose God gives eternal life to an elephant or a dog, would a dog be responsible for what he had done before when he was a dog? would he have to repent? If not, neither have I. And what is the atonement for? A mere animal, for that is their theory, is not a responsible being—is not in this, in relationship with God—has never been tested as such—is not at enmity with God as man is in the flesh, so that he cannot please God: there is no law for him of which you say so much. The system falsifies man's whole relationship with God, on which all rests as to him from creation on. It is as degrading as it is false.

You will say, What scripture have you for saying animals are such? There are plenty, and the man who denies the difference debases himself to them; but suffice it to quote 2 Peter 2:12. But even Gen. 1 is enough: God had formed the whole creation, and having made it complete as such, God saw that it was good; so closes the history of the creation of animals, of whom God had said, “Let the earth bring forth,” and it brought forth. Then God solemnly consults about setting a head over it, the image of Him that was to come; then forms his body first, and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life—making him in His own image and likeness. Thus He placed him in living relationship with Himself. He was His offspring in his created state, responsible, and his responsibility formally tested. Is this mere animal life? If it be as degrading as it is false, it is as false as it is degrading. No one denies man is an animal, a living soul; if you take his blood you take his life as you would a pig's. The question lies beyond that. We are not to fear them that kill the body but have no more that they can do. Animals do not want atonement, and I do: if I were only an animal, I do not. It makes animals responsible to God, and not mere “natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed,” as scripture does; or man not so, if he is only an animal: and with responsibility, repentance and atonement disappear. I have confined myself to your statements. I add, scripture speaks of everlasting punishment. They use eternal life to prove we have nothing eternal till we have Christ, and then when eternal is applied to punishment, say, it does not mean it. The simple answer to show its normal meaning in the New Testament is “the things which are seen are temporal, the things that are not seen are eternal.” But the real question is, What does my sin deserve? The answer to this is the test of where a man is, and settles by divine teaching what scripture declares as to life and punishment.

J. N. D.

Published

LONDON:

T. WESTON, Publisher, 53, Paternoster Row.

The Ministry of Elisha: Part 3

“And when the sons of the prophets which [were] to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold, now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master; lest peradventure the spirit of Jehovah lath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent, therefore, fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they came again to him (for he tarried at Jericho), he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?” (2 Kings 2:15-18).

So strong is the tendency in all our hearts to glory in man, that on the occasion of the removal of a beloved servant of God from the scene of action, we are prone to lose confidence in God, or to doubt His wisdom in removing such a one, as if God Himself would be at a loss. We are always more ready to trust the creature than the living God. According to the sons of the prophets “the spirit of Jehovah” might have made a mistake—perhaps have taken up Elijah only to cast him down again! And if so, they had with them “fifty strong men” who will soon put matters right! It was the more remarkable, because they had been made acquainted with the fact of the impending removal, and they could speak of it to one far more in the secret than themselves. “Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he answered, Yea, I know: hold ye your peace.” How little value there is in mere knowledge! If knowledge can be imparted, acquired, transmitted, not so faith and spirituality; these cannot be so passed on. Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up “and seeketh not her own” but the profit of others. Wisdom and knowledge should go together. As the truth itself is received, so also is the grace that is needed to turn it to profitable account for God's glory, and our own or others' blessing. It was therefore necessary that Elisha should clear himself of whatever rested upon human strength and human knowledge. Either of them is misleading and disappointing. He was about to retrace the journey he had so lately taken in company with his beloved master; and this obtrusion, on the part of the sons of the prophets, of power and knowledge served but to delay him, whilst at the same time it exposed the folly and helplessness of these seekers.

The time is not yet come for the display of the power of God in complete victory over death; yet every true believer in Christ should know and count upon its reality. God has pledged His word to the destruction of man's last great enemy. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes” (Hos. 13:14).

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead necessitates the resurrection of every believer in Him. “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23). So also is it a fact that He has gotten the victory for us; death is no longer the inevitable event for the believer. “Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin, the law. But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:51-57).

There can be no doubt that this great truth, so full of comfort for believers, was prefigured in the translation of Elijah with its power and blessedness resting upon Elisha to the end of his life, say, for a period of fifty years. The incredulity of the sons of the prophets, while conveying to ourselves an admonitory and instructive lesson as we have seen, illustrates the attitude of religious men with regard to God's gracious interposition in times past between the world and judgment. It was so, for instance, in the day of the Lord's resurrection from the grave. “Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him while we slept” (Matt. 28:13) sounds very much like “Peradventure the spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.” At any rate, both these utterances assuredly proceed from the same evil heart of unbelief.

It is interesting to notice that Elisha could not start upon his gracious mission to Israel until this point was cleared up. There is little to choose between the unbelief of Jewish Rabbis and the conclusions of the so-called “higher” critics of the present day when the truth of God's word is in question. It is the heart, as well as the intellect, which is at fault. We have said Elisha retraced his steps, but there is an important difference between the two journeys. In the first, Gilgal is made the starting point. God was taking His servant back to the commencement of Israel's occupation of the land. When about to remove Moses from the place of testimony and service, God nevertheless was pleased to show His servant that goodly land flowing with milk and honey, saying, “This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither” (Deut. 34:4). In the government of God, Moses was shut out from entering the land, but how ardently he had desired to see it. And see it he did, with eyes in no way dim, although 120 years of age.

Now after 500 years' occupation of Canaan, what monuments of base ingratitude and shameful failure are brought under review and condemnation! Gilgal had witnessed the “putting off the body of the flesh” by circumcision. Sharp knives had been made and used in obedience, so that God could say, “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you,” and God had faithfully fulfilled all His promises. Yet Bethel witnessed to the gross corruption which involved their religious system, so that God's authority had been subverted. “The king's chapel and the king's court” had taken the place of the “house of Jehovah” with them, in the same way as in the Gospel of John we read of the passover as but “a feast of the Jews” (chap. 6:4). Again, Jericho told of still greater depths of iniquity as being the first city to oppose the hosts of Jehovah, and was pronounced “accursed,” or “devoted.” This was in the day of Gentile occupation, but the audacious wickedness of Israel in Elijah's day had dared Jehovah to do His worst, and had proved the truth of God's word to their cost (Josh. 6:17-26; 1 Kings 16:34). By such a path Jordan was reached and Israel saw Elijah no more.

On Elisha's return journey, Gilgal is not visited; all was over with the people according to the old covenant of which circumcision was the token and the seal. God would not by the ministry of Elisha recall the people to that which could only cry out for judgment against them. Instead of Gilgal, Carmel, the place of prayer, is visited, and God sends His servant as a witness of grace in the very midst of guilty Israel. Samaria, the capital city of the kingdom, is now the place to which Elisha returns, that even the Gentile might learn that if God Himself had been denied a “dwelling-place” in Israel, He would, nevertheless, in marvelous grace, send His servant to take up his residence in Samaria that a Naaman might know that there is a prophet in Israel (chap. 5:8).

Coming back for a moment to Jericho, it is instructive to notice that the new witness for Jehovah is not appealed to in vain. The curse which rested upon the city of palm trees was a reality, however it had been despised, and He who imposed it could alone bring in the remedy. “And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city [is] pleasant, as my lord seeth, but the water [is] naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought [it] to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren [land]. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake” (chap. 2:19-22). The physical world is still a pleasant place, but the ground has been cursed for man's sake. Yet, where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound. The salt in the new cruse typifies the power and value of that which God has now brought into this scene by the advent of the Lord Jesus. “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:14, 16, 17). This grace and truth is borne witness to by the believer now, and is the divine remedy for all the misery of man's condition. The truth in its own proper character has its abode in such as are new creatures in Christ Jesus. “Wherefore from now know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [him] no more. Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [there is] a new creation; the old things have passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:16-18). G. S. B.

(To be continued, D.V.)

The Sufferings of Christ

There are two sides in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus; the sufferings which, during His career, He endured from men, and the sufferings which He knew when, taking the cup He had to drink, He bore the weight of the wrath of God.

The extent of man's iniquity appears in two ways; directly in all that man did in opposing and rejecting Jesus, but, above all, in the weight of sin the Lord Jesus had to bear when He drank the cup which the Father had given Him. For Him this was no light thing. He “began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (ver. 33).

Among those who may read this, are there not several who have never been saddened because of their sins? Is there anything which more lays bare the folly and levity of the heart of man? We who by sin have made so bitter and awful the cup which Jesus drank, we may consider sin as trifling in the eyes of God! But it is He—it is Jesus who found how horrible it was. If our hearts, miserable as they are, feel not sin, Christ felt it when He drank the cup for us and bore sin for us. If the heart does not understand the gravity of sin, not to the same point as Jesus knew it, but at least in some degree—if, feeble as it may be, the feeling of the gravity of sin is a stranger to us—we have not at all entered into the mind of Jesus.

It is very different to have the heart touched by these things, or merely to have the knowledge of them; for it is not of this knowledge that I would speak here. To have the knowledge of the gravity of sin, of what sin cost Jesus, and not to have the heart touched by it, is even worse than to know nothing about it whatever. The state of the heart is in one of these cases, even worse than in the other.

We are going to see feebly, very feebly, what were the sufferings of Jesus.

No one alas! can fathom to the bottom what those sufferings were. Every day you have thoughts, you say and do things, you have the sins which caused Christ to drink the cup and undergo the wrath of God. And, in spite of that, you perhaps think that you have not been so wicked! If you have the thought that Christ suffered for your sins, you will find that Christ did not judge that these sins were not most grave. He was sore amazed and very heavy for them. In the garden of Gethsemane Christ prepared Himself for others to meet with His God, according to the holiness of His judgment. His soul was “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26:38).

You who think to prepare yourselves to meet your God, have you these sorrows and that sore amazement? However vague may be the thought you may have of them, if you would learn what they have been, consider how in Gethsemane Christ was heavy and sore amazed at sin! And if you have not done so, no more have you appreciated the love of Jesus, nor the work of Jesus in grace. What is important and needful is, that our consciences should be touched by the thought that Christ was there for us in suffering, that He might bear our sins. If my soul is not brought to own it, it is necessary that I should pass there myself, and suffer for myself the wrath and justice of God, such as Christ has undergone. If, when His Son, His Beloved, who had no sin, was made sin for us, God had to smite sin in Him; if His justice and His holiness could not spare Jesus, think you to escape when you meet the face of God? And when I consider Christ suffering the wrath and curse, can I think that my sins are a trifle? The evil I had done was so serious in the eyes of God and in those of Jesus, that, when Jesus charged Himself with it, this evil made Him agonize, and caused to fall on Him the weight of God's wrath. Christ suffered on the cross the wrath of God, and why? Because you deserved this wrath and eternal condemnation.

Often, without knowing it, souls go to meet God with their sin upon them. Souls are often there without having the consciousness of it. Is it not true, for many among you, that you walk in this life to meet God, and to face His judgment, and that you fear nothing? And if it is thus, if you thus walk at ease in the face of this judgment, what is it to say this, except that the conscience is not awakened (nay, is even hardened) in spite of the agony of Jesus, in spite of the sufferings of Jesus, and in spite of that which Jesus had to drink because of sin?

How beautiful it is to contemplate Jesus in the midst of this agony and of these sufferings! We see Him perfectly calm, and weighing with calmness the weight of the cup that He would drink. And in what circumstances? In the midst of all that which was calculated to break and bruise the affections of His heart. The more the world rejects and despises us, the more also have we need of affection. Jesus was full of goodness and of tenderness for His disciples. He had loved and borne with them. What happiness to Him? What does He find in their midst, when the iniquity of man is about to be let loose against Him? What He finds is, that in the midst of those He loved, of those with whom He was at table, and lived as with His friends and companions (ver. 18), Jesus can say, “Verily, I say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me.” Yes, one of you who have been with Me, one of you My familiar friends! His heart is wounded to the bottom. And as they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, “Is it I?” Jesus shows how His heart is broken. “It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish.” One of you who have known Me, who have seen Me, and who were received into My intimacy. And Jesus was perfectly calm.

Verses 22-26. They went to crucify Him. Of whom does He think? Of His disciples. His body was going to be given, and His blood shed. He was about to undergo the wrath of God, and He explains to them in peace the cost of what He is going to do for them. He transports Himself beyond those ages in which we live to the time when, satisfied with the travail of His soul (Isa. 53:11), He will drink anew in the kingdom of God the fruit of the vine (ver. 25). How beautiful it is thus to see the Lord Jesus cast His glances through the ages! In the midst of the frightful circumstances in which He is found, His soul is calm enough to think of the everlasting happiness achieved for His disciples by His sufferings, and of the joy that He will experience in again seeing them in this state of glory. Without letting Himself be turned away by the thought of His sufferings, without agitation, without amazement, He contemplates in peace the value of His sacrifice, and the happiness of again finding His disciples at the end. The treason of Judas, the denial of Peter, the forsaking of the disciples, the rejection of the world, the enmity of Satan, nothing troubles Him. “They sung a hymn” (ver. 26).

Verses 27, 28. “Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night.” To be ashamed of Him, miserable as we are! And yet how this puts in relief the unutterable love of Jesus! He tells His sheep, who are going to be scattered, that He will rejoin them shortly, and that, as soon as He shall have completed all this work which is to save His own—to manifest alas! all the feebleness of the flesh in them, and all the perfection of obedience in Jesus, He will go before them into Galilee.

Verses 29, 30. Peter has the false confidence of the flesh. Does Jesus reproach him with it? What does Peter's presumption produce in the heart of Jesus? He warns Peter, and prays for him. His love, steadfast, unchangeable, never slackens. His heart is not discouraged. It is He, He who was to bear all the pain, who encourages and consoles His disciples.

Verse 31. It may happen to others beside Peter to say, “If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise,” for “likewise also said they all.” Where Christ is honored and owned, in the midst of His own, in the midst of such as confess His name, people may easily own Him, they may well have a Christ, though rejected of men: but in other society, in the midst of those who reject Him, how ready is the heart to conceal that it knows Him! And if you find it evil in Peter to have thus denied Him, is that less awful in you? And if when we are exposed to disgrace for His name, we do not love to confess it, do we not deny Him as much as Peter? And it is done because the conscience is not wakened and touched because Jesus suffered for sin. What I desire is, that the conscience should feel the weight of the sin which made Jesus suffer, and this sin is yours: it is that your heart should be touched by the feeling of the love of Jesus, by this power of love, in virtue of which Jesus has charged Himself before God with the weight and the responsibility of sin, and in virtue of which He has borne all this weight, when He was “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5).

Verses 32-39. Jesus tells His disciples to pray (ver. 38). It is no more for Him the time of consoling His own. He must meet for them the wrath of God. He now reviews in spirit before God that which He is to suffer in drinking the cup of the wrath of God. Jesus, who was holy, and who had abode in the love of the Father, alone understood what was the holiness of God, and of what cost His love was. He was thence so much the more capable of alone understanding how horrible sin was, and how awful was the wrath of God. Indifference to this wrath cannot be found save in those who, being in sin, know not the holiness of God and who, strangers to God, have not tasted His love. It is awful to see us calm, contented with ourselves, and careless, when one knows the pangs which sin has cost the Lord Jesus, and why He was sore amazed and very heavy.

In His career of obedience Jesus suffered the contradiction of sinners. Never did He turn away from them, and never did He demand that such a cup should be taken away from Him. Why this? Because this was not merely the cup of the iniquity of men or of Satan's malice, but that of the wrath of God. In what He had had to suffer before from men, He had the joy of accomplishing the will of His Father; but in this cup, which was that of wrath, there was not one drop of sweetness. Jesus prays that, if it be possible, this cup might be far removed from Him. And why impossible? Here is the reason. It is impossible that God should endure sin, and (since Jesus Himself was made sin for us) that the wrath of God should not be accomplished against sin.

Behold, dear readers, where you are! If Christ has not borne your sins, impossible that you should escape the judgment that God has pronounced against sin. It is a serious thought. Weigh this expression of Jesus: “If it be possible.” Certainly, if that had been possible, God would have heard Jesus, and He would have spared His beloved Son this unparalleled sorrow. Why does Jesus say, “If it be possible”? Because He who knew what the love of God is was also in a condition to know how terrible is His wrath.

What was the state of the disciples? They slept (ver. 37). They had not enough affection for Him to watch one hour. Peter, who was willing to face prison or death, could not watch one hour. He had slept on the mountain during the transfiguration (Luke 9:23), and he sleeps in Gethsemane. This discloses, at the bottom of our hearts, the selfishness which is a stranger to the affections which make our hearts enter into the glory, as well as into the sufferings, of Jesus.

Verses 40-43. Was the love of Jesus disheartened or fatigued by all that? No; He must, He would, glorify His Father, and save His own, and He is not arrested by any difficulty. Impossible that we should be saved if He drink not the cup, and He takes it. His love is mightier than death. He presents all to God. And from the moment He found it impossible for this cup to pass without His drinking it, calm again possesses His soul, and He takes it.

Verses 44-50. Of what is not the heart of man capable? God has allowed that all the perfidy of the heart should be laid bare, and that man should betray Jesus by a kiss. Not a pang, not a trial, that Jesus has not to endure in order to put His heart to the test. Without that, something would have been wanting to the cup which He had to drink. The trial of the Lord would not have been complete, and the question of man's iniquity would not have been cleared in the presence of the judgment of God; but Jesus has perfectly glorified God His Father in the midst of all the iniquity of man and all the malice of Satan. All that which could wound and crush, God's wrath, Satan's wickedness, man's iniquity, all bruised His heart to pieces, and all made the immeasurable excellence of Jesus to shine before God. The heart of Jesus was probed to the bottom. And what is, after all that, the position of sinners? There remains nothing but the cost and worth of Jesus for them; and in the eyes of God he that believes has all the worth of Jesus before God. He may present himself before God, as loved of God, to the point that God has given His Son, and as having the cost of all the sufferings of Jesus.

If Christ is thus presented to you, of two things, one: either you are guilty of the sufferings of Jesus, if you despise them; or, if by grace you lay hold of their infinite value by faith, you enjoy the effect of these sufferings. If you despise them, you will be treated as those who despise them. If by grace your eyes are open to understand what Jesus has done, all the efficacy of His work is applied to you, and you enjoy the love of God. Either you are guilty of the sufferings of Jesus, or you enjoy the result of His sufferings.

To confess what are your sins which have made Jesus suffer is really to believe that He has borne them. If you say, It is I who have made Christ thus to suffer, you also say, For me, I shall never suffer like that. If Jesus has borne my sins and undergone their consequences, I shall not undergo them, and I am delivered and set free from condemnation.

May God, by the feeling of the love of Jesus, touch your hearts, and make you conscious at what infinite price it is for you that Jesus presented Himself, in order to undergo the wrath of God! Oh, how precious is the love of Jesus!

J. N. D.

Brief Notes on Passages of Scripture

Lev. 14. When the leper, white all over, stands before the priest, and the sparrow is slain, one drop of that blood is sufficient to cause him to be pronounced clean. It is a very feeble apprehension that he has (are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?), but the moment the blood is sprinkled on him there is cleansing, and the living bird is let fly towards heaven. The moment the sinner rests on the precious blood of Christ, however feebly, he is meet for heaven, and wants to go there. Why? The will of God is done perfectly there. The soul has been doing its own will long enough, “the time past may suffice,” and it longs to be there, never to have thought or wish contrary to the grace that now has cleansed it. But there is a place on earth where the will of God is done (though Satan, alas! often hinders). Where is that? In the assembly of God. The leper was washed with water and took his place in the camp. As cleansed by the water of the word, our place is in “the assembly” where God orders. Each tribe in the camp pitched according to commandment by its own standard. The Lord ruled there. It would be presumptuous for me to go into dear Mr.'s house and order his servants, putting one here and another there. He is master, and he orders. Christ is “over his own house,” and He puts one here and another there. “No,” says a man from the pulpit—I am now speaking of when we “come together in assembly” (1 Cor. 11:18), not of the individual prosecution of a man's gift, preaching or prophesying— “you listen to me and be quiet.” I cannot; the Lord must order me, not man (1 Cor. 12; 14).

Yet there is more. A man may say, the will of God is done in heaven, and I am cleansed and made meet to go there. Well, he may also take his place in the “assembly” and carry out the will of the Lord there; but how about his tent life It is one thing to know His will as done in heaven, and see it done in the assembly, but are you doing His will in your hearts and your surroundings of home? This comes last in the chapter before us. Let us see what provision is made for it.

The prominent thing is the trespass offering; the sin and burnt offerings were not missing, but this comes first. Have you had the specter of some sin of omission or commission committed long ago, perhaps in childhood, rise before you? Does it cause sorrow? We should have a tender conscience about that which caused Christ's death.

But is the sorrow eclipsed by the joy of knowing it all forgiven? “He bare our sins in his own body on the tree.”

Then the blood is put on the ear. If I am to do the will of God, I must know it. The ear is first cleansed, the hands to do, or feet to walk, follow. The blessed Lord had His ear opened, but no blood was needed there. He was sinless. Upon the blood the oil was put (type of the Holy Ghost). We need power for walk. There are plenty of instructions in the word for our tent life. Let us learn them and do them in the power of the Holy Ghost. It was on the eighth (resurrection) day all this was done for the leper. It is in the power of resurrection life that we are to carry on our home duties even as lepers cleansed.

Ex. 15:2, 3; Josh. 14:6-11; Phil. 4:12, 13. There are many dear saints who are passing through trial and affliction who, while sustained and patient under it, yet cannot say they “glory in tribulation.” They are not filled with joy in it, and in this consciousness are grieved that they are clogged and feeble instead of sending forth streams of blessing around. To any such, it is hoped the following reflections may be helpful.

In the first scripture we have the first public display of the power of God towards Israel, not the first manifestation of His love to them. That had been shown in their exemption from the stroke of the destroying angel. What greater proof of love than their perfect security when God was pouring out His furious judgments all around? The universal wail ascended; not a house where there was not one dead. Yet “when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” That was God's provision for a wicked people. Here we have His power for a weak people. How utterly powerless they were, with the spears of the Egyptians behind, and the waves before! What is their resource? “Jehovah shall fight for you!” “And they saw all their enemies dead on the sea shore.” But we have not only Jehovah's deliverance from “all the power of the enemy,” but also His constant care right through the wilderness—raining down manna, giving streams from the rock, sustaining till the end.

Look at the second scripture. You know the history of Caleb—how God would have His people know something of the land before they got there, and sent the spies; and how, those spies brought up an evil report, at first, owning it was a good land, but looking at their enemies; and then threatening to give it all up and go back to Egypt, while Moses and Aaron were powerless and fallen on their faces. But Caleb stands up with Joshua; it was not difficulties he had to fight (he saw none), but declension that he had to stand against. The ten who had gone with him were his enemies, and “bade stone him.” But he had two things alone before him, and the man will get on well who sees only these two. What are they? If “Jehovah delight in us, then he will bring us in,” and “Jehovah is with us; fear them not” (Num. 14:8, 9). He comes before Joshua at the age of eighty-five; and oh! what an experience his was! He had felt the lash of the taskmaster, had known the bitterness of bondage, had toiled at the bricks without straw, he knew Egypt well, and he had been through that night, had seen the blood sprinkled, had fed on the roast lamb, and had marched triumphantly through the sea. What an experience! And now he says, “I [am as] strong this day as in the day that Moses sent me.” If there was a word in the song of Ex. 15 that Caleb enjoyed, it must have been the one that also suits me best, “Jehovah is my strength.”

Now if we turn to the New Testament we find the same thing with added effulgence. In the Epistle to the Philippians we find a man who had been four years in prison, chained to a soldier, and not only so, but in need often, wanting food and thinking about a “cloak” and the approaching winter (he had not much to keep him warm). Yet he loved the saints, and enjoyed their love too—had just received their gift, and now wishes to cheer them. “Rejoice in the Lord.” Think of a man, four years in prison, telling others to be happy! “How can you do it, Paul?” “I have strength for all things in him who gives me power.” It is not only in any great emergency that the power is felt—a man may be a hero at a push—but in the long-continued path of suffering, the daily trials and friction, the every-day life. We should be like a baby in its mother's arms! She has all the strength and sustenance, and the baby soon knows it; and only rarely will it be found going to a stranger. And I love it for it. But it teaches me a lesson; do I treat my Lord so? In 2 Cor. 12 we find the Lord's power on a special occasion. The story really begins with verse 32 of chap. xi. Think of Saul, the fiery persecutor, exceedingly mad against the church, “compelling them to blaspheme,” “beating them oft in every synagogue” like a tiger, having once tasted blood, ravenous for it. Think of such an one stricken down on his way to Damascus! The lion is turned into a lamb, the fiery persecutor is led into the city, meekly listens to Ananias, joins those he sought to kill. Persecution at once begins for him. The Jews of course are against him, the Damascenes too. It is the brethren who come to his aid, they help him Christian sympathy is very sweet, very real, very comforting, but it won't strengthen in the hour of weakness. He is caught up into paradise, forgets his body, whether he is in or out of it he does not know, hears unspeakable words which he may not utter, though we see the result in his ministry. Then be gets what Job had, a “messenger of Satan to buffet him.” It was a physical infirmity, something that rendered him contemptible, and seemed to hinder his work. So he had the suffering, the contempt, the attacks of the enemy. How well we can enter into his thrice repeated cry! What answer does he get? “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” “Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses.” “Take what, Paul? Pleasure?” Yes, “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

You that are young, bear for a moment with an old man, and weakly; you should rejoice in your youth. You have strength and health. Thank the Lord for them, and use them for Him. But remember, that death may come at any moment. We know not what a day may bring forth. We think of one now lately deceased, a widow (the wife of the Archbishop), and for all in sorrow we are called to feel. These shocks have surely a voice for us all. Let us look just before we close at a scene of death. Turn to Acts 7 We see Stephen's spirit taught wisdom as he testifies to the Sanhedrin. They won't stand it, they (like the Furies) gnash upon him with their teeth. But he forgets all. Looking up to heaven, he is not occupied with them, but with Jesus, Jesus at the right hand of God, the One from whom all power flows. That is what makes the Epistle to the Hebrews so precious—an opened heaven and Jesus always seen at the right hand.

Think what those moments must have been as they dragged him from the Sanhedrin outside the city. Does he look at circumstances? Does he pray for strength? No; he is occupied with Jesus. He has one moment, just while the witnesses (who must throw the first stone) take off their clothes for greater force. He says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” How like his Master! One moment yet. “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” No Israelite ever prayed that before. And “he sleeps.” Is that all? What more do you want?

10.

John 5:44, Rev. 2:7-29. In the first of these texts we have the hindrance to faith and hope, namely, receiving glory of each other and not seeking the glory that cometh from God only or “the only God."... There has been One on this earth Who said at the end of His journey, “I have glorified thee on the earth,"... “and now, O Father, glorify thou me.” God has answered this, has already glorified Him, and further (wonder of wonders!) “the glory that thou gavest me I have given them” (John 17).

There are four witnesses of the Lord's glory—Peter (2 Peter 1:16, 17), Stephen (Acts 7:55, 56), Paul (Acts 9:4, 5; 26:13-16 Cor. 15:8), and John (Rev. 1:13-18).

Rev. 2:7. Why did Adam eat of the tree of death—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—but never touched the tree of life? In man's paradise the tree of life was not eaten, for man by nature cares not for that tree, but it is promised to those in God's paradise....

Verse 11. The promise to Ephesus was positive, this negative....

Verse 17. The “hidden manna” refers to the golden pot, kept before the Testimony (Ex. 16:33). The manna was wilderness food. Eating of the hidden manna bespeaks the preciousness of reviewing all that the Lord has been to us individually through, the wilderness journey—

“There with what by reviewing,

Past conflicts, dangers, fears,

Thy hand our foes subduing,

And drying all our tears:

Our hearts with rapture burning,

The path we shall retrace,

Where now our souls are learning

The wonders of Thy grace.”

The white stone is the seal of God's approval on that which we have done for Him....

Verses 26-28. The politics of a Christian reigning over the earth with Christ. The answer to all ideas of setting the world right now. Christ has to wait for His kingdom—so must we. To try to rule the world now is to go before Him and to go without Him—a grievous dishonor to Himself. We shall reign with Him if we endure for Him.

But are not these promises to the overcomer only? The enjoyment of them should make us overcomers. Keeping Christ always before the heart, we must conquer. Why do we hear so much of men—great, good, kind men? Let us cease from man and be occupied with Himself. “I will give him the morning star.” Ruling with Christ may be blessed, must be interesting, but it does not attract the affections. “The morning star” is the hope of the church. When all the stars have faded, yet before the sun arises, the morning star shines out having all the heavens to itself.

W. B.

Jude 14-15

Now, there would be no sense in, or reason for, judging the believer, even if it were not said by our Lord that the believer shall not come into judgment. Because, what would he come into judgment for? If any go into judgment, it is a reality. It must be so if God were to enter into judgment with even believers. Were they never guilty of sins? And if these sins come into judgment, they cannot escape punishment; and if they are judged, they are lost. But if Christ has borne their sins, where would be the object or wisdom of putting them on their trial after they are acquitted and justified? And we are justified now by faith. All believers are. Every Christian is. It is not a question of peculiar views. I hate peculiar views. Peculiar views are the errors of men. It would be a most shameful thing to count God's truth to be “peculiar views.” The only thing a Christian should care for is God's truth. It is only the language of an enemy to count that “peculiar views.” If there are those that try to blacken it and call it peculiar views, their blood must be on their own heads. The language is the language of an adversary. We have nothing to do with running after new views, or innovations of any kind, and God forbid that we should care for one single thing that is an innovation. I call an innovation anything that is a departure from God's word.

It is not the antiquity of sixteen or seventeen centuries, but we go to the very beginning, to the apostles, and to the Lord Himself; and there is the source from which we may draw and know for ourselves immediately, just as truly as if we had the apostles there before us. The apostles were certainly not more inspired when they spoke and preached than when they wrote; but it was what they wrote that was made to convey down the stream of ages divine truth with the utmost possible certainty. There is a great advantage in having what is written. You can come and come again. Even if you listened to an apostle, or to the Lord, you might forget. You might slip away from His words and put in some of your own. There is nothing more common than this every day, even with very accurate people—and they do not carry absolutely every word—and it is too serious a thing not to have the word of God. It is of the utmost importance that we have it written. What we want is the truth first-hand—from the people inspired to give it—and that is just what we have; and the simplest man is responsible to weigh and consider it.

It may be said, he is a weak soul. Well, we are all too apt to think too much of ourselves, especially if men have a little ability—they are apt to over-estimate what they have. There is nothing more common than this, and nothing more dangerous. Whereas, if a man is really a weak soul and does not think much about himself there is far more readiness to learn, unless he is an obstinate man, and, even though he knows but very little, thinks a deal of himself; and there is nothing so dangerous as that, especially when such an one lifts himself up against the word of God. When a man is brought to God, he is made nothing of in his own eyes. Would to God we always stayed therewith the sense of our own nothingness! Would to God that it did not evaporate by our getting peace There is always a danger of a person forgetting that there was a time when he counted nothing that he thought, said, or felt, was worth thinking about. We are meant to keep the humility of that always. The best and truest form of real humility is the sense of the presence of God and of the infinite value of the word of God. There is nothing so humble as bowing to God's authority, there is nothing so humble as obedience—obeying God. And at the same time, nothing gives greater courage, nothing gives greater confidence, nothing gives greater firmness, and this is exactly what we want—to be nothing in our own eyes, and to have perfect confidence in God's word. And faith should produce this in every believer.

Not only then does the Lord lay down that the believer “comes not into judgment,” but He declares what the end will be. Not that there will be only one resurrection. Were there but one resurrection, there might be no wonder that there will be only one judgment; but to confirm the fact that there will be no judgment of the believer—no sitting in judgment on him to decide his lot for eternity—there are two resurrections spoken of in that very same passage in the fifth chapter of John; and I would commend that chapter to anyone who has not duly weighed it. There it is shown that there will be a “resurrection of life” for those that have life for their souls already; there will be a “resurrection of judgment” for those that have not life but sins, and not merely sins but unbelief, the refusal of that life. They rejected the Son of God! For them there is judgment, and for them there is a special resurrection at the close of all. For those that have life now, in the Son, there is “the first resurrection,” a life-resurrection. Other saints too will share in this, for though not at the same moment, their resurrection, nevertheless, will have that character. All that are Christ's that are in their graves when the Lord comes will rise together, and the living that are on the earth at that time will be changed, while others who die afterward will follow, as we learn from The Revelation, which is my reason for guarding the statement. They all have a resurrection of life, except those that do not die but will be brought into the change without resurrection; but the change will be equivalent to resurrection, so that it may be all called in a certain way a “resurrection of life.”

But there is also a “resurrection of judgment” for all those that despise Christ, for all that are sinners against God, for all who have refused the Savior, from the beginning of the world up to that time; and the resurrection of judgment is at the end of all time. Not so the resurrection of life; and the reason why it is not is this—that those that rise in the resurrection of life rise to reign with Christ, before the winding up of all things. The wind up of all will be after all the ages have run their course so that the last sinner may be included in that awful resurrection— “the resurrection of judgment.” We need not call it a “resurrection of damnation,” because the word used is distinct from that. In effect it comes to that, but that is not the force of the word. It is always better to stand to the exact word of God, even if we do not understand it. We owe it honor and reverence, whether we understand it or not. His word must be right, it must be wise, and the best, the only one that is really good and reliable absolutely.

This may seem a long preamble, but it is necessary, perhaps, to make the force plain of what I am going to remark here.

In the spurious Book of Enoch, and which the learned people maintain that Jude quoted from, the doctrine taught is this, that the Lord “comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon them.” There you see is the error that betrays the devil in the forger, for I do not in the least doubt that that document has been forged from this very verse. It has every mark of having been written by a Jew subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem, who still buoyed himself up with the hope that God would stand by the Jews.

And so He will in the end, but in a way totally different from what he, the writer, supposed. For there is no true acknowledgment of Christ. He is simply acknowledged as the Messiah from a Jewish point of view, but there never will be deliverance for the Jew in looking for the Messiah according to their thoughts. It is the Messiah of God, the Anointed of Jehovah, the true Messiah that came, and they rejected Him. But when He comes to deliver them by and by, they will be brought to say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They will then give up all their unbelief, they will welcome Him, and He will come and deliver them, and He will save them out of all that strait of trouble in which they will then be.

But He will not judge His own people. He was judged for them, He bore their judgment on the tree, and He will never judge them. Nor is there one word in the Bible—Old or New Testament—that insinuates in the most distant manner that the Lord will inflict judgment on His own people. That He will judge His people is a common thing in the Old Testament. But that will be, as a King, their difficulties, their disorders if there should be any; and He will also vindicate them from their enemies. It is in that sense that He will judge His people.

Moreover, God carries on a moral judgment now in respect to His children. “If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning [here] in fear.” This is still going on. The Lord dealt with the Corinthians in this way. When they were in such a bad state, and profaned the table of the Lord, coming boldly and taking the bread and the wine as if they had been in a good state, the Lord laid His hand on them—some were sick, some fell asleep—were removed by death. All this was a temporal judgment. That is what the Lord does now, and that judgment is for our good and profit.

We see the same thing in a family. It is the judgment that a father carries on in his family, or any person charged with the care of youths put under him—young persons of either sex. Well, there is a judgment for their good. That is a totally different thing from what is called in John 5 a “coming into judgment.” It is even a different word employed—a different form of the word. From Psa. 143 it is evident that the Old Testament saints knew better than that. At any rate, the Spirit of God gave them better knowledge, for there it says, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” If God were to enter into judgment with the believer, it would be all over with him, because even the believer would be bound to say, I don't deserve to be saved. And if God were to look at all the faults in a believer's life, He might say, If that is what I have to look at, I have no reason to save you, you do not deserve it. But the ground of a believer's salvation is not that he deserves it, but that Christ deserves it for us. Christ has completely met all God's nature, and, further than that, He has borne all our sins and iniquities in His own body on the tree. God will not judge them again as if they had not been sufficiently borne, as if the judgment at the cross were not an adequate one. God will never say that about what Christ endured, and that is just what faith lays hold of. Therefore the uniform doctrine of the Bible—of both Old and New Testament—is this, that believers are not to come into that future judgment which the Lord will execute at the close of all things; but because we have now life, and are God's children, He watches over, and cares for us, and carries on a moral judgment; and besides this, the Lord Jesus carries on now a judgment of the church.

We find, besides the Father judging individually His children, that the Lord Jesus takes up the things that pertain to His name among those that are assembled together. He is Head of the church, and He has a watchful eye that the things that are done under that holy name should be real, should not be hypocritical, that His name should not be profaned. If our ways are unreal, and we go on badly, He deals with us in the way of discipline, and for the very reason “that we should not be condemned with the world.” There you have the reason. If He did not do that, you might raise a question as to whether they would be lost.

Now, then, the author of this spurious Book of Enoch understood not a word of all this. He was not a believer. He was a false man—he would never have forged if he had not been. He was a forger of the worst kind. No forgery so bad as that which pretends to give us the word of God. It is very bad to be deceitful in anything, but if deceit is carried on in the things of God, there is none that is worse in its consequences, there is none that more distinctly dishonors God. And that is the case here.

“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to— “what does scripture say? to “execute judgment upon all.” That is not the saints. The “all” are totally distinct from the saints. The saints had been caught up, and now come with Him who executes the judgment on all the sinners to be found in that day. “To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all” —to make it perfectly plain who are meant—all “that are ungodly among them.” There it is, to obviate any argument, for there are people who are not great in the truth, who are always ready for an argument! Here we see it is “to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them” (that is, these “all”) “of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed.” And not only ungodly deeds; there is another thing that the Spirit of God attaches great importance to— “hard words which ungodly sinners spoke against him.” Words that gainsay God's mind, words that say the thing that is false of God. Job's friends did that. Job himself bowed to God. He had not many words, he made a confession of his folly, he said the thing that was right. But his friends had not spoken the thing that was right of the Lord. I do not think that the Lord was putting the stamp of His approval in the same way on all that Job said. He often spoke haughtily, and unhappily, about God, and fretted about himself; but the Lord does not refer to that. Job broke down and confessed his nothingness. His friends did not break down. Job did, and, in consequence, Job was restored, and had to pray for those, his friends, who were not as yet restored.

But here it is plain that ungodly words are just as bad in their own way as ungodly deeds. Sometimes an ungodly word does more harm than an ungodly deed. For instance, an ungodly deed might be an act of unrighteousness in a man, but an ungodly word might be a slurring of Christ. That is worse, and particularly if people receive it. People are quite ready to cry out against an ungodly deed. Even worldly men can very well judge ungodly deeds, and the same people would be deceived by hard and ungodly words against the Lord and His grace and truth.

In this Book of Enoch to which I have referred there is not a word about the “hard speeches.” This shows that it was simply a natural man; a man who, no doubt, had this phrase before him, but he did not understand it. He evidently did not understand either about the saint or about the sinner. He did not understand about the saints, because he made them objects of judgment as well as the ungodly. It is just like the theologians now. They do not believe what I am now saying. But there is one word, in leaving that subject, that I should wish to add. “We shall all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ.” Everything, good or bad, will come out, for the believer as well as for the unbeliever. But that is a very different thing from judgment. That is not called judgment—that is “manifestation,” which is not the same thing as judgment. Manifestation of all our ways will be a very good thing for us. How apt we are to overrate ourselves. There may be something that we perhaps flattered ourselves about while we were here alive, and we never saw how foolish we were till risen from the dead and standing before the judgment seat of Christ. There it will all be manifested. Where we thought that we were wise we shall see, that we were very foolish. And so in everything we may have allowed ourselves a little latitude, and tried to excuse ourselves, we shall there be obliged to acknowledge it as all wrong. That is for our good. It is a blessing to do it in this life, but it will be all the fullest and richest blessing there. All will be out then. Then we shall know even as also we are known. We shall have no thought different from God about a single thing in all our lives. But that is not judgment. Judgment is where a person stands to be tried, and to be convicted of his guilt. That will be the case with everyone who has not been justified by the Lord Jesus Christ and His incomparable work on the cross.

But there is a second point where this forger could not copy the text before him aright. He only speaks of “ungodly deeds.” Hard, ungodlily spoken “words” to him did not seem of very much account, so he left out the ungodly “words.” The first part seemed the only right thing to him. Consequently, he mutilated the scripture. He could not even copy it truly, and thus has given us a false version of it.

In other words, Jude never got this prophecy of Enoch from a mere tradition, or from this book at all. He got it from God. How, I do not pretend to say. But he did. W. K.

(To be continued)

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Bible Treasury: Volume N6

Table of Contents

Christian Worship: Continued

Who Are We?

The Feasts in Deuteronomy 16: Part 1, The Passover

The Atonement: Part 6

Israel Sets Out and God Speaks in the Night Vision

Exodus: Moses Born Under Interdict

Proverbs 26:17-22

Great Joy

2 Peter 3:1-2

The Higher Criticism: Part 1

Cain: 1. His World and His Worship

Fragment: Acts of Affection

Published

Joseph: 20. Names of Jacob's Sons Who Came Into Egypt

Exodus: Moses Quits Egypt and Flees to Midian

Proverbs 26:23-28

The Church and Churches: Part 1

Within the Holiest and Without the Camp

2 Peter 3:3-4

The Higher Criticism: Part 2

Chair of St. Peter

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Woman at Sychar

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Apostles and Baptism

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Judgment Seat

Scripture Queries and Answers: Gifts

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Place of the Lord and the Saints in the Millennium

Scripture Queries and Answers: Relation Between Purging and the Government of the "Great House"

Scripture Queries and Answers: Revelation 3:9

Scripture Query and Answer: Seventh-Day Adventists

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Joseph: 21. Meets Jacob

Exodus: the Burning but Unconsumed Bramble

Proverbs 27:1-6

Thoughts on Luke 7:36-50

The Last Hour

The Church and Churches: Part 2

2 Peter 3:5-6

The Higher Criticism: Part 3

Scripture Queries and Answers: Genesis 1

Scripture Queries and Answers: 2 Corinthians 5:15

Scripture Queries and Answers: 1 Timothy 3:15-16

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Joseph: 22. Presents His Father

Cain: 2. His World and His Worship

Exodus: the Divine Commission to Moses

Wilderness Grace: Part 1

Proverbs 27:7-13

Gathering or Scattering

2 Peter 3:7

Self-Abnegation

Oneness and Union

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Cain: 3. His World and His Worship

The Red Sea: Part 1

Wilderness Grace: Part 2

The Broken State of Christendom

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 1

A Man of God

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The Red Sea: Part 2

Red Sea and Jordan

Wilderness Grace: Part 3

The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 2. The Feast of Weeks

After All This

We Must All Be Manifested: Part 1

The Lord Jesus in Humiliation and Service: Part 1

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Social Intercourse

The Purpose of God for His Sons and Heirs: Part 2

The Feasts in Deuteronomy: 3. The Feast of Weeks

The Jordan: Part 1

Inspiration of Daniel and His Book: Part 1

We Must All Be Manifested: Part 2